Spanish and French Pyrenees Easter 8th - 17th April 2009 Actual
Southampton - Dover - Calais - Poitiers - St Jean Pied de Port - Pyrenees - Andorra - Carcassonne - Millau - Dijon - Calais - UK.
Well we're back; didn't fall of a cliff, couldn't do a lot of the tracks in the Pyrenees due to roads being closed because of heavy snowfall. But we stuck as much as we could to the route, had an excellent trip, lots of fun, many happy memories.
8th Southampton – Dover- La Peyratte
An early morning alarm, though I can never sleep properly before any trip, just too excited! J After picking up my travelling companions, a trip to Dover to catch a ferry but first a pre-arranged meeting at the M25 services to join up with the other members of the trip, a large coffee and various greetings later, we’re off. Well to Dover; no problems on the way, arrived in time and relaxed.
Seafrance; as good as always for checking-in, a little late sailing but who cared, we’re away and made good time, and came ashore mid-morning. As we needed to make the very Southern West of France in 2 Days, we had to make time on the toll roads, Poitiers being about half-way, we plan to stop near there on the first night. As luck would have it, one of members of the group has a cousin in La Peyratte, about 40kms West of Poitiers on the N149.
We were the last to arrive, at about 19:00hrs, but what a welcome, excellent hosts, great company, and great food and after a lot of enjoyment, bed down for the night, after a long day.
9th La Peyratte –Saint Jean Pied de Port
Another long day on toll roads ahead of us, so we all set of early and because of the different vehicles; 3 Discos (200, 300 and a td5) and our 300 Defender, we decided to cruise our own pace, so we split but kept on the same route.
Into Parthenay (looked a beautiful area but couldn’t stop and explore), and out on the D743 Southbound to pick up the A83 and onto the A10 toll road and all the way South towards Bordeaux, apart from a traffic hold-up on the ring road, no real problems and continued South on the A10 towards Bayonne. A reasonably tedious drive, though I’m rarely bored driving, there’s always something to do or see.
Left the toll road (Wohoo) and picked up the D932/D918 to Saint Jean, which in it’s self is a very scenic drive, with the snow covered Pyrenees in the background, just beautiful, this is what we’ve come to see. My co-driver and guiding hand spotted a superstore in Cambo-les Bains, so we pulled over, stocked-up, fuelled-up and contacted the others.
Disaster! They were all stuck in Bordeaux still, because 2 of Discos had picked-up contaminated fuel, both Discos were saved by the services and soon on their way, albeit running roughly.
So we were the first to arrive in Saint Jean and told to find a campsite which we did after a few detours, a splendid municipal campsite Plaza Berri, very cheap and in the grounds of an old derelict prison, but 5mins walk from the centre. Brilliant!
http://www.pyrenees-basques.com/script/dethotel.asp?code=22
I passed on the directions on to the others, as it turned out not very well, but eventually they all arrived safely. Only to find one of the Discos was running ‘rough as rats’, so the RAC turned up, had a look, couldn’t fix it, so it had to be recovered back to Bayonne. Sadly, nothing was going to happen until Tuesday, because of Easter.
If you haven’t been to Saint Jean Pied de Port, go there, this whole area is just stunning.
10th Saint Jean Pied de Port - Orreaga - Pyrenees
The idea was to cross the Pyrenees and to drive some dirt roads. So up early, had a cold shower and after some monkey impressions, dressed and into Saint Jean for some breakfast, well croissants, and fresh bread.
So we headed out of Saint Jean, saying farewells to one of our group (we planned to meet up in Andorra), and headed towards Spain on the D933. The snow was plentiful and glorious, but this meant a lot of the roads we wanted to do, were just closed.
But the weather closed in, and with it the views, couldn’t see more than 100mtrs, let alone the Pyrenees, but a little dispirited we continued on, and then the rain started, and did it start, a monsoon! Hour after hour of poor visibility and heavy rain, the plan was to do some dirt tracks; the ones open would have been a bit dangerous in this weather. So we continued on, and decided to look for a campsite, although it was only mid-afternoon found a couple of campsites but both closed, so we stopped at a Gite (hostel); Gite D’Etape - Auberge Logibar in Larrau, France, to ask for the nearest campsite open, only to find at 16Euros per person to stay the night, it seemed a bargain, compared to putting tents up in this kind of weather.
So we unpacked the vehicles hurriedly, started the open fire and dined, along with a few drinks and studied the maps. With the weather this poor, we decided to stick to the smaller roads and some dirt tracks weather permitting, not the dirt tracks we were all looking forward too, but hey next time!
11th Pyrenees
Awoke, in the warm and dry, had a nice hot shower, breakfast and packed the vehicles in the rain, it hadn’t stopped.
Not to be totally disheartened, we headed towards a tarmac road; the idea was to make Ainsa, only a few miles away relatively, so we could take it easy. Although poor visibility we took some small roads and enjoyed the roads, and views of the many small villages, thankfully the maps were good, as my satnav was in a world of its own. We had gone through the tunnel into Spain, and as we came out, the snow had disappeared; it just seemed to stop at the border, bizarrely. So we headed towards Orreaga, which seemed to be pretty enough, but a lot of building going on, we picked-up the NA140 towards Aribe and Ochagavia. We made Ainsa early afternoon and the weather had cleared, a pretty place, but overlooking the town was the old town which was much prettier. We camped at a pretty campsite in Ainsa, called Camping Ainsa (what else) reasonably priced; the ground was sodden, so glad I had a roof tent. Some went into town, to shop and look around, and some put up awnings and gathered firewood for the BBQ.
It started to rain again, but we didn’t really care that much it wasn’t as bad as it has been. So we gathered around the fire, and had a great time enjoying each others company, the great views over the new and old towns, and some food and drink.
After studying maps we decided that as much as we wanted to stick to the planned route, but as we’ve had to missed a lot of it already, it would be better to change our route and do small roads and dirt tracks where permitting.
Also if we made Andorra a day earlier than planned, we could have an extra day there to catch up with the other members of the group who had broken down in Saint Jean, they were making their way to Andorra in a hire car.
12th Pyrenees - Andorra
We left Ainsa early morning after the customary washing and breakfast. We drove down the A138 alongside some very beautiful lakes, the weather had improved as well, and things were looking up.
We made our way across to Tremp and up towards Sort and down on to the N260 towards Andorra, a very scenic, pretty little route, we even managed to find the odd dirt road or two to make the day.
And so we headed into Andorra, waved through customs and into this small Principality in the middle of the Pyrenees.
I do like Andorra, there’s more than immediately meets the eye, we stayed one of the few campsites; http://www.campvalira.com/Camping_Valira/Catala.html
Expensive at 25Euros a night, but we know the location, the facilities are good, there’s a good restaurant onsite, and the campsite is open all year round. And we meet up with the others, so after much chin wagging, and celebrations we had a wander around the very many shops, most of which were closed by now.
We all had a cracking meal, a suckling pig, yummy! We retired to our camping area and settled into a slumber and enjoyed a dry evening looking at all the night lights in Andorra.
13th Andorra
A shopping, and sight seeing day today, fun in the snow, a very nice lunch over looking the skiing pistes, souvenirs, tobacco and drink were brought, electrics didn’t seem that cheap.
A great day had by all.
14th Andorra – Alet les Bains
After a fine breakfast, and some more shopping we headed into France, I made a bad decision here, much to the mutterings of my companions, choosing the tunnel instead of the mountain pass, which turned out to be an easy route over the top. Such is life.
We stopped for a snack, and headed on towards the wine region of Languedoc, along some very scenic roads, great views and some steep climbs/descents, great!
N20 out of Andorra, waved through French customs, onto the very scenic D613, after some fannying about looking for a vinery to visit, met a lovely German lady in who pointed us in a direction of Domaine Baillat in nearby Montlaur in the Corbieres – Languedoc region. Well, absolutely fantastic, met the man himself, Christian Baillat, what a pleasure, he gave us all so much time, we did a spot of wine tasting and saw the presses and production line of this small organic vinery. Go there! A real wine lover! www.baillat.com
He’s looking for WWOOFers, what’s a WWOOF? Do a search…………………….
After some time, we said our fondest thank you's and went on our way towards Quillan, yet another beautiful road trip, then we picked-up the D118 towards Alet les Bains, and the campsite Val d’Aleth, on the riverbank that runs through the village. A pleasant campsite, good facilities, and friendly welcome, pitched tents, BBQ on, food and drink consumed along with plenty of natter.
http://www.valdaleth.com/campingen.php
15th Alet les Bains - Carcassonne
Got up early, wandered around the village, had some croissants and tea and talked about the day ahead. Unfortunately, we had to leave some of the behind; they were heading back to Bayonne to sort of their Disco. So we set of for a fun but short driving day to this medieval city town, plenty of time to explore, have lunch and onto the campsite.
A straight forward drive up the D118 to Carcassonne, an awe inspiring site, car park near by and a leisurely stroll up to the outside wall, and through the magnificent entrance. It is an outstandingly beautiful ancient walled city.
However; wandering around inside, apart from the many cafes/restaurants/bistros, which were excellent, there are a lot of shops selling tatt, which is a shame, unlike than a castle in Britain where you might get a souvenir shop, here is every postcard, tea towel and everything else you can think of to buy with a Carcassonne picture on it.
After a few hours, and a fine lunch, we headed to the campsite; http://www.uk.camping-carcassonne.info/LieuHebergement.aspx
Not a site for the relaxing no rules type of person, this site although very nice with spacious pitches, it does have a lot of rules. So we arrive, just in time for it to start raining when we started putting the tents up, and then it got windy, great! After an hour or so sheltering under the tarps and awnings from the weather, it suddenly brightens up and the early evening improved immensely. Another great night around the BBQ/campfire, good food and a few drinks, we all turned in.
16th Carcassonne – Saint Amand Montrond
Well the long drive home begins; a lot of miles to be covered today, so, you guessed it, toll roads. Heading east along the A61 towards Narbonne, North-East on the A9 and North on the A75 towards the awesome Millau viaduct, seen it before, but it still takes my breath away. Tried to find the small car park I knew to view the great structure, only to find the French have built a purpose built services there now, but the time I realised it, I’d passed it, what a Pratt!
So we carried on at our own pace, because of the many hills up through the Massif Central area, we were just to slow up the hills even in a Defender, the discos were managing better. But we carried on, and eventually after a very long drive we were all relatively near each other, and met up towards the exit of the toll road.
So we all turned off, towards St Amand Montrond, hoping to find a campsite, which we actually did quite quickly after asking a few locals. And what a nice campsite; Camping de la Roche – www.st-amand-tourisme.com reasonable, scenic and with good facilities.
Unfortunately, yes, it started raining and the thought of putting up wet tents, didn’t appeal to some, but thankfully they’re made of sterner stuff, and after a hour or two, it brighten up, yeah, and it got a bit sunny, even better. And the rest of evening turned into a brilliant last night we all wanted, needed and much deserved.
17th Saint Amand Montrond – Calais - Southampton
So this was it, the last day; straight up the middle of France, skirting around Paris, via Versailles onto Rouen and up to Calais, we stuck together for this trip, had some lunch at a service stop and made Calais in plenty of time, some wanted duty-free shopping, others headed straight for the port, hoping to get on an earlier ferry, they did.
We did some duty-free stops and also, got to the port early and got an earlier sailing, always a bit of a let down the return sailing after a trip, but the thinking began about the next trip. A very wet, uneventful trip back to Southampton, the 110 made it, very pleased how she coped, now a service.
An excellent trip, very enjoyable, a great bunch of guys and gals to travel with, we all had an absolute blast. Are we there yet?
2,350 miles approx
Southampton - Dover - Calais - Poitiers - St Jean Pied de Port - Pyrenees - Andorra - Carcassonne - Millau - Dijon - Calais - UK.
Well we're back; didn't fall of a cliff, couldn't do a lot of the tracks in the Pyrenees due to roads being closed because of heavy snowfall. But we stuck as much as we could to the route, had an excellent trip, lots of fun, many happy memories.
8th Southampton – Dover- La Peyratte
An early morning alarm, though I can never sleep properly before any trip, just too excited! J After picking up my travelling companions, a trip to Dover to catch a ferry but first a pre-arranged meeting at the M25 services to join up with the other members of the trip, a large coffee and various greetings later, we’re off. Well to Dover; no problems on the way, arrived in time and relaxed.
Seafrance; as good as always for checking-in, a little late sailing but who cared, we’re away and made good time, and came ashore mid-morning. As we needed to make the very Southern West of France in 2 Days, we had to make time on the toll roads, Poitiers being about half-way, we plan to stop near there on the first night. As luck would have it, one of members of the group has a cousin in La Peyratte, about 40kms West of Poitiers on the N149.
We were the last to arrive, at about 19:00hrs, but what a welcome, excellent hosts, great company, and great food and after a lot of enjoyment, bed down for the night, after a long day.
9th La Peyratte –Saint Jean Pied de Port
Another long day on toll roads ahead of us, so we all set of early and because of the different vehicles; 3 Discos (200, 300 and a td5) and our 300 Defender, we decided to cruise our own pace, so we split but kept on the same route.
Into Parthenay (looked a beautiful area but couldn’t stop and explore), and out on the D743 Southbound to pick up the A83 and onto the A10 toll road and all the way South towards Bordeaux, apart from a traffic hold-up on the ring road, no real problems and continued South on the A10 towards Bayonne. A reasonably tedious drive, though I’m rarely bored driving, there’s always something to do or see.
Left the toll road (Wohoo) and picked up the D932/D918 to Saint Jean, which in it’s self is a very scenic drive, with the snow covered Pyrenees in the background, just beautiful, this is what we’ve come to see. My co-driver and guiding hand spotted a superstore in Cambo-les Bains, so we pulled over, stocked-up, fuelled-up and contacted the others.
Disaster! They were all stuck in Bordeaux still, because 2 of Discos had picked-up contaminated fuel, both Discos were saved by the services and soon on their way, albeit running roughly.
So we were the first to arrive in Saint Jean and told to find a campsite which we did after a few detours, a splendid municipal campsite Plaza Berri, very cheap and in the grounds of an old derelict prison, but 5mins walk from the centre. Brilliant!
http://www.pyrenees-basques.com/script/dethotel.asp?code=22
I passed on the directions on to the others, as it turned out not very well, but eventually they all arrived safely. Only to find one of the Discos was running ‘rough as rats’, so the RAC turned up, had a look, couldn’t fix it, so it had to be recovered back to Bayonne. Sadly, nothing was going to happen until Tuesday, because of Easter.
If you haven’t been to Saint Jean Pied de Port, go there, this whole area is just stunning.
10th Saint Jean Pied de Port - Orreaga - Pyrenees
The idea was to cross the Pyrenees and to drive some dirt roads. So up early, had a cold shower and after some monkey impressions, dressed and into Saint Jean for some breakfast, well croissants, and fresh bread.
So we headed out of Saint Jean, saying farewells to one of our group (we planned to meet up in Andorra), and headed towards Spain on the D933. The snow was plentiful and glorious, but this meant a lot of the roads we wanted to do, were just closed.
But the weather closed in, and with it the views, couldn’t see more than 100mtrs, let alone the Pyrenees, but a little dispirited we continued on, and then the rain started, and did it start, a monsoon! Hour after hour of poor visibility and heavy rain, the plan was to do some dirt tracks; the ones open would have been a bit dangerous in this weather. So we continued on, and decided to look for a campsite, although it was only mid-afternoon found a couple of campsites but both closed, so we stopped at a Gite (hostel); Gite D’Etape - Auberge Logibar in Larrau, France, to ask for the nearest campsite open, only to find at 16Euros per person to stay the night, it seemed a bargain, compared to putting tents up in this kind of weather.
So we unpacked the vehicles hurriedly, started the open fire and dined, along with a few drinks and studied the maps. With the weather this poor, we decided to stick to the smaller roads and some dirt tracks weather permitting, not the dirt tracks we were all looking forward too, but hey next time!
11th Pyrenees
Awoke, in the warm and dry, had a nice hot shower, breakfast and packed the vehicles in the rain, it hadn’t stopped.
Not to be totally disheartened, we headed towards a tarmac road; the idea was to make Ainsa, only a few miles away relatively, so we could take it easy. Although poor visibility we took some small roads and enjoyed the roads, and views of the many small villages, thankfully the maps were good, as my satnav was in a world of its own. We had gone through the tunnel into Spain, and as we came out, the snow had disappeared; it just seemed to stop at the border, bizarrely. So we headed towards Orreaga, which seemed to be pretty enough, but a lot of building going on, we picked-up the NA140 towards Aribe and Ochagavia. We made Ainsa early afternoon and the weather had cleared, a pretty place, but overlooking the town was the old town which was much prettier. We camped at a pretty campsite in Ainsa, called Camping Ainsa (what else) reasonably priced; the ground was sodden, so glad I had a roof tent. Some went into town, to shop and look around, and some put up awnings and gathered firewood for the BBQ.
It started to rain again, but we didn’t really care that much it wasn’t as bad as it has been. So we gathered around the fire, and had a great time enjoying each others company, the great views over the new and old towns, and some food and drink.
After studying maps we decided that as much as we wanted to stick to the planned route, but as we’ve had to missed a lot of it already, it would be better to change our route and do small roads and dirt tracks where permitting.
Also if we made Andorra a day earlier than planned, we could have an extra day there to catch up with the other members of the group who had broken down in Saint Jean, they were making their way to Andorra in a hire car.
12th Pyrenees - Andorra
We left Ainsa early morning after the customary washing and breakfast. We drove down the A138 alongside some very beautiful lakes, the weather had improved as well, and things were looking up.
We made our way across to Tremp and up towards Sort and down on to the N260 towards Andorra, a very scenic, pretty little route, we even managed to find the odd dirt road or two to make the day.
And so we headed into Andorra, waved through customs and into this small Principality in the middle of the Pyrenees.
I do like Andorra, there’s more than immediately meets the eye, we stayed one of the few campsites; http://www.campvalira.com/Camping_Valira/Catala.html
Expensive at 25Euros a night, but we know the location, the facilities are good, there’s a good restaurant onsite, and the campsite is open all year round. And we meet up with the others, so after much chin wagging, and celebrations we had a wander around the very many shops, most of which were closed by now.
We all had a cracking meal, a suckling pig, yummy! We retired to our camping area and settled into a slumber and enjoyed a dry evening looking at all the night lights in Andorra.
13th Andorra
A shopping, and sight seeing day today, fun in the snow, a very nice lunch over looking the skiing pistes, souvenirs, tobacco and drink were brought, electrics didn’t seem that cheap.
A great day had by all.
14th Andorra – Alet les Bains
After a fine breakfast, and some more shopping we headed into France, I made a bad decision here, much to the mutterings of my companions, choosing the tunnel instead of the mountain pass, which turned out to be an easy route over the top. Such is life.
We stopped for a snack, and headed on towards the wine region of Languedoc, along some very scenic roads, great views and some steep climbs/descents, great!
N20 out of Andorra, waved through French customs, onto the very scenic D613, after some fannying about looking for a vinery to visit, met a lovely German lady in who pointed us in a direction of Domaine Baillat in nearby Montlaur in the Corbieres – Languedoc region. Well, absolutely fantastic, met the man himself, Christian Baillat, what a pleasure, he gave us all so much time, we did a spot of wine tasting and saw the presses and production line of this small organic vinery. Go there! A real wine lover! www.baillat.com
He’s looking for WWOOFers, what’s a WWOOF? Do a search…………………….
After some time, we said our fondest thank you's and went on our way towards Quillan, yet another beautiful road trip, then we picked-up the D118 towards Alet les Bains, and the campsite Val d’Aleth, on the riverbank that runs through the village. A pleasant campsite, good facilities, and friendly welcome, pitched tents, BBQ on, food and drink consumed along with plenty of natter.
http://www.valdaleth.com/campingen.php
15th Alet les Bains - Carcassonne
Got up early, wandered around the village, had some croissants and tea and talked about the day ahead. Unfortunately, we had to leave some of the behind; they were heading back to Bayonne to sort of their Disco. So we set of for a fun but short driving day to this medieval city town, plenty of time to explore, have lunch and onto the campsite.
A straight forward drive up the D118 to Carcassonne, an awe inspiring site, car park near by and a leisurely stroll up to the outside wall, and through the magnificent entrance. It is an outstandingly beautiful ancient walled city.
However; wandering around inside, apart from the many cafes/restaurants/bistros, which were excellent, there are a lot of shops selling tatt, which is a shame, unlike than a castle in Britain where you might get a souvenir shop, here is every postcard, tea towel and everything else you can think of to buy with a Carcassonne picture on it.
After a few hours, and a fine lunch, we headed to the campsite; http://www.uk.camping-carcassonne.info/LieuHebergement.aspx
Not a site for the relaxing no rules type of person, this site although very nice with spacious pitches, it does have a lot of rules. So we arrive, just in time for it to start raining when we started putting the tents up, and then it got windy, great! After an hour or so sheltering under the tarps and awnings from the weather, it suddenly brightens up and the early evening improved immensely. Another great night around the BBQ/campfire, good food and a few drinks, we all turned in.
16th Carcassonne – Saint Amand Montrond
Well the long drive home begins; a lot of miles to be covered today, so, you guessed it, toll roads. Heading east along the A61 towards Narbonne, North-East on the A9 and North on the A75 towards the awesome Millau viaduct, seen it before, but it still takes my breath away. Tried to find the small car park I knew to view the great structure, only to find the French have built a purpose built services there now, but the time I realised it, I’d passed it, what a Pratt!
So we carried on at our own pace, because of the many hills up through the Massif Central area, we were just to slow up the hills even in a Defender, the discos were managing better. But we carried on, and eventually after a very long drive we were all relatively near each other, and met up towards the exit of the toll road.
So we all turned off, towards St Amand Montrond, hoping to find a campsite, which we actually did quite quickly after asking a few locals. And what a nice campsite; Camping de la Roche – www.st-amand-tourisme.com reasonable, scenic and with good facilities.
Unfortunately, yes, it started raining and the thought of putting up wet tents, didn’t appeal to some, but thankfully they’re made of sterner stuff, and after a hour or two, it brighten up, yeah, and it got a bit sunny, even better. And the rest of evening turned into a brilliant last night we all wanted, needed and much deserved.
17th Saint Amand Montrond – Calais - Southampton
So this was it, the last day; straight up the middle of France, skirting around Paris, via Versailles onto Rouen and up to Calais, we stuck together for this trip, had some lunch at a service stop and made Calais in plenty of time, some wanted duty-free shopping, others headed straight for the port, hoping to get on an earlier ferry, they did.
We did some duty-free stops and also, got to the port early and got an earlier sailing, always a bit of a let down the return sailing after a trip, but the thinking began about the next trip. A very wet, uneventful trip back to Southampton, the 110 made it, very pleased how she coped, now a service.
An excellent trip, very enjoyable, a great bunch of guys and gals to travel with, we all had an absolute blast. Are we there yet?
2,350 miles approx