Motorhome News from Europe 3

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Motorhome News from Europe 3

France. 21st September 2004
Bordeaux and South along the Atlantic Coast



Having said farewell to Sonia in Limoges, we headed through heavy rain west to Bordeaux country and the wine town of St Emilion, a name surely on everybody’s lips at some time in their lives. There were vineyards as far as the eye could see in every direction, purple grapes just about ready for harvesting and every cave in the town seemed to be selling wine and sign after elaborate sign seemed to point to yet another chateaux. St Emilion itself is immaculate and drools with money - a place to admire, a centre of commerce - but not a place to live, Janice would tell you.

At last the temperature was dropping, now approaching 18C from a sweltering 37C last week. White grapes were already being picked as we passed through the Sauternes area and into the Landes, an area of reclaimed sand and swamp that has been planted with pines and consequently looks a bit like our Thetford forest in our home county of Norfolk, England. We spent a very pleasant day at Le Teich bird reserve, a huge expanse of wetlands, rather like Minsmere, but with dozens of hides - and dozens of kingfishers, storks, egrets, herons, night herons (a family of six on one branch beside the lake!), godwits, sandpipers, cormorants, grebes (various), snipe, stonechat, wheatear, ….. Wow! Were we happy bunnies?

And then to our other interest, golf, yet another good excuse for a walk. Our four-berth motorhome allows us the luxury of carrying a ‘short set of clubs’ and a trolley in the Luton above the cab. It was time for golf the next day. Golf courses have been scarce and the one we opted for, at Biscarosse, was attached to a large resort complex. Amazingly, in an area generally as flat as the Fens, it turned out to be very hilly, with constant blind shots and narrow fairways. I think we enjoyed it and played quite well, although the legs complained afterwards. Later that day we drove into town hoping to find a supermarket, a bank and a cybercafe. Jackpot! - we found all three and later camped at nearby Gastes on an Aire de Camping Cars (Motorhomes) beside the lake for just €6 and sat out in the sun until 8.30pm enjoying our evening meal - with a fine bottle of wine. They never did come to collect our €6! (we’ll pay next time we pass through)

Once on the Atlantic coast, freecamping became more available, with sites provided in forests and by lakes especially for motorhomes. We tested the glorious sandy beaches that stretch all along the French coast south of Bordeaux and discovered some of the best surfing beaches in Europe, where we enjoyed just listening to the constant roaring of the waves. The weather was perfect for the beach, with sunshine and cloudless skies. On the beach we decided to do a bit of sea watching for birds, a popular pastime for enthusiastic birders like us, so we took both binoculars and the telescope. Within minutes we discovered gannets, terns and probably other things off shore, but we also discovered there were plenty of nudists on the beach and in the sea! Somewhat embarrassed, we hid the telescope in our blanket and beat a hasty retreat before we could be arrested!

Having dawdled our way slowly south, we hit the east/west motorway on Sunday to get into the heart of the Pyrenees. Our destination was Lourdes, best avoided unless you’re a genuine believer, but we stopped for a quick peek anyway. Its first impression is of a rather grey, depressing, industrial town with a couple of big churches. Further inspection though led us first to the lovely church of Notre Dame. Lourdes' main street was packed to the seams with tourists, and long parades of shops were selling unbelievably tacky souvenirs; wolf whistling marmots, cuckoo clocks and plastic rosaries - but probably the worst was a plastic bottle for your Holy water, shaped like the Virgin Mary. Beyond the commercialism, however, there were thousands of faithful believers, filling their water bottles with spring water from chrome taps and lighting candles, all focused on the cave where Bernadette saw her visions, the Holy water gushing from the spring, and the Basilica that has been erected nearby. It is indeed an area of prayer and great hope for many.

We entered the Pyrenees ski area to low cloud, obscuring the views promised by the guide books and camped at Cauterets, a ski resort, which seemed as grey as the clouds - though doubtless glorious when swathed in snow and bustling with skiers. The following day dawned bringing low cloud and drizzle, but we were promised by Tourist Information that the weather would improve and we headed for Gavernie, hoping to see 'one of the great spectacles of the world'. We were a bit doubtful because of the cloud, but brief patches of blue sky broke to glorious sunshine just as we arrived. And there as promised was a spectacular view of the Cirque de Gavernie, a glacier-scoured wall of rock, rising 4265 ft from the valley floor - and soaring above us, we counted seventeen Griffon Vultures. We broke out the walking poles and boots and headed off for a 6 mile hike, (walk 20 from the Sunflower Guide) with awesome views all the way to the Hotel du Cirque and the tumbling waters of the Grand Cascade. Memories of this hike, the wild flowers, the birds and butterflies on the open meadow and such truly spectacular views, will live with us for a very long time. We free-camped back in the village and were awoken next morning by the braying of a free range donkey just outside the motorhome.

We have had some incredible sightings of griffon vultures, which seem to hunt in packs. In addition to the seventeen seen in the morning we counted a further twenty-three in the afternoon! We’ve also seen some passing golden eagles and several ravens and are hoping for more raptors over the next day or two.




David and Janice
The Grey Haired Nomads

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Photos

Bliss!
Janice dipping her toes in the water

Gavernie
a wonderful hike - mostly up!

Gavernie
.......high meadow. Somewhere near heaven.

Name that bird!
Night heron, of course!

Todd
Our brown bear - sunning himself on the Atlantic Coast!