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Published: April 20th 2011
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Hi all,
Tuesday 5th April. Bonjour Francais.
Just a stones throw over the border into France we hit the Cote de Vermeille and our site at Argeles de Mer. We'd considered a trip into Andorra to ski again but not having enough info put us off.
It was strange that we'd only travelled a few miles into France and yet it seemed a so much greener and neater than Spain. There weren't many people around on the site as it was still early season so for 2 very hot days we had the outdoor pool all to ourselves. Wednesday was market day in Argeles old town so we cycled in and took a look around the place. A pretty old town with a mixture of Catalan and French influences and also an eccentric old English women who ran a English book shop. Lots of Catalan beret wearers around this area too and they were a lot friendlier than those we met in Spain, most nodded and said bonjour.
Thursday 7th Although most of our trip so far has been around the coast we'd decided that a drive in land to Carcassone would be worthwhile. Once clear of Perpignan
we left the main roads to follow the 'Route de Cathars' through the rugged wine growing countryside of the department of Aude. The walled city of Carcassone is now a UNESCO world heritage site and is full of history. From it's earliest traces in the 6th century BC through the Roman, Visigoths, Francs and many more rulers the town had seen many battles, during this era the once magnificent 'Cite' fell into dis-repair, but it was restored in the mid 19th century to it's current state with some new black tiled turret additions.. We spent a lovely afternoon wandering around the buildings and ramparts, learning the history of the place and looking at views south to the Pyrenees, it's definitely a place to revisit and we would have stayed longer this time if the local camp site had been open, but it wasn't so at tea time we decided to drive back to the coast and to Cap d'Agde.
Cap d'Agde is a coastal resort near Montpellier, it;s on a headland made up of several beaches around a central marina complex, it has plenty of entertainment and activities on offer. Our camp site was a short walk from the
beach at Rochelongue and 5 mins by bike from the main centre. As the forecast was very good for the coming weekend we ended staying 5 days and making the most of it. The days were spent either by the van just chilling in the sun or cycling along the coastal cycle tracks, or on the beach in the shallow waters playing ball. There were lots of locals about over the wknd as the temps hit 32 degrees.
Tuesday 12th Leaving the Cote d'Amethyste and heading inland via Montpellier we entered the national park of the Camargue. The park is on low lying wetlands around the Rhone delta where it joins the Mediterranean sea. On either side of the road the shallow waters teemed with bird life as we made our way towards St Gilles. Another camp site that had just opened for the season so again it was quiet so another pool almost to ourselves as we took a late afternoon dip.
Wednesday. We took the van further into the national park and parked up at a nature reserve. It had walking/horse riding and cycling trails around some enclosures/wet lands and a lake. As my bike was now
Arles
Outside the Roman Amphitheatre on the scrap heap we walked around the lake and over some canals. Reading the info boards (in French) about this area it seems the Camargue is famous for it's fighting bulls and a unique breed of white horses. As we strolled through the reserve we saw them both at close quarters, we also saw more pink flamingos, huge dragon flies and even Muskrats in the canals.
Thursday 14th As I'd been disappointed so far with my many attempts to get a bit of art culture into this trip (I am trying to educate these kids!!) Arles seemed the perfect place to remedy this. Arriving in Arles we found the allocated spot for motor-home parking taken over by a travelling fair which was in town for the forthcoming Ferias (bull running festival), so after stocking up on fuel/food and a new bike for me we parked up near the town centre and headed off looking for the tourist information. We picked up a map and route guide and set off on 2 trails around the town. One trail was to see some of the locations where Vincent Van Gogh painted his 200 paintings whilst living in Arles between 1888
Arles
Van Goghs location for his Cafe Terrace at Night and 1889, the other trail was to see the impressive Roman structures built during the reign of Julius Caeser.
First we saw locations were Van Gogh works such as Courtyard of the hospital of Arles, Cafe Terrace at Night and Starry Night over the Rhone where painted. The town has put up info boards at these locations showing a replica of the art work and when it was painted. It was in Arles that he cut off his ear during a tiff with Gauguin and subsequently voluntarily entered an asylum. Where he spent almost 2 years painting many more works of art. Did you know that he was only 37 when he shot himself back in Paris and that he only sold one painting whilst he was alive?
Our next trail took us to the almost intact Roman Amphitheatre, built in the 1st century it was home to chariot races and gladiatorial displays, it is currently under major restoration works. Nearby the Roman Theatre Antique is still in good condition and is used today for plays as it was back in days of the Romans.
Leaving Arles that evening we were now entering Provence. We entered the regional park
Orogon
The camp site below the rock climbing cliffs of the Alpilles where we found our camp site nestled beneath sheer cliffs on the outskirts of a town called Orgon. The Vallee Heureuse which we were now in is very popular with rock climbers and when we went on a long walk around the marked out trials we saw groups of school children on the beginner faces and pro's way up high on 200 foot sheer faces. Our walk took us deep into the eastern Alpilles woodlands before we arrived after a big loop onto a vantage point that looked out north to Avignon and south to Marseille. Once a Roman fort stood here, now the a 19th century Abbey stands in it's place. We sat and looked out east across the river Durance towards our next location way off in the distance in the Luberon national park.
Saturday 16th. After 2 days in Orgon we made the short journey east into the Luberon. The Luberon is in the Vaucluse area of Provence and it is pretty much full of Provence cliches, rolling countryside, stony villages, craggy hillsides and when in bloom endless fields of lavender. It's what you'd picture Provence to be. Our site was close to
Cadenet and although it's not really one of the celebrated towns of the area it was still a very nice place. Perched on a rocky limestone outcrop that still has occupied cave houses it looked south down the Durance towards Pertuis and Aix-en-Provence. We spent 2 days here and made the most of the site which had a lake & beach, a pool and was close to the Durance river, it also had plenty of things open like the bar now that the French were on Easter holidays.
Monday 18th April. We had quite a long drive ahead of us as we were heading back to the coast so it was up early and off SE towards the Cote D'Azur.
Take care all.
Neil Dan & Harry
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