Happy Birthday Paul - Hope your feeling better xxx
Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th October 2017
And then came our trip along the floor of the spectacular Tarn Gorges! For millions of years the Tarn and it's tributary the River Jonte have eaten their way down through the limestone plateau of the Cevennes, and this erosion has created a sinuous forked canyon that is 33 miles long and nearly 1,300 feet deep in places. The UNESCO listed gorges are flanked by contorted jagged rocks that loom over the road, and for most of the way, as you would expect, the route keeps company with the flowing water of the River Tarn. Additionally, within the gorge there are 19 chateaux that were built between the 10th and 13 centuries, but we only managed to catch this one - Castelbouc - the ruins of which stand on a rocky peak near the beginning of the Gorge towering over a small village.
And at one of the bends in particular we very nearly came to grief! We met another motor home coming the other way so John squeezed into the side as much as possible and then stopped. But the other driver must have thought he had enough room to get through - evidently not - as his back end passed ours a loud scraping noise reached our ears, - luckily for us it was his rear near side grating against the wall - ouch, that sounded expensive £££££!

Then all that was left for us to do was to climb out of the canyon via the very steep Col de St Rome de Dolan and head for our designated Aire in the town of La Canourge. By the time we got there John had been driving for nearly 6 hours - mainly because our speed was very limited due to the arduousness of the roads - so as you would imagine he was well and truly ready to put his feet up. And me, well my excuse for being tired was the fact that I'd had so much adrenaline pumping though my veins for most of the day!

Thursday 19th October 2017
This morning we woke to the gentle drumming of rain on our roof, but despite that, the autumnal picture that met our eyes when we pulled up our blinds was quite delightful! The woodland floor was carpeted with a bright orange rug, the falling leaves were whirling around us in mini tornados and in the huge lake loomed mistily in the background! And because it was so lovely it was quite difficult to tear ourselves away, but our time in France is running short now so our decision to continue our journey Northwards was soon made!
And really I haven't got much else to say about today - it was just a long drive (150 miles) over the gently undulating plateau of the central massif, but this was undertaken on excellent roads so our journey only took a little over 3 hours even with stops!
As caught on the dash cam It was much nearer than it looks on the pic! |
Anyway, after that it wasn't to long before we arrived at our nights free stopping place which was a small Aire in the town of Randan, and once we were settled it was debate time concerning where we should go next. John had earmarked a couple of lake areas in the Morvan region, but because we've had our wings clipped and can't really use our e-bikes (John's is making a horrible clunking noise) we couldn't decide if that was a good idea or not! However after further investigation we've settled on a Reservoir near the town of Chaumard, so fingers crossed we'll find something entertaining there!
Friday 20th October 2017
As planned this morning we drove just over a hundred miles across more of the Central Massif Plateau to the Morvan National Park which is an area that includes forests, lakes and farm land. Specifically we were aiming for an Aire at the side of the Panneciere Reservoir, but to be honest, when we arrived it was all a bit underwhelming! The water level was quite low, the day was gloomy and the site was muddy, so without either of us saying hardly a single word, we just took one look and then John put T4rdis2 back in gear and we trundled off! But where should we go - well we'd read about another lake with an Aire about 15 miles further on - Lake Settons - so that was were we ended up! And I suppose it was OK but I think the problem is we've spent so much time in so many magnificent places while we've been in France, that now, when we come to somewhere that is a bit more mundane we feel slightly disappointedπ
Anyway, we'd done enough driving for the day, and
You can just see T4rdis2 across the water |
To see our French camping spots click here
hi john and lin. you may like this if you have time
ReplyDeletetravelfranceonline.com/chateau-gaillard-richard-the-lionhearts-castle/
Hi John and Val, My John's got Richard the Lionheart's Castle highlighted on his map but it's to far out of our way for us to go this time. However, we're thinking of passing by that way when we travel through France on our way to Spain in December so it's on our to do list. Look forward to seeing you all soon xxx
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