The trip to the ferry home - Caen and Ouistreham

We left Le Colmbier fairly early today as we had a long drive to Caen ahead of us to get the overnight ferry home.  The drive was uneventful.  We got to Caen itself early in the evening and had a wander around the City and the Cathedral as well as doing some shopping for holiday gifts etc.

The ferry terminal is actually at a little town called Ouistreham so we drove there and still had plenty of time to spare so had a wander around the sea front and then had a delicious dinner in a small local restaurant.  We got on the ferry in plenty of time ready for the overnight crossing back to the UK.

Niort & Lucon

We had breakfast at the ten this morning but inside as it was raining on and off.  After making sure everything was secure we went for a drive, first going to Niort.  It was quite an interesting town and after exploring a market and some more religious places we had a nice lunch.  We visited the Donjon and then drove on to Lucon where we saw a cathedral and a funfair.  We got back to the campsite to find the porch pole on the tent broken due to the high winds.  Fortunately we have a repair kit so managed to repair the tent for its last night.

We had a light dinner of soup, bread and cheese at the tent and then went to the bar for a few drinks and games as our last night in France.

The Marais Poitevin

Much better weather greeted us today so we had a nice cooked breakfast at the tent and then drove to Fontenay le Comte again as Saturday is market day.  There was lots of interesting stalls and a very nice indoor covered market that puts Oxford’s to shame.  We bought a few bits including some more interesting cheeses and then drove to Marais (marshes) Poitevin to see a lovely ornithological park there.  It was also offering trips on boats that were drive a bit like punts.  We cheated and had one with a guide who did the punting for us.  There were some lovely views from in the marsh waterways and thankfully no crocodiles.  On the way back to the campsite we stopped in Vouvent to check out a recommended restaurant and we also had a little look in the church there.  Dinner was some nice poitrine cooked at the tent with French beans and some prepared salads.

La Roche sur Yon and a chocolate museum

Today started bright but heavy rain set in from about 11am.  The tent seemed to be keeping it out so we went to explore La Roche sur Yon, a town that Napoleon had re-founded in the 19th Century.   We had a nice lunch in a brasserie and sat there for a while waiting for the rain to subside.  After that we visited a little museum with some art and modern art.  We then had a brief wander around the Place Napoleon and had a play with the mechanical animals in the water there.  We visited a local church – name – and then went back to the car to drive to the chocolate museum just outside the town centre.

The museum gave a fascinating history of chocolate and how it came to Europe.  It also had a rather good chocolate shop!  Our evening meal was on the campsite again because it was still pretty wet.

Fontenay le Comte

We woke up to more rain today but it stopped fairly quickly and the day brightened up nicely.  After breakfast and some time relaxing on the campsite we went to visit Fontenay le Comte – a very pretty town about 30km away from our campsite.  We started the visit with a nice lunch in a brasserie then did a fascinating circular walking tour of the town.  It took about 3 hours and showed us lots of historically important sites including the Eglise Notre-Dame, the Pont Neuf and the Maison a Pan de Bois.  The walk was very well set-out with clear signposting and nice explanatory plaques by each site of interest, including with a small piece in English.

We returned to the campsite around 6.30pm and I had a swim then we had a nice dinner of steak, vegetables and salad cooked at our tent.

Onwards to the final campsite

We packed up this morning and left Eglantiere around midday.  We drove North via Auch and Agen to join the motorway towards out next campsite.  We arrived in the Vendée around 6pm and went to a Casino (supermarket not gambling establishment) to get a few supplies and some much needed petrol before arriving at our next campsite, Le Colombier, around 6.30pm.  We got our tent put up and everything ready just in time for more rain.  We had dinner at the campsite restaurant (not as good as Eglantiere) and a fairly early night.  It was a very rainy night but we stayed dry again

Néouvielle Massif

Today is our last day in the Haute Pyrénées department today and we have a long drive as well as taking down and putting up camp again tomorrow so we decided not to go too far.  We spent the morning at the campsite and then in the afternoon took a drive down to the Néouvielle Massif region of the Pyrenees.

We drove through lots of pretty towns on the long uphill drive towards the border with Spain.  We branched off to the right at Fabian and drove about 10km drive ascending just over 2,000m to the Lac de Cap du Long, an artificial lake made by the Barrage de Cap de Long, a dam that is part of EDFs local hydro-electric generation system.  We drove back down the long road from the dam very gently so as to avoid a repeat of the melted wheel trims event of last year.  We had our final dinner at the campsite and quite an early night ready for packing up in the morning and moving on to th
e Vendée.

St Bertrand de Comminges

After an incredibly heavy rain storm in the night, meaning sleep was rather disturbed, we got up quite late today.  Thankfully the tent had remained watertight.  After breakfast we drove to St Bertrand de Comminges, and important village in the area as it is the location of the cathedral Saint-Marie de St Bertrand de Comminges.  The cathedral is important in itself as a pilgrimage site but is also one of the ancient pilgrimage routes to Saintago de Compostela. We had lunch in St Bertrand de Comminges then drive back to the campsite for a swim and the introductory talk and drinks by the management.  It happens every Monday.  

The was presentation about the area was followed by drinks, introductions to the staff of the campsite – it’s very much a family-run affair – and then a barbecue for everyone that was really good fun as a good chance to meet new people and make new friends.  We all got to cook our own food on the barbecue too.

A day in Toulouse

We got up early today and after a nice breakfast of merguez, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes we headed off for the 100km drive to Toulouse.  We got there around noon and started out exploring with a coffee in Place du Capitole.

We visited the Donjon du Capital (now the tourist info centre), and la Basilique Saint Sernin.  We had lunch at Les Halles (market) Victor Hugo which has a nice first floor dining area with many restaurants.  After lunch we visited the Saint Etienne Cathedral and then walked to the Jardin des Plantes, through a fascinating antiques market.  We visited the Museé des Augustins the the église des Jacobins (the Dominicans) where Thomas Aquinas is buried.  We went and had a look at the River Garonne from the Pont Saint Pierre and the walked back via the Saint Pierre des Chartreuses church.

After the drive back to the campsite (through a lot of rain – the first we’d seen all day) we ate again at the Campsite restaurant and had some delicious prawns Provencale style.

Castelnau-Magnoac and the market

We got up to go and visit the market in Castelnau-Magnoac.  It was a good market with a wide choice of drinks, vegetables, cheese and meat.  We bought plenty of food and drink and went back to the campsite to get them refrigerated.  We had a nice lunch of bread, olives, cheese and saucisson.  The cheeses we bought were Napoleon (a local sheep’s cheese), Saint Nectaire (from the Auvergene) and Brie. We also explored a war memorial in the area.

In the afternoon we went for a walk around some of the trails on the campsite – it covers a big area – including up to the old farm where there is more accommodation and a sauna. In the evening we cooked our own dinner at the tent with some steak haché that we had bought at the market.

Auch and Condom

We went to visit two towns fairly close by today; Auch and Condom.  We had a nice lunch in Auch and had a wander round the cathedral there.  Auch has a big monumental staircase that goes down to the river Gers which we explored.  It included a statue of D’artagnan – the hero of the three musketeers.  In Condom we visited the cathedral and saw the statue of D’artagnan and the three musketeers outside it.  We had a look round the cloister of the cathedral and came back to the campsite for dinner.