I omitted some of the photos I took of this wonderful coastline so here they are:
Archives for the month of: May, 2013
We arrived at Les Issambres after driving in the pelting rain for most of the way from Puymeras. We caught up with Marianne and Franz who we hadn’t seen for 8years. Unfortunately they had arrived in their holiday house from Germany to find it flooded. It was in a terrible state when they arrived in April and was in the process of drying out while we were there. Friends had offered them a house for a time and we all stayed there instead. Franz took us down to the ferry the next day and Maurice and I went across to St Tropez for a few hours.
The main town and harbour is quite small and wandered around with the hundreds of other tourists,saw the boats of the rich and famous and had a coffee at a nice little cafe. It was lovely and sunny until the late afternoon when it poured again and we even had some hail. So much for Summer!
We went out to a nice little fish restaurant near down at the port.
Maurice and I set out the next day to Mandelieu which is just north of Nice to see our friend Patrick who is now working there. We drove through the mountains and down along the “Cote d’Azur” which did look beautiful in the sunshine. The traffic was very heavy along the coast as it is only a single lane. we avoided drdiving through Cannes as the film festival was in progess and trying to get through the traffic would have been a nightmare. After a nice chat and coffee with Patrick we set off for “Beaulieu Sur Mer” a beautiful town set into the mountain with spectacular views to the sea. My mother and her friend (who is now 92 and lives in a nursing home in London) went on holiday to Beaulieu in 1948 and as
I had seen many photos of their time there, I wanted to visit it.
We set off again through the winding mountain roads via Monaco, Monte Carlo to Italy and found our way to our lovely friend Mary Foreman who is now 89 and still living after 45years in her charming converted farmhouse in Tuscany between Florence and Sienna. It was again raining for the latter half of the day but we found the house again after 12years and found Mary as full of life as ever. We spent the night there as well as Mary’s Scottish carer and two of her friends.
It was at least not raining when we left and stopped for lunch in “Panzano in Chianti”. A famous butcher and restauranteur “Dario”
who runs the “Macelleria Antica Cecchini” has wonderful meat and Salamis for sale as well as some delicious salt flavoured with herbs. We ate for 10euros a delicious meal at his restaurant upstairs from the butcher’s shop. It consisted of one very long table where everyone sat together and the meat was cooked on a large grill in front of you.
We headed then to Sezze Scalo and my cousin who is always very welcoming.
After getting a bit lost, spent the night in a lovely forest setting camping ground just south of Chateauroux in Velles . It rained lightly most of the way there as well as overnight.
The camping grounds we have found with our ACSI camping card cost about $20 a night including electricity and the facilities have so far been very good.
We set off for the south and had lunch in a quaint little pub in Alencon. The rabbit terrine and pork dish were delicious as was the
Iles flottant (soft meringue floating in custard).
We travelled mainly the national roads or 3 tier roads which didn’t attract a toll. We did do part of the day on the toll road
and were a bit taken aback at the $30 toll charge. The previous toll charges in Ireland which we experienced were only about 5euros.
We left Velles at 8.30am. We stopped for coffee at a lovely little village and then continued on to Alencon where we had
lunch at a modern Brasserie. We had forgotten to get a parking ticket so I went back and asked a pedestrian if one was needed.
He was very helpful and said “yes it was necessary and where was I from”. When I said Australia he replied that he thought it was a very nice country.
My French has held up so far but it has consisted mainly of simple questions and answers. It rained quite consistenly for most of the day as we travelled the winding roads through the lovely mountains of the Ardeche to Avignon and there was luckily very little traffic. We had read about an amazing town called Le Puy en Velay and decided to make the journey over the mountains to see it. The city is dotted with vast volcanic karsts on to which statues and a church were built hundreds of years ago. We were lucky that it stopped raining enough to take a few photos before the rain set in again. Just before Avignon we had a torrential downpour which lasted about an hour and which continued for the rest of the night.
In the four weeks that we have had the van we have covered nearly 4,000 kilometres and in a few days have travelled from the north to the south of France. The distances are not so great but
the winding roads and many small towns in between make progress much slower than in Australia.
Thursday saw us having a sleep in, catch up on washing our clothes. In the afternoon we ventured with the van to east of Avignon to
Pont du Gard an amazing 3 level aqueduct built in Roman times and perfectly preserved. From there we travelled about 25kms south of Avignon to see the Carrieres de Lumieres a multimedia exhibition of impressionist painters held in an old quarry which were excavated over the years to extract bauxite and limestone used to build the Chateau and the village of Les Baux. We were in time but the staff said they had closed the exhibition and wouldn’t let us in saying we were too late to see the show which was a pity as it was something that I wanted to see. We made a complaint to the Tourist office (don’t know if that would make a difference but it made me feel better!). We went however up the many stairs to Baux a beautiful old village sitting right at the top of the hill. It was very quaint and took away a bit of the disappointment at not seeing “Les Carrieres de Lumieres”. The whole area of the Baux de Provence is made up of spectacular limestone cliffs with resort hotels set into the mountainsides and slopes.
The following morning we set off in the rain again to see the “Palais du Papes” inside the vast walls surrounding the old city of Avignon but we could not find a parking spot so we made a note to come back at a later date and went instead to the Lavender museum in Coustellet. Here we happened to bump into Steve and Debbie from Perth. We knew they were travelling but didn’t know where they were. What a coincidence! We decided to have lunch together which was a nice interlude to the rainy day. We bid them goodbye and continued north east of Avignon to Anne and Laurent in Puymeras.
They and their delightful daughter who kept us entertained live amongst the vineyards overlooking Mt Ventoux which we could see only at the end of the day as it was raining still and covered in clouds. When we did see it we saw snow on the top of the mountain.
Laurent made a roaring fire as it was pretty cold. We had a lovely meal of local white asparagus, local beef and the most delicious strawberries we had ever tasted. Overnight the wind picked up and it was raining again by morning. It was a shame for all the people visiting Provence over the long weekend and for all the people at the Cannes film festival.
The next morning we stopped at a large “InterMarche” and with several bystanders help we purchased a plug which we needed with our French electrical connection for the campervan. We set off on the motorway as it was pouring and not worth taking the picturesque side roads to our friends Marianne and Franz who live near St Tropez.
After a brief stopover in Wexford to catch up with Fritz at the Friary and another nice overnight stay with Vincent and a lovely lunch with Barry, Louise and family we drove to Rosslare and boarded the “Oscar Wilde” which was full of French teenagers and other passengers. It was a bit lumpy at first but calmed down overnight which made for a good crossing. After a good coffee we disembarked to the right hand side of the road in Cherbourg at 11am on the 13th May and after setting the Tom Tom we set off up and around the coast to Quettehou via Barfleur to have lunch at La Chaumiere, a lovely little restaurant recommended to us by
Maurice’s cousin Paul which proved to be a winner with a three course ample lunch with coffee for about $30 total. We decided that when we are on our own we would have our main meal at lunch time which we find is digested better than having a large meal in the evening and going to bed on a full stomach especially after travelling in the van for
most of the day. The only drawback is that a lot of the time some wine is included with lunch and we feel like a sleep afterwards which would be alright in the van if we didn’t have to drive on further.
It doesn’t get really dark until about 9.30pm and we are enjoying the long evenings.
It was sunny and almost a tropical temperature at 14degrees when we hit the continent which was about 7 degrees warmer than what
we had had in Ireland for a lot of the time. The wind however was still biting as we wandered around the areas of Utah and
Omaha beach and the American war cemetery. A very moving place to see, beautifully kept and in a wonderful position right on the coast. We visited the museum for which 2 American brothers had raised the money and although an excellent museum giving the history of the D Day invasion and a history of the German and American forces, it sadly made no mention of all the English and other forces of the Commonwealth countries who lost their lives.
Most of the roads that we took were flanked on both sides much green pastures and fields of beautiful yellow rape seed. Taking the backroads a lot of the time took us through the centres of lovely little villages where a lot of the main streets consisted of one lane.
The Fiat “camping car” as it is known in France has handled extremely well and is just the right size for the narrow streets
and country lanes.
We arrived in Bayeux about 8pm and settled into the excellent camping area (also recommended by cousin Paul) which
was situated very close (about 10minutes walk along the river) to the city. The receptionist I thought was not French from her accent and found that she was from Tasmania!
We wandered into the old city which was practically deserted and found the cathedral with it’s beautiful architecture and found
the building where the Bayeux tapestry was housed so we knew where to go the next day when it opened.
The next morning we were the first at the door at 9am and had the place practically to ourselves with only one other person viewing the tapestry at the same time. It is an amazing feat of embroidery over 70 metres long detailing the battle of Harold and William the Conqueror in 1066. It had an excellent audio system which was easy to listen to considering some of the audio systems we have had previously.
Outside the building a workman was blasting away the large graffiti left by some morons. Sadly it seems to be everywhere in the world.
A good strong espresso for about 1 euro and walk back to the camping ground saw us take off about 11am for our long (6hour) trip to Chateauroux via Le Mans.
We set off in convoy to the west of Ireland about 11am on the 7th May and travelled to Westport and then down through the Poetry mountains and via a Lough to Clifden. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains to our destination of Clifden where we arrived about 8pm. We did explore the capabilities of Van Mauriceson with six of us in it for lunch which worked well with two of us standing but we even managed to boil some water for tea on the stove.
Cousin Marcia a professional photographer took lots of pictures of the landscape and her friend Ellen and Barney and Caroline booked into the Abbeyglen hotel which is an old hotel complete with tennis courts and helipad where many celebrities had stayed in years gone by.
Maurice and I were going to find a caravan park about 20minutes away but Ellen asked the receptionist if it would be OK for us to stay in the carpark. She suggested asking the manager so we went with Barney who had on previous occasions met the manager to ask him. He readily agreed which was very kind of him. We had a very nice dinner in the dining room upstairs complete with birthday cake for Caroline and afterwards we retired to the downstairs lounge with nice warm fire to chat and listen to the live Irish music in the bar next door. The other four travelling companions slept in comfort in the large old hotel while the travellers spent the night in Van Mauriceson under a tree in the carpark which we regretted in the morning as it dropped bits on the roof all night and poured with rain depriving us of a bit of sleep.
We did however slip into Barney and Caroline’s room in the morning however to have a shower which was very welcome. We drove a little way back through the mountains to Kylemore Abbey in County Galway which was magnificent building which had been a private residence and then a school which had been attended by some of the family and one of Maurice’s and Caroline’s 1st cousin once removed who was a nun at the school was buried beside the church o the property.
We made our way then from Connemara through the very different scenery of the Burren in Clare and to Ennistimon.
We peeled off and booked into the Riverside Campsite in Doolin and the other four headed for the lovely Falls hotel
in Enninstimon. Maurice and I joined them (about a 20minute trip) for dinner and a spectacular view from the hotel
over the Falls which virtually run through the centre of town. It did rain for most of the day but we did get some
glimpses of the sun. A storm started while we were having dinner and it was very windy by the time Maurice and I drove
back to the campsite and bedded down for the night. The storm continued all night and there were heavy squalls which
rocked the van quite violently a few times. It was a cold walk to the showers in the morning and we were glad to get
back to the van and the reverse cycle air conditioning which was working very well.
After a light breakfast and refill of water for our tank we left for the Cliffs of Moher which were only about 15minutes
away. I couldn’t believe how much the area had changed since I was there about 25years ago. There used to be a small parking area with an old stone cafe but now there was an enormous carpark lower down the hill and built into the side of the hill was an enormous visitor’s centre complete with cafe, restaurant and information about the area. We paid four euros to park and access the area and on our ticket was printed “McCarthy week” so Maurice and I were able to show our ID and register to win a holiday for four in County Clare. McCarthy means “loving” but this was thought to be ironic as they were known in the early days to to be involved in many territorial disputes! There were 647 McCarthys in 1901 and now there are apparently over 30,000 people with the name Mccarthy in Ireland.
We four women went up to the top of the hill to take some pictures of the cliffs and we had to link arms as we came down as we were nearly blown over in the wind. It was a cold Summer’s day – about 7degrees but the wind made it a very high chill factor. Maurice saw a little girl knocked down by the wind.
Marcia wented to see and photograph a Dolman – an ancient megalithic new stone age tomb in Poulnabrone which is one of two in the area and supposedly one of the best preserved ones in the Burren. It was nearly as windy as on the coast and very
cold but it was a worthwhile site to see.
From there Caroline and Barney took us to Clontuskert church were the three cousin’s great, great,great grandfather John Martin
and some of his family were buried and we then went on to where the Martin family farm had been in County Galway and then we drove along to the land where the two Martin brothers lived before one went to Australia and then onto the USA and the other brother to the USA. The house unfortunately has since disintegrated but a lovely couple who have lived on the land for the last 40years showed us where the house had been and had us to tea. They have done this for other relatives as well so it was very hospitable of them especially as we got a little lost on the country lanes and didn’t get to their house until after 6.30pm.
We got back to Dublin around 10pm and all decided to have fish and chips from the “chipper” for dinner.
Marcia and her friend Ellen left Dalkey on Friday to fly back to the USA. It was great for us to meet Marcia again after many years
and to meet Ellen and spend some time with them both.
On Friday our friends from Perth Pamela and Ken came up to Dalkey and we all went off to Finnegan’s pub for a long lunch which was lovely and by the time we got back to the house we were able to sit in the sunshine in the garden.
We reluctantly left the very hospitable Barney and Caroline on Saturday morning for Wexford for the night and then on to Rosslare and to France on Sunday the 12th May.
We set off for Dublin on Friday the 2nd May and we had been lucky so far with the weather which sunny and partly cloudy but with no rain. In Dublin we stayed with Maurice’s cousin
Caroline and her husband Barney as well as the other visitors – their son Hugh, his wife and their 3 year old daughter and the next day Marcia Martin and her friend Ellen arrived from San Francisco for the week,so it was a full house.
We took the van and followed Barney and crew over the beautiful Wicklow mountains on Sunday and visited the German military cemetary in Glencree and then attempted to have a late lunch in Glendalough, however, all of Ireland was out enjoying the sunshine and the bank holiday weekend so after an attempt at one car park we instead made our way back home to a nice roast lamb dinner instead.
The weather was mostly sunny the whole time in Dublin if a little cool and we even managed to have a long lunch outside on the Monday which was a bank holiday. All of Carolines’sisters,children and their children,cousins and their children joined us so it was a lovely big family party in brilliant sunshine.
We set off for the County Mayo in the west on Tuesday so that Caroline and Barney could show us and our American Cousin where their great grandfather and brother lived and enjoy some of the West Coast’s beautiful scenery.
We left Hitchin in bright sunshine about 1630 on the 23rd of April and travelled down to South Wales to Pembrey Country Park where we stayed for the night. The trip took about 5hours and there were many lovely displays of daffodils along the way.. Apparently the season is about a month late with many trees which should already be covered with green leaves, just now starting to show their buds. By the time we got there it was very foggy and we awoke to light rain and fog the next morning. The caravan manager plugged us however we had a faulty plug and we had no power, air conditioning etc which was a bit of a disappointment for our first camping night! We awoke to thick fog from there to the harbour in Pembroke where we boarded the Isle of Inishmore. We had booked the ferry online it was a very easy and efficient service. They recognized the vehicle and just handed us our ticket which cost 188pounds one way including us and the van. We saw nothing on route except for the fog but it was a very comfortable crossing and there were very few people on board.
On arrival it had cleared up a bit and we drove the 30minutes to Wexford to see our old friend Fritz and Vincent again in the Franciscan Friary. Fritz was in good form and we stayed for three days with Vincent his carer and met up with Barry Ennis, his wife Louise and their two lovely girls. We had met Barry 6 months ago and had kept in touch since then.
They took us to a lovely choral performance with a group called “Vocare” who last performed in Carnegie Hall and St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Their daughter Sarah Kate
also performed with a children’s choir which was lovely.
The next morning we left for Clonmel and it was nice to catch up with Paul and Nell McCarthy and their daughter Aiofe. We had a relaxing few days with them and then headed off on the 30th April for “Foxbrook” and Mary Eivers.
She took us to Trim castle where we had a good tour guide and a nice sunny day. The following day we went to the Hill of Tara which was a place of medieval burial and we had a beautiful view over Trim and the surrounding countryside.
Mary’s 3year old niece Beatrice asked my name and then asked what the name of the boy was? She was referring to Maurice. She then asked what kind of English we spoke. Mary has three dogs that live in the stables and they are great fun. They eagerly (like most dogs) go for a walk and tear around the fields chasing rabbits and birds. We also visited Mary Gibsons brother Larry and his family that evening which was really nice.
The weather was still kind to us with no rain and mostly sunshine.