Category: Uncategorized
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Full-steam ahead to Corsica
We struggle to find a campsite with an available pitch near Genoa where we’re getting the ferry to Corsica’s Bastia – it’s August after all. La Vesima Campsite, Arenzano This ramshackle campsite is sandwiched between Liguria’s SS1 coast road and the railway line. Rugged cliffs hem in the small shingle beach, making it claustrophobic. The…
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Aosta Valley Feasting
Local Producers – Valsar Butchers MAPS.ME tells us there’s a walking trail opposite the campsite, running parallel with Sarre’s hectic SS26. Here there’s no sirens, no beeping cars, no speeding motorbikes, but a peaceful path by flower filled gardens, vines, orchards and vegetable gardens. And so we find Valsar, butchers. We load up with spicy…
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Sarre and Cogne – The Aosta Valley
The Piccolo San Bernardo Pass Fran the Van climbs up to the Alpine pass, the Col Petit St. Bernard, on the French side, and the Piccolo San Bernardo on the Italian. Jagged mountains, heathland and indigo lake leaves me silent – and, for those who know me, that is a rare occurrence. It’s only 14…
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The Lot to The Ardèche
Two days’ drive takes us from the Lot’s mellow country roads to the hairpin 10% slopes of the Cévennes Mountains and the mighty gorges of the Tarn and Ardèche. Aveyron’s Recoules Prévinquières The N88 passes Laissac, famous as a cattle market. You can watch the auctioneers at work and have a slap-up steak for breakfast.…
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The River Lot
Luzech I love how water goes with the flow and I’m happiest doing that too, so it’s no surprise that we find ourselves by yet another river, the green and verdant Lot. We’re visiting friends, Jonathan and Clare, who’ve moved to the village of Luzech. We lunch and chat under the wisteria, looking out on…
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Dordogne’s Souillac
Souillac The swimming pool is sardine-packed in Souillac’s Camping Les Ondines – and it’s 40C – at first glance it’s not a promising prospect. But it borders the Dordogne and the restaurant has cheerful red and white chequered table cloths on long trestle tables. Under fairy lights on a mellow evening it’s French enough to…
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Domaine de Candé to Haute-Vienne’s Cromac
I choose Camping du Lac de Mondon, in Haute-Vienne’s Cromac, from the ACSI book, merely because it’s 14 kilometres from the free A20 motorway. But first we’re stopping off at Domain de Candé in Monts, as the nice young man in Azay-le-Rideau’s tourist office recommended it. Domain de Candé – Monts This is a generous,…
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Loire Valley’s Azay-le-Rideau
The Château A visit to the Azay’s château beside Camping Le Sabot is a must. The limestone glares so much it hurts my eyes. The vine-stuccoed loggia tricks me into thinking I’m in Italy. To be fair, the Renaissance took hold here in the Loire Valley, beauty becoming a goal in itself. Leonardo da Vinci…
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Wicklow’s Clara Vale to Cherbourg
The Local Auction Seán’s mother, Betty, reads in The Wicklow People that there’s an auction in Clara Vale. We take her so that she can catch up with old friends. As we cross the arched stone bridge, SS Patrick and Killian’s white church nestles under an escarpment, roses riot over a cottage door. A man…
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Wicklow’s Glendasan to Glendalough
Glendasan River The textures of schist, shale, pink veined marble are clear in Glendasan River’s waters. The sudden silver of Galena shines from the river bed as I leap across the stepping stones. Water boatmen scud across the water, and circles radiate out from small fish surfacing. St. Kevin’s Way St. Kevin’s Way takes us…
Campervan Therapy 