This is very much a filler post... more about minor details for later recall than any particular interest.. . I no longer keep log book version so much I just write this and put it in van journal book.. although there are some nice photos Dr Fred took when he climbed the mountain.
Driving through vinyard after vinyard looking quite lush in places.. watching the weather change...from deluge rain and humid grey skies to huge blue spaces and almost bearable temperatures of about 29°. Huge completely stationary windmills looming over long (very french) avenues of plane trees.
Quite a lot of evidence of fire damage. Long vistas with faint hills - probably mountains in the far distance. The villages punctuated with obligatory cave pour le vins and the odd rather grand chateaux. There were quite a few vehicles on the road but all the towns and villages seemed deserted not a soul in sight.
Fot one night we camped in amoungst olive groves on an organic vinyard. Sounds idyllic but actually was quite dusty and our pitch wasnt very clean... quite a bit of litter left by previous tenant. The host was friendly and the facilities clean and there was even a little cookhouse. The mozzies came out in force but our fly nets did the job so we had an early night and a reasonable kip.
We drove to Séte on the coast... mad place ... its on several sort of spits... loads of one way streets - bridges .. and car parking... every single one with height barriers... no chance of parking so we drove round until we found an escape route and then left.... deciding to take coast road and head back towards Aix en Provence where there lay a mountain Dr Fred wanted to climb.
A long driving day and then the decision to park at a campsite as all the reviews for wild camping around the area were pretty grim and talked constantly about break ins... one person had been broken into three times in four days and as Dr Fred was going up a mountain I didn't want to be left on my own😔so we ended up on a campsite at the foot off Sante Victoire (I think)...
There were alot of flamingos in the bays along the coast but the only picture I got was a sign🤣🤣. There seemed to be a million roundabouts on the route we took - wasn't a bad drive but did feel like forever...
Camping de Cezanne - good site, ok facilities - quiet and no bitey things... well the odd one but nothing like we've had before. It was very pleasant to sit out reading as the sky darkened and the stars appeared. Its close to a sports ground and there was something going on - I hadn't reckoned with low level boom boom music all night... stopped at about 5.00ish... wasn't a problem but just felt quite out of place🤣🤣. We booked 3 days... its nice to not make decisions about what it next...
Its very different to last time we did a Europe trip in the van. There seemed to be a lot more places where we could comfortably while camp and a lot more smaller Farm type campsites just off the road. We havnt seen so many this time, but then again, this is the South of France and everybody knows it's a bit grim for camping... maybe when we get to Italy it'll be a little bit better. Last time we did Italy without any phones, any internet, and we have the most fabulous time camping.... the tourist information places that were found in this larger villages and smaller towns don't seem to exist anymore so there isn't anywhere to go and ask about camping I'm guessing these are casualty of the internet.
Dr Fred got up very early and headed up the mountain I got a text about nine o'clock saying he was on the ridge
so he,d made good progress better really because the temperatures were steadily rising and it'll be hard work wandering around that mountain when it's 30 degrees..
meanwhile I swanned around and pursued my ladylike pursuits, a little bit of embroidery, some watercolors, and I finally finished a book 'Hooked" by Japanese author Asako Yuzuki which I found quite interesting but mildly frustrating. I did finish it but I would not particularly say it was enjoyable. I think it could be classed as Japanese chicklit actually...
Dr Fred arrived back totally knackered and very thirsty... sweaty and jubilant - he'd had a great walk... got to rhe top and then along the ridge.. even met a goat.
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