Le Tour de France 2023

Road Tripping 16-19 September

We had a decision to make, do we blast down the toll roads or take the slow road?

There is no grand plan for this tour apart from visiting friends who have recently moved to France in the last week of September. We have had a busy Summer and are looking forward to a relaxing break with a little less driving and more enjoying the sunshine, which has been a little absent from the UK this year.

Having got a late tunnel crossing on Saturday afternoon, we blasted down the toll road to just outside of Reims, champagne-central. Our aim was to get to our overnight stop before it got too dark. Charlie had found a car park in the middle of a forest, located above Verzy and its many vineyards.

We drove up through the vineyards as the sun was setting, harvest is in full swing and the tractors loaded with crates of grapes were all heading back to their respective winery for the night. Apparently the grapes have to go through triage before they make it into the presses. They are picked over so any unripe, damaged or diseased fruit can be discarded.

I thought to myself, I will take a picture when the light is better and the pickers are harvesting, when we drive by the next morning.

We found the car park at the top of a hill, in the middle of a dense forest criss-crossed with walking and biking trails. The car park was huge and only one other camper, which was a big, converted lorry.

Before darkness really descended, we went for a quick walk but to be honest it was a dull forest. Very dense with no vistas, we expected to hear or see some kind of wildlife, but not a squeak, a rustle or a hoot.

We wanted to get away early the next morning so as we drove down the hill and the forest thinned, I was camera ready for a great picture of rolling vineyards busy with activity, but instead the valley was filled with fog! Not an atmospheric September, hop picking morning mist wrapping itself gently through the valley like a lace throw, but a can’t see your hand in front of your face, wrapped in thick blanket of fog!

So here’s a Google snapshot of where we stayed instead!

No tolls today, and as the fog cleared, vineyards had been replaced by rows and rows of apple trees covered in anti-bird netting. Rural France on a Sunday morning is deserted, not a soul out and about, no one jogging, dog walking, walking to shops to get the newspapers or even a croissant. We passed through village after village that were like ghost towns, shutters closed on all the houses, then, there was life.

On entering the town of Joinville, cars were parked at the side of the road and people were heading towards a chateau at the edge of town. I jumped out to take a photo whilst Charlie circled round to pick me up.

Chateau du Jardin was a maison de plaisance for the Duke and Duchess of Guise. The chateau was built purely as a space for entertaining and had no living spaces, only a grand banqueting hall, private rooms for entertaining honoured guests, kitchens and a wine cellar. The beautiful formal gardens were restored in the 1990’s and as you can see from the photo are beautiful.

As we had had no breakfast, we decided Joinville was an ideal lunch spot. The motorhome, now with a trailer, does not lend itself to squeezing into a parking space. On the other side of town we found a riverside car park with space for us. Most French towns provide parking and overnight stops for camper vans and motorhomes. We wandered back into the town centre along the River Marne and managed to get the last table at the only restaurant open in town, (unless you wanted a pizza).

After lunch, we headed for our next stop, Besançon, an ancient city on the banks of the Doubs. We took a chance on getting a place on a campsite which was just 10 mins outside of the city and we were lucky. As we now have additional transport, in the form of a very snazzy, if I say so myself, Vespa Primavera Vibe, we decided to take a spin into the city.

The city centre is restricted to pedestrians and cycles only and although we had a couple of hairy moments navigating the complicated one-way system and which vehicles were allowed in which street, my last minute spot of a Sauf Pompiers sign, saved us a heap of trouble!

We parked up and wandered through the busy streets and found a brasserie slightly off the beaten track, in a pretty square and just had a drink and a very indulgent ice cream.

Getting out of the city was just as interesting as getting in, and I was tasked with back seat navigation, never a task that ends in marital harmony, but after a couple of terse moments, mainly due to the phone not quite updating route guidance quick enough, we made it back to camp, without any major incidents.

Interestingly, a couple of facts I found out after our visit, Besançon was the site of a Nazi internment camp for British passport holders. Between 1940-41, 3-4000 mainly women and children were held in dire conditions and many died of pneumonia, dysentery, food poisoning and frostbite. Besançon was also where around 100 members of the French Resistance were executed over a period of 4 years.

Monday started fine but the further south we headed, the sky darkened and it looked very ominous. We stopped at a roadside restaurant for a quick lunch of chicken, mine with salad, his with chips.

In the afternoon, more by luck than judgement, we were always driving just behind a storm, thunder and lighting raged for a couple of hours and although it rained, it wasn’t torrential. We were obviously chasing the tail of the storm and were always on the edge of it rather than in the worst of it.

We arrived in Laragne-Montéglin, just before 7 pm with plans to stay in the large municipal ‘camping-car’ aire in the middle of the town. As we neared the town, there were posters up everywhere advertising that the Fair was in the town for a week. On arriving we found that the municipal aire was closed to the public as the fairground people were camped there. Just a few minutes away, there was a normal campsite but its reception was only open until 7 pm, which had just passed. We pulled in to find another van in front of us, its occupants chatting to the site manager. I hopped out and a very stressed manager said the site couldn’t allow anyone on the grass pitches as they were waterlogged but we could pull up in the car park area for the night and he hoped we were self-sufficient as the facilities weren’t that clean as most of the site was taken over by army-style tents housing itinerant workers. These workers were working picking grapes and fruit.

Luckily we had something to eat at lunchtime, as by now, we were too tired to find anywhere to eat, so we had a ‘picky tea’. Outside the storm still raged but now behind us and although we could still hear thunder, it had stopped raining and the sunset was spectacular.

Our last day of travelling for a few days, to the Côte d’Azur … finally sun, sea, sand and lazy days beckon!

We left stormy skies and low temperatures and as we neared the coast the sun shone, the air was warmer, we passed harvested lavender fields and stopped at a roadside stall to buy melon, figs, tomatoes and fresh apricot juice. The air smelt of the Mediterranean, thyme, lavender, jasmine and mimosa, it smelt of warm seas, and hot sand.

We arrived at our beachside camp, late in the afternoon. We had stayed at this basic campsite 2 years previously. It is basically a car park that offers electric hook up, water and waste facilities but the beach is just across the road. You can hear the sea from your bed and there are several restaurants and a good shop and bakery on the doorstep. By half 4, we were on the beach in time for a swim in the relatively choppy sea and to catch the last of the sun. The wind was getting up and the site manager came round to tell everyone to tie awnings down or take them in as strong winds and torrential rain were expected overnight and into Wednesday…

Are we doomed to relive the British Summer on the French Riviera … !