Saturday 18th May 2013 – one week and 746 miles gone
Present location: Fleurie, Beaujolais region.
So, what can I say? We left Upwey one week ago and it was quite sunny. We drove to Dover and caught sight of a rough looking sea as we dropped down into the port, but in fact the crossing – on one of P & O’s newest boats – was very pleasant. We drove straight onto the boat, had lunch and undertook a spot of shopping and then it was time to disembark. Perfect.
The Navigator (me) had decided to go a different way to Paris as we had all weekend to make the trip so we turned right towards Boulogne rather than left to the motorway. It was bright but blustery, and as we approached Boulogne we decided to go inland to find an Aire where the only thing rocking the van would be us and not the wind!!
B suggested heading into the nearby forest – no Aires or camping but a truly rollercoaster road so Horatio and B had some fun! It led us to Longfosse, a few houses and a farm down a long single track road (always entertaining in a 4 ton vehicle) where you could pay 4 euros for the night, 6 with electricity. It was cold, we lasted one hour and went back to pay Madame the extra 2 euros….
Next day we went to nearby Montreuil for ze lunch. A walled town on a hilltop, not quite as picturesque as expected, but nevertheless a nice spot – we even found enough sun to sit out and have coffee, albeit with jackets still on, but hey. We overnighted in site near Beauvais. Eventually. The town centre was closed for a fete, and all routes to the camping were “Route Barré” – blocked off. We tried again and again to circumvent this as the Satnag kept returning us to the problem. The Navigator eventually prevailed. It was an unremarkable site, but we had to stop somewhere!
The next morning we went to the Aire in nearby Beauvais in order to visit the Cathedral St. Pierre with its jaw-droppingly high vaulted chancel which makes you dizzy looking up and apparently fell down twice during its construction in the 13th Century. It also houses an amazingly beautiful and complicated astronomical clock which purports to show the age of the world, and some of the most stunning original stained glass windows. Well worth the travails of the night before.
From there we trundled down the A roads to Maisons Laffitte, a posh suburb of Paris with a famous racecourse (if you are into horse racing that is) and a campsite on an island in the Seine. No blocked roads, but entertainingly narrow ones peppered with parked cars as an extra challenge.
Sadly, as I had forgotten my discount card and the management were less than trusting, we had to pay full whack for this site – 33 euros for which we were allocated a view of the shop and a parked up bus. There was no toilet paper (a major quality indicator in my book!), it was cold and I lost the plot. I wanted to leave – life was catching up with me. Just as I decided we should cut and run and forget trying to get meetings as no-one had replied to my emails, someone did, so we were clobbered. I cast about and got one more meeting and a severe telling off from another client for trying to get in at such short notice. Merci beaucoup.
The saving grace was the excellent campsite restaurant with the views of the Seine, featuring an intermittent procession of enormous barges, each with a car perched on top.
We ended up staying 3 nights as inevitably the 2 clients could not possibly pick the same day for their meetings. So B and I traipsed in and out of Paris on the RER and Metro 2 days running. The first meeting was with a new client, and hopefully will be the last one I have there. He kept us waiting 30 minutes and then gave us just 5 and was remarkably rude during that short time. I fail to see why he wanted me to come in at all. Happily the meeting the next day was with a friendly client (my “twin”) and much more worthwhile.
Meetings over, we jumped in Horatio to scarper for the south. But Paris hadn’t finished with us yet. Our SatNag route took us closer and closer to the centre until we could see the Arc de Triomphe looming for the second time that day! I wailed and B started to seriously panic at the thought of having to drive Horatio around Etoile (basically a 10 lane wide roundabout with no regulations, full of Parisian drivers – ouch). Until then I couldn’t believe that the Peripherique could seem like a saving grace. As I screamed at B to take the appropriate turning, it emerged that was where the SatNag turned out to be taking us all along….
About half an hour later (normal Peripherique traffic, bit like the M25 with added ambulances and gendarmerie cars creating temporary extra lanes) we escaped the clutches of the city. The A6 took us to Auxerre in Bourgogne country and we got off there to go to Tonnerre, skirting Chablis en route. That’s more like it.
That took us to Thursday night, which was spent on a pretty, rustic campsite between a river and a canal and which was still showing the sign of a recent major flood – as was the owner who managed to mention it every time I saw him. Then it started to rain. I did get a bit twitchy as we squelched our way around.
On Friday morning it was only just raining, so we walked into town to see the Fosse Dionne – a natural spring which was the reason for picking that stop. It comes up into a now walled basin with galleried washing area around. The clear water shows clearly the green vegetation around the edges and then looks a lovely turquoise in the centre, which legend says has no bottom – oh, and a basilisk (a snake which can kill you with a glance).
We survived and after a coffee it was back on the A6 heading for Beaujolais country (most regions of France south of Paris are associated with wine, of course). We found a campsite in Fleurie, in the middle of vineyards featuring very small but old vines – they reminded me of bonsai trees, all squat and gnarled. We had a lovely dinner in the village, served by a lad who could have been no more than 14, but was obviously keen and very attentive. Salade de Chevre Chaud (with poached egg) and a very good Charolais Entrecote, plus an excellent bottle of Fleurie – well, you have to, don’t you.
Today the rain set in. We played with the satellite dish (no joy), played DVDs on the new TV (successful, once we found the ON button) and drank wine – pourquois pas?! Salut! (photos to follow…!)