Traveller Issue 4

In This Issue

Saint-Aignan

Saint-Aignan or Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France The bridge over R Cher, separated Vichy France from Occupied France. the round arch was destroyed by the Nazi’s and rebuilt after the war.

Visit to the Applecross Peninsula

This gem of the Western Highlands of Scotland, with its abundance of wildlife and scenery, set between the mainland mountain masses of Scotland and the Isle of Skye, offers visitors the peace and tranquillity of a true Highland holiday. Home to just a couple of hundred people, and accessed by only two roads, the Bealach na Ba pass road from the south and the coast road from the North, it is a haven from the noise and clutter of modern life.

However, it is not the easiest place to get to but you’ll never forget the journey, especially if you come over the Bealach na Ba pass, an historic and quite famous route through the mountains of the Applecross peninsula. The warning sign at the start says that this road is not suitable for learner drivers, caravans and very large vehicles so crossing it is an adventure, not for the larger motorhome or those of a nervous disposition. This single-track road has some Alpine-like hairpin bends, and passing places which seem to hang over the edge of the mountain in mid air. The biggest problem however is trying to keep your eyes focussed on the road and not on the breathtaking scenery especially on the descent. The pass is 11.4 miles long and rises to 2,053ft. Starting at sea level you rise slowly until you enter the last leg with 20% gradients and hairpin bends. Stop at the parking area at the top and you’ll enjoy wonderful panoramas to the Outer Hebrides and the mountains to the south. The coast route from the north is much longer at 25 miles, still single track, but without the steep gradients and hairpin bends. It starts at Shieldaig and a visit to Nanny’s tea room to enjoy one of their famous local sea food dishes, or home made cakes, is a must before you start out.

We decided to stay awhile at the Visit Applecross campsite a mere 5 minutes walk from the Visitor Centre, Pub and Bay area. It has room for sixty tents, motorhomes and touring caravans, several glamping huts and static caravans for rent. There are two-fully functional hot water shower blocks, (one brand new this year), a laundry room with a washing machine, tumble dryer and a payphone, electric hook-up points. It is best to book well in advance!

As well as just soaking up the peace and quiet we enjoyed walks in the hills behind the campsite and along the bay, stopping off at the Applecross Photographic Gallery to bag a souvenir. A picnic on the beach, lunch at the Walled Garden Cafe with the wonderful flower garden and vegetable production area, and a visit to the Heritage Centre where I learnt how to spin wool on a traditional spinning wheel. A visit to the pub is a must, booking is essential if you want a meal as it is extremely busy at all times.

We were up and on the road by 9am on the morning of our departure to drive down the pass on a very short journey south to Plockton, near Kyle of Lochalsh, and then over the ‘Bridge to Skye’. The journey was unusually quiet. When we got to the bottom we realised why. The road to Kyle of Lochalsh was closed for repair and the only way to get to Skye was to make a detour via Inverness, approximately 120 miles along mainly single-track roads. Needless to say we changed our plans and gave Skye a miss. We hope to go back sometime and spend more time in the area exploring Loch Carron, Torridon and Shieldaig and, of course, Skye!

We made our way to Versailles

Chris Brown

We went via a couple of Aires; the first one in Toul. They’ve recently moved the Aire to the Rue de Cimetiere, but don’t be put off by the address, there wasn’t a grave stone in sight! It’s new, well set up with electricity. The town itself is fortified with ramparts and a moat and easily accessed down a short path and through an underpass (under the old walls). It has an impressive church, the Hotel de Ville is an attractive 18thC (I think) building, there are some interesting building facades and a museum. The next stop was Mareil sur Ay. The Aire is by the canal which has a fair sized Marina, but there is one restaurant which has one choice on the menu, and not much else. There are more interesting places to stay.

Once you get to the first floor and the ‘State’ apartments you can then appreciate the sumptuous décor and furnishing, and although I’ve seen the Hall of Mirrors many times in books and on TV, nothing quite lives up to seeing it ‘for real’. We were fortunate in that there were not so many people about so we got the full impact of the light from the chandeliers bouncing off the mirrors which also reflected the gold statues and we found it stunning. But there’s more…

Having bought a 2 day passport on line before we left the UK, we returned on Thursday morning to be confronted by queues – miles long…… But while we were waiting to get through security, the lady who had checked our bags the afternoon before came over and asked to see our tickets and sent us around the side of the Chateau to the Chapel entrance and we were straight in! Wasn’t that nice of her?

So, Thursday was to explore the Mesdames Apartments, the gardens with their parterres, fountains; Apollos fountain is wonderful with the horses coming out of the water, the canal and groves. There’s even an outside Ballroom. Then on to the Trianons (Grand et Petit) and Marie Antoinette’s Estate. Most girls make do with a dolls house – she had a whole estate, life sized! It was about 3.30pm when we came out of the gardens and the queues were even longer than they had been in the morning, so all the horror stories we’d heard about the queues are true. So, if you’re planning a trip to Versailles – try a Wednesday and use the side gate.

We Toured East Germany

New Palace, Potsdam

We started by visiting Bremen and Celle, both medieval towns, staying on the respective stellplatz before moving to Potsdam where we stayed at Campingpark Sanssouci. A shuttle bus to the local tram stop, with a 20 minute service into town and connections to Berlin. There are several palaces in Sanssouci Park, Sanssouci Palace, which is more impressive from the outside, New Residence and New Palace are both stunning internally.

Elsewhere in town is the Marmopalais (Marble Palace), impressive externally: Cecilienhof, built to resemble a Tudor mansion and famous for the Potsdam Conference at the end of WW11; and Orangerie Place. The town also has a Dutch Quarter, the bridge where cold war spies were exchanged, various churches and its own Brandenburg Gate. We spent two days visiting Berlin, using the hop on/off buses to visit the cathedral, Charlottenburg Palace which took around 2.5 hours to walk round with some amazing rooms and the Pergammon Museum which contains the Ishtar Gate. We were a bit disappointed with Unter den Linden, it was very hot but the lime trees looked new, only about 15 feet high and gave no shade and a new underground route was being excavated down the centre. Still it gave a nice view of the famous Brandenburg Gate.

The tour took us to Spreewald, a traffic free area of waterways, then to the Polish border. Here we visited Fusrst Puckler Park. Puckler appears to have been a diarist, traveller, adventurer, womaniser and landscape designer, to name a few. The exhibition is a bit quirky but with sufficient in English.

We travelled south, still near the border to Bad Schandau, a popular town for the river cruises. We used the train for a day trip to Prague. The town also has a famous old tramway up a gorge to a waterfall. We missed the tram but realised the road was being used by buses so drove up. The only thing to watch was that the tram rails were in the middle of the right hand side of the road, so if you met a tram you had to swing over to the left, but the oncoming traffic seemed to expect this.

The historic centre of Dresden has been rebuilt and is worth visiting. We used the hop on/off buses to visit the palaces on the escarpment above the river. We had a tour of the Meissen factory though even the prices in the ‘seconds’ shop were still eyewatering, before visiting Colditz where the guide had a very Yorkshire accent.

We visited Wartburg Castle perched on a rock above Eisenach before stopping at the riverside stellplatz in Magdeburg. Our next stop, Schwerin, has a truly magnificent castle on an island in the centre of town. Apparently it gave Ludwig some of his ideas for Neuschwanstein. Bremerhaven was a surprise. The stellplatz is right in the harbour area. There is a ship museum containing a medieval merchant ship discovered in the mud and a variety of more modern ships, including a u-boat. The climate museum takes you on a journey round the world; and each area has the flora and climate of the particular area. Back in hot Sardinia, hot and dark in the rainforest and real ice in Antartica.

Colditz Castle
Zwingen, Dresden

Aerospace Bristol

The museum is situated on the old (now sadly closed) Filton Airfield and is sited in a couple of the original WW1 hangers which have been sympathetically restored and are now grade II listed – well worth a viewing in their own right. Concorde (Alpha Foxtrot – 016), which is the main attraction, is housed in its own modern purpose-built building. The car park is big enough for motorhomes – you would need some form of transport to get there as it is well out of the city centre and not very well served by buses. The museum itself is wheel-chair friendly with lifts to the higher platform exhibits. It has a very nice restaurant which only serves food made on site, which is sourced locally. All the exhibits tend to focus on Bristol design and built products – as well as Bristol aircraft through the years, it also has a complete Bloodhound missile system and an amazing sectioned model of one of the first Bristol cars – a car design with technology which would not look out of place on todays roads.

Sirmione

Sirmione is a resort town on the southern bank of Lake Garda, in northern Italy. It’s known for its thermal baths and Rocca Scaligera, a medieval castle overlooking the lake. Set at the tip of a peninsula, the Archaeological Site of Grotte di Catullo encompasses a Roman villa, a museum and olive trees. Just below the ruins is the rocky Jamaica Beach. The church of San Pietro in Mavino is adorned with frescoes. The Scaligero Castle is a fortress from the Scaliger era, access point to the historical center of Sirmione. It’s one of the most complete and well- conserved of Italy’s castles.

France Passion Stopover

For those who are familiar with the France passion system of free overnight motorhome stopovers, we discovered this escargot farm. Within the department 76 Seine-Maritime, off the A28 J10 then the D915. In 6km lies the small village of Sommery, well worth the detour, and L’Escargot du Mont Fosse. Here, Fabienne & Christophe Lamy offer a friendly welcome and the choice of a secluded spot for the night. The hosts are keen to explain the breeding process of the snails and the process for the market place. Should you wish there is the opportunity to handle, feed and taste them. France Passion is an excellent way to discover the rural lives of the French people and they are always welcoming to visitors.

https://www.france-passion.com

Outer Hebrides

Our Bourton helped us travel for three exciting weeks in the Outer Hebrides. It is barren and beautiful, sunny and stormy, the islands are fascinating and driving is courteous, but wider patches of road are strictly for passing oncoming vehicles. There were many interesting moments but the highlight was finding eagles around us one afternoon on South Uist.

In a glorious break in foul weather and having scrambled the Bourton up to seaward on a narrow road where every other opening was the sacred “passing place”, we spotted an eagle, it was a white-tailed sea eagle, we watched as it drifted over an inland cliff and disappeared.

We stayed, intent on an impromptu lunch. The eagle returned and rested on a rock just 50 yards away, it then glided towards us over the cliff and dropped to an unnoticed ledge and a huge pile of old sticks. There, to our amazement, where she had landed, two fluffy white/grey chicks popped up and she began to feed them. She tended them very carefully, then flew away, after a short delay returned to continue to feed the chicks, this happened several times in half an hour.

A second eagle circled gently then settled on a clifftop post: “our” hen rose and settled companionably opposite for a while before resuming her duties. Her mate sat on his post for a long time, and then we noticed a lump of some prey in his left talon. Eventually he reached down to tear at this with his beak. Then it occurred to us he was not eating it, but shredding it.

His mate clearly understood his male awkwardness, and when he finally dropped over the cliff to the ledge and nest, she moved aside to encourage him in. He then moved to the middle of the nest turning slowly round and round, until finally just dropping his contribution and left the nest. The hen continued to feed the chicks.

Two herring gulls appeared, ridiculously half her size and in their boldness dared approach her and finally attempted to “buzz” her. She had regally ignored them but at this she turned her disdainful glance briefly upon them, they never returned.

Travel France

We can pretty much come and go as we like and, as we are frequent travellers to France, we joined Brittany Ferries ‘Club Voyage France’ many years ago which gives us 30% discount on their crossings and a free breakfast to boot. Living in North Devon so our crossing of choice is to take the overnight Brittany Ferry from Plymouth which lands in Roscoff at 8.00 in the morning.

Roscoff with its beautiful, solid Bretagne architecture is a welcoming sight and a great destination in itself but for us it’s but a stepping-stone. Our destination was Biarritz, 540 miles away in the South West of France, with a couple of stops en route to break up the long journey.

France – it has that certain je ne sais quoi that can draw you back time and time again. A country so diverse, so large, that you need never travel the same road twice, with a strangely enticing, unique aroma of gallois and sewers mixed with the tantalising smell of pine forests and freshly baked baguettes, stirred with that all too essential ingredient – sunshine!

An overnight stop at a delightful campsite, La Pindiere, in Heric, which is open all year. It’s extremely handy being just 181 miles from Roscoff and 3 miles off the N137 north of Nantes. This site has large, flat pitches and a delightful swimming pool, very welcoming on a hot afternoon.

River Charente in Saintes

Saintes is situated on the banks of the gently flowing River Charente and is a delightful city rich with roman architecture, including an amphitheatre. The Campsite in Saintes is easy to find and well sign-posted when exiting the A10 at Junction 35. Simply follow the signs, initially to ‘Saintes-Centre Ville’ and then Camping Au Fil de l’Eau nestles by the side the Charente and has large generous pitches laid out underneath a canopy of tall, ancient oak trees which provide pleasant shade in the hot sunshine. This site has very good amenities, including a bar and restaurant with an excellent menu if you don’t feel like cooking. It also has a small swimming pool in which to dunk yourself at the end of a long hot day.

A pleasant walk along the riverside will take you into the centre of this beautiful Romanesque city which welcomes you with its enticing bars and restaurants. The Roman amphitheatre is also an easy walk away. It’s one of the oldest and largest in existence in France, dating back to 40AD and well worth the modest entry fee. During its heyday it held 12-18,000 people who came to watch the glory – or should that be gory? – of Rome. Stand in the middle and gaze around at the worn terraced stone seating and it’s not hard to imagine Roman Legions acting out their battles and gladiators fighting with wild animals and slaves. With our brief sojourn over we hopped back onto the A10 heading for Biarritz.

Saintes, Roman Ampitheatre

We All Went to Vezac

We have to say that all through the process of arranging and actually having the rally, the site team were so helpful and approachable, nothing was ever too much trouble. With everyone in and accounted for we prepared for our welcome drinks and nibbles, which then had to be postponed due to rain.

An ‘orientation’ walk was organised; Vezac is small with no amenities, but it’s only about 15 minutes stroll from Beynac, which does have, several very nice restaurants and a chateau. Fast forward to the evening and we had our ‘Welcome’ drinks and nibbles. There was only one first time rallying couple, but there were others who ‘didn’t rally often’, but they the end of the aperitifs everyone was getting on like the proverbial – seasoned ralliers chatting to everyone, new ones relaxing, everyone enjoying the wine.

During the course of the rally, we offered guided walks to Marqueyssac, a chateau which offers some spectacular gardens along the ridge of the hills above the Dordogne and, on another day, along the Dordogne to Castelnaud – a spectacular chateau sitting above the valley. The valley is known for its ‘cinq chateaux’ which are all visible from Marqueyssac.

A canoe trip was organised along the Dordogne. Twenty went along and enjoyed a picnic on the banks of the river in the process, although a couple of our canoeists did have a close encounter with one of the bridges. There are also lots of cycle tracks in the area, which quite a few took advantage of during the 10 days we were there.

So, all in all a worthwhile exercise; Time was spend checking invoices and calculating exchange rates, which we’ve not had to do before, but in the end it all went well and it seems a ‘lovely time’ was had by everyone.

Let’s Visit York Minster

Pitchstop, Florence

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