Credits

A big thank you to the A-Team in France:
Diane and Family - we are so lucky to have met you

Thanks Martine, Karine and Emilie for your patience with our non French and all of the help!

And a big thanks too to all our visitors, Aidan, Vona, Brian, Dervila, Tanya, Simon and Richard, Pete, Clare, Caoimhe and John.

Hopefully see you all in France again soon

J'arrive bientot - la troisième partie (peut etre!!)

Really wrapping up..

After Carnac it was a fairly simple last leg up to Cherbourg with a last minute pit stop in our favourite French shop, Decathlon, to buy a present. Late on Thursday evening we were amongst the 96 passengers to board the ferry for Ireland. It was as one crew member put it 'like a ghost ship'! Overnight we worked our way across the Georges Channel, it wasn't too bad and we had a really nice cabin. The next morning the weather got really wild, thankfully we were headed downwind and not into it.

There were so few people on board that I decided we might get away with asking to visit the bridge. I think the staff were delighted to get something else to do and so we were led down some corridors, through a security door, up a really steep stairs and there we were.

About three hours later The Tuskar hove into view. I haven't been sailing around these parts for a while though the last time I was in this neck of the woods the weather was exactly the same! The flags were hoisted for our arrival into port and about two hours later we were back in Dublin. Journey over. One shot happy, two shots sad..

Wrapping up - A mile of standing stones

Carnac's megalithic monuments simply boggle the mind. A mile long field of standing stones! That must have been some big civil engineering project at the time. Maybe word of the Pyramids had got to Northern France? Who knows.. A very impressive place. Definitely on the 'would return to' list.

Wrapping Up - to Carnac and 3500BC

The road North to Bordeaux was supposed to be a simple hop. I must admit I had tinkered with the GPS settings and mucked up the 'shortest distance' vs 'fastest time' part of Renee's brain.

After our cross country exploits we had decided to take it easy up the west coast and stick to the motorways. This went well at first but then we started to head out towards La Rochelle. This was ok because we were still on motorway but then we ended up on a blacktop road going straight through some really flat countryside. It was all very picturesque but a little bit bizarre!

A little while later and we were back on the motorway. We had a few close shaves and missed turns but finally managed to get around the Nantes Nightmare and after that it was easy straight miles out to Carnac and a great welcome from the staff at the Hotel Celtique.

We got there just in time to have a swim in the heated pool followed by an amazing dinner in their restaurant. This included some really tasy and unusual Potimarron Soup. This is made with Pumpkin and served with cream and croutons. It is so rich and tasty, in fact I can still taste it now while I think about it. There seems to be a great heritage of real home cooked food in this part of France.

Wrapping Up - Discovering Bordeaux

We've spent a large part of the last year discovering Bordeaux. That was mainly in our local supermarket as we assiduously worked our way through the shelves, vineyards, colours and price ranges!. We came close to actually seeing the city in June when we visited beautiful Arcachon. Finally on our way home this time we got to visit the main attraction.

Like most bottles of this eponymous vintage we we're not disappointed!

What a stunning place! As usual Una had done the business in choosing our accommodation. The EcoLodge on Rue Raze beside the river is absolutely incredible and the welcome from Yann and Veronique sets you up for a memorable visit. The Eco Lodge is an old house and is being renovated room by room. Right now there are 5 rooms, we only saw ours but it set a very high benchmark!

Right from the off we were set on the right track by our hosts and within an hour of arriving had secured a table in a seemingly quiet 'little' restaurant called Chez du Pont which was just around the corner from our lodgings. Little did we know that this eaterie actually featured in our guide books as one of 'the' places to eat in the city. Typically pauluna style to not actaully read the guide first!!

The following morning after breakfast and conversation with our hosts we set off to discover what Bordeaux is about. This is a town for tourists and we were really sorry to not have more time to soak up the good vibes. We will definely be coming back here to finish off what we have started and we won't be changing too many details or searching for other accomodation options!

After a quick lunch around the corner from our Guesthouse we set off on the second last leg. A relatively simple journey to Carnac beckoned - a short hop up the coast. Here is the route map again

Wrapping up - Avignon to Bordeaux

Tuesday 16th was the big drive. Avignon to Bordeaux. The motorways in France are really second to none however they don't really go directly to destinations. A lot of the time you find yourself driving the wrong way in terms of distance to where you want to get to. This is particularly true of the motorway between Toulon and Toulouse which goes in a grand loop down south before turning back North. I had noticed two roads that go across the country in pretty much the direction of Bordeaux from Avignon. Worryingly they were called the D999 and D911 though Una told me to stop being superstitious. The first part of the D999 is great, its straight, fast moving and beautiful countryside. Then we took a wrong turn.

We found ourselves acending on an increasingly dishevelled road. After what seemed like an eternity it topped out and thankfully there was no snow. We descended the other side and finally found our way into Le Vigan and back on the D999. Here is the route map again

The road rises out of Le Vigan quite steeply and suddenly there was a little snow around us, just a little, then there came more and then it was thick on each side of the road. The amazing thing was that the road was perfectly clear. At the summit of a mountain we stopped to take a picture. We had taken a gamble to go this way and we were hoping that it wouldn't go bad on us now though we had thought through a few 'escape routes' back to the motorway if things got too hairy!

Thankfully the City councils had done their gritting well and the roads really were perfect to drive on. I think this is a credit to the 'get on with it' attitude towards infrastructure in France.

After another hour or so we made it across the National Park and back onto the motorway just south of the Millau bridge. I preferred it when we went across in blasting sunshine last September..
We didn't stay long on the motorway preferring to take another dive across country which would actually put some miles on the clock towards Bordeaux. At Villefranche-de-Rouergue we came over the crest of a hill and the snow disappeared. It was quite incredible, one minute we were surrounded by a thick white blanket, the next minute we were surrounded by green! I think we were both relieved. The route after that was long but easy miles and finally we crossed the bridge into Bordeaux and went looking for our EcoLodge

Wrapping up (for the year)

Our trip home was a great success. From Hyeres we headed straight for Avignon. We had decided not to go by the motorway as you get to see a lot more of the country. Just after Toulon we took a left off the motorway and stumbled upon the Route de Gorges near Ollioules. This is a very impressive drive - I'm amazed we had not heard of it. I think we must still have been a bit shell shocked from trying to fit everything into the car as we didn't take one picture! A shame, maybe we'll have to go back.

We arrived in Avignon at lunchtime and easily found our hotel - the Cloitre Saint Louis. This is a very impressive building (an old Jesuit school), the owners have an equally impressive policy towards pricing though it seemed to be the best value we could get! We were both amazed by Avignon itself and had a great wander around. The sheer scale of the Palais des Papes is simply awe inspiring. We were both so tired by the evening that we didn't venture far from the hotel instead opting for a really good meal and a bottle of Saint Emillion in the dining room.

Map of the route we took

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