An Unfortunate Incident…

Sun.9^th June : 

This occurred as we were leaving the camping park…the electric steps were not fully retrieved before taking off, there were a couple of cars belonging to caravanners parked almost on the narrow lane and in squeezing through the gap, the offending steps caught the front tyre of one of the cars, ripping an impressive gash in it, damaging the bumper slightly, and bending Boris’ steps to a point where they could not be straightened and therefore had to be removed. 

After being upset and angry initially, once insurance companies had been contacted and necessary details had been exchanged, we had made friends with the Dutch couple whose car was involved.  Mike helped Cornelijs change the damaged tyre, Ada made us all a cup of coffee and we chatted for quite a while before we finally left.  For the next 24 hours, until we were able to find a caravan accessories shop and buy a temporary replacement step, we’ve had to use the driver’s door as the rear doorway is way too high for me to climb through, and a bit of a struggle for Mike as well. 

On the way to Homps on the Canal du Midi, we stopped in at Beziers to see the Neuf Ecluses (a stairway of nine locks)…

very impressive but unfortunately we’d just missed seeing a boat go through. On arrival in Homps, while making enquiries about the late afternoon boat cruise, we noticed that 4 or 5 motorhomes were parked on the other side of the canal, so we asked if overnight parking was permitted, it was, so we took Boris across the bridge and there we stayed for the night.  After an extremely pleasant and relaxing 2 hour cruise on the canal, winding under bridges and through a lock,

we had a beer in one of the restaurant/bars on the quay before returning to Boris and settling in for the night.  A happy end to a day which began a little stressful.

Mon.10^th June :

We woke to brilliant sunshine and a million dollar view of the canal and the boats upon it.  The plan was to drive to nearby Carcassonne to have a look at the old walled city, and to stay the night there at a camping park.  But…on arrival (in the rain which had replaced the sunshine and dogged us most of the way), we were told that we couldn’t book in until 1 pm and as it was only 10am and we’d just had a frustrating drive through the narrow one way city streets trying to find somewhere to park, we weren’t in the mood to drive around aimlessly for 3 hours so left.  After some backtracking, we decided to head north to Clermont l’Herault to an aires (free) camp near Lake du Salagou, arriving in warm sunshine which brightened us up somewhat.  At 8.30pm the sun was still shining and the sky was still blue…looks promising for tomorrow!

Tues 11thJune : 

On a warm and sunny morning we drove via the motorway/toll way across the Millau Bridge, a brilliant piece of engineering, then parked Boris in the car park and walked up the pathway to the viewpoint.  A well worthwhile experience.  We then drove through the mountains, through some spectacular scenery to another aires camp at Naussac Reservoir in Langogne.  More new friends were made when we met Judith and John from Devon, our overnight neighbours, and after dinner drinks with them in their ‘house’ was a pleasant ending to a very pleasant day.

Wed. 12^th June :

A cool morning, with a promise of later sunshine.  The peace and tranquillity of our lakeside idyll was shattered for about half an hour when a coach load of French old age pensioners arrived just after 8am for their morning coffee.  I swear I don’t know who makes the most noise, French schoolchildren or the oldies!! 

Another lovely drive through gorgeous and steep mountain scenery (10% gradient for 10 Km’s - up and of course down again) brought us to Valence, via Aubens and Privas, then along the Rhone River for a short distance and we have booked into a camping park at Chateauneuf-sur-Isere for 2 nights.  Despite there seeming to be half the population of Holland here along with a smattering of British and others, it’s a quiet place with a lovely swimming pool and lots of shade which will be handy as it’s finally warming up in Europe. It is now after 9pm and it is still above 20 degrees with promise of more to come. We have decided to stay here a couple of nights to catch up on the washing and spend some time relaxing by the pool.