Getting in to Italy in the first place

Italy is very mountainous country, especially the north where it joins the rest of Europe. Consequently, the only driving routes involve going up and over mountains, or through them via a network of tunnels.

Because we were coming in from the south of France, we went in via Ventimiglia. This is a sort of 50/50 route which involves going through lots of short tunnels in lots of mountains, without ever really going too steep or spending too long in the dark.

It’s also relatively cheap, compared to options like the Mont Blanc tunnel toll at €257.80 return!

There are some disadvantages to the route though. For no clear reason, the French side of the border has the narrowest toll booths we’ve ever seen. Normally, the far right booths are for lorries, and are extra wide – but not so down here. We managed to fold both of our mirrors in on one booth, and saw plenty of trucks which had similar issues and damaged bodywork from trying to get through!

So you’re in Italy, how’s the Autostrada?

Most of the Autostrada that we used were 2 lanes. With tunnels. Lots of tunnels. On 2 lane roads, there is no HGV overtaking in tunnels. Consequently, just ahead of each tunnel there’s something of a free-for-all where trucks force their way back into the right-hand lane, whether there’s space or not!

The quality of the roads drops a lot too. Even the Autostradas are pockmarked by sunken sections, potholes and ridges that run all the way across the road. You’ll see many a vehicle swerve into the emergency lane, or into any other lane for that matter, to avoid such obstacles. I quickly learned to leave even more of a gap than usual to help me spot what was happening.

Speed limits are rigidly enforced, variable for different vehicle types, and completely ignored by many locals!

The tolls are cheap compared to France, we travelled hundreds of miles and would only have to pay €20-€30 for the RV.

What about the regular roads?

Well, those are interesting.

Italian roads are not well maintained (in our experience). Most of the regular roads we travelled on had serious potholes or other forms of damage. We managed to drive almost all the way to Barco Reale near Pistoria without incident, but the last 10 miles of regular roads had things bouncing out of cupboards and shaking everything to pieces!

Within a few days, I had forgiven everything that I had previously cursed at on French roads!

That said, with all the mountains, and the curving roads leading in and out of them, there’s magical moments a plenty to be had. If you enjoy that sort of scenery (and we do) then you’ll be spoilt for choice and running out of camera storage in no time.

Are the drivers really maniacs?

Depends on what you’re used to! We said that driving in France was good training for Italy. If we’d been transplanted straight from Britain then it would have been far more daunting!

There’s plenty of tailgating, some inconsiderate parking, and some general disregard for the rules. But it works, everyone is doing the same craziness, generally watching for other drivers actions and they are pretty prepared for you to make mistakes. Road rage isn’t much of a thing, as every driver has their own share of mistakes to be forgiven.

Tailgating was my main concern, whether in the car or the RV. Many drivers will tailgate no matter what the speed limit or whether your breaking it!

Driving in cities

That being said, driving in cities when it’s busy is a different kettle of fish. One of the bad things about our route was that we had to go through Genoa. In August 2018, the Morandi bridge tragically collapsed, killing 43 people. Since then, the Autostrada has been diverted, but our GPS took us through the city itself.

Driving through Genoa in the RV was about as scary as our trip through Italy got. An entire motorway was suddenly shoved into rush hour traffic, with roads that have 4 lanes that split in multiple directions. Scooters trying to get between the side of the RV and a concrete wall while travelling at speed. Drivers who are in the wrong lane forcing their way across.

Though to be fair, we were part of that latter group. Italy doesn’t seem to be big on road signs, and certainly not big road signs! Despite having both sat navs running, we managed to wrong lane ourselves several times, but that ability to be forgiven let us safely through the city, and out the other side. Twice, as we did it on the way back too!

Would we go back?

Definitely. There’s plenty more for us to see in Italy.

We’ll stick to the major roads for the RV, and pick campsites which aren’t too far away from them for convenience. We’ll also make sure we bring a car with plenty of suspension travel and bouncy tyres too! I’ll admit that we chickened out of driving the RV from Rome to Pompeii, and drove down in the car but that was more of an issue with finding campsites than anything. There’s also a ZTL restriction in Pompeii for vehicles over 7m which has an €88 per day charge!

LPG was well priced in Italy, and available in plenty of places, though it became much harder to find between Genoa and Ventimiglia. Petrol was expensive, especially the super unleaded (98 RON or more) which we saw as high as €2.02 per litre! Diesel is about €0.10 per litre cheaper than any petrol from what we could see.

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Italy Here We Come!

We emptied the tanks and left Camping Fontisson at around 10 am and headed straight for the border. Of course, we needed to fill up with LPG but we decided the motorway services would be fine for that – but France surprised us again with height restrictions at all of the pumps! With my broken French and good old Google Translate, I eventually convinced an attendant to guide us in through the exit so we could reach a pump and fill up.

After that, we headed for the border once more, through ever-tightening peage stations that folded our RV mirrors in and caught out more than a few truckers as well. George wasn’t so happy about having to drive to a parking area with no mirrors, so maybe a camera backup will be added shortly?

We finally climbed into Italy through seemingly endless tunnels and bridges and settled onto the Autostrada. Things went well but we had to deviate through part of Genoa city, which gave us a true taste of Italian driving. While George in the RV could throw his weight around, in the BMW I just had to swallow some brave pills and go for it!

After that the remaining Autostrada was fine, and the last 20 miles to the campsite was bumpy but doable. The final challenge was scaling a hill with endless hairpins and tight corners, and very tight roads with parked vehicles – but we finally made it! In the dark! And managed to get set up on a pitch.

Barco Reale Campsite

The Barco Reale campsite was lovely, it is located on the top of a mountain, which took 10 minutes to drive from the bottom to the campsite through very narrow winding roads.

It was a big site but did not feel it as it was spread out over different levels and mixed in amongst the trees. There were amazing views of the town below and lots of wildlife.

The site had three lovely pools which we made some use of. Italy requires people to wear swimming hats, which were available at reception.

There was a lovely restaurant on site, owned by an expat English couple who were very welcoming and served wonderful home cooked food.

The local area of Lamporecchio was filled with tree and plant farms. Not something I ever really considered existed. But there was farm after farm of ornamental trees, large fir trees, the types of trees you would see outside British garden centres – it was amazing.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

We took the new Pisamover park and ride service into Pisa which made the driving much easier. Unfortunately, it gets into Pisa about a mile from the square of miracles so we were left with quite a walk.

When we finally arrived, the two things that were most surprising were just how much the tower leans and how short it is!

It’s also a very busy place with hundreds of people all simultaneously trying to pose in ‘holding up the tower’ positions – so we joined in!

Alongside the tower, there is the cathedral, baptistery and cemetery. We were able to get a late entrance to the cathedral which is elaborately decorated and filled with paintings. The ceilings, in particular, are very ornate and have many beautiful paintings on them.

We didn’t climb the tower – it seemed too expensive at €18 each plus Olivia was not old enough to go in and it was late – but we’re glad we came and played in the square.

Florence

We were quite unsure of what to expect from Florence, on the one hand, it’s filled with architecture and art, on the other, it’s filled with tourists and maybe too many churches for us!

Day Trip 1

We decided to use the hop on/hop off bus tour to get an idea of the city, but this was a mistake, it was expensive, difficult to find the location of the stops and unlike say, London, the bus can’t drive past anything interesting and you have to walk anyway! It did keep the worst of the rain off though.

Once we walked into the old town though, Florence was a sight to behold. Every corner seemed to reveal a new sight, and the cathedral and baptistery looked like they were paintings rather than actual buildings, so delicate are the colours and elaborate the design. The queue to enter the cathedral was also something to behold too, so we continued through the city.

We eventually made it to a Da Vinci museum – not the proper one, but a dodgy one set up close by to lure in us tourists! But it was good, it had nice models, and a big workshop area where Olivia could try out some of the concepts of Da Vinci and others, as well as mirror writing and a spot of bridge building.

Day Trip 2

The Ponte Vecchio

We returned to Florence so that we could visit the Galileo museum and tour more of the city. We walked along the river until we reached the Ponte Vecchio, an ancient bridge crossing the Arno which now houses a large number of very expensive jewellery stores.

When the Medici moved from Palazzo Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti, they decided they needed a connecting route from the Uffizi to the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the Arno that would enable them to keep out of contact with the people they ruled. The result was the Corridoio Vasariano, built in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari and which runs above the little goldsmiths’ shops on the Ponte Vecchio.

Olivia was delighted to see the private passageway across the top which allowed the rich families of Florence to cross from one side of the river to the other without mixing with the poor people. The bridge is a busy place, with nice views of the river from the middle and a fountain-monument to Benvenuto Cellini which Olivia threw a coin into and made a wish.

Galileo Museum

From there we went to the Galileo museum, which isn’t really about Galileo, it’s just named that way to bring in tourists! The museum is actually a huge collection of scientific instruments, a few of which did belong to Galileo. Olivia found some bits on the museum interesting but after a while just got fed up and wished there was more interactivity. We rushed the rest of the museum from there, stopping to see Galileo’s Finger and Telescopes.

Piazzale Michelangelo

After lunch, we walked up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, a large square with a great view over Florence. Halfway up we stopped at a Rose Garden, Olivia enjoyed exploring the garden and looking a the sculptures and artwork dotted around. We continued to the top of the steep stairs, grabbed a scoop or two of gelato and admired the view from another set of stairs while birds tried to get scraps of food from us and a street musician played in the background.

The view from the square is quite strange, but totally stunning, with the regular buildings absolutely dwarfed by the giant Cathedral, Basilica etc. The town appears flattened like a map, with pop up buildings placed on it.

Conclusion

We were not ready or organised enough for Italy, for Pisa or Florence. We did not expect the monuments to be so expensive to get into or just so busy. With more time, more organisation on our part and maybe some planned tours, Florence would be a delight that we could spend days in. We were not the only ones not making the most of it, there was a most disappointed tourist in Florence looking for the leaning tower of Pisa! Olivia found all the walking around just looking at the outside of builds rather boring. She loved the Rose garden, the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum and splashing in all the puddles around Florence. We also loved some of the random art we found around the city.

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We headed off towards Avignon in hopes of being closer to Nimes and doing the last stages of France. The drive was about 2.5 hours but crazy windy! A lot of the roads were stupidly bumpy and some stuff actually fell out of a cupboard onto George’s head as he was driving!

Camping Fontisson

The Camping Fontisson campsite was nice, but a little small and it took over an hour to get the van close to level in a space. We ended up lifting the back so far that there was plenty of space to crawl under the van.

Yet again we were too early in the year to use the pool as it was closed but we did enjoy using the mini golf, football pitch and Olivia enjoyed playing in the park and on the exercise equipment. The staff were very friendly and one of them even let Olivia drive the golf buggy.

Le Salin d’Aigues-Mortes

The Salin d’Aigues-Mortes is a salt marsh that dates back to Roman times when white gold was one of the most precious materials around. Its presence here ensured that Aigues-Mortes became an important port for many years until industrialisation made Marseille the go-to place and Aigues-Mortes became a much quieter place. About 1/4 of the salt marsh is now given over to salt production, where salt workers manage how much sea water flows into the bays to ensure perfect evaporation.

As the seawater gets more concentrated, the brine shrimp in the water gorge on minerals and create the bright pink waters that make this landscape so strange to visit and very otherworldly. Their pink bodies are a favourite food of Flamingos and give them their pink hue. We were able to see several small flocks of Flamingos on our tour as well as plenty that were just in the water feasting.

The salt farming runs from May to September, and during that time there’s a road train tour around the marsh, with live French commentary and an English audio guide about the history of the marsh. This audio guide was very informative but was not in sync with the train tour which does make it a little confusing. The train stops so you can have a brief climb up a salt mountain. Though it’s only a road salt mountain, it’s still weird to see diggers and industrial equipment driving on piles of salt destined for our dinner tables! The train also briefly stops at a mini-museum where you can see the tools used, and the different types of salt that they make on the site. There are also several salt crystal sculptures.

Conclusion

It was a long drive, we should have stopped and stayed locally in the RV rather than driving past to the campsite we are on, though we saw some beautiful poppy fields, but we’re all glad we made it here and we picked a beautiful day, to see the absurd colours, the wild flamingos, and for an insight into a food source we never think about.

Salt Flat Experiment

Olivia wanted to have a go at making her own salt marsh, so we found a great little experiment by Education.com and gave it a go. It was a really easy experiment to do with RV kitchen items and some mud and it works great.

Carrières de Lumières Provence

Since we first saw a video of it, George and I have wanted to see the Van Gogh projection mapping exhibit that’s running in 2019. We assumed that we would not be able to visit it, but discovered by chance it was being shown in Provence. We couldn’t buy tickets online, but headed off in hopes we could get some on the door.

After driving on some typical French moon rock, or roads as they call them, we were shocked to discover we were in mountainous country, and that the incredibly busy car park was surrounded by rocks rather than art museums.

Turns out this was an old stone quarry, closed after the first world war and eventually turned into the art space Carrières de Lumières.

We parked further up the road, and walked to the exhibition, avoiding coaches being driven the wrong way and crazed cyclists, then discovered that the Carrières de Lumières is an art space built in an old quarry. We paid our fee and went in to see the show.

The pictures and videos can’t do justice to the incredible immersion that you feel when watching the two exhibitions (one is on Japanese art), as the artists have brought sections of paintings to life, all set to music and used the space and walls to create impressive effects. At times you feel like you are physically in the painting. I would recommend anyone able to should see this show.

Van Gogh, the starry night

Japan dreamed

We all really enjoyed the experience, Olivia enjoyed jumping around the patterns and pictures on the floor and imagining being in the various scenes. Both George and Olivia preferred the Japan Dreamed show, but as a lover of Van Gough, I felt quite emotional seeing and being immersed in his paintings.

Chateau des Baux de Provence

A further surprise when we arrived at the Carrières de Lumières was the discovery of this ruined castle, sat high upon the rocks. As our Lumieres ticket included the castle for a small fee, we wandered its ruins too.

A short walk and climb through the pretty medieval village up to the old castle prepares you adequately for the exploration of the castle.

Chateau des Baux itself is a fortified castle that was built during the 10th century and has commanding views of the surrounding lands and mountains. There are a few very tall towers that you can still climb although the steps are not very even. Olivia and I were happy to climb to the top of one and were rewarded with a wonderful view. Dotted around the grounds and ruins were boards in different languages explaining the different sections of the castle.

The huge donjon was carved directly out of the rock and contains some surviving windows, a sturdy fortress if ever there was one.

There was an exhibition of siege weapons with various recreated models to look at. Olivia found the different types of catapults interesting and was amazed to see how big battering rams were.

Our journey here and back to the site took us through some quirky spots but did allow us to see a pair of young foxes out having fun.

The Ochre Trail – Roussillon

Roussillon is known for ochre mining and is often referred to as little Colorado, or Provencal Colorado due to the bright orange cliffs that have been eroded into shapes that echo the deserts of North America. The colour is a result of iron oxide deposits dating back millions of years.

There are lots of options for trekking through these strange sites, including old mines and an area likened to the Sahara! But we decided to visit the town of Roussillon and it’s shorter trail which was more than enough on a hot day!

We parked in the town and walked up through the picturesque village, as we walked along the road and passed a local market we were greeted by the sight of ochre-coloured houses in the various shades of orange and pink produced from this unmistakable pigment.

As you reach the top and see the rocks for the first time it is amazing to see their fiery contrast against the green foliage of the trees.

You can pick from two walks through the Ochre canyons. The longer will takes 50 mins and the shorter one 35 mins. We decided on the shorter one, paid our fee and walked through the gate. We then descended the stairs into what felt like another world.

It was most certainly a unique experience, with amazing sights as you walk around the deep canyons and marvelling at the naturally shaped quarry with its wave like formations and other world like feel. Olivia enjoyed writing in the dust, covering her hands in the different colours and making handprints on the rocks. She also said she thought it looked a little like being on Mars.

You do need to make sure you don’t wear white as it will get stained and it’s advisable to bring a towel to clean your child and dogs feet before letting them back into the car. Peppers legs and belly were orange!

Pont-du-Gard

What can you say about the Pont-du-Gard?

This almost 2,000 year old structure still stands tall over the river it was built to cross. A major part of a massive aqueduct linking the Uzes spring and Nimes. The aqua duct drops just 12.3m over its 28km span, as it winds around hills, over rivers and across fields.

The fabulous museum shows just how many structures were built, how each was unique for its requirements, and the route that the water took on its way. Seeing the plumbing, fountains and even taps that the Romans’ used gives yet more fascinating insight into an incredibly advanced culture of engineering.

We missed out on a tour of the Pont du Gard, but we still climbed to the top and got a look at the surprisingly narrow duct that the waters would have run through, as well as some remains of the rest of the aqueduct which are now accessible via a tunnel.

In the baking heat, Olivia and I (and a few others) took some time to paddle in the warm river that still flows under the great old structure. We all really enjoyed our visit here, Olivia loved seeing the large structure and seeing how it was built but most of all enjoyed playing in the river. A fascinating, and beautiful place you could quite easily spend a whole day exploring.

Haribo Museum – Uzès

What would a trip to Uzes be without stopping in at the Haribo museum?

Apart from the 18 bags of sweets we received for coming! The museum covers some of the early uses of sugar and the history of confectionery in French and English, and of course the Haribo brand.

You see how Haribo was started in a small laundry room, the moulds that were made with starch originally but are still used today, how they are coated and how the brand grew.

There is a section on how sugar is grown, harvested, refined and turned into sweets which was very interesting, and the difficult parts are broken up with interesting things for kids to do, which Olivia very much enjoyed.

At the end of the museum is a huge shop selling most types of Haribo in 1kg boxes! As well as various other items. We resisted splurging on our favourite flavours and settled for a Haribo Teddy for Olivia – as there’s no way we could resist eating them all! You could even buy Haribo smelling shampoo!

A great museum, much better than we expected with great information and very interactive for the kids.

Nimes

Roman Amphitheater

The amphitheatre in Nimes was one of our big stops. It’s the best preserved Roman amphitheatre in the world, and is still used for exhibitions and concerts today – though the building is supported and slightly more modern safety equipment is in place!

Seeing the amphitheatre as we walked around the corner was an awe-striking moment, though it’s remarkably small inside.

The walkways, steps and crowd management for the 24,000 spectators it could hold is comparable to any modern sports stadium, showing just how well the Romans considered and engineered their buildings.

The excellent audio guide is free, and gives lots of information – and clears up many myths – about gladiatorial combat, including that many people choose to be gladiators, they were not all slaves and even women became gladiators, which Olivia is now obsessed by!

As well as the Romans and the Gladiators it also covers bullfighting which it was later and is still occasionally used for.

The only downside to the trip is some large steps at the top of the amphitheatre, where someone split their shorts – necessitating a crude jumper kilt and a hasty shopping trip! Mentioning no names, it was mortifying for a while, but he could look back and laugh about it later!

An amazing place that we all thoroughly enjoyed. I think this was one of Olivia’s favourite places so far, she loved the audio guide and learning about the gladiators but most of all she loved sitting in the seats up high, where Romans had once sat, imagine a big Gladiator battle was taking place. Make sure if you go on a hot day you take plenty of water as it is a sun trap.

Maison Carrée and Roman Museum

The Maison Carrée is a Roman Temple built in Nimes which has been incredibly well preserved and restored over the last 200 years.

The buildings’ exterior is now as it was in Roman times, though it is no longer surrounded by the Forum.

Inside there is a small cinema which shows a film about how Nimes was founded, its ties to the Roman Empire and how the first games at the Amphitheatre came about.

Romanite Museum

The museum is a modern edifice standing in stark contrast across the road from the amphitheatre.

The museum was interesting but had little English language information. We were very impressed by the incredible mosaics, of which there are many, and their superb detail.

The Museum and the Maison Carrée were both an excellent way to round off our visit to the amphitheatre, and given the extra tickets were just €3 each, excellent value too.

Conclusion

This stop was more about driving to locations we really wanted to see rather than the area we were staying in itself. We did drive through Avignon on many occasions and saw the amazing city wall and short bridge but the seeds from the trees were filling the air like snow, so with both George and Olivia suffering badly with hayfever, we decided to give the city a miss on this occasion. We visited some incredible places over the course of a week and we are glad we stopped in the area.

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Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, the roads around the site were too small and we had to leave! The warden just shrugged his lack of care or interest, so perhaps we dodged a bullet here? We headed for our next planned stop, Aire de l’Espagnac in Portiragnes, just south of Beziers where we were going to be meeting a family friend and collecting a care package from England with our much-needed gravy and Weetabix!

Aire de l’Espagnac – Portiragnes

On arrival at the aire, Olivia managed to make some friends on our first evening who were local and were playing in the park, so it felt like it was meant to be. She played with these two girls many times during our stay and learnt some French from them too.

Olivia also made friends with a lovely English couple, they played table tennis and football with her, listened to her stories and we all had a nice laugh. They took a trip back to the UK leaving us to look after their plants and very kindly bought back some hay-fever medicine for Olivia. Just shows you can make friends with people of all ages.

It was a lovely site with chickens and peacocks wandering around, a small park, electricity, water and dump point but no toilet or shower facilities so we had to make use of the ones in the van. Meaning more strip washes than showers, as after two showers the tanks needed emptying which meant pulling the slides in, feet up drive to point, empty, drive back, re-level and push slides back out!

Les Neuf écluses de Fonserannes

We went to see the 9 locks of the Fonseranes, one part of a huge canal dug and opened in the 1670s that brought trade and money to Béziers. The original nine locks have been reduced to seven electrically operated locks, and the original canal has been diverted so that it crosses the river d’orb via an aqua duct, due to the regular difficulty of crossing the river during flood or drought.

On arriving at the locks we went to the reception and bought tickets to the 15 minute cinema, audioguide and an Alice in Wonderland treasure hunt.

We went straight into the cinema, to watch a movie which was really informative, kept Olivia engaged and gave a good overview of the building of the locks.

We were very lucky and shortly after we started our walk down the hill some boats came through. It was brilliant to see the immense amount of water that was moved to allow the boats to traverse from the top to the bottom of the locks. Olivia found the whole thing very exciting and was always eager to get to the next lock to see the water rush out from the lock above.

As well as viewing the locks in operation, we took part in a treasure hunt across the site, which is meant for kids age 5 and up but stumped us and several other families! The final payoff was a small wooden mushroom with an address on it, which Olivia was very pleased to find!

It was a beautiful day out if a little windy given I had to fish George’s hat out of the canal! The marvellous engineering, power of the water, and the shared misery of grinding through the treasure hunt made it an experience to remember.

Walking around Béziers Old Town

We took a trip into the old town of Béziers. We looked around St Nazaire Cathedral, which was interesting because it was filled with painted art, as well as beautiful statues and stained glass windows. There was also a huge statue behind the altar that looked like something from Game of Thrones!

Olivia and I took the opportunity to climb the 168 steps to the top of the bell tower, which ended up having huge steps – but we were rewarded with a great view.

We also looked out from outside the cathedral and it was nice to see some of the places we had been, like the aqueduct and the 9 locks from previous days.

Afterwards, we walked around old town Béziers, and down to a park next to the river l’Orb, where Olivia had some fun playing in the small park and we saw a red squirrel hunting for nuts.

The buildings in the old town were very close together, with narrow streets that were impassable to all but the smallest cars. In some ways, it was nice to see, but it was also very downtrodden, with crumbling buildings, boarded up windows, graffiti and dog mess everywhere. It felt like we were in something of a slum at times!

Still, the park was nice, next to a weir and a building that presumably once housed water wheels. We found a lot of ant colonies and followed various trails of huge ants going to and from a food source. Eventually, we returned to the car park via a winding and steep staircase that exhausted all of us – and we were grateful to get back in the car and head back to the RV.

Parts of the old town are nice but it was not really our cup of tea.

Pont Vieux

Sightseeing in Béziers was a little difficult in the car! But to get to a few of the places we wanted to see the car was a must. We managed to get a good look at Pont Vieux. The Pont Vieux with the cathedral looming above it is beautiful. The bridge was first built in the 12th century to allow the crossing of the Orb. It remained for a very long time the only crossing point of the Orb on the way from Provence to Toulouse. It was improved in the 1500s and they must have done a good job in its construction since it is still in use today one way.

Orb Aqueduct

We wanted Olivia to see her first aqueduct and after seeing the locks this seemed like a great place to start. The Orb Aqueduct is one of the largest aqueducts in France and allows the Canal Du Midi to traverse the Orb River.  Built between 1854 and 1858, it allowed boats to bypass the dangerous Orb River.  It stretches 190 meters long and is 15 meters wide at its narrowest part.  Its height is 12 meters.

Unfortunately, it is a little tricky to get to with the car park next to it now closed. We found a place to park for a short while and took a walk along the river to take a look. We admired the architecture, though spoilt somewhat by the amount of rubbish and graffiti and explained to Olivia how it worked pointing out the walkway that runs along the top under the canal where people would have walked across the river. We then climbed the stairs to the top to find the canal de midi and show Olivia the water that rushes along the aqueduct which is still used today.

Cruising the Canal du Midi – Vias

We took a 2hr boat hire along the Canal du Midi. Due to the time and the low-speed limit, we didn’t see too much, but it was a good first try for Olivia and nice to plod along the (mostly) tree-lined canal, through the three-eyed bridge and to see the Ouvrage du Libron.

The Ouvrage du Libron is like a mobile aqueduct. The Libron river is at almost the same height as the canal and was diverted via a culvert under the canal. However, the Libron river is known to flood with meltwater, depositing silt and debris into the canal. The answer was to split the river in two and feed across two channels to the edge of the canal. There, a series of U shaped channels can slide across and create a bridge over the canal, allowing floodwater and silt to pass through, just over the canal du midi below. When a boat needed to navigate past the flooded river, sluice gates would block the first channel of the river, and the temporary aqueduct be slid back, allowing the boat to pass into the central rest area. Then the Libron would be rejoined behind the boat, and the next channel would be opened, allowing the boat to continue its journey onward.

Olivia had a good go at steering our little boat, which she really enjoyed, and we even tried a little fishing, but the canal current and the wind made it impossible to stay still long enough to get any bites. It was very sunny, but the breeze kept everyone cool enough to enjoy the trip. Next time we will try a long trip.

Plateau des poètes

We spent a very pleasant afternoon enjoying the Plateau des Poètes. A beautiful garden in the middle of Beziers, with a lake, ducks, park, waterfalls, statues of famous French poets and even a small fairground. Elegantly laid out, and very clean with staff walking around tidying and cleaning up, the ‘Poets’ provide a welcome respite from the busy tourist sites and a great place for little ones to play.  

Gaumont Comedie Cinema – Montpellier

One thing that we didn’t want to miss due to our trip was the premiere of Avengers: Endgame. We’ve watched all of the movies leading to this one shortly after they came out, and with a lot of planning, we found a VOST (original audio, French subtitles) showing in Montpellier! With Olivia (and Rainbow) dressed up as Captain Marvel, we squeezed ourselves into the old, small and beautiful cinema along with a packed evening house. The movie and atmosphere were great, even if it rained while we ran back to the car!

The comedie area was very interesting, with beautiful buildings and a giant play park for kids. Unfortunately, due to the time of day, we were unable to explore but we would like to return to Montpellier as some point.

Minerve and the Gorges du Brian

Minerve was picked out by all of us as a place we’d like to visit. The whole area is a strange geological mystery, but this small fortified village, built atop an island in a dry river is a real delight. The drive in along the sides of the Gorges du Brian gives great views of the old river.

You are not allowed to drive into the village but there is a good carpark with toilets to park in. You then have a smooth but steep walk down into the village. This grand site is based in the southern foothills of the Montagne Noire. It is marked by the presence of the medieval village of Minerva, especially known in Languedoc for its Cathar past. This almost natural fortress stands proudly on a rocky outcrop at the confluence of the two rivers Cesse and Brian. The village itself is nearly 1,000 years old, with narrow cobbled streets and buildings which lean out over perilous drops.

We stopped at a dog friendly little restaurant, sat out on a beautiful terrace with lovely views and enjoyed a pizza and pasta lunch.

The river bed is much harder to walk on than we expected, with a mixture of large rocks, pebbles and sand everywhere.

The surprise that caught us out was a series of large, naturally formed caves which duck under the roads. With the wind howling through parts of them, and completely still in others, you can imagine using them for shelter as a cro-magnon man. One of the caves contained many piles of rocks, so we put together a few ourselves to add to the collection – though on our return journey the wind had knocked some of them down.

Olivia said that these caves were like walking through a tunnel to a new world and sent her imagination into overdrive.

Walking along the river bed you could really see and imagine a massive river coursing along the gorge carving out these amazing rock formations. Especially helped by the placement of a large dead tree truck stuck sideways under an overhanging rock formation.

We found an area that still had a little stream so Olivia put on her water shoes (which we always carry) and had a little paddle, though it was a lot colder than she expected she had fun paddling around.

After a long hike in the sun, we made it back into the village, climbing the steep steps under the viaduct, and grabbed some well-deserved ice creams for the walk back to the car. This was an amazing place and one of the most beautiful villages I have seen. I would love to return when fitter so that we could explore more.

The beach at Portiragnes Plage

Our first trip to the beach on this trip! We took a drive to Portiragnes Plage 4 km from the old village of Portiragnes, the seaside resort of Portiragne Plage developed in the early 1960s. It has an ideal beach for families with its long stretches of thin sand that slide with a gentle slope into the Mediterranean. Perfect for doing nothing with beach chairs to rent, it is also perfect for practising water sports such as pedalos, stand up paddles or windsurfing.

Olivia had great fun splashing and playing in the edge and even gave her new paddle board a try, but the sea was just too cold and rough with the wind. We had some fun but think we will leave the beach until it is much much warmer and less windy.

Béziers Aventure

Olivia was incredibly excited to go to Béziers Aventure – an adventure park in the trees near Béziers, where kids and adults can climb and zip through the trees via a series of obstacles.

Olivia and I both suited up for the adventure, and were lead through a training section to see how the safety lines and zip lines work, before being sent off to the other courses with gradually increasing difficulty.

Despite a couple of scary moments, both mum and daughter made it to one of the more difficult courses, which left them high up in the trees on logs that swung apart, climbing walls in mid-air and 100+ foot zip lines!

All went well until near the end, Olivia couldn’t reach the end of a zip line, and she crushed her finger during a rescue attempt. Nothing too bad, just some skin and bruises, but it did end the day on a bit of a sad note.

I was very proud of both Olivia and myself for what we achieved and overcoming moments of fear. It was great value for money with lots of different courses, you start out on the training course and then gradually work your way up to the harder and higher courses. You can stay up to 4 hours and do the courses as many times as you like.

Chateau du Carcassonne

We almost missed Carcassonne because we couldn’t stay at the campsite we wanted to. However, as we ended up staying in Beziers for 3 weeks due to our parcel taking much longer than expected to arrive, we made the journey back along the peage and it was well worth the trip.

The city of Carcassonne has a long history, with the original city wall and towers dating back to Roman times. The Cathar castle was built within the walls, which were further fortified in the 12th century. After a siege gave the castle to the French king in the 13th century, the castle was further fortified with an additional outer wall and internal fortifications to make an impregnable fortress on the border with Spain that never fell again.

In the mid-late 1800s, the castle ruins were restored to their heyday, leaving a castle that truly feels like a place where lords and royals would live.

The castle has impressive views all the way to the Pyrenees, and the huge double city wall ringfences the whole area.

We could only visit for the afternoon due to an incident with some ticks in the morning, but we’ll try to revisit this city again.

We took a lovely tour of the castle Comtal with brilliant English audioguide. We spent a good hour walking through the castle. Lots of stairs to navigate but worth all the walking to see wonderful views of the fortress city of Carcassonne plus the countryside below for miles around.

The bustling tourist city outside the castle is narrow, twisty and filled with shops. We stopped for some ice cream and took the beautiful walk back down through the town and over the bridge to the car park which gives an amazing view of the castle.

Gorges d’Heric – Mons

It’s a long drive from Vias to the Gorges d’Heric but it’s well worth the trip.

The 5km hike starts in a little village, but I recommend driving further along to the dedicated parking area, just before the gorge proper begins.

The hike is made much easier by a paved road along the gorge that allows access to the rocks and river below, and lets you view the beautiful scenery from an easy platform.

Right from the start, there are pools and rocks to climb and play around. The water warms up as it comes down through the gorge so paddling is ok and swimming might be good in the summer. Crystal clear water and many waterfalls make the view picturesque but all the water can make it noisy at points.

The last half of the walk takes you high above the water, where we saw snakes, mice and lizards, eventually reaching a cafe where we got some ice creams. I wouldn’t recommend climbing that far if you’re looking to mainly enjoy the water.

Once we reached the top and had lunch and ice cream we made our way back down the gorge. We stopped off at a beautiful little spot where Olivia and I put on our water shoes and went for a paddle. The water was quite cold but it was nice to walk around in the crystal clear water, feeling the water rush past your legs and over your feet, looking at the different colour rocks and the amazing view. Olivia also had some fun making some potions. On our walk we collected various interesting things; different coloured leaves, berries, tiny fir cone, petals and then she mixed it in a pot with magical water from the river.

A beautiful day, I am so proud of George and Olivia for walking so far and managing the 6% slope all the way up the gorge.

Would love to go back during warmer weather to swim in some of the pools.

Conclusion

We loved the aire we stayed at and it would have been perfect if it had shower and toilet facilities. Beziers town centre was not for us but the surrounding areas of the Canal du Midi, gorges, rivers, parks and villages were amazing.

The post Trapped in almost Paradise – Beziers appeared first on Seeking Sights.

Caravans, Coaches and Trucks

One of the many things we didn’t think about before we started this adventure, was sat navs for big vehicles. Of course, we saw news articles about stuck lorries, and motorhome owners driving under too low bridges and thought “Why don’t they just use their common sense?”. It didn’t even occur to us that there could be a breed of sat nav designed specifically for them.

But there are. Quite a few of them in fact. From major standalone players like Garmin and TomTom, down to smartphone-based systems like Sygic and CoPilot. Most (if not all) of these systems allow the user to enter in a vehicles type, weight, height and length so that the route they plot is customised for them.

No more snafus right?

Wrong

Much like a car satnav, a truck nav is not infallible. They rely on the maps being accurate, and they really rely on restrictions being accurate. A truck nav doesn’t necessarily know the difference between a wide road with plenty of space, and a narrow country lane, hemmed in by hedges and trees.

And so it was. Just a few weeks into RV ownership. That we found ourselves on a tight, curving country lane. Huge hedges to the left, and hedges to the right. Not enough space for our RV and another vehicle to pass each other. We drove along, hoping that nothing would come the other way…

But it did. A car popped around the corner in front of us, and we both had to stop. Then a van appeared behind that, and two more cars behind us. We were in a proper pickle. Thankfully, in this instance, the van and car in front were able to reverse into the entrance of another road, and we were on our way once more.

Why didn’t I just use common sense?

Though we were only just realising it, our sat nav had just let us down hard. We spent 7 miles on that country lane! Stopping and driving into hedges, driving with the mirrors hovering over stone walls until finally, we reached a bridge with a weight restriction that we could not cross. Fortunately, at this point, the road was wider and we could stop while traffic passed.

By the time we realised that the regular sized road we were driving on was getting too narrow, we had no opportunity to turn around. Our choices were to either carry on, in the hopes that things would improve, or try to reverse a huge distance to a turning area. We had fallen victim to stuck trucker syndrome.

We weren’t the only ones either. While we decided what to do at that restricted bridge, a full size, 40+ tonne articulated lorry came over the bridge the other way and attempted to drive along that torturous 7-mile journey that we had just completed. I hope they made it, or they might still be stuck now.

Campsites and Country Lanes

So, stick to the major roads right? Motorways, A roads and their European equivalents? Well, that’s just fine until you remember that campsites tend to be in out of the way places. People who go to campsites, generally want to get away from big roads and towns. So with few exceptions, those last couple of miles are always going to be the danger points.

When you consider that in the UK a single motorway lane is 3.65m wide (12 feet), even new country lanes can be just 5.5m wide (18 feet) for both vehicles to pass each other. Even if it’s expected that buses will regularly use it, then the lane still only needs to be 6m wide (19.5 feet) unless there’s another reason for it to be wider.

This has acted as something of a baptism of fire for my truck driving skills though! Weaving in and out of parked cars, avoiding hanging tree limbs, making space for other vehicles, taking up the required space for turns etc has all become a part of my driving repertoire because I’ve had to learn it.

Which is the best satnav to get then?

I don’t know!

We’ve been using Copilot Truck on iOS for the moment. It’s not been perfect (see above), but it does a reasonable job. The biggest failing it has is that it uses Yelp for online address search, which of course, sucks.

After the restricted bridge scenario, we happened across the caravan and motorhome show at the Birmingham NEC, where I hoped all the major players would be present and I could pick the perfect replacement. But not everyone was there (notably Garmin was absent), and most of the demos couldn’t alleviate my existing concerns with Copilot. At £300+ for the mid-top models, buying the wrong one is an expensive mistake to make.

Further to that, I couldn’t find anyone with a dedicated device that could promise me live traffic based route changes like you can get on a smartphone! TomTom managed that years ago on their standalone car units. If I’m driving several hundred miles in a day, I want to know if traffics building up ahead before I get there, especially as with a big vehicle, I won’t have so many options to get past.

In the meantime, we just rely on the sat nav, and look at those last few miles as closely as we can on Google maps before we decide where to go!

Dream Satnav

So if you’re out there sat nav makers, reading this. I know it seems unlikely! But if you are, what I am looking for is a sat nav which has:

• Easily switched routing profiles with metric values! No having separate feet and inches boxes, or wondering if 12.6 is 12 feet 6 inches or not.
• CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility! I want to install a nice modern head unit in my RV instead of a black box stuck to the dash.
• Real-Time traffic and routing. Waze and Google already do it better than anyone – can they crack HGVs too?
• Google based search capability. Obviously.
• Toll avoidance and calculation. Most sat navs have the ability to avoid toll roads, but I want a less binary option. In places like France, tolls build up as you drive further; given the sat nav knows the route, it’s not difficult to estimate the toll! I want to know if driving an extra 30 miles is going to save me money or if I should just pay to take the easy route!

Come on – you can do it!

The post The Joy of Sat Nav – Tight roads, restrictions and getting to Campsites appeared first on Seeking Sights.

Camping Larribal 

We stayed at a campsite in Millau called Camping Larribal, pitched on the grass between some trees and just a few metres from the river Tarn.

This site was very much in a high tourist area, with many similar campsites and lots of adventure activity areas. I can imagine in the high season it would be packed and very noisy. The site had some swings and a pool, but like most of the sites in France, the pool was not yet open. Olivia and I spent a couple of hours having a go at a bit of fishing with no luck. The two things the site did have were lots of strange looking and sounding ducks roaming around, and a mass of sticky seed pods falling from the trees all over the car, RV and ground! Several weeks later even after loads of vacuuming, we are still finding them!

Millau Viaduct

The main reason for our stop in Millau was to stop off and see the Millau viaduct on the way to Beziers.

The Millau viaduct is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the gorge valley of the Tarn, and as of November 2018, it was the tallest bridge in the world, having a structural height of 336.4 metres!

We crossed the viaduct on the way to the campsite on one of the windiest days of our trip so far! Unfortunately, it’s was a bit underwhelming to drive across as it has large wind barriers prevent you from seeing down very much (which George was probably actually very grateful for).

We tried some of the wild camping spots around the viaduct, but most of the roads are very narrow, or limited by weight so we were unable to take the RV down them. Crossing the viaduct cost nearly €40 for both vehicles.

Getting a better look

So the day after our arrival we took a drive back up the beautiful mountain road to take a better look at this amazing structure, as well as taking a drive right under the bridge to see how ridiculously high it was! It certainly is a fantastic feat of engineering and wonderful design. However, both Olivia and I preferred the raw metal structure of the Garabit Viaduct we had seen earlier in our trip.

Gorges du Tarn

The mountain roads were amazing in the area, there was no way we could resist the urge to take the top down and go for a drive. So with our hats on and Olivia’s legs wrapped in a blanket, we set off out the other side of the town towards the Gorges du Tarn. The road followed the river through the canyon it carved millions of years ago. A great drive along winding roads in the sun through hollowed out arches and glorious rock formations.

After a while, we found a small town and were able to get down to the beach and have a play for a while. Olivia and I braved the water, though I will admit it was so cold I only lasted a few minutes as it physically hurt, while Olivia, of course, spent some time splashing and playing while George and I soaked up the amazing view. We even came across a kaleidoscope of Swallowtail Butterflies.

Park

We stopped at a big park in Millau close to the river for Olivia to play. We were so proud of her as she finally plucked up enough courage and spoke some French to another child and they became friends! Even though they didn’t understand a word each other said they played for a good hour together. It was very nice to see her making friends and having fun as though she were still in Britain.

Conclusion

We only stayed a short while as we really did not like the horrible stick seeds that were getting everywhere. The gorge and river were beautiful, as was the viaduct and it was very clean, but I am not sure I would go back to this area. For me, it was too touristy with lots of adventure activities and not much real sightseeing to be had.

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