SEPT 11TH – Le Reposoir – again

We left Chamonix this morning, and paid our €12.50 for the day (actually less than 24/hours, but more than 15hrs)….

We decided to return to Le Reposoir for a few days, weather forecast is not good rain and thunder, seems across France, so we don’t really want to be touring in that as you miss so much.

We took a slightly different route only in as much as we kept to the main red roads, as opposed to taking off on white roads, as we had on the tour there.

We stopped around 1100 at Salanches at the Carrefour we had used the day before to top up with fruit etc.

We did have a slight problem, in that Duncan bought some replacement toothbrushes for his toothbrush, he had said these were a great price €3.50 – and when I checked out, I thought the bill was high, so checked it, and found they had charged us €13.00….. He said leave it, I said flipping No. I went to the desk and tried to explain, and did get a refund, Duncan went off to see if he had made a mistake, and he was correct, but an assistant nearby, checked it with him, and THEY had made the mistake on the shelf. Now in UK you can push for the price shown, but whether that would have worked in France I don’t know, and my French is not good enough for that….

We then drove on back to Le Reposoir and no one else was here, and we had lunch, still no one has joined us but it is only 1600, so plenty of time.

We shall see what the weather brings. It was sunny, windy and then wind droped and the cloud has come, temp inside with windows and door open is still 23.9deg…. but it has dropped in the last 30-45

We hope the bounlanger is open tomorrow…we didn’t make a note of the times…

SEPT 10th Second Aire – Chamonix Mont Blanc

Well we continued the tour and arrived here just before 1500 and drove in took our ticket and will have to pay €12.50 when we leave after 16-24 hours…..not a cheap stopover. There is a borne, but I haven’t been to look, as we don’t need anything.

The parking is in the P&R Greppon area, and it is right close to the telecharge for the Aiguielle de Midi.

We what a rip off, from the way we approached it, we didn’t get to see any prices or anything, until we go to the caisse… 2 x adult tickets were €45.60 each….. what a rip off.

It takes about 20 mins in all, plus waiting for the cabins to come, and there are two to get – trouble is we didn’t think before going – flip flops and t-shirts, no coast – temps were shown to be -5deg at top!!!

TBH it didn’t feel like that, although due to cloud cover we didn’t stop very long, went up on the 1515 cabin and came back down on the 1600 – so you see it wasn’t long, but no point in stopping as you couldn’t see anything, and they packed you in like sardines in a tin….

Shame about the weather.

After that we went for a wander around the town, some very nice shops, but mainly selling ski wear and restaurants. We treated ourselves to an icecream which was very nice.

Back to motorhome about 1815 and had tea and now typing up the last three days.

A nice place, expensive and pleased to have seen it, but not really bothered about coming back.

We have toyed with the idea of doing the tourist train but at another €26.40 each, we don’t think it may be worth it…..

Off tomorrow, to retrace our steps, and we are thinking of stopping a couple of days at the aire again at Le Reposoir which was quite nice.

Weather is not due to be very good….rain. and only 14deg during day…. oh well a couple of

SEPT 10th – tour 100 – Two aires today – GERVAIS LES BAINS – lunch

First was Gervais Les Bains….

We stopped here for lunch – it actually looked quite a nice place the village, bigger than expected, but the aire was at the beginning of the tour and really wasn’t that nice, not somewhere you would want to spend more than a night at.

€2 jetons from TO, for Relais Borne.

Quite a few motorhomes were parked and another three came whilst we were having

SEPT 9TH – LE REPOSOIR – tour 100

and so off we went and got as far as Le Reposoir which is in a valley and a very pretty little village, which was kind enough to do a free aire, albeit also the car park for the village.

We went for a walk around after lunch and there is a boulanger and fromage and butcher too, none open Sunday afternoon, but we didn’t need anything.

Quiet night, as well. Nice place to go back to.

SEPT 8th – tour 100 – NIGHT LATHUILE

We did the usual chores at Belley before leaving, and unfortunately seeing Willi and Traudl on this bit wasn’t to be as they left that day to go to Geneve – and so we started the tour which started from Annecy, so a drive towards there.

We sort of skirted it quickly and drove down the west side of the lake and stopped the night at a private aire in Lathuile. €8 a night, €2 just for facilities and €2 for electric if needed, probably about 24 places, but sloping and on grass, and the bit we were on was much too long.

Nevertheless it is only about 200m from the Lake itself, we were going to stop another day but Duncan decided to press on.

SEPT 6/7TH BELLEY AIRE

We arrived here yesterday and found one other motorhome here then, we parked as usual some 8/10ft away as plenty of space, and 2 others came later, one parking very close to us on one side….why? loads of room….

There is also a converted lorry here, with an a/c in front, and door at rear, as yet we have seen no one except a dog, the door opens and a dog comes out and it goes in and a door closes, but no person.

In front is a childs playground, doesn’t seem to be much used really and a rugby pitch to the left.

There is an UrbaFlux borne €2 for water (2 x €1 pieces), which we plan to use tomorrow. By the side are some toilets and I think a shower. As we don’t need I haven’t investigated – also rubbish bins and lights which weren’t on last night.

Weather has been lovely, we walked this morning into the town, about 1km took around 13 mins. We found the TO and got some literature, wandered in and out of shops and found the Cathedral which was open and we ventured in. It is highly decorative and decorated, more so than any I think I have seen in France.

Back for lunch and a quiet afternoon, reading the literature and catching up on this…. Moving on tomorrow, but not exactly sure yet where we will stop over, we need to find a garage and get some gas (GPL) here and I have located one or two en route. We can’t always manage to get into them. We couldn’t when we filled up at Super U on our way here…. It was much too tight for the vehicle to get between that and a metal bar down the side, separating the 24/24 bit from the Caisse bit…. very bad planning, if it isn’t that the height is too low, 3.1m last time…. so keeping fingers crossed so we can get some so fridge doesn’t stop working in this heat. Temp 27 today…. but not unpleasant.

SEPT 6th – BELLEY

Drove to Belley after deciding to leave the tour, due to the Tour 97 being so difficult to actually follow. We did the main part of it, the vineyards, which was lovely, but gave up and drove across to Villefrance sur Saone, and then over to Belley….

Never mind, we did the best bit I reckon, even if we did think the tour perhaps wasn’t good for motorhomes as there were no passing places on the vineyard roads, and many were up mountainsides….

5th September – BEAUJEAU

We had a pleasant night at the Touristique Parc and were joined by two others. Left this morning around 10am, filled and emptied our water and then drove to find a supermarket. Intermarche was selected, but when found, was not just closed but closed own, fuel was open although we didn’t need it, we couldn’t have got any as it was only 3.1m high, so having driven on a little further to Le Brieul we stopped at L’Eclerc and got what was needed, and then drove southwards towards Macon.

We stopped for lunch at Belleville, which was where we were going to do this tour from, as when finished we plan to drive eastwards towards Annecy and perhaps if Willi and Traudl are in, drop in and say hello, as I was told off by Heidi when we were in the area last, for not contacting them!

Actually we love to see them, but feel it is a bit of an imposition, and they are always busy people, so we shall see.

This tour is through the vineyards, and the roads are not even on our Michellin France 2012 map!!!! So fun is being had.

Belleville aire is literally just off A6 and a km or so off the N6, so convenient it travelling north or south, but to be honest it would be noisy and is next to the Municipal Depot that abuts the A6…. The parking is fine, the road is not on Garmin’s GPS, but we found it, the spaces are some 11m long, so fine for RV’s…. anyway lunch was OK.

The tour was very nice, vineyard single track roads, hoping not to meet anyone, and we didn’t meet anyone large to cause us or them a problem, we went up and down hills and the scenery was lovely, the weather was warm, 24/25deg, but it was very hazy and a wee bit cloudy today. A good day for driving though.

We continued on through some small villages, plenty of chances to taste the wine if you wish, and we have stopped tonight at Beaujeau which is apparently the capital of Beaujolais Region (Historically).

Wonder if we will be joined by anyone else. This is the Stadt, so there are youngesters around and about playing football etc.

Off again on tour, maybe a look at the town, but we seem to be a long way out and no sign of parking here….so we shall see.

4th SEPTEMBER – LE CREUSOT (71)

Left Gurgy this morning, having managed to empty the loo and rinsing it with the grey water – worked ok.

Drove then to Auxerre to L’Clerc we we had intended shopping and refueling… It was near Centre, car park area not suitable for motorhomes, it did have a multi-storey park for cars, but we just managed to refuel at €1.373 today. No GPL there.

Carried on driving south, were again going to stop at Autun this evening, we recognised it, as we had stopped and done the town a few years ago, parking was not good, close to main road, and very sloping what was available. So we drove on to the next aire almost on our route.

We deviated slightly, and have ended up at Le Creusot, at the Parc de Touristique…. It is a theme parc for kids, but looks almost closed. Very few cars, we saw the borne at the entrance, and just continued driving through and have parked up all alone at the end of the park. No one else has joined us.

Sorted out route for tomorrow, and will then continue southwards.

We did find a supermarket in Autun were we bought food at Auchan, it was very poor, the small tomatoes I purchased were thrown out, they were all withered….. couldn’t see that in the box…. they also only had 1ltre of milk in semi-skimmed, so to look for another supermarket tomo

03RD – STILL AT GURGY

This was such a lovely spot we have decided to spend another day here. The weather has been superb and we met a lovely couple from North London on a 1926 converted tug. They showed us around and it was converted in 1948 by an Israeli in Holland. It was as it was then, loads of room and very quaint.

I walked up to and over the bridge, around the river bend and then went to take some photographs of the weir…

Lovely day in the sun, it was a bit windy, but not enough to cause any problems…. Hope to return here. I love this aire.

One problem, borne says €4 but not working, and there is no dump now for motorhomes, but can empty the loo, but no water to clean it afterwards….. But such a lovely spot,

Restaurant open 7/7 except Sunday pm. Boulanger closes on Monday, but open other days. Pharmacie and Proximarkt in the Centre Commer