Considering we were parked up in an Aire outside Avignon (yes, the place with the “pont”!), we slept remarkable well - and the clocks gave us an extra hour! We were breakfasted in the nice little cafe in the modern service area and on the road by 9.45am. We read many internet warnings about overnight stops at Aires but I have to say it really worked for us. There was a separate parking area for motor homes and caravans - Brunnehilda was the only one there last night!
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| No filter on the camera - just morning mist |
More good news - our faith in French bread has been restored - we had a gorgeous croissant and baguette which set us up up well for the morning drive. Unlike the 17.4 million, I’m big enough to know when I’ve called something wrong. Vive le pans!
The motorways are so easy to drive on - compared to what we’ve been used to down south. And as there are no lorries on French roads on a Sunday, I just put her in cruise control at 55 and we travelled for miles and miles without any effort at all. Because we broke the back of this journey last night, we only had about 240 miles left to do.
That said, we did hit our second French motorway traffic jam as we turned “left” at Lyon. We passed around St Ettiene, which looked a bit like Birmingham from the M6, and found somewhere to lunch as soon as we were back heading north. More culinary French Aire success and even time to read our books for a bit - although we had to park up with the HGVs!
The afternoon drive was amazing. We travelled about 60 kms through the most fabulous wooded mountain area - around a town called Thiers. Kim later impressively informed me that it was The Massif Central, the 3rd biggest mountain range in France with the largest peak 1,500 feet taller than Ben Nevis. I suspect the suspiciously long time lapse between the drive and the forthcoming information suggested it maybe Wikipedia to be more impressed with than Mrs Pitts!?
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| Copyright Wikipedia |
We arrived about 5 miles from the campsite at Clermont-Ferrand at about 4pm - which is when disaster struck... again. I hadn’t checked Percy and once again he had chosen a crazy route - right through the middle of the city! Luckily it was a Sunday afternoon and not too bad - but for Kim’s eagle eye spotting a street that had a no caravan sign showing, I think we would have gotten ourselves deeper into the mire though!? So we had to make our own route to the site / taking about 45 mins to do those last 5 miles!
The site (Camping Huttopia at Royat) is really nice - as with most of the French sites it is due to shut down at the end of the month so it’s only about 1/10th full and lots of facilities are shut - pool and restaurant. The French lady host was amazingly nice and helpful. To be fair we haven’t come across a rotten French or Italian on all our trip!
After the stressful arrival we went out to fill up with fuel (that lesson has been hard learnt!) and check out the better route to the motorway that the site lady suggested. Most local restaurants seem to shut on a Sunday night but we didn’t try too hard as we were happy to have a snack and get to bed! We have the longest journey yet tomorrow- nearly 400 miles.
Now to the mystery- I couldn’t find my glasses when I woke up and i instantly knew they were lost for good! Both of us have turned the caravan upside down to find them but to no avail. And we are only talking a small caravan here not a 4 bedroom house! The current Mrs Pitts pointed out that I normally have some sort or eye disaster on holiday - who can forget the fish in Georgia who ended up with a very expensive pair of my specs after I stupidly dived into the sea forgetting I had them on! But this different - they’ve truly gone and there is no explanation- but one. I suspect there are tiny areas all over our universe that are trapdoors to another dimension / parallel universe. I think I just put them down somewhere and they slid into some sort of worm hole. That theory might also explain why so many single socks going missing and NEVER turn up.
Anyway, onto the promised pros and cons for Villaggio dei Fiori ...
Pros:
1) The position and view, yards away from the ocean.
2) A convenient and peaceful walkway into town
3) Access to the beach / sea
4) The most modern and cleanest toilet facilities ever! And so many of them!
5) The incredibly friendly and helpful staff
6) The pizza in the restaurant was sublime
7) Although, not used by us, the pool looked great
Cons:
1) It was difficult to put up an awning
2) There wasn’t enough space really for a van, a full size awning and a car - the pitches were best suited for motorhones
3) The fab pizza was only available on Fri, Sat & Sun
Overall, I would say this is by some distance the best site we have stayed at!
Ben fatto Italia!!
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