Languishing in the Languedoc

The Bastille Day celebrations were a bit subdued, we had expected bands, fireworks, lots of dancing and drinking and the like but all there was was a brocante, a bit like a car boot sale, which went on for most of the day.

On Sunday evening there was a splendid fireworks display that we knew nothing about until they started going off. Lots of people had gathered on the other side of the harbour to watch and we stood outside the van with other camping-caristas (motorhomers) and we all went ooh, and ah, together.

The WWII submarine pens in Bordeaux harbour

Having checked out Laverie Automatique (launderettes) on the Internet and finding that the nearest were in Royan it was off in the car to do the laundry. When we got to the area of the first one it could not be found but we surmised that it had closed down and was now a clothes shop. After wandering round for a while and doing a bit of shopping in the indoor market Tricia asked in a dry cleaners and was told that there was one near a big supermarket a couple of miles away. There was no difficulty finding the supermarket and to our amusement the launderette was outdoors. Four washing machines and a tumble drier. We bunged in the laundry then went across the road for a burger while we were waiting.

Port Cailhau - Bordeaux riverfront

One of the reasons to revisit Mortagne was to be able to explore a bit more of the area around Bordeaux and I was hoping to get to see the submarine pens in Bordeaux harbour. So it was off to Bordeaux and after sometime spent searching for a suitable LPG service station for Harvey we found a park & ride on the outskirts of the city with a tram link that would take us to the centre and to the harbour. It was a bit of a hike from the tram-stop to where the sub pens are and by the time we got there Tricia was hot and bothered and totally underwhelmed by the whole experience. You can only enter the pens by appointment so I took a few photographs and we headed back to the tram-stop and took a ride into the city centre. The next couple of hours were spent wandering around taking photo's like a couple of Japanese tourists and stopping for a drink in a café in a little square. This was followed by a wander down to the riverside and then back back towards the centre to catch the tram back to the car park.

The Donjon overlooking the square at Pons

Tricia's brother and sister-in-law have a holiday home in Mortagne and they mentioned that a particular wine was pretty good and could be obtained for a reasonable price from a supermarket in Gemozac. The run to Gemozac was through fields of sunflowers which seems to be the main crop of the regions in the south but the town itself was a little drab and uninteresting so we carried on to Pons. Pons is a very attractive little town with a spectacular Keep dominating the town square with its modern fountains, just the place to sit in the sun with a cool drink.

We didn't think that we had gone very far east of Mortagne, down the Girronde towards Bordeaux, on any of our previous visits so when Tricia suggested we visit Blaye we thought it was going to be a new experience. Imagine the surprise then when we got into the town and found that we recognised the huge fortified citadel. The citadel has an enormous earthworks and several walls that would have had to be assaulted before getting into the town but luckily someone left the gate open and we just walked in. The town inside is quite quaint, with narrow streets, but, like a lot of these place, the buildings are no longer dwellings but are occupied by shops selling all manner of craft produce and tourist tat.

The cafe in the square at Pons

The ramparts of Blaye citadel

After spending ten days in Mortagne Port it was off to Toulouse. The town of Agen had been earmarked for the next stop over and a couple of suitable Aire's had been selected unfortunately we couldn't have got into the first one and couldn't find the second. After running out of gas and driving around for ages we found a picnic Aire and stopped for dinner and in the Aire was sign for a camping site nearby that accepted Camping-cars. So, despite it now getting late, we got the car off the trailer and went to see if we could find it. We drove around for a while and couldn't find the site that was advertised but we found another that would do so we went back to collect Harvey and went in convoy to the camp site. Camping Paradis at Montech was right on the canal bank and cost 5 euros a night in the car park outside the gate with no facilities or 10 euros a night for a space inside the gate with water and dumping (grey water only) but you could use all the other facilities. They had a toilet and shower block and a swimming pool so we decided to spend that night outside and move inside for the following night.

Leaving Camping Paradis near Montech

The next day a run out had to made to find an LPG service station and we had decided to reccy the next planned stop at Villefranche-de-Lauragais. On the way down to Villefranche there were no LPG stations and when we got there we found the Aire without any problem. It was in the back yard of Paul and Arlette Berniere and there was room for about six motorhomes comfortably although at one point he had nine or ten in. When we told him that we had an American camping-car he said he had had a Winibago and he had all the facilities we needed for a short stay. On the way back to Montech we took a run up the Autoroute, which was a toll road (peage), and found a service area with gas between two junctions and just down the road from where we were. Going through the entry toll barrier to the Autoroute we had forgotten about the bikes on the roof of the car and the ticket came out of the machine at the higher point, meant for truck drivers, so I had to jump out and reach up to grab it. Paying didn't seem to be a problem because you could do that at the upper or lower point. We then headed back to the site and a swim in the pool before dinner.

Aire de Camping-car Berniere

The following morning we headed for Montauban and the Autoroute between there and Toulouse and getting onto the Autoroute didn't pose any problems but when we arrived at the service area the LPG pump was on the far left, just before the petrol pumps, and our filler is in the right hand side of the van. We thought about for about ten seconds but the overriding criteria was that we couldn't afford to keep running on petrol so I turned around and pulled up to the pump facing the wrong way. After filling the tanks with 220 litres, and waiting till there were no cars coming in, I quickly drove round to the HGV pumps and the exit back onto the Autoroute. The next hurdle was the exit toll plaza and the toll for that section was 4.60 euros which we had in change the problem was the there was no change slot on the upper point only slots for cards (obviously truckers don't pay cash) so I had to lean out of the window to the point where I was almost falling out so that I could deposit the money. It took so long, however, that the barrier lifted before I had deposited the whole amount so we diddled them out of 60 cents. The rest of the run was fairly uneventful and we arrived at Villefranche in the mid afternoon.

Canal du Midi at Gardouch near Villefranche-de-Lauragais

The reason for us hanging about near Toulouse for a while was so that I could have a go at researching my family roots. Someone I had been in contact with had traced the family tree back to 18^th century Belpech and Belcaire so I wanted to corroborate what they had discovered. We had a trip to Belpech and a wander round the cemetery but didn't find any of my ancestors. I then decided to find the archives of the parish registers and found that this was located in Carcassonne. So we had a run down there one day and spent the afternoon in the archives looking at records of births, marriages and deaths or rather images of the microfiche of the ink splattered and moth eaten books. They were very difficult to decipher and I was going to need a day or two to do them justice so we needed to move closer to Carcassonne.

Camping la Pujade near Carcassonne

We had another Aire reccy day a couple of days later but didn't find anything suitable until we were heading back to Villefranche. We had seen the advertising signs on the way down and had earmarked Camping Le Pujade for checking out and it turned out to be a little camp site on a winery. The site is about thirty minutes from the Archives so is really convenient so we booked in by email (good old Google translate) and turned up yesterday (06/08/2012). Today I spent the day in the Archives and will be back there again tomorrow. Tricia plans to cycle along the tow path of Canal du Midi while I'm out.