Vacance en France – Rocamadour

Rocamadour, with the monastic buildings in the LOT department, Occitanie. It is in the Parc Naturel Régional des Causses du Quercy, well worth the visit. Very Popular by Tourists but with only a population of 600. We have spend a couple of days in this beautiful Village. We had a great time well worth the visit.

 

44.7994° N, 1.6179° E

Vacances en France – Mimizan Plage

Nice day on the Atlantic coast. Hot day but the sea was very cold.

We visited the local marked. Anybody fancy a new hair style?

Today cook the “Chef” himself. Someone has to do this work.

Vacances en France – Vienne

We left the beautiful Campside in Thury-Harcourt and continued our travel to south-west via Rennes, Bretagne and Nantes on the Loire River. Unfortunately the weather and forecast was not the best and instead to continue with our plan to travel to the Atlantic coast we headed south east towards to the sun.

We traveled Cholet, Maine-et-Loire and Bressuire  and Poitiers in the Vienne department. The weather changed dramatically from heavy rain to beautiful sunshine. We decided to stop in Vivonne which is just south east of Poitiers and stay overnight on a Campsite. Our plan was to visit some friends next day which live in the Haute Vienne department and only a 2 hours drive away.

Camping des Trois Rivieres, Vivonne, Poitiers, Vienne

N 46.42499, E 0.26462

Some unfortunate french holiday maker had a problem with the electric on his ancient Caravan. I was more then happy to help him to fix it.

Vacances en France – on the road again

This year we decided to travel to France again. The original plan was to go somewhere else for a change. By taken the roof tent, the advantage is to go wherever we like and to change the routing  on the last minute.

We headed overnight south to the Euro-tunnel in Folkestone to catch our pr-booked Train to Calais. After a view ours rest and a short sleep near Abbeville, Somme we continued via Le Havre and Caen and stopped over night at Thury-Harcourt in the Basse-Normandie region.

Camping Du Traspy, Thury Harcourt including free WIFI on the whole Campside beside the lake “Plan d’eau du Traspy. Beautiful place.

48.988518 N,  0.467728 W

 

Maggiolina Airtop

For more then 2 years we have planned to sell our old but reliable ARB Simpson Roof tent and buy a new Maggiolina Airtop Roof Top Tent. We believe the Airtop fits our travel’s around Europe much better. We had great times with the Simpson roof tent. Of course the Airtop can be opened within 20 seconds and packed away within a minute. Which is very  good. To open an close the Simpson it took me at least 15-20 minutes and was no fun to do it in the rain. Of course the Simpson could folded in half and this has give me some space on the roof rack for gear which I rather not have in the Car. This of course is now gone as the new tent use the whole length of the roof rack.

I had to re-arrange  the layout in the Land cruiser to fit all the gear in. The good side on it is, some of the equipment which I have carried around for years and of course never have used has been thrown out and flung in to one of the dark corners in my Garage and probably never see the daylight again.

The tent fit perfectly on to my old roof rack. I’m still be able to slide the table under the rack.

There is plenty space in the tent. Although the height is restricted compares to the Simpson roof tent.

Replace Air-con Condenser on Landcruiser

The Condenser on my Land cruiser has seen better days and  I decided to change it out before the unit fails completely. Aftermarket condensers are very cheap and plenty full to choose from. I had no intention to purchase an original condenser from Toyota as they extortionately expensive.

First step was to remove the ARB Bullbar, Spotlights for better access.

Next step was to remove the oil cooler for the automatic gearbox and the inter-cooler including pipe work. This has also give me the opportunity to maintain the T-max winch, as it was a bit in a bad state but still working.

The condition of the oil cooler is not that bad. I believe I can get a view more years out of it.

A bit of paint and the cooler looks much nicer.

The same with the inter-cooler. A black spray can and everything look much neater.

This was the state of the old condenser, still in working  order but no idea for how  much longer.

This is the new condenser, no doubt Chinese manufactured, but good enough for me. For the cost of an genuine Toyota, I can buy four of this type. The condenser comes with air dryer already attached.

Connecting was strait forward, as the aftermarket unit fitted very well. Just a bolt on job.

 

Installing the oil cooler and inter cooler was easy.

After recharging,  the air-con system was good as new. I can be sure the system don’t let me down on hot days.

FRANCE 2017-4

We found a nice place to stop at Ste-Marie-Plage, just north of Perpignan with a lovely and clean sand beach. Also the camp side was great and first class. We had direct access to the beach and it took us only a minutes walk. Weather could be not better.

Stunning sunrise

Very clean beach

We had the swimming pool for our self. Hardly any people there.

Camp side between the trees and very quiet.

FRANCE 2017-3

We went on the move next morning heading east to Toulouse and half way there we decide to make a stop in Lourdes, one of the great shrines in Europe to visit the Grotte Massabielle.

We travelled  further to St. Gaudens and then via the Midi Pyrenees in to Spain to a small town of Bosset which is on the foot of Sierra Sascorjada. There we stayed over Night.

 

After an early start next morning we heading to Andorra but driving the small mountain roads from Vielha  to Salardu, Port de la Bonaigua which has a stunning view from over 2000 meter. Unfortunately the fog has spoiled it but we still had a great time despite the road been very challenging for the Land cruiser.

Further to Vall d’Aneu, Sort and the Coll the Canto to Seo de Urgel  which brings us to Andorra la Vella. We stopped for a meal and of course very cheap fuel. We wished the Land cruiser had bigger Diesel tanks.

We continued on afternoon via Pas de la Casa in to France and was heading to Perpignan where we planned to stay for a view days.

FRANCE 2017-2

On the edges of the Beauce plain and the Loir Valley is the town of Chateaudun and is presided over by a massive and beautiful chateau. It is definitely recommended to visit which we have done. The view from the castle and the surroundings with many 16^th-century houses  is stunning. We could not ask for better weather.

 

A couple of days later we moved on heading south again, passing by Vendome, Chateau-Renault, Amboise, Blere, Loche and got totally lost near Chatellerault thanks our backroad driving. In Poitiers we decided to go on to the toll motorway as we lost to much time.

We passed by Limoges and on to the back roads towards Perigueux we found a lovely camping side at Antonne-et-Trigonant. We stayed only one night as we want to move on to the Atlantic coast.

Again back on to the toll motorway, passing by Bordeaux, which we have visited a view years before and close to the Spanish border near Biarritz we found a camp side in Ondres on the Golfe de Cascogne which was a total  disaster as soon we had the roof tent sorted it started raining for the whole night. Not very enjoyable. Also the Camp side was not up to our taste and we moved on as soon we could.

NOKIAN HAKKAPELIITTA LT2

Since I have had the Land cruiser 100, I’ve never bothered about Winter tyres. I live in a country where it is debatable to buy some, as wintery conditions are seldom therefore making it difficult to justify the purchase. The LC is not my main transport and on bad weather it can stay on the drive.

All the previous years when I travelled to the Alps in the winter, I was more than happy with the BFGoodrich in the snow. It seems, there is now not the amount of snow on the roads as many years ago and for 2 weeks it is just not worth.

I am planning to drive to the Alps at the end of the month; I will be travelling through mountain passes where winter tyres (and snow chains) will be needed.

I have purchased a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT2 on original Toyota steel rims which  makes my life much easier when I change them over.

It will be interesting to see how the winter tyres compare to the BFGoodrich that I used previously.

I have raised the pressures in the tyres from 35 to 42 psi. Lets see if it makes a difference on the road handling

I like the way how Nokian put the safety indicators on the centre surface of the tyre. The numbers wear out as the tire wears down. Less the 40% the tyre should not be worn in wintery conditions.