We have left Andorra la Vella heading north in to France via Ax-les-Thermes and Foix to Toulouse. We stopped over night outside Toulouse before we continued our trip. We passed by Montauban, Agen, Villeneuve-sur-Lot again and reached Bergerac on a beautiful day.
Traditional barges on the Dordogne River.
One of the old town’s half-timbered buildings.
Help yourself!
We like to drive the scenic route from Barcelona to France via Andorra in the Pyrenees. This takes less then 3 hours via the Autopista de Monteserrat. Andorra la Vella is the capital of Andorra and is famous for shopping and of course for cheap fuel.
A quick stop south of the border to Andorra.
Duty free Shops lining Meritxell Avenue.
Casas or Chalets in Andorra.
To visit Barcelona and titled “Vacance en France” is not exactly correct, as everybody knows Barcelona is in Spain. This was a spontaneous idea after we left Cap d’Adge to visit another place and we made the decision to heading south in to Spain. Anyway this is only a 3 hour drive and we camped in El Masnou, just north of Barcelona. Very convenient for us as a short walk from the campsite is a train station which where the trains running every 20 minutes or so to the City. Perfect.
Back on the El Masnou Campsite preparing evening supper.
Sláinte!
A long name for a small but cheerfully Campsite. This site is in walking distance of the beautiful Village of Rocamadour. I’m not surprised when everyone says, go to l’Hospitalet for the best views of the village in its entirety.
The Campsite is directly on the main street of l’Hospitalet and includes a Hotel, free WIFI and a swimming pool.
The french way of life, keep camping simple but take the fridge with you for a nice cold drink.
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.
We left Haute-Vienne and traveled toward the Atlantic coast. We have planned to stay overnight on the coast but as we left a bit late on the morning we stopped over in Bordeaux to travel next day further to Mimizan. We have visited this place a view years ago and we like it very much, so we mad the decision to spend a view days again in this beautiful spot.
Etang d’Aureilhan
Overnight stay in Village du Lac, Camping de Bordeaux. The campsite was packed, but still enough place for us.
44.8054 N, 0.5822 W
A new day and we planned to go to the Abbey of Saint-Roman which is near Nimes and Avignon. Only one and a half hour drive on a beautiful day again. It also called the Aiguille uplands on the lower valley on the right bank of the Rhone river.
Apparently in the 5th century, hermits who were disciples of Saint Romanus settled on this rock. Anyway in the 7th or 8th century the eastern monastic style of the desert Fathers of Egypt adopted the teachings of Saint Benedict and became a Benedictine Abbey.
We could see the Abbey Chapel, Cave tomb on the terrace, monk’s living quarter, a medieval wine press and much more. Well worth the visit.
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.
Arriving in the Alps on our annual vacation, we are very fortunate with fresh snow. this has given us the opportunity to test the Nokian Hakkapeliitta in their full potential.
We had no snow chains with us, despite it being mandatory on the roads with which we have driven through. Even driving down the mountains we had no issues.
We are very happy with the tyres and of course with the Land Cruiser.
We have definitely made the right choice with the brand of winter tyre used.
This years excursion will be shorter than usual, taking us firstly to the Alps, then on to the highlight of the trip – the Buschtaxi 2015 gathering. The gathering takes place in Storndorf, Germany in mid-September. Depending on the weather conditions we will likely go to the Swiss, Italian and Austrian Alps. My plan is to update the blog as often as I can, at least with a line or two and hopefully some decent photographs.
The Landcruiser is almost completely ready, with just a few last minute essentials (like wine and beer) to load.
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