Back home in the mountains
Firstly, my apologies for this entry taking so long to write and publish. As we have since found - by way of complete exhaustion - this past week has been rather full on. Especially with regards to the driving which has been intense on the mountain roads. It's also surprising how adjusting to a new way of life and trying to communicate in a different language every day can really drain you. That said, you will hopefully then understand why we ended up where we did a little earlier than intended by the end of the week. Lessons have been learned!
So carrying on from where we last left off...
We left Biganos to head south and down toward our next overnight stop on the coast. More on that shortly. First off though, it was van chores day. We'd been away a week and a half by this point so we needed to do a laundry stop. So we pulled into a SuperU nearby with an automated laundrette, petrol station and motorhome wash. Firstly figuring out the laundrette was entertaining, but we got there. Whilst that was washing we went in to SuperU for a food shop and Ellen bought some more baking ingredients. A quick switch to the dryer and then we went round to the wash station.
"Hors en panne" (Out of order)
Ah... ok... well the mud and muck would have to remain a little longer. We could at least empty the grey and they did have coin operated vacuums. So we vacuumed out the inside and filled up with diesel. By which point we realised that we had doubled up on the dryer cycle by mistake. Saving the clothes from shrinking too much, we repacked the van and then hit the road. Hopefully someone made use of that second dryer cycle!
Heading south following Google maps, we ended up hitting a rough off road track that even a 4x4 would have struggled with. Checking Tom Tom (we have a truck version) and that too didn't know that this wasn't a suitable road for a 4 tonne campervan! We retraced our steps until we had signal to check the maps and figured out a way around that section of the national forest. Eventually we made it past and ended up taking a minor detour over to Lakeside near Parentis-en-Born for a waterfront lunch before setting off south once again.
Winding through the forest we eventually came to Capbreton where I had ridden through a few years prior. However the weather was drastically better than back then and it was surprisingly rammed with people on this sunny sunday in February. We wanted to stop along the riverside, but there simply wasn't anywhere to park a car, let alone Noodle's 6.7m length! We pressed on to Boucau where we found that height restrictions were now in place on one of the potential stops. We were convinced that our ultimate destination had a time restriction and just wanted to waste some time on the beach. But alas it wasn't to be. Heading around and over the River Adour, we drove along the Bayonne river front and pulled into a space near the French Red Cross to work out what to do.
We were now in the urban sprawl of Bayonne and Biarritz and we realised we didn't have the time nor the inclination to explore too much of this area. We also realised that there wasn't a time restriction this time of year at our destination. So, we decided to risk it and head toward the park up at the car parlk behind the Belambra hotel in Biarritz. This was a good idea, but wow it was SO busy! It's February, on sunday, but you could have thought it was spring. People everywhere, traffic terrible. But, we managed to get parked up in one of the few free spaces. We settled in and then went for a wander along the beach front where the crowds were watching the surfers and getting photos of the spectacular sunset. As the sun went down, we retired to Noodle, had dinner and headed to bed.
The next morning was spent walking up the cliff and along to the Lighthouse for some good views of Biarritz before heading back to the van to set off east along the border with Spain and into the mountains at long last!
We both agree that we are mountain people, we always feel most at home when we're in the mountains. The air, the views, the quiet. Hence the name of this week's blog.
Our first mountain gateway destination was Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port, a citadel town in the foothills and on the ancient pilgrimage route (that is still used) to Santiago de Compostella in North Western Spain. Reaching Saint Jean, we had a van lunch in the car park and then headed for a walk around the historic town and citadel on the hill. Incidentally the main building of which is now a school. This was a fascinating little town and the streets of the citadel were filled with history and charm.
A quick coffee and then we headed back to the van to head further east to an overnight stop we had found in an unassuming little hamlet called Cette on the edge of the proper mountains. We managed to find a van/motorhome wash on the way though and although there was no brush, we finally managed to blast off the thick mud that had formed on the wheel arches. And most importantly, wash off the salty sea spray from the previous night before it could cause any rust problems (fingers crossed).
Cette was a lovely, sleepy hamlet nestled on a hillside out the way and we spent a peaceful night here before setting off east yet again the next day following a spectacular pink sunrise.
It was now Tuesday and the weather was continuing to stay pretty decent. Enough sun to get the solar topping up the battery on top of the engine power from the driving. We were now heading to Lourdes. We weren't too sure what to do here, but had heard it was worth a visit.
Ah stupid English.
Turns out we had no idea that this was a the location of a major Catholic shrine or "Catholic Disneyland" as I referred to it (see the pics and you'll get what I mean). More on that shortly, but at this point we didn't even know it existed. By the time we had arrived and finished lunch, it was 2pm and the Chateau was now open. So we headed up to this magnificent little Chateau on the top of the mound of rock overlooking the city. It once guarded the confluence of 3 valleys that led to the Spanish border. Now though it was an interesting museum and well worth the price of admission.
It was up here that we could see all around and I then pointed out a church that looked like a mix of the Disney castle and a fantasy Elven city. We looked it up and saw that it was the "Grotte" that we had seen signs for. Ellen then told me she had read about it in our Lonely Planet guide. Maybe I should read it once in a while! Turns out it is a major shrine in Catholism and people come from across the globe to visit it and get water from the spring there. Again this is also on the aforementioned pilgrimage route. We decided that whilst we don't go in for that sort of thing, it was probably only right that we visit it as we were here. So after we had finished at the Chateau, we headed through the warren of streets and found ourselves being shoved about by priests and nuns trying to buy all manner of tat in the many industrial sized souvenier shops. It was all very odd, but if you want a 35kg candle of the virgin Mary then this is apparently the place.
We settled for ice creams instead.
We wandered through the complex and saw the cave with the spring. Surrounded by people dragging their shopping bags full of water bottles filled from the plumbing that led from the spring. Well at least thats what is claimed, who knows?
We didn't stay long and took the long walk back up to the car park in the centre of town. Our next stop was deep in the mountains, to literally the end of the road at Gavernie.
Ellen wove us through the mountain passes and eventually we made it to the park up in this end of season ski resort. We made dinner and settled in as the sun set over the snow covered mountains all around us.
The next day, we started on our first proper hike of the trip. We headed out mid morning toward the Cirque de Gavarnie. A snowy dead end crater deep in the mountains veiled by the frozen Cascade de Gavernie, the tallest waterfall in mainland France. We wove our way through the snowy paths and eventually came to a point where we realised we had taken the path less travelled as a bridge across the wider part of the stream had collapsed and been swept downstream. The path on the other side had also been a casualty of this event and there was no obvious route to continue. We sat and fuelled up with the banana muffins Ellen had made the night before and then proceeded with some very off-piste navigation across the streams and up through powdery forest until we finally found the actual trail we should have taken originally. Still, what an adventure!
A packed lunch break at the walkers' hotel (closed) and we pressed on the short way further until we could see the Cirque and Cascades. However, the trail now seemingly dissapeared into thin air and we realised that most people had been turning around at this point as it was too dangerous to proceed. We stopped and took in the spectacle for a while and considered what it must be like in spring when the waterfalls have melted and are in full flow.
As we turned to head back, an almightly bang and rumble filled the still mountain air. I looked up and one of the smaller cascades had melted to the point where the ice could no longer support it's own weight and had come crashing down the mountain side! I managed to film the last part of this as the waterfall started to flow gently down after the initial drama of the melt. A fine way to end the hike I'd say.
We headed back down the mountains to Noodle ready to do some van chores on the drive and then head east again. Though we didn't really know where at this point. Eventually we found ourselves driving up another mountain pass to the Col D'Aspin. We had put somewhere another hour away into google maps but when we got the top of the col, we realised that this was the most spectacular place to spend the night. A wide open space in the clouds (though there weren't many about) with almost 360 degree views across the Snow covered Pyrenees and the Pic du Midi slap bang in the middle of our windscreen overnight!
The next morning we awoke early to catch the sunrise across the mountains to the east, the sun reflecting off the Pic du midi to the west. An amazing way to start the day and another reminder of why we love being in the mountains so much.
We drove on, Ellen had stuff to do remotely today so we had to find a decent place to park up with good signal. We put in one place but quickly found that we were too wide to get up! We pushed on a bit further south and then realised we were going to enter into Spain! We turned back, we didn't want to ad an uneccesary day onto our Shengan visa clock outside of France. We found another place, Col du Mente that should have good signal and headed that way instead.
On the way up, we passed a little pull off at the side of one of the switch backs, just below the Col itself and the ski resort slightly further up the mountain. We decided this would be a nice place to spend lunch, then we could find somewhere further on later. This was such a great spot in the sun that we quickly realised that more driving was not going to be worth it, so we repositioned, set up the hammock between the van and a tree hanging off the cliff and settled in. Ellen did what she needed to and I chilled in the sun. Unfortunately I chilled in the sun a bit too long and with too little water and found myself feeling a bit rough. Ellen headed out on her own for a hike up the mountain and I stayed behind trying to drink plenty of water and recover. We spent the evening watching the sun set over the mountains and then headed to bed for what we didn't plan at the time to be the last time in the van for a week.
We woke up Friday morning and headed up the ski resort at the top to use the public loos and have showers. Then onward toward more familiar territory in the Occitanie region. A long drive was ahead of us but we eventually ended up at the Grotte de Niaux.
This was a spectacular find by Ellen. We parked up inside a large cave opening (not the original entrance) and joined our tour group, which was fully in French... great for immersion, but only catching half of what is said is not so great for understanding. Nonetheless, this is one of the only places where you can see cave paintings of this age, as originally painted. That is to say, no touch ups, no "renovations". 100% original, some as old as 17,000 years! The detail and the way that the artists used natural rock formations to enchance their art was astounding!
Unfortunately (or not depending on how you look at it) we were unable to take photos inside the cave. We also had to traverse using dim torchlight. This was all to preserve the paintings and not degrade the natural materials. So it was for the best. You'll just have to go see for yourself! Though if your French isn't great, maybe go in summer when English tours are available...
We sat a while when we exited the cave and decided on our next course of action. We were planning to spend at least one more night in the van. However we realised that by the time we had driven to a supermarket we would actually be within an hour or so of Ellen's parents place. We had intended to spend the following week there to get some deliveries and make any final adjustments to the van done etc.
As we would be so close, and because we were so exhausted and needed a couple of nights in the same place to recover, we just decided to continue after shopping to their house instead.
So, this next week we shall be sleeping in a bed that doesn't move when we get up for the loo in the night (that flushes!) and enjoying possibly our last stay in the area where Ellen and then both of us have spent many a holiday and also where we got engaged a few years back. I won't do too much on here next week maybe just an end of week quick summary to let you know we are back on the road, the Instagram will just be spent catching up on the above as well.
Then... we'll be heading to Spain!
