Return to Provence

It is Monday August Bank Holiday and here in Manchester it is perhaps 15 degrees ( that's being generous) and, of course, raining. Luckily, we are off early on Wednesday morning for La Belle France and some warmer weather. Today we are loading up the van and we can't wait to get away again. Here is the cunning plan.

This trip will be a mixture of old and new. We will return to some favourite haunts and, for the new, we will explore the mediterranean coast around Toulon. We are not stopping in London on the way down this time, but going straight to Folkestone for the tunnel. Although the crossing is not untill 18.20, we will set off as soon as we can and hopefully get an earlier crossing. That usually happens. Then we will stay the night at La Bien Assise at Guines near Calais. They have wifi in the campsite bar there and we might be persuaded to have a drink. The next morning we will be at the Auchan Supermarche in Calais when it opens at 8.30am for cheap diesel and the odd bottle of wine. Then it is onto autoroute 26 heading for Chalons-en-Champagne where we will spend Thursday night. The next day we will drive as a far as Tournus, just north of Lyon, and rest for the night, before another day's drive to Aix-en-Provence. After four days driving from Manchester we will stay here for three or four nights. We have used the site a few times before and we like it. There is a bus stop just outside for a 10 minute ride in to the city. Aix is a beautiful place and we enjoy sitting in the cafes next to the market and watching life go by.

From Aix it is just a 50 mile drive to Toulon. We are heading for a place called Sanary sur Mer just west of Toulon. This will be new to us, but it sounds good. It describes itself as a small fishing port, but obviously now it is very touristy and commercial. I think we will stop here about a week or so, before heading east along the coast to Cavalaire sur Mer. If we find anything interesting on the way we will stop. Hyeres looks interesting and we may well go there. It is just east of Toulon where the airport for Toulon is located. I don't think we will go further east along the coast than Cavalaire; it depends on the time.

On the return we hope to visit Uzes again. This is a really beautiful town west of Avignon towards the mountains.

Then, finally I hope to spend a week in my favourite village of Beaumes de Venise (just north of Carpentras). The grape harvest should be in full swing and I will, of course, help out by drinking some they made earlier. It would be churlish not to. Then it will be a three day drive back to Calais. By this time in October, campsites will be shutting up for winter and we will have to find alternatives.

Hope you follow us again this time and the blogs will become more interesting when we get underway and Chris starts writing them.

Pictures: Our old van in the campsite at Beaumes, Aix en Provence, and the market at Beaumes de Venise.