Die aanloop tot die Frankryk-toer:
'n Maand toer deur suide van Frankryk (dankie aan Joey en Hercules vir die inligting en inspirasie en aan Hester en Paul by wie ons uitspan vir `n week!).
Ons ry bus na Montpellier. Huur 'n kar en ry 'n sirkelroete na Arles, Avignon, Ste Enimie, dan af in die vallei - vanuit die noorde!), Mende (slaap beslis hier oor), Albi, Carmaux, Cordes, Najac, Carcasonne en terug na Avignon. En dan na Chateaneuf de Grasse om by Paul en Hester te kuier.
General orientation (mostly for ourselves as we don`t know the lay-out of France very well).
Below is a map which give the roads of the eastern side of the pink area. Unfortunately, all the towns are not shown - they're too small - and that's exactly what we want (far from the madding crowd).
Look at the map on your left - find Montpellier.
We boarded an Alsas-autobus from Santiago de Compostella on Wednesday 2010.05.05, travelled throughout the night , changed busses at Burgos and travelled to Montpellier where we arrived on Thursday at 09:00.
Here are a few impressions during our bus journey:
an interesting bridge,
mountain side of mauve Erikas,
an interesting bridge,
a bay near the sea,
mountain side of mauve Erikas,
vineyards prepared for summer.
Sunset (left) and
sunrise (right).
This is the public transport system in Montpellier.
This is the car we rented for our tour of Southern France.
We travelled along this road to Sommieres
and crossed this Roman bridge to enter the town (7 of the original arches can be seen).
We found a caravan park for the night
and did some shopping the next day.
After packing up, we drove from Sommieres to Salinelles, then to Lecques where we found the remains of the old Roman city walls (left).
Fontanez (right) is renowned for the typical Southern France houses that are arranged around the centrally situated church in the village.
Montpezat sits atop a mountain/hill, its castle jealously guarding the fortified village which snuggles around the original castle wall.
See the cobble stones?
And what do we find in Montpezat?? A group of Rerformee church members baking "oreilettes" for funds and
by the end of the visit we were invited to sleep at Marc an Nicole's home in Clairan!
+- 12km from where we started out this morning!!
+- 12km from where we started out this morning!!
Even still more amazing was that Nicole is an artist who reproduces Ellenberger`s San paintings (dated from 1933) from Lesotho!!
Our visit with them was a wonderful experience!
On Saterday (8 May), we started driving north into the Cevennes mountain area armed with Marc`s detailed map. As you can see, the weather did not let us see the view in the mountains!
We booked in to Au Porteau in St Andre Capcezè after an extremely winding road.
Our hosts introduced us to their family,
showed us traditional beehives of the Cevennes
and served us a local apperativ before dinner - delicious!
The next highlight was the ruined castle in Le Garde Guèrin - quite spooky in the misty weather.
At Langogne we turned Southwest to travel to Mende [moõnde].
It was so cold that in spite of the sun which had crept out, there was snow on the mountain side.
Mende has a cathedral, Notre Dame et Saint Privat (16th century) which dominates the town.
And the street islands that are covered with spring flowers are enchanting. We travel on to our destination deeper in the Cevennes.
Our road took us over the plateau of the Cevennes and we found fields of ground orchids.
We travelled across the plateau until we got a view down into the Tarn Valley and saw our destination, Ste Enimie, far below us in the valley.
We found La Jasse, the Gite de France which has Chambres d'ho^tes to rent, to spend the night. We asked: what is there to see in the village? The answer was: just walk through the village. And truly this walk was a walk back in time exposing a fairy tale medieval village.
After breakfast, we headed up into the Gorges du Tarn. It`s a winding road which hugs the Tarn river.
Castelbouc is one of the medieval villages - see its castle perched on the top of the gorge? 
Past Florac a truck nearly pushed us off the road, and we had a flat tyre to replace. 
But the views we saw all morning made it all worth the effort!
Just before Meyrueirs, we found a camping place that has a dormitory for hikers. The owner, Eric, told us where to have the tyre fixed, and his wife, Marilou, let us use her computer to download photos. Good people! 
We also visited Roquedols Castle which is buried in the Cevennes National Parc - truly magical!
We had pasta for supper and a fresh French baquette for breakfast.
Tuesday 5 May and we set off to visit Dargilan Grotto. They have the largest dolomite "curtain" in the world.
And an immense "belvedere" which we thought looked like the Angel Gabriel. No photo can do justice to the cave's interior which was lighted by natural lights!
We drove across the Causse Noir - the limestone plateau in which the caves lie
down hairpin bends 
and the cliffs (Gorges du Jonte) which were below us towered above us.
Our next stop was the Belvedere de Voutures (Vultures) where in 1974 they successfully re-introduced Black Vultures, Griffon and Bald Vultures (extinct from 1950). It was amazing watching such big birds soar around and nest in the cliffs.
Much of the rest of the day`s journey passed by cliffs like these.
And passed villages like this sitting on small hilltops in the valleys.
When we arrived in Millau we had coffee in a shop which sported this fancy coffee bean grinding/burning machine - see the red thing? 
After a good night`s rest in a Gite d`Etap in Millau, we continued south. The road took us under the largest bridge in Europe, the Viaduct de Millau. Not only is it a boon for travelling in comfort, but it is also beautiful!
Then we turned north to visit Roquefort-sur-Soulzon where the original blue sheep milk cheese has been made in limestone caves since the 17th century. A demo centre shows the production of the cheese and after tasting we bought some Roquefort cheese too. 
The area was beautiful - yellow fields of flowers contrasted by mauve Ericas.
Red poppies on the verge of deep valleys.
`n Petrolpomp in `n dorpie.
Die Villages de France teken laat mens regop sit - 
en Brousse le Chateau stel nie teleur nie.
Hierdie Maria-beeld staan sommer buite op die straat.
Ons ry verby landerye.
Vra uit oor blyplekke in die omgewing.
En vind hierdie Gite d`France naby Cordes-sur-Ciel. Ons bly sommer twee nagte omdat dit so sentraal gelee is.
Dis Donderdag 13 Mei. Vandag is ons teiken Cordes-sur-Ciel en omgewing. Ons loop heelpad opdraende in Cordes om hierdie lewendige middeleeuse dorpie te besigtig. Lewendig want gewone mense bewoon die geboue.
Die kloktoring.
`n Ywerige tuinier se huisingang.
Ry verder deur Fore^t de la Gresigne - 4000 hektaar se eikebome!
Ry na die grootste dolmen in Frankryk naby Vaour.
Sien St-Antonin-Noble-Val.
Drink koffie by Penne - die ruiene van die kasteel is bo-op die koppie!
Stap deur die middeleeuse dorpie, Bruniquel.
En draai by die kasteel van Puycelsi. Toe begin dit reen en Castelnau de Montmiral verloor sy aantrekkrag - ons ry tevrede huistoe vir `n tweede aand by dieselfde Gite.Vandag is Vrydag 14 Mei en ons beplan om noord na Najac te ry en dan op ons spore terug na die suide na Albi.
The first village we stop at is Laquepie, famous for the Roman arches on which a road has been constructed.
The road to Najac was beautiful and Najac itself was another fairy tale village.
The front of the E`glesia St Jean de Najac. It was Ascention weekend so there were fresh flowers in the church.
A moss covered roof and a view over the houses in Najac creeping down the incline.
A steep alley down the mountain of Najac.
We turned south and wound our way through the forest.
Past the Abbeye de Beaulieu which was founded in 1144 and survived much historical turmoil.
We reached Albi with its famous cathedral.
And admired the intricate interior with much minute detail
and with large surfaces covered in delicate work. However, it seems to be dedicated to tourism!
Unfortunately we did not have time for the Toulouse-Lautrec museum.
We drove on to Lautrec.
And found accommodation in this lovely farm house.
The morning after we slept at the farm, we walked through Lautrec. A beautiful village. It boasts the only functioning windmill in Europe!
Behind the windmill at the top of the hill these statues look ot across the valley.
This is the view we saw from the top of the mountain.
After our visit to Lautrec we continued south and near Carcasonne we saw motorboats on the Canal du Midi - what fun!
Carcasonne is an old city surrounded by a new city. 
The Basilica Church of St Nazarius and St Celsus had fascinating gargoyle-like figures protruding from the roof. Although interesting, we felt that Le Cite was very commercialised.
About 10km outside of Carcasonne we found accommodation in Marseillette on a small holding.
On Sunday 16 May travel east to see Aigues Mortes [pronounced "egg mort"] a harbour town on the Camargue. The Canal du Midi reaches the Mediterranean sea here.
The 12th century fort is a popular tourist attraction.
We leave Aigues Mortes ( which means dead water) and take a drive through the Camargue. Salt water marshes (La Sansouire) and rice paddies are typical of the area.
The white "wild" horses of the Camargue are well-known and we saw some in a paddock.
We crossed the Petit Rhone by ferry (Bac du Sauvage)
And arrived at Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer. 
We left this harbour town and headed to our hotel. You can imagine how pleased we were to see eight white swans in the pools next to the road.
We settled in to our hotel "The pink flamingo" - very fitting name as we had seen some pink flamingoes in the marshes.
The next morning we drove to Avignon to see the Punta de Romano but discovered that it was closed on a Monday. At least we saw this bridge along the way.
Avignon's old city walls impressed us
as did the cathedral.
On our way back to Albaron to sleep a second night at La Flamant Rose, we stopped at Arles to look at the ruins of the Abbey Montmajour - to think that such a solid building could go to ruin!
And we also walked around the amphitheatre for which Arles is famous.
This is a typical street scene in Arles which Van Gogh painted.
Our last port of call was the Musee de Camargue. We decided to do the walk across the fields the next day.
On Tuesday, 18 May, (although Mrad had a bad cold), we walked the 2km circle route on the Camargue. Mrad checked the height we were at above sea level;
We walked along the Canal du Roust which is the oldest in the region (constructed in 1543).
And saw a herd of black Camargue cattle that are famous for their bull fighting abilities.W
After the pleasant walk, we left the Camargue and headed towards Marseille en route to Cannes. The map shows Arle, Avignon (on the lower left of the map), Canne and Grasse (on the right hand side of the map) where Hester and Paul live.
The Camargue where we walked is located south of Arles where the sea seems to be land locked.
To get to Marseilles, we travelled passed the Petit Rhone, the Grand Rhone and through the largest delta in western Europe - often there was water on both sides of the road.
We bypassed Marseilles and in order to avoid the toll roads and high ways, turned inland (north).
This road lead us into the country side with beautiful scenery - balm for the soul. Mont Sainte-Victoire is in die verte op die horison and in the foreground is a filled with a field of irises planted for propogation.
We arrived at Barjols, booked into the local hotel, and followed the fountain route through the village.
Autumn (the Four Season Fountain).
The afternoon was rounded off with a drink in one of the local bars.
These distant mountains were our constant companions.
Paul and Hester met us in Grass and whisked away to their holiday home in Chateauneuf-de-Grass. Wonderful to be with friends.
This is their house
and this is the view from the terrace of their house: the bay of Napule (on the right of the photo). The bay is next to Canne (hidden by the mountains in the middle of the photo). On a clear day Nice can be seen to the left.
For lunch, we enjoyed two special local pizzas which Paul had made and settled down to a good visit.
2010.05.27 Vertrek om weer die suide van Frankryk en die suide van Spanje te verken.
*2010.06.09 Vlieg van Madrid na Istanbul (land 10e)
2 comments:
Liewe Inge en Mrad, Baie dankie dat ek julle asemrowende toer met julle kan deel. Wat 'n voorreg! Geniet elke oomblik daarvan en wanneer julle terug is wil ek alles hoor. Ek is 'n uitstekende leunstoel-reisiger.
Tonne liefde vir julle uit 'n kouer-wordende Pretoria. Bettie
Absoluut wonderlik. En pragtige detail. Dit klink net fantasties en ek is baie bly julle geniet dit!! (En ek kan myself nie help nie - ek is net so jaloers!!!)
Groetnis, Joey
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