3.00am and time to get on the move once again! With the sun still set we made all necessary preparations to get the van loaded again and hitched up. By the time we were leaving, the sun had started to appear on the horizon and we left Guines for the Dordogne with a beautiful sunrise. To avoid Paris, I had chosen a route which would make use of the A104 and N104. This should be less busy than the inner peripheral routes around Paris and should be a good choice for a relaxed passing of Paris, unlike the return journey of last year! All was going well until the Sat-nav lost one of the waypoints set and decided to re-route us even though we had passed it! This was ok though, as we just had to stay on the 104 and quickly dial up the trip planner again selecting the next waypoint. This it did and we were soon past Paris (hooray!) and off to the first refuelling point on the A10. Generally the fuel stations in France are of a good size and are fairly easy to navigate with the caravan. Still, care is needed as you can easily fill up and then pass the resting places if not careful. Still, you know you are not more than 15 minutes away from the next one!
All went to plan until we came to the final route from the A89 to the campsite, as is normally the case! Along the D704 I didn’t make the turn for the D706 and instead carried along the D705 over the river and into some rather tight and interesting places! With no option but to follow the redirection offered by the Sat-nav we duly followed the route which presented along the way some good stretches of single lane roads, tight bends and to wrap it all off – a single track narrow bridge back over the river. Not the best way to end a long journey, but we eventually came back on track and found our way to the campsite.
First impressions were really good, a very tidy and well maintained site. Upon calling into reception, we were offered the chance to select our own pitched, or take the one which had been assigned to use. So leaving the car and caravan at the entrance, we set about on foot to explore the site. Most of the pitches are divided up into little cul-de-sacs, which run off from the main site road. Each are given names and hold about 8 pitches on average. As it turns out, the pitch allocated for us was the one we favoured, so after informing reception, we returned to the car and set about getting the caravan into location. There is plenty of greenery on the site and some of this makes for certain areas being a little tight. Our chosen pitch was no exception and some care was needed in order to get the turn into the pitch spot on. Once we had negotiated this, we left the rest to the mover in order to get the caravan exactly where we wanted. We had purchased the Milenco leveller and brought it with us for this trip, so we gave that a try first. First it takes an age to wind the thing up! Secondly it does seem to distort the wheel somewhat where it grips it. Not making much headway and not liking the holding position of the tyre we retired this idea and brought out the old faithful yellow Unico leveller. In a matter of minutes we were level, putting the Milenco to shame a little. The spot where we had pitched was partly shaded by a couple of trees, but left a good area of space in front for the awning and a generous seating area. Following this long day we didn’t do much else apart from relax outside and enjoy the storm that brewed that very evening!
Facilities on-site are excellent with 3 pools, table tennis, football/basketball, bike & canoe hire, laundrette, shop, restaurant and take-away. The kids made use of the pool the following day whilst Cath and I erected the awning. Quite successfully I have to say this time as well. We didn’t make the mistake of tensioning too early and everything fell into place rather easily. Before we knew it, the awning was up and time to put the solar lanterns on it! The pitch was fully serviced, so water management was quick and easy. Next came the satellite. With bearings in hand I managed to find a spot just clear of a couple of trees where I could pick the signal up. Strength came in it 80 but quality was suffering at 40. A quick turn of the LNB however to adjust to the correct skew and quality went up to 70, perfect for the majority of stations.
A couple of days we took trips out to the local towns of Montignac, Sarlat-la-Caneda and Le Bugue. All very typically French, closed for a couple of hours in the afternoon and plenty of restaurants! The D706 further South from the campsite has to be one of the windiest roads I’ve ever driven on, good fun! The local supermarket is just up the D706 before you get into Montignac. Here we managed to spend quite a few Euro’s on food and drink or should that be snacks and drink. Although we did purchase some beef burgers, chicken and sausages ready for our BBQ evenings! These BBQ evenings made use of another new purchase, the Beadaclaire BBQ. This BBQ, well really it’s a gas grill, is simplicity in itself. A simple non-stick grill heated by a multi-jet gas burner. With plenty of heat on tap, the meat was cooking in no time. We also managed a couple of bacon & egg sandwiches on there as well!
We took he opportunity to take a canoe trip down La Vezere. We were picked up from the campsite and taken to a spot along the river again just South of Montignac. From here we launched our canoes and headed back down the river to the campsite. This was a great experience. An easy ride with no rapids or awkward rocks to negotiate. It took about 1.5 hours before we arrived back at base.
As usual the days rolled by as we settled into the holiday routine and before we knew it, we were making plans for another early start, this time back up North and back to Calais!
- Date: 17th June 2012
- Nights: 12
- Pitch #: Dahlia 11
- GPS: 45.001684, 1.071746
