Saturday 1 September 2012

Remoulins, France

Apart from the sat-nav trying to take us down a one way street (SEE MR H's TRAVEL TIP No 3) we managed to reach our next destination http://www.soubeyranne.com/accueil-EN.html with minimal swearing and a rather chilled journey. The entrance to the site was alarmingly downhill with very little room for Mr H to manoeuvre. We managed to find a pitch just large enough for the RV and trailer with water, waste, electricity and a wifi connection! Unfortunately the pitch was on a carpet of dry soil and leafs completely surrounded by dusty pine trees. Undeterred we dug out our trusty ground sheet and made the best of it. A sudden heavy thunderstorm quickly transformed our pitch into a brown pond that drained away as quickly as it arrived. The warm mistral winds whipped up the dust very effectively but the sun shone and we enjoyed many a swim and sunbathing session at the sites large pool.

Just to keep us on our toes Mr H had a reoccurrence of his ear infection after going for a swim at the last site. Once again he had to visit a Doctor, this time a French GP. As he is sampling the whole gamut of European healthcare I have advised Mr H to offer his review of services received to the NHS back home. He has been seen promptly without booking/waiting for appointments, with respect and the pharmacy systems here are quick, efficient and all delivered with a smile! Armed with steroids, opium-based pain relief and yet more antibiotics we are hopeful this bloody thing will be eradicated as predicted by the very pleasant French GP.   

The theme of things going awry continued with horrendous problems with our computer. This started after attempting to update iTunes whilst in France. MR H's TRAVEL TIP No 4 - NEVER DO THIS! Mr H spent days and nights trying to sort out this mess. He eventually had to restore the laptop to factory settings and reload every programme known to mankind! And still iTunes will not work due to their license which prevents us syncing iPhone and iPad whilst using foreign hosts (Apple T&C in small print!!!!!!)

Despite these events we found time to explore the local town and visited the Pont Du Gard on the Scooter. In true Yorkshire fashion we managed to avoid the 18 Euros parking fee by wild parking under the trees!!  This spectacular 2000 year old bridge and aquaduct across the river Gardon draws many visitors. You can't help but marvel at this vast ancient construction and the setting is very picturesque.





We met a wonderful couple from Belgium who were regular visitors to this site. We enjoyed many a beer, a meal in the restaurant and some laughs about life and the universe while sitting in the sun (well the bar mainly). They were very interested in buying a new American RV, many who see ours do! Unfortunately this is now nigh on impossible in Belgium due to new regulations that prevent the importing of RV's. You can only buy one that is already registered in Belgium. The good news is that on their return to Belgium they found an excellent Belgian registered two year old American RV! We wish them happy and safe travels always and hope to meet up again soon.  

After a week here we were ready to move on to our next destination on the coast where we intend to stay for some time!