Snapper's Touring France.

[Snapper]

Snapper's Touring France.

 

Well I have decided what the hell and gone touring in France.

 

The Route I am taking is about 1700 miles one I have crossed the channel to Cherbourg (Plus the milesage from Birmingham to Poole in Dorset and back => 2100 miles)

 

 

 

The Trip so far.. (Will keep you posted as things happen).

 

Poole to Cherbourg, Catamaran fast ferry. See Website for prices

http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/

UK Reservations Team: 08703 665 333

 

 

 

Day 1,

 

 

(115miles - 2hrs 15mins - Cherbourg to Mont St Michel to Hotel in Beauvior)

 

Down to Mont St Michel for the first night. Had a good look around the mount which was very interesting. Stayed at the Hotel Le Beauvior which is a couple of miles the mount. The hotel is reasonably priced and has a car park at the back of the hotel which keeps the car out of sight and away from most of the tourist's eyes.

 

Hotel Link: Hotel Le Beauvior

 

 

Le Beauvoir Hôtel ** Restaurant

9 route du Mont Saint Michel - 50170 Beauvoir - France

Tél. : + 33 (0)2 33 60 09 39 - Fax : + 33 (0)2 33 48 59 65

[email protected]

 

 

 

Day 2,

 

 

(429miles - 6hrs 40mins <Plus 3x Stops totaling 1hr 30mins = 8hrs total>- Beauvior to Rocamadour)

 

Blasted down to Rocamadour for a look around and stopped over for the second night in a hotel that over looks Rocamadour. The Hotel Le Belvedere was very helpful and the food was good. Also had good parking for the sports car. ( http://www.lebelvedere-rocamadour.com/ ) Great sight but it was an 8 hour blast on the autoroute. You may want to break this bit up with an extra stop somewhere in the middle.

 

Hotel Link: http://ldf.reservit.com/reservit/fiche_htl...mp;hotelid=1823

or http://www.lebelvedere-rocamadour.com/

 

 

Hôtel - Restaurant Le Belvédère - 46500 Rocamadour

Vue exceptionnelle sur site de Rocamadour

Tél. : 05 65 33 63 25 - Fax : 05 65 33 69 25

m@il : [email protected]

 

 

Day 3,

 

 

(180miles - 3hrs 30mins - Rocamadour - Cahors - Carcassonne)

 

Set off from Rocamadour and stopped in Cahors en-route to the Medieval city of Carcassonne, where we are staying in a hotel in the city walls. Driving the car in to the city over the draw bridge and up the medieval paths was a bit of a hoot, every one stopped and stared. We stayed at the Best Western Le Donjon Les Remparts Hotel, which is one of only two hotels in the walled city. Again good safe parking for the car

 

Hotel Link: http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/pr...enav=false#null

 

 

Best Western Le Donjon Les Remparts

2 Rue Du Comte Roger, Cite Medievale, Carcassonne, FR-11000, FR

Phone: 33 4 68112300 Fax: 33 4 68250660

 

There is another, Hotel De La Cite which is more far expensive.

 

Hotel Link: http://www.hoteldelacite.com/web/ocar/ocar_a1a_splash.jsp

 

 

Day 4,

 

 

Tomorrow we will be heading off to the City of Avignon where the Popes lived in France.

 

On the plus side I have seen some great sights so far (see Pics, sorry but they are taken on a sure shot and not my pro cameras).

 

On a down side I have covered a lot of ground on the autoroute/motorways, will do the better roads on the way back up through France.

 

Oh! and the really bad news was I had Foie Gras as a starter last night. (note to myself, for christ sake don't do that again).

 

 

 

Mont St Michel 1

 

Mont St Michel 2

 

Mont St Michel 3

 

Rocamadour

For the Hotel with the best veiw while having your evening meal and Breakfast.

http://www.lebelvedere-rocamadour.com/

 

Rocamadour 2

 

Rocamadour 3

 

Rocamadour 4

 

Medieval Bridge at Cahors

[Zebedee79]

Jamie, sounds great fun (I really am in the wrong job - got to wait till Sept for hols.) - you can't beat driving in France.

 

Great picture of Mont St. Michel - but only to be expected!

 

Always had +ve reaction to Lotus in France.

 

Got an Exige with A/C after boards' advice.

 

Have a good holiday.

 

John

[Snapper]

Zebedee

 

Glad you got you car ok.

[Ladders]

Nice one Jamie, will take some notes for my trip!

 

Would you recomend Cherbourg over Calais? oe just depends where you going?

[sriches]

Great shots. My wife and I have visited both Mont St Michel and Rocamadour and enjoyed the experience.

 

The Rocamadour trip was memorable as it was done in a 406 Hdi over a long weekend with one driver..me! A great car for such a trip and with a huge 70 litre tank the range was 750+ miles!

 

This August we're re-visiting Tuscany driving the S1 by way of the Stelvio...well, it'd be rude not to!

[Snapper]

The Medieval city of Carcassonne, will try and get a picture from the outside of the walls tomorrow to show the massive size of the place. But here are a couple of pictures.

 

Had to find a chemist for some eye wash because I got some dust in me eye which prevented me from doing some better pictures of Carcassonne.

 

Carcassonne 1

 

Carcassonne 2

 

Carcassonne 3

[Snapper]

Day 4,

 

 

(153miles - 2hrs 10mins - Carcassonne - Avignon)

 

Drove out of the Medieval city of Carcassonne and caused a bit of a stir while trying to navigate my way through the crowded streets in the Exige.

 

Some nice pictures of the city from outside the walls.

 

Then headed off to the City of Avignon where the Popes lived in France. Avignon is another walled city and was very nice. Stayed in the Hotel D'Angleterre inside the walled city. One of the very few hotels with private parking

 

Hotel Link: http://wb255.lerelaisinternet.com/html_uk/uk_fram1.html

 

 

Hôtel d'Angleterre

29 Boulevard Raspail

84000 Avignon

FRANCE

tel: 0033 4 90 86 34 31

 

It was so hot that some of the roads were melting by 1pm. When we was arriving in Avignon, every time we stopped the cars temperature shot straight up to 103 because the fan couldn’t find any cold air to blow through the radiator.

 

Anyone who says that aircon in an Exige is not needed will soon change their minds after today. It was a big help but still struggled to keep it bearable in the 40 degrees heat. Tried turning it off for a while just to see what it was like and it soon became uncomfortable.

 

Glad I didn’t do this trip in a Caterham.

 

Had a good look around the Place of the Popes and had a great meal in the square in front of the palace. There has been a street festival on all week and some good free entertainment.

 

Tomorrow is Day 5, I will be heading up through the gorges of the Massif Central region and going over the giant bridge in the sky near Millau.

 

I will up date this again when I next get to a 3g signal area.

 

Snapper

 

 

Avignon - Place of the Popes 2 (Some how jumped to the top).

 

Carcassonne 1

 

Carcassonne 2

 

Avignon - Place of the Popes 1

 

Avignon - Place of the Popes - from our table

 

Avignon - Street entertainment in front of the Place of the Popes 1

 

Avignon - Street entertainment in front of the Place of the Popes 2

 

Avignon - Street entertainment in front of the Place of the Popes 3

[chris_h]

Some great pictures.

 

A few of them would look even better with your exige artfully placed in front !!

 

Chris

[Stevef]

Talking of great photo's,I saw the framed photo's you did for Nick Whales (Jamie) they looked great.Wouldn't mind a copy of the long montage (if that's the right word)of the cars at Donnington.

 

 

Steve

[Snapper]

Steve

 

Re: Long Montage drop me a U2U so that when I get back I can sort some thing out for you.

 

Chris

 

With Car just for you

 

OK, on with the trip:

 

Day 5

 

 

(280miles - 4hrs 40mins Plus stops of 1hr => 5hrs 40mins - Avignon - Millau - Dienne)

 

Drove up through the Central Massif area over the bridge in the Sky at Milau and then in to the town for lunch. the out the south side of the town and under the bridge for a photo. Then my partner Mo took the wheel and looped around back over the bridge and continued on up through the region taking in a few of the gorges to out Hotel.

 

Stayed at the Hotel De La Poste in Dienne which is just North of the Skiing resorts near Murat. The hotel is in a small village out of the way off the main road, The food was very good and the view of the volcanic hill tops was good.

 

 

Hotel Link: http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/recherch/...p;x=11&y=10

 

 

Hotel DE LA POSTE

15300 DIENNE

(It is on the main street running through the Village)

 

Tel: +33 (0)4.71.20.80.40

 

Choose the De La Poste option ( For some reason it won't let me put the full link in, or cut and paste the address below:

 

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/recherch/...p;x=11&y=10

 

Bridge at Milau

 

Driving over the bridge.

 

Gorges in Central Massif

 

At bridge again

[Snapper]

Day 6

 

 

(320miles - 6hrs 4mins Plus stops for lunch and looking around the Chateau - Chateau de Chambord - La Chartre Sur Le Loir)

 

Setting off early we continued up through central massif today and on to Chateau de Chambord (See Pictures), and then on to tonights hotel in the village of LA CHARTRE SUR LE LOIR. the hotel is called Hotel De Franch and the walls are covered in Le Mans racing pictures. A number of racing teams have been know to stop there in the past. The food was good. They also have a car park at the rear so that you don't have to park the car in the main square:

 

Hotel Link: http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/recherch/...mp;x=10&y=8

 

 

Hotel DE FRANCE

20, place de la République. - BP 20.

72340 LA CHARTRE SUR LE LOIR

 

Tel: +33 (0)2.43.44.40.16

(Located on the main Square in the town)

 

 

I must have done well over 1,800 miles since setting off on Saturday, with more still to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chambord 1

 

Chambord 2

 

Chambord 3

 

Chambord 4

 

Chambord 5

 

Chambord 6

[Snapper]

Well it's Day 7,

 

 

(160miles - 4hrs Plus stops for lunch and looking around- La Chartre Sur Le Loir - Le Mans - Caen - Falaise - Caen - Ranville - St Aubin)

 

We set off from the village of LA CHARTRE SUR LE LOIR and headed up past Le Mans to the birth place and home of William the Conqueror, his castle at Falaise.

 

On to the War memorial at Caen (I would give this a miss to be honest, I thought that after everything that happened the place would be packed out with stuff, but I felt that they had very little).

 

Then up Ranville and over Peagasus Bridge to travel along the Normandy coastline taking in the D-Day beach landings at Sword & Juno before stoping at St Aubin in the Hotel St Auban. The Hotel was fine and the food was good, but the car park was not big enough for all the guests.

 

Hotel Link: http://ldf.reservit.com/reservit/fiche_htl...;cis=1154713957

 

 

SAINT-AUBIN

Place du Canada.

14750 SAINT AUBIN SUR MER

Tél: +33 (0)2.31.97.30.39

Fax: +33 (0)2.31.97.41.56

E-mail: [email protected]

 

I would have rather have stayed here at the Hotel LE CLOS NORMAND which was full. The owner spoke very good English and was very helpfull in getting us accommodation especially when he saw our car . The food there look very good as well. Parking was infront of the hotel, but it did feel safe.

 

Hotel Link: http://ldf.reservit.com/reservit/fiche_htl...;cis=1154713873

 

Or try this for the English Page

http://www.closnormandhotel.com/index_gb.php

 

 

Owner - Jean-Régis Paulhac

LE CLOS NORMAND

Digue Guynemer.

89, rue Pasteur.

14750 SAINT AUBIN SUR MER

Tél: +33 (0)2.31.97.30.47

Fax: +33 (0)2.31.96.46.23

E-mail: [email protected]

 

Tomorrow I will continue along the other D-Day Beaches and to our final nights stay.

 

 

Pics:

 

William the Conqueror

 

William the Conqueror's castle at Falaise 1

 

William the Conqueror's castle at Falaise 2

 

War memorial at Caen

 

Peagasus Bridge 1

 

Tank & Exige at Peagasus Bridge 2

 

Peagasus Bridge 3

 

Juno beach - Normandy D-Day Landings 1

 

Juno beach - Normandy D-Day Landings 2

[Snapper]

[Snapper]

Juno Beach

[Snapper]

Day 8,

 

Carried along the Normandy D-Day coast through Juno Beach, Arromanches & Gold Beach where they built the Mulberry harbour, and had a look at the Musee Du Debarquement which was interesting.

 

Then on to Omaha Beach and had a look at the American Cemetery which was impressive. Carried on around the coast to Utah beach, before heading off to the hotel L’ Hostellerie du Chateau which is in the castle at Bricquebec.

 

Juno Beach