# Provence to Millau advice needed



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Hi

currently at st croix lake near the verdon gorges. We were going to go to the coast but are debating if we should forget it and slowly head west in the general direction of millau and the tarn gorges.

My general idea was to meander off the to roads via the Avignon area taking a few days to arrive at the tarn gorges.

Any must see places along route?

Also any good aires or wild spots appreciated

thanks


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## Carl_n_Flo (May 10, 2005)

You will enjoy the Tarn gorge Barry - just be careful driving and take your time.........the road can get narrow and there are quite a few overhanging rocks. Oh, and the local canoe transport vans drive along as if they own the place.....

Will have a look at our diary entries from when we did this journey from Aix en Provence to Albi a couple of years ago and post up some ideas this evening......there is an excellent aire at a small town just before the start of the Tarn Gorge road (just cannot remember its name right now....).

Carl


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Thanks Carl

I have found two in the book. Perhaps the one you mean is Florac which looks good but 5 miles away there is a small one for 5 vans at Ispagnac. Both look ideally suited for a gorge trip.

I was hoping we could use the scooter like we did at the verdon gorges but they look much longer. I think the plan is to either use the bike or set off really early in the van and then head for sallee curren and lake paraloupe where we have been before. Can't beleive we missed the gorges two years ago but it was our first trip and we were even more disorganised than we are now!


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## Carl_n_Flo (May 10, 2005)

Yep - Florac is the one......an easy walk (or ride) into the ville for the morning pain et croissante - and good views across and along the valley...

Will dig out more info this evening...

C


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

barryd said:


> Thanks Carl
> 
> I have found two in the book. Perhaps the one you mean is Florac which looks good but 5 miles away there is a small one for 5 vans at Ispagnac. Both look ideally suited for a gorge trip.
> 
> I was hoping we could use the scooter like we did at the verdon gorges but they look much longer. I think the plan is to either use the bike or set off really early in the van and then head for sallee curren and lake paraloupe where we have been before. Can't beleive we missed the gorges two years ago but it was our first trip and we were even more disorganised than we are now!


If you do choose the Florac Aire and are using a sat nav and the All Aires co-ords, I'd be interested to hear if you find the Longitude co-ords correct. They're given as E003 52.400 which converts to 3.8733 which is nowhere near Florac. I think, and so do Archie and MHF, it should be 3.590 which converts back to 3 35.442

I'm looking at All Aires Second Edition.


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## Traveller_HA5_3DOM (May 9, 2005)

Camperstop shows this as 44degrees19mins 32secs and 3degrees 35mins 25secs. If you are working in decimal minutes 32secs is going to be about .59 and 25 secs should be about .44. 

How anyone can divide a minute into 100 parts I'll never know but it seems to be the preferred system for some GPS devices


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi Barry,

Florac and Ispagnac are in our database, i'm pretty sure the coords are correct ......

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=908

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=909

Pete


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Cheers guys. I have the aires book, aires in autoroute, the sat nav aires and the camping Infos USB database so will see if they marry up.

It's always good though to get recomedations from you chaps. We still don't know about the coast. When we leave here we will be going to an aire 20 miles south by a waterfall where we will be just 50 miles from st tropez so perhaps we will have a day or two there.

Mrs d never wants to leave the aire are on now at st croix as we bagged the best spot with loads of space and superb views. I offered to flog it to a Welshman the other day for 50e! Actually it's worth more.


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## Carl_n_Flo (May 10, 2005)

Been swimming in the lake yet Barry?

I couldn't believe how warm and blue the water was - and it was late September when we were there!!!!!

Fabulous spot - not surprised Mrs D does not want to move away.

C


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Not only are we swimming in it all the time I set off to row to the town on the otherside the other day in our dinghy. It was much much further than it looks from up here. I went on my own and only took 1.5 litres of water. I somehow drifted off course and it took me 2 hours. Luckily I made it, bought another 3 litres of water which were all gone by the time I got back. I thought I was going to die. Way out in the middle there was just nobody at all.

Been sticking round the shore ever since. Yesterday we rowed about a mile up the lake where there is no road and found our own private beach in an inlet. Superb


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## alphadee (May 10, 2009)

We went to Florac a few weeks ago. It was a very nice aire (free) with great views. Very short walk into a *really* pretty town. Thoroughly recommended! 

We used All the Aires... don't remember a problem with co-ords, but aire was well signed in town anyway.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Thanks alphadee will definately add it to the list if my wife ever let's us leave here!


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## Sandy_Saunders (Nov 17, 2008)

There are three aires you might like.

1. Anduze (page 332, No.147 in the all the aires book third edition). The aire is in the car park of steam tourist railway on the edge of the small pleasant town of Anduze. Handy for the town and in some good scenery. The railway runs three or four times a day to the next aire.

2. St Jean du Gard (page 342, No.185). At the other end of the steam railway, we only visited by train. The aire is located in the car park of the railway again.

3. La Couvertoirade (page 391, No.150). A lovely small, walled mediaeval town with no modern development whatsoever. Local countryside is very nice, set in the Causes south of Millau, lovely walks although it may be a bit hot at this time of year. Note - no water facilities at this site.

The first two aires are free, the third is three euros for however long you stay.

Cheers

Sandy


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Thanks Sandy

just had a look they all look perfect.


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## havingfun (Oct 31, 2007)

*provence to millau*

hi,

dont miss the Pont de Gard,free aire in the town,just by the river, and paid parking by the Pont itself,but a nice walk,or drive up,a must see place, Avigon is a beautiful walled town,and free parking under the bridge,opposite the campsite enterance, Ales is another great town,lots of roman stuctures,some still being used,free aire by the river in the town,all of these are at the side of rivers,so you might be able to get the boat out.

enjoy,mags


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## Wilmannie (Feb 7, 2010)

Agree - Anduze is super! 
You might also be interested in following tried & tested Aires: Ste Maxime (nr St Tropez) Gordes in Provence and Moustier St Marie if you're going inland. All lovely towns. 
Avignon itself is well worth a visit and there is a good campsite near to the bridge. Further along the coast there are good Aires at Aigua Mortes and at Cap d'Agde & Narbonne - these are listed in All the Aires, I think. Most of them make a charge tho' along that coast. 
Hope you have a great time!


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Many thanks again. Some great ideas to keep us busy.

We are off to moustiers st Marie to day as we are just 10 miles away at st croix. Will take the bike though.

Cheers
Barry


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## DocHoliday (Jul 18, 2008)

This is what I'd recommend based on the last few days of our trip: If heading west inland, take a look at the Luberon. Roussillon with its ochre rocks, and the wonderfully-situated Gordes are must-sees. There's a nice aire (free water, quite a bit of shade) at Villeneuve, just north of Manosque which is at the east end of the Luberon. Fontaine de Vaucluse to the west is lovely, if very touristy, and has a paid aire. We stayed in Carpentras. The aire is rubbish - just one parking space - but there's much more (unshaded) parking lower down, and if you can find Le Stade then you can have some shade too. Avignon is well worth seeing and very easy because you can park under/near the bridge that goes to Villeneuve les Avignon, within easy walking distance of the Pont and city centre. Remoulins is the town close to the Pont du Gard. Don't think about parking at the Pont itself because it's €15. Park at the aire in the town and take the bike. We headed on through Nimes and stopped at a small town called Sauve on the D999. There's a free service point (signed) right next to the D999, but it's noisy. Drive 400m further west and you'll see a big, grassy field with lots of shade where many motorhomes spend the night. Today we drove on to Ganges and took the D25 down the Gorges de la Vis, which I highly recommend: beautiful, not crowded, and a reasonably easy drive. At St Maurice you can turn right and go up to the Cirque de Navacelles viewpoint. I found the Cirque a little disappointing - looks like a pimple compared with the vast cliffs surrounding it, but I guess the topography is fairly unusual. (If you take the D4 south west out of Ganges you follow the Herault river down to St Guilhem le Desert, which is just terminally charming. However, it was packed out in April, so I dread to think what it's like now!) From the D25 we went to la Couvertoirade, which someone else recommended, and I'd concur enthusiastically. Now in the lovely village of Peyre, just west of Millau, having driven under the viaduct - most impressive.


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## provencal (Nov 5, 2008)

From French TV

The weekend is going to be very busy with French holidaymakers returning home.

Wouldn't go south as there is heavy rain forecast for Sunday.

Best bet for weather is too go as far west as possible.

Brian


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Thanks Doc for that really useful info. Currently in st tropez which we probably will regret after a wonderful week at st croix.

If your near millau there is a superb wild / unofficial aire right by the river at st Rome de tarn and a good spot at lake paraloupe near salles curran which I think is in the aires book

weather forecast for south coast looks ok except Sunday as you say Brian but just grey I think.

Too many kids on the aire. Driving me bonkers. Our own fault for going to the seaside! Hope your right and they all head home!


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## DocHoliday (Jul 18, 2008)

Thanks for the tips, Barry. Did the Tarn Gorge today and it's fantastic! West to east is definitely the best way - a much less stressful drive, I would say. It's 53km long, though, so maybe not one for the bike - no huge problems with a motorhome, though my step did have a close encounter with a low wall.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Thanks Doc

problem is we will be coming from the east!

Your not the first person to say this so I had better heed the advice and work out a way from the millau end

is it very much up and down and is it just one road on one side so back the same way?

Cheers
Barry


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## Carl_n_Flo (May 10, 2005)

Hi Barry - we did east to west a couple of years ago.... much of a muchness either way really.

Just take it steady, ignore the local loons who want to travel at warp speed all the time, and admire.......just be careful of the projecting rocks!!!!

Stop regularly when you can so that you, as driver, can appreciate the views - when driving this road you DO need to concentrate a tad more than usual.

At one point, the road splits - watch for it - take the wrong fork and you WILL convert your wagon into a convertable!!!!! The road splits so as to allow high vehicles to avoid a particularly low hanging rock projection, although it is not signed as such.....

Not so much 'up and down' as you would think..........quite level actually, not a mountain pass certainly!!!!...........and the road doesnt cross the gorge (if I remember correctly).

Take your time, stop regularly...................and enjoy!!!!

Carl & Flo


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Thanks Carl and Flo

will give it a go then. Some of the places we have taken the van still make me shiver when I look back. Usually by accident when I rely too much on the sat nav which seems to know if I haven't read the map properly and just jumped in and started driving!

May be a week or so yet before we get there.

The aire we are on at St Tropez right now is simply dreadful with feral kids and equally as annoying adults on it. Going to move in the morning to another one but I suspect it won't be long before we leave the coast and head back inland.

Should have known better by now really but we were so close it seemed daft not to have a look


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## p-c (Oct 27, 2007)

Hi Barryd

Did you go to the aire at Sillans de Cascade? I'm only working from the second edition book and it is not in there. I drove past it last year marked it on the map, so it must have been OK, but I'm damned if I can remember it.

We are currently on a site on the Camargue. We mix aire, passion and sites. Weather has not been too good the last 36 hours, rain last night.

We move on Tuesday heading east but not sure where yet as we have ten days until we meet all the family near Frejus.

Interested in that Sillans aire though.

p-c


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Hi

yes we did stop there for about 2 min. The aire was ok and quiet but my leg was hurting and it looked like perhaps a mile walk to the falls so we moved on. The aires book and gps take you to a car park at the front of the school but the camping cars bit is the other side so drove round and you will find it. Reasonably pleasant. We could not however find the services.

If you have time though go to st croix de verdon and the verdon gorges that I keep banging on about


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Sorry it's
47•34.047 n
6•10.932 e

that dot after the 47 and 6 is a degree symbol which I can't do on this phone. 25 years in IT has been wasted on me!


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Sorry again!

Hope you have t set off as you will end up in northern France!

It's 43•34.047 N
6•10.932 E


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Sorry again!

Hope you have t set off as you will end up in northern France!

It's 43•34.047 N
6•10.932 E


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## p-c (Oct 27, 2007)

Hi
Many thanks for that info. I understand about the gorge, we really enjoyed visits there when we had a VW camper but did not use aires then, don't know why. Have driven past the aire and kept going as it was heaving. You must have done really well to get such a good spot. Still visit for the day drive around sometimes.
Thanks
p-c


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