Tuesday 17th October 2017
Today the plan was simple, to move on from the Campsite Lou Vincen in Vallabrègues to Campsite Le Neptune in Saint-Mitres-Les-Ramparts. This is another Camping Card Site and is €15 a night and was chosen as a base to visit Marseille. It is a trip of 61km, easy.
We had really enjoyed our stay at Lou Vincen. We intended staying four nights, to visit Avignon & Nimes, and stayed eleven nights. The welcome we got from the owners, Hélène & Myriam, and the friendliness of everyone we met there and in the nearby village made it an easy place not to move on from.
We had taken down the awning the previous night so preparation for the move was rapid and we were ready , after saying our goodbye to the girls, to move by 10:30. The route was put into the Ford GPS and as usual Kim monitors the route on Google Maps. All went well for about 7km until we entered the town of Tarascon. Ford said right, Kim said left. Doh! It was too late to take the left so over the bridge to Beaucaire we went. I turned right into a street with the idea of turning around but this was impossible in the narrow street. Then we faced a very narrow bridge with a sharp left turn after to get back to the main road. Not fun.
We managed to weave our way through this then came up behind a truck unloading outside a bar. No way to get by, we watch him unload for 15 minutes before being able to proceed. This is the point where the drivers sense of humour failure occurred.
Another 15 minutes meandering through the tight roundabouts of the town brought us onto wider roads and progress was being made, albeit in silence.
Towing Kilometres – Today: 61 – Cumulative: 4,020
After 30 or so kilometres, we stopped for a coffee break. Kim, sensing my stress, and the chance of a win, set up a game of Scrabble in the van. Her plan worked a charm. She won, and the silence was broken 🙂
After the break we made good progress without navigation problems to Campsite Le Neptune. Job done, I thought.
The reception was closed until 17:30 and it was only 15:00 so I wandered around the site while Kim waited with the van. I have to admit I wasn’t much impressed with the location of the site and went back to Kim to break the news. Kim noticed there was another site just down the road. With time to spare we went to investigate this.
We travelled down the very narrow road to the site gate, only to find that the site closed for the year 2 days previously. I now had the prospect of a half kilometre reverse with the caravan back down the street.
Just before sense of humour failure could occur again, a lovely lady opened her large garden gate enabling us to separate the caravan and motormove it out of the way and turn the car around. Very kind, and very lucky.
We went back to Campsite Le Neptune and reception had opened early and we were greeted by a very friendly chap who directed us to a pitch and returned later to check all was well
Aww a tale to warm the cockles of your heart.