long long post/update

About time I updated the blog. The hotel in Geneva wanted to charge me to use wireless, so I decided I would update it the next day. Then I didn't have time because of the battery – so clever old me has decided, that whilst my battery is charging (3 nights later), I will write up my blog on my word processor, then copy and paste. Fab!

So I'm not quite sure where to start! I had a rough guide planned out (Aix-les-Bains, Chambéry, Grenoble, Valence, Montélimar, Orange, Uzès, Pont du Gard, Arles, Nîmes, Montpellier, Aix-en-Provence, Callian – that being where I am going to au pair this summer.), but of course, things don't ALWAYS go to plan. Particularly yesterday. But I should probably start at the beginning.

Day 1 – (Wednesday) leaving Manchester and going to Geneva. This all went “swimmingly”. My hand luggage was probably about three times heavier than my normal luggage so that was a bit of a mare. It nearly killed the air hostess when she was trying to take it down so I could get my money out (I did warn her!). The plane landed about half an hour late, which was really annoying (as the French would say “It made me shit”) because I was worried I would have to get a taxi instead of the free shuttle bus to the hotel, where my car was. I got a free drink at the hotel, which was nice, and was told I couldn't get into the car because it was night time. Which made for an entertaining scene the following morning.

Day 2 – (Thursday) I slept very well, and instead of waking at 6.30 (as planned), sleep got the better of me (as ever) and I woke up at 8.30, maybe 9. I then had some breakfast and decided to repack the car. With a massive backpack having been brought back instead of the suitcase, I didn't want the car to be vulnerable to thieves, so I rearranged. Thinking this would take just an hour max, I was hugely mistaken. Almost 2 hours later (and several trips to the car, leaving the receptionist looking bemused every time I passed with yet more stuff!), I had cleared the room and checked out. I explained to the receptionist that my home was my car and I felt a lot better for the weird looks once she knew. And I sensed the slightest hint of “Oh I'm sorry for looking at you like that, living in a car must be tough.” So, with the car repacked, I decided to phone up the insurance company to upgrade my insurance to theft, au cas où. Then I called up some campsites I had found on the free internet (that I didn't want to abuse) the night before. They were in between Chambéry and Valence, kind of near Grenoble and on a lake – lac du Paladru. The first place I called I said, “I don't have a tent, do you hire them?” and the man scoffed at me, so that was a big no. The second place didn't answer, and the third place the woman was lovely and said yes I needed a tent, but didn't laugh at me. So off I went to get a tent. By this time, it was midday so I stopped off in the Val de Thoiry shopping centre, nipped into Go Sport and found that they had a tent that just springs open. It is for two people, but that means I have more space, and the man in the shop assured me that they wouldn't charge me extra because it was a two-person tent and I was one person, it was per pitch. Having also clarified that the parking was included and I could park next to my tent, I was eagerly awaiting my first night under canvas. Of course, with the car being full, everywhere I go, I want to be sure that the parking is underground, for some reason that seems safer. I'm sure it's not.

Down to the gritty business. My first stop (after the shopping centre, of course) was Aix-les-Bains. It was just over an hour's drive and it was a beautiful drive. Once I'd found my underground parking I headed for the Tourist Info. I said to them, “I have one hour, what can I do?”, that way you get all the good bits and you don't have to pay too much on parking! So I looked at the town hall, and the church, maybe some other things (in the meantime it started raining. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was exceptionally weird because it was really humid and vile. So at this stage, I probably should have been thinking “It's windy, and humid and it's raining from nowhere – thunderstorm soon” - keep this thought in mind when you read on.) and then headed off for the 16km drive to Chambéry. I stopped along the way and took pictures of the lake (Lac du Bourget) and should have stopped on several other occasions to take in the scenery, but kept saying to myself “next time I see somewhere, I'll stop.” of course, I didn't. And I kind of regret it now. So Chambéry, I stopped for a drink (I was dying for the loo, so had to go to a café) and got my dad to call because I couldn't figure out why I couldn't find that night's camping on the sat nav. So he called, and we figured it out (thanks, dad). And after wandering round some more, taking a few more pictures (when I have more time – I'm sure my battery won't allow it – not being able to go on the internet and charge my computer at the same time), it was time to head off, direction Valence (kind of).

The campsite was lovely. I got there and tried to get into the reception, only to see a crazy looking woman shouting “Je suis là!”, I knew I was in for a good night (no sarcasm). We talked about the craziness of the weather (windy, warm, calm, cold etc.) and she said I could park up wherever (which I did) and get my tent set up and she would get me some chips when I was all set up. Setting up a tent, even one which pops out and does it all for you, is interesting if you have never done it before. I thought the man opposite was humoured by my miserable attempts and getting it to stay in, so he came over with a hammer and explained how to put the pegs in etc., and if I needed any help to give him a shout. He lent me some more pegs and told me to keep the hammer until the next day, just in case the weather caused my poor little tent some problems. I went for my chips then started using the internet. Without battery (didn't last very long). And thought I had found somewhere for the next night, so I noted it down before the battery died, so as to remember the next night. Anyway, it started raining, lightly. And I having wandered to the lake, dipping my feet in (in doing so nearly slipping down the ramp, bum first, camera in hand), I decided an early night was in order, as driving would be plentiful the next day. I spoke to mum and literally just as she had hung up, the thunderstorm started. Flashes of lightning and Claps of thunder, I only jumped once. It lasted a good hour or so. Then it carried on raining and I eventually realised I was asleep. Of course, that was when I had woken up (unfortunately not the next morning).

Day 3 – (Friday) I had decided to give Grenoble a miss, as I had already been there and I wanted to get on. It was a long drive to Valence and I think it went OK. Most of yesterday is a bit of a blank really (will explain why later. And it was probably raining.). So I arrived in Valence at about 2ish, having visited another shopping place to get...food. And a hammer for the tent. Of course, the sat nav took me through some weird way, and I ended up on some estate that was being built, with the road no longer existing. More about weird sat nav experiences later on. Valence seemed like fun, there were people doing some sort of competition, kind of like the rallye I did with the lycée a couple of weeks ago. But the tourist office was stupidly signposted. And the map of the town, was of course on the wrong side of the advert for FNAC. So I went to FNAC and bought a book, asked where the tourist office was and the woman didn't know. Typical. Just like the guy in Go Sport the day before who didn't know where else I could buy a tent. Luckily the other woman did and I managed to find my way there quite easily. It didn't look very tourist office-y. So I said, of course, “I'm here for an hour, what can I do?”. She gave me a map of the town and said “This place, this place, this place and this place.” When I am not sitting just at my computer with no information next to me, I will clarify these places to which I went. Lots of Renaissance stuff. Then I headed off to Montélimar. The driving was a bit mental, I don't really know why, it was just one of those days. I arrived in Montélimar and it was raining. I asked in the tourist information office where I could camp the night before, direction Orange, but I wasn't impressed with my option. I'd also missed all the showings of how to make nougat (Montélimar is nougat-making capital). So I decided upon another one, and after a consultation with dad, whilst sitting with a hot chocolate (thanks again!), I decided I would go to this campsite in a town called Saint-Thomé. It said in the guidebook that tourist info woman had given me that it was north of the town, but sat nav said she was lying. My headache was starting to kick in and I wasn't feeling great. Really disorientated and it was not too pleasant. Even more unpleasant than that, was the drive my sat nav made me do. I am surprised poor Gloria survived. Apparently it was a route departementale, but that doesn't even qualify as a road. Maybe an off the road 4x4/tractor kind of jobby. I have never seen anything like it! It wanted me to go 3.4km on what can only be described as a dirt track. About half way there, it got worse. There were phone numbers for in case of accidents and all this sort of stuff. I'm pretty sure it can't have been a route departementale, but the sat nav insisted. And I had already gone that far, I wasn't turning back. Not that it would have been safe to do so. After several loud clunks and horrible noises and massive rocks. I finally got off this road. Incredibly shaken up and my head was banging even more, I finally reached the campsite, after what seemed like an eternity. So I went to the reception, gave my informations and went to set up the tent. I told her I was appalled at the quality of the road I had taken, but explaining “I would have rather thrown up everywhere, than take that road, it was like a dirt track” was beyond my capabilities at that time. And the didn't understand what the problem seemed to be! It was raining still and the woman offered me a mobile home to sleep in instead of a tent, but I wasn't going to wuss out, having paid for a tent in the first place. I said yes, I wanted electricity etc. etc. and then I wasn't too sure I'd gone the right way, so I went to ask. I was feeling incredibly peculiar and the man there gave me a drink of fizzy water whilst I wobbled everywhere. I got changed out of my jeans and into some shorts as rain and jeans don't go so well. I went back to the bar/restaurant thing and decided I was going to eat. Which wasn't the greatest of ideas, but anyway. I ordered a diet coke, which I didn't drink, and sat for about an hour in a dope/zombie mode before I even ordered anything to eat! I was staring at the television and the place started to fill up. I was still feeling weird so I just left. I had wanted to watch the whole football match, but that was an epic fail as I could barely concentrate. So 9pm, bedtime. That was nice. But it was still raining. Apparently the weather was due to pick up the next day.

Day 3 – (Saturday) the weather did pick up, it hasn't rained ALL DAY. Exciting times! So I managed to leave the campsite quite early, despite the dismantling of the tent problems, following on from the day before. Three of us tried and failed. (Lots of people have been very kind, despite maybe some communication problems, in helping me dismantle my tent). Eventually of course, we did it. But looking at my tent now, I think there is some poor beetle who died a slow, painful, and bloody death. Yum. Of course I was busy panicking that I would have to take that damned road again, but Orange was signposted and I decided for once that sat nav could have a break and I would do what I wanted! I got to Orange, found the underground parking right by the Roman theatre. So that was cool. I wandered round, took some pictures, had a piece of chicken I bought yesterday, found the tourist office (eventually – tourist offices can be so difficult to find!) and pulled my usual trick. I decided that trying to find the tourist office in the first place had taken me to pretty much all the sights, so I went into the Roman theatre. I bought a combination ticket for Nîmes as well, which is nice. A saving of three whole euros! Of course, that would be the 3 euros I didn't spend on electricity because of the banging headache and the botched attempt to pack tent into tiny little bag. The drive to get there didn't take long at all, and I was pleasantly surprised. Not that much driving has been done today (the biggest stretch of driving was trying to find somewhere to stay, the tourist office near the Pont du Gard being closed and all that!). Then I headed off to Uzès. The first place I genuinely rushed around because I didn't want the car to get broken into because of the sign on the carpark door. And the last time I checked (Thursday night), I still don't have confirmation of my upgraded insurance! The woman in the tourist office told me I simply had to see everything, so I cut most of it off on a little tour of the city, which was pleasant. I just wanted a taster anyway. Then I headed down to the Pont du Gard, which is a duct of some sort, an aqueduct I think. I parked up, then wandered slowly down, took some pictures and went back to the carpark to pay up and leave. 15€?!?!?! Insanity! By this point, I had paid so couldn't go back and make the most of the expensive car parking! So I decided that I would give the fireworks and concert style thing on the aqueduct a miss, as that was 12€ and I would go to a different campsite. The first campsite I headed to kept taking me nearer and nearer to Avignon, which is not where I'm going! So I found another one kind of in between the two, went pretty much back the way I came, passed the Pont du Gard almost again and here I am, at the campsite. It's really nice (they don't have a TV though so I can't watch the England match, but whilst I'm putting this up on the real blog page, rather than my word processor, I will check), but there is a concert (which I can hear) that is free. But it's almost 9 and I still haven't eaten, getting kind of peckish, so I will go and eat now. Can't figure out if there is anything else I wanted to say, except I'm not sure if there are any other campsites any nearer Nîmes. Tomorrow I think I will camp between Nîmes and Montpellier. Which is Monday's destination. That's all for now, rest your eyes!