France - Massif Central 2014

[AndyCook]

Late season trip for us this year and first trip abroad in the Hilux

Covered 3300 miles and came home with 18 cases of wine....

Hilux did very well, cruise control was great on the empty French motorways.

We started in Brittany for a day or so to avoid wetter weather in the south, then headed to Bordeaux area, and then across to Puy Mary for some hiking.
Then did 5 days of driving trails following a roadbook in La Lozere. Wild camped every night here, soon founnd avoiding the valleys at night was a good idea due to overnight fog. So camping at 1000-1200m, it was a chilly 6-7degC. BBQ kept us warm.

Trails not tricky, occasional mud hole, quiet a few narrow overgrown scratchy lanes.
Hardly saw anyone on lanes. Nice variation of oak forests, pine and vast open limestone plateaus.
Tarn Gorge was impressive, nice for a bike ride too.
And we climbed Mt Lozere (1699m) for an afternoons hike.

We used channel tunnel since we had "Jet" our young black lab with us, she is only 9 months old.



2nd day we were in Brittany, so stopped nearMont Saint-Michel





Then headed to St Malo to see the old town and wartime fortifcations



Bullet holes were sobering







found a near by campsite by beach



local cider, calavdos and wine with dinner...



All too much for Jet



Then down to Bordeaux and first few cases of wine



local campsite by a pond. Campsite owner initally told us we couldnt camp here because it wasn't a "desert"
tip dont camp under an Oak tree in Autumn, it bombed us with acorns during night. BANG on hardtop tent



then over to Puy Mary, cloud cleared for view during our walk







And then over to St Flour in Massif Central to hit the trails
found a nice river to camp by for first night, but last time we camped low due to thick fog in mornings in the valleys





blue skies for first few days and pleasant day time temperatures


Muddy and overgrown lanes at first









got stuck here in 2wd, shifted to 4wd and was out fine





looked at the sites in Marveljos





and first wildcamp in hills



plenty of refreshements



BBQ at night and Jet had her own tent (which went in car at night)


morning mist in valleys





then onto limestone areas and GREENlanes


and first of many "Dolmens" - ancient burial chambers








Tarn Gorge



Took Jet out in her chariot for a bike ride in the Gorge






more Dolmens



and remote wildcamps




and BBQ






wild camp further up Tarn Gorge




saw some Eagles



got some fog in morning





but sun soon burned it off





Berlingo's seem to get anywhere!!


hiking up Mount Lozere




found a ski centre! The Station Bleymard


onto next Roadbook now, the "Lozere, Haute Loire, Puy" just did one day of this 5 day route, saving the rest of roadbook for a future trip

fewer wildcamps spots that evening, camped on a deadend track in forest


and found it was cosier with the awning side panels up




then onto filling the Hilux canopy with wine

Tain l'hermitage first for Rhone reds


camped in municipal campsite by Rhone, a shock after 5 nights wild camping...



then drove up to Chardonnay...


love the vineyard tractors on stilts


got some fizzy whites and Macon reds


stayed night in municpal campsite in Macon and took bikes for a spin


next day cleaned the Hilux


and on to Beaune to get some Burgundy and more fizzy stuff, only really wet day for us too



then north to Arras in northern France. one of campsite employees had a nice 80 series, the campsite owner called it "le Tractor" when i asked her about it



even Jet boozing now



had taken Jet to vet in Beaune to get necessary tapeworm treatment prior to Pet Passport checks in Calais before getting the train back to UK



and the haul of wine unloaded at home



The Trip log



Enjoyed visiting a new area of France. Alps and Pyrenees were not suitable for this time of year, too cold for us!!!
but liked this area of Massif Central a lot,
very rural and not many people about, will certainly re-visit it

A good trip and nice to do a bit less driving and more exploring and cycling and hiking this time

 

[Lorin]

Looks like you had a great trip. It was exactly this time two years ago I cycled through the Central Massif on way to Marseille. I remember the wild camping was a bit nippy then but the scenery was stunning. I'd like to do a similar trip again in the Cruiser. Would you be happy to let me know which road books you followed?

 

[clivehorridge]

What a great trip! It's not a location I would have thought to be so nice, but the scenery is great. Love the photos Andy, for me the fog and the mists gave the photos loads of atmosphere.

Ta for sharing

 

[AndyCook]

Thanks

Roadbooks were "la lozere" and "la haute Loire"
From here

http://guide4x4.free.fr/topic2/index-en.html



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[froggy Steve]

Great report, love Jets tent! Passed quite close to us at one stage - (East of Bordeaux & up a bit! - could have had a Lab party ). I have never been to the Massif Central, but seeing that its just gone on the bucket list!

White vans - off road - everywhere, especially now - its hunting season!

Thanks for sharing

 

[Gav Peter]

Great looking trip Andy - thanks for sharing

 

[AndyCook]

Aye, Steve I remembered after we passed that area you were nearby. Looked up your location on profile yesterday and it was close.

Yep, we saw plenty of hunters at weekend, in their red caps. They were generally cheerful.
Didn't seem to be much around to shoot though

Yes the area is worth exploring. I liked the contrast between the granite hills in mount lozere area, and the gorges of tarn and high empty limestone plateaux areas.
We also went into the Cevennes national park for a couple hours on the route. Much more restrictive there, many side tracks had no entry signs and wild camping forbidden.
But in other areas there were many other side tracks to explore and we tried a few off our main route. And plenty scope for wild camps.


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[dervdave]

Well done bud !

 

[Gary820]

Looked a good trip, great pics and not a bad haul. Thanks for sharing.

 

[wobbly]

I met a French couple in Portugal, they were following the Bernard Louzot roadbook from that website.

Pete

 

[SpinDrift]

Looks like a nice area to visit - thanks for posting Andy.