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A Bumpy Start Through France

July 18, 2021 by libertatemamo 16 Comments

“Stop accelerating, the wheels are just spinning deeper!”

NOT the situation you want to be in

It was the kind of thing you see happen to others, a classic amateur mistake. We were stuck in mud, and our mototorhome wheels were covered in a thick, slick layer which meant they were just digging a deeper mud hole every time we tried to get out. In our defense we were exhausted, at the end of a looong day of seemingly endless little miss-haps and just hadn’t expected the ground to be that soft. Plus we were carrying those plastic ramp-thingies that are supposed to get you out of exactly this situation, but they weren’t making a bit of difference.

Why hadn’t the lady at the check-in desk warned us about the ground??

Argh!! We were utterly defeated. Paul put the rig in park and then went off to find the grounds manager while I slumped back in my chair and closed my eyes, wishing the day away. 20 minutes later with several guys pushing, guiding and swearing, LMB finally got out. Yeah for strong, helpful men!

We found another spot with a concrete base (very unusual in Europe) and gratefully drove in. We didn’t care that it was raining, or that we were both covered in mud. We would not be doing anything or moving another inch today, not even to the on-site restaurant for a beer.

Some days, travel is just a real b**ch…..

We Were Just Trying To Make Some Miles

Miss-haps often seem to happen at the worst possible moments, the moments we let our guard down or when our minds are focused elsewhere.

When the rain comes, it tends to pour

In this instance we were just trying to making some miles.

We’d left home the day before and we had around 1,900 km (~1,180 miles) to drive until we got to the Danish border. Each day was meticulously planned with ~4 hour drives and comfortable overnight stops. That may sound pretty casual to most folks, but for us (and especially dear old Polly) it’s about the max speed and number of hours we can handle these days.

We’ve never been speedy travelers, and even less so now.

Our motorhome was ready for it too, or so we thought. She’d had a full engine service just a few months ago, had been thoroughly washed before departure (not that that really makes any difference, but I always feel she drives better when she’s clean) and had full diesel and propane tanks.

What could possibly go wrong?

We traveled 1,074 km (~667 miles) in our first 3 days on the road, just over half way to our destination in Denmark.

Our First Night Went Swimmingly (Pontgibaud)

Our first night went swimmingly, apart from the usual body aches and pains that come from adapting to a small space and different beds. The drive was easy, parking was easy and we didn’t even worry about the rain that seemed to be falling almost non-stop.

Our first site near Puy De Dôme was lovely
Puy De Dôme is a cool spot to explore, if you have some time

Paul had found a lovely little municipal campsite (Camping Municipale La Palle) near the ancient volcanic crater of Puy De Dôme, and our site was just perfect. We had a huge, spacious green spot all to ourselves, walking distance to the lovely little town of Pontgibaud.

This little corner of France is actually a fascinating place to explore too.

The 1465-metre tall Puy De Dôme was created by a Peléan eruption, around 10,700 years ago, and is one of the youngest volcanoes in the Chaîne des Puys region of the Massif Central in France. It’s a scenic spot, criss-crossed by miles of trails (all dog-friendly of course), once revered as a sanctuary of Mercury. It’s well worth the effort to go.

This time around we didn’t have the time to explore, so we just focused on the nextdoor town, taking a quick walk along the river-trail the morning after we arrived during a brief break in the weather. We perused the open-air market, ogled the old buildings and picked up a warm chocolatine from the local boulangerie. A lovely, classic French camping experience despite all the rain and grey.

The bridge to Pontgibaud
The river by Pontgibaud
The old city gate of Pontgibaud

That’s When It All Went Downhill

The warning light popped up on the dashboard as soon as we fired up the rig.

It was the orange triangle with an exclamation mark which meant (so we gathered) that we had a “general” fault, anything from blown lights to injector problems in the engine itself. We checked the basic stuff (lights, fuses etc.) and couldn’t find anything obvious, which left the engine as the most likely culprit. That meant we had to find a garage.

Arghhhh! This could end up being our shortest trip ever….

We parked up and I started the tedious process of calling around…..garage after garage after garage

“On peut vous prendre la semaine prochaine” (we can take you next week) offered the lady on the phone

“How in the hell does that help me today??” is what I really wanted to answer, but managed to check myself and squeak out a more reasonable “Merci, mais ce sera trop tard. Connaissez-vous un autre garage qui puisse nous prendre? (thanks but that will be too late, do you know of another garage that will take us?)

Why thank you mom, is that for me?

This went on for an hour, with me begging a little more earnestly every time I called. Around 30 garages later I finally found a place ~1 hour away willing (at least) to see us.

“On ne peux rien garantir” warned the receptionist “mais on peut vous voire” (we can’t guarantee anything, but we can see you). Yessss…..finally!

Engine on, warning light off.

Of course it went off, of course it did. Doesn’t it always? We decided to drive for 20 minutes just to be sure, but it looked like whatever had triggered the thing had definitely gone away. Perhaps we’d had a bit of bad diesel? Or perhaps Paul’s fiddling with all the fuses had fixed a loose contact? Either way everything looked fine now.

Oh well, trip-cancelling disaster averted?

I called the garage to tell them were OK, and then attempted to relax. Surely this would be our only issue today?

Then The Campground In Dijon Was Full

Mid-week we rarely worry about campground availability even during the holiday season, but the way this day had started my Spidey-sense was on high alert.

Polly is just happy to be here

It’s just the Universal Law of Traveling Miss-Haps, otherwise known as “it’s not over yet”. When a day starts off on the wrong foot, the Law dictates that things will happen in threes, and so far only one had occurred.

The campground in Dijon was a spot that we’d been looking forward to staying at for months as it was perfectly located, walking distance along the river to the wonderful downtown. This of course also made it perfect fodder for the Law. So I called, expecting the worst.

“Désolé, nous sommes complets” (sorry we are full) chirped the lady in a much-too-happy voice “On peux vous prendre demain?” (we can take you tomorrow?)

Of course they were full, of course they were. Oh well, no Dijon then?

We decided to stop and regroup for lunch at a lake that I found on Park4Night. More planning, more calling around and finally another spot found. The latter was a bit in the middle of no-where, but listed as a good overnight campground with large, green sites.

That should work, right?

A Good Drive

The drive through central France was actually lovely, and there’s lots to see in this area, if you have the time.

The wine region of Burgundy is here,  renowned for some of the rarest and most expensive wines in all of France including the super-exclusive Domaine Romanée-Conti. It’s only a narrow strip of land around 60km long, and the best vineyards are concentrated along a teeny swath less than 2km (~1.2 miles) wide. We could just glimpse them in the distance along the soft-rolling slopes of the valley as we drove past.

Lots of fancy schmancy wines in this central wine region of France

Then there’s the town of Vichy, known for it’s spas and eclectic architecture, as well as several large natural parks (Parc Naturel du Morvan, Parc Naturel De Forêts) that I have yet to figure out. Honestly you could spend years just motorhome traveling around France itself.

Making miles
Lots of farm country around here

The Final (French) Stop In Bourg

Our final campground in France (Camping La Croix D’Arles) was actually a super-cute little place.

All kinds of cool stuff at our final French campground

A large, green park with lots of shade, an on-site restaurant, mini-golf, sauna (!) and all kinds of cutsey little touches. We were relieved to get there after our long day, and pretty happy to find the perfect-looking site…until the mud incident of course.

We were all exhausted that night, Polly too.

The first few days of travel are always a massive adjustment for anyone getting on the road. You feel cramped and uncomfortable and you ache in places you didn’t even think you could. Your bones hurt, even your a** hurts LOL. Plus you’re still trying to figure out your rhythm and how to move around each other in your teeny home. Polly was a little stressed too, poor girl. Road travel is tough on an old dog with arthritis and country habits, and it took her a while to settle down. The second night she finally found her groove and relaxed into a deep, snoring sleep. Dear old girl!

So a bumpy start, but not really a bad one all-in-all. Just a day of small challenges as so often happens on the road. We knew it was coming, but just hadn’t expected it so soon! Either way we were past it now (fingers and paws crossed) and a new country was in our sight.

Tomorrow we would leave France and take LMB into unchartered territory. Perhaps the rain would finally stop and we’d rest an extra day, if we found a spot we like. Or perhaps the road would throw us a few more obstacles, just to keep us on our toes. We’d find out soon enough.

LMB hiding in shame at Campground #2

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We LOooVE Comments, So Please Do

  1. Sue says

    July 18, 2021 at 1:41 pm

    Sorry you had to start your wonderful trip with troubles, but I guess that’s the way it goes! Your travel speed sounds about like ours these days. None of us handles those long drives anymore, especially when they occur day after day to “make time”. Lewis never enjoys it when his house moves and growls beneath him so he’s always happier on a short drive – say from the site to the dump station?
    We’re enjoying the ride, thanks for taking us along.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 18, 2021 at 10:06 pm

      Polly is much the same. She tolerates the drives, but doesn’t love them. She’s much happier when everything is still and she can go explore and sniff at an old lady’s pace. I’m much the same way too these days LOL.

      Nina

      Reply
  2. Aurora says

    July 18, 2021 at 1:49 pm

    I hope you did all right bc you uploaded this, but I have been thinking of you this week with all the flooding and chaos in Germany!

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 18, 2021 at 2:48 pm

      Thanks so much for thinking of us Aurora! We are fine, and managed to get through Germany right before the devastating floods. We were very lucky, but many were not. It’s been shocking to see the pictures and hear the news of so many lives lost (and still missing).

      Nina

      Reply
  3. Carolyn says

    July 18, 2021 at 3:21 pm

    I have been thinking about the three of you as soon as I saw the news of the floods. Go glad you all okay. Great post and pictures. Who knew there was a cinder cone volcano in France? Hope you have safe journeys!

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 25, 2021 at 12:33 am

      There’s so much history (both geological and people-wise) that we have yet to discover in France. Apparently there’s a spot with Bryce-canyon-like hoodoos too. It’s on our list, and I hope to share it will my readers one day.

      Nina

      Reply
  4. Sue Malone says

    July 18, 2021 at 4:16 pm

    So glad you missed the floods if not the rain, or the mud. UGH! Those kinds of days can be so exhausting. It always amazes me how you take these stories, turn them into educational fun tomes full of humor and happiness. An amazing skill. Although I would imagine when you were sitting in that chair with your eyes closed you were NOT all charming and cute. Ha!! Volcanos and craters in France?? Something I never expected or thought about much. I thought the Western US, and of course Turkey and Iran and Japan were the only places with all that kind of volcanic stuff. Beautiful cinder cone in that photo. Maybe you can slow down and explore it someday. We have traveled slow, but like you when we need to get somewhere we go fast. Fast for us is 350 to 400 miles a day with one night stops. It is how we try to get across the country if we are trying it. Not fun, and probably a lot less fun in countries with smaller roads and spaces not like the US open country. Loved reading this, Nina. Stay dry and enjoy Denmark!

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 18, 2021 at 10:05 pm

      The volcanic craters in the center of France were a big surprise for me too. I first learned about them through Instagram, and I think also Tour de France (the French TV version always has a ton of good commentary and history about the areas they bike through). I do hope we get to explore them again.

      Oh and yes, you’re right…I wasn’t exactly « cute » at the end of that second day LOL.

      Nina

      Reply
  5. Sue Malone says

    July 18, 2021 at 4:17 pm

    and oh, silly me…Italy…how could I forget standing at the summit of Vesuvius and on the slopes of Etna.

    Reply
  6. Laura says

    July 18, 2021 at 4:20 pm

    Ugh… this is all so familiar. We’ve definitely had those trips where things just keep going wrong and we can’t catch a break. And I’m sure it’s that much harder when you’ve been away from it for a while and you’re worried about sweet Polly getting back into her groove. Hopefully the bad stuff is behind you. The scenery sure is beautiful. Safe travels!

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 18, 2021 at 10:09 pm

      I’m happy to report things have been going better since those first few days, both for us and Polly. The drive to Denmark was definitely worth it. I can’t wait to share my homeland with all of you on the blog.

      Nina

      Reply
  7. Cynthia Huff says

    July 18, 2021 at 6:07 pm

    Great!! Love your travel blog today.
    I was looking at our travel photos this week and saw so many places we said “ we will come back here!” Now, who knows if we will?
    I hope you can slow down and see as much as possible.
    Be safe!
    Cynthia

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 18, 2021 at 10:01 pm

      I do find that it’s always a bit like that. Almost everywhere we go I want to go back, as we never seem to get quite enough time to see and do everything we have in mind. There’s always something new to discover! Hope you get out there again yourself.

      Nina

      Reply
  8. Marilyn Logan says

    July 19, 2021 at 2:13 pm

    Love your blog. We feel your pain. As our motor home grew in length the more issues we had. I can’t remember a trip where we didn’t have a problem of some sort. We finally surrendered but miss the lifestyle very much. Travelling by car just doesn’t quite do it for us. Looking forward to hearing about your trip.

    Gerry & Marilyn

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 25, 2021 at 12:31 am

      The troubles do tend to build up as motorhomes age. Just one of those things. I remember an old RVer telling me once that if 80% of the stuff in his motorhome was working, that was a good day. This was early on in our RVing days and I remember being shocked at the time, but retrospect he wasn’t wrong at all LOL.

      Nina

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Moien From Luxembourg – Wheeling It: Tales From a Nomadic Life says:
    July 25, 2021 at 2:26 pm

    […] a monumental step. After so much planning and thinking, starts that turned into non-starts, and bumpy obstacles that almost turned us back we’d finally made it “somewhere […]

    Reply

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