We
then drove to St Jean de Fos, a pottery town but everything was closed
on a Monday so we continued west to the large town of Clermont
l'Hérault and on minor roads via the Cirque de Mourèze to reach the Lac
du Salagou in low hills of red sandstone. After a stop to look at the
many inscriptions set out with white pebbles on the rocks we
continued to the east end of the lake passing several places where
motorhome parking is permitted, to stay at the municipal campsite as we
wanted to use the washing machine and wifi. There is a small aire for
six vans by the entrance but that was full. After a quiet night we
drove back around the lake to join the main road through Bedarieux then
turned north on a narrow winding road up through the woods to Combes
and across yellow broom covered countryside to the Col de l'Ourtigas
where there were super views across the rocky hills to the Gorges d'Heric. At
La
Salvetat sur Agout we decided to head for the aire by a small leisure
complex
on the pleasant Lac de Laouzas, near the village of Nages, and lazed
around in the warm sunshine for the afternoon at this peaceful spot.
Ambialet - barrage on river Tarn
Heading for Albi the next day we followed a green route marked on the
Michelin road atlas on a high ridge road with extensive views to drop
steeply down to St Sernin sur Rance before climbing up a very long hill
on the main but empty D999 road. We took a detour to Ambialet where the
river Tarn makes a sharp horseshoe bend and a low barrage with a
rather wet road across the causeway near a hydroelectric
power station and a chapel on a high rock. Back on the main road we
reached the busy city
of Albi and managed to park just below the massive red
brick cathedral, although the official camping-car parking
places were all taken. As it was lunchtime the parking was free from
noon until 2pm so we walked up to cathedral with its austere exterior
and contrasting richly decorated interior. Beside the cathedral is the
Palais de la Berbie which houses the largest collection of paintings
by Toulouse Lautrec who was born locally. Once we
had found our way out of the city centre we ended up on the free
autoroute for a few miles then headed on back roads through vineyards
to Cordes sur Ciel, a lovely hilltop bastide town with an excellent
aire below the town, although it doubles as a coach park during the
day.
We stayed here a few years ago so waited until the next morning when it
was less crowded to tackle the steep walk to the town centre.
Now heading north we skirted around the former mining
town of Carmaux to join the main road, now being upgraded to an
autoroute, and took another detour to look at the impressive Viaduc du
Viaur built by Eiffel and now overlooked by a new high concrete viaduct
carrying the autoroute. More back roads led us to another of
the Plus Beaux Villages - the attractive bastide town of Sauveterre de
Rouergue for a wander around the shady collonaded square and came
across an interesting old device for restraining cattle and horses. The
aire naturelle was full with several old caravans which
appeared
to be long term residents, so we drove on to an aire in the tiny village
of Castanet.
We thought we would be on our own but as often happens a German
motorhome turned up
at 11pm and left early the next morning. (I hope they noticed the
honesty box!)
Continuing north we bypassed another Plus Beau village at
Belcastel and took minor roads along the wooded valley of the Dourdou
river to reach Villecomtal, a pretty red sandstone village although not
listed in any of our many guidebooks. We parked next to the former
campsite which is now an aire and strolled around. Luckily the main
street was deserted as the café occupied the whole pavement! Hearing
"English" voices we stopped to chat with a couple who were keen
motorhomers from
New Zealand. They owned an Autotrail that was apparently cheaper to
import from the UK than buy a new one. We continued over the hills to
reach pretty Estaing
in the Gorges du Lot then took a deviation to a viewpoint marked on the
map as the Puy de Montabès which turned out to be a low
tree topped grassy hill with lots of wild flowers where we
met another British motorhoming couple. After stopping at a small aire
de pique-nique for tea we descended a steep hill to the the town of
Entraygues sur Truyère where we found a free aire just across the main
bridge near the campsite. Late that evening we suddenly realised that
Sheila had lost her handbag with her passport and bank cards.
After turning the van inside out we decided to wait until early the
next morning and retraced our route about six miles back up to the
picnic site where it was still lying in long grass where we had
stopped the previous afternoon. Luckily the bag was dark brown
and while we had sat there only a couple of cars had passed. Somewhat
relieved we enjoyed our breakfast before returning to Entraygues and
decided to have a relaxing day so pulled in to the small ACSI
campsite as there
was a Vide Grenier ( literally empty the loft - a car boot sale) and
brocante on the
Sunday morning with the same sort of tat as in the UK.