When we stop at one of the classier aires we often think we will never find another one better, but, we have. After a quiet night on the vineyard at Cardet we were very pleased with ourselves for getting organised and hitting the road by 08.15. Lynda had been out for her jog at 06.15 would you believe? We wanted to do our bit of driving before the sun got too hot, we thought we might look round a town en route to our next stop. We stopped to replenish our supplies of water (lots), bread etc on the outskirts of Ales but although it was still quite early the temperature was creeping up and we decided to cancel the exploring and just go and park up somewhere we could keep cool.
We had a great drive in the country, lovely scenery yet again and we were within 3 miles or so of our intended stopover (a farm) when we followed the satnav instructions and drove up a narrow country lane. I soo decided to turn round and go back to the main road. Quite by chance we found ourselves in a small village called Saint Alexandre and saw a sign indicating they had an aire. We could see straight away that this would be a great place to park up. The aire is new and has some really good views across the valley to the mountains beyond.
The village itself is very small and sits on top of a hill. We found the Mairie (town hall) and spoke to a lady there who confirmed the aire is new. No bakers or other shop in the village alas, the nearest is about 3 km away apparently, they do have a nice bar / cafe though.
Very wam again today (well into the 30's!) so we parked up alongside some trees so that we got some shade. Too hot to even go for a walk around the village, all we could do was sit and drink water. After lunch the gentle breeze we had been enjoying got quite a bit stronger and by about 6pm there were a couple of clouds in the sky which helped to bring the temperature down a little.
We moved to another of the 3 parking areas at the aire where we could get an even better view and had a snack. I am always on the lookout for somewhere I might get (free) wifi but thought we had absolutely no chance here. When we moved the van about 30 feet we suddenly had several networks available, one of which I managed to log into at least for a while.
As I type this (19.45) we are wifi-less again but I'll keep trying.
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| Aire at St Alexandre |
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| Some great views direct from our parking place |
Im really enjoying the blog Paul and congratulations to Lynda on doing so well with the jogging. You both look great in the photos, really relaxed and happy. Look forward to reading about and seeing more of your travels Juliex
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are enjoying the blog.
DeleteBest wishes
Paul and Lynda
Paul & Lynda
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have got a spurt on and reached much farther south than I expected in your time frame. What are your plans when you reach the med? will you turn left, right or will you come around and head north? Must be very interesting having the opportunity to meet old friends on the way, as well as new. We now have a new bank driver (roger) who has just returned from the south of france in his motorhome. I think with the state of the weather he will be heading back soon!
Keep safe, Carl.
Hello again Carl
DeleteI'm surprised you have time to keep reading the blog - I thought you were always so busy at KL? I must have a word with my friend Hayden about this.
Montady (near Beziers) is about as near the Med as we got - 10 miles or so. We are heading vaguely north to Lyon to visit Lynda's neice and family before they set off on holiday. After that, we really have no idea where we'll be heading.