The grand tour of France in a motorhome 2022 September 17th - day nineteen

on

 To help you navigate our blog more easily - this link - https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2025/06/how-to-navigate-our-blog.html will take you to a summary page detailing all our blog posts. Clicking on a link will open that post in a new browser window. To return to the home current page just close the browser page and return to the post you were reading beforehand. 


The early morning set routines are paying off. We get an early morning departure and are on the road to Orange by 0815. Finding a car park at Orange later proves to be a nightmare. Too small; too difficult an access turn; overhanging trees; height barriers. In one car park, I hope to overhang the bike rack over a grass kerb but I miscalculate its height and damage the bike rack slightly. The kerbstone catches the step trigger which tips the rack on its side. Not a problem normally, but we had the Vanblitz bike accessory loop attached around the bikes and that’s where the damage gets done. Somewhere one of the wires is pulled slightly and so it becomes an ‘intermittent’ bike loop alarm from here on! A complete nightmare!


Eventually we find a car park next to McDonalds where the height barriers are open. It’s a ten-minute walk from here to the Roman theatre.

The tourist office proves very helpful selling joint tickets for the museum and the theatre thus eliminating the need for any queuing at either venue. The theatre is impressive. It’s my first Roman theatre – I’m a big Roman history buff! The stage was being set up for a concert later that week. Still there was plenty to see and wander around.









 The little museum across the road was quirky and interesting. Apart from roman artefacts and some locally important art works, it also exhibited some of the drawings by Welshman Frank Brangwyn (1867 – 1956); his pencil sketches of trains and work places are very detailed and exquisite studies. And, obviously, he’s Welsh and therefore blessed!!














The afternoon drive to St. Martin d’Ardeche is simple. We are staying on the camping car aire. Follow the instructions on the S4S app for getting into the aire. The approach through the little town would be fraught for moho’s over 6.8m in length!



 Drive around the site. It is spacious with good low tree cover but all the pitches are on grass and the site is on a slight slope. Some pitches obviously puddle a lot in any showers! Chose wisely! It’s a five-minute walk to the town centre and the banks of the Ardeche river where you will find one or two nice terrace cafes with great river views. The tourist information office is very helpful supplying us with lots of walking and cycling maps and ideas of what to do in the area. We were actually gently interviewed about our interests – a really bespoke service.


This evening I have been crawling under Bryony on a mission to discover the source of the unhealthy sounding ‘twang’ that emanates regularly as we go over bumps in the road. It sounds like something is wrong with the leaf suspension springs. I did accidently clip and drive over a large kerb area earlier in the day – well it was a sort of large hump in the middle of the road dividing two lanes at a T junction! Is it shock absorber damage? I’m genuinely quite worried and so start exploring the various on line Autosleeper forums I am a member off. Hand brake creep; loose spare wheel in its underslung basket; loose wheel nuts; loose gas tank; broken spring in shock absorber! All are suggested. All are thoroughly investigated by me! Nada. Nothing obvious turns up! Ho hum. We will see what happens tomorrow!

Useful information:

Comments

Post a Comment

Hi, we always look forward to hearing your comments, tips and thoughts. Drop us a line or two below. Take care now. Steve and Maggie