A New Area
We booked two whole weeks in France in 2019 for our main summer holiday. It was a bit of a hotch-potch of three different locations. We sort of fancied the Pyrenees, partly because Kas wanted to run up the Col du Tourmalet. We also fancied the Ardèche area after seeing the Tour de France pass by the Pont d’Arc. And I persuaded the others that we could finish off with a long weekend in Grenoble.
So I say two weeks, but because we also planned to look at some French parkruns, then we set off on a Thursday so that we could be near Bordeaux on Saturday morning.
The grand scheme for parkruns fell a bit flat though when we firstly realised we couldn’t possibly leave our flat in The Pyrenees on Saturday and still make it down to parkrun in Toulouse for 9am. And we also decided that driving all the way to the far side of Geneva just to do a parkrun was probably a waste of a day. There’s one over there, but there’s no other reason for going to the place it’s in.
A Place to Stay
Several places to stay, in fact.
- On the first Thursday night we stayed at the Novotel Rouen Sud. It was pretty good.
- On Friday night we stayed at the excellent Chateau de la Grave near Bordeaux. This one was fantastic.
- In the Pyrenees we stayed at the Domaine Val de Roland at Luz Saint Sauveur.
- In the Ardèche we stayed at the lovely little Domaine de la Tour in Salavas.
- To finish off, in Grenoble, we stayed at the Aparthotel Residhome at Caserne de Bonne.
Getting There
We took the Mercedes down. It was an obvious choice. If you fly, you have to rent a car. None of us packs light. And whilst the south of France is a long drive, it’s not so far that flying down is mandatory.
The Caches
Caching on this trip was mainly about doing bits and bobs wherever we were. I didn’t have any dedicated caching days – just a few walks around while the others were chilling, primarily in The Ardèche and in Grenoble.
Extras
We went up and down a few mountains. Lots of mountains. And we went kayaking down a river. Plus a few other things.
Individual Posts
Here is the day-by-day account of our fortnight in France in 2019.
Rouen to Bordeaux
Head for the Hills
Luz Saint Sauveur
Via Ferrata
Tourmalet
Migouelou
Gavarnie
Painful
Salavas
Canoeing
Pont d’Arc
Avignon
Grenoble
Bastille
