North of the Massif Central, Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule

Zagan the motorhome’s face-first on a bank above the shallow Sioule, its far bank stuck with leafless trees shouldering ivy and clumps of mistletoe. I was about to write how we found ourselves experiencing déjà vu when we arrived here, in the free motorhome aire in
Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, but that wouldn’t be all that accurate, as we have actually been here before (N46.31311, E3.29648). We realised we’d been here before as we rounded the last corner on a three hour drive south, past the town’s fire station and athletics track and onto the river-side parking. It was back in 2015 though, on our way north from a trip around the Spanish Pyrenees, so we might be forgiven for our place-name forgetfulness?

The free river-side motorhome aire at Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule
The free river-side motorhome aire at Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule

The route here brought us down past Orléans, and we’d received some intel from a blog reader that the free aire at Saran to the north of the city had water. Being winter, some towns choose to turn off water supplies at aires to avoid the risk of frozen pipes, so snippets like this are very helpful in maintaining a healthy number of hot showers per week, thanks! On our way to Saran, we caught glimpses of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) at roundabouts, stood in makeshift huts alongside burning pallets, making no attempts to stop the traffic as they have in recent weeks. Every time we passed a speed camera we peered at it see if it remained functional. Most didn’t, and the word seems to be the protestors have vandalised 80% of ’em across the country. One looked like it had been stormed by someone with a flame thrower; others were spray-painted in various hues and the more civic-minded protesters had merely taped plastic around yet more camera posts. A fair few cars and vans have their yellow vests thrust into view on the dashboard in solidarity.

The gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protesting in France
The gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protesting in France
Almost all the speed cameras were out of action on our way south
Almost all the speed cameras were out of action on our way south

After parking up in Saran, we spent roughly 5 minutes investigating the pleasant but small and typically quiet in winter town before deciding Orléans was where the action was at, and getting a bus into the city. With no agenda we headed for the old town, dodging our way through the crowded boulevards and wondering why the tram routes were tramless. As we rounded a corner and turned up towards the looming cathedral, the bright vests appeared, explaining the lack of trams, shadowed by a handful of police motorbikes and a van (the army were on the streets too, in clusters of four, clutching guns and looking too young). This looked interesting, so we headed up to see what one of these famed protests looked like up close. The verdict: it seemed a strange affair. The locals didn’t seem interested and after a brief inspection turned back to eyeballing the shop windows. The police looked relaxed. The yellow vests looked like normal folks out to make their feelings known, occasionally breaking into a chant, something about being tired, as we could make out the word fatigué. Nothing dramatic.

The cathedral at Orleans. Enormous, and flippin' freezing.
The cathedral at Orleans. Enormous, and flippin’ freezing.
Joan of Arc, The Maid of Orléans, being burned alive by the English, aged 19
A message of peace on the wall near the aire in Saran
A message of peace on the wall near the aire in Saran

After a look-see around the cathedral we bumped into the vests again as they followed a random route through the city and took the chance to ask one of them why he was there. He looked a bit bemused, perhaps at the existential nature of the question, so I tried another tact and asked if he didn’t like Macron. “Ah, non, c’est Europe!” he said, indicating (we think) that he thought the problem, whatever it was, was bigger than Macron. After a few minutes of earnest discourse, in which we picked out something to do with borders, a pyramid of power, Brexit and the need to earn money to feed his two children, we shook hands, wished him the best of luck and let him rejoin the vests, who were wandering off again. I really need to improve my French before entering into political discussions I think, but my suspicion is he wasn’t typical of the vests.

The French do a mean line in knife shops. I could stare in windows like this all day. We also eyeballed a bong shop, and two fascinating violin workshops.

After fortifying myself with a galette frangipane (almond pastry) from a patisserie open into the street (which required fending off a small nipper who wanted me to feed it to him despite the fact his mum was buying a pile of food behind us), we headed back to the bus stop and the van. Only a couple of hours in Orleans, but Ju wasn’t feeling top still and we felt like we’d at least had a quick look at the place. The verdict: nice, affluent city, lots of boutique shopping, very lively on a Saturday afternoon.

Orleans, central France
Orleans, central France

It being January and all, the days and nights are a little cool, although we’re talking several degrees above freezing still. Our central heating system’s happily blowing hot air at us but we’ve a wary eye on our batteries, as they’re dropping voltage too quickly and the heating fan uses a fair bit of juice if on all day. Despite being called a ’12V system’, when the batteries get down to 12.0V, they’re very roughly 50% discharged and that’s about as low as this type of battery will go before they get damaged. Each time we drive for a few hours the engine **should** be topping them right up again but they’re 3 years old now, and they’re only lasting maybe 2 or 3 days off grid when they should do a full week. A bit of sunshine will help as the solar panel on the roof will kick in, but it’s too overcast at the moment for the panel to help much.

From Saran we cruised east and south along free roads for three hours or so until we arrived here. We like getting some miles done on a Sunday, as most lorries can’t travel here in France on that day, which makes for an even more relaxed driving experience than usual. The only issue we have at the moment (apart from me taking random exits at roundabouts, sometimes requiring lengthy detours) is the wing mirror, which refuses to stay in a position where I can actually see anything useful. After arriving here Ju found my allen keys, which I swear I looked in the exact same spot for and they weren’t there, and I attacked the bloody thing. It **might** now be fixed. Or it might fall off. Watch this space.

We decided to stay still in Saint-Pourçain for a couple of days, which has started to become more normal for us but not for our fellow travellers. We’re obviously on a migration route, as each aire we’ve stayed in has seen motorhomes arriving in the late afternoon and evening and leaving the following morning. The usual mix of British, French, Dutch and Belgian vans, some towing cars or box trailers, filling the smaller free aires en-route, and making us wonder if we should be pulling our fingers out and getting down to Spain or wherever more quickly than we are. Not sure. We’ve enjoyed our sejour here. I ran a few miles around the dormant vineyards this morning before we nipped out for a four course nosh-up at a local eaterie. A bit of a good-humoured Faulty Towers affair, with dog barks coming from the kitchen and time-warp decor from the 70s, but the grub was top notch and even with a good tip came to a whole €30 for the both of us.

Next up is the Massif Central, the highland area to the south of us almost down to the Med, with mountains rising up to around 1800m. The free and fast A75 motorway cuts right across the lot of ’em though, no hairpins to be seen, potentially getting us quickly down to the sea and lining us up for a south-coast trundle into sunny Espagne. I quite fancy having a look at the hills, and staying in a couple of places on the way down, but there’s likely to be some of the white stuff down there and, coupled with our tired batteries, we’re keen to feel the sun on our backs, so we might save the high places for another time.

OK, time for a brew, take it easy folks. Cheers, Jay

17 replies
  1. Linda Smith says:

    Great post thanks for keeping us entertained, can’t stop thinking about the 180/90 day rule that might come into play put a right spanner in the works doesn’t it
    take care Linda

    Reply
  2. John says:

    The reason for the fast south route is, sun and sun.
    You can as the weather improves travel north at leisure, but at this time of year we find the sun and extra daylight a bonus.

    Reply
  3. Christopher Mackie says:

    Jason, what batteries do you have, lead acid or gel ?
    I recently changed from the Schault solar controller to a Votronic mttp and I`m amazed at the extra solar collected, even in dull grey UK. I`m hoping for good performance in the summer.
    Chris

    Reply
    • Jason says:

      Lead acid in here mate. Pretty cheap ones too! Sound like you have a great set up, we’re in the sun now though and are seeing 3A going in, probably easily enough to keep us topped us as the heating will only be needed at night. We’ll see! Greetings from the Massif Central, Jay

      Reply
    • Jason says:

      Hi Jonathan. I **think** ours is finally held tight. Almost bent an Allen key on the bu55er but it seems to have worked. Cheers, Jay

      Reply
  4. Carl Wiseman says:

    Hi Jules & Jay,
    Glad that you found my piece of Intel useful and that the water was still available. You will not be surprised to find out that we travelled north on the A75, pretty much the reverse route that you are now planning. I am not one for “telling” people what path to take, that is an individuals choice, and the whole purpose of motor-homing is the freedom to make that choice, but just to give you the heads up on January 5th there was water available at the aire in Avermes (2 x €1:00) coin for 20 minutes of water, long enough to give the motor home a wash and fill the tanks. Also water at Moulins (Jetons from “card only” machine) parking is a whopping €0.10 cents an hour, pretty good value. There is no other water south of Moulins until the service station at Le Cayer, I can’t comment on Millau because we used the viaduct did not go through the town, but we tried just about every other aire we could find without any success. So I think it might be wise to fill up with water and fuel and head to the sun, trouble is I don’t know what would be the best direction to find it. Keep safe, Great Post as usual.;

    Reply
    • Jason says:

      Thanks Carl. We’ve popped in a wee stint and are at La Canourgue about half an hour (?) north of Millau. No water here but we’re OK for a couple of days then will head for the Med. The sun shone today and we revelled in it, I even took my socks off. Happy travels, thanks again, Jay

      Reply
      • Carl Wiseman says:

        I know exactly where you are, we used it as a stopping point ourselves. What I find incredible is just how big France is, what looks like a short hop on the map turns out to be a monster of a drive. Are you going over the bridge or through the town? €12:40 toll for driving over and much quicker, unless of course you stop to admire the view and the bridge construction. Enjoy the Med, fingers crossed for some extended days of warm sunshine. Our beloved machine returns back into storage tomorrow for a few weeks rest.

        Reply
  5. Andy Louch says:

    Hello both,
    As usual, reading your blog is giving us ‘itchy feet’! We love Central France and have ‘criss-crossed’ the Massif Central a couple of times. Puy du Dome is well worth a stop off!
    Heading for Croatia in the spring so will re-read your blog from there written a couple of years ago! Meanwhile using ‘Lottie’ for day trips at the moment.
    Have a safe trip, best wishes, Helen and Andy

    Reply
  6. Barbara says:

    If you’re having problems finding water on you could try Camping Car Parks their network is growing. There are 2 south of you at Millau and La Cavalerie.
    Yes, you have to pay but we have always found their water to be on even in the depths of winter and with electricity and wifi it can be a useful resource at this time of year if you get stuck. Or, in desperation, buy cheap large bottles of water at a supermarket (we’ve done it all in our time!). The Aire at Marseillan Plage (paying like most Aires along the south coast) makes a good stop with a cycle route to Marseillan town and close to the beach and the town of Sete.
    Hope you avoid the snow on your route we are in Spain enjoying the sunshine!😎🌞

    Reply
  7. Patricia Young says:

    Hi, Great reading about your travels again. You used to have a ‘previous’ and a ‘next’ button at the bottom of each post. Am I missing something or has it disappeared? Enjoy the sunshine.

    Reply
    • Jason says:

      Hi Patricia – you’re quite right – we changed the theme which changed the ‘next’ and ‘previous’ text links at the end of the post to grey boxes/arrows at the side of the page which do the same thing. Hopefully you can see them – if not let me know what type of device you’re using (laptop, tablet, smart phone etc) and I’ll have a look at what is happening. Thanks! Jay

      Reply
  8. Stuart pearce says:

    You referred to the use of a new camera but can’t see any info on the site. What are you now using ? The posted images look very good.

    Reply
    • Jason says:

      Hi Stuart

      We’re using a Sony DSCHX400V bridge camera (this is a link to Amazon). It’s not an SLR, and you can’t swap lenses on it, but the lens has pretty incredible zoom and the camera performs really well under lots of light conditions.

      Cheers, Jay

      Reply

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