Trekking North to Pont-à-Mousson, Meurthe-et-Moselle
Zagan the motorhome’s on a flight path north, skipping from aire to aire through the rolling hills and neat vineyards of the Jura and across the edge of the low Vosges mountains. We’re currently in a lovely aire at Pont-à-Mousson. Out of the side windows we’ve a view of yachts, broad Dutch barges and speedboats in the town’s port de palisance, the marina, on the Moselle river (N48.901175, E6.063451). A short rain shower earlier on has petered out, and very welcome it was after a few days of 30+ degrees.
Motorhome aire at Pont-à-Mousson by the Moselle
Back in Le Reposoir, the excitement of Le Tour was dying down when we left on Wednesday. My legs were refusing to work properly after that run on the mountain, and I was sat rubbing them when a whining noise came from under the floor. I stared at it a minute, then concluded the water pump (which is submerged in a water tank down there) had just broken. A few moments later Ju, who was covered in a comedy amount of suds in the shower, also noticed the problem, and had to rinse off under a bottle of cold water, releasing a squeak despite the heat.
Zagan had a spare (used) pump when we bought him, but we’d never tested it, and it was seized. In hindsight I should have tried tapping it with a hammer, but instead we fired up the t’Interweb, searched for ‘camping car Cluses’ and click on each result for a ‘concessionaire’. Trying to decode this lot: ‘camping car’ is French for a motorhome, and Cluses was the nearest large town. A ‘concessionaire’ is a dealer, and likely to carry motorhome-specific spares like 12V, 19l/min, 1.4 bar submersible pumps. Isacar-loisir.com near Annecy came back, and their website had a pattern (after market) pump which looked exactly like the Hymer ones we had. Cutting the story short, we drove there, they had the pump in stock for €59, we bought it and fitted it and were back up and running in about 3 hours of it breaking. Winner. We even got a catalogue to flick through, eyeballing all the gadgetry you can get for these things.
The old (grey and blue) and new (black) water pumps for our Hymer
I’ve read every page of this catalogue. Twice.
Our ferry back to the UK leaves Dunkirk on Monday morning, so we needed to make tracks north. The fastest route would have been through Switzerland, but we’d not bought this year’s motorway vignette. As ever we didn’t want to use France’s motorways either, purely on grounds of cost and the fact we’re not in that much of a hurry. Instead we plotted in a route to a lakeside aire in Nantua, just to the south of Oyonnax, with the aim to continue north afterwards on the free N57 up to Luxembourg, long sections of which are fast dual carriageway through Nancy and Metz. From there we plan to rumble our way across Belgium’s toll-free roads, and then pop out into France for a Sunday night close to the port.
The roads up to Nantua took us through the hills to the west of the Jura mountains, with a fair few twists and turns building the pain in my back up. France’s new 80kph limit, brought in against much opposition to try and reduce road deaths and injuries, is now in force on single carriageway roads with no central divide, and almost everyone seemed to be sticking to the new limit, even on long stretches of arrow-straight road.
Many roads that were 90kph are now 80kph in France. Our TomTom needs an update!
Rolling countryside on the way north
When we arrived in Nantua, the deja-vu sensation we’d had on the way in was confirmed, we’ve been there before. Nice spot that it is right next to a swimming lake, with this being July in France, it was packed out, so after a Lidl stock-up we headed a bit further to a free aire in Izernore (N46.21843, E5.55019).
The free motorhome aire in Izernore
In Izernore we roasted. I made a foray out under the burning sun into the small town/village, trying to make my still-reluctant legs work, taking a quick look at some Gallic-Roman ruins and reading signs about resistance fighters in the last war. There didn’t seem much around to look at, but a helpful lady from tourist information arrived at the aire later on and gave us some info on the local area. This included a leaflet about a glacial lake nearby, now a museum, which used to export ice in the winter across France pre-réfrigérateurs, even as far as Algiers in North Africa.
Roman columns in Izernore
Yesterday we avoided the service point scramble, as a couple of new arrivals in the aire kindly asked if we were stood waiting for it before they used it, allowing us in. Good guys! We were as fast as we could be, emptying and refilling with fresh water before rolling up the N roads to Plombières-les-Bains which appeared in two free guides handed out by tourist info earlier in our trip – Les 100 plus beaux détours de France, and Les Villages Étapes en Camping Car. The degree to which French towns and villages go to attract and welcome motorhomes is, and will likely for ever be, beyond my comprehension.
Free guides telling you where you can go for free in your motorhome – only in France?
Plombières-les-Bains offers free parking for motorhomes near the town’s casino and an attractive park (N47.958336, E6.449431). Once we’d got settled in we watched Geraint Thomas put the hammer down on the epic 21 bend ascent to Alpes d’Huez on the Tour de France, winning in the yellow jersey and amazing the World, and himself. Now past ‘locked-o-clock’, with the sun a bit lower in the sky, we had a wander around the old spa town, faded as it is since the grand days when it welcomed Napoleon’s Josephine and kings of old. We ensured we’d remember it by ordering some chips from the friterie, the first we’ve had in two months.
Plombières-les-Bains in 2018
The town’s casino
The town of old – looks much the same as it does now
Cures for everything – calming your kids to stopping smoking to diabetes…
Lots of name dropping from 200 years back
You can try some of the spa waters if you’re brave enough and have been prescribed ’em by a doctor…note the smaller sign though!
This morning was spent rolling along dual carriageways at top speed, burning past lorries and clearing Zagan’s innards out a bit. The marina aire’s not far from the fast roads, costs €10 a night with electricity, WiFi, showers and washer/dryer included, and is a lovely place to chill. The town, with its loggia-edged square reminding us of Italy, is a short walk across the bridge, past a tall monument adorned with long, long lists of men, women and children killed here in wartime. The bridge itself was destroyed on 4 Sep 1944 and rebuilt after fighting was over, and I imagine the town was a strategic target and suffered even more as a result.
Ju’s off to get the WiFi code from the marina office, and to pay. The sun’s back out, and once I’ve published this I’ll be off for a jog to test the legs. Tomorrow we’ll head into Luxembourg, stock up on low-tax diesel and LPG, and roll north into Belgium. Not quite sure where yet.
One last point, if I can keep you. We’re feeling lost without our Charlie. He’s been a focal point for life for a decade, and after all those years taking care of him, loving the wee man, the sensation of leaving him behind as the shadow of the Alps diminished in our mirrors had us both in a low mood. We’re looking forward to being home, and dreading it a little too. The sheepskin rug we got him is lying waiting for him. His area of the cupboard’s full of his toys. His big brown eyes smile out from pictures of him on the walls. Each time we come to try and decide what we should do next in life we put the discussion off. It’s only been three weeks since we lost him back there in Bourg-St-Maurice, I guess we just need more time.
Cheers, Jay
Time is a great healer, it helps you to overcome the loss and remember the best of the one we lost. It won’t be easy to open the door at home but, with time, it will be less sad.. Finding a new mojo will come soon I hope and I’m sure you will find opportunities who will keep your minds busy. We send you love from France.
We loved Pont a Mousson, and found a fantastic little micro brewery up one of the side streets with some award winning beers.
Sounds like a lovely trip back. We are currently in France at a great free aire on Lac du Der. Would recommend. Hope to be able to catch up when we are back in the UK. Can’t imagine how painful you are finding the loss of Charlie. We are thinking of you.
I have a small idea of how you must feel about Charlie, I have lost dogs and cats in the past. Right now I’m missing my boy Marvin terribly. He is still very much alive and kicking but still out there on the road (Italy right now)with my ex, in the motorhome. Coming home to toys etc and an empty house was hard going. Time will heal for you. Don’t make any big decisions just yet.
Thanks Fiona. Xx
Hi Guys. I was so sorry to read about Charlie. I know what it’s like to lose a much loved dog. It took me months to get my head around the loss and to decide whether to get another dog or not. Could I go through this pain again. But not wishing to drown you in platitudes, you will get there and make the right decision for you, or you never know, whilst travelling one might turn up on your doorstep. I have Digby now and although very different to my little (well actually she was huge) girl he is so much fun and loving him more and more each day.
I’m a traveller myself and as a ‘lady of a certain age’have decided to take the plunge and do it for longer and longer. I changed my van last year as I felt I needed more space. So could you help me with this nugget of information someone told me the other day. The LPG bottles have different fitments in different countries and the hose that comes with your van to fit onto the bottles needs to be changed. Is this correct?
Travel safe and keep writing.
Hi Lee – yep, that’s correct, the connections on top of the gas bottles vary from country to country, so you can’t get a UK bottle refilled in France, a French bottle refilled in Spain etc etc. A self-refillable LPG system avoids this by using fixed bottles or tanks, which you can safely refill at fuel stations, have a search for GasIT, Gaslow, Safefill or Alugas, they’re all similar systems. Safefill is arguably the easiest to fit, and GasIT the cheapest of the systems with an external refill point (so you don’t have to open your locker door to refill, which **might** cause an issue at a small number of filling stations). Notr that the LPG refill stations don’t use a standard connector either, so you need to carry 4 brass screw-in adapters to work all across Europe. Hope that helps, happy travels, Jay
Hi Jay/Jules, can I private message you? I don’t think the Internet address I have for you is current. Take care and thinking of you and your loss of Charlie.
Of course you can. Or just email us – Julieandjason@ourtour.co.uk x
I still think of our lost pets now, admittedly not as often as I used to, but I can still get really sad when I do, but time as healed and I also can persuade my mind to think of the good memories, rather than the sad losses. Time is a healer, you just need to give yourself time. I lost our lovely Arnie back in September 2005, he was only 5 1/2 sadly cancer took him. He was a huge Rottie and the kindest dog you could ever wish to meet. Our cats, one called Smudge I had to have put to sleep because she was just very old, Not sure how old because she was a rescue cat. She was as loyal as any dog, and I missed her super loud purring for ages. We lost her in 2006. The other was Tiggy, she was my wild cat! She was never fully tame but was so funny! A real character but not a cuddly cat. She had many near escapes but sadly used the last of her 9 lives crossing a road near to our house one day in 2002…….it’s funny, I hadn’t thought of my lost pets for ages until I just read your post but now the feelings have come flooding back and I do still miss them. Things will get better for you regarding Charlie, he will always have a very special place in your heart, and he was lucky to have such a loving family.