Sisteron

 Tuesday 15/04/25

Lavender field directly behind our caravan.

We had to pop out for some supplies this morning and, as it wasn't raining as much as expected, we decided to make a detour into Sisteron town centre, a short drive along the  Durance river.  This gave us an opportunity to stretch our legs a bit, something we'd missed over the past few days of long driving.

Very dramatic rock formations.

As you can see from the photos, it is a very old commune nestled against the banks of the river, overlooked by the Citadel, a 12th century hilltop fortress.  We haven't been up to it yet but a visit is definitely on the cards.

France just keeps on giving, we're not running out of stunning places to visit any time soon.

Bonus pic:

A cousin of Orthos, or someone's supper?

Sisteron

 Monday 14/04/25

A rare treat for us - our own ablution and washing up facilities.  
We got a really good deal by booking early so decided to spoil ourselves.

We set off this morning knowing that, although we didn't have a massive distance to cover, it was mainly mountain driving which was going to take a long time.  After a good start, we left the lovely dual-carriageway toll-roads and found ourselves in a long train of vehicles travelling behind a truck - with nowhere to overtake.  However  the pace was about right for us and at least we couldn't be blamed for holding up the traffic.

It looks like we are flying through the clouds...

We have passed through many tunnels along our route.

Although the weather forecast was quite grim for the day and clouds obscured most of the mountains, we were treated to occasional bursts of glorious sunshine.  The views on the way were simply outstanding.

A slightly dusty looking but atmospheric French town

We arrived at our campsite early this afternoon and have set up the caravan.  We've been warned about the Mistral wind which can blast the area and so have held off setting up the awning for now.  The forecasted weather for this week is very stormy, but we should get better spring weather after that.

We really like the area where we are now: the mountains, farms and vegetation feel very familiar and Cape-like.  We need a few days to find our feet and explore this region.

A celebratory cuppa!

Camping Les 3 Lacs du soleil

Sunday 13/04/25

As it was our wedding anniversary today (34 years!), we decided it would be nice to spend some quality time together... so we woke up early and drove all day.  

How romantic. 😂

Another almost-empty campsite

We wanted to cover a lot of ground today, firstly because Sundays are usually quieter on French roads as the trucks don't drive and secondly, we wanted to get past Lyon to avoid having to go through on a Monday morning.  As it was, the roads were quite clogged with holiday traffic so it was quite slow going anyway.

It was very grey and drizzly today so we didn't manage any photos along the way, and we're cooped up inside this evening as the weather front we have been travelling in all day arrived at the campsite at the same time as us.  Still, we have nice food, a cosy bed and gorgeous countryside, so we're not complaining!

Tomorrow we turn southwards again for the final leg of our journey.  Not a massive distance to cover but I think the mountain passes will slow us down somewhat.  

 

It's goodbye to La Basse Cour

 Saturday 12/04/25

On Thursday B&T arrived back from the UK to spend their summer at La Basse, so after spending two final days with them and the cats, it was time for us to hit the road this morning.  

We have the entire campsite to ourselves - great!

After having had the most wonderful weather for the past week, the rain has finally arrived and we are camping in the rain on our first night away.

We raised Jasper from kitten stage and have known him for 5 years.

We have, as usual left La Basse with heavy hearts, even more so as this is the last time we will be doing the winter sit, but we're also excited to be going on a new adventure.

Tiny Lily crawled into our heart - and gave us all our days!

Sundays are usually good travel days because the trucks keep off the roads, so we have our longest leg to drive tomorrow.  We are heading for a campsite just to the East of Lyon.  Hopefully the rain should stop overnight and we can start making our way southwards.

Spring has arrive in Brittany

 Sunday 30/3/25

After a long, cold and wet Brittany winter hibernation, spring has arrived, the clocks have moved forward to summer-time and it is time for a change for us as well.  

The cherry blossoms have been spectacular this spring.

A project I did this winter was to mount the support for the cherry branches that the owners
have been training to bridge the pathway for years.

We've been travelling and house-sitting for a number of years now and, for the first time since January 2019, we don't have a sit booked into our calendar.  We're in the final throes of getting the garden at La Basse Cour ready to be handed back to the owners and packing up our belongings either in Orthos, the caravan, or our storage unit.

In a week and a half we'll travel off into the unknown (not quite as dramatic as it sounds) to try and find a new place to live in the south of France.  We've had the most amazing experiences looking after other people's properties and pets but it is time for us to settle down with a place of our own.

Mini daffies or giant finger?

We are going to tow Orthos down to Sisteron, in Provence,  where we have a campsite booked over the Easter period.  We're planning on driving down over three days, stopping near Tours and Lyon but will keep an eye on the weather closer to the time.  Once settled in, we'll see what rental offerings there are in the area, assuming we like it, and will take it from there.

We'll try to blog about any interesting bits as we go along.

Happy New Year - 2024 review

 Tuesday 31/12/24

As 2024 draws to a close we've had some time to reflect on a busy year.  

All in all we spent almost eight months at La Basse Cour in Brittany (split over the beginning and end of the year), and visited Portugal, the UK (twice), Germany and Spain.  We travelled just over 16,000km in Dassie this year and towed Orthos, our caravan for almost half of the total distance.

It's been our sixth year 'on the road' and we're still living off income from our investments, which was always the master plan.  With that objective achieved, we are now almost ready to embark on the next phase of our plan - finding a new home.  

We will leave Brittany just before Easter and head South with Orthos.  Ideally we would like to find somewhere to rent in the area we want to settle in and then use the next year or so finding a property to buy.  We want to take our time to find somewhere we can settle down for many years, so want to make sure we get to know the areas before we buy.  Having said that, we do have a habit of falling in love with a property so we'll keep open minds.

With the colder weather, Jasper is always keen to find a warm spot to curl up in.

Even Lily makes herself comfy on a lap, if on offer.

It's really bittersweet to be leaving Brittany, we've grown to love the area and feel really comfortable here - we just find the damp, stormy winters hard to manage.  

At the same time, it's exciting to be house-hunting again; we've been travelling for so long without a permanent base of our own that it will be really grounding to have a home again.  There's quite a lot of planning to still do before we can settle down but it promises to be another exciting year.

We hope you have a lovely New Year's eve and a fantastic year ahead.

Bonus video:-  We've already had some brutal winter storms and no doubt will have a few more before our time here is done.

Back in Brittany - our winter sit begins

 Friday 11/10/24

This is the sky signalling an approaching storm.

After an incredible six months of travelling, we're back in Brittany looking after Jasper & Lily for the winter.

Lovely cut flowers from the garden

Courgette flower

Toni's reward for dead-heading all the Hydrangeas in spring

We travelled around 12,500km in Dassie, most of it with Orthos in tow, and visited five countries - we've really had a lovely summer!

Now back in Brittany, and although we've already had two storms passing through, the temperature is still quite mild so we're spending a lot of time in the garden as well as wrapping up some jobs on Orthos before we take her to her storage unit in ten days time.

It is a bittersweet time here as it will be our final winter stay at La Basse Cour.  In Spring we're planning on starting our house search for the next chapter of our French adventure.  We love being in France and, although we have become very comfortable Brittany, we would still like to be somewhere a bit dryer and warmer to live more long-term.  We'll see where can find a new home.

At the end of the month, Toni will be flying to SA for a family visit so we'll spend some rare time apart.

Bonus video:-

This morning the wind was from the East so we could hear the howler monkeys at a nearby safari park.  I tried to record them and was rudely interrupted by a Typhoon fly-by.