Crete to Ireland, part 3: France
On 7th June, we crossed the border via the Mont Blanc tunnel into France. Here we are arriving through the tunnel:
After having our four lovely Irish passports and our negative PCRs checked, we drove down the winding mountain road to Chamonix and stopped for a couple of hours to enjoy the view of Europe’s highest mountains, and make ourselves some lunch:
France has any amount of these super handy camper water points. You can dump your grey and fill up your fresh water here for free. 
The huge glacier, Glace de Mer, rolling infinitesimally slowly down the valley 
Eek. After a wrong turn, we ended up needing to travel slowly down this very steep hill!
Next, a little wander round the town. Chamonix has been a point of interest to travellers since the mid-18th century, the first accounts dating from 1744. During the 19th century, there was major growth in the tourism industry and Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest peak at 4,809m, became a desirable destination for those who wanted not only to view Mer de Glace, the enormous glacier, but also to climb to the summit of the mountain. The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix in 1924.
One of the highest cable cars in the world is in Chamonix, up to the summit of Aiguille du Midi, 3,832m. We briefly considered taking a trip, but it would cost over €200 for the four of us, so we decided against!!
Mer de Glace, the glacier on the French/northern slopes of Mont Blanc, is 7.5km long and 200m deep. Even at that, it’s not the longest glacier in the Alps! However, it would seem to be the most famous, having been a focus of the tourist gaze (including ours) since the middle of the 18th century:
I can no [sic] otherwise convey to you an image of this body of ice, broken into irregular ridges and deep chasms, than by comparing it to waves instantaneously frozen in the midst of a violent storm.
William Coxe, Travels in Switzerland and in the Country of the Grisons, 1777
As you can see, the clouds were coming in and the rain was beginning to spot so we hopped back in the van and set our sights on a site outside of the Alps proper, in the sub-Alpine region.
This is what our drive from Chamonix to Cherbourg looks like, although it will take us about 20% longer in the van.
We opted for non-toll roads which took us along the older road, a more interesting journey, we felt. We crossed under the motorway numerous times and saw how its construction has impacted on the small villages below … progress, eh? We passed under and over train lines (yay!), crossed over the Rhône a couple of times and skirted past the border with Switzerland, before finishing up that day’s 192km drive in the small town of Nantua.
Nantua, where we stopped for a night, is located in the sub-Alpine Jura mountains. It’s set around a lake and is surrounded by steep hills and mountains, quite beautiful! Nantua is famed for the sauce which originated here, made from a béchamel sauce base with cream, crayfish butter and crayfish tails.
Because we are treating this journey as our holidays, we have decided to now stay in municipal campsites for the next week, for comfort’s sake. The campsites are so well laid out in France and there seems to be one in every town. It’s a great system for campers. In Nantua, we paid €22.50 for the four of us for a night, including EHU.
Camping du Signal Nantua Montagnes du Jura (wixsite.com) Coordinates: 46.151604627891935, 5.600348183900569
After Nantua, we drove northwest once more and stopped in Bourges, slap bang in the centre of France. Bourges is a gorgeous town (officially a city but it feels like a town) which grew up around the marshlands and rivers of this area, now siting where the Auron river flows into the Yèvre. There is also a disused canal here and so there are plenty of bridges to cross and wildlife to spot. We stayed in another municipal campsite, this one with a fantastic playground which was put into use by Morgan and Olwen as a ninja warrior time trial course. It cost €22 per night including EHU.
Camping Robinson in Bourges in Berry Centre Val de Loire region – Aquadis Loisirs (aquadis-loisirs.com) Coordinates: 47.07312056512827, 2.3950095
Next up, a walk into Bourges:
Bourges is a stunning place with a big range of architectural styles in its buildings, Gothic, Middle Ages, Renaissance… but the main attraction is Cathédrale Saint-Étienne, which was constructed between 1195 and 1230 and therefore in Gothic style. It’s impossible to overstate how impressive this building is, never mind the fact that it is over 800 years old! Some of the stained glass windows have been in situ since the 14th century.
This window and its chapel was commissioned in the 18th century by a local wealthy family. The window shows the parents, their sons, and their nephews all being blessed by saints, with God above in the top window showering his blessing down upon them. Back out into the sunshine Tic tac toe, gimme a high, gimme a low… And what do you do when you spot a street fountain? You run into it, of course!
We had lunch in the middle of a square at a restaurant named after the Gargoyles on the cathedral.
The children had steak haché, Saul had lamb and Caitríona went for the dumpling in Nantua sauce – well, after a night in Nantua, it’d be rude not to try!
Epaule d’agneau confite 
Quenelles de brochet, sauce Nantua
Caitríona’s fascination with doors continues:
After a surprisingly long search, we found a café serving crêpes. Morgan and Olwen ordered theirs with ham and cheese. Only joking….chocolate sauce, of course!
Une galette pour sugar-free Saul
After a rest in Bourges, we drove another 5.5hrs north west and arrived in Bayeux. We will be here for a few days now, while we wait for PCRs (not possible at the weekend) and for the results, before sailing to Ireland on Wednesday 16th June. We are relieved to have made it most of the way from Crete to Cherbourg and it took only a week, including stops for PCRs! We are only 100km from the port now and are glad to take a bit of a breather while we wait for our paperwork to be in order.
We are staying at another lovely municipal campsite – we’re totally spoiled for choice here in France. This one is called Camping des Bord de l’Aure and is beautifully laid out and maintained. The bathroom and shower areas smell like a hotel! And there’s a playground plus access to the swimming pool next door. Perfect.
Camping municipal Des Bords de l’Aure Bayeux (camping-bayeux.fr) Coordinates: 49.2843697325501, -0.6975143601412573
Here are a few pics from Bayeux, although we have yet to see the Tapestry and the Normandy beaches.
Is there anything to be said for another cathedral?
So, that’s it folks! We are coming to the end of our first trip in Europe, heavily curtailed by a global pandemic but illuminating and life-altering nonetheless. We are looking forward to catching up with many of you once we are done with our self-isolation period and then… who knows what the future holds?
Love and peace and thanks for following our journey ❤