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Free camping with the French!
Starting the day at the end for a change I am beside a lake de rousses at altitude on the Swiss border free camping with the French - a strange turn of events brought me here. However what an experience and I’m glad I am here.
Beside me was one of the millions of French camper vans.
Sat at the picnic table were
Xavier Bonnet & Valerie Bonnet with their daughter Lucy who is a craft wood worker in Switzerland, they come from
Nancray near Besancon. They gave me loads of tips on treavelking in Switzerland - but a motorway pass or big fine! And told me of a route into Italy which is on every moto enthusiasts bucket list the:
Great St Bernard Pass (French: Col du Grand St-Bernard, Italian: Colle del Gran San Bernardo, German: Grosser Sankt Bernhard; 2,469 m (8,100 ft)) is the third highest road pass in Switzerland. It connects Martigny in the canton of Valais in Switzerland with Aosta in the region Aosta Valley in Italy. It is the lowest pass lying on the ridge between the two highest mountains of the Alps, Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa. Now on my route...
As my Dutch friends had suggested
Camping La Faz was pretty good - well to start with !!! A large site with spacious pitches surrounded by ancient woodland and on the edge of a national park area.
It was near 7 pm again and I asked the manager if I could stay - he asked me how many nights and checked me in: 22 Euro, free wi-fi, pool, cafe/bar-yes this was becoming the norm.
The manager spoke very little English (yep I’m off the tourist trail) and I used google translate:
est l'emplacement du camping calme “Oui bien sûr “ he responded.
Initially the site he offered me was on a slope ... I declined politely, to be shown a huge field. Left my helmet in the spot and went back for the bike.
I got the tent up and threw in my gear in record time to head off for a much needed hot shower - washing some clothes at the same time. Now off to the cafe for some eats and a beer which was particularly pleasant. A local bottled artisan amber beer. After dinner it was catch up with my blog.
Using my sat nav to avoid tolls and motorways has its benefits my route today was unique and took my through many small villages and back roads and met some locals on push bikes that seemed amazed to see me.
Some awesome scenery, although getting the picture central France is one giant farm. Told myself to smell the roses so stopped several times and took photos. One lake was very tranquil, the road crossed it in an elevated way and on one side a small catamaran was sailing on the other side a man was fly fishing, no one else around within sight.
Eventually getting to a major town I needed both fuel (reserve light was on) and camping gas. Going into a major supermarket with my helmet in my hand was a mistake. I was stopped and asked to leave both my bag and helmet behind the counter. Again no camping Gaz that fitted my MSR stove. I recall having this issue before in France and will have to find a major camping store.
Leaving to fuel up my Aus cash card was declined yet again! I cannot express how frustrating this is becoming.
Filled up with 98 and blimey what excellent fuel consumption I am getting the BMW F800gs used around 14 litres in 400 km (that’s around 3.5 litres per 100 km). Unfortunately forgot to do up my bag strap and it was ripped off by getting caught in the chain, I would need some needle and thread. Then leaving town a rubbish truck was parked across the road and barred my route!
Two policemen were walking towards me and said “la route est fermée”. So I followed the diversion signs through town and joined a massive queue of traffic - the vehicles could see me in their mirrors and pulled over to allow me to filter through the centre of the traffic - nice!
Again being lulled to sleep by two owls calling each other...
The manager was correct “est l'emplacement du camping calme”...
Awoke late to blue skies and tent was like a sauna! After a shower I headed off for a coffee at the kiosk which was like dish water and tepid. Later I decided to walk the kilometre into town pretty keen to have a day off the bike as was feeling pretty fatigued and wrists were sore.
The walk into Orgelet was in scary at times as French drivers were kind rally drivers taking the racing line. Could not help noticing brown patches across the forest and wondered if that was the fungus killing off the trees like in Canada
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