Day #: 36-43

Location(s) Visited: Lac de Matemale, Bains de saint Thomas, Porté-Puymorens, Ax-les-Thermes and Limoux, France

Summary: The 9-day heat wave/dome which brought hot air from Morocco and imprisoned much of Western Europe has significantly affected our route and general plans (BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3v2yv5207xo) . We aren’t upset by this as this is the year of the Freebird Route where we had planned to nomadically meander around Europe with only a few specific reservations sprinkled in our 5 ½ month itinerary. Once parked up near Matemale Lake in the Pyrenees Mountains, we didn’t move our campervan for 6 straight days which is a record for us. We took our Brompton’s for errands and for area exploration, Tony took daily road cycling trips (some of the best routes he has been on in Europe), we walked and hiked but generally just relaxed and enjoyed our beautiful and cool spot near a lake and at an elevation of 5200 feet. Our temperatures were in the low 70s during the day and into the high 40’s at night. We still were using heat every night in the van at this point. We were monitoring the forecast closely and thought the heat wave was ending so we drove to another area about an hour away only to find out the forecast was wrong and it was still very hot (too hot for us) so after 1 miserable night at another Aire we forfeited the 2 nights we had just booked at a nearby campground and returned to our previous Aire in the Pyrenees where the temperatures remained around 72 degrees. A few more days passed and the heat wave officially ended and so we headed northwest to the town of Limoux.

Overall Impression of Location(s): Lac de Matemale = 4, Bains de saint Thomas = 3, Porté-Puymorens = 2, Ax-les-Thermes = 2, Limoux = 3

4 -added to our favorite list and we would return again
3 – a great place to visit
2 – OK for one visit, but we would not return again
1 – we wish we hadn’t wasted our time here  

Distance Driven on Leg: 266 km (but with mountain driving this took a ridiculous number of hours)

Weather/Temperature (°F): Our area was one of the only areas in France which had cool temperatures that allowed us to be outside all day. Daytime temperatures were in the low 70s and evening temperatures in the high 40s. Outside our area, temperatures were over 90 degrees during the day with full sun and overnight temperatures were still in  the high 70s. We do not have A/C in the back of our van, so those temperatures are much too hot for us to withstand.

Road Conditions: Driving in the mountains is a different skill than driving on normal French roads. The roads are just as skinny, but now they are steep and curvy, too. The Catalan drivers in this area are much more aggressive and drive significantly over the speed limit. On these types of roads, we drive significantly under the speed limit so we constantly had a parade of vehicles queued behind us. We tried to pull over often when there were pull-offs, but on many of these mountain roads the pull offs were few and far between. D118 was a road we took a lot on this leg and one 50 km section was some of the most nail-biting driving but traversed some of the most beautiful scenery we have ever driven through. Labelled a narrow high alpine road should have clued us in as to what we were in for, but it didn’t. Also, a sign about 10 km onto this route stated height max of 2.75 m (our van is 2.79 m) resulting in Tony jogging several miles down the road to make sure it was doable for us (it was). We climbed and descended steep mountains, went over 1-lane bridges, drove along rivers, through a gorge and avoided many overhanging rock formations by driving on the other side of the road. This gorgeous drive was worth all the stress.

Chickpea Mechanical Status: Our refrigerator is still trudging along but continues to make some unsettling gurgling noises frequently. It is holding temperature but the compressor seems to run longer than we think it should. We also have to defrost it due to heavy build-up every 7 or 8 days. We are still awaiting a response from the manufacturer, Thetford.

We noticed a few days ago that there is an 8-inch long horizontal crack in our windshield. We aren’t sure what caused this to happen. It doesn’t obstruct our field of view as it is up near the top of the windshield on the passenger’s side, but it needs to be replaced. Our windshield has the 360-degree camera technology package and also a completely heated front windshield (think hundreds of almost invisible wires running vertically every ¼ inch) so it is going to be costly. We have an appointment on June 16th at a commercial Mercedes dealership in Dijon to get it fixed. We aren’t filing an insurance claim for a variety of reasons. This is just the cost of being on the road.

Highlights:

Our Aire near Lake Matemale in the Pyrenees Mountains was a highlight for this leg. It was not the best pitch we have ever had, but we were mostly shaded and it was in a great location which allowed us to get outside to bike, walk and hike all day, every day in cool weather.

The Lake Matemale area was busy during the holiday weekend, but after that it was almost deserted. This was quite relaxing.

We continue to be so impressed by and enjoy our Brompton folding electric bikes. We ride these for both errands (including going to the laundromat) and for exercise. They expand our range considerably and our experience would not be the same without them. They are quite unique and we usually have people asking about them or watching us fold/unfold them. Tracey made a YouTube Short (30 seconds) of using our Bromptons to shlep our dirty laundry to the laundromat (https://youtube.com/shorts/nmYwvv4z9Zk?si=W7m_PBY-SNcGW5jL)

Tony went on 1, sometimes 2, road cycling rides each day in the Lake Matemale area. We learned that the Tour de France will be coming to this area this year and that is the reason the city of Les Engles has so much Tour de France memorabilia up in town. This will be one of the first legs of the Tour which will go from Barcelona and end in Les Engles which is right where we were staying. Tony did several of the climbs that the racers will be taking this year. He said the roads are in great condition and some of the views are nothing short of epic. This is now one of his favorite spots to ride. While in this area, we saw so many professional athletes, cyclists and runners. Some were solo, but some were in groups or with their teams. These men and women ride and run so fast and the runners are so light on their feet we couldn’t even hear any foot fall. We really enjoyed seeing them every day.

We enjoyed a spa day at the Bains de saint Thomas where we soaked in sulphureous thermal waters in several outdoor pools. The outdoor pools are nestled near an amphitheater and required silence making for a very meditative and relaxing environment.  Indoors we did a circuit of the wellness center which included vaporarium, sauna and jacuzzi. This is definitely a more locals spot and was not crowded during our visit. This is not a fancy place but we both left in a state of Zen.

We picked Limoux on a whim as it was in the general direction and distance we were looking to go (#FreebirdRoute). We were again surprised how much we liked this town that does not get many tourists. We both decided we like these types of places better than many the guidebooks suggest which are just too crowded for our liking. In Limoux, a hike up into the foothills and around several vineyards on the first cloudy day after the heat wave passed provided for a lovely morning.

Our campervan, Chickpea, is truly perfect for us. It has been very reliable, gets decent gas mileage and takes us to so many amazing places. We have a car, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and garage all in this one van. We have started using the wet bath in the van to take showers more often (mostly due to the pollen, see lowlights below) and we find ourselves commenting on how clean we feel after a miliary style shower. We regularly pinch ourselves that we actually own a 2nd campervan in Europe.

Lowlights:

The pollen from the thousands of pine trees in the Lake Matemale area was intense. Initially, we thought there were little dust storms happening around us but learned these were actually pine tree pollen clouds (Article/video of this: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/weather/philadelphia-viral-pollen-video-pine-barrens-extreme-allergies-20180509.html). Yellow pollen coated every surface of our van, both inside and outside. Our allergies worsened while we were there requiring more antihistamines and use of a HEPA filter to sleep. There was no point in cleaning anything while we were there as just 10 minutes after cleaning there was a new layer of yellow pollen.

The weather forecasts continue to be not very accurate in France, and much of Europe. We have experienced this previously, but mostly in relation to rain. On this leg, the weather forecasts were drastically off. After almost a week near Lake Matemale, we descended to about 3000 feet as the forecast indicated the heat wave had passed and temperatures were to be in the mid-high 70’s the next day. This was wrong and temperatures were still in the mid-high 80s! Although we did not travel a long distance to descend from our location, it did take us hours of driving due to mountain roads and with diesel prices around $9-10 USD per gallon this was a costly mistake.

Up Next: We have a concept of a plan (lol). Our Freebird Route will take us in a generally north and easternly direction over the coming weeks. We have an Airbnb booked for a few days in Dijon beginning on June 17th, but that is our only reservation in the near future. That drive is about a 7-8 hour drive so we are embracing the slow travel philosophy and have lots of time to explore. Our next stop will be Gaillac, near Albi France (a UNESCO World Heritage Site).