A New Adventure in France

We haven’t mentioned the important French public holiday this week – Bastille Day on 14th July. Celebrations were obviously more muted this year due to Covid-19 but most villages seemed to be marking it in some way. We were in the local village of Prayssac at lunchtime and a band was playing in the village square opposite the bars and restaurants. In the evening they were planning to cater for over 250 people at the two restaurants. Given it’s a pretty small area we couldn’t quite see how they would implement distancing, so decided not to risk it having been vigilant thus far.

On Thursday morning, quite an overcast day, we headed out in the camper van, leaving behind our drive away awning. That seems to be working well and it’s very handy to be able to leave it as a free standing tent if we go out in the van. It’s a case of making sure it’s properly secured so that it is a drive-away and not fly-away awning.

We headed back to the impressive basilica we’d seen up on a hillside during a motorcycle ride the previous week. Notre Dame de Peyragude sits atop the hill above the pretty village of Penne d’Agenais. It is considered to be a sacred site and attracts many pilgrims as it is a stopping point on the chemin de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle. The original chapel was built on the site in the 11th century and it has witnessed crusades, religious wars, plague and revolution. The remains of the castle of Richard the Lionheart can also be seen. The walk around the basilica grounds gives a breathtaking 360degree vista as far as the eye can see.

• 

• 

• 

The village of Penne d’Agenais below is accessed from the church via slippery smooth stone paths – deadly in the wet were sure and perhaps the reason why we saw no-one in the village. In fact we saw more cats than people. It seems to be geared up for tourists and pilgrims with cafés, restaurants and artisan shops but it seems that Covid is having a real impact. It also strikes us that the hearts of these ancient villages are just impractical for modern living, access for a car, children, employment, etc. so younger generations no doubt move to the outskirts of the village or further afield.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Another in the occasional series – Camper van maintenance

Last year, on our trip to Corsica, a warning light came on on the camper van dashboard. It happened a couple of times on the motorway when we were climbing hills with the cruise control engaged. After the light came on the van would go into ‘limp home’ mode with reduced power. Stopping and starting the engine would clear the problem and we’d be on our way again. It wasn’t really an issue and when the van was serviced no fault was found. It hadn’t occurred since……until we were back in France again.

On our travels to the Loire on our first day it happened several times whilst going up hills, until finally another orange engine warning light illuminated which would not reset. Consulting the vehicle manual we could see reference to an air flow meter problem which the vehicle uses to adjust engine fuel mixture. It was not fatal, just more of an annoyance as it happened on the first day of our four month stay rather than on the last. So when in Prayssac we saw a garage specialising in Audi and VW repairs we decided to bite the bulletin and seek their advice, armed with the technical vocabulary we thought we might need.

Having explained the problem, the helpful boss very efficiently came straight out with a laptop to plug into the camper van diagnostic plug, resetting the engines warning light at no cost. He told us the engine was over-boosting the turbo due to the flow sensor failure but we could carry on without any problem (as we have been doing previously). He was probably thinking we were just on a two-week or so trip, but given we’re here for longer we asked him to replace the sensor (le débitmètre in case you’re wondering) and booked the van in for a few day’s hence. When we turned up at the allotted time the van was taken in straight away and the part replaced and tested in an under an hour. So far so good although the first real test is unlikely to be for a little while as we won’t be doing huge mileage. This is a camper van that likes to keep us on our toes and show us who’s boss.