We left Pierre-de Bresse and headed to Crémieu. We found this purely by accident as the Aire we had planned to go to was closed. After a quick search on Search4Sites we found this one only a 20 minute drive away. On arriving in the town TomTom decided to have a bit of fun. It took us past the Aire and into the very narrow town centre, much to the delight of a group of people sitting in the bar watching us try to squeeze the 2.412 metre width of the motorhome between two cars without gaining additional adventure stripes or the ire of the car owners.
We finally found our parking place and headed into town for dinner. We found a fantastic little restaurant called La Galube that had the biggest wine list I have ever seen. The owner was a wine master so there was a selection from all around France
The following morning we took a walk around the town, it is a small medieval walled village that boasts a 15th-century covered market hall. We took a walk up to the top of the wall and the views were breathtakingly beautiful..
Our next stopover was in Sassenage, just outside Grenoble. For us, this is where we picked up the Route Napoléon in the Rhone Alps. This was by far the busiest Aire we had stayed in so far. The vans were parked really close together but we managed to get a space. We went for a walk along the River Isère where they had a dedicated route for cyclists. That night we ate in the van.
The start of the route took us up into the mountains where the views were amazing. We had seen a campsite on a lake at Saint-Théoffrey was open so decided to head there for a couple of days to relax. TomTom decided to play games with us and took us up a really narrow single track road that had hairpin bends and was really steep. It had me holding my breath for the 4 miles, I would have closed my eyes but I was driving!
However when we arrived it was definitely worth it. The campsite was empty and we had our pick of pitches. We chose one that faced the lake and was about 20 steps to the beach.
We spent two night here. The weather was lovely and sunny but it was cold. The wind was quite strong but on the plus side I managed to wash all our cloths and they dried in the wind.
Our next stop was to Gap. But on out way we stopped off at Lac du Saulet. This has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
The lake had turquoise water nestled in the mountains. The dam is 80 meters long and 765 meters high. We climbed to the top of the bridge and looked down into the ravine below. It made us a bit dizzy looking that far down so we headed back to the lake to see the dam on the same level as us. It was soon time to get moving to our next stop.
We arrived in Gap. The first Aire we stopped at had closed and was now a car park. We turned in before we realised it. There was a Judo competition on and the car park was jammed. After some careful manoeuvring I managed to get us back out on the road and we headed to the next one on the list. This one was about 30 minutes walk outside of the town.
Once we had parked up we headed into town for the afternoon. The sun was shining and we wanted to sit in a town square soaking up the atmosphere sipping a Pina Colada. We were a bit to early to dine out and the sun was starting to go down and with it the temperature. Found the tiniest bar which we had to ourselves called Le Chiti bar and Donald had a couple of beers. Then dinner in an Irish bar. Now I feel like we are on holiday.
Pierre-de Bresse to Crémieu
Mileage – 121
Route – A6
Cost – Free
Crémieu to Sassengae
Mileage – 57
Route – A43/A48
Cost – Free
Sassengae to Saint-Théoffrey
Mileage – 21
Route – N85
Cost – £38.98 for two night with EHU
Saint-Théoffrey to Gap
Mileage – 51
Route – N85
Cost – Free
