Day 15 - Domme Le Port to Bulanettes/Pyrenees (394kms)

WOW WOW WOW - what a day.  Sunset was the only thing that quenched our thirst for more today.  

We started the day by visiting the township of Domme.  After parking our camper van in the designated carpark outside the city walls, we entered the township through the La Porte des Tours gate.   The La Porte des Tours gate was the town's main gateway, and the most exposed in the days of war, because of its more gentle approach.  The surrounding cliffs are not as high, and I guess thats why its easier for camper vans to approach from this side, as we weren't allowed to approach from the main road on the other side.  

Domme was founded in 1281 by Philip the Bold - the King of France at the time, because it was a strategic point near English control regions.  It was completed in 1310 and the then residents payed for the privilege to live within the trapezoidal walls that hugged the cliffs and provided protection of invaders.

Once we were inside the town's walls, we were in awe of the beautiful old township and the quaint narrow streets laid out in front of us.  The beautifully maintained buildings and a surprise around each corner, it was an adventure at every turn.  We walked the streets for over an hour and eventually ended up in the main square - Place de la Haile, and then beside this was park with a lookout over the Dordogne River and valley below. 

The view from the park itself was spectacular, but there was also a local playing some french music, which just topped the experience off.  Greg Voinis - a musician and photographer, was playing a range of musical instruments, some which he had created.  The music was so melodic and relaxing, and suited the environment perfectly.  Even though he was singing in french, Madi and I wanted to buy his CD, and after talking with Greg for some time we ended up buying both on offer.

Greg, was a lovely man who spoke limited english, but took the time to show us all the instruments he was playing and even talked about the beauty of his local area.  He said that if we loved Domme, we should also visit Sarlat-le-Caneda and La Roque-Gageac.  In his opinion Sarlat-le-Caneda was the most beautiful, but given we had already passed both of these towns on the way to Domme, we will have to visit these towns on another trip.

Before leaving Domme we asked a passerby to take a family photo of us from the square with the valley backdrop. After this photos was taken,  Greg approached us and also offered to take a photo.  He pointed out that he was also a photographer and then lined us up in what he thought was the best position for a photo.  I think the passerby did a pretty good job too.

After leaving Domme we passed through Salviac, and a number of other small towns and villages - on some narrow and windy roads, before working our way back to the A20 motorway.  Despite 4 tolls adding up to 14 euro, it was much easier and pleasant driving on the motorway after a while.  The motorway then skirted Toulouse before arriving at a Tollway - that instead of issuing a ticket for the trip ahead wanted a credit card.  We are still unsure how much this cost us, but that and another 6.20 euro and we were free from tollways and heading into the Pyrenees mountains.

Our for first destination in the Pyrenees was the Col du Peyresourde.  With the weather clearing up and it being quite sunny I was so excited about crossing my first Le Tour summit.  The drive up to 1563m was just beautiful and I was so happy to be in the mountains.  By the time we reached the top of the Peyresourde, it was already getting very late in the day and because I was hoping to get to the Col du Tourmalet before sunset, we only spent 10-15 minutes soaking it up and taking photos before moving on.

I didn't realise until punching the Col du Tourmalet into the Google Maps, but getting to the Tourmalet involved another mountain pass -  The Col d'Aspin.  Blindly following Google Maps it took us up a two way road that was only just wide enough for the camper van - let alone trying to pass any traffic coming in the opposite direction.  In hindsight, we did get a warning of what was to come, in the form of a sign that said no vehicles over 10m in length on this road, but given we are only 7.41m in length we started off up the road and it was then too late (impossible) to turn around.  The road just got narrower and narrower, and at one point the road made a hairpin turn, and we had do a four point turn to get around.  Needless to say we made it - without incident, but in future we will question such warning signs.

As the sun was getting low in the sky, we made the summit of the Col d'Aspin.  Only a mere 1489m this time, but equally as spectacular views from the top, made even better by the colours from the setting sun.  

Without time to waste we then headed for the Tourmalet, was th GPS had an ETA of 7:42pm and sunset was 7:48pm.  Kristie was not too happy with the idea of being on a mountain top in the camper van after dark, but she begrudgingly went along with me plan, knowing that we would most likely be descending in twilight.

As we were ascending the Col du Tourmalet, the distance to our destination in Google Maps was not matching the ascent roadsigns displayed every 1km for cyclists.  Apart from letting the cyclist know the gradient of the climb and how much higher there is to go, it has the distance to the summit also, and they were further away than Google Maps.  So with the sun rapidly disappearing we decided to abandon our attempt to reach the summit tonight - despite the forecast for rain overnight and in the morning.  So we pulled off the road into a campground for the evening.

In the campground there was not sign of staff anywhere and so we just pulled up on an empty piece of grass near power.  But after going to all the effort of levelling the van, the power didn't work.  With the help of other campers who spoke a little english they managed to get one of the permanent campers to call the park owner/manager and soon enough we had power - after some tinkling in the power box.