Nowhere to park in Pau, France

@JudyEv (382412)

Rockingham, Australia

July 4, 2017 12:34pm CST

We are camping at Camping Le Rey in the Vallee d’Ossau at the foot of the Pyrenees. We wanted to stop at Pau to see the castle there but, although we went round and round, we couldn’t find a place to park. We thought we might have parked where there were two tourist buses but a French lady wagged her finger at us and said ‘non, non, bus’. When we hopefully said ‘petit bus’ she wasn’t impressed so we thought we’d better move on. We are now thinking we might catch a bus to Pau from the village. It is apparently a 10 minute walk to the bus stop and a 20 minute walk back. The latter is my estimate as it will be downhill on the way to the bus stop but very definitely uphill on the way back. We have a very green, shaded spot to camp with a tin cutout of a bear just over the path. I hope the real ones don’t get any closer than that.

The photo is of a big bridge we crossed recently.

19 people like this

14 responses

@Kandae11 (57230)

•

4 Jul 17

I hate walking uphill - downhill is fine with me.

3 people like this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

I think we'll turn around and go up backwards - and kid ourselves that we're going downhill.

What do you think?

@RubyHawk (99367)

• Atlanta, Georgia

5 Jul 17

Beautiful bridge. Hope climbing uphill wasn't too strenuous. Have fun.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

The uphill bit is still to come and will be at the end of a very full day but I'm sure we'll manage.

1 person likes this

@RubyHawk (99367)

• Atlanta, Georgia

6 Jul 17

@JudyEv I hope it goes well.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

6 Jul 17

@RubyHawk In the end we drove in next day and found parking so it was all good.

1 person likes this

Show more comments

@youless (114117)

• Guangzhou, China

5 Jul 17

Hard to believe that there is no parking place there. Perhaps you can visit there in turn and one will drive your car around

2 people like this

show previous comments

@youless (114117)

• Guangzhou, China

6 Jul 17

@JudyEv Sounds like you have a moving castle

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

6 Jul 17

@youless It's not quite a castle but it is quite long.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

There is parking but not for big vans like ours. It is a bit too long to fit in a 'normal' car bay.

1 person likes this

Show more comments

Belle Starr (Iz)

@BelleStarr (61463)

• United States

5 Jul 17

That is one reason we usually travel in the winter, no other tourists lol we get into everything that is open and we haven't had many problems with things being closed.

2 people like this

show previous comments

Belle Starr (Iz)

@BelleStarr (61463)

• United States

5 Jul 17

@JudyEv I have been to Ireland in both December and January and actually December was cold but January was nice.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

6 Jul 17

@BelleStarr By the time we left Ireland in late October last year, many of the camping sites had closed down.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

That's a really good idea but Ireland in winter probably isn't much fun in the motor-home. Certainly there'd be far less people. We're trying to keep out of the very popular places.

1 person likes this

Show more comments

@xFiacre (14797)

• Ireland

4 Jul 17

@judyev Wow, you're getting about. My French adventures are limited to Paris, Marseilles and Strasbourg.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

We're not far from Lourdes now so will probably go there as well - more because people will ask why we didn't if we don't - if you get my drift.

1 person likes this

@xFiacre (14797)

• Ireland

5 Jul 17

@JudyEv Oh I do dislike it when people assume the logic in one's itinerary. I object when people think I go to Turin to see the Shroud (and I can give many other examples). I go to Turin to see Turin and because of its rich literary and political past and because of its atmosphere. That's where Cesare Pavese overdosed on barbiturates in a room in the Roma e Rocca hotel in 1950 in response to Italy's political swamp - I don't go to see the Shroud. Im told tgat most people dont actually enjoy Lourdes, not unless they are miraculously healed of course.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

@xFiacre We might give it a miss. I don't know what we're actually supposed to see or visit and it's a poor reason for going really. We will probably visit Caucassone which is the name of the one of the board games that we've played with our son and daughter-in-law. And that's another inane reason to visit a place I guess.

@Ronrybs (21492)

• London, England

4 Jul 17

I'd be willing to do that walk to have a good look at a castle!

2 people like this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

You haven't seen the walk! The bus leaves at 11.30 and doesn't get back till nearly 7pm so we'll not be looking forward to an uphill walk after all day tramping the pavement.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

@Ronrybs I forgot you had a folding bike. It must be a great boon. We drove in in the finish and parked in the main big carpark. No problems at all!

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21492)

• London, England

5 Jul 17

@JudyEv Makes me glad I've got a bike! I could take my folding one on a bus and use to get around the castle!

1 person likes this

Show more comments

@snowy22315 (209131)

• United States

5 Jul 17

You must be having an awesome time in France!

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

Yes, it has been awesome in many ways.

@DWDavis (25797)

• United States

5 Jul 17

Too bad she wouldn't go along with the "petit bus" idea. I hope you do get to tour the castle.

1 person likes this

show previous comments

@DWDavis (25797)

• United States

5 Jul 17

@JudyEv I hope you will post a photo of the castle.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

7 Jul 17

@DWDavis It's hard to choose just one. When we get home again I hope to do some slideshows but doing it at the moment chews up too much data.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

We ended up driving in again today and parked in the main car park then walked. It was all fine and relatively easy.

1 person likes this

Show more comments

@LadyDuck (502729)

• Italy

5 Jul 17

We visited the Chateau de Pau, it is impressive, but it was not in July, I think to remember we went in May.

1 person likes this

show previous comments

@LadyDuck (502729)

• Italy

5 Jul 17

@JudyEv In France there better Castles, but I enjoyed the tour of the one of Pau.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

We did the tour today and enjoyed it although we've seen 'fancier' castles.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

7 Jul 17

@LadyDuck I've seen better too but the most magnificent were in Bavaria.

1 person likes this

@sueznewz2 (10409)

• Alicante, Spain

5 Jul 17

I hope you had good day... and it wasn't too hot for walking around... nice perspective on the photo...

1 person likes this

show previous comments

@sueznewz2 (10409)

• Alicante, Spain

5 Jul 17

@JudyEv ohhh thats good ...and a refreshing swim afterwards...

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

It was pretty hot but we managed and even had a swim in the camping ground when we got home. We drove in in the finish.

1 person likes this

Show more comments

@RasmaSandra (98106)

• Daytona Beach, Florida

4 Jul 17

Nice shot. Enjoy your visit. Sounds like a nice spot to camp.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

It's a lovely spot. We might stay another night here.. We're into 'high season' now but this spot isn't as expensive as some.

1 person likes this

@garymarsh6 (24028)

• United Kingdom

8 Jul 17

Problems for camper vans in cities. Most car parks are solely for cars and not camper vans.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

9 Jul 17

The older towns weren't made with modern vehicles in mind. It is very hard for some cities to provide parking but sometimes we get lucky.

1 person likes this

@JohnRoberts (109841)

• Los Angeles, California

4 Jul 17

You are having such an adventure with your own home on wheels traveling France.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Jul 17

It's been pretty enjoyable so far - although we did go down a bus lane yesterday.

1 person likes this

@teamfreak16 (43655)

• Denver, Colorado

5 Jul 17

Did you know that Pau has hosted the Tour de France 68 times? At first, I thought that might be why there was nowhere to park, but the race hasn't hit the Pyrenees yet. Glad you guys found a place.

1 person likes this

show previous comments

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

7 Jul 17

@teamfreak16 I've found the website with the route so we'll be keeping an eye on it. We went up Col de Tourlemet today and there were dozens of bike-riders along the way. Apparently it's been part of the Tour quite often (maybe every time-I'm not sure).

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (382412)

• Rockingham, Australia

6 Jul 17

We drove into Pau again in the end and in the carpark we used there were signs saying there'd be no parking on Tuesday and Wednesday this coming week - and they had already erected a grandstand of sorts. I'm going to check out the route and see if we'll be anywhere near it over the next week or two.

1 person likes this

@teamfreak16 (43655)

• Denver, Colorado

6 Jul 17

@JudyEv - They will arrive in Pau on the 12th and depart Pau on the 13th.

1 person likes this

Show more comments