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TT Tours France 2022
Côte Vermeille
TT Tour South of France, 1st - 12th September 2022
A week's stay in a beach-side villa at the French seaside town of Banyuls-sur-Mer, located on the stunning Côte Vermeille, where the Pyrénées fall into the sea.
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Following Thursday 1st September's morning ferry crossing from Portsmouth to Ouistreham in Normandy, the TT and The Battery Car (with occupants!) took a couple of days to drive through France to Banyuls-sur-Mer, close to the Franco-Spanish border in French Catalonia.
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We'd rented a cliff-top, 3-bedroom villa (from VRBO) with fabulous sea views for a week, located in a gated community on the edge of Banyuls with direct access to the cliff path and the beach below.
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Banyuls-sur-Mer is a small, seaside town with a lovely sandy beach, restaurants, thriving shopping streets and markets, a marina and lots and lots of sunshine. Close by along the coast is the charming 'old France' town of Collioure, its popularity legendary with famous artists, not least Matisse and his contemporaries of the 'Fauvism' genre of fine art.
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Perpignan is the closest city, perhaps a 20-30 minute drive, renowned as one of the most ethnically diverse in France. It is also historically important, notably for its medeival, fortified palace, home to the highly influential Kings of Majorca between the 13th and 16th centuries. During that period, Perpignan was the principal Pyrénéan frontier town in SW France, until The Treaty of The Pyrénées in 1659 finally settled remaining Franco-Spanish disputes and established the modern frontier, a little further to the west.
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Just inland from Banyuls, and the other local, coastal towns of Cerbère, Port Vendres and Collioure, are the peaks of the Pyrénées, providing challenging but rewarding walking from the coast to high-point vistas such as the nearby Tour Madeloc.
Video Clip: 'Travelling south, from Ouistreham Ferryport to Banyuls-sur-Mer
Tour Madeloc, 656m above the sea, and a stiff walk from Collioure, (pictured below), or Port Vendres out of shot to the right of this photo.
Tour outline:
Tour Schedule
The itinerary below was the plan and although we didn't complete all of this (it was far too ambitious!) we did to lots. Click linked text for more information about some of the activities or places that we either did manage to complete, or that are aspirations for the next visit.
Day by Day ...
Thursday 1st September:
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Departed Portsmouth; 08:15 Brittany Ferry to Ouistreham, arr 15:30. We drove onward to Amboise on the river Loire, for an overnight stop at Le Hotel Blason. Sadly, we couldn't find time the following morning to visit the Grand Chateau, perhaps next time. (Route)
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Friday 2nd:
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From Amboise, we drove south towards, and through the charming Perigord-Dordogne countryside to the 'vertical village' of Rocamadour for the second overnight stop at Le Hotel Beau Site and it was fabulous! Rocamadour gained religious significance as an important place on the medeival pilgrimage routes and was a truly amazing place (Route).
Saturday 3rd:
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From Rocamadour, we drove through the Haut Langedoc regional park into Rouissillon, heading for the coast and our villa in the gated community of le Troc, at Banyuls-sur-Mer. (Route).
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Sunday 4th:
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We visited Collioure, (below) and although we missed the Sunday morning market, instead we browsed the shops, galleries, cafés, and ambled alongside the Chateau Royale. We'll visit it properly next time perhaps.
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Monday 5th:
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Some went swimming from the beach below the villa, others walked part of the coastal path (Sentier Littoral) towards Cap Cerbére. We didn't get far so there's lots more to do next time, and if legs will permit, perhaps complete the 14km or so to the Spanish border.
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Tuesday 6th:
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Today we took the train from Banyuls into Perpignan to explore the charming old city. Some took a leisurely lunch, others visited the Palace (of the Kings of Majorca), but it was a very hot day so the cool of the air-conditioned train home was a welcome relief!
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Wednesday 7th:
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After all the walking and the heat of yesterday, Wednesday was voted as a 'rest day'. Still to visit for next time might be the awesome Gorges de la Fou near Ceret, and take a drive to Villefrance to catch Le Petit Train Jaune into the heart of the Pyrénées.
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Thursday 8th:
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Some of us pottered about at home, did some swimming from the beach below, generally had a 'holiday day', while others took a drive to explore the locality a little more, visiting Argeles-sur-Mer, Ceret and Laroque-des-Alberes.
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Friday 9th:
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Today was catch up day: we nursed tired legs by taking a drive to the Spanish border, stopping off at Cap Cerbére for a photo-shoot. Later on, it was sadly villa-cleaning, so we could make a smart getaway the following morning.
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Saturday 10th:
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We checked out of our villa to start the drive home. We stopped at medeival Carcassonne to explore,and for a picnic lunch, taking an afternoon drive up and across the Haut-Languedoc to the 'red city' of Albi, on the banks of the river Tarn for an overnight stop at the Hotel duVegan. (Route).
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Sunday 11th:
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From Albi, we cruised north through the Dordogne and on towards the stunning, cathedral city of Tours, on the banks of the Loire, for an overnight stop at a charming AirBnB town house, right in the old city. (Route).
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Monday 12th:
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A morning drive to the Channel Coast and the ferry port at Ouistreham, ahead of our afternoon ferry home. We didn't have time to check out the surrounding Normandy D-Day beaches, so that's again, for next time. (Route).
Our iterary
Tour Costs
Villa rental
Our villa was privately owned and we rented it through the worldwide VRBO holiday rental website.
The total rental for the week, Saturday 3rd September to Saturday 10th September was €850 (= £730 approx).
It had three bedrooms and so could have comfortably accommodated six.
Hôtel le Blason
Hôtel le Blason
Hôtel Beau Site
​View from Hôtel du Vigan
Tour - old city
Ferry crossing
Our Brittany Ferry crossing was booked from Portsmouth to Ouistreham outward on the 08:30 departure, Thursday 1st September, returning on the 16:30 departure, Monday 12th September at a total cost of £359 return for the TT and two people.
Hotel accommodation en-route
Outward:
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Thursday night, 1st September:
We booked rooms at Hôtel le Blason, Amboise, for €100 (£84) each. They were cosy, but charming, and breakfast was hearty!
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Friday night, 2nd September:
We booked rooms at Hôtel Beau Site, Rocamadour, for €111 (£96) each, which turned out to be absolutely fabulous. We had dinner at the Hotel's top-quality restaurant, open air, on a terrace way above the river gorge below.
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Return:
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Saturday night, 10thSeptember:
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We booked rooms at Hotel du Vigan in the 'red city' of Albi at €70 (£60) each, and after exploring the old city, had a good-value, simple dinner at the Hotel's restaurant.
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Sunday night, 11th September:
We booked a charming town house right on the edge of the old city through AirBnB for €210 for the night. We had plenty of space for four, and the house could have accommodated up to six in three double bedrooms.
Travelling costs: fuel, tolls, electricity!
We took two cars, the TT and the Polestar electric car, and we were prepared for issues with both!
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The first problem was the TT refusing to start on the car deck of the ferry on arrival at Ouistreham - deeply embarrassing although after everyone else had driven off, kind ferry crewmembers gave us a good push to get the car going. We suspected just a simple air lock in the fuel system caused by brimming the tank. The problem didn't arise again with the car behaving faultlessly until the evening before coming home, when once again it refused to start. All was fine the following morning and no further issues arose. The fault has now been fixed and turned out to be a small electrical glitch in an engine sensor. The TT is now happy again.
Looking north-east from Tour Madeloc, above Collioure