trip to France was to have the character of the pilgrimage trail shrines
and the French left, but the way we were able to admire beautiful landscapes such as French Alps, a wonderful atmosphere of small towns and great quality of French (even local) roads.
Day 1 - leave the Kielce ok.5.00 (Skoda Superb TDI 170HP + Adria 4252) with a 4-hour rest in the vicinity of Złotoryja.
When eaten a hearty dinner, we head to the German highway that with the prescribed (unfortunately 80km / h) speed drive boring way through the country of our neighbors. The road takes us two days - the first night (after 1050km) in the pouring rain in the parking lot at a gas station in the vicinity of
Willenberg - not only we stopped there for the night - next to the trailer from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Polish, etc. Here useful to install the battery in the trailer.
Day 2 - Continue the journey and enter the German motorway to France - we decided not to travel highways to explore a little more than acoustic screens ... Passing through some lovely towns, except where time stood still (a lot of old stone houses, tiny churches, intimate ryneczki) and spend the night near the village of Gy - a small town
Bucey-les-Gy , by the roadside market and a gas station and next to the square beautifully fenced with a table and benches, where you can eat food (next to us, "stays" here camper from France). Distance traveled - ok.650km.
Day 3 - after breakfast we visit
Cluny, where we saw the remnants of the former Benedictine abbey, and we had a walk through streets.
Another point is
Ars - the city of St. John Mary Vianney - the patron saint of parish priests. We saw the Basilica, which are relics of the Holy and the house where he lived and worked. In the parking break and lunch - is also met a coach from Silesia with the pilgrims.
with Ars by Grenoble went camping in
Corps (20km from La Salette
). We drove to the height 1600mnpm admiring the beauty of the French Alps - Also from the campground.
add another 250km to the counter.
Day 4 - after breakfast for a small family campground ride 20km and 2000m above - to
La Salette - a mountain village in the French
Alps, near Grenoble
, known mainly because of the revelation
Our Lady of
1846 year. Our Lady appeared only once on September 19
1846 year love of two shepherds 15-year-old Melanie
Calvat and 11-year-old
Maksyminowi Giraud top rising above the
La Salette, in the High Alps in France.
the site of the revelation (about 1750 m
above sea level) flow a fountain. It flows from the revelation without interruption until the present day. After the tests, which included a the verification of hearing children and their relationships, and the study of binding events is usually the revelations (such as emergency recovery), after receiving the assent of the pope
,
Bishop Philibert de Bruillard ,
Ordinary Grenoble diocese announced on September 19
1851 year that the revelation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of love of two shepherds
19 September 1846 ., one of the mountains, belonging to the chain of the Alps, situated in the parish of La Salette
the whole the deanery
Corps, has in itself all characteristics of a true and faithful have reasonable grounds for recognition as an undoubted and certain. After September 19
year 1846 Melania, and later Maximinus, who helped convert his father, erected crosses to mark the place of revelation. In the spring of 1914 pilgrims lined the traditional stations of the Cross
, Paving the way he went after the beautiful lady talking to children. This path, resembling the shape of the letter "S", still exists today and is located in the vicinity of the source. It ends with a figure representing Mary rising into the sky, his face pointing towards the
Rome, to emphasize the unity of the Church.
Over the years, successive popes admitting privileges, both the devotion to Our Lady of La Salette, and
Sanctuary in La Salette. Enough history ... The Way to the Sanctuary of narrow and winding, but the views ... breathtaking.
participate in the Mass. Polish, because the parking lot was the same coach, who met at Ars. We admire the beauty of the place of two hills. Something extraordinary. Interesting fact: in the parking lot was a camper and passengers ate breakfast while the Alps - a little envious of them, because the view of the setting and rising sun in this place must have been amazing (but next time you are brought here from the trailer). Going down to dinner in the camp. Spend an afternoon on the lake, 2km from the campsite and 1000m below. Warm water and back views of the lake and the Alps.
evening dinner, to regulate fees for camping (2noce/42euro), preparing the car to the trailer and further down the road.
Day 5 - early morning departure by unpaid (so we go through the valley among the mountains)
to
Avignon - Papal Palace in the past was the seat of the popes (from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century). It was built of white stone castle is the largest Gothic building in Europe. The complex located on the Rocher des Doms is next called. A small palace, once inhabited by the cardinals. Other buildings are the thirteenth-century Romanesque cathedral with frescoes by Simone Martini, Ramparts and the twelfth-century bridge Pont St-Benézet. The whole complex is of considerable historical value in 1995 was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site).
Hence the longer highway
Lourdes. Here we meet a Pole, near Lidl, which shows us the way to the House of the Polish Catholic Mission, where we are 3 nights. Place on a trailer, auto, power supply, use with toilets and showers - 15euro/dobę. Route 700 km (of which 400km highway - episode cost 40euro).
Day 6 - the night and time for lunch in the rain, so we spent it in the trailer.
After lunch trip to the Sanctuary of Lourdes
. Prayer and stay in the sanctuary, the Grotto, where pilgrims are in focus and without haste to participate in religious ceremonies, a lot of sick people in wheelchairs, also during a procession of lanterns, which in the pouring rain at 21.00 participated.
Day 7 - continued stay in Lourdes
. Shrine, the Grotto, souvenirs, trick water from the miraculous spring, shopping, refuel the car and rest before continuing.
Day 8 - we head for home by
Rocamadour - the shrine of the seventh century, the oldest Marian pilgrimage site in France. Navigation guides us like a swift, albeit a very narrow lane through the woods and over the cliffs ... After about 25 kilometers, it appears that go mountain slope, where the other side, on the other side of a mountain, as if stuck to the rocks, there is a Rocamadour. View amazing. If we were going "normally" do not even know that the there is such a path.
The adventures of navigation, which led us, among others the bridge with a width of 2m, we were able to go on tour in the directions of Polish. Evening, looking for a place to stay ... Dinner at the beautiful, well-groomed, but the empty parking lot - we do not want to spend the night here.
viewing terrace on the route ... We see
Clermont-Ferrand.
... We're going to 22.30 and finally managed to find parking, and accompanied by a Polish lorry and went to sleep.
Day 9 - onward journey towards the French-German border, along the way we go off the route to Paray le Monial
- apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. (From the monastery of Paray-le-Monial, the cult of the Sacred Heart began to spread throughout France and the world. Every year the temple visited by some 300,000 pilgrims from various parts of globe).
Lunch at a known location, ie
Bucey-les-Gy ...
After 200km symbolic border and ride on a German motorway monotonous. Overnight in the parking lot.
Day 10 - Germany and enter the Polish, here we are looking for places for dinner, a restaurant recommended by CB at BP stations as "rooster". We found "rooster" and actually ate a good lunch. Then, just visit the company selling the trailer (I want to buy more) - and here again leads navigation us along the way "fast" through the fields, where there is no asphalt! With the company by a different route back to the highway. Ok. 23.00 we are at home.
Summary: - Route: 5300km,
- Time: 10 days,
- Cost: 950zł/os: fuel, tolls, camping, health insurance, food, drinks.
Conclusions: If the goal is to France, Germany, it is worth the motorway slip. On the spot, to see something, you must exit the highway (very expensive in France). Roads free of charge are very good quality and no major problems with the trailer zapędzaniem even to small towns. The problem is with parking - a parking lot next to the road (creek), but apart from the trash there is nothing that fits a truck with a trailer. It is also worth not waiting to refuel until it lights up the reserve. Well, not quite trust the navigation - better to have a current map and the correct indication.
