Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees

Last week I spent a few days away from the beaches of South West France and headed up into the Pyrenees. All easy driving and motorway until Lourdes and then the journey turned in towards the mountains and the scenery suddenly changed to steep green hills and cascading waterfalls.

Useful tip – make sure you travel with someone so that you can take it in turns to drive and admire the view as one of you will have to keep an eye on the road that starts to ascend and snake its way deeper into the mountains.

My trip to the Pyrenees

I ended up in a beautiful village called Esquieze-Sere just outside (within 200m) of the small town of Saint Luz Sauveur.

The little town is simply stunning with all you need to get your provisions and enjoy evenings outdoors in one of the many friendly bars and restaurants. The town is also popular during the ski season so its worth going during the summer to establish your bearings and maybe going back during the ski season too. The campsites here are open all year round so it’s a perfect location!

Esquieze, Hautes-Pyrénées

The town is usually on the Tour de France stage (one year the riders travel from the Col du Tormelet down the mountain to Pau and the following year, they rider from Pau, up to the Col du Tormelet)!

Luz Saint Saveur, Hautes-Pyrénées

I was staying on the Airotel campsite for a few days but I recommend for motorhomers to stay on La Grange Bigourdan for €11 per night here’s the website and more information about the campsite. This campsite is situated alongside the usually quiet road that the Tour de France and the preceding parade passes along. However, the rest of the year, the campsite also offers amazing views of the mountains for you to soak up with your morning coffee or evening BBQ.

Campsite in Gavarnie at the beginning of the cirque

There is so much to offer in this area, for getting back to nature; everything from gentle walks to challenging hikes, horse riding, kayaking in the river or, if you’re after a more relaxing and therapeutic time nearly every village and in between appears to have a thermal spa. Fortunately the tourist information office in the town can give you all the opening times and details.

Once you’re gripped by the amazing scenery, there’s another place that I strongly recommend you stay and that is the Cirque de Gavarnie where you can stay on the campsite Camping Bergerie.

The weather in the mountains a little unpredictable with it being blue skies and sunshine in the morning and then cloudy and misty in the afternoon. I went in June and I strongly recommend that you make sure you go prepared with a rain coat and a jumper just in case. However, a motorhome with a hot shower and heating will more than keep you comfortable.

A friend and her Knaus 650MF

The pictures in this trip are of my friend Debra’s motorhome – a Knaus 650MF which offered both the internal space and facilities for comfort as well as being a low profile and short 6meter axel to make driving the snake roads a breeze.

Ask us for more information if you’d like to know more about the motorhomes we currently have available.