Classic Car Wife

If you've been following our journey you might recall that we had earlier abandoned the Route Nacionale 7 at Valence so we could get to our hotel pool in Aix-en-Provence. Leaving Avignon, therefore, we followed some of the missing part of the route in reverse up to Valence. This section of the route is very easy driving and quite fast. From Avignon, take the D907 via Le Postet towards Sorgues and all the way to Orange. You'll pass an Arc de Triumphe, then continue on the N7 v

After leaving Marseilles we drove to Arles. We stayed for two nights at Le Calendal Hotel https://www.lecalendal.com. and parked MoneyPenny in the Parking du Centre, walking with luggage to the hotel. Arles is a quiet but amazing town with SO much to offer. We bought a combined ticket for monuments and museums at the Office de Tourisme and started at the Archeology Museum which was amazing. Apart from all the awesome Roman relics, we were blown away by the 50BC boat that was

From Hyeres we continued west to Toulon. Here we intersected again with WW2 history and the Nacionale Route 7. Toulon and Marseilles suffered badly when the Allied Forces liberated France. After the June 1944 Normandy landings, the Allies launched a major offensive on the Mediterranean Coast of France in August 1944. Many of the beaches we have enjoyed over the past few weeks were landing sites full of mines and German embattlements. It's hard to imagine now. Toulon has an ex

With a tinge of sadness we left Saint Tropez but look forward to coming back again next year. We drove west along the coast towards Hyeres, taking the D559 near Port Cogolin towards La Croix-Valmer. From here the road drops down towards the sea and skirts the coast passing through many family-friendly seaside resort towns with jam-packed sandy beaches. It is now the first week of the French school holidays and we are in the midst of one of the worst and most extended heatwave

Leaving Aix-en-Provence we rejoined the National Route 7 which is mainly sign-posted as the DN7 at this stage. The road generally runs in parallel to the A8 down to Chateauneuf-le-Rouge and through vineyards and gorgeous countryside to Saint-Maximin-la-Saint-Baume, Tourves and Brignoles (where the Clooney's live!). Take the road on to Flassans-sur-Issole and on to Le Luc. Here we left the National Route 7 to join the D558 that winds across the Massif through La Garde-Freinet

Leaving Vienne, the RN7 follows the eastern bank of the Rhone river. There's a lot of heavy industry and we made slow progress. After Roussillon, the route becomes more scenic and many beautiful old chateaux and vineyards can be seen as the road hugs the edge of the river. Despite the Romanesque straight road it took us two hours to reach Valence via the N7. According to Apple maps, the same journey would have taken us only 30 minutes on the motorway. This really does go to s

On Day 2 of our journey on the RN7 we left Moulins and headed for Lapalisse. The route is now very rural with many farmers desperately trying to water their crops in the extreme heatwave. We have now learned that this a very ancient route, probably going back to the Gauls and definitely reconstructed and improved by the Romans as a major route from Rome to Paris. You can see how the small villages dotted along the route must have provided food and shelter to many travellers.

Usually when we take MoneyPenny to the south of France we zoom down the Route de Soleil Autoroute but this year we are trying 'slow travel' and retracing the Route Nacionale 7 (RN7). This was the original route that people took from Paris to the Mediterranean from the 1930s. It's been described as the French equivalent of Route 66, so we are trying to find and follow this historic route to the best of our ability. We've had a few days in Paris, staying as Hotel Des Artes in M