La Couvertoirade and Marseillan-Plage France

We left out motorway stopover, which had free internet! at 11am after spending the morning skyping freinds and family in Australia. We crossed the magnificent Millau Viaduct (Toll bridge Eur 9.60) and headed south on the A75 to the world of the Templars and Hospitallers particularly to one of France’s most beautiful fortress villages of La Couvertoirade.

We left the freeway and thanks to the sat nav took an interesting foggy, single lane shortcut through a rocky landscape that was just touching the clouds at 800m.

We emerged from the clouds to see the the towers of a medieval fortress which is the village of La Couvertoirade. There was space made available for motorhomes in the parking area outside the walls and ramparts, there is no space for any cars inside the walls.

Unlike other places where the town has overflowed the walls and the walled town is in the centre of a larger town or city La Couvertoirade is still contained within the walls.

The literature describes this as ‘a mediaeval village, located at the confines of the Larzac plateau.

This well-preserved fortified town was owned by the Knights Templar and reflects the military power of the Templar Knights and the daily activity of the Hospitaliers (Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem), through its exceptional state of conservation.

For those interested, the Wiki describes the Hospitallers arose because of the work of an Amalfitan hospital located in the Muristan district of Jerusalem, founded around 1023 to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land.

These fortified villages would seem to be something akin to hotel motels for the crusaders on there way to and back from the crusades.

Classed as a Most Beautiful French Village, La Couvertoirade constitutes a veritable “miniature” of the mediaeval city. Few mediaeval sites in France are as well preserved’.

This place is just how you imagine a walled mediaeval village and 12th century Templar castle would look like. Walking the streets was like being transported back in time and was not at all spoiled by the discrete cafes and shops now occupying many of the old buildings.

We enjoyed a traditional French lunch at Creperie Montes a crepe restaurant now inside one of the medieval houses. Wine, traditional crepe with a filling of ham, swiss cheese and fried egg, They made a special ham and salad for Trish, followed by a desert crepe for Steven ,stewed apple for Trish and coffees.

We also bought one of our few souvenirs of the trip, a miniature metal kitchen stove setting to heat fragrant oils with miniature stove pots and pans that we both liked.

La Couvertoirade has to be one of the highlights of our tour through France.

The late afternoon was spent driving down the A75 and to a small holiday town of Marseillan-Plage on the Mediterranean coast (Plage is French for beach).

We arrived at 5pm parked in a street parallel to the beach and selected a holiday resort, Le Floride. We were invited to walk around and select a site we liked, we managed to score a site at the very beach front! about 40m from the beachfront bar and restaurant. Today is also the first day of the low season so the tarriff is now Eur 18 per night includes wifi, power and water at the site, Bali style resort swimming pool, free entertainment at night, 2 restaurants etc etc.

Our evening walk was into the town area for some fresh bread then along the beach checking out the catch of people fishing and a late dinner outside the Hymermobile watching the surf.

Now it feels like we are on holiday from the holiday!!