I woke up hopeful that this would be my last day in Sault - as lovely as the Provençal village was, I was itching to be back on the road and in my camper, as I had already lost 3 days of my roadtrip. Thankfully, Getaway was kind enough to grant me three extra days to cover those that I had lost, which I really appreciated.
It was market day in Sault, which was really exciting because it was something different, and French markets are such a treat. I woke up to the sight of the markets being set up, quickly had breakfast at the hotel, packed up my stuff and checked out. The hotel staff were really good and held onto my motley collection of plastic and tote bags which I had made up of stuff from the camper, and I went to explore the market. I was also keeping a keen eye on the tracking of the drive shaft that had been posted from the UK the day before - it had made it to France but the depot was quite far South so I assumed that it would be about lunchtime when it made it to this area. I still kept checking it like a crazy person though.
The markets were set up in the boules court and extended through the main square of Sault, spilling out into the main road through the village. They featured a great variety of stuff to buy - from fruit and veg, baskets, saucisson and flowers, to hot food and tablecloths. I spent a great deal of time wandering through them.
It was lunchtime, so I went back to the hot food area, where there was a food truck selling crepes and had a delicious ham, cheese and egg crepe... Honestly is there anything better than a light buckwheat crepe with simple ingredients?! I checked the status of my delivery while I was eating lunch - delivered - so I gave the mechanics a couple of hours, grabbed my stuff from the hotel and then head back to the shop.
Turned out that, while they had received the part, they hadn't got to it yet. I turned up at the shop at about 4pm and evidently they weren't interested in fixing it today. But me, being me, wasn't going to leave without the camper - I'd had enough of staying in Sault and I wanted to move on. So I got my book out and sat in the visitors area reading, not leaving until it was done: the mechanic at Getaway had worked his arse off to get me that part, had posted it expedited (which wouldn't have been cheap), and I was just not going to hear any excuses. It took them a couple of hours but finally they told me it was done at 6:30pm. I paid them, got in the camper, set the GPS for a campsite nearby and head off very grateful to be driving again.
The campsite I picked was a little pricey and it wasn't really the type of simple site that I liked, but it was neat and tidy and, most importantly, was a campsite not a hotel. It also turned out that the mechanics must have started my car on more often than I expected, as the fridge was still working (it ran off a second battery which kept charge for about 2 days when stationary), and the food I had left in it (pesto and gnocchi) was still good! I had some peaches and other fruit in the camper that had ripened in the warmth as well, so I had them for dessert, and went to sleep in my campervan, after 3 nights staying in a hotel. Oh how good it was!!
Campsite: Camping Les Verguettes
Rating: 5. Site was clean and tidy but expensive. My campsite (one of only a few available) was next to an unattractive scrubby area but chosen because it was in the shade. Tight spots for anyone a little bigger than my little camper... It was hard enough for me to drive in!