12/10/09

Day 34 – October 12
Our last full day in France, and the end of our journey. This will be our last posting on the blog. We have said our farewells to Lynn and Irvin and are now headed for Calais for our last night back on the same aire we started out from all those weeks ago.
We hope you have enjoyed the blog, and reading about our travels. It’s been great having you along, and we would like to thank all of you for your support and comments, it’s been lovely to think that you have been following our progress. See you all soon!

11/10/09

Day 33 – October 11
After a summit meeting last night we decided on a return visit to St Valery en Caux for our last night before Calais, and before Lynn and Irvin carry on to Zeebrugge via Bruges for their return to Hull.
On the way to St Valery today we drove through some lovely little villages. In this area of Normandy there are an enormous number of timber and brick buildings, many thatched, that the French go to great pains to preserve and restore. The fields are also dotted with barns of the same construction which have not been renovated but must have been standing for literally hundreds of years.
The weather has probably been the worst we have had today, except for our soaking at Mont St Michel. That seems a long time ago now. Those days that have started off cloudy or misty have usually cleared quite quickly, and I can honestly say that we have not been bothered by rain at all. Any that we have had has not affected us. Which isn’t bad for this time of year! Autumn is however well and truly under way up here in northern France, and the trees are turning all shades of gold and red and the leaves are falling, as they no doubt are in England.
Being back on the coast today is lovely, despite the weather. We treated ourselves to lunch out at a seafood restaurant and had – yep! – mussels! They were really good, especially washed down with a very acceptable bottle of Muscadet!
We have spent the rest of the afternoon cosily ensconced in the motorhome watching the waves crashing in and chilling generally. Lynn and Irvin were slightly more energetic and went for a walk in the wind and rain and declared it lovely, but we weren’t convinced!

10/10/09

Day 32 – October 10
Today was designated a “big drive” day so we could get in another couple of days on the Normandy coast for a last ozone fix before we sail back to England on Tuesday. It was a horrible morning when we set off, very wet, and Irvin consequently did not honour his promise from the previous night to go for pain chocolat for us all this morning, blaming the weather and a hangover – just to reinforce what a bad influence we are! The rain very soon cleared though and by the time we reached our destination of La Mailleraye sur Seine we were ready to sit out with a glass of wine while Peter and Irvin had another shot at fishing for our dinner – but still nothing!
The aire is in a superb location right on the banks of the Seine although you would never think it is the same river that runs through Paris. We thought the guy next to us was joking when he told us container ships went past – then they did! They were absolutely huge, and the wash from them very nearly washed us off the riverbank!
Unfortunately our visit coincided with a camping club meeting and the French had cordoned off the whole riverbank area for their own use, whilst we were confined to the area behind. This is simply not the done thing, the whole idea of aires is that they are on a first come first served basis and it is not possible to book or reserve space. We gave them a few dirty looks, but they didn’t seem to notice!

09/10/09

Day 31 – October 9
Remember my scaffolding dilemma? Well, it happened again today – another to cross off the list is the chateau at Chambord! It seems that once the main tourist season is over the scaffolders are really put under the cosh and have to supply scaffolding to every major chateau and public building in the country! Seriously, this seems to be the time when all the renovation work is scheduled for.
Chambord is a very strange place. From a distance the chateau is truly fantastic – the rooftops in particular are very ornate. It is absolutely huge and was built in stages over a number of centuries, being left unoccupied for long periods in between, and this has resulted in a very disjointed end product. The best features are the aforesaid rooftops and a central double spiral staircase inspired, if not designed, by da Vinci. The chateau has no formal gardens like the others we have seen, but stands in a huge wooded park, the walls of the estate covering a staggering 34 kilometres, and this was all hunting grounds in days gone by. Didn’t see anything interesting though!
We have both been a bit tetchy today. We have had such a great time and don’t want this experience to end, but we know it has to. There are obviously things and people we miss very much, but we both feel we could just turn around and do it all again, right now! Which is how it should be.

08/10/09

Day 30 – October 8
So much for the red sky promise – thick fog greeted us this morning! We had expected to have the opportunity to buy wine or whatever is produced at France Passion sites, but the norm seems to be that they show you where you can park then disappear. So much for returning the favour! We set off for Blois to meet up with Lynn and Irvin, stopping off at various villages on the way on an unsuccessful water hunt, so we are economising on water as well as gas now! There are noticeably fewer services in this area for some unknown reason, seeing as it is such a tourist area.
Lynn and Irvin arrived about 1pm having found the aire much more easily than we did –we had some difficulty and more than a few choice words trying to wend our way through a car park full of very randomly parked cars to reach it! Their sat nav obviously isn’t as self opinionated as ours!
We ambled around Blois this afternoon, which is quite a large, busy town and a bit of a shock to the system after meandering through sleepy villages for the last few days.
Peter and Irvin tried their hand at catching fish for the barbie from the Loire, but to no avail. The fish obviously don’t take to day old baguette! This being the case we treated ourselves to dinner out tonight, a rarity on this trip, and sadly only resulting in a rather mediocre pizza and some very chilled red wine.
It’s lovely to meet up with them over here though, and to exchange stories about their trip and ours, being so different as they have followed the east/mountains and lakes route and we have followed the coast. And of course to compare notes about Hymers (and the French!) in general.

07/10/09

Day 29 – October 7
Well, it’s happened to me again – I went to London specifically to see St Paul’s and it was covered in scaffolding, Rome to see the Four Rivers fountain in the Piazza Navona and it was empty and boarded round, the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, same story – and yep, you guessed it! The showpiece chateau of Chenonceau which is prized and photographed above all others – hidden under scaffolding! A word of warning – if you are travelling to see anything especially do check first to see that I’m not going at the same time!
That said, it has been a very enjoyable day. We followed the less obvious route to the chateau via the maze and naturalised woodland, again with miniature cyclamens of all shades flowering under the trees, to achieve a magnificent view of the chateau, with its arches over the River Cher on which it stands. The weather was lovely today, sunny and hot, and wandering through the beautifully laid out gardens was a real pleasure.
The house itself is furnished and has many original features which are well documented so finding your way round and learning the history of it is easy. A really nice touch is that each of the principal rooms has a huge display of flowers or plants grown in the chateau gardens, and the scent of the flowers fills the rooms.
Another night of France Passion for us tonight, again at a vineyard – though not quite as idyllic as it sounds! We meet Lynn and Irvin at Blois tomorrow and are really looking forward to seeing them, but it means we now have only a few days left before reaching Calais.
I write this in the throes of a huge thunderstorm and torrential rain after a beautiful day – but the sky is bright in the distance so hopefully it will clear very soon….

06/10/09

Day 28 – October 6
First and foremost, a very Happy 50th Birthday to my little brother Nick. Hope you had a fantastic day, although no doubt you were working, but all our love and best wishes anyway!
Peter was a star this morning and got up early and walked into the village to get bread and croissants. You may recall that he did this frequently at first, but the novelty soon wore off! In all fairness we haven’t always been in the right place for him to be able to walk, so I am being a little unfair!
We walked from the aire to the chateau at Azay le Rideau. This is one of the prettiest fairytale type chateaux in that it is all round towers and turrets, and is set on the river which was diverted around it so that it appears to be set in a moat.
We went from Azay to Villandry, but took the garden-only tour here as this was what we (or rather I) really wanted to see. Each section of the garden has been restored to the true Renaissance period style and is intricately laid out and planted on colour themes, water gardens and kitchen and herb gardens. It is best viewed from the second floor terrace where you can truly appreciate the planting and the immaculately trimmed box hedging and topiary trees. It is absolutely lovely now, so must be amazing when all the summer colours are in full bloom.
Surprisingly for the number of visitors this area attracts there seem to be relatively few aires, so we are enjoying our second night of France Passion tonight – no further explanation! (Clue – Sept 26th)
The gas is holding out so far and we have only a week to go so it looks like we’ll probably make it. We are meeting up with Lynn and Irvin on Thursday, so may have to sponge meals or showers off them if it runs out – or go without!
I can hardly believe we are nearly at the end of what seemed like such a long trip.