27/09/09

Day 19 – September 27
After writing yesterday’s blog we were treated to the most wonderful sunset promising another lovely day today. The vines looked amazing this morning, their dead straight lines drenched in bright sunshine, so we were not disappointed.
We took our leave of Ile d’Oleron, past the oyster and mussel beds that provide the majority of employment here, and decided to take a short cut by catching the ferry from Royan across to Pointe de Grave, cutting out driving through Bordeaux. This was quite expensive, but probably saved us a couple of hours driving and numerous kilometres, so on balance it was well worth it.
We are now in Gironde. This area has been reclaimed from marshland and now consists of hundreds of square kilometres of planted pine forests, resulting in a range of forest walks and a National Park. The roads have been cut through in virtually straight lines, allowing fast progress, only occasionally interrupted by sleepy villages enjoying a peaceful sunny Sunday. Flowers are still in profusion in even the smallest village, and this makes everywhere so much brighter and pretty. The houses in this area are also markedly different to the single storey farm type dwellings we have recently passed by, being far more upmarket and in large well kept gardens.
Tonight we have stopped on a campsite as this area appears to be devoid of aires and France Passion locations, the latter probably due to the lack of agriculture here.
We are close to the Dune du Pyla, which is a natural formation of windblown sand resulting in an enormous sand dune of 100 metres in height. We walked down it tonight, and it was like ski-ing a black run, with the sand slipping away from beneath our feet! Walking back up from the beach was somewhat less exciting….. The Atlantic here seems quite calm, which is hopefully a good sign for weather to come – maybe another day on the beach before we turn inland – but not down that dune!
On the way back to the site, which is situated in a pine forest, we spotted a red squirrel high up in the trees – another first for me, to add to the La Tranche otters!
Another fabulous sunset tonight, so fingers crossed for another good day tomorrow!

26/09/09

Day 18 – September 26
Not the first away from the aire this morning and despite the forecast for cloud we have enjoyed brilliant sunshine again today. We left La Tranche by the road we thought led to the campsite we stayed at 20 years ago, only to find that we were on a new bypass. We eventually found our way back to the original road and can report that the campsite is still exactly where we left it!
Our next stop was La Rochelle. This is a lovely port and one of my favourite places, as it seems to me to be the gateway to southern France. Full of cafes, bars, restaurants and very upmarket shops – even a Galleries Lafayette – it has a very cosmopolitan atmosphere in a historic setting dating back to the 11th century. Peter and I laughed together as we walked along the quayside at a photograph we have of Sophie as a chubby two-year old with a mass of blonde curls, clambering on a bench there all those years ago – sorry Soph!
We found the market and spent quite a while browsing round admiring food – one of our favourite pastimes! There were many fish stalls selling oysters, mussels, langoustines and every other seafood imaginable cheek by jowl with fantastic meat and charcuterie stands and vegetable stalls with magnificent colourful displays of their produce in huge baskets as centrepieces. Everything looks so fresh and appetising!
Leaving here we tried two camping accessory shops to try to get an LPG filler adapter, but they couldn’t help nor make any suggestion who could. Fingers are well and truly crossed that the gas will hold out, and needless to say our gas usage is now very frugal!
Our original plan tonight was to stay at an aire at Boyardville on Ile d’Oleron which overlooks Fort Boyard, the venue for the TV challenge show, but when we arrived we found that the aire has been closed – great!
So we have ended up using our France Passion membership for the first time tonight. This allows us to stay at a variety of participating rural locations, usually farms or vineyards, and so we find ourselves fortunate enough to still be able to sit outside in very warm evening sunshine with our G&Ts, this late in September, in a huge vineyard. What bliss!

25/09/09

Day 17 – September 25
Sorry, a bit of a slow news day today!
The bikes came out again this morning – deep joy – and we headed off for another beach day. Whilst the sun has been out it has been very hot, but there has been considerably more cloud around, maybe a sign of things to come? Additionally there has been quite a brisk breeze, so overall quite a bit cooler.
We decided to treat ourselves to lunch out today. We have had to limit ourselves quite strictly in this respect. When we are on holiday usually it is a case of “where” rather than “if”, but we can’t allow ourselves to get carried away in the holiday spirit or we would be swiftly out of budget and heading home early!
We had lunch at a beachfront restaurant we had spotted yesterday, having the set lunch menu which was nonetheless beautifully presented – the omni-present moules, this time slightly curried, followed by a very thick steak of cod which was absolutely delicious. The dessert was an ice cream/meringue/whipped cream concoction – needless to say I donated mine to Peter! The wine was more expensive than the menu, but so what??!
We have packed the bikes – hurray! – ready to move off quite early tomorrow and the aire we are currently using is filling up for the weekend, so no doubt our space will soon be filled tomorrow.
We’ve checked up on the otters and all three were out enjoying the last rays of the sun before it moved off the riverbank tonight. I had a horrible feeling that they might be rats after all this, but Peter assures me they aren’t – must look it up when I get back, not sure if he’s just humouring me….
We intend to spend some time in La Rochelle tomorrow on the way to Ile d’Oleron and from there continue down the west coast. It looks as if we are following Peter’s “European coastline anti-clockwise” idea even though we did not plan to stick to it religiously, but once we reach Biarritz we will head inland and north, making our way up to the Loire to explore a few chateaux and meet up with Lynn and Irvin.

24/09/09

Day 16 – September 24
The day dawned bright and sunny again, and as this weather is only forecast to last until the weekend and our sunburn has subsided, we packed our towels and sun cream and headed for the beach, to be beach bums for the day. Unfortunately this involved re-kindling my love-hate affair with my bicycle, which you may or may not know is my most hated form of transport. I could never ride a bike well as a child, and nothing has happened to alter that unhappy state of affairs in the intervening forty-odd years. Needless to say, Peter finds this absolutely hilarious and his sadistic streak comes to the fore as he pedals off into the distance, leaving me trailing in his wake pedalling like fury and complaining about what the saddle is doing to my posterior! To add insult to injury, he made me do it again this evening because he fancied a beer in a bar!
The season is still going in La Tranche and the shops and bars are still open, unlike many of the places we have visited en route to here. It was lovely to wander round the town remembering places from twenty years ago – this is where I first learned how big a tuna fish is from seeing one on a cutting slab in the poissonerie, next to a huge saw!
The aire is very busy tonight. Our immediate neighbour is a man on his own who has a cage of canaries for company which have been outside today, enjoying the sun! But the clientele is mainly French motorhomes whose occupants appear to be much older than we are which makes us realise, not for the first time, just how lucky we are to be able to do this at this time in our lives, while we are fit and able – and can still ride a bike!

23/09/09

Day 15 – September 23
Lesson learned – the sun can be very deceptive, even at this time of year, and we both caught it yesterday, my face being the proverbial Belisha beacon today – sorry Jean, so ageing!
This being the case we have decided to use this as a travelling day to move south, much as it grieves us not to be enjoying the sun. This countryside, the Marais, is not very inspiring, being very flat much like our Fens and the only break in the landscape being grazing cattle which are mainly Charolais, the odd horse, and many single storey farm buildings. I read a novel some time ago by Joanne Harris, called “Coastliners”, about this area and her descriptions are very accurate and totally in keeping with our experiences of today.
We have ended up, courtesy of our ever demanding sat nav, at La Tranche sur Mer. This town has many happy memories for us as we brought the children here on holiday nearly 20 years ago, and consequently met our very dear friends Chris and Gary and their three children here. It has also invoked less happy memories, but this is not the place for those.
We tried to get on an aire near the lighthouse which is supposedly for a 48 hour maximum stay but it was completely full, and some of the motorhomes there looked well established and entrenched, beyond 48 hours for sure. We have ended up on another aire closer to the town and we walked from here along the banks of a stream and watched three otters at play – never seen that at home! At least I think they were otters – they may have been large rats….
On a more concerning note, we decided to top up the LPG tank today whilst we could find it, as supplies are reportedly intermittent in France. It turns out that despite assurances that we had the correct fitting, we have not – our mission now is to find one that is, or live on salad and take cold showers for the next 3 weeks, because we rely on gas for cooking and hot water! I exaggerate, it isn’t essential yet, but the gauge in our tank doesn’t work so we don’t know how much we have left – time will tell, we’ll just see how it goes.
Also of note, Peter has splashed out on some new espadrilles….

22/09/09

Day 14 – September 22
We woke this morning to brilliant sunshine – hurray! – so the decision was made for us to stay at least another night at La Baule.
We walked to the beach from the site, which took us about half an hour, but we have to do some exercise to try to burn off the daily pain chocolat and delicious French bread!
There was hardly anyone around when we arrived at the beach but as it curves around a huge bay there could have been hundreds further along for all we knew! We braved it out and were eventually joined by a few other sun-worshippers and we couldn’t help thinking how different this must have been a few weeks ago when the French were on holiday and probably jostling for space in exactly the same spot. We watched a group of schoolchildren being taken out for sailing lessons in catamarans and as far as we could tell there was only one instructor to twenty eight – can you imagine the Health & Safety reaction to that in the UK?? But what a fantastic activity to be included in your curriculum.
We haven’t had any problems with the language over here so far, the accent has been easy to understand and they seem to be able to understand us when we have spoken to anyone – which hasn’t been that often! We have to confess to not being very sociable beyond the obligatory “Bonjour” – most of the motorhomers we have neighboured with have been French or German and occasionally Dutch, with very few English, probably due to the abominable current exchange rate. France is no longer a cheap holiday option.
We have been away two weeks tomorrow. It seems like a lot longer, and I guess from here on in it is no longer a fortnight’s holiday and more the lifestyle change we have been so looking forward to. There are obviously things we miss about home, not least our very understanding children, but so far we have absolutely no regrets – and we are still speaking!

21/09/09

Day 13 – September 21
Peter will be glad to see the back of Brittany! The direction signs translated into Breton are enough of a problem on their own, but the Bretons also seem to be on a mission to see how many towns they can name with the prefix “Plou…” – there are hundreds, and it’s very confusing when you are trying to identify where you are from a map!
The weather this morning had changed back again and the cloud was so thick and low it seemed like fog. Being so close to the sea we thought it could be a sea fret, but by 10.00am it was showing no signs of lifting so we decided to move on. We were initially going to stay on a site at Carnac just a few kilometres along the coast, but it was still grey when we reached there so we pressed on.
We stopped off in Carnac to buy our now essential pain chocolat and croissants for breakfast and stopped by a beach to eat them with hot strong coffee – lovely!
As we were in the vicinity of Locmariaquer we made a slight detour to visit the megaliths here which date to 5000BC, mainly because we thought we should! The structures are truly impressive, a range of burial mounds and standing stones and like our own Stonehenge the mystery lies in how and why?
Whilst we were there we met an English couple who we had encountered earlier at our breakfast stop. They also have a Hymer, which is always a conversation starter! It turned out that they have been over here for six months running a Keycamp site in northern Brittany and having just finished are now treating themselves to a holiday before returning to the UK. It was very interesting talking to them and certainly gave us food for thought for the future.
Our onward journey took us through St Trinite sur Mer, a very fashionable resort with the sailing fraternity, with so many yachts in the marina Peter likened their masts to a forest!
Having finally decided to head further south we find ourselves on a site at La Baule. This afternoon has been hot and sunny, so if this continues we may stay another night and enjoy a day on the beach tomorrow. Whatever we decide, being on a site gives you chance to do a few chores, get the washing done (madly exciting!) and generally sit out and relax a little more than is possible on an aire.
We particularly enjoyed Brittany for its fantastic rugged coastline, as you will have gathered from our previous posts, but we need more sun!
I realise that a lot of our posts must sound very similar now – I hope you aren’t bored by them – apologies if you are!

20/09/09

Day 12 – September 20
We were woken in the night by an alarm going off on a neighbouring motorhome but it was cancelled so quickly that Peter decided that wasn’t a problem, and our only problem after that was a wayward mosquito buzzing around.
When we woke properly it was to a blue sky and brilliant sunshine for the first time on the trip. It made such a difference. Much as we look on this as a change of lifestyle, at present it is still a prolonged holiday, and I think it will take a while to get away from this frame of mind. Typically the day the sun shines is a day we had planned to travel a distance!
Our itinerary was to travel to Carnac calling off at a few places en route (note how I am slipping into the lingo??) First off was Concarneau to visit the Ville Close which is an island located citadel set away from the town accessed by a narrow bridge. It’s a bit of a tourist trap with all the usual souvenir shops, restaurants and bars and in summer it must be packed, but today we had it virtually to ourselves. There are flowers everywhere and it looked lovely.
From here we went on to Pont Aven, inspiration of Paul Gaugin the Impressionist painter. Sounds very highbrow, and I hope you are impressed, but it is actually just a pretty port town with a lot of flowers, a nice bridge and an old mill – sorry to be such a Philistine!
Next on our agenda was Quiberon, but we didn’t quite make it …. there was very heavy traffic, the first we had encountered, and we were distracted by an aire immediately overlooking the Atlantic. This stretch of the coast is known as the Cote Sauvage – do I need to say more?
We ended today sitting in fabulous sunshine with wine/beer of course, next to our Dutch neighbours doing exactly the same, and before dinner we took a walk, or rather a scramble, over the rocky headland with the sea crashing in below – today’s photo says it all.
C’est la vie!

PS Total distance to date: 2007 kms.

19/09/09

Day 11 – September 19
Sadly the good weather didn’t continue and we had a late start this morning in heavy cloud. We went to Pointe de Penhir quite close to Camaret, for even more dramatic coastline. The waves really crash in here amongst rugged cliffs and rocks. On the way we passed the Museum of the Battle of the Atlantic, in memory of the merchant ships involved. The museum is marked by a series of huge black anchors each with a plaque bearing a poignant passage from French literature, and the site comprises a series of German concrete bunkers and partially entrenched buildings covering quite a large area. Of slightly greater age, we also passed the Alignments de Lagatjar, a huge area of upright prehistoric stones which have been rather unsympathetically surrounded by modern housing.
Our next destination was Quimper, a pretty town with an imposing cathedral, complete with wedding, half timbered houses and a river running through with a series of parallel flower-bedecked bridges and masses of unidentified fish – possibly carp, but we have photos for the expert that is Irvin to verify!
Onwards from here to Douarnenez via McDonalds to post the blog and check the weather forecast! This port is mainly a maritime museum now, and we hit it on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the museum and witnessed boats in the process of construction, mackerel and haddock smoking and a series of interesting exhibitions for the occasion.
The final part of the day we headed for Pointe de Van on the peninsula just above the most westerly point of both France and Europe, this being Pointe de Raz. Much of the clifftop heathland here is fenced to protect and try to re-establish the flora of the area, and the colours of the heather and various intermittent wild flowers and shrubs are a striking contrast to the blue-green of the Atlantic and its white capped waves. We walked all around the cliffs and came across a tiny church overlooking the sea and two lighthouses in the bay. Several motorhomes seemed to have settled here for the night, so we have decided to join them. We enjoyed a spectacular sunset in what turned out to be a beautiful evening despite such heavy cloud all day - bliss!

We would like to add a few personal messages today, (in no particular order) as we seem to be having some difficulty with emails and other communication!

1. Sophie & Ross – good to have you “with” us. Love you both lots. Hope you are both okay and not messing the house up too much, and look after each other please!
2. Jean – thanks for your emails, and keeping in touch
3. Chris & Gary – thanks for keeping in touch and look forward to boring you with the photos!
4. Glynn & Susan – thanks for all your efforts and becoming followers! For your enlightenment an “aire” is a designated parking place provided by some municipals which provide water etc and allow motorhomes to park for a night or so. Hope the map is helping to keep you informed of where we are! Congrats on the novelty of an Oldham home win!
5. Alex – not much opportunity to buy football shirts so far, but we have 3 weeks left!
6. Nick – thanks for all your messages, lovely to hear from you.
7. Dave & Mark – where are you??
8. Lynn & Irvin – hope all is well, look forward to seeing you somewhere around the Loire!

18/09/09

Day 10 – September 18
We woke this morning to the sound of waves lapping the beach, just as we had gone to sleep the night before – so romantic!
We travelled on along the northern coast today, losing ourselves down tiny tracks to try to find secluded coves and bays. Our efforts were well rewarded, particularly at Dossen, just below Roscoff. We parked up and walked through an opening in the dunes to the most breathtaking view – and the whole beach to ourselves! It’s a pity that the weather wasn’t really good enough to stay there for a while. We tore ourselves away, following the coast road wherever possible, although I must say that this is no easy task in Brittany – all the road sign are duplicated in Breton which is very similar to Welsh, reflecting the Celtic connection, and in fact there are a number of words we have recognised from various trips to Wales!
We decided that due to a lack of aires in the particular area we were heading for we would spend the night on a campsite.
Courtesy of our ever-surprising sat nav which has sent us along some very narrow lanes today in it’s continuing quest to cover every square inch of France, we reached the site at Camaret Sur Mer on the Crozon peninsular and we are now comfortably ensconced in our own little grassy bay edged by neatly trimmed hedges! With electricity – what luxury!
For only the second time since we set off we have been able to sit out with a drink enjoying – dare I say it?? – sunshine!! The sky is quite blue so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

17/09/09

Day 9 - September 17
We set off this morning with no particular destination in mind, just to explore the beaches and coastline of Brittany. The only problem with being in the motorhome is the worry that the roads you follow may be too narrow. We have taken the coast road and seen some wonderful stretches of pure sandy beaches with rough seas and rolling waves crashing in, the weather still being unpredictable. We are seriously considering heading south sooner than we had planned now.
To cheer ourselves up we went for some retail therapy to Intermarche - - how sad is that? I treated myself to a new bread knife as the one I have been using is no match for a French stick! We also bought a kilo of mussels for lunch. I cooked them at an aire close by and then we felt much better. It always seems to do the trick!
We have now wandered along the northernmost tip of Brittany, dipping down into tiny villages and resorts along the way and found some real gems. Tregastel has a lovely beach and quite a few bars and restaurants, then moving on from there to Tregastel Plage and Trebeurden we found a totally deserted cove at Pors Mabo Plage and hey presto – the sun came out!
We have been very surprised to find a lot of restrictions regarding motorhomes parking or stopping, as we had read in the guide books that Brittany was one of the few, if not the only, place in France that allows wild camping. To be honest we haven’t needed to consider this anyway, as we have been very fortunate in getting in at the places we have earmarked, although tonight we came across an aire in Locquirec that takes only 5 (we got the last space – again!) on a parking area only feet from the pebble beach, and we will be lulled off to sleep with the sound of the sea again – magic!

16/09/09

Day 8 – September 16
First of all, happy birthday Ross! Don’t worry, 25 isn’t that bad when you’re our age!
We had our longest travelling day today – 168 kms – mainly due to the weather being poor. So much for the red sky last night boding well! From Mont St Michel we took the road along the coast as much as possible as this was Peter’s original idea, to follow the coastline of Europe anti-clockwise – just another of his little idiosyncrasies! The coast along here is well known for oysters and mussels and we passed through a number of towns where these are their speciality, but all too early in the day for us. I don’t think I could face an oyster at 11.00am!
Once past St Malo the coastline changes into wide sweeping sandy bays which must be fabulous in good weather. We are both really disappointed that we haven’t been able to take advantage of them due to howling winds and rain – not our idea of fun, however bracing.
Our aire for tonight is at Plouha, north of St Brieuc. We were really lucky again to get the last space. It is about 50 yards from a pebble beach and the sea has been coming in in huge rollers. We walked along the shore for a while to stretch our legs and take in some ozone and watched a lone, brave surfer trying his best to catch a wave – with very little success.
I never really thought I would need my down jacket and hat when I put them in the wardrobe at the last minute, but I was very glad of them today! However, mad as it might seem, we have both kept our pledge to wear shorts every day of this trip – so far!
As we settle down for the night the wind is still very strong and we can hear the waves breaking on the beach. The motorhome is rocking in the “breeze”. I love it when it’s like this, and we are so cosy – strange I know!

15/09/09

Day 7 – September 15
Water seems to be the current theme! We have spent the day at Mont St Michel and I don’t think I have ever seen so much rain in my life!
To start with the weather wasn’t too brilliant, we had a lot of rain overnight and the morning was overcast as we made our way to Mont St Michel. We have pretty much decided that if the weather gets nasty we will head south and seek some sun. Having said all that, we arrived in fairly bright weather and having decided to stay on the aire nearer to the town rather than the more basic amenities by the mount we set off to walk to Mont St Michel. Fortunately we took waterproofs and just as we arrived at the foot of the mount the rain began. We donned said waterproofs, then boy, did it rain! We made our way up the tiny, narrow street thronging with soaking wet French school children and groups of Japanese tourists (they get everywhere don’t they??) and up about 3000 steps (not much exaggeration, trust me!) to the abbey. By this time the rain was coming down in stair-rods. We went through the abbey and at each viewpoint/camera opportunity the mist got lower and lower and the rain got heavier – don’t expect wonders from the photos! The abbey is also an occupied monastery and we encountered two monks in sandals, at which point Peter decided he didn’t want to be a monk as he would always have wet feet – that’s a relief anyway!
The abbey has been on this site since the 8th century and the marvel of it all is how on earth they managed to build it. The architecture is fascinating, with a superb cloister in the centre. It is a lovely place, but surprisingly austere in comparison to other abbeys and cathedrals we have visited in the past.
By the time we left the rain was running down the aforesaid 3000 steps like a waterfall and all the tourist shops and bars on the way down were full of people sheltering from the rain. Good for trade I suppose!
We got back cold and wet but by the time we had changed and had lunch the sun was shining and we were sitting out in shorts and T-shirts – only in France!
The evening has been lovely so we have been back for another look at the mount in the evening sun and it looks stunning. There’s a very red sky tonight so fingers crossed for a good day tomorrow!
Happy birthday to Ross for tomorrow in case he reads this before I have done my daily report - have a great day, we’ll have a drink on your behalf!

14/09/09

Day 6 – September 14
Having left the aire at Honfleur bright and early we wasted any time we thought we would gain hanging round the car park at McDonalds trying to get a signal to post the blog! We eventually gave up and set off towards Caen and the Normandy beaches. This route took us through Deauville and Trouville, which you would recognise from the traditional post cards showing a boardwalk and sun parasols on the beach there. We passed the airport where playboys of earlier years used to fly into from England to gamble in the casinos, although the resorts themselves dated back to the 1860s and Napoleon III.
A day of history today with a run along the coast through many small villages that were heavily involved with the Normandy landings. Every village has a memorial giving thanks to the Allied troops who fought to free France, and it is very touching to see them all so well tended with wreaths laid and flags flying. We visited the beach at Arromanches where the remnants of the Mulberry harbour, which was manufactured in England then floated across to France, are still visible on the sands. There is an amazing circular cinema here that shows original footage of the landings and the troops making their way up the beaches – stirring stuff.
On a lighter note, our new sat nav system seems to have taken the decision to show us every inch of French countryside and is adamant that we will not follow the direct and obvious route to anywhere – which is fine in a car, but slightly more nerve-wracking in a motorhome! I have seen one or two verges very closely today!
We were planning to stay at a very small and picturesque aire close to the abbey at Cerisy la Foret tonight, but we needed water and once the machine had eaten our 2 euros and given us zilch in return, we had to move on to St Lo.
Today obviously isn’t our day where water is concerned. It seemed like a good plan to fill our collapsible bucket to clean the mirrors and windows, and I was absolutely certain it would stand up alone once filled – wrong!!! Then with all the upset and hilarity of leaping round dodging water gushing all over our feet we managed to lose the hose connection down the drain – lucky we had a spare!
Peter was not too pleased with me today……. can’t think why.

13/09/09

Day 5 – September 13
Journeyed to Honfleur today – a grand total of 53km! To get here we passed through Le Havre (as quickly as possible!) and crossed the Pont de Normandie, a huge humpbacked bridge, for want of a better description! It’s height and span are breathtaking as it crosses the mouth of the Seine, but even more worrying is how low the railings at the side are, considering pedestrians are allowed on it – a strong breeze and you’d be over!
Honfleur is one of our favourite places. It is VERY touristy but in a very nice way. The life of the place centres on the harbour with it’s quaint buildings all around and quayside restaurants, so lunch here was a must today. Mussels of course!
Having arrived early we (or rather I!) took the opportunity to do a spot of cleaning the motorhome – this took all of 10 minutes! Who said I would miss home??? I have also done some washing but am having problems coming to terms with my knickers hanging out of the window…..
We spoke to Sophie today to check all is well back home, and spoke to my sister Lynn who is currently in Switzerland in her motorhome – must be catch-up day. Thank you to all of you who are following our travels, those of you who have taken the trouble to register and comment, and again sorry for the delay in posting anything on our blog, but there are very few wi-fi opportunities here which has rather caught us by surprise. However half an hour in McDonalds car park this morning should have brought you all up to speed!
This will be sent on Monday on the way out of Honfleur – God bless the golden arches!
Managed to drag Peter away from his book – Chris and Gary will be very impressed by this – and into Honfleur to see it by night. We hit a wine bar and encountered Pauline, Jane, Ro, Janet and Penelope and thoroughly enjoyed their somewhat lively company for an hour or two – fantastic to speak in English for a change! They insisted on dragging their two friends Sally and Maureen from their beds to come and meet with Peter Kay from Bolton – what a let down it must have been to find two middle aged motorhomers instead!!
From here we are heading towards Mont St Michel – another place to tick off on our must-do list! Not sure when we’ll be able to post again after Monday, but hopefully you’ll be watching this space! It’s lovely to know you are all with us in spirit.

12/09/09

Day 4 – September 12
Our original intention was to head for Honfleur today but we had a late start following Peter’s educational pigeon conversation, and realised that we would probably arrive too late for a space as the aire there is very popular.
We called for fresh provisions (wine!) at the supermarket and then wandered along the coast visiting tiny resorts along the way. The coastline here is all chalk cliffs and shingle beaches giving rise to the name – Cote d’Albatre (Alabaster). We took the scenic route past the nuclear power station – never let it be said that we don’t see everything when we travel! – and admired the courage and agility of windsurfers each time we stopped along the coast. The sea is quite rough here and combined with the strong winds the conditions for sailing and windsurfing are obviously ideal.
Our destination today was the town of Etretat. Parking in the town was impossible and we ended up on an aire on the outskirts of the town but only about 15 minutes walk away.
Etretat is famous for its cliff formations painted by Monet, and they are lovely, contrasting with the turquoise shades of the sea. The town is very lively with lots of very old buildings, and the busiest we have come across so far.
We climbed the coastal path along the clifftops to admire the spectacular views across the bay and take hundreds of photographs!

11/09/09

Day 3 – September 11
Left Quend at 9.00am (mainly to avoid the possibility of being charged to stay overnight!) and headed towards Dieppe following the coast, planning to stop for our now habitual pain chocolat and croissants somewhere picturesque. We didn’t achieve this until we reached St Valery sur Somme, a charming little town in the Somme basin. From here we called at Criel mainly because of the town sign showing fantastic white cliffs! We were not disappointed – the cliffs in this tiny resort rival those of Dover, but the erosion along this coastline is incredible and you have to wonder how much longer these plage resorts have left before they disappear completely into the sea.
On leaving Criel we came across a WW1 military cemetery at Mount Huon, virtually in the middle of nowhere. We parked up to pay our respects and were amazed to see how beautifully kept the cemetery was, with around 2500 war graves of British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian soldiers – there were even some Germans in there too. It was sobering to see how many had travelled from the opposite side of the world to fight for a country they never knew, let alone the numbers of British soldiers lost in this area alone.
Our final destination today is St Valery en Caux, a much admired aire in the motorhoming fraternity! It is right on the quayside and we were lucky to sneak into the last space at about 2pm. The town is centred on a marina which was packed with boats and we whittled away an hour or so on the terrace of a bar enjoying the views. I remember visiting St Valery on a previous visit to France and having a lovely mussels lunch here, and it has always bugged me that I didn’t know the name of it, so the mystery has now been solved – until I forget again!
We picnicked on fresh bread and cheese and red wine and enjoyed the rest of the sunshine – bliss!
In the evening we wandered into a bar with only four people in it, one of which being a rather inebriated French lady who rather fancied herself as Edith Piaf, and the evening ended with Peter learning all about racing pigeons from a Frenchman who spoke no English at all and the only place in England he knew was Billingham – because one of his pigeons once ended up there!! I could say that the whole conversation was in pigeon-English but that would be too corny…..

10/09/09

Day 2 – September 10
Headed along the Cote d’Opale from Calais and were delighted to enjoy brilliant sunshine after the “barbecue summer” in England! The sea is amazingly clear and the stretches of sandy beaches along this coastline are lovely. We stopped off at an area of natural beauty at Dunes de la Slack and picked fresh mussels from the beach and cooked them in white wine, butter and garlic with a glass of wine each – who said no such thing as a free lunch?? Peter was a bit hesitant, but we are still breathing!
Staying tonight at Quend-Plage-Les-Pins on an aire overlooking the beach for free, paying 2 euros for 5 minutes worth of water if you need it – great so long as the end doesn’t come off your hose….! Every is very quiet and pretty much closed for the season, but it is amazing how many fellow motorhomers there are here! We watched the sun go down over the sea with another bottle of red…..

09/09/09

Sorry about the delay in posting to the blog, but wi-fi access has been difficult to find. Thanks for all the comments and encouragement to date, hope you enjoy reading about our progress so far!

Day 1 – September 9
Well, we finally did it! We left home at 09.09hrs on 09/09/09 as planned, witnessed and photographed by Ross just to prove it. We had a good journey to Dover avoiding all the rush hour traffic as we hoped, and arrived in good time for the ferry. There were lots of motorhomes of all shapes, sizes and nationalities accompanying us so we will not be lonely on our travels! We had planned to spend our first night at a campsite but the aire at Calais Plage, visible from the ship, was quite empty and so we decided to stay there instead. At 7 euros for the night it seemed like a good start! We managed to get the England v Croatia game on our TV so settled down with a bottle of red and enjoyed our first night of la vie en France!

Only a week to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

September is here and we are only a week away from realising our long harboured dream to travel abroad in our much loved Hymer B584 motorhome. We have decided to start with a five week sojourn to France, as we know it quite well and are comfortable there. Crossing from Dover late afternoon, our first stop will be just outside Calais and from there we will go wherever the mood - or more importantly the weather - takes us. That's the joy of motorhoming!

Preparations are well under way and Peter is still researching sites and aires on the internet - the computer will probably have to be surgically removed from him before we leave!

The Hymer will be lovingly cleaned, polished and serviced before being packed to the gills (within the legal weight limit of course!) before we set off at 09.09hrs on 09/09/09 - this must be symbolic but only Peter knows why! Maybe the fact that the schools will have just returned for the autumn term is of some significance, after his 34 years at the chalk/whiteboard face!

We have to thank Lynn and Irvin for their enthusiasm, encouragement and support along with all our family and friends, and also the wealth of information and advice from subscribers to Motorhome Facts, which has been invaluable.

We hope you enjoy reading about our travels and hopefully adventures. Please feel free to comment if you so wish - it will be great to hear from you!