Saturday 8th October 2022 Ile de Re to Savenay 125 miles
The mornings are starting to have a bit of a chill about them now. Saying that it’s still bright, the sun’s out and we have a clear blue sky. We enjoyed it here on the Ile de Re, it’s a very nice, if expensive, place but we will be back someday.
Today we are continuing our journey north to a free place on the river Loire where there is an old lock and a small museum of old steam engines. As usual, we set off late and we find ourselves on another French motorway with a toll.
After paying a 12 euro toll we arrive at our destination. France is a big country and when you look at a map it’s surprising how very little progress we have made. Two and something hours later we arrive at a lake with some campers already here, but we decide that it’s not really for us so we set off to a campsite in Savenay. Or do we? Hmm not sure. We leave and come back again. Then leave. No, it’s not for us. We have been driving for over three hours so we have had enough.
Hayley introduces herself at the campsite where a very friendly lady tells her where we can pitch up and make ourselves comfortable.
It’s a lovely day, it’s still a bit warm in the late afternoon sun, so we take advantage of it and get the chairs out and sit in the sun with a glass of very nice red wine.
Dinner tonight will be all French. Steak with dauphinoise potatoes, pepper sauce, and a salad, helped along with the remainder of a lovely Bordeaux.
It really doesn’t get much better than this. Hayley then reads a couple of stories from a French magazine called Nous Deux. It has photo-strip stories that are a good way to improve her French as she reads Del the stories in English. They are always a bit spicy or scandalous, good fun which makes us laugh either because of the ropey translation or the storyline. It doesn’t matter which, it’s better than TV.
The campsite is very quiet and peaceful, perfect for a good night’s sleep. We hope.
Tomorrow we may stay another night or, better still, make our way up to the coast of Brittany.
Sunday 9th October 2022 Saveney to Sables d’or les Pins 130 miles
We woke up a bit tired today. We were pestered by mosquitoes all of last night and we both got bitten. It was a restless night.
It’s another chilly morning this morning. We have a longish drive today, we are going to the Baie du Mont St Michel. A couple of hundred miles away from the bay, as the crow flies are the Channel Islands. For the first time on this trip, we have breakfast and are packed and gone by 10 am. We want to be at our next destination early so that we can take advantage of the day and do some cycling.
No motorways today for a change. Instead, it’s a collection of different roads from excellent duel carriageways to dodgy narrow, pot-holed roads. We finally arrive in Les pins at a very nice campsite just out of town which is cheap, has everything we need, and has good cycling. Once we get settled in the bikes are off the back, helmets on and we are away. The weather has warmed up some and it’s a lovely day.
We manage a mere 5 miles, which is not bad really considering that we haven’t been able to do much because of Del’s dodgy foot. It’s miles better now, but there is still a little pain and it’s still swollen, so something is going on there.
Once we get back to Jess, we are pleased and feel quite invigorated after our cycle. It’s a beautiful day so we spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in the sun, Hayley does some reading while Del…..cleans!
Today we get some laundry done and a bit of van cleaning and Hayley does the toilet!
A smashing dinner tonight of homemade Quesadillas, filled with tuna, cheese, and red peppers with a salad.
Movie night tonight. The first on this trip. Tonight’s film was called “Nothing to Hide” A french film about a bunch of friends at dinner who throw their mobile phones into the center of the table and they have to listen to the messages and calls that come in. The consequences of which are devastating. An excellent highly recommended film on Netflix…
Monday 10th October 2022 Sables d’or les Pins to Roz Sur Couesnon 48 Miles
Well, the weather has finally broken today. It’s very grey and rain is forecast, heavy rain. We shall see. We are going to a nice campsite today that has a very good restaurant doing local food and drink, so we will give it a go. Mixed road conditions today, some very good, some, well, not so great. A good journey all the same despite the sudden bursts of rain.
We arrive at the site which is quite charming, and well laid out with all the facilities needed for a comfortable stay. We try the restaurant out with a crepe, very popular here in the Brittany area, and this one is very tasty, flambeed at the table with Grand Marnier. We also have a small bottle of local beer which is excellent.
Not much happening today. The rain is off and on so we stay in Jess. Del does some work for a job in April!! Hayley does some research and loose planning for our final week.
Dinner is booked for 7:00 pm and it is soon upon us, so it’s a quick shower, fresh clothes, and a small aperitif of Ricard before doing the 30-second walk to the restaurant. It’s very nice, we get the same table that we had for our afternoon crepe.
So, Hayley has sardine rillettes, served in a quirky sardine tin with some thin bread, followed by the local burger where instead of a burger bun it comes served in a crepe. There is a pattern here! Desert was the local Far Breton, which is an egg and custard cake with fruit in the bottom. Fabulous.
Del has 6 oysters with a delicious onion and vinegar sauce, followed by a very rare steak with a small local cheese board which is delicious.
A fine dinner in a fine restaurant, a little on the expensive side, but we ate and drank well.
Tuesday 11th October 2022 Roz Sur Couesnon to Mont St Michel 6 miles
Today we are going to the famous tidal island of Mont St Michel. This is the one that looks like a Disney castle plonked in the middle of the sea. Built-in the 10th century it is one of France’s most visited places, so we are looking forward to that.
We get fresh pastries delivered to the van today that arrive in the largest bag!
Guess they ran out of normal bags? The weather is better today with clear blue skies and sunshine. It is certainly getting colder, 14 degrees today mid-morning which is the coldest morning yet. After our typical French breakfast, which, as usual, is leisurely, we set off for Mont St. Michel via a supermarket for a bit of a stock-up.
The drive is lovely, twisting through the French countryside surrounded by green fields. In the distance, we spot an old windmill, really old and it’s working.
We turn off and take the narrowest of roads to it to arrive just in time for them to switch it off and lock up for lunch. Brilliant.
Back on the road again and soon we see Mont St. Michel. It is the strangest thing. It does look like a rather large model. We are heading for a camping aire which is 12 euros for 24 hours. There are acres and acres of parking space, half of which is now closed as it’s the end of the season. Motorhomes have their own car park. We choose a space among the other vans, lock up and take the free bus to the place we have come to see.
On the short bus journey, you can get a better view of the abbey which is quite spectacular.
The tide is out but when we say out we mean out! The tide here goes out for what looks like miles and being a spring tide it’s even further out. The tide has a rise and fall of over 12 meters today and apparently comes in so fast you would not be able to outwalk it, so it’s very dangerous.
Inside the walls of Mont St. Michel it’s busy and this is October, the car parks are almost empty so heaven knows how crowded this place gets in the peak of the summer.
We have a walk around and decide that it is better to see it from the outside rather than the inside.
We elect not to go into the abbey itself as it’s so busy and they want 11 euros each to go inside. Amen!
We find a place that does a set lunch menu, it’s very local and very tasty. Del tries the famous Mont St. Michel omelette which is the lightest omelette ever as the eggs are whisked into a fine mousse and then filled with crème fraiche. Very different, very nice.
We walk back to the van, which is quite a walk, but after the lunch, we have just had we need it. Back at Jess we sit in the afternoon soon and have a nap. Not done that in a while.
We want to see the tide coming in at the island so this time we use the bikes, it’s a lovely evening and we arrive just in time to see a sunset. Very nice.
It looks and feels very autumnal. We are watching for the change in the water as the tide is now coming in and sure enough, we can see what is called tidal bore a tide that is so fast that it creates a wave that people with kayaks and stand-up paddle boarders come to ride, and we are lucky to witness half a dozen people doing it. The tide is fast, it’s racing in as we watch the miles of sand quickly disappearing. It is considered one of nature’s wonderful phenomenons and we saw it. We would like to have stayed longer but it’s getting dark and cold just as quickly.
We cycle back and have a late dinner and an early night. A great day.
Wednesday 12th October 2022 Mont St Michel to Utah beach 89 Miles
It was a good night’s sleep last night. We’ve not slept very well for the past three nights so it was good to wake up feeling better. Today we are setting off for the Normandy coast, Utah Beach to be precise, one of the beaches that were part of the Normandy landings in 1944, a turning point in the war.
After breakfast we set off, we need diesel. Hayley has found out that there is a strike in France for oil refinery workers. It has been going on for a while now with no end in sight.
There are no queues as such at the petrol stations, yet, but what we did find today is that diesel is now 2 euros and 5 cents, which is more expensive than in the UK, in fact by the time you factor in the exchange rate, etc. it’s a couple of pence short of 2 quid a litre. Mad. We have no choice. We fill up and hope that we can get enough diesel to get us over the Belgian border next week as the strike here in France is slowly starting to bite with the government starting to prioritise emergency services.
The drive is excellent, it’s a lovely day. More bad news though. Today could be the last day of good weather. It’s set to rain tomorrow for 10 days. We shall see. We arrive at a Pass etapes site. A cheap and cheerful site where you can get fresh water, empty your tanks and hook up to electricity for under 12 euros, and it’s close to Utah Beach. We waste no time and lock up Jess and do the 1km walk to the Utah Beach Museum.
We have been to this area before on a trip a few years ago and visited Omaha Beach. There are 5 beaches that were involved in the D-Day landings, SWORD, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO, and UTAH.
Utah Beach is where the American troops landed and it has an excellent museum, for 8 euros you get into what we think, is one of the best museums on the subject. We spend a good two hours there. Lots to see and read and a cinema. Being out of season it isn’t crowded so it’s great to be there.
At just after 4 pm we decide to get back to Jess, so we go back via the beach itself. It is so hard to imagine what went on here on June 6th, 1944. Today the beaches are beautiful, long, and clean. The sea is calm and the sun is bright. Back then it was just a day of death and destruction, with so many young men losing their lives. It really is a time to reflect and remember what went on here. Today the beach is used by everyone, from people riding horses, walking dogs, or just enjoying a day out.
Back at the van, we sit outside with a nice cold beer. We can feel a change in the air. We can see the clouds slowly rolling in from the sea and the wind it picking up and getting stronger. Time to go inside. Maybe this rainy weather is going to be with us tonight.
Tomorrow we are going to a place we have been to before and really enjoyed, the town of Bayeux. We all know what that’s famous for now don’t we…?
Thursday 13th October 2022 Utah beach to Bayeux 36 miles
Well, it has finally happened. Heavy rain was forecast to arrive at 5 am and sure enough at 5:30 am we are woken by the rain hammering on the roof of the van. It’s loud. It eases for a while allowing us to get an extra couple of hours of sleep.
Once we get up and get the coffee on, we open the curtains to find a dark grey sky and light rain. Yuk! We have been lucky with the weather though, since we left we have had excellent weather so even though it’s miserable we don’t mind too much. We have breakfast, clean up and do a full van service before setting off to the city of Bayeux.
After a very nice short ride and we arrive at a fantastic campsite, with beautifully manicured grounds, and friendly staff who give us a space. Brilliant facilities here. Lovely.
We don’t hang about, so we lock up the van and take the short walk into Bayeux. A very pleasant and picturesque walk along the river brings us straight into the middle of town which is charming. The streets have a wonderful selection of shops and restaurants, great for just browsing.
We have been here before but we missed this part of the town so it’s great to come back here and discover more of this fantastic place. We make our way to the cathedral of Notre Dame which is just stunning, with lots of bright stained glass windows.
Most of the cathedral has undergone renovation over the past couple of years and it looks great.
We are now on the search for lunch, we finally settle on a place in a hotel called Le Garde Manger. A charming little restaurant where we get settled into a fine lunch. We only have two courses today. Hayley has a Chicken Supreme in a Norman sauce and dauphinoise potatoes. It’s just amazing. A fantastic rich sauce. Del goes for the Steak Tartar (raw) with fries and salad.
We both have the same dessert which is an Ile Flottante, which is a very fine whisked, light meringue that floats on a light base of cold custard, absolutely amazing. Really… This is all helped along with a carafe of Merlot.
The bill comes and we are surprised at how reasonable it is for such a fine, generous lunch in the middle of Bayeux. It would cost you more in a Harvester!
Full of the best lunch out we have had in a while, and we have had many, we make our way to see the Bayeux Tapestry. With no queue, we walk straight in to look at the tapestry. We have seen it before, a couple of years ago, but you can’t come here without seeing it. It was better than we remembered, brilliant. The audio guide is fantastic and looking at this 900-year-old bit of sewing is just amazing. Hayley points out that today is the eve of the battle of Hastings 956 years ago! Wow!
We take a gentle walk back to Jess and settle in for the evening, no dinner. What a great day today. Really enjoyed it.
Staying on the war theme, tomorrow we are going to The D-Day Experience. Should be good.
Friday 14th October 2022 Bayeux to Montrueil 194 miles
It’s a miserable damp day today. It has rained gently all night. Everything is wet and muddy. No matter, Del trots off to the reception to collect some breakfast pastries which go down well with the coffee. A week today we will be in the UK and heading home. Also today, 956 years ago, the battle of Hastings took place.
We finish breakfast, clean up and do a full van service. It’s really wet, grey, and miserable but when you are filling your van up with fresh water in Bayeux who cares about the weather?
Today we have half a tank of diesel and we have a long way to go so we best do a fill-up. Hayley has been keeping an eye on the French news. There has been an oil refinery workers strike here for weeks now with no end in sight. 6 out of 7 refineries are closed so fuel is starting to get short. We were aware of it but today we will get a taste of it and what’s to come!
We head for a petrol station but they have just closed. No fuel. Oh. We consult the map and head for another one. Closed. We pass 4 stations all closed or out of diesel. Oh, dear… After much discussion we decide that it might be best to forget hanging around in France too long and try and get as far north as we can, the north is where the problem is worse, great. We also figure that we might stand a better chance getting fuel on the toll roads as people are less likely to pay tolls to get fuel, so we change or plan within an hour and we are now heading for a motorway north in the hope we can get fuel if we can’t then we could end up stranded in France. We could think of worse places, but we do need to get home.
Sure enough, as our fuel gauge passes below halfway, we pull into a motorway service station that has fuel. Whew! We fill up, so much that we do end up slightly overfilling. Oops! No matter, we are full of diesel as we set off again. We get a good hour or two under our belts and soon the fuel gauge is reading just above half again. We get off the motorway and try and fill up again, no chance. No diesel, so it’s back on the motorway and we find a petrol station selling diesel only, but, at an eye-popping 2 euros and 33 cents or £2.03p a litre!!! The most that we have ever paid for fuel ever!!! It’s mad. We need the fuel so we have no option but to pay.
Hayley has worked out that we now have enough fuel to go up to Belgium near the border as planned and then enough to get us on the ferry and into the UK next Friday. We have effectively cut out a few days further south because of the fuel shortages here and the need to get the miles under our belts and then fill up before there’s no fuel left at all. It’s bad and getting worse. We are on course now for a small town called Montreuil, to a free overnight stop. Good. We have spent 30 euros on tolls and a staggering 97 euros on diesel! Tired and a bit fed up we arrive at the free stop and find that there are two places left, we bag one just in time. Parked up we have an ice-cold Ricard, we feel we need it.
Once rested and settle in, we decide to take a walk into the town.
It’s well worth it. It’s a lovely place, a charming typical French town, full of lovely shops and restaurants. Beautiful. We look for somewhere for dinner but decide to go back to Jess and have dinner and an early night there instead. On the way home, we find a fromagerie or cheese shop.
It’s an Aladdin’s cave of cheese served by three lovely smiley ladies. What a place. A friendly local talks about cheese and how there are over 2000 different cheeses in France. We buy 2…
Back at the van, it’s a smashing simple dinner with our tasty, smelly cheese and wine. Brilliant. Early night, bed by 9:30…
Hi you two . Lots of history in this blog , nice that you youngsters are into it . Food , as usual , looks great . Have a great day on Tuesday Hayley and enjoy the fun of the fair . Safe journey home . xx
Hiya John… It’s good stuff to see. We really like it. It’s a shame Terry didn’t come over to see it. He would have really liked it
Hi Derek & Hayley,
I love reading about your journeys, your photos are amazing, loving the hair Hayley on the windy day, I will pass all your news and photos to mum, hopefully I will speak to you both when your back from your holidays, keep us up to date about the next adventure, drive carefully & safe safe & look after each other lots of love to both 💖💖💖xxx
Hiya Melanie, great to hear from you. Bazzing hair eh? All good here, last week. Spending Hayleys birthday in Belgium at another fun fair. Great. Not. Hope all is well there with you and the gang!! Speak soon, lots of love, Del, H & Jess
Loving hearing about all of the different things you are doing on this trip. We were really interested to hear about/see Mount Saint-Michel. It features in a book in the ‘Jack West,’ adventure/thriller series by Matthew Reilly that we’ve both been reading. It’s in the penultimate book in the series, ‘The Two Lost Mountains.’ The heroes have to complete a deadly challenge called ‘the fall,’ inside Mount Saint-Michel.
Enjoy the rest of your trip. Glad you managed to get some diesel.
It was mega….! Watching the tide come in though was mad…
This brought back some lovely memories of visiting the 5 D-day beaches three years ago. We stayed overnight at a small campsite near Omaha beach, where 3 small dogs escaped from a nearby garden and surrounded us, growling and barking, as we walked along the lane! The owners didn’t come out to investigate the noise and we were lucky to get back to the camper in one piece. We’ll give that site a miss next time! Hope you manage to get enough diesel next week to keep you going until you get home.
Hello… Nice to hear from you. Right now we have a near full tank and we are not going far. Today we are in Wimereux not far from Boulogne, a very nice place. No dogs! Had enough of dogs in Spain! Home this time next week. Have you been out and about this year?