Week 2. 24th – 30th June 2023 – Poperinge, Belgium to Thones, France. 620 miles
Saturday 24th June 2023 – Poperinge, Belgium to Peronne, France. 91 miles
A cloudy but warm day today. It’s going to be hot, 31 degrees. We had a place in mind but given the heat, Hayley finds a better place that offers the potential of good shade. Today we are going to France and to a campsite called Camping Port de Plaisance in the town of Peronne, located on a canal that has good walking and cycling possibilities.
Breakfast is cleared up, the van has been serviced and we have said goodbye to the goats and we are off.
A very pleasant drive to Peronne, there are already a few campervans and caravans waiting to get in. Hayley sets off to the office and is soon back with a paper in her hand, (peace in our time), meaning that we have a space. It’s filling up at the site, very popular with British and Dutch travellers. We are in the Somme area which is always a popular place to visit. We like it.
We have been given an excellent spot, right in the corner of the site where we are shaded by trees on the door side of the van and the canal at the back. Excellent. We get set up and settled in quite quickly.
It’s hot today so we decide not to go out walking yet but wait until later when, hopefully, it’ll be a bit cooler. We stay with Jess, reading and wittering, a very nice afternoon which consists of a late lunch/early dinner of a wonderful paella and a cold glass of rose wine. It’s 37 degrees in the van, where Hayley has been cooking.
After we clear up we decide to take a good long walk along the canal, the Canal de la Somme. It is still a working canal and every now and then massive barges pass us, from short 40m boats to over 120m, double-length barges!
Our walk takes us to a lock just over a mile from the campsite. We are fascinated watching the barges slowly edge their way into the lock and watch as they rise (or fall) to the next level of the canal to continue their journey.
It’s a lovely temperature now, early evening as we set off back to the campsite. Not a massive walk, but we feel better for the couple of miles that we do.
It’s a warm night. We are in bed by 9:30pm but we have to have our little electric fan on. Whew!
Sunday 25th June 2023 – Peronne. Day 2
Today we are supposed to be heading for the champagne region but we like it here, so much so that we decide to stay another day. Champagne can wait. By 9:15 and after a bowl of porridge and some coffee, we are off on a good long bike ride along the canal.
We cycle to the first lock that we walked to yesterday just in time to see it in action again. We cycle on, and on and on to the next lock. This time there is a bridge going over the lock so we can watch the in greater detail. Simple idea but clever stuff. It’s like watching a 140m bath tub drain and fill up, and fast too. Now we have to cycle back, it’s 10:30 and getting hot, we don’t want to be in the full heat and no shade so we set off.
In total, we have cycled 15 and a half miles, but we feel good when we get back, and just in time too as the early afternoon sun is getting fierce.
We decide to spend some time looking through the paperwork for a place we are buying and find a massive error in it. We spend the next couple of hours trawling through the fine print and yes we do confirm that it is wrong and it looks like the sale could fall through. Despondent and after penning a couple of emails, we decide that there is nothing more that we can do, it being Sunday, and settle into a couple of cold beers and some French junk food.
The campsite has a visiting trailer, a hamburger and fries type of thing, so we order two Americains and settle in for the night. They are wonderful, extremely unhealthy but what the hell. We are fed up after all…
We have a couple of games of Pétanque on the court nearby to try and help our digestion then it’s off to bed.
We feel a little bit unsettled tonight after the afternoon’s developments.
Monday 26th June 2023 – Peronne to Mutigny. 98 miles
We have had a lovely stay here in Peronne, very nice. Today we are off to the Champagne region, a place we have visited before and always enjoyed. Hic!
Before we set off we go for a walk into the town of Peronne. On the way in on Saturday there was some kind of fair or event going on so we had to divert around the town to get to the site. It looked nice so we thought we would take a look. Like all French towns, it is charming. Clean and tidy with lots of independent shops, cafes and bars. Not any of your W.H. Smiths, Costas and Greggs here. Thank god!
We set off nice and early waiting for trouble from the UK as we are waiting for responses to our emails from yesterday. The drive is great but turns to wonderful as we enter the Champagne region. The scenery here is breathtaking.
Rolling hills of vineyards as far as the eye can see. It’s just amazing. Our drive is to a free overnight parking spot, high up with a spectacular view. We arrive worried that we might not get a space, we needn’t, of the 8 spaces only one was occupied so we have a good choice of places to choose from. We quickly get parked up and settled in. The view here is something else, it’s just amazing.
We set off for a walk into the small town on the hunt to find some champagne houses to taste and to buy some Champagne from. That’s why we are here. Sadly there are only three houses here and only one that appears to be open. We go in and ask for a tasting of champagne. We are offered a small glass of very tasty champagne. However, it is a little too expensive for our taste per bottle but on top of that, they charge us a staggering 8 euros per tiny glass for the tasting! Lesson learnt. Not all tasting is free of charge, most are, but this one was happy to take our money, we pay and leave, escaping just as the owner tries to upsell us a 30 euros vineyard tour.
Wiser and light on euros, we shuffle back to Jess. No matter, we have a chilled bottle of champagne that we brought with us from the UK, coals to Newcastle.
We have a glass and stand by the vineyards to appreciate the view. Smashing.
Suddenly we get an email from the UK with the correct information regarding our property purchase and with some relief all round we celebrate with another glass of fizz!!
Dinner is a pot of moules and frites (mussels and chips) on board Jess, helped down with the rest of the fizz. Yes, it’s all gone now, just in time for us to play an EXIT escape game and watch the first episode of the new series of Black Mirror.
It’s starting to fill up here now with vans from many parts of Europe. Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and the UK. People are now starting to park in the car spaces.
All in all a good day, apart from the 16 euros. Won’t do that again.
Tuesday 27th June 2023 – Mutigny to Troyes. 85 miles
We are now used to this getting up early thing. 07:30 seems to be the norm these days. Del gets the coffee machine going for the first cup of the day, while that’s going down he makes breakfast just in time for the second cup.
It’s a nice warm morning today with a cool breeze. Nice. After breakfast and the clear away Hayley plots our route to Troyes, while Del potters about putting stuff away and preparing for the off.
We have a quick chat with our British neighbours from the Midlands, do a very quick van service and we are off. Hayley’s at the wheel today for what seems like a forever 2-hour drive. We are trying to avoid the toll motorways as they are very expensive, so we are using the ‘national roads’ which can vary in condition, lots of towns and villages to slow down for, and lots of roundabouts.
We make a quick divert and stop, to a champagne house that we have been to before.
Champagne Champion is a small champagne producer where you can stay overnight with a view of the vineyards, we did it on our first-ever European trip in Jess. We are only collecting today. A case of 6 bottles of their bog standard, excellent champagne and a single bottle of their rose. Nice. How long will it last?
Finally, we arrive at the town of Troyes and to the campsite. Well it’s not really a campsite any more. It was, but it has been converted into an ‘aire’, France are big on these things. Basically it’s just a place to park overnight. Some have facilities and charge a small fee, some are quite fancy. This is the latter, it’s very nice. Big spaces with water, and electricity for an extra fee. With everything included it’s 18 euros. Not bad. There are no showers or toilets, we are ok as Jess has all of that onboard.
Once we settle into our space we set off for a short 8 minute walk to a Bib Gourmand restaurant called “Bistro DuPont“. We plan on eating at a Bib Gourmand restaurants at least once a week while we are out, and this will be our first one on the trip. We book a place, or rather Hayley, with her best French, does then it’s back to the van and on the bikes into the town of Troyes itself, which we are told is a place to see. Indeed it is. Once we navigate our way around the roadworks and the diversions, we arrive in the town and lock the bikes outside the cathedral.
We like to go into cathedrals, they are all much of a muchness but they are quite fascinating. This one is amazing. How they build them and keep them up is impressive.
After half an hour we continue our walk around the town. It’s very nice with its old, wooden, multicoloured buildings all close quartered to each other.
All are very well maintained and occupied as houses or shops. A surveyor’s nightmare. We have a good walk around the town before heading back to the bikes and back to Jess.
We have to move pitch though. Next to us, fenced off, is a collection of allotments, and right next to us is what sounds like a water pump. What a racket, constantly on. Hayley can’t bear it any longer so we up sticks and find another pitch. Ah. Peace at last. We sit in the sun, Hayley researching our next restaurant stops, Del doing a little bit of work. But only a little.
7:30pm and time for dinner. In the spirit of ‘eat like a local’ Hayley is being ambitious with a pig’s feet and salad starter, followed by Coq au vin. Del starts with scrambled eggs with snails followed by an excellent fillet of beef, very rare in a Cognac sauce.
Hayley doesn’t do too well with the pig’s feet and halfway we swap our starters. She is relieved to be eating snails instead of the horror that is pig’s feet. A lot of food is eaten especially after the sponge cake soaked in Grand Marnier, cream and a very tasty orange sorbet. Blimey!
We like to be in bed by 10pm these days so we walk back to Jess, slowly, and make it in time. A long but interesting day. Hayley has a nightmare tonight brought on by the pig’s feet!
Wednesday 28th June 2023 – Troyes to Auberive. 86 miles
A cool but bright morning. We are not in the mood for breakfast this morning, hardly surprising after last night. A good dinner but not quite as we thought it would be. Del decides on one of his 24-hour fasts today, so it’s just coffee and water. Today we are doing a 2-hour drive to a national park. Troyes we like very much, but it’s time to move on.
To avoid the expensive motorways, and they are expensive, we take the national roads, so it takes a little longer and is quite tiring. Today we are going into a national park and to a small village that has, what looks on paper, a fantastic small campsite.
After 2 and a half hours of hard, twisting, hilly slog, we finally arrive at Camping de Mon Village d’ Auberive. It is wonderful. Situated on a slight hill above the town overlooking the forest we settle on a pitch and get settled in.
It’s warm and sunny and a great way to spend a Wednesday afternoon. We are now southeast of Paris, a day or two from the French Alps. We have a lovely spot here, very, very nice.
Jess is due some new tyres, we inspected them before we left but on closer inspection, Hayley has decided that maybe we do need to change them sooner rather than later. So while Del cleans out the van, and sorts out the location and workings of the laundry, Hayley is on the internet looking for a place where we can get them changed.
Don’t talk to us about gender equality and diversity, we are been years ahead of everyone else, and without all the noise. The laundry is on, Hayley sorts out a few work issues, dates moving and so on, Del cleans the inside of Jess, and washes the floors.
Our plan of going for a walk into town we have postponed until tomorrow, it’s too nice here and the late afternoon temperature is very pleasant. We have a steak dinner at the van, outside in the shade and end with a small glass of red wine in the setting sun.
A great day.
Thursday 29th June 2023 – Auberive to Louhans. 112 miles
A good night’s sleep last night. It’s very quiet and still here. We can hear some roadworks happening somewhere, but it doesn’t matter. We get dressed and take a short walk into the village to find a bakery. It’s about 7:45 and already there is a quaint antique shop open with all their stuff outside. Across the road is the general store that sells almost anything you need including croissants, pain aux raisin and pan au chocolate. We get some of each.
Back at Jess we get the coffee machine fired up and sit outside scoffing our pastries and downing fresh coffee. It’s a beautiful Thursday morning.
By 9:30 we are serviced, packed up and ready to go. Hayley driving today. It’s a good 2 and half hours. Today we are going to the town of Louhans, slight change of plan. The town is in the region of Bresse and here the Bresse chicken is world-famous. Type “world’s best chicken” into Google (other search engines are available) to learn more. In Louhans there is a restaurant that does this chicken very well.
When we arrive the campsite is closed. The French are very strict with their lunch hours, and we miss it by just 10 minutes. No matter, we turn around and find a place to park, lunch is booked at 1:30. It’s getting hot, very hot, 28 or 29 degrees. We park up and try and keep Jess cool by finding the best shade, closing all the curtains and hoping she will be ok.
The town of Louhans is very pretty and we are but a short 8-minute walk to the restaurant. Very well appointed with the entrance garnished with lovely flowers and a warm welcome from the staff. Hayley has been going on about this chicken for ages, we have tried to get some on past trips but never quite made it, finally at last she is pleased that we have stopped and found a restaurant in ‘chicken central‘.
Lunch is superb. We both have oeufs en meurette (poached eggs in a burgundy wine sauce), followed by a Bresse chicken breast and mashed potatoes. Superb. Hayley has a small pichet of rose wine. It doesn’t come like a big roast chicken dinner, you just get a good-sized portion of the chicken and a small bowl of mash, no strong sauces, the taste of this queen of chickens is enough on its own.
That’s all you need! It’s delicious. Dessert is ile flottante – soft meringue floating on a bed of custard. One of the best French desserts in our opinion. We are very satisfied.
An hour and a half later we have a walk through the town back to Jess and make our way back to the now-open campsite where we are given a spot in the shade. It’s still hot, but slightly overcast. We just stay with Jess on the campsite next to the river, reading and sleeping. Another good day. It’ll be a warm night in Jess though.
Friday 30th June 2023 – Louhans to Thones. 112 miles
At 11:00 pm we were woken up by gentle patter, then a torrent, of heavy, heavy rain, fat rain! It was so loud on the roof that we couldn’t sleep. It was forecast but we kind of ignored it. We had left everything outside, chairs table, mats and table covers. Doh! So this morning Del is dispatched out to clean it all up. It’s a miserable morning, it’s not raining heavily now but it’s a constant drizzle. Horrible. On the upside, it has certainly cooled down a bit.
We have a quick coffee and decide to just get going. Del does his best to control mud and leaves from getting stepped through the van. We head to a supermarket for some provisions. Del stays with the van while Hayley does some shopping. While she is away Del gets some order in the van, all the doors and windows are opened, and the floors are swept and washed, again. All the stuff left outside is wiped down and put away. Hayley has a bad time in the supermarket. It is packed and rammed, no idea why but today this supermarket is like a Christmas Eve panic buy. Fortunately, she brings back some croissants which we hoover up!
Once the shopping is loaded up we are off, further southwest towards the town of Thones at the foot of the French Alps.
The drive is foul, the rain terrible, it just rains all the way to Thones.
Finally we arrive and we get what looks like the last spot on the free parking area. We have a great view of the cloud-shrouded hills to the front and a fast-moving stream to the back. It’s stopped raining but the weather is a bit like Grimsby on a November Tuesday.
It’s cold and windy. We get settled in and Hayley does us a good hot mug of tea which we have with some French “Jaffa Cakes”. Raspberry instead of orange. Very nice.
We stay in for the most part of today, the weather is not great at all.
Despite the poor weather we decide to take a walk into the small town of Thones. We have been here before on one of our first trips with Jess. It’s a beautiful place, the views are stunning and the town is pretty.
We have not been here in the winter but we imagine it to be a charming ‘Christmas card’ look of a town, with tall spire churches surrounded by hills, and twisty streets with old leaning buildings. One thing the French do very well, better than anyone else is cake shops. No Wenzels or Greggs here. They are all independent shops and they produce works of art in the world of cakes and pastries.
After a good walk around the town we buy two cakes for after dinner tonight and pop into a small supermarket for a few extras before heading back.
Hayley does a fantastic dinner tonight of pan-fried turkey accompanied by with her take on Tartiflette, a speciality in these parts and a side salad, helped along with a crisp cold rose French wine. Delicious.
The dinner was an absolute hit, one of the best yet. We finished it off with our French tarts. (Ooo matron, yessss!)
Del has done the washing up, so we end with a cold Jagermister with our view of the hills.
We have arrived in the French Alps. We hope to be here for a week before turning back and heading home.
Great to hear from you Paul. We trust that you are all well? Sad to be back but great to…