Author: deljones (Page 1 of 5)

Week 3. Paris to East Cowes – 703 miles

Saturday the 28th of September 2024

Paris to Senonches – 75 miles

We get our last knock on the door this morning from Karen. Today she is going south, we are going west then north towards home. We all have an enjoyable breakfast together and say our goodbyes. It has been fabulous, with the three of us together, and most enjoyable. We have seen a lot, done a lot, eaten a lot and drank a lot, but it has all been worth it and it’s what we are here on earth to do. Enjoy as much as you can when you can. We will miss her.

Today, as part of our trip back, we are going to France Miniature. It is said to be a 1:30 model of France laid out on a piece of land in the rough shape of France. There is a special online price, so Hayley has booked us two tickets.

After a 40-minute drive, we arrive. It’s a nice day. There is a bit of cloud floating about, but it’s bright and sunny, a welcome break from the rain that has blighted our stay in Paris. It’s not very busy, so we get the pick of the parking and make our way in.

France Miniature is worth the visit. It’s very well laid out, all the exhibits are numbered and the path leads around in the right direction. There is a QR code to scan that gives you some history about the item you are looking at. It’s all very good. As we approach the Paris part we get a spot of rain. There is something about Paris that’s wet! It doesn’t last for long though.

After spending a couple of hours here we decide to move on and find a place for the night. We like it here, it’s ok. It could do with a little TLC however, some of the exhibits are a little tatty, but we like it all the same.

It’s a short 1 hour drive to a town called Senonches where we are staying at a small aire for motorhomes for 9 euros that includes water and electricity.

The drive is pleasant and uneventful and the town of Senonches is very pretty, from what we have seen driving through. The parking is just on the outside of the town. We swipe our card for 9 euros, the barrier goes up and we are in a nice cosy pitch for the night.

Dinner is on board tonight, something we haven’t done for a few days now. Hayley does a fridge clear out and we have duck with a potato dish that she puts together, which is ace, and some broccoli. After more fridge cleaning, some bits of cheese need to be eaten, so with a glass of red, we finish them off.

Time for bed…

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Sunday the 29th of September 2024

Senonches to Honfleur – 106 miles

With a ferry on Friday, we now have to start the drive west and then north. We think that we will head for Honfleur which is a very picturesque fishing town across the river from Le Harve. This is where the Seine ends its journey into the sea.

It’s a bit of a challenging drive today. After a toss of a coin and a ‘fight’, it’s Del’s turn to drive. It’s always a battle over who is going to drive as we both enjoy it, but yesterday Del was tired so Hayley drove which makes it Del’s turn today.

There is no direct route to Honfleur from where we are so the drive takes us along miles of fields along very narrow roads. For miles, we are the only vehicle on the road. It hasn’t been helped that the road that we are on has been closed due to a town market.

There are diversion signs but suddenly they stop and Google Maps takes us across country, great. It also doesn’t help that Del misses a right turn because he was wittering on. Oh well.

It’s 2:30 pm and we have arrived at the parking spot in Honfleur. What we have noticed is that the temperature since last night has dropped to single figures. It has turned very autumnal. We get parked and settled in while the cold wind blows down the river Seine. We get whatever warm coats that we have and set off for a walk. There is one of those tourist trains here so we jump on and for eight euros we are taken to the top of Honfleur. Here there is a small charming chapel. Honfleur wasn’t bombed during the war, and it is said that it is because of this chapel that it was saved from the ravages of war.

There is a good view of Le Harve across the river from here.

After 15 minutes at the chapel, we get abroad the train and it takes us back down the hill into Honfleur.

Time for a walk. We head back into the charming back streets of Honfleur. It’s very nice here, very old but very well looked after with its cobbled streets and leaning over, slate-fronted buildings. There is an all-wooden church here in the main part of the town, so, of course, we have to go in and have a look.

The port is the “main square” of the town which is surrounded by lovely bars and restaurants.

We are starting to feel the chill so head back to Jess for a warm-up and a cup of tea. Tonight we will eat in the town.

After our walk and train trip around town we get back to Jess for a hot tea and to chill out. We like it here. The town is full of charm, shops, restaurants and bars they are all very nice, a very easy-going town.

We set off for the short 5 minute walk to the restaurant where we are fortunate to get a table. It’s a very busy and popular place, number 9, of hundreds, in the Trip Advisor guide. It doesn’t fail. We have starters of oysters and mackerel. A main of pork and Dorade ending with an Ile flottante.

It’s all helped along with a very nice white wine. An excellent dinner, our first without our travel companion who is now in the south of France heading for St. Tropez tomorrow. We remember St Tropez well from our boating days.

It’s a windy, chilly night when we leave the restaurant and we are glad to get back into Jess with the low lights, heating and some soft music.

All in all an excellent day. Tomorrow we have no idea where we are going, we like that.

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Monday the 30th of September 2024

Honfleur to Saint Pierre en Port (via Duclair) – 88 miles

It was a breezy night last night as the wind rushed down the Seine, we also had some rain showers in the night. The weather has taken a turn. It’s much colder than a week ago, with strong winds and rain.

We have a very simple quick breakfast this morning. We pay our 14 euros for the aire and off we go. We are trying to get to a small free aire right on the banks of the river Seine where we think the wind will be less, the problem is that there is only space for 5 vans so we are getting a bit of a move on this morning.

The weather is grim and we get pushed about by the strong wind going over the Pont Du Normandie, nasty. The drive to the aire in Duclair takes about an hour and it’s a bit of a climb uphill for Jess but we arrive and are a little disappointed, to say the least. It is a bit of a trek to the town, the weather is foul and it’s right next to a cemetery. After some discussion, we decide to move on and head for the coast after doing some shopping and a diesel fill-up.

After an hour or more driving in bad rain we arrive at Saint-Pierre-en-Port and to a campsite with a sea view. And what a view, the sea is huge, 3m waves out there apparently. It looks very rough. We have to wait ten minutes for the office to open. Hayley is seen by a very friendly lady who gives us a pitch.

The pitch we have been given is like a mud bath, just terrible and it takes us a lot of back and forth, left, right, yes and nos. There is mud everywhere and the trees above are hitting the side of the van.

We finally decide to go on a corner pitch which, like all of the pitches is just a mud bath, but it has a nice big corner piece of just grass… wet grass but no mud, so we manoeuvre ourselves there and finally get settled in. It’s miserable outside but Hayley gets a tea on, Del cleans the mud out of the van and we get settled down. It’s now quite cosy.

Time for a Belgian beer to cheer us up some more. We will not be going out today.

Hayley has done a fab dinner for us.

Beef bourguignon, her own dauphinoise potatoes with a glass of red. The weather is horrendous outside, the worst we have had in the van we think… lashing heavy rain and the wind is so strong we are actually rocking in our pitch.

No matter, after a glass (or two) of red Hayley gets her baby guitar out and plays a few tunes to end the day.

Yes, the weather has been terrible and we wasted an hour of time and fuel for what has been a bit of a none day, but tonight has been lovely… That’s what we like about Vantours…

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Tuesday the 1st of October 2024

Saint Pierre en Port to Veulettes Sur Mer – 10 miles

Last night goes in our top 3 worst nights for storms. It was horrendous. For most of the night it rained, and the wind battered the van resulting in violent snatches of movement which went on all night.

We managed to get short periods of sleep throughout the night and by the morning the rain has stopped and although there is still some wind, we have blue skies. Quite a pleasant morning. Our pitch is still a mud bath when we set off. We do a quick service and set off for the town of Veulettes Sur Mer, which is only 10 miles away but because the roads are small and twisty it takes a good 40 minutes to get there. The drive is very nice, it’s sunny and warm and we are getting closer to Dieppe.

We have just missed the campsite office by only 5 minutes, so we have to wait a couple of hours until they open again. To kill time we head for the town. It’s a very charming seaside town with not much here. There are a few hotels and restaurants all of which, except one, are closed. The sea is rough after the storm of the past few days, but it’s a lovely day and nice to be out walking in the fresh sea air.

We get back just before 2 and can check-in. The campsite is a municipal campsite, run by the local council. It’s beautiful, very well-manicured and tended to, but most importantly it has hard standing for Jess, no more mud! Being the end of the season there are not many vans or caravans so we get the choice of pitches. We get settled in and Del starts to clear out the ‘garage’. Everything is out, gets cleaned, old stuff binned and then all neatly put back for the next trip.

Dinner on board tonight, a simple affair with a glass of rose wine a gift in fact from our friend Karen back in May.

We are surprised that it’s lasted that long…!

We end the night by playing one of our puzzle games by the Danish publisher 50 Clues. This one is called ‘The Pendulum of the Dead’, the first in a trilogy. We got 59%, not so great but good fun all the same.

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Wednesday the 2nd of October 2024

Veulettes Sur Mer to Dieppe – 31 miles

The strong wind and rain returned during the night and woke us both up. We are getting fed up with it now… It’s a cloudy wet morning, the rain has stopped though. We are in the process of getting up when we hear a loud car horn going off. This is the traditional French campsite sound in the morning of a bread van selling morning pastries and bread.

Del, half-dressed, dashes out and gets two pastries and the world’s longest baguette… Not really, the record for the longest baguette is 140.5m and was broken in May of 2024 in Suresnes! (Never heard of it)

We are moving on today to Dieppe where we will stay for two nights. There is quite a good stop there at the harbour. Our plan is to do a dinner tonight and maybe a lunch tomorrow.

A good, but carb filled, breakfast this morning. After a quick service, we set off for Dieppe. Hayley wants to buy some boxes of wine to take home and stock up with some French goodies. We stop at a huge Auchan supermarket but sadly she is not able to get what she wants which is boxes of 6 bottles, she could get the wine but not in boxes and to get them home safely, we need them in boxes, so no joy there.

We give up and make our way to Dieppe. Getting into the town is a little complicated, with narrow roads and roadworks being done. After a bit of ducking and diving, we finally arrive at the parking place next to the harbour. We get settled in and do a bit of Jess cleaning and sit in the warm sunshine… At last… We set off for a walk around the town of Dieppe which we find to be quite charming. The main part of the town is built around the harbour which has lots of restaurants and bars and is set back from the equally nice seafront. There’s a pebble beach which is popular, with lots of hotels along the front. We spend a good hour or two walking around and taking it all in. We like it here. It’s nice.

Before dinner we find a place with a panoramic view of the harbour while we sit and sip a ‘cocktail of the day‘.

Hayley has found us a Michelin rated restaurant, in fact, it’s a Bib Gourmand (a good value for money place). We have a very nice dinner with some scallops, which are the local speciality, and a small bottle of Chablis. Very nice, not outstanding, but we did enjoy it.

Back at Jess, it’s very quiet and peaceful. Early night.

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Thursday the 3rd of October 2024

Dieppe Day 2

Our last day in Dieppe so we plan to have a walk into the town and see the bits that we’ve not seen yet. Before that though, we are looking for a typical French lunch. We plan to eat early today as we are hoping to get an early night as we are up at 4:30 am to catch the 6.30 ferry back to Newhaven. Del does a little bit of homework for work he has when he gets back. We lock up Jess and set off, the tide in the port is high so the walkover bridge is open to let boats get in and out. We wait. We wait some more. We do a little bit more waiting before we get fed up waiting and start to walk up the harbour to another bridge.

After a 20 minute walk, we wait. We keep waiting. The bridge starts to move ready for us to cross but there is a change of mind somewhere because it moves in the opposite direction meaning that no one can cross. We have to wait, wait and wait. For both bridges. We wait 50 minutes, so by the time we get to the harbour most of the restaurants have stopped serving the ‘Menu de jour‘.

We walk up and down the harbour looking at the remaining restaurants that are open and doing food until we settle on a Vietnamese restaurant and have some summer rolls and a Bao Burger each.

Both are absolutely delicious. A fabulous replacement for the French lunch. We’ve had enough of them now anyway!

After our splendid lunch, we set off and explore the rest of Dieppe. Again unplanned, we end up in a clothes shop and spend a couple of hundred euros on clothes, that Del now has to drag around the town in a pink bag!

Dieppe is very nice. A working town, big on fishing. The high street is full of lovely shops, butchers, florists, fruit shops and cake shops.

There is a 900-year-old church that we go in to have a look around. It could do with some work as the masonry is starting to fall away. In fact, there is a net stretching the whole of the roof to catch falling debris.

It’s a shame. Hopefully, they will get some restoration done to it before it’s too late.

Enough walking, time to get back to Jess. We can’t help but walk into a patisserie and buy two cakes to take back to Jess to have with a brew. It’s a lovely warm sunny day.

Back at Jess, the tea is on, cakes eaten and we sit outside for a while and enjoy the sunshine before the late afternoon turns chilly.

We have had two days in Dieppe and we have liked it. Another place that you would never think of going to, but is actually full of surprises. We will be back.

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Friday the 4th of October 2024

Dieppe to East Cowes – 292 miles

There is nothing worse than hearing an alarm going off at 4:30 in the morning… Horrible, but unfortunately we have to be away from here at 5 am, drive around the corner and be ready to board our 06:30 ferry bound for Newhaven.

It’s dark and chilly. We drop the grey water from the tank. The drive from the parking place to the port is probably 10 minutes. We are in the queue, which is moving slowly but finally, we are on board and making our way to our cabin. We like these cabins. You get a nice comfy room with everything in it, a comfy bed, toilet and shower. We have an outside room so we get a sea view, but it’s still dark…

Like robots, and for no reason at all, we head to the restaurant and have a full breakfast. Why did we do that? It’s expensive and not the best. Once done we go back to our cabin and get a couple of hours sleep.

Soon we are woken up to the announcement that we are approaching Newhaven. It went so quickly. We get up and have a walk on deck. It’s a beautiful morning. A flat calm sea, blue skies and sunshine. A nice way to come back home, Lovely.

Jess needs a wash, she still looks like a rally van, covered in lumps of mud.

The ferry was brilliant if a little slow at getting on and off. We are probably about 30 minutes late and we have another ferry to catch for home. Hayley has found a car wash and after Del nearly kills us at a roundabout, we are giving Jess a good well deserved ‘bath‘.

The traffic toward Portsmouth is terrible. Stop start, stop start. We are going to be late. Del calls the ferry company and the motorhome club to let them know and gets us on a later ferry. Unfortunately, it will be much later. Instead of 13:20, it will be the 15:20. Dull. A long wait.

With Hayley at the wheel, we make good progress and arrive at 12:50. By luck there is space on an earlier ferry which we are put on. Great news. Back at the flat, we unload Jess. We can’t believe how much stuff we always take off her on these trips, so much stuff. She is cleaned up and taken to her storage spot, wrapped up m safe and sound until our next trip in December.

We are looking to do southern Spain, Portugal and back up to northern Spain.

Back at the flat, we put all this stuff away that has spilt out of Jess, rev up the washing machine and start to get through the washing.

We can’t be bothered with a full-on dinner tonight so it’s good old British fish and chips to end our 3 week journey and our day.

Again many thanks to all of you who follow us, we always like to hear from you. Until the next time, we would like to wish you all good health.

Some stats from this trip

Fuel: 283 euros

LPG: 18 euros

Week 2. Bracieux to Paris – 259 miles

Saturday the 21st of September 2024

Bracieux – (Day 3. Last day)

A busy day today. Karen joins us for a very light breakfast before we set off for the city of Blois. We are going to have a look around it and have a Michelin-listed lunch at about half one. Yes, another Michelin-listed meal. A bit of background about Michelin-listed restaurants and dining. It doesn’t mean that it is expensive, lavish with finely manicured food. It means that it’s good quality food, presented well and at a good price. The average for a 3-course lunch or dinner is around 30 to 35 euros (or £28.00). You would quite easily pay that in a pub or average restaurant in the UK and leave not particularly satisfied.

It’s a 25-minute drive to Blois and it’s packed. Very busy. We have to abandon one car park as it’s full, but luckily we do find a space with a bit more of a walk to the town. No problem, what else are we doing?

Once in Blois city, we find it to be a very pleasant place indeed. The usual beautiful French shops line the streets.

We find a busy Saturday market selling local food, cakes as well as fruit and veg. Some stalls are selling clothes. Karen buys a couple of nice woollen tops.

Like all French cities and towns, it’s full of churches and of course, a cathedral. We find a nice looking church so we go in and have a good look around.

None of us are religious but we do like these places, they are so calming to walk around and sit in.

Back into the streets and to the restaurant. Called BRO’S it is situated off the beaten track in a back street. We are given a table outside which is too noisy for us so Hayley, in her best French, asks if we can go inside. We are given an inside table and have the small but comfortable restaurant to ourselves.

The food is fantastic. A fixed menu with a choice of fish or meat. We all have a small glass of white wine. The total bill is 39 euros each which was a three-course lunch and wine, so that’s £33.00 each. You cannot beat that. The standard of the food was high as was the service. Exceptional and well worth the Michelin listing.

We leave the restaurant not full or uncomfortable, but content and happy along with the memories. We now have to walk some of it off!

A short walk across town to a Chateau, Chateau De Blois. Admission is on a special offer this weekend of 7 euros.

Not as big and as grand as yesterday’s, but very interesting all the same. Great to walk around. Del has taken a shine to the paintings and the way they convey light. They are impressive to look at, especially the large ones.

We are flagging now, it’s 5 pm so it’s back to the car and home, via a carwash for Karen’s car and a supermarket to buy some bits and pieces for later on. We are dropped off at the campsite, and Karen goes back to her hotel. The sky is looking heavy now with dense black clouds, so we pack up the outside of Jess, the awning, the table and the groundsheet, we are leaving tomorrow anyway so it saves us a job. There are a few drops of rain and the air is hot and heavy. A storm will surely come. Just as we are packing away we spot a couple of hot air balloons passing over us. We are not sure about that, especially in the coming weather.

Once we are packed and settled we get some various French cheeses out on the table with honey, figs and a stick of bread. The end of a great day in France.

Tomorrow we are hoping to get to Sancerre, a famous French wine town in the Loire Valley.

See more of Del’s photos on his website and Flickr account.

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Sunday the 22nd of September

Bracieux to Sancerre – 73 miles

The rain has finally come. Last night, just as Hayley went for her shower. She got soaked just walking 20 meters from the shower back to Jess. The rain, in heavy and light bursts, was quite noisy on the roof last night. We have woken up this morning to grey skies, it’s still quite warm and for the moment it’s not raining. Fortunately, we did all the packing up last night before the rain came, so it’s just breakfast, clear up and off we go.

We do a full service on Jess, empty the grey water, freshen the toilet and fill up with fresh water. It’s a longish drive today, 2 and a bit hours to Sancerre. It’s wet everywhere, but at least it’s not pouring with rain so far on the drive.

We spoke too soon, the rain has started again. Hayley has found a supermarket with a mini laundrette in the car park. The French are good at providing washing machines and dryers at supermarkets, some even have motorhome service points too.

The roads are long and straight here, but very long and straight and a little bit rough. Soon we get a rest from it as we pull into a supermarket which closes in 30 minutes. Hayley dashes in for a small shop while Del sorts out the laundry. For 5 euros we get a full dark wash done, and for 3 euros the drying.

We have seen these car park laundrettes before but never tried them. We like it so much we have put fresh bedding on and put a white wash on too. We know how to treat ourselves. Van life isn’t all sunsets and beaches!

All the laundry has been done but the rain is still heavy. Del is at the wheel for the next bit. It’s a challenging drive as the roads are a bit lousy in part, twisty and very wet. The drive coming into Sancerre, despite the rain, was quite nice.

The views are still spectacular. It looks like the harvest has already been done as we can’t see any grapes on the vines. We arrive at the campsite, it’s all a bit sad in the rain. We are given a spot and we get settled in. We have done this before. We have plenty of food, drink, games, and Netflix downloads, so we’ll not be stuck. The only downer is that we will not be seeing Karen tonight who is in the town of Sancerre up on the hill, we are a couple of miles away at the bottom, with no bus service in between.

We can’t walk or cycle as the rain is so heavy. Karen can’t get to us as her car has to stay in the hotel compound as the town is closed off because of a special event… In this weather? We just spend the rest of the day in the van comforting ourselves with a bottle of white from Touraine, a wine area not far from where we are, and very nice it is too. Hayley watches some Netflix, Del does a bit of homework, sorts out his photo stuff and writes this blog!

Hayley will knock up a fab dinner for us tonight and we will see Karen tomorrow morning, when hopefully the weather will have improved. Hopefully.

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Monday the 23rd of September

Sancerre to Chablis – 75 miles

This morning we have some sunshine, it’s also a little cooler. We don’t know how long we will have it this way, but it’s a lovely morning to start the week. We are joined by Karen for morning tea and to discuss tactics for the day. It’s a bit of a drive to Chablis, so we will break the journey up a little and stop at “Les Caves Bailly Lapierre”. Here they make Cremant which is made the same way as champagne but they can’t call it that because it’s not made in the same region of France, so it has to be called “Cremant“.

On the way, we stop at a small village called Bouhy, about half an hour out from Sancerre. There is supposed to be a small Patisserie there and as we have time to kill we agree that we will stop there buy some French fancy cakes and have them in the van with another cup of tea. Karen leads the way and gets there first. Like all French villages and some towns, it’s dead. There is not a living soul to be seen anywhere, but we find the cake shop on the only corner of the village. We are served by a very nice French lady who has a total of 5 cakes for sale!

They do look amazing though, so we buy three. The biggest sale of the day. She packs them all into a nice box for us to take away.

Happy with our purchase we head back to Jess in the car park, get the kettle on and have these delicious cakes. Excellent.

After an hour so we are cleaned up and on our way to Les Caves Bailly Lapierre, which translated means The Bailly Caves of Lapierre. The drive is great. We are deep in the middle of France where the countryside is extensive and big and stretches for miles. France is a huge country made up mainly of agricultural land, and what a sight it is.

We arrive at Les Caves Bailly Lapierre and find a parking space, do the short walk to the cave. It really is a cave. You enter and the temperature drops and everywhere is wet. It’s wonderful.

The first thing you see is a huge bar area where you can try all the different cremants that they make. We go for the 8 euro tour. We are given an audio guide to listen to about how this place came about from being created in the 12th century to source stone for some of the most famous architecture in France, and then became a mushroom farm in the 70s. After the tour, we get to sample some of the wines that they make. Very nice it is too, not quite as good as champagne but very good all the same. As a thank you they let you keep the little glass flute. We purchase two bottles, a brut and an extra dry.

Back at the van we get packed up and agree to meet Karen in Chablis. The drive there is beautiful. The countryside here in the Burgundy region is stunning. Miles of hills full of grapevines, with small towns nestling in the foothills, real picture postcard stuff.

We arrive at the campsite in Chablis. This is the third time we have stopped here. There has been heavy rain here recently, it’s a mud bath. Nasty. We get one of the remaining few spaces but with no electricity. We’ll be ok.

Tonight we are all meeting in town and going to… yes, another Michelin-rated restaurant. We get showered, Del’s is cold and as he is coming back to the van it starts to rain, but heavy rain. Here we are in our evening finery going out to dine and the rain is lashing down. Fortunately, Karen says that she will pick us up. Whew! Sure enough, within 5 minutes she is waiting for us at the entrance to the campsite. She takes us to the apartment where she is staying tonight. It’s a lovely place, in the centre of town and very well-appointed.

She is acting as our sommelier tonight and offers us 3 white wines to taste. We try them all and enjoy them all.

It’s a short 5 minute walk to the restaurant. ‘Au Fil Du Zinc’, where a three-course dinner is 42 euros or £38 each! Of course, we have to add a local Chablis white to go with it. The whole thing is just excellent once again.

By the time we leave the restaurant, the rain has eased so we bid Karen farewell and take the short walk back to the campsite. On the way, Hayley has a fall. No, it was not the wine, she slipped on a double yellow line – the painted line was slippery. Really, it’s true.

Jess is waiting for us in the mud bath. We are glad to be in.

Tomorrow we are setting off for Paris…

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Tuesday the 24th of September

Chablis to Paris – 118 miles

It rained for most of the night last night. Noisy on the roof. We remembered that September in France used to be good for sunny, warm weather. We did get off to a good start last week, but now we are just getting heavy showers of rain. Europe has had some bad weather over the past few weeks, especially in eastern Europe where a few people in Poland have sadly lost their lives because of flooding. We are probably getting the tail end of that here.

To tell the truth, we are pleased to be leaving Chablis this morning, which is a shame as we have always had a nice time here. We didn’t sleep well either because of the rain and at 7 this morning there was a rather ferocious argument next door. It seems that there was some disagreement amongst them, ending with someone storming off shouting and ranting. Everything is wet, everything is muddy, and we had trouble getting access to showers last night and toilets this morning, so it’s best to cut our losses and get going. We did have a very nice dinner here and the town is rather nice but no, we are off.

We are packed up quickly and away. We do a quick service first as the drive is a good two hours. Karen has already set off after having morning tea and a croissant with us. We need diesel, a small shop and a van wash. She only had one a couple of days ago but since being in Chablis, she looks like she has been in a motor rally contest with mud dripping off the wheels as we exit the campsite.

Finally, we are on our way. Mostly motorway today, the campsite is in the south of Paris and a 30-minute train journey into the centre, so it’s a very good location to be in for the next 4 days, as Del is off to London on Wednesday for some work. We need to keep the “van tokens” up.

An uneventful drive. On the outskirts of Paris, the traffic starts to thicken up a bit and it becomes more erratic and sometimes dangerous. We almost get sideswiped by a local who thinks it might be a good idea to speed up and cut in front of us. A truck almost, but almost, slams into the back of another, other than that all good. Del is at the wheel today, he does like a driving challenge, but even he is getting a bit fed up with it. We do a shop, fill up with diesel and find a wash for Jess. She is all clean again, we are full of fuel and food, just 20 more minutes to the campsite.

The campsite is a welcome oasis, considering where it is. It’s clean, and tidy with polite staff and hard standing, so no more trudging through wet grass and muddy walkways. Bliss. We open up the van and give her a good clean on the inside. Such a relief to get rid of all the mud and grit from Chablis. Hayley has a hot shower and comes back to Jess feeling fully renewed.

Karen is staying in a small chalet on the campsite. It’s small,has everything inside that you might need, but isn’t quite the same as the apartment she had last night. She pops by to say ‘hello‘.

Tonight we are having dinner in a complete stranger’s house in the centre of Paris. There is a website called ‘Eatwith’ where dinner hosts advertise what they offer. We, as guests, choose a good-rated host and book an evening with them where they cook you dinner in their home. What a great idea, for many reasons.

We have chosen a lady called Catherine who has great reviews. We take the train into town and it’s only a short walk to her apartment.

She greets us downstairs and takes us to her apartment which is beautiful. The conversation is free-flowing and varied with some nibbles and a glass of white wine to help it along. The food is tremendous, consisting of:

Starter: Aubergine and lentils with feta cheese. Main: Baked Mackerel fillets with potatoes and a tomoto and olive sauce. A selection of cheeses with figs. Dessert: Mirabelle tart (a small seasonal plum)

It was a fabulous 2-hour dinner. We give our thanks to Cathrine and congratulate her on the fine dinner and we leave for the station and back to the campsite. The trains here are efficient, regular and cheap and about 40 minutes later we are back home. We say good night to Karen and we are back in the van just in time for bed! A great experience, going to someone’s house and having them cook good local food for you, something that we will definitely do again.

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Wednesday the 25th of September

Paris (Day 2) London Day 1

We had a good night’s sleep last night, both of us. Rain is forecast in Paris for the next few days, we shall see. Karen joins us for breakfast and we all leave at 10:45 for Del to get on the train to Charles De Gaulle Airport for a 2hr 25min flight to London. We get off at Notre Dame and Del carries on to another train to the airport leaving Karen and Hayley to wreak havoc on Paris.

>>> Del. Paris to London Day 1<<<

It has been a long time since I was last at Charles De Gaule airport, I remember it being not a great airport, but this time it has been a much more pleasant experience.

It’s quick to move through the airport and there are plenty of cafes and shops to hang around in. The gate has been changed three times already and we are now leaving 30 minutes later than advertised. No matter, I have plenty to do.

We are finally called to the gate and boarded onto a half-full flight, which is a bit of a surprise, usually, these flights are just rammed full, but no today there is plenty of room.

An uneventful flight, which is always the best way to have a flight, and within an hour we land at Luton Airport. The Immigration lounge is packed and takes just as long to get through that as did the flight. It’s mad.

I’m on my way to a hotel in Camden Town, where I hope to have a relaxing night, and early night and be ready for my 7 am start tomorrow.

>>> Hayley. Paris Day 2<<<

Once Karen and I leave Del at Notre Dame we head out onto the streets near Notre Dame, the cathedral is due to re-open in December after the terrible fire that it had 5 years ago.

It’s still quite a building site and the roof looks like it needs finishing off, but this being France I’m sure they have it in hand. We walk over to Ile St. Louis and admire the lovely shop displays of cakes, cheese and art, such pride is taken in making everything look just right.

After a good wander around the Marais district, we are becoming hungry so we find a restaurant. We end up in one specialising in Burgundy cooking and their speciality is beef bourguignon.

Of course, we have to have this with a glass of red and it is delicious! We sit under the canopy outside watching Parisian street life and the rain starting to fall.

The weather is only going to get worse so we hop on a metro and have a look around Galeries Lafayette.

It’s a fantastic department store with a very impressive glass dome and a whole separate building devoted to kitchen goods and selling food including fragrant spice shops and a full gourmet supermarket in the basement.

There are some beautiful cakes here, which are works of art, but it’s so busy we opt to get cake and tea elsewhere.

After our cakes, the rain starts to come down hard and is predicted for the rest of the night. We jump on a train back to the campsite. After a shop at the local supermarket, we retire to our accommodations and get an early night. We have walked a lot today!

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Thursday the 26th of September

>>> Del. London Day 2<<<

I’m up bright and early today to start a small but intense job at the Roundhouse in Camden Town. The Roundhouse is a famous train shed from yesteryear which has been converted into a concert venue as well as a place for large corporate events which is what I’m up to today, it’s a long day which is expected to end at 1am.

I have worked here many times in the past so it’s good to see old faces as well as meeting new people. The production company that I’m working with is a regular client, so the day is expected to be a bit of a giggle.

There is quite a lot to get through, the day goes by quickly, however. It is a little sobering though when I look at my watch and it’s 5pm and I think to myself that I am only halfway through the shift…!!!!

We go live at 7:30pm and it’s not long before it’s passing midnight and we are on the home run.

By 1:00 am everyone is booted out. There’s peace and quiet as we load out the small amount of kit that we brought in with us.

Time at last for bed… Back in Paris tomorrow.

>>> Hayley. Paris Day 3<<<

It rained a lot last night, but it’s dry now so after breakfast Karen and I head into Paris again.

We catch the train to the Eiffel Tower, which never fails to impress me. It’s a shame that you can’t get near it now without a ticket as it has a perspex wall surrounding it.

The whole area looks a bit of a building site with cranes and concrete blocks everywhere, maybe this is a hangover from the recent Olympic Games. After a stroll to the Champs Élysée, we jump on a metro and head far south into the city to the Chinese district. Karen spent many years living in Hong Kong so is keen to see what the Chinese quarter is like. We have also found a Michelin recommended Chinese restaurant here.

The district doesn’t look too different from the rest of Paris but has lovely aromas of Asian food. We’re hungry by now, so we go to our restaurant. I ask Karen to choose all the dishes and she does so in Cantonese (it’s always quite funny seeing the reaction of people when a blond haired English lady starts talking in Cantonese).

We have a feast of duck, char sui pork, dim sum, a delicious tofu and pork dish and chicken feet, this is my second time trying chicken feet and I’m still not mad about them but everything else is delicious. It’s great that Karen knows exactly what the best things are to order. We wash this down with a pot of Chinese tea.

Very satisfied with our very reasonably priced lunch we emerge from the restaurant to find the torrential rain is back. We hop on a metro and decide to sit it out with a glass of wine in a pavement cafe next to the Seine watching the people hurrying by, huddled up, and the traffic chaos.

Eventually, the rain stops and we head back but it seems the rail system is in chaos and the journey back is harder than it should be. Back at the campsite most pitches and roadways are flooded,

luckily Jess’s pitch isn’t. Karen and I have a drink and a light dinner on her terrace, my shoes are now completely soaked having walked through the 2 inches of standing water that is now everywhere on the campsite.

When will this rain stop?

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Friday the 27th of September

>>> Del. London to Paris Day 3<<<

I’m flying back to Paris today on a 2:30pm flight so there’s no rush to get up, which is a good thing as I am feeling a bit drowsy having had only a couple of hours of sleep. After the longest shower in the world, I get my small amount of stuff together and head off for Luton Airport. There is train trouble today and there is a mass of people at the station blocking the entrances to the platforms. Security are on hand in case tempers start to fray.

Finally, I get on my train to the airport which is now leaving 20 minutes late and goes so slow to get there that I’m 45 minutes late arriving. Good job I decided to hang around Luton Airport this morning rather than London. If you had the choice which would you choose? London or Luton…? Not much in it…

The flight leaves on time, and I sleep for most of it. A plan has been hatched to meet the ‘girls‘ in Paris for a last dinner together. Karen is going south, we are going…? We don’t know yet. The skies in Paris are angry. Very heavy black clouds surround the airport. While I’ve been away they have had some heavy rain here, it looks like there is now a pause, but for how long?

The immigration hall is packed. It takes me an hour to get out and on the train to Paris.

Paris (Day 4. Last day) London day 3

>>> Hayley. Paris Day 4<<<

Del comes home today! After a light breakfast, Karen and I have some chores to do. I have some van chores (the yucky ones that Del normally does.) We then both set off to a laundrette where we both do some washing and then shopping.

Exhausted after all this activity we find a Lebanese restaurant in a nearby town that we’ve never heard of and have a delicious lunch of a Lebanese platter.

We have seen sunshine today, amazing! It’s so sunny that we have to have the blind pulled down to shade us however as soon as we leave the restaurant the heavens open and soak us as we run to the nearby car.

I’m fed up with this rain now, this has been one of the worst runs of consistent rain that I’ve had on the van. It even makes Todtnau, in Germany, look dry! 

Del is on his way from the airport so we have arranged to meet at a restaurant in Pigalle in the Montmatre district. Del arrives, and Karen and Hayley are already waiting. Restaurant Ose is a Michelin rated restaurant serving a three course dinner for 44 euros. It was all very nice, but not as memorable as others that we have been to.

We have decided that, as it’s our last night to jump on the metro and go and see the hourly glittering light show on the Eiffel Tower.

Sadly the event didn’t have the memorable end that we hoped for. At the station for the tower, there is a random ticket inspection and for some reason, Karen’s ticket, which we just purchased, is not valid. Despite contesting it with proof of purchase she receives an on-the-spot 50 euro fine which puts a bit of a dampener on the evening. The inspector is being a bit of a ‘jobs worth’. We were able to prove that three tickets were bought at the same station at the same time through our bank account, he agrees but says if the ticket can’t be scanned through his little gizmo then it’s a fine! Very disappointing.

We watch the glittering tower, but we are now not in the mood. We get on a very packed train back to the campsite and call it a day.

Tomorrow we are promised an end to the rain. We shall see.

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Week 1. Calais to Bracieux – 539 miles

Saturday the 14th of September

We had a fantastic night’s sleep for our first night away. So peaceful, so quiet, add in the fact that we were both exhausted, and it all helped. It’s a bright, clean, fresh morning this morning. Over our first coffee of the day, we talk about our options. Do we stay, do we leave, do some shopping, have a look around Calais and come back here or do we move on? After deciding on an option we change our minds, we then talk our way out of the next option by choosing the last only to arrive back at the first option. You get the idea. We decide to stay another day.

After a short simple breakfast, we set off for a good long walk. The other reason that we decide to stay is that they have our favourite dragon here, if there can be such a thing. Calais has had a lot of money spent on it over the past few years and one of the attractions that they have is a 72-tonne motorised, fully animated dragon. We looked in on it the last time we were here, but this time we are going to pay some money and go for a ride on the Calais Dragon.

The beach walk before is amazing.

The beaches here are long, flat, clean and white. The visibility today is so good we can see the white cliffs of Dover very clearly.

It’s a beautiful day. We walk along the beach for quite a while before heading back for our 2 pm dragon ride. This thing is quite something. 72 tonnes of steel, wood, leather, and other stuff and cost the town 27 million euros. It takes 6 people to operate it and quite a bit of the seafront has been laid out to accommodate its journey. Very impressive.

To get onto her back you climb up the steps which make up her tail. 50 people can ride on her back. Once we are all loaded, we’re off.

It’s very slow but very good. Her whole body moves, she spits and snorts water and steam as well as breaths fire. Great fun. Watching everyone below getting squirted with water as the dragon’s head twists, turns, falls and rises is a giggle for those below and us on the back of the beast.

After 30 minutes it’s all over and we disembark. There is a friterie here, or chip shop to us, that has been going since 1974. We quite fancied having some of those before our dragon ride but it’s so popular with the French that the line to get served extended out of the shop.

However, after our dragon rides the shop is now empty of people so we take our chance and buy a small portion of chips. Wow…!! They are certainly worth the wait.

Best chips ever. They are double-cooked and fabulous with an unlimited supply of different sauces to choose from. The portions are very generous and unbelievably cheap. Now we know why it’s so popular. Excellent.

Time for a walk along the pier to walk off the chips and back to Jess for a quick rest before dinner, which tonight is in the town.

Le Coq d’Or or Golden Cock is where we are dining tonight. We are the first in. Del goes for a duck version of shepherd pie called Parmentier du Canard while Hayley goes for a Blanquette du Veau, or Veal in a white wine sauce. It was nice, but not the best French meal we have had, a little bit on the bland side, but Hayley has said that she will have a go at doing these dishes when she gets back home. She has done a few recipes from around the world which have always been an absolute success. So something to look forward to.

A nice walk back along the seafront to finish off the day just as the sun sets. It has been a great day here in Calais, our second visit here. There has been some bad press about this place in the past, but take it from us, it really is worth a visit, and we will be coming back.

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Sunday the 15th of September

Calais to Neufchatel-en-Bray – 107 miles

Today we are moving on. Definitely, for sure. We have made our mind up. After a non-existent breakfast, we set off to fill up with diesel and do a shop. An expensive day today but it has to be done, and it will see us through for the next few days.

We are heading southeast towards the town of Neufchatel-en-Bray. We have been here before a couple of years ago on our way down to Spain. Back then it was a freezing cold winter night, we arrived at 8 pm, and it was cold and frosty. We stayed in an aire but this time we are going to stop at the campsite which is called Camping Saint Claire.

It’s a very beautiful and peaceful place. The town is just a short bike ride and today we have arrived on the day that they are having a Viking cheese festival. A little random we think but still we give it a go. It was a bustling place, very busy. There are chickens, rabbits and ducks for sale. Horses, goats and pigs to stroke. A mock fight with real swords and armour. Lots of stalls selling local cheese and honey.

It’s all rather pleasant and nice to walk around. There is a small stage set up in the town square where someone is going on about how wonderful the region’s produce is. Which is true, it is all rather good.

There are lots of people dressed up in colourful cloaks and hats who are either cider makers, cheese makers or both.

We buy a small local cheese and a small glass jar of honey before collecting the bikes and setting off for a longer bike ride.

The weather is beautiful and the temperature is just perfect. Blue skies, birds singing. We love it.

Tonight we dine at the campsite. They have a reputation for providing good quality local food as well as dishes from around Europe. Del goes for a fantastic beef bourguignon, while Hayley tackles a chicken Normandie. It is all delicious. Top marks. We finish with Pain Perdu (a French version of bread and butter pudding).

Back at Jess for some gentle jazz, low lights and a cup of tea. Smashing. A great day today, we are tired…

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Monday the 16th of September

Neufchatel-en-Bray to Rouen – 31 miles

We had rain overnight, not a lot but enough for us to be woken up. We still had a good night in this lovely place though. We have woken up to grey skies, with a threat of rain. We shall see.

Today we are going to Rouen, a place that we have always wanted to go to. It’s the capital of Normandy and it’s also where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake at the age of 19 in 1431 for “…blasphemy by the wearing of men’s clothes, acting upon visions that were demonic, and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the judgement of the church“. She is the patron saint of France and it was the English that burnt her. Whoops!

Hayley is at the wheel today on a route which takes us through the city, and after a diversion and some ducking and diving avoiding height restrictions, we arrive at the only place that’s close to the city where we can stay for the night. It’s at the marina, in the port on the river Seine. A friendly chap takes our 14 euros for which we get all the facilities that we need.

Once parked up we have a cup of tea before starting the 45-minute walk to the town.

We wait for a shower of rain to pass before setting off. It’s a nice walk along the river into the town. Most of the riverside warehouses have been renovated into trendy restaurants, bars and cafes along a very wide riverside walkway.

The town is beautiful.

It’s chock full of old buildings, some are bulging and leaning like they could fall over or collapse at any minute, but back in the day despite the look of impending danger, they built them to last. We weave our way through the town admiring the many shops, bars and restaurants. We are looking for the spot where Joan of Arc was executed by fire.

Her church looks a little run down considering she is the patron saint here. It’s a Monday so it’s closed. Shame really as it is supposed to have beautiful stained glass windows inside.

We walk some more and finally arrive at the main square.

The first thing that catches your eye is the huge cathedral, famously painted by Monet multiple times. It’s massive and is being renovated. It was here that the spire caught fire in July, it was almost a Paris Notre Dame moment. Inside is spectacular with its high stone archways and stained glass windows. How these places were built is still a mystery.

We stop at a small bar for a drink and a crepe with lemon and butter.

Delicious. We walk some more before deciding to do the 45-minute walk back. 16,164 steps, which equates roughly to 6.5 miles, we arrive back at the marina where Jess is waiting.

We take turns having a shower and Hayley makes up fabulous fajitas which is

followed by some of the fabulous cheese that we bought yesterday in Neufchatel with a little drop of honey and a small glass of red wine. What a feed!! Very satisfying. These French know how to do cheese and wine.

Del loves Normandy, he has already said that we should move here. Oh dear, trouble brewing. Tomorrow the plan is to go to Le Mans to meet up with our good friend from the Isle of Wight.

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Tuesday the 17th of September

Rouen to Le Mans – 130 miles

Up and away early today, if you call a 10 am departure early. It’s a long drive today – another 130 miles. It took ages to get into Rouen because of roadworks and diversions, and getting out is just as bad, but we are finally free and away. We liked Rouen, a very pleasant stay in a very pleasant town.

The next stop is Le Mans, home of the 24-hour Le Mans car race. We hope to get there at a reasonable time to go and see some “stuff“. It’s a long drive. We are the only ones on the motorway for some long stretches. The countryside is very nice to look at, all green and hilly in parts but the motorway is just long, with few service stations and sometimes it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, which you are.

We decide it’s time to have a quick leg stretch. It feels like we have been on the road for hours. We pull into a new service station that has LPG which we need for heating and cooking. We head to fill up, but find that it’s out of service.

Brilliant. Another bit of manoeuvring into a parking space so we can get a leg stretch and a drink when all of a sudden Hayley yells out, “There’s Karen…!” Sure enough our friend from the island has stopped at the same place on her way to her hotel in Le Mans. You couldn’t make that happen if you tried…! What a fabulous and unexpected surprise.

The three of us go into the services which is superb. So clean. So tidy and with a massive food selection and patisserie. Nothing like the dull, dirty and overcrowded services back home that stink of KFC and Burger King with the usual chains of WH Smiths, M&S and Waitrose. How dull! It really is dull…

After some refreshment, Karen speeds off and we slowly set off agreeing to meet later on this afternoon or evening. Not long to go now, thankfully. We manage to find a service station that had a working LPG pump so we will now have enough heating and cooking gas to last us until the end of the trip.

We arrive at our campsite, Camping Pont Romain about 8 km from Le Mans.

We get a nice cosy spot tucked up in a corner and get settled in quite quickly.

We have made contact with Karen who is only a two-minute drive from us here at the campsite. She is kindly going to collect us and we will all go together into Le Mans. It’s a 15-minute drive into the town and we park just below the imposing cathedral. France is just full of cathedrals and this one here in Le Mans is quite a spectacular one.

The building of it started in the 6th and took a staggering 9 centuries to build! The stained glass windows are the biggest we have seen. It’s a huge place and very very old.

The walk through the town is wonderful.

Street after street of old stone buildings all lovingly restored or taken care of over the years. We look at a few places to eat and settle on a very charming place with lots of outside space with a tree and umbrella canopy. La Baraque A Boeuf has an excellent and varied menu and the beauty of it is that the price for a 3-course dinner less than 30 euros. The portion sizes are generous and the food and service are excellent. The best meal on the trip so far.

We struggle to walk back to the car, full of excellent French fare.

Karen drives us back to the campsite, it has been a very nice day and evening.

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Wednesday the 18th of September

Le Mans to Tours – 63 miles

We are heading southeast today towards Tours for one night. It’s a very beautiful city and one that we have always wanted to visit in the past. We are all packed up and ready to go. Karen has arrived to meet with us as we are going to pop into the Le Mans Car Museum. The annual Le Mans race is the famous 24-hour endurance race around the track, and nearby roads.

Ten minutes later and we have arrived. For 16 euros each, we get to walk alongside the famous track, which is a bit of a disappointment as there is a huge chain fence between us and the track, for obvious safety reasons, but it does hinder the view a bit.

Today the track is open to what looks like people who have their own race motorbikes, who can pay a fee and ride their bikes as fast as they like. It’s incredibly noisy as up to 100 bikes are zipping around the track. It’s one way of spending your money.

The museum is very good. With cars starting from the very first French Bollee Family car to the latest Alpine A424. It’s well worth a look.

There is also a huge collection of model cars in glass cases from the 1920s to the present day, which is quite an interesting collection that shows all the cars that have taken part and how they have evolved.

Once we are done with the museum and the circuit, the three of us make our way back to Jess at the car park, where Del knocks everyone up a small lunch of bread, cheese, local Jam and duck rillettes. Smashing. We discuss tactics for the rest of the day and it’s agreed that we will all meet at the campsite in Tours and Karen will drive us into the city for a look around. We arrive at our campsite after filling up with diesel here in Tours (we arrived here on fumes). We reckon we had about 20 miles left, but you never really know. We get settled in and Karen joins us having gone around the houses a few times getting lost in the endless roundabouts and service roads that just jump out on you. It’s all a bit messy. She has arrived with goodies: cheese, prawns, wine and our favourite dessert for later. We freshen up and make our way back out into the complicated road system towards the centre of town.

The 10-minute drive to the centre is complicated and busy, but eventually, we arrive at the centre of the town of Tours. It’s very smart, we just meander down any old street and they are all the same. Full of lovely shops, bars and restaurants.

We eventually stop in the main square, which is lined with bars. It also seems to be full of students, some doing homework, some just chatting away. It’s very peaceful, friendly and safe. We stop at a bar and order some Kir Royals, all very civilised.

Back to Karen’s car, she kindly drops us off at the campsite and makes her way to her hotel, or rather her chateau. This is her chateaux holiday. She is staying in them and visiting them. We will be visiting a few with her in the coming days. We say goodbye. Back at Jess, it’s a simple dinner of prawns and salad.

It has been a lovely day, the evening is still and the sun is about to set so we decide to have a quick evening walk before turning in.

We finish the night with tea and a French pastry called a ‘Paris Brest’, one of our favourites. Again, thanks to Karen.

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Thursday the 19th of September

Tours to Bracieux (Day 1) – 50 miles

Del slept for 11 hours straight, a record. Hayley is not so good, so she’s a late riser this morning, poor thing. Today we are moving east to a place called Bracieux which will be the start of a small tour of Chateaux. It’s a bright warm day, we have a breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and coffee. It’s a short drive today so we take our time this morning. We stop to do a small shop and wash Jess, she’s starting to look a bit grubby. After 8 euros and 20 minutes, she looks like new again.

We are in the Loire Valley which so far is very picturesque. The road that we are on follows the Loire River almost all the way to the campsite in Bracieux.

We are staying for three days at Camping Les Chateaux part of a chain of campsites run by Huttopia. It’s based in some woodlands and is fabulous. There are a few water-filled potholes so Jess’s clean wheels are no longer!

We get into our rather large pitch and get set up.

Everything is out for the stay here… Jess gets a good weekly clean inside. Everything, shower, toilet, kitchen everywhere gets cleaned. In a small space, it’s frightening how much dust and grime can gather, and by 3 pm we are sitting in the sun with a cold beer and some nibbles, brilliant. It’s nice here. Quiet and peaceful with lots of birdsong. The weather is warm and sunny so we are off to a good start.

Our friend Karen has been sightseeing all day and we have agreed to meet up with her for dinner at a Michelin listed restaurant in town. We spend the rest of the afternoon in the tranquillity of our French wood enjoying the sunshine.

6 pm and we have to get showered and ready to walk into the small town of Bracieux to meet Karen at her hotel. She is staying in a nice place less than a 5-minute walk from the campsite.

She takes us into the courtyard at the back of the hotel for a glass of fizz. It’s very nice, again peaceful and well appointed with friendly staff. Our table is booked at the Le Rendez-vous des Gourmets for 7:15 so off we trot.

The restaurant is lovely inside. It’s a Bib Gourmand rersturant. The menu is small but with a good choice.

The dinner is excellent, everything about it from the restaurant decor, the excellent service and the food, all helped along with a bottle of Sancerre. One of the best dinners in France so far.

We leave just after 9 and bid Karen goodnight. We walk back to the campsite in the pitch black of night, but real black with only 10% left on our phones for light. We take a few bad turns in the woods but we eventually make it

We are here now for the next three nights.

Tomorrow we are going to visit our first chateau.

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Friday the 20th of September

Bracieux – (Day 2)

We have now been out for a full week today, two more to go. This is our second day here camped in the woods at Bracieux. The town of Bracieux is the heart of the chateaux country. The place is teaming with them. Every 20 to 50 km there is another impressive chateau. Today we are going to the biggest of them all, Chateau Chambord, but first, we have breakfast at Jess. We are joined by Karen. Del does a fabulous scrambled egg with smoked salmon, tea, coffee, and some toast with cherry jam. Quite a feed.

After the clean-up, again done by Del, we set off in Karen’s car towards Chambord. It’s a short drive and in the distance, we can see the chateau and what a sight it is. It is huge, ornate and very impressive. Quite a sight. We get parked up and make the short walk to the ticket office and the chateau itself. Hayley and Karen take an iPad or HistoPad to walk around with to get a full interactive history and description of the place.

The chateau took 28 years to build and was the home visiting place for up to 2000 courtiers, royalty and politicians, their families and their friends. It has quite a history, one fact that stands out is that in 1939 the Louvre in Paris was emptied and all the artwork, over 5300 cases of it was transferred and stored here to protect it during the second world war.

After a couple of hours, we walk out and attempt to walk the perimeter and see some of the gardens, but it appears that some of the walkways are closed off and it looked more complicated than it appears. No matter we have seen enough and head back to the car.

We drive to our local town to find a patisserie for the purchase of fine French fancies but find that it’s shut. What a shame. Del and Hayley head back to the van, leaving Karen to enjoy some cheese and wine on her terrace.

Back at the van we get the bikes off the back of Jess and go for a short cycle. Del’s bike is on its last legs, a bit like him, but we manage 10km on cycle tracks in the forest.

The tracks just stretch for miles and miles, joining at a junction that has more long stretches of cycleway that go for miles, in all directions.

Back at Jess we shower, clean up Jess and put the bikes back on the back of Jess and cover them up as rain is forecast. Dinner tonight is pasta with a salad and we are looking forward to Karen’s arrival.

She doesn’t disappoint as she cycles to us appearing at the side of the van on her bike with a bag with a baguette sticking out the top. There are more surprises in the bag. Three French cakes from a patisserie that she eventually found.

Dinner is very pleasant. The evening is warm and bright, hard to believe that rain is forecast. We shall see.

An early night tonight. After dinner Karen sets off on her bike before it gets dark, Del does all of the cleaning up, Hayley put on a fine dinner together after all.

All in all a very nice day and evening. What shall we do tomorrow?

See more of Del’s photos on his website and Flickr account.

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Well, that’s the summer of 2024 been and gone, and what a disappointment it was. Saying that we did have some days of warm weather, but it was never a “real” summer, not the kind of summer that we remember from previous years. It was a busy summer for us this year. Plenty of work with lots of friends and family coming to visit us on the Island. You all know who you are. It was lovely to see you all and we hope to see you again soon. Many thanks for making the effort to come and see us, it’s a long way and not the easiest place to get to, so thank you very much.

Now autumn is with us, on Thursday the temperature dropped to single figures, and you can smell the change in the air.

We have three weeks spare in September and thought that we would get away to France, now that all the families and kids have finished their holidays, the weather can still be warm and beautiful so why not? Hayley has done some prep and even booked a few sites for us to stay in advance. During our trip, we will be joined again by our good friend from the Island who spent some time with us on our last trip in May. She is going to be in France touring some of the finest chateaux, so we hope to be joining her soon.

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13th September 2024 – Home to Calais. 182 miles

We are up early, ferries are booked, Jess is prepared so off we go. The Wightlink Ferry leaves on time, for a change.

Next the long drive from Portsmouth to Dover, which is uneventful until we get to Cobham services on the M25 going east. Del fancies a coffee from Greggs, which is nice, however, the car park is in gridlock. No one can get out due to the only road out of the service station being blocked as most people want to go west toward Heathrow into roadworks and a huge traffic jam. All the traffic is backed up to the service station, brilliant. We are trapped there for 45 minutes.

Finally, we are free from Cobham services and on our way. We make good progress and can get on an earlier ferry. Fabulous.

The weather is stunning. It’s bright, sunny, warm and calm as we slip away from Dover and into the English Channel, we can see France clearly in the distance. The boat is empty but very empty. It is a fabulous afternoon crossing.

Tonight we will stop at an aire in Calais, a massive aire capable of holding over 100 vans. It’s still quite full even though the holidays are over. It would appear that a lot of people have the same idea as us… We get parked up, plugged up and cleaned up and set off for a walk after hours of sitting.

It’s a lovely evening in Calais. We visited here in May and it took us by surprise. It gets a lot of bad press about immigrants, hoards of men roaming the streets etc, but the beachfront is very smart and tidy. We have a good long walk before turning back towards our mobile home, stopping to take in the sunset.

A very calm, relaxing and pleasant start to our trip.

Week 3 (last week) from Sainte-Mère-Église to Calais 480 miles

Sainte-Mère-Église to Arromanches 40 miles

Saturday 18th May 2024

It’s 10 am and we are off.

A quick grey water drop and fill up with fresh water and we are on the road towards Arromanches and Gold Beach, the British beach during the D-Day landings. We have only one more beach to visit after today, Sword which we shall do in the next few days. On the way, we stop for a shop, as it’s another bank holiday weekend here in France. Anyone would think they were English…!

Before going to Arromanches, we stop at the biggest German cemetery in Normandy, Le Cambe. There are over 21,000 German soldiers buried here. Compared to the American cemetery, which is full of white crosses all in a perfect line and all at the same height, and the British cemetery which is full of colour and well-manicured gardens, the German cemetery is very ‘dark‘.

It’s clean and tidy, but the buried are marked with just a square flat stone with two to a grave, and each sector is denoted with 5 black, rough stone crosses. This German cemetery is only one of many, there are over 80,000 German soldiers buried in total in various cemeteries around Normandy. Just like the Americans and the British, the losses were heavy and also the age of most of the men were very young starting at 18 years old.

There is an interesting exhibition here which we end the visit with.

After over an hour, we move on towards Arromanches. We are heading for a spot that we have been to before which is on a cliff looking out to sea where there is a good view of the remaining Mulberry Harbour. It’s 11 euros for the night, and you pick your own place, of which there are plenty.

Once settled in we set off for a walk towards the town of Arromanches and Gold Beach. We have been here before as well, but this time the tide is out and we can get very close to one of the sections of the harbour. This whole project is just staggering, the planning and execution of the D-Day landings, the cost, not just in lives of course, but money.

The town is very charming so we stop for lunch which for us is unusual, but it’s a nice afternoon, the town is lovely so why not… Hayley has Steak and chips, Del Beef Bourguignon. For dessert, we both have…yes, another ile flottante, the 5th one of the trip!

A delicious lunch was had and we have seen almost all of this small but important town. Just as we are making our way back we see a small collection of classic cars, jeeps, and an ambulance from the war period.

There are also several people dressed similarly, it all looks rather good. We follow them all to the front where this group photograph is being taken.

We guess that they are preparing for the Normandy Festival which is in June, an important date in the Normandy calendar. Everything is being cleaned and painted and the bunting is going up!

Back at Jess, we spend a fantastic late afternoon in the sun reading and chatting. Before we know where we are, it’s 7 pm. No need for dinner but we do have some toast and crumpets followed by some oranges sprinkled with cinnamon. Nice. By 9 pm the sun is still quite high and will set on the sea.

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Sunday 19th May 2024

Arromanches to Caen 23 miles

Del is up first this morning, and looks out of the window to a dense blanket of fog! real fog. It still feels warm though.

Bacon and eggs and bacon sandwiches for breakfast before packing up and setting off for Ouistreham where there is Le Grand Bunker, which is a well-preserved and renovated German bunker that was part of the Atlantic Wall, a German defens line that stretches from Norway down to the Spanish / French border. Mad! We will also be going to Sword Beach, one of the two beaches of the British landings on D-Day. This means that we will have visited and set foot on all 5 beaches of the D-Day landings of 80 years ago,

Del is at the wheel while Hayley does the research on where we will be staying and the best way to get there. She has already put together a couple of options. It’s another bank holiday weekend here in France so places are pretty full. Sure enough, we strike out at the first two places. The idea is to get a place close to the Grand Bunker and walk or cycle to it, but so far everywhere is full.

Change of plan. Instead, we will head to Caen. Caen was devastated in the last war and was a major strategic point, so there is a lot of interest here. Hayley plots us in and off we go. To Caen. The journey is very tricky. Lots of little villages and towns with blind corners, the famous ‘priority to the right’, which is always a pest. We pass a town that has an oyster vending machine! You can get almost anything on a vending machine here in France, pizzas, bread as well as fruit and veg, and now oysters, prawns and mussels.

We arrive at our stop in Caen and right next to us, we have what is considered the best memorial/museum about WW2. Every review raves about it. It’s THE MUSEUM. We will, of course, check that out once we have had a cup of tea and walked around the Parc de la Colline aux Oiseaux. It’s a big park with birds! The flying kind!

The walk around the park is fabulous. There is a huge rose garden, unfortunately, it is not all out yet, but by the summer it will be amazing. There is a maze here that Hayley has a go at. It’s not long before she reaches the middle, but getting out proves to be a challenge. Poor love.

At 2:30 pm we go into the Caen Memorial Museum. What a place! It’s huge.

Admission is 19 euros. Once in we start with a bite to eat and then we are off. There is an original 70m long Nazi bunker that the museum is built on. The section about World War 2 is immense and tells the whole story from the signing of the Versailles Treaty to Hitler getting mardy about it, doing a bit of agitating before letting off a big stink in Europe… Well, the rest we all know about. There is a section about the D-Day landings, a section on Normandy, and the whole area devoted to the Cold War with a 360-degree cinema recalling European history from 1914 – 1991 in 30 minutes. As humans, we are not good. There is, and always will be someone, somewhere having a moan and starting a scrap.

At 6:45 we exit the building… Worn out. It is a brilliant museum and an absolute must-see. Sadly we didn’t take any pictures as it just kept our attention throughout, but do check out the website and see for yourself.

Back at Jess for a lovely dinner outside. We finish just in time as it clouds over and chills the air a bit, so we head inside.

Hayley serenades us with her mini guitar, while Del sorts out photos and brings the blog up to date. It’s been a good day. We were a bit worn out physically and mentally after 4 and a bit hours in the museum, but it was well worth the time and the 19 euros.

Tomorrow we are going to have another attempt to go to Ouistreham and to have a look at the Pegasus bridge. Not long until our return home now.

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Monday 20th May 2024

Caen to Ouistreham 12 miles

A short twelve-mile drive today to the town of Ouistreham. This is a port town, and it is where the Portsmouth Caen ferry comes. There is our last “war attraction” there called Le Grande Bunker. It was part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, a wall of defence from the top of Norway right down to the French / Spanish border. But first, we need to do a van service which is the usual, grey water drop, fill up with fresh and change the toilet. Nice. We have a good hearty breakfast first before the service.

Soon we are off. We do a quick and uneventful diversion via the Pegasus Bridge.

The original is in a museum, but oddly enough the replacement is almost identical. Not much to see here really although we gather it was important at the time! We drive on and arrive at Camping Les Salines.

Hayley goes into the office and gets a nice friendly reception from the lady there, who gives us a pitch number. As soon as the engine is off we are walking towards Sword Beach.

We have now been to all 5 beaches from the Normandy D-Day landings in the following order. The links below are to Wikipedia details about each beach.

JUNO BEACH (CAN & GB)

OMAHA BEACH (US & GB)

UTAH BEACH (US)

GOLD BEACH (GB)

SWORD BEACH (GB)

Of course, there is a whole load of stuff to see at all of the beaches and the surrounding areas and it is all good, historical and interesting stuff.

We walk along Sword Beach towards the Bunker. It’s a good half-hour walk and we finally find the bunker in the middle of a housing estate.

Back in the day, the area was just brown land with a hideous concrete monolith bang in the middle of it, but they have preserved the bunker and over the years built a housing estate around it. It does look and feels strange.

7 euros each gets you into this solid concrete block with its 4 floors. It’s quite cramped and busy so there is a lot of manoeuvring going on. The rooms in the bunker have been rebuilt with the real stuff inside as it was used, with accompanying descriptions and photos.

It is a bit creepy looking at a photo of the room that you are standing in and looking at the German military “doing their thing“. For Del, it is quite unsettling.

We are all ‘museumed‘ out now. We have been in so many and learnt such a lot, stuff we just didn’t know… Time for something to eat. We find a restaurant set back from the front and dig into mussels, veal, fries, and… yes… another ile flottante. Can’t get enough of them now.

The wind has built and it’s chilly as we walk along the front back to the van. It was well worth it, a good day out! Back at base we just relax and chill out, Hayley is wiped out, poor thing.

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Tuesday 21st May 2024

Ouistreham to Blagny-sur-Bresle 137 miles

It rained a lot last night. Heavy rain at times, loud on the roof. It’s ok when it’s a light shower, but heavy rain can make quite a racket. Hayley didn’t sleep well as a result. Today we are heading north, closer to Calais and home. We are not sure yet where we will stop tonight. Hayley did find a very nice place but there was one report of van break-ins, but only one person mentioned it so we were a little suspicious that the review was false. We set off and spoke about it a lot along the way and elected not to go there, and to find another place instead.

French motorway today for most of the way which means tolls, lots of them. By the time we finish this part of the trip, we have spent 28 euros!! These French motorways are expensive. We are going to a campsite just off the motorway in a town called “Blangy-sur-Bresle” which is about 1 and a half hours south of Calais.

Last night’s rain has left everywhere damp and boggy even at the campsite. We are welcomed by a nice lady who says we can pitch wherever we like. We decide on a spot with a view of a lake, even though it’s a bit grey today, it still looks very nice. There is a bit of maneuvering in the pitch as it is boggy and there are large trenches made by the wheels of previous vans. We try moving around in the pitch to get level and decide to give up.

There are plenty of pitches to choose from. Del jumps out and goes in search of a better spot while Hayley is reversing Jess out of the pitch when suddenly…

“Crunch” she has hit a power bollard on the passenger side of the van. The result is an 8-inch crack on the lower cowling.

It sounds worse than it looks but Hayley is devastated. She has been driving for over 35 years, and driving the van for 6, and has NEVER had an incident so of course her pride, as well as Jess, has been damaged.

It really is no big deal, stuff happens. A bit of Araldite and some webbing on the back, and a new UK sticker will cover up and make good the damage. No problem. Let’s have a big “Awwww…” for Hayley… Poor love, she is upset.

The sky keeps threatening rain but we get some boots on and set off for a walk around the lake. The path is not very clear and some parts are muddy so there is a bit of backwards and forwards going on.

After a while, we give up. Hayley’s enthusiasm is also cracked so we head back to Jess for a tea while she watches a bunch of YouTube rollercoaster videos to cheer herself up.

Tonight we are having Pizza from the campsite with a glass of rose wine and an early night. Tomorrow we are heading for Calais where we intend to have a good look around the town as we have heard it’s very nice despite the bad press back in the UK. We shall see.

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Wednesday 22nd May 2024

Blagny-sur-Bresle to Calais 92 miles

Today we are on our last French drive before home. We are heading for Calais and a campsite right on the beach. Hayley is at the wheel taking us north. Again toll roads and today it cost 13 euros. The campsite is called Camping Calais Plage or Camping Calais Beach. The drive is easy and reasonably quick although the weather is a little brutal with sharp showers of rain when we set off and strong winds that buffet the van on the exposed parts of the motorway.

Before we get to the campsite we want to fill up with LPG for cooking and heating. We like to leave Jess full of gas and diesel while stored, it means that she is ready to go for the next trip. We find a service station close to the campsite that does both. Before all of that though there are a few things that we need from the shops first. Of course, there are a few essentials like milk, bread, and a few foodie things to take home, but more importantly we need to take back some wine and fizz. There is a huge supermarket where we spend a good hour walking around browsing and filling the trolley.

This is Carrefour, which is the equivalent of Tesco in the UK, but France being France it just goes that little bit further. Cakes are a big thing here of course and in this supermarket, they have a fabulous display of cakes. Stunning.

By the time we leave, we have purchased 5 boxes of wine. A red, white, rose and of course some Cremant, a champagne substitute. Oh well…, sometimes. you just have to cut your cloth accordingly.

Del is charged with pushing the heavily laden trolley to the van in a force 9 wind. He makes it. The drink is safely in the van!

The campsite is warm and friendly and we are checked in quickly with a nice private space. As soon as we are in we get to work on some of the de-prep of the van. Everything is on the site so the van shower is cleaned down and closed off, cupboards are emptied and cleared out and some bits are packed away. The rest we will do when we get home. Our unpacking is now much simpler as we can park Jess right outside the flat, open the large terrace doors, and just dump everything in the flat for sorting later. We also now have a new storage space for Jess which is just a three-minute walk.

The sun is out now, but the wind is vicious. No matter we get some big coats on and set off for a walk around Calais.

On the way into the town, we spot this large mechanical dragon, yes a dragon, with people on its back! As we get closer we see it throwing out fire and slowly moving around a flat concreted piece of land.

It’s quite something and is a permanent attraction in the town, and well-liked by the locals and tourists alike. It’s called the La Compagnie du Dragon. It’s a massive 72-ton human-controlled dragon that offers 1-hour rides for just under 10 euros. It interacts with the public watching and is quite scary when he turns around and looks at you then spits water at you! It’s great fun and quite a piece of kit.

As for Calais itself, we find it to be very nice. There are some rather brutal 60s built blocks of flats and buildings, but Calais was flattened towards the end of the war in 1944 with the interim period seeing all kinds of temporary buildings going up. Saying that there are some very nice buildings, the town hall for example is stunning.

The streets are very clean and tidy, and the beachfront is wonderful, having just recently been built. The main street has lovely shops, restaurants, and bars. Not what we were expecting given the news that we hear about Calais, most of it is nonsense.

On the subject of restaurants, Hayley has found us a nice place. Calais, it would appear, has quite a collection of excellent and highly-rated restaurants. She can secure us a table for two at Histoire Ancienne. We walk around to kill a bit of time before our dining time. There are some lovely parks here too to walk around.

Dinner is a fabulous event. The restaurant is superb, beautiful inside, with excellent service, and the food is very tasty. A lovely place.

The walk back is via the hanger that the Calais Dragon is stored in (sleeps in). He looks great with his eyes closed with just a light on at the end of his tail.

Full of food, and drink we make it back to Jess, for bed. Up early tomorrow.

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Thursday 23rd May 2024

Calais to Home, East Cowes 190 miles

We are up at 7am this morning, the earliest that we have been up at on this trip so far! Sadly we are going home today, our ferry from Calais is at 9am, so we are up for a short breakfast and a quick coffee. We have already done some of the breakdown and packing, we will do the rest when we get back.

It’s a bright sunny morning when we leave the campsite, the drive to the ferry port is only about 10 minutes. We arrive in time for our check-in time, and everything goes well, very quickly, quickest yet. Soon Jess is parked up at the front of the boat and we are in the lounge having another coffee and a croissant.

1 hour and 40 minutes later we are disembarking after a, thankfully, uneventful crossing of the channel. Already we have discovered that the M20 has multiple accidents as Operation Brock was put in action overnight for some reason. As a result, because of all the contra-flows and chicanes used for Operation Brock, it seems there have been accidents.

Brilliant. If you read the opening sentence on their website above, it’s a joke. The delay is more than an hour.

Hayley has found another route for us but as usual, we have bumped into 30 mph speed restrictions, police speed checks, and the usual 50mph speed restriction on the A2. Why do things not work here…? Oh, and the mobile reception is rubbish as well. Not that we are moaning you understand.

We have a set ferry time to the Isle of Wight so the race is kind of on to make that time. We shall see.

After a lot of stopping, starting, and diverting, we finally arrived at Portsmouth Harbour with 15 minutes to spare! However… When we check in we are told that there is £19.80 outstanding, even though we paid the full amount in advance and we have a receipt to prove it. After some back and forth a call is put into the Caravan and Motorhoming Club who confirm that we have paid and instruct Wightlink to let us on the boat and that they would sort it out. We guess that Wightlink, who are not immune from making a mess of things, have messed this up as well. Useless.

The 40-minute crossing is very nice, with bright sunlight and lots of boats out enjoying the day. We get off the boat and head for home. Once parked up at the flat we empty the van into the living room, clean Jess down, and take her around the corner to her new storage place.

With her cover on she is now safe and sound, cleaned up, and ready for the next outing which will probably be a couple of island stays and then another French trip in September. We have had a very enjoyable trip to Normandy which is a lovely place and a place that we will revisit. We had great company in the first week of our trip from a good friend from the island.

Once again we would like to thank all of our friends and family that have followed us on this short trip. We love getting your comments. Our very best wishes to you all. If you can get out there then do it, travel, and see what you can while you can. Once again, many thanks to you all.

Some simple stats from this trip

• French motorway tolls: 85 euros
• Diesel: 217 euros
• Miles covered on this trip: 909 miles

Week 2 – Juno Beach to Sainte-Mère-Église – 95 miles

Saturday 11th of May 2024

Juno Beach to Bayeux – 32 miles

It’s a bright clear blue sky this morning, and we have learned that most of the UK had a light show in the sky courtesy of a solar storm, the biggest in decades, providing some spectacular colourful skies. For us, it’s a stunning morning, not a cloud in the sky and already it’s quite warm. Day two of wearing shorts. How long will it last? We are joined by Karen for a cup of tea and to put together a plan for the day. We are off to Bayeux and stopping there for three nights. Karen has a rather splendid hotel and we are staying at the municipal campsite near town. We have been there there before. It’s a very good site and has everything we need, so we are looking forward to it.

Our main stop of the day is the American Cemetery of Normandy.

There are nearly 10,000 men buried here in beautiful grounds that are maintained all year round, they are immaculate. It’s not too far away but the drive is a bit twisty, taking us through small villages and bendy roads, so the drive will be about 40 minutes.

Just as we are about to get fed up with the drive we finally arrive at the cemetery and get parked up. The first thing that we have noticed is that to park here it’s free of charge, however in the British one that we went to yesterday, we had to pay for parking. Typical.

We have a walk around the cemetery which looks spectacular with its rows and rows of white crosses all perfectly in line. Again a very sobering day. So many young men gave their lives, each one marked by a white marble cross.

We meet Karen inside and take our time strolling around the cemetery and making our way back to the exit. Once at Jess, we have an impromptu lunch, very simple of bread, cheese, and sardines, which are delicious. The cemetery is now packed. We need to see these places before 1 pm and there are so many to see. We decide, however, to get to Bayeux. On the way, we will go to a shop, which by chance is next to the campsite. Karen gets checked into the hotel and spends some time by the pool while we get Jess stripped and cleaned out for her weekly clean.

Soon we have her ship shape and spend the afternoon in our back garden.

We have a small space but enough room for us. The rest of the day is spent chatting and reading. It’s perfect. Tonight Karen will be joining us at Jess for dinner. What shall we have?

At 7 pm Karen appears and as usual is well turned out. We are always in our scruff, but Karen has turned up in a different outfit every night. Fabulous. Tonight we are having a tomato, mozzarella with basil salad, followed by ravioli roulette, two types mixed up. Fabulous.

This is all helped along with a Sancerre and a Pouilly Fume wine. Even more fabulous. After a short break, Hayley puts together some orange slices sprinkled with Cinnamon. Fantastic. A lovely evening in the setting sun next to Jess and good company, food, and wine. That’s what this is all about.

We have a guest washer-upper tonight. Karen has volunteered to potter off and wash up the dinner stuff. Thanks, Karen.

The sun is setting and the air is starting to chill. Karen has left her car with us in the camp car park and like all good self-sufficient travellers has a fold-up bike in her boot. Within seconds it’s all folded out and ready to go. See you later…!

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Sunday 12th of May 2024 – Bayeux day 2

We slept well last night and woke up to a warm sunny morning. We have a long lazy breakfast, just for a change. Karen is calling on us at 11 this morning and we are going to Omaha Beach – the American Beach during the D-Day landings. This morning Karen has had a good walk around the town and shared these fantastic pictures of the local shop fronts that have paintings on their windows in commemoration of the 80th anniversary.

It’s hot already in the car as we do the 30-minute drive to Pointe du Hoc. Once parked up we enter a small modern building that is showing a short video about what went on here, namely the scaling of the cliffs by the US Rangers to get to the heavily fortified German bunkers at the top. And they are fortified. So much concrete and steel!

It’s getting hotter as we walk around this large site, which is full of bomb craters. It’s a relief to walk into some of the bunkers which are nice and cool! We think we have spent enough time here and head back to the car. Next, we are going to Omaha Beach – the American beach during the D-Day landings.

A short drive later we get parked up and head for a small cafe with a view out to sea and have a light lunch before heading along the beach to the town which is a good 30-minute walk. We set off, but the town is not getting closer.

If we have to do 30 minutes walking there, then of course we have to do the same coming back. Del is quick to point this out, the girls agree and we turn around and get back in the car for the 3-minute drive to the town.

We stop at The Braves sculpture. An impressive piece of art right on the beach. People walk around it, photograph it, even Del gets up close only to be told that “to respect those that died please do not go within 3 meters of the sculpture“.

It appears that nobody read that, even Del. Still, we stop and admire the sculpture and think again about what went on here.

The next stop is the Overlord museum, which is back towards the American Cemetery. We are starting to flag a bit now. It’s so hot and humid, but we push through and go into the museum which is reasonably priced, and once in is very interesting. It tells the whole story of WW2 and the rise of Hitler and his massive war machine.

There are mock-up scenes using real equipment that have been gathered by a Frenchman who came up with the idea of the museum but sadly died before it opened. It’s a very interesting museum, one of many in the area, but this one should go on your list if you are ever in these parts.

At 4 pm we decide that we have had enough and set off back for home. Karen to her hotel, Del and Hayley back to Jess, where we sit in the sun, guzzling water. We will all meet at 6:15 tonight for dinner in the town of Bayeux.

Dinner tonight is in a small hotel restaurant which is packed! The last time we were here was September 2 years ago when it was almost empty, so it was a surprise to see not only the inside but the outside just packed. Fortunately, Karen was able to get a table for us and guarded it until we arrived.

All very nice and pleasant. Hayley was dissappointed that it was not the same as her last visit. Karen enjoyed it, Del loved it. He had everything raw! Six oysters and steak tartar. Delicious.

We end the day at Karen’s hotel with a glass or two of Sancerre with some good conversation.

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Monday 13th of May 2024 – Bayeux day 3

The weather has changed, and quite a lot. It’s grey this morning and today we are expecting rain later. We shall see.

Today we are meeting Karen in town and we will set off to see the Bayeux Tapersty.

On the way we pop into a ‘Salon de the’ for…, tea. Karen has a coffee and a pastry. The shop is lovely with a beautiful terrace on the top floor. It sells the most spectacular looking cakes, again a French speciality. Their cakes are the best.

Tea drinking done, we head for the Bayeux Tapestry Museum. 12 euros later we have the English translation headphones on and we are off. For Karen it’s the first time, for Del and Hayley it’s the third! We love it here. We are all feeling a little tired and a bit worse for wear after last night.

Next, we are setting off in Karen’s BMW for the D-Day Experience.

The D-Day Experience is considered to be one of the best museums on the subject. There is a cinema, a museum and an aircraft simulator. It is also the location of Dead Man’s Corner, which is a road junction where an American soldier was left sitting dead in his tank by the Germans.

The cinema is in 3D and is brilliant. It tells the story of the D-Day landings in excellent detail and is easy to follow, an excellent job.

The house at Dead Man’s Corner is a museum and is also a very interesting location. It was used as a German paratrooper command post, so the rooms in the house have all been recreated. At the back of the building is a shop that sells original artefacts from spent bullet cases, medals, flags and clothes. A fascinating shop.

The main museum is just as good with excellent recreations and displays.

For the aircraft simulation, you attend a briefing by an American commander using 3D projection explaining what the mission will be, after which you are led into an original Douglas C47 Skytrain troop carrier called Stoy Hora, it’s an aircraft that has been mounted on hydraulic jacks and a lift. Inside the plane, the windows have been replaced by monitors showing what’s going on outside.

It’s very effective as we simulate a lift off from Exeter, flying through storm clouds whilst being shot at and eventually making an emergency landing in France. Very effective.

By now we have had enough and do the 30 minute drive back home. We separate and just relax for an hour or two. The rain is now heavy and constant, but it breaks just enough for us to walk into town to meet up with Karen before 7 for dinner. We have found a smashing resturant and have the best meal out of the trip so far. Fabulous.

It’s our last night wth Karen. Tomorow she has to drive back to Le Havre, a good couple of hours away for an 9pm ferry back home. She will be joining us for a last breakfast tomorrow.

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Tuesday 14th of May 2024 – Bayeux day 4

At 10am sharp there is a tap at the van door. It’s Karen who is joining us for her breakfast, our last one together. Del is up and running with tea, toast and scrambled eggs, oh, and he’s running back and forward doing the laundry!

A mixed bag of weather today. With the sun out it’s nice and warm, but we do keep getting sharp little showers now and then. Well, we are in Normandy and Normandy is famous for being wet. There is also a breeze which is building.

After breakfast, we all pile into Karen’s car and head for the Bayeux War Cemetery, which is mainly a burial ground for British soldiers. Like all the other cemeteries here there is a headstone for each of the fallen but this one has more colour.

The base of each gravestone has small shrubs and colourful flowers. It’s all quite nice and of course very neat. Here there are not only British service men, but there are also other nationalities, Polish, Czech, Russian and some Germans.

After our pleasant walk, we head back to the car. The next stop is a wine warehouse, that is located right outside our campsite. Karen is on a mission to stock up and there’s no better, more convenient place than this. Del & Hayley also buy a bottle of two and some very colourful tins of sardines… Nice.

We help Karen load her boxes of wines into the car and we all set off for the supermarket to do a small stock up then back to Jess for a small lunch before Karen sets off for home.

Just before 3 pm, Karen is loaded up, fed and watered and we are waving her off. Her ferry is from Le Havre at 9 pm local time, but she intends to stop along the way to visit Caen and anywhere else that she might find along the way.

It has been very nice having Karen share our first week and a bit. Great company, lively conversation, some deep, some not so, but always entertaining. Very good company indeed. We have eaten and sometimes drank a lot, but we are in France and they do do a good feed and drink here, and we are not here for very long!

Safe travels Karen, and see you back home on the island… xx

Hayley and Del spend the rest of the afternoon, dodging the showers of rain and doing more of the laundry. The decision has been made to stay another day and cycle to the Normandy museum. There is still lots to do here and with 9 days left before home another day won’t do us any harm, and it’s very nice here.

The evening is a nice dinner in.

Tonight Hayley signs up to the Open University OpenLearn and starts a 12 hour course on the ‘Science of Nuclear Energy’. Well you have to have a hobby!

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Wednesday 15th of May 2024 – Bayeux Day 5

Having done 5 days now here in Bayeux, we have finally run out of fresh water, and because we are now staying another day, we also have been asked to go to another pitch. We will fill up with fresh water and dump the grey when our space becomes available. It’s a sunny morning, and dry. Breakfast is bacon sandwiches and coffee. There is an empty place at the table this morning…

We have to wait for our space to become vacant before we can do anything today, it’s already 10am, and the spot that we are going into is still occupied and they are still asleep in there…

After a while, Hayley can’t wait any longer, as there is no indication of the people in the pitch getting up, and we don’t want to see our last day in Bayeux being eaten away. She sets off for the camp office and returns quite quickly with a new pitch number. We pack up and empty the grey water, fill up with fresh and install ourselves in our new spot. It’s bigger than the last one, with the sun at the back of the van for most of the day.

We unhook the bikes from the back of Jess and set off towards the Battle of Normandy Museum.

Located not too far from the Bayeux War Cemetery, the museum can be identified by a couple of tanks outside. For the price of the ticket, 14 euros you get entrance to the museum and to the Bayeux Tapestry, which we have already seen this week.

The museum is excellent. If D-Day wasn’t bad enough, and we have seen lots of stuff about that, what happened afterwards in Normandy was also pretty dreadful, and went on for some time after D-Day. This museum is all about what happened in Normandy after D-Day. Lots to look at, lots to read all very interesting stuff.

Back on the bikes, we make our way across town to the cathedral. A massive imposing building, but beautiful. Inside it’s very grand and on a large scale. The ceilings seem to go on forever.

We are not religious, but we do like these cathedrals, the building of them so many hundreds of years ago is quite something.

After a good look and walk around the cathedral we decide that if we have a ticket to the Bayeux Tapestry then why not use it…? We love the tapestry, it’s one of our favourite artefacts which is made all the more amusing as we both hated it at school… After a short walk, we are in a very short queue to see it. Since our last visit with Karen a few days ago, Hayley has done a bit more swotting up on the details of what “the rag” is all about and shares the details with Del before going in. It never fails to amuse us and hold our attention. A 70m strip of linen embroidered by women nearly 950 years ago that tells a story about a couple of blokes that have a fight, one of which gets it in the eye! Amazing.

If you would like a quick, easy-to-follow run-through of the story, have a look here. It’s very good.

We are hungry now and after a walk around the lovely streets of Bayeux, we find a smart little restaurant to have a simple early dinner. It’s fantastic, very simple, but so tasty and very enjoyable. The heavens have opened and it pours down for a short period. Satisfied with our day we make our way back to the bikes.

We get but a few meters out of the restaurant and we are suddenly showered, heavily, with what feels like a bucket of water being poured on us, only to find out that it’s bird poo…!!!! Hayley takes the direct hit. She is covered in the stuff from her head to her shoes. She looks like someone has thrown a bucket of paint at her. We couldn’t see the offending bird as it made its escape unaware of the damage below, but whatever it was it was huge…

We get back to the bikes smelling like an old birdcage, it stinks as we cycle back to camp to strip off and shower. Hayley hand-washes the coats and bike bag. Del also has got a light coating. It’s everywhere…is there something about it being lucky…? The amount that has hit poor Hayley, she should go and buy a dozen lottery tickets… sharpish.

Back at the van, cleaned up, we sit in the early evening sunshine. It’s lovely and quiet, the silence only broken by bird song. Fabulous. We are leaving Bayeux tomorrow and heading for our third D-Day beach, Utah.

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Thursday 16th of May 2024 – Bayeux to Utah Beach 37 miles

Finally, after 5 nights here in Bayeux, we are on the move again. A week today it will be over and we will be back home. It’s a bright sunny morning as we settle into a nice breakfast of soft boiled eggs, toast and coffee before preparing Jess for departure. Del does the washing up while Hayley prepares the inside of the van. It’s amazing how you spread yourself out if you stay for anymore than a couple of days in place. We have enjoyed this past 5 days in Bayeux. We like it here very much, the campsite is beautiful the town is lovely. We have had a good friend with us for most of it… It has just been one of those very nice weeks!

We have filled up with fresh water, dumped the grey water and Del has emptied the toilet. A quick stop at the local supermarket for some basics and we are on our way. Today we are going the furthest west on this trip to Utah Beach, one of the American beaches in the D-Day landings before turning around tomorrow to head slowly for home.

It’s a lovely drive today. No motorways, just French country roads with green fields and trees. Nice.

We soon arrive at the ‘Camping Carpark’ at Utah Beach, and without too much fuss, and an efficiency that frightens us, we are parked up, plugged in, and bikes off the back and away for the gentle flat cycle to Utah beach itself.

We have been here before, but it’s always worth another visit to see the expansive beach and to stand there trying, and failing to imagine how it might have been 80 years ago.

There is a lot to see here and there is a fabulous museum right on the beach. We have been to the museum on our last trip but this time we give it a miss in favour of ice cream and a walk.

Back on the bikes, this time we are looking for a German bunker a few kilometres from where we are. Again we have a look at the beach here before mounting the bikes and heading back to Jess. It’s a lovely afternoon, warm in the sun, so we head back for tea and a read.

A lovely afternoon in the sun, but it does start to cloud over and get cool. It doesn’t stop us though. We have the awning out and put warmer clothes on and stay outside in the fresh air.

We are in a nice place. Out in the country, lots of bird song with horses across the not very busy road. Not bad for a Thursday.

Dinner tonight… Italian, on Jess our Italian van…! It’s a gorgeous night. After a short sharp shower, the sky turns blue and it’s a beautiful fresh evening. While enjoying our dinner a French van turns up next door and has trouble stretching his electricity cable so we offer him to trail it through our ‘terrace’. He is so grateful that he comes over with a gift of a bottle of wine. How sweet!

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Friday 17th of May 2024 – Utah Beach to Sainte-Mère-Église 8 miles

Sadly our journey in the direction of home starts today. We are now heading back slowly towards Calais for the ferry home next Thursday. We still have a few places to go to and check out, so it’s not over yet.

Unusually, we are packed, serviced and on our way by 9:45am! It’s less than 10 miles to today’s destination. We are going to Sainte-Mère-Église (Holy Mother church). A tiny town but very significant. It is where the American Airborne Division first landed on D-Day and was the first French town to be liberated.

The church is very old and charming, some of the windows have been replaced, because of war damage, with new colourful windows commemorating The American Airborne Division. Have a look here for the story of that time. It is also famous for the paratrooper, John Steele who while descending, got his chute caught on the church in the town and had to pretend to be dead for up to two hours before being cut free by the Germans and taken prisoner.

Because of the significance of the American action in the town, there is a museum here, The Airborne Museum.

This museum is excellent, one of the best we have seen. Packed with stuff to read, listen and interact with. The town has a great affection for the Americans, and understandably so, and this amazing museum tells the whole story. A great place to visit.

We spend a good three hours in the museum, you could quite easily spend a lot more time there, but we have seen enough and take a walk around the town. It’s so small it doesn’t take long at all, so we head back to Jess for a lazy afternoon.

The evening is beautiful. Clear blue sky, no wind, just the birds. We have a very light dinner, have showers, and sit out for the rest of the evening, just soaking up the early evening air. It has been a good day. Very enjoyable.

Please note: It may appear to the observant reader, that Hayley is wearing the same top all the time. For the record, she has several stripy tops, and one she has two off. All part of her trying to be “French”. No chance.

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Week 1. Dieppe to Juno Beach – 268 miles

Saturday the 4th of May 2024 (Star Wars Day!)

Dieppe to Veules Les Roses – 16 miles

We had a nice peaceful night in the Port of Dieppe motorhome park despite some of the negative reviews regarding boat movement noise and noisy seagulls. It is a port so what do you expect?

We slept well. We need water, so we maneuver ourselves first thing this morning to the water tap and fill up Jess with fresh water, then re-position ourselves back in our space for coffee and a light breakfast while Hayley does her usual route planning.

The sun has popped up over the surrounding cliffs and the motorhome park is bathed in warm sunshine. Nice. Today we are not going far, we are going to our first campsite.

As we drive out of Dieppe we see that it is quite a nice town, clean and tidy with an active marina, and nice streets with lots of shops. There is stuff to see here and maybe we should have stayed for the day, but we would like to get into a campsite and try out the electricity, and make sure that works. There are also just a few maintenance issues that have come to light since we left home. Nothing urgent, things like squeaky doors and cupboards that need a bit of reorganising, so a campsite is ideal. You can make a mess without getting told off.

We find a supermarket and do a stock-up. Next, we hunt down a van wash and find an excellent one. Jess hasn’t been washed for quite a few months so she is looking a bit sad. After 20 minutes she rolls out of the wash looking like new! Shiny, fresh, and clean.

Hayley has found us a lovely campsite called Les Mouettes or The Seagulls. As is the way here in France they close from midday until 2 pm. Lunch is lunch and nothing gets in the way. While we wait Del gives Jess a last wipe-over with a cleaning product that removes all the streaks and stubborn marks that the wash didn’t quite get out.

She looks amazing. The campsite is very close to the town of Veules Les Roses which has the smallest river in France at just over half a mile. It starts in the main town and runs through it straight to the sea. We follow the river through the beautiful town. It is absolutely stunning, thatched cottages and water mills line the tiny river and the center of town has classicly French buildings and squares. It was voted to be the sixth favourite town in France. We love it here.

Back at Jess, we sit in the sun with a drink after our long day out. Tonight we will have a very simple dinner of various salads and prawns with a fresh baguette. Lovely. We have had some fantastic weather here today. After dinner we look outside and the sky is clear blue, but there is a chill in the air on its way!

Sunset is at around 9:15 so we make our way to the Memorial du Cerons which is a large gun recovered from a battleship that sank just off this very coast while rescuing some of the British army.

We watch the day end as we get one of the best sunsets we have seen in a long time. No clouds, no obstructions. Now the air has really chilled as we make our way back to Jess after a rather good day.

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Sunday the 5th of May 2024

Veules Les Roses to Etretat – 36 miles

We are up bright and early this morning. The sky is full of grey clouds, but the temperature is pleasant enough. Today we are on the way to Etretat, a short 1-hour drive along the coast. We’re staying in a paid-for aire tonight, 13 euros for a space. We have a light breakfast and prepare Jess for an overnight stay where we have to be self-sufficient, ie no electricity or water, so we make sure we have a tank full of fresh water and that we have charged up all of our gadgets.

It’s a very picturesque drive, rain is forecast for later on in the day, but for now, it’s very pleasant. Hayley navigates us to the town of Etretat with Del at the wheel. It’s busy when we arrive at the parking spot but not yet full. We choose a space and set off for the town and the beach before the rain comes.

It’s another beautiful French seaside town. Very clean and tidy with spectacular views of the cliffs.

Again this was another heavily fortified place during the war by the Germans. There is still evidence of the Atlantic Wall, a collection of concrete blocks and pillboxes. We have an ice cream and start to take the walk up the hill to a viewpoint that looks back down onto the town. It’s great up here and worth the walk-up.

Hayley checks her rain app. Rain is due in 25 minutes, it will probably take that long to get back, so we start the descent back towards Jess.

While walking back through the town we stumble on a shop that specialises in canned fish called Conserverie La Belle-Iloise. It’s a beautiful shop, very colourful, clean and bright. We have a look in and leave with some white tuna mousse. Hayley has fancied having a try of some pear cider and by chance, we find a small indoor market that has just what she has been looking for.

Armed with our purchases we make our way back to the van just in time for a light shower of rain to start. We open up some windows in Jess and listen to the loud blackbird chirping away with all his might while we try some tuna mousse and a glass, or two, of pear cider. Despite the light rain, it’s a lovely Sunday afternoon. The place is starting to fill up with vans now from many different European countries. We know why. We have only been in this area of France for three days and we have seen some spectacular views in this part of France. There is yet more to come.

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Monday the 6th of May 2024

Etretat to Honfleur- 36 miles

Did we have rain last night or what…? We went to bed and it was so peaceful but at around 1 am the rain hammered down and it rained heavily for over an hour. We did get sleep before and after however and we are feeling quite good this morning. After breakfast, we set off and the sun comes out for a lovely morning 40-minute drive to Honfleur. Here we are meeting up with a good friend from home. She is driving to meet us in Honfleur where we will spend a good week together exploring the local area.

It’s a very picturesque drive, spring is in the air for sure. All the fields and trees are in full bloom and it’s very green and colourful. Lovely. Today we will drive over the Normandy Bridge. This bridge crosses the river Seine, which meanders through Paris and ends in the sea at this point. There is a toll charge, but it is worth it as the bridge has a very steep summit before descending again. When this bridge opened in 1995 it was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. From here it’s just three minutes to the town of Honfleur.

We make our way to the campsite, but because of the recent heavy rain, they are not allowing vans in as the ground has become too boggy and muddy. There is a warning in all the forums about this and today it comes true although they do keep us waiting almost 2 hours to tell us. No matter, there is a 240 motorhome parking spot nearby so we do a quick three-point turn and make for that. It’s certainly a busy place but there are still plenty of places, so we choose one with electricity, get plugged in, and set off for a walk around the town.

Before we spend too much time in the town, Hayley does some research and finds that there is a “garden zoo & butterfly house” here called the Naturospace. 11 euros each later we are surrounded by some beautiful butterflies. It’s not very big but they have a lot of different butterflies flapping about, some are quite big, about the size of a saucer, it’s a lovely place.

Enough of butterflies. It’s a short walk to the town which is beautiful. Lots of restaurants and bars surround the outer perimeter of the port. It’s lovely.

The back streets are even more interesting with some fabulous shops, selling everything from a pair of shoes to original fine art. What a find. We stop at a small bar in the port and have a drink before hunting down a restaurant for dinner tomorrow.

We walk back to Jess and wait to hear from our friend, who has driven from the Isle of Wight. We will all be spending just over a week together. A very nice lady who lives on the west of the Isle of Wight who also likes good food and wine, so it should be a good few days. We spend an hour or two on Jess catching up on paperwork, the weather has become a little unpredictable as we are getting intermittent showers of rain.

At 7 we set off to meet Karen. There is something rather different and strange about meeting friends from home in foreign countries. Not sure what it is. It’s good but feels odd, that you’re not bumping into each other in Waitrose, or arranging to meet at each other houses. Instead, we are meeting next to a big red boat in a small French town. It’s great to meet and catch up as we stroll through the town after settling into a bar in the port. To celebrate our meeting we have a bottle of Champagne, thank you Karen, and chat until late, so much so they are stacking the chairs up around us. We walk her back to her rather unusual and lovely hotel before setting off back to Jess. It’s late.

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Tuesday the 7th of May 2024

Honfleur – Day 2

Today we are staying in Honfleur. Karen joins us on Jess for breakfast. She has brought croissants and very nice they are too with scrambled eggs, tea, and coffee. A very nice relaxed morning. Karen will take us all in her car and drive us to the town of Deauville, south of Le Harve which, quite by coincidence, is twinned with our hometown of East Cowes. However, they couldn’t be any further apart in appearance. The drive there is around 30 minutes. It’s a beautiful place, helped by the glorious sunny weather.

There is a fantastically long sandy beach with trendy little bars. The front is lined with beautiful apartments with precisely cut lawns and clean streets. There is a regular American film festival here, the beach huts are all named after Hollywood stars.

We spend a good hour walking around the beach area before turning our attention to the town itself. Again the streets are so clean and lined with designer clothes shops, art shops, and lots of little independent shops selling all kinds of goodies.

Compared to our own East Cowes, which has a Co-op and a couple of cafes, they are miles apart. We can’t be too hard on our town. It has everything we need and serves its purpose well. If only it was a bit cleaner and a bit more looked after sometimes.

After a short walk, we stop at a creperie in the marina and have something to eat and a chat. It’s a lovely day here but our time is up, we need to get back to the parked car before the meter runs out, which by the way is cheaper to park than on the Isle of Wight. What are we doing wrong…?

Karen takes us back to her hotel and we take a pleasant walk back through the town of Honfleur and back to Jess for a couple of hours. It’s a very warm afternoon as we sit in the van with the windows and door open. Hayley is researching a place for dinner tonight while Del sorts out the photos from the day.

At 7 pm we meet our friend by the red boat again in the port, and head for Hayley’s chosen restaurant. It’s closed… Yes, after all that research it was shut! By good fortune, the restaurant next door has a couple of tables that are not reserved so they squeeze us in. We have a rather splendid dinner there of oysters, fish, chicken, and mussels all helped along with a bottle of Sancerre. Smashing. After dinner, we have a walk around the port. It’s starting to get chilly, so we sit in a small bar for a nightcap (or is it two?) and have a healthy, sometimes animated, debate about men and women until just before midnight. Del lost…!

A very nice day has been had. Tomorrow we are off to stay nearby some painter’s back garden.

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Wednesday the 8th of May 2024 (Victory in Europe Day)

Honfluer to Les Andelys – 67 miles

A slow start to today. A very late breakfast and just general pottering about. Del gets the bikes down off the back of the van and gives them a clean-up and service. We intend to use them today… We are later joined by Karen, who is out and about and comes to tea burgle. Nice to see her for a tea before we all get into our respective vehicles and head off towards Les Andelys which is near Monet’s back garden. Well, 25 minutes near.

Karen speeds off leaving us behind to faff about getting diesel and LPG. Soon we are on our way though and we have a lovely drive to the campsite in Les Andelys which is set in a wide bend of the Seine. Karen is staying in a chalet on the site and we are put near to her. We get settled into our pitch and get properly set up with a groundsheet, awning, table, and chairs, the works just in time for Karen to appear on her folding bike.

We get our bikes off the back and set off for a good cycle along the banks of the Seine.

The weather is pleasant enough, with broken sunshine, it’s dry with no wind. We cycle past a river cruise holiday boat that is loading up with American tourists. Onwards we continue, passing some rather large and expensive-looking houses with private gardens that overlook the river.

Not a long cycle, a couple of kilometers, but we enjoy it and it’s good to be getting some exercise at last. Back at base, Karen retires to her place while Del gives the van a good clean inside and Hayley starts to prepare dinner for the three of us tonight. On the menu… Duck, dauphinoise potatoes and asparagus.

Karen appears at 7 pm prompt and we sit outside with a glass of fizz waiting for dinner which arrives at the table smelling fabulous and tasting amazing.

It’s a wonderful dinner, a good chat, and a few glasses of fizz. The sun is out and it’s warm and calm. It couldn’t have been any better. However, there’s more to come. Karen has bought a selection of cakes in Honfleur.

In France, you don’t just buy cakes… You buy CAKES…! which are just works of art. With a cup of tea, the cakes go down a storm with Hayley proclaiming that the macaroons were the best she has ever had. We have to agree…

By 9:30 the sun has set and the dinner is over. We are all a bit tired after our late night last night and we are full of food, drink, and cakes. By 10 we are all in place, Karen in her chalet, Del, and Hayley in Jess.

Tonight will be an early night. We feel we need it…

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Thursday the 9th of May 2024 – Les Andelys. Day2

We were expecting some good warm weather today but sadly we wake up to a cloudy cool day, maybe we will get some sun later. Karen joins us for breakfast onboard Jess. Once cleaned up we get ready and set off in Karen’s car. Today we are off to Giverny and the the home and gardens of Monet, the painter.

Despite the cloudy weather, it’s a lovely drive through the French countryside, colourful and bright. It’s lovely. We arrive at the car park for “Monetville”, it’s 10 am and already it is packed with cars. We have to drive around the car park a couple of times, but there are no spaces free. Karen decides that we are parking on a piece of grass not knowing if we can or can’t, she doesn’t care and is quite right too. As soon as other arriving cars see her do it then that patch of grass fills up immediately. Well done Karen!

It’s a short walk to Monet’s house and very quickly we are in a queue. It’s packed. It’s a bank holiday in France today, Ascension Day, so it’s not only tourists but the ‘locals‘ are out as well. Del decides to have a look at how long this queue is and sets off to check it out and soon returns with some bad news. It’s long… very long. It’s estimated that we could be here for 2 hours or more, at least. After a while, we decide that we are not keen on standing in line for more than two hours to look at a dead painter’s house and back yard so we decide to give up. Pity.

All is not lost. There are lots of things to see in the area so we spend a good hour or two walking and talking. very pleasant.

Once we think we have seen enough, we have a look at the queue again. We were right. The line has hardly moved and our estimation of 2 hours wasn’t far out, more like three. There is only one small door for the entrance, bags are checked then you have to buy a ticket. Online ticket purchases have been suspended due to how busy it is. It’s all a bit mad really.

Back at the car park cars are still trying to come in and people are just parking anywhere. It’s chaos. We are asked by a disappointed French man if we had a tow rope as he was stuck in a rather large pool of mud. Poor lad. Very soon Karen has us out of there and away, no messing about. The weather has improved and it’s a beautiful sunny day. Hot. After a drive through the countryside, we make our way to the town of Veron.

A very pleasant town where we stop for a salad and a drink before investigating the various patisseries and buy cake. It has to be done.

Two very beautifully presented cakes are purchased and loaded into the boot of the car for the journey back to Jess.

Afternoon tea and cake back at Jess in the now hot sunshine. Summer is here? Maybe. We spend a very nice afternoon just chatting away and putting the world to right over a few white wine spritzers. Well someone has to…

Dinner tonight is a Salad with pan-fried chicken and a glass of fizz. It’s still warm. A lovely evening after a lovely day. No Monet, but who cares, we have had a good day driving around in the French countryside, and spent some time in a typical French town, with the late afternoon and evening outside Jess.

Tomorrow we are all moving on, back toward the coast. We came inland especially to see Monet’s house and gardens so we are making the two-hour drive back towards the coast to see some war stuff. Finally.

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Friday the 10th of May 2024

Les Andelys to Juno Beach – 113 miles

Today is a beautiful, bright, warm sunny day. We have been away for a full week now. We are heading back towards the coast and staying at a campsite at Juno Beach. This is one of the 5 beaches used for the D-Day landings and was managed by the Canadians.

Karen appears for her morning tea and we chat until quite late. We all set off and head back west. It’s a great driving day, the weather is the best we have had in many months, How long will it last?

Before checking into the campsite we all meet at the British Normandy Memorial, which has only been open for 5 years.

Karen is there before us and has already been shopping and is having a picnic in the car park. We leave her to finish off her lunch and we set off to look at the memorial. It’s quite imporessive and very thought provoking, more so as they have what is called “Standing with Giants“, which is 1475 cut outs of soldiers, sailors and airforce men all stamped out of recycled metal road signs which are randomly scattered in the foot hills of the memorial. It’s an amazing sight.

The whole of the memorial is an amazing site, very impressive and well deserved for all those men who died, some as young as 18, on that terrible day.

After a good long walk aroud the memorial we set off towards Juno beach and have a long walk towards the town of Courselles sur Mer. Along the way there are many kinds of memorials and the odd tank scattered around.

Karen sets off to her hotel to check in and we head back to Jess. We are all tired but agree to meet for dinner in the town later on.

Back at Jess we just potter around, it’s only and hour and half before we have to set off again for the walk along the beach. At 7 pm we leave and on our way to meet Karen the restaurant. We have a very simple dinner and complain to each other about feeling tired. By 9pm we are done and dusted. Karen sets off to the hotel and we plod back to Jess.

We are in bed by 10pm having done over16,000 steps thats 7 miles of walking…

Our last trip out ended rather suddenly in February this year as we had to come back due to a family illness. Sadly Hayley’s mum is no longer with us.

Spring is in the air now, or so we are told. It’s the start of May and we are still seeing lots of rain and cool temperatures, but that’s not stopping us. Since we got back home in February it has been rather busy what with a family loss and trying to work as much as we can at the same time and we now feel that the time is right to have a quick three-week trip away in Jess.

For the next three weeks we will be exploring Normandy in France, and in particular making a special trip to the Normandy coast where the D-Day landings took place on the 6th June 1944, 80 years ago. We have been in that area a couple of times on past trips, but we did miss a few things, so to make sure that we see everything this time, we are making a special visit to the area hoping that three weeks will be enough to see everything. During the trip, we are meeting up with a good friend from the Isle of Wight, who will be joining us for about 9 days in her car.

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3rd May 20204.
Home, UK to Dieppe, France – 155 miles
Our journey, as usual, starts from our home base on the Isle of Wight with a ferry from Fishborne to Portsmouth. Then a 2-hour drive to Newhaven for the 4-hour crossing to Dieppe, France. This is the first time that we have used this ferry. The thought of driving to Dover for the ferry to Calais, and then the drive south to Normandy filled us with dread. We are looking forward to this new ferry. It’s only 4 hours but we have booked a cabin so we have somewhere to relax out of the way of everyone.

We now have Jess, our beloved motorhome, stored near the flat where we live. It now only takes 5 minutes to walk to her rather than the almost hour and a half round trip to Ryde and a muddy field where she used to be kept. She has had a full service, and a habitation check, has been cleaned throughout, and is ready to go. This morning we stop briefly at the flat to pick up some remaining bits and pieces before setting off.

The ferry, unusually, leaves on time. There are a few ferries on this route, but today we are on the smaller vessel, the St Faith. It’s an old but reliable boat. A real throaty sounding, dirty, oily, reliable boat. The ferry company bought a huge new ‘hybrid’ boat, the Victoria of Wight which is always out of service for repairs. We don’t think that her namesake would be amused…

It has turned out to be a nice warm sunny day, the crossing is pleasant and uneventful. Next, the short drive from Portsmouth to Newhaven. An hour and a half later and at a steady cruise between 50 to 60 miles per hour, we arrive at the little port of Newhaven between Brighton and Eastbourne. It’s a rather small port, not at all busy, very quiet, but we like it. Compared to the hell hole that is Dover, this is very pleasant.

We arrive a little early but at 4 pm we are shown the way into the belly of the boat, a big blue and yellow shiny vessel.

We make our way to the reception and collect our keys to our cabin, room 649. It’s basic but comfortable. Bunk beds, plenty of room with a shower and toilet. All very clean and tidy with a window on the port side going out to Dieppe (that’s on the left for non-boaties!).

We have a good look around the ship and watch the English coastline fade away into the sea mist and the late afternoon sunshine. Very nice.

Dinner is in the restaurant, we have salad, fish and chips and some cake – a tart Tropezienne, a speciality of St. Tropez.

Back to our cabin for a lie down where Hayley watches Race Around the World while we listen to the low hum of the engine and the gentle movement of the ship as we cross the channel in the setting sun.

Finally, we arrive in Dieppe at 10:15pm and we head for a motorhome spot within the port for our first night. We have no water in our tanks so we have showered on the boat. We have a few bottles of water for tea and breakfast and flushing the loo, we will fill up Jess tomorrow morning.

Shopping day tomorrow.

Week 9 – 2nd February 2024 – 5th February 2024 – Peniscola, Spain to Home, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK (1140 miles)

Friday 2nd February 2024 – Peniscola, Spain – Montech, France (415 miles)

We are setting off today, back to the UK. The news about Hayley’s mum, and all the uncertainty surrounding it, means that we need to get back as quickly and as safely as we can. It will be quite a slog back, more than a thousand miles. We haven’t changed the ferry yet as we are unsure when we will get to Calais with all the farmer’s protests in France.

It’s a bright fresh morning here in Peniscola and we are setting off hoping to get to France later today. We are aiming for a place called Montech, which has some interesting water transportation we would like to get a quick look at on the way.

9 hours later we arrive at an aire. It’s dark and it’s cold, but we are safe and parked up for the night.

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Saturday 3rd February 2024 – Montech – Vatan (270 miles)

After yesterday and the 9-hour slog, we feel we need some exercise before pressing on.

Today we are going to look at a water lift. The Montech Water Slope is an unusual piece of French engineering. Opened in 1974, it is in essence two diesel train engines that are strapped together. Between them and at the front, there is a large rubber wall that forms a leaky seal between two walls and bottom of a canal. the device then pushes a boat and a wedge of water uphill to get the boat up a 13-meter incline, thus cutting out several locks and probably several hours of a journey. It’s crazy really.

It worked, but not really well and quickly fell into decline and ultimately retired. It hasn’t been broken up, in fact, it has been made into a well-deserved tourist attraction. There is a visitors centre, a multimedia presentation and they have painted the trains up in bright colours. It looks fabulous and well worth a visit.

The size alone is quite a sight, so to hear the two trains revving up to push many tonnes of water and a boat up a hill must have been amazing to watch.

Back at Jess, we set off for another long day behind the wheel. We are hoping to do at least 300 miles and get ourselves well up into France. It’s bigger than you think… On the way we stop at a service station that has a fabulous restaurant where we have an amazing burger and fries. Tasty. The motorway service stations in France are very good. They are clean and serve good quality regional food. They have the usual stuff in them, but the restaurants can offer some excellent cuisine. Not like smelly Scratchwood services with its Burger King and W.H. Smiths…

France has recently been under siege. The farmers have been protesting against EU red tape and rising costs and have been demonstrating. The aim is to seal off Paris so the main roads have all been closed by them. Some of the roads have been damaged by their equipment and at one place a whole roundabout had been set alight with trees and bales of hay. A right mess.

Timing is everything. An agreement has just been completed between the farmers and government so we are getting the tail end of the protests. Most of the roads are now open, and there are a few diversions that we have to navigate, but after 270 odd miles and 6 hours, we arrive at Vatan which is bang in the middle of France. Again it’s dark and it’s cold.

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Sunday 4th February 2024 – Vatan – Calais (350 miles)

It’s the last push today in Europe as we are due to be in Calais tomorrow, well placed for the ferry tomorrow morning which Hayley has had to buy new tickets for, as the Caravan Club phone line is not open on the weekend to change the original booking. Because of the continuing road closures, we have decided to get to Calais today via Paris, not through the middle of course but on their version of the M25.

It’s a good drive until we get closer to Paris. The traffic is getting heavier and the driving less patient.

Like most cities, the outskirts are not the prettiest. It’s overcrowded, too many cars and the traffic has almost stopped.

After a while of stop/start, we are on the northeast side of Paris and back on the motorway heading toward Calais and we finally arrive at a huge aire just outside of Calais. It can accommodate her 100 vans but when we get there we are 1 of 6! It’s windy. Very windy.

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Monday 5th February 2024 – Calais – Home. East Cowes (185 miles)

We are up early. Our ferry to Dover is at 8:30, so at half 6 we are up, having a quick coffee and we are off in the dark towards the port. We are going back to Dover with Irish ferries, who leave on time and get us to Dover safely and on time. We have the last long drive left from Dover to Portsmouth and the last ferry to Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight.

The journey from Dover to Portsmouth is always a bit dull. It just seems to go on and on and has the usual roadworks and slow traffic. However, we do arrive at Portsmouth on time for a quick crossing to Fishbourne.

We get back home and unload Jess right outside the door of the flat, something which makes life so easy as we no longer have to ferry stuff back and forth across the road from the van to the house. Soon she is cleaned up, parked and wrapped up, stored away ready for her next trip which will probably be May. We shall see.

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Summary of our trip.

Miles on this trip: 4257

Diesel: 1066 euros

Tolls: 287 euros

LPG: 68 euros

Belgium	1 day
France	5 days
Germany	7 days
Switzerland	11 days
Spain	29 days
DAYS AWAY	53 days

For this trip, we had new tyres! They are excellent. You would think that it wouldn’t make any difference but it does. She drives better and goes around corners better, less “floppy” It’s like driving a different van. We were also equipped for all weather. We bought snow chains, and new winter coats, and we took shorts with us – everything to go from sub-zero to mid-20s temperatures. In the end, it was all a bit disappointing in that respect. However the whole van trip was excellent and we went to a lot of new places, saw and did plenty. A good trip.

We went to Switzerland expecting heavy snow and cold temperatures, in the end, it was cold on occasion but we didn’t see any falling snow, never tried out the snow chains and never got the chance to build a snowman or have a snowball fight. There was a distinct lack of snow for the places and the time of year.

Spain, which is where we expected high teens to mid-20s weather was similarly disappointing. Yes, it was sunny and yes it was warmer than Switzerland, but we had some cool, windy days. The best weather was in the Mar Menor when Del went off to Berlin to work, the weather then was mid-20s.

Fuel was expensive and the French motorway tolls are very expensive. Food and drink were more or less the same as at home. Switzerland was very, very expensive. Switzerland is recognised as the most expensive place to visit, while Monaco is the most expensive to live. Prices to eat out in Luzern for example were off the scale and would have broken our daily budget. It was a wonderful trip, most enjoyable and one that we will probably do again but in reverse so that we get the start of the winter sun in the south and by the time we get to Switzerland there should be more snow. Maybe…

Once again thanks to all our family and friends for following us and reading our ramblings of the day. Thank you for your comments, they are always great to get and read. We do this blog for our family and friends, but more importantly, we do it for ourselves. It’s great to sit down and read and re-live the trip again, and again.

Until the next time, we would like to wish you all good health and happiness and to remind you to get out and about while you can…!

Lots of love

Del, H & Jess

Week 8 – 27th January 2024 – 1st February 2024 –  Mar Menor to Peniscola (250 miles)

Saturday 27th January 2024 – Mar Menor / Berlin Day 4

It’s still good weather in Spain but a bit breezier. The runway resurfacing trucks were still going at midnight last night with their endless beeping, so there’s still no chance of any fighter jet activity. It’s a quiet day with a cycle along the Mar Menor and a quick tapa in a beachside cafe.

In Berlin it’s show day today. Del is up at 6 am for a 7 am call, rehearsals and run-through. The event starts at 1 pm so plenty of time still.

A busy morning but we’re ready on time. By 6 pm it’s all over for the daytime crew, who hand over to the night-time crew for the evening bit which ends at 1 am.

All in all a good day, a good couple of days. Again it’s nice to see so many familiar faces. Good people. Very pleasant. The only downside is the terrible hotel bed! It is shocking!

“Home” tomorrow. Hayley and Jess will pick up Del at Alicante airport at 1:30 pm.

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Sunday 28th January 2024 – Mar Menor / Berlin Day 5

In Spain the weather has turned it’s like it knows that Del is coming back, it has been raining and it’s still grey and a bit cool. H tracks Del’s flight and sets off with Jess to Alicante to pick him up.

In Berlin Del is up at 6 am again today for a 9:30 flight. The airport is about half an hour away, but the airlines do like you to be there bright and early.

A fast drive to the airport by the mad Uber driver, but we get there in one piece with plenty of time to spare only to find there is a delay to the flight. Great. It was going so well. A pretzel and coffee breakfast. Love pretzels!

We finally take off at 11:00 am, an hour and a half late. A pleasant, uneventful flight back to Alicante, a short walk to our agreed meeting point and within 3 minutes Hayley is coming around the corner grinning with a grinning Jess. A very nice welcome back.

The drive to the campsite in Mar Menor is about an hour. Hayley has done a great job of keeping everything in order and doing the two-hour round trip to pick up Del. Great. She has booked us in for a late lunch, early dinner at the local restaurant, Kinita, located right on the beachfront. We are going to have their tasting menu.

We arrive back at the campsite with less than an hour before our booking thanks to the delays Del has had. The weather has cooled off a bit so we are shown to a table for two inside.

It’s quite a feed – 2 small taster plates, 2 starters, 2 mains & 2 desserts… Each!!! The servings are small, but by the time we get to the dessert we have had enough food. It doesn’t stop Del from finishing off Hayley’s dessert though.

Back at Jess a quite peaceful evening. Tomorrow we move on.

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Monday 29th January 2024 – Mar Menor to Benidorm (92 miles)

Today we are going to Benidorm! Yes that’s right, Benidorm. Well, why not? Hayley has found a campsite, which has a good walk into the “main bit”. We are looking at doing two nights there.

The drive is nice and easy, sea on our right, as we make our way north.

The site is huge, having 750 pitches, busy and in parts a little close-quartered. Hayley’s at the wheel and she gets us nicely tucked into a good space. Once settled in we take the walk into town, which is a good 30 minutes. It’s a warm sunny day, so it’s quite pleasant.

We have good look around Benidorm. It’s busy, but not mad busy as it’s winter and most of the people are of a certain age, of which we are one of we suppose.

The peak of summer will probably be a different story entirely, as you can probably imagine! We walk down the main pub, bar and club bit called Calle Gerona and the down to the esplanade where we have a very tasty and cheap chicken and chips, salad and a drink for 10 euros each. Excellent.

A bit more walking in the sunshine to a small hotel with a terrace, sitting in the afternoon sun with a cocktail.

Well, it is January. We have concluded that Benidorm is not all that bad. You do hear some stories, and you’ve probably seen the TV program by the same name, but we find it to be ok with a lovely sandy beach and some nice-looking restaurants on the front (also some dubious-looking ones with rowdy, drunk, holidaymakers in!) It has something for everyone. It’s clean and cheap, with a fantastic long sandy beach. What more do you want…?

We do the long slog back to the site and spend some time with Jess. We can’t help our selves, we have to go to the local bar that has a chap on singing, (well we say singing) and have some tapas and a glass of red. A nice way to end the day.

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Tuesday 30th January 2024 – Benidorm Day 2

Our second and last day in Benidorm has been quite relaxed starting with a bacon and avocado sandwich and coffee. After breakfast is cleared up Hayley gets her maps out and burns the internet out charting and planning our route back home. We think that this will be our last week in Spain.

Del is on the other side of the table doing some homework for work he has once he’s home. A productive morning.

We are keeping our eye on the situation in France. French farmers are blocking all the roads into Paris in protest of EU environmental red tape and the withdrawal of fuel subsidies. It’s getting tetchy up there. Looking at Google Maps there are really bad delays on the main roads going in and out of Paris. We are not going near Paris, however, we will be on some of the roads, some of the ways that are blocked and will get worse if there is no settlement. We do need to keep an eye on it over the next few days. Next week we will be in France so we have to be ready with an alternative route, if available.

Jess cleaning day today, so all the windows get opened up, surfaces cleaned down and everything freshened up. A weekly routine. Tonight we are having a night out in Benidorm, dinner and a “show”. Hmmm. We shall see…

There is a bountiful supply of Indian restaurants here in Benidorm so we will hunt one down then go out into the town and catch a “Show“. Hayley has done some local research and found us a well-rated Nepalese/Indian restaurant. A 20-minute walk towards the town and we are having an excellent Indian dinner, fabulous though.

Excellent service and price, but the food was outstanding. Time for a walk into the town and to see how it’s looking. Well… not so exciting. Out of season, it’s largely quiet, with a few places doing the odd karaoke, and we mean odd. There’s a Billy Joel tribute on at 9 pm in Neptune’s bar – this is the bar featured in the TV series Benidorm – we will have to come back to that. Meanwhile,

Del manages to squeeze in a bit of shopping in a hardware store which is bizarrely positioned right in the middle of the nightlight strip, bet that’s chaos in summer.

To kill time we take a walk along the front. The beach has recently been swept and raked, it does look rather neat and tidy.

Our estimation of Benidorm has gone up these couple of days. If you want the drink, noise and dancing, then you can as it’s mostly set back from the front which is very tidy with a great collection of restaurants and neat hotels. Not bad really. Not bad at all.

It’s 9 pm and time to go and see Billy Joel, Live in Calle Gerona! He wasn’t too bad as it goes. Looked and sounded nothing like him, but he could sing and did and good 45 minutes.

After the break, it was a Liam Gallagher lookie-soundie-likey. We watched the first song and left!!!

Not the rip-it-up atmosphere that we hoped to witness but being January we suppose that it’s as good as we are going to get. We take the 30-minute walk back to the campsite and get settled in for the night.

Wednesday 31st January 2024 – Benidorm to Benicarlo (185 miles)

It’s a grey morning this morning in Benidorm. Today we are moving on, continuing our way north. It’s a 3-hour drive today to Benicarlo. We stopped here on the way down on this trip. We won the bingo twice that night. During the last hour of the drive, the clouds clear and we have a lovely blue sky and 16 degrees.

We are given a nice spacious plot and quickly get settled in. Benicarlo Marina is just south of us so we set off on the half-hour walk towards it.

It’s a lovely day. We sit at a bar in the marina admiring the boats and reminiscing about the time we had ours. We never stopped here when we had our boat, but we did pass Benicarlo several times.

On the way back to the van we find that someone has converted a bottle bank into a “cat home“. It’s a local scheme to control feral cats.

They find them, doctor them and then let them free again and this converted bottle bank is a place that the cats hang out in. A good idea we thought.

Dinner tonight is on Jess, and a fine dinner it is.

Movie night tonight. Shirley Valentine. A great film about a lady who goes to Greece and finds herself.

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Thursday 1st February 2024 – Benicarlo to Peniscola (8 miles!)

A bright cool sunny morning this morning. A long leisurely breakfast this morning. We are only going 8 miles along the road to the town of Benicarlo itself to check out the castle there that sits on the coast. No rush this morning.

Breakfast is done, van service is done and we are on our way for the 15-minute drive to a very nice campsite in the town of Peniscola. We are given a very nice pitch. It’s a lovely warm morning so the chairs are out already and we are enjoying some sunshine. Del sets off for a walk to see what the town is like. It’s a very pleasant, clean and well-maintained place.

The summers here must be packed, the shoreline, which goes for miles is lined with hotels. The beach is beautiful with the castle at the south of the town on a tiny headland. All very pleasant. Should be a nice day.

Del arrives back at the van just as Hayley is taking a call from the UK informing her that her mum has been taken ill.

We will now be cutting the trip short and arranging for a speedy return to the UK so we will sign off on the blog for this time.

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