MOULIHERNE - time for a rest

Sunday 9th June

It had been raining all night and for an hour or so in the morning when we packed up and set off, firstly to the supermarket that we had discovered was open on a Sunday morning.  Then along the North side of the Loire for a while before crossing back south to visit the Petrified Grottos at Savonnieres.  These were the most remarkable caves we have ever been in...the dripping limestone forms stalactites and stalagmites within decades rather than millions of years, so they have worked out how to make pictures and ornaments by putting objects (even dead animals) under the drips for about 6 months to a year.  These become covered with beautiful glistening limestone, preserved for all time.  The pictures are made with brass moulds left in the same way and then turned out to form relief pictures. We found it all really interesting.

From there, after a bite of lunch, we made our way further along the river to the famous Chateau and Gardens at Villandry.


By now the rain had stopped and the sun come out so all was right with the world again!  There were quite a lot of visitors from all over the world, American and Japanese coachloads as well as the individuals like us.  We wandered for about 2 hours, clicking away with the camera as we went, oohing and aahing at every corner we turned.

Around 4.00pm we left and started the last leg of the day.  We had discovered a small campsite run by an English couple and found out that they had spaces, so were headed to Le Chant d'Oisseau at Mouliherne.  We took the scenic route on the road that runs on the top of the levee alongside the Loire. There was not much traffic so we poodled along admiring the scenery as far as Saumur, then turned northwards for about 20km to Mouliherne. Unfortunately sat nav could not work out which way to send us and we could not find it on the map so we drove an extra 20km in every direction before we finally arrived about 6.00pm.  It is a lovely little quiet site, in the middle of nowhere, with just 12 pitches, mixture of tents, caravans and motorhomes, at the moment all English! They have a covered eating area and Monday + Friday evenings provide a full French meal with wine for 15 euros, so guess where we are eating tomorrow. Wednesday is pizza night, all cooked outside in the bread oven. The owners, Stu & Sybil, along with the dog, cats and chickens are very helpful and friendly, so we think we might stay a while.

Monday 10th June

A bit of a lie-in today, then some chores, all the time stopping for a chat with either other campers or Stu & Sybil.  This is a very peaceful place, with mainly birdsong for company, hence the name.  After lunch we took a stroll down a country lane for about an hour during which time only one car passed us. At 7.00pm we all (20 of us ) collected under the "barn" which basically was a roof with drop down tarps around the sides.  We sat down to a 5 course meal, on benchs along a long table, with copious amounts of wine,  typical French al fresco dining  until about 11.00pm when drink & mozzies got the better of us so we retired to bed. We were probably the oldest people there, but it was a very entertaining evening talking to newbies in a tent, a young couple with baby in another tent, one posh couple in a very large caravan, Goldwing bikers in tents and a couple of campervans like ours. 

Tuesday 11th June

No-one arose very early, but we were ready to go out about 10.00am.  The ground is very wet as they have had so much rain so we all have to drive around the outside of the field to get out, playing follow-my-leader. Our 2 neighbours were leaving, but we drove about 30 miles to a place called Rochemenier where there is a Troglodyte (underground) Village.


We spent nearly 3 hours looking around the buildings seeing how they lived centuries ago along with their cattle all underground.  It was one of the most fascinating places we have ever seen.







 Up above ground are a few more modern dwellings, but even these mostly incorporate some of the old underground places. We got back just in time for a cuppa having stopped off for fuel and to visit a large garden centre that we came across, as well as doing our usual trick of going the wrong way and driving 2 sides of a 3 sided triangle instead of only one! The roads around here are really small, only one car's width most of the time and they do not have names, only signposts to the houses that are in that particular road. All the houses go by names, no numbers anywhere...we are glad  we are not postmen! 

Wednesday 12th June

It was a damp drizzly day, but I had to do some washing, so we used the machine and then strung it up outside under our pull-out awning making us resemble a Chinese laundry.  We went for a short wander down the lane but gave up and came back to catch up on photos and blog.   In the evening it was pizza night in the barn.  We had all pre-ordered what we wanted, just had to take our plates and drinks over and sit watching Stu making and cooking each one in the outside bread oven that he has built. It was all quite entertaining and we chatted to people from all over England, Wales and Scotland.

Thursday 13th June

Most commonly know as a 'bugger-all day'! It had started raining again in the night and did not stop all day, so we all stayed inside in the dry doing whatever takes campers and caravanners fancy on a wet day.

Friday 14th June

 

At least it had stopped raining, but the field was like a lake again. We thought we would stay local so drove the 6 kilometres up the road to Mouliherne.




















 It is a pretty little village with the usual ‘Mairie’ (Town Hall) and a butchers, bakers and hairdressers, together with a bar that wasn’t open. We huffed and puffed our way up the hill to the church, which we had been told contained sarcophaguses (or i whichever is the plural) both inside and out…and it did, quite amazing especially the one outside as it was on top of an old ossuary.  When we shone a torch in the opening, we could see remains of skeletons at the bottom.  Opposite the church was a car park with Christ on the cross right next to the public loos, which tickled our sense of humour.

From there we took another short drive to find the supermarket at Vernantes so as to stock up the larder before we leave on Sunday, not knowing where we will end up next, although Plan A is to head for Le Mans and drive round the road circuit! Luckily in a way the 24 hour race is the following weekend, so hopefully it won't be heaving.

When we got back Stu wanted us to move on to the pitch we should have gone on originally as he has a group of tents coming in over the weekend. We drove 2 feet backwards on to the pitch as requested and got stuck! We are not going forwards or backwards at the moment.  Just hoping things dry out a bit before Sunday, otherwise leaving could be fun. 

It was another meal night in the barn, but we passed on that one. Brian did not really fancy the menu, so it would have been a waste of 15euros.  So we wandered over about 9.00pm with a 2 litre bottle of French cider and socialised then.  Needless to say it was another late night!

 

Saturday 15^th

Woke up to a sunny morning, so decided to try the walk that we did not do on Thursday.  We did the last few bits of hand washing first and pegged on the line, then said a prayer to the god of no rain , and set off.  Sybil had given us a little map of a circular route,  all we needed to was follow the house names in the right order! It was very pretty down the lanes, through the forest, past a stinky duck farm as well as some very fearsome barking dogs.  We found poppies by the million, mistletoe on most of the trees, buzzards flying overhead, some horses and donkeys, but for the first hour no cars at all.  We took about 3 hours to do 5 miles or so, so on our return just sat with our feet up until shower + dinner time. Now have to tidy up ready to move in the morning.   

More pictures 

AMBOISE - Brass Band weekend

Thursday 6th June

Another beautiful morning when we packed up and made our way out of town by 10.15am.  We chose the N10 through Boneville and Chateaudun and found it to be a really good road all the way.  Lunch was in a layby along with 2 lorries, just like England really. We had noticed a Le Clerc advertised on the outskirts of Amboise so headed there first for food stocks and LPG and eventually arrived at Camping Ile d'Or which is a municipal site on the island in the middle of Amboise, having driven 90 miles.  Typically French they were closed until 2.30 so we joined a couple of other motorhomes for a chat whilst we waited. Needless to say at 2.30 there were about 10 of us waiting to check in.  We got seen fairly quickly and given pitch 204 so duly drove off round the site to find it, only to discover there was already someone else there! So whilst Brian waited in the T Kar I was left to hike the 200m back to reception to sort things out. We finally got given another pitch, luckily in the shade of some trees as by now it was stinking hot, we were fed up and in dire need of a drink. We found lots of other English vans on site, they had all come for the Brass Band Weekend that we had seen advertised so we sat in the shade and chatted until salad time. By 10.00pm the mozzies were out in force, so after showers we retired indoors.

Friday 7th June

Hot & sunny again! We quite like this but were not so keen after we had walked back over the bridge in to the town and up to the Royal Chateau.

 


Once more we had to find a shady seat and sit for 10 minutes to get our breath back. We spent a good hour or so investigating all the stunning rooms and furnishings in the Chateau mainly from Loius XIV period. Outside the gardens were just as picturesque, all little box hedges cut in to balls. We meandered some of the side streets, but decided to leave the rest for Saturday when the bands would be playing. Back to base via a cold drink shop, to sit under the trees once more until salad time again. It was very hot overnight and sleeping was difficult even with no covers on the bed and windows open.

Saturday 8th June

Unfortunately during the night about 5 vans were broken into and valuables stolen; also some tents further down were ripped and broken into. Two of the vans had dogs, but still nobody heard anything. We got up to find gendarmes everywhere asking questions and searching some of the other tents. We could only thank our lucky stars that we were OK, maybe having an old small van has some advantages, if anyone tried to come in our window in the night they would land on top of us and get quite a shock!

Anyway, we went back over in to town around 10.30 to listen to and watch the Brass Bands. There were a couple from England, one from Norway, a couple from France all starting off at the square and marching up to the base of the Chateau, playing a couple of numbers and then marching back down again. A bit like the Grand Old Duke of York, only the ten thousand men were tourists like us! It was something a bit different and quite interesting. We had a look around some of the shops but soon realised we would not be buying any clothes, biscuits, chocolates or any souvenirs unless we robbed a bank.

The Best of the lot getting ready!

Statue on footpath back to campsite at Amboise

Back for a late lunch and read of the map books trying to decide where to go next, and I even cooked some bacon for dinner, then showers, then it decided to rain so we had to rescue everything that was outside.

Pictures below:

Amboise

FRANCE -at last

Wednesday 29^th May

We left home around 9.00am to drive the 55 miles to Dover in grey drizzly rain, and got to the ferry in time for a coffee and wander around before boarding at 11.15am. Departure was on time, sailing was flat calm but drizzly the whole way.  Dunkirk was it’s usual dreary maze of roads and roundabouts until we got out on to the main road to Eperleques.  Then it was straight driving through pouring rain to Camping Chateau de Gandspette ( 18 miles)

Camping Chateau du Ganspette

We turned up along with a couple of other English vans and some Dutchmen, but were soon given a pitch, part gravel part grass, under some trees next to a static caravan. It was cold and wet, more like the middle of winter than the end of May, so we hunkered down, cooked our chilli and got in to our cosy warm bed nice and early to read our books.

Thursday 30^th May

Eperleques Blockhaus

It was still very grey, misty and cold when we got up so we took our time over breakfast and ablutions.  Then we donned our coats and walked about 1 ½ kms to the Eperleques Blockhaus which is a stronghold originally built to make and launch V2 rockets during the 2^nd World War.  It was immense and very gloomy but with quite a lot of war relics including some of the trains used to transport conscripted workers.    

After lunch back at the van we wandered along the road in the other direction to find the town/village.  Either we went wrong or didn’t walk far enough ‘cos all we found was an open chemist and a closed bakery!  Back at the site we used their showers and then went for a meal in the restaurant. There were loads of other British vans on site and most of the remainder were Dutch.

Memorial at Eperleques

Friday 31^st May

At least it was just about dry when we left around 10.30am, following mainly D roads (no tolls) through pretty little villages and open countryside as far as Sainte Saire.  We  had picked out a couple of France Passion sites to look for, easier said than done.  Sat nav took us to the village where we parked up and decided to investigate on foot.  A few minutes up the road a car pulled up alongside us and asked if we were looking for France Passion. When we said ‘yes’ the very nice lady directed us up the road and round the corner and said she would see us ‘this evening’ Turned out to be some sort of agricultural yard with a gravely hardstanding area for 3 vans.  We had a lovely view across the fields and the place to ourselves. Later the gent came and asked us if we wanted water.  All very civilised.  After a cuppa we went for a wander around the village, which was very pretty with some beautiful old timbered houses.  

Village at Sainte Saire

Then we found the cider farm, which is where the other site was, had a look around and went to see what they had for sale in the shop….mainly cider and apple juice at vast expense.  We spent a very peaceful night there, all for free.

Saturday 1^st June

After an early morning jaunt to the bakery for a baguette and to take some photos of the village, we left around 10.30am and carried on to Forge-les-Eaux  which was only about 10 miles away, in sunshine!  We intended to just visit the Aire there in order to pick up water and empty our toilet. However it seemed to be a very nice town with a lovely aire, so we decided to stay a whole day.  We spent a couple of hours looking around the shops, church and small side streets of town before walking back for a late lunch of baguette, pate and ham.  We had now got English neighbours who came from Exmoor so spent the rest of the afternoon sitting outside in the sun chatting to them. There were about 15 motorhomes there, some more English, German and French.

Sunday 2^nd June

It was a beautiful sunny morning when we cleared up, tanked up with water and set off around 10.30am for Giverny – only about 54 miles. Again we used the more scenic D roads and had arrived by 12.30am and found the coach car park quite easily for a  change. On driving in, a little man leapt out at us saying “ Bonjour, you want to sleep tonight?” When we agreed that we did, he directed us through the coach park to a designated bit of car park purely for high vehicles, in other words ‘camping-cars’…..most civilised.! We had a bite to eat and then walked across the main road in to the village itself, only to discover that a sunny Sunday afternoon was not the best time to be there.  It was heaving and the queue for Monet’s House and Garden was lengthy. So we decided to leave all that for the morning and just had a look round some of the galleries instead. Back at the car park we just sat and watched everyone eventually leave, until about 7.00pm when there was just 7 of us ‘camping-cars’ left, English, German, Dutch, Belgian and French.

Monday 3^rd June

It was a misty grey start to the day, but we walked over to Monet’s House and Garden for about 10.00am.   There were already a couple of coachloads there, but much quieter than on Sunday.  We spent about 2 hours marvelling at the House with all it’s paintings and then outside in the garden, where it was a painter’s paradise. 

We had heard a lot about Giverny and it was certainly well worth the visit  especially as we had 2 nights car parking all for free.  We treated ourselves to a late French lunch of Crepes and Haches and a carafe of white, with Tarte Tatin + cream to follow at one of the hotel/brasserie places.  It was delicious and we ended up stuffed and with a lighter wallet – 46 euros actually so not too bad if you say it quickly. Then we wandered back through to the church and memorials and the inevitable gift shops, ending back at the van about 5.00pm ready to watch all the departures again. Again 8 vans stayed overnight.

Tuesday 4^th June

Only 79 miles to go today to Chartres! However, we got stuck in traffic/roadworks in Vernon so changed to Plan B and headed over to an autoroute via Evreux and Dreux along with all the lorries. Passed a Carrefour on the way, St. Andre I think, so stopped off to do a bit of food shopping, the first since we left home.  On the outskirts of Chartres we pulled in to a car park that turned out to be a garden centre.  We were hot and frazzled, sat nav had gone bananas and kept telling us we had 36km to go and wanted us to do u-turns here, there and everywhere. Finally we reset it by putting in the address rather than the co-ordinates and followed it faithfully for 10 minutes through narrow winding streets and lo and behold, there was the camping sign!  Camping Le Bords de l’Eure.  We had decided to have a couple of proper campsite nights so as to do a bit of washing and have showers. Then we sat in the sun until wine o’clock and dinnertime.

Wednesday 5^th June 

Another sunny wake-up call, so we donned our best walking feet and set off along the 3.5km riverside walk in to Chartres. 
 

 It was beautiful, so peaceful and pretty. We spent a lot of time meandering around the old town, up and down the tiny steep streets. The cathedral of Notre Dame was amazing with some of the best stained glass windows we have ever seen and the carvings around the outside were incredible.


 Lunch was a filled baguette each and a cold drink sitting on a park bench in the market square watching the stall-holders pack up some enormously long trailers. Then it was best foot forward time again back along the river to home. Apparently Chartres is all lit up at night, but only from nightfall, which at the moment is about 10.00pm, until 1.00am.  We would have liked to have seen it then, but could not face the riverside walk at that time of night. 


Pictures now added below:

Eperleques, Giverny and Chartres

END OF MAY - Off to France

We are now getting ready for a month in France, off to Dover on Wednesday morning.

Will update our blog whenever we can.

Hope you all have a good summer whilst we are away.

MAY again!

Sunday 12th - saw us heading once more along the M25 and down the M3 in to Dorset, back to one of our favourite CL's, West Farm in Verwood.  We were meeting up with Chris and Trevor who store their cravan there. It was a fairly nice day and we made good time, arriving around 2.00pm. However it was too windy to put the awning up so we left it for another day. We all sat and had a cuppa, then went for a stroll after dinner and had an early night.

Monday - was less windy so we put the awning up and sat in it to have our lunch.  Afterwards we went for a reconnaisance walk across the golf course to find the back way in to Verwood. It was quite a bit further than we had expected so we stopped off at The Hub for cake and coffee before making our way back.

Tuesday - the less said the better!  It rained and blew a gale all day so we did not venture out, just sat with the fire on reading and playing cards etc. bolstered by our wine box.

Wednesday - much nicer so walked in to Verwood and caught the bus to Poole.  It took about an hour, but was quite pretty through all the villages. Poole has all the usual closed shops and charity outlets of any other town, but at least it also has quite an interesting quayside with lots of boats to look at. We sat on the front and had a sandwich and coffee watching the world go by before making our way back to the bus. We joined Chris and Trevor for a fish and chip supper in the evening, chatting and putting the world to rights until about 11.30pm.

Thursday - had a lazy morning then went for another 'stroll' in the afternoon across a different part of the golf course in to the woods. We ended up doing our usual trick of not really knowing where we were going, so after about 2 hours of wandering around in circles had to ask a friendly native how to get back to where we came from! Again much further than we expected, so more sore feet!

Friday 17th - we left West Farm and set off for Lower Odcombe, which is near to Yeovil, to another lovely small CS attached to a pub (The Mason's Arms). As it was not a long drive we decided to check out one or two of the Britstops that were on the way. First, the Crown In at East Stour, a nice looking pub but closed until 12.30. However the car park seemed to be quite adequate for our overnight needs should we decide to stay there in the future.  Then, on to Kimber's Farm Shop near Wincanton.  A very nice lady showed us the field they use for parking motorvans in and then we bought a lovely turkey and ham pie for tea as well as some eggs. We will certainly use this one.  We arrived at The Mason's Arms around 2.00pm and were soon set up on the field with our chairs out in the sun.

The Mason's Arms

Our view over the fields

Saturday - a lazy morning watching our neighbours pack up and leave - maybe something we said! Then a wander through the village and back again.

 

Some of the cottages in Lower Odcombe

  Sandra and Perri arrived just after lunch so we drove along to Montacute House and spent a very pleasant afternoon looking around the House and Garden.  Back to the van for a cuppa and tidy up, then dinner in the pub in the evening.  The food there is excellent and not too expensive (£45 for 2 courses + wine for Brian & I) Bedtime was once more around 11.30pm.

Sunday -  after a late breakfast and slow pack-up we left about 12.00am and wended our way home again, getting back around 4.00pm. 

 

Breakfast on the terrace

A really nice relaxing week seeing friends and forgetting about all the house traumas of the last couple of months.

Now we need to get to grips with our next trip.  We have booked a ferry to France for 29th May, coming back a month later, now just have to decide which direction to drive once we arrive in Dunkirk.

May - Rallying in Kent

Thursday 2nd May - saw us heading off for a motorcaravan section rally at Hole Park, Rolvenden.  It was a short hop of only 1 hour's drive and we arrived around 3.00pm and set up in the field along with a few other earlybirds.

Rally at Hole Park, Rolvenden

Friday - was a beautiful, warm sunny day and after breakfast we settled down to sit in the sun with our books until Lorna & Mike arrived.  We all had a good chinwag and then lunch, then off to the Gardens for a stroll around all their lovely flowerbeds and woods.

Magnolia at Hole Park

Heather Bed at Hole Park

Back at the house we partook of coffee and cakes in the tea rooms and eventually made our way back to the van.  In the evening after our friends had left we carried on sitting out in the sun with our glasses of wine.

Saturday - we opted to take a bus trip in to Tenterden.  Along with a number of others staying on the rally field we hopped on the 297 and headed off to 'the shops'.  Tenterden is a really pretty old-fashioned town with lots of antique shops and boutiques, so we did lots of window shopping but not much purchasing.  Unfortunately, it soon started to rain and was not very warm either, quite a difference from the day before.  Buses were only every 2 hours so we caught the 2.00pm bus back before we got soaked to the skin.

Sunday - dawned another nice day luckily, so we set off for a walk around the Hole Park estate and out in to the woods. Bluebells were in abundance, as were magnolias, azaleas, tulips and daffodils.  It was a lovely walk and a place we would recommend to anyone.  There is room for everyone and plenty of places to have a picnic.

Monday - a lazy morning in the sun, talking to new friends made over the weekend.  After lunch we gradually put things away and packed up and left for home around 3.00pm.

Now we just have to get organised again this week ready to go to Dorset next weekend.

Hole Park Gardens

April - showtime and making plans

Now that the van has been serviced both inside and out and had the gearbox sorted, we are now ready to go off on our travels again.

First off this year was to the Motorhome Show at Peterborough.  We left home on a very windy Wednesday morning up the A2 through the Dartford Tunnel and off up the M11/A1.  We have invested in the Britstop Scheme for the first time (for the un-initiated it is a directory of pubs, farmshops, vineyards, craft centres  and the like which allow motorhomes to park on their car parks overnight for no charge) so decided to try our hand at the Sibson Inn.  This was on the A1 near to Peterborough and very nice it was too. The car park was around the back away from the road noise overlooking the fields.  We partook of an excellent evening meal and then settled in for an exceptionally windy night with not much sleep.

Our first Britstop - the Sibson Inn near Peterborough

 In the morning after a wash and brush-up we headed over the main road for about 3 miles to the Showground.  After much left a bit, right a bit, back the way we had come, cussing and general domestic disharmony not helped by the fact that all the flags were either not up to start with or had blown down in the wind we finally found our allocated area with the Motorhome Facts group.

Motorhome Facts area at Peterborough Show

On the Friday we joined a load of other folk on a bus trip in to Stamford, which was a pretty little town with many old buildings and a market. As it was still quite chilly, showery and windy, we dived in and out of the many charity shops, then the church , then the library (as the Museum had closed permanently) and meandered through the market stalls until the rain became a lot heavier when we adjourned to a nearby cafe for coffee and sandwiches.  The bus took us back at 3.00pm and after dinner we relaxed for the rest of the evening watching all the other motorhomes arriving. We estimated a good 2000 in all!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and a little lesss windy, so we spent the whole day mooching around the numerous stalls on the site.  We picked up a few bits and pieces for the van, one being a telescopic ladder, so we can now get up and clean our filthy roof.  We even have moss growing in the gutter of the awning!  In the evening we wandered over to the secondary entertainment area and sat listening to 'Double Barrel' who are a Country & Western duo.  They were not bad although they played music from across the genres as well.

Sunday was also bright and sunny and we managed to sit outside with our coffees and even had an ice cream in the afternoon!  We spent most of the day looking at all the motorhomes we would buy should we ever win the lottery!

On Monday we left late morning and may our way over to Ferry Meadows Caravan Club Site - all of a 10 minute drive! As we could not get in there until mid-day, we made a coffee/toilet stop at Notcutts Garden Centre and browsed the plants deciding which we would take home with us.  At mid-day we joined a very long queue of vans to get in and pitch up, it turned out to be about 100 of us had all had the same idea (note to self - never try to go to Ferry Meadows on a Monday after a Motorhome Show again!) However by about 2.00pm we were all sorted and sitting having some lunch, after which we strolled around the site as we had not been there before.  Then showers, dinner and bed.

Tuesday, we caught the bus in to Peterborough and did all the touristy bits cathedral, museum, back streets as well as some shops.  I sorted a good deal in the T-Mobile shop (£2.99) and now have a new phone to play with, taking photos and sending emails when I discover how to do it.

Wednesday, we went for a long walk around the lakes at Nene Park and said 'Hello' to the many rabbits and squirrels along the way and 'Morning Mr Magpie' to make sure we had good luck for the rest of the day.  We came back with sore feet so just sat in the sun in the aftenoon.

Thursday was drive home day ( 112 miles) stopping at Morrisons en route to do the weekly shop, and getting home in time to get some of the washing done and out to dry.

We now have a few days in which to catch up on the garden etc. and think about what we are going to do next.  We picked up the France Passion book on our travels, which is the French version of Britstops and rather fancy the idea of meandering the by-ways of France for a few weeks later in the year. Just have to 'sus out a cheap ferry deal and we are sorted.!  As most of you know we are of the "follow-your-nose" persuasion rather than planning everything in advance.