Early summer holiday, 31 May 2025

Cesson-Sevigné, Brittany, France.

Last night we had a really good WiFi signal, so decided to watch the previous day's Springwatch. When we had done it before, the volume on my tablet was too low and I couldn't hear what was going on. I expect we could try to cast it to the television, but that never seems to work! We tried to use two Bluetooth headphones - his earbuds and my hearing aids - but you can obviously only use one of them at a time. So we decided to Bluetooth the tablet to the van's radio, but it's Bluetooth memory was full. And it took ages to learn how to clear it, but eventually we did! You have to have both the ignition and the handbrake on, and then you can access the editing options. I love it when you find out how to do something you couldn't do before; today I discovered the setting on the Satnav to turn off speed camera warnings and turn on excess speed warnings! Again, most pleasing! 

We decided that, given the potential lack of space at Cesson-Sevigné, we would try to get there as soon as possible. The Swan Whisperer went for a run while I got up and got breakfast in line, and after it, I went for a walk around the fishing-pond that was by the aire. It was not a long walk, but refreshing and very pretty. Fishing, apparently was not being permitted today, but I am not sure why. 

We used the services and headed off about 10:00 or a little after. First stop was the local Intermarché, where I did a big shopping getting supplies for the weekend, and, indeed, into next week. 

Then it was a lovely drive across country to Cesson-Sevigné, where we have been several times before. We did stop for lunch in a random picnic area, and arrived here about 15:00 or thereabouts; a good thing too, as there weren't many places left, and it has since filled up. 

We had a cup of tea, which we drank sitting out (first time this year), and then the Swan Whisperer went for a walk and I did a tai chi practice. And, it being Saturday, he cooked our Saturday sausage and mash (with baked beans, carrots, courgette and onion; yummy!) followed by strawberries and cream. Lovely French gariguettes, so flavourful! 

Early Summer Holiday, 30 May 2025

Bricquebec-en-Cotentin, Normandy, France

This morning we woke up fairly early, but once again didn't hurry. The Swan Whisperer went to get croissants from a nearby bakery, which we enjoyed after our poached eggs on toast. After breakfast we went for a walk round the village of La Rivière-St-Sauveur, which I had not done before. It is quite a pretty little town, but what is really nice is that it still has its shops, which so many places don't have. We saw two bakeries, a butcher's, a greengrocer's and an ordinary grocer. Probably a lot more expensive than the local E Leclerc, or whatever, but much nicer. 

We also walked round the lake in the Parc Morrelle, which we had been unable to do last time as it was being repaired. The reedbeds were so high, though, that it was impossible to see the water except in one or two carefully curated spots. 

After the Swan Whisperer's coffee, we set the Satnav and headed on. As an experiment, we decided to ask it to take us on the "Shorter" route. It has four possible modes: "Fast", "Short", "Shorter" and "Economic". This was quite fun, but it took us through a lot of small towns, in at least one of which there were serious traffic hold-ups. We didn't know whether it was road-works causing diversions, a local fete of some of the kind, market day, or just sheer weight of traffic, but very unusual for France, where streets are often quasi-deserted out of rush hour. 

The Swan Whisperer wanted to look at the sea, so we set a waypoint for Langrune-sur-mer, where there was a car park with dedicated motorhome spaces across the road from the sea, so we had lunch and the SW went for a quick leg-stretch. He then said there was a casemate along the beach that he wanted to see, but when we drove past, it was only a concrete pillbox, such as can still be seen in many places on the British coast. 

We told the Satnav to go the most economical route, as we were bored of traffic jams and tiny roads, so it took us up the main road to Barfleur; I fell asleep for a bit on the main road, as I often do. Woke up awhile before we arrived, though.

But when we got there, there was no room at the inn - certainly not in the free aire they have there, nor in two nearby campsites. So we had to rethink. The Swan Whisperer suggested we check what Camping-Car Park had in the area, and we finally found this rather pleasant aire that is not at all full, though we are not sure why. We are parked up in the shade, and the SW went for a walk to see if there is somewhere he can go for a run in the morning, and I did a tai chi workout to a video. Then it was time to get supper, which was goaty aubergine pasta, yum! 

Early summer holiday, 28 and 29 May 2025

La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur, Normandy, France

Normally at this time of year we are either at or on our way home from (or on our way to further adventures after) the ISU Adult Competition in Oberdorf. However, this year, due to the current refurbishment of the rink, the competition isn't until the end of June, and with the NCC holiday in mid-July, the dates simply don't work for us. So we are spending 16 days in France, instead.

We couldn't set off very early yesterday as the Swan Whisperer had a meeting in the afternoon that he couldn't get out of, but we packed and loaded the car with everything except the stuff that was in the fridge, and when he was leaving the meeting, he rang up and told me, so I had everything ready to go when he came back, at about 4:00 pm.

My sister is away for a couple of days and, so as my mother had fed us last time we were down, and we knew we would have very little time with her, I brought down some food to share (pork pie and rice salad, since you ask!) and we ate rather quickly and were away by about 7:35 pm. We had booked on the 22:54 crossing, but in the event we just managed to get on the 22:14, going straight through passport control with our brand new passports! While we were waiting for, and on, the crossing, we unpacked our things - the fridge stuff and the groceries had been done earlier - and were pretty much ready to fall into bed when we got to the aire at Blériot-Plage.

Neither of us slept terribly well, and were awake early, but didn't hurry. It is Ascension Day, which is a public holiday in France, so of course it was raining! The big supermarkets were open, though, albeit with reduced hours, so our first port of call was the Auchan, where I did some shopping, primarily for washing--up liquid, since my mother's cleaner has moved hers and she doesn't know where it is, so I gave her the bottle that was in the WoMo!

We were driving down to this very pleasant aire the other side of the Pont de Normandie, where we stayed in March; it was the first time we have used our new Satnav, and it is sufficiently different from the old one to be a bit of a learning curve. We persuaded it to take us on a more scenic route, not just straight down the motorway, and it was a lovely drive!

We stopped for lunch, and for the Swan Whisperer to have a mid--afternoon coffee, which he swears keeps him awake, and then it was a straight run here. There was a bit of a hold-up over the Pont de Normandie, as it is on a contraflow system because of Works, and getting the traffic down from 8 lanes through the toll to 1 took some doing! But it didn't take long, and the drive was as spectacular as ever (photos on Facebook). The Swan Whisperer has gone out for a walk, and I think I'll go and do a qi gong or tai chi workout in a minute. 

Exploring Brompton Cemetery, 26 May 2025

Another Bank Holiday, another excursion.  This one was a bit of a bucket-list option for me, as we went to explore Brompton Cemetery, in Fulham.  Many, many years ago now I lived round the corner from there, and one of the most surreal moments of my life came when I was going past the entrance to the cemetery and a van drew up and two men got out, carrying a television, which they proceeded to take towards the entrance....  I suppose that one or other (or both) of the lodges at the entrance gates were inhabited and the residents of one of them wanted to hire a new television, as was the norm in those days.  But all the same....

So, you know what it is like when you live near a place, you never somehow visit it.  And I don't think it was really a place to visit back then.  These days, it is run by the Royal Parks, and the western lodge is a café and loos, and the eastern one is the visitor information centre.  There may or may not be tenants on the upper floors - I didn't ask!  The cemetery is still in use today, but it is also a public park and a Grade I listed one, at that.

We decided to go by the most sensible route of a bus to Clapham Junction and then the Mildmay Line to West Brompton (it's the first time I'd been on the Overground since its separate lines were given names).  The first train was, alas, cancelled, but it wasn't long until the next one came in and we could sit down while waiting for it to leave.  And, of course, the cemetery's northern entrance is only metres from the station.

So we wandered up and down the many paths, finding some famous graves - Dr John Snow, who proved the link between cholera and contaminated water; prize-fighter John "Gentleman" Jackson, ballet composer Constant Lambert and, of course, Emmeline Pankhurst, on whose grave people are still putting flowers.  

Much of the cemetery has been left to run wild, as a haven for wildlife - there were lots of birds, including a murder of crows, and a squirrel, but I believe there are also bats and rare insects.  Some of the graves are still tended, of course, but with over 200,000 people buried there, many are left to run wild.  Even some of the more modern graves - one, raised in memory of "Our beloved mother" was very unkempt and uncared-for, and we wondered how beloved the mother in question had actually been.  Graves ranged from ornate mausoleums, over-the-top Victorian marble angels and so on, to plain marble slabs, and pretty much anything in between.  I'll put lots of photos on Facebook.

When we had wandered down to the South end and back again, we had lunch in the café, and then went back down to the South exit to catch a bus.  We had thought of going to the exhibition at St Paul's, but we were getting tired by then, so got a 211 to Battersea Power Station Station and then it's only a short walk to the terminus of the P5, which took us home.

Buses, flypasts and new shoes. 5 May 2025

Today was the May Day holiday, so of course the weather, which has been being absolutely lovely, went back on us and it was seriously cold and showers on and off.  I would have enjoyed today's excursion a great deal more with a warmer coat, or at least a jumper rather than a light fabric jacket under my summer coat!  Yet two days ago I was out with nothing more than a t-shirt on my top half!  It's supposed to get warm again next weekend, though.

There were a great many things we could have done today, including a local street party and an Open Day at the Windmill, but we decided to go into central London to watch the flypast in celebration of VE Day.  This is technically not until Thursday, but I don't think the Government thought two Bank Holidays in one week was a good idea!  So most of the celebrations, including a military parade, and this fly-past, were today.  I suggested we went into Brixton and caught whichever came first of the 3, 59 or 159, and head to the South Bank, which is always a good place to watch flypasts.  And get a sandwich before it kicked off.

The bus that came was a 159, but it was stopping at Lower Marsh - unsurprisingly, since no buses were crossing the river due to road closures for the parade - and I suggested we went to the café in Tommy's to get our sandwich.  Which we did, and actually sat there until it was time for the flypast, which we watched from the garden there - not really the best place, as mostly what we could see was the backs of planes disappearing over the Houses of Parliament.  Although that was quite impressive.  And it finished with the Red Arrows, as scheduled (photo courtesy of the Swan Whisperer; I didn't take any).

The Swan Whisperer needed new everyday shoes - he has just got new running shoes, which seem to be helping with a long-standing foot injury/problem of some kind, but his everyday shoes were a disgrace!  So we decided to get a no 12 bus to Peckham, where there is a Clark's outlet store, and failing that, a Shoe Zone.  On the way, we crossed paths with masses of policemen, but they were not catching criminals or sorting out the traffic; it was fairly obvious that they had been part of the parade, and had then been having lunch somewhere (or were about to have lunch).

When we were on the bus, we realised we totally didn't know the end of the route, so decided to stay on until its terminus at Dulwich Library, and then get another bus back.  Which we did, rather fun seeing parts of Dulwich which were new to us.  We had to wait about 10 minutes for a return bus - a 197 - during which I got very cold indeed, but it came at last and dropped us off at the Aylsham Centre, where new trainers were successfully purchased!  We had a look round Morrison's but simply couldn't find any of the things we needed, so came away and caught a 345 back to Brixton.  During which time the sun came out and thawed me out nicely through the front windows of the bus!

Of course, we had just missed a 35, so the Swan Whisperer walked to Tesco's and thus home while I waited the four or five minutes until a 355 came, and I went home.  I did go into Lidl, but nothing seemed to want to be bought, so came home and fell asleep in my chair..... but it was a fun day out, even though cold.