Early summer holiday, 13 June 2025

Brixton, London, UK

I was too tired to blog last night, so to catch up on the final day of our holiday: we were able to heat water for our showers using electricity, although cups of tea made with it were disgusting! Once we were both showered and dressed, we made our way over to Auchan, where we knew we could buy gas, only to find that it wasn't yet open - sales are between 09:00 and 13:00.  Fortunately by then it was 08:55, and by the time we had bought diesel, the kiosk operator was there.

So we drove to the car-park of the main superstore and had breakfast, and, once I had finished I did a Last Shop in France, and then we drove over to the Shuttle terminus, where we got on a train half an hour earlier than our booking, which was good.  We stopped at Clackett Lane Services to eat our lunch, including belated Pentecost cheesecake/last day patisseries

and then went straight to No 6, where my mother was pleased to see us.

It is baby-pigeon season, and the results were all too obvious on our car, so the Swan Whisperer had to wash it before he did anything else! We eventually got it loaded and headed back to London about 18:00, getting home just on 20:00.  I'd bought a ready-meal for supper which we had as soon as we'd unloaded the fridge stuff, and then it was a matter of unpacking the basics, plus making overnight oats for the family, who were coming next morning to parkrun and then coming here to shower, breakfast and celebrate my birthday! It was lovely to see them.  And so ends another trip; we will be off again in about a month!

Early Summer Holiday, 12 June 2025

Blériot-Plage, Calais, France

Today has very much been what Anne Shirley would call a "Jonah Day".

It started off all right - the Swan Whisperer went into the town to buy bread and pains aux raisins, and came back saying that it was a lovely little town and we should go for a walk round it. So after breakfast we set off. Just as we got to the town centre - which is indeed lovely, there are photos

- the sky darkened, there was a flash of lightning and a huge peal of thunder, and the heavens opened! I did have my sweaty mac with me, which I put on, but it turned out to be as much use as a chocolate teapot, and I think I was even wetter than the Swan Whisperer by the time we got back to the WoMo and had to change out of the short and t-shirts we had been wearing! Of course, by the time we had done that and the SW had had his coffee, the sun had come out again and the weather has been lovely all day.

We had a pretty uneventful drive up to Calais - village names of the day: Pacy, Miserey and Mercey - and stopped for lunch in Vernon, where we stopped the last time we had spent the night in La-Madeleine-de-Nonancourt, what time it also thundered! Anyway, it has a chateau and an old mill across the stream, so the SW went to have a look at them while I got lunch ready.

Quite a lot of our drive after lunch was cross-country, and we joined the motorway a bit south of Neufchatel-en-Bray. We had intended to head straight to the Cité Europe along the motorways, but failed to notice a contraflow and were dumped off just past Boulogne. We don't mind going non-motorway on that route - it is very scenic - but it delayed us quite badly. We wanted to do a load of laundry in the new facilities outside the Cité Europe, but they were somehow disconnected from the Internet, and it couldn't accept our credit cards, and there is no way to pay cash. So that was a bust, and we will be doing our usual thing of endless washings when we get home. I suppose we might just have finished by Wednesday, time to go all over again. Sigh.

I nipped into Carrefour to get some fresh milk for the SW, and then we headed up here. The fridge started beeping and wouldn't light on gas, although it was fine on electricity and while driving.

For some reason the Swan Whisperer thought the gas needed to be reset, as it must have done an emergency switch-off, but he couldn't find out how to do this. And then he realised - we are utterly and totally out of gas! And there is nowhere local to get the right kind from a 24-hour automat, so although we might be able to have hot water in the morning, no way will it be hot enough for tea, and we won't be able to cook our breakfast. We drove all round Calais wishing we had realised what was wrong half an hour earlier, when we could still just have found somewhere open.

Fortunately, there was enough hot water in the thermos for a rather tepid cup of tea each, but tomorrow will be most unpleasant until the nearest garage opens at 08:30! If the SW thinks I'm going to get washed and dressed without a cup of tea inside me (it's bad enough having to wait 30 minutes after my thyroid tablet!), he has another think coming. Fortunately he is not saying that as we are going home tomorrow it's not worth it - but he had been convinced that we had enough gas to do us - as, indeed, we nearly did! 

Early summer holiday, Wednesday 11 June 2025

La-Madeleine-de-Nonancourt, Normandy, France

Felt much better this morning, thankfully, although not quite 100%, but quite well enough to go for a most enjoyable walk round Loches, which has ramparts and so on - quite steep, but steady.

More photos on Facebook, of course. The weekly market was also on, lots of cheap clothes and (ahem!) I might have been seduced by a couple of blouses.... We stopped for coffee en route, and I asked for a café allongé (American), but what I got was a double espresso! Oh well, no harm done!

Back at the WoMo, we got ready to leave and went to find the services, which weren't where we thought they were, but a very kind man told us where they were, which was rather out of our way, so we decided to leave it, and set off on the rather long drive to here, stopping for lunch and diesel in a random supermarket car park, which is an aire we have been to before, free everything (even electricity, although it seems to have gone off now, but I expect the Swan Whisperer can fix it when he gets back from his walk). It is near Dreux and Evreux, and probably about half-way between Loches and Calais, where we must be tomorrow. Last time we were here, there was a massive thunderstorm, really fabulous, and then an extremely loud and unpleasant noise going on first thing in the morning! The SW has gone for a leg--stretch, but I'm all right for now. I suppose I ought to go and do tai chi, but I'm too hot! It is hot! 

Early summer holiday, 10 June 2025

Loches, Centre-Val-de-Loire, France

We weren't supposed to be here tonight, but at a goat farm another two hours up the road, but this looked like a nice place to visit en route. Sadly, I have had a migraine all day - not bad, but debilitating - so we are staying here so we can have a proper look round in the morning, and have rejigged our tomorrow night's stop to match.

It's actually rather lovely here, by a river (the Indre?) with a robin, chaffinch, blackbird, doves and frogs battling it out! 

Early sumer holiday, 9 June 2025

La Roche-Posay, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

It was a lovely morning this morning, and, despite having to pay an extra €6 for out staying our booking, we didn't hurry. The Swan Whisperer went for a walk before breakfast to try to find an open boulangerie (successfully, eventually), and afterwards went for a quick walk along the river. I went down to the river while he was emptying the loo and so on; it really is lovely there.

We knew that tonight we would be parked up in a supermarket car park (which does have services, but no electricity), so we decided we wouldn't hurry, and looked up interesting things to do en route. We found a Lidl that was open (today is a public holiday in France) and stopped there for me to redeem my coupon for a free baguette, among other things. The first interesting place we called at, though, was an ancient Roman site at Bouchaud, which was up a very steep hill ("It's only about 50 metres," said the Swan Whisperer, encouragingly. Quadruple that, and you might be about right!) but worth seeing when you got there.

Also lovely views of the countryside roundabout. The visitor centre was closed, but we didn't know whether that was normal Monday behaviour or because of the public holiday. 

We had lunch there and then headed on across country - simply glorious views the whole way, and mostly lovely straight roads - to here, going slightly out of our way to visit a tourist trap called Angles-sur-l'Anglin; this had a rather spectacular ruined castle and was obviously a Thing to Do on a Bank Holiday, as it was rather crowded, so we couldn't stop. Then we drove down through La-Roche-Posay to this Super U out the other side. It will be convenient for the morning, is all I can really say about it! 

Early Summer Holiday, 8 June 2025

Cognac, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

This morning slightly spoilt by the discovery that I had made a mistake booking the Camping-Car Park, and our stay both last night and tonight was due to end at 08:30. I thought at first I would have to pay an extra night's fees, but, in fact, one only has to pay €6, like you do when you just use their services. Anyway, I got in touch with them and enquired, and they kindly refunded me the €6, which was nice of them. But I do wish they wouldn't advertise their sites as having WiFi when they do not, so annoying!

Anyway, when we were ready we used the services and headed on. Our first port of call was a Super-U for bread and one or two other things - I ended up buying more cheese than I intended, but we didn't eat it for lunch as I bought leek tarts which we had with salad. We stopped to have this in a little village which rejoice in the name of Pissos! And on the same direction-board, but unfortunately underneath rather than above, a village called Ychoux! It occurred to me that if one did the latter, one might well do the former by mistake.... And the Swan Whisperer said it would go well with Cognac, where we are staying tonight.

As it is Pentecost, I might have found us an English church to join in with, or perhaps we might have headed north via Pau, but it is also our own church's anniversary, and we had a very old friend taking the service, so we decided to watch the YouTube stream instead, which we did before eating. 

When we arrived, we filled the WoMo up with water and then had a cup of tea, before heading out to see what was what. We decided that we were early enough to do a tour at a Cognac factory; we thought at first of going to Martell, which is just across the road from the aire, but the visitor centre was up a very steep hill, and anyway, it was nearly their closing time. So we went to Hennessey instead, just along the road.

It was fabulous! The last tour of the day was about to happen, so we joined that. First of all they take you on a short river cruise, mostly to show off the extent of their domain, but also the one remaining mediaeval city gate, and the Chateau (now a museum). The boat dropped you on the other side of the river, where we were shown a short film outlining the history of the company - the 8th generation of the family are still involved! Then we were shown a graphic of how the wine was made - it is a very acid grape to control the proof of the wine, which must be between 9 and 10.5°. This is because any stronger and it would interfere with the distillation process, which we learnt about next. The first and last litres of the distillate are recycled, I didn't quite gather why. The result is eau de vie, which we were allowed to smell, and it smelt gorgeous. This is then put into barrels to mature for a bare minimum of 2 years, and some of the rarest brandies are there for even a century or more! The barrels are kept in cellars known as "chais", not "caves", and there is some ritual involved when a worker places his first row of barrels, and they get their name inscribed on a barrel which has a bunch of flowers left on it and have to bring in cake.... 

The guide then went into considerable detail about the blending process, and I got a bit lost, but I gather the tasting committee meets every morning at 11:00 am and tastes a good hundred cognacs throughout the day (they do spit it out!) to get the finished product just right. And then we had our own tasting. One was the VS, matured between 2 and 6 years. It was horribly harsh, and would not be my drink of choice! Then we tried the VSOP, matured for a lot longer, which was much nicer on first taste, but still a bit harsh. We then tried it on the rocks, which was lovely, and finally a cocktail known as a Henny-Rita, which was like a margarita only with Cognac. The Swan Whisperer loved it, but I thought it a little too sweet for my taste.

Then, of course, but came the hard sell in the gift shop, but we were immune to such blandishments and came away to eat asparagus, pork chops with pasta and an apple-and-onion mixture, followed by home-made yoghurt with strawberries. The strawberries were a bit tasteless, not a patch on the French Garriguettes, which I'll buy some more of later in the week. Tomorrow is a public holiday, and I don't think most shops will be open. 

Early summer holiday, 7 June 2025

Arjuzanx, Morcenx-la-Nouvelle, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

There was a lovely sunrise when I woke up this morning - I don't think my photos quite do it justice! 

I don't quite know why, but we decided to go back to the huge Acampo in Tinxudan to do the necessary shopping. Frankly, I'd have preferred it had we stopped in the first out-of-town shopping centre we came across, which looked to have a far more manageable supermarket! The drive there was lovely, though, along a non-toll motorway which was really rather spectacular.

I dutifully shopped, although I couldn't find fresh orange juice anywhere, so bought a bag of oranges which we can squeeze ourselves instead - I rather prefer that, when plI can be bothered. Then it was lunch-time, and then we drove up a French motorway to this little place in the middle of nowhere. Actually, it's in a former lignite quarry, and there is a large lake with a beach.

It is a very pleasant aire, surrounded by woods, and the Swan Whisperer sat out reading while I tried to see if I could make my Kindle Fire behave (I couldn't. It will be replaced when I get home, by an Android tablet with its own keyboard and mouse! A birthday present from the Swan Whisperer!), and then did a short tai chi workout. It being Saturday, the SW has cooked supper, and I think I shall have an early-ish night as I am really rather sleepy! It is now too cold to sit out-of-doors - we had hoped to eat out, but it cooled rapidly as the sun went down, although it won't be dark for another hour or more. 

Early summer holiday, 6 June 2025

Pamplona, Navarre, Spain

So today was All About Pamplona. The Swan Whisperer went for a run first thing, only to reappear just as I was about to get into the shower, so I had to let him go first ("Then I can make breakfast!" he said). But it was not long before breakfast was on the table.

We set off about 10:00, not getting off to a good start as the SW misread the map and we went to the wrong roundabout to wait for the bus into town. And then when we were on the bus, it didn't stop at the stop we wanted, so we were "carried on to Crewe" and had to walk back, but it was actually a rather lovely walk across a bridge and through a park.

We didn't go in to the Plaza del Toros - I think it was closed, anyway - but had a quick look at the outside and then crossed the road to head into the Old Town.

The first thing we came to was the former palace gardens, now filled with booksellers round a large square. Then we found the local market hall, and had a look round there - and used the delightfully air-conditioned facilities - before walking up to the Cathedral. It cost five euros to go in, so we didn't, but by then I was needing a breather, so we went to the bar across the square and proved the truth of our daughter's comment that the only words you really need to know in any language are "two beers, please"!

 Once we - or rather I - got our second winds, we had a lovely potter round the old town, ending up at the statue of the bulls running,

after which we found a place to have lunch. This was a bit of a failure because although the food was delicious, there were no side-dishes, and they didn't bring me a spoon for the broth in my squid in its own ink,

and I didn't know what to ask for. The waiter did speak a little English, but not much. We only had - only wanted - a main course, and when we had had it (I couldn't finish mine, but didn't quite like to ask for a doggy bag), we walked back to the WoMo across a park and down a lift.

After a rest, I popped into the petrol station next door to see if they had any fizzy water, which they did, and fruit, which they didn' t, but did also get a baguette for supper, which will be bread, cheese and salad. Over 11k steps today - I hope I don't regret it tomorrow. 

Early Summer Holiday, 5 June 2025

Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

I fell asleep after my alarm went off this morning, which I hate doing as it makes me cross, sleepy and late for breakfast! Where we were parked up was on the corner of an enormous shopping mall, and I spent what was left of the morning wandering round a huge Alcampo, which is the Spanish version of Auchan. I didn't buy anything much - bread for lunch and one or two other things, including Himalayan pink salt that I haven't been able to get anywhere else. And a couple of very thin steaks for supper, but they were under €3 for the pack, so I pounced on them! And pretty much got my step count for the day in, going round that enormous superstore. 

We then headed off on the relatively short drive to Pamplona, which is in Navarre. I'm sure we have had Queens and so on from here - wasn't Berengaria a queen of Navarre, and I think there was a Joan of Navarre, too, but I'm not sure how she fits in! I Will have to look her up! It was a lovely scenic drive through the hills - in fact, the only photo I took today was on the drive. We stopped in a random aire for lunch, as it was getting late, and, of course, there was a much nicer one a few hundred metres down the road, but that's sod' law! 

Park 4 Night said that you should check when you arrived at this aire to make sure there was a space, as people tend to pay when they leave and this throws the count off. And a nice Dutch couple had just claimed the last space! The Swan Whisperer went to help them with checking in, and I looked up nearby places to park up, but just as we were about to go, the Dutch woman came running up and told us someone was just leaving! So we dashed in and grabbed the space, and are here, we think, for the next two nights, although we might move on tomorrow afternoon, we'll see. 

I was still tired, and also absorbed in the new Richard Coles' Daniel Clement mystery, plus it was hot, so we opened up everything that could be opened up and then after a cup of tea the Swan Whisperer went for a walk. He actually went for two walks and missed his route coming back for the second one, which nearly made him late for supper! 

I decided it was too hot to cook more than was strictly necessary, so instead of serving the steak with mushrooms, carrots and potatoes, as I had first planned, we had it with salad and bread and butter instead! And very good it was, too! Followed by some Basque Coffee-flavoured dessert (not "Flan", delicious though that is) and cherries which need eating! We picked out all the bad ones and, when we had eaten our fill, the good ones went in the fridge! 

Early Summer Holiday, 4 June 2025

Txingudi Motorhome Park. Ventas, 20305, Gipuzkoa, Spain

We had hoped to go for a walk round CapBreton this morning, but the main car park was full, so it didn't happen. So, I after I had done a big shopping in a nearby Intermarché, we set sail for this motorhome park in Spain, very near Irun and so on. 

It was a lovely drive, through Bayonne and St-Jean-de-Luz,

among other places. Then we got to Hendaye, and turned left over a bridge and were in Spain! It was still another 20 minutes or so to the aire, which is your typical urban aire, no camping, but everything provided, including quite the best free WiFi we have had so far this holiday. It also has laundry facilities, which we are profiting from even as we speak! I hope we will then be able to manage until we go home, although I'm very much hoping we can do the laundry in the new facilities outside Carrefour in Calais before we go home, which would save a lot of time and stress! 

Anyway, the first thing we did was have lunch, and then, thanks to copious instructions from the extremely nice site manager via Google Translate, we set off to catch the bus to a place called Honorrabia, which was highly recommended by everyone! I had never heard of it, but it was well worth visiting - a walled citadel

(fortunately accessible by lift) with lots of steep narrow streets and a magnificent view. More photos than you will want to look at the are on Facebook! 

After wandering around very happily for an hour, we caught the bus back to the aire - actually to a huge shopping centre just by it; I might have to explore the enormous supermarket in the morning only, being Spain, it doesn't open until 10:0 am, and we may want to be away by then. We shall see. 

Early Summer holiday, 3 June 2025

Soorts-Hossegor, Landes, France

We didn't do much this morning; the weather has gone back on us a bit. So we didn't hurry, but used the services and then headed out to the nearest Hyper-U, but in fact there was an "everything" shop in the same area, so I went in there and was delighted to find a vinyl tablecloth to replace ours, which has worn out. There was also a Lidl, so I shopped in there, as all I wanted was bread for lunch!

We then drove on through Arcachon and the various other seaside towns in that locality, and then down the coast.

Why do seaside towns always have vast Moderne blocks of flats, as though visiting the seaside was something that only started happening in the 1920s/30s? I After all, the it was the Prince Regent who made places like Brighton and it's cheaper relative Worthing fashionable a hundred years earlier!

We were looking out for a place to stop for lunch and thought we saw somewhere, but it turned out to be a place where they were building a solar field, and no public access. So the Swan Whisperer reversed the WoMo - and got stuck! The soil was very loose, and we kept digging ourselves into it deeper and deeper! We tried using the mats from the inside - not too sure they will ever be the same again! Eventually the old one vinyl tablecloth came to our aid, and we got out, rather grubby! We now have no internal mats for at least the rest of the holiday (and I could have replaced them earlier, had I known!). Although they will probably be all right once they have been given a good shaking and brushing, and then put in the washing-machine at home!

Anyway, we finally stopped in a village called Pontenx-les-Forges, and I thought it looked familiar, and then I realised we had parked in the exact same spot to have our meal in February 2023!

Then on and on down minor roads to this aire in Soorts-Hossegor, where we have stayed a couple of times before. The WiFi isn't working, which is maddening of it, as there is very little phone signal. Just enough to upload this, I hope. The Swan Whisperer went for a walk round the lake, and has come back rather wet, as it rained! Of course, the rain is now away, but he is going to have a shower before supper. He says he wants to run round it in the opposite direction in the morning. No tai chi for me today because of the weather, but I hope to get a decent walk tomorrow. 

Early summer holiday, 2 June 2025

Gujan-Mestres, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

I seem to have been having a bit of a rest day today; the Swan Whisperer went for a walk this morning, and I could, and arguably should, have gone with him, but chose not to. We didn't set off as early as I would have liked, for one reason or another, and it was a long, rather dull drive down here, on the outskirts of Arcachon. It's a lovely aire, though.

En route we stopped at an E Leclerc for me to shop; I was very amused to see a young bird perching on top of the fruit and vegetable aisle - I don't think it did anything too ghastly on the red peppers. Sadly, it flew off before I could get a photo.

We stopped at a random aire for lunch; it was called L'aire des Oiseaux, and the Swan Whisperer had hoped it would have waterfowl or something, but no! It was very big, though, so no problem parking.

I dozed most of the way down the motorway after that. When we arrived here, there was someone in front of us making a total dogs' breakfast of checking in. I can't think why, as it was dead easy - you entered your reg number and the number of nights you wanted to stay, paid by contactless and it issued you a ticket on which was the entry-exit code! Anyway, they got in at last, and so did we. Lots of space, but as it is by a huge leisure area, I'm just as glad we didn't come here earlier!

The Swan Whisperer went for an explore, and I did a very short and rather pathetic tai chi, which I hoped would wake me up, but it hasn't, really! Still feel the better for it, though. And then we discovered that the fizzy wine we opened yesterday had fallen over in the fridge and spilt over all the vegetables! Oh well, we are drinking what's left, and I am changing plans for tonight's supper! 

Early Summer Holiday, 1 June 2025

La Rochelle, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

We both went back to sleep after the alarm went off this morning, and didn't stir until nearly 08:00. So it was about 10:00 am when we set off for our walk, which was supposed to have been round the lakes, but ended up being along the river and back through the edge of town, thanks to my insisting I knew the way to go! The Swan Whisperer very kindly didn't say he'd told me so, even though he had told me so! 

We decided that we would go on main roads today, although the Satnav did try to avoid a bad traffic jam and told us proudly it had saved us 9 minutes on our journey today! We found a large picnic area in which to listen to our church service - so much more audible on YouTube than it was on Facebook - and have lunch.

Driving to La Rochelle, though, there was a constant stream of traffic coming the other way, hordes of motor homes; French (and English) schools go back tomorrow! Even still, this very large aire is crowded, although we had no difficulty finding a space with electricity.

After a much-needed cup of tea, the Swan Whisperer went for a walk and I did tai chi, which I find very relaxing after a long afternoon in the passenger seat, even if I do doze off from time to time! In the passenger seat, I mean, not doing tai chi. And being childishly amused by some of the odder French names - the commune or commune of Corp Nud, for instance!

Supper was pork with vegetables, and although my travelling blender really does appear to have died - I charged it the day before we left, and it had no charge at all today! It will be replaced when we go back to London! And fromage blanc à la faisselle with stewed fruit I'd made before we left London.

Why is pork so cheap in France, when other meat, even pork sausages, is very expensive? Two reasonable-sized escalopes cost me the princely sume of €1.22!