Spring Holiday 2025, Sunday 16 March

Camping de Paris, Paris, France.

The Swan Whisperer bought croissants for our breakfast this morning, but not bread, as we knew we would eat out at lunchtime. Before we set out, I was able to buy a day-ticket for public transport on my phone, and then put one on the Swan Whisperer card, which, as I have his credit card details on my phone, too, he paid for! Result! 

We decided to attend the 10:45 service at St Michael's, as it would have been an effort to have attended the more formal 09:30. However, the service was not really such as to enable me to worship, although the sermon was excellent! 

After church, we caught a couple of buses to the Gare de Lyon, where we bought sandwiches. This was a mistake, as there were plenty of local restaurants and cafés, and the sandwiches we bought were so disgusting I couldn't eat more than half mine. Oh well. We had looked at the prices of the famous "Le Train Bleu" restaurant, but of course they were eye-watering! There was a bistro underneath, which might have been more reasonable, but we didn't see this until too late! 

We walked up to Bastille from the Gare de Lyon, and then up the boulevard Richard-Lenoir, which goes up the tunnel section of the canal. To our joy, there was a massive street market on the roof of the tunnel, and we enjoyed walking along past the many stalls, although at 14:00 it began to close. But it was lovely while it lasted. By then, I was beginning to have had enough, so we went to find a bus, only to be told there wasn't one for another hour. So there was a lovely church - St Amboise - and we sat in a little public garden in front of it - it was much less windy today, and the sun was out, so felt a lot warmer. Plus I'd worn my scarf, which I'd neglected to do yesterday, and that made a huge difference. Anyway, Citymapper and Google both suddenly said the bus was coming in 6 minutes, and when we went to the bus stop, it agreed. 

This was the first of several buses that eventually took us back to the campsite, via some of the less tourist parts of Paris - always fun to be away from the tourist areas. We did have to wait rather a long time at the Arc de Triomphe (okay, very touristy!) for the bus out to Porte Maillot, and then the campsite shuttle bus said we had to have bought tickets at the campsite, and we would have to take the public bus. I had a bit of a meltdown at that point, as with our history, we would have had to wait another 30 minutes, and I was done, but a very kind couple insisted we take their tickets and they would go on the public bus, which was lovely of them. The public bus stops several minutes' walk from the campsite, and it was as much as I could do to get from the gates to our motor home! 

I then slept for an hour until I got chilled, so I woke up and wrapped myself in my scarf, and then it was time for our Zoom Bible Study, on sin, which was good, and then we went to the campsite restaurant for supper; we both had burgers, which were very good and came with chips, but far too much; I couldn't finish mine! 

Tomorrow we leave Paris and head south, but I have no intention of getting out 

of the WoMo other than to buy milk! With >12k steps today and >9k yesterday, I definitely need a rest day! 

Spring Holiday 2025, 14 & 15 March

Camping de Paris, Paris, France

I. was too tired, and it was too late, to blog last night, so this is yesterday and today in one.

Yesterday started with the funeral of an old friend who had died very suddenly six weeks ago; the Daughter came, too. It was lovely to see her, even on a sad occasion, and she enjoyed seeing some of her former Sunday-School friends again, most of whom she hadn't seen for many years. When the service was over, she stayed to grab a sandwich before heading off back to work, while the Swan Whisperer and I rushed back to the flat to change and spend final pennies and so on - we had loaded the car earlier. We did stop to quickly eat our sandwiches, and then it was straight to the WoMo's garage, threw everything in it, put the car in the garage and headed round to no 6 to unpack things in it and fill it with water, not to mention having a cup of tea with my mother when we were at it!

We had an uneventful journey to Folkestone - apart, that is, from having to go back because the Swan Whisperer had left his phone in the courtyard! But that didn't delay us too long, and we were able to get on a crossing an hour earlier than we had booked, which was pleasing. We ate our cold supper - pork pie and salad, followed by home-made yoghurt with lemon curd - on the crossing, and then drove straight to the aire at Calais and parked up for the night.

This morning, the Swan Whisperer went to get croissants and a baguette for breakfast, and I did some of the tai chi while he was getting breakfast, but it was really too cold out there so I came in after I'd finished part 2.

Our first port of call was the local Auchan where I did a shopping while the Swan Whisperer got diesel and coffee. We then headed off down the A16 to Paris. Again, and uneventful journey, stopping once for lunch and once for the SW to have coffee again (he says it keeps him awake if he has it in the afternoon, but not if he has it at night!). We arrived at the campsite and they were expecting us. We had a cup of tea, and then took their Shuttle bus to Porte Maillot. Unfortunately it was difficult to find the metro, and I think we walked all round the houses. Then the SW had to buy a Navigo pass - I could put mine on my phone, but his phone doesn't have NFC so he had to buy one - and, of course, the ticket machine had run out of them! Eventually we came out of that exit and into another one where the machine was able to produce cards, and caught Line 1 into Paris.

We got off at Hotel de Ville, and had a lovely walk down across the Seine. The Parvis de Notre Dame was as crowded as we thought it would be, so we didn't even try to cross it, but walked down round the Cathedral and across the bridge at the other end.

After that, it all went rather pear-shaped. I thought it would be a good idea to take Line 10 to Porte d'Auteil and then a bus back to the campsite. So we went to the nearest Line 10 metro station, only to find that there had been a "one-under" and Line 10 was not running. So the Swan Whisperer found we could walk back to Jussieu station, not too far, and get another line, which would take us back to Line 1. By the time we got there, however, Line 10 had reopened, and we went back to Plan A.

Big mistake! The connecting bus wasn't going to be for another 35 minutes, and it was bitterly cold and I was tired and a bit low blood-sugar. We thought of finding a taxi, but didn't know where, but then Citymapper very helpfully suggested Uber! I have had a Uber account for years, but think I've only used it once, so it was great to be able to use it in Paris. Very nice driver, and comfortable car, got us back to the campsite in short order.

I got changed into pyjamas and my lovely warm fleecy top while the Swan Whisperer cooked Saturday sausage and mash, and we are about to eat tarte aux pommes avec sa sauce anglaise for pudding!

Tomorrow we have the whole day in Paris! 

Christmas Markets, 21 December 2024

 So we are home!  Finally!  We had expected to catch the 11:24 crossing, but went to the terminal earlier and got offered a slot on the 10:32 (I think).  Which would have been nice.... but then everything got delayed and delayed and delayed, and it took hours and hours (well, at least half an hour, if not longer) to get through Passport Control, but then we went straight on to a train, which got away about noon French time.  Which basically meant we didn't arrive at no 6 until nearly 14:00, UK time.  However,  my sister had soup, bread and cheese waiting for us, and we had brought a tarte aux poires as our share in the meal, so we had that before we did anything else.  The annoying thing is that, because we were not really delayed from our original booking, we can't claim delay repay, even though we were, in fact, delayed!  Ah well.

And then it was the usual mad rush to clear out the WoMo, clean it, and load the car.  It didn't take as long as usual, as we had only been away six days.  And my hat was there - it had fallen out of my pocket, as I suspected, but it had landed on the seat, and then got hidden by a cushion.  I am so pleased, as I really like that hat!  Much nicer than any of the others.

The drive back to London wasn't as bad as usual - fewer hold-ups - and we were here about 18:15, unpacked the car and put everything away.  We won't be going away in the WoMo again until March, which, right now, feels like an awfully long way away!  In the meantime,  I'd like to wish all who read this a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

Christmas Markets, 20 December 2024

Blériot-Plage, Calais

It was a very cold night, and we were nursing our batteries to make sure we could have heating and hot water in the morning, so early bed, hot-water bottles and reading under the duvet was the order of the day. Very cosy, and I slept fairly well - my cold seems to be pretty much over, thank goodness, although I have had a couple of bad coughing fits.

So, anyway, we woke up to a bitterly cold morning - only 6°C in the WoMo, according to my clock. But the batteries were fine, and we put the heating on for a good blast before we got up. It was a seriously lovely morning, so after breakfast we wrapped up warmly and set off for the walk I've been longing to do ever since we first parked up here a couple of years ago. Across the bridge, down the hill to the Strépy-Thieux Canal Lift, round the lift (stopping to watch a boat coming out of the caisson), and down to the towpath on the other side; along to the next bridge, which leads to the old lift, and back along the towpath as we went last night. Only just over 3 km, according to my watch, but very pleasant - and a few hundred metres more than I found comfortable, which is very good for me! A few more photos on Facebook.

After the SW had had his coffee, it was time to head on, and we drove as far as the French border before stopping for lunch, and then straight to Cité Europe where we had a cup of tea, and did a Last Shop in France, and then went to Lidl and I did a Last Last Shop there. It was dark by then, so we drove round Calais admiring their Christmas lights, which were as excellent as ever, before coming here, to the motorhome aire, where we are parked up before our crossing tomorrow morning.