The last dregs of summer, 16 October 2022

Today is Sunday, and because we are that much further north, it didn't really begin to get light until about 08:00. And we were not in a hurry, so didn't rush to get up. The Swan Whisperer went to find a bakery; the one round the corner from the Camping-car Park had closed down, but there was a shiny modern one not just so far away so he went there for our baguette, croissants and Sunday patisseries. 

After breakfast, we went for a walk round the "Etang Communal" which was exactly 1 km; there was a woman doing laps in the other direction who we kept meeting, as she was walking rather faster than we were, with the aid of trekking poles! We wondered how many laps she had done/was doing. 

We then had a look round the church - it did smell of incense, but I don't know whether there had been a service that morning - from the literature, it looked as though they only had one service a month and the other Sundays were at other churches. It was a pleasant enough building, but not especially memorable. 

Then it was time to set off; the Swan Whisperer had thought he knew what way we were going, but had not told the Satnav to avoid toll roads, so we ended up on the motorway. But we came off it shortly before Chartres, and even found a place where we could top up with diesel - only 30 litres, though, but that is enough to get us across the Channel. 

We are now parked up in a wonderful, if rather small, free aire which even includes electricity in the village of La Madeleine de Nonancourt, just by the Mairie. It looks as though it was once a private chateau.

I look forward to exploring in the morning. 

The Swan Whisperer did go for a walk, and this evening it was our church's Zoom Bible Study, so supper is rather late! 

The last dregs of summer, 15 October 2022

There was the most glories sunrise this morning.

After breakfast we act for a walk round the village, which was very short as St-Macel-en-Mersat is a very small village! The church was nice, though, and obviously cared for, although I don't think it has any source of music unless people bring their instruments.

We then set off and, after shopping and a successful attempt to get diesel, drove up the A71, stopping for lunch in a serious cloudburst, but it did stop raining shortly after we set off again. We are now in a very nice Camping-Car park at Lailly-en-Val, with a community sports ground - people were playing boules when we arrived - a fake and a church. Hope it will be fine for exploring tomorrow. 

The last dregs of summer, 14 October 2022

A quiet day today; we spent most of the morning just relaxing. My insides are all better now, you will be pleased to hear! Eventually we moved on and drove to a Super U some miles further north, where I did a shopping, and then to a service area to have lunch. 

After lunch, I think we came off the motorway and drove a scenic route through the Auvergne volcanoes, but as I was fast asleep at the time, it was wasted on me. Then we arrived at this aire at Saint-Marcel-en-Murat. We stayed here before, back in January 2017, when there was a bitter frost and our pipes froze! Tonight it is very windy and the odd shower, but no danger of frost! I hope we may get a walk round the village in the morning, if the weather co-operates. No photos today, so here is a shot of what Google lens tells me is baby sage that I took at Alès a few days ago. 

The last dregs of summer, 13 October 2022

Not a good day from my point of view, as my tummy went back on me and I felt rather rotten all day. So I only left the van to rinse out some washing that I needed to do to have enough underwear to last until I get home and a day or so afterwards.  There was a mini-helicopter - auto-giro? - on the aerodrome, which was rather fun to watch. 

We had a lovely drive today, though - a gloriously scenic drive up the D806 to the motorway (A75), and then we came off again to visit the Garabit viaduct, and actually saw a train crossing it! 

(This is the Swan Whisperer's photo; mine wasn't nearly as good) We had lunch there - I was beginning to feel better by then  Back to the motorway, and then off again to this aire at Auzon, very near the one in Brassac-les-Mines we stayed at on the way down! The Swan Whisperer has been for a long walk, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and I have been knitting and reading. It is raining again, and the colours are definitely autumnal. I'm afraid summer is over for this year! 

The last dregs of summer, 12 October 2022

It is already Wednesday, and only one week left, so we must start heading north and bid a final farewell to summer.

The sunset last night and sunrise this morning were pleasant, but not spectacular.

We didn't see our nice pig farmer this morning to bid him farewell, as we could hear his tractor some way away. 

We drove into Alès and went for a walk. It is pleasant, but not very photogenic, as most of the old city was razed and rebuilt in the 1960s,with predictable results! The Cathedral is lovely, though,

as was the cup of coffee we fortified ourselves with before returning to the WoMo and heading on towards Mende.

It was mostly a lovely drive, very scenic, if a bit sick-making. We managed to get diesel, which was a relief, and hope we will find some more but might just make it without. 

Shortly before we arrived, the heavens opened and there was a terrific hailstorm! This aire is a bit out of Mende, by the aerodrome, but we were not sure whether the town would be worth seeing except the Cathedral, which looked formidable! 

The last dregs of summer, 11 October 2022

The Swan Whisperer, having said he wanted to go to Gap, changed his mind up and decided to go to Mende via Ales instead. However, as we had spent two separate nights within spitting distance of Brignoles but only visited a supermarket on the outskirts, we decided to visit the town itself. A guidebook of ours helpfully suggested that if you park up in the Casino supermarket car park, it is only a short walk to the mediaeval town centre, and so it proved. I did a small shopping, and then we headed on. 

We had a lovely walk around the town

- there are loads more photos on Facebook - and then headed back to the WoMo to set off on a long drive, mostly on the motorway (I dozed an awful lot of the way, I have to admit!) to a tiny pig farm outside the village of St-Just-en-Vacquieres. 

There was nobody around when we arrived, but the France Passion signs made it clear where one should park, and the owner - very friendly, but with an incredibly strong local accent I found difficult to understand - came up on his tractor to say hello when he arrived. I am not sure if it is a residence or just farm buildings.

Anyway, there is a simply glorious view

on both sides of the motor home and, the owner said, glorious sunsets in one direction and glorious sunrises in the other! Still another half an hour or so before I can attest to the truth or otherwise of that assertion. The Swan Whisperer has gone to look at the pigs!

The last dregs of summer, 10 October 2022

The wind got up in the night and blew the rain away. The sky was still grey, so the Mediterranean wasn't the deep blue one expects it to be, but it was a very great deal less dreich than yesterday. 

Our first port of call was a Géant Casino (supermarket) just outside Cannes where I did a shopping and the SW swept out the van and had his coffee. The road there had been rather sick-making - hairpin bends the whole way - but not really frightening as it was nice and wide and had barriers both sides. 

After shopping, we drove up to Grasse, hoping to stop in the Pak'n'ride and see something of the town. Sadly, though, it was cars only, and although we parked up outside it to have an early lunch, we didn't feel able to leave it there. So that was a bust. 

The Swan Whisperer has some strange idea of taking the Route Napoleon (no, thank you!), but actually drove back west along the motorway (incidentally scoring some diesel which was about 20p a litre than the roadside garages, and even the supermarkets, are selling it for, when and if they have any) and up to this Camping-Car Park just outside Cabasse, but it isn't really possible to walk into the village as the road is very narrow with a lot of traffic and no pavement. So that's a bust, so too. 

I do hate not having a fixed (well, semi-fixed) itinerary, as I have no idea where we will be this time tomorrow, or whether we should start heading north, and how long will this fuel shortage last and so on. But the sun is shining and it is very warm again! 

The last dregs of summer, 9 October 2022

No summer today! It has rained nearly all day, and I don't think I have got out of the WoMo at all. Oh yes, to get bread and Sunday patisserie at the bakery in Le Val.

 Before calling at the bakery, we used the services and spent ages deciding where to go! It seemed an awful waste to be so near the Riviera and not visit it, but it was a horrible road to get there, all hairpin bends and steep drops with no barriers, horrendously narrow! And peeing with rain when we got there.

The SW had set the satnav to take us to Grasse, but the road up was again all hairpins, even though a main road, and I simply could not face it twice in one day!

But then I saw, on Google Maps, a place marked simply as "aire pour dormir", and we drove there to see. Just a large layby, but overlooking the sea, and loads of other motorhomes spending the night, too.

It is now stormy, windy and cold! I just hope this is the worst of the bad weather. The forecast does show it improving! 

The last dregs of summer, 8 October 2022

It rained in the night, and it was much more autumnal this morning. I hope we haven't said "Goodbye" to summer, even down here in the South of France. We said goodbye to our France Passion host, and our first port of call was a supermarket (naturally) where I bought our Saturday sausages and helped the Swan Whisperer buy a new cube of gas. He also topped up our diesel, as there is a severe, and growing worse, shortage of both diesel and, primarily, petrol, due to an ongoing refinery strike. 

We are hoping we can get diesel, at least until we get to Hauts-de-France, which is the area worst affected, as is the Paris area. But when we tried to come off the motorway to a service area to have lunch there was a huge, huge queue even to get off the motorway. So we came away. 

We basically drove down to Toulon and back up, but didn't see much because the main road through the city was all underground. But there were some lovely roads, although some awful hairpin bends - but only a couple at a time, not the unending array of them there was a few days ago. 

We arrived at this Camping-Car park in the village of Le Val, and after a cup of tea we set off to explore the place, which was lovely.

More photos on Facebook. And now back at the WoMo, hoping tomorrow won't be too wet, but the forecast isn't good! 

The last dregs of summer, 7 October 2022

A bit of a "nothing" day, really. I was tired, for some reason, and went back to sleep after breakfast, dreaming about a rather nice binman called Gordon (no, I don't know any binmen, and certainly not one called Gordon!) giving us a lift from Streatham in his bin lorry!

Anyway, when I came awake it was time to move on if we were not to have to pay an excess charge. So we went over to empty the grey and the black - we didn't need water, having filled the tank right up the previous evening - but when we got to the exit, my card didn't work. Again. Oh dear. However, I quickly discovered that the SW still had my card from turning on the water to empty the loo, and it was not too surprising that my Carrefour card didn't work! Once I had the correct card, no problem.

We drove through Martigues, stopping at the most enormous Carrefour you ever did see as I really fancied fish in parsley sauce for supper. Honestly, it was so huge it made the one in Cité Europe look like a convenience store in comparison.

We had decided to stop at a France Passion place between Marseilles and Salon de Provence, but when we got there, they were horribly vague about where to park, and we couldn't find the place at all, so we ate our lunch in the overflow car park and moved on to the one a few hundred metres down the road, where we were warmly welcomed, with a clear explanation of where to go, and the pitches are clearly marked, too. A lovely view of the hills (don't know why I can't move the picture!), and of the old house.

And little Thelwell girls

riding on Thelwell ponies. 

The last dregs of summer, 6 October 2022

There was such a lovely sunrise this morning! I actually got up before the Swan Whisperer, so it was my turn to make breakfast. After which, we called in at the farm shop where we had spent the night and bought some wine and one or two other bits. Including citronella essential oil to try to discourage the mosquitos that have been eating me alive just lately. I don't know how they get in - we are scrupulous about keeping the windows covered with mosquito netting at all times, but but... 

Once we set off, we made for Aigues-Mortes, a fortified town which we have been to before.

 We first called in at a Super U about a kilometre out of the town. Years ago, we spent a couple of nights at a motel in the same roundabout, and knew it was there. Then we moved on to the town proper. The motorhome parking was very near one of the entrance gates, and we enjoyed walking through the town to the main drag where every shop is a restaurant! We picked one at random to have lunch in, and I for one thoroughly enjoyed my open sandwich with onions, burger, egg and salad. Followed by ice cream. The SW chose coffee; I should have liked nougat, but they were out, so I had a scoop of "Fougasse d'Aigues-Mortes",. I am still not quite sure what it was, other than delicious! 

After lunch, we wandered back to the WoMo and set off again, this time round the Camargue to the town of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhone, crossing the river on the ferry we have used several times before.

We are in a Camping-Car park here, just by the canal, and we have seen several boats go up and down, including a naval vessel and the longest barge you ever did see - and so long I thought it was a train at first! The SW has gone for a walk, but has just come back as I type! 

The last dregs of summer, 5 October 2022

This morning, for some reason, I fell asleep again after taking my tablet and didn't wake up until well gone 09:00. I really had trouble getting out of bed and showering, too! However, once I had, I was fairly all right, and we spent the first hour after breakfast doing necessary chores like boiling the washing-up cloths to sterilise them, and changing the tea-towel, while the Swan Whisperer washed the outside windows and windscreens. 

When we were ready to move on, though, and we had a bit of a fright, as when I pressed my card to the exit barrier, nothing happened! I realised there were no lights on the barrier, and the Swan Whisperer said it was the same on the entry barrier. So I rang them up, and first the woman I spoke to - who didn't speak nearly as good English as the one I spoke to the other night - asked me to try a code, but of course that didn't work, and then she said we could lift the barrier manually. So we did that. Unfortunately, the power cut, or whatever it was, also applied to the services - which were outside the actual enclosure - so we had to come away without using them. 

Our first port of call was Arles. We thought at first it would be impossible to park, since all the ar parks we could see were full, but just as we were going sadly away, we came across an absolutely enormous, empty car park that was so new the entrance barriers and card readers, etc, hadn't been set up yet. So parking was free. There were two other, older, car parks on the site which were now locked out of use, whether permanently or just in the low season I couldn't say. 

A shuttle bus ran us into town and, indeed, out the other side to the Roman race-track. We had confused this with the arena and theatre, but there was a good museum there and we enjoyed wandering around seeing the various bits and bobs they used in daily life, although I, for one, was less than enthused by the enormous hunks of stone that formed much of the display. Of more interest was a huge wooden boat that had apparently sunk in the harbour some 2,000 years ago and had been raised. It had been carrying stone, among other cargo. There were also a great many sarcophagi - frankly, if you've seen one Roman sarcophagus, you've seen them all - and I do hope they reburied the original inhabitants with all due reverence. 

When we had finished with the museum, we decided to walk back into town - a lovely path which took us past the Roman-style garden that the museum had created. It was full of schoolchildren and others eating packed lunches, so we didn't go in, but walked up alongside the Rhône,

and then through the mediaeval streets until we got back to the main drag where we had lunch. Then we walked a bit further until we got to the old arena.

I was flagging by then, but nothing a delicious ice-cream

couldn't cure! We tried to get a sight of the Roman theatre, too, but were somehow the wrong side of it. 

We walked back to the main drag through a small but steep (fortunately downhill!) public park, and didn't have to wait too long for a bus back to the car park. 

We then drove on, via a supermarket, to this France Passion farm at Montcalm, in the Camargue, where we were warmly welcomed. The woman in the shop seemed both surprised and pleased that we had bothered to come and say hello - I have to wonder how many people don't bother. Or who stop here without being members of France Passion. Actually, looking at the map, it is possible that the France Passion place is the other side of the road, but this place takes motorhomes to, so.... 

The last dregs of summer, 4 October 2022

It appears to be summer between the hours of 10:00 and 19:00 or thereabouts. Before and after, it can be very cold, and this morning it was very foggy. 

However, after breakfast we set off to the highlight of today, the Cirque de Navacelles, which my brother-in-law said was well worth seeing. The fog had lifted en route, and he was not wrong!

The photos simply don't do it justice. I found I could only look over for a few seconds at a time, or I got very dizzy, and the Swan Whisperer didn't help by practically climbing the retaining wall (he says he was perfectly safe, but then he would say that, wouldn't he?) to see if he could see the others, who had decided to walk down! Sooner them than me, and the SW wasn't able for a long walk today as he had had two in recent days and done his tendon a lot of no good. 

We had a drink in the Café there, but that was a bit of a failure as we ordered the very special home-made lemonade. The SW ordered plain and I ordered lemon/lavender, but honestly, all you could taste was sugar! It was appallingly sweet, quite revolting. At least it meant we weren't hungry, so we decided to drive on towards Bellegarde, where we are spending the night. 

It was awful, the first two hours of the drive. Firstly we drove down and down, hairpin after hairpin, horribly scary and sick-making, and when! we had gone about 20 km, the road turned out to be blocked, so we had to turn round. The Satnav did suggest a fairly sensible-looking diversion but the SW said he didn't like the look of it, so we had to go up a different set of hairpins, horrendously narrow, much worse than the first! I was so terrified I regret to say I screamed most of the way up and was thankful I'd had no lunch! I And as soon as we got to the top, we the SW said should we stop and have lunch?! It was a good 30 minutes before I could even think of eating anything...

However, after that it was a very pleasant drive along the D999 and then past Nîmes to this Camping-car park in Bellegard. Which is by a marina, rather nice! We don't think we'll meet up with the others again but you never know! 

The last dregs of summer, 3 October 2022

This evening finds us still at Nant. We had been going to move on, but it didn't happen!

This morning, the SW and the others went for a walk up to Le Roc de Nant.

Sooner them than me, is all I will say about that! I, meanwhile, had a glorious morning doing absolutely nothing!

When the others got home, it was lunch time and past, so we had our lunch and then sat around chatting and putting the world to rights. It was a lovely summer afternoon - I do wish I'd packed shorts - and by about 16:00, we all decided it was too late, and we were too comfortable, to move! 

I had had no exercise, so the SW kindly accompanied me into the town for a brief wander round the Old Town and then a beer in the old market halls. Tomorrow is market day here and the men were putting up barriers to do people parking in the Square. 

Then back to the WoMo and eventually I cooked a cauliflower cheese which was lovely.  And we will have to move on tomorrow! 

The last dregs of summer, 2 October 2022

It was much milder this morning, and I don't think the heating needed to come on at all. The SW went into the village to buy bread, and after breakfast we used the services before heading on. 

Today's drive was down the A75, such a lovely road, as far as Millau.

We listened to our church service en route which was a bit surreal! At Millau, we came off the motorway and drove cross country through the Gorges de la Tarn and past La Cavalerie - there was a French Foreign Legion barracks and also a military firing range, and like Salisbury Plain - to this little village called Nant, where we met up with the SW's brother and his wife. 

We had lunch sitting outside, because it was so lovely. The SW changed into shorts, but I haven't packed any. After lunch, the others all went for some long, healthy uphill walk to some chapel or other - local beauty spot, anyway - and I went for a potter around the mediaeval old town centre, complete with resident ginger monster! I wonder whether all mediaeval French towns have ginger cats.... 

Back at the WoMo, I read until it was time to get supper, and then fed everybody on chicken and vegetable stew with couscous and Moroccan seasonings. And very good it was, too - a pleasant evening in good company. 

The last dregs of summer, 1 October 2022

It was exactly 7 years ago that we set off in our then motor home on our first ever motorhome adventure, the Eleanor of Aquitaine tour. We have learnt a lot since then!

Meanwhile, it was not so cold this morning, although the heating still came on. There was an artisan bakery just around the corner from the campsite, and the SW popped up there for a baguette and croissants for breakfast. I had had another bad night, although my cold is very definitely almost over, and fell fast asleep after breakfast, but when I woke up, we went back to the bakery for some patisseries for lunch pudding!

Then we went into Nevers; we had hoped to park up by the Loire and have a quick look at the Cathedral but the parking was a bit full and not really suitable for motor homes, so we came away and I did a massive shop at an Intermarché and now won't need to get anything other than bread, and possibly milk, before Tuesday!

Then a very pleasant drive down the N7, A71, A79 and A75 to this Camping-car park at a place called Brassac-les-Mines. I did book, but it wasn't necessary

as I think there is only one other motor home there. The Swan Whisperer went out for a leg-stretch, and I watched videos, and now he is cooking our Saturday night sausages! 

The last dregs of summer, 30 September 2022

Stupid, stupid, stupid me! I forgot that the "nighttime" decongestant tablets really don't suit me, and took them. The net result was that I lay awake most of the night with a mouth so dry it merited its own hosepipe ban, and very restless. Dozed a bit, but woke every hour on the hour, so felt like chewed string this morning. No walks for me today, although I did pop into a supermarket for some necessities.

We had a very pleasant drive once we got away from the Paris area, mostly down the A77 (we decided it was worth paying tolls) to Nevers, where we have parked up in a small, free aire in a suburb called Marzy. Nice view, but I really didn't feel up to a walk, so read and dozed while the SW explored.  I did cook supper, which was mushroom omelettes. No photos today, so here is one from yestetday. 

The last dregs of summer, 29 September 2022

I slept really well last night, the first good night's sleep I have had since starting this cold! But we awoke to the sound of rain on the roof, and it was cold enough that we needed to turn the heating on while we dressed. The rain was away before we were, though, and we only met one brief, although sharp, shower en route. 

We told the Satnav that we didn't want to pay tolls as far as Abbéville, where I visited a Super U, but forgot to buy tea, which must be remedied tomorrow. By which time, the Swan Whisperer decided he liked the look of the non-toll route and it was, he said, only half an hour longer, so we went via Rouen and Evreux here to Sceaux. We are parked in the free car park for the Chateau de Sceaux (which the Satnav amused us by pronouncing it "Skucks"), and after a cup of tea we went for a rather slow walk around the Parc de Sceaux, which was absolutely gorgeous! More photos on Facebook, of course.

By the way, if you want a map of our travels and stops, do follow me on Polarsteps. Link on Facebook. 

The last dregs of summer, 28 September 2022

Back at the end of February, we went off down to the South of France to try to find the spring. This time we are going to try to salvage the last dregs of summer.. Although we don't know exactly where we are going after the first few days as we plan to meet up with the Swan Whisperer brother and his wife, who are touring in their motor home. 

My mother and sister have been on a cruise to the Norwegian fjords, and they returned today, so we all met up at no 6, we arrived about 5 minutes before they did. They unpacked their stuff while we loaded the van, and then they went to pick up the dog, who was staying with my sister's partner, and we headed off. 

Uneventful drive and crossing, and then a further hour to this Camping-Car park where we are spending the night. Supper was a German ready-meal that was edible, although not as nice as it looks on the packet!

 

Summer Holiday, 30 August 2022

 And so we came home.  First of all, though, we woke up in Bray-Dunes, and after breakfast took ourselves on a leg-stretch to the beach and back.

  Then we used the services for the final time, and set off down the A16 towards Calais.  We had hoped to stop at the big Auchan in the Grande Synthe commercial centre, but there was a traffic jam and we missed our exit, so went straight to Cité Europe and I did a Last Shop in France there.  We had a slightly early lunch, and eventually headed to the Eurotunnel terminus.

We had booked on the 15:20 crossing, and I had hoped we'd get on an earlier one, but even though the traffic wasn't as horrendous as it would have been the previous day, it was still pretty busy, so we had to be on our booked crossing, which was slightly late.  This meant we arrived at No 6 at about 17:15 local time, and then, of course, there was a busy half an hour or so packing up stuff that hadn't already been packed - we had done the bedroom and bathroom stuff earlier.

We had arranged to have supper with my mother - I provided the stew and potatoes, and she provided plum crumble.  And very good it was, too.  But of course we didn't get back to London until nearly 10, which is one reason I didn't blog yesterday.  We only did a bare minimum of unpacking - the stuff to go in the fridge and overnight stuff, basically - and I, for one, was glad to seek my bed.

However, this morning after breakfast I reached for my computer - and there it wasn't! We had totally forgotten that just before leaving for this holiday I'd led a Zoom service from No 6, and had left my computer there.  The Swan Whisperer went totally above and beyond and drove me down to pick it up, and while we were there, we looked in the motor home for a dozen eggs that had unaccountably gone missing.  The supermarket in Belgium had, improbably, had eggs on a BOGOF, so I had bought two dozen, but could find only one of them.  Anyway, no joy - and we did take the opportunity to open the sink cover, which we had forgotten to do.  We did find the eggs when we got back to London - they were hiding in plain sight!

Because the SW had been so kind, I took him out to lunch at the Chalk Restaurant at the Wiston Estate Winery.  This was delicious, if rather expensive - but probably cost less than a return train fare with taxis each way! 

I should explain that normally my mother would have given us lunch, or we would have taken her out to lunch, but it was the one day she had guests, so we literally just grabbed my computer (tidily in a briefcase) and ran!  So it was near on 17:00 when we got back to London, and of course we had missed a whole day of catching up.  Oh well.... I then had to go to the dentist and then there was a flat owners' meeting, but I have left the Swan Whisperer to deal with all that while I catch up.  

Summer Holiday, 29 August 2022

Do not, repeat not, drink Polish linden tea before going to bed! It appears to be an incredibly strong diuretic, and I was up at least five times in the night instead of my usual two or three! I was not impressed! 

We had a fearful fright this morning. The Swan Whisperer was cleaning his teeth when the pump suddenly started running and wouldn't stop! The SW tried switching it off and on again - which he said wouldn't work as it had no intelligent components. He looked under the van to see whether we had sprung a leak somewhere, and finally we found that the shower in the boot - the one meant for hosing off muddy dogs and boots - was turned on. He turned it off - blissful silence, and I could have my shower! We realised that there had been a jackhammer going full blast first thing, and It was probably that had loosened it. It has now been firmly wrapped in an elastic band to stop its working itself loose again! 

After that, we could have breakfast, and then we decided to go for a walk down to the boat lift and back

- we could have gone on to avoid coming back the way we went, but decided not to. We did see a boat being lifted, though, but we couldn't see where it said no overnight parking, and people obviously had! All the same, I think I do prefer the place by the old canal - the duck path, they call it! 

We decided we had better go somewhere there were services for our last night, so have ended up in this Camper Contact place at Bray Dunes, just in France. The telephone can't make up its mind where we are, which does not make for a good signal. 

Our first port of call, however, was a supermarket

where I bought the wherewithal to make couscous for supper, only I forgot to buy chickpeas, so had to go down to a convenience store about 500 metres away to buy some. And they didn't have small tins - only big ones and enormous ones! So I bought a big one and we'll have to save half of it. 

An uneventful journey to Bray-Dunes, except that we rather wish we had gone across country - that motorway from Lille is very dull! Every other car seemed to be British, probably heading home, which is why we decided not to cross today! There are at least two other British motorhomes here which may or may not have decided the same thing.... 

Summer Holiday, 28 August 2022

This morning we were in Düren, but of course it is Sunday, so all the shops are shut. We didn't head on very early, but used the services, and the SW went for a leg-stretch while I read and did puzzles on my tablet. 

It was always going to be a driving day, as we are on the way home. We started off cross-country, a mixture of extremely nice roads and really rather awful ones, much too narrow for the WoMo really. Fortunately there was not much traffic. 

We joined the motorway just before the Belgian border. It would appear that the secret to Belgian motorways is to go on a Sunday lunchtime - very little traffic and no hold-ups! 

Our original plan had been to stop at the car park for the Ronquières inclined plane, but for some reason neither of us was keen. I remember it as dark and gloomy, but that was in December a few years ago! 

So anyway, I found that a car park on the outskirts of Mons was recommended, but when we got there, it was a bit full, and we felt as though we were intruding. Also no shade, and it is hot again! So a bit of detective work finds us parked up at this lovely canal bridge

(even though the cars make a noise going over it) with a view of the Strépy-Thieu canal lift,

which we love. We would have gone there, but they have stopped overnight parking, alas. This place, however, is almost nicer. 

As I had barely been out of the WoMo - just to buy rolls in a random convenience store at a petrol station - we decided to go for a walk along the canal bank to the old lift

(one of the ones the big Strépy-Thieu lift replaced) and back the other side. It was a lovely walk, although you had to walk down to the roadway to cross the canal, and then back up the other side up a 19% slope! But we took it slowly and I managed, although I know I've taken exercise. Now cooking a big casserole and enjoying a lovely evening. 

Summer Holiday, 27 August 2022

Yesterday may have been a rest day as far as I was concerned; today certainly wasn't! 

The airport, thankfully, closed down shortly after 11:00 pm and flights didn't resume until about 06:00.

I wish the same could have been said of some of the campers. There really were an inordinate number of motor homes - you have simply never, ever seen so many in one place! 

Anyway, the Salon didn't open until 10:00, so we didn' t need to hurry. About ten to we went to the shuttle bus stop, and caught the bus up to the Messe. The bus appeared to go all round the houses to get there, but we arrived in the end and, of course, had to queue to get in. 

Like most people who are not in the market for a new motor home, we headed for Hall 3, which was full of gadgets and advertisements to come and camp in our area, or use our app, or... We did make a point of telling Park4Night how much we used their app, and we called at the BritStops stand (shared with France Passion and the various equivalents in other countries), but they weren't there, only a very nice Norwegian selling his country's version. 

One thing I wanted to buy was a folding table for eating out of doors in fine weather, as our picnic table is pretty much demised now. We found a very nice one for €44, which came in its own carrying case, so useful.

What we couldn't find, though, was coffee in any shape or form! There were numerous bars selling soft drinks or beer, and a couple of "Stehcafés", but nowhere to sit down and have a coffee. Unless you were a member of one of their posh clubs.... 

Anyway, when we had finished pottering round Hall 3, we headed to Hall 5 to drool over the luxury motor homes, but you know what? I don't think I really would like any of them! Too big, too - well, it sounds stupid, but too luxurious. Our Pilote is as much luxury as we need or can cope with. 

I wanted to go to Halls 13 and 14, right up the other end of the site (bloody miles!) to see some of the modern technology - how are motor homes going to cope when diesel vehicles are banned in ten years' time? But most of it seemed to be things like generators so you could charge your e-bike or scooter while on the road. I didn't see anything about using biogas for fuel, or anything like that. 

We did note that you can get reversing cameras for motor homes (we have a rear view camera, but not a reversing one); we noted one or two other things on our travels, too; the annoying thing is that all the exhibitors have links to their German websites (not surprising, really!). 

Anyway, by then I was exhausted, so we came away and waited for the next bus back to the car park, which seemed to go an even longer way round to get to our stop, but we got there in the end, and had lunch out of doors to christen our new table. 

After lunch we headed on to Düren, where we have been many times before; we stopped at an Edeka on the way so that I could do a Last Shop in Germany, only it wasn't, because I couldn't get mince and forgot the Schwabian Maultaschen, so went to Lidl as well. Still plenty of room in the aire when we arrived, and I hope I don't have to move again today! It is Saturday, so the Swan Whisperer will get supper - oh yes, when I was in Edeka we needed potatoes, and I had to buy these ones, didn't I?! 

Summer Holiday, 26 August 2022l

From my point of view, today has been very much a rest day. I doubt that the Swan Whisperer would agree with me, though as he had to drive well over 200 km on horrendously busy motorways, with endless road works and hold-up. Actually, the second half of the journey wasn't so bad - we stopped for a cup of tea half-way. 

This morning, though, was lovely and lazy for both of us. The SW did go for a leg-stretch, but I just sat in the shade outside the van and read. It was gone noon before we set off, having used the services, and our first port of call was a ReWe.

However, I didn't go in at first as there was a concession stand in the car park that was selling Currywurst and Bratwurst and so on, so we bought our lunch. Then we realised we hadn't enough ice-cream, so I did go into ReWe after all and also bought some wine and some coloured eggs. 

Then we headed on along the afore-mentioned motorways, and eventually, at about 18:30 arrived at the campsite for the Düsseldorf Caravan Salon, which we have tickets for in the morning. It is absolutely enormous - you have never seen so many motorhomes all in one place!

Not unpleasant, though. Most people are sitting out, but the SW doesn't want to. It is also very noisy, as under the flight path from Düsseldorf Airport,

only a couple of kilometres away. I went for a leg-stretch to find out where you get the free shuttle buses from in the morning, and have stewed some rather tasteless mirabelle plums I bought a couple of days ago, and made risotto, which we are about to eat.