Eleanor, Day 5

It is not a plan to park up where a lighthouse is sending its beams every few seconds! I slept badly because of that, but fell asleep eventually to wake to a very wet morning and no hot water.   Turns out it needs more battery than we had available. So we ran the engine for a bit before we could have our showers. I think we will have to replace the leisure battery sooner, rather than later, as it simply isn't holding its charge.

So we left Barfleur in the rain and drove down to Caen, where we stopped to do some shopping and to have lunch in McDonald's and use their WiFi to upload photos, etc. Then a long motorway journey to Le Mans, where we now are. I fell asleep.

The rain was away when we got here, so after using the service point, we went out for a walk. Heartened by meeting another British couple who are moving to Portugal in their van, which seems every bit as temperamental as ours - we thought the fridge wouldn't turn on to run on gas, but it had!

One always thinks of Le Mans in terms of the eponymous motor race, but of course it is an essential stop on any Eleanor tour. We were too late to go into the Cathedral, but we explored the old town, known as the Cité Plantagenet, and had a wonderful walk.   All dating back to Plantagenet times. There is even a street named for Queen Berengaria, and a museum about her,

but sadly not open until tomorrow afternoon, when we shall have moved on if we want to see anything of Angers.

And so back to the van and fresh ravioli and a cherry tomato, basil, garlic and parmesan sauce, very delicious. 

Eleanor, Day 4

By dint of conservative management, our batteries lasted until this morning, and then charged up quickly.

Today we managed to set off in reasonable time from Falaise,  and arrived in Cherbourg in time for lunch. There was supposed to be a guided walk from the Tourist Office at 14:30, but when we got there, no sign of anything, so I suppose we should have booked. And although there were services on the car park, the hose wouldn't fit on their tap. So we headed off, stopping at St-Père-l'Eglise to use their services, only to find they were out of use. Oh well, we think we've enough water to do us.

We arrived at Barfleur, and found the motor home park at the second try. Very nice, in front of the sea wall, with a view of the lighthouse.

After a cup of tea, the SW went for a walk, and I tried to read, but fell asleep instead!  We then walked into town along the sea wall, and found a restaurant was open that would give us supper. I had cod in a lovely sauce, followed by nougat glacé, my favourite, and he had a galette au tartiflette, followed by an ice. And we shared a pichet of very nice white wine.

What I had forgotten was that Barfleur was where the White Ship had embarked from, and it must have been wrecked about opposite where we are parked!

Then back to the van just as the rain started!

Eleanor, Day 3

We had a nasty shock last night - I was already in bed, having retired there shortly after dinner, but the Swan Whisperer was reading in the main section, when all the lights went out. For some reason, although we were on mains electricity, the batteries were not charging!  And when we set off this morning they did not appear to be charging either from the solar panel or from the engine. We stopped and the SW fiddled about a bit and that seems to have done the trick, but very annoying at the start of a holiday. I shan't be impressed if we have to drive 30 miles before I can have my shower - I had it in the camp site this morning, but not very enjoyable!

Anyway, I firmly told the Satnav that we did not want to go on motorways today, and it sent us on such a pretty route through some beautiful Norman villages ("Why, " asked the SW, "is there never any parking where one would like to stop, and plenty when one doesn't?") and across arable land, and orchards heavy with apples...

We arrived in Falaise and have parked up in what is technically a supermarket car park, but in fact is away from the actual supermarket, and in a little park, very pleasant. After lunch I did a quick shop and then had a nap while the SW went for a walk, then we both walked into the town to see the famous castle where William the Bastard was born and it all began.

We didn't pay to go in, but pottered about the outside, taking lots of photos of the keep and the walls and the gardens. Then we bought a postcard for the Boys (I must buy a stamp on Monday), and headed back, stopping to look at Holy Trinity Church, the oldest in the town, and to buy some clementines en route back to the van.

I have peeled potatoes before it got to dark to see, and soon we will have the end of yesterday's chicken with mash and courgettes.

Hope to find some WiFi soon to upload masses of photos from the last two days.

Eleanor, Day 2

Things that don't go as planned. I quite thought that we would be spending tonight in Rouen, in a car park by the banks of the Seine. But the Swan Whisperer said, could we visit the Château Gaillard, about 30 miles SW of Rouen. So I asked the Satnav to take us there.

But it was the first day of the holidays, and even though the SW has retired, he always gets sleepy, so after a long break for lunch at Baie de Somme (not very far, but we set off quite late and the van isn't the fastest vehicle on the road),

we had to have another an hour later, and by the time we got to Rouen it was nearly 4:30, and we got caught in rush hour traffic, and then the satnav and I had a misunderstanding about tolls, so what with one thing and another, we didn't get to the Château Gaillard until about 6:30.  But it was worth the journey.

Really spectacular.  And there was a camp site at the foot of the cliff, just by the river, so this is where we are spending the night. We may or may not go through Rouen on our way to Falaise, which is on tomorrow's agenda.

Meanwhile I have cooked chicken and rice for dinner, which was very nice, and there is wine. All good!

Eleanor, day 1

Yesterday started off as a normal day for me, doing Grandmother duty until after the school run. Then I headed straight home, expecting to find the Swan Whisperer and the van there, but on my way too late to go back and have the offered cup of tea or to let the Daughter work another half hour, I had a text from my mother saying he and the friends who'd gone with then has only just set off.

No real harm done, and we got away on time, although our clothes were piled on the bed and didn't get put away until we arrived in Folkestone. We didn't have long to wait for our crossing, and it only took a few minutes and one wrong turning to find the motorhome section of the Cité Europe car park.

Which is where we still are. Later, we will be starting the tour proper with a drive to Château Gaillard and Rouen.

The Eleanor of Aquitaine Tour

Some years ago now, we got hold of this book:

When he had read it, the Swan Whisperer proposed that we go on an Eleanor of Aquitaine tour round that part of France, and take three weeks or so about it.  We agreed that this would happen after retirement, and when we had bought our motor home.  Well, these two things have happened, and so our holiday is about to start.  We leave tomorrow evening, after supper, and have booked a late crossing on Eurotunnel, after which we plan to spend the night in the motor home area of the Cité Europe car park.  And head on next day.  The tour will include Rouen, Falaise, Barfleur, Cherbourg, Le Mans, Angers, Saumur, Chinon, Fontévraud, Poitiers, Limoges, Rocamadour, Cahors, Agen, Bordeaux, Angoulème, Saintes, Niort, Tours, Gisors and Wissant.  At least, that's the plan for now.... don't know how closely we'll stick to it!

I will try to update this daily, if only briefly, but will be mostly limited to data on my phone.  We do plan to eat out in Buffalo Grills sometimes to take advantage of their WiFi to upload photos, etc. 

Totally Thames

This week we have been on two outings, both of which involved the river Thames.  On Wednesday, there was a flotilla of boats to celebrate the Queen's becoming the longest reigning British monarch ever, or, to put it bluntly, not being dead yet.  Tower Bridge was due to open at noon as a mark of respect, so we went up there on the Northern Line, and decided to watch from the middle of London Bridge.  This proved not very practical, as HMS Belfast had a friend visiting, so you actually got a better view from the far side of the bridge.

The Bridge duly opened and the flotilla - not a very impressive one - passed under it, and then under London Bridge. 

We were amazed how busy London River is these days - time was, you scarcely saw a boat on it, but this time, the flotilla was almost lost in the stream of barges, tourist boats and others that were going up and down stream.

After lunch in the nearest Prets (I do like their coffee!), we headed home on the bus.

Today's excursion was rather more exciting; it was organised by the Zoological Society of London, and was called "Thames Alive".  I'd seen this advertised on-line, and thought it looked interesting, so booked tickets for it.  These were free, it was basically a matter of signing up so they knew how many people to expect, and could limit numbers, if necessary.  I had received about three emails from them saying Not To Be Late, and we were a bit panicky as we needed to be there for 9:30 and Strand on the Green is quite some distance from here!  Citymapper suggested we pick up the train from Queenstown Road Station, which we hadn't done before (and I don't actually care if I don't do it again, as the platforms are very narrow, and even sitting down I felt slightly off-balance), and it turned out to be nearer the station than we'd thought, so we were there in plenty of time to put on wellies (me) or walking boots (the Swan Whisperer - he does own wellies but his, and my best pair, are in the motor home!) and gather on the Thames foreshore. 

The first thing was dipping, rather like pond dipping, to find out what sort of invertebrates there were - mostly freshwater shrimps, but also a couple of estuarine prawns, some leeches, etc, and probably loads of algae, etc. 

After this, some of the ZSL people went out in a boat to put out a seine net to see what sort of fish they would catch. 

These proved to be two or three varieties of rather small fish - apparently, it does depend on the time of year, and, of course, whether you are where it is more maritime or more fresh water.  But it was interesting.  The ZSL were disappointed not to have caught a flounder, as we had seen a cormorant eating one earlier, but as they had to trawl slightly further upstream than they'd anticipated, due to a fallen tree blocking the place they'd wanted, it's perhaps not too surprising. 

I'm not too sure what the purpose of the day was, other than to educate the interested public; there was no attempt to catalogue or count the specimens, which were just returned to their natural habitat.  I rather suspect it was to get volunteers for future surveys - apparently there is a lot of volunteer work to be done with the society.

So anyway, that was the end of that, and we came away to have a good wash and a coffee and croissant at the local Café Rouge - it proved more cost-effective to have their coffee-and-croissant option than to have either separately - before getting the train back from Kew Bridge.