Eleanor, Day 19

So the penultimate night of our holiday finds us back at Les Andelys. The plan for today had been to drive to Giverny (no Eleanor connection, but just because), spend the night parked up there, and then visit Gisors tomorrow morning before heading back to the Calais area for the final night. However, for some reason we went straight to Gisors, and it seemed silly to go back on ourselves. So we didn't. After all, John's losing Château Gaillard to the French was pretty much the end of things, so it makes sense.

Gisors is lovely. The Castle is in ruins, but its grounds are now a public park, so you can have a good nose round and see the various towers that are still standing.

We had parked up about 5 minutes walk away, and had a quick cup of tea before heading on here.   Given that one car park was out of use as there was a funfair in it, and another was out of use for a market, we were rather pleased to have found a parking-space so near!

We had decided to eat out as it is so nearly the end of the holiday, and there was a very good restaurant only a few minutes' walk away from the camp site. A 4-course meal with wine for €12.50 per head is pretty good value, and it was a good meal, too. Am now stuffed!

Eleanor, Day 18

The antepenultimate night of our holiday finds us at Vouvray, where they make my favourite sparkling wine. And yes, we have has a tasting, and may have another in the morning if we're not away before they open.

Last night's parking, in Niort, was super. We were supposed to pay €7.70 for it, and would gladly have done so, as it included electricity as well as services, but nobody came and asked us for it. They are supposed to send people round, but.....

We came upon a supermarket that was open - unusually, as it turned out, because there was a half-marathon in the town, though quite why that meant it had to open I'm not sure. But I was glad it did, as it meant I could spend €0.86 on a baguette for lunch and a bottle of water. And the good citizens of Niort certainly appreciated it!  Very busy, it was.

Then we drove on N roads as far as Poitiers, and then on the motorway to Tours, where we parked up near the hotel we'd stayed at during the Coupe des Druides a couple of years ago. We had quite a pleasant walk, sad to see that a restaurant where we had enjoyed a meal was in the process of changing hands, but another one was still there and flourishing.

The Cathedral was a bit far away, though, so we went back to the van and headed off to Amboise, going on the South back of the Loire, which may have been a mistake as the best view of the Castle was as we were driving away, having investigated the aire, which was a bust as it wanted about €24 for the night, and for that price we'd want WiFi, at the very least.

So we drove on to Vouvray, and found the aire quite passable (free, but you pay for services, fair enough), and have parked up here. The wine merchants are all open on Sundays, so we bought half a dozen bottles of a nice one for my father for Christmas.  We should have bought some for us.... Maybe we will....

Eleanor, Day 17

I an hating the fact that the holiday is so nearly over!  On the other hand, I am tired now, and in fact slept all afternoon instead of walking round Niort or getting on with my knitting.

We were slow leaving Saintes this morning, as we had a walk around the "Abbaye des Dames" complex, and enjoyed looking at the church.

The rest of it is now conference rooms and private housing, I believe. Then we shopped, which brought home to us how nearly over this holiday is - only 4 more nights.  Mind you, I shan't miss the very cold mornings, although it was a good 10° warmer this morning than the previous day.

We are parked in a dedicated motorhome aire tonight, with electricity. There is a fee, but we don't know who to pay. I assume that someone will come round and ask sooner or later....

Eleanor, Day 16

Cold, cold, cold! That was us this morning. It really took me until lunch time to thaw out. Tonight I am sleeping in my warm socks, the ones I wear when I have Vick on my feet. And a cardigan. The SW is fairly ok as he has warm PJs, but I don't like pyjamas and need/like a clean nightie every 2-3 days.....

By the time we had thawed out, we had left Angoulême and driven to Cognac, half way between Angoulême and Saintes, which was today's goal. Cognac is a bit after our period, but we nevertheless enjoyed walking round the old town and, because there is free parking over lunch, we were able to have lunch there, too. 

Then we drove on to Saintes, and found the camping-car park, which costs €5 but very quiet. A bit of traffic noise, but I won't hear that when I'm asleep.  But the hose on the shower had perished so we had to go and find a new one, and the ones in camping-cars are not standard size. But there was a specialist shop, so we were able to get a new one, and a washer to fit, and now the pump no longer strains and the shower doesn't drip. 

Then back to the camping-place, and a ready-meal for supper. And wine. And I have nearly finished the small garment I am knitting for a future great-nephew.

Eleanor, Day 15

We woke this morning to rain in Arès, but by after breakfast it had passed. Chores today included, as well as shopping and the usual drain, flush and refill, buying and refilling oil for the van.

Because we were about 50km the wrong side of Bordeaux, it was a long drive to Angoulème, and we ended up stopping for lunch at a lay-by en route. I had bought a "pain d'Aquitaine", just because, and very good it was, too. 

We arrived in Angoulème in the early afternoon, and were lucky enough to find a parking space and got out to explore, just as the heavens opened. But we found various sites associated with our period, including a church in a street named for the Taillefer (? Can't remember how you spell it!) family, who were the family of none other than the eponymous Isabelle of Angoulème, wife of John Lackland and thus one of my forebears!

And we had, of course, already seen her effigy in Fontévraud. So that was good. Most of the other stuff we saw was more modern, although the market hall is on the site of the castle that Eleanor would have known, so we saw where it was. 

We were running out of time by then, plus we were cold, so we went back to the van and drove down to the car park where we are spending the night, and had a cup of tea. Then the SW went off to walk round the ramparts, and I visited the nearby comic strip museum, which was not very good as the layout of the exhibits and the understandable lack of light made it difficult to see. It ought to have been fascinating, but was rather headachy.

Then back and read and knitted for a bit until supper, and now reading in bed, wrapped in my rug. The van warms up very fast, but gets cold even faster!

Eleanor, Day 14

We are 2/3 of the way through this holiday, which is very, very sad. We are both enjoying it so much, although there was too much driving today, and too much squabbling over where the sat-nav wanted to take us (well, why didn't he check it himself if he wanted to go a specific way?).

We knew this morning that Bordeaux is not a friendly city to camping-cars, but we thought we'd go there anyway and hope for the best. As it was, we were able to drive round bits of the city and I think we caught a glimpse of the Castle and the Cathedral. Then we drove on down the coast right down to Cap-Ferrat,

and then back up here to this camp site which the Swan Whisperer chose, and is really not very nice, too touristy, even though it is the end of the season. But it will do, although its WiFi doesn't work, and the launderette is taking two lots of drying to be done. I had to go and knock on the door of the nearest camping-car and beg for change!  And acorns keep falling on the roof, which is a bit disconcerting.

It was bitter cold this morning, and it is not nice trying to dress in a freezing cold van!  We did turn the heating on after the SW's shower, and I think maybe in the morning we'll see if we can have both heating and hot water!  And I might go for a hot bottle tonight, although it's still warm after cooking dinner.

Eleanor, Day 13

Today was cold, and overcast, and cold!  And did I say it was cold?  We set off late as the SW had been trying to change a washer on a tap in the shower, I think successfully. 

We discovered that Moissac, a town where I had spent a very happy holiday with a French exchange when I was a girl, was not too far out of our way, so we decided to go there. We hadn't been able to get water in wherever it was we spent the night outside Cahors, so we asked the sat-nav to take us to the services in Moissac, which it duly did, and we topped up with water. Then we drove into the town, parked, and had a walk round, enjoying the Abbey church, where I remember attending an Easter vigil as a16-year-old.

We decided to eat lunch by the Tarn, and drove to a car park there.

It was cold, so I turned on the heater, forgetting that we needed the gas to be switched on before it would work. And the water pump started to make very odd noises - and on investigation, the bung was not there!  Madpanicarrgh!! while we threw the lunch things into the fridge again and dashed back to the services where luckily it was where we had left it! Phew!

So back to the Tarn for lunch, and then we drove on to Agen, but we found the Satnav's idea of the town centre wasn't anybody else's. We decided to go and find where we were going to spend the night, but neither of the places we found was very nice, just services. We stopped at one for a cup of tea and a rest, but then drove back into town and have parked up by the canal, unfortunately on a rather main road, so not very quiet. We are not the only camping-car parked here, though!

The Swan Whisperer went exploring and found the way into the town centre, so we walked in and found a lovely brasserie at the station, very much not a station buffet, all 1930s decor. Delicious menus at €19.90 each (C £15), including the eponymous prunes!  At least, mine did. And we treated ourselves to coffee and/or an infusion, in my case (verveine), and so back to the van and bed. We really must get up early tomorrow, though - the trouble with being here, due south of the UK, is that it isn't really light until 8:30 am, so we are not really getting up until then. But I have set an alarm for tomorrow!