Early spring holiday, 25 February 2023

La-Chapelle-sur-Erdre, Nantes. 

One of the nicest things about a motorhome holiday is that one can change plans on the fly! We had a long drive ahead of us today, and had planned to set off fairly soon after breakfast, but my brother said that while we were in the area, we should visit Crepon, where our father's regiment (not sure which one he was in) had mustered after landing in Normandy, and also the place where he did land. Not on D-day itself, I believe, but a couple of days afterwards. 

So we did. We were a bit later setting off than we would have liked, as we didn't really wake until 07:30 and for some reason the hot water hadn't come on properly. And I was a bit slow about getting up, so it was about 10 before we got away, if not later. And I needed to shop so we went via a large Carrefour, which further delayed us. 

Crepon was lovely, a very pretty village (photos on Facebook), and there was a memorial, presumably at the muster point.

We enjoyed a rather cold walk around the village (Idiot me forgot to record it!), and then headed north up the road Daddy would have come south on, to the place where he landed. "I told you it was bleak," said my brother when I sent him a photo.

All the same, I doubt it was sleeting that June day so long ago, although I do know it was rough and Daddy had been seasick! 

We then drove on to Arromanches, and parked up looking out over the sea at the remains of the Mulberry harbour, which you couldn't see as much of as you could in December 2014 when we were last there, probably because the tide was in.

By the time we had had lunch it was going to be well after 18:00 before we arrived at the place where we had planned to spend the night, so we retrenched a bit and are now just outside Nantes in a very nice aire by a cemetery. We are the only people here, it is free, and the services are not locked out of use for the winter! They are also free. Brilliant! However, this does mean a long drive tomorrow, but we plan to get away early and stop by noon for church (on livestream) and lunch, and then drive again in the afternoon. I don't need to shop tomorrow, although if there is a bakery in reasonable running distance I might make the SW get croissants! 

Early spring holiday, 24 February 2023

Caen, Normandy. 

I do wish the blogger app had location services on mobile the way it does on the laptop; I always forget to mark them up when I get home. 

When I was looking at Google Maps last evening, I saw that there were a selection of paths among the dunes, and I decided I would like to walk one of them. Once we had decided which one to do, which was a lovely circular path, just over 2km out and back, we set off just after 9:00 am.

It was a walk well worth doing - the paths, mostly raised wooden ones, were fairly level, although a bit sloping in places. But very easy to walk on, and if they wanted you to go up higher, there were ramps as well as steps, so wheel- and pushchair friendly. 

Thoroughly enjoyed the walk, and when we got back to the WoMo it was time to use the services and head on. Our first port of call was a Carrefour City where the Swan Whisperer got gas. I did some shopping, but found, to my horror, that the card was declined. I had to ring the SW to come and bail me out, which he duly did. AND paid for the groceries, too! I then had to spend half an hour on the phone to my bank to persuade them that yes, it was me who had tried to use the card, and would they please unblock it so I could go on using it. Which they eventually did. I should add that the cashier in the Carrefour couldn't have been nicer; she helped the SW get the gas, and then when my card didn't function she said no rush, she would deal with the next customers and I could pay when the SW arrived. Such a lovely woman! 

After that, we set off "properly" towards Caen. We decided to go by the motorway, as we had a long way to go, and the SW loves the Pont de Normandie. It was, sadly, too early to stop at the Aire de la Baie de Somme, and we drove on about an hour further south before we stopped in a services somewhere, although I can't remember exactly where. We had a nice lunch, still using stuff we had brought from home, except for some raspberry sorbet which I couldn't resist! 

After lunch, I dozed off for a bit and woke when we came to a Gare de Péage where the SW stopped to try to find somewhere to come off the motorway for diesel. When he isn't worrying about diesel, he is worrying about water; when he isn't worrying about water, he is worrying about gas; when he isn't worrying about gas, he is worrying about diesel! Anyway, I think we have enough of all three of those commodities for now. He filled the tank at Honfleur, and we went on, but decided that we had had enough motorways for one day, so drove the rest of the way down more minor roads, through towns and villages with pretty churches and market squares, past orchards and former orchards, and finally to Caen and the Camping-Car Park here. 

We had a cup of tea, and then the SW went for a walk at his pace rather than mine, and I did a bit of qi gong to keep myself going. 

ETA I had a email from Eurotunnel apologising for yesterday's delay and giving me a £40 voucher for next time. Always worth complaining. 

Early spring holiday, 23 February 2023

Merlimont, France. 

So we are off on our travels again. It has been a very mixed day. We got up early and were away just after 09:00, heading down to Sussex to pick up the WoMo. But we discovered that the M25 was closed, which was going to add significantly to the length of the journey from Sussex to Folkestone. My mother and sister are away, or I'd have booked us a later crossing! 

We decided to drive straight up to where the WoMo lives when not in use, and where we leave the car. And that is where we hit the first, very minor, snag of the day - my brother had changed the padlock on the gate! However, a quick call to him solved that one, and we threw (not quite literally, but not far off) everything into the WoMo. After a quick call into No 6 to change keys and put in a little water - not too much, as we can get more in the morning - we were away by noon. 

And, just as we were about to leave the M3 and go cross-country - quite literally, we were on the roundabout on the slip road - the M25 not only reopened, but told the Satnav it had. So we were able to go the usual way, and arrived at Folkestone at 14:00 to catch the 15:20. But although we went through the second we were called, Eurotunnel had not allowed enough time, and by the time we reached the boarding-area, we had missed the 15:20 and the next one wasn't for another hour! We were very unimpressed, and I have contacted Eurotunnel and asked for compensation (which I doubt I'll get, but hey!). 

So we naughtily turned the gas on again and got ourselves a much-wanted cup of tea. We did turn the gas off again before we boarded the Shuttle, I hasten to add. And these delays had meant we had had time to eat lunch and put everything away. 

However, by the time we crossed at last, we were tired, and decided not to stop at Cité Europe, as we had originally intended, but to drive straight down to the Camping-Car park at Merlimont, where I had booked for us to spend the night. Just as well, as it is full! We have, however, managed to get a space with electricity and are lovely and comfortable.

I have invested in a VPN, and hoped that by doing so, we would be able to watch television in the evenings. I am delighted to say that, after an awful lot of fiddling about, we have made the Chromecast work with my tablet, using my hot-spot, and we are now watching a documentary about Queen Victoria! I was beginning to regret having bought a television, but now with a VPN and a Chromecast, we can watch stuff, which will make all the difference in the evenings. 

A London walk, with grandsons

So we were on half-term grandparent duty today.  Their mother brought them down to Brixton Station, where the Swan Whisperer met them and brought them back to the flat and, after coffee (hot chocolate for Boy Two), they went off climbing, while I stayed at home.  When they had finished, they came back to the flat and picked me up, and we went into Brixton to have lunch.  The boys would have liked to have gone to Mama Lan again, but it turns out to be closed on Tuesdays.  This led us with the huge choice of restaurants that you can go to in Brixton, but as the boys love Mexican food, we finally ended up at Jalisco, where we had a delicious lunch.  I had a breakfast burrito, which is basically a wrap filled with scrambled egg and hash brown (and hot sauce) which came with a choice of toppings - I chose roasted vegetables.  It was delicious, but I couldn't finish it!  I also ordered a Virgin Mary, which was incredibly spicy!  It may not have had any vodka in it, but it was surely no virgin!!!

Anyway, after lunch we set off on a 159 bus to Parliament Square, and went for a walk.  I had given the Swan Whisperer a book of London walks for Christmas, and we went on the one that technically started and finished at Trafalgar Square, but went through Parliament Square and it was easier to start and finish more-or-less there.  It was a most enjoyable walk, even if I did keep stopping to take photographs.  Up Whitehall,

through Admiralty Arch, along the Mall, then up through Carlton Gardens to St James' Square, along Pall Mall, down Marlborough Street, and across St James' Park.  We then deviated from the walk proper to walk down to Tothill Street where there was a Prets and we stopped for refreshments.  From there, it was only five minutes' walk to the Daughter's offices (now in Church House Westminster), so we left the boys with her and caught a no 3 bus back to Brixton, largely so that we could see how the rebuilding of Lambeth Mission St Mary's is coming along!  

Most photos will be uploaded on Facebook.

Planning time again

I first set up this blog nearly ten years ago!  I was about to turn 60, and for my birthday we planned an Inter-Rail trip.  And now I am going to be 70, and the Swan Whisperer wasn't really able to celebrate his 70th birthday, just over two years ago, because we were in lockdown - although, to be fair, we had two wonderful Zoom parties when we spoke to people we would not otherwise have seen from Australia and Japan and all over!  So we have decided to go Inter-Railing again this June, to celebrate our three score years and ten!  Or twelve, as appropriate!

Inter-Rail is a very different animal now than it was ten years ago.  It's all paperless - you buy your passes (I've already done that) and then store them in an app on your phone, and you can do all your planning and timetabling, etc, within the app, or using their website.  And Eurostar is, not exactly included, but a special fare so massively cheaper than the normal fare to Brussels.  We're going first class - well, why not?  Much more comfortable than standard, and you often get a free cup of tea or similar perks.

Because we travel so much anyway, we want to go to places where we wouldn't really go in the motor home, so we are starting off going to Scandinavia - Oslo, Bergen (perhaps), Stockholm, Kiruna - and then from Stockholm we'll get the sleeper to Hamburg, and then the direct train - maybe a sleeper, we'll see - to Vienna, and then on to Budapest, Bucharest and possibly Sofia before heading home.  It will take some working out, and we will spend at least one day, perhaps two, in each city.  I don't know yet how long we'll be travelling for - we have two months in which to use our 15 travel days, and I'm not quite sure whether the out-and-home days count or not.  I doubt we'll be away two months, though, although it might be over 3 weeks!

This is all going to be in addition to, not instead of, our normal trips to France and Germany in the motor home!  We will cut our Oberstdorf trip short, though, and go more-or-less straight there and back, giving us plenty of time to get organised for this trip.  I expect we'll still go to France at the end of February/beginning of March, and then we'll see about trips in the autumn.  But I am looking forward to the Inter-Rail trip, especially as we now know roughly where we are going!

Festive Fairy Tale, 28 December

So we are home.  We got up early and cleared our rooms before breakfast, and after it we sat in one of the lounges and read for awhile.  Probably we should have sat awhile longer, as we had a long time to wait at the station, but not enough time to go and do anything other than a brief leg-stretch.  However, eventually our train was called.  As predicted, it was rammed, and I was glad we had booked seats, as otherwise we might have ended up sitting on the floor, as some people had to do.

There seemed to be an extraordinarily long time to wait in Brussels, too, although I'd booked us on the recommended connection.  But eventually we were on the train back to London, where I extravagantly insisted on taking a taxi home, as I was so very tired.  And, although I managed to unpack, I have been asleep practically ever since!

So what about my impressions of a river cruise?  It was lovely!  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would love to go again in a few years.  I think, though, next time I won't book all the excursions in advance - although we enjoyed them, some of the walking tours were unnecessary, as we could have explored for ourselves.  On the other hand, the guides did tell us a great deal of history we might not otherwise have known, and they were (mostly) obviously passionate about their towns.  

We didn't much care for the cruise director - he came across as extremely patronising, and even rude on occasion. Also unprofessional, tearing a strip off one of his colleagues where anybody could hear, rather than doing so in private.  But he was a minor irritant.  

The food was mostly excellent, except when the chef tried too hard - but there was only one dish I really couldn't finish, and I do seem to have come back rather fatter than when I left.  The cabins were comfortable, and it was lovely lying in bed at night watching the river going past.  The big disadvantage of a Christmas cruise, of course, is that you don't get much, if any, daylight sailing.  On the other hand, in the summer, the rivers and moorings are packed with tourist boats, and you have to clamber over other ones to get to yours!  

I still want to do the "long trip" from Amsterdam right down to Budapest and beyond, but perhaps not this year!

By the way, TUI is a budget option; I don't know, though, what more you would get on a more expensive line!  

Festive Fairy Tale, 27 December

Day 7, Worms

Our last day dawned simply gloriously! For the only time during this cruise (the big disadvantage of a Christmas cruise!) we were sailing in daylight all morning, past Speyer and Altrip and Mannheim and all those familiar places until we docked in Worms just before lunch. 

This was one tour I rather wished we hadn't gone on, as it turned out to be, not a tour of the old town, as advertised, but a tour of the Cathedral and the Luther monument (The Diet of Worms, for anybody who remembers sniggering at that when they "did" the Reformation) Our guide was dreadful - her English was minimal outside her memorised spiel, so she couldn't understand any questions, nor did she show us more than her favourite parts of the Cathedral, so we missed seeing an awful lot of it. But what we did see was lovely, to be fair, and the Nativity scene was magic!  

When we came back to the ship, we had a cup of tea, and then the Swan Whisperer went to hear a lecture on Christmas traditions, while I did most of my packing and had a shower to change before the final dinner. As always, when the chef tries too hard, it wasn't as good as it might have been! Why can chefs never serve enough vegetables, and if they do serve any, they are still half raw? The roast beef was lovely, but rather an odd cheesy sauce, which did it no favours, and it would have been even nicer sliced a little thinner. And I goodly had fruit instead of baked Alaska, which actually looked quite nice! 

Tomorrow we have to be out of our cabins by 08:30, but we can stay on board until 11:00 if we want. Our train isn't until 12:30. It is, apparently, going to be rammed after Cologne, so I have booked seats for us. Will let you know tomorrow how the journey ends, and my thoughts on river cruising. Meanwhile, there will be far too many photos on Facebook!