Mileage 105 from Cappy to Monet's Garden near Vernon
Parking Co-ordinates 49.07313, 1.52984
Today we set sail for Monet's Garden near Vernon, but with hindsight, it was really a bit of mistake!! The first thing against us was the
Next it was the long drive in the sweltering cab - it was only 105 miles but because we're to mean to pay tolls we were relegated to lesser roads which passed through numerous pretty villages, thus our overall speed was reduced to about 30 mph and our total journey time was over 3 hours
Then, when we arrived we parked quite easily in an area that allows an overnight stay but there was absolutely no shade or breeze so the van temperature soared so much the mercury went off the scale😰😰😰, and at that point we were very glad of Val and John's fan! So a very big 'THANKS', but the only trouble was that it's oscillation was k'nackered so it wouldn't stay put in the direction we wanted! However, it's amazing what a tin of beans and mushy peas can do for the air flow!!
Then next came the queue to get into the garden. The ice cream lady told us it was only a short one today but we still waited over 20 minuets and that was certainly a challenge for John (he doesn't usually do queues of more than 3)!! We eventually reached the ticket booth and coughed up our €9.50 each 😱 but then the garden wasn't quite what we were expecting either. It was very pretty but quite chaotic in places, and although the gardeners were busy it still needed more TLC . Additionally, because of the very narrow paths and the large number of tourists it was a case of follow my leader as we trailed around, and the armed soldiers didn't add much to the ambience of the place either!
In the end we were all done in about 45 mins so we certainly didn't feel we'd had value for money, but as usual with these places we were chucked out into the gift shop so we did get to see some reproductions of Monet's work!Oscar Claude Monet was born in 1840 and was a French impressionist painter who specialised in producing his perceptions of nature. One of his ambitions was to document the French countryside and to do this he painted the same scene many times in order to capture the changing light and passing seasons. In 1883 he purchased the house and garden's that we visited today and from that time he began painting scenes from his property.
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| An Impression of his Garden's lily pond |
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| And the real thing! |
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| And an Impression of One of the walkways in the garden |
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| And this may have been the real thing! |
Saturday 6th July 2019 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞⛅
Mileage 88 from Vernon to Honfleur
Parking Co-ordinates 49.41943, 0.2415
Right next to the Motorhome parking area at Monet's garden was the tourist coach park, and by the time we were ready to leave at around 10am there were already 14 coach loads of tourists (at least 500 people) and the temperature was touching 31 degrees! Therefore, we were really glad to get underway and leave both the heat and the crowds behind and head for a cooler coastal target!
Our destination for today was Honfleur but on the way we stopped off to have a look at Chateau Gaillard which is a ruined medieval castle located 300 feet above the town of Les Andelys and that overlooks the River Seine. The castle, which only took 2 years to build, dates back to 1196 and once belonged to Richard the Lionheart who was King of England and Duke of Normandy at the same time.
From our peach high above the castle we had magnificent views of the meanders of the River Seine, the town of Les Andelys, and more distantly, the French countryside which was a perfect multi hued picture that was beautiful to see.
And what to say about Honfleur!! We arrived around 2.30 and took one of the last few places in the town's huge 240 place Aire. We're overlooking a the small canal Morelle and the town itself is only a very short walk away. However, for today we satisfied ourselves with the 10 min walk through the park area which is directly opposite us to Lidl for some liquid refreshments, and then once back at the van our chairs were out and we passed the rest of the afternoon and early evening sipping said refreshments while we watched the world pass by!
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| Canal Morelle which runs right in front of where we're parked on the Aire. |
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| The big wheel which we can see from our window and which sparkles with lights at night. |
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| Honfleur Port |
Sunday 7th July 2019. 🌞🌞🌞🌞⛅⛅🌞🌞
Only 5 🚶♀️🚶♂️miles today!
Happy Birthday Vicky. Hope you got spoiled just a little bit and that your day was full of lovely surprises 🎁🍷🍷🎂.
Our initial plan had been to stay here for just one night but our spot is so lovely we've decided to add another one, and because we stayed we were able to enjoy our picnic in a field full of cows! (But I'll tell you about that later 😂😂.
Our outing today started with a stroll into Honfleur Port and harbour which sits on the edge of the River Seine just before it empties into the English Channel. As you would imagine the town itself was heaving with people and there were numerous stalls, cafes and shops all vying for tourist Euros! But as we followed the sea wall down towards the end of the river and the start of the beach we left the throngs behind and also found the spot where the Morelle Canal joined the Seine and where Le Harve Port was just across the water.
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| The waterways converging with The Pont de Normandy in the background. |
David Bowie Cow and Daisy Cow but I'm not sure who the other two are😂😂
Musical and Heart Beat Cow
Disney and Zebra Cow
Not sure what and Elvis Cow
Strauss and Beethoven Cow
Thus this was where we tucked into our picnic!!!
And after we'd finished admiring the bovines we pottered back into Honfleur town and explored several of it's old cobbled streets that were lined with ancient half timbered tall houses. However, quite a few of them were a bit worrying by the fact that they seemed to lean in over the streets and several need Acro props to prevent their overhangs from coming crashing down.
Finally we admired St Catherine's Church which was built in the 15th century, but because of a lack of money wood was used rather than traditional masonry - so it's quite amazing that it's still standing and in such good nick today!
Tomorrow will be another moving day but up to now our destination is undecided 😂😂 but what's new!!
Bye for now 😗😗
Click here to see our French camping spots
P.S. Happy Birthday John! Hope you had a great day xx
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