2019/20 Winter Tour - On our way 'Home'

Wednesday 4th March 2020  🌞🌞⛅⛅⛆⛆
Distance travelled 160 miles from Vilanova to Les Cabannes
Parking Co-ordinates 42.78493, 1.68312

The 4th March was the much earlier than planned date that we left Spain behind and started our trek homewards, but at our snail pace that will still take us another couple of weeks!  Our journey took us through the Pyrenees Mountains via the C16, and as we went the bright sunshine dulled and the temperature gauge dropped, but with all the height we'd gained that was only to be expected.  The scenery was dramatic and the traffic was only very light, and although we usually try to avoid toll roads the 5 km long Tunnel del Cadi, (which runs under the Serra de Moixero mountain range) and later (once we were over the French border) the equally long Tunnel Puymorens reduced our journey by a huge number of miles so the £23 fee between them was well worth it!

Once we'd crossed the Spanish French border the road took us even higher into the mountains and as we went the snow at the side of the road deepened but it never caused us any problems because the several snow ploughs that we'd seen had obviously done an excellent job.

Then as we dropped down on the French side the white stuff soon disappeared and we I was treated to views of fast flowing waterfalls and rivers as well as extensive tracts of waterlogged soggy ground - they've obviously had a lot of rain here! 

Just one of the Mountain Villages that we passed by

As planned we arrived at today's destination which was a pretty Aire in the small village of Les Cabannes in the early afternoon, but unlike on our last visit here, the very pretty hills which surround the site were shrouded in low cloud and it was cold.  Therefore we stayed snug in the van and filled our afternoon with a bit more planning and a few games on our electronic devices!





Thursday 5th 🌞 🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️and Friday 6th March 2020 🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️
Distance travelled 141 from Les Cabannes to Agos Vadelos
Parking Co-ordinates 43.03595, -0.07053

Thursday started well with what looked like warm spring sunshine but that soon deteriorated so for most of our journey our windscreen wipers had to earn their keep, but looking on the bright side, at least our solar panel may have been washed clean of pollen and pigeon poop💩!

As we went we travelled through several very pretty Pyrenean  villages and through the outskirts of Lourdes, but by then the rain was pouring so rather than getting soaked we continued on for about 3 miles to our Camping Car Park Aire at Agos Vadelos.   And once we were settled we watched eagles souring high over the hill tops and one even seemed to be swooping down to nick eggs from a magpie nest!

Then Friday - well there really isn't much to say!  We were only going to stay at Agos for one night and then move on to the coastal Capbreton but when we read the weather forecast for the area (which indicated torrential rain and 50 - 60 mile an hour winds) we decided to stay put!  At least at Agos the surrounding high hills mostly protected us from the gales!


Saturday 7th March 2020 🌧️🌧️☁☁⛅☁
Distance travelled from Agos Vadelos to Capbreton 98 miles
Parking Co-ordinates 44.43159, -1.16645

First thing this morning (and for most of the previous night) the rain absolutely hammered down, but by the time we'd had a lazy breakfast and tided up it had stopped so at least our van ablutions could be completed without us getting a soaking!  And while we performed them we had the pleasure of watching the eagles once again as they practised their acrobatics in the sky.

Capbreton Aire

Then once we got underway our windscreen view was filled with more murk and low cloud set against the backdrop of of high hills with more torrenting water falls and the fast flowing River Ousse.  It was also quite cold compared to what we'd been used to Spain, and our temperature gauge initially stubbornly refused to budge much higher that six degrees, but then as we dropped down towards the coast my toes eventually thawed out😂.

We arrived at the huge Capbreton Aire at just after 2pm so our first priority was lunch, but after that had been scoffed we headed our to see the sea and also for a good long walk into the pretty town.

John looking out over the Bay of Biscay

The towns old wooden pier that dates back to 1858

Sunday 8th March 2020  ☁☁⛅☁ 🌧️🌧️🌧️⛅⛅
Distance travelled from Capbreton to Navarrosse near Biscarrosse 86 miles
Parking Co-ordinates 44.43159, -1.16645

Today's drive was just a short hop to an Aire that sits right on the marina at the lakes at Biscarrosse.  There are two main lakes -  Etang de Cazaux Sanguinet and Etang de Biscarrosse et de Parentis - and they're connected by The Canal du Littoral des Landes which extends into the Arcachon Basin from where it's possible to exit into the Bay of Biscay. However, I doubt it would be navigable for big boats!

The middle purple marker on the map marks our present position but in previous years we've stayed on the Arcachon Basin and near Sainte Eulalie.  From our present position (if the weather had been kind) it would have been possible to access the 13 km cycle track that circumnavigates both lakes but once again the clouds dropped more rain so we didn't get to go out until 4ish so by that time we decided to just satisfy ourselves with a walk through the tall pine trees on the lake edge.

As you can see everything was pretty well water logged!

Part of the Canal du Littoral des Landes

Monday 9th March 2020 🌧️🌧️☁☁⛅⛅☁🌧️
Distance travelled from Navarrosse near Biscarrosse to Blaye 78 miles
Parking Co-ordinates 45.12534, -0.66624

For today's destination John has routed out the town of Blaye that is located right on the banks of the broad Gironde Estuary, and on the way we travelled through huge tracts of Bordeaux vineyards.  However,  as yet there wasn't any signs of life on the bare boughs but one can only  imagine how many gallons of the good stuff are likely to be made from these extensive fields🍷🍷😋.
So why Blaye?  It's waterfront location and the Citadel were the main attractions but in the end maybe the former was a detraction but I'll tell you about that later😱

Blaye Citadel 

The main Portal

Some of the main structures within the Citadel - the top left corner shows a tidal inlet that runs into the town.
When we arrived we parked right beside it and because the tide was out it was empty!

The Castle - Chateau des Rudel which was built between the 12th and 14th century and predates
the Citadel by about 2000 years. However, it sits within the Citadel Walls 

And the 'little boys room'  that was situated on the outer wall of the Citadel!

The info boards explained that the citadel was built here because the waterway left the prosperous city of Bordeaux very vulnerable and open to attack.  Therefore, in the mid 17th century  Sebastian Vauban was asked to provide fortifications to defend the area and control traffic in and out via this route.

The Gironde is the largest estuary in Europe and stretches from the Atlantic to the Bec a'Ambes which is a confluence of the Dordogne and Garonne Rivers.  When we arrived and parked the tide was out, but as afternoon turned to evening the water started to rise and by high tide the water was lapping over it's containing wall and onto the road in front of us and also to our left side.  We did a quick 'recci' with Google and it seemed high tide was at 6.30 pm and as the water was still far from our wheels by then we decided to stay put!  I just hoped we didn't regret it in the morning when the tide would be full again long before our getting up time!


Tuesday 10th March 2020  ☁☁⛅☁☁☁⛅⛅☁
Distance travelled from Blaye to Royan   miles
Parking Co-ordinates 45.62827, -1.01193

This morning we woke early and had a bit of a scare that made us scuttle😱!  Last night just before we went to bed (11pm ish) John had become a little more worried about the morning's high tide (6.45am) which Google had predicted would be 300 mm higher than the previous evening's.  Therefore, he set his clock for 6.30 am but luckily he woke a bit earlier than that!  As soon as his sleepy little peepers 👀 were open he peered out of the window and saw that the Gironde had flooded well past it's banks and that our part of the Aire was covered in shallow water - I'll leave you to  imagine his expletives 🙉!

This was the Gironde at high tide on Monday Evening but I didn't have time to take a pic this
morning and anyway it was still to dark!  If you look carefully you can just see the shadow of it's
containing wall at the waters edge.

Luckily, at this stage, the water we were standing in wasn't very deep but as it was still 45 mins to high tide action needed to be taken pronto!  At first John thought we could get out of the wet stuff by backing up towards the rear of the Aire but as he did that the water around us deepened so then we had no choice other than to make a quick exit into the still dark streets of Blaye.  And it was quite a bumpy departure because now all the numerous pot holes were hidden beneath the water and because we'd left in such a hurry the van wasn't in travel mode so there were lots of rattles and bangs as we went - but at least everything survived!

Following our departure we initially parked in the streets of the town but there it was still possible to see the advancing sparkling wavelets so without delay we put our trusty steed into gear and hightailed it several miles inland to the tiny hamlet of St Vivien de Blaye and there we sat under the church wall and laughed about our little escapade while we had breakfast.  Happily, it all turned out okay, but our story may have been much different if we'd slept on to our usual getting up time of 8 am!!!

So what should we do now???  Our on going plan had been to spend some time further up the coast on the Ile de Oleron but we'd recently read that parts of the flat island were also suffering from floods so we thought it probably wasn't a good idea to go there after all!  Thus further reviews of our Camper Contact  app were made and we eventually settled for a Camping Car Park Aire in the town of Royan

But it seems we had to travel through Snail country to get there!!!

Once we'd settled on the Aire we had lunch and then took ourselves off for a walk to the town's Marina, and lovely sea front that was backed by a good number of beautiful old Villas that all seemed to be deserted.

Maybe the Adam's family lived her (but not our Adam's)

11th March 2020  🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️☁☁⛅⛅
Distance travelled from Royan to Villandry 206 miles
Parking Co-ordinates 47.33935, 0.50732

After much discussion about the water logged state of much of France and the risk of flooding we've decided to give any more touring a miss and instead head for the coast to spend our last few days in France at the sea side!  However, it was a bit to far to get up onto the the North Coast of France today so we broke our journey at the now very familiar Aire at Villandry where we've frequently stayed before.  On the way there we saw more evidence of hugely swollen rivers that had spread into surrounding farm land, but happily all the towns and villages that we passed through seemed dry.  But at this point we weren't going to change our minds so tomorrow we will head for the coastal town of Cabourg and that will mark the end of our travels for the next 5 days! 

The swollen and fast moving River Cher

12th March 2020 🌧️🌧️☁☁⛅⛅🌞🌞
Distance travelled 182 miles from Villandry to Cabourg.
Parking Co-ordinates 49.29017, -0.10331

Today is another day that I really haven't got much to tell you about.  Our drive was happily uneventful but maybe a bit on the slow side because, as usual, we avoided the toll motorways and just trundled along the byways!  We arrived in Cabourg around 4ish and easily found a parking spot on the town's free Aire, and like I said before this will be home for the next few days.  So all we have to do now is chill and sit back with our feet up while we wait for our ferry back to Blighty!

Chill our till Tuesday when our ferry is booked!

The windswept English Channel

So for now I'll sign off and we'll see you when we get there!

Bye for now 😘😘

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2019/20 Winter Tour and Xmas Stopover. Castelnaudary in France to Majal Costa Blanca in Spain

Sunday 10th - Friday 15th 2019 -  Mostly 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞
Sunday 10th Mileage 135 from Castelnaudary to Roses in Spain
Parking Co-ordinates 42.26879, 3.15573
Monday 11th Mileage 149 from Roses to Cubelles
Parking Co-ordinates 41.20154, 1.66492
Tuesday 12th Mileage 163 from Cubelles to Parking area between Benicassim and Grao
Parking Co-ordinates 40.00025, 0.02902
Wednesday 13th Mileage 161 from Parking at Grao to Marjal Costa Blanca
Parking Co-ordinates 38.18085, -0.8119

First the better part of this story!  Sunday marked our day for  saying 'Goodbye' to France and 'Hello' to Spain, and after quite a rough night of absolutely torrential rain that kept us awake until about 2am the lovely warm sunshine greeted us more or less as soon as we crossed the border!

Once more our journey was along minor roads as we headed through the last part of rural France but the rolling acres were packed full of Autumn coloured vines, and when they gave way we found ourselves in a deep gorge that ended with a magnificent view of the snow capped Pyrenees.  We certainly got to see some lovely parts of France that we'd have missed if we'd used the motorways, but along with that, our bones were well and truly rattled by the very bumpy roads that seem to be a feature of many French villages - rough as a badger's a--e within them, and then smooth as a baby's bum once you left them behind😂😂😂!

Our first stop was at Roses, and once again that's a place we've been many times before, but when we arrived all we had time for was a longish walk along it's lovely seafront prom.

Someone even made us a sandcastle!

Then Tuesday didn't turn out so well, and it only got MUCH worse as the day (and the night) went along.  First our drive was less than desirable! All 163 miles of it was along motorway where we couldn't find a single place to stop for a cuppa, and then trying to get to our planned parking place proved to be impossible!  In our itinerary we'd identified an accepted 'wild camp' sea front spot in the town of Cunit, and as we'd visited it last year (on our bikes) when we stopped at Villa Nova Park we thought it would suit us very well - but that was before Mrs Snoopy (sat nav) got involved!

The sea front where we'd have liked to stop for the night

She sent us down narrow streets and under a bridge (3.1 metres) where T4rdis2 had to duck - but  worse still, she asked us to negotiate a railway bridge that was only 2.4 metres high so there was no way we could go that way!   After that it was more narrow roads where our big bus really shouldn't have been, and along with that 'our' tempers became quite frayed because by now the 2 passengers had become very hungry indeed!   We pulled over a couple of times to try and find our way but all to no avail, so in the end we had no choice but to give in and pick another place which was a proper Camper Stop in the nearby town of Cubelles.

Mistakenly we thought this would be quite safe because after we'd coughed up €20 for a two night stay the owner explained that the site gate and the pedestrian gate would be locked overnight and the whole site was protected by a 5 foot high fence. 

However, at 3am in the morning I was awoken from a restless slumber by a strange noise😨 and as I looked down the van I thought 'that front window looks a bit strange',  but I thought no more of it and shut my eyes again - but only to open them a few seconds later and see the figure of a man rooting about in our belongings.

At that moment in time John was still asleep (because he's quite deaf) but I leaped out of bed screeching expletives and impolitely asking him to leave (get out, f__k off you B_____d, get out) while at the same time running towards him at speed!  Luckily he very quickly did as I'd asked but not before he'd managed to snatch my handbag which mostly contained money and bank cards.  Obviously, by this time John had woken and wondered what on earth was the matter with me to make such a din in the middle of the night,  but when the intruder had gone we were both very upset and distressed by the event, and on the spur of the moment we more or less decided we wanted to go 'home'.

It would seem that he got in via the driver's side door by passing a wire between the seal and the glass of the window and pulling up the bar that operates the lock mechanism, thus no damage was done to the door and the operation was completed very quietly.  However, John has always said 'I can hear a gnat fart at 40 paces' and on this occasion it was a good job I did because I think our loses could have been substantially worse if our intruder hadn't been disturbed .

Obviously, at that point there was no way we could go back to sleep and we still had the important task of cancelling my cards which we did immediately, and that was very timely because we later learnt that attempts had been made to use them just 1 hour later.  Additionally, along with the loss of the cards and the money my purse also contained our spare habitation door key so there was no way we could stay put for our second night - possibly more due to fear that he may come back and could easily get in than any likelihood that he actually would.

Later, after a sleepless few hours we considered contacting the police but as we wouldn't be able to make any insurance claim (we haven't got a house so therefore we haven't got contents insurance and a claim on the van insurance would have resulted in our no claims bonus being reduced) we decided just to move on and get as far away as possible, and that was our next stopping place at a huge Aire near Benicassim.  It's truly beautiful there because it's right opposite the rolling Mediterranean sea, but in the end we didn't go out at all because we'd still got quite a few phone calls and on line things to sort out.  One of them was my driving licence which was probably the most  important document that was lost, and I'm just praying that it would have just got chucked away and that it doesn't fall into any wrong hands, but I may only know that in the weeks to come!

Now, when we think about what happened and analyse the incident in the cold light of day it isn't really the losses or inconvenience that upsets us, it's more the invasion of our home and privacy, and the ease with which he got in!  The second part is fairly easy to rectify by beefing up our security but I think it might be a long time before I can get the image of the intruder standing at the front of the van out of my mind's eye, and also I keep replaying what might have happened if he'd turned and threatened me instead of running away.

One of the main questions that we keep asking ourselves now is 'should we give up and settle down to a more 'normal' life style', but that would be letting the evil little scrote win! Furthermore, there are always a few bad people wherever you are, but our travels have taught us that there are always far more generous, helpful and welcoming folk, so we feel all we can do is to reduce our vulnerability as much as possible and carry on doing what ever makes us happiest!  Therefore, for the time being at least, we plan to carry on with our 'journey' and see how we feel in a few months time.

And in that respect our confidence has been aided a bit because we've finally reached (on Wednesday 13th) our destination which is Marjal Costa Blanca Camp Site and we'll be staying here for the next 9 weeks and enjoying the company of friends from the last couple of years and possibly some new ones as well!

Thursday 14th November 2019  ☁☁☁☁☂☁☁☁

Today we've concentrated on resting and settling into our new temporary home, and also improving our security so that hopefully we'll never have to re-experience any similar episode as the one above.  Unfortunately, I think it's fair to say that we're still both feeling quite unsettled but hopefully time will help that to fade and then we can get on with enjoying our time here.

I'll let you know next time!
Bye for now 😗😗

2019/20 Winter Tour and Xmas Stopover. 'Home' to Castelnaudary

Monday 4th November 2019 ☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁
Mileage 251 from Butterley Bank Certified Site to Dover Rd Park and Ride Aire
Parking Co-ordinates 51.26154, 1.09988

Today marks the start of our 5 month 2019/20 winter road trip on which we'll probably spend most of our time in 🌞🌞🌞 Spain and Portugal😀!  Our loose plan is to drive down fairly quickly through France over the next week, then to slow down and dawdle along the Mediterranean coast until we get to our Xmas stomping ground at Marjal where we'll spend the next 8 weeks with friends.  Then after that maybe we'll tour further south into Portugal and towards the end of March we might head homewards along the North coast of Spain - but who knows that may well change if the fancy takes us!

But before I get into our travelling story I just want to say a few very big 'THANK YOUS'😍😍 !


Firstly that will be to our Children, their Partners and our Grandchildren for welcoming us back into their homes and lives and for making our time with them so very special.  As a farewell yesterday Sarah and Paul (daughter and son-in-law) hosted a party so that we could all be together, and while I was there I had time to steal hugs and precious little conversations with everyone - both big and little children alike!  So now when I feel a bit homesick I can take them out from the safe place where I've stored them near my heart and I'm sure they'll make me smile and feel a lot better 😍😍!

From bottom to top there is 20 month old Max with Mum Vicky, Son Ben with his wife Louise and daughter Evelyn.  Then comes Son-in-law Paul, Daughter Sarah and their son Thomas, and then right at the top is Son Adam and Grandson Jack!

We also want to let Val, John and Mum know how much we've enjoyed sharing their company and also at times their home! Although we nearly always have the 'roaming bug'🐛 spending time with the ones we love is an essential part of our life.

Finally, many thanks to Cath and George for co-in-siding their visit south with our stay, and also our dear friends Sharon and Paul who we really didn't see enough off but who happily surrendered to being my 'guinea pigs'😂 when I tried lots of new Low Carb recipes at our dinner party last Thursday!  Nearly all the food got mopped up so my 'experiments' must have been edging towards 10 on the Likert Scale 😋😋.

And so back to our journey!  The drive down to Canterbury was completely uneventful and took just 5 hours (+ breaks), and happily, even on the M25 there were no traffic problems.  We overnighted in the dedicated Motorhome section of the Dover Road Car Park and paid just £7 for the privilege, and the only thing that disturbed our slumbers was the hammering rain on our roof, but 'hey ho' that can happen anywhere!


Tuesday 5th November 2019 ☁☁☁☁☁☁⛆⛆
Mileage 94 from Dover Rd Park and Ride to Saint Valery-Sur-Somme Aire
Parking Co-ordinates 50.18277, 1.62887

Overnight we'd had the company of about half a dozen other vans who all seemed to be departing and heading the same way as us, but when catching a ferry from Dover this Aire makes an ideal jumping off point so it wasn't surprising that we almost travelled to the port in convoy!  We left at about 8.30am and after just 15 miles we arrived just in time to catch The Spirit of France ferry which was the one before the one we were booked onto, thus giving us back the hour that we'd loose because of the time difference between England and France!   Our crossing was millpond still and the one and a half hours that we spent on the boat fled by fleetly, but I did manage to find time to purchase new 😎 and a quantity of 🥃 the good stuff that we can enjoy (if it lasts long enough😂) over Christmas!

Following our disembarkation we were soon whizzing along the A16 towards Saint Valery Sur Somme where we would spend our first night back on French soil, but once we moved onto the the D940 we hit a dreaded 🚫'deviation'🚫, however, in the end we felt quite lucky because it didn't really slow us down.  It was at the town of Saint Leonard where the River Liane had burst it's banks and flooded many of the town's roads, but it seems this has happened several times previously so the town's people were out in force and a way around for traffic was provided.

After that our first scheduled stop was at the Etaples War Cemetery which we've passed loads of times before but never stopped for a visit.   It seems that this is the largest Commonwealth War Grave Commission Cemetery in France and it's the final resting place of 11,400 service personnel from the First World War and about 120 from the Second!  As with all War Cemeteries over here it was immaculately kept but also a very sad and sombre place especially when you consider that all those graves are only a tiny potion of the total number that lost their lives.

Once at Saint Valery Sur Somme (where we've been several times before) we had a quick cuppa and then set out for a walk into the familiar town and along it's lovely prom.  However, on a damp darkening winter evening there was very little activity other than a few hopeful eateries touting for a bit of trade, and lots of bird life fishing in the murky waters of the River Somme!


Wednesday 6th November 2019 ⛆☁☁⛅⛅⛅☁☁⛆
Mileage 133 from Saint Valerie Sur Somme to Honfleur
Parking Co-ordinates 49.41943, 0.2415

I really haven't got much to tell you about today other than for the fact that we had an easy drive which took us partly on free motorway and partly through villages and countryside all the way to our destination.  Honfleur is another place that is very familiar to us and even though we've seen the lovely old buildings that line the sides of the port many times we keep coming back for another look at their ancient facades !  And today was no exception!  Once fed and watered we took ourselves out and down to the old fishing port, and then toddled along the southern bank of the Seine estuary to the sea gate.  From there we meandered back though the town's parks and just made it home before the rains pitter pattered on our roof once more.

Honfleur Port

Thursday 7th November 2019  ⛅⛅🌞🌞🌞⛅⛅⛅
Mileage 174 from Honfleur to Villandry
Parking Co-ordinates 47.33935, 0.50732

Well, if I hadn't got much to tell you about yesterday I've got even less to tell you about today, and that's because we more or less spent the whole day dawdling along to complete the 174 miles that took us mostly along quite more country roads and through lots of little villages.  We could've probably made it much quicker by using the motorways but we're not in any hurry, and if we'd chosen the faster route we'd have very grudgingly had to pay a fair old bill in tolls!  And the only drawback was that we arrived at Villandry too late to take advantage of the sunshine by going for a walk but with a bit of luck we might be able to make up for that tomorrow!


Friday 8th November 2019 🌧️ 🌧️🌧️⛆⛆🌧️🌧️🌧️⛆⛆☁
Mileage 250 from Villandry to Alvignac
Parking Co-ordinates 44.82508, 1.69718

Oh Dear!  We certainly didn't have any luck with our walk because the rain pelted down almost from the start of the day to finish😔😭!

Our intention today was to drive the 130 miles and overnight in the Saint Pardoux Lake Park near Razes but when we got there (just in time for a late lunch) much of the picturesque park was cordoned off and it looked just like a building site!  Therefore, we quickly decided to make the most of what daylight was left and head for our next destination which was the beautiful historic religious site at Rocamadour.

Unfortunately, due to heavy rain and spray the driving conditions on the free motorway were fairly atrocious and at one point we thought our journey would be delayed due to an  accident where a car had hit the central reservation and was sitting at  right angles thus partially blocking the road.  However,  as we approached the emergency services were just behind us so the carriageway hadn't  yet been closed😨 and we managed to squeeze by with only minimal delay!

After that we left the motorway with still about 20 miles to go and that turned out to be up through rolling hills with deep fall away valleys at the side, and as they were all dressed in their full Autumn glory they really were a very pretty sight to behold.  But at that point of our journey we were (4.30ish and nearly dusk) quite keen to get o our destination .......... but that was only to find that the old Motorhome Parking Area had been developed into a brand spanking new barriered car park, but as the barriers were open we sailed straight in and parked alongside 2 other vans!

By that time John had driven 245 miles so the kettle was very quickly filled and we were soon slurping a very refreshing cuppa!  However, as this was going down John was busy looking at recent reviews for this place on our Camper Contact App,  and there it had been reported that Motorhome Parking was no longer encouraged overnight and that if you did the charge could be €40!  Furthermore it advised that the car park is frequently visited by police and they move 'illegally' parked vans on!

The Link leads to the section of the blog when we visited in November 2018

This resulted in us feeling quite uncomfortable and as we didn't want to be disturbed at 'Silly' o'clock or pay more than a campsite would have charged we quickly decided to move sooner rather than later and nipped of to a free 'legal' Aire 5 miles further down the road in the village of Alvignac.  Unfortunately, that rather put paid to any re-exploration of Rocamadour's beautiful streets and steep staircases but 'hey ho' we've always got our old blog episode to look back on (and you can click on the link under the picture if you want to see)!

Saturday 9th November 2019  ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅
Mileage 151 from Alvignac to Castelnaudary
Parking Co-ordinates 43.31443, 1.94886

This morning we left Alvignac without having seen anything that it had to offer except the fleeting glimpse as we passed through!  But as usual, with many French villages, what we did see was quite picturesque with lots of old stone buildings that were all immaculately kept.

Initially today's journey took us over more high roads and valleys, and later, at about the half way point we entered  into the town of Cahors were the River Lot was raging - it certainly had a 'Lot' of excess water in it but here at least it's banks were managing to contain it!  And another thing we saw at this point was an occupied encampment of the Gillet Jaune!  Last year when we'd passed this way they'd engaged in delaying traffic my moseying about on the road and generally being a nuisance but this time their number was much fewer and all they gave us was a glare as we passed by!

From there it was forwards and onwards towards Castelnaudary and the Camping Car Park that would be our last stopping place in France.  However, were we would go from there had been under debate for the last couple of days!  Our options were to either take the shorter route over the top of the Pyrenees or the longer but lower lying one through coastal Catalonia.  Our preferred choice was the former but there was a severe weather warning for travel through the high mountains so I'm fairly sure we'll be continuing our journey via the later route!

But that's all for now 😗😗

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2019 Tour of Brittany (France) Part 22 Saint Georges sur Loire and all the way 'Home'

Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th September 2019  ⛅⛅☂☁⛆⛆☁☂⛅
Mileage 69 from Saint Georges to Villandry
Parking Co-ordinates 47.33935, 0.50732

Well, for once we stuck with our plan and arrived at the Villandry Aire around lunch time today - but for most of the time we were there the weather looked very iffy, so other than a couple of very brisk walks we didn't do much!  However, some of the Brexit news and Mr Johnson's antics kept us quite entertained!!

Our walks took us out along the banks of the River Cher and as we went we watched lots of bird life and we spotted a rare red squirrel that dashed across our path.  Additionally, signs of autumn were very evident with falling leaves and huge log piles being stored ready for winter fires.

The River Cher 

Chateau Villandry

Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th September 2019 ☂☂⛆⛆⛆☁☁⛆⛆⛆⛆
Mileage 175 from Villandry to Honfleur
Parking Co-ordinates 49.41943, 0.2415

We're getting closer!!  On Wednesday we spent most of our day driving back to the Normandy Coast at Honfleur which sits right at the mouth of the mighty River Seine!  As we went we passed through many miles of apple orchards where folks were very hard at work gathering in the fruit possibly to make either the famous Normandy Cider or maybe Calvados!  Calvados is the much more potent of the two because it's distilled from either apple or pear cider to a strength of 40% proof, and it's production and history in this region goes back to at least 1553!  So of course we treated ourselves to a bottle because we felt it would have been rude not to😀.

Unfortunately, while we were in Honfleur the rain only  paused briefly but that allowed us a couple of hours to nip out for a stroll into the harbour and the very pretty old town!

As it is now on a rainy grey day

And as it was in yesteryear!

Friday 27th September 2019  ⛅⛅⛅⛅☂☂
Mileage 33 from Honfleur to Le Harve
Parking Co-ordinates 49.5048, 0.172

What a lot of rain we've had over the last few days - for most of the 3 months we've been in France we've hardly seen any but we've certainly made up for it now!  However, this morning the sun was peeking out so while we had the opportunity we went for another quick stomp around Honfleur before setting off for an Aire that's only about 4 miles from Le Harve Port.

To get there we needed to cross the River Seine without enduring a very long drive, so to do this we coughed up our €3.20 to cross the Pont du Toncarville suspension bridge which has been offering such a service since 1959!  However, it seems it didn't quite always offer a safe passage because in 1996 it was discovered that the cables had corroded and the shoulders were crumbling 😨😱 but these were later replaced so other than the gale force wind trying to blow us off we were quite safe!


Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th November 2019  ☂☂⛆⛆⛆⛆⛆☔☔and very windy
Mileage 200 from Le Harve in France - Ripley which is 'home'
Parking Co-ordinates 53.06426, -1.39653

On Saturday morning we boarded the ferry 'Etretat' which was one of Brittany Ferry's economy boats, however we found it to be quite comfortable, and because it was almost empty we had our pick of places to sit.  The crossing took just over 5 hours and was one of the roughest we've experienced during our travels, but once we'd settled in our reclining seats the 'bobbing and dipping' were hardly noticeable - but the same couldn't quite be said when we tried to walk about!!   As we walked along the length of the boats corridors we staggered so much we must have looked as we'd just fallen out of a night club, and John said when he went for a pee it would have been very easy for his aim to be misdirected 😂😂😂

But we had no room to complain at all because disembarkation was only delayed by a few mins, and our onward journey home was completed without any traffic hold ups or bad weather!

Then Sunday was spent catching up with some of our family.  We'd tried hard to keep our return date a secret so when we arrived to see John's Mum, and his sister and her husband there was a huge welcome along with plenty of hugs and kisses!  Then later we were reunited with our daughter Sarah, son-in-law Paul, Grandson Thomas, Son Adam and Grandson Jack and we were treated to a huge delicious Sunday roast, and the only thing that could have made it better would have been if the rest of our crew could have been there because missing were daughter-in-law Vicky and Grandson Max and also Son Ben, daughter-in-law Louise and Granddaughter Evelyn, but looking on the bright side we've still got those reunions to be excited about.

Evelyn

Max on his first bike

And Jack and Thomas on their first days of Autumn term

We're planning to stay here for 5 weeks now so we'll have lots of time to catch up with them all, and also to have a bit of a holiday from blogging.
Then after that we're off to Spain for at least some of the winter, but depending on what happens with the big fat mess that is 'Brexit' it just might have to come back a bit sooner that we'd like!!

See you soon 😗😗

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2019 Tour of Brittany (France) Part 21 Saint Nazaire - Saint Georges sur Loire

Thursday 19th September 2019 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🔥
Mileage  from Saint Nazaire to Le Barre du Monts
Parking Co-ordinates 46.88571, -2.15145

This morning as we left Saint Nazaire Mrs Snoopy (sat nav) got her knickers in somewhat of a twist!!  She LOST HER WAY and this resulted in having to listen to her constant binging and bonging some of which she managed to do at double time!  Then when she did manage to spit out some words of direction we'd have ended up right back where we'd started from if John had listened to her😱😡!  Instead he employed his own built in sat nav (and maybe an occasional road sign) and he soon had us flying high in the sky as we crossed over the Loire via the 2 mile long Pont du Saint Nazaire - and to say the least there was plenty of turbulence up there!

We  crossed the Pont de Saint Nazare Today

But once we were on the other side our journey was another easy one to a lovely Camping Car Park Aire near La Barre de Monts which lies almost at the foot of the Pont Noirmoutier that will take us over to the Ile de Noirmoutier  tomorrow.  The site sits under tall pine trees and is within spitting distance of the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Fromentine Bay on the other so we're quite happy for it to be our home for the next 3 nights.  

Once settled we dined in our T4rdis2 bistro on duck, salad and crusty bread, and then went for a potter along the sea front into the town of La Barre de Monts.  Along our way our views were filled with The Pont Noirmoutier and also some old wreckage that emerges from the water at low tide!

It seems that the wrecks are from the 'Four Aces' German warships which took refuge in the Fromentine Bay on 8th August 1944 to escape from an allied submarines.  However, they avoided one enemy but only to fall prey to a Canadian squadron of 24 Beaufighters.  Today only one entire wreck remains and that is used as a pontoon by spear fishermen!

Friday 20th September 2019 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🔥🌞🌞🔥

Mileage - 32 🚴🚴 miles.

The Ile Noirmoutier is a small island which lies very close to Brittany's coastline and protrudes out from it into the Bay of Biscay.  It's connected to the mainland by two ways of passage;  the ancient one is the Passage du Gois  which is a causeway that is only accessible at low tide and which has refuges along it's way in case you make a mistake!

In the pic it looks fairly flat but it had a right good
hump in the middle🐪

But that wasn't our choice!  We picked the bridge which has a sectioned off cycle way along it's length - the only problem was that the cycle lanes were closed because they were a parking place for heavy plant machinery that was being used for bridge maintenance!  However, there was a diversion that we had no choice but to take and that committed us to travelling along the fast carriageways with all the other traffic that was crossing over😰!  

But we landed quite safely on the island and from then on the rest of our ride was entirely on dedicated cycle track so we could just sit back, peddle and enjoy the scenery.  Initially we travelled up the right hand side of the narrow lower part of the island passing lagoons and canals that were very lively with lots of water fowl, and some beautiful black swans!










However, our sea views were quite restricted because the low lying land was protected on the seaward side by a tall dyke.  But that wasn't a problem because we just climbed up and sat on top of it while we drank coffee and admired the sandy bottom of Fromentine Bay which is extensively used for the cultivation of oysters and muscles.

You could buy them here to either take away or 'enjoy' on site but
slimey oysters didn't appeal to either of us!

They just look like ordinary
spuds to me!

Another thing the island is famous for is it's claim to being the home of the most expensive potatoes in the world - the 'La Bonnotte'.  It seems that only around 100 tons are cultivated annually and they're harvested only on the Ile Noirmoutier.  The cost can reach €500 per kg (£440) and this is attributed to the fact that this type of potato is almost extinct because it has to be harvested by hand and the fields in which it's grown require fertilisation by seaweed to give it it's earthy salty flavour.  Needless to say, we didn't buy any!



Further up towards the top of the island we passed along 'Jetee Jacobsen' which is a long promontory that runs by salt pans and lagoons on one side and has several old rotting corpses of ancient fishing boats on the other.

The 32 miles of our ride allowed us to almost entirely circumnavigate the whole island, and I suppose for our return crossing we could have chosen the Passage du Gois instead of facing the fast traffic on  The Pont Noirmoutier but that would have added quite a few more miles !  Therefore we just tuned the power up on our e-bikes and went for it - and the sideswipe from a fast lorry only made me wobble once😂😂!  


Saturday 21st September 2019 🌞🌞🌞🌞⛅⛅⛅
Mileage - 25 🚴🚴 miles.

Today's ride wasn't particularly spectacular but it was very pleasant as it took us mainly along sandy tracks through the forest of Pays de Monts and onto the long promenade of the glitzy Saint Jean de Monts resort.

As we went one of the info boards along the way informed us that the forest could be described as 'Monotonous and without interest' because mostly all that you see is maritime pine that was planted to form a man made forest who's purpose was to stabilise the dunes, and that within it we wouldn't find any bears or wolves🙈!!!

Part of a 2 mile stretch of sand at Saint Jean du Monts.

Another Floozy in a Jacuzzi - the last one we saw was in Valencia!

We did find a turtle!

After the beach we were soon back on the track that was undulating and sun dappled, and as we went we made quite an interesting 'little' find in the form of a very long tall staircase that terminated at the top with a tower that provided very far reaching views.

I went right to the top of the 'hill'!!

But John was much more sensible!  He saved his energy and stayed at the bottom!


Sunday 22nd September 2019  ⛅⛅⛅🌞🌞⛅⛅⛆
Mileage 121 from Le Barre du Monts to Saint Georges sur Loire
Parking Co-ordinates 47.4057, -0.76317

Today we planned to move on but at 10am our destination was still undecided!  However, we'd earlier agreed that we wanted to visit a garden called Terra Botanica at Angers but our plan was to leave that till early next week to avoid any crowds, but when John checked their web site he discovered it was closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so without hanging about until Thursday today was our only option!  Therefore we put our skates on and skedaddled on our way!

A tethered hot air balloon that will fly you high up over the park 😠

We arrived about 2ish, coughed up our €20 each entrance fee and then started our visit to what is described as a 'Theme Park Devoted to Plant Life'

The info we were given informed us that we could tour a 'Mini Loire River', we'd find 275,000 different plant species that included orchids, roses, dahlias, myriads of bedding plants and also bamboo and paddy fields, and that there would be several tame rides we could enjoy! 

So was it worth it???  It has to be said that it was expensive for what it was, but we had a laugh and passed our afternoon quite happily!  The flowers were beautiful but lurking amongst them was the creature above and also a large mammoth who nearly caught John with his spit😂😂😂!

We enjoyed a ride in a flat bottomed barge with past tales from the Loire region, and another in a walnut shell - but I think they must have forgotten to pay the leccy bill cos we had to peddle like mad to get round!

The dinosaur 4D movie was also amusing and luckily our jeep driver was quite nifty at dodging the snapping monsters that kept trying to attack us!

Then another show that we attended told how plants have evolved through extreme climate changes but as that was all in French we could have just nodded off and still learnt as much!  However, it was a compulsory part that we had to endure to gain access to the 4 greenhouses that simulated the climate changes and they ranged from boiling to freezing!

Finally came the butterfly house and there we saw something that we've never seen before!

Bonking Butterflies😂😂😂

After we left the park our evening was spent on a close by small but free Aire at Saint Georges Sur Loire, and while we were there we tried to make our minds up as to how we're going to spend our last few days of this tour.  So far we've been really lucky with the weather but the predictions for the next week are for quite a bit of the wet stuff - thus our outings might be a bit restricted. 

Therefore, we've hatched a loose plan for maybe returning to one of our favorite Park Night Aires at Villandry, and then possibly making our tour a full circle be returning to Honfleur to finish it off. 

But who knows?? All that could change in the blink of an eye 😉

Bye for now 😗😗

Click here to see all 143 of our French camping spots