Monday 24 July 2017

France May to Jul 17 - week 6 - 1 to 9 Jul 17

On Saturday we left Saumur and trundled just along the valley to discover the mushroom caves at Le Saut aux Loups, Montsoreau, before finding a nightstop at a camperstop in the very pleasant village of Azay-le-Rideau. The weather was still pretty bad, but we had a walk around the gardens as the impressive chateau was closed. It was interesting watching the French vans move around this sheltered aire, basically not giving a hoot where they abandoned their vehicles just as long as they got satellite reception. Obviously they are desperate to watch the French version of Rue de Coronation. All very sad......





Picking Shiitake Mushrooms

Château d'Azay-le-Rideau


On Sunday we headed north back into Normandy and a nice campsite on the Seine in Les Andelys. It's always pleasant to drive in France on a Sunday when there are no lorries on the road. 


Impressive Richard the Lionheart Castle

On Monday we walked into Les Andelys new town and found lots of dogs poo, a nice church and not much else. Mind you, it was a Monday and therefore the whole place was closed. We were nearly wiped out by massive juggernauts speeding through the tiny street with an 18" wide pavement. Bastards. In the afternoon we wandered around the much prettier old town and climbed up to the Castle to admire the views.





On Tuesday we left Les Andlys and drove the short distance to Monet's garden at Giverny. There is a nice big parking aire where we could stay the night. It was a lovely warm day and we joined the long queue to buy tickets. We finally got to the front and were queue-jumped by the arrogant frog git of a "professional" tour guide and his party (with the obvious consent (backhander) of the ticket seller). Very frustrating and we let our feeling be known. Gardens were lovely, village lovely, lots of armed police and troops around again with concrete bollards at the end of roads where there were likely to be crowds. We went back to  the van but were instantly plagued by thousands of thunderflies as they cut the corn nearby. We moved on quickly and drove up to the Somme Estuary and the Fermes des Aulnes Campsite, an old favourite of ours. Shame really as we would have like to have stayed in Giverny, but the heat and the bugs were just unbearable

Monet's Garden at Giverny









Monet's grave

Grave with 7 airmen from a crashed Lancaster




On Wednesday the weather was perfect so we spent the day just dossing around doing a bit of admin, swimming,  playing boules and rounded the day off with a delicious dinner in the campsite restaurant.

Blending in with the natives


On Thursday we had a lazy morning in the rain and thunderstorms, then drove the short distance to Cité Europe, completing some last minute shopping in what is a large but pretty useless Carrefour supermarket.

After a quiet night on the aire we crossed the channel, drove onto the M20 and were met by third world tarmac, huge potholes, rough roads and a massive travel holdup due to an accident. We also noticed a load of illegals breaking out of a Belgian lorry and disappearing into the Kent countryside looking very pleased with themselves. It was an awful journey, compounded by an awful bus ride to visit Mother-in-Law after parking at Kelseys Farm in Bexley. The bus was full of screeching, rude, feral Schoolgirls. It's nice to be back - not!


Good old English Traffic Jam

A good buy in Carrefour. Shitty flavoured crisps

Kelsey's Farm, Bexley

On Saturday we trundled across to West London on public transport to undertake the second phase of Mother visiting and, finally, early on Sunday morning (to beat the numpties on the road) we arrived home and the jungle that once was a neat garden.......

Certainly Not Monet's garden, but our wild jungle

Wednesday 19 July 2017

France May to Jul 17 - week 5 - 24 to 30 Jun 17

Saturday. The Bar at the site at La Rochelle was meant to be open for breakfast in the morning but they obviously couldn't be bothered, so we didn't stay to watch the Lions game and we moved further down the coast to Chatelaillon-Plage for their fete de la musique weekend. We eventually found the site, which was nearly full, and appears to be very popular with UK and Dutch regulars. We pitched up and walked into town along the beach for 3.5 km, mooched around the various stands and events, walked back, picked up the bikes and cycled back in, but there was not much happening. Had a panini and then "chippis" (like churros only French) then cycled back and walked to the local beach at 2330 to watch the fireworks.
Security was very much in evidence with vehicles parked across the road and at junctions.






The author of the book I bought personalised it for me.


Chippis


After a late night we had a lazy Sunday morning, awoken by the dawn chorus of booming Dutch conversation. We once again cycled into town and watched an excellent parade. Once again, security was very tight, with armed troops patrolling.  







After all the activity at the weekend we thought that we would see what the town was like on a normal Monday. There was not a soul around - a typical French Monday (they don't want to work too hard do they). The weather was cloudy in the morning but brightened up later so we sat by the pool for a couple of hours before cooking chicken kebabs and ratatouille on the grill.

Fort Boyard




On Tuesday we drove the short distance to Rochefort, a pleasant enough small town with an impressive Louis XIV port containing the rebuilt square rigged frigate Hermione. Rochefort was once a powerhouse of Navy shipbuilding and the long rope walk building with obvious subsidence (the walls are very bowed) is very impressive. It is, however, very expensive for a ticket to the museums. We ate a gauffre in the square where Gene Kelly danced with Catherine Deneuve in the 1966 film "young girls of Rochefort", but the only dancing we did was to shelter from the massive thunderstorm, the first serious rain we had suffered in 4 weeks.  We retired for a quiet night on the aire in the port.


Hermione

Rope Walk


The forecast for the following days wasn't good, so on Wednesday we made the long drive to the Loire, deciding enroute to head for Saumur.  We stopped for provisions at a big supermarket about 20 miles from Saumur just as the heavens opened with a tremendous thunderstorm. Luckily we just made it back to the van before the thunder and hail hammered down and made it impossible to converse without shouting.  Once things had calmed down a bit, we continued on to the excellent Flower Camping Ile d'Offard site on an island in the Loire. After settling in we walked though the charming town and arrived back for dinner just as the heavens opened again.


Saumur







On Thursday we explored the chateau, walked to the belvedere at the top with a breathless, excitable young french guide. We then found our way to a vigneron for tour of the massive underground ex-quarry used to store their wines, followed by a very generous tasting session, purchasing some wine in boxes and then having to buy a shopping trolley to get it back to the campsite. It rained again.









The bargain trolley











Friday. It rained all day. It peed down. It was cold and dank. We walked to what was meant to be a market but was in fact 5 rubbish stalls, we walked back again and spent the afternoon deciding if we preferred Saumur or Alsace cremant. We drank so much that we forgot what our findings were........