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