France - Normandy

2 July – 8 July

Brothers in Arms

We were ready to leave Villandry mid-afternoon so decided to travel on a little further, have an overnight stop at Ecommoy, and then complete the journey to Normandy on Sunday.  The site we picked at Creully in Normandy is very rural and peaceful, but with plenty of amenities, which ticked all the boxes for a relaxing day and a half.  It is also just ten minutes’ walk from the town centre, where there is small but comprehensive supermarket, much more to my liking than the hypermarkets where you walk miles to find what you are looking for!  Relaxation time over, we decided to book a third night and did a day trip to Arromanches-les-Bains, to visit the D-Day Landings museum, but a very pretty town in its own right. Motorhomers please note: the museum does not have motorhome parking and Arromanches-les-Bains is not the most motorhome friendly place to drive around!  However, there is both an aire de campling car (for about 12 motorhomes, tucked in a quiet cul-de-sac) and a municipal camp site, which looked fine as we passed by, and which also offered parking for the day or half day.

In June 1944. Arromanches was the site of one of the Mulberry harbours, temporary ports created to help the massive flow of men and material following D-Day. The Landings Museum gives a detailed insight into the complexity of these structures; enormous hollow concrete blocks constructed in England, and slowly towed across the channel by tugs before positioning in a precise sequence and location. Remnants of the harbour are still visible on the beach.

Our second day of D-Day education was to the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, with its 9387 white headstones (including, sadly, 41 pairs of brothers).  It’s an extremely peaceful and beautiful location overlooking Omaha Beach, scene of some of the worst fighting on D-Day, and needless to say, very moving.  The visitor centre provides a great deal of information via display boards, films and interactive media.

It was an “interesting” journey from Colleville-sur-Mer to our next overnight stop at Martragny, on the eastern side of Bayeux. The D82 junction on the N13 is, contrary to SatNav’s wishes, well and truly closed.  So we did a couple of laps of the N13 between that and the next junction in order to find our own way to our destination.  And well worth the effort it was too. The site we had picked out was good, if quirky, tucked away behind Le Manoir de l’Abbaye and even offered a selection of hot meals to take away at very reasonable prices.  Dinner sorted! We weren't sure if the stepladders left in the orchard were there to encourage you to "pick your own", but we didn't try our luck.

Our third D Day related visit was to Pegasus Bridge, scene of a remarkable British airborne assault just before 1.00am on the morning of 6 June 1944.  The museum was, once again, extremely well done, culminating with the now-relocated bridge and a full-size replica Horsa glider located at the rear of the site.  

The car park is not particularly large but we (and other motorhomes) parked there without a problem. It seemed odd to be picnicking on the grass a few yards from where Major John Howard and his troops drifted out of the night sky in their 3 gliders, landing (by a masterful piece of navigation) right next to the bridge and achieving total surprise.

We were now on the homeward run, with an overnight stop at Neufchatel-en-Bray.  We felt sure that the site we had picked was affiliated to the Motorhome and Caravan Club, with its neat grass, well-marked pitches and directions as to how to pitch!  There was time for a detour to Valerie-sur-Somme for lunch, but sadly not to ride on the steam train which runs between St Valerie and Le Crotoy on the other side of the bay.  

We then completed the journey to L’Escalles, which was where it all started just three weeks ago.

France - The Loire

29 June – 1 July

The Old Castle

First stop on the Loire was the delightful town of Chinon.  We stayed at Camping de l’Ile Auger just ten minutes’ walk from town and, if you picked the right pitch, with a view of the fortress.

The weather had become less extreme, just settled into fairly frequent showery rain from the grey sky, so we didn’t see it anything at its best, but despite that, we enjoyed the visit to the castle, which is a combination of restored fortress and exhibition hall.  The ticket price included a brief guide book, which also doubled as a trigger for the scanners dotted around the place to give you more detailed commentaries.  All sorts of other media provided even more information.  Highly recommended to anyone with even the slightest interest in history.

Having picked up a map from Tourist Information, we followed the suggested walk around the old town, which led us through quaint streets of medieval buildings, stone and half-timbered.

From Chinon it was just 40 miles to Villandry, where we parked at the aire de camping car and walked to the chateau. This was a complete contrast to the Chinon fortress and is the last of the great Renaissance Chateaux built on the banks of the Loire.  Each room has been carefully decorated and furnished by its current owner.  From most rooms in the chateau you get views of the six individual gardens; decorative kitchen garden, ornamental garden, water garden, herb garden, sun garden and the maze.

It was then time to head north for an overnight stop on our way to Normandy.

France - Around Cognac

 25 – 28 June

A delicate sound of thunder

It had been our intention to travel from the Ile de Re to the Ile d’Oleron, but we decided that a third island was perhaps one too many and, in any case, the weather forecast was not looking too good.  That didn’t bode well either for a couple of days at Coulon (aka La Venise Verte) in the Marais Poitevin, where we had planned to view the marshes via a boat trip.  So plan B was implemented. 

The scorching weather followed us to Saintes, where we quickly got ourselves organised before going out in search of “Sunday lunch”.  This proved to be a little difficult as the town was very quiet, but we eventually found a restaurant which could accommodate us (outside only) and where one of the two choices on the menu de jour was “fini”; the remaining option was, however, delicious.

We then made our way through the town to the Roman amphitheatre, one of the oldest of the Roman world, built in the first century AD during the reign of Claudius.  The terraces, long since overgrown, accommodated up to 18,000 people.

An audioguide in English was very interesting, if a bit long!  Having purchased a “bargain” ticket for both the amphitheatre and Abbaye aux Dames we felt obliged to go there too, but it was still hot and I, for one, was flagging, so we really didn’t do it justice.

With hindsight, we should have stopped at the public gardens, from which we could hear music, or taken a boat ride on the River Charente.

The next day took us on to Cognac, which was a series of non-events!  We arrived at our chosen site to find reception didn’t open until 4 pm (it was only 12:30 pm) and finding yourself a pitch prior to registering was definitely forbidden. Instead we made our way into the town centre and found the aire (functional, not pretty) but it was somewhere to park while we visited a museum, Espace Decouverte, which would tell us all about the flat-bottomed boats called gabariers, that once carried cognac to towns in northern France.  Damnation! The museum turned out not to be open on a Monday!  This was not to be our day.

So on to Jarnac where the good weather finally deserted us, per the weather forecast.  We set up in the rain and the weather veered from hot sunny intervals to heavy rain and thunderstorms in the blink of an eye.  This rather scuppered plans, although we did manage a cycle ride on the first day along the river Charente.  The cycle “track” was just compounded earth, with potholes filled in with hardcore here and there, so it was not a comfortable ride.  The Ile of Re it was not! On the second day we sampled the restaurant adjacent to the site (L’Auberge de la Prairie) for its “menu de jour”, which turned out to be good quality and excellent value, before going on a tour of the Courvoisier Cognac distillery.

This was enlightening and made you realise what a lengthy process it is and why Cognac costs what it does.  The tasting rounded off the visit nicely and we toddled back to the ‘van.

We had stayed in Jarnac a night longer than planned; there didn’t seem to be any point in moving when the weather was the same all over France.  But tomorrow, even though the weather is forecast to be pretty much the same, we head towards the Loire …

France - Atlantic Coast

19 - 24 June

Island Life

The Ile de Noirmoutier was the first of the islands we visited. We travelled to the far end to l’Herbaudiere, where there is a huge municipal site situated close to the coastal path and surrounded on three sides by the sea.  The marked pitches are a bit haphazard – adds to the charm perhaps?! - but we managed to find a fairly level pitch.  

There is no shade, which was unfortunate as the high temperatures continued. It’s a short stroll to the village centre and harbour area. After relaxing in the evening sunshine on Monday, we unstrapped the bikes the next morning for a cycle ride. The 20 km circular route took us alongside sand dunes and through woods then around an area of salt marsh into Noirmoutier, the islands “capital”, where we had a delicious “menu de jour”. This area has a significant salt producing industry and we were saw many mounds of salt drying in the sunshine.

On Wednesday we retraced our steps to the “mainland” then drove south past La Rochelle and onto the Ile de Re, across another spectacular bridge.  We had selected a site at St Clement des Baleines, at the tip of the island, from where we took an evening stroll past the old lifeboat station to the Phare de Baleines, the towering lighthouse which marks the northern tip of the island but is now an historic monument.

Although the site was very nice we realised it was a little bit too remote to give us easy access to some of the more interesting places to visit so we decided to head back down the island. It came as quite a surprise when the next site we tried to book into was full!  Probably because it was close to the popular St Martin de Re.  However, it wasn’t a problem to find an alternative at La Couarde.  The Ile de Re has an amazing, well-signed network of cycle paths and we set off to explore the villages of La Couade and Le Bois Plage, with their cobbled centres.  It had struck us how Mediterranean the architecture had become south of the Loire; whitewashed buildings with their coloured shutters and wavy, terracotta tiled rooves. Another cycle ride took us to the popular town of St Martin, where, like Honfleur, the old port area is now lined with restaurants, as can be seen from the church tower.

We walked around part of the town walls to the old citadel. This housed the prison from which convicts were shipped out to the penal colony of Devil’s Island in the Caribbean.  You can see names and dates carved in the stone walls, made by the convicts with their chains as they awaited transportation.

We hopped on the bikes one more time to go to Ars, passing the salt marshes and spotting birds which we think were black-winged stilts (will have to check with Barbara and Clive!!); a substantial amount of salt is produced around here.  A number of individual salt producers sell their product outside the premises and we were particularly amused by the “self-service” kiosk that we passed today.  Not only did it have an honesty box in which to place payment, but also a tray of change!

The areas around the old port and the market were bustling, but the centre of the town near the distinctive black and white steeple of the church was surprisingly quiet.

I am not a market fan (even in the UK) but we decided to get our fruit and veg from one the stalls.  All went well until madame asked for what seemed to me an excessive sum, which I paid, rather than querying the bill and testing my French further.  Back at the bikes, however, we realised we hadn’t picked up the strawberries I had paid for so I returned to the stall to collect them and also summoned up the courage to query the total.  With a little assistance from a French and English speaking bystander, madame agreed she had made a mistake and gave me a refund.  Result!

We made the most of the continuing hot and sunny weather relaxing outside during the afternoon, in readiness for striking camp first thing next morning.

France - Calais to Bain de Bretagne

16 – 18 June

Into the West

A disadvantage of living in Stratford upon Avon is that it takes considerably longer to get to the Channel tunnel! Not to worry, we just leave plenty of time in case of inevitable delays on the M25, in the hope that we have been over-cautious and might get an earlier shuttle, which is exactly what happened on this trip. In fact, Le Shuttle was so quiet they were operating a “free-flow” and we boarded the train an hour earlier than booked.

After a night halt at our usual site, Les Erables, we travelled down to Honfleur and were impressed by the huge Pont de Normandie over the mouth of the river Seine. We joined the throng on the aire.

Don’t leave your arrival too late if you want to stay here in the summer! The local community police were quickly on the scene, but not on our account, but because the owners of a car and caravan had thought they would also make use of the parking facility – non, non, non!

We whiled away the latter part of the afternoon and evening exploring the old port lined with colourful houses and heaving with restaurants.

We were amused to see two young chaps trundling a piano over the cobblestones. While having a meal later, we could hear piano music not too far away and assumed they had reached their destination; thankfully the piano seemed remarkably in tune!  

The area around St Catherine’s Church with its separate bell tower was very pretty; unfortunately, we were only able to peek inside the church as there was a wedding in progress.  The museum dedicated to the life of the composer Erik Satie, who was born in Honfleur, (thankfully with audio in English!) showed what a quirky character he was.

The next stop was at Bain de Bretagne, where we stayed at the lovely municipal site, and were very grateful for the shade of the trees as the temperature climbed to about 30 deg C. The facilities were clean and perfectly adequate for a short stay and the site was very peaceful, apart from some noise from the nearby railway.

From there, a last “hop” to the islands off the Atlantic coast…..

Lincolnshire again

A day at the races

11 – 18 May

As owners of a new Autotrail, we were automatically entitled to a year’s free membership of the Autotrail Owners’ Club. We had perused the book of rallies at the end of last year and one had particularly caught our eye.  This was the annual factory rally based at Market Rasen racecourse and we thought it would be interesting to see how our new acquisition had been built.

So we were back in Lincolnshire for the second time in six weeks!  This rally is very popular and there were nearly 150 units – with hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best one to choose as a first rally.  However, the organisation was superb.  

 An unexpected bonus on arrival was to find that a company was operating a mobile weighbridge so that those who wished could check out whether they were carrying too much or had capacity to spare.  It was a nice surprise to find we were well within our limit.

At additional cost it had been possible to attend the racing on Friday afternoon.  We hadn’t opted to do that, but sneaked a look at a couple of races from the rally side of the track. We also managed a cycle ride around some of the nearby villages.

On Saturday a fleet of coaches transported us to the Autotrail factory at Grimsby.  We felt very “loved” by Autotrail, who provided everyone with a goody bag, a tombola ticket and a free barbecue.  We chose to follow a factory tour, rather than look around on our own, and it was enlightening – mostly (but not always!) in a good way.  Imagine how thrilled we were when our tombola ticket was a winner, but oh, wait a minute, everyone won something!

Entertainment was provided on Friday and Saturday evenings, but we particularly enjoyed chatting to Jill and David, who have the same Autotrail model as us, and gleaned some useful suggestions from them.

We had decided to spend a few more days in Amelia before heading home and went back to Woodhall Spa, with the bikes this time! En route, we called in at Gunby Hall (NT) but had to restrict our visit to the house as it was a very wet day.  The house had narrowly escaped demolition during WW2 due to the expansion of the nearby airfield.  We had an interesting morning at the Lincolnshire Aviation Centre at East Kirkby, but again it was very wet and although most of the museum is undercover, we did have to dash from building to building and got somewhat damp. The museum is home to “Just Jane”, one of the few surviving WW2 Lancaster bombers. 

Currently restricted to taxying on the airfield, it is hoped to have her airworthy in the not too distant future. There is also a small, but interesting part of the museum devoted to escapes from prisoner of war camps, including the famous “great escape”.   The final outing of the trip, once the weather cheered up, was a cycle ride of about 18 miles along the Water Rail Way, following the River Witham to Bardney.

Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

April 1 - 4

Cinema show

Post from John

Each year, our friends Barbara and Clive take their motorhome for its annual service, back to the dealer who supplied it. They usually combine this with a short break at a suitable nearby site. This year they asked us if we would like to join them; we thought it was a great idea, and then more friends, Gordon and Diane, were invited along with their motorhome as well. A mini rally! The chosen venue was the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Woodhall Spa.

We were looking forward to getting away in Amelia after several months of work on the house. However, the aforementioned work gave us a slight problem in preparing to go, as our drive was occupied by a skip full of garden rubble. Ruth then had the bright idea of seeing if we could book the van into a local Caravan Club CL for a couple of nights, to make it easier to load up. We found Hollow Meadow CL just outside Stratford, and moved Amelia there on the Thursday. The CL was very nice; quiet, well-tended, with hook-ups but no other facilities. We may well use it again.

Friday was spent loading up, and we enjoyed a peaceful night in the countryside, setting off for Lincolnshire on the Saturday morning. Arriving at the site a few minutes ahead of Barbara and Clive, we were all soon settled in. Whilst they opted for a walk in the afternoon, we relaxed in the van, trying to remember how everything worked.

Sunday dawned dry and bright; Gordon and Diane arrived and were soon set up; then more friends, Colin and Maureen, joined us for the day, having driven up from Cambridge.

Amelia, Felix and Molly

After a coffee and a chat, we all walked the 40 minutes into Woodhall Spa, where we had an excellent lunch at The Mall to celebrate Maureen’s retirement. The afternoon was spent strolling through the town and the adjacent woods, past the Kinema in the Woods (of which more in a moment), finishing up for tea on the terrace at the Petwood Hotel. During WW2, this elegant building had been the officers’ mess for the nearby airfield; there is a small museum honouring their most celebrated occupants – 617 Squadron, otherwise known as The Dambusters.

We had another lazy day on the Monday, then the six of us headed back to the Kinema in the evening, having booked tickets the day before to see “Beauty and the Beast”.

The Kinema was opened in 1922, and is the only screen in Britain to use back-projection of the film. It is a real throwback – the cinema is small, with splendidly old-fashioned décor and an intermission during the film for ice creams, costing the princely sum of £1.50!   During the intermission, an organ rises up through the stage and an organist entertains the audience (providing sufficient tickets have been sold).

Tuesday saw us heading home, ready to launch into the next round of jobs.