A light hearted and (I hope) amusing record of some of our Campervan Trips.
It is mainly intended to inform friends and family where we are, plus, to keep our children updated on what is happening to their inheritance.
I do try to include details of Camp Sites and Aires, we visit. Checkout the "labels" listed in the right margin,
Please comment if you feel inclined, at least then I know I am not talking to myself (again).
Our Ferry is 6:00am, with check-in 5:00am, and about 20 minutes drive to the Port, from the
Gravelines Aire, so, needless to say, it is dark and cold, given the time of morning, to make matters more unpleasant, it is raining, not continually, but, a series of heavy showers. Amazingly, at such an early hour, the ferry is very crowded, lots of buses, each of course with 50-60 passengers.
A wet arrival in Dover, at 7:15 UK time. Reasonably light traffic, but,pouring rain, most of the way to Rainham in Kent.
But, the sun shines, as we arrive at Chez Brian and Linda, for breakfast.
Gravelines to Rainham, in video. After breakfast, a catch up chat, and a brief tour of Brian's new toy (Smart Car to tow behind campervan), we travel around the M25 to Queens Acre, Windsor, for a nice welcome from Celeste, the owner. Once settled in, we cycle the 1.5 miles to Gary and Susana's for our Gabriel and Salma fix.
Rather dull, 8C as we leave Chateau-Thierry. It does improve as the day progresses, but, just a little sunshine, and 15C. First stop, Lidl, so Kathleen can add to her wine and Gin collection. It turns out to be Market Day in Chateau-Thierry, what a shame, we missed it. Then a pleasant 45 miles or so along quiet roads, to Coucy Le Chateau. It is a pleasant small village, no problems as a stop over, but, I am pleased I did not choose as the stop-over for the day of my birthday, the only "commerces" are a Pharmacy and a Boulangerie! That is first impressions, but, there is a "haut ville", with a ruined 13th century castle, and, I suspect, one or more bars / cafes / hotels, but, I cannot coax Kathleen into climbing the steep hill to get there. The Aire at Coucy Le Chateau (N49 31.199 E3 18.805), appears well organised, no entry barrier, but, a similar machine to Chateau-Thierry, to pay for
Electricity, etc, and, dispense a code to give access to water, toilet and electricity. The charge is 5Euro / 24 hours, Parking, Water, Toilet and 16amp EHU, everything clean and tidy. There are marked out spaces for six vans, when we arrived, just before lunch time, only one van here (British), then a further three Brits turned up, by 15:00, it was full plus an extra two vans squeezed in (French and Belgian). This portion of the trip, in video.
Saturday, 8th October 2016 Misty and murky start to the day, but, not cold. By lunchtime, a hint of blue sky.
The final leg, to our usual last stop, Gravelines, which is really like saying Dunkirk, since, Gravelines is a rest stop, if it is a Saturday (which it is), Kathleen goes to church. A traffic free drive, except around Lille, and a leisurely lunch stop, to make a pleasant last day in France. Once we arrive, and get "set up" we have a meal, Kathleen does church, then, a little drink, and an early night, because, tomorrow is a 4:30am start. This portion of the trip, in video.
Thursday, 8th October 2015 Weather exactly as forecast, cloudy, but mild at 15C. Today we are heading to an Aire at Le Cateau-Cambresis (N 50.10206, E 3.55513). Not exactly the most scenic journey, as we make our way North and West, staying well away from Paris. In fact, I think the nearest we get to scenery are the striking Autumn colours or the trees by the roadside. We pass the great cathedral city of Reims, passing more or less through the centre, but the closest we get to the famous Cathedral is in the far distance, probably not even visible, in the gap between the avenue of trees.
There is something about this road which makes me think, it must have originally been laid out by the Romans, as it goes straight as an arrow across the undulating countryside. It is almost impossible to pass through this part of France, without seeing reminders of WW1, we pass several World War 1, military cemetaries, this area was obviously hard fought over.
Le Cateau Cambresis was presumably "at the thick of it" at that time, there is a military cemetary, to the left of the road, at the entrance to the town. The font of all knowledge, ie Google (not Kathleen, in this instance), tells me, over 500 UK soldiers, from WW1, are buried there.
We have been to Le Cateau Cambresis several times in the past. We have been to the Aire at Le Cateau Cambresis several times in the past. Like most places, it has it's good points and bad points: Good points, It is within easy driving distance (approximately 100 miles) of Calais / Dunkirk, mostly on free motorway. There are four free EHU hook-ups. The campervan service point is free, indeed, the whole thing is free. There is a Lidl two minutes walk away. Not so good points. It is near a fairly busy road, so, a bit of traffic noise, but, quiet overnight. The town is depressing, clearly it has once been a thriving busy place, now, it is a sort of French version of Hebburn. Friday 9th, October 2015 A very cold start to the day, only 5C, but, it feels colder! As the day progresses, and we draw nearer to the coast at Dunkirk, the sun comes out and temperatures rise to an acceptable 16C. A late start, and, a relaxed drive, of approximately 100 miles, to Gravelines, arriving at about 17:00. We discover there is a good Commercial Centre at Caudry, just a few miles along the road toward Cambrai, from Le Cateau Cambresis, with a large LeClerc supermarket, good for final wine and gin top up, and diesel of course. Saturday 10th, October 2015 A dark and foggy departure from Gravelines. To Dover, not an illegal immigrant in sight. Thanks to queues at UK Passport Control, even at 6:15am!, we miss our 6:45am ferry, and are put on the 7:45am. A stop at Retford for lunch, and then home.
Tuesday 14th October 2014 - Sunday 19th October 2014
This will be our last day at Saumur, indeed, it is effectively the last day of this trip, since from tomorrow we will be heading, slowly, toward Calais, to be there for Saturday evening, then catch our ferry, early Sunday.
But, let us not jump ahead.
Another beautiful day, with clear blue sky and sunshine, spent cycling along the south bank of the Loire.
We go from the campsite on Ile d'Offard, to Dampierre-sur-Loire, and return of course, just short of 10 miles.
At Dampierre-sur-Loire, we discover a new Aire, which does not appear to be in the Aires book.
It is in an area laid out as a picnic area, just off the D947, between the edge of the village and the River Loire. All rather pretty, with the usual "borne" to dispense water, dispose of waste, a toilet, but, no electric hookup. 5 Euro per night. (N47.241044' E-0.022341)
Refreshments, sitting in the sun, in Place de St Piere, in Saumur, courtesy of my generous wife.
The rest of the day is spent in a mixture of packing and chatting to newly arrived neighbours, David and Barbara, fellow Armitage Trailer owners and scooterists.
Wednesday, time to be moving on again.
A hundred and twenty miles, more or less, due North, and we park at an Aire, in a small town / village, called Rugles, (N48 49.370' E0 42.619'), in Haut Normandy.
It is a pity it is not Sunday, we have this old church, about 25 metres away!
It is no longer functioning as a church, the main church is in the village, with, it would appear some very enthusiastic, campanoligists.
The Aire is just a few minutes walk from the main street of the village.
It has space for about seven vans. Six free electric hook ups, and a free service point for water, waste etc.
The space is in two areas, three vans and two EHU's in one area, and four vans and fours EHU's in the other.
There are no signs to indicate there is a charge, and, so far, no one has appeared to collect any payment.
It is on the edge of a very attractive public park, with an old water mill.
You can stroll through the park to the High Street, where we contributed to the local economy by purchasing apple tarts, and a couple of beers.
It all seems very pleasant, the customers in the bar even shook hands with us, when we went in for a beer!
This is the town hall.
Now, remember, this a town / village with a population of only about 2,500.
How can they possibly support / fund such a grand town hall?, not to mention the rather grand public park, shown in the photographs above?
It makes no sense to me, but, it appears to work.
Thursday, on to Neufchatel-en-Bray, our old favourite, Camping St Claire. Still as well kept as ever, this ACSI site is only two hours south of Calais. Not that it concerns us, since we are "pet free", but, I told there is a good English speaking Vet in the Town, who can do all of the Pet formalities far cheaper than the Calais based Vets.
Apart from the fact the campsite is very well run, and inexpensive at 14Euro, we use this stopover to fill with cheap diesel (at Le Clerc), and stock up with cheap booze at Le Clerc and Lidl.
Weather is not too kind,warm and bright for most of the day, with just the odd shower, but, right at this moment, as I type this (20:00), it is pouring with rain!
Friday, our friends, (Bryan and Joan, Crick) arrive.
We have a wonderfully sunny day, which we spend in a very decadent way, ie sitting in the sun, chatting about our adventures and drinking beer.
We vary the theme in the evening, by drinking Red Wine, White Wine and Manderine, not all at once!.
Saturday, is another bright and sunny day, Joan and Bryan have an extra day compared to ourselves, so, they head off for an Aire on the coast.
Kathleen has a hair washing session, whilst I go shopping, then we head slowly for the Aire at Gravelines, our usual last overnight stop, when we have an early morning ferry / tunnel crossing.
Gravelines has a few advantages (in our opinion) over the Aire at Calais, ie,
it is near a Church with a Mass on Saturday evening,
it is far enough away from Calais to avoid any "asylum seeker problems" (not that we have seen any asylum seeker problems either , on previous occasions).
There are enough places to walk, cycle to fill the time
there are a number of bars and restaurants
it is almost, scenic
Sunday morning, we are up at 6:00 to make our way to the 07:45 ferry, only to find, the travel arrangements administrator (Kathleen) has got the time wrong, it is the 08:15 ferry!
Marboue (N48 6.744' E1 19.722'). Another Aire. Toilets and emptying facilities for free, but Electricity and Water are chargeable (Electricity 2Euro for 55 minutes, extortion!). There is space for about ten vans, and, by evening it is full. Not surprising really, it is a very pleasant spot, on the banks of the River Loir and off the busy main road (N10).
It is here, I find, the helpful French people at Uzerche did not do the internet registration correctly, so, I have no internet. I try the French couple parked next to us. They fiddle about with it, but, seem to think it has not worked.
I cycle the 2 miles back down the road to McDonalds, to use their Wifi to do my essential banking transaction.
When I get back, I fiddle around some more with the Orange SIM card, suddenly, it works, problem is, I do not know what I did to make it work!
Turns out, that was a false alarm, still not working!
An early start on Friday (well 09:00), and we are in Neufchatel-en-Bray by lunch time, for our regular stop over at Camping St Clair.
This place just gets better and better, but, the downside of that is, it is becoming very popular. A queue of campervans and caravans waiting to check in when we arrive!
We will have to stop recommending the place!
I find my Orange-France SIM card is not working after all, this is beginning to be very irritating!
Fortunately, there is an Orange Shop in the town, and the problem is soon sorted. It would appear you cannot register a top up from a non-French telephone number.
Only a one night stay, we linger until just before lunch time and then we are on our way towards Calais.
Picnic, French motorway Aire style.
Toilets, plenty of parking, neatly mown grass, no litter, picnic tables provided, and, sunshine of course.
But, the French do not get everything right... we arrive at Gravelines to find it is almost empty, clearly levelling a charge of 6Euro per night, with no facilities except parking has driven people away.
A lesson to Politicians everywhere, if you drive up the price, you do not necessarily increase the income!
We amuse ourselves by watching the street entertainment from a pavement bar.
Next morning, the plan is to have breakfast as we wait in the boarding queue for "Le Shuttle", but, we are whisked onto an earlier train, before we have even had time to have breakfast!
Once in Dover, it is a short, and almost traffic free (well it is only 8:00 Sunday morning!) drive to the Caravan and Camping Club site at St Neots, to meet up with Gary, Susana and Gabriel.
Here are the "boys", it was both Gary, and Gabriel's birthday, a few days ago (June 2nd and 3rd respectively), so, this is a belated "birthday meeting", plus, Gabriel and Susana plan to return to Baku with Gary next weekend.
Our last chance to see them for a while.
Gabriel has grown a lot since I last saw him, and his talking has come on leaps and bounds (in both English and Spanish).
He is currently fascinated by spiders and their webs.
Here he is studying a spider in it's web, you can just see the spider above and to the left of his right eyebrow!
We visit Cambridge, and take the obligatory trip in a punt, but, not even a family of swans can keep Gabriel awake!
We leave home in moderately good weather, but, it only lasts as far south as Yorkshire.
Soon it is raining.
We stop off at Huntingdon for Sunday lunch, at a place called the "Old Bridge Inn". I had found it on the internet, and new it was going to be pricey. But, what the hell I thought, you only live once. Pricey is a bit of an understatement £42 for Sunday lunch for two, just one course, a pint of bitter and a half shandy. I don't know about only live once, I think we will be only going there once!
As we pass Newark, would you believe they are holding a cycle race on the main A1!
They must have a death wish, cars etc hurtling past at 70mph, and nothing to protect the cyclists.
The weather only gets worse, sleet, then snow.
Despite the weather, we arrive at the Tunnel early, we are booked on the 18:20 train, but, we are there in time to be switched to the 17:20 train.
Sitting in the line waiting to board, we see a new word on the information board. The train is delayed by a few minutes to 17:28, but, the information board reads "Train retimed to 17:28". Retimed, I suppose it sounds better than delayed. I did not know that Euro Tunnel had employed Peter Mandleson.
We spend the night at Gravelines aire (N50 59.310' E2 07.363'). Not nearly as busy as usual, lots of empty spaces.
Monday 18th March 2013
It rained all night, and is still raining when we leave.
South on the A16, towards Abberville, leave the motorway, at the point the toll starts, no point paying to do 60mph, you can do that for free on the "N" roads.
Kathleen has retired the Tomtom, for the day, because she is bored and fancies map reading. It makes a nice change for me too, instead of getting instructions like "turn left in 300 metres", I now get, "you should have turned left 300 metres ago, you will have to turn around".
We negotiate Rouen, right first time, and stop for lunch at Pont de l'Arche. We knew there was a Municipal Campsite there, but, there is a small Aire too, we found. Marked out spaces for four vans, what looks like a free electric hook up, and a service point.
As we head south the unremitting rain and sleet do ease off a little, we even get a brief spell of sunshine, which allows Kathleen to wear her sunglasses, for the first time since Yorkshire. It does not last long.
It is decided, tonight, we must have electricity. Kathleen is concerned about using too much of our gas, in case we run out before our 12 weeks are over. So, despite checking out a couple of promising Aires at Cloyes Sur Le Loir (N47 59.512' E1 13.936') and Vouvray (N47 24.549' E000 47.812'), we actually go to:
La Ville-aux-Dames, Les Acacias (N47 24'7" E0 46'48")
from the ACSI book. We have been here before, about five years ago, it has apparently changed management since then, and is better for it.
Free wifi, hence the blog update, but, we find the signal is not good enough to sustain a Skype conversation.
The area around the aire is quite pretty, but, the rest of the town has seen better days.
Normally, we see few if any Brits, but, here today, there are no fewer than five British vans, all taking up the prime spaces, next to the canal.
Note, I said British, not English, in deference to our Scots neighbours.
Thursday, and it is still pouring with rain!
One of our diversions under these conditions, a drink in a cafe, is ruled out, because the cafe is closed, in fact it is for sale.
As you can see, we are reduced to trying to take interesting photographs, using the limited settings on our point and click camera!.
Friday, the rain has diminished to just being heavy.
We set off for Catillon sur Sambre, an aire we have used before.
It is quite an attractive spot, but has space for only about 4 vans, so clearly space is at a premium. When we arrive, one English and two French vans are already in residence.
The weather improves, with the sun putting in an appearance.
Within 15 minutes of our arrival, who should turn up but, Mack & Josie yet again, but, we have bagged the last available space and there is already (what we believe to be) a French van hovering.
The (supposed) Frenchman and his wife, continue to hover, we consider the possibility, we are taking up more than our "share" of space. After much deliberation, I think I know how to say (in French) that perhaps, if I moved over a bit, and the French van next to me also moved over a bit, they could squeeze in.
It turns out, they are English, living in France, and speaking only marginally more French than me! Plus, they are not intending to stay, just to have their lunch and charge their laptop from the electric hookup.
Having tried to be helpful, I cannot extricate myself from what turns out to be one of the most talkative English men I have ever met, I am almost fainting from hunger since it is well past lunch time.
The English pair in a French van depart, then one of the other French vans decides to leave.
Almost immediately, another English van arrives, Phil and Noula. We set off investigate if there is somewhere serving meals in the evening. Nothing doing, so we settle for a drink in the bar
Saturday, we set off for our final stop of this trip, via couple of supermarkets in order to do final wine shopping.
Gravelines, is well populated as usual, being probably the best "overnight" spot before catching the Ferry or Tunnel.
This year, the French have started charging 6Euro, for what used to be a free stop. A bit rich, since there is nothing provided except a space on the quayside.
On the brightside, there are a selection of bars and cafes, and, according to Google, a church, with Saturday evening Mass, so Kathleen is able to attend.
Although I have never seen it in the UK, in several European Countries, it is not unusual to have beggars at the church door, so, I pass my time waiting have a discussion (in a mixture of French and English), with the resident beggar on his opinion of the state of the French economy. He tells me, he is forced to sleep rough and has not been able to find work for ten years. I must say, although he is shabily dressed, he is remarkably well groomed for a rough sleeper. He is not a fan of the enlarged EEC, presumably because (as it has in the UK), it has created competition for jobs from East Europeans.
Kathleen indulges in the "Sun Set Photographs".
You will note, I have still not worked out how to "turn them around", in the blog!
Sunday, up early, off to the tunnel, again disappointed with the lack of "smoothness", lots of waiting around. Perhaps, Sunday is not the best day to travel, since it is "maintenance day".
Neufchatel-en-Bray, Camping Sainte Claire, ASCI2011-974 continued
Forgot to say, in my last post, I have had some adverse comments about the font size. Some people wanting me to pay for new glasses for them. So, I have reverted to the "normal" size font!
Hope that is better for you all.
Despite her concerns for her waistline, I convince Kathleen we should buy an apple pie from Le Clerc. They are on offer, are rather large, and look very appertising!
We buy a can of disappearing cream, to go with it.
I call it disappearing cream, because after you squirt it on your plate, it disappears faster than you can eat it!
Sunset at camping Sainte Claire.
As I have said before, this site is in within 2 – 3 hours driving distance from the ferry at Calais or Dunkirk.
However, our ferry is at 08:00 in the morning, and check in time is 07:00. This would mean leaving here at no later than 05:00 in the morning, which is not possible (Gates are closed overnight, 23:00 – 07:00).
Instead we leave just before 12:00, do some last minute wine shopping at the supermarket, and then rejoin the A16 toward Abbeville, stopping for lunch on the way.
We plan to check out upto four aires, from the All the Aires – France book, (Hondschoote, Gravelines and, Bergues, Petit Fort Phillippe) and choose the best one.
As it turned out, Gravelines is the first one we come to and it is perfectly acceptable, so we park there.
Beware if trying to find it, they have built an new roundabout on the D940, which is not mentioned in the directions, but if you keep your eyes open, you can see the campervans lined up on the quayside, so just head for them. You need to be on the East side of the small river.
Gravelines, All the Aires – France Page 450, N50 59.310’ E002 07.363’
As you can see, we are not alone, I have not counted them, but there must be at least fifty vans here, presumably all waiting to go to the ferry terminal.
We have actually overflowed the 'official' parking area. We, along with three others, are parked in an area marked "no parking camping cars". The painted lettering is faded, and hardly ledgible.
Two passing Frenchmen point out to us that we should not be parked there. One is grumpy about it, the other, on hearing we plan to be gone by 06:30 in the morning, is more amenable about it.
We get a spot overlooking the habour, this is the view from our back window.
Actually manoevering into place caused a bit of a problem.
My reversing camera (Kathleen) took fright as we approached the edge of the dock backwards.
There was a mutiny and she deserted her post, continuing the directions from outside the van, just incase I went into the dock.
We have a metre to spare, no problem.
Once we had finished parking, and Kathleen had composed herself, we discovered we had parked next to someone from Seaham, who just happened to be a patient at the surgery where Dana used to work!, small world and all that.
Sunset at Gravelines.
The evening passes without any excitement, except that, even more vans arrive.
After a quiet night, and therefore a good nights sleep, we are up at 6:00 and on our way by 06:30, to check in for the ferry.
Despite eating my usual breakfast of Cereal and fruit, while we sat in the queue waiting to board, we avail ourselves of a full English Breakfast on the boat.
The usual nightmare journey, on the M25, and we arrive at Henley-on-Thames.
Henley-on-Thames, Caravan Club - Four Oaks Site.
As is always with the Caravan Club sites, it is spot on.
The afternoon is spent in arranging a hire car, so we can travel to Windsor tomorrow and Sunday.
