Saturday 30th April 2011 - Tuesday 3rd May 2011

Saturday April 30th 2011, Rainham, Kent.



The traffic on the southern section of the M25, past Gatwick Airport, is surprisingly light. We had expected jams because there would be many people returning from London after watching the Royal Wedding yesterday, but no, the traffic was moving quite freely, and we arrived at Brian and Linda’s ahead of schedule.

On Saturday afternoon, we all went to Rochester, to attend the “Sweep’s Festival”. This is a very old festival (400 years old, according to the literature), which has been revived for the past 30 years or so. It is connected with Chimney Sweeps (hence the name), and seems to consist mainly of Morris Dancing, with of course copious amounts of Real Ale.

Saturday is rounded off with a Chinese meal, cooked by Brian, ably assisted (that is supervised) by Linda. Victoria is the only daughter at home, so we have her company, along with her boyfriend Graeme. I hope his meeting the "Reays" experience has not put him off.


Sunday Morning, we have the obligatory church going by Kathleen.

While she is there, Brian takes me to see the area where our Great, Great, Great Grandfather (on our mothers side) was born, in Gillingham, before he moved to South Shields. It is an amazing coincidence that over a hundred years later, Brian should return to live within a few miles of our ancestor’s birthplace.

After a Sunday “Brunch”, we set off for Dover and the Ferry.

This is the first time we have used Norfolk Line since they were taken over by DFDS. They are running almost an hour late, not a good omen!

We wait patiently on the Dockside, watching the seagulls.

Once the ferry arrives, it is quickly unloaded, and we are equally quickly onboard, and on our way to Dunkirk.

We do not make up any time on the crossing, so we arrive almost an hour later than expected, at about 20:00 French time.





Guines, La Bien Assise (ACSI-2011 945)


Our regular overnight stop, when we need one after getting off the ferry.

It is well placed being just a few miles from Calais, but for some reason it always gives the Sat-Nav a problem. So, as we leave on Monday morning, Sat-Nav wars begin. To prevent divorce, the Sat-Nav is turned off, and Kathleen relinquishes the driving to take over the navigating.

As far as I can see the only difference between and female navigator and a Sat-Nav with a femail voice, is, when the Navigator makes a mistake (and they do occasionally, but we will not mention that), the Sat-Nav does not shout abuse at her.


Monday 2nd May 2011 Aire at Catillon sur Sambre (N50 32.155’ E1 35.563’)


Just off the N43, with room for four vans, right beside the La Sambres et L’Oise Canal.

It is a very pretty spot, spoilt a little by the noise as heavy goods vehicles pass over the bridge (which is able to open to allow boats to pass) on the N43. But the traffic died away to almost nothing overnight, so it did not disturb our sleep. 

There is free unmetered electric hook up. The Aires Book (All the Aires France, 3rd Edition), and the sign at the Aire say it is 5Euro per night to stay, but no one turned up to collect any money, and there is no facility to pay with a credit card or whatever, so we had a freebie. 

There is a path/cycle track along the canal, in both directions (ie North towards Belgium, and South).

I cycled along the path to the South for about three miles, after about two miles you come to a lock and a cafe (closed when I got there).

I went on for another mile, but did not come to any further signs of life, except for a few people fishing from the banks of the canal.

As you can see, Kathleen opted to top up her tan, rather than join in the healthy cycling.

We had a major panic in the evening, Kathleen could not find her bottle of Gin. Now a campervan is not a very big place in which to lose something the size of a 1Litre bottle of Gin, but we had managed it. After turning out all of the cupboards, she eventually found it, I have not seen as big a smile since I gave her 100Euro to spend.

Villers-les-Nancy, Campeole Le Brabois, (ASCI2011-1268)

A sat-nav free journey, with Kathleen sharing the driving for part of the way. Since this put me in charge of the navigating (well as much in charge as a man ever can be), I took us via the more twisty and hilly road of the two options we had.

The site is on a hill, just a short distance from Nancy. It is not full and so far seems very nice. We got free wifi (because we said we staying for three days), I am not sure if this concession is extended to everyone, or if the chap in reception did it as repayment for the entertainment we gave him with our poor French. We went there to ask for a Bus Timetable, a tourist map of Nancy, and a Wifi password. 

Just time to explore a little, and find a shop to buy wine for this evening.

 

April 11th 2010 – April 13th 2010

To Dover


We left home at about 10:00, for an uneventful drive to Dover. No hold ups, so including a break for lunch we arrive at Dover 16:45, for our 17:00 checkin with Norfolk Line. The ferry is running late anyway, and loading does not start until 17:45, but we still manage to sail just slightly late at 18:05.

We arrive at Dunkirk, 22:00 (French Time), but the ferry is surprising full and we do not get off until 22:15, so we are beginning to think we will be too late for our first campsite. We intend to stay at Guines, a pleasant site, which is just about 20 miles from Dunkirk.

Guines – La Bien Assise ASCI 2010-841


No need to worry, we arrive at 22:45, and although reception is closed we are able to find a spot, get plugged in and organise ourselves.

Kathleen rustles up one of my favourite meals, Dickensons Mince and Onion pie, with baked beans and potatoes, she is a star.
 Just a couple of “incidents”, one concerning the heating of the beans, and the other our electric fan heater, (they are not connected) but I have been told I must not mention them on any account, so I can say no more.


But a bit of Red Wine and some Gin & Tonic and all is right with the world.

We wake to a dry but chilly morning. After a leisurely breakfast, we are on our way by 10:00. First task is to fill up with diesel, we have made it from home to here on the first tank full, but are now down to less than a quarter tank. We find a Le Clerc, and fill up at Euro1.13/litre, just slightly dearer than it was a year ago here, obviously they do not have Brown/Darling managing their economy.

The intended route is to pick up the (mostly free) A16, south from Calais, switch to the A28 at Abbeville, still heading south toward Rouen. We do not have a definite destination in mind, it is just a case of heading south in the general direction of Bordeaux and seeing how far we get by say 15:00.

It is decided we will use the HSN (human sat-nav), instead of the Tom-tom. Unfortunately, unlike the Tom-tom, the HSN’s attention sometimes wanders, and I am told to leave the A16 at junction 24, the problem is at this time I am two junctions south of (ie past) that, and well on the way to Amiens. You can certainly cover some kilometres, even at 80km/hr (60mph), on these empty roads.

So we leave at J21. This is a very small junction, and more fun ensues. They have installed an automatic machine to take your toll, if you want to pay in cash. Not sure (yet) if this is widespread, but we have to wait for a good five minutes behind a GB Range Rover driver who is struggling with the machine. Kathleen hops out and “helps” him out, eventually we both get on our way.

We enjoy a scenic tour of the Somme Valley, including a stop for lunch, via Flixecourt D57 Hangest-sur-Somme, D3 Longpre, D216 Airains, D936 Le Translay , D928 Bouttencourt, (I suspect this area is the setting for the romatic bis of the book “Birdsong”). Eventually we join the A28 (where we should have been) south of Abbeville, on past Rouen to join the N154, another free motorway standard road.

Kathleen picks out a campsite as we go. The address is entered into the tom-tom and we arrive at about 15:00.

Marcilly-sur-Eure – Domaine de Marcilly – ASCI 2010-864

This is a four star site in the ACSI book (we even have our own picnic table on our pitch), we have been here before and it is very smart, but it almost exclusively given over to static caravans and chalets, so it does not have much atmosphere, although fine for an overnight stay. We are at first the only one’s here, but at about 20:00 another campervan arrives.

We are having a more leisurely day today, with cups of tea etc. This brings to Kathleen’s attention that, it would appear, someone has forgotten to pack the tea bags. This is a problem, you cannot buy ASDA tea bags in France. The accused one (me) cannot remember if they were packed or not, but they are ticked off on her check list. So far I cannot find them in any of the cupboards, so it does look like a no.

The weather has improved during the day as we drove south, and it is now sunny and mild.

Kathleen rises to the occasion for a second time, with another culinary special, as you can see.

We head off after breakfast, Kathleen driving and the Tomtom doing the navigating. Heading for Les Rosiers-sur-Loire , near Saumur, south east of Angers, in the Loire valley. It is an interesting journey, mostly N and D roads (more of less equivalent to A and B roads in the UK), D143 to Dreux. It is here last year that the Tomtom refused to respond in the middle of town and got us into a right pickle, but this year no problem thankfully. From Dreux it is the D928 to Nogent-le-Rotrou all through beautiful rolling farmland and forest. Unfortunately the sun is not shining. N23 toward and then around Le Mans and onto La Fleche, leaving on the D308, then D938 to Longue-Jumelles, D79 to Les Rosiers-sur-Loire on the banks of the Loire.

Les Rosiers-sur-Loire – Le Val de Loire – ACSI 2010-963

The site is of the swimming pool, bar, shop, playground etc etc type, not usually what we go for, but at this time of year it is quiet and we have our choice of where to set up. There are only two other touring caravans here when we arrive, and another two camper vans arrive later in the afternoon. The weather has perked up, we have warm sunshine, so all is well.

We explore the village of Les Rosiers-sur-Loire, it seems quite pleasant and has all of the requisite items (ie bar/café, restaurant, church, a few shops), we also discover there is a cycle track along the banks of the Loire, so weather permitting, that can be our outing for tomorrow.

Still have not found the teabags by the way!