Thursday 27th September 2012 - Sunday 30th September 2012

Stenay continued,

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".

Sunday 22nd September 2012 - Wednesday 26th September 2012

Charmes, continued

Mack and Josie have decided to leave, we are in the process of saying goodbye, when (yet another) pair of Scots turn up, Glen and Mary, it turns out they live about 10 miles from Mack and Josie.

We leave the four of them chatting, while we head off on our bicycles.

We cycle eight miles along the canal (Canal d’Est), which runs alongside the River Moselle.

It is easy cycling, and quite pleasant, but, to be honest not terribly scenic!

When we return, we find Mack and Josie have reconnected their van to the electricity and are sitting drinking coffee with new arrivals, Glen and Mary. We join them, lo and behold, as we sit there, yet another British pair come walking along (Deryk and Erica). They are not travelling by campervan, but, instead are roaming the waterways of France in their canal boat.

After lunch, we walk into town to have a beer and then buy strawberry tarts. 

On our way back to the van, we call at Deryk and Erica’s boat (Star of Destiny).

Kathleen, never shy, asks if we can have a look around, and they, very kindly oblige.

It is very impressive, like a small house really. A real kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and the wheelhouse doubles up as a dining room come conservatory. You could be VERY comfortable onboard this!

www.youtu.be/7XyGW5QtZp4

As the day wears on, more and more vans arrive, all German, Dutch and Belgian. By early evening, there is quite a little drinking session going on, with ourselves and some Dutch neighbours, who actually ask if Kathleen will play her guitar.

The Pizza man arrives to take orders for take out Pizza, how organised is this place?

After a very pleasant and warm day, we have rain and gale force winds over night, it has not improved by Monday morning.

We make our planned move to Pont a Mousson.

It is dry when we arrive, but soon, the rain catches up with us.

Still, from what I see in the Newspaper, the weather is even worse at home, small consolation!


Pouring rain all Monday night, which lasts until after lunch Tuesday, Kathleen resorts to washing her hair, to occupy herself.

Just as I am about to slope off to McDonalds to use the wifi, Glen and Mary arrive from Pont a Mousson.

Wednesday morning, and it is still raining heavily.

We pack up and head for Stenay, via a couple of supermarkets, where we stop to top up Kathleen's hoard of Gin, Rose Wine and White Wine.

When we eventually arrive at Stenay, who is already sitting there but Mack and Josie!

Still raining!
  

July 4th, 2010 - July 6th, 2010

Mersch - Camping Krounebieg - ASCI2010-410

The site is very smart.

We are now in Luxembourg, I was not sure what to expect, from childhood memories of "Radio Luxembourg", it had sort of "exotic" expectations to it.

In reality, it is very pretty, very rural, and very hilly. Not really high hills, but just sort of very up and down.

Monday, Bryan and Joan decide to take the bus into Luxembourg City.

Kathleen and I decide to investigate the cycle track, although we have no real intention of going all of the way to the city (it is 17km, 10.5 miles, from here), and we have been told it is quite up and down.

In the event it turns out to be easy going, it is fairly flat, as you can see, since it follows a river for most of the way.

The signposting is not up to the German standards we have become used to, and eventually we lose the track, and end up having to cycle along a fairly busy road. We decide to turn back, since we are not too bothered about going to the city, we are just out for the ride. We end up doing 20 miles, so we could have comfortably made it there and back, if we had not got lost.

One odd thing we have noticed, other than in the towns, there does not seem to be any shops, cafes or bars. Goodness knows where the Luxembourgers (or whatever they are called), do their shopping or have a drink.

We return to Mersch, find a cafe and have a snack and a drink, before returning to the van, so that Kathleen can indulge in her hair washing activities for the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday, and it is time for us to begin the final leg of this trip, we have to travel across France to Dunkirk, in order to catch our ferry home.

We say goodbye to Bryan and Joan, for the second time on this trip, as they are now heading toward Brittany, to meet up with some family members, for a family camping holiday.

Our first task before leaving Mersch is to fill up with diesel, Luxembourg we have been told has the cheapest diesel in Europe, it is 1.007 Euro per litre, which is roughly equivalent to 88p /litre, I wish we had a bigger tank!

Stenay - Aire, Port Plaisance

This is the French version of the German Stellplatz we have been using, here it costs 7Euro per night, and that includes Electric hookup, toilets, showers, waste disposal etc.

Our problem now is, we are in "high season", and most of the campsites in our ACSI book do not give discounts during this period. This means that instead of typically paying 15 Euro per night, in many cases, the price increases significantly to something more in the 25 - 30 Euro per night range. As a result, we are using Aires to try and keep our costs under control.

The Aire is by the Canal de La Meuse, which is a functioning canal, with barges and pleasure boats passing, this is the view from our window.

I say the Canal de La Meuse, there is a river and a canal, it is very difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins!, but I think the bit we are beside is the canal.

The Aire is quite scenic as these things go. It is not quite as smart as we have come to expect of the German version, but everything is usable.

We arrive just after lunch time, at which point it is about one third full, but by 16:00 it is full.

It is quite a large aire, with space for about 40-50 vans, in addition to the area you can see in the picture, there are an additional six or so spaces, next to the office (where you "clock in" and pay).

It really is quite a picturesque spot, just a short distance away (about 100 metres), is this Water Mill.

Unfortunately it is no longer actually working, but it is quite an impressive sight all the same.

We are about 40 kilometres from Verdun, of World War One fame.

Stenay, must one have been quite a significant place, there is an enormous building, which is called "The Citadel" and was clearly once a military building, it has now been converted to shops and apartments.

Overall, it is a place of faded grandeur, but it still has that a certain charm and sort of "shabby chic" which the French seem to be adept at preserving.