France 25 - part 2

Despite our best efforts to leave earlier, it was 16.30 before we headed out the front door to pick up Tassie from her storage yard and continue the journey, by 18.00 we were all set, Tassie loaded up, diesel filled and heading down the A24 south to the coast, Arundel Castle a nice milestone before we hit the A27 and the countless roundabouts that circle Chichester, before Portsmouth.

Running a little later than planned, we opted for some fish and chips and a quick Google en route gave the Highbury Fish Bar in Cosham the preferred option, for 2 good reasons - excellent reviews and it was on the way and close to the ferry terminal.

Jo was not disappointed, huge crispy haddock and a small mountain of chips, I only went for the chip option, we found a park up and also found the huge portions defeated us both ... but a nice wee seaside pre holiday treat.

Back on the way, we were in the ferry queue, behind an estate car towing a small sailing boat of yesteryear, he was initially in front of us, holding up the queue for no apparent reason apart from blocking traffic, he switched lanes at the last minute and went through the booking booths ahead of us, and we never thought we would see him a few more times between getting on and off at Caen.

As customary, once aboard, we went out on deck, our cabin on deck 7 was the last one at the stern with a door to a small terrace area by steps to the other decks, as we went out to have a look, the estate boat guy was just driving on and boarding.

Tassie had been directed to car deck 3 alongside the articulated lorries, so effectively in the basement and would be last off, we mused that it was not an issue as we had all day to get through customs at Caen and head off, our identified first step was a France Passion site near Angers in the Loire Valley, which we figured would take us around 3 hours.

Our stay on deck lasted until we passed Spinnaker Tower at Gunwharf Quay, the naval port was shy of any big boats, perhaps on manoeuvres in the Channel???

A quick visit to the bar, no Emma on vocals as the evening entertainment, we had a pseudo Ed Sheeran in looks but not in music... although he did give it a good go for the 3 songs we were there for.

Back at the cabin, it was lights out... the early morning harp music to wake everyone from their slumber would come too quickly.

Our arrival time would be 06.45 (05.45 BST) and the harpist would start their taunting us around 04.45 BST, an hour before docking.

Showered and coffee in hand we were ready to leave at 06.45, the deck 3 drivers were asked to wait until another announcement, so we waited....eventually getting off the boat at 07.10 (french time now.. according the clock on Tassie's sat nav screen).

We had one van in front of us getting off, so we followed it, guessing they knew the way out into french France, other camper vans followed us. There was a few lanes to the exit, yet all of the other vehicles were all in one lane, we zipped past the estate boat guy in the queue, we followed the other van right to the front of the customs booths and was out in less than 5 minutes, the other queue with the cars still reaching back some way.... a wee win.. hurrah!!

Sat nav plugged in, we headed south, as it was still early, the roads were very quiet and the miles passed quickly, before long we were on the outskirts of Angers, a detour to a patisserie for "une baguette" as is customary on our trips, then find an aire and park up for a mid morning snack and coffee.

Shortly afterwards it was into a e.Leclerc supermarket for the obligatory stock up, then back on the autoroute and find an aire (picnic spot), off the motorway. Once we parked up and the kettle was on... it was a pondering moment ... why don't we skip the FP site and head direct to Île de Ré, a further 3 hours drive.

So that was that.. we'd opted to continue the drive, it was only 11.30am, I was driving, Jo was researching camp sites online.

A quick stop north of La Rochelle we decided to a Huttopia site in the middle of the island.

Curiously, as the sat nav was reset, the time to the campsite increased by a further hour, which was odd... but it all became apparent as we saw the bridge to the island in the distance, and the queue to get through the toll gates .... the queue was stacked back about half a mile, all funnelling from various approach roads into the 10 or so booths that needed to be visited and the 20 euros or so paid out......before more madness of the 10 unruly lanes going into one lane to cross the bridge.... this whole clutch crawl took about an hour... the sat nav was on point.

Over the bridge we happily trundled along the coastal road around the island and found our campsite for the next 3 nights fairly easily.

Next chapter .... an untimely expensive mistake!!... made by a couple of clowns!!Read more