European road trip

After a lovely run, shower and relaxing morning we decided to bypass the main town and head a bit further south. The clouds are still loitering plus rain showers, still, may as well be at home! Said goodbye to the cute red squirrels on the site and took a leisurely drive down towards La Rochelle. Up until this point, the scenery is the same as the UK but the last half hour or so changed to more Spain like - white buildings, drier grass, less trees. The roads infrastructure (so far) is quite new and v well maintained. We’re getting the hang of right hand drive driving too though still need the odd prompt. Once we got to La Rochelle there’s an island off the mainland (l'île de Ré), you pay a toll to get over the 2km bridge. We found a defence fort originally dating back to 1600s, the time of Louis XIV and the musketeers history. Then taken over by the Germans during the war. Quite fascinating. Time was getting on then so we needed to find an Aire. Drove a little further south, literally just a field though with lots of other motor homes. Walked in to local town (Angoulins) and had some freshly made pizza, lovely. Once back at site, chatted to our ‘neighbour’ for a bit, German but live in France. 2 lively dogs after my chocolate. Then the sun went down and the mosquitoes came out - we ran for cover! First time we’ve had this so definitely getting more southerly. Were also by water which doesn’t help. Got bitten loads in those short minutes, must put spray on from now and remember to take antihistamine every day. Slept ok though, new mattress is amazing.
Council man came collecting the fee this morning but told me as Eddie isn’t a ‘camping car’ (motorhome in Europe) we didn’t need to pay. Result! Not sure I’m offended though? 😄
Started to rain again and Gary has to do a little work this morning so we’ll head off a bit later and keep going south. To the beach!Read more