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A 8-day adventure by Lee Read more
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  • TravelerFrance, July 2018

    Day 1, Bay De Somme Services

    July 6, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    So it’s finally here, 11 days off work and a trip to France with the gang, John & Margaret - already there waiting our arrival, John and Dianne - driving down tomorrow morning, Eddie & Lynne - driving down on Monday. Our final destination will be a small hamlet called Pussicote, the nearest town is Genouille in the district of Civray. In short it’s about an hour south from Poitiers and approximately a 650 mile drive. We will be staying at John & Dianne’s place but there’s not enough bedrooms for us all so we take our own and park it in their garden. It’s a truly lovely place in the middle of nowhere and totally unspoiled. Really can’t wait to get there.

    After running around trying to get organised all Thursday, we started this morning with breakfast at Snackattack with Sharon’s Mum and Dad. A lovely start to the holiday. As always we were rushing around right up to the minute we left but we departed bang on time at 12.30, plenty of time to get to Folkestone for our 6.30 shuttle. Or so we though !! An accident on the M11 closed it which meant we stood for over 2 hours not moving at all. From there on in the traffic was terrible. We rang Euro Tunnel and explained and they put our departure time back, we still missed it. They were very good and we finally got a crossing time of 20.00. That got delayed and eventually we crossed at 20.30.

    With the hour added on in France, we were on French soil at just after 22.00. We had just over an hours drive to a caravan friendly services at the Bay De Somme. We arrived here about 23.15 absolutely knackered. Joy when we realised the services were shut and all the caravan spaces were taken. It was starting to look like we would have to drive another 90km to the next services until Sharon spotted a motor home pitch that was empty. Sod it, we took it. The services here in France are fantastic. Free hook up, free water and very clean toilets, all still working even though the main services are closed.

    So, hooked up, telly connected and all locked up we had a cup of tea and a sandwich and finally crawled in to bed absolutely knackered about 0.30am. But we’re on holiday so who cares.    Read more

  • TravelerFrance, July 2018

    Day 2, Peussicot

    July 8, 2018 in France ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    So after yesterday’s catalogue of events, today we finally made it to John & Dianne’s place in France.

    We had a cracking nights sleep in the Bay De Somme and awoke to beautiful blue skies and tremendous temperatures. We were later waking up this morning as it was gone midnight when we finally crawled into our pit. We opened our peepers about 7.45 and got up pretty much straight away. We were lucky enough last night to get an electric hook up so we were on mains power which meant we had power in the van so tea and toast to start the morning. We finally departed just after nine and set of on our course heading south. Beautiful weather and a fairly uneventful 420 mile drive really.

    We had one incident at the services on one of our many fuel stops when Sharon announced we should go in to get a drink before filling up. I liked her thinking but it was short lived. There was no way to get back to the fuel station after the car park without going the 1 mile back to the motorway and coming back, which we had no option but to do because the car park was chokka block. So we decided to go round again but not bother with a drink, we’d stop further on and make a cuppa in the van. We had to go round again as we needed fuel, so that’s what we did. Unfortunately, the pump we chose was out of order (no signs or anything) and due to the layout of said fuel station we had to go round again. On our 3rd attempt it was found that the pump we picked this time was for lorries only and the nozzle wouldn’t fit in our car. Queue 4th attempt. Finally we managed to fill up and then we were on our way. I was chuffed to say the least.

    The one very sad side of our holiday meant we were unable to share our special bridesmaids wedding. Laura Smith who was our bridesmaid 18 years ago, married Danny today. We tried everything from changing the day we left, to booking flights back for the day but we couldn’t make anything work. We kept in touch all day via message and FaceTime. Laura had asked me to do her a CD for her service which I did and at 4.30pm UK time were playing it and Here Comes The Bride was playing. Very sad that we missed it, but we did our best to be as much a part of the day as we could be. We also managed to stream the local radio station on the way down and were delighted to hear that England beat Sweden 2-0.

    We finally made it to John and Dianne’s about 6pm French time and were greeted by John and Margaret who were already here. As always a very warm greeting and it was lovely to see them both. We wheeled the van into the garden and sat down and had a drink with them both. I’d forgotten how peaceful and quiet it is here. John & Dianne were running about an hour late so were just behind us. Where we had parked on their garden was fine except there was a large step out of our van, it was noticeable so we repositioned as I could see one of us going base over apex and hurting ourselves.

    John and Dianne arrived an hour or so behind us and it wasn’t long after that that the champagne was flowing. Although not usually a fan I found it actually quite nice. We nipped out and face timed Laura and had a lovely chat with her. She looked lovely and they were having a lovely day.

    Mags had put on lots of French bread, cold meats, cheese and Pate for tea and JB had remembered my liking for London Pride and fetched a few bottles down. Sharon was on the champers and rose wine. I’d also fetched a couple of kegs of doom bar which JB and I made a start on whilst we watched Croatia beat Russia in the World Cup.

    It’s just gone midnight here, very hot and lovely and quiet, I’ve been volunteered for bbq breakfast duty in the morning so that’s it. Goodnight from us x    Read more

  • TravelerFrance, July 2018

    Day 3, A Lazy Day

    July 8, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Well if today’s anything to go by, we really ought to be relaxed by the time we go home. Once again we awoke to clear blue skies and lovely temperatures. Yet again it was later than usual that we opened our peepers, both sleeping really well last night. We were a tad concerned that we might slow roast in the van with the temperatures but we had a cooling fan and the roof lights open and it was very pleasant.

    As we got here yesterday and we’re straight in to eating and drinking we started the morning with a nice cuppa and then finished off setting up and unpacking. I put up the new sun canopy on the van and got the chairs and table out and threw all the rest of the stuff that usually lives in the back of the car in the barn. I was volunteered to be in charge of breakfast this morning, so cadac out and Bacon snd Sausages on. Sharon did the beans and mushrooms and Dianne did the eggs and toast. Full fry up brunch to kick the day off.

    It’s so hot here and the sun is really bright about 4am so JB decided to make some shutters for 2 of the bedroom windows. I gave him a hand with cutting the wood down and sanding it back and John gave them a coat of undercoat. As we were outside We put on some sun cream on and Dianne was asking what I used as I burn very easy. I usually look like an unstruck swan vesta. She gave me some cream which she says is fantastic so we both applied some as it’s been 33 degrees here. As I came back out of the van Dianne had also fetched me some of the same stuff but for head and face. As i applied it I noted to Sharon it was a brown colour snd was advised that was correct. Turns out Dianne had given me some of her make up cream rather than the sun cream !! Can only happen to me, still it provided much of the conversation at various parts of the day and hasn’t done my complexion too bad 😂😂

    We were invited down to Rosie and Les’s villa this afternoon although they were not there. They said we could go down and use their outdoor pool. It was fab, Trevor who we know met us there and let us in and we had a good few hours swimming, soaking up the sun and pouring doombar down our necks. It’s surprising how fast that stuff goes down in the sun. We came back late afternoon, had some munchies and a couple more beers before retiring for a nana nap 💤

    After resurfacing around 7pm JB decided to screw the newly made shutters to their bedroom window to start. I helped , it wasn’t a long job, we just drilled the window frames and screwed them on. Might have been better for poor old Dianne if she hadn’t still been in bed asleep !! I wasn’t in control of the task, I was under instruction from my former gaffer 😂

    Steaks on the bar or for tea, again I was happy to oblige in the cooking, it’s what you do when camping - especially in your mates garden, more alcohol to wash it down followed by some lovely apple pie and cream.

    So in short, ate, drank, swam and that’s pretty much it for the day. Batteries well and truly on charge.    Read more

  • TravelerFrance, July 2018

    Day 4, What a day, and we aint done owt

    July 9, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Good evening all, first of all apologies if this post makes naff all sense at all, alcohol appears to have taken over.

    Again, another stunning day weather wise, another 33 degrees Jobbie. Another late wake up for us, gone 9 when we awoke. Beautiful skies and early twenties from 9am. A lazy morning and nice breakfast looking over the fields from John & Dianne’s place. Eddie and Lynne were due to arrive about 12pm today. Ha ha, well there lies an interesting tale. We had a wander to the supermarket around 11.30am with JB to replenish diminishing supplies of wine and other alcoholic beverages. First call from Eddie came in around 12.30 about right for their estimated time of arrival. They advised they were at the church in Genouille so we directed them in. They would have only been a couple of minutes away so John and I walked to the road to greet them. We got chatting to Eve, a local farmer who was telling us he had been harvesting grapes for some peneau, a wine/cognac mix. Lovely chat, really nice bloke. After a good 15 mins and still no Eddie and Lynne, JB and jumped in the car to go and retrieve them from the church, however they were nowhere to be found. We managed to get them on the phone to try and establish where they were but good ole Eddie advised us his phone was nearly out of charge just before being cut off, forever !! Talk about Challenge Anneka trying to work out where they were. Anyway, judging by the fact he said he was near La Rochelle, we worked out he was about 90 miles away at the wrong Genouille. We couldn’t get either of them on the blower so I sent them a text with some general directions in the vain hope they managed to pick it up and at least head in the right direction . After that, all we could do was relax and soak up the sun whilst trying to call them periodically. I took Jacko out for a walk and he decided he’d do a shit, no shit bags with me so I had to nick a stick and flick it in to a nearby field, he’s a little bugger, I’m sure he knew he was having me over !!

    Later in the afternoon, still no news from Eddie & Lynne, Eve turned up for a beer and a chat. It’s great meeting the locals and as John & Mags & John & Dianne have been here many years, they know a lot of people. Eve turned up with a couple of bottles of his home made peneau. He said he would return at 5.30 to join us in drinking them. From then it all dropped in to place, Eddie and Lynne finally turned up 5 hours late but in good spirits, just in time. We threw a couple of bottles of Doombar down before sampling a glass of red, then a glass of white of Eve’s peneau. Jeeesus, it blows your blooming head off. We had a good hour with him chatting and learning all about his family and what he does. It was great.

    After he left we had a lovely meal cooked by Dianne and Margaret and plenty more champers and I even started on the red wine. It’s 10.30pm now and we’re back in the van having a cuppa, I feel pissed but to be fair it doesn’t take much these days. Early start for me tomorrow, all will be revealed in tomorrow nights blog.    Read more

  • TravelerFrance, July 2018

    Day 5, The Jolly Boys Outing

    July 9, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Today the boys rebelled !! We decided we were going to jump in the car and drive down to Perpignan near the Spanish border to spend the night on JB’s new toy, a 40ft yacht.

    We were up and away for 9.30am and southern bound. Not a cloud in the sky and certainly a beautiful day for it. We left the girls to amuse themselves for a couple of days. It was a cracking drive down, motorway all the way after we got to Limoges. Very little traffic and stunning scenery. JB knew the way as he used to drive it lots when he had his truck. 6 hours later, here we are in the port of Sainte-Marie near Perpignan. It’s been a blistering 34.4 degrees here, the air con in the car was ace but when we landed we got the full impact. We stopped at the supermarket on the way in to buy supplies.

    Once in the port, we found “My Dianne 2” as she is going to be christened. She’s a cracker, right up Johns street, needs a bit of TLC but all the right things there. We spent a couple of hours having a look around and working things out as John hasn’t seen much of her yet either. I got the spangly sat nav going with it’s sonar and fish detector, I cant believe it’s only 5ft deep where it’s moored. We then went for a stroll around the marina and up to the beach for a look. It’s a beautiful setting and all very secure, people are friendly and the med is merely couple of mins from the berth. Upon return we had a couple of beers on the back of the ship before getting a shower to cool off and heading for the little town.

    We found a cracking bar / restaurant just off the Main Street and they were showing the France Belgium World Cup semi final. As we are still in France we decided to cheer them on. It wasn’t packed but the atmosphere was ace. The food was tremendous and the people who own the place were so friendly, I can see this been a JB local. A good result for the French too, 1-0 sees them in the final.

    We returned back on board and sat out at the back of the ship till gone 1am chatting and drinking in the gloriously warm breeze, still 29 degrees. Eddie decided he was sleeping on deck as it was so warm, I had the massive bed in the main quarter, JB in the front bedroom.

    All I can say is “If Carlsberg did Days Out”    Read more

  • TravelerFrance, July 2018

    Day 6, Lets nip to Spain

    July 11, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Well, we all survived our night on the med. I slept like a log, didn’t even here JB climb over me twice as his bed was in the front of the ship and mine in the middle. Eddie decided to sleep outside on deck as it was extremely hot, he didn’t sleep quite so well.

    We started the morning with a continental breakfast on the back of the boat, beautiful sunshine, and such an idyllic spot. People were sailing by of out on their day trips all wishing us good morning on their way past. Sharon and I love the back of the ship when we’re cruising, this was just a bit more personalised. Again the temperature was hot so we went for a shower and then had a bit of a tidy up and packed up what we needed. Did a bit of measuring for a few bits that John needs to fetch next week then we set off for Spain, just because we could.

    En route we decided to call at the port in Cannet as that’s where the ship needs to be filled up with fuel and pumped out when they start to use it. A busier town than Sainte-Marie and very nice. We hade a look around and familiarised ourselves with what was there so JB has a head start when he gets there. We then moved on to Spain. We didn’t have a lot of time as we wanted to be back up to our place in France before the England match but we did it nevertheless. Fuel was massively cheaper over the border so we filled up and then headed on the 400 mile trip back to John & Dianne’s place in Peussicot. We did it with no dramas but it didn’t half seem a long way back, I only stopped once to get a bottle of water out of the back, other than that it was straight through and just over 5 and a half hours.

    We were greeted home with a lovely steak and the last keg of Doombar was put in to life in preparation for the England game. I think we will just leave it at that !!    Read more

  • TravelerFrance, July 2018

    Day 7, Verteuil

    July 12, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    A lovely day today exploring the local area. Obviously our hosts know it very well as they have been here 20+ years and they know a lot of the locals so have lots of stories to tell.

    We started the day with a trip out to Angouleme to visit a very unique bring and buy shop. It was an Aladdin’s cave of all sorts of bits and bobs from trinkets to wardrobes. Sharon was like a kid in a sweet shop. Across the road from there was a typical little French bar where we went and had a little tipple whilst sat in the sun. It was about an hour away and before we left I marked where we lived in to Eddies Sat Nav to give him a fighting chance should he ever come in the car again. As we left Angouleme I got him to test it as we were in the car with them. Mmm, adequate at best, whilst it knew where we lived, it couldn’t differentiate between real roads and farm tracks. Thank you Google Maps !! We did arrive back ok.

    We had a spot of lunch again quite typically French, bread, cold meats, pate, and the rest of them had that green stuff aka salad!! John and Margaret had been out and when they returned we sat out in the sun and shared a bottle of bolly and cakes. All very pleasant. Later on in the afternoon we went to Verteuil. What a lovely little town, not very far away but stunningly beautiful. We went to Reggies, an old world bar that was hundreds of years old and steeped in character. Sebastian was the owner and he knew John & Mags. He sells lots of drinks from water to the most expensive champers and cognac’s. Sharon and I went for a little wander around the town to the Chateau and the mill. They still bake bread in the mill and James Martin was there recently and said it was the best brioche he had ever tasted but the Miller wouldn’t give him his secret !! We bought some of it and JB is cooking me some spangly breakfast in the morning which includes it !! On the way back we stopped at the side of the road for a couple of pics in the sunflower fields just for a bit of fun.

    Finally to finish the day, we were invited to Trevor & Jeanette’s for dinner. Again a lovely evening, temperature wise and company wise. We were introduced to their grandchildren who live in California and a couple who also have a place out here called Mark and Leslie along with their daughter Brook who live in Cromer in Norfolk. They were all lovely people and we had such a laugh. JB was on form and was hilarious, it was such a good night. Jeanette & Trevor did us a lovely meal, a buffet with lots of things to chose from and as they used to run a fish and chip shop business we had chips as a side which were bang on.

    We landed back just after midnight and the skies were so clear, there were thousands of stars and we even saw a few satellites. The perfect end to a perfect day.    Read more

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