France, Spring 2024

Continuing to head south we have driven a couple of hours to the Orne region of Normandy to the beautiful village of Écouché-les-Vallées a Petite Cité de Caractère.
We had a picnic lunch here a couple of years ago en route to another destination with the intention to return to properly explore the village.
There is a little library cupboard on the aire where we picked up a walking guide of the town.
There is tons of evidence of the towns history and heritage curiosities here including a revolutionary altar, a place of ceremony, celebration and worship during the French Revolution and a Sherman Tank from WW2 given to the town in memory of its liberation.
The origins of the commune go back to at least as far as the Middle Ages .
The absolute maze of streets here are full of historic notes. We had a great time exploring. We had nice weather today for being out and about.
Our very pretty motorhome aire is provided free, it's very peaceful here.Les mer

Today we crossed from the mainland at Port-des-Barques via the causeway to L'Île Madame which is the smallest island of Charente-Maritime. It is largely uninhabited and has an area of just 4 square miles.
The drive across the stony causeway was very bumpy but worth it to arrive at this beautiful and peaceful haven.
There is a Camping de Mon Village site on the island and we are spending the weekend here with a small number of like minded travellers!
And we are blessed with fabulous weather this weekend.
We've enjoyed a walk around the perimeter of the island from which we have wonderful views including of Fort Boyard.
We also located the Croix des Galets (Cross of Pebbles) beneath which are buried the bodies of 254 catholic priests who died for their faith on this island (where they were being held prisoner) at a time of anti clerical persecution in 1794 during the French Revolution. They are commemorated during a pilgrimage here in August every year.Les mer