Portsmouth Ferry Port

It was time to get travelling again and so we arrived at Portsmouth, excited to catch our overnight ferry to Bilbao, Spain. Lots of other travellers were doing the same and the car park was full of motorhomes, caravans, cars and lorries all lined up ready to board. Then, at the last minute, the ferry developed a technical issue and was cancelled! We had two options; wait 4 days for the next ferry to Bilbao or get a ferry that night to Caen, France. We opted to go that night.

We arrived in Caen early and decided to get as far south as we could. Close to Bordeaux we headed for an Aire that seemed to fit the bill. (An Aire is a parking place where you can usually stay overnight and has facilities for water emptying & refilling/toilet emptying/electric sometimes. They are usually free or have a small charge. France has lots and they are pretty good). When we left the major roads, the sat nav started to take us along some narrow, country roads, then the road was closed for roadworks so we tried another way in. Again narrow roads and roadworks. It was time to stop and have a rethink. We were tired by now.

'Are you sure you've got the sat nav set up for the motorhome and not a car', asked Chris, 'I'm surprised it's taking us down these narrow roads' . 'I've not changed any of the settings', said I, 'but I'll check again'. Sure enough, the sat nav was in car mode from months ago previously rather than motorhome mode! Once set up correctly, we set off for an alternative Aire in Mirambeau nearby and enjoyed our first night in France.

Next day, we set off again to put some miles under our belts and got to the village of Sare on the French/Spanish border, Basque country. By chance, the local produce market was still open and as we wandered around the few stalls, we recognised a lady selling organic chillis whom we had met at the Espelette chilli festival last year. With a fresh string of bright red chillis in stock, we said 'au revoir' to France and headed over the border into Spain the following day.Read more