30 October 2011

Leaving Gueret we travelled through Bourganeuf, St Leonard-de-Noblet, Pierre Buffiere, St Yriex-la-Perche, Lanouaille and Montignac. We stopped for the night in a small area called Archignac just West of St Genies. We had bought a book called French Passion which allows you to stay for free at certain places like vineyards, farms or anywhere that welcomes motorhome owners. We stopped at a small restaurant/B & B which had space for 5 motorhomes. We were the only ones there, it was a lovely place to stop until the heavens opened and it rained all night, also we had parked under an Oak tree and the acorns were falling down on to the roof at an almighty rate. Oh well these things happen.

Our next stop was Toulouse going through Souillac, Cahors, Montpezat-deQuercy, Lafrancaise, Castelsarrasin,Grisolles and Grenade. Today we decided to try the google search on the sat nav for campsites in or near Toulouse, what a mistaka to maka. It took us through the centre of Toulouse during rush hour traffic and when we reached our destination we were in the middle of the city. Gave the sat nav another chance, only because we had no choice, and it did take us to a campsite. It started to rain again and on the hand out at the campsite there were instructions in the event of the campsite flooding, well we are the Griswalds. Luckily no flood but again parked under an Oak tree AHHHHH.

Onwards to Narbonne through some beautiful countryside, our last few days we have been driving through apple orchards but we are now back into vineyard country. From Toulouse we travelled through Castelnaudary, Carcassone, Trebes and Lezinan-Corbieres. We had decided to stay on an Aire but the sat nav coordinates took us to a road that used to go to the Aire but was no longer open. Finally found the Aire which had about 12 motorhomes on it. I woke up at 3am to the sound of the mozzie, 2 hours later we were still wide awake and on the hunt for the little b.......’s. In all we captured and killed 7 of the enemy with only one of them having drawn blood, Kev’s cheek got it. Anyway we are both shattered this morning and are going to find a nice spot at the beach to get some sleep. Oh by the way it’s only 21 degrees today beautiful sunshine.

OK hands up all of you who thought we wouldn’t get this far.

Well the ferry crossing went well apart from the fact that I mislaid my purse with all our money and cards in it. I had to be escorted by the purser to retrieve my purse from the van on the lower deck. The ferry crossing took 2 hours from Dover to Dunkirk.

We travelled from Dunkirk heading south passed Calais, now some of you might be thinking why didn’t they cross to Calais in the first place, because it was cheaper to go with DFDS to Dunkirk. Anyway we took the A16 passing Boulogne-sur-Mer  and ending up at our destination St Valery-sur-Somme staying at Chateau de Drancourt.  We stayed there for 3 nights.

As we want to make it to Valencia for the final Moto GP of the season we are not stopping during the day to sight see as we hope to cover France on the way home. At present though we are not sure if the GP will go ahead following the tragic accident on Sunday.

On leaving St Valery we decided not to take the motorways and have been following the D roads which are much more interesting as you are passing through the countryside and villages. We stopped for the night at Marcilly-sur-Eure, which is close to Dreux. Still managed to get Emmerdale though with our £50 satellite dish in the middle of a forest.

Finding out that not as many people in France speak English as you would think or as we would like, the phrase book is coming in handy. I just point to the phrase in the book and get an answer in French, oh well.

Next we travelled past Chartres, Vendome and Chateau-Renault to Amboise where we stayed on our first Aire.  An Aire is a place where you can park your motorhome overnight, but is not a campsite. It can be just a car park with no facilities or it can be a nice area with some facilities and electricity, this can be free or for a small charge, most are run by the local council. The Aire we stayed on was on an island in the middle of the river Loire. Had time today to have a look round Amboise, stopped for a drink at a cafe, I had a wine 100ml 2€ and Kev had a 500ml beer, 6€20. No more beer for Kev in France!!!

Today we are in Gueret we travelled via Loches, Chateauroux and Argenton-sur-Creuse. On the way we stopped at a small market in Clion.

20 October 2011

We are crossing the Channel on Friday 21st October at 10.00am.

The big adventure starts NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will no longer be using our UK mobile phone numbers but will be able to keep in touch by email or skype when we can connect to the internet.

19 October 2011

Went to Cheddar and drove through the Gorge. There are 2 caves which you can go into, Cox’s cave is quite small and has some nice mirror pools, it also has the Crystal Quest which is really for kids, it’s really dark and you have to find the crystal. Kev motioned to me to turn round and there was a figure standing right behind me wearing a hooded robe, Kev said it was my best scream yet!! Kev noticed the figure was wearing converse trainers so he wasn’t scared. We also went to Gough’s cave where a bat tried to attack me. This cave takes you ¼ mile into the hill and had some really awesome natural mineral formations and mirror pools. Outside there was a flight of 274 steep steps to a lookout point from which we didn’t see much because of the low clouds, and my legs were sore for 3 days afterwards.  As we were in Cheddar we had to visit the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Co and do some tasting which was washed down with tasters of Legbender Cider at the shop next door. Of course we bought something from both shops.

Next day we went to Lynmouth we travelled across Exmoor and ended up having to go up and down a 1 in 4 gradient, poor Blossom we had to stop on the moor to let her cool down. Once we got to Lynmouth we took the clifftop railway to Lynton. Nice little towns.

Our next stop was Padstow where we had to have fish and chips at Rick Stein’s fish & chip shop. Had a walk round the harbour and some side streets finishing off with a nice Cornish ice cream.

Off to St Ives next day. As I was going to St Ives I met a man............... and guess what...........he was on his own. Anyway we took the Park & Ride from Leylant Saltings. Instead of a bus it’s a train, 5 mile journey to St Ives views from the train of beautiful beaches and scenery. The beaches were full of families, sunbathing and swimming, in mid October!!!

Onwards to Newton Abbot where we had to go to Ye Olde Cider Bar, which was a trip down memory lane for Kev as he was here 21 years ago and the place hasn’t changed at all, just the prices have gone up. Funny Kev’s memory is really bad but he did remember the prices from 21 years ago. The only alcohol they sell is cider and fruit wines. I sampled Quince, Damson and Sloe wines, very potent!!!!!

Leaving Devon and Cornwall behind and on to Dorset. First stop Monkey World as seen on TV. It was really cold today so the monkeys were all miserable looking. Most of the monkeys are rescued from the UK and abroad.

We had a really good day out at the Beaulieu Motor Museum yesterday. If you ever get the chance to go there it is well worth it. We spent 4 hours viewing the exhibits but could have done with another couple of hours to do it justice. We plan to cross the Channel on Friday. 

10 October 2011

Went to Portmeirion , a really nice feel to the place but a weird kind of place. Didn’t get chased by any big balls and didn’t see the prisoner.  It is really interesting how Portmeirion came to being and that a lot of the buildings and follies have been rescued from demolition sites.

On our way to the Isle of Anglesey we went on the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The carriage is pulled up the mountain by a small steam engine. It takes an hour to get up the mountain and an hour for the return journey down. We did climb the last 40 feet up to the summit so we did actually climb up Snowdon, even if it was only 40 feet.

On Anglesey we met up with Jude’s parents, Gillian & Ian and parked up on their driveway and enjoyed their hospitality. We went to South Stack to see the lighthouse but there seemed to be a million steps to get down to it so we decided that it would look the same as what we were looking at but only bigger if we went all the way down the steps, so we didn’t bother, too much like hard work. We then went to stay with Richie and Ann at Bodedern and again parked up on their driveway and received more fantastic Welsh hospitality.

Moved on to Aberaeron where the weather was not great so we took shelter for a few days. We did go into the town which is a Regency town and was the first planned town in Wales. All the houses are painted different colours. 

Moved on to the Gower to stay with Julie, Phil and family. Met their daughter, Aimee’s, pony Chantelle who is really pretty. We went for a walk along the cliffs and watched Aimee and Chantelle galloping on the beach. Took the van for its MOT where Kev paced the floor like an expectant father until they came with the verdict, passed with flying colours. Tomorrow we are heading for Chedder.

A VERY big thank you to all our Welsh friends who have put us up and put up with us. Your hospitality is greatly appreciated.