Janes |Blog
Day 1...
Saturday 23rd June, Our first wedding anniversary 23RD JUNE ROB......NOT 24th or 25th
As i said day 1, We left home at about 8am to take the van to Spinney because the speedo is not working again but no luck they could not fix it today so have to take it back on our return, left at 10.30am straight onto M6 at Holmes Chapel we hit road works at J8 which were pretty bad for a while 40mph speed limit. By 12.30 we were as far as Coventry so stopped at Tesco's for some lunch the sun is shining and we are doing okay so we set of again back on the road M6, M1, M25, M20, M2, And A2 into Canterbury onto the park and ride at Dover New Road by 5pm. It only cost £2 for 24 hours they had water and disposal facilities for grey waste and boggins which is our word for toilet disposal, it has barriers to get in and out so you felt safe knowing no-body was just going to come in and park up, and they had a free bus to take you into Canterbury centre and really easy to manage without getting on the wrong bus and getting lost but that’s another story. I have to say for anyone who has not been to Canterbury it is definitely a must its really pretty and there's loads to see (Shoe shops everywhere, No only joking its a great place the last bus back to the park and ride was at 7.30 but if you missed this i shouldn’t think a taxi would be that expensive as it was only about 1 mile maybe a little more. We were back on the last bus with a late tea and an early night. Ready for the trip tomorrow toFrance ..
Saturday 23rd June, Our first wedding anniversary 23RD JUNE ROB......NOT 24th or 25th
As i said day 1, We left home at about 8am to take the van to Spinney because the speedo is not working again but no luck they could not fix it today so have to take it back on our return, left at 10.30am straight onto M6 at Holmes Chapel we hit road works at J8 which were pretty bad for a while 40mph speed limit. By 12.30 we were as far as Coventry so stopped at Tesco's for some lunch the sun is shining and we are doing okay so we set of again back on the road M6, M1, M25, M20, M2, And A2 into Canterbury onto the park and ride at Dover New Road by 5pm. It only cost £2 for 24 hours they had water and disposal facilities for grey waste and boggins which is our word for toilet disposal, it has barriers to get in and out so you felt safe knowing no-body was just going to come in and park up, and they had a free bus to take you into Canterbury centre and really easy to manage without getting on the wrong bus and getting lost but that’s another story. I have to say for anyone who has not been to Canterbury it is definitely a must its really pretty and there's loads to see (Shoe shops everywhere, No only joking its a great place the last bus back to the park and ride was at 7.30 but if you missed this i shouldn’t think a taxi would be that expensive as it was only about 1 mile maybe a little more. We were back on the last bus with a late tea and an early night. Ready for the trip tomorrow to
Sunday 24th June
Overnight in
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| Leaving Dover |
Boarded ferry on time no delays left just after 1.45pm first time on a ferry feeling really excited, we decided to go on deck and watch the ferry move away from port and to take some pics of the cliffs, stood at the barrier to have pics took and started to feel a bit weird the boats going up and down so we go inside to get a drink and find somewhere to sit went in the cafe bar on top front and there we stayed till Calais i really was feeling a bit green. Great start. Arrived in Calais at 3.15 and its still raining, drove from Calais on A19 & A28 into Rouen found a nice place to park by the side on the river seine completely free and with great views, No signs to say you could stop or not but there are quite a few vans so i assume it is ok on the Quai Jean de Moulin off the D840 & N15 on the river Seine. So here we are and here we are staying, Very happy
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| Rouen |
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| on the Seine at Rouen |
I have told
Things Not To Do In France Or Anywhere!
1. Going to a French self service petrol station to get fuel and paying by card No instructions only in French and not knowing your pin number then ending up running around like an idiot trying to find the number whilerob stands pressing every button on the machine trying to retrieve his card.
2. Panicking at a toll road because he had no change to put into the machine while i calmly tried to tell him the machine only wants to give you a ticket as you pay on exit.
Monday 25th June....
O.K night but cars and lorry's running up and down road did not give us a good nights sleep .The weather is bad been raining all night and no sign of it clearing. Had the generator out for hair straighteners as they won’t work on inverters. Went for a look round Rouen's cathedral, very nice place so much to see, Joan of Arcs burial place but its raining again so only stayed a few hours and we are on the road again by 2pm via the A13 to Caen ,hit 2 tolls one at 7.20 euro and one at 2.60 euro, came off the A13 before Caen onto the D675 for Pegasus Bridge ,did a bit of shopping at Ouistreham and head for Riva Bella which is the start of the Normandy landing beaches weather is still bad as we stop for tea at Sword beach and watch some windsurfers(sooner them than us) ,carried on down the coast rd and eventually found an aire at Arromanches( with the statues of Jesus and Mary overlooking Gold Beach).Its 10pm
and we have been travelling most of the day and have seen all the D Day
beaches in about an hour as its not stopped raining and we haven’t got out of the van since tea.
1. Going to a French self service petrol station to get fuel and paying by card No instructions only in French and not knowing your pin number then ending up running around like an idiot trying to find the number while
2. Panicking at a toll road because he had no change to put into the machine while i calmly tried to tell him the machine only wants to give you a ticket as you pay on exit.
Monday 25th June....
O.K night but cars and lorry's running up and down road did not give us a good nights sleep .The weather is bad been raining all night and no sign of it clearing. Had the generator out for hair straighteners as they won’t work on inverters. Went for a look round Rouen's cathedral, very nice place so much to see, Joan of Arcs burial place but its raining again so only stayed a few hours and we are on the road again by 2pm via the A13 to Caen ,hit 2 tolls one at 7.20 euro and one at 2.60 euro, came off the A13 before Caen onto the D675 for Pegasus Bridge ,did a bit of shopping at Ouistreham and head for Riva Bella which is the start of the Normandy landing beaches weather is still bad as we stop for tea at Sword beach and watch some windsurfers(sooner them than us) ,carried on down the coast rd and eventually found an aire at Arromanches( with the statues of Jesus and Mary overlooking Gold Beach).Its 10pm
and we have been travelling most of the day and have seen all the D Day
beaches in about an hour as its not stopped raining and we haven’t got out of the van since tea.
We are still not asleep and it is 2pm the wind is howling its bouncing down and the van is rocking. Three Italian vans at the side of us move to the other end of the aire leaving us and a UK panel
van exposed to the wind ,we feel as if the van is going to blow over so we
decide to move inland and find somewhere out of the wind. Luckily enough we find an aire just down the hill in Arromanches village , so it was a case of park up and go to bed.
van exposed to the wind ,we feel as if the van is going to blow over so we
decide to move inland and find somewhere out of the wind. Luckily enough we find an aire just down the hill in Arromanches village , so it was a case of park up and go to bed.
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| on the top at Arromanches |
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| Village Aire |
Tues 26th June:-Got up at 10am and the rain has stopped at last but its still a bit windy ,had a look round the village for a couple of hours
all about the war which was quite interesting, the place itself was really nice and Rob bought me a 3 in waterproof jacket which was miles cheaper than at home.
Next we went to Bayeux to see the tapestry (wasn’t too keen at first but turned out worthwhile).7.50 euro to get in and was very good. Shops etc were good also had lunch in one of the pavement café’s, hairdressers are really cheap here as well.
all about the war which was quite interesting, the place itself was really nice and Rob bought me a 3 in waterproof jacket which was miles cheaper than at home.
Next we went to Bayeux to see the tapestry (wasn’t too keen at first but turned out worthwhile).7.50 euro to get in and was very good. Shops etc were good also had lunch in one of the pavement café’s, hairdressers are really cheap here as well.
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| Bayeux |
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| Tapestry entrance |
Left at about
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| Mont St Michel |
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| Mont St Michel |
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| in the Mont |
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| Bay near St Malo |
Went via the coast rd lovely scenery and one spot like St Annes with wind sail racing ,when we did get to St Malo we wish we hadn’t bothered couldn’t find a parking spot barriers everywhere so we carry on to Remmes and had the
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| St Just |
Spent an hour or so in St Just then decided to go to Vannes via Redon as that would take us south and maybe a bit of sun, however never did as we went to La Baule via Redon and St Nazaire but believe it or not when we arrived the sun came out and it is really warm so were taking no chances and staying.
We go to the tourist office in Pornichet who tell us it is ok to park near enough anywhere except on the front in La Baule they give us a few maps of area and a list of campsites. We decide to book a site for a day or so and booked into Les Loriettes in Pornichet at 16 euro a night including electric.We had a bbq tea and then went to find the beach from the site, took the satnav but still had p
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| on site at Pornichet |
Friday 29th June :-Oh well no change in weather its still crap, good nights sleep up late at 10.30 ,had a walk in to Pornichet which took 30 minutes and then had a walk down the front and round the harbour, its not cold but windy and cloudy with sprays of rain ,spent an hour or so and then back to site for dinner. Decided we would stay another night on the site as they have a market in the square on a Saturday morning and we don’t want to miss that, had a walk after tea to find a Champion super Marché we had seen (took us an hour to find it) but it was good to get out of van as i had been drying clothes in the bathroom with the heater full on (it was like a sauna).Watched a video and then to bed to be up early for market, lets hope the weathers better tomorrow.---4 euros for washer on site and it wrecked my black top --wont be using that again.
Sat 30th June:-- Up at
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| on the beach at Pornichet |
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| Pornichet Sea front |
Sunday 1stJuly:-
Up at about 8.45 both shattered. Leave about 10.30 to go to Croisic Oceanarium calling at Le Pouligeun as they had a Sunday market on. Left at lunch to go to oceanarium 11 euros each but could have been even cheaper if we had bought from tourist office or bar near entrance. Spent a couple of hours here including a wander round the harbour watching the locals fish for sardines, good parking for motorhomes about 15 spaces but it does get busy. Weather is cloudy with outbursts of rain but when the sun does come out its very warm. We decide to try the sites in the ACSI camping card book listed at 10,12,14 euros so we set off for Guerande and a site called Domainede Leveno at 14 euro. We looked round the site but it was mainly a static site and the pitches that we could find were crap ,so we drove out of that one and went on to camping Tremmondec again 14 euro but a far better site but pitch we had was a bit slanted even though we used blocks and we had to cut a few branches off bush that would have been scraping the top of van. Going to move up country tomorrow so maybe early start.
Up at about 8.45 both shattered. Leave about 10.30 to go to Croisic Oceanarium calling at Le Pouligeun as they had a Sunday market on. Left at lunch to go to oceanarium 11 euros each but could have been even cheaper if we had bought from tourist office or bar near entrance. Spent a couple of hours here including a wander round the harbour watching the locals fish for sardines, good parking for motorhomes about 15 spaces but it does get busy. Weather is cloudy with outbursts of rain but when the sun does come out its very warm. We decide to try the sites in the ACSI camping card book listed at 10,12,14 euros so we set off for Guerande and a site called Domainede Leveno at 14 euro. We looked round the site but it was mainly a static site and the pitches that we could find were crap ,so we drove out of that one and went on to camping Tremmondec again 14 euro but a far better site but pitch we had was a bit slanted even though we used blocks and we had to cut a few branches off bush that would have been scraping the top of van. Going to move up country tomorrow so maybe early start.
Monday 2nd July:-
Up at 9.15 great nights sleep, well I did, van was on slant so made
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| Carnac Aire |
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| Carnac Megalithics |
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| Le Croisic aire |
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| Le Croisic harbour |
Tuesday 3rd July:-- Slept ok last night even though we had believe it or not more rain, was going to go to beach but with weather being like it is we decide to move on. Go up to
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| Port Louis |
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| Fougeres |
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| Fougeres |
We set off again for Mont St Michael and to a site overlooking the
Camping-Caravanning du Mont St Michel , 14.50 euros inc showers. There is a motor home site opposite for 8euros and the pitches were good there as well but we opt for the showers and hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow.
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| on site at the mont |
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| The Mont Aire |
Wed 4th July:--Up at
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| St Lo |
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| St Lo |
Spent a couple of hours sightseeing ,very nice place ,found an old bric a brac warehouse where the sold near enough everything you could imagine and lots of war memorials they were selling bikes for 5 euros that should have been in a museum or on a skip. Went back to van for tea and realised the aire was next to railway line and as there was only us and a van of new age travellers who looked like squatters parked we set off for Utah Beach. Parked on car park facing the museum at Saint-Marie-du-Mont, its a bit windy and raining a little but its well sheltered. We had a walk on the beach and a look around the tanks and guns, picked a few shells and watched the cockle pickers. Sea air and wind knock us out so its an early nights sleep tonight.
Thurs 5th July, Up at 10 again late breakfast went to Grand Camp Maisy and had breakfast on the front of the harbour we only stayed about 30 mins the place smelled and the beaches were green we set of after that for the war memorials the Canadian Beny-Sur-Mer as Rob has a relative in there it was very impressive nothing like you get here these are very much respected and cared for.
We then went back to Arromanches where we went in the museum 6 euro and very interesting. had a meal out tonight food was very nice and a desert a scoop of ice cream Rob had a banana split that was huge and it looked really good especially against my bowl of vanilla ice cream and would he share (No) i told him i hope you choke.
Later we went for a walk on beach up to the bunkers that were part of the WW2 harbour, then back to the van for the night we have to be up early tomorrow to get to Calais its only 388K so should only take forever
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| Aire at Utah Beach |
Thurs 5th July, Up at 10 again late breakfast went to Grand Camp Maisy and had breakfast on the front of the harbour we only stayed about 30 mins the place smelled and the beaches were green we set of after that for the war memorials the Canadian Beny-Sur-Mer as Rob has a relative in there it was very impressive nothing like you get here these are very much respected and cared for.
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| Beny-sur-mer |
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| with one of the floating harbours |
