Today Andy is officially old, so after years of practising he's now allowed at 40 to be the grumpy old man he's been training for over all these years :o)
We left the lovely village of Montreuil-Bellay on Thursday after having a cracking one-pan cooked fish dish Chris pulled together on the Wednesday night (and yes, again we had a bottle of a local wine which was, as expected, superb) on course for Chris's birthday present to Andy which is a two night stay at a marvellous chataeu in Noizay. And what a place it is too. So we pull up outside and park the Bongo, right next to one of those new four seater Aston Martins. Excellent. A man appeared (probably trying to work out if we should actually be there) and welcomed us to the hotel. So we settled and we have like a big bed and space, two concepts that we've not been used to over the last couple of weeks or so. A wee wander about, followed by a bath (another luxury) and then down to dinner. In case you didn't know the French can cook. Very well. Very, very well in fact. The chateau also of course has got good local vintage wines so that helped too! A wee gin and tonic to see us past midnight and into Andy's birthday and a great day was complete.
This morning we woke up and had an energy providing omlette each for breakfast (yes, Chris had one too!) and Andy couldn't think of anything better to do on his birthday than go for a run. Chris retrieved her bike from the back of the Bongo (again, next to the Aston!) and we set off on a rycle. The heavens then opened, ensuring that some downhills and flat were as wet as could be, with the sun coming out to provide imposing heat once we were climbing on the way back just to rub it in. We managed a ittle over ten miles at fast (for Andy) marathon race pace. Once back Chris put a few more miles in on the bike before joining Andy down by the pool. Tough way to spend your 40th, isn't it?
Next we are going for a wee walk to get a bite to eat for lunch, then an easy afternoon before another great meal in prospect. We think we'll probably try their tasting menu, though whatever we choose I'm sure it will be excellent again. Tomorrow we will leave here and pack ourselves back into the van which may come as a bit of a culture shock! We've not booked any campsites but we have a couple in mind, not too far from Blois.
Tongariro
We're all Mt. Doomed!
Friday 27 August 2010
Wednesday 25 August 2010
25th August
No, our laptop hasn't died (touch wood), we've just not been blogging! We have been round the chateau, which was very impressive. After another failed attempt at getting into the restaurant serving Moules Frites on Sunday night we finally managed it, third time lucky, on Monday evening (after a couple of free glasses of locally made sparkling wine at the wine tasting - yes, we did say free, happy days!) and they were absolutely fantastic. The first ones in Honfleur were very nice, but not a patch in comparison to these.
On Tuesday we saddled up and went on our bikes to Saumur. We were merrily following a walkway, but it ended at one point and we did our regular thing and got lost. However, we found our way again and made it to the town. We went up to the chateau first at the top of the hill and had lunch sitting on the grass admiring the view. We then went into the town centre for a pleasant bit of wandering around, before cycling back. Approximately 28 miles of cycling - not too bad. We made dinner in the van again, washed down with another nice bottle of Saumur wine (for info, all the wines from this region have been lovely!).
Today was supposed to be very hot, but hasn't turned out that way. We live in hope, but in the meantime, Andy is off for a run that will be a lot cooler than the last few.
On Tuesday we saddled up and went on our bikes to Saumur. We were merrily following a walkway, but it ended at one point and we did our regular thing and got lost. However, we found our way again and made it to the town. We went up to the chateau first at the top of the hill and had lunch sitting on the grass admiring the view. We then went into the town centre for a pleasant bit of wandering around, before cycling back. Approximately 28 miles of cycling - not too bad. We made dinner in the van again, washed down with another nice bottle of Saumur wine (for info, all the wines from this region have been lovely!).
Today was supposed to be very hot, but hasn't turned out that way. We live in hope, but in the meantime, Andy is off for a run that will be a lot cooler than the last few.
Sunday 22 August 2010
Thunder and Lightning!
A beautifully clear day started off as a very clear, although hardly quiet, night. There was a wedding reception in the bar, and they can show the Scots a thing or two about how to celebrate a wedding, judging from the noise, and the hour it went on to (well past 2am). Funnily, sometime after midnight the traditional dancing must have been going on as, as when we both went to the loo, we could hear accordions, and the muted sounds sounded so like a ceilidh. Whilst we couldn't hear the party from our van, we could, however, hear a bunch of folk who had been on the other side of the river going for a noisy swim, with the blokes coming over here. Ah the joys of the young (says old-age Andy, hee hee - C.).
Then, sometime in the middle of the night, we were woken by some very impressive thunder. Chris got out of the van to move the washing line a bit more under the shelter, and that's when we could also see the lightning. It was pretty impressive. It must have rained, but the trees we are under are better at shelter than we'd realised as we didn't hear it if it did.
Morning came with overcast skies tho still warm - actually very pleasant weather. A check of the weather forecasts had pessimistic BBC saying rain, and more optimistic Wunderland saying patchy sun with 20% chance of rain. So after Andy collected our bakery order, we just took our time, then went out on the bikes to see if a local supermarket was open (it wasn't, ho hum). On the way back, a detour to the restaurant with moules hoping to book (still no luck) took us past one shop which was open, so by the time we'd done all of that, it was late morning, and guess what, the sun was out. By the time we got ourselves together and left (Chris taking one route and Andy taking another), it was late morning and getting hot.
Andy's run was slow. Like real slow. He took in a nice wee village and caught a glimpse of another chateau but couldn't work out how to get there, so an out and back of just over nine miles, running past vineyard after vineyard just had to do. But it was like hot. Well hot. Like totally dripping with sweat and melting hot. So nine miles would do nicely. Once he was back and an industrial amount of water taken onboard Chris turned up from her cycle.
Chris' cycle had taken small roads toward Saumur. She didn't quite get there as we'd agreed a time to meet back at the van and she wouldn't have had time, but wasn't far off. There were some pretty, and some not so pretty, villages along the way, and LOTS of sunflower fields. And it was hot. The plus side of being on a bike tho' is going faster and generating a breeze! However, being out for another two hours has left her feeling a little saddle-sore :o( However, her journey has given us a cycle plan for the next day or two.
Another lovely Chris-in-the-Bongo cooked meal with some excellent local Saumur wine (thanks to the open supermarket we found in the morning) and all is, again, well with the world. Off to the bar to make sure the local brew is okay too.
Saturday 21 August 2010
Sunday 12st August - Very hot!
So we woke up to another beautiful day - not a hint of mist this time, and hot from the word go. Just as well there were not rycles planned for today! We set off for McDonalds and, as you can probably tell, connected to their wifi and updated our blog, amongst other things. Despite being there near lunchtime, we just had coffees and Andy managed to avoid the temptation of Le Big Mac.
On the downside, it seems that we don't get much more than two days of not travelling, and therefore not charging the battery, for the fridge to keep working. It won't have been helped by the hot weather no doubt, but it gave up during the night. Due to our variety of cables for electric hook-ups with both 2- and 3-pin connectors, Andy had come up with the idea of buying (yes, here we go again!) a small battery charger that we could connect to the electic hook-up in a campsite to charge the leisure battery for the fridge with. So we then went in search of a big enough supermarket that would stock it, eventually found one, and found a suitable battery charger. We then set off for our next campsite, but took a scenic route (deliberately!) to get more battery charging time.
On our way, we passed a wedding cavalcade. All the guests travel behind the wedding car with a flower attached to the aerial and hazard lights flashing - a really nice touch.
We got to the campsite, only to find that someone was already in the pitch earmarked for us. Chris trooped back to reception and was told to just pick another one and let them know which one (they're not packed here at the moment....) So we got a better pitch right next to a hook up with a view to the river - lovely. The battery charger works like a charm, the fridge is fridging, and having no direct neighbours we have a whole load of hook-ups to ourselves, so have one doing the battery charging and one leading to the van for the plug - perfect!
We then went on our first sojourn on the bicycles together in the VERY hot weather. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a cycle path up to the Loire itself from here (one is planned - great...), and we quickly decided the main road wouldn't be a pleasant ride. So we toured around small roads in the area, then came back to the town. The town is absolutely lovely - the chateau looks wonderful (and will be explored soon), and it seems to have the only hill in the area (which is good and bad!). After we'd almost finished the ride, we wanted to go back past a restaurant we had noticed earlier advertising moules frites (a pattern emerging, perhaps), which was, of course, up a very steep hill. So the decision was made to finally eat out for dinner. However, by the time we got back, showered, had a beer, it was pretty late. Not to worry, you would think, the continental Europeans eat late. Not so in Montreuil-Bellay it would seem. We walked back up to the restaurant to find it was full and no more food orders were being taken - queue one crestfallen Andy. So back to the van and a veggie-mexican concoction by Chris - Andy then perked up again, especially with another beer or two to wash it down. So the first bike trip was a success.
One other thing, apart from the fridge, which decided to throw a strop today was our laptop. Something dodgy seems to have happened in McDonalds this morning (not for the first time) and it wouldn't boot. It would get part way then shut down. Having finally found a way to boot in safe mode, even that wouldn't work. Dire signs. We won't bore the non-techies out there with the details, but Chris eventually found a way to turn off the auto-shut down, booted for the nth time, expecting a blue screen but at least a sign of the problem, when it decided to boot. We are now scared of shutting down..... So a note for future - if our blogs stop without any warning, it is probably due to a dead laptop!
Tomorrow, more touring of the area, a maybe our first trip around a chateau, if it's open on Sundays. Oh, and perhaps partaking in the wine tasting that is laid on here on a Sunday evening.....
On the downside, it seems that we don't get much more than two days of not travelling, and therefore not charging the battery, for the fridge to keep working. It won't have been helped by the hot weather no doubt, but it gave up during the night. Due to our variety of cables for electric hook-ups with both 2- and 3-pin connectors, Andy had come up with the idea of buying (yes, here we go again!) a small battery charger that we could connect to the electic hook-up in a campsite to charge the leisure battery for the fridge with. So we then went in search of a big enough supermarket that would stock it, eventually found one, and found a suitable battery charger. We then set off for our next campsite, but took a scenic route (deliberately!) to get more battery charging time.
On our way, we passed a wedding cavalcade. All the guests travel behind the wedding car with a flower attached to the aerial and hazard lights flashing - a really nice touch.
We got to the campsite, only to find that someone was already in the pitch earmarked for us. Chris trooped back to reception and was told to just pick another one and let them know which one (they're not packed here at the moment....) So we got a better pitch right next to a hook up with a view to the river - lovely. The battery charger works like a charm, the fridge is fridging, and having no direct neighbours we have a whole load of hook-ups to ourselves, so have one doing the battery charging and one leading to the van for the plug - perfect!
We then went on our first sojourn on the bicycles together in the VERY hot weather. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a cycle path up to the Loire itself from here (one is planned - great...), and we quickly decided the main road wouldn't be a pleasant ride. So we toured around small roads in the area, then came back to the town. The town is absolutely lovely - the chateau looks wonderful (and will be explored soon), and it seems to have the only hill in the area (which is good and bad!). After we'd almost finished the ride, we wanted to go back past a restaurant we had noticed earlier advertising moules frites (a pattern emerging, perhaps), which was, of course, up a very steep hill. So the decision was made to finally eat out for dinner. However, by the time we got back, showered, had a beer, it was pretty late. Not to worry, you would think, the continental Europeans eat late. Not so in Montreuil-Bellay it would seem. We walked back up to the restaurant to find it was full and no more food orders were being taken - queue one crestfallen Andy. So back to the van and a veggie-mexican concoction by Chris - Andy then perked up again, especially with another beer or two to wash it down. So the first bike trip was a success.
One other thing, apart from the fridge, which decided to throw a strop today was our laptop. Something dodgy seems to have happened in McDonalds this morning (not for the first time) and it wouldn't boot. It would get part way then shut down. Having finally found a way to boot in safe mode, even that wouldn't work. Dire signs. We won't bore the non-techies out there with the details, but Chris eventually found a way to turn off the auto-shut down, booted for the nth time, expecting a blue screen but at least a sign of the problem, when it decided to boot. We are now scared of shutting down..... So a note for future - if our blogs stop without any warning, it is probably due to a dead laptop!
Tomorrow, more touring of the area, a maybe our first trip around a chateau, if it's open on Sundays. Oh, and perhaps partaking in the wine tasting that is laid on here on a Sunday evening.....
Friday 20th August - HOT!!
So this morning we woke up a wee bit before 8am to a beautiful morning - clear blue sky, sun rising, but with low level mist which looked absolutely lovely. Having learnt the lesson of yesterday, we were dressed with the bed away and coffees being drunk by the time the bakery stuff arrived. It was just as well, as by the time we left at around 10 it was already very hot. Andy's aim was to get some speed in his run today, so we decided to stick to the same path as yesterday as at least we knew there would be some shade there. After 3 miles Andy decided to turn round, but Chris carried out for about another mile getting some speed herself on the bike (which also meant some cooling wind - lovely!). Andy was obviously tanking it on the way back as it took Chris a lot longer to catch him than expected - very impressive in the heat. Once we were back and showered, we decided to take some well deserved time by the pool. However, there wasn't really any room for swimming due to quite a lot of kids, so once hunger and the noise got the better of us, we gave in and returned to the van for lunch.
We have been rueing (sp?) not bringing Andy's bike. It was a deliberate choice as he never uses it at home as he will always run rather than cycle so we thought our rycles were the way to go, with some running and cycling separately to suss out an area before doing some sightseeing later depending on what we found. However, we have realised that the best way to see the areas we visit is by bike as we can cover a lot more area that way. Andy isn't convinced he is quite up to 40 miles + each day yet (he is still a bit away from the Richie Cunningham 200+ mile weeks) and Chris isn't willing to give him a backie when he gets tired, so we were left a little stuck as to ways to do good tours together. A couple in the next pitch to us at the moment suggested buying a bike as there is a big sports store not far from here selling (relatively) fairly cheap bikes. We came to the conclusion that, particularly if we sell it again when we get home, it would actually be cheaper than hiring one every now and then. So in the afternoon we bought Andy a bike, possibly a ladies bike but hey, it was the less expensive (not quite such a cheap trip at the moment, but it'll all work out!). So David, if you're reading this, we hope you are getting good use out of the bike and if you haven't yet, GET ON IT NOW!! ;o)
Once back at the campsite we set about changing the brake cable on Chris' bike (seemingly successfully so far - the next ride will tell us for sure! - if you see any stories about braking-mishap-injuries, you will know otherwise) whilst both getting covered in bike grease which meant, as Chris commented, Andy could pretend he'd been doing "man stuff" - always important (it's not proper man stuff until something gets broken, so he may/may not have done that -Ed).
Tomorrow we leave here, which is a bit of a shame, but we needed to book the next stop before we got here due to lack of wifi here. We are heading a little bit further north towards the Loire itself and near to Saumur. We will also be dropping by Mcdonalds. Yes really. They've got free wifi so we may have to buy a coffee to catch up with stuff. Or a McFlurry. Must try to avoid Le Big Mac though...
Thursday 19th August (still no wifi, so a little delayed)
So we awoke this morning to clear skies at 7:30 though a little chilly. By 9am cloud cover was total but it was a decent temperature. Also at nine o'clock the baguette and pain au chocolat and pain au raisin that we ordered the night before were brought to our campervan! How cool is that? Our coffees were already made by this point and life was indeed good. The plan was to get out for our rycle early on before the cloud burned off; a cunning plan indeed. We also moved plots down one after the family next to us left as it is a little flatter and gets more sun and more shade. Somehow by the time we did this and got ourselves ready it had past 11, life in the slow lane indeed.
We followed the intructions given to find the cycle path and it was great (if a little flat for our usual jaunts). We went out for ten miles (see pic for Andy's disappearing back), with Chris occasionally pedalling on ahead then coming back to collect Andy, then turned back by which time the skies were a lovely blue and the temperature had shot up. Andy struggled a bit with the heat as on the slight inclines that we had (that seemed to go on for ever, how come we didn't notice them so much on the way out?) there was hardly any shade, typical! We managed to get the twenty miles in under three hours which given the heat was quite acceptable, though lesson learned to go out earlier!
Once back at the site Chris set off on her bike to get supplies from the Carrefour (which she was glad to find was uphill from the campsite, so the ride back with a very full rucksack was very easy); we were short of fresh veg, wanted some meat and concerningly were running out of wine. The wine situation is now sorted (a bottle of wine in the rucksack did make it kinda heavy).. Oh, we also have food too (although still short of fresh veg - hmm. Another cycle for Chris tomorrow). Andy managed to wait for the pool to clear and got a nice wee swim in and some decent lying about in the sun was achieved.
Having just polished off a great spicy turkey concoction pulled togerther by Chris we are now sitting in the sun making our best efforts to re-introduce our wine shortage. Had we mentioned that life is good :o)
We followed the intructions given to find the cycle path and it was great (if a little flat for our usual jaunts). We went out for ten miles (see pic for Andy's disappearing back), with Chris occasionally pedalling on ahead then coming back to collect Andy, then turned back by which time the skies were a lovely blue and the temperature had shot up. Andy struggled a bit with the heat as on the slight inclines that we had (that seemed to go on for ever, how come we didn't notice them so much on the way out?) there was hardly any shade, typical! We managed to get the twenty miles in under three hours which given the heat was quite acceptable, though lesson learned to go out earlier!
Once back at the site Chris set off on her bike to get supplies from the Carrefour (which she was glad to find was uphill from the campsite, so the ride back with a very full rucksack was very easy); we were short of fresh veg, wanted some meat and concerningly were running out of wine. The wine situation is now sorted (a bottle of wine in the rucksack did make it kinda heavy).. Oh, we also have food too (although still short of fresh veg - hmm. Another cycle for Chris tomorrow). Andy managed to wait for the pool to clear and got a nice wee swim in and some decent lying about in the sun was achieved.
Having just polished off a great spicy turkey concoction pulled togerther by Chris we are now sitting in the sun making our best efforts to re-introduce our wine shortage. Had we mentioned that life is good :o)
Wednesday 18th August (no wifi, so a bit delayed)
We woke up to a pretty nice day in Normandy, with patches of blue sky and a comfortable temperature. With any luck for those staying on (in particular a very nice English couple whose kids were getting a tad bored in the rain) it'll be a nice day and stay that way for at least 2 days! After a diversion to buy another adapter for our long French power cable, we set off in the direction of the Loire valley. No sat nav mishaps this time, just one minor panic at the end of a toll road when it looked like our only options were those for vehicles with transponders as the one for cards had a height restriction (luckily it turned out all methods were ok at all the stations) and we found the campsite fairly easily. It's a very nice site, although the shower isn't the best, but this is made up for by our nice pitch, toilets with seats (a rarity), the bread and croissant orders being delivered to our door each morning and, yes, THE SUN!!!! It's hot,sunny and we are happy! The site is run by an English couple (he's called Robert Smith and looks (at least to Chris) a bit like Jasper Carrot - one unfortunate bit of genetics and one of parents-name-choosing!), and when we arrived there wasn't a single vehicle that wasn't British which was amusing, if a little bizarre. Since then 2 French vehicles have turned up, and they must find it very odd.
A 20 or so minute walk took us into the nearby town centre where we had a couple of very wee beers (honestly!) then wandered back again. Apparently there is free wifi in MacDonalds but we didn't manage to find that - will get directions again tomorrow. Andy managed to find some nice chorizo to cook with, which he threw together with a few fesh veg into a lovely dinner.
There is a cycle path nearby which should be long enough even for Andy, although if the weather keeps up like this (which we sincerely hope it does!), we will have to go out first thing or it will be far too hot. Stories of sweaty outings to follow!
A 20 or so minute walk took us into the nearby town centre where we had a couple of very wee beers (honestly!) then wandered back again. Apparently there is free wifi in MacDonalds but we didn't manage to find that - will get directions again tomorrow. Andy managed to find some nice chorizo to cook with, which he threw together with a few fesh veg into a lovely dinner.
There is a cycle path nearby which should be long enough even for Andy, although if the weather keeps up like this (which we sincerely hope it does!), we will have to go out first thing or it will be far too hot. Stories of sweaty outings to follow!
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Tuesday 17th August
Alas the good weather was just a brief indication of what we could have, and now the rain has returned. So our planned rycle for the morning did not happen due to weather-induced lack of enthusiasm! Instead we sat around and did very little. However, in the afternoon guilt and restlessness got the better of us and we took advantage of a bright patch in the weather and went out, thinking it would only be a short one this time. On our way back yesterday we'd come along a quiet road and spotted some farm tracks, so this time we just headed straight out from the campsite, and as seems to be a habit these days, almost immediately headed up a fairly steep climb for half a mile. We were pleased to discover plenty of very quiet roads and tracks, and as is often the way, once we got going we felt better for it and Andy's legs were working well, so we kept going. At a point where we could have turned around, Andy decided 4 miles would be a good turning point so we'd keep going for a little while - typically this was at the top of a steep hill and the 4 mile point turned out to be at the bottom of it! So down we went, turned round and climbed all the way back up (another half mile climb!). Got to work the cheese and wine off somehow I guess. Not the double figure miles of the previous day though quite a bit more pace!
Tomorrow we leave for the hopefully sunnier area of the Loire Valley. We doubt our next campsite will have wifi, so we will probably be offline for a few days.
Tomorrow we leave for the hopefully sunnier area of the Loire Valley. We doubt our next campsite will have wifi, so we will probably be offline for a few days.
Monday 16 August 2010
Normandy - 16 August
So here we are in rainy Normandy. Honfleur is lovely, but the weather isn't! We were both amused, and dismayed to see, in the usual tacky shops, tea towels and t-shirts very similar to those we have at home. You know the type - 4 squares with depressed sheep being rained on, with each one displaying the season "Spring in the Highlands/Scotland (delete as appropriate)", "Summer in the Highlands/Scotland" and so on - this time it being a depressed cow being rained on with text along the lines of "Spring in Normandy".... On the bright side, we had our first Moules et Frites, which Andy in particular had been hankering after, and happily they were as good as remembered.
On Monday - THE SUN SHINED!!!!!! After a wee reccie on Sunday, we went for a rycle (see previous blog for explanation if only joining now) throught the National Park. It does seem that the cycle paths in this part of the world are just roads though. Anyway, all started off well (if you can call a pretty steep hill right at the beginning well), then after a wee while we headed off road and down a forest path - great fun for Andy, but a lot of swearing from Chris who is trying not to use her rear brake too much due to a frayed cable and this was a STEEP downhill!. Bottom of path was reached without incident (apart from the swearing), but then there was a lot of guessing as to direction. After another climb (and more guessing) we found a look out point with a fairly unhelpful map (there aren't many helpful maps in this country, it would appear). Again we made a best guess, which luckily turned out to be the right one. So all in all, a good morning running/cycling (if a little tense when we might have been lost), particulary in nice weather.
We then went into Deauville, a town along the coast from Honfleur. Very nice town (photos will follow) but loads of money around - seriously big boats - most of which Andy would like to borrow for the Scottish Islands Peaks Race (!), and very expensive shops (which didn't need to be expensive), but amazing buildings. And again, the sun was shining so we were happy. On the way back, we stopped by a supermarket. Not normally worth a mention, but amazingly it stocked bike cables, so Chris can change her rear cable at some point to have less dodgy downhills, and the best plug adapter ever seen (our adapter-doubler does appear to have stayed at home - unless it is playing a VERY good game of hide and seek). It will change any plug to any socket - seriously clever, we are impressed! So a quick, cheap shop turned into a pretty expensive but very worthwhile shop. At some point, we will stop buying more stuff for our very small van.....
A few things we haven't mentioned - Chris' phone charger hasn't actually stayed at home, but was actually playing hide a seek - quite successfully to start, but was then sought. So she now has two. Better then none, really. Also, our cork screw split in two on the 2nd night in France. Really, of all the countries in the world to give up the ghost, this isn't the one! Then again, maybe it knew how much work was to come it's way over the next 3 months... :o) A replacement has been bought.
On Monday - THE SUN SHINED!!!!!! After a wee reccie on Sunday, we went for a rycle (see previous blog for explanation if only joining now) throught the National Park. It does seem that the cycle paths in this part of the world are just roads though. Anyway, all started off well (if you can call a pretty steep hill right at the beginning well), then after a wee while we headed off road and down a forest path - great fun for Andy, but a lot of swearing from Chris who is trying not to use her rear brake too much due to a frayed cable and this was a STEEP downhill!. Bottom of path was reached without incident (apart from the swearing), but then there was a lot of guessing as to direction. After another climb (and more guessing) we found a look out point with a fairly unhelpful map (there aren't many helpful maps in this country, it would appear). Again we made a best guess, which luckily turned out to be the right one. So all in all, a good morning running/cycling (if a little tense when we might have been lost), particulary in nice weather.
We then went into Deauville, a town along the coast from Honfleur. Very nice town (photos will follow) but loads of money around - seriously big boats - most of which Andy would like to borrow for the Scottish Islands Peaks Race (!), and very expensive shops (which didn't need to be expensive), but amazing buildings. And again, the sun was shining so we were happy. On the way back, we stopped by a supermarket. Not normally worth a mention, but amazingly it stocked bike cables, so Chris can change her rear cable at some point to have less dodgy downhills, and the best plug adapter ever seen (our adapter-doubler does appear to have stayed at home - unless it is playing a VERY good game of hide and seek). It will change any plug to any socket - seriously clever, we are impressed! So a quick, cheap shop turned into a pretty expensive but very worthwhile shop. At some point, we will stop buying more stuff for our very small van.....
A few things we haven't mentioned - Chris' phone charger hasn't actually stayed at home, but was actually playing hide a seek - quite successfully to start, but was then sought. So she now has two. Better then none, really. Also, our cork screw split in two on the 2nd night in France. Really, of all the countries in the world to give up the ghost, this isn't the one! Then again, maybe it knew how much work was to come it's way over the next 3 months... :o) A replacement has been bought.
Saturday 14 August 2010
Bonjour
Bonjour mes amis! After a very smooth ferry crossing, we arrived safely on French soil. We made it onto the correct side of the road, and found our way to our first campsite in Bertangles, about 1.5 hours from Calais. It was a lovely campsite, in the orchard of a chateau, with large plots surrounded by small hedges. However, we learnt our first lesson in the necessity of getting the van level, when Chris almost ended up wearing both the cooking dinner and the water starting to boil in the kettle. (We forgot to mention the incident in England when, on lighting the hob ring, it lit with a "woomph" and singed the hairs half way up her arm! Dangerous pastime, cooking.....) All mental and physical scars were soothed by some beer and wine.
The next day we went for a wander around Amiens, the nearest town. There wasn't a lot to do or see except for a very impressive cathedral, and we managed not to find anywhere with wi-fi! However, it was a nice wee jaunt and on the way back we had our first visit to a Carrefour, where we had to battle the temptation to buy loads due to lack of space! We did also find another shop selling ramps, so we Andy bought a couple so we could level the van - a sound investment!
In the afternoon we went on our first rycle (run (Andy) and cycle (Chris)) - not bad for the first full day away. It was good to get both the legs and bike wheels working especially as Andy hadn't run for a week due to being a bit below full power. With the help of our newly acquired ramps, dinner was cooked without incident!
The next morning we were woken by a nearby cockerel (keep it clean!), and had our first visit to the bakery lady who visits every morning, so happily had breakfast of croissants and pain au chocolat - thank goodness for that rycle! We managed to book our next campsite just south of Honfleur for the Saturday which gave us the full day Friday and the night to relax a little around Bertangles. There was a very vague map in the village that gave supposed walking routes, so with each of us taking photos on our phones of the map we set off on our own routes again Andy running and Chris cycling. Andy's running route was meant to be around 14k, by the time he was done he'd done over ten miles as navigation was interesting and it was pretty darn warm. Chris meanwhile cycled to another Carrefour and we managed to meet back together close to the campsite where a wee bar/cafe had a localish brew (Juliper) that tasted oh so much better after some exercise. Another nice meal cooked up by Chris in the Bongo washed down with some nice wine from the Carrefour and all was well.
Saturday was started by more bakery goodies and off we set to the next site. We chose to avoid toll roads and saw some great wee villages and scenery. We also got a couple of sat-nav special directions (one of which involved us almost losing the top of our van, for no good reason), with Chris looking at the map, looking at the sat-nav, looking at the map saying "...er it seems to be taking us completely the wrong way" which was only partly true in as far as instead of going in a straight line it really likes triangular trips about 5k north... So sat-nav aside and with some more direct instructions from Chris we got to where we were meant to go by around 2pm (through the peeing rain it has to be said) got in, got the van parked up and went for a beer. Even managed to catch the Spurs v Man City game after which the weather cleared nicely :o)
Tomorrow we're probably going to wander into Honfluer, only thing we know for sure is the baguette, croissant and pain au chocolat will be ready for us at 8 in the morning :o)
P.S. As you may have worked out, the campsite near Honfleur has wi-fi! So if you want to send us an email, the next couple of days is a good time.....
The next day we went for a wander around Amiens, the nearest town. There wasn't a lot to do or see except for a very impressive cathedral, and we managed not to find anywhere with wi-fi! However, it was a nice wee jaunt and on the way back we had our first visit to a Carrefour, where we had to battle the temptation to buy loads due to lack of space! We did also find another shop selling ramps, so we Andy bought a couple so we could level the van - a sound investment!
In the afternoon we went on our first rycle (run (Andy) and cycle (Chris)) - not bad for the first full day away. It was good to get both the legs and bike wheels working especially as Andy hadn't run for a week due to being a bit below full power. With the help of our newly acquired ramps, dinner was cooked without incident!
The next morning we were woken by a nearby cockerel (keep it clean!), and had our first visit to the bakery lady who visits every morning, so happily had breakfast of croissants and pain au chocolat - thank goodness for that rycle! We managed to book our next campsite just south of Honfleur for the Saturday which gave us the full day Friday and the night to relax a little around Bertangles. There was a very vague map in the village that gave supposed walking routes, so with each of us taking photos on our phones of the map we set off on our own routes again Andy running and Chris cycling. Andy's running route was meant to be around 14k, by the time he was done he'd done over ten miles as navigation was interesting and it was pretty darn warm. Chris meanwhile cycled to another Carrefour and we managed to meet back together close to the campsite where a wee bar/cafe had a localish brew (Juliper) that tasted oh so much better after some exercise. Another nice meal cooked up by Chris in the Bongo washed down with some nice wine from the Carrefour and all was well.
Saturday was started by more bakery goodies and off we set to the next site. We chose to avoid toll roads and saw some great wee villages and scenery. We also got a couple of sat-nav special directions (one of which involved us almost losing the top of our van, for no good reason), with Chris looking at the map, looking at the sat-nav, looking at the map saying "...er it seems to be taking us completely the wrong way" which was only partly true in as far as instead of going in a straight line it really likes triangular trips about 5k north... So sat-nav aside and with some more direct instructions from Chris we got to where we were meant to go by around 2pm (through the peeing rain it has to be said) got in, got the van parked up and went for a beer. Even managed to catch the Spurs v Man City game after which the weather cleared nicely :o)
Tomorrow we're probably going to wander into Honfluer, only thing we know for sure is the baguette, croissant and pain au chocolat will be ready for us at 8 in the morning :o)
P.S. As you may have worked out, the campsite near Honfleur has wi-fi! So if you want to send us an email, the next couple of days is a good time.....
It starts! (a bit delayed)
14 Aug - we finally have wi-fi!! So this is our first posting, a bit delayed due to lack of technology....
Our adventure has started! Our first border crossing went without hitch (admittedly I'd hope that crossing into England would be smooth, but you never can tell) and in a minor miracle made it down the M6 without any traffic jams at all, which is definitely a first. It didn't even rain on us, which is *definitely* a first for us travelling the M6, which usually involved a minor monsoon.
We spent a couple of nights around Warwickshire with our friends Jane and Jonathan, to whom massive thanks go for being such fantastic hosts (as always!). The child in all of us was satisfied after we watched some canal boats negotiating the locks at Henley - canal boating is definitely not a pastime for those of an impatient disposition!
We then made our way around the M25 (again without delay - may our luck continue!) and south to a campsite in Sussex, where many hours could be whiled away counting the flecks of paint on the planes coming in to land at Gatwick.
Now a little about the Bongo. The fridge nearly worked for the whole weekend. By the drive down to Sussex it had decided enough was enough however and promptly killed off some strawberries and much more concerningly the beer became warm. Serious indeed.So when we stopped we went to unwind the awning and the split pin in the crank handle lived up to its name and disintegrated. A call to the place that kitted out the van in Fife about the fridge was far from useful ("bring it in and we'll take a look") so the next day after using yell.com and a few calls from Chris we visited an auto electrcian about 8 miles away who worked out tht the split charger wasn't doing as it should, did some rewiring, fixed up the "interesting" wiring done by the conversion company and we now have a fridge again!. It doesn't charge off electric hook-up (so in the protection of strawberries and beer we will have to drive a bit every few days) but that's another wee issue that I may bore you with later. A brief description of the initial charging problem; the converter took a feed from the ignition block so that when the ignition is on the leisure battery charges; all well and good though they chose the wire feeding the wiper motor, so it did charge as long as we had the wipers on...maybe that's why it always worked in Scotland :o)
Next on Chris' phone list was a man about the crank handle for the awning. She found a place en-routish that said they may have something. As it happened they didn't as our awing is some wierd Japanese import oddness though the very nice man there fixed ours instead for nothing. Don't think we have mentioned it yet but everyone we've dealt with near/on the south coast have been really friendly and helpful, great fun and chatty.
Next onto a campsite in a village outside Dover, where it was drizzling and very windy. Would have made us feel at home if it hadn't also been warm - an unusual combination for us! It had a great wee pub nearby where we had our last real ales for a while; we even managed to finish off the best one they had on tap. The morning was lovely and we had breakfast sitting outside the van looking at the sea, very nice. After a jaunt into the local town to get vital supplies (a phone charger for Chris as hers would appear to either be hiding or have stayed at home and some speakers for the ipod) we made the short journey into Dover and boarded the ferry without issue. Currently as we write this we are looking at France getting larger ahead!
If we ever get wi-fi in France we'll actually post this blog...
Our adventure has started! Our first border crossing went without hitch (admittedly I'd hope that crossing into England would be smooth, but you never can tell) and in a minor miracle made it down the M6 without any traffic jams at all, which is definitely a first. It didn't even rain on us, which is *definitely* a first for us travelling the M6, which usually involved a minor monsoon.
We spent a couple of nights around Warwickshire with our friends Jane and Jonathan, to whom massive thanks go for being such fantastic hosts (as always!). The child in all of us was satisfied after we watched some canal boats negotiating the locks at Henley - canal boating is definitely not a pastime for those of an impatient disposition!
We then made our way around the M25 (again without delay - may our luck continue!) and south to a campsite in Sussex, where many hours could be whiled away counting the flecks of paint on the planes coming in to land at Gatwick.
Now a little about the Bongo. The fridge nearly worked for the whole weekend. By the drive down to Sussex it had decided enough was enough however and promptly killed off some strawberries and much more concerningly the beer became warm. Serious indeed.So when we stopped we went to unwind the awning and the split pin in the crank handle lived up to its name and disintegrated. A call to the place that kitted out the van in Fife about the fridge was far from useful ("bring it in and we'll take a look") so the next day after using yell.com and a few calls from Chris we visited an auto electrcian about 8 miles away who worked out tht the split charger wasn't doing as it should, did some rewiring, fixed up the "interesting" wiring done by the conversion company and we now have a fridge again!. It doesn't charge off electric hook-up (so in the protection of strawberries and beer we will have to drive a bit every few days) but that's another wee issue that I may bore you with later. A brief description of the initial charging problem; the converter took a feed from the ignition block so that when the ignition is on the leisure battery charges; all well and good though they chose the wire feeding the wiper motor, so it did charge as long as we had the wipers on...maybe that's why it always worked in Scotland :o)
Next on Chris' phone list was a man about the crank handle for the awning. She found a place en-routish that said they may have something. As it happened they didn't as our awing is some wierd Japanese import oddness though the very nice man there fixed ours instead for nothing. Don't think we have mentioned it yet but everyone we've dealt with near/on the south coast have been really friendly and helpful, great fun and chatty.
Next onto a campsite in a village outside Dover, where it was drizzling and very windy. Would have made us feel at home if it hadn't also been warm - an unusual combination for us! It had a great wee pub nearby where we had our last real ales for a while; we even managed to finish off the best one they had on tap. The morning was lovely and we had breakfast sitting outside the van looking at the sea, very nice. After a jaunt into the local town to get vital supplies (a phone charger for Chris as hers would appear to either be hiding or have stayed at home and some speakers for the ipod) we made the short journey into Dover and boarded the ferry without issue. Currently as we write this we are looking at France getting larger ahead!
If we ever get wi-fi in France we'll actually post this blog...
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