Honfleur and Chatres
We decided to use the tunnel this time having cruised and sailed both long and short crossings last year and although we only had one rough trip we decided no boats this year. We had a long drive to a Camping Club site just north of Folkestone and only 20 mins from the tunnel which included excitement of the QE bridge and NPR payment system and pitched up on the site where we have never seen so many rabbits. Easy start on our tunnel crossing day arriving in plenty of time for a coffee at the departure lounge. We were called to our train 30 mins before departure drove on very easily with little queuing and left on time. Once in France it was even easier and we just followed signs for the motoway and headed south. We picked an isolated campsite near Le Crotoy - Camping Les 3 Sablieres, which was pleasing enough but we felt a little hemmed in by trees, and maybe could have had a more pleasant experience in the more open field next door. Lovely walk to the beach and a lounge by the pool reading before tea.
Sandra was really not well so we had to consider moving south slowly with a view to getting home easily, so the next day we pushed on to Honfleur. The site was closed for lunch when we arrived and there was a queue to get in. We just stopped at the roadside as there were no spaces to properly park up and had lunch. The site opened, we strolled to book and got put on a lovely pitch. We walked into town, had a drink and a look round, strolled back went back to town to eat a lovely meal with harbour view - all very pretty, and repeated on the second day with different walks and drinks combinations. Sandra was feeling more relaxed and so we decided the west coast was for us via the Loire Valley. Next stop Chatres.
We spent one night in Chatres where we walked an easy walk along the river and into the town.
Chenonceaux & St Jean de Monts
The next day's drive was interesting in that we avoided motorways and it was Saturday so the roads were busy. Chatres was pretty and the campsite was a bog standard municipal site which had been heavily rained on recently. The rain turned to light drizzle and we walked into town to look at the cathedral which was spectacular. We had afternoon tea (well a couple of beers) in a nice cafe near the cathedral and entertained a young girl with her parents on the table next door. Sunday saw us driving towards Orleans and the Loire and a drive down the river towards Saumur. We decided we would like to visit the castle at Chenonceaux so we did, arriving late afternoon and had a lovely walk round only to arrive at the chosen campsite (Camping Le Moulin Fort) nearby with minutes to spare before they closed. The site was right next to the river and quite busy. They had a pool and restaurant and was run by Brits. We decided 2 nights was in order and the second night walked to the village to a hotel for a proper French meal. Nice. After the 2 days rest we decided to bat on to the West Coast and more familiar territory of St Jean de Monts where we stayed another 2 nights. It was a very long drive with strong head winds all the way. We chose a different, more open pitch on the same, very quiet, campsite as last year - Camping Les Sirènes
We had a nice day at St Jean de Monts, enjoying the massive promenade and cycling opportunities, had a nice meal out and still didn't have a ride on the big wheel. On leaving St Jean de Mont we headed for La Trenche sur Mer. We were heading for a site recommended back in Chenonceaux by our neighbours. On the way we had lunch at Jard sur Mer which was lovely and there were 2 sites we could have stopped at. La Trenche was desparately boring and the campsite was no better. The reception was funny with us about which pitch we could stay on (even for one night) and facilies which should have been open were not. We walked to the beach and witnessed an amazing thunderstorm somewhere else up the coast. It was Teresa May's snap election and having gone to bed quite excited about the prospect of a big Labour swing, woke to fine there wasn't the change we had hoped for.
Ile de Re and the Dordogne
Move on ... thought we'd have a look at Ile de Re. Several sites to chose from and we picked Ars en Re for no particular reason other than it was next. As we arrived the weather started improving with much more sunshine and warmer. The island looked lovely and we were fascinated by the one way roads and lovely villages and bike lanes everywhere. We stopped for coffee in a lovely pull off, then made our way to the campsite at Ars. We arrived just after reception had shut but they had left a map of vacant pitches along with a bit we didn't see about ACSI pitches and instructions of how to pitch and then turn up at reception to pay later. Good plan. There were lots of trees and we didnt want to be overhung so found a nice large one. Turned out it was not an ACSI €17 pitch, but the manager let us have it for 3 nights at ACSI rates - marvellous. Walked to the beach and just caught the last sitting for lunch at the beach cafe with a very mardy waitress. Nice lunch and a couple of beers and we started to relax and love the place. Walked into Ars - fabulous. Eventually stayed 4 nights and switched to a sunnier pitch after 2 nights so it felt as though we had moved to another site! We found out there was a sardine festival in Ars so joined in, in lovely sunshine with cheap beer and a sardine supper for €7. Live folk music and boats cruising in and out of the harbour. Onwards to discover more ...
Camping Les Balaines by the big lighthouse at the end. Arrived before lunch ... lovely! Stayed 2 nights. Cafe's not so good in the touristy bit by the lighthouse. Beach a bit scrappy. Lovely bike ride along north coast towards Les Portes en Re - nearly got there too ... on a better day maybe. Lovely lovely long beach.
Onwards to St Martin en Re the main town and an expensive night on the municipal site. Walked into town and harbour for lunch then round the spectacular harbour. Back for a siesta then bike ride to the beach and back through town early evening. Loved it. Next day onto our final Ile de Re campsite for a last few nights (2 in the end). Le Bois Plage en Re was a site next to the beach with private access. We chose an exposed pitch with few trees and although we had good views we could have done with a bit more shade as the temperatures were getting rather hot ... high 20's at least. We enjoyed the beach, a meal in town, a bike ride to the market and a sunset stroll. We also played table tennis! During this time on the Ile de Re, I had got in touch with an old work colleague through the Classic Hymers Facebook group. I had worked with Robin up to 2001 when he left to live in France and he said if ever I was passing ... I left in 2002 and never thought to keep in touch but finding him on a Hymers group it seemed too good an opportunity to miss, so our next stop was his house on the edge of the Dordogne region. Only 4 hours of lovely driving from the Ile de Re it made our departure after 9 nights easier.
Robin and his wife Marlene live in an old farmhouse in about 3 acres of land in a hamlet in the middle of nowhere. Idillic except no shop. By the time we had arrived it was getting really hot (30C) so we basically drove under a tree next to his back door, plugged in the fridge and got in their pool with beer. Marlene cooked a lovely dinner with a special course for Sandra and we renewed a long friendship. We went to bed late and got up for breakfast and it started to look as though we could stay for longer, but not wanting to outstay our welcome we went on our way deeper into the Dordogne. Before we left we parked our matching Hymers side by side. It was my birthday. Next site was Camping Le Garrit at St Cyprien. Very hot and they had a pool which we lived in apart from a walk into town for a birthday meal. Pickings were thin as it was Monday, but one place which was open was really nice in the end. It was too hot to think straight. Next day - onwards up the Dordogne with spectacular scenery and trying to avoid a bottle neck at Beynac but taking in Gageac. Parked up at Suillac, Camping Les Ondines with the essential pool. We hopped on again heading for Brantome and a rest. On our way we stopped for lunch and a tourist trap round some prehistoric cave dwellings. Drove through a very hot Perigeux where cab temperatures reached 43C. Longish walk into Brantome in the heat but a lovely meal one night and a concert another. Went round the abbey and caves to keep cool. The site in Brantome had a pool which we spent a considerable amount of time in along with swimming in the river which was a little cooler but gorgeous. They had made an artificial beach to use too.
Nostalgia and Monet's Garden
The next day was really the start of home time but still quite a few nights from home, but some nostalgia and sadness first. The sadness was visiting and laying flowers at the site of the crash which killed the parents of my best friend from school. They had died in May of last year and I couldn't go to the funeral as we had planned our French trip of 2016. They crash happened between the town of Bourdeilles and Brantome and near to their holiday home at Puy Fromage. They had been driving to market. We had to go to Puy Fromage too which is where the first dose of nostalgia occurred. I had visited not long after they had bought the place, in 1996 to spend a few weeks there helping re-lay the roof. We stopped for coffee in their drive and talked to some neighbours who were defending the place. Tricky conversations as they didn't speak English at all, but I managed!
North to the Limousan region and a scenic drive to an out of the way town called Cognac La Foret at camping Les Allouettes. (Sky Larks) . It was a Dutch site with only 1 English van there and they were out! They offered a Friday night shared meal for not very much so we booked. Had a bike ride into the strange town and turned up for the meal. All the other couples were Dutch but thankfully we sat next to a couple who spoke good English and were interested and interesting. One couple were almost rude in their ignorance and the other 2 were embarrassed by their poor English. Being English, we were not at all embarrassed by our poor Dutch! The next day saw our next dose of nostalgia as we visited the locality and house occupied by Sandra's former neighbours, Pat and Edward. We had visited a couple of times when they lived there and I went alone one summer for 10 days to help with some chores for board and lodgings (or a pitch for my tent!). It was quite sad as the people who had bought the house were not there and they hadn't kept it tidy and the pool was filthy. We couldn't stay as we had a long drive to the next camp site. We ended up not going so far as the drive ended up being longer than we had thought (or I hadn't planned very well) and we ended up at Camping Les Chambons in Argentan sur Cruse. A grotty site next to a river. It was a little cooler but we still had a swim in the river and a nice walk into the outskirts of the town for a beer or two, before we pressed on north.
There was another strange campsite was ahead of us after a long long (because yesterday we hadn't gone so far as planned) motorway drive and a particularly long last 20 kms from the motorway due to what seemed to be diversions round one way street villages. The campsite was full of old statics and an decaying holiday centre and pool in the middle. The pool was open, but a cool wind had got up so swimming wasn't an option. We cycled round the site and stayed in!! Earlier on our trip we had though about visiting Versailles following enjoying the tv series, but concerns about being too near to Paris and terrorism put us off and we decided to visit Monet's Garden at Givenchy, so that was the plan for the next day, followed by a campsite next to the Seine that night. We duly did that. Monet's garden was a little past its spring time best and packed. We waited an hour to get in, fortunately in the shade, and trudged round in queues. There was a little more space in the garden near the lilly ponds but the house was rammed. We came out reeling but found a nice table at a nice cafe for a nice lunch. The campsite was another former holiday resort site full of well established static vans and not much else on a long thin strip of land with a boarder on the Seine. Another night in after a walk by the Siene. Finally the holiday was over. Our last nigh was planned for a site near to Calais so we could get a reasonably early tunnel crossing and we ended up at Camping Municipal L'Olympic in Wimereux just north of Boulogne. The rain came as forecast and we had a damp walk along the shore to the town for our meal and eventually went in a hotel for a nice meal. The site was quite grotty and we couldn't work the showers in one toilet block and had an unsatisfactory experience in another. Wont go there again if we can help it. Tunnel - home. Done! Sad.
