Yes the old man finally got some pictures loaded but not neccessarily in the right order but hey!
XX
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
It’s a long one, Toad-in-the-hole and four super cakes, the holiday continues
12th to 16th May
It was very hard to leave Julie and Hana, Joan seemed a little dewy eyed as usual. It is always hard but this time it was just the fact that they were there all alone with so much to do. However as soon as we met Kathleen and Ken they quickly cheered us up. You have to say they are always so upbeat and pleased to see you, plus we knew we were going to see Julie and Hana again quite soon as they were coming to dinner with us all in our van on Friday.
We arrived at La Nautica camping at Narbonne before K&K and sorted a couple of nice pitches for us. They had been to this site before and highly recommended it as each pitch has its own private facilities. The first thing we had to do of course was hand over the tea bags and the book Kathleen’s daughter had given us, sadly Ken refused to wear the TuTu Kathleen said was his dress uniform so it was done in mufti, then it was time for a beer and some catching up with each other.
Thursday we got our bikes off and rode them for the first time this trip! We all set off for Narbonne, Joan and I taking the direct route and K&K going the long way around as they ride all year round and are pretty fit. We had started with some trepidation because I now had Joan’s bad head cold and a really bad cough plus we had to battle against a very strong gusty wind. We only went as far as Lidl to get the ingredients for tomorrow’s dinner and then returned with no problems and thoroughly enjoyed it, the round trip being some 9 miles. We later discovered we had only been two streets from the centre! The only fly in the ointment all the time we were on this site was the extremely high winds, which kept the temperatures well down and prevented the leisurely sitting out after dinner and sipping drinks.
Friday starts with great excitement as Joan is going to bake in her Remoska!!! I was to make the main dish, Chicken stir fry with rice and noodles. Joan started making a ‘Date & walnut cake’ plus a ‘German apple cake’ (both recipes courtesy of Chris Carville). I really cannot tell you just how wonderful the van smelled. Kathleen saw the German apple cake but Ken didn’t and she wrapped both in foil and put them away so she could surprise everybody later. Julie & Hana duly arrived and we all enjoyed a lovely evening. Finally Joan produced her two masterpieces and everybody was delighted, especially as they tasted even better than they looked! Ken who loves his food instantly declared his undying love and affection for Joan on the condition that she produces one or other of them on a daily basis!! Julie left about 9.30pm, but we did not worry too much as they only had about 12 miles to go and to be honest she is more French than the French. We were highly amused when this French man refused to believe she wasn’t French when they were chatting in Canet.
The next day we took K&K to Julies and as we reached about half way she texted us to say the road into the village was closed as there was a massive car boot sale! We misunderstood her message and continued and by good luck and a lot of giving way by locals we managed to get through, phew! I thought I had put you off until later she said, I wanted to do things for tea! In the event we all had a good time and Kathleen demonstrated her animal training skills by making all the dogs sit. We left for the final time with loads of eggs as Julie has her own huge Common Market egg glut! As we turned onto the main road, boy were we glad we hadn’t waited till later as the traffic was horrendous coming out from Narbonne and was hardly moving. Fortunately for us we were headed the other way and apart from a minor hold up at a roundabout got back to the site easily.
17th May we left Narbonne and travelled to St Martin de Crau, some 140 miles for a brief overnight stop. Sadly we still had the very strong winds and were seriously wondering just how far we would have to travel before we got warm barmy weather. The following morning we continued to Port Grimaud, another 130 miles and at last it seemed to be getting warmer. Les Prairies de la Mer is an adequate campsite in that we have a reasonable pitch, we can get bread and papers and the office are very helpful. It’s also in a brilliant position for cycling to various places all on proper cycle tracks and is right on the beach. The downside is that it’s enormous and the facilities are a bit far away so we tend to cycle to them. Nobody who knows Joan will be a bit surprised if I tell you that after her first shower she left to return to the van, while I shaved. After a brief interval I heard a voice say “Bryan, which way do I turn outside to get back to the van, every road looks the same? “
Since arriving here we have cycled to St. Maxime (9 miles) and St. Tropez (11miles), on these trips we tend to follow K&K so we can hang back if we get tired. However Ken stopped to take a photo and when we arrived back he had still not appeared. After a while it became apparent that something was seriously wrong and given his health record we began to worry so I returned to find him. He was ok but had a puncture and walked the last 2 miles!
Actually you wonder why we all love this cycling lark when you see what happens. Gina and Bob a lovely English couple who are on an adjacent pitch came back the other day and poor Gina had come off her bike and had a huge bruise on her shoulder and had also ripped the skin off her knee and all down her leg , it looked pretty bad. Step forward nurse Kathleen with some sort of new type of dressing which she put on and it seems to have helped a lot.
Sunday Joan and Kathleen wanted to ride to St. Maxime to go to church which we did and spent a very pleasant day there. On these occasions we tend to eat a large meal at a restaurant and just have a snack at tea time which we find works pretty well. On our ride back we stopped for an hour on a nice sandy beach and tried to get into the sea. The water is still a bit cold and it’s very stony at the water’s edge and for about 6ft into the sea so only hardy Joan actually immersed herself fully.
On Monday the 24th we took one of those little tourist train things up to Grimaud as we had been told it was too steep to cycle. It is a medieval hanging village with lots of picturesque little streets and alleys plus a ruined castle which provides a really good view of St. Tropez Bay so we had to go up of course. I wonder sometimes why we bother when we have castles in much better nick on every corner at home. Having said that we had a lovely wander around in sweltering sunshine and enjoyed a beer before returning. We then spent an hour on the beach but as it was quite windy Joan just topped up her tan and we didn’t attempt to swim.
Usually we meet lots of people from all over Europe and enjoy talking to them but this year apart from a very nice German couple at Narbonne who had very little English we seem destined to meet other English couples like Bob and Gina who we have got to know quite well over the week we have been here. Bob was in the Air force and met Gina in Cyprus when she was sweet sixteen. They have a huge motorhome and are very friendly, a lot like us, we have spent most evenings all together, enjoying a chat, and eating Gina’s cake and chocolate orange, Ken’s chocolate and then finally Joan’s German apple cake.
At this point you must be wondering to yourselves, why is it all going so well? This is really boring, we expect at least some small disasters. Well never fear, we try not to disappoint and this holiday is no exception. Apart from the fact that our sat-nav seems incapable of finding accurately anywhere we put the co-ordinates in for, there have been a couple of things.
First, on our arrival at this campsite I went around to remove the bikes only to discover that the special lock for the bikes was missing and was probably lying back at Narbonne somewhere.
Secondly you may or may not know this but I have a square blue bucket which is my pride and joy as it comes in soo handy for all sorts of tasks. The main one being taking our dishes to the washing up point then holding under a shower to gather hot water to wash up, this is necessary because the water provided is at best tepid. About a week ago I dropped it but thought nothing of it until that evening when I held my bucket up to the shower head and got soaked as it ran down my bloomin arm, well at least it was warm! Fortunately I was able to superglue it until I can replace it.
The third thing, they go in threes don’t they? Well our special low wattage kettle would not boil. It would got fairly hot and then switched off. I am sure you are thinking, well buy a new one, but it is not that simple and to date we have been unable to find one. I did strip it down in an attempt to disable the thermostat but failed miserably, so we were reduced to boiling the kettle so far then transferring the water to our gas kettle. We did this for several days and then it just started to work again so we are not sure we can count it really, except that now it will not switch off since I interfered with it.
For those not skilled in travelling around Europe for months it is necessary to conserve our gas as typically it is not available anywhere else. What this means of course is we are extremely miserly with it and usually return with loads left. This year of course we have the added advantage of the Remoska, recommended last year by our good friends Ingrid & Joe, in which so many complete meals are now cooked. So this is saving us lots of gas plus providing some wonderful moments including lovely cakes and a scrumptious Toad in the hole (see picture)
As yesterday was to be our last day all together Joan planned a surprise pudding and produced another German apple cake which was enjoyed by all. She also had a little cooking school in the van. The thing is Kathleen always says she cannot cook which is nonsense because she made a very tasty spagbol for us all a few nights ago and the last time we went to her house she had cooked one of Reena’s super curries. However she wanted to learn how to make cakes so had bought the dates and walnuts and she, Joan and Gina went into the van and they all emerged some time later smiling. After several nipping in and consulting timers it was done and Kathleen was walking around beaming and said she was going to do them at home. Ken said, Joan if I end up with a wife who bakes cakes I honestly don’t know how I will ever thank you. Quick as a flash Joan hissed at me, I told you I should have brought my Northern Goldsmiths brochure! That’s my girl.
26th May and we’re off again this time heading for Italy via Frejus which by the way has an accessories shop (bucket & Kettle) plus C&A’s and apparently a very good campsite with private facilities. Nobody reading this will be at all surprised that we were able to find the C&A’s with no trouble at all but the shop and campsite remain a complete mystery. However after some considerable time in C&A we did manage to successfully buy a pair of denim shorts which are wonderful because they can be buttoned at the side into shorts or lengthened so one can go into churches, lovely.
So there you are, I apologise for this being so long but it is the first time we have had wi-fi at a reasonable rate (€50 a week since we left Julies and of course when we stay somewhere there is no popping into Mac Donald’s. We left Kathleen & Ken today so God knows how they will survive until we see them again in Italy tomorrow but I am sure they will manage.
Lots of love to everybody
Joan & Bryan XXXXX
It was very hard to leave Julie and Hana, Joan seemed a little dewy eyed as usual. It is always hard but this time it was just the fact that they were there all alone with so much to do. However as soon as we met Kathleen and Ken they quickly cheered us up. You have to say they are always so upbeat and pleased to see you, plus we knew we were going to see Julie and Hana again quite soon as they were coming to dinner with us all in our van on Friday.
We arrived at La Nautica camping at Narbonne before K&K and sorted a couple of nice pitches for us. They had been to this site before and highly recommended it as each pitch has its own private facilities. The first thing we had to do of course was hand over the tea bags and the book Kathleen’s daughter had given us, sadly Ken refused to wear the TuTu Kathleen said was his dress uniform so it was done in mufti, then it was time for a beer and some catching up with each other.
Thursday we got our bikes off and rode them for the first time this trip! We all set off for Narbonne, Joan and I taking the direct route and K&K going the long way around as they ride all year round and are pretty fit. We had started with some trepidation because I now had Joan’s bad head cold and a really bad cough plus we had to battle against a very strong gusty wind. We only went as far as Lidl to get the ingredients for tomorrow’s dinner and then returned with no problems and thoroughly enjoyed it, the round trip being some 9 miles. We later discovered we had only been two streets from the centre! The only fly in the ointment all the time we were on this site was the extremely high winds, which kept the temperatures well down and prevented the leisurely sitting out after dinner and sipping drinks.
Friday starts with great excitement as Joan is going to bake in her Remoska!!! I was to make the main dish, Chicken stir fry with rice and noodles. Joan started making a ‘Date & walnut cake’ plus a ‘German apple cake’ (both recipes courtesy of Chris Carville). I really cannot tell you just how wonderful the van smelled. Kathleen saw the German apple cake but Ken didn’t and she wrapped both in foil and put them away so she could surprise everybody later. Julie & Hana duly arrived and we all enjoyed a lovely evening. Finally Joan produced her two masterpieces and everybody was delighted, especially as they tasted even better than they looked! Ken who loves his food instantly declared his undying love and affection for Joan on the condition that she produces one or other of them on a daily basis!! Julie left about 9.30pm, but we did not worry too much as they only had about 12 miles to go and to be honest she is more French than the French. We were highly amused when this French man refused to believe she wasn’t French when they were chatting in Canet.
The next day we took K&K to Julies and as we reached about half way she texted us to say the road into the village was closed as there was a massive car boot sale! We misunderstood her message and continued and by good luck and a lot of giving way by locals we managed to get through, phew! I thought I had put you off until later she said, I wanted to do things for tea! In the event we all had a good time and Kathleen demonstrated her animal training skills by making all the dogs sit. We left for the final time with loads of eggs as Julie has her own huge Common Market egg glut! As we turned onto the main road, boy were we glad we hadn’t waited till later as the traffic was horrendous coming out from Narbonne and was hardly moving. Fortunately for us we were headed the other way and apart from a minor hold up at a roundabout got back to the site easily.
17th May we left Narbonne and travelled to St Martin de Crau, some 140 miles for a brief overnight stop. Sadly we still had the very strong winds and were seriously wondering just how far we would have to travel before we got warm barmy weather. The following morning we continued to Port Grimaud, another 130 miles and at last it seemed to be getting warmer. Les Prairies de la Mer is an adequate campsite in that we have a reasonable pitch, we can get bread and papers and the office are very helpful. It’s also in a brilliant position for cycling to various places all on proper cycle tracks and is right on the beach. The downside is that it’s enormous and the facilities are a bit far away so we tend to cycle to them. Nobody who knows Joan will be a bit surprised if I tell you that after her first shower she left to return to the van, while I shaved. After a brief interval I heard a voice say “Bryan, which way do I turn outside to get back to the van, every road looks the same? “
Since arriving here we have cycled to St. Maxime (9 miles) and St. Tropez (11miles), on these trips we tend to follow K&K so we can hang back if we get tired. However Ken stopped to take a photo and when we arrived back he had still not appeared. After a while it became apparent that something was seriously wrong and given his health record we began to worry so I returned to find him. He was ok but had a puncture and walked the last 2 miles!
Actually you wonder why we all love this cycling lark when you see what happens. Gina and Bob a lovely English couple who are on an adjacent pitch came back the other day and poor Gina had come off her bike and had a huge bruise on her shoulder and had also ripped the skin off her knee and all down her leg , it looked pretty bad. Step forward nurse Kathleen with some sort of new type of dressing which she put on and it seems to have helped a lot.
Sunday Joan and Kathleen wanted to ride to St. Maxime to go to church which we did and spent a very pleasant day there. On these occasions we tend to eat a large meal at a restaurant and just have a snack at tea time which we find works pretty well. On our ride back we stopped for an hour on a nice sandy beach and tried to get into the sea. The water is still a bit cold and it’s very stony at the water’s edge and for about 6ft into the sea so only hardy Joan actually immersed herself fully.
On Monday the 24th we took one of those little tourist train things up to Grimaud as we had been told it was too steep to cycle. It is a medieval hanging village with lots of picturesque little streets and alleys plus a ruined castle which provides a really good view of St. Tropez Bay so we had to go up of course. I wonder sometimes why we bother when we have castles in much better nick on every corner at home. Having said that we had a lovely wander around in sweltering sunshine and enjoyed a beer before returning. We then spent an hour on the beach but as it was quite windy Joan just topped up her tan and we didn’t attempt to swim.
Usually we meet lots of people from all over Europe and enjoy talking to them but this year apart from a very nice German couple at Narbonne who had very little English we seem destined to meet other English couples like Bob and Gina who we have got to know quite well over the week we have been here. Bob was in the Air force and met Gina in Cyprus when she was sweet sixteen. They have a huge motorhome and are very friendly, a lot like us, we have spent most evenings all together, enjoying a chat, and eating Gina’s cake and chocolate orange, Ken’s chocolate and then finally Joan’s German apple cake.
At this point you must be wondering to yourselves, why is it all going so well? This is really boring, we expect at least some small disasters. Well never fear, we try not to disappoint and this holiday is no exception. Apart from the fact that our sat-nav seems incapable of finding accurately anywhere we put the co-ordinates in for, there have been a couple of things.
First, on our arrival at this campsite I went around to remove the bikes only to discover that the special lock for the bikes was missing and was probably lying back at Narbonne somewhere.
Secondly you may or may not know this but I have a square blue bucket which is my pride and joy as it comes in soo handy for all sorts of tasks. The main one being taking our dishes to the washing up point then holding under a shower to gather hot water to wash up, this is necessary because the water provided is at best tepid. About a week ago I dropped it but thought nothing of it until that evening when I held my bucket up to the shower head and got soaked as it ran down my bloomin arm, well at least it was warm! Fortunately I was able to superglue it until I can replace it.
The third thing, they go in threes don’t they? Well our special low wattage kettle would not boil. It would got fairly hot and then switched off. I am sure you are thinking, well buy a new one, but it is not that simple and to date we have been unable to find one. I did strip it down in an attempt to disable the thermostat but failed miserably, so we were reduced to boiling the kettle so far then transferring the water to our gas kettle. We did this for several days and then it just started to work again so we are not sure we can count it really, except that now it will not switch off since I interfered with it.
For those not skilled in travelling around Europe for months it is necessary to conserve our gas as typically it is not available anywhere else. What this means of course is we are extremely miserly with it and usually return with loads left. This year of course we have the added advantage of the Remoska, recommended last year by our good friends Ingrid & Joe, in which so many complete meals are now cooked. So this is saving us lots of gas plus providing some wonderful moments including lovely cakes and a scrumptious Toad in the hole (see picture)
As yesterday was to be our last day all together Joan planned a surprise pudding and produced another German apple cake which was enjoyed by all. She also had a little cooking school in the van. The thing is Kathleen always says she cannot cook which is nonsense because she made a very tasty spagbol for us all a few nights ago and the last time we went to her house she had cooked one of Reena’s super curries. However she wanted to learn how to make cakes so had bought the dates and walnuts and she, Joan and Gina went into the van and they all emerged some time later smiling. After several nipping in and consulting timers it was done and Kathleen was walking around beaming and said she was going to do them at home. Ken said, Joan if I end up with a wife who bakes cakes I honestly don’t know how I will ever thank you. Quick as a flash Joan hissed at me, I told you I should have brought my Northern Goldsmiths brochure! That’s my girl.
26th May and we’re off again this time heading for Italy via Frejus which by the way has an accessories shop (bucket & Kettle) plus C&A’s and apparently a very good campsite with private facilities. Nobody reading this will be at all surprised that we were able to find the C&A’s with no trouble at all but the shop and campsite remain a complete mystery. However after some considerable time in C&A we did manage to successfully buy a pair of denim shorts which are wonderful because they can be buttoned at the side into shorts or lengthened so one can go into churches, lovely.
So there you are, I apologise for this being so long but it is the first time we have had wi-fi at a reasonable rate (€50 a week since we left Julies and of course when we stay somewhere there is no popping into Mac Donald’s. We left Kathleen & Ken today so God knows how they will survive until we see them again in Italy tomorrow but I am sure they will manage.
Lots of love to everybody
Joan & Bryan XXXXX
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Julie's at last
7th May 2010
Having said a fond farewell to Kaye we headed for Julie and Khaled’s but when we phoned her we discovered that she was heading out and would not return until late that evening so it was easier all round for us to stay on an aire 65 miles away. This meant Julie did not have to worry about us and could enjoy her evening out and we could have a shorter drive that day. What she did not tell us was it was a soiree at which we would have been given FREE wine! However we did enjoy a pleasant drive plus an evening trying out our French with some other motorhomers and it was all very pleasant.
8th May 2010
We arrived refreshed and ready to attend the village’s ceremony honouring the Allies of world war two, at which Hana was going to carry the flowers to lay on their cenotaph. Sadly the night before she had been told she had to attend school so she missed it. Fortunately we did not as it was a classic French farce, don’t get me wrong it was a fairly solemn occasion and initially started well.
A large, important gentleman with a moustache sporting a row of small dress medals on a light coloured blazer was preparing the choir, while another chap practised the trombone. Meanwhile a chap in uniform we supposed to be a gendarme set up a microphone attached to a big speaker which we later learned also had a tape player in it. Large gent starts choir singing the Marseillaise, a small solemn procession enters stage right led by young man with tricolour. Trombonist suddenly realises he should be with procession and starts to play and runs to the back; everybody gets to memorial and deploys in semi-circle. Small smartly dressed deputy mayor with small children stands while choir sings all verses! Small children are restive, mayor grabs hand, and finally choir stops. They walk solemnly up and place wreath of flowers which will not stay and keeps trying to roll off! Having laid them on sideways, steps back for solemn moment then children are able to leave and join their mates.
Mayor approaches microphone and it promptly falls off with load bang as it hits the road, he picks it up and starts to address the crowd only to be instantly corrected by large choirmaster. As the exchange is in French we do not quite understand but it appears to be the date of the armistice which is under discussion!! As mayor finishes Gendarme starts tape only to be growled at by large gent, who approaches microphone and drops it on road again, bang! He makes a short speech, turns to choir, signals to man to start tape, choir starts to sing; large man stops choir and tape, something is wrong with tape. Tape restarts and finally it is alright and with loud applause we all retire to town hall for free drinks, peanuts and olives, marvellous. To be fair to him, the deputy mayor walks up and says did I look a real prat? We assured him he did not and truthfully he didn’t really, it was just funny to a visitor who didn’t know what was going on. What was nice though was how lovely everybody was to us but I think that was a lot to do with how well Julie and Khaled are respected.
Monday 9th - So on with the happy hols, the weather is decidedly warmer and we have had sunshine more or less all day today with Joan finally able to don her shorts! My inclination is to move on soon and get into Italy where hopefully the weather will continue to improve. That said it would take several days and we must deliver Kathleen and Kens tea bags first.
Tuesday 10th- Well we cannot believe it but it is really hot and we are both in shorts today. Just a day of pleasure. I cut the grass which sounds hard but it is such a huge garden that they have a sit on mower, so it was fun. We then made contact with K&K for the ceremonial handing over of the ‘T’ Bags tomorrow. We anticipate that they will both be in full ceremonial dress uniform and after the ceremony will suitably reward us with large libations of alcohol, olives etc. Sadly, the aforementioned trombonist will be at work and therefore unable to attend.
That’s all folks, sorry if it isn’t very long but we really have just been enjoying Julie, Hana and all the animals company.
All our love
‘US’ xxxx
Having said a fond farewell to Kaye we headed for Julie and Khaled’s but when we phoned her we discovered that she was heading out and would not return until late that evening so it was easier all round for us to stay on an aire 65 miles away. This meant Julie did not have to worry about us and could enjoy her evening out and we could have a shorter drive that day. What she did not tell us was it was a soiree at which we would have been given FREE wine! However we did enjoy a pleasant drive plus an evening trying out our French with some other motorhomers and it was all very pleasant.
8th May 2010
We arrived refreshed and ready to attend the village’s ceremony honouring the Allies of world war two, at which Hana was going to carry the flowers to lay on their cenotaph. Sadly the night before she had been told she had to attend school so she missed it. Fortunately we did not as it was a classic French farce, don’t get me wrong it was a fairly solemn occasion and initially started well.
A large, important gentleman with a moustache sporting a row of small dress medals on a light coloured blazer was preparing the choir, while another chap practised the trombone. Meanwhile a chap in uniform we supposed to be a gendarme set up a microphone attached to a big speaker which we later learned also had a tape player in it. Large gent starts choir singing the Marseillaise, a small solemn procession enters stage right led by young man with tricolour. Trombonist suddenly realises he should be with procession and starts to play and runs to the back; everybody gets to memorial and deploys in semi-circle. Small smartly dressed deputy mayor with small children stands while choir sings all verses! Small children are restive, mayor grabs hand, and finally choir stops. They walk solemnly up and place wreath of flowers which will not stay and keeps trying to roll off! Having laid them on sideways, steps back for solemn moment then children are able to leave and join their mates.
Mayor approaches microphone and it promptly falls off with load bang as it hits the road, he picks it up and starts to address the crowd only to be instantly corrected by large choirmaster. As the exchange is in French we do not quite understand but it appears to be the date of the armistice which is under discussion!! As mayor finishes Gendarme starts tape only to be growled at by large gent, who approaches microphone and drops it on road again, bang! He makes a short speech, turns to choir, signals to man to start tape, choir starts to sing; large man stops choir and tape, something is wrong with tape. Tape restarts and finally it is alright and with loud applause we all retire to town hall for free drinks, peanuts and olives, marvellous. To be fair to him, the deputy mayor walks up and says did I look a real prat? We assured him he did not and truthfully he didn’t really, it was just funny to a visitor who didn’t know what was going on. What was nice though was how lovely everybody was to us but I think that was a lot to do with how well Julie and Khaled are respected.
Monday 9th - So on with the happy hols, the weather is decidedly warmer and we have had sunshine more or less all day today with Joan finally able to don her shorts! My inclination is to move on soon and get into Italy where hopefully the weather will continue to improve. That said it would take several days and we must deliver Kathleen and Kens tea bags first.
Tuesday 10th- Well we cannot believe it but it is really hot and we are both in shorts today. Just a day of pleasure. I cut the grass which sounds hard but it is such a huge garden that they have a sit on mower, so it was fun. We then made contact with K&K for the ceremonial handing over of the ‘T’ Bags tomorrow. We anticipate that they will both be in full ceremonial dress uniform and after the ceremony will suitably reward us with large libations of alcohol, olives etc. Sadly, the aforementioned trombonist will be at work and therefore unable to attend.
That’s all folks, sorry if it isn’t very long but we really have just been enjoying Julie, Hana and all the animals company.
All our love
‘US’ xxxx
Friday, 7 May 2010
Angela Paul and a 3 legged dog! We've started.
6th May Polling day, good luck Andy X
Many of you will be wondering where the hell we are and why we have not posted anything as yet, no? Oh well, here’s why anyway especially for Pam, Maria and Marion who we know will be watching the blog.
Having left home on the Thursday, travelled to London, then popped up to Oxford on the Monday to see Andy, Carole, Joe and Eleanor for a couple of nights. It was great to see them all and have time to chat as we hadn’t had time to say more than two words to them on the wedding weekend. Thank you Carole for the recipe for the delicious chicken dish you cooked for us. We then returned to London and stayed with Angela and Paul, so all in all we spent 9 days in London. They as usual made us more than welcome and ran us around all over the place, and kept feeding us! We really felt as though we’d had a brilliant week’s holiday. Thank you both so much.
I think we also have to mention Pam & Colin who have spent more time going to our house and checking things for us than is really fair. Thanks X
While we were in London we managed to see Jamie and Tim twice which was great. We had a couple of nice meals with them and Tim disappeared at one point. He’d gone to the bookshop next door and returned with two books for us for our holiday which he thought we’d enjoy, so kind of him. We also caught Stephen and Reena just before we left for France which was a lovely bonus as we feared we would not see them until August when we return. The London tube is always good for a laugh and as you know things tend to happen to us, this trip was no exception. While returning on the northern line from an excellent meal with the boys in Waterloo we encountered a three legged dog! He was being carried around by his master in a wicker basket; you see, all life is here in these pages.
At 5am bank holiday Monday my lovely sister and Paul got up to see us off, Paul moved his car which was blocking the road outside. This was so that I could get some sleep as I was really worried we would be unable to leave if a neighbour parked there as they often do. Our trip to the Eurotunnel was uneventful and we arrived a little early so were offered the earlier train, which was fine by us. Joan and I had been a little worried about what to do on arrival but it was very simple as they employ a system of number plate recognition, so as we pulled up it addressed us as Mr Crick, amazing. Then after a swift check that our gas was turned off we were sent to board the train. Almost immediately this lady appeared, put chocks under our wheels and we were off. 35 minutes later we drove off and straight onto the motorway heading for our first nights stop, all we had managed to do was have some muesli and a drink of water!
I must say that this was the most hassle free way to go but personally I missed my breakfast! Those of you who have read previous blog’s will know that as soon as we get on board the ferry we make for the restaurant and have a full English breakfast plus tea, toast and marmalade. Never mind, we are here in La Belle France and as usual there is no traffic on the road so we are bowling along heading for the south avoiding Paris like the plague. After a pleasant couple of hundred miles we stopped at a little campsite which appeared totally deserted except for the sign on the door which more or less said help yourself, we will return later. Having quickly checked the facilities, (which were spotless), we did. Later turned out to be the next morning, so it’s a good job we did not wait up!
Next day we set off for Kaye’s house and somehow got our addresses mixed up, I am hurt to notice that none of you are surprised! However whenever we talk about Kaye and Phil for some reason we always refer to them living at Airvault, so we headed there. On arrival we realised it was far too big a town and could not for the life of us remember the name of their village. We did remember that they were very friendly with the English couple who have a campsite here so we headed for that. They were very nice and just as they told us the name of Kaye’s village it came to Joan, Oiron! Not funny as I had already driven about 180 miles but it was 5 miles back along narrow country roads. Kaye was very happy to see us and amused at our brilliant route finding.
Kaye and her partner Phil have bought a huge house which was in very bad repair and while he works away in Libya she is renovating it and setting up as a B&B or Chambres d’hotes as it is called here. It is impossible to describe what this girl has done, suffice to say that this year she has opened and awaits her first guests, and I wish I could plaster the way she does!!! Plus if all the things she is growing come up she will be virtually self sufficient, where does she find the time? We spent a lovely couple of days together and she had a well earned rest/day off when we all visited Thouars old town, which was really great but we suffered from the Kathleen and Ken syndrome, i.e. neither of us remembered the bloomin camera!
So there you are, this is our first week. On the whole it’s dry and quite sunny but if it doesn’t get warmer soon I think we will go home and book a cruise to the tropics, ‘cause it’s bloomin freezing!
Oops! Sorry Stephen we just sat down to watch the DVD you did for us of the photos and I have left it at Angela’s, hopefully Joan will forgive me eventually.
Lots of love
Bryan & Joan
XXXX
Many of you will be wondering where the hell we are and why we have not posted anything as yet, no? Oh well, here’s why anyway especially for Pam, Maria and Marion who we know will be watching the blog.
Having left home on the Thursday, travelled to London, then popped up to Oxford on the Monday to see Andy, Carole, Joe and Eleanor for a couple of nights. It was great to see them all and have time to chat as we hadn’t had time to say more than two words to them on the wedding weekend. Thank you Carole for the recipe for the delicious chicken dish you cooked for us. We then returned to London and stayed with Angela and Paul, so all in all we spent 9 days in London. They as usual made us more than welcome and ran us around all over the place, and kept feeding us! We really felt as though we’d had a brilliant week’s holiday. Thank you both so much.
I think we also have to mention Pam & Colin who have spent more time going to our house and checking things for us than is really fair. Thanks X
While we were in London we managed to see Jamie and Tim twice which was great. We had a couple of nice meals with them and Tim disappeared at one point. He’d gone to the bookshop next door and returned with two books for us for our holiday which he thought we’d enjoy, so kind of him. We also caught Stephen and Reena just before we left for France which was a lovely bonus as we feared we would not see them until August when we return. The London tube is always good for a laugh and as you know things tend to happen to us, this trip was no exception. While returning on the northern line from an excellent meal with the boys in Waterloo we encountered a three legged dog! He was being carried around by his master in a wicker basket; you see, all life is here in these pages.
At 5am bank holiday Monday my lovely sister and Paul got up to see us off, Paul moved his car which was blocking the road outside. This was so that I could get some sleep as I was really worried we would be unable to leave if a neighbour parked there as they often do. Our trip to the Eurotunnel was uneventful and we arrived a little early so were offered the earlier train, which was fine by us. Joan and I had been a little worried about what to do on arrival but it was very simple as they employ a system of number plate recognition, so as we pulled up it addressed us as Mr Crick, amazing. Then after a swift check that our gas was turned off we were sent to board the train. Almost immediately this lady appeared, put chocks under our wheels and we were off. 35 minutes later we drove off and straight onto the motorway heading for our first nights stop, all we had managed to do was have some muesli and a drink of water!
I must say that this was the most hassle free way to go but personally I missed my breakfast! Those of you who have read previous blog’s will know that as soon as we get on board the ferry we make for the restaurant and have a full English breakfast plus tea, toast and marmalade. Never mind, we are here in La Belle France and as usual there is no traffic on the road so we are bowling along heading for the south avoiding Paris like the plague. After a pleasant couple of hundred miles we stopped at a little campsite which appeared totally deserted except for the sign on the door which more or less said help yourself, we will return later. Having quickly checked the facilities, (which were spotless), we did. Later turned out to be the next morning, so it’s a good job we did not wait up!
Next day we set off for Kaye’s house and somehow got our addresses mixed up, I am hurt to notice that none of you are surprised! However whenever we talk about Kaye and Phil for some reason we always refer to them living at Airvault, so we headed there. On arrival we realised it was far too big a town and could not for the life of us remember the name of their village. We did remember that they were very friendly with the English couple who have a campsite here so we headed for that. They were very nice and just as they told us the name of Kaye’s village it came to Joan, Oiron! Not funny as I had already driven about 180 miles but it was 5 miles back along narrow country roads. Kaye was very happy to see us and amused at our brilliant route finding.
Kaye and her partner Phil have bought a huge house which was in very bad repair and while he works away in Libya she is renovating it and setting up as a B&B or Chambres d’hotes as it is called here. It is impossible to describe what this girl has done, suffice to say that this year she has opened and awaits her first guests, and I wish I could plaster the way she does!!! Plus if all the things she is growing come up she will be virtually self sufficient, where does she find the time? We spent a lovely couple of days together and she had a well earned rest/day off when we all visited Thouars old town, which was really great but we suffered from the Kathleen and Ken syndrome, i.e. neither of us remembered the bloomin camera!
So there you are, this is our first week. On the whole it’s dry and quite sunny but if it doesn’t get warmer soon I think we will go home and book a cruise to the tropics, ‘cause it’s bloomin freezing!
Oops! Sorry Stephen we just sat down to watch the DVD you did for us of the photos and I have left it at Angela’s, hopefully Joan will forgive me eventually.
Lots of love
Bryan & Joan
XXXX
Monday, 19 April 2010
It's nearly May!
Yes it's May in eleven days time and so nearly time for us to start on our trip for this year. Several people have been kind enough to say they will be reading this blog so I thought well we better make sure it's still working and more importantly can we get pictures onto it etc.
So sorry if you thought this was going to be a long one I am off now and will check it's all working with some of those I know who follow us plus here (Ihope) is a picture to prove how well we scrub up when we try.
Love
For now
US! XXX
So sorry if you thought this was going to be a long one I am off now and will check it's all working with some of those I know who follow us plus here (Ihope) is a picture to prove how well we scrub up when we try.
Love
For now
US! XXX
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Wow! Joseph and eleanor then home to hospital!
19th – 24th July
Hooray! The children are coming today and Joan and I are already at the site all set up and waiting. Having had a text from Andy to say they are off the ferry and on their way we reckon as it is only about 90 miles they will be with us in a couple of hours. 4 hours later we are beginning to become alarmed, where are they? It turns out that Andy has taken a slight detour/ taken the wrong turning, and is still about an hour away! But eventually they arrive and as all of you who have grandchildren will know, just bounced out of the car and hit the ground running, wow. So this is what it’s like living through a hurricane, exhausting but wonderful.
Right first job put up their new tent which has not been erected by them before because it is too big for their back garden, unless they want to put it over the flower beds. Fortunately Andy did have the instructions as I had never seen a tent this shape before. To be honest we never did quite get it perfect and Andy kept adjusting bits the entire time. Unfortunately it was immediately apparent that although the seller said it had only been used a couple of times it had not been looked after and had in fact been put away damp, plus a couple of fixing points were broken. It did the trick though of giving them shelter for sleeping. We had already arranged that all cooking etc would be done in the van so it all worked fine. We would all rather have eaten outside as it is such good fun, plus it does not matter if you drop something but the weather was not really good enough with often a stiff breeze so we ate inside. Although we had picked a pitch near the toilets so the children could nip in if they needed, after the first night we realised it was a mistake. It was the meeting point for all the teenagers on the site, carrying on and with music playing on their mobile phones. Although Andy protested, Joan and Carole decided we would move in the morning and I have been married far too long to argue, so we did. The children really enjoyed being in France and as they had money to spend in the shops they were equally delighted and delightful with their “bonjour & merci”, plus Joe was our official bread buyer for breakfast. Every morning a van came to the site just near us and he went with our order of Pain au chocolat, croixants and baguettes, ooh I'm feeling hungry just thinking about it! They really enjoyed the camping experience and I will be surprised if they don’t go again.
One fairly amusing thing to happen was the peculiar smell. a couple of days before they arrived Joan and I were sitting having a drink and I said to her gosh I really must wash my sandels as I think they are very smelly. So having done so I thought that would be the end of it until having put the children to bed we were all sitting in the van having a chat and a glass of wine I noticed it again so when they left I told Joan and we thought I should wash them again. However the next morning I was standing over near the cooker, the smell was putrid and my sandels were outside! You know what Joan, I think I know where the piece of cheese we lost is, it's in this cooker. Immediately we started to empty the oven which we only use for storing vegetables and found the cause of the problem. It was a rotten potato and boy was it ripe! Later the next day having totally aired the van we asked Carole if she had noticed it and she said oh yes I just thought it was Bryan's feet and didn't like to say.
Some nights we had really heavy rain and Andy was quite worried as they did have a couple of leaks. One night/early morning about 2am I awoke to hear a huge downpour and suddenly thunder and lightning. I leaped out of bed and rushed out to make sure they were alright only to be greeted by cheery greetings from the tent, yes we are fine said Carole, but I was worried so I nipped back in and put up our lounge bed, which is enormous, just in case. In the event next morning we found they had all gone back to sleep and all was well.
Sadly our weather could have been better, after all it was the end of July, but the children did go on to the beach every single day. Joe was fearless and straight into the water as soon as possible but Eleanor at 4 years of age decided she preferred the pools some of which were quite big. The beach here is pebbles when the tide is in but very soon after it starts to go out there is sand, so apart from a couple of hours when it comes right in it was always fun. Most of the time we were there the tides were favourable but on the last full day as it was not out early on so we took them to St.Valery en Caux (mentioned earlier), parked on the Aire and all climbed the cliff and then enjoyed lunch in the town square. After a visit to the Patisserie for some wonderful cakes it was time to return to the campsite where the tide had receded enough for them to spend the rest of the day on the beach.
So all too soon it was the last day but as their ferry was not until the evening we suggested breaking the journey at Le Treport. This is a very nice little place where Joan and I had spent a few days last year. Andy and Carole really liked it and the children were pleased as they got another chance to shop with the holiday money they had left. We all enjoyed a very nice meal and then Joan and I left them to go on the funicular railway up to the top of the cliff while we headed for our ferry at Dunkirk. We had decided to return a few days early as we wanted to see Jamie before he went on holiday, spend a bit of time with Stephen and Reena and we were also anxious to get home to see Jacqueline who’d had an operation the week before. I am a great believer in the fact that everything happens for a reason and so I am convinced we returned early because of the pending disaster with Joan ending up in hospital. Whatever it was I am so glad we did come home when we did.
So there it is another 3 months holiday in Europe during which time we have met some wonderful people and stayed in some lovely places. We have enjoyed all sorts of weather and seen some outstanding scenery. So thank you to all the people who helped to make it another memorable holiday.
Lots of love
Bryan & Joan
xxxx
p.s. Hello everybody,
First may I apologise for making this a sort of round robin but I have had my plate a little full of late and now I expect to be fairly busy with the patient.
So the story is that the day after we returned to England from our holiday Joan became very ill. Because of the world wide panic about swine flu she was wrongly diagnosed on line as having it. This happened while we were stating in London at my sister’s house and it was really impossible to get any sort of medical help, plus the fact that it was a Sunday did not help. So we returned to Gateshead on the Monday and first thing Tuesday I got the Tami flu which was prescribed, this has apparently caused Joan some liver damage but hopefully this will regenerate itself. Joan had spoken to a doctor and they were reluctant to visit because of the flu scare but we decided enough was enough. So I phoned and insisted that the doctor visited her as she was in a lot of pain and had a very high temperature plus her breathing was very shallow. Within 20 minutes the top man at the practice arrived took one look at her, had a quick listen to her chest and her back and called an ambulance. He told us he suspected she had pneumonia and was very ill indeed. The ambulance came within a very short time and admitted her to hospital where because of the flu she was put into isolation. By now she could not have cared one way or the other as she was so ill, they had her on oxygen, a saline drip and huge amounts of antibiotics. Having assessed her she was moved to another ward and started to feel marginally better.
One of the things getting her down was the total isolation as everybody who entered the room had masks, aprons and rubber gloves on and spent as little time as possible in there, plus they did not talk to her. I had always tried to tell them that she did NOT have swine flu but to no avail, then I spoke to one of the doctors. He said well her swabs said...............oh she hasn’t been swabbed yet! He promptly did it and that afternoon when it showed negative they opened her door took the RED sign off it and started treating her like a human being. Finally she was beginning to feel a bit better but still had excruciating pain when she breathed or moved. Finally they said all the treatments were working and that she should go home as she would get better sooner there. That night she had a horrendous night and next day they said she couldn’t go home. However on Monday the head man arrived and told her it was quite normal and that it would take at least a month for the pain to ease completely maybe longer and a full two months to full recovery. So there we are, this of course is a précis of the last 14 days, she is home and has had the best nights sleep she has had for ages, and hopefully her recovery will continue now.
She has asked me to say thank you to all of you for your prayers, kind thoughts, flowers, chocolates and cards.
Lots of love
Joan & Bryan
XXXX
Hooray! The children are coming today and Joan and I are already at the site all set up and waiting. Having had a text from Andy to say they are off the ferry and on their way we reckon as it is only about 90 miles they will be with us in a couple of hours. 4 hours later we are beginning to become alarmed, where are they? It turns out that Andy has taken a slight detour/ taken the wrong turning, and is still about an hour away! But eventually they arrive and as all of you who have grandchildren will know, just bounced out of the car and hit the ground running, wow. So this is what it’s like living through a hurricane, exhausting but wonderful.
Right first job put up their new tent which has not been erected by them before because it is too big for their back garden, unless they want to put it over the flower beds. Fortunately Andy did have the instructions as I had never seen a tent this shape before. To be honest we never did quite get it perfect and Andy kept adjusting bits the entire time. Unfortunately it was immediately apparent that although the seller said it had only been used a couple of times it had not been looked after and had in fact been put away damp, plus a couple of fixing points were broken. It did the trick though of giving them shelter for sleeping. We had already arranged that all cooking etc would be done in the van so it all worked fine. We would all rather have eaten outside as it is such good fun, plus it does not matter if you drop something but the weather was not really good enough with often a stiff breeze so we ate inside. Although we had picked a pitch near the toilets so the children could nip in if they needed, after the first night we realised it was a mistake. It was the meeting point for all the teenagers on the site, carrying on and with music playing on their mobile phones. Although Andy protested, Joan and Carole decided we would move in the morning and I have been married far too long to argue, so we did. The children really enjoyed being in France and as they had money to spend in the shops they were equally delighted and delightful with their “bonjour & merci”, plus Joe was our official bread buyer for breakfast. Every morning a van came to the site just near us and he went with our order of Pain au chocolat, croixants and baguettes, ooh I'm feeling hungry just thinking about it! They really enjoyed the camping experience and I will be surprised if they don’t go again.
One fairly amusing thing to happen was the peculiar smell. a couple of days before they arrived Joan and I were sitting having a drink and I said to her gosh I really must wash my sandels as I think they are very smelly. So having done so I thought that would be the end of it until having put the children to bed we were all sitting in the van having a chat and a glass of wine I noticed it again so when they left I told Joan and we thought I should wash them again. However the next morning I was standing over near the cooker, the smell was putrid and my sandels were outside! You know what Joan, I think I know where the piece of cheese we lost is, it's in this cooker. Immediately we started to empty the oven which we only use for storing vegetables and found the cause of the problem. It was a rotten potato and boy was it ripe! Later the next day having totally aired the van we asked Carole if she had noticed it and she said oh yes I just thought it was Bryan's feet and didn't like to say.
Some nights we had really heavy rain and Andy was quite worried as they did have a couple of leaks. One night/early morning about 2am I awoke to hear a huge downpour and suddenly thunder and lightning. I leaped out of bed and rushed out to make sure they were alright only to be greeted by cheery greetings from the tent, yes we are fine said Carole, but I was worried so I nipped back in and put up our lounge bed, which is enormous, just in case. In the event next morning we found they had all gone back to sleep and all was well.
Sadly our weather could have been better, after all it was the end of July, but the children did go on to the beach every single day. Joe was fearless and straight into the water as soon as possible but Eleanor at 4 years of age decided she preferred the pools some of which were quite big. The beach here is pebbles when the tide is in but very soon after it starts to go out there is sand, so apart from a couple of hours when it comes right in it was always fun. Most of the time we were there the tides were favourable but on the last full day as it was not out early on so we took them to St.Valery en Caux (mentioned earlier), parked on the Aire and all climbed the cliff and then enjoyed lunch in the town square. After a visit to the Patisserie for some wonderful cakes it was time to return to the campsite where the tide had receded enough for them to spend the rest of the day on the beach.
So all too soon it was the last day but as their ferry was not until the evening we suggested breaking the journey at Le Treport. This is a very nice little place where Joan and I had spent a few days last year. Andy and Carole really liked it and the children were pleased as they got another chance to shop with the holiday money they had left. We all enjoyed a very nice meal and then Joan and I left them to go on the funicular railway up to the top of the cliff while we headed for our ferry at Dunkirk. We had decided to return a few days early as we wanted to see Jamie before he went on holiday, spend a bit of time with Stephen and Reena and we were also anxious to get home to see Jacqueline who’d had an operation the week before. I am a great believer in the fact that everything happens for a reason and so I am convinced we returned early because of the pending disaster with Joan ending up in hospital. Whatever it was I am so glad we did come home when we did.
So there it is another 3 months holiday in Europe during which time we have met some wonderful people and stayed in some lovely places. We have enjoyed all sorts of weather and seen some outstanding scenery. So thank you to all the people who helped to make it another memorable holiday.
Lots of love
Bryan & Joan
xxxx
p.s. Hello everybody,
First may I apologise for making this a sort of round robin but I have had my plate a little full of late and now I expect to be fairly busy with the patient.
So the story is that the day after we returned to England from our holiday Joan became very ill. Because of the world wide panic about swine flu she was wrongly diagnosed on line as having it. This happened while we were stating in London at my sister’s house and it was really impossible to get any sort of medical help, plus the fact that it was a Sunday did not help. So we returned to Gateshead on the Monday and first thing Tuesday I got the Tami flu which was prescribed, this has apparently caused Joan some liver damage but hopefully this will regenerate itself. Joan had spoken to a doctor and they were reluctant to visit because of the flu scare but we decided enough was enough. So I phoned and insisted that the doctor visited her as she was in a lot of pain and had a very high temperature plus her breathing was very shallow. Within 20 minutes the top man at the practice arrived took one look at her, had a quick listen to her chest and her back and called an ambulance. He told us he suspected she had pneumonia and was very ill indeed. The ambulance came within a very short time and admitted her to hospital where because of the flu she was put into isolation. By now she could not have cared one way or the other as she was so ill, they had her on oxygen, a saline drip and huge amounts of antibiotics. Having assessed her she was moved to another ward and started to feel marginally better.
One of the things getting her down was the total isolation as everybody who entered the room had masks, aprons and rubber gloves on and spent as little time as possible in there, plus they did not talk to her. I had always tried to tell them that she did NOT have swine flu but to no avail, then I spoke to one of the doctors. He said well her swabs said...............oh she hasn’t been swabbed yet! He promptly did it and that afternoon when it showed negative they opened her door took the RED sign off it and started treating her like a human being. Finally she was beginning to feel a bit better but still had excruciating pain when she breathed or moved. Finally they said all the treatments were working and that she should go home as she would get better sooner there. That night she had a horrendous night and next day they said she couldn’t go home. However on Monday the head man arrived and told her it was quite normal and that it would take at least a month for the pain to ease completely maybe longer and a full two months to full recovery. So there we are, this of course is a précis of the last 14 days, she is home and has had the best nights sleep she has had for ages, and hopefully her recovery will continue now.
She has asked me to say thank you to all of you for your prayers, kind thoughts, flowers, chocolates and cards.
Lots of love
Joan & Bryan
XXXX
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Sea? What sea? How many millions of gallons?
14th to 18th July
Well now we know it definitely is Bastille Day and everything in France is closed. Fortunately we have loads of food so no need to worry and of course the boulangerie (bakers), are open first thing every day. We are heading for the “best aire in France” according to the book. This aire is reached up a single track road running alongside the port entrance. The main problem with this is that it is not straight but curves fairly sharply around so you cannot see if anybody is coming the other way, we have seen some huge vans having to reverse out of the way. On our arrival it looks absolutely packed and we park at the side of the road and are about to look for somewhere else nearby when the Dutch chap in the van next to us says, just stay there, nobody will mind, so we did. Then about 2 hours later we saw a van leaving a prime spot and quickly nipped in there. The weather is amazing so hot and sunny, having wandered around the village and along the pebble beach, plus of course a visit to the lighthouse we just chilled out on our chairs. This is one of the nice things about aires you tend to sit at the back of your van and chat to the people either side while sipping your drink. We saw a really good sunset at around 10pm and made our plans for tomorrow.
Somewhere along the line we got our lines crossed with Carole and Andy and headed for Le Crotoy some 50 odd miles further up the coast towards Boulogne. This seemed like a very good idea as the children would not have to sit in the car for hours on end. We went to check out the place and stayed on the biggest aire we have ever seen. It holds some 70 vans and so we could not imagine having any trouble getting on, which was the case. As soon as we were set up we got our bikes off and cycled to find the campsite we thought we were booked on for Sunday. We were soo excited as Joseph and Eleanor were coming with a tent to spend some time with us in Normandy. Carole says they are very excited and it is very difficult to keep them calm but I reckon Joan is worse, we keep stopping at shops and she says I think I should get this or that for them.
Anyway having cycled for several miles we arrived at the seaside where there was no sign of any sea? Still we cycled back to the two campsites we had passed and inquired if we were booked in, and received a negative answer. So we returned to the town and enquired at both the campsites there and received the same answer, strange? Having returned to our van we were just chilling out with a drink when there was a very loud noise from a siren. Gosh I said to Joan there must be a factory near here, I wonder what they make? About 20 minutes later Joan who had been reading a booklet from the tourist information shop suddenly exclaimed, “my God!” That’s not a factory siren, 5 hours after high tide they open the flood gates over there and release millions of gallons of water onto the beach. We had this picture in our heads of us all being on the beach happily playing and suddenly this siren goes off and we grab everything and run like hell, weird. What was worse was we could see us hearing it seeing people running and thinking it was some sort of dinner bell! The leaflet also explained that the sea went out for 9 miles!!
Fortunately about now we got a text saying, we are not going to Le Crotoy but a place called Quiberville plage, which was about 5 miles from where we had been when we set of to Le Crotoy! However we had enjoyed the trip and our main concern was to ensure the site was good and we could get a couple of pitches adjacent in the hope that Carole and Andy could go out for a free evening and enjoy a meal or at the least a couple of drinks. On our arrival the site was very nice and the pitches were enormous. It very soon became apparent that we could all get onto one pitch, great. As the lady had no booking although Carole had emailed her we went around and picked one which seemed perfect and booked us all in, then went off to Veules les Roses a free aire about 5 miles away. It was amazing it must be highly recommended in a German book of aires as everybody else had a ‘D’ on their number plate. We had a quick look around to see if possibly our friends Joe & Ingrid were among them but we were pretty sure they had gone home by now. Most of the van’s seemed to be full of children and this raised our excitement levels as we anticipated Joe and Eleanor’s arrival. Sadly we did not go very far as it rained more or less continuously shame for the kids. Next day we went back to the port aire at St Valen Caux which was only a couple of miles further on so we arrived pretty early and explored the area, which was to prove useful later in the week.
To be continued..................................
Love
Joan and Bryan xxx
p.s. As many of you know we are home now and Joan is very ill with pneumonia so I will add here that she is much improved and apart from difficulty breathing is much better. She is receiving antibiotics and very good care. x
I should also explain that this has NOT been veted by management so the grammer/spelling may be iffy.
Well now we know it definitely is Bastille Day and everything in France is closed. Fortunately we have loads of food so no need to worry and of course the boulangerie (bakers), are open first thing every day. We are heading for the “best aire in France” according to the book. This aire is reached up a single track road running alongside the port entrance. The main problem with this is that it is not straight but curves fairly sharply around so you cannot see if anybody is coming the other way, we have seen some huge vans having to reverse out of the way. On our arrival it looks absolutely packed and we park at the side of the road and are about to look for somewhere else nearby when the Dutch chap in the van next to us says, just stay there, nobody will mind, so we did. Then about 2 hours later we saw a van leaving a prime spot and quickly nipped in there. The weather is amazing so hot and sunny, having wandered around the village and along the pebble beach, plus of course a visit to the lighthouse we just chilled out on our chairs. This is one of the nice things about aires you tend to sit at the back of your van and chat to the people either side while sipping your drink. We saw a really good sunset at around 10pm and made our plans for tomorrow.
Somewhere along the line we got our lines crossed with Carole and Andy and headed for Le Crotoy some 50 odd miles further up the coast towards Boulogne. This seemed like a very good idea as the children would not have to sit in the car for hours on end. We went to check out the place and stayed on the biggest aire we have ever seen. It holds some 70 vans and so we could not imagine having any trouble getting on, which was the case. As soon as we were set up we got our bikes off and cycled to find the campsite we thought we were booked on for Sunday. We were soo excited as Joseph and Eleanor were coming with a tent to spend some time with us in Normandy. Carole says they are very excited and it is very difficult to keep them calm but I reckon Joan is worse, we keep stopping at shops and she says I think I should get this or that for them.
Anyway having cycled for several miles we arrived at the seaside where there was no sign of any sea? Still we cycled back to the two campsites we had passed and inquired if we were booked in, and received a negative answer. So we returned to the town and enquired at both the campsites there and received the same answer, strange? Having returned to our van we were just chilling out with a drink when there was a very loud noise from a siren. Gosh I said to Joan there must be a factory near here, I wonder what they make? About 20 minutes later Joan who had been reading a booklet from the tourist information shop suddenly exclaimed, “my God!” That’s not a factory siren, 5 hours after high tide they open the flood gates over there and release millions of gallons of water onto the beach. We had this picture in our heads of us all being on the beach happily playing and suddenly this siren goes off and we grab everything and run like hell, weird. What was worse was we could see us hearing it seeing people running and thinking it was some sort of dinner bell! The leaflet also explained that the sea went out for 9 miles!!
Fortunately about now we got a text saying, we are not going to Le Crotoy but a place called Quiberville plage, which was about 5 miles from where we had been when we set of to Le Crotoy! However we had enjoyed the trip and our main concern was to ensure the site was good and we could get a couple of pitches adjacent in the hope that Carole and Andy could go out for a free evening and enjoy a meal or at the least a couple of drinks. On our arrival the site was very nice and the pitches were enormous. It very soon became apparent that we could all get onto one pitch, great. As the lady had no booking although Carole had emailed her we went around and picked one which seemed perfect and booked us all in, then went off to Veules les Roses a free aire about 5 miles away. It was amazing it must be highly recommended in a German book of aires as everybody else had a ‘D’ on their number plate. We had a quick look around to see if possibly our friends Joe & Ingrid were among them but we were pretty sure they had gone home by now. Most of the van’s seemed to be full of children and this raised our excitement levels as we anticipated Joe and Eleanor’s arrival. Sadly we did not go very far as it rained more or less continuously shame for the kids. Next day we went back to the port aire at St Valen Caux which was only a couple of miles further on so we arrived pretty early and explored the area, which was to prove useful later in the week.
To be continued..................................
Love
Joan and Bryan xxx
p.s. As many of you know we are home now and Joan is very ill with pneumonia so I will add here that she is much improved and apart from difficulty breathing is much better. She is receiving antibiotics and very good care. x
I should also explain that this has NOT been veted by management so the grammer/spelling may be iffy.
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