THEY saw a weather forecast saying it was going to improve from the south through the week and be very warm with above average temperatures by the weekend. (‘Sunshine in the south’? When did we hear that before?) So they packed up on Monday morning 10th October, with help from some nice German neighbours and stuffed a wet, muddy ‘Harriette’ (the awning) into a black bag and then into Sally’s boot, and with only a little sliding we got off the pitch and onto the road.

We did 307kms that day, most of it through rain of varying degrees, and parked up for the night in a motorway lay-by with lots of lorries, and, as it turned out in the morning, one other motorhome. They made what they call a 3-tin meal and had quite a good night.

It would be good if HE knew how to get maps onto this journal, but anyway – from Baie de Somme we headed for Rouen, then Caen, then Nantes, basically travelling South-West, but ne’er a glimpse of that promised sunshine!

After Nantes Snooper Sat-Nav (special for caravans and motorhomes – they’ve lost Tom-Tom, temporarily, they hope!) began to do odd things and seem to be taking us to Poitiers, which they didn’t want, so they overrode it and began navigating themselves. At a place called Les Herbiers they found a big Hyper-U where a helpful assistant in the Orange shop explained why their French phone wouldn’t work, and sold them a new SIM (‘Puce’ in French, which means ‘flea’!) so now it does work, but with a different number: 00 33 6 44 32 77 28, if anyone wants to use it and save THEM the cost of the international call. But the UK mobile is still switched on and using that means THEY pay the roaming charge – it’s a no-brainer!

(It’s a bit long for a postcard is this – and where’s the picture?! – OK, coming up.) After Les Herbiers they saw a sign to a motorhome service point, which could just be somewhere to let the waste water go, or it could be a stop-over place. There  were signs to a campsite, too. Anyway, the followed these signs till we came to this lake:

Just beyond the lake, where there was a boating area and a pizzeria / creperie, but all shut up, was the campsite, also closed, with the motorhome service point just outside it. There was also this overflow carpark, on grass, with several motorhomes already parked on it, so we joined them (bit bumpy!).

Having bought a helping of ‘Couscous’ as ‘Plat du Jour’ back at Les Herbiers (a feature of French supermarkets which is missing in England), evening meal was taken care of and we spent a very quiet night – apart from HIM making nocturnal noises, which his recent operation was supposed to have sorted out …