Abbey Wood Caravan Club Site, London, Sunday 6^th November.

No, the wind didn’t get up – but the rains came and beat upon that cliff-top and the motorhomes that stood thereon. So the hope that THEY might get up and take some lovely photos was not realised. But they did take piccies as it was, through the drizzle.

The black dots are birds. There were even people in the water, though it was difficult to see which hobby they were being schooled in – there wasn’t much surf:

While they were having breakfast, there was a knock on the door and a man in a rather intimidating uniform (DOUANE) asked for the €5.10 for parking on the aire overnight. That’s how it’s done, though HE said he preferred the nice young lady in Coulon last year …

They left the cliff top at about 11 am and we made our way up to the motorway (free) and stopped at L’Epitre, the service area to which they had retreated that windy night a month ago, just for old time’s sake, as it were, …. and some pain au chocolat .

We got to Dunkirk in very good time, with no ferry in sight, but they checked in and sat on the quayside having coffee and pastries. The ship did arrive eventually and achieved a very quick turn-around so that we sailed more or less on time.

I heard THEY treated themselves to a good lunch during the crossing, then just outside Dover, where the weather was no better than it had been in France, they tried to book into Maidstone Caravan Club Site, but it was full because of a big firework display at Leeds Castle. So we drove on to London and Abbey Wood. Apparently THEY thought they’d been there before, but they hadn’t; they were thinking of Sevenoaks – a mistake anyone could make!

Once installed, HE created goodness-knows-what as a supper, bunging ALL the left-overs he could find into a pan, heating it all through and topping it with some bacon, mushrooms and a fried egg. Hmmm …

GARTH VIEW, Sunday evening 6^th November.  Doing without breakfast, in the expectation of a Full English at Thurrock Services got us on the road about an hour earlier than usual. An easy route provided by the site got us to the M25 and eventually we got through the traffic on the roundabouts after the Dartford Tunnel and into the services so that they could have the anticipated breakfast. Next stop, London Colney for fuel before taking the former M10 and the M1 – SHE drove this section through to Corley on the M6. Weather improving steadily so that we had one of the best sunsets of the whole trip! One more stop – Forton / Lancaster for supper from BURGER KING (the joys of British catering!), and but for the fog in the last section, after Shap, we would have arrived at Garth View before 8pm, instead of just after. That was 518 kms (300+ miles) today, and 1798kms since leaving Labenne.  

So we’re back home, then?

Yep.

It’s quite a good place to be.

It is – and Cumbria has the best weather in the country tomorrow.

 It’s cold, though.

 It is; it may freeze tonight. They’re going to put me in the garden and leave some heat on.

 So that’s it – bye, then!

 Goodnight, little car!

 Goodnight, big van. Thanks for taking me over there.

 It’s been fun – let’s do it again, soon.

 Yes – tell THEM. Bonsoir!

 Fais de beaux rêves ….

Boulogne, Thursday 4th November: A nice quiet night, being just us on the campsite, and the rain having stopped – we heard it went to England! Lovely golden sunrise and a pleasant settting.

Where am I?

 In your own little pitch, just behind where SHE’s standing.* You’re probably still asleep.

 Et pourquoi non, après tout?

Not now ! ….. After a call to the Caravan Club Travel Service, a decision was taken to go for a Channel crossing from Dunkirk tomorrow at 2pm. So there was some distance to go today. Only some water-jobs were possible before leaving since all the exterior taps on the site had been turned off as last week they’d already had temperatures down to –5°C! Difficult to believe today.

Soon after moving off – 11.45 as usual – we stopped for HER to take this view of the location – the campsite is just beyond the building in the picture.

You can also see the mistletoe in the trees.

Then there was a shopping stop in the first town we came to before we really began to cover the kilometres. Minor roads at first, but long straight stretches between avenues of autumnal trees:

We joined a section of free motorway just before Rouen, and THEY had lunch in a lay-by while I had a rest, and then on through Rouen, crossing the Seine 3 times because of its meander:

Rouen was slow, as always, but it’s been worse.

White cliffs? Of Rouen? Yes and the amazing thing is that once you emerge from the tunnel which goes through them, there’s no more city, no more congestion and free motorway until Abbeville – HE let HER drive that bit!

And so to Boulogne. They were going to go to McD’s for supper, but finding LeClerc, with a filling station, McD’s and a Flunch all on one site, and that Flunch also had free WiFi, they decided to eat there instead. Very nice too, apparently. And YOU all got three postcards in one evening, you lucky people!

Hands up if you remember what happened in Boulogne a month ago (nearly) …. The Aire de Camping Cars certainly isnt easy to find! But they did avoid dead ends and having to uncouple this time – just one manageable U-turn. Last time, having got here, they moved off again because the wind was so strong; this time, we’re here for the night and with just an hour and a half to go tomorrow, all should be well. We  did 332 kms today – 4 more than the last 2 days added together. Let’s hope the wind doesn’t get up …

ANOTHER COMPITISHUN! (It’s the keyboard!) One of the purchases during the visit to La Rhuna was this:

What is it?

Normal 0

Near Blois, Loire Valley, (Near Vouvray; there’s hope for someone yet!) Thursday morning 3^rd November: HE kept HER awake for much of the night with that problem which they hoped had been fixed, so an early start yesterday was not really an option. Anyway, Futuriste is reputed to have the best croissants anywhere, so that’s what THEY enjoyed for breakfast; and readers of last year’s ‘Travels With Harry’ might remember something about the excellence of the showers!

When ready to move we were able to manoeuvre over the drainage point – still with little wotsit behind –

Hey! Sois gentil!

Toujours! – so that we set off (11.40) with a full tank of fresh water and an empty waste tank. (Also an empty toilet, and whose job was that?) Hmmm …

North towards Tours, passing, but not stopping at ‘Antoines’ where I got my new ‘cheek’ last year –

So why didn’t you get a new tail light assembly this year?

Got to get THEM to a wedding.

Ca alors! Are they getting married?

Not THEM, Dumkopf!

Before Tours we got lucky and they had lunch in this perfectly delightful lay-by:

Where the only drawback was the breeze which kept trying to add some of those lovely autumn leaves and twiggy bits to their salad! Not as bad as the previous day, though, when a HUGE, heavy pine cone came down from a great height and missed HIS head by a few inches before hitting the ground at his feet with a mighty THUD! The consequences of a ‘strike’ could have been far-reaching …

However, here HE is, enjoying a little schoolboy with his coffee:

You can’t say that and put it on the internet! Explanation essential: “Petit Ecolier”, literally ‘Little Schoolboy’ is a very popular brand of chocolate-coated biscuit and we are never without them. There’s an image of a period-costumed (17^th/18^th century) schoolboy stamped in the chocolate on each biscuit. Carry on.

I will, but not till later in the day …

We used 0.90c worth of motorway to get through Tours and over the Loire:

THAT has much less water in it than when we crossed it last year – both ways! But then last October was particularly soggy! I seemed to hear some debate – discussion – disagreement, even, about where to go next, but somehow we found ourselves following the river upstream to a spot I’d heard of called Vouvray …

I was there last year! I remember; we went there while you were having your cheek done – they stopped at the same place, and came out with some heavy stuff which I had to carry. Déjà vu all over again!

Y e s … Then  they crossed the river to find a LeClerc and did some shopping, and carried on up river in the fading light, which is why there are no photos of the splendid view of Château d’Amboise across the river. This far north parking for the night is difficult – it was last year – it seemed the best thing to do was to pay for a short stretch of motorway and find an aire (service area). This was the plan, then. But at Blois-Ménars both the lorry and caravan parks were so full of lorries that finding a space seemed impossible; then as we approached the exit, a little additional parking area had a few empty spaces on the drive-in / drive-out pattern and we chose the last one. A 3 or 4 minute walk back to the shop + café found they had wi_fi! 2 coffees and a cookie and SHE settled down to a puzzle while HE looked at e-mails and just managed to get one off to Family + Friends before battery power ran out! Which is why ‘Postcard 13 arrived in 2 parts.

LeClerc had been good enough to provide a supper of Blanquette de Veau (sorry if that upsets anyone) and in spite of fairly constant traffic noise and the inevitable mass exodus of lorries at 10 past 5, 10 past 6, 10 past 7 … they had quite a good night – BUT by morning (Thurs. 3^rd) it was RAINING. Hopes that rain before 7 might mean fine before 11 proved vain and the RAIN continued for most of the day with occasional claps of thunder into the bargain and the onboard barometer showing its lowest reading EVER!

Still, the scenery was pleasant

 and there were some pretty little towns

as we made our way 153kms northwards to a campsite in the valley of the Perche, where we are installed as the only visitors. HE has cooked his special ‘Quail and Parsnips’ (there were no parsnips to be found last month!) and followed it with a bit of very silly culinary exhibitionism – Bananes Flambées à l’Armagnac – I know we’ve got a fire extinguisher above the door, but really …    

Normal 0

THE JOURNEY HOME. (What’s that in Klingon? Somebody ask Google Translate – I’ve no internet connection – I’d trust their Klingon at least as well as their French!)

Tuesday 1^st November: With the caravans separated from the lorries, that would have been a quiet night, but for the thunderstorm at about 2am! The lay-by is probably unfinished and by next summer there will be lots of picnic tables among these trees, THEY think:

This turned out to be one of the longest travelling days so far – 279 kms in total. Moving north on the N10, after an elevenses break SHE took over the driving …

 … thinking it was still going to be easy! However, we were already quite close to Bordeaux, so she had to negociate the Bordeaux ring road. After a navigational error by HIM (What a mistaika to maika!) when he overruled SATNAV and caused us to miss the exit from the ring, a change of drivers was thought best to effect a turn around and get us back onto the right road!

After crossing the Garonne:

 And then the Dordogne:

We tried to find somewhere to park for lunch. I’ll let HIM explain; Get the date! It’s Nov.1^st. Toussaint. (All Saints) A public holiday in France and by law the trucks are not allowed to move. Some were moving, but they were foreign, or carrying fresh foodstuff as far as we could make out. But every parking space on every service area or layby and many spaces not officially designated were jam packed with trucks parked up for the day; drivers were sat around chatting, or doing housekeeping jobs, vacuuming cabs etc.

So finding space for our little combination wasn’t easy, though travelling was! Note not only that on a public holiday trucks MAY NOT move, but that the holiday occurs on the given date, regardless of day of the week, none of this “every holiday must be a Monday” stuff. Better or worse? Discuss. If you want. Or not. Thank you, Harry.

You’re welcome!  Moving northwards (on the N10) the scenery gradually changed from the pine forests of the Landes to the more typically French, and frankly more picturesque lines of plane trees which are currently strikingly autumnal. SHE was taking a snap a minute! I don’t think it’s more picturesque – colouful, if you like, but I like the pines. That was HER!

 Our target was  Poitiers and the ‘Futuriste’ caravan park where we spent 2 weeks last year. Not certain whether reception would be open and access allowed after 6pm, fears were soon dissolved by a warm welcome and the offer of a corner pitch where uncoupling wouldn’t be necessary. Moreover, the swimming pool, under reconstruction last year, was open till 7.30, so an unexpected bonus for them was a swim in very warm water, floodlit from beneath, dark outside, except for the lights of ‘Futuroscope’ in the distance.

Normal 0

Monday 31^st October: THE LAST DAY: We were all ready to move – surprising how many jobs there were still to do – by 11.30 –

Oi – oi! Who said you could take over?

They’re my postcards, and I’m on the road again.

Big bully!

Tais-toi, petite crevette!

Crevette ! CREVETTE ? Who are you calling a little shrimp, you big, battered –

Do you want to go home or not?

It’s going to be a long way with nothing to look at but your back end – which is not a pretty sight just now.

That was HIS fault.

We didn’t go far – just over the road to the nearest picnic site for a planning meeting. The need to shop seemed urgent but Intermarché in Labenne is closed at lunch time so we headed for Leclerc at Capbreton. Then lunch in a lovely picnic area that they had seen last week when out with my little friend, and since the weather was again as predicted, meaning an exceptionally warm afternoon, we made for the nearest beach, not far from the ‘ghost village’ described in an earlier ‘postcard’. We were lucky to find a large, almost empty carpark without height limiters where we parked easily and THEY went for a last laze on the sand. HE did go into the water, but didn’t tackle the waves – those rollers were BIG! He came back muttering something about discretion and valour – I didn’t get it …

The final view of the Atlantic as they came off the beach:

 

Then we drove a fantastic 57kms to a simple service area  – a big lay-by, really, – off the N10, where caravan parking was well designed (drive in – drive out) and separated from the lorries by a 3.2m height limiter, where we parked up for the night. While shopping at LeClerc they had bought some Merlu à la Basquaise  which they enjoyed as a farewell to the Pays Basque (for now).

Merlu is a fish but we don’t know which one – and we’re not going to ask Google Translate – they’ll probably tell us it’s a wizard! And as for basquaise, don’t go there!

Now here’s a surprise; of all the unlikely places, on the wall above the basins in the shared area of the ‘acceptable’ loo block in that lay-by was an Esperanto sticker! No contact details, just a sticker with the green star and the words ESPERANTO, LINGVO INTERNACIA. Nobody speaks it, of course; everybody speaks English. Where are my memories?