Dieppe, La Mailleraye-sur-Seine & La Suze-sur-Sarthe.

Monday 13th October.

We are parked up this afternoon next to the harbour in Dieppe. We arrived here after a wet and windy drive from Calais and now at 5.30pm we have a little sunshine, not much, enough to make a sailor's apron Phil says but it's sunshine nonetheless. We slept little last night, being kept awake by torrential rain in Folkestone which, inevitably, found a couple of leaks in the van. It's irritating because one of them is from a rooflight that I paid a garage in England to repair earlier in the year. The other one is from the big window above the cabin. The problem is that the roof is pretty inaccessible without climbing out through the main rooflight and doing that stresses the seal between the roof and the fitting. I'll have to wait until we are parked up on a dry day next to a wall or ramp high enough to climb on to the roof. Or rent a scaffold tower maybe. Or maybe not.

We stopped at this spot on our way back from our last trip and it was pretty crowded then with folk travelling onwards into France and beyond and other people returning from their travels. I suspect most people here now are heading south. There are also a lot more UK motorhomes here this time and fewer dogs (less dogs?). The plan for the next few days involves us heading slowly south via Le Mans, Saumur and Poitiers with a mix of camping car stops and vineyards. We stopped on the way here today at Carrefour for some essential shopping; bread, wine and diesel (€1.25/L) so we have enough wine now until we hit our first vineyard in a couple of days,enough diesel to get us to the south of France and tomorrow morning the bread van arrives. Happy days.

Wednesday 15th October.

This is all a bit déjà vu at the moment, albeit in reverse. We are parked up this afternoon at La Suze on the river Sarthe, last night we were parked up on the Seine, both places we stopped at six weeks or so ago on our way home. They are both nice places to stay though especially here at La Suze where we have all the facilities we need including electricity for €5 (£4) per night and can watch the sun glinting on the river a few metres from the front of the van, a bargain. Weather is a bit mixed at the moment, the mornings have been dim and dismal followed by rain and then sunshine in the afternoon. The van that I lovingly washed, polished and then polished again looks filthy already, grrrr.

Oh, Phil has just taken a bag of rubbish to the wheely bin and as she chucked it in a rat ("AS BIG AS A CAT"- she said) jumped out and scurried into the bushes. I guess this is what happens when you don't replace the missing lids of the wheely bins?

No pictures today, a combination of new iPhone, new iPad, a recalcitrant blogging platform and dodgy WiFi are all conspiring against me but fear not, we'll be back to normal soon.

Pat

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On The Road - Again.

Hi everyone,

Well, we are back on our travels again. We've been back home for four or five weeks and it's been great catching up with friends and family. A bit of home maintenance, a bit of van maintenance and when all that was done we started to get itchy feet again. So here we are in the car park of the Nailbox pub in Folkestone, ten minutes drive from the Chunnel where we'll get the 8.50am ferry tomorrow.

The plan is for a leisurely drive through France and then on into Spain for some winter sun. Paul & Chris, who we went to Morroco with, are currently in France slowly wending their way home so we'll meet up with them for a day or so at some point. It will be great to see them again.

We drove the 280 miles today from Bingley to Folkestone and had good weather most of the way but it is now pouring down with rain and has been for the last couple of hours; doesn't look like it's going to ease up either. So we'll have an early night and drop off to the pitter patter of rain on the roof and hope for better weather on the other side of the channel.

That's it really, just letting you all know that you have something to read now when you have nothing better to do. This will be our fourth trip to Europe in the Motorhome and I have to say that saying goodbye to folks gets harder each time! The first couple of trips we knew when we would be returning so the farewells weren't too bad but this journey is pretty much open ended so it may be a while until we see family and friends again. Still, we have phones, pads and all the apps we need to keep in touch and if you want to post comments as we travel around that would be great too.

Pat.

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Last Post

Hi there,

Sorry about the last post. Just got a new iPad. Teething problems with Blogsy. Back to normal soon.

Pat

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Seals, Mussels, Kite Boarders and The End of the Journey.

We are parked up this afternoon in Wissant about 15mins from the Chunnel terminal where tomorrow morning we'll catch the 8.20am train back to the UK. Last night was spent at Berck-sur-Mere where we had hoped to see the seals on the sandbanks. Unfortunately it was high tide when we arrived so only a few seals to be seen bobbing about, or bottling, to use the correct term. The absence of seals was more than compensated for by a mobile food stall next to our parking spot selling Moules Frittes. We'd had quite a large lunch but couldn't resist so at 7pm I went down to collect the Moules we had ordered earlier. They were quickly cooked while I waited and handed over in a 10 litre plastic bucket which wasn't quite full, but almost. We agreed that one portion would have been enough for two of use but half an hour later, with all the Moules gone we agreed that the portion control had been just about right. We didn't manage all the frites though.

We were up early this morning to walk back to the beach as we had been told that around 9am would be the best time to see the seals. Sure enough the tide was going out and the seals were basking in the beautiful early sunlight on the sandbanks. There were about fifty on the one nearest to us and a hundred or more on each of a couple of sandbanks further away. We managed to get within about 80 metres of the seals which didn't seem bothered by the dozen or so people oohing and a aahing separated from them by a narrow strip of water.

Seal watching over and we set off for our final night's stop in France, making a couple of detours for some shopping. Cheese, wine, pate, beer, diesel, the usual stuff. Then after parking up and lunch we set off for the beach here. Last year we were amazed by the size of the beach which stretched for miles in either direction. Today it was high tide when we arrived with the waves crashing against the stone sea wall. There was a strip of sandy beach further along and we enjoyed a pleasant walk in lovely sunshine and watched the kite boarders whizzing across the wave caps

We walked back and reflected upon the amazing time we've had over the last four months and the sights we'd seen and the people we had met. It's sad to be leaving tomorrow but we are both looking forward to seeing our children and grandchildren in England. Then it will be time for some cleaning and maintenance on the van and planning for our next excursion. And a bath. And a pint of decent beer. And a big bed. And stairs. And a haircut.

Thanks a lot for reading our blog over the last few months, it makes it worthwhile knowing people are reading and keep an eye out now and again if you want to read about our adventures in the future.

I guess that's it for now.

Pat & Phil.

 

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It's Raining!!

Saturday 30th August.

We are parked up this evening at La Mailleraye-sur-Seinne and it's raining, the first rain we have seen for a long time. We must be getting nearer to the UK.

We set off this morning intending to stop in Gace but when we arrived, after a stop at Super U for a food and beverage top up, the motorhome parking place had no service points and the town was on the comatose side of sleepy. We stopped for a bite to eat and then pushed on to where we are now, parked up next to the Seinne with about another forty or so motorhomes. We could watch the barges going up and down but there's not much happening so I guess bargees must have Saturdays off.

At last there are quite a few GB plates about here although we are still outnumbered by French with a few Dutch and Germans. I'm on a forum, Wildcamping for Motorhomes, (www.wildcamping.co.uk) and have the big W sticker on the front and rear windows and I spotted the first van in four months with the same sticker this afternoon as I walked along the river in the rain. We had a chat and exchanged names and recognised each other from conversations we had joined in previously; small world moment.

Sunday 31st August.

We are parked up this evening in Dieppe. It's a motorhome Aire with about fifty vans here overlooking the harbour and a very pleasant place to stop. The books that we use to find spots like this told us that if we go to the harbour master's office here he will give us a password to access the internet. So at about one o'clock we strolled down there and made enquiries. Ah, said the man, you need to go to the tourist information office. So we went to the tourist information office (big building with sign saying TOURIST INFORMATION) asked for wifi password only to be told that the TIO was next door and closed until 2.30pm. No problem, a walk around the harbour, an aperitif and back to the TIO. Ah, said the lass there you need to go next door for a wifi password. We went next door, again. Hello, I said, we came here earlier etc..etc.. may I have a wifi password for Hotspot Dieppe? Do you have a boat? asked the muppet. No, I'm in a motorhome parked over there and I've paid my €7. Wifi passwords are for boats, he said. What if I said I had a boat, said I with my nicest smile. Then we'd check and find out you hadn't, said he. Anybody know the French for jobsworth?

Anyway, we like Dieppe, it's a bit like Whitby. But bigger. Here's a couple of pics.

 

It's a bit like the last days of the holiday for us. In fact it almost is the last days of the holidays! Tomorrow we'll stop the night in Berck-sur-Mer and hopefully, if the tide is out, watch some seals. Tuesday we'll stop in Wissant and stroll along the long, long, long beach and then Wednesday morning we'll be on the early morning tunnel back to Dover. It's booked so we can't change our minds, turn around and drive back to Greece. Not that we'd want to, we're missing our children and grandchildren now and it'll be great to see them in a few days. As Frank sang "Its so nice to go travelling, but it's so much nicer, yes it's so much nicer, to go home".

Pat

 

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Fosse Bellay & La Suze-Sur-Sarthe

Friday 29th August.

We are parked up tonight in the pretty town of La Suze-Sur-Sarthe right next to the river watching the sun go down behind the church on the opposite bank. We arrived here early this afternoon after spending a couple of days in Fosse Bellay, just south of Saumur with our friends Jenny and Chris. We met Jenny and Chris,who are fellow motorhomers, twice in Spain, late last year and early this year and we've kept in touch. It was great to see them and swop tales of where we had both been recently. They were great hosts, showing us around the area, feeding us and providing endlessly hot showers which is a real luxury for us. They have a lovely house which they have been renovating for the last fourteen years. Not much more to do now eh, J&C ?

So after a brief stop with a proper roof over our heads we are heading back to the UK after a tour of just over four months. It's been a fantastic trip for us and we have just a few more places to see before we finally dip under the tunnel next Wednesday or Thursday. Whilst we've had a great time it'll be good to see friends and family again, get a decent haircut and sup a decent pint of beer.

Pat.

 

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