Follow me on my trip ‘France and Spain winter 2018/2019’ at https://www.polarsteps.com/turnrightoutofportsmouth/990685-france-and-spain-winter-2018-2019
Starting to prepare and get excited for our next trip. This will be recorded as we move on Polarsteps so if you follow us you won’t need to wait until I get round you writing up my blog to see where we are 😊
See also our reviews for each site we stopped at on the way.
• The French love a roundabout – possibly even more than the Brits
• Signage often stops just when you need it most..
• There is a lot of free parking in France and lots of parking spaces
o Except in Cannes – you have to drive right through Cannes and walk back about a mile to get free parking
o And Monaco – lots of underground parking areas, not free, but not as expensive as we were expecting either Continue reading “What we learned about France in the summer of 2016”
A fitting title for this, my last post, as we spent our last day visiting the D-Day beaches in Normandy. So also a very sobering day. After all, if it wasn’t for such sacrifices we probably wouldn’t have been able to do what we’ve just done for almost 6 weeks.
As we drove through Bayeux on our way to Point du Hoc we noticed signs for the British Cemetery but decided to keep going and visit at the end of the day. Little did we realise that it would be another 10 hours before we started heading back to the van, and we would be a long way from Bayeux by then! Continue reading “Day 38 – The Last Post”
I wanted to have a look in a couple of the shops on the seafront today. I ended up buying a hat (finally!), a bikini (of course) and a beach bag (my current one is very old, and far too small). I also bought one of those ‘under towel mat’ thingies for the beach. This is currently serving as a chair repair after Calv finally went through it! New chairs when we get home…
Shopping done we set out for a little town called Claviers, as recommended by the campsite, by way of the Cascade de Pennafort, as spotted by me on the map.
We got lucky by pulling off the road when I said to Calv that it must be close by. We’d stopped at a little viewpoint and it was just a quick trek through the bushes for the most amazing view! But there were people down there so we surmised that we must be able to get down ourselves somehow – scanning around we spotted a carpark, so off we set.
Our 1st coastal stop in France. Good for cycling and relaxing 🙂
So I lost a lot of what I wrote yesterday (twice – I’ve only just realised I lost the re-write).
Let’s continue with yesterday (we did a lot more than today for a start). We went back to the castle in Talmont St Hilaire boys (I wonder if you recognise it?)
We didn’t go in though as we arrived at 12.30. Just as it closed for a couple of hours. Most places close for a couple of hours for lunch – except hairdressers and bakeries we’ve noticed. That’s going to take a bit of getting used to!
We then decided to visit Les Sables d’Olonne (somewhere else I’ve been before with the boys). I was a bit disappointed as it was a bit of a dump and it took an age to find the seafront (French signage doesn’t seem to be designed to help you find where you’re wanting to go…)
Here I had a crepe. After ordering I told Calv that I believed I might have just ordered a pancake with cream. I was right – I don’t know why I did it; I knew that Chantilly means whipped cream! It was okay, but I won’t make the same mistake a 2nd time 🙂
We drove back to the van on the coast road (why didn’t we just go that way in the 1st place?!
Once back we decided to get a wash done, so off we set to the laundry, set the wash going and decided to head to the bar for 20 minutes until it was done. 3 1/2 hours, 3 wines/beers and an impromptu dinner in the restaurant later we were just about to head out for a bike ride (trust me it sobered me up!) when I remembered the washing! Lucky I did or it would probably still be in the machine now!
The bike ride in the evening took us halfway back to Les Sables d’olonne to Chateau d’Olonne (the 1st sandy beach following an amazing rocky coastline) – 9 miles there and back (and no, I didn’t use the motor for most of the time – Debbie & Paul…)
Today (Day 5 – I think it’s Saturday..) has been a lazy day apart from a visit to Lidl (won’t be going back..)
I’ve finished my book (Jamaica Inn) and started a new one (Make Me – Lee Child). Calv has given 1 side of the van a polish and I’ve done the ironing. Rock & roll!!
Tomorrow we’re off again, this time to Lege Cap Ferret near Bordeaux and we have high hopes of finally seeing some sun!
I hope everyone’s well and am fairly sure your weather is currently better than ours 🙂
Travelling from St Malo to French West Coast at Talmont – mainly avoiding the motorway! Was that the best decision? Well yes and no…. Read on for more detail 🙂
It was a long day yesterday. Travelling. We opted to take the scenic route…. I would say big mistake, BUT, we did see some lovely little towns and villages which, of course, we would never have done from the motorway. Maybe we should just have got onto the motorway a little earlier though? Instead of waiting until there was a road closure barring our way, a SatNav that couldn’t deal with that and a Calvin going the ‘other right’ when I said go right…. We stopped at a little town called Rouge (just before Chateaubriant) which had a massive church. This seems to be a theme – small town/village, big, big church. Very impressive I have to say.
Then we were tootling along a back road and came upon this little cemetery with a small chapel in a village called Maumusson. Like I said, we wouldn’t have seen these had we taken the motorway. But we would have got here a lot quicker!
Anyway we made it, finally. Again another lovely site. Great swimming complex (the sun’s rumoured to be making an appearance tomorrow so we might get the chance to use it as well..)
Again a lot of Brits here (and a fair few from the Channel Islands – though not as many as were at the last site)
A lovely stop not too far from the ferry at St Malo. Lovely site near to an interesting town. Also within striking distance of St Malo, where the Old Town is a must see
We’re staying just down the road from Combourg – the nearest town to La Chapelle aux Filtzmeens. In keeping with most towns in this area it is mainly medieval in style with so many ancient buildings. We kept forgetting to look up though, and probably missed loads of it.
We cycled there! Into a headwind and uphill most of the way (very grateful for the extra power!) The next challenge was to make the bikes safe – which we managed to do outside the tourist office – unlike any tourist office we might see at home! If you look carefully at the picture below you can see our bikes chained up under the tree 🙂
There’s a beautiful chateau here, but we tried to visit at 12.30pm, just after they’d closed for an hour and a half. Then whilst staring through the bars that were keeping us out we noticed the long list of things that weren’t allowed in the chateau – including backpacks. That was us excluded then!
We went off to cycle round the lake and have our packed lunch by it’s shores, before heading back to the site. 11 1/2 miles complete we were done in and needed to sit with a nice cuppa before even thinking about anymore activity!
At this point Calv announced that he was craving fat chips – yes already! I said he’d have to make do with a curry, and decided to get on with making it ready for later.
Having finally agreed to go to St Malo old town rather than Dinan we set off (we also gave the SatNav another chance, even though we knew the way, to see if it actually does work – it does!)
We parked outside of the old town because the bridge was closed when we got there, and walked in (by which time the bridge was, of course, open). When leaving we watched it open to let a few yachts into harbour. So we wandered in and spend a good couple of hours walking around the ramparts and the old lanes and alleyways. I’ve got to be honest, the cathedral with no lighting bar a couple of small electric lamps, is quite possibly one of the loveliest I’ve been in, very tranquil.
Another 3 1/2 miles walked and we really are jiggered now, and hungry. That’s why we ate a whole French stick with (and before) our curry (as well as rice). Oops….
Successes:-
Fails:-
Weather – overcast (I think we saw the sun for about 5 minutes all day), and cold. Never mind we trek further south tomorrow when we set off for Talmont St Hilaire which is just south of Les Sables d’Olonne.
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