320 or more miles to go today to our site in the Nord Pas de Calais, near St. Omer. A long drive but we’re OK with them – got a good routine going . And I have to say that the French motorways and Routes Nationale are much better than ours – although you do pay through the nose for them. The Aires are well-designed and well signposted. More than can be said for the M25!
We were covering much the same ground again (route)- although this time via Tours, then Le Mans, Alencon, Rouen, through the Somme, then Abbeville, St Omer and thence to our destination in Buysscheures – Camping La Chaumiere. A very compact and pretty site (bijou?) run by Guy and Bernadette. The site is much used by the Brits as Bernadette works for the local vet and can arrange pre-crossing check-ups for your dog. Great set-up. And of course we originally planned to take Archie, but had a late change of heart (heat/restrictions/long days in the car, so on). Too late to rearrange the crossing and all the sites, but it has actually all worked very well and I have been relieved that all the sites I researched and picked have been very much to our taste. No clubs/enforced jollity/stupid rules/horrible people!
It was a long journey and we arrived at about 1800. We quickly got set up and then down to the bar for a beer or two, followed by dinner at the restaurant. It was probably the best meal we had in France this year. We were both very impressed. We told Madame so and she gave me a big kiss and was very excited. Bless!
We noticed that they had a couple of Bouviers de Flandres and then saw lots of photos and rosettes and it appears that Monsieur is a breeder and has the French champion. We couldn’t wait to tell Jacquie and Rob as Rob has a Bouviers. The French couple were very impressed and said that it was rare to hear that someone in the UK had one – although he had, himself, sold one to someone in Wales.
Our pitch at La Chaumiere – very private, We liked!A Bouviers de Flandres – lovely boy. A “leaner”
It was only after dinner that we found out that they did not accept cards – cash only! Hmm. Quick dash to St Omer, then, to get some – got back just before the 2200 curfew on the gate. Quick coffee and then bed. We has plans!
Yes – we were off to Bruges for the day! Excited again. You’d think we would have had enough of travelling, but no. Short trip though, as Bruges is only just over an hour away and we had both always had a yen to visit.
We noticed that the town names in this part of France are quite un-French – Lederzeele, Steenvoorde, Hazebrouck and also that the architecture was more like ours but with a French twist.
I had found out that you could park at the station in Bruges for 3.5 Euros for the whole day and that fee entitled you to a free bus pass all day, too. Bargain!
We loved Bruges. Expected it to be like Amsterdam and it was – but more beautiful. So pretty. We eventually stumbled across a boat trip (who knew?!) and could not resist. It was fab.
Where we left fromYes. I’m handsome. Get over it.
We were hungry after the trip and found a great location in the main square for lunch, where we had the obligatory moules et frites (and survived!). Good people watching spot too. A little gift shopping and then it was home. We both had a teeny snooze when we got back. The heat is very enervating – and we’re getting on. After our snooze a quick pop to the bar for free (and easy) WiFi, coffee and farewells. Game of boules too (yeah I won!) and a nice chat with a couple from Ypres with an Airedale. And then off to bed. Very little to pack up as we knew our stay was short. Last night. 🙁
Boo! Thrice boo. Time to go home. Luckily, the site is only 40 mins from Calais so we had plenty of time before our crossing at 1520. We had to be off site by midday so we lazed around and then had a last minute panic! Left as midday struck on the village church. Perfect timing.
We had originally planned to stay in Kent overnight but had decided to make a run for home – particularly if we could get an earlier crossing. Which we did. We crossed on the 1350 instead of the 1520. Just time for a quick flick round the Duty Free and it was time to board.
We spotted lots of shiny Aston Martins in the queue – all on the Aston Martin Rally to London. The rally celebrates 100 years of the Aston Martin marque. Sadly one of them is not quite as shiny as it was, as a result of collision in the boarding queue. Oops! We heard a cry of anguish and a bang and there it was.
The drive from the tunnel to home took a couple of hours and we arrived home to a very excited dog and slightly less excited son at around 4.30. It was over. Some 2,000 miles and god knows how much in diesel. We’ll worry about that later. Au revoirs.
After a few slightly crazy weeks leading up to our (critically acclaimed!) appearance in Portchester Players’ s production of Stepping Out, and after, it was time to hitch up and take a weekend away with Mum. She has been staying with us while Uncle D is on holiday in Bulgaria and we have also been house/cat-sitting for friends and had Paul’s Mum to stay – briefly. We had an early start on the Saturday morning near Newbury so we thought we’d halve the journey and stay at the Morn Hill CC site on the Eastern outskirts of Winchester. We stayed here once before and it was very pleasant. Quiet with lots of rabbits – so many that there are even warnings in their leaflet and around the site warning people to beware of all the rabbit holes on the site! Very nice pitch and a lovely sunny evening. This was our first outing with Molly our new towcar. Molly and Mr Munsch – sound’ like a band name! Anyway – Molly performed beautifully. A totally different ride but very comfortable.
As already explained, it was an early start on Saturday morning – we needed to be in Kintbury by 8.45, so we had a light breakfast (with a view to bacon butties on arrival) and set off. The rainy weather wasn’t quite what we were hoping for a day on the Kennet and Avon Canal but that’s boating for you. Always the rough with the smooth.
We arrived in plenty of time and so did Anne, Gray and Anne’s Mum, Sheila. We dubbed it “Take Your Mother on a Boat Day”. We had hired the boat, called Cygnet, from the Kennet Horse Boat Company and it was very cute. A little tatty but watertight! And very easy to handle it turned out, with all mod cons. I’d hire her again without hesitation, anyway.
We had a quick handover and then we were off – and on went the cooker for the Bacon Butties! Go Anne! It was a cloudy/showery/delugey/sunny/cloudy sort of a day and our coats were donned and shrugged off quite a few times. On balance, though it was far better than the forecast had led us to hope for – although we did get one really good soaking.
Archie, after some initial trepidation, took to the boat like the boat dog he really is and had a great day. He soon remembered how to get round locks and was on the go all day.
We went through Hungerford and a total of 5 locks before it was time for our halfway stop and the K&A was just as beautiful as we remembered. As a seasoned sailor, Gray took to the boat with aplomb and was soon steering into locks and generally manoeuvring Cygnet like an old pro. A very useful crew member to have around and he thoroughly enjoyed himself as you can see below. Well, we all did! We had a sumptuous (sumpnerous!) lunch, probably over-catering by a factor of 3, and then turned round for our journey back to Kintbury. You can see a map of our route here. It doesn’t actually look very far, but it took us from 0900 to 17.30 with a half hour lunch stop. A very slow pace which is part of the allure of canal-boating in our opinion. We miss it very much.
I should add that we had numerous cuppas all day and scones, clotted cream and jam at around 4 pm. We didn’t starve!
Here are some pics of the crew in action>
There’s water down there – look.
All too soon we had arrived back at the boat’s base and we reluctantly handed her over. We all had such a good day. Getting Mum on and off the boat was a bit of a trial but she wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I’m only sorry that I don’t seem to have any pics of her. Mind you – we left our camera in the caravan so it’s our own fault!
We have another canal day planned in August, this time on the Oxford canal. This trip is being paid for by the winnings from our quiz team and we’ll have a few more people on board. More people to open the locks! Yay!
We made the journey back to Morn Hill in record time. We had planned to have our evening meal at a pub but we were all so full we didn’t bother. The left-overs from lunch were more than enough of a snack to see us though until morning. We were all – particularly Archie – very tired after our early start and were tucked up in bed good and early.
As we had to be off-site by midday we had our usual leisurely brekker and read the papers before leaving for the short journey home. Our next trip will be to France for our two week summer holiday. That will be a mammoth report!
