Saturday 28th May= A day in the life of a camp site

07.45      A strange bangig of car doors and lots of kids shouting. We look out an there are are three cars and ten kids pitching tents behind us, gosh their early

08, 00     First cup of tea for the day

08.30      Two Gendarme Ploce vans touring the site we assume they are perhaps looking for stray Travellers who parked nearby overnight.

09.00      More Gendarmes arrive and towing something, didn’t think the G8 was coming here. The trailer turns out to be a very large BBQ

09.30      More vans arrive and set up lots of table and chairs

10.00      Finish cleaning windows and shouting at the boys to stop kicking their footballs at the caravan.

10.15      Boys all cycle off, thank god.

10.25      Boys back carrying bits of wood which they later use to cook on.

11.00      Large numbers of people with children start arriving for the Gendarmes party and by 12.00 four Gendarmes arrive in uniform and join the food and fun. Good time to commit a robbery me thinks.

11.30      Noel finds Daily Mail dated Saturday 21^st May in the rubbish and quickly takes it back to camp

12.00 Jennifer finishes washing and hangs it all over the place and Noel sits in sun on chair to guard against being hit by football, anyway that’s his excuse.

13.00 Noel and Jennifer Brie and Ryvita for lunch, excellent and party going well next door and boys getting ready to go out on their bikes.

14.00      Three groups in motor homes and caravans arrive from Guernsey and set up.

15.00      Noel and Jennifer go shopping for maps and caravan site up to date books and also visit flower shop. Notice on Brit Papers in shop Ryan Giggs of Manu outed for adultery. Shame really as I thought he was having his best season, perhaps I can now understand why.

15.15      Noel suddenly remembers it’s the ManU and Barcelona game tonight and not sure if our T can be retuned for French TV but needs an aerial extension, wife says we have three already but most, if not all are in Weybridge.

16.00      We walk along the Lake side and take some photos and notice most of Gendarmes and wives are/have left.

16.10      Gendarme kids get in their dad van and turn on flashing lights and shouting through microphone which echoes around the camp

16.50      A nice cup of tea sitting in the evening sun but the wind is getting cooler.

17.00      Son Michael responds to request for timing of tonight’s match

17.15/18.40    Keeping an eye on the sun.

19.00      Retire to caravan for blogging and upload photos to PC.

19.05      Gendarmes start BBQ again so looks like a long night.

19.30      Our dinner of Salmon pie and surrounded by cruditee and taboule, very nice.

20.00      Washing up done and now try to retune Brit TV to pick up French TV with Football

20.30      Fail miserably and so give up and pack TV away, must get a satellite set up some time

21.00      Open PC to see if camp site info saved in memory but only in part, miss full time internet connection, wonder if you can get by satellite?

21.05      Back to ‘LIFE’ by Keith Richards and waiting to read about the ‘Mars Bar’ bust. Also read in old Daily Mail that Mick Jagger not happy with Keith’s book and is trying to break up band. It’s ok to be frank about your own life but to expose others who thought you were his friend is quite questionable.

22.00      No she didn’t according to Keith and he should know.

22.30      Gendarme group getting smaller by the minute and hope they leave clearing up till the morning when noise won’t matter. Bike boys seem quiet but now the bloody pigeons have started up again. Perhaps if I had satellite TV I could hit them with the dish. Think maybe I am getting grouchy.

       

Friday 27th May- A visit to Ploermel

It was much cooler this morning and it was rather cloudy ,oh well. We decided to take a trip in to Ploermel and check it out and take some photos which is what we did.

It is not the most attractive of towns but I guess it serves the purpose of the largely Industrial aspect which operates around here. We came across the street market and looked around but it was nowhere as big as the market in Vannes as you would expect.

We found a small cafe overlloking the market where a hippy was playing his guitar quietly in the background and then we headed back to the car and on the LeClerc supermarket for some food shopping to take us through until Monday.

Following lunch we went partly down the Lake to see another caravan site and it was way out in the country and really quite nice and perhaps a little better kept than this one where the showers don’t seemed to get cleaned very much.

We wandered around the site and there was perhaps only a handful of guests arriving from Spain, Netherlands and of course the French.

Back to the van and when looking out the windows in the morning we realised how dirty they were and so Noel did his cleaning act and they look much better and at least now you can see outside without your eyesight getting shortened by dirty windows.

Tonight we had fish and when cooking some potatoes in the Microwave we presume there was to much demand as it blew all the electrics. Luckily it was not serious and ten minutes we were back up and running again. We have to be careful as we have rather a lot of good meat from Costco in the freezer which has to last the trip.

Then an evening looking at maps and planning routes to the next site and off to bed.

Thursday 26th- Weather is not so kind today

We did our early morning chores and and bought some diesel at about £ 1.05 a litre, a lot cheaper than UK, and then drove to Mady and Kens house and then we all left in the Land Cruiser to visit Carnac which is about one hour away but as we got there is started to rain and so we changed our plans a little and went to the port of La Trinite sur Mer where some very expensive racing boats are based and we did see a few.

After walking around for a while we had lunch in a nice little largely seafood orientated restaurant and the food was excellent and then shortly after topped up by an ice cream form the local shop. Oh how the rich live!

Then we drove down the coast and stopped at several little towns and villages and then ended up in a beautiful little port called Saint Goustan which is where the famous Benjamin Franklyn sailed from to the USA to ask for five millions Dollars to beat up the Brits. What a nice guy.

The town is very nice indeed and great for photographs although the weather is still not that bright we did take quite a few . We visited a Chocolate shop and bought some cakes which we ate later when reaching M & K house  and then did a little internet stuff and then we left and did some last minute shopping in Ploermel at the very large Le Clerc Supermarket and then back to the caravan for a quiet evening of blogging and reading. It was another nice day out but we are now a little tired after driving quite a few miles in the last three days.

Wednesday 25th May- Let’s start in Vannes

First thing i went to the office to check in formally which the owner had we requested when we arrived only they were not there when I went up the previous evening.

She said I must get all your details and so I duly arrived with my passport, credit card, Caravan card and ready for anything. She said after waiting for the computer to start, she said can I have your name which I could just remember, and she said thanks. Anything else do you want ? and she said Non! What about how long we are staying, its up to you she saidm and that was the check in procedure.

We had arranged to meet Mady and Ken in the lovely seaside town of Vannes and as Mady had warned us about parking places we had a rough idea where to go and it worked well.

As an aside this is a very busy twon with an increasing amount of tourists who wanted to spend money here but could not as there was not space for parking. So they build a huge 480 vehicle underground car park and to the sound of background music you can park for a very modest fee, Elmbridge please take note.

We hada coffee then wandered through the open air market and around the old fortified town and then on to lunch overlooking the harbour with an excellent salad and a glass of pink (rose) wine, brilliant.

We then drove down the coast stopping here and there at nice little bays and then on to the Isle aux Moines in the Gulf of Morbihan which you had to reach by ferry. The ferry service sort of operates every fifteen minutes but then this is France and so it was perhaps not quite to schedule but the journey take only ten minutes. Quite a few people reside on the Island and have to use the ferry each day and there are no private cars allowed but you can have a motor cycle or bike.

We had a quick drink in the cafe in the square in the now very warm weather and then back down for an ice cream before boarding the ferry back to Mady & Ken’s place.

They have achieved quite a bit since our last visit and so we had a good look round and then prepared ourselves for a nice BBQ sitting outside in the garden overlooking the fields. What a great way to ends the day and so then we left for the twenty five minute journey home.

Tuesday 24th May- From Normandy to Brittany in one fell swoop

It’s time to leave this very nice site and head off to the South West and to Brittany and in particular our next site which is in a place called Ploermel which is about twenty five minutes drive from my sister.

We left the site at around 0920, a little earlier than expected but we must be getting efficient in this now and headed of via Courmelles in the direction of Caen where we would use the Southern ring road and then take the motorway towards Rennes. As we got closer to Caen and therefore not far from Deauville where the G8 conference is being held later this week you culd not hope but notice the amount of police around everywhere including helicopters overhead.

As we were not planning to attend this year’s conference we headed of down the road to Rennes and stopped a couple of times for a break and lunch and one amazing Motorway service station had an information bureau  and a 40 seat Cinema, wow..just like the services at the M4 at Heston I thought.

Anyway back on the trail we arrived at Rennes and followed the by-pass and then went in the direction of L’Orient and Vannes and at about 2.30 pm we arrived in Ploermal and found the caravan site shortly afterwards and by 4.30 ish we were sitting in the sun with a cup of tea. At around 5.30 Mady and Ken arrived and we had a drink at the lake side bar, the site is on a large lake called Lac au Duc  and not a a bad place for only a two start site but everything is here that you could possibly want including a very bar as mentioned earlier.

We then went in to PLoermel and had a good dinner at a nice little Brasserie in the square and the food was excellent and then back home for us for a good nights sleep.

Monday 23rd May- Liseaux visit

Gosh it was cold last night and it went down to 4 degrees centigrade and so at 07.45 Noel out of bed and put the heating on for a while so at just after 08.00 it was warm enough to get up and make some tea.

The sun was pouring down and with wall to wall blue sky and we headed of first to the 2^nd World War Military graves at St Desir where we not only found the UK graves and it also included Belgium and Canadian troops but just across the road was the graves for the German Soldiers who also died during the invasion but were also buried by the British alongside burying their own chaps.

All the graves were nicely kept and the War Graves Commission based in Maidenhead seem to do a great job in keeping these sites looking clean and tidy along with help from the French local community workers.

We left there and headed of to Liseaux to find the Basilica of Sainte Therese and this is an incredible building or two which was started in 1929 and finally finished around July 1954 and no doubt delayed due to some fighting going on earlier in the century.

Its a huge place and the surrounds are also very large and its very impressive for a lady of simple birth, actually a well off family who helped to locals over many years and so she became a Saint.

After touring this Basilica for about ninety minutes we walked down town and had a coffee and then continued until we found a nice little restaurant which was very busy with the locals and we had a very nice salad lunch and it was very filling indeed and then back to car for some last minute shopping in the Supermarket and fill up the car with fuel for our longish drive tomorrow.

It took us about two hours to get the awning down and generally pack the car and caravan for our move and then Noel finished the last bit of Caravan cleaning, the bit he could not reach as the awning was in the way.

Whilst settling the bill Noel met with Ingrid who not only owns this place but is also the chef in Chateau and when chatting with her she mentioned that she likes to keep this place quiet by not allowing teenagers to stay. She says they are noisy with drink, we don’t have a disco and we won’t, and so there is nothing for them to do but annoy other guests and so we do not allow them to stay and if they arrive without a booking, we send them away she says. A very nice lady she was, and she confirmed that most of the people who stay on this site are those who have been visiting for many years. We shall be back that is for sure.

Saturday 21st May- The Swiss Tony Road

Gosh it was rather cold last night and it went down to about 5 Degrees Centigrade and we are sure that it is the coldest its been here at night in the last week.

Anyway today we headed of to travel the route called ‘The Swiss Normandy Route’ which follow a route around the countryside which is said to look like Switzerland.

We had to travel about 50 miles to get there via Liseaux and on to Falaise where we stopped for a coffee and thin picked up the signs and off we went.

The route is about 40 miles long and winds through the countryside but I am sot to sure how it would really look like Switzerland except there were many cows but we did not approach them to check the language. After about an hour we found a small picnic site where we enjoyed in the sun a great chunk of Pate and fresh bread and it was most enjoyable. Part the way through our lunch a young couple arrived on the ir motorbike and also stopped for lunch but as we were leaving I think something more was being offered as well as lunch and so we beat a hasty retreat. We followed the signs until they stopped, either if had been stolen or this route was part of a quiz where you have to guess where it goes but somehow we found it again. On an extremely quiet road we came across a group of four Genadarme with a speed control gadget with clearly nothing else to do but somehow they must have located the emptiest road in the County to practise, a complete waste of resources.

Finally at about 3.30 pm we left the Swiss Route and still non the wiser why it had been called this and headed back to camp.

Tonight we had BBQ’ued 6oz Beef Burgers and Cumberland Sausages with salad along with a glass or two  of a 2008 Medoc, boy we realy live it up

An evening of reading, Noel is reading the Life story of Keith Richard of The Rolling Stones, what a quiet and restrained lives they lived and Jennifer is slowly working here way through ‘The French Lieutenants Women’  

Tomorrow a day at camp and if its fine Noel is going to clean the outside of the caravan, should be fun

Friday 20th May- Joanne and Tim depart these shores

Not a bad day for Joanne and Tim to start packing up their tents and cookers and all the other usual paraphernalia of camping and we all had a slow breakfast and talked about the past few days. Both of them seemed to have enjoyed it very much as they are both talking about returning here and Time will try to get his brother David to join. 

At about 13.00 Joanne and Tim left and so we set about some cheese and biscuits and then set of to Courmelles to the Carrefour Market supermarket for a little light shopping and then came back and Noel did some blogging and photos and then some internet stuff whilst Jen caught up on some sleeping in the sun and then got a little burnt, and she is the one warning everybody about covering up and using lotion, ah well! 

We enjoyed a pleasant afternoon and wer pleased to get a text from Joanne and Tim that they had reached Le Havre etc as this was the first time they had really travelled any distance on the wrong side of the road and NO Sat/Nav to fall back on.

We had a pleasant evening meal and then read for the rest of the evening before hitting the hay and a good night’s sleep.

Thursday 19th May- Onwards to Arromamches-Les-Bains

A little grey this morning but the sun was promised for later and we wanted to show Joanne and Tim a caravan site nearby  where Joanne also visited when she was about twelve or so. It is also planned to visit another site between Caen and Bayeux which we had also considered for this trip and so off we went at the crack of dawn ,well nearly, but around ten thirty in the morning.

We headed out through Courmelles and on to Liseaux and followed the road to Pont Leveque (a place for great cheese) and then on to near Caen where we stopped for a coffee and a short break and then on to the Castelle Site just outside of Caen. This site was quite large and the Chateaux was not bad and figures prominently in the brochure but the site conditions were quite poor compared to where we are currentlystaying and we would never stay here as there were flies everywhere. We tore up the leaflet and went cross country through the small lanes to Arromanches Les Bains passing by small villages where there many little Hotels and Gites etc to cater for the high demand of visitors to the Northern beaches.

We arrived in the small town of Arromanches which is extremely touristic with its shops selling copy forces hats and similar right nest to the D Day Landing Museum which was also quite busy. There were bits of second world war hardware in the car park and also out in the sea and a very attractive little childrens roundabout , not sure what this is doing here but never mind. We wandered around the town and their were Brits and Americans everywhere and lots of tour buses and one saying “ Stop humiliating Pakistani women” why this should be on a coach in this place defeats me.

We had lunch in a small cafe and Joanne found an excellent ice cream shop and we all briefly tried a selection before heading for Bayeaux where we did a slow drive through but road works blocked us and so gave that up.

Joanne and Tim wanted to visit a large Hypermarket where they could buy some wine and presents for back home and so we stopped at the Cora Hypermarket which was very large indeed which sold just about everything you could imagine.

Back then to Camping Le Brevedent which was very busy with British tourists and very few if any other nationalities. We looked at a Eurocamp tent which we agreed was dreadful and then at their new Safari tent which was better and then finally at the small mobile homes which were cheap by jowl, as they say up north, and there was a couple sitting on their little wooden balcony surrounded by white metal walls of the other mobile homes, a prisoner would feel almost at home here.Uggh Not for us as we want the wide open spaces

So back to Cormelles and we wanted to see if there were a good restaurant which we could visit later in the day although by this time it was almost 5.45 pm we located what looked like a nice little place called La Relais du Normandy which was

due to open at 6.30, so we passed the time of day downing some beers in the fading sun whilst watching the home going traffic rush by before arriving for our meal.

The food was excellent and good value and we would certainly eat here again as it had a nice atmosphere with a few locals popping in to eat.

Then back to the site for a glass of Calvados (what else)before turning in. This was Joanne and Tim’s last night before leaving and we hoped they enjoyed it and also the camping experience but we do believe they will be back.

Wednesday 18th May A quiet day in camp

We had decided the previous evening over dinner that we were going to have a quiet time and just fiddle and enjoy the sunshine and thats exactly what we did.

We both did a few chores around the caravan but generally took it easy and watched the day slide past from the nice seat relaxing in the sun.

Joanne and Tim went out out for a while to do some shopping and during this time Noel worked on updating the Blog and writing a very tough letter to LD lines and then later in the day we went for a ride around the site on our newish fold up bikes and then on to the swimming pool for a few lengths before dinner.

Tonight Jennifer and I finished up the rest of the salmon with a nice salad and washed down with a glass of South African Pinotage wine which was also excellent and then an evening of reading and listening to Ipods and the last bits of blogging and sorting out photos.

Tomorrow we plan to loom at other caravan sites in the area and perhaps tour the local Calvados distillery which should be interesting and also good for the sences.

Tuesday 17th May A day out along the coast

The  sun was shiningwhen we left the caravan site and headed to the Normandy Coast and the first town we arrived at was Trouville-Sur-Mer which looked pretty much closed and then further along the Deauville which was a little busier but there seemed to be and exhibition on. The last time we visited this town which was perhaps twenty or thirty years and we thought it rather nice but it is now much larger and less attractive to us and of course it’s still famous for its horse racing and Casino’s and not our cup of tea at all. Nevertheless we stopped just on the edge of twon for a coffee and cognac, what a way to get the day started.

We drove along the coast to Cabourg which is a very nice town and walked through the recently refurbished Accor Grand Hotel which was really very nice but no doubt very expensive as also next door to a Casino and with bar prices of 12 Euros for a glass of wine in the bar. In the town we found a nice little bar and had a coffees etc and then found a little park where we had the picnic we had brought with us. Still going West along the seafront we arrived in Caen where we searching for slip on shoes for Jennifer and Tim and swimming goggles etc which we found after visiting two stores and ending up in Decathlon.

We then took a drive back through the countryside to the site and attempted to find out if we would be able or not to eat in the Chateau. This should be a simple process but the Dutch lad on reception was new to this and said do you want fish or meat which sounded a little strange and so Jennifer came back to find out what we wanted. I though this could not be right and went back to reception but by this time he had gone and so I walked to the Chateau and found the ‘Lady in charge’ who said its not fish or meat but there is a choice and so we arranged to go back there at 7.45

There was a Dutch couple already eating when we arrived and we had an excellent five course meal which wasn’t that cheap but on a par of a three course meal in Weybridge. A nice bottle of Bordeaux and then we tried their home made Calvados which was a little firey but the glasses were rather small.

It was very nice that Joanne and Tim treated is to this dinner as they would not be with us on out 40^th Wedding anniversary which falls at the end of the May.

And so back to camp for a good night’s sleep 

Monday 16th May A little light shopping

We had an easy morning followed by a light lunch of left over BBQ meat, as usual we had cooked too much the previous evening, but it was really good.

In the afternoon we headed off to Liseaux where we went to the Centre Commerical and found a very good Leclerc supermarket which enabled us to stock up with a few things. The main supermarkets in France have fish counters to die for and make Tesco eta al look poor by comparison. So tonight was to be fish and we bought a kilo of prawns and two rather large lumps of salmon and a nice bottle of wine and then headed back to the site. We had learnt by this time that the  free wifi on site was not working which is a pain and should be fixed soon, perhaps later in the week. We finsied off the evening by watching on DVD a BBC programme called ‘Spook’ and it a very good series indeed

Sunday 15th May To Chateau Le Colombier near Moyaux

A short drive of about ninety minutes plus time to stop and have a coffee and croissant for breakfast and we arrived at the site after a slight mis-reading of the direction’s by the navigator and we ended up charging around the countryside with single lane’s whilst towing rather a large caravan but we made it in the end.

This is a lovely open site with very large pitches and surrounded by apple trees and also a fantastic heated swimming pool. There is also food on site with both take away and Creperie  and bar, actually two bars, and you can also eat in the Chateau, but as its early in the season the place is almost empty  with perhaps six caravans and four tents, just what we like.

We were fully set up my midday and enjoyed a nice lunch of bread and cheese and then took it easy for the rest of the day and Joanne and Tim played table tennis, went swimming and also did the crazy golf.

Later in the afternoon we set up the BBQ and as the freezer in the caravan had worked brilliantly we could enjoy some great Costco rib eye steaks, Cumberland sausages and very large pork ribs together with some French wine from our Piplin house cellar and now re-exported to France again for consumption.

A very nice evening indeed was had by all.

14th May 2011 LD Lines we hate you!

Some three years ago we used LD Lines from Le Havre who had just taken over the Portsmouth to Le Havre route from P & O and we were totally disappointed after years of good old P & O service and nice cabins.

Earlier this year we noticed that LD lines was offering a new vessel on the route with super smart cabins etc and so as a surprise for Jen I booked one of their new double bed cabins with large picture window and full en-suite facilities. About one month ago we were notified that the new ship was not coming now and no reasons were given but don’t worry although we don’t have the super smart new cabins we will give you a four berth with window with en-suite on the ship that we had been on previously and some money back at the same time.

Anyway we had a good journey down to Portsmouth and it did not seem to crowded at the waiting area and when we drove on to the ship after checking in and receiving our nice slip of paper with clearly stamped four berth en-suite we noticed how clean and newly painted was the car deck. We arrived at reception to get our room key and after waiting fifteen minutes or so in line and then we handed the nice piece of paper to the girl behind the reception desk who then started laughing and then looked glum and was silent for about two ninutes and then spoke to her colleague next to her and then said they had no more cabin left except a small room (the rat hole) along the corridor with no window and no bathroom. We were furious and the room provided smaller accommodation than a bloody submarine could offer.

So we went for a walk and met Joanne and Tim who had a much larger cabin with en-suite etc and we had a couple of glasses of wine before returning to the (rat hole) with air conditioning. As I had already blasted the receptionist the night before there was not much point in having another go as she had already said it wasn’t her fault but that of the booking section.

This is what the US Marines get up to

Prisoners in Cebu, Philippines do Michael Jackson