Wednesday 31st May 2017- 46 years ago today we got married-Wow

After last night’s food debacle we took it easy in the morning and did nit leave the Hotel in Limoges until almost midday to enable Noel to get some rest after being up for many hours last night. The next part of our journey was to leave on the A20 headed for Tulle and Brive and then we left the motorway and took the country route via the small roads from Labistide-Murat down to Vers where stopped and had a brief sandwich lunch.

Where we stopped is by the main river and there were several holiday boats moored up for lunch right by the local municipal caravan site which could not be better located. As we were sitting have lunch in the light rain and british car and caravan arrived and so we watched them get themselves set up for a few minutes and then decided that we are still a bit early to be able to check in to the Hotel so we took the long route by crossing over the river Lot and headed east towards Limogne and then down to Larnagol and had a brief look at the caravan site there we have stayed at several times. It was quite busy really which surprised us for this time of the year.

St Cirq Hotel

We arrived at the Saint Cirq Hotel and checked in to a nice room which has a small private balcony area right next to the vineyards, all very pleasant and unpacked and then had a little siesta for a while. Dinner was booked in the Hotel owned Brasserie in Saint Cirq and so at 7.30 we hopped on to the shuttle bus and went to the restaurant and had a very good meal with Noel explaining yet again NO GARLIC which worked this time. Jennifer order one of the house specialities which was an enormous plateful of salad, chips, melon, duck and Lamb plus a lot of other stuff, see photo.

Wedding Anniversary Dinner

Noel was more reserved with his Lamb and fries but he did follow up with some very good chocolate ice-cream. We then walked back up the hill to connect with the shuttle bus back to the Hotel where Noel did some blogging and emails and Jennifer did some reading. An enjoyable day for our 46^th wedding anniversary, gosh it really so long ago?

   

Tuesday 30th May 2017 –Fings are not often what they seem to be!

Well after a relative early start at around 0800, yes that’s early for us these days, we did our caravan chores and said goodbye to our Brit neighbours and also the reception staff and gave them all contact details should they need it whilst we are away.

So we took the motorway to Le Mans and then on to Tours and then a long country route through the hills and dales to Limoges where we arrived at around 5.15 pm. Finding the Chateau was a little difficult and then we arrived we found that nobody was in and no other guests. It vall looked a little strange and as we had booked it on Bookings. Com this was unusual we thought. There was a telephone to call if nobody was in??

Looks Great but bed was awful

For a Hotel this must be unusual we thought but called the number and about fifteen minutes a couple with two young children arrived and they apologised for not being there and did we have a reservation ?which we pointed was via Bookings.com.

Never mind the husband said I am sure we have the booking and we can show you the room which was to say the least quite interesting with the most appalling double bed we have ever seen. We also discovered that it actually was not a Hotel but a glorified Gite and so no bar or restaurant or even food?. We explained that this was not what we expected and that as it was an wedding anniversary trip we would look elsewhere. The owner did not seem to upset with us moving on and even suggested a couple of Hotels and restaurants to visit.

Unfortunately both Hotels he suggested were full and so we found another Hotel in town managed by

Best Western and they were nearly full but with only two rooms left but they offered a room price for a two room suite but still expensive but we took it as it was now getting towards 6.30 and did not want to mess around anymore.

The room is nice and so is the Hotel and they recommended us a good restaurant across the road called Le Cheverny which suited us for tonight and after having a nice glass of Chablis to start, Noel made it perfectly clear to the serving staff NO GARLIC at all in the food please. No problem they said but only two hours later it became apparent that there was garlic in the ’risotto de cèleri rave’ or Risotto with Celerie and ruined Noels night and also Jennifer’s to a large degree.

Le Cheverney Restaurant Limoges

 Unfortunately Garlic has a very negative effect on my body so I spent half the night on the Loo and filling time by typing this Blog. Let’s Hope I have recovered by tomorrow and can get some sleep as its now 0200 on the 31^st May which is our 46 th Wedding Anniversary.

However if the restaurant that we visited is open by the time we leave here on Wednesday morning I make as little noise.

Tomorrow we go to St Cirq Le Popie on the Lot Valley.

Sunday 28th/Monday 29th May2017- Cheating by putting two days in one blog

Well the days were quite similar except that on Sunday night we had an evening drink with Ingrid the owner of the caravan site and apart from that had a very pleasant couple of days except that on Monday afternoon Noel had some problems related to his recent bowel reversal operation which caused some unpleasant results and so the planned drink with some new English neighbours had to be cancelled which was a shame but there was no way that Noel could attend .

Evening drinks in the Chateau

However in the afternoon of Monday we started packing for our trip to the The Lot area of France as we plan to drive partly there tomorrow and stop overnight in a a Chateau near Limoges.

We had a quite evening and early night  as we wanted a relative early start to the day if possible.

Saturday 27th May 2017- Some good news and some not so good

I think I must have mentioned in a previous Blog about a missing parcel containing my driving spectacle which I inadvertently left behind in UK and our attempts to find it via the online tracking system and visiting the local post office.

In disgust I checked the tracking system this morning and now there is no mention of it being anywhere as all status items had been deleted which to means that it has been lost for sure. My daughter will make a claim against the British Post but you can only do this after twenty days and you need a copy of an invoice to substantiate your claim value. Well of course I don’t carry around with an invoice for a set of spectacles and was thinking there is not point in phoning the Opticians on a Saturday as its their busiest day and so would leave it until Monday.

So we went for some food shopping in Courmeilles and also some diesel for the car, a bit cheaper here still than UK, even after the poor exchange rate. Well we got back and started watching qualifying for the Formula 1 Monaca GP and the lady from reception turned up carrying a small package which was my spectacles, unbelievable as I thought they were really lost.

Anyway we watched the qualifying and then had a mid-afternoon rest waiting for the FA Cup Final to start where Chelsea was bound to win, only they Chelsea team that I know did not turn up and they got whipped again by Arsenal. So this was the bad news bit of the day

Oh Damn!!!!

.

Oh well that’s life. Tomorrow is another day and the weather is still looking good.

Friday 26th May 2017- What fantastic weather

Surely this weather cannot last? It’s been really great now for several days and nice and hot.

We had a nice slow morning with a late breakfast and then enjoyed the sunshine where you needed to seek a little shade. The Dutch couple who work for the RentaTent people have arrived and it’s the same crew that helped us out two years ago when Noel had his health problems. They are a hard working couple and are now busy cleaning up all the ten large tents ready for the first customers in June to arrive. It is planned that Joanne and Tim and the two children will come to Normandy to join us and will stay in one of these tents as they are well fitted out.

For lunch, a late one at that, we finished off some chicken thighs with a salad and then set about sleeping whilst Noel caught up on the Blog as it’s so easy to get behind and even one day later thinking what did we do yesterday. Noel also spent some time cleaning his camera and took a few shots nearby for the Blog as we have over the years taken many photos of this place and perhaps don’t need anymore.

We haven’t ventured in to the swimming pool yet although the water is warm and that is because Jennifer is still suffering from a bad dry cough whilst Noel is still getting used to his new bowel system and so needs to be a bit careful for a while. We decided to visit the Creperie for a light snack although the chef made two very large crepes which Jennifer could not finish but Noel ploughed on an did his bit for Britain.

We watched one episode of ‘The Bridge’ before bed and boy its quite warm and muggy tonight so sleeping might be a problem, we shall see.

Thursday 25th May 2017- Its Ascension Day

It is public holiday time in France and the shops will be closing early we had been warned so we went to Courmeiles for some food shopping and also to buy some wine as we have invited another English couple on the site over for an evening drink.

The town is decked out with flags and there is a funfair in town blocking up all the roads and so parking in town was a problem so Jennifer did a run to the fish shop whilst I drove around. Jennifer bought some salmon and then we went to Carrefour for some wine and other food bits and then back to the site.

We decided on a sandwich for lunch and would save the salmon for evening meal but would cook it and serve cold with a salad.

The afternoon was spent taking it easy and our guests arrived around 6pm, David and Marjorie for Ormskirk, Lancashire, which is not far from where Jennifer was born and raised. Anyway they were originally planning to spend a couple of nights here at the Chateau and then go on to the Loire Valley area. But they are so smitten with this site they have now changed their plans and will spend the next ten days here. So we gave them some advice on places to visit such As the Basilique in Lisieaux etc. They have been caravan’ers for many years and had started visiting German sites where there were no mobile homes on site, like here.

They left about 7.30 after two bottle so white wine and then we had our dinner and watch a couple of episodes of the ‘The Bridge’.

And so to bed.

Wednesday 24th May 2017- Lunch in Deauville

After  a little shopping in Moyaux as we had to visit the Pharmacy as Jennifer has developed a bad cough which keeps us both awake at night and as she refuses to sleep in the car there is not much I can do (Ha not that’s not true)

Luckily the Pharmacist wife spoke good English and was able to prescribe something and its starting to make a difference thank heavens.  We had previously agreed with Ingrid to have lunch with her and so she suggested we visit Deauville where she knew a nice restaurant by the sea except when we got there it was rather difficult to find due to all the one way systems.

Anyway we had an excellent lunch and we all went for the Cod steak which was absolutely brilliant, not cheap but very good indeed. Ingrid finished with an ice cream and Noel with a chocolate tart which was excellent. When it came to pay the first card reader would not accept my card but the second one worked Ok however when I got home and checked my account I had been charged twice!!

Anyway we came back to the site via Moyaux Post Office as Joanne had sent a small packed to us my recorded parcel post and lo and behold it has got lost, It went overnight from Shepperton to Paris and has been stuck in Paris for about one week without moving according to the tracking information.

The lady behind the counter confirmed it was still in Paris and then said there was nothing she could do as it was in Paris and it often happens  but it will turn up sometime in the future she said, very useful!!.

So we came back to the site and had a restful afternoon and evening with another episode of the ‘The Bridge’

Tuesday 23rd May 2017- Another quiet day at the ranch

After yesterday’s BBQ which went off very well we needed to sort out the place a little as it was rather late when our gusts left and we still had the washing up to do .

They were an entertaining couple having travelled extensively in Chile, Argentina and Colombia which are some of the places we visited on our cruise some years ago. So we compared notes about Valparaiso and other locations and we all remember the Scottish Whisky with Glacier ice served on the boat.

Anyway back to today, we finished clearing up and then had a quiet day sitting in the sunshine and then for dinner finished up the left overs of steak and chicken and salads which all went down very well.

We started watching a Nordisk Noir DVD called  ‘The Bridge’ we have watched it before some years ago and have started to watch again as its very good, there are about 12 episodes and so we have a few nights entertainment ahead.

We are now looking forward to an early nights rest.

Monday 22nd May 2017- BBQ tonight

When we first arrived on site the male manager came and helped us put up the awning as Noel’s strength is not fully back yet from all the operations and all the other things they did to him and so Anthony came and helped us for about 1.6 hours. We did not want to pay him so invited him and his co-manager (his girlfriend) over for a BBQ tonight as the weather forecast was looking good.

So in the morning we shopped in the Leclerc supermarket in Lisieaux  for some bits and pieces and then returned back to the site.

We spent a pleasant afternoon relaxing and then about 5.30 pm preparing the BBQ and we had organised the following menu.

Starters:- Crisps and smoked salmon on crispbread

Mains:- Chicken thighs and Scottish rib eye steaks

Desert:- Strawberry pie and a choice of cheese.

Both Anthony and Hazir are well travelled ands have worked for Club Mediterranean and have visited a lot of places in South America where we have also visited on our Latin American trip some years ago. So we had an enjoyable evening and they left about 10 pm after Anthony polishing off most of the steak which clearly he enjoyed.

Just started typing this when read about the atrocious bombing at the Manchester Arena, absolutely disgraceful and cant thinks what families must be going through right now. ISIS seems to be claiming this bombing attack …

Our hearts go out to those affected.

  

Sunday 21st May 2017- Day out to Cabourg

We like to alternate days out with days in, so to speak, and so we decided that if weather was nice we would take a trip over to Cabourg for a light lunch.

So the weather was great and we headed out through the country route over the hills and through the dales, as they say and arrived in Cabourg just as the market was closing. This was not a problem to us as after a while all markets seem the same after a while but of course with the market the car parks tend to be full.  However we found a space and walked down through the town to a little bakery we know and purchased some quiche’s for lunch and then went down to the seafront and found a bench where we could sit and consume our lunch whilst watching the people enjoying their walks along the front and also the people on the beach. It was surprising how many people were on the breach as we felt it was only just warm enough but as the young don’t notice the cold they are fine.

So we spent a pleasant couple of hours in Cabourg and bought an ice cream on the way back, which although being very good was a problem for Noel with his new lower body issues, viz lots of wind and very uncomfortable for the rest of the evening.

W got back to the site around 1500 hours and enjoyed a pleasant sit in the sun and a cuppa before having a light dinner and watch TV for a while before hitting the sack.

Saturday 20th May2017- Gosh its quiet here

Where is everybody? The site is almost empty apart from us and one other motor home which is unusual compared to our past visits.

However, the usual bright sunny morning followed all days but sun and rain and it’s a bit like April showers really. Nevertheless we went in to Courmeilles to buy some fish and ot

her food items for the weekend and its will give us a a chance to spend the day on site as the weather should be better, a BBQ perhaps??? We shall or even a swim.

I am not sure if I have previously mentioned the help we received from the co-manager of the site a late twenties chap who helped us put up the awning as Noels strength is still lacking after all the operations and other attempts to ruin his body beautiful. Anyway as a thank you for his help we have invited him and his girlfriend the other co-manager over for a BBQ on Monday night  and part of our shopping trip today was to suss out what we would be the menu for the night. His girlfriend and co-manager is a very attractive Tunisian girl called Hasir but she does not eat pork naturally and so we have to adapt our BBQ food accordingly. So we have purchased some wine at least and will do the rest of our shopping on Monday morning as we don’t want to fill up our smallish fridge with stuff we don’t need until then.

The afternoon was spent relaxing and reading and catching up with Blogging etc and reading about Trump and his visit to Saudi whilst Rome burns at home.  Maybe I am wrong but a good relationship between USA and Russia can only be good whilst the Clintonians don’t like this at all and of course Trump removing the boss of the FBI has not gone down to well although In my personal view it was a good decision.

Looks like I will miss the last game of the Chelsea season and after winning the premier league it would have been good to watch, I could record it at home but it will be well past its sell by date when we get home to watch it.

So its fresh salmon tonight for dinner and finishing with an apple tart (French style of course).

It’s also the start of the Le Mans 24 Hour race today at 1600 and so will check out the site TV tomorrow afternoon and see if they have it live. Also next weekend is the Monaco F1 race and also the Indianapolis 500 so plenty to catch up on if its showing.

Friday 19th May 2017- Talk about changeable weather

Again, another beautiful morning but within the hour it was raining again, and looked to be set in for the day and this was confirmed by the French weather channel Meteo. So after doing a few caravan type things we headed in to Lisieux for lunch and decided to try our usual haunt very close to the Basilique

. This used to be owned by a gay male couple who were good fun and they also owned a motor home which they used on their odd days off.

Well, things have moved on and although it’s all pretty much the same as before they have stopped the snack menu and only offer a 14.50 Euro set and so we decided to have that and a glass of wine. To be frank the food was excellent and we shall go back again in the near future.

We drove up the hill from the Basilique to the large Leclerc Hypermarket and was able to get in to the building before the rain descended and inside it sounded very loud indeed and it was only when we left the building it looked like white confetti everywhere but in fact there must have been a major hailstone fall as on the route home it was almost white in places. I forgot to bring my camera and therefore did not get any photos of this winter wonderland in mid-May.

We had a quiet evening watching TV and the usual rubbish programmes and it was raining again but the forecast for this weekend is improving well.

Thursday 18th May 2017- Not a lot today as it was raining

Well we awoke to a beautiful bright blue sky morning and within the hour it had changed to dark sky with a strong promise of rain which was fulfilled about one hour later.

We needed a little shopping for lunch and also to purchase some bird seed as we hang a large fat ball near the caravan on a tree and so can watch the birds all looking for a free meal.

After lunch it was still chucking it down so decided to have an easy afternoon and evening in the caravan listening to music and reading and with a a glass of Chardonnay to brighten the evening. So quite a slow day really but nice all the same.

Wednesday 17th May- Hot sun to rain

The morning was quite beautiful when we awoke from our slumbers and now getting used to the caravan beds again and they are very comfortable but you have to get used to them after not using them for more than two years.

After breakfast we headed down town Courmeilles for some food and fish shopping

 and although the choice of fish is not like market day it is still very good. So we bought some Cod and some beautiful prawns and then a quick walk around town then back to Carrefour for the balance of our shopping. The Cod was really fresh and was so tender

that is melted in your mouth, as they say, and then followed by a typical French apple tart, brilliant.

We have been following the weather forecast and they have said it would rain later and so we needed to do a few organisational things around the caravan before it rained and sometimes you can have strong winds and so we needed to put in the storm guy ropes for the awning and we finished around five pm when the sky started to change from the blue to the dark and soon after it started to rain. We had also attempted to set up the satellite TV receiver and was having a few issues and then realised it was not in the best place and soon afterwards we were up and running and now have all the free to air programmes available although we don’t spend a lot of time watching tv when on holiday as there is much else to do.

At about 5.30 pm one motor home and one caravan turned up and so that makes it three sites used of the 180 so it is beautifully quiet this time of year. In the past when we have come in mid-may there have been two Dutch couples, a French couple and a German couple and then another Dutch couple who live in Belgium just across from the Dutch border as it’s cheaper??? So much for Euro pricing then!  However at this moment none of the old group is here although one of the Dutch couples is expected.

We watched a little TV, but of course being an hour ahead of London time, the good post 9pm programmes don’t start till after 10 pm here which makes it a little late so must remind myself how to save the programmes on the USB memory stick.

It’s still raining quite hard as we hit the sack and similar expected for tomorrow.

Tuesday 16th May 2017 Another glorious day

We awoke at a reasonable time and had a quitre morning after visiting Courmeilles town Carrefour for some milk and various other foodstuffs.

We still had some sorting out to do and spent about one hour packing up empty bags from chairs and tables etc and generally making the site look tidy and then enjoyed a brief afternoon nap as Ingrid the owner was due to come and join us for an early evening drink and snacks. So we had had a good chat about the problem of the camp site sale to the new owners as suddenly the local council when being notified of the sale have requested that the land be returned to farming land and not tourist site. Typical local government trying to play big and tough and as the site brings tourist to the area they cannot understand that after 40 years of tourist use they want to change it back.

In the meantime they have had to spend some money on specific repairs requested by the new owners however they are only buying the camp site sand not the Chateau, the Creperie and swimming pool which will be retained by Ingrid and she will try to sell separately.  After Ingrid left we finished up the open bottle of wine and went to bed and the outside temperature was still very hot and tomorrow it will be the same again we understand.

Sunday /Monday 14/15th May 2017 Time to leave UK

We had spent the last few days preparing the caravan for its travels and it needed a bit of a clean as it had not been used for a couple of years for known reasons.

By lunchtime the van was fully loaded and so was the car and it appears each time that we use the caravan we seem to take more stuff than the last time as there was little space left for anything else to go. At 18.00 we moved the van on the road and hitched up and headed towards Portsmouth where we are due to catch the Brittany Ferries vessel the ‘Mont Saint Michel’ to Caen when it leaves at 10.45 pm.

We arrived in ample time and unfortunately got in the wrong check in line as there was a trainee handling the check –in’s and it took nearly forty five minutes to check in five cars. We were furious as the other three lanes were sailing through and so Jennifer went down and shouted at them not that it made any difference but at least she felt better. It is the Le Mans 24 hour race this next weekend and there were many classical cars waiting to check in or on trailers and I kick myself now that I failed to take some photos.

The ship left pretty much on time and we went straight to bed in our cabin and at about 0500 was awakened by the ships’s tannoy system advising we are due to dock in in less than 45 minutes so please leave you cabin asap. We had a light breakfast and ironically we were quite early off the vessel and within half an hour of arrival were on the road to Caen and of course at that time of the day not much traffic. We had a good clear run to the caravan site Chateau de Colombier where we arrived at about 0830.

By 1000 we were pretty much set up apart from the awning and then Ingrid the site owner turned up and said that the front desk office staff would help us put up the awning which they did in the afternoon and we are son glad of that as Noel’s energy levels were getting low.

Although we had sufficient food for dinner we were rather tired and headed off to the Creperie for an evening dinner and a well needed glass of wine.

And so to bed and to get used to the beds again and it had been very warm in the afternoon and up to 23 degrees Centigrade and the van was quite warm