The Twenty-Eighth Week

Monday 12-9-16

This week takes us into our seventh month away and we're happily wandering around France. As it's now September our ACSI camping discount card now gives us discounted fees at campings again. We also have French motorhome aires and Camping municipals to choose from, so we're spoilt for choice. Today we followed the Loire valley all the way to the sea. And a sunrise over the Loire was what greeted us when we got up on Monday morning.

This is the first coast we've hit since leaving Greece so we both got a bit excited. We looked at a couple of Aires but they were in towns and busy, we wanted sea views seeing as we'd made it to the coast. At Piriac Sur Mer we found them on an aire that charged 7 euro a night.

We wandered on the beach and then when we went to bed we listened to the waves, like we'd done in Greece, what seemed like a long time ago.

Aire at Piriac Sur Mer, France. N47.39680 W002.51245

Tuesday 13-9-16 and Wednesday 14-9-16

The idea now was to wander around the coast of Brittany. So in true Van Brian fashion today we headed inland. The coast had been busy and I really couldn't be bothered to traipse around aires looking for a place to stop. We also needed reliable internet to upload last weeks blog that was already two days late. We found a 14 euro a night camping with a heated swimming pool and free internet at Pont Scorff.

The weather took a turn for the worse and it started to rain. I got the blog sorted and we decided to have another night there. We had beer, wine and meat, the basics for survival so we wouldn't perish. I cooked kebabs in the rain that evening.

The next day was miserable too so we had a lazy day in the van, not even a game of boule due to the weather.

ACSI Camping Ty Nenez, France. N47.82084 W003.40550

Thursday 15-9-16

Feeling a little stir crazy after two days in the same place we plotted our route north with a list of four aires to look at for our stop tonight. We never got further than the first one. It was in a town with campsite like hedges separating the pitches and picnic tables for each bay. And it was free.

The town was nice, stone houses and shops and a huge fancy church in the middle. The Roman Catholics built a few of these big fancy churches in Brittany in an effort to tempt the Brittany Catholics away from their type of god which wasn't as good as the Roman Catholic one. I didn't take a photo of the church but I took a photo of the nice Bar Tabac next to it.

I'd seen a few Pizzerias in towns we'd driven through today and was gutted to find this place didn't have one. It had a creperie restaurant which always confuse me. How can you base a business on selling pancakes? Seems such a niche market to me, a little market stall maybe but a whole restaurant? But then just as we were getting the salad out for dinner a pizza van turned up in the car park opposite us. There were cheers from the Van Brian crew. I think I captured the excitement in this terrible quality photo out of the windscreen.

Note also the tent pitched on the aire, another first for us.

Aire at St Thegonnec, France. N48.52244 W003.94572

Friday 16-9-16

Today we'd arranged to stay at the house of some friends who live in Brittany. On the way we stopped for lunch, finding a park with a picnic area. It also had a replica British phone box that they used as a lending library, a similar scheme with a phone box is ran in our village. They also had fitness equipment which Liz tried but soon got bored of.

We found our friends house and abandoned the van for comfy settees, a power shower and red wine.

That evening they took us to a restaurant by a lake where I had more red wine, moules and frites and a very large brandy.

Back at their house the red wine thing continued till we'd seen off all we had in the van and all they had in the house. At some point we went to bed.

Friends House, Laniscat, France.

Saturday 17-9-16

I woke up on Saturday afternoon. My friend called me a few names for the state of his head and we sat drinking tea. We consulted the big map and big book of aires and chose one not that far away and late afternoon we left them and by teatime we were there. A nice aire at Prestin Les Greves with a sea view. But even better was what we found parked there. Another van the same make and model as Van Brian.

We've had ours for nearly four years and Bert and Kathy from Rotterdam had had theirs for ten years. Nether of us had ever seen another one on the road till today. They made room for us in front of them and we had a good nose about in each others vans. He'd had exactly the same three mechanical faults as we'd had on this trip, wheel bearing, turbo hose and leaking radiator.

And then it was an early night after dinner, no wine was required today to help me sleep.

Aire at Prestin Les Greves, France. N48.68137 W003.63486

Sunday 18-9-16

We swapped emails with our new Dutch friends and then pottered around the Rose Granite coast. Being Sunday most of the supermarkets were shut but we did find a Netto open, and I'm glad we did. They were doing a buy one case of Burgundy get one free offer. Which worked out at one pound forty a bottle. One small town had two aires at it, the first we looked at had been taken over by gypsies but the second which was just above a beach was just the ticket.  And free as well.

A French lady told us the beach was good for cockleing so we grabbed our bucket and went off in search of some lunch.

We got enough for a pan full but, as we later found out, they should be left overnight in seawater to spit out all the sand they'd ate. My lunch was a gritty affair.

In the evening we watched some strange sand machines driving back to the coast. I presume they're some sort of shellfish collecting trucks but there was nobody to ask.  And luckily the Netto Burgundy was lovely.

Aire at Lermot Plage, France. N48.53147 W002.66379

And so that's our penultimate blog post for this trip, the next one will be uploaded when we get home.

Below are the numbers so far for 194 days away.

Cheers, the Van Brian Crew.

The Twenty-Seventh Week

Saturday 3-9-16 and Sunday 4-9-16

So we were camping on an allotment close to the town of Jockgrim who were having their two yearly beer and wine festival.

Last nights festivities had took their toll and we slept till mid morning. The town has a lake with a beach and we met some of our friends there and laid about chatting in the sun. After a power nap in the afternoon we donned our very orange festival tee shirts and met up with everyone. We found them in one of the courtyard bars and commandeered a table.

After drinking and eating there, we moved on to the town square and mingled with the locals, but it was hard to loose our mob due to their orangeness.

We made it back to the van in the early hours of Sunday morning in a very happy mood. Sunday was painful though and we took it easy until I got the bbq out and made a pizza using some ready made pastry and a pile of toppings for lunch. My mate and his wife were also stopping on the allotment with us in his van and they came over with a bottle of German champagne and we shared our pizza. Then it was back to the festival for the last time and then a very good Italian meal with everyone. After the meal we had one last drink at the last bar still open. We sang a song for the barman and he served us beer and wine but wouldn't take any money in payment. What a nice man.

On an allotment near Jockgrim, Germany.

Monday 5-8-16

We said our goodbyes to everyone and then mid afternoon wandered off back to France. This was going to be a quiet day of rest and recuperation. At a town called Blamont we found a camping municipal, bagged a pitch near the lake and started to recuperate. There was us and one French caravan stopping on the site.

I fried up some sausages for dinner and that was about as exciting as things got. An early night was called for.

Camping Municipal at Blamont, France. N48.58821 E006.85075

Tuesday 6-9-16

Refreshed and starting to feel human again I was up early. Which was a good thing or I'd of missed a lovely sunrise over the lake next to our van.

We were slowly heading west now, with a plan to hit the Atlantic coast and then follow it north. So the big map was consulted and a place found a couple of hours drive away. We decided to use French aires on the drive west and today's was a good one. The town had allocated an area next to the canal as a motorhome overnight parking area.

The town itself wasn't that interesting, we walked around it and the only thing that caught my eye to take a photo of was this chap and his lad on the back of his bike.

The aire filled up that night and we slept well as it was quiet even though we were in the middle of the town.

Aire at Ligny en Barrois, France. N48.68779 E005.31945

Wednesday 7-9-16 and Thursday 8-9-16

So another day and another aire was picked out of our big book of aires. This one was a surprise when we got there. In a very pretty old town they'd given over an grassy area to us motorhomers.

It was one of the best we'd stopped on and as they allowed you to stop three nights we decided to have a couple of days here. We found a great looking bar but typically for France it was closed with no sign to say when it would open.

There was a footpath at the side of the river running through the town and we wandered down it. There was also a boule area on the aire. I played Liz for a while and a French guy wandered across and asked if we'd like a game with him. Two hours later we'd played 20 games and he'd beat us, but not by much so I didn't feel too bad. We did find an open bar and had a beer with a group of French skinheads. Doc Martin boots and neck tattoos seemed a bit out of place in the town, when they wandered off with their beer the barman shouted them back and they sheepishly gave him the bottles back. I think they were good boys really.

Aire at Chaourcy, France. N48.05998 E004.13933

Friday 9-9-16

My favourite shorts had finally given up after six months hammer and they'd started to fall apart. So on the way to tonight's stop I spotted a Decathalon and dived in. I successfully found a new pair of favourite shorts and a rather natty little bag for my boule balls. The camping we found that day was yet another virtually empty municipal. No body was in the reception but a sign said they'd come around in the evening and take payment for the pitches.

I found some hooks in my bag of useful tat and made a home for our boules. Note my posh new boule bag.

Camping Municipal at Coullons, France. N47.62341 E002.48618

Saturday 10-9-16

Nobody ever came for the money but at six the next morning I heard someone walk by. When we got up later there was a note on the table under our awning that just said “11.20 euro pour le emplacement” When we left we wrapped the money in the note and pinned it to the door of the still closed reception. I hope they got it. Our laundry bag was full and I was sick of shifting it out of the bathroom in order to use the crapper so we looked in our ACSI camping book and found a site with washing machines. Being September the ACSI off peak discount scheme was back. The site we picked was in a town with a big river running through it. The site had been flooded by the river when France had the heavy rain in June. It still showed signs of the flood but the washing machines had survived. We filled our pitch with drying laundry.

We shopped in the town and while walking back heard the sound of car horns. It was Saturday and a wedding had taken place in the town. The tradition in France is to have a procession of honking cars between the church and the Mayors office where the couple have to sign the wedding papers. We found the bride and grooms car in the parking next to the campsite.

ACSI Camping at Montbazon, France. N47.29048 W000.71582

Sunday 11-9-16

We were following the river Loire now, all the way to the sea. The Loire valley is famous for it's chateaux. And we found an awfully pretty one on our drive today.

And then I got a treat. At the awfully pretty camping municipal at La Fresne a group of French car nuts had had a weekend camping with their old cars and old camping kit. They were sat together having lunch and we asked if we could take some photos. No problem but don't put them on Facebook was their reply. So I presume it's ok to put them on my blog. I was most impressed with the micro caravan with a boat on top, but to be honest they all looked great.

Camping Municipal at La Fresne, France.  N47.39900 W0.93373 

47.399, -0.93373And that's another week done, only two left before our crossing back to the UK. So we're making the most of France for a bit longer.

Below are the numbers so far for 187 days away.

Cheers, the Van Brian Crew.

The Twenty-Fifth Week

Saturday 20-8-16

We woke up in Germany and headed for France, stopping at Lidl to by some stock of German beer before crossing the border at Mulhouse. We headed for a camping municipal we'd been to a couple of years ago at Eguisheim, a very pretty little town. We got there at just gone 12 and the reception was shut till 2. I couldn't be arsed to sit outside reception until two so we found an aire nearby and headed there. It was up in the hills and we stopped for a picture of the valley on the way up.

When we arrived at the aire what should have been the motorhome area was full of stalls. It was an art exhibition on all weekend. So along with some other vans we decamped to a nearby car park.

As the day went on the car park filled up with cars but then by six they were all gone and it was just vans. We walked around the art show and it was a bit dire really. They all seemed very keen amateurs who liked to splash the colour around a bit much or go in for wishy washy moody pieces. But they were having a go so fair play.

Back at the van I snoozed whilst Liz sat down with the map and the Camperstop Europe book. She plotted a big circuit of French aires to visit in the next two weeks and marked them on the map. Excellent work from my co-pilot.

Aire at Troi Epis, France. N48.10202 E007.23027

Sunday 21-8-16 and Monday 22-8-16

So with a limit of 50km per day we set off. We had to ignore Lizzie's planned aires though, I fancied a camping and we needed to get laundry done. I'd had no wifi for a few days and wanted to upload last weeks blog. Knowing McDonald's have open wifi I dived into one when I saw it in Colmar. I sat in the van and did the uploading and Liz went and fetched us coffees.

That important job done we pressed on and got to the Camping Municipal at Le Val d'Ajol just before the lady closed the reception for her two hour lunch. Good news was it was a great little site, they had washing machines and it was 13 euro a night. We made ourselves at home.

For dinner I fired up our last disposable bbq and did the 10 euro lamb chops we'd bought in Germany. Cooked to perfection even if I say so myself.

On Monday the town got a good coat of looking at and we decided to stay another day. We were impressed, it was tidy and they'd gone to town with the plants and flowers everywhere. The town hall was impressively French.

We visited the bakers for bread and the supermarket for saucisson and ham. We also noticed a sign for a free classical music concert in the town square that night. I like free and some culture wouldn't hurt us so we decided to give it a go. Liz sorted the laundry out and I burnt some pork for dinner. We got ourselves dressed up and headed back for the concert. But it wasn't in the square, it was in a big hall and it was hot and busy in there. So we ditched that idea and went back to the van to watch a bit of The West Wing on the laptop. Bugger culture if its uncomfortable.

Camping Municipal at Val d'Ajol, France. N47.92471 E006.47442

Tuesday 23-8-16

So we now fell back on the Lizzie Aire plan. The bread yesterday had been great so on the way out of the town we stopped and picked today's lunch up.

As we were back in France I could return to my pre-dinner activity of boule. We had a problem though, I'd given ours away in Hungary. So when we saw a huge Carrefour supermarket we wandered in to get some new ones. I opted for a nice but stupidly expensive set while Liz was happy with the bog standard ones. We also grabbed a small fold up bbq so I could continue burning pork without having to buy disposables.

At lunch we found the aire and it was busy even then, free overnight parking is quite popular. But we found a gap and got ourselves installed by the canal. The old boy next to us caught lots of small fish, put them in a net, then chucked them all back in the canal again. Which seemed a bit odd. 

During the afternoon a couple in another GB motorhome recognised our number plate from reading this blog and came over for a chat. They were Phil and Julie from York. They were on their way south and this was their first stop on the way. We went to see their big motorhome. After six months of being inside ours seeing how much room they had was a shock. We had a good natter, took a picture and then left them to their dinner.

Next to the canal was one of the most impressive boule playing areas I'd ever seen. Normally they play on a patch of gravel and the council might stick a bench or two around it. Here they had a clubhouse with bar and a huge floodlit covered playing area. It intimidated me a bit so my new boules stayed in the van.

We also got to watch huge sand barges floating by every half hour. They carried 420 ton of sand and were 58m long. Impressively big when they're passing a couple of metres from your front door.

Aire at Thaon les Vosges, France. N48.24913 E006.42473

Wednesday 24-8-16 and Thursday 25-8-16

Today should have been 50km and it turned into 100km. It started off well as on the route we'd spotted a small village called Aulnois. We decided to stop and have a look about as Lizzie s maiden name is Henry d'Aulnois. Which means Henry of Aulnois. We took the obligatory picture of Liz by the sign and then parked up by the church. And apart from that there wasn't much else. The cemetery turned up no Henry d'Aulnois's and the small mayors office was closed.

We drove on but then when we got to Neufchateau our road was closed, we took the diversion and drove south when we should have been going West. Eventually I gave up on the diversion and headed west on a small road. It got us to the town with the aire and after driving about through its one way streets found a place to park to get our lunch. Then we went off to find the aire, the coordinates in the Camperstop book were wrong and we ended up in a farmers yard. I looked on the gps and found the aire marked on it elsewhere, which meant negotiating the one way system again. We found it and rejected it, just a gravel parking with nothing around it. The next nearest aire was one we'd used on our way south six months ago. So back to the town, around the one way system, back down the small road and then we carried on south. It was a pleasure to get to Goncourt.

We had a meaty salad for dinner and all was well with the world again.

During the evening two huge motorhomes parked up next to us. The larger one having a Fiat 500 in the boot. They made our little van seem a bit inadequate.

The next day was a lazy one. A bread van turned up at the aire in the morning and we got our bread for lunch without having to walk anywhere. I cleaned the van windows, snoozed and got up to date writing this. The only exercise we got was a game of boule. My new boules were the bees knees and I thrashed Liz with her crappy ones. A great day really.

And then it got even better. A kebab van turned up at the aire. Two kebabs and frites finished the day off a treat.

Aire at Goncourt, France. N48.23695 E005.61026

Friday 26-8-16

With another aire just north of Dijon set as the destination in the satnav we packed up the van. The aire at Goncourt had an honesty box next to the service point so we dropped our euros in it and used the services before leaving.

We had quick shopping stop for beer and milk just up the road and then a leisurely drive south. As we got near a town called Langres Liz remembered that we'd stopped there 6 years ago in our VW camper. It had a nice camping municipal inside the old city walls. So we ditched the planned aire and headed into the town. It was market day so we had to squeeze the van through the cobble streets via a diversion around it. The site was how we remembered it and we had no trouble finding a pitch.

The market was the usual French type, with stalls selling veggies, cheese, saucisson and handbags. We thought the prices were on the high side for everything so nothing got bought but it was good to look.

On Friday evening the site filled up with people using it as a stop off on their way south, lots of noisy Dutch in caravans and a few GB's too. We decided to stop here on Saturday night as well, there's lots to see in the town and we fancied a good walk around the town on the old wall. 

And that's another week over, only five more left before our booked crossing on the tunnel. We've one more week in France planned then we head back to a beer festival in Germany next Friday, which should be fun.

Camping Municipal Goncourt, France. N47.86052 E005.32883

Below are the numbers so far for 171 days away.

Cheers, the Van Brian Crew.