Bonjour from France!!

Bonjour!! It has been a very eventful few days. On Tuesday, we finished cleaning the house, and landed up leaving late for the Chanel Tunnel. ... And of course, we missed our train. Luckily, we were

able to be placed onto another train a little later. Phew! I was worried that we'd have to pay again - not something I was wanting!
I was quite impressed with the facilities available at Victor Hugo Terminal - there's a doggie park for pups to run around in, with little climbing things for them too. It was lovely. The terminal itself was good too - ample shops and facilities to pass the time while you wait your turn for the train. The boarding onto the train was really well organised and straight forward. Inside the train, each carriage is separated with a door, and there are 4 spaces per carriage (our car & caravan took up 2 of those spaces). To be honest, the journey was much faster than I expected. It seemed a lot shorter than the 35min it took. It isn't a journey for anyone who suffers with ear problems - just like in a plane, all of us had blocked ears, and it was only when we arrived back on the surface in France, that our ears cleared again. Granted, it's not a scenic route, but it is quick, and we could take Maximus the doggie with us - something not really possible on the Ferry.

  

After arriving in France, we made our way to Arras. A journey that should have taken us just over an hour, but due to French speed restrictions when towing, it took us nearly two hours! But we managed to get to the camp site while there was still some light in the sky - just. We set up the caravan and thankfully, everything seemed to work well. (Much of it was untested, as we just didn't have the time before we left!) We took the next two days to get everything in the van and caravan repacked (everything had been literally thrown in on Tuesday!!). But at least we can now find everything .... well, mostly! It was a really nice quiet campsite, and we managed to get quite a private little spot. There's a lady in a little van that comes round at about 8:30 in the morning, and sells fresh bread (bagettes!), pana chocolat, and coisonts. All very delish! And so convenient too when camping! 

We then made our way over to Durtal, which is just beyond Le Mans (where the famous race is).

We'd hoped to be a little closer to Le Mans, but it didn't really work out that way. It was a journey that was meant to be around 5 hours long .... we took nearly 8 hours!!! With towing speed restrictions, and stopping FOUR times for the kids to go the loo, it extended our journey quite a bit.

We've visited several supermarkets between Arras and Durtal, and one thing is very different to the UK - is that we can't seem to find fresh milk!! UHT milk - no problem, but not fresh. Very strange. The kids didn't seem to like that there was calf brains on sale in the meat section - but I had to explain to them, that different cultures eat different things - it's still food!

Click for a larger view

The campsite was lovely - right on the river! We only spent two nights there, but it was good. We met a lovely Dutch couple there too, and had a chat about Brexit, and their incomprehension at the ridiculous decision. His words to us were: 'We always thought that the

Maximus, surveying his domain.

UK was a smart thinking country, but we cannot understand this decision.' .... Seems to be the general thought pattern of us in the rest of Europe.

From Durtal, we were off again, this time to Bordeaux! But this time, it was a trouble free, one stop trip. On our way here, we saw a bagette vending machine in a very small town!! Yes, like we have drinks and snacks vending machines .... here it's bagettes!! I knew that the French were mad about their bread, but this takes it to a whole new level!

We passed a few lovely little villages on the way, as we were determined not to use the toll roads again for now - they are very expensive, and with the towing speed limit, we don't make that much of a time gain.

We arrived at the camp site, and while it seems nice, and very close to the beach, it is a little .... noisy. Lots of young people, and FAR too much booze flowing. I do prefer a rather quieter experience to be honest, so not sure how long we'll be staying here.

More to follow ....