Waking to another hot and
sunny day at our bargain campsite on the Loire, we had a leisurely breakfast,
safe in the knowledge that Google Maps had given the journey time at about four
hours – so we reckoned about five for us, as our driving style might be
described as ‘leisurely’ at best!
As it turned out, it was
nearer six with some roadworks, but still with plenty of time to take an
afternoon tea stop at Montville, our very first overnight stop when we started
almost ten weeks ago. We’d done some of the ‘home’ shopping in the Loire to
benefit from some of the local wines there, and someone had sneaked in a very
lush fruit tart – just right for tea in the park!
The Aire was undergoing an
upgrade with a new layer of gravel being added by a team who were very
patiently working around vans as they came and went! This reduced the amount of
spaces, but we were OK – so we could have stayed, with about an hour’s drive
left to get to Dieppe. Unfortunately, Mr B missed Mrs B’s cues that this might
be better than a noisy night at Dieppe, as he was (uncharacteristically!) maybe
a bit focussed on the ‘last supper’ of the usually excellent Normandy cuisine
around Dieppe harbour…
So after the customary shop
at the nearby Auchan (but without diesel this time as it was still more
expensive than the UK) we pulled up to the harbour-side Aire on the seafront
with still a few places left. This Aire is not cheap (€12) but it is literally
within sight of the Ferry – and walking distance of a number of pretty good
restaurants. We’d noticed a motley assortment of vans and old campers in the
gravelled area next to the Aire, but didn’t think much of it as we scampered
into the port to have that last supper…
Walking from the Aire,
pretty much the first proper French restaurant you come to is ‘Le Juquin’,
one we’d been to before and with a very good value fixed price menu we were
straight in! Proper moules et frites at last!
With time to catch the last
bit of daylight as we walked the short distance back to the Aire, we could hear
quite a commotion from the occupants of the vans we’d seen earlier, and as we
rounded the corner we could see that the Aire had become a playground for a
raggle taggle bunch of kids tearing around on scooters and bikes, weaving in
and out of the campers and making a lot of noise. Imagining our night was going
to be banjaxed until the Ferry woke us at 0400 anyway, we were pretty surprised
to a) see the local Police turn up and b) start enforcing the law so that
within 45 minutes, all the vans and occupants had been moved on – there were a
few raised voices from the group, but all in all, a relatively measured
departure and impressive calm professionalism from the French police.
And so indeed we did get
some shut-eye until the 0400 ferry arrived and disgorged its cargo of trucks,
vans and cars… And Mr B had forgotten that once it’s in port, its engines keep
running… Oops – Montville or similar it will be next time!
Dawn broke with our hopes
high of a sunny day to buck the trend of most of our ‘final day’ photos over
the last few years, however…
Luckily, as we queued at the
ferry, the sun came out and stayed with us all the way back to England! And we
were very lucky to benefit from a fascinating talk by the on-board wildlife
expert working for the ORCA charity, who have extended their partnership with
DFDS to include the channel crossing! We’d never heard of them, but they have
been offering interactive talks and wildlife spotting on boats all over the
world, including 12 years with DFDS. We learnt loads of things, so if you are
interested in what and where ORCA do their stuff, look here.
As we neared the English
coast and Newhaven hove into view (still in sunshine!) we reflected on our trip
and both were of the same view that we’d certainly go back to both the islands
of Corsica and Sardinia – as well as plan some extended and structured time in
France itself!
And on our way back to the
van as we disembarked, we saw this very quirky and unusual trailer made from an
old Land Rover – pretty cool we thought!
So – thanks for reading and
we hope you’ve enjoyed the blog – we’ll certainly be dipping in when we try and
remember in a few weeks where we’ve been!
The next and final entry
will be a brief data summary of costs, distances etc (which hopefully we’ll
actually get round to doing this time!)
S&J
No comments:
Post a Comment