Well, so much for a relaxed and leisurely drive through France for the ferry in Dieppe!
Torn between staying south for the warmth and sun (although nothing like we’d left behind in Spain) as we crossed the border into France under lovely blue skies, we opted to head into the hills near Cèret just across the frontier, as Mrs B had spotted that there was to be a partial lunar eclipse that night, and where better than a proper dark-sky site up in the hills!
Pulling up behind a queue of young campers waiting at reception we didn’t expect to see, we were efficiently allocated a pitch by the receptionist who, although it was only a couple of hundred metres away, then drove the golf buggy to show us where we should park! These buggies are all the rage on very big sites – and you can see why, but Camping Mas Llinas was amongst the smallest we have ever stayed on…
Although we weren’t on one of the pitches that had a more direct vista out across the mountain peaks, the view was still pretty good, and with a clear sky promising some good moon watching, we settled in for our first meal inside Evie since we were last in France!
Keeping one eye on the sky, and one on the clock, we nipped outside just at the point the partial eclipse was due to be at its peak…
Now we knew that the shadow from the Earth would only obscure the moon by about 6%, but even with that knowledge we struggled to be certain that what we were viewing was an eclipse rather than just a bit of passing cloud – of which a few were gathering to add to the fun…
The pic is as good as we could manage with our limited skills and phone cameras, (thanks Nick for the tip about using binoculars next time!) but it catches the essence of what we were looking at and we enjoyed the experience!
Unlike the rest of the evening however, as the steady throb of loud music drifted up the terraces of the site and set some alarm bells ringing, it being a Saturday night after all! But hold on – we are in France – where campsites have pages of rules and are usually quite strict about the quiet period…
Thinking that a quick word with the management might help, Mr B wandered off down the hill, only to be greeted by a full on party, including disco balls and strobe lights, in full swing at the snack bar owned by the site – and amongst the party goers were of course the people we had seen queuing in front of us, and the reception team!
Recognising the limitations of the Entente Cordiale, Mr B beat a hasty retreat back to Evie, and settled in for a restless night…
Waking the next day to a cloudy sky (which fitted Mr B’s mood like a glove) we spent some time talking tactics, especially as we had become aware of the impending storm Ciarán and its likely impact on our planned ferry crossing on the coming Thursday…
It didn’t take long for us to decide that it might make sense to start heading north as soon as we had stocked up on a few French treats in nearby Le Boulou, and instead of having a destination in mind that we might spend time exploring as we had originally thought, instead we’d just head north up the free A75 from Béziers to Clermont-Ferrand and find somewhere to stay as the day drew to a close…
Which of course, now the clocks have gone back, it does that little bit sooner! Realising that it would be better to arrive somewhere in daylight if possible, Mrs B found an ACSI site south of Issoire in a small village off the A75; Lempdes-sur-Allagnon in the Haut Loire. New to us, Camping Pont d’Allagnon turned out to be the perfect antidote to the party-crazed mountain experience of the previous night!
With a free choice of any pitch we liked, the attraction of the sound of a fast flowing river soon helped us choose, and before long we were settled in for the night. And what a fabulous dark sky site it was, with just a few low level, low intensity lights left on after dark, and motion sensors lighting up the sanitaires as and when needed!
What with the darkness and the sound of the river, we were soon asleep and we woke ready to face the next stage of our journey homewards, with some anxiety creeping in about possible delays, or worse; cancellations and re-routing to Dover – which we have experienced before in stormy weather!
So, unsurprisingly, as we stopped for lunch north of Montluçon, we decided to see whether we could move our Thursday evening ferry at 1800, earlier to the 0630 on the Wednesday morning. With Mr B rehearsing his lines in French as he phoned DFDS, he was quickly delighted to find out that he could speak to someone in English, and yes, we could have a slot on the Wednesday ferry, and all for a £10 admin fee – result! Although we couldn’t know at the time, all four ferry crossings on that Thursday were indeed cancelled.
Realising that we needn’t drive on too far that day, as we’d have to free camp on the night before the ferry as check-in was at 0500, we opted to try another new-to-us ACSI site at Bourges, somewhere we have wanted to visit and if the weather held, we might get a sneaky preview…
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t hold, so we spent the time instead bringing the blog up to date, knowing that we should be able to post it before we left the next morning in the WiFi hotspot at reception. We’ve come to realise that these hotspots are ideal for us, as hardly anyone wants the inconvenience of having to get out of their van and go to the WiFi zone, so contention is normally low and we can grab enough bandwidth to upload.
And sure enough, at 0900 as he collected the pain-aux-raisins Mrs B had been hankering after, Mr B was able to upload the last entry in record time… which of course is relative, and in this case, only about 20 minutes!
Our decision to free camp the last night brought about a symmetry to this trip, as we found ourselves back in Auffay where we started all those weeks ago – and this time we were the only camper. Which is probably just as well, as our 0415 departure would not have enamoured us to any fellow campers that’s for sure!
It’s only a short hop north to the port at Dieppe, and with almost no traffic about it only took us just over 30 minutes, arriving at the port to see the departure lanes already full and a queue forming on the approach road back up the hill – so it wasn’t only us keen to escape the oncoming storm!
Embarkation was straightforward and we headed straight for the couchette lounge to catch up on those stolen few hours!
The sailing was a bit rough in parts…
…but not as rough as some we have experienced – possibly a result of the boat using its stabilisers (we never knew!) which, another first for us, we were told over the tannoy as we approached Newhaven, were being retracted, so passengers were advised not to walk about!
It’s a good while since we did a crossing during the hours that Border Force keep at Newhaven so we fully expected to get pulled over as we were amongst the first few campers off the boat, and Evie does have a thing for uniforms it seems… but this time we were lucky as a camper two ahead of us got pulled and we breezed past with the short journey home a welcome relief after a little too much storm-focussed anxiety than is good for us!
So, what do we think about this autumn trip? Well, it was a deliberate decision to stay as long at the various beaches as we did (over a month) and we are both of the view that it was exactly the right thing to have done for this trip. Did we miss the discovery of new places and road trip elements? Yes – but not enough to trigger any regrets! Instead, we’ve started to compile a list of towns and cities for our next trip across France.
Now we’re home, and the long list of jobs and responsibilities we have so easily discarded for the last six weeks are front and centre, we have loads of positive memories and a good few photos to draw on to keep our morale up as the days grow shorter, colder and wetter. And, more importantly, we are back amongst our family and friends, with diaries already filling up with loads of fun stuff to look forward to!
We now have plenty of time until next Spring to start planning the ‘wheres’ and ‘whens’ of our next adventure, although we do have a few early ideas…
Deri në aventurën e radhës…
or
Ata a próxima…
or
Hurrengora arte!
Thanks for reading – we hope you’ve enjoyed it!
S&J 05.11.23
