They think it’s all over… it is now!

Or how to tell when too much rosé has been quaffed. Part 1

After an excellent afternoon and evening we retired to our motorhome parked on our hosts’ drive. Earlier Charlie had popped back to the van to grab me a sweatshirt as the evening cooled in advance of the rain, but didn’t mention anything amiss on his return. However as I got ready for bed, I went to clean my teeth, I could not find my toothbrush anywhere. It’s not as though there is space to lose stuff in. “Have you seen my toothbrush” I called out. “Mmmm yes” was the reply, “when I popped back to the van to grab sweatshirts, I had a wee and somehow managed to knock the toothbrush holder, your toothbrush came flying out, I juggled with it but dropped it and it went straight down the toilet”. Now for anyone who knows Charlie well, he is like a Ninja, he doesn’t bump or knock into things, never drops stuff and has reflexes of a cat, UNLESS he has drunk a vat of rosé, a couple of bottles of local cider,some Baileys and a large glass of Drambuie as a nightcap! So it’s going to be an interesting job to extract that from our chemical toilet system, hastening to add that I don’t want it back!

Part 2 Talking shite in the night….

Charlie was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow but I wrote my blog and chatted to the kids online. Olly currently in Indiana working at the Indy 500 and Izzy in Majorca on holiday. So it was coming up to 1 am when I was just about to turn off my iPad when suddenly Charlie wakes up, looks at me and starts talking about maps, directions and pointing at the duvet. Now usually this goes 2 ways, I go straight in with “You’re talking shite turn over and go back to sleep” and either he does, or he becomes more indignantly chatty! He went chatty, but this just means that there are words in his brain that come out of his mouth in no order whatsoever, that make any sense. After some pointed questions from me about the location of the map that he was supposedly stabbing at on the duvet with his finger and a lot of incoherent muttering, he finally said the map on his phone. “Where is your phone” I asked “Show me”. After much searching of the duvet, quite funny to watch, realisation dawned, I received a look that meant I was obviously the idiot in the room, and with that, he turned over and in a nanosecond was comatose again. REMEMBER KIDS ALCOHOL ROTS YOUR BRAIN! 😂

As usual I woke with a headache (Charlie has perfected the art of marital osmosis, he gets pissed, I get the hangover) with an added bonus of a pulled muscle in my back, so I’m walking like Mrs Overall! To clear heads we joined Ness and Graham on a dog walk around a local lake in the drizzle. On our return we said our goodbyes and started the first leg of the homeward journey.

We decided to head for the seaside town of Le Cretoy, which is almost directly opposite Hastings! Le Cretoy has a large municipal motorhome parking area with facilities next to the small harbour. For a very rainy May Day, by the time we arrived in the late afternoon, there must have been 50- 60 motorhomes parked up.

The town was a revelation, we only chose it so we could empty our waste, including the missing toothbrush before we headed for the tunnel. It has lots of lovely fish restaurants and off boat sales of fish and shellfish, a pretty promenade and beach area overlooking the Somme Basin, where kite surfers were taking advantage of the very windy weather. We were tempted to eat out but we had food that needed eating up, and although it was tempting to buy some fish or seafood to supplement our dinner, the very wet and windy weather meant we would be cooking inside for the first time this holiday! So a fishy smelling bedroom was not on the cards! Fajitas it would have to be!

After a rainy afternoon, the skies brightened for the early evening so perfect for a pre-dinner walk. The sunny interlude was fairly brief.

It’s 5 am when I am writing this, woken up by the wind and rain battering the motorhome and the dawn chorus had started!

Here we are at the Tunnel waiting for our crossing, back to work this afternoon.

Thank you for coming on this trip with us. Until the next time.

Old friends & Rosé

Today we are heading just north of Le Mans, to the small village of Joue-du-Bois to catch up with an old friend who we haven’t seen really seen since the 1980’s bar a couple of times in between.

For the first time this trip the skies are slightly grey and there is rain on the horizon and as we move closer to Normandy, the scenery becomes more familiar and similar to home, but what remains very French are the tree-lined roads.

We arrived to a lovely welcome from Vanessa, Graham & Teddy the adorable Westie and in no time at all,the rosé had been opened and we caught up on old times, old friends and new and what turns our lives had taken since we were young guns in The Blue Boys at Kippings Cross in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s. As you can imagine this took most of the afternoon

Ness and Graham live in a lovely old farmhouse that once produced cider and calvados. With outbuildings and a 2 acre garden there is certainly enough to keep them busy. Charlie had tractor and workshop envy and I had garden envy. I was looking forward to meeting their chickens but unfortunately Mr Fox beat me to it a couple of weeks ago and the 1 surviving chicken was rehomed as Ness doesn’t have plans to replace them immediately. The garden is huge and encompasses a wooded area with a lovely stream running through it, veg patch, walnut and apple trees, beautiful lawns and secret corners.

We sat out in the lovely garden, with more rosé and reminiscing whilst Graham fired up the BBQ. The afternoon became the evening and all of a sudden we had to make a dash for indoors, grabbing cushions, plates and glasses as the rain that had been threatening all day finally fell in huge, fat drops

Tomorrow is our last night and as the weather is changing, like Mary Poppins, it will be time for us to leave and return home.

Drive, Cycle, Cycle, Canoe, Swim, Canoe, Cycle, Swim

Friday was all about driving, as we made our way North, to the outskirts of Limoges, passing over the Millau Viaduct. Not our first crossing but I remember driving this way when it was partly built. The viaduct design team was led by a French engineer and English architect, Norman Foster.

Our destination was Ferme de Chantecaille, another France Passion site. A small holding that raises chickens , grows veg and fruit. On site there was a small farm shop. Not the best view we’ve had on this holiday as we are parked in the farmyard but the chicken, peas, goats cheese and beer made a great dinner.

On Saturday we headed to the Loire Valley and we have booked into our first formal campsite as we need to service the motorhome (fresh water etc) and do some laundry. Le Moulin Fort campsite is on the banks of the Le Cher river and just upstream from Chateau de Chenonceau. Our pitch was on the banks of the river, back to great views, and whilst we had lunch we let the campsite washing machine do the hard work.

After lunch and a quick cycle to the local shop for more supplies, we made the decision to hire a canoe and paddle down to the Chateau and explore the river. The season hasn’t fully got underway so the nearest canoe company wasn’t yet open, so we had to cycle further upstream to find one open. We decided we would also go for a river swim, so put I put a swimsuit on under shorts and shirt, but Charlie just wore his swim shorts and shirt. About 2 mins into the cycle Charlie had, what can only be described as a wardrobe malfunction, swim shorts are not made for cycling in. After a little adjustment,we could cycle on without fear of frightening the horses, oncoming cyclists, walkers or just the generally curious! Not really sure who I could call on to explain that to a French policeman!

After around 30 mins cycling we arrived at the supposedly open canoe hire company, but… not a soul,not a canoe or a paddle, so we turned around and headed back and after 20 mins came across a company that had trailered in some canoes to a launch site not far from our campsite. So a canoe was hired.

The paddle downstream to the Chateau was gentle and idyllic, clear water, lots of fish and hardly any other people on the river. Even Charlie’s shorts behaved, I’ve checked the photo!

The Chateau is built across the river, the river was quite low so you had to pick your arch to go through!

Once we negotiated the arch, we drifted backwards so we could fully appreciate the Chateau.

Going downstream was gentle and idyllic, paddling upstream however was a very different matter. The water looks calm and gentle but it took real effort to paddle back through our chosen arch. We saw several other canoes struggling to the point where they just headed to the shoreline and pulled their canoe through the shallows until the flow and current had lessened. We got through the arch, with a little marital discord due to a few communication problems 😜 but we made it, but 20 metres the other side we were going nowhere so Charlie jumped and pushed us for about 50 metres in the shallows. Once we were underway, we paddled a short distance and pulled over for a swim.

We paddled back to our starting point where the canoe man was very impressed that we had paddled just past the Chateau, got back through the arch, stopped for a swim and got back, inside the 2 hours they allow for the trip. Apparently we had completed the journey in a very good time!

We cycled back to the campsite in time for a final swim in their pool, showers and dinner. Tonight we ate at the campsite brassiere which was fine as we had done a lot of cycling,canoeing and swimming and it was lovely to let someone else cook.

I’ll leave you tonight with this thought….

When since have ducks, geese, waterfowl in general, been ffffffing nocturnal? Not hardly a squeak, squawk or quack from them all day, now it’s like the waterbird version of the dawn chorus. They haven’t fffing stopped since we got back from dinner and it’s now midnight.

Why is Montpellier so hot?

We were on the road early this morning to drive 4+ hours to Montpellier. We had our first mini disaster, we spotted a automated Super U petrol station where diesel was only 1.81 Euros per litre, whereas most places have been at least 1.98 +. Taking advantage of the price Charlie filled up, as it was an auto system, no attendants on site, you entered your card first, filled up and then the card was charged. It seemed to go smoothly but the machine didn’t provide a receipt and didn’t want to close the transaction, we tried pressing several buttons but the instructions were not that clear. The man behind us said his friend spoke English, which he did as he was married to a girl from Sheffield. I explained that we weren’t sure our card had been charged as it hadn’t come up on my notifications or whether the transaction had completed. He said perhaps Charlie had pressed no receipt by accident but he said the transaction seemed to be complete. Stupidly we drove away and I logged into the bank some 10 minutes just as notifications popped in. We had paid for his diesel as well as the transaction hadn’t completed! Our bill came up and then his…😡😡😡😡😡😡. So trying to save nearly 20 cents a litre didn’t work out as we had anticipated and to rub salt into the wound, we noticed as we left the petrol station that the price dropped on the big sign to 1.80. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️. Lesson learnt – be really careful at auto petrol stations!

There will be an email to SuperU explaining our problem, might get the money back, worth a go!

Our stay tonight will be at Chateau de Fourques, A 50 hectare vineyard that produces over 300,000 bottles of wine per year and has been the same family since 1919 and since 1985 has been run by the woman of the family. They produce an extensive range of wine, grape juice and confiture.

Our pitch is in the middle of the vineyard, surrounded by vines and olive trees. The temperature was steadily rising to around 30 degrees so we had an early lunch of cold chicken, tomatoes, radish and bread. Then visited the shop where we bought some rosé and watched the mobile bottling machine, bottling and labelling the neighbouring Chateau’s wine.

Montpellier is a beautiful old city and has one of the oldest Universities in the world and is full of quirky and very chic shops. It was so hot that I wanted to wear something cool and floaty with my new straw hat but as we were cycling from the vineyard to Montpellier about 10 km away, this wasn’t practical. A pair of cigarette trousers and a white cotton shirt with my new hat seemed more practical but still with a touch of French elegance… well the hat wasn’t going to work, as a quick test cycle proved that the slightest breeze the hat flew off, so back to my old hat. Which, by the way, is looking more like one of Paddington’s cast-offs, a lot of stains but with no emergency sandwich.

The cycle was a little hairy as we entered the outskirts, trams are always tricky, none more so when they seem to be coming at you from all directions. Charlie shouting, there’s loads of room, just nip through, doesn’t inspire me with confidence. There was a lot of ‘Are you trying to kill me?’ muttering from me!

Last time I was in Montpellier was in the June 2019 during a European heatwave, when Montpellier and the surrounding area recorded the hottest day in their records – 45 degrees. Today it is only 30 but still hot for sightseeing.

It was hot that we treated ourselves to our first holiday sorbet and ice cream. On the right Lime & Ginger Sorbet with a Fromage Blanc & Apricot ice cream (which was sublime) and on the left, Lime and Ginger sorbet with a strawberry ice cream, cold chocolate and a ginger beer. Just what was needed for the cycle back to shade and somewhere to hang my somewhat sticky white shirt to dry!

Bikes, Beach & BBQs

Our base since Monday afternoon has been just over the road from a lovely beach. It is not a formal campsite but one up from a car park, which can take up to 20 motorhomes and provides electric, fresh water, grey water and toilet disposal. There are no formal pitches on the sand and rough grass surface so plenty of space between neighbours. The beach which has a couple of restaurants & bars is literally 1 minute’s walk away. The weather has been exceptional and as the season has just started, nowhere is busy.

To be honest we’ve has a lazy couple of days, after breakfast we have been out on the bikes for a couple of hours, cycling along to the La Lavendu, a nearby town. There is an excellent cycle path that follows the coast giving great views over the sea. This area seems to populated by retirees, all seem to have electric bikes and whizz past you on the hills, making you feel very unfit. One old boy came past at speed and shouted something like, “Go electric and go as fast as me”. The only other people, besides us, who didn’t have electric bikes were the road racer, lycra types who obviously thought they were in or training for the Tour de France!

La Lavendu has a small but busy port which includes ferries to Hyeres Iles d’Or, 3 islands just off the coast. The largest has hotels, shops and restaurants plus great walking and cycling. The smallest, a National Park, is a natural paradise with no cars or bikes allowed, with plenty of hiking and snorkelling in its clear waters. The third island is mostly given over to the military but it is also home to Europe’s first naturist resort and clothes are only required in a couple of the public spaces, so you enjoy long walks along the nature trails wearing nothing more than sunglasses and shoes if you want.

We didn’t have time for a ferry trip, but La Lavendu has a lovely promenade, beaches, shops and restaurants plus the old town is quite quaint, if small.

How a mid-morning mocktail can make you feel about 6 years old!

After lunch we have headed to the beach for a swim and a laze in the sun. The water is 10 degrees warmer than at home, a balmy 18 degrees, but hardly anyone swimming, a lot of paddling but the ‘ootchy’ faces on the paddlers meant it was still a bit cool for them to swim. As the old saying goes ‘it’s lovely once you are in!’, beats swimming in the sea at Bexhill in the winter any day.

The water is so clear and has a silver sparkle to it, like someone has dropped the biggest pot of glitter into the water. You can see the silver sand collecting in the underwater ripples of the sand. The sea really does sparkle.

We leave the beach early in the evening and although there are restaurants nearby, the local shops sell a great selection of produce so we have cooked and eaten outside every evening on our BBQ and camping gaz stove. Tonight we had sea bream & giant prawns, with a spicy tomato & olive sauce, wild rice and a tomato salad, plus a tart citron for Charlie from the Patisserie. Sorry, no pics, I keep forgetting to take them.

Tomorrow we’ve an early start, leaving the beach and heading for Montpellier, before turning North towards home.

Back On The Road Again

The Monaco Historique weekend was great fun for anyone who enjoys motor racing, great company, good food and a lot of laughter.

It was great to see so many British owned cars and drivers on the podium, notably Stuart Hall, Michael Lyons and Nick Padmore. Charles Le Clerc binned Niki Lauda’s Ferrari at Rascasse during a demonstration run – a bit embarrassing for him.

Of course at Monte Carlo,there always time to party especially if you are on a yacht.

Monte Carlo is do built up and when the streets are closed for racing, you can forget to look at what is right in front of you. Every time I’ve been here, I’ve felt quite closed in, as there is so overground and underground. From the other side of the harbour, you can get a sense on how crowded it is.

There are beautiful buildings but you have to look.

Our last night in Menton and another fab meal and in the morning it was time to say goodbye to Jim, Jane, Norman and Sue and hit the road again.

The weather is now gorgeous and France is expecting a mini heatwave this week, so we are heading to a pitch next to the beach for some sun, sea and sand. Our destination is Plage de Cavaliere. We took the motorway to avoid Nice and Cannes and took a small road over the hills behind and down from St Tropez to our beach stop.

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies… ok, mostly rich, old men…

Like Goodwood, the Monaco Historique gives you direct access to the pits. Thursday is practice so our plan was to have a stroll round Menton, which is a beautiful town and then head over to Monte Carlo and pop into the pits. Charlie was hoping to catch up with a couple of drivers he knows.

I made a couple of spontaneous purchases in Menton; Herbes de Provence, Lavender bags, a refill of Eau de Menton, a famous citrusy light perfume that I’ve bought on our previous visits, a new straw hat and a lovely striped beach bag, complete with beach mat and pillow.

When we last visited 4 years ago, the Harbour was getting a makeover which is now complete with a wide promenade, new restaurants in the arches of the old harbour wall and a brand new beach with boardwalk and lagoon, however Menton’s real charm lies in the narrow streets of the old town with its tall terracotta and honey coloured buildings.

Leaving Menton we caught the train to the heart of Monte Carlo. On arrival we made a beeline for the pits. Charlie caught up with Michael Birch who is racing a Maserati and a Connaught. Unfortunately we arrived just as Michael was arriving back in the pits having suffered damage during practice in the Connaught but after some adjustments (hitting with a hammer is always useful), the car should be ready for qualifying tomorrow. Charlie also caught up with Nick Padmore who is racing a 1976 Lotus F1 and 1981 Lotus F1. We spent until late afternoon soaking up the atmosphere and admiring some beautiful cars.

Spotted, well I say spotted, you can’t really miss it….Sir Philip Green’s (or should we say Mrs Green’s super yacht in the harbour.

We returned to Menton late afternoon for a swim and a snooze on the beach and a well earned dinner at a lovely restaurant called ‘Little Italy’

If you love your classic cars then stay tuned for the next 2 days or if not, check back again, when we will be resuming our motorhome journey taking the slow route home to Kent.