Friday 31st

Here we go then, just about ready to set off. We had just said goodbye to cousin Nigel and his wife Jan who arrived the previous day.

We left around 15:30, cruised along at 55m.p.h. and arrived in Portsmouth at around 18:30. Waived through we boarded pretty quickly to find ourselves 2nd in line at the front of the ship – a potentially quick exit in St Malo, our destination!

Then disaster! In getting out of the motorhome Tim failed to notice a raised fixing point on the floor, ouch!

Anyway a lovely night was had centred on a romantic meal in the ships main restaurant

The cabin was small but comfy and we had a good nights sleep. Being on floor 2, in the bowels of the ship and directly below our motorhome, we could hear the ships engine. It wasn’t too loud though and was quite comforting.

Saturday 1st August

Docking and travel to Ares, Gironde, Aquitaine

All in all it was a comfortable and lovely sailing and we had breakfast at around 06:00 in the morning.

We set off, it seemed, immediately after the ship docked at 08:00 with just the one motor home in front of us. We were directed into a lane where a French Policeman checked our passports and then waived us on. Tim had concerns about the motor home fitting through the gateway which he raised with the policeman but he was having none of it and waived us on. We made it through after folding in the wing mirrors.

Our destination was Bordeaux as this had a weather forecast of 30deg and full sun. We had actually chosen a campsite to the East of Bordeaux and near the coast. The actual choice was based purely on a Google Review.

Going through St Malo the CoPilot satnav app directed us off to the right of the main drag a couple of times which we ignored as the roads seemed to be too narrow. We eventually took a right once a road of a reasonable width came up but needless to say this narrowed and we just got through. It seemed we followed a sneaky route though joining up with the main route shaving possibly a few microseconds off our time! Lesson to be learnt here.

Due to our early and rested start we were determined to crack on and make good progress. The road was reasonable but became excellent when we entered the toll road at Rennes.

We stopped with 2 hours to go at an Aires where we had a cheese roll each. We both then had a good 40 minute sleep before setting off again.

After about a further hour and a halfs travel we did consider stopping off and staying over for a night at La Rochelle. We soon discounted this idea when the BBC Weather app showed the weather forecast was not as good as our planned desitnation just East of Bordeaux and on the coast.

Navigating around Bordeaux was a pain due to the nose to tail traffic. The delay was around 30 minutes which would have been longer if Tim had not inadvertantly used the outside ‘car only’ lane for some miles!

At about 4 minutes from our destination, the Camping le Cigale in Ares, we stopped at a Le Clerc supermarket for a reasonable shop to keep us going for our planned stop of 5 days.

Debbie spent a good hour in there including getting some good advice on wine selection from a friendly and very helpful Frenchman. In a display of excellent judgement she took his advice and turned up with three bottles of excellent plonk in addition to some incidentals that took up most of the trolley.

The city of Arès is a french city located south west of France. The city of Arès is located in the department of Gironde of the french region Aquitaine. The city of Arès is located in the township of Audenge part of the district of Arcachon.

We arrived at Camping le Cigale around 19:00 and met Dominique on reception and Bernard who showed us our choice of pitches. This husband and wife team own the campsite and run it along with their daughter Marie.

The pitches were wide and we had some good neighbours including Bill and Linda

After quickly establishing ourselves, meeting our neighbours Bill and Linda, we headed over to the onsite ‘snack bar’.

The homemade pizza and chips, good comfort fodder after the long day, went down a treat.

The small herb garden provided by the campsite

Sunday 2nd

A good sized pool but you had to be there before 14:00 to get a bed!

Day of chilling out and recovery.

We mooched around the campsite and after lunch spent the afternoon at the pool.

In recovering from the long drive down to the campsite we felt groggy so returned to the motorhome and slept.

Monday 3rd

Walk to the local beach at Ovniport

This is not quite the route we took as we diverted West at the church to head off to the Fishermen huts

It was a forgone decision to walk to the beach but we took the advice of some friendly campers and went via the Oyster Fishermen huts.

Taking the detour to the beach via the Fishermans hut.

Fisherman huts – The Lady of the Sea statue

We then walked along the coastline to get to the main Ares beach

View of the sea from the Fishermen hut area

The went out a long way at Ovniport beach and it was quite muddy

Poor service at Ovniport!We almost had a meal at the only restaurant but after waiting for 20 minutes with no service we cleared off! We thought it was after the typical French lunch period so they weren’t interested!

Local bar – on the main road to the beach

We were absolutely starving and v thirsty by this time so we stopped at a local bar for a swift beer on the way back and near to our Campsite. It was faintly dodgy but a welcome relief!

Tuesday 4th

To Pyla Camping near Arcachon and a visit to Pyla beach

It was a one hour drive to Arcachon and we were disappointed that we could not see anything of the coastline during our travels.

‘A long-time oyster-harvesting area on the southern side of the tranquil, triangular Bassin d’Arcachon (Arcachon Bay), this seaside town lured bourgeois Bordelaise at the end of the 19th century. Its four little quarters are romantically named for each of the seasons, with villas that evoke the town’s golden past amid a scattering of 1950s architecture.’

Booking into the much larger campsite worked a dream and it was there we met Cederic, a very humorous and helpful Frenchman (?).

We once again quickly established ourselves although this time as the site was so hilly we had to use chocks to get the motorhome anywhere near level. It was a tad scary for Debby as initially the chock moved forward as the front wheel tried to ride onto it. A bit of a fast approach was the answer, good thing it worked!

After a swift change we headed for the beach which was literally on the edge of the campsite and around 4 minutes from the motorhome.
On the way there we noticed a Para glider come whizzing passed us only a few feet above us. Upon arriving at the beach we were greeted with this scene – if you look closely at the beach you will notice many Para gliders in various stages of ascent, descent or take off / landing.
It was truly amazing. It turned out that we were around 80 metres above the beach (on sandy ground) and some of the Para gliders were almost at our level as they zoomed by!

The Dune of Pilat, the highest dune in Europe, stands erect opposite the tip of Cap Ferret in Arcachon Bay (Bassin d’Arcachon). This breathtakingly beautiful sand monument, over 100 metres high, has not stopped expanding. 2700 meters long, 500 wide, it brings joy to millions of tourists who courageously climb it to enjoy one of the best views in the region and probably in France, the entrance to the Arcachon Bay and the famous “passes”.

Tim mentioned that he had heard some strange grunting noises from our neighbours pitch during the night but we left it at that….

Wednesday 5th

A taxi ride to Arcachon

The resort town of Arcachon is a very popular coastal destination in south-west France. The res

ort is to the west of Bordeaux at the northern end of the longest, sandiest coast in Europe, stretching 200 kilometres southwards to Biarritz. The coast is known as the Côte d’argent (‘the silver coast’).

Historically popular as a destination for people from Bordeaux to escape to at weekends it has now developed into one of the most popular and attractive seaside destinations in France.

We were on a mission for Cederic, the chap on Reception at Pyla Camping who asked us to collect more business cards from the Oyster Restaurant he recommended to us. We decided to get a taxi to the suburbs of Arcachon as this was where the restaurant was based.

In the event we agreed were not prepared to let something fishy slide down our throats so we abandoned the idea of lunch there. To add insult to injury we eventually managed to find out, with the aid of a friendly ex-pat, that the restaurant had run out of business cards!

As Debbie put it ‘we came all the way here to a place that sold oysters that we didn’t want to eat to pick up something that didn’t exist leaving us miles away from where we wanted to be!’

So we took to our feet and commenced our walk into the centre.

It was about 5am that were heard a strange snorting noise and peered out the window after pulling down the blind. We discovered that our neighbours, who had left food in their rubbish, were being visited by two rather large wild pigs! One of them got a bit greedy and had a go at the other resulting in much screaming! This still did not seem to disturb our neighbours although perhaps it did and they decided it was best to remain inside their Camper! The previous nights strange noises was a mystery solved!

Thursday 6th –

To Chris and Susies, Availles-Limouzine

We were aiming for the church car park very near to Chris and Susies but missed the turn in the centre of Availles-Limouzine. On the way out of the centre we were directed to turn left and almost double back on ourselves. In doing so and as the road dropped sharply away we grounded the chassis of the motorhome but no damage thankfully!

Having parked up and prepared the motorhome ventilation and security we walked literally one minute to Chris and Susies front door. It was open and so we walked in announcing our arrival. Susie was in the kitchen and Chris came bounding down the stairs – it was so good to meet up with them again.

Friday 7th

Drive out to Charroux

‘Perched on a limestone hill at an altitude of 413 meters, Charroux is the only town in the Allier to have the “Most Beautiful Village of France” label. And rightly so, history has nicely dressed what in the Middle Ages was a city surrounded by ramparts and endowed with many privileges by the lords of Bourbon.

At the time, Charroux was populated with aldermen, consuls, artisans, merchants and religious. Ravaged by the plague in 1422, it was repeatedly plundered or ransomed during the wars of religion, before the Revolution amputated the octagonal bell tower of the Saint – Jean – Baptiste church . After crossing the nineteenth century in the anonymity of a small rural village, Charroux is widely open to visitors, who tread in number the pavement salient streets lined with old wells. At the same time quadrangular by its plan and circular by its nucleus, the village presents itself as a subtle jumble of houses of limestone, organised around a placette enclosed, the adorable court of the Ladies.
On the margins stand the remains of the enclosure, such as the Porte d’Orient or the Porte de l’Horloge and its belfry. Also worth seeing are the market hall, the Prince de Condé house and the Charroux and Canton museum , which traces the local history through archaeological remains, archives and traditional objects. Charroux is also home to many craft stalls, including the famous mustard , which has done much for the reputation of the village. But here, reason and good taste have prevailed over the commercial logic, so that Charroux remains a place of healing, a heritage concentrate lost in a country itself steeped in history, one of the most beautiful Bourbonnais florets.’

Shadowy friends!

The church Saint-Jean-Baptiste dates XII ème century and was formerly a member(part) of fortifications of the city. She(it) has the peculiarity to possess a truncated bell tower which remains the mystery of Charroux. Renewed by the craftsmen(architects) of the region, the monument kept(preserved) his(her,its) fascinating distorted pyramidal arrow. Behind its tréflé hall, spread(display,deploy) a bedhead of XII ème century, a remarkable Gothic nave bent in cradle and of interesting capitals(big tops) with scales and plant motives around the crossing of the transept. The cave of Heavy in limestone of the tray(plateau) of Peyrou is worth too him(it) cut of eye.

Carrefour(Crossroads) of Roman ways as indicates it its name of origin, Quadrivium, Charroux was a fortified and frank town at the time of the dukes of Bourbon. The development of Charroux is bound(connected) to its charter of franchising(frankness) obtained in 1245. Prosperous in the Renaissance thanks to the activities of tannery and vine growing, the walled city attracts then traders, solicitors, doctors and members of the clergy. Burned in 1568 and in 1576 during the religious wars, Charroux kept(preserved) its church Saint-Jean-Baptiste, in the bell tower in the truncated arrow. Adopting the plan of an ancient country-house, the village gets organized in a circular way around its place(square).Of this ” Court(Yard) of the Ladies “, alleys pass in front of(come before) the house of the prince of Cop and are going to die near ramparts as that of West, which received the clock of the city in the xvie century.

Limoges, where we went with Jess and Paul, is about an hour away

Saturday 8th

Return to Cheroux then onto Verteuil-sur-Charente

Went back to Cheroux to try and get paint but the shop was closed and then onto Verteuil-sur-Charente for lunch.

Dominated by the silhouette of the towers of its magnificent castle, the village of Verteuil-sur-Charente stretches along the river and is a lovely place to wander around. The beautiful water mill situated below the castle contributes to the charm of this place.

Beautiful houses

Lovely and tranquil river, very clear water

The restaurant had some interesting artefacts

Chris preparing for an expert delivery of our menu choice in French.

To home for a brief rest

Went to Confolens for an evening meal, co-incidentally the place we had decided to go to the next day, to then return to Chris and Susies the following day.

Sunday 9th

Confolens CAMPING DES RIBIERES Campsite

The campsite CAMPING DES RIBIERES is located in Confolens in Charente, in New-Aquitaine, a region which provides an almost endless variety of landscapes. It is located by the river la Vienne, at 500 m from the forest with direct access to the beach.

Quiet pleasent site, spaced out pitches, next to the river and within 3 minute walk of Confolens

Met 2 Goats on the Campsite; Mother and son.

The mother was well well behaved but the son kept eating everything including flowers.

We established site quickly after aborting an attempt to site ourselves next to the river – the electric cable was too short (another note to oneself).

We had a lovely day just sunbathing, reading and generally relaxing.

Debbie cooked our first meal of something pasta – what a lot of it there was!

Monday 10th

50th year of Royal Air Force Enlistment

The return from Confolens was not straightforward as we decided to go to LeClerc in Ruffec for LPG, diesel and a few bits of groceries.

Upon hitting Ruffec we rediscovered CoPilots penchant to route down roads that were wide enough (just!) but off the main route.

Eventually we got to LeClerc where we attempted to fill up with LPG……

The French fitting worked a treat but connecting the fuel nozzle was a tad more problematic. Debbie strolled off to see the kind lady in the pay kiosk and returned stating ”ou have to push harder!

So, after some sheer brute force we heard success with a small transfer of gas once the nozzle lever was pressed. But still no gas flow…..

Another eventually occured and the kiosk lady turned up where Tim insisted in taking her through the process. All fine except one thing – Tim had to let go of the nozzle once engaged!

Then… Go to the pump and hold down a strange looking flap – gas flow!!!

Our joy was sadly short lived as we discovered to slowest flow rate on the entire planet (surely?). We reckoned on about 5 minutes a litre. We abandoned the exercise at 16 litres.

With some delicate manoeuvring we extricated ourselves from the gas section and filled up with 116euros of diesel.

After some hassle at the kiosk as Debbie had to enter her PIN twice we drove off promptly forgetting the grocery visit!

Arrival at Chris and Susies #2

Within short order Tim and Chris went to Charroux to mark the occaision choosing the Bar De L’Abbaye to commence operations.

Two pints of lager and Cheeseburger and Chips, Chris and Tim returned to Availes- Limouzine

What a day we had. Tim and Chris reminisced, Debbie and Susie made the most amazing fish dish.

Tuesday 11th

Goodbye to Chris & Susie, onto Angouleme

Chris and Tim went for a walk around the town.

Chris and Susies home

A view to die for

Poor attempt at a selfie but at least we’re all in it!

Leaving Chris and Susie, wonderful hosts and amazing friends, we left for Camping Devezeau, a campsite just out of Angouleme

Entrance track, just off the ‘main’ road

The rowdy crew who welcomed us with the statement that they’d be giving us marks out of ten for parking up!

Nice pool – shame Tony had closed it down only two days before! I guess it was out of season!

Barry, an interesting Brit, strolled over to see us upon our arrival and said he’d let Tony, the Owner, know of our arrival.

Tony came over and confirmed our thoughts – everyone on the campsite (which was not that big having around 20 pitches) was a Brit. He said that he’d do us a fish burger and we agreed to go over to the restaurant at 19:30.

It actually tasted v good and we met a couple of fellow residents and had more time to chat with Barry. We ordered a full veggie breakfast for the following morning.

Wednesday 12th

To Le Puits de l’Auture, just outside of Rohan

Site map with yellow highlight to our chosen pitch

We arrived to find a much larger campsite than expected which was very busy. We took the sitemap from Reception and walked off to decide upon our pitch from a choice of three.

Upon returning we found our chosen pitch was taken (!!!) but the next one to it was available. Not so chuffed about this as it was not so sunny! In the end it worked out.

Went for a lovely short walk by turning right out of the campsite (away from Rohan) and eventually snapped the following pictures

Gorgeous sun, early evening, over the sea

Thursday 13th

Our walk into Royan itself

We decided it would be a good to walk into Royan from a health point of view.

Also and contrary to the route shown we discovered a more interesting route that took us along the shoreline

One of the first coves, early on in the morning

The land based lighthouse shown in the middle was directly behind us at this point.

The beaches at Plage de Nauzanwere stunning

After an hour and a half we headed back to the main route non coastal route as it was clear it would take many hours to get to Royan if didn’t

Although a main road there were wonderful houses and scenery

We’re arrived (or so we thought…..)

We chose a lovely restaurant and gulped down two large bottles of water!

We ordered the Fish cassoulette which was basically cod in a Roquefort sauce.

It was incredibly tasty and we spent a good hour there celebrating our ‘arrival’

We discovered after lunch that this was not the case though, we were merely on the outskirts of Royan and still had quite a walk in front of us

Used to be a hotel until the Mayor took it over

But eventually we made it and one of the first views was the extensive Royan Marina. We continued to look around Royan.

Friday 14th

Goodbye to Rohan and journey to Camping Fleur de Briere, Saint- Lyphard

Our neighbours showed us their electric bikes and offered to let us have a go. Tim took them up on it – amazing. Want one (two actually).

And then we set off again but only after settling up with the Campsite we’d been on. As we were leaving well after lunchtime we were pleasantly surprised they only charged us for two days.

In fact they had taken a card payment for three days assuming we were leaving the next day. When they discovered we were about to go they gave us a days fee back in cash!

Our next stop was planned to get us much closer to Saint Malo and we thought a campsite more inland would be a good idea.

The busy nature of the coastal sites was something to now get away from.

So we chose Camping Fleur de Briere simply because it was not only inland but in the middle of a forest.

Camping Fleur de Briere was a fascinating little campsite extensively French. The locals were playing Boules when we arrived.

The swimming pool not only looked inviting it was actually due to open in the morning (it was gone 19:00 when we actually arrived)

‘This former municipal campsite, on the edge of the charming village of Saint Lyphard, stood empty for two years before it was taken into private ownership by Carl Pelleteur in 2011. He has already worked wonders. The pitches are large, level and most have some shade provided by well kept, mature shrubs and trees. Amenities are few and simple, but satisfactory. A yurt village is on one side of the site. The village of Saint Lyphard is only 500 m. away where you will find a small supermarket and shops. Thowner is to maintain this is an eco-friendly, natural site.

The yurt accommodation will appeal to many and lighting of the paths is by small, solar-powered lamps. The buildings all have traditional thatched roofs. As a former restaurateur, Carl also aims to provide regional dishes in the bar/restaurant. For those requiring some diversion there is a large lake for swimming adjacent to the site. A large variety of entertainment takes place in the village in high season.’

Saturday 15th

Walk around Saint- Lyphard

We discovered a tunnel under the road and on walking through it came upon the village of Saint-Lypard. The first indication of the village was the church

The village itself was beautiful.

After a tour around looking, in vain, for a coffee shop we carried on to the local super Marche where we made up our mind to return the next morning to stock on the essentials we wanted to take back with us to England.

Then it was back to the campsite for an afternoon (and some of the early evening) by the pool.

Sunday 16th

To Dinan Camping Chateaubriand

After the return to the Super Marche where we bought wine to such an extent we were encouraged, after much interpretation, to sign up for a Super Marche card!

Chesses and other things were bought too. After a filling up of the tank with diesel we set of for the Minicipal Campsite at 103 Rue Châteaubriand, 22104 Dinan