'The hill behind the campsite with no name.'

Today we tackled the great peak of 'The hill behind the campsite with no name.' Now the said hill was a little lump and had now great quality about it regarding the terrain, the height or the overall distance we planned to walk. However, it has been the scene of a great triumph and moment for proud parent status. Through all our adventures so far, the children have readily accepted what has been thrown at them, be it museums, historical places, travelling around, shopping, trying to speak the language (not to mention the zoo, many beaches, pools, ice creams, sporting activities, cycling etc). Today was a test for them, but there were successes at all levels. In tackling 'The hill behind the campsite with no name' the children first prepared by donning their new hiking boots. So great excitement was to be had at walking around in them, although both of them looked like their legs were thin little handles with a great hammer head on the end of each.  So off we set following a breadcrumb trail I had prepared on the Garmin. 100m in and the road I had picked didn't exist. So a 1 mile diversion got us back in the correct place and we set off. At the first climb we motored through it. At the second climb Maya decided to run up it, and did so. Jasper was lacking enthusiasm. At the increasing severity of each climb though the mood darkened.

So we had lunch. From then on, life was good and there was no further grumbling. We'd lost our way in quite an accomplished manner, so decided to keep walking up 'The hill behind the campsite with no name.' Upon summiting, there was great frivolity and joy and much photo taking, fruit eating and general back slapping.

It even gave us a rare chance to have our photo taken, courtesy of Jasper Clements photography. Sadly the photos from the top still don't do the hill justice, but in our own special way, this was a great achievement. In walking back down, we got quite lost once again, and despite this, there was not a murmur of complaint. In the end we had walked 5.7 miles I think and climbed well over 1000 feet to the top. I'd just like to add in the following photo, because on our lost decent, we were greeted by these lovely cows. Nothing more than a lovely cow picture!

Ed

Basque-ing in the mist

Aside from my mumblings in 'Living the dream part 3,' we are at the foot of some small hills in a place called St Jean Pied du Pont. An investigation was needed about this place. So to the bikes it was (another 4 easy miles notched up for the family riding) and we made our way into town. This seemed to be quite a busy little place. One road in to it leads to Pamplona, one roads leads to Bayonne and Biarritz, and the other is an eastern bound road eventually heading to Pau. So a proper little junction of a place. Compared to some of the lower Pyrenean villages and towns we have passed through, this did have a busier quality about it, but more akin to Chard busy rather than Taunton busy. The architecture has changed hugely again. Please remember that we are novice travellers, so it's all new to us, so certain things do stand out. But this seemed to have its own style about it. Apparently it's citadel was a place that was the centre of French and Spanish spats about ownership. The citadel itself is now a school,

(Maya trying to get a sneaky peak of what's going on inside the citadel)

which happens to look mostly like a Colditz school for the naughty, but is in fact a genuine college. The whole place though was bustling with two main themes. One was the Basque colours; berets, flags, scarfs, and strong sense of regional identity. The other was that it was an absolute haven for walkers. Loads of walkers with legs like mountain goats and looking like extras from a walkers catalogue. I can't remember the name of the Saint, St Jacques possibly, but many of the people are following a trail on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It's 490 miles from here to there split over 34 sections. The many gites and hostelries in the town were testament to the volume of the walkers.

Clare and I purchased some local pottery from an art gallery, and we then went and bought a Gateau Basque. A beautiful cherry pie thing, with a crispy pastry and full of loveliness. Nice! 

(doesn't look like much I know, but it didn't last long)

We returned home, I went back out to get some shopping (functional cycling), and I then returned to find the children damming the babbling brook behind us once again, a still and gentle upward rising plume of smoke from the farm next door giving off a fabulous bonfire smell, another lovely supper being prepared by Clare, and once again, even though the weather was lacking in jollity, things were good.

Ed

Living the dream part 3

Quite a simple one this. There are many aspects to life, which in a normal regular day to day living scenario become quite mundane and matter of fact. But here are some examples of things you may take for granted, that have become a little extra chore for us.

1. The simple delight of a dry tea towel. This is a vision of our possible future as autumn will start to set in, but we have been at the foot of the lower western Pyrenees for 2 days now. During those 2 days the weather, whilst generally being dry, has had a certain hanging mist quality about it. Therefore, the beauty of a dry tea towel has been forgotten. You can't beat the arid quality of cotton that has gently and slowly been drying by the Rayburn during the day. A tea towel that has absorbent capacity and quality. So if you are ever envious of us, then remember, we have tea towel issues!

2. Laundry. You step up to your washing machine, load it, et voila the clothes get clean. You also then tumble them (where appropriate), put them in the airing cupboard, over the Aga or Rayburn. We were in dire need of washing to be done, especially Jasper, who was perilously close to running out of underwear! So the two emergency washes were done. However, we have only managed to worsen the above tea towel drama and multiply it ten fold. Clothes are very slowly getting dry, but it has been a painful process.

3. Going to bed. So on an evening, I imagine you get tired, turn everything off (if you are anything like me then you have an OCD-like order of taps, gas, fridge, heating, doors, lights, windows, children to check) then change and slide into bed. This is a bit of a chore for us. There seems to be a silent avoidance tactic by both Clare and I at the moment to see who has to make the bed. We both become busy and try to find other tasks to do. So imagine if you had to dismantle your table, drag the sofas about, cover them all with bed sheets and then do your obsessional checkings? This is our life. We have dismantled our rear lounge and made our bed now 35 times in 35 nights. Only to follow it up in the morning by doing the reverse. We don't have the pleasure of just waking up and leaving it all behind! 

So this part of the blog serves to remind you, that as you return to work, school or whatever you do, although we may be living a dream through this blog, there are some things that make life a little more complicated. I've not even managed to mention wifi, information about the world, gas, plumbing issues, charging technology, shopping, road networks, etc..... So count yourselves lucky!

Ed

Hello from Jasper!

Hello everybody. We are at a very nice campsite. It is 4stars which means  it is wonderful. It has a swimming pool and a games hall which has a table football and wiff waff which is called table tennis. We played it last night and I won! 

Today we are going for a short bike ride to the town. We are very close to Spain. There is a gateway to Spain in the town and also a gate to France. 

Jasper

Ducks, chickens and goats

On our various stops we have been greeted by various local livestock. We had ducks in Bordeaux, a goat in Normandy and now chickens in the Pyrenees. The amount of ducks we have seen since Bordeaux has decreased proportionally with the number of Foie Gras shops, and I'm now guessing that all the goats are up the hills producing lots of cheese! 

Ed

Little gems

Every now and then you meet someone, find something, see something or hear something that makes you smile. Years ago when I was on holiday on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly I overheard a lady saying to her friend, "And that's what I was picking and piking about". It made me smile then and it still does now! (Ask my sister!). And I have absolutely no idea what she was picking, or piking about!!!

Yesterday we met the most sincere lady who warmly invited us to the family wine cave as if we were old friends. We had a personal guided tour of the wine production site, from where the grape harvest is dropped off, right to through to the bar and the end product. Which tasted delicious! And all conducted in 100% French, which I was pleased with, as I'd say we generally understood most of what she was telling us, especially about the friend from Minneapolis in America who had recently had open heart surgery and was recovering well! 

Well today we have seen truly spectacular sights as we drove up a big hill in our attempt to get close to Spain. The look of joy on Ed's face as he was driving will not be forgotten, nor will the sudden realisation that the road in the distance ahead (up an even steeper hill) would be the one we would eventually take.

Needless to say, he did enjoy the drive and we stopped at the top to take the obligatory photo. Sadly the photo will never do it justice, but here it is anyway.

Another moment assigned to memory, one to share, one to smile about.

Clare 

X

Motorsport, hills and waxed bottles

A curious title, but I shall explain.

Motorsport

We aim to be in Spain to watch the cycle race la Vuelta. So some headway was made today through delightful parts of France. Needless to say that when driving such large distances over time, trends can be spotted in the regions. E.g. Wine, sunflowers, wine, maize, wine, more wine, plums, wine, foie gras, foie gras, wine, foie gras etc. so as we still pass through the foie gras region and return to a wine region, we just so happened to pass a hidden Motorsport venue.  Now I have not had Autosport magazine for 7 or 8 weeks now. Given that I have read it for the last 16 years, that's my little sacrifice for this trip! Anyway, I digress, we stumbled upon Nogaro race circuit. So stopped, watched some testing, smelt the rubber and oil, walked the empty stands counting lizards, and then a little walk through the paddock was a small and free treat for me!

Hills

An understatement really. As we descended the hills into Pau (which had been my intended Motorsport visit for it's fantastic Formula 3 event) the clouds began to loom in the distance. A deepening colour gave a flavour to the weather ahead..... But no, it was just the rich blue colour of the mountains nestled in the clouds beyond Pau. A stunning site and one we needed after our long journey today. All of us were quite amazed by it. Such a treat!

So here is our view tonight! 

Waxed bottles 

Our current France Passion site is quite something. Firstly the approach to it in Hugo, or should I say ascent, was quite something. It would be quite fair to say that the front wheels went particularly light when negotiating certain aspects of this little road. We then got into a fully French discussion with the mother of the owner who spoke zero English!

A stunning little place, and full of the French conversation that we wanted. It's been lovely to meet British people along the way, in fact both Clare and I and the children have made some good friends, but this was what it was all about. So our view tonight is completely out of our world. Look out of your window tonight, what do you see? All I will say is that we have stumbled upon something special here! Such a treat! I said to Jasper, that this may possibly be the best bedroom window view he will have. He promptly looked out and said, "it's alright!"

At 8pm we returned to our hosts and went to see the old lady once again. It's hard to paint a picture for you, but trying not to be rude, this lady, who was quite Yoda like, took us through one door of her hillside chateau, and then another, into an amazing wine cave. She then showed us the casks, after which we tried the wines, whilst negotiating a conversation about wine, her husband, hip replacements, something about an American cousin, and something about the English and German wine preferences. 45 mins later, my brain was addled from French conversation and wine. Clare was faring much better. We had purchased 3 bottles of her dry white wine. Very nice too I might say. The only problem being was that when I went to remove the top of the foil to get the cork out, something was odd. After a twist or two of the foil remover I noticed it's failure to work. I then noticed the shards of wax on the table. So it was knife out to make a tidy job of it. The end result is that we have got the wine out of the bottle. Lovely.

Onwards now to a campsite. The children deserve a break and a rest, so we shall be on site for 3 nights as of tomorrow before tackling the next unknown....Spain!

Ed

A few facts!

A few facts so far...

We have covered 1,751 miles.

That's 4 tanks of fuel to date.

Ed has driven all of those miles which means...

I have navigated all of those miles!!! We don't have a SATNAV!

We've been on the road for 35 days. 

As a family we've cycled 90miles, though Ed has done more thanks to Julian and Simon!

Altogether (including Jasper and Maya's cameras) we have taken 4,114 photos to bore you with some day!

We have stayed on 15 campsites, some of which were 2 star, some 4 star, and some which were just no star!!!

Once we stayed in a car park for free. Turns out it was a school car park. And the school was having a disco that night. Not much sleep was had!

9 of our stopover points have been through the "France Passion" scheme which means we have stayed for free!

Several FP stopovers have been vineyards...including where we are now. Hic!

We have shopped at Carrefour, Intermarche, Super U, Spar and various street markets when possible. 

We have found "lait frais" (fresh milk) thank goodness at most of these shops as opposed to the rather unpleasant UHT milk. Those of you who have been to France will know what I mean!

We've eaten 35 baguettes, approx 45 croissants and a similar amount of Pain au Chocolats. Yikes!

I have read 3 books, 2 of which were on my kindle which I now like after my initial concerns about the pages not being justifiable! ('The French Gardener' by Santa Montafiore was quite good actually, thanks Mum!)

Ed has also read 3 books and is now on 'No way Down, Life and Death on K2'. Sounds great!

We are still in France, aiming to cross to Spain in the next few days ready for the next month of our travels.

We don't speak any Spanish! 

And the number one fact...

We are all OK, all having fun, and all missing our friends and family! :)

Much love; thanks for reading!

Clare

X

Damp Dordogne dawdle

So the weather has at last taken a turn for the worst. An awful lot of rain in the night and it has pretty much continued through the day. A bit of a shame, but we were due some bad weather. In addition there have been some technical plumbing issues too which we are trying to get a grasp of. Not quite solved yet but it is work in progress.

So today's venture was a mooted affair due to the above. A stroll across to the near village of Limeuil. Another beautiful little town with its history located in the harbour side affairs of the converging Dordogne and Vezere. Steep streets with looming houses on all sides, quaint paths and steps in all directions, and as has become the norm so far, super views in all directions. 

Now my ambitions to have a paddle in a canoe on the Dordogne were hit a little by the dampness. I did however find an appropriate outlet that was open despite the weather. So I rang the proprietor, whose message said he'd be there in 5 mins if rung. 10 mins later an old battered Renault van arrived. Jasper and I were promptly kitted out and prepared for a raging torrent of an adventure.

We were joined by a family of 5 who we had a nice chat with. In the end it turned out they were from Taunton!!! And so the van ride began. A bumpy, dubiously unseat belted affair with scant regard for health and safety. An absolute pleasure! Life needs little risks! After that adventure, we were dropped off at a beach 9km up from where we started. Our host, promptly deposited our boat on the beach and rattled through his spiel. I was expecting rules, regulations, advice, emergency plans, contact info etc. Instead, his parting words were simple "there you go," and with that, he was off. Jasper was very keen and jumped in and off we set. Despite the increasing drizzle, we had a lovely pootle down the river, paddling, drifting, observing wildlife, rocking the boat and general mucking about. A lovely afternoon for the Clements boys. Jasper seemed to have a certain affinity with the paddle. Naturally paddling and twisting the paddle correctly. We got quite synchronised and as a team made good progress.

Lots of fun. On the road again tomorrow. We have to try and work our way south now. It is our intention to be in Pampalona by the 3rd of September for la Vuelta (the Spanish Tour de France).

Ed

Dordogne Dordogne... There's a spring in our step now!

( Apologies for the weak pun)

We now find ourselves right on the banks of the River Dordogne. As I previously posted, this was recommended to us by a man on a site in Britain (thank you), and also the more we have read the more we worked out we had to come inland a little further.

Therefore we trekked a little further from the beautiful St Emilion (did I talk about how lovely it was?) and are now in Limeuil where the Dordogne and the Vezere rivers meet. The evening activity after tea was a gentle walk down to the river (about 150m away), a stroll up the banks of the river,

and then after seeing people in the river, Clare knew I was a bit twitchy. I was keen to go in and get carried down the river with the handful of people doing the same thing. A bit of faffing later, and some persuasion of the gentle kind by Clare and I took the plunge. It was lovely. Being taking along on the current (crocs make good floats), heading due West so seeing the sun beginning to set from the middle of a rapid flowing river. I flipped onto my back and looked upstream to see the sunlit golden arches of the two bridges that cross the two rivers to get across to the equallysunlit golden town of Limeuil. A lovely evening, only spoilt by the idiot floating downstream!

Ed

 

1st month madness

If you were really wondering how the children were really coping, then here is some photographic evidence for you to make up you own minds. 1 picture, 1000 words!

Ed

Nothing funny to report, just St Emilion's beauty

Sorry, there is a distinct lack of funniness to report at the moment. The reason being is that, unlike as reported in previous posts, we are becoming a little more at one with our home 'Hugo' now, and therefore we are learning all his little foibles. There has been lots of fun, but I suppose trying to relive jokes through a blog is like trying to tell a joke a second time.

Anyway, onto today. A short hop from Bordeaux, took us less than an hour of travel today. Once off the motorway, we ended up flashing (a glamorous term to describe a pootling pace) through the localities where the vineyards pass by one after another. The rows of vines parallel and tidy, and then the endless Chateaus lining the roads and hillsides. If this is living the dream, then I'm quite happy. 

So into St Emilion, a bit of a beautiful place really and a bit of a wine epicentre too.

An old town with obviously a rich heritage, and apparently the starting point for macaroons in the 16th century.  However, in the crumbling walls and pale stoned buildings there are 85 wine shops/caves. Think Ilminster, add a few extra streets, and then fill with wine shops. Quite amazing. Wines to be tasted here and there. For a couple of people who like wine this is not a problem, however, I don't really care which grape or which chateau etc. It just must taste good. Speaking of tasting good, we then had an outdoor lunch beneath the shadow of the clock tower in the little town square ( it was baking hot by the way).

A beautiful lunch, where we took photos of what we ate.

A little uncouth, but that doesn't matter, we are tourists and I'm slowly getting into that bit.

After lunch, we moved Hugo to his new home on a vineyard 1 mile out of St Emilion. Stunning. As I sit in the back of this van, the sun has dipped over my left shoulder and over my right shoulder (may I remind you that our front room has 3 aspects!!!!!) a rainbow hangs over the town with glazed clouds of orange under a very light rain. 

We cycled back to the town for more of a mooch, purchased macaroons, I tried foie gras. I had no idea about it, but it worked for me, but would've been better with a wine I think. Upon returning we went to visit our host for the night and sample some of his wines. I think he knew we had no idea, so saved his best wines for himself. We were presented with 2 wines, which were lovely. So we picked the loveliest and bought 2 bottles. We then got into a cracking conversation about him being the 6th generation of this particular wine grower, the history of the English cobbles in St Emillion in the 11th century and how local vineyards are being swallowed up by wealthy hobby farmers or industrial giants. His nearby neighbours are of Chanel fame! So our guy is a little island surrounded by people who know nothing of wines.......apparently!

All in all a lovely day that ended with much laughter at tea time about not very much. However, the laughter, the sun, the heat and a simple bread and cheese supper made for a fitting end to the day. 

Ed

Das Boot? (And homework)

As Clare said, we went on a cycle. What we found quite simply fascinated me. (I think I dragged everyone else along for the ride). In a slightly run down area of Bordeaux there are two little harbours. In the first is this overpowering concrete edifice. There is no museum, no tourist information, no place to officially go and see this thing, but if you have seen Das Boot, then all you need to think about is the u-Boat port in La Rochelle that they visit, then that is what you need to think about. See the photos below. Quite an amazing thing to see. One picture includes Clare on her bike for scale purposes!

All in all, even though it wasn't an amazing exhibition of a thing, it was a haunting and chillingly atmospheric place due to the scale and magnitude of it. 

HOMEWORK

So homework people. If you have got the film Das Boot, watch it again. If you have never seen it, then do a cheap buy on Amazon, and watch it in German, with English subtitles. You might need to do it over a few nights though. All those that manage to do this, add a comment below to say so. I bet no more than 5 of you do it!!! I give you a month for the Das Boot homework to be completed.

Ed

Housework, or should I say van work?

A grey overcast start to the day, and so we decided early on to let Jasper and Maya finish watching the free DVD of 'Kung Fu Panda 2' they had been given in McDonalds yesterday, and we would catch up on a few boring jobs, such as the regular sweeping up, washing up, sorting laundry and also more maintenance issues like refreshing the water supply, cleaning the wet room and emptying the toilet cassette. You can guess which jobs I opted for, and boy, does sweeping up take a long time! Without a vacuum cleaner, getting even the tiniest bit of carpet clean takes ages, especially when you've been to the beach and brought back fine white sand in great quantities!!!

With the weather slowly improving, i.e. grey clouds moving on, an outdoor lunch followed soon after a morning snack of fresh fruits, and then we completed the white washing, sorted the water issues and cleaned the wet room. I have also discovered a great way to clean the metal sink that we have in the kitchen area after accidentally spilling some washing powder in there!!! A quick scrub with a scourer and about a tea spoon of washing powder renders a very shiny sink indeed!!!

Now, in sunshine, we are heading off for a family bike ride as a reward for completing our chores! 

Hurrah!

Clare

X

Bordeaux out of our brains? No, definitely not.

Bordeaux was the destination today. So after a mild drama with the bus driver to finally sort out that I was giving him 6 Euros for four tickets, where he then deemed to cause confusion and show a complete lack of forgiveness for our attempts at French and understanding him, we boarded the bus with a ticket that we finally understood ( with the help of our Yorkshire neighbours) was for all Bordeaux public transport, and was valid for one hour. At this point I must clarify that earlier, it was me who went and sought the help of some British people to have a chat with about gas of all things. So Mike and Glenys (couple from Yorkshire) were the ones I found, and we had a good chat about everything, including the aforementioned gas, and came to the conclusion that purchasing the correct gas with correct fitting in France is about as simple as peeling and orange with your toes.

I digress though, so into Bordeaux we went, initially on the bus, then on the fantastic tram system. Very easy and satisfying. We arrived in Bordeaux on the river. After disembarking we immediately found in the appetising weather, the Miroir D'eau. A fantastic interactive waterfall thing. See photos to avoid my descriptions.

My second photo reminds me of the Thames TV logo. After this photo, little holes in the Miroir started to create a thin mist of water, so I have some weird shots of the children playing in this mist on a beautifully hot day. 

Anyway, onwards into the bustling town of Bordeaux. A lovely place. Very much like Paris in some ways, but without the fighting crowds. So a gentle day by comparison. We got very touristy at Maya's request and ventured onto one of the city Petit Trains ( a car disguised as a train, pulling carriages) that are found in most cities in France we have found. So it was a proper tourist thing to do. Essentially it was rubbish, but it was fun, and will be remembered for being rubbish. The driver had no subtlety with his pedals, the headsets which we all wore kept falling off when the driver braked. The audio track was completely out of sync with where the driver was, and was inanely dull. And finally, it seemed to take us to all the worst parts of town. So very memorable, as it was funny that it was quite rubbish.

This photo shows us all enjoying one of the many amazing scenes of Bordeaux. One of many truly memorable moments on the train of happiness. 

Regardless of that though, we mooched further, and fully enjoyed what a beautiful place Bordeaux is. Our venture back out of town was simple and smooth and we got home very quickly. 

On that note, it slowly is becoming home here now. Not Bordeaux, but the few small square metres we occupy daily in Hugo the van. We are getting slicker at life, although not much really starts before 8:30 am (7:30am GMT). 

So a day of rest will occur tomorrow. Jobs will happen at a leisurely pace. I was going to cycle with Jasper to the velodrome here in Bordeaux, it's only 1.5 miles away. I went to check it out tonight. Quite an amazing place, but it seems completely closed. I looked through the windows to see a fantastic stadium with an amazing track under the roof, but it's completely closed. So we'll probably cycle somewhere else instead.

Ed

No, no, this is the one....

Another cracking Bordeaux wine, I think this is the one though!

Ed

This is the one...

So Clare was decidedly happy when we entered the Bordeaux region. We found a lovely vineyard just up from where we stayed at les Matards that had the perfect bottle. And here it is!

Ed

Struggling.....

Our life continues to struggle along at the moment. Here is a picture of my evening. A bottle of wine from our next France passion stop. Chateau des Matards. It is a particularly good wine. We at the only ones here too.  So we sit, pitched in the sun enjoying the children cycling around and making their own games. So the wine was purchased from our non English speaking hosts. Another fine conversation had with a modicum of understanding each way. 

Maya has just started re-enacting a scene from the film "The Plank". An old retro movie where in one scene a policeman tries to get on his bicycle. For those in the know, Maya has come up with link all on her own and performed it particularly well. For those who do not know the film, check it out on YouTube or something!

So we have travelled off our island now and are nearly to Bordeaux. So some proper wine tasting will be happening. Anyway, this particular post probably is a reminder to us, that when the weather changes and times are harder that we have had some stunning evenings. The children were going to scrapbook tonight but it is too nice for that.

So as we continue to make our way south, we will head for the Dordogne. A man I met on our trial camp night in Axminster suggested canoeing along the Dordogne and looking at the castles etc. so that is what I plan to do over the coming days. I might be on my own on this venture unless Jasper and Maya want to come.

 And then we head to Spain, where the adventure of the unknown continues. We approach the end of our first month and things are feeling good at the moment. We know that this is the easy part, but the whole thing of never quite knowing where we are going is working fine. I do think that will be the part that will become hard over time, but that is just another hurdle to overcome.

Ed

Irritations and pleasures

Irritations:

Trying to find appropriate gas for the van, this could become a problem very soon.

Trying to cool the fridge and keep it working after our free stop overs.

Pleasures:

Most of our stop overs.

Passion France!

Wine.

Cheese.

Children that cycle good distances. 

Quality family time.

New places.

Meeting people.

Driving in France.

Laughter!

Budget on track!

That seems to be it in a nutshell so far! 

Ed

Living the dream part 2

So as we progress through August, I thought it'd be good to update how living the dream can be. 

Firstly, Clare wrote a super blog yesterday about what was a fantastic day. For some reason the technology seems to have lost this information. So this easy living life is proving in parts to be actually quite difficult. All the things one takes for granted in home life become a daily issue of let's go and try to achieve this simple task today!

I should be writing about the great trip we completed today, taking a boat from St Denis D'Oleron  to La Rochelle, and the lovely day we had there. However, I feel I must put this all into context of the struggles and issues we had today. This should hopefully make you all feel a little better I suppose. So here is a list of today's little issues.

1. Shopping - the day after the end of the French holidays at the big shop was a bit nightmarish!

2. Credit card rejected - the embarrassment of 3 different card failures at the till whilst the nightmarish supermarket queues gathered apace. 

3. Getting out of the aforementioned supermarket with a vehicle 7.5 metres long with a huge rear overhang.....the vehicle, not me!

4. Finding somewhere to eat in La Rochelle that would serve us before the boat departed to take us back home.

5. Returning to find that the shopping we had previously bought, was not chilled as I had not turned the fridge on. My faulty completely - Ed! 

6. Quite a nice problem at the moment, but if it continues later then it could become an issue. The huge Franco-Japanese family next to us on the municipal campsite. They are having a lovely time, which is great, but we want to sleep in a short while. 

So there you go. If you ever have a "they must be having a whale of a time" sort of a moment, then please don't forget that, our food is warm, our vehicle is massive, we can't always eat when we need to, our credit card has had a blip (fine now) and we never know who our neighbours are going to be. Incidentally, I must make a mention of our neighbours we made friends with on the last vineyard. Not  a word of English spoken, they knew nothing. So I suppose it was our first proper French conversation beyond making a booking for a site etc. It was a lovely challenge, and they were very helpful to us. Despite the extra concentration needed in a full conversation, we all made it through having gleaned such information as the ladies sister lived in Australia, and that they were on a four month jaunt! 

I digress though. A good day has been completed, I'll get Clare to do the positive stuff about it, but I thought I should add some balance to this blog though, some 'real life'.

Ed

An island of our own?

As most days are, a slow and steady start ensued. We then said Bon voyage to the Wilkes and Lancaster clans. We thoroughly enjoyed all the company, and it was a pleasure to get to know properly the Lancaster family. A lovely time was had and we have been spoilt with their hospitality and gifts for the children and a bottle for us! Many thanks all, too kind.

We then gathered our things and became mobile again. So from Royen (St Augstin) we trekked up to the Ile D'Oleron. A sticky journey, even though it was only 30 miles or so, but at least we were going the correct way. The French holidays were finishing and so the queues trying to get off the island (one road in, one road out) were at a standstill for 15 km; it seemed all and sundry were leaving the island. So we arrived at our fourth France Passion stop ( the free ones) had lunch, got some wine, and parked in their delightful vineyard......literally! See the view from our window below!

We then cycled the short distance down to the beach at La Cotiniere. We actually missed the main beach, but ended up on rather a secluded beach with beautiful soft sand. Overall, it felt like a slightly enhanced version of Charmouth, e.g. there was a vast area of rock pooling to be done, but loads of wildlife in the shallow pools. I even manage a swim in one of the bigger enclosed lagoons before the tide came in. A private and delightfully warm pool of sea water, with glorious views in all directions. 

I returned from my swimming venture to see the dune jumping competition in full swing. So below is a photo of the podium finishers basking in the glory of their triumphs, resplendent with their garlands of greenery provided by Maya. 

Jasper won by virtue of his superior speed and style. Maya came second by virtue of her bravery and skills. I however had no of the above, but was the third person to take part! 

So to finish. I sit here with my bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from the above vines, from the above farm and delight in what has been a lovely day!

Ed

The perfect day!

Well today just has to rank as one of the best days ever. We all woke at about 9am to a glorious sun streaming in through the windows, and the view over the vineyard was just as we remembered it from the night before. We have started to find that we have the best nights sleep on the "France Passion" sites, whether it's because they have been on cider farms or vineyards so far I don't know! Maybe it was the rather good Cabernet Sauvignon made from the grapes in the fields behind us, or the peace and tranquility, or just the thought of waking to coffee and croissants, but it just seems to work on these 'free' places. 

Having had such a lovely afternoon at the beach yesterday, we decided to cycle down and investigate the town of La Cotiniere. What a pretty little fishing village we stumbled upon! Think Padstow, take away the crowds and this is what we found. There were plenty of shops to browse in, and a busy Sunday market too. Jasper, Maya and I mooched through the market and saw the now familiar sights of oysters, mussels, languistines, and other fish, plus a wide variety of colours of fruits and vegetables, such as brown courgettes, and red bananas. There was also an array of clothes, shoes, leather goods and even a tat stall selling the equivalent of a 99p store! Whilst we looked around, Ed waited in the queue for the bread, which was the biggest queue ever. Thankfully he also bought some delicious  cookies which we had as our mid morning snack. 

Browsing completed, we then looked around the busy fishing harbour, the lighthouse and the 1960s sea front church with its bright and colourful stained glass windows which was really quite unique! 

A short cycle ride took us back to the beach and a spot for our lunch. We then spent the rest of the sunny afternoon sunbathing, rock pooling, building sandcastles, sand dune jumping, sunbathing again, swimming, more rock pooling. You get the picture!

Jasper in particular had a fantastic time, having remembered his Swiss Army knife. After scouring the beach for treasures, much time was spent with Ed and Jasper carving drift wood and using other found materials to create "SS Jus de Pomme",  and then after Somme fettling, the improved version "SS Jus D'Orange". Time passed by and as the boys made improvements to try and make their boats sail better,  Maya on the other hand made good use of her new €1.99 bucket to collect a pile of baby hermit crabs!

The evening turned out to be quite a surprise. Being very hungry, and cycling to nearby St Pierre D'Oleron for food, we soon realised we we're too early for a meal somewhere. So we cycled back to La Cotiniere where we ordered fresh from the quay, fish and chips. Wel this may seem a little uncouth, but after the busy day and the bike rides it was just what we wanted. And it just so happens that we stumbled upon the best fish and chips we have ever had. Much better than Rick Steines! The batter was so light and crispy and it had herbs mixed in too! The chips were French fries, but made with potatoes with skins on, so they had a rustic smell, texture and taste. Just delicious!

And now, we are sitting with the final glass of the aforementioned Cabernet Sauvignon watching the evening sun set over the vineyard. Two sleepy children fast asleep in their beds. As I said, the perfect day.

Bon Sior!

Clare 

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Too much cheese and wine?

I am not known for my great weight, but I must be getting denser! I was happily sitting on this chair last night at Chez Wilkes, and the chair gave way leaving me perched somewhat lower than was intended. Time to ease off the cheese and wine I feel! 

Ed

Excuse moi, are we in France?

We visited Saintes today. Family Wilkes drove us there, it saved us packing up the awning, bikes etc. so that was a treat. The weather continued to be a bit grotty really which was a shame, so we visited a shop called Decathlon. As the rain refused to relent, we spent a rather long time in the shop, which for those unaware of such a place, is a massive sports shop for every sport imaginable. We all got little bits of stuff which was great. 

Then we continued into the town of Saintes. It didn't feel like France again at all though. The photos demonstrate that the place had a very Romanesque feel to it, buildings, roofs ....and old stuff! We didn't have time to research the history of these bits, but the photos give you a clue as to the nature of   this particular place.

Jasper was not in the  photo, he choose to get soaked on the spray water jets out of shot to the left! 

So a change of plans for our next stop off I think. I need to investigate today, the possibility of taking a boat from Boyardville across to La Rochelle taking in Fort Boyard at the same time. That will be Saturday I think if we can make it happen! 

Ed

Family bike riding so far .....

58.9 miles. 

Well done Jasper, Maya and Clare! 

A lovely 10 mile round trip to Mornac today. 

Mornac

What a lovely cycle. We rode 5 and a bit miles out to Mornac sur Seudre today. What a treat - a little port and very lovely little street of a town.

A stunning little village, all based around the Oyster beds which form the local trade. Nowhere seemed to sell the oysters though. I am looking for a place where they will let me try one (being a bit of a food novice ). However this trip is all about 'new things' so I will give it all a go, but I don't wish to be faced with a whole platter of stuff. So that mission is still yet to be accomplished. However, back to the thread, Mornac was lovely. The kids cycled really well and completed the total cycling in an hour and a half (total round trip of 10.5 miles). 

So our last night on this site tonight; we are working on a plan to stay on the Ile D'Oleron on a vineyard for free, then backtrack up to La Rochelle as we skipped that bit out, and feel we shouldn't miss it. So we'll wait and see what happens in the morning!

Ed

Slow and steady wins the race

We left Carnac (a place which we quite liked), and set off to meet with the Wilkes' and the Lancasters just east of Royen. Now if you take time to study your maps, you will realise that this was some journey. The 241 miles was way beyond what we intended to do and I was desperate for liquid refreshment upon arrival. Many thanks to Julian for coming to the rescue with that! A lovely evening of kids larking about, food, wine and lovely adult company finished shortly after midnight. A late night for all, but was once again lovely to meet up with friends. We are here for 3 nights, but may need to rethink our plans. We entirely bypassed La Rochelle, so will need to go back for a mooch I think, and we are a (relative) stones throw from Fort Boyard which is well worth a look. So time to take a little of my own advice, 'slow and steady wins the race!'

Ed

Sunshine and beach afternoon!

Evening all!
As I write this, it is raining very hard but that doesn't really matter to us as we are all showered and in our pyjamas listening to "Owl Babies" - Maya's choice! Its only just 8pm, but we have had such a busy (and lovely) day that we are all shattered! Started this morning with a hearty 2 course breakfast of cereals and then pain au chocolats, followed by a good 6 mile bike ride to see the 7,000 year old megaliths that Carnac is famed for. Very impressive, but I believe the jury is still out as to what they were for and why the site was chosen.
Back to the site for lunch (baguettes of course, what else is there to eat!?!) and once a few domestic chores had been completed such as sweeping up, cleaning the fridge, and emptying the toilet cassette, we set off for the beach as the sun was high and bright in the blue sky. Several hours of children playing in and out of the sea, on and off rocks, in and out of rock-pools ensued, making it an afternoon to remember. Ed and I managed to relax a little and enjoy the sun as Jasper and Maya were happy and content with each other for company.
This evening we decided to head off to a nearby creperie for a treat. Unfortunately we arrived too early, so we had to return to the site and to our second choice of creperie venue, the on site catering facilities, more what you would call a glorified shed. Anyway, we ordered and paid for some delicious crepes and were all highly satisfied with our choice of fillings, no one more so than Jasper who had ordered "chocolat" which turned out to be chocolate powder shaken in enough quantity to sink a ship and so that it melted quite nicely too!
Tres delicious!
So now it is quiet time. Time to write diaries and blogs, read books and kindles whilst the children settle in their beds.
Bon Soir!

Clare x

A triumph of man over plumbing and electricity - part 2

I think I have resolved the problem of the water pump chuntering away. When storing the cycle helmets under a seat, they accidentally applied pressure to the hot water release valve ever so gently. So water was draining very slowly, and so when the pressure dropped every 5 mins or so, the pump chuntered on. Sitting here and feeling proud of the moderate success. 

Ed

So far, so good!

I was going to update the route every so often with a technical google maps interactive embedded thing on the blog. I had tried it all out and it was working. However, all my attempts have proved fruitless at doing this, so here is the next best thing. I am presently drawing on maps. It gives me a lot of satisfaction. It's funny how a reduction in life's normalities seems to lower ones threshold of satisfaction.  Drawing on maps successfully and making this vehicle do what we want it to do are where we are at. The only little hiccough in all of this now seems to be that the water pump seems to be groaning and pumping at odd intervals today. So there is the next problem to be overcome. I look forward to posting a success over the water pump soon! If not it ( the water pump) will not be the only thing grumbling on! 

Ed

A day with the Jaffes!

A fantastic day was had today. We met up with the Jaffe family who are working on the return leg of their holiday journey. We met at the municipal campsite in Tinteniac and it was great! The children all went off together and had much larking about time. A family cycle ensued in the afternoon alongside the canal by Tinteniac; 7 miles up, ice cream, 7miles back. A great cycle for everyone. Above is the token islabikes photo shoot. All the boys raced off into the distance, Maya pootled along with Emma (not in shot) who was the only child not on an islabike, but an old heavy single geared short crank affair, but did an amazing job given that she only learnt to ride 2 weeks ago. 

The evening was a lovely time too. We sat out, bbq'd, drank copious amounts of wine as the children played together, and again made more on site friends (Jacques and ?????). 

So a big thankyou to the Jaffe family. A lovely time had by all. So it's onto Carnac now. 3 days there I think then down to La Rochelle. Keep you posted!

Ed

Imagine the scene

For anyone trying to really imagine what life is like for us, then let me set the scene for you. Once again, the evening routines of diary, maps, logging the money and travel have all happened as normal. But something was niggling me. For those that remember the badly lip synced version of Heidi that used to be on the television, I felt that I was there. It wasn't anything to do with where we are or what we were doing, as it was head down into my diary, but this soft gentle tinkle of a bell kept on clanging. It felt like Peter ( from said Heidi TV programme) was walking up the hills to visit Heidi. And low and behold, I looked out of my window and this goat, with accompanying soundtrack of cow bell, cruised ( sorry wrong verb I know, but it's what came to my head) by the window. So now Jasper and Maya can't sleep because of the aforementioned cruising goat of Erdeven now seemingly circling our vehicle. So that is life. Attached is a picture of the setting in and out of the van. Can you spot the goat?

In addition to the circling, cruising goat of Erdeven that has enhanced our day, we drove 95 miles today. Glorious driving conditions and beautiful empty roads. We arrived on our free farm for the night (hence the goat) and then went for an evening cycle upto the Erdeven show. A local event celebrating music, dance, and copious food. Fantastic cookery done in cauldrons perched over a dug channel of burning timbers, and then local dance which to the laymen in me, resembled lazy mans dancing. It was a cross between country dancing and walking......with all the verve removed. People were smiling, but somehow it was a little lacklustre. The local costumes were great though. Maya loved it, and Jasper was just trying to shoot them with a gun he'd won on a lucky dip game of Peche (fishing!). 

Down to Carnac for a few days as of tomorrow then onto La Rochelle on Wednesday!

Happy days.

Ed (ghost whisperer)

Ps. The goat has gone ....for now! 

Banishment

So here is the first of my cheese selection thus far to have been banished into the plastic bag. Le petit Camembert is now in a quarantined plastic bag due to it's apparently offensive odour. 

It is good though! 

Ed

4 minutes to shower!

Just thought I'd write about my shower this morning for no reason other than at home I would normally take my time to get ready in the morning. A lady can't rush her morning ablutions can she? Or can she? Well it turns out you can!!! This morning I had to ask for a jeton (token) for the douche (shower). On entering the shower I read the rough English translation that said, "You have 4 minutes to shower. We advise that you get undressed first before inserting the token".  So I did as I was told and had a mere 4 minutes to get cleaned up, and wash and condition my hair. Wish I'd taken the 'Wash and Go' shampoo with me!!! Fumbling with shower gel, face wash, and shampoo and conditioner bottles, I assume I looked like someone on a gameshow desperately trying to beat the clock. Anyway, my mission was accomplished (with a few seconds to spare!) and I emerged feeling fully refreshed and clean! PHEW!

(You will be somewhat delighted that there aren't any photos to attach!)

C

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1066 and all that!

An early pack up ensued this morning. The camp was quiet, mild in climate, but recovering from a bashing storm. Our awning resembled a sad and saggy version of itself. We however had been much better off than others who had theirs bent and folded. So after a big slosh out, and with improving weather, we felt good and ready for action. However, upon issuing the breakfast rations, we realised that the fridge had not been turned on all night. Our own fault, it seems that our processes and routines need some modification. This was a bit of a blow having just shopped the previous day. 

Anyway, onto Bayeaux. Without the crowds, we sauntered into view the tapestry, complete with accompanying ear piece each. Even the children had their own ear piece with a description of every section of the tapestry, laid out over 70m. It was quite amazing. The descriptions on the ear pieces were great and much needed ( we really are settling into this tourist thing at the moment- although we are looking forward to finding the non tourist things too). The problem arose when Maya and Jasper were left behind. The steady stream of people on the adult ear pieces though plodded on like a lazy line, the error was though, the children's description didn't sync with the adult description, so whilst the adults raced on ( relatively) the children were left to be swamped by the masses. Anyway, it was quite an amazing experience.

Our journey then moved on along through St -Lo and onto Mont-Saint-Michel. We are about 2 miles away on an Aire, where we paid €13.70 for electricity (please note the fridge is on!), toilets, water, servicing for the vehicle all on a beautiful and quiet site. I am just waiting now though for the sun to go down so I can do a return visit to Mont-Saint-Michel for some night photos. We cycled up there this afternoon. Despite a long walk out, another fascinating time was had. See the photos, Clare May blog about this later. 

Incidentally, thanks to Janet Morton must be made. Her musical education of our children has continued. The donation of 9 personalised compilation CDs for the trip have certainly entertained us thus far.  The highlight for Jasper and Maya seems to have been Chesney Hawkes' "The one and only". Great!!!

Ed 

The next few days

Morning! 

It's been another rainy night and we find ourselves a little puzzled again as to what we can do on such potential rainy days. I say potential, because the last time it rained, we got dressed appropriately and then within an hour we were too hot in our 3/4 length jeans as it had fined up so much! So hoping for that to happen again today. There is a distinct possibility that we will head for a wildlife park, but that is weather dependent! We will also make the obligatory daily mission to find a boulangerie for a baguette as the remains of yesterday's are now so hard you could use it as a weapon! 

We are on an Aire near to Mt St Michel. Not where we planned to stay, but we accidentally drove past the France Passion (free) site on our way here and so ended up following some road signs. It's all a bit haphazard as to where we will stay each night. We have previously phoned and booked into places in the mornings, turned up in the afternoon to be told there isn't any space, or there isn't anything with EHU despite booking it!!! So we have learnt not to book, just wait and see, and something usually turns up. 

Tomorrow we are meeting up with the Jaffe family!!! Hurray! They are camping in or near to Tinterniac, which is only a short drive away, so we are joining them for a day. Hopefully there will be some cycling along one of the French canals. And then we head for Carnac before joining more friends near La Rochelle. All of these places had never entered our minds before now. Now they have become little goals for us, something to aim for, somewhere to see, to tick off, to write about in our diaries, to. Map out the route, to add to the blog. We really are enjoying the variety of places that we see and the things that we are doing.

Must dash, breakfast is ready and yes, you've guessed it, it's warm croissants!

Clare

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Triumph of Man over plumbing and electrics

Toilet fixed! Very happy!

Wifi at last

Sitting here in a garden just by the Bayeux tapestry, the beer is going down nicely, and the wifi is working wonderfully. Small things like regular wifi, hot running water and as much electricity as you want are such pleasures as and when you can! 

Ed

Arromanches

Life is settling into a regular rhythm at the moment! although the weather is good so that does help. Although life is steadying up now, the beginnings of some amazing things that we will hopefully see on this venture happened today. A short drive today along the coast and we ended up in a place called Arromanches, just further along the d-day beaches, technically 'Gold' beach. From the top of the cliff looking down into Arromanches was a stunning view of 70 year old technology and ingenuity in action. If you know nothing of this, then google it. In essence, with all te ports held by the German forces during the war, and d-day imminent, it was decided that a harbour had to be built within a matter of weeks. Essentially, they ( allied forces) achieved it. Quite stunning really and difficult to comprehend the engineering feat. 

So we all enjoyed the museum etc, and Jasper seems to be clinging onto all the information and quizzing Maya about everything too. They have both been asking pertinent questions about d-day and why it all happened. 

Apart from that, after 2 days on a site near Coursuelles sur Mer we are now using our Passion France card once again for a free stop on a farm. So to help build the picture, this is a cider farm (another bottle purchased) and Hugo (the van) is nestled in amongst the orchard.  There is a gentle breeze in the trees as the cool evening descends. I'm happily tapping away on the ipad wishing for the next wifi hotspot, whilst Clare devours another book on her kindle. I have just returned from a short jaunt on the bike around Bayeux, our next target.

Ed

Finding your way in France

Being a novice to this game, I thought it might be of interest to share some of our musings about French roads, traffic, routes and directions. So in no particular order, these are the findings.

1. Traffic lights - there is a prolific amount of traffic lights, even when no traffic light seems of obvious use to hold the said traffic. 

2. Red...red.....red......red....GREEN   No warning is given that green is on it's way. No amber like in Britain to warm you up for the main event. Nope! It just arrives, along with a flustered panic searching for the handbrake, first gear etc

3. White lines - they are everywhere. If there is a road surface, give it some genuine white lines, then stick some bonus ones in for confusion, and when the road looks bare, through in 2 or 3 zebra crossings. 

4. Routes - an indication is given of a route, but it is rarely, if ever, followed through. E.g. Follow a sign, arrive at the next roundabout or junction, there is no recollection of the destination you wish, in fact, often the next junction will provide you with a whole new list of places to go.

5. Arrows on roundabouts - if it points left it means straight on, if it points right, it means straight on. We have found ourselves in blind alleys with a 7.5metre long vehicle because of these devious and mischievous signs. 

6. Smooth roads - how can we get it so wrong in Britain? 

That's it so far, I think more things will come to mind as we journey on!

Ed

(Token photo of a road to match the theme, although this is the drive leading to the farm we are on)

Every so often....

...you can just seem to hit it right. The sun has just descended on what has been a beautiful evening in St Aubin de Scellon. You may ask, "where?" Well, it is on the way from Paris to Caen in the middle of nowhere, following no roads in particular, and then ending up doing our second night of free camping. This technically is free camping, but on a rather pleasant scale. We have used our Passion France access. Again, you may ask "what?" Well Passion France costs about £30 and gives motorhome users free access to 1800 vineyards, farms etc across the whole of France. So here we are on a cider farm outside of Lisieux. Although it's free, we seem to have purchased 2 bottles of cider and one bottle of Apple juice. The cider has been consumed easily, although we did have a moment! Unlike Perry's cider farm near us, which produces warm still/ flat cider with lumps, this cider is fizzy, lively and has some gusto! So whilst opening the bottle for tea, I unscrewed the wire harness for the cork, believing that there would be ample time to deal with the cork issue. This was not the case. A bit of internal van drama ensued as the cork fizzed out at a rate of knots and pinging from one side to the next, whilst a healthy gush of fizz lampooned itself all over the place. This was not helped by the operator running on panic mode and not really planning on how to resolve the issue. I thought putting my thumb on the end would help....obviously this did not! 

Anyway, drama over, the remains of the drink itself was rather lovely. At 3 euros a bottle, I could afford to be a bit more frivolous again! Pascal, the man on site and owner, was a delightful chap though and welcomed us warmly. 

For the evening, we then cycled around locally and enjoyed a glorious evening of lowering sun, wide vistas and positive moods. The evening was polished off with more cider, sitting in the sun between the trees in the orchard, watching the kids muck about. Happy days indeed! 

A day of history

Today we have been humbled and it's not often that I am lost for words. Having spent the night on Pascal's cider farm, (whose location I cannot reveal to you or I'd be breaking the "France Passion" rules and be shot, but let's just say it was peaceful and quiet and we all slept from 9pm until 9am!!!) where we were welcomed as friends, by such a lovely person, genuinely a kind man; he even asked us to return on our way back to England in 9 months or whenever. We then ambled along through some breathtaking countyside to the town of Caen. Hunger took over our desire to get to the site I'd booked,and we abandoned our schedule and made an impromptu stop. What a delight! We stumbled across a busy and vibrant Sunday market and it was really good to be able to take in some genuine French culture. Unlike in England, shops are closed on Sundays, but street markets seem very popular, taking over vast areas of the town. There wasn't a thing you couldn't buy at this one!!! Jasper and Maya chose a book each from a stall - 'Puss in Boots' and 'Sleeping Beauty' ...in French!!! The seller was delighted that they had a go at speaking French, and I was a proud Mummy (again) as they politely said please and thankyou in the native tongue and not their mother tongue!!! 

We then took a route up to Ranville where the capture of the bridge now known as Pegasus Bridge took place. The museum there is only €7, and is well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. The displays are both in English and French, and there are currently some really moving recounts by English war veterans on display. A short talk on the 3 attack missions followed. I've heard it said before that the British army was at it's best during WW2 but they really were very brave men and boys, some as young as 16 when they took part in one of the 3 attacks. Those landing the Horsa gliders were extremely accurate despite only having a compass, stopwatch and the moon to guide them to their target! Those that missed, or accidentally got the wrong bridge decided to capture the nearest one anyway!!! True Brits! Real heroes, and when we saw what the gliders were constructed of, they looked like home built models rather than actual aircraft, it's a wonder anyone survived the flight let alone the crash landing. Not one of the 30 on board carried a parachute! Other missions included the capture of a German base, or taking over 5 bridges that are the crossing points of the rivers and/or canals in the area. All of this coincided with the landings on the beaches, which we'll discover more about tomorrow when we visit Juno beach (and the museum) where the Canadians landed. 

Clare 

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