Making Camp

Wednesday 7 September 2022

One of the great benefits of vanlife is the ability to travel around, following your nose, changing plans or direction if you want.  This is easy in Continental Europe, where there are thousands of places to stay, often for free, usually in a lovely place.  It brings a level of spontaneity that you just can't enjoy in the UK, where often the only option is to pre-book campsites, sometimes weeks in advance for the popular ones.  But this lifestyle has its limits and sometimes we need to break the cycle of moving on every day.  The effort of researching and finding somewhere to stay each night, then the daily driving can take its toll after a while.  We're just over two weeks into our six week trip, and the time was ripe for some downtime.

We therefore decided to make camp for a few days, to relax, to take a break, to have a mini-holiday.  Nido's been parked up for the last few nights on the Municipal Campsite in St Denis d'Oléron, which is at the northern tip of the island. Ile d'Oléron is the second biggest French island after Corsica, but still small enough to cycle around in a day.  It's a large campsite, set amongst trees and right next to a long, sandy beach.  It's about a five minute walk from the marina with plenty of bars and restaurants to suit all budgets and about ten minutes to the town centre, with shops and more places to eat and drink.  We've stayed here before, back in 2015 on our first trip to France in Nido.  Then it was earlier in the year but even now, with most back at work and school, it's pretty full.  

The Municipal Campsites are found all around France, usually run by the local council. They're pretty basic and some are better than others.  But they're good value for money, have all the facilities you need (this one has on on site shop and a snack bar/restaurant) and they're very relaxed about the usual campsite rules and regulations.  No parking between white pegs, with the wardens forcing you to move if you're more than one millimetre out, hanging up washing to dry is allowed and very few people build the windbreak walls that you see on so many UK campsites.  We love 'em!

We set an early alarm for Monday morning and drove the half hour to an Intermarché Hypermarket in Rochefort.  After two weeks on the road we had a good pile of clothes, bedding and towels to launder.  Many of the supermarkets in the France have laundrettes on site, usually somewhere in the car park and often available 24/7.  We managed to park right next to this one and two large loads were soon turning in the machines as we sat and watched them, eating our breakfast; vanlife isn't all sunsets and rainbows!  I went off to do the food shopping whilst Cathy stayed to sort the laundry.  Intermarché is one of the more expensive supermarkets in France, so wouldn't be my first choice, but it was right next to us, so convenience came before budget on this occasion.  Unfortunately the laundry dryer died after three 'runs' and of course it happened when the heavy stuff (towels, bedding etc) was in there!  So when I returned with our victuals, everything was hanging in the van like Widow Twanky's laundry! I also took the opportunity to fill the LPG tanks on the way out.  Two weeks' use (most of the time off-grid) equated to about £8 worth of LPG - not bad.

The run to St Denis was about an hour and a half and by the time we'd arrived, checked in and found a pitch, the washing was hanging on an airer and the awning and was dry within an hour.  The rest of the day was spent making camp, taking Salty for a walk and a bit of paddle (he doesn't like big waves that bite back!) and a lovely swim ourselves whilst Salty chilled out in the van.  I managed to get online for my Môn SAR Training Group meeting in the evening, so once that was done and the dog walked, we were ready for bed.

The next couple of days were spent wandering about, swimming, reading, snoozing - just like being on holiday.  Today (Wednesday) it has been raining heavily on and off, so plans for a bike ride and eating out will need to wait for another, dryer day.

Relaxed, refreshed, clean and tidy, we're ready for the next part of our trip.  The rough plan is to start heading south-east, inland towards the Dordogne area. I'm keeping a close eye on the weather forecast and warnings.  South east France have had some major storms and floods and we clearly want to avoid being near them.  As the warm weather continues though, there's a risk that these will extend further west, so selecting park-ups will need to take into consideration it's location and surface.

These are excellent and all over France

Nice shady pitch...and no white pitch pegs to reverse up to!!

A sofa with a view

Blogging station 

Most Beautiful Villages of France

Sunday 4 September 2022

Nido's amongst the trees in a park-up in the small village of Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis in the Charente-Maritime region. It's very quiet here.  The parking area was quite full with cars earlier as it's 'le weekend' and opposite two lakes called Lac de Frace. There's a restaurant and lots of picnic sites, many like wooden bandstands. Large family groups were together, with enough food and wine to probably feed the whole village! It's now much quieter, just half a dozen motorhomes, three of which are from the UK.

We left our park-up on the coast yesterday, stopping off on the way out for a baguette (and some patisserie of course!) at a boulangerie, then at a van just off the road selling local sea-salt, next to some salt-pans  The 'lady in the van' was very helpful and we bought a couple of types of rock sea-salt plus a salt cellar to store it in. This local, hand-produced sea salt is excellent, created from solar evaporation as the brine dries out in the sunshine. They skim it off and pile it up with long, wide wooden scrapers.  On the way we stopped for lunch at St Jean de Monts, parking by the beach and having a good walk along the surf line.

I'd plugged in an aire that looked and sounded good in the apps and books, but on arrival it was four pitches in a small village (bon), but facing a huge sportsdrome building (pas bon).  Luckily I had a plan B and we drove on to the village of Vouvant.  I have the 'Most Beautiful Towns and Villages in France' book and if I'd checked it, I'd have realised that Vouvant is one of these villages, in fact the only one in the Vendee.  There's an excellent aire in the village - €10.90 including all services and wifi.  We parked up on the grass next to a tall beech hedge, plugged in the electric and got the kettle on!

A little bit of history about Vouvant (from my friend's Beautiful Villages book - he sent me a screenshot):

Deep in the forest of Vouvant-Mervant, the Mere river winds through a landscape that has inspired both art and mystery. William V - Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030) discovered the site of Vouvant whilst out hunting. Struck by its strategic position, he built a castle, church and monastery here in the 11th century. The castle has retained only its keep, the Mélusine* tower, sections of the ramparts and a 13th century postern gate, which was used by Saint Louis (King Louis IX).  A Romanesque bridge straddles the river Mere, linking the two riverbanks. 

*Legend has it that Mélusine was a fairy who built the tower overnight.

We thought we'd save the exploration of the village for the next morning, so after dinner we had a long and slow walk following the footpath between the ramparts and the river.  There were lots of small potager gardens in this gap between walls and water, but sadly this year's drought meant they weren't looking their best.  But there was plenty of wildlife in, under and above the water.  However, we didn't see a single bat as dusk moved to darkness, which is really unusual for a place such as this.  Which reminds me that over the time we've been in France, we've had no days when the van windscreen was splattered with flies and insects, unlike previous visits.  This, coupled with the vast, desert-like fields and dying sunflower and corn crops, is a stark indicator of climate breakdown - very, very worrying.  On our way back to the van in the dark, we heard plenty of owls though; Salty's not a fan of the owl call - perhaps he thinks he's small enough to be plucked from the ground by sharp talons!  Although dark it was still warm so we sat outside to have a cup of tea and our patisserie; this time a Tartlette Mirabelle (gooseberry tart), which was crisp, light and full of flavour - a well deserved 9/10!

I'd set the alarm for 0700 this morning so after a quick cup of tea, we set off to explore the village, leaving Salty in the van for some 'me time.'  The sun rises at about 0730 so and we walked around in the cool of the morning, exploring the ramparts and small lanes, wandering past lovely stone built homes and secluded gardens.  Early morning is a great time to explore; the shops might not be open (although the boulangerie was - "une tradition s'il vous plait"!) but having the place to yourself to wander before the crowds arrive is the best way to see somewhere as lovely as this.  We met a local French man on our walk. He told us (in French) that he liked to get up and walk around the village when everyone is still asleep (he mimed sleeping and snoring as he spoke which helped!).

Breakfasted, showered, van serviced, we drove for an hour past the dry dusty fields and increasing heat to reach our current park-up. We had a lazy afternoon in the shade of the trees, lunching, reading and snoozing. Later we took a walk around the lakes.  It was still pretty hot so we kept to the shade of the many trees.  It was lovely to see families out enjoying themselves, fishing, picnicing and generally having a relaxing time.  The lakes were about 1 metre below their normal level though.

The alarm's again set for 0700 tomorrow morning - an admin day.  The plan is to drive to a supermarket in Rochefort to make use of the onsite launderette, have breakfast while the machines are running, top up the food and probably also top up the LPG tanks.  We've used about 3/4 of one tank (we have two) but it's worth topping up when the opportunity arises, although it's widely available in France.  After that, we'll probably drive to one of our favourite places - the island of Ile d'Oleron, aiming to get on an aire or campsite with electric hook-up.  I hope to get online tomorrow night for a Mon Search and Rescue Team Training Group meeting on Google Meet; I might be away from home and the team for an extended period, but there's still lots of training planning to be done, ready for our new recruits starting in October.

Pre-lunch walk at St Jean de Monts

Mélusine Tower, Vouvant Medieval Village

Prayer area by the cave

Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis by Lac Frace

South to the Vendée

Friday 2 September 2022

Our plan after Trégastel was to head further west towards Brest, then follow the Brest to Nantes canal heading east, stopping off at a few canal-side aires along the way so we could explore the adjacent small villages.  We had quite a bit of rain yesterday morning though and looking at the forecast, it was sticking around for a few days.  Brittany is a beautiful area and there's more to see than we could ever cover in this one trip. But the beauty of van life is that we're mobile and can change our plans on a whim. So we decided that instead we'd start to head south a little earlier than planned, as the weather further down the Atlantic coast was looking calmer, sunnier and warmer.

After leaving Pleumeur-Bodou in the rain yesterday, we made our way to a lunch-time stop in Josselin. This is a lovely old town alongside the canal, with a large three-turreted chateau which is part of the old medieval centre.  We parked in the large free aire close to the historic centre for lunch.  By now it was sunny and very warm. We were in no rush so took a walk down the hill to enjoy a stroll along the canal, before walking up through the old medieval part of town, with high walls and wooden-beamed houses.  I stopped off at a grockle shop to buy a couple of Breton egg-cups (probably made in China!).  We used to have a couple in the van but took them out a while ago because we hadn't used them. Guess what we fancied for breakfast!  Cathy improvised a couple out of the old egg-box; they were clearly single use but did the job. At least now we can enjoy some boiled eggs and be reminded of our time in Brittany.

Our park-up last night was another 20km down the road in a small village called Montertelot.  Again shown in the guides as an aire, it's in fact just a very big flat, grass field.  There's no services, but there are plenty of bins in the village.  On arrival it started to rain heavily, despite us trying to outrun it!  So we sat under the awning with a cup of tea as it was still very warm and humid; plenty of thunder but no lighting.  Dinner was some chips cooked in the Ridge Monkey and a couple of small bavette steaks (I think the cut is called flank at home), with some tinned veg.  To walk it off we had a wander around the village before taking a walk half an hour up the canal and back.  The village is small but has a lovely feel, with some very quaint cottages and outbuildings. Despite it's small size, it still had a bar/tabac and a restaurant (closed for all August for the holidays - open again on 5 September!).  There were lots of quirky art sculptures dotted around , mainly made of old pots and pans.  It wasn't difficult to imagine this place during the canal's heyday, with shops and artisans selling their wares to the barges as they passed up and down this very wide canal.  We saw plenty of wildlife including a mink or coypu swimming in the canal and when sat outside for our cup of tea later, a flock of about 12 large birds (possibly cranes or storks) flew overhead.  It was a very quiet, very dark park-up and recommended if you want some peace.

Now ten days into the trip, we're into the vanlife routine.  We're sleeping really well and waking up quite late for us - about 0800.  Then it's dog walk, shower, breakfast, wash up, tidy up and prepare to leave.  The journey to the next place may be broken up by servicing the van, food shopping or filling with diesel.  We've had some lazy starts to the day, not leaving until 1100, so haven't bothered with lunch.  I think we may try to get up and about a bit earlier to make the most of the day, particularly as sunset at the moment isn't until about 2030.

Today's transit was longer than we like, to get us past Nantes and St Nazaire and into the Vendée department. Tonight Nido's in a car park at Pointe des Poloux close the village of Bouin and right next to a very wide estuary, with St Nazaire to the north and Noirmoutier en Ile to the south.  We're separated from the sea by a long dyke which was built to protect the marshes from storm surges.  Behind us are miles of wetlands; it reminds me of the Fen Drains where I grew up. There are several French vans here and I have the feeling they're all friends and perhaps meet up every weekend to dig for poulardes (clams) and cockles when the tide is out, then shoot the breeze with an apero and a meal in the evening.  The temperature here is wonderful; warm but with low humidity and it stays warm enough at night to sit out in shorts and t-shirt.  

The drive here was interesting through miles of low-lying marsh and wetland.  Apparently this area used to be an island but has silted up over time, over which the roads were built.  After dinner we walked along the dyke to the small harbour - Port des Brochets - where the small fishing boats and small, family-run oyster processors are clustered.  There's a small and very cool-looking bar/restaurant called Gratt'huitres on the dockside, which serves the local oysters and mussels to its customers; we haven't had moules frîtes yet!. There are very few houses around this area, so their clientele must come from far and wide.  We watched the sunset from this tiny port before walking back along the road, listening to the curlews flying over the sea and the frogs in the marshy wetlands on the other side.  It's lovely being back in this part of France.

Chateau in Josselin from the canal

Beautiful streets

Josselin aire

Quirky art sculptures made of pots and pans in Montertelot

Park up at Pointe des Poloux

Ou est la mer!?

Marshes

Oyster processors

Port des Brochets

I want one of these!

Sunset towards Noirmoutier en Ile

Back to Trégastel

Wednesday 31 August 2022

Nido's parked up at yet another free aire at Pleumur-Bodou.  Today's been almost a carbon copy of a day on our last trip in 2019.

Waking to overcast skies and a strong breeze, we had a lazy morning; walked the dog, showers and breakfast before heading off at about 1130.  First stop was some food shopping then on to Guingamp to use the free service point. After two days off-grid with no facilities, we needed to top up with fresh water and dump grey and black waste.  Although our plan is to head a little further west but inland, we still wanted to return to Trégastel (or Trégastell in Breton, which is the same spelling in Welsh), as it's such a beautiful place, in fact one of our most favourite beaches. 

The weather had improved with some strong sunny spells but still with a brisk onshore breeze. We again parked up in the large free car park near the sailing club.  Salty is banned from the beaches (he doesn't know why!) so he stayed in the van.  All the blinds were closed but with the skylights cracked open, so it was cool inside, plus he had plenty of water and his cooling mat.  It was only a short walk to the beach, which is white sand and crushed sea shells - idyllic.  Although the tide was quite a way out already, there was enough water for us to enjoy a deliciously cool swim in crystal clear water, swimming around the large pink granite rocks, carved into smooth shapes by the fierce winter storms.  We loved this place last time and we still do.  We only spent about an hour away from the van and Salty was absolutely fine when we returned.  We had a quick cup of tea and a sandwich before driving the short 7km to our current stop.  

We've stayed before. It's a free aire without about 20 spaces.  It's next to the Gaulois Village and over the road from the Planetarium.  Le Radôme - Cité des Télécoms is visible as a huge white dome above the trees.  We're surrounded by forest and now the day visitors have left, it's a quiet spot to spend the night. Once set up, we took Salty for a good walk through the forest and along some country lanes, ending up at Le Menir de Saint Uzec, a block of granite weighing about 80 tons 7.4m above the ground (with about another 2m underground.  It was erected in the Neolithic period and 'christianised' in 1674, when a number of carvings were made into the grant.   We ate outside, moving back into the van for our cup of tea and pâtisserie. Today it's Carte au Citron, again from Super U.  The pastry looks a bit pale but it's actually crunchy and the filling is delicious.  Overall a lovely texture and flavour. So this earns a good 8/10!

We swam around those rocks to the far left

Menhir de Saint-Uzec