On the road to Marrakesh - via Giverny

Thursday 13 June 2013

We're parked in an Aire outside the town of Forges Les Eaux. It's a small site on concrete for 24 vans, next to a campsite and overlooking open fields with wooded hills in the distance. It's pleasant enough at €7.30 per night including unmetered electricity.  It's about a 15 minute walk from the town.  There are a few British vans here so I wonder if it's a site for those just arrived by ferry from Dieppe or Le Havre, or a last stop for those about to return home.

I was up early this morning and out to grab our lunchtime baguette.  I even beat the Boulangerie, so went for a wander until they opened at 0730.  Breakfasted, secured and emptied, we headed off for our next stop - Monet's House & Gardens in Giverny.  It started to rain on the way and, by the time we parked up at the Gardens, it was raining "chats et chiens".  So we had a leisurely lunch and a chill out and headed out to explore about an hour later, once the rain had eased off.

The house where Claude Monet lived from 1883 until his death in 1926 remains much as he left it - complete with the famous lily pond - 20km south of Les Andelys near the north bank of the Seine.  We paid our entrance fee under the withering stare of thebhumourless staff and first took a look at the art exhibition.  Sadly, none of Monet's original paintings are on display and the viewing of those available we're spoilt by hoards of rug-rats, sat cross-legged on the floor in front of all the paintings, yawning and fidgeting as their teacher tried to force some culture into their minds. So we left there and headed for the house & gardens.

Having again braved the staff (do they all go to "be miserable" customer care school?), we made our way to the water garden and the famous water lilies and bridges.  Despite the rain and the crowds, the gardens were beautiful.  Some plants had already gone over, some were yet to bloom, but some where in their full, colourful, scented glory.  We walked around gazing at the views and taking loads of (iPhone) photos.  We then moved on to the herbaceous borders in front of the house.  These were truly stunning with myriad mixed colours, forms, shapes and sizes.  This is Cathy's perfect planting form and we both loved it. The tour guides and their followers were a bit of a pain, blocking the pathways, but we played the old gits' game and grumpily pushed our way through!

Monet's house was a bit of a disappointment - Cathy said it smelled of wee - I'm grateful again for my complete lack of smell at the moment! The house itself is a long, two-storey structure, painted pastel pink with green shutters.  A few of the rooms, including his bedroom and bathroom have been recently renovated and all are crammed floor to ceiling with Monet's collection of Japanese prints - it just didn't look right. Most of the original furnishings are gone, but you get a sense of how they might have been with the dining room walls and fittings painted a bright yellow.  The huge kitchen range was a sight to see and Cathy even got one over the house guides by breaking the "NO PHOTOS INSIDE THE HOUSE" rule, taking one from his bedroom balcony window overlooking the garden.  Monet's huge studio, built in 1915, where he painted the last and largest of his many depictions of water lilies, now serves as the book & gift shop.  We bought a calendar to hang for next year.

Returning to the van, we set off for tonight's stop - a journey of about 1.5 hours. When we arrived the sun was shining, so hooked up to the electricity, we walked into town to get some dinner.  Forges Les Eaux is well worth missing! A few of the local dropouts were slouched in the main square. We had a walk around and found little of interest, although we did find a Moroccan restaurant - result.  We walked up to a bar near the town square for an aperitif, then back for some spicy food.  The restaurant was immaculate, although empty when we arrived. We ordered starters, which never arrived (and we were not charged for either!), for main Cathy ordered lamb tagine with tomatoes and raisins, I had couscous with a vegetable sauce and a mix of beef kebab, lamb, chicken & merguez sausage.  We had this with a surprisingly good Moroccan red wine.  Cathy finished with an orange salad and I had a coffee - a very enjoyable and filling meal. We walked back to the Aire for a cup of tea.  Cathy's now reading in bed and I've researched places to head to for lunch tomorrow before finding an Aire very close to Le Shuttle in Calais for our final night in France. Time for sleep now.

The Water Lily Pond

The famous bridge

HUGE poppies

View from Monet's bedroom

The House Tradesman entrance

View from the van in the Aire

A spacious Aire

Emptying tanks

Lovely Moroccan food - shame I couldn't taste it

Parks and Gardens

Wednesday 12 June 2013

We're parked in the Aire in the village of Villandry in the Loire region, about 20 kilometres south west of Tours.  The Aire doubles as a car park for the Chateau during the day, although there are 50 flat motorhome pitches, so I expect it will empty out a bit when the Chateau closes.

Cathy said there was a minor earthquake last night - the earth moved for her but I didn't notice a thing, although I did dream about being on the top of a really high building that swayed in the wind, so perhaps I did notice it.  We were awake early this morning and heated up some pizza we bought from the market for breakfast.  I know it sounds a bit weird but it was delicious! After topping up water and dumping fluids we left the lovely Ile d'Oleron - we shall certainly return.  It was already sunny and very warm - typical for us to be on the road on the best days!

We had about a 4 hour trip to our next stop at Villandry.  This time we had both sat navs running and checked one against the other.  The Garmin still kept trying to take us through town centres and off onto minor roads, whereas the iPhone couldn't work out which roundabout exit we should take before we were on it. We stopped off at a roadside Aire at about 1230 for a lunch of chicken sandwiches and a brew. We finally arrived at Villandray at about 1445.

The main reason for stopping here overnight was to visit the Gardens of Villandry Chateau, which is about 2 minutes walk from where we're parked. Built around 1536, it's the last of the great chateaux built along the banks of the Loire during the Renaissance.  Through several owners (bet they didn't have to deal with slow, inefficient solicitors when selling on), the 19th Century marked a turning point: the traditional gardens were destroyed to create an English-style park around the castle - looking at the design it must have been done by a local British council 'parks and gardens' workman on a foreigner. The gardens are designed and laid out in a number of different ways: Ornamental, Woods, Water, Sun, Maze, Herb and Vegetable Gardens.  All of them were a bit formal, not really to our taste, but I think in another couple of weeks when the majority of flowers are blooming, it will look much better. We didn't go in the chateau - big walls, pointy turrets, little windows, moat - you get the picture.

It was very warm and sticky today - mid-70s F - with sunny spells and a few clouds and it feels like thunder storm weather.  We decided to eat in today.  We had some chicken left over from yesterday, plus some chorizo, so we cooked up some pasta with plenty of garlic, onions and tomato - I should have taken a few cuttings from the Herb Garden!  I would have liked to get out on the bike but felt really tired after the long drive, so decided to just chill out on my chair under the trees instead, helped by a small aperitif of the Oleron Grimbergen beer, nicely chilled from the fridge!

After dinner we went for a walk around the village.  It's a very still, warm evening, so we strolled around going up little side streets, listening to the birds, having a quiet sit down and moment of reflection by the war memorial.  We also like noseying in the courtyards, gardens and potagers! We also stopped at the primary school noticeboard to read the school lunch menus posted in advance - those children eat really, really well! See the photos below for their menu.  A couple of the old bars and restaurants were still open with one or two people sat outside in the warm air chatting and enjoying a glass of wine.  We walked down to the river Loire, about 400m from the Aire and watched its wide expanse moving slowly downstream from right to left, but the many mozzies soon had us moving on.  It's 2130 as I write, still warm and light, with the local blackbirds singing to protect their territory.

I suspect we'll be up quite early again tomorrow to get to our next destination in time to make some use of the day. We haven't decided where that will be yet, but Monet's Garden in Giverny is about half way between here and Calais.  It's somewhere we've always wanted to visit, but I'll need to check out the local Aires and the travel time to see if it's achievable.  I'd also like to find somewhere to clean the outside of the van - it's filthy and I don't really want to return it like that.

Thought for the Day:  We have a British-owned van conversion parked one van away, which has got us thinking. Our friends have one with a fixed rear double bed, half garage, wet room, decent galley and seating area.  It's winterised with heating and a good sized fridge - and it's about half the size of the one we've rented.  We'll have to do some research, but it looks promising, particularly as we want to explore the Lakes and Cornwall, difficult in a large coach-built motorhome.

Cooking on a wonky pitch!

Aire at Villandry

Used to be men's and women's entrances - which is which?

That's what you call school dinners

A perfect day

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Today has been a perfect day - a perfect beach day.  We're still parked up on the Aire just outside St Denis. It rained on and off last night, although it remained warm.  This morning I headed off into the village to get some breakfast - croissants and a banette.  I wanted to go into the Bar/Tabac for 'Un Creme' on the way back, but there were a few 'local old boys' in there so I lost my nerve. Post-breakfast washing up done, Cathy had a good spring clean of the van - bedding taken out and given a good shake, all floors swept and cleaned, toilet & shower scrubbed - I supervised. After that strenuous activity we decided to head into the village to explore more.  We came across the morning market in its last throes so quickly bought up a few things - rotisserie chicken, Pineau, rose wine, bread, pizza (for tomorrow's breakfast!) and goat's cheese. We brought these back to the van and I made up a salad of tomatoes, onions, red pepper, garlic, the remains of our breakfast bread, Anglesey sea salt, black pepper and olive oil.  We left this to infuse and headed back towards the village.

By this time it was a bit drizzly but still warm. We headed down to the beach to one side of the port and, with the prevailing wind from the south west, we sat by the dunes which provided some shelter. There was a group of French school children learning to Kayak close in and we watched them for a while, even understanding most of what the instructor was saying.  This was mostly because he shouted slowly! After an hour or so there we walked past the harbour to the beach on the other side.  During this transit the clouds disappeared and, finally, the hot sun shone down upon us - hallelujah! We found a lovely warm spot in the soft sand and crashed out.  As the mizzle and mist had lifted, we realised we could see La Rochelle in the distance, with the bridge to Ile de Re and the island just to the left of that.  While Cathy sunbathed I went for a walk along the beach and sat on some granite rocks to watch the tide roll in.   We found loads of stones with holes right through them and collected some to take home; on our deck we have a collection of similar stones and encourage visitors to choose one to take home, as a stone with a hole brings good luck.  You have to look at the stones and choose the one that 'calls' to you.

With such fierce, coastal sunshine we were soon feeling the effects of an afternoon with no suntan lotion (it was raining when we left the van), so decided to head back to the Marina for a beer and some people watching. Refreshed, we stopped off at a small but well-stocked mini-market to top up with a few essentials.  Back at the van I braved the site showers, which were hot, powerful and clean, something we haven't found on some of the expensive campsites.  Dinner was the salad I made earlier plus the rotisserie chicken - nice and simple, no cooking.  Washing up done, chairs and "krypton-factor" table put away, we're now sat inside the van in total peace and quiet - no TCPs shouting at each other across the site!  Cathy is reading and her beach hut lights are shining on the dashboard!

It's been a very relaxing day after a few stressful ones and has made us realise that short hops with some downtime is essential.  Tomorrow we continue our journey north - we're heading for Tours and hopefully a visit to Villandray Chateau, with a 25,000sq metre potager, plus formal gardens....that is if "That Woman" in the Garmin knows where it is.  If not the Wallace & Gromit voice of the iPhone NavFree satnav will get us there.  I took some photos with the iPhone today, but can't upload these until we get home and I can upload them to the MacBook.

We've also made a decision on whether or not to buy our own motorhome - was it thumbs up or thumbs down to indicate 'No' in Roman times?

Re-calculating......

Monday 10 June 2013

We're parked up on a large Aire just outside the village of St Denis d'Oleron, on the Ile d'Oleron, an island on the Atlantic coast, between Rochefort and Royan.  It's lovely to be beside the seaside again - it's where we belong.  I think our next trip will be coast hopping rather than inland.
Ile d'Oleron is joined to the mainland by a bridge just north of Marennes.  It's France's largest island after Corsica, a laidback, unaffected fishing island and coastal resort. It's a peaceful retreat of a patchwork of little villages, vineyards, pine forests and gleaming muddy tributaries lined with fishing boats.  This is exactly the sort of place we like to visit - it's similar to Ile de Re, but less pretentious - more shabby than chic but in a chilled out way.  Judging by the colour of some of the locals, the weather here has been much better than in some places.  When we arrived the sun was shining with a warm breeze.

That we made it here by 1800 is a bit of a miracle, as "That Woman" inside the Garmin decided to stop recognising lat/longs.  I thought it strange last night when I checked how long it would take to get here by plugging the lat/long into the satnav.  It said 2 hours which seemed too short but a quick look at the map showed a few dual carriageways, so I thought that was bringing the time down. When ready to leave the campsite in the morning I set up the satnav and off we went.  We had music playing as we went so I just followed "That Woman's" directions.  But after a couple of hours I felt we were heading in the wrong direction - I wasn't seeing the road signs I expected to see.  We pulled over and I checked the coordinates again for this Aire - all good.  But "That Woman" was telling us were were only 15 minutes from our destination, yet we were just south of Limoges, way off course by many tens of miles! Luckily I had downloaded a free satnav on to my iPhone - Nav Free France.  This is brilliant and was a life saver.  It even allowed us to set up as an RV to avoid the tiny roads "That Woman" kept taking us down.  We used this to redirect us to Ile d'Oleron and I also kept "That Woman" switched on (but muted thankfully) to compare - by this time she seems to have recognised where she should have sent us. However, she has this annoying habit of taking us through the centre of every town, rather than the 'Autres Directions' by-pass, plus she seemed to want to constantly take us off the main road into shortcut single-track roads.  The rest of the time she was "Re-Calculating"..... But the free iPhone satnav performed well and eventually we reached the Aire. The first one we chose was for 100 vans and facing the sea.  But entry was via credit card payment and it didn't accept my cards, so we had to find another, which is where we are now.

This Aire is very large - it takes up to 170 vans and in fact it's an ex-campsite, so has showers, toilets, washing-up facilities, washing machines and electric hook up - and all for just €9 per day - a bargain. We're pitched close to the facilities which is handy for washing up.  There are about 120 vans here at the moment but it doesn't feel like it as the pitches, although unmarked, are large.  And as it's an Aire, it's all motorhome people - friendly, relaxed and laid back - not like the TCPs!  Also, the emptying and top up facilities are easy to use and accessible - no Relais boxes or Jeton tokens needed.  We will certainly return to this one.  But the thing we love the most is that we're the only British in over a hundred, nearly all being French. And it's been lovely that they're friendly and talk to us and we try to understand and respond.

The Aire is about half a mile from the village of St Denis.  After the stress of being directed off course  by about an extra 3 hours driving, we arrived, plugged in, had a brew and then headed out to find somewhere for a well-deserved drink and dinner.  We walked down into the village, which was very quiet, but by the port and marina a couple of bars and restaurants were open.  We plopped down into chairs outside the first one, overlooking the marina.  Cathy ordered the local aperitif - Pineau, and I ordered the local 'abbaye' blonde beer called Grimbergen.  After a couple of those the world seemed a much softer place! Cathy had an entrecôte steak and I had longed-awaited Moules Frites.  We washed this down with some local Ile d'Oleron rose wine.  By then it was quite cloudy so we walked back to the van for a brew before turning in.

Oh, and to finish off today, I dropped and broke my camera! So after today there won't be any photos until we get home and I can upload from the iPhone camera.  But we hope to have a chilled out day tomorrow, even if the weather is a bit rainy it's still warm enough for shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops.  Plus Cathy is desperate to give the van a good spring clean.  We need a day with no driving.  After this relaxing day we'll be heading north, to reach Calais by Friday night.

Lovely translation!

A lovely local beer

The large Aire in St Denis