September 2009

Well September is nearly done and autumn is closing in - time for us to start planning our escape to the sun!

We started September with a birthday bash for Rex with some friends - it was a belated one as his birthday was Aug 31st - but we couldn't get everyone together until the weekend after.

We had a bit of excitement too when our lovely grandson, Jake, started at his new school - can't believe how grown up he is now. He looked great in his school uniform!

On the 8th Sept Rex went on a Manchester Ship Canal cruise from Manchester to Liverpool with his friend Ray Evans. I went shopping! They thoroughly enjoyed themselves even though the weather was cold and wet! I shopped from 10.am until I picked them up at 7.30pm! All I bought was a skirt (surprise surprise!!) a pair of croc flipflops and a nice little strappy number for the hot weather!!! By 4.30 I was getting quite bored! So it was Cafe Rouge for a leisurely meal!

11th September we uppped sticks and went to Morecambe. The weekend was spent at Bay View Caravan Park at Bolton-le-Sands with the MotorhomeFun crowd. Suzy and Bryan had organised the meet and boy did they do us proud! Suzy is a domestic goddess and provided a BBQ on the Sat night and breakfast Sunday morning - I'm never going to organise a meet - I couldn't compete with her!
There was a festival on in Morecambe and the weather was fantastic - unfortunately it was bad over in Lincolnshire so the promised "Battle of Britain" fly past didn't happen - shame!
It was a brilliant weekend with excellent company - I think I can safely say a good time was had by all!
By Sunday lunchtime most people were leaving so we de-camped to Bryan and Suzy's drive for a few days! During this time they introduced us to the TV series 24! That's it now - we're addicted! By Friday we'd watched all 24 1 hour episodes! We've downloaded the next 3 series but we're going to wait to watch them - we need a week of doing nothing for each series!

We left Morecambe on the Wednesday and went cross country to Selby. Nice campsite "The Ranch" at Cliffe Common, also it's the home of Star Spangled Spanner aka Duncan. He installed a Nature Pure water filter for us on Wednesday afternoon - great job, very well done.

Thursday it was back to Glossop and Windy Harbour for a week's rest after all our gallivanting!

The rest of September has been fairly quiet with doctor and dentist visits and catching up with friends!

On Sunday 27th we went up to Consett in Co Durham by car to visit our niece Helen and her lovely daughters Sara and Hannah and Sara's fabulous husband Darran. Sara has 2 gorgeous children, Harrison and Freya and Hannah has a beautiful 4yr old daughter, Mollie. We had a lovely day with them - don't see enough of them! Our sister-in-law, Mary was visiting them from Essex. We haven't seen her for 2 years , so it was lovely to go up and see her!

On the 25th our friends, Janis and Bill, set off for a 5 week trip to India. We are now house and cat sitting for them. Very strange going upstairs to bed!

We want to set off south in October so need to get ourselves organised!

Who knows where we'll be when I do the next blog!

3 Weeks in France

In August we spent 3 weeks in France with our gorgeous 11 year old grandson. Jake. Yes he gets spoilt by Granny!

The object of the trip was twofold - Rex wanted to visit some WW2 sites and we were also booked in to a campsite in the Limousin for a 4 day MotorhomeFun meet.

We set off on August 7th and visited our friends, Walt and Mary, in Desborough on our way to Dover. I was driving and apart from having Ermentrude (our silly cow of a sat-nav!) shouting at me I had Rex with a map and Jake in the back of the van also with a map! I kept cool and ignored all 3 of them!

Saturday we set off again for Dover - we were booked on the ferry for Sunday morning and intended to spend Saturday night parked up on Marine Parade but this was not to be - there was a festival on and the road was closed - Yikes where to go now? We went back up the M20 to a service area we had seen for early port arrivals - that's OK if you're in a car or a lorry or a coach but in a motorhome it's a no no! So we went back to Dover, changed our ticket ( at a price!!) and caught the 7.30pm ferry to Calais!

There we were in France a day early and at 10.30pm - so off we went to the Franglais wine warehouse and parked up for the night for free! They're in the France Passion scheme for camping cars and very happy for members to camp for the night!

Sunday morning we bought a bottle of wine in the warehouse and thanked them for the free parking and headed south ish to St Valery sur Somme.
On the way we realised we were very short of diesel and being a Sunday we weren't sure of how many petrol stations we would find open! We decided to leave the Autoroute at Le Touquet and see what we could find. As luck would have it there was a fuel stop at the peage station on the slip road - it was an automatic one so we had to use our credit card - first time for everything and why not do it on a Sunday??? Luckily a Frenchman was there filling up and he showed me how to use the machine - lo and behold we were full of diesel once again - what a relief! It's not recommended to run out of fuel on a French Autoroute - it's an on the spot fine from the cops!
We got on the aire at St Valery sur Somme and stayed for 2 nights. St Valery is a lovely old fishing village with a narrow gauge steam railway to Le Crotoy - of course being with Rex AND Jake we just had to go on it! It was fun!
There was a festival of the sea (Fete de Mer) on in town too and we saw some of the very well decorated cottages and saw a band performing in the street - all adds to the atmosphere!

Tuesday we went to Arromanches - the site of one of the D-day landings in 1944. This is where the Mulberry harbour was sited. We couldn't get in the aire as it was heaving! Backtracked through the busy town centre and arrived at the Municipal camp site just behind the aire. We camped next to a British couple, Gordon and Paula with their daughter Elisabeth (otherwise known as Princess). They are members of MotorhomeFun - (thechesters). Jake got on well with them all and went into the town to see the carousel all lit up at night.

We didn't do the museum but did do the 360deg Cinema which was very well done and enjoyable. We bought a DVD of the film "The Longest Day" and watched it on the Tuesday night. Good idea to watch it while we were there - brings it all home to you more!

Wednesday, Rex and Jake went swimming in the sea - amongst the bits of Mulberry Harbour!

Thursday we headed further south and spent the night on the church car park at Laigne-en-Belin just south of Le Mans. OK apart from the church bells ringing every 15 minutes!!!!

Friday we arrived at Parc Verger, Champagnac La Riviere for the MotorhomeFun meet. We were just about the last to arrive! The campsite is owned by a British couple, Bob and Di Banks. Lovely site and very tranquil until the MotorhomeFunsters arrived!
Friday night was BBQ night with the haganaps (HarleyandGeorgeandNikkiandPaul) - the kids enjoyed themselves and a good time was had by all ( well most anyway!!)
It was lovely to meet up with old friends and new - Suzy and Bryan, Nikki and Paul, Sharon and Mark, Graham and Kay, Pammy and Geo, Ruth and Tony, Bill and Chris, Frankie and Stephanie, Angie and Keith, Mick and Denise and all the kids! Have I forgotten anyone? Too much vino obviously!!!

The weather was amazing but too hot to be bothered doing anything - all the kids enjoyed the pool and all the adults enjoyed the chillin'!

Saturday afternoon we staggered into the village to see the festival procession - but managed to miss it so we staggered back! With temperatures in the high 30's it was too hot to contemplate doing much!
Saturday night was the village meal in the village hall - excellent food put on by the local women - how they fed so many so well I don't know!
After the meal we followed the band to the edge of the village and watched a magnificent firework display then followed the band back to see the lighting up of the church. After that we retired to Dino's bar for a couple of drinks before wending our way back to the campsite.
It was decided that nightcaps were to be drunk outside Nikki and Paul's van and this duly happened until about 2.30am - don't think we were the most popular campers next morning - but hey ho - that's what Fun meets are all about - SOCIALISING!!!
Sunday was a VERY quiet day all round! Some of the locals came around for drinks at lunchtime - including the mayor - very nice to meet them. Sally and Mike arrived (ehuplad) with Marcus their Lurcher. There was a BBQ outside our van - but we retired reasonably early - midnightish!! Might have been due to our van being near the black water dump which had quite a distinctive aroma!!

Monday we were up early for a bus trip to Oradour-sur-Glane - the Martyr village which the Germans razed to the ground on 10th June 1944 killing all the inhabitants - for no known reason!
It has been preserved just as it was left - very thought provoking place - will we ever learn from the mistakes of the past? Who knows?
After the visit we went on to Limoges - which was shut! Combination of Bank Holiday Weekend and Siesta time!!! Nice place though! Still, we managed to find a few bars and a burger bar open - wandered around the town with Kay and Graham and Chelsea and Bill and Steph.

Tuesday saw most of us leaving Parc Verger and 5 vans headed in convoy to Couhe, south of Poitiers. Nikki and Paul and Bill and Chris had stayed there last year and recommended it so we decided to follow them along with Suzy and Bryan and Graham and Kay.

It was a great site for the kids - pools with numerous slides (the men enjoyed them too!!) also the pools were open until midnight! It was so hot that no-one did much till about 8pm when it was decided we all should eat and it was BBQ time AGAIN!!! Blokes sitting around shirtless at midnight - kids in pool until 11.15pm! Bliss!! I don't think Jake wore normal clothes in the 3 nights we spent there, he just wore swim shorts all the time! He thought he was in heaven!

Suzy and Bryan had to leave us after 2 nights to return to UK and Graham and Kay also left to go chocolate hunting in Bruges - so we were down to 3 vans!
On Friday we left with Paul and Nikki to go to the Vendee and Bill and Chris left to go to Futuroscope at Poitiers.
We found an aire (free!!) next to the sand dunes at La Paree Preneau, south of St Jean de Monts. Friday night Paul and I tried to take sunset photos on the beach but we were too late! Saturday the men and boys spent the day at a Waterpark while Nikki and I relaxed by the vans and sauntered down to the shops and Crepe Bars!!
Saturday night we were successful with the sunset photos!

Sunday was our 42nd wedding anniversary and we parted company with Nikki and Paul and set off for Le Mont St Michel. The aire on the causeway was due to be underwater at the 8pm high tide so we went to the one in town - very good it was too - with electricity and toilet and waste dump - just no toilets or showers - otherwise it was like a half decent campsite and for only €8.90 a night too!
We had a meal out to celebrate our anniversary - nothing posh just a normal cafe really.

On Monday we went back towards the D-day sites - this time to Ste Mere-Eglise - the spot where the American Paras landed in the village instead of in the countryside - most were shot by the Germans as they landed. One poor guy got stuck on the church steeple as he came down and was shot in the foot - he played dead but was eventually rescued and taken prisoner by the Germans - however he managed to escape during the subsequent fighting and lived to tell the tale! There is an excellent Airborne Museum in the village and a dummy para complete with parachute hanging from the church! Well worth a visit if you're in the area! The aire is the car park next to the church and across the road from the Airborne Museum - very handy!

Tuesday we left and went to Honfleur - one of our favourite little places in Picardy - old fishing village which was, and still is, a haunt of artists and musicians ( Sate lived here)
On arrival at the aire we were greeted by . . . Nikki and Paul! They had arrived the night before and were about to set off for Calais and home. We also met a couple of motorhomers who have promised to join MotorhomeFun - they live in Telford and have a Peugeot garage so their user name will be justpugs! Hope they do join us!

Wednesday we went to Calais and stayed at the Franglais warehouse again - this time we stocked up on wine!

Thursday was time to get the shuttle (tunnel sous la manche) - Jake loved it as did we!
We were back in England by 10 am and had a short trip up to Chobham to stay with Ray, Joan and Flint for the night.

Friday was the long trek north to Glossop and the RAIN!!!

We had a great 3 weeks and have to say a big thank you to Nikki and Paul - we really enjoyed their company (even though they are so young!!) Jake got on great with Harley and George - being with them really made it a great holiday for Jake! Nikki and Paul know all the best places to go in France with kids whereas we know the old fart places!!

The 3 nights in Couhe were magic - such good company - Nikki, Paul, Harley, George, Suzy, Bryan, Steph, Bill, Chris, Steph, Graham, Kay, Chelsea - it was great!

Parc Verger was good too - thanks to Bob and Di - I don't know how you put up with us rowdy lot! Thanks to Pammy for getting it all together!

Definitely a holiday to remember!

Photos from the places we visited are on Flickr:- http://www.flickr.com/photos/16531440@N07/ and also in my Facebook albums.

The Big Trip 2008 to 2009

Last September we set off for the winter in Spain but went the long way round via Italy and Sicily - well it gets a bit boring always going the same way!
The weather was fantastic all the way from Dover - we went down the eastern side of France stopping off at Beaune (the capital of Burgundy) Avignon ( fabulous place!) and Port Grimaud on the coast. We had a boat trip into St Tropez - nice but that was all!

We followed the Med coast into Italy staying first at Pietra Ligure before heading north to Venice. That is one magical place!
From Venice we followed the Adriatic coast down to the foot of Italy than across to Sicily.
We weren't keen on Sicily at first as we were staying in Catania and found it dirty, noisy and intimidating - strange as we're usually pretty comfortable in cities!
We moved to the north coast and found a campsite at Finale near Cefalu - it was heaven! We stayed for a week as we really needed a break from driving for a while and we knew that the next few weeks would be pretty hectic - They Were!!!

After Sicily we headed for Pompeii where we stayed for a week exploring Sorrento, Capri,The Amalfi Coast and the Pompeii ruins. It was fabulous!

Then we went further north to Rome - that was gobsmacking with all it's history both ancient ruins and the Vatican City. We walked and walked and walked till our feet were sore!

We intended going to Florence and Pisa from there but we were all cultured out by this time and decided to head for Spain.

Impressions of Italy? Busy, noisy, terrible roads, crazy drivers, gorgeous pizza, culture, history, FUN!


We went to Spain via Monte Carlo where we encountered our first really bad weather - took a trip on a tourist land train during a thunderstorm - well it was better to be there in bad weather than not be there at all!

We followed the Med coast through Spain stopping at Roses, Oliva, Sucina ( to visit Roy and Dianne) and then Baza.
In Baza we met Vi and Steve - Vi and I had been great friends at primary school but had lost touch and not seen each other for about 50 years! We found each other on Friends Reunited!
They live in a cave house in Baza and have now built a website about the area. It's in my LINKS area.

After Baza we went south of Granada to Orgiva. We love that place - it's crazy - full of Spanish farmers, artists, therapists and hippies from all over Europe and everyone just gets on with life alongside each other.

After a week of rest we moved south to Nerja for a few days - Brits abroad but with a bit more class than most of the Costa Del Sol!

So, November 30th found us back in Conil De La Frontera where we met Ray and Joan and settled down for a 3 months - or so we thought! The weather was very wet and windy - we needed fleeces most of the time and the campsite was very muddy. The van got stuck in mud when we arrived on our pitch and it was 2 weeks before it dried up enough for us to move it!
Some people told us about another site about 10kms away which was much better tended and more sheltered so we went for a look and booked ourselves in for Jan and Feb!

Stuart and Jake arrived on Dec 17th and the weather improved - thank goodness! We had a lovely Christmas with them - Christmas dinner was a Chinese at a restaurant in the town - different and very enjoyable!

On Dec 30th we moved to the new campsite, had to be pushed off the pitch as we'd got stuck in the mud again!

Camping Pinar San Jose at Zahora was lovely and had only been open for about 6 months. They're very keen to please the British as they need us there if they want to stay open through the winter months!

Dec 31st the boys flew home after a great 2 weeks and we settled down for 2 months. It was the worst winter weather in living memory on the Costa De La Luz but it was still much better than England!

We had some great days out while were in Andalucia - Cadiz for the carnival, Vejer de la Frontera, Gibraltar etc.

March 1st we were off on our travels again - east to Torrox Costa for 2 weeks of Costa Del Sol - why? I don't know!!!!
While there I got in touch with my cousin Patricia and her husband Tom who live in a little village in the mountains - it was lovely to see them - 1st time in 9 years!

We left there and went to a campsite called Don Cactus near Motril - not very impressed with it so after 4 nights we headed for Orgiva again! Another great couple of weeks of sunshine, warmth and friendly folk! Ray and Joan stayed for a few days then went off to the coast but we stayed on in the mountains! We enjoyed our stay and met friends old and new! Lynda and her lovely dog Tasha and Jo and John. We enjoyed the "explosions" outside the church in Orgiva - they have to be seen to be believed! We had a day out in Granada, a day out in Trevelez and a day out in the Poquiera valley - all on the bus!

After that it was Baza to see Vi and Steve again, Murcia to see Roy and Dianne again then a mad dash north to France!
En-route we stopped in an aire at Mimizan Plage and Camping Courte Valle in Airvault.

Then it was Calais and the ferry home!

Or so we thought!!!

When we got to Calais we got caught up in the French fishermens' blockade of the ferry port. We were given a free transfer on to the train by the nice people at P&O but Ray and Joan had to wait for the boat as they have a fixed LPG tank which isn't allowed on the train.
We'd arranged to stay at their house in Surrey that night - we got there about 9 hours before them! Luckily a key had been left out for us!!

Favourite places on this trip? Venice, Rome, Cadiz, Orgiva, Granada, Avignon, Vejer de la Frontera. Roses.

Photos from this trip are on my Flickr page:- http://www.flickr.com/photos/16531440@N07/ and my Facebook albums.