UP THE LOIRE WITHOUT A PADDLE

18.05.2015

Wed 13/05
After the protracted - and prolonged - celebrations of the GF's 70th. Birthday , we hit the road  for France with the intention of  finding interesting places along the Loire, as we seem to have whizzed through it for many years without stopping and now would  be a good time to revisit it and we what's new.
So over to Calais and first night at a campsite only 10 miles away instead of the usual aire on the seafront....and having passed the ' new ' Sangatte immigrant camp ( an enormous sprawling cardboard city) I think we may avoid staying in Calais for a while.
So a lovely campsite at Guines, one of the Castelets chain which have sites in the grounds of chateau which usually have a good restataurant.. And this did not disappoint. We hadn't actually intended dining out but the menu was so reasonable and mouthwatering that we looked at one another, shrugged and walked in. Very ' old rural French' with no mucking about..
Thurs 14/05
In no hurry, we meandered cross country, avoiding dual carriageways and eschewing toll roads. It would have been lovely had the early morning sun not given way to a typhoon of biblical proportions during which we had to pull off the road. This also caused a road blockage  with an overturned car that meant a 30km detour to get to our destination of Les
Andelys, a small town on the Seine south of Rouen which we have passed by many times but never stopped at. And a charming place it is too, seemingly home to many artists, judging by the number of galleries. An old castle overlooks the town, built by R-lionheart, nicely illuminated at night and the only contention being an account in the church of how the town was saved during the 100 years war when the English archers "ran away" at the last moment...... I think not ! A bit of gaellic poetic licence I suspect in historical reportage.
Anyway, a pleasant campsite on the banks of the Seine with a very nice walk/cycle path and the possibility of cycling to Giverny to see Monet's garden some 20 km away. We may well stop on the way back and explore if the weather is better.
Fri 15/05
Pleasant drive to the Loire at Blois and the sun shone as usual when we got to Chateaudun as it has done without fail since the 1960's when old Geoffrey Bowman first told us about this indisputable piece of folklore. We are stopping at Cheverny, about 10 miles south of the river on a site we picked because the C&CC are having a rally here, on the basis that they pick decent sites and this one is said to connect with 800 kms of Loire-Velo cycling tracks which sounds interesting.
Very nice site, Les Saules, about 2 miles outside the village and excellent looking Château and we found a lovely sunny pitch well away from the rally already here 2 days ago but were collared almost immediately with invitations to join any activities which may be amusing. I mustn't be too sniffy because the steward Dave did give us very good info on how to cycle to the nearby Super-U avoiding the suicidal 3mile dead  straight road that runs past the site and we would have used without prior instruction.
Site quite full with French down for the weekend.
Sat 16/05
Cycled to superU for essential wine and patisseries, a pleasant ride through the forest, 12 mile round trip in the sunshine with abundant wildlife .
Invited to join rally in bar for quiz night. Embarrassingly we won both halves quite convincingly ( I can't help knowing the names of Napoleons' and Wellingtons' horses.).....and so paid for the evenings bar bill.
Sun  17/05
Lovely sunny day. We are surrounded by birds and besieged by chaffinches hopping about for crumbs at breakfast. The site has a nice walk through woods and meadows with notes on birds to be seen and the birsongs are ever present. A very nice environment  to stay. Cycled to Cheverny  along lovely paths away from traffic just to see the lie of the land.
Boules with rally was a disaster trying to play on grass as no boules court and few people seem to have played before. Will avoid if reoccurs.
Mon 18/05
Full day cylcle back to Cheverny  to visit Château and gardens  with picnic. Most enjoyable and well worth a detour as M..Michelin used to say in his guides.
The last time we stopped to visit the Châteaux of the Loire was probably 1968/69, and Blois was an extreme disappointment as there was nothing but bare floors, no furniture and no decoration. Cheverny was a pleasure to visit and the free guide available with the very reasonable €8
entry ticket was very informative......
From the posters around, Blois is also worth a visit so hopefully a bit of restoration has been done in the last 45 years.

RAMBLINGS.......

03.03.2015

Its been a long time since I added anything here for some strange, inexplicable reason and quite a lot has passed.
We'll be home tomorrow unfortunately (as its cold here in Calais and cold in the UK and I ought to still be in the Spanish sunshine but that's another story) so I ought to roundup events.
We stayed at Conil until 20th Feb, highlights being a lovely lunch that Jaqueline et Laurent put on for 6 of us that lasted very decently from 1 to 6 pm and apart from being very convivial was extremely tasty and must have involved a great deals of work; a cracking day out with Jim & Carol we ho took us to  an equestrian centre close by which is the winter training ground for professional riders and has stabling for 1000 horses and 12 jumping rings as well as cross country and carriage driving courses. It holds competitions which last for months and prize money for the current events was 900,000€ . And there is no charge to watch for spectators. Weird or what.
We had another 3rd in the quiz by 1 point which was down to the GF overriding a perfectly correct answer which would have put us into a 3 way tie break which we would have won.
Leaving was a wrench this year as we seem to have made a new clutch of friends and another month would have been most enjoyable.
Anyway on saturday we headed north to Desperados which has not improved since our last visit 5 years ago although the road through the mountains has, and then a nice run to Benicassim on Sunday. Bonterra park filled to overflowing and had to settle for difficult pitch which required much manoeuvring but managed to move on Monday to a decent one....with much hissing and sighing from the management ( unlike Rosaleda who couldn't be more customer oriented and are putting a hard standing onto a new pitch for us next year). Bonterra park has superb facilities, everything about it is excellent and I hate it.
However we had a great week with Ken,Jacky,Malc & Chris with much laughter and copious amounts of alcohol. Highlights include the Day of the Chicken meal for €3 each and a trip to Grau with a party of 12 on the bus to the weekly market and a 3 course lunch for 11€  in an amazing restaurant on the waterfront that must have served 200 covers and kept refilling the wine carafes. The local coffee/brandy concoction was to die for and even with the ubiquitous limoncello the cost was still 11€ each. Saturday was rugby day and steak night and we had a great week.
Left on Sunday for a campsite  just north of Figueres and Monday to a site just north of Uzerches that was OK but waterlogged with cold showers. Tuesday to a site near Chartres that was also waterlogged with warm showers. Everywhere is waterlogged and cold and just short of snowing. We don't usually travel home at this time of year so this is a new experience  which I have previously managed to avoid for obvious reasons. To add insult to injury, our favourite restaurant in Calais, Au Cote d'Argent is closed tonight so an excellent meal was swapped for an indifferent one as it was too cold ton walk further into town.
And now the alarm is going off for no apparent reason and we have to be up at 6 am to get the shuttle.

AN EVENTFUL INTERLUDE........

11th.Feb 2015

The weather is odd but better than the UK and the rest of Spain. The days are sunny and even hot between  12-4pm but the nights and mornings are much colder than usual, necessitating uncalled for expenditure on heating. Normally we would spend €1 a day on electricity but the last month was €2  a day and a trip to Jerez to fill the LPG as well. The Med coast has similar patterns but the overnight temperature is at 0° or worse. The Spaniards say they have never known such a prolonged cold spell or such snow GH further north...... But with the € rate at 1.32 as opposed to 1.16 this time last year who's complaining ?
Last week saw the knockout boules competition. We drew for partners and I got Pat who's normally good, and the GF  drew John. Pat and I played like s**t and  ignominiously lost 13-0 in the first round whilst the GF stormed through to the semi finals. After a liquid lunch she narrowly lost to the Liverpudlian    who was beaten in the final by Bryan and Jacqueline so the honours were split between the uk and france.
We followed that with another  3rd place in the quiz.....the usual suspects again taking the first 3 spots. I did redeem the Bowdidge honour by winning the whist drive.
On Friday night the restaurant put on a BBQ before the England-Wales game and with the healthy French contingent here it was a fairly riotous night, the game not starting till 9pm here.( have I mentioned that there are more French than usual because they are avoiding Morocco for fear of Islamic trouble). On Saturday a good crowd gathered for the France-Scotland game, made very raucous by the French.
On Monday we took the van out for the day to Jerez, filled the LPG and walked round the town and had a light lunch.......Jerez is a v.nice city, many beautiful buildings (mostly concerned with sherry of course) and we never tire of meandering round the elegant streets.
On Wednesday it was our turn to win the quiz, with our rivals tying for 2/3 places. The best turn out yet so a very healthy 40€ prize.
I keep trying to have the odd dry day but without any significant success. The more wine I buy the more people drop by and vice-versa but the supermarket has an offer on Pata Negra Valdepenas 2006 at 4 bottles for 10 € which appears to be the tipple of taste for most.
We have some new card partners, Charles & Gill, with whom we play an excellent game of Nomination Whist when the wind is blowing or the sun goes in.
Ken & Jacky emailed to say they are going to Bonterra Park at Benicassim and as that would fit in with our return travel plans  we are trying, without success at the moment to get a booking there for 21feb onwards. As Chris & Malc will also be there it would  be a good place to stop for a week but the signs are not good so far. I rang the C&CC to see if we could join the rally only to be told that a rally only booking was £75 admin cost !!!!!! There is another site close by so we might try that.

IT'S BEEN 3 WEEKS

The GF is doing pilates twice a week and sticking to it; I started Spanish lessons but fell by the wayside......homework is a bugger when you could be off enjoying yourself.
The initial flush of winning the quiz faded and we came third the next week and then fourth. Our main rivals have reorganised into 2 strong teams and are snaffling the prize money. The whist nights are spectacularly supported and the competition is fierce for the €10 or so on offer to the winning lady and man.
The main event has been the Japanese lucky charm ceremony at which Joan's dragon was the star- 20ft long with 5 ladies underneath and made entirely of rubbish and gaffer tape. There are a couple of videos on YouTube with 2 more waiting to be uploaded.....I'll put a link in later. We found fireworks in a firework shop in San Fernando thanks to Laurent & Jacqueline whose son has a bike shop there (its complicated) and they very kindly took me over there. The dragon has been adopted by Martina and Jeanmarie who run LaRosaleda as they aim to use it in the summer.
The post ceremony party consumed much rioja and went on well into the night having transferred to the bar at some stage as the sun went down......it has been very chilly in the evenings and early mornings. After a glorious first week we had a few days of wind and rain but the sun returned last weekend and after the wind dropped it is most pleasant with spectacular sunsets.
We've walked on the beach and around the town; cycled to fruit farm for oranges and the bee farm for honey ( I've branched out from honey made from bees feeding on the orange trees to lavender honey and something labeled Extra Virgin which sounded intriguing).
Larry & Pat invited hired the camp car and invited us to join them on a trip to Jerez where we made the obligatory visit to the Terry's Bodega for a dozen litres of brandy (6 for me and 6 for Harry) .......its only at the bodega that you can buy the 36° instead of the 30° available in the supermarkets to combat drunkenness. At €8.10 a ltr. bottle  its extraordinarily drinkable . We had an excellent lunch an pottered around.
So all in  all, life is exceedingly pleasant at the moment, and with 5 evenings a week taken up with something the time just flies...........

IT'S embarrassing.......

Wednesday

We won the quiz tonight.........

GOSH....NEARLY A WEEK

Wednesday 14.1.14

Saturdays apres boules drinks became quite lively chez nous and was noteworthy in that there were twice as many people as had been playing boules for some strange reason. However it did reacquaint us with a lovely French couple, Laurent et Jacqueline, and result in an invitation to join them on Sunday morning for an oyster lunch. They have been full timing for 16 months and still crave the delicacies of la belle France so after New Year had a crate of oysters couriered from Arcachon which we know well as oyster central.
I had expected a nice demi-douzaine  so was rather overwhelmed to discover that the order had been 9 dozen which had to be consumed asap. Larry and Pat were also invited but both ladies declined oysters and made inroads into the pate,rilletttes,foie gras and prawns, leaving Larry and I trying to keep pace with Jaqeline shucking oysters for dear life. Don't know how many we consumed but we think that 2 dozen each wouldn't be far out. Accompanied with a fine Muscadet and then  Sylvaner, a very enjoyable afternoon was spent. Laurent is 70+ and was a professional photographer and is still accepting commissions. More later.

Weather has been a bit cloudy but nice and warm. Been down to beach twice and walked each way and its still lovely.
Nick & Barbara/Dave & Geraldine arrived Monday and we will see more of them in the next few days.
Excellent meal compliments of the management on Tues in preparation for the annual St.Sebastian festival on sunday
......as usual with a free meal, much wine was purchased to was it down thus writing off the rest of Tuesday.

The site is getting busier, especially with French visitors who are apparently shunning their usual playground of Morocco for understandable reasons. Regular readers will recall my comments last year about the enormous numbers of French  motorhomes in Morocco which now may well be in decline this year and thus hurting the Moroccan tourist economy.
And just to annoy anybody, I am not Charlie, because I don't agree that its OK to gratuitously insult somebody's religion and deliberately cause offence in the name of free speech.

THERMAL VESTS TO SHORTS & SANDALS IN 24 HRS

Saturday 10.1.2015

Wednesday night down to -5° and woke to another day of thick fog which lasted for over 150 miles but as we dropped down off the plateau after Caceres at least the temperature began rising. Came out of the fog 50 miles from Seville and then stopped at Jerez to top up the LPG as there still appears to be nothing nearer to Conil. Despite Repsol installing more autogas points, there is a black hole from Jerez to Algeciras even though Cadiz is a major city. As we are not staying so long down here this year , we shouldn't have to go back to Jerez to refill especially if the weather remains as warm as it is now.
So arrived Conil 4pm in bright sunshine and big blue sky all round. New van is too long for our pitch of the last 4 years so we have a bigger one close by but not in the same avenue...which may deter the usual suspects from dropping by for a beer or three........but unlikely. Apart from Paul & Marianne who can't make it because of ongoing problems with Paul's shoulder (which may spare my liver further damage) the same crowd are here so much renewing of acquaintances . Our first job was to drive up to the van wash
facility and I managed to blow the horn when passing the boules pitch just as Harry was throwing and he said words which should not be repeated in polite company to much laughter.
It took a lot of high pressure washing to get 6 days grime washed off and it took two of us to do it but now we are clean again.
Thursday night is Whist night where
the GF won the ladies prize of 9€ so we are starting off well. Quiz night starts next Wednesday and in the absence of P&M it had already been decided that we would team up with Harry & Joan......the bidding in the transfer window was extremely competitive apparently when it was known that we would be looking for new partners. We shall be the dream team once again.
Friday was spent sorting ourselves out, erecting awnings etc and generally getting comfortable which included getting the shorts out as it is so warm. A walk up to the supermarket for wine & beer, boules in the afternoon and an excellent flamenco show in the restaurant with a meal for 8€.  to round off an excellent first day.