France 51 - the beatification of a saint and an not very friendly couple

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We are now heading home. Always a sad time. We have enjoyed our three weeks holiday and time has flown. Life in the motorhome has taken off differently. We wake later, eat breakfast at leisure and have got used to the slower pace of life. Driving between places takes longer than in a car and you get to see more of the countryside. Calais is three days away and we have divided our last few days into 6 hour daily drives. Our drive starts just after breakfast. After two hours or so we stop at one of the excellent aires, put the kettle on and enjoy tea, coffee and biscuits or cake before moving on again. After a further two hours we stop for lunch again in one of the aires. If you have never used a French aire you don’t know what you are missing. Every other is a service station with petrol,restaurant facilities, rest areas and shops which put our service areas at home to shame. Even the ones without petrol boast rest areas and toilets. Our last stop is normally mid afternoon for another tea or coffee. We cannot get so far in the motorhome but it doesn’t really matter. You get used to it in the end.

The sky was blue but the weather a touch colder. We travelled from Lyon to the Burgundy region around Beaune. The motorways were fairly busy but we still arrived at our site for the night around 2.30. Another reception closed but a sign on the door invited us to pick a pitch and come back later. This was harder than it looked. There appeared to be a lot of empty pitches however they were not serviced and we had to struggle to find a spot close to the electrics. For the end of the season the site was busy but did look as if it was running down for the season. I found an outdoor swimming pool but it was locked up and even if it had been open the weather was too inclement to try it out. The area around the campsite looked like the Shires of England with gentle rolling hills. These were covered head to foot with vines. Cars, vans, buses and tractors were parked up on every available bit of ground. It was obviously harvest time and students were dropped off to pick the grapes. One man carried a big wicker basket on his back and he walked between the vines. Groups of young people filled his basket with grapes and when it was full he and others like him walked to the tiny, thin tractors and filled them with the grapes before they were driven off to be processed into that lovely wine they produce in the area. Bottle bought and very quaffable it was too.

Noticed a red British telephone box on the campsite. Not sure why. WiFi was too expensive so we gave it a miss. On the whole though this holiday WiFi has been easily available, relatively cheap and on many sites free. Eventually we paid up in reception. In front of us was a Dutch lady speaking in broken English. She had booked a couple of nights and was going to pay when she left . We booked one night and because we wanted to get off site early tomorrow we paid in advance. The receptionist who was pretty miserable gave us our receipt and the dutch lady got annoyed that she had not been given one. The receptionist couldn’t get across to her the fact that she couldn’t give her a receipt for something she had not paid for. I left them still arguing. Camp fee 16 euros 90 with local tax.

The local village looked pretty and full of the usual fountains, pharmacies, boulangeries and flower beds. It was a long night and we were glad of Kathrein and our nice bottle of wine.

The following morning we drove down country lanes full of Micklemas Daisies and the remaining browning spikes of Mignonette. It must have looked majestic earlier in the season. Rain trickled down and the hills were obscured with mist. Mistletoe hung from the trees.

Our last visit of the trip was to Troyes a place we had visited before. Our stop was Camping Municipal an easy to find campsite with bus stop outside into Troyes and within 25 mins walking distance. We parked up next to Suzys sister another Swift although this time a smaller model 530LP and not one of the special editions. A different layout to ours with kitchen at the back and seating along the side of the van. Not quite as long as our van. Kathrein wouldn’t work due to the trees which obscured the sky. Free WiFi was available in a rest room which also contained information on the area, a table tennis table and a TV. Internet is always useful to keep you up to date with what is going on in the world, for checking the weather forcasts and to check up on the area you are staying in. There was an outside swimming pool but I didn’t try this one as the weather had changed and it was feeling more northern European and rather cold. We started sadly to spot signs for the Tunnel sur la Manche and Calais.

We walked into town and passed the cathedral. We had planned to go inside but as we approached the road was closed by police either standing in the way or blocking it with their bikes. It was obvious something was going on. Crowds were gathering and eventually a Roman Catholic priest approached and greeted a man dressed in black who got out of a black official looking car. He was ushered inside the cathedral which was being guarded by yet more men in black. The square outside was full of chairs and had a large screen tv showing inside the cathedral. A mass was going on and it turned out some local priest who had died years ago was being beatified and this was the ceremony we had fallen up. Much singing was going on and we read that the priest was acting on behalf of the Pope.

I love the wooden houses of Troyes, all looking higgledy piggledy and as if they are going to fall down at any moment. We sat for a while drinking coffee in an outside bar. Being a Saturday afternoon Troyes was busy. Opposite us was a creperie. Realised we have not ate a crepe all holiday. Another reason to go back.

Called in at a supermarket on the way back – something called Market Leader. Not a good one. The worse I had seen with very little choice of food and what they had looked indifferent quality. We bought a loaf of bread and left. Not much inspiration there. It reminded me of Kwiksave – pile em high in boxes.

Filled Suzy with water,emptied what needed to be emptied and had showers. One block was open aired without roof and probably lovely in summer but rather chilly at the end of September. We noticed our neighbour in and as we were from the same country poked head out of Suzy and shouted “ As we are neighbours it would be rude not to introduce ourselves” I got the cold shoulder - “Just come out of the shower” and off she went back into the van. I guessed she would come round afterwards and we sat and waited .......................and waited ............and waited ......and then gave up. How rude!!! Not sure if it was a rebuff or were they just the sort of people who keep themselves to themselves. An hello costs nothing. We thought they might have been as interested in Suzy as we were in their van but obviously not. I lose faith with people like this sometimes.

A fairly quiet night with only the sounds of a few young lads shouting for a while and the noise of fireworks in the distance. A nice site. We would use it again if we were in this part of the world.

One last stop – Troyes to Guines near Calais – a bit of luxury and a farewell to France meal.

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Photos

Near Beaune
Sion and his wine