Harriet, Holly and Trevann go to Brittany in the camper van

---

We took our first tentative steps into Europe with the camper van and into driving on the wrong side of the road when we set off for a week in what turned out to be a lovely little town - Dinan - in Britanny - me, Harriet and Holly.

For a small and quiet tourist spot on a river, Dinan turned out to have plenty to keep us happy, even in the mixed autumnal weather we dodged in and out of. Some days we were crossing our fingers that it would stay dry for long enough for us to walk into town and back without getting wet - and, fortunately, it did! So we felt like we'd got away with it. Luckily for us the afternoons were mostly rain-free and, once we got into town, the line of riverside restaurants and bistros by the river, under the viaduct, was a fun place to hang out and the local traditional meal of Mussels and chips were , to me, surprisingly tasty. Holly persuaded us to go for it and, turnes out, we loved it! And then, once we eventually decided to walk up the hill into town again, or not, the 'city' walls with their round towers and the medieval, (what we Brits would call 'tudor' style,) houses and narrow cobbled streets lined with artists studios and artisan galleries kept us fascinated for the week. It's really picturesque in those old stonewalled back streets.

We were staying for the first time at quite a big campsite, La Hallerais and a very peaceful and scenic 25 minutes walk from there into town every day. We liked the friendly atmosphere on the site and it had everything we needed - including a very nice and affordable restaurant on site and a heated outdoor swimming pool and tennis courts so we could make fools of ourselves when ever we wanted to. And then there's table football for when we got rowdy!

La Hallerais turned out to be a regular, come-back haunt for mostly retired Brits, who were all very relaxed and friendly and out there hoping for a few extra days of sunshine at the end of the UK summer. Apparently previous years have enjoyed much sunnier Septembers than this year but, even so, we had a couple of days at 23 degrees and managed to escape the mostly night time and morning rain - tucked up inside the van, eating breakfasts of croissants and taking the edge off the evenings with a few glasses of cheap French wine or the quaffable local cider and enjoying Holly's tasty interpretations of very French meals.

And I didn't hit anything on the road! In fact the French roads were very quiet and peaceful after our own tourist packed Dorset lanes. It makes me think we might do it again and maybe further next time.

---