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Published: July 16th 2009
Brian-Not-Sexy-But-Good has done a great job of looking after us so far. We made it without incident to Dover and boarded our ferry to Calais. Packing proved to be a bit stressful but so far the only things we know we have forgotten is fly spray and our reef walking shoes. Not too bad!
By the time we reached the coast, the sun was shining and our shoulders dropped as all thoughts of the end of the school year and contracts began to melt away.
I am writing this from our camp-site, perched on a hill overlooking the sea. We are still in the Normandy region after two days of travelling.
Day One saw us introduced to the French way of camping. We were worried about not finding camping grounds, but so far this hasn’t been a problem. There were campsites galore along the Normandy Coast and we ended up checking into a small village campsite inland from Dieppe. We arrived just after 7pm and found the Reception to be empty. We stood around looking lost for awhile before a few helpful locals managed to explain that Reception closes at 7pm and we should just come in and
find a spot for the night. This sounds straight-forward but no one spoke a word of English and all we can manage is ‘hello, good bye, excuse me, sorry, and of course ‘do you speak English?’ so this all took a while.
The next day we managed to sort our bill (11 euros for a pitch, electricity and facilities - camping rocks!) and set off along the back roads towards the little village of Giverny. I really wanted to visit Giverny after seeing photos of it in a book. Giverny was the home Claude Monet and his former home and garden is now open to the public. We knew it would be completely full of tourists but it wasn’t quite as bad as expected. Of course, everyone wanted to get those famous shots of the little bridge over the lake so there was a bit of photo rage down by the water garden as people jostled for space on the lakeside! The village of Giverny was absolutely lovely and a nice place to spend a few hours.
After a long drive we arrived at the coast. We were keen to get into a campsite as soon as
possible and ended up choosing the first we came across in a village called Jullouville. Unbelievable we have ended up with the most amazing pitch right on the hill overlooking the ocean. At 25 euros it is pretty pricey but the location is worth it after such a long drive. Chris is nursing a cold beer and I have a wine sitting in front of me. Tonight we have a game of Frisbee on the beach planned before we sit down and think about what to do tomorrow!
Well the game of Frisbee went as planned but any godly thoughts of going for an early morning jog along the beach were cut short due to heavy rain and mad wind all night! We decided to leave the coast early and set off down the coast towards Le Mont St Michel. It was absolutely stunning but unfortunately the weather was still pretty overcast and the place was heaving with busloads of tourists. We took a few photos and hit the road after a quick look about. Next stop was the Medieval village of Vitre. It was an absolutely beautiful little village with quiet and completely deserted narrow lanes. There were
hardly any tourists about so it was a perfect break from driving.
The kilometres continued and we passed through an endless stream of lovely little French villages, each one cleaner, tidier and cuter than the next. By the end of day two we finally rolled into the Loire Valley.
Sorry, having problems uploading photos! The speeds on the Wifi networks are hopeless. Will try and upload more blogs in a few weeks. Love to all.
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