France 86 - What has Neufchatel got in common with Whitchurch, Gippy Stomachs and laughing with the gods

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Bonsoir mon ami

The drive down to the ferry was not without its problems . We kept hitting queues which seemed to be linked not with roadworks but with junctions where vehicles were leaving heading for Cambridge. We decided after three of these holdups that this was not the most auspicious of routes. Next year – well next year who knows what we will do but it will not include Peterborough as as starting off point. We had had a fairly cold night but then we are a week later travelling. We expected a quiet run at this time but it was not to be . The M11 was fluid but a mist hung in the air clinging to the trees and houses. Certainly an Autumnal nip in the air. I had missed breakfast due to my gippy stomach which felt like it was being strangled. We did however make headway and entered Essex, not a county I know much about. It seems off the radar somehow. We made better progress as the traffic thinned out and the mist cleared as we crossed the Queen Elizabeth II bridge. Hopefully our Dart Card payment will work otherwise there will be a fine waiting for us upon our return home. We crossed the Medway and into Kent – the Garden of England. Past Rochester advertising its castle and historic dockyard and filled up with diesel at the last filling station before France. It gave us chance to pull out our booking forms and our passports. There was no sign of Operation Stack nor the chaos that hit Kent and the Kentish people during the summer. It was hard to imagine what it must have been like. We were lucky with a straight drive into the tunnel complex. Things had changed with a new road being constructed and new passport control. We drove to the check in and vehicle recognition kicked in , Hello Mr Jones please confirm you are indeed Mr Jones . Ok press button. Three options came up did I want to go at the time I had booked or did I want to go at 10.50 or 11.20 both much earlier than booked ?. OK what do you think I picked ? We were on the 10.50 with only 20 minutes to kick around.

Boarding went pretty straightforward. We would be in La Belle France an hour and a half earlier than planned which meant we could travel further into France before stopping for the night . Neufchatel en Bray – Newcastle in the mud twinned with Whitchurch in Shropshire here we come. The crossing was as always unremarkable . The only only differences were more security checks . Our passports were checked by both the British Passport control and for the first time by French Passport control. We were pulled in for a gas check and then it was on the train. In front of us was a car full to the gunwhales with four adults of varying ages and one dog. Through the journey they ignored the no smoking signs and puffed away on their e- cigarettes and threw the dogs water out of the window. We spoke to the chef de train about e- cigarettes and despite our comments that they were using them in the vehicle in front she obviously did not want confrontation and let it go. I wonder what would have happened if the fools had set off the fire alarms and stopped the train. Is it me? Am I becoming less tolerant with age?

On the other side we saw no sign on migrants despite stories of motorhomes being attacked and stones being thrown at them. Perhaps they all come out at night . There was a high police presence with gendarmes everywhere. There was a lot more razor wire in place and new fences and a new road to take travellers out of the area quickly.

Onto the first peage . Would our tag work ? She is getting long in the tooth and each season we wonder if our batteries will fail. They did not and we passed through. The trees along the motorway did not look as Autumnal as back home in Britain. It was however much hotter and not as muggy as our summer.

Our planned stop for the night was Camping ST Claire . We have been before and it is a reasonable ACSI campsite in Neufchatel en Bray a small town twinned with Whitchurch in Shropshire . We stopped first at the large E LeClerc supermarket to stock up on fresh baguettes, French flan tarts and fresh fruit . Feeling a bit off it I did not spend that long there but just long enough to pick up essentials. The campsite costs 14.40 with tourist tax and is of a medium size. The same man took us to our plot as did last time we were here. We were welcomed by our neighbours who were staying here a few days. I checked out the facilities and they are just as jaded and in need of TLC as last year but the plot is large and the staff friendly. Wine tastes good whatever size the plot. Bread can be ordered each morning and there is a brasserie on site . We had not planned to use it as the food was not that inspiring. The plan was to visit the town restaurant which had had good reviews on Trip Adviser however due to gippy stomach that did not happen. So what of Neufchatel? . Like Whitchurch it is very rural . There are cows. They make cheese. There is a church in both towns.

We finished the night off sitting in the evening sunshine outside of Suzy with a glass or two of Liebfraumilch. What more could a travelling couple and a sheep want? There is an old Japanese saying which goes something like this “Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods”. It certainly felt that never a truer word was said as we drank that wine in our own little world of travel.

We are in search of pilgrims on their way to Santiago for our friend Bob who is walking the Carmino next year so wish us luck in our search.

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Comments

[Home and Away]

You are just becoming a curmudgeon...
like me, or so Linda tells me. I'm looking forward to your pilgrim pictures to inspire me!

[JenGog]

curmudgeon
Awkward me more like. I think you are walking the carmino in September . The weather should be fine as long as it is not like the last few days we had here. Incessant rain and pretty cold for the time of the year. Quite a shock to the system .