Blogs from Upper Normandy, France, Europe - page 3

Combining these two days, as we spent Friday on the campsite, mostly watching "Storm Miguel" out of the van windows, as it continued its exploits of Thursday night. Sad news from home, that three lifeboatmen had been killed on a shout for a fishing boat in trouble with the storm. Apparently the lifeboat (the old one I think) capsized. No mileage, and no exciting activities. Slept well both nights, except for the noisy weather! But Saturday has been much more interesting, as we've headed closer to Le Havre. Lots of evidence of damage to trees etc, as we headed first to Honfleur and later to Fécamp, just to look around. Sadly neither place is brilliant for motorhomers nowadays - both have large Aires, but not conveniently placed for short daytime visits, and we're barred from parking ... read more

Wednesday, 25 April – ANZAC Day Centenary Dawn Service, Villers-Brettoneaux 1am is a horrible time to get up, but it was a necessary evil to make the dawn service. It was the big Centenary celebration – the 2nd biggest Aussie pilgrimage behind Gallipoli – and we’d been told that security would be tight and that if we aren’t in and seated by 4.45am, we would miss out. By 1.20am we were hooting along tiny French lanes to our parking area, followed by a pleasant 1.7km walk to the memorial site. All you could see on the road was silent pilgrims making their way to the hill. The fields surrounding the monument lay cold and silent in darkness, hoarding their secrets and bodies from the past. Security was tight but we were seated by 2.45am. Thankfully, the ... read more

It was the day before our trip and it was my last day at work. There is always an air of expectation as I count down the last minutes to leaving the UK. I wonder what I have forgotten to pack or that something will go wrong. I did the last minute shopping, said our goodbyes to family and thought so many things to do and think about. I wonder what the traffic will be like tomorrow as we drive down the M1 and the M25. Will we get a good run at the tunnel? I never sleep well . There are always too many things on my mind. Eventually after much tossing and turning I see the cold grey morning light filtering in through the windows. As I open the curtains I see rain. It ... read more

A few years ago Dax and I went to a town in the South of France called Dax, just because of its name and because we thought it would be fun for Dax to have a photo with the town's name sign (I mean, every reason for traveling is good, right?) That photo became popular among our FB friends and one day, one of our closest friends told us that there is a town in France called Dieppe, which is interesting as his surname is Dieppa so we said 'let's go there so you can also have a photo of your name-town'... and so we did! Taking advantage of yet another bank holiday in UK, we left on Saturday morning and came back on Monday afternoon. Due to this bank holiday, the channel tunnel was quite ... read more

Our last evening in France ended. Before we retired for the night we noticed our neighbours - the same Belgian couple who parked opposite us last night. Tonight they did not have the luxury of parking over a number of plots . They were taken to their plot by our bike riding campsite owner. They did the usual tour of the campsite with their car. They got their bikes out and did the same. It appears that they have a pattern they follow and follow it they did. We slept well that night . The night was dark. The sky clear and full of beautiful stars. We woke to darkness. It seems dark here in the mornings all the time. What will it be like when when we arrive at home and the clocks go back ... read more