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Published: September 6th 2008
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Thunder Rock Disney
Blake loved this ride!!! 31st August
Started the day with school work - wow! We left Epernay which was a little sad because we had really enjoyed it. We were leaving behind the fields of grapes and the river. One thing we have begun to notice is that the French are always out exercising. They play soccer, ping pong, they run, cycle ... quite a lot actually.
We tried to stock up on food and diesel but unfortunately nothing was open - it was Sunday. That’s taking a little time to get use to. Nothings open on Sunday and come 12 o’clock everything’s shut until 3. It’s like having two short days instead of one long one. It’s amazing travelling through this part of France. It is predominately a cropping area so the fields appear seamless. There a no fences to interrupt the view and it is a flat that it gives the impression that it rolls gently away. Often as you drive into villages the road is lined with large trees. The villages themselves appear tidy with flowers spilling from window boxes yet the houses are so old that they are tumbling down. It’s funny to see such tidy grounds and gardens yet the
Euro Disney
We weren't alone houses don’t appear to be lived in. You very really see anyone around - but that’s because we’re always travelling midday.
We were heading to Geraudot today which is in the middle of a forest and should have a lake. We were free camping. So we were a little worried because we didn’t have enough food for free camping. Luckily we stumbled upon a ‘pick your own fruit and veg garden’. It was fantastic. You could pick you own everything - we got tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, apples, potatoes and green beans. You just picked up a wheelbarrow and headed into the garden and picked what you needed. It was a busy little place and we now know that the vegetables were delicious.
Geraudot was a little different to how the travel guide and the map portrayed it. The lake was so low that it was just a mud puddle. Had it been full the Aires camping ground would have been great because it was just over the road. The boys still had fun riding around on our bikes and frightening all the other travellers. Mason and I went for a run in the morning through the forest which was full
DisneyLand
The best day ever according to Blake of birch trees - it was like the track from the camping ground in Pnth to Fitz bridge. Smooth and easy.
1st September
Got up and went straight to Auxerre in the morning but managed to find a supermarket before 12 so well stocked and back into croissants, cans of creamed rice and salami. The essentials.
Auxerre is on the river Yonne. The Aires camping ground was right beside the river and it was lovely. What we’re finding though is that they are dirty. Gravel and dust. But that’s ok because they’re free. We spent the afternoon looking for bikes for the boys but with no luck.
2nd September
Spent the morning looking for bikes for the boys - no luck. We hadn’t showered for two days now so we headed for a camp ground in the afternoon. A lovely afternoon spent cleaning and reading books. That was the boys and I but Gareth spent the afternoon biking around Auxerre looking for a part for Hugo’s water pump. We’ve had a leak in the water pump which we thought had been fixed by tightening the hose clip. But it wasn’t that easy. When we filled up with water today we
Vege shopping
PYO everything noticed water seeping out under the seat again. Gareth opened it up again and pulled the hose off and the connector onto the pump broke in his hands - that was the problem. It took him 4 hours of biking around trying; the tourist information staff in France is fantastic especially in Auxerre. In the end he went to a Gardening centre and bought a 2 euro hose connector for the garden hose. It worked. The fiamma company who made the pump didn’t get any money out of us. No one could help - not even in Dijon. So the pump is now working with a hose connector.
Went to another market today so we had a delicious dinner with fresh vegetables. The kids favourite is still grapes though oh and pain au chocolat. A lovely man walking past Anton eating yet another pain au chocolat said something in French and poked his tummy laughing. I think the comment was about getting fat. We all laughed at the gesture. The boys are still a long way from being anywhere near fat.
3rd September
Looks like the rain from Wales has followed us here. We had a day planned of biking
Mercier Champagne
Making the most of the tasting. down the Yonne river and exploring a little place called Cravent. We drove straight past with the bikes on the back because the rain was falling heavily. We headed straight for Vezelay which has the reputation of being one of the prettiest villages in France. It is on the top of a hill and is home to the Basilica of St Mary Magdalene. Because of the rain we didn’t get out of Hugo when we arrived instead we ate lunch parked up and then headed off to visit some vineyards instead. We did two and that was enough. The boys enjoyed picking blackberries on the side of the road more than the vineyards.
The vineyard we liked the best was Henry de Vezelay. The woman running it was English/French so we were able to understand a lot more. She took the boys out the back to the vats and explained how they made their wines. We bought a pot of honey and a bottle of wine and headed back out into the rain.
Along the road are signs indicating where vineyards are so we followed those and got completely lost - hence the blackberries. But we did find a campsite by the river which was quiet and nearly clean. So we pulled up. But it wasn’t clean enough for Blake and Mason they refused to have showers.
4th September
Out running in the morning with Mason and realised that we were only 3 kms from Vezelay. Found croissants, baguettes and salami. Everyone was quite impressed when we came home with croissants for breakfast and knew where were and what we were having for lunch.
Spent the morning wandering around Vezelay and it is a pretty village. Went to the Basilica - what a beautiful place with huge and amazing sculptures. Took the boys in to see the relics of St Mary Magdalene so that started hundreds of questions most of which we were able to answer.
Promised the boys that we would find a lake so we are now in Lac de Settons which in summer I would imagine would be a hive of people. Now it appears it’s only us and five other couples. Only Anton went swimming and that was only up to his neck to fetch the skim board back.
The trip here was impressive. The landscape has changed. There are now paddocks of cows!! The roads appear to follow rivers and there are a lot of national parks around. A lot like Rotorua actually but we’re driving on the right and we don’t understand the road signs.
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Damo
non-member comment
eating
the b team went to new plymouth to watch All Blacks play Samoa great time had by all shame Jed missed out. Bowden made up for you though he drank like a fish as usual. bonjour Damo