Heading South & St Nazaire

Posted on 09/05/2012 by Christine

St. Nazaire

We left Sandy and Wendy’s about 11a.m, I am feeling very rough, and sorry for myself, no more drink for me for a few days, need to dry out!! (Self inflicted) See Sandy’s comments after our visit.
The rain has come back, after a lovely few days, typical, but the further we go south it is getting brighter, we are heading for St.Nazaire.
We arrived for lunch, another good free Aries, where you have a view of the sea from the cliff top over the road, we later explored the beach area, Bella and Sooty loved it.

St. Nazaire

Thursday 10th . Geoff went to explore St.Nazaire, whilst I did the coastal walk, very rugged as we are on the Atlantic, I had only gone for ten minutes, when I came across a nudist beach, and to my surprise, it had a number of brave people showing everything, bit too cold for me to wear shorts, let alone nothing!! Must be getting old! Didn’t go down onto the beach, stayed on coastal path, I didn’t know what the dogs might do.

Coastal Path at St. Nazaire

I was walking for over an hour an half, then I came back to ‘Rosie’ for lunch, and a rest. I then planned our next few days.
Geoff got back about 5pm, and we compared notes, glad I did my walk, not into all this history.

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Sandy and Wendy’s

Posted on 09/05/2012 by Christine

Sandy and Wendy's home

We soon settled into our new surroundings, and took the dogs for a lovely 3mile walk in the woods, it is so pretty here, with hardly any traffic on the roads, very peaceful and picturesque.

We had a lovely dinner, then a few drinks, I went to bed at

Sandy and Wendy walking in the woods

midnight, leaving Sandy and Geoff determined to finish a bottle of single malt whisky from Speyside. I think they eventually got to bed after 1am.

Next day we went for a Chinese Wok with some friends of Sandy and Wendy’s they also had friends over who are Motor homing, accept they are going back to England after six months away, so we picked their brains with as much information as we could, I have since ordered a book to help find more sites.

Cows minding their own business

Up late, and we had a lazy day with catching up with Banks and paperwork, we took the dogs on the long walk again, where Bella decided to annoy some cows, when she got to them she

Cows trying to get Bella!

barked, and they all turned on her, she ran towards the edge of the field, with about twenty cows chasing her, will she ever learn!!!

We started our evening with cocktails in the garden outside Rosie we then went to a tiny village and had crepes with all different fillings,you could have had salmon, bacon, cheese, some even had walnuts on. Pudding was the same with ice cream,chocolate etc., with alcohol poured over. Just as we were leaving we played a game of table football, unfortunately Wendy and I were beaten 5-0, we think they were cheating though!! a lovely evening was had by all. Back at the house, the whisky came out again, a peaty single malt from the Isle of Islay, I was on water, because I had drunk too much over the meal.

 

Geoff, Sandy and Wendy

Thank you so much for making our stay so much fun, we will be back when our liver has returned to normal xx

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On the move at last!!

Posted on 08/05/2012 by Christine

Over-night stop at Boulogne-sur-Mer

Arriving in Calais very late with the time difference also, we used our new ‘Aries’ book to find a suitable place, we stopped at Boulogne-sur-Mer on the cliff tops overlooking the sea, a lovely quiet area, with about ten other vans on site, at a cost of 5 Euros.  In the morning I explored the area with the dogs, it was lovely, think I could get used to this. We had a lazy breakfast and then left for Honfleur, the countryside is so pretty, I love it.

On arriving in Honfleur, we found the site, but could not get in, it was an automatic barrier which we could not work out,  so we unhooked the trailer, did a turn, and went to find another site, which we did across the river, this was far better and certainly a lot cheaper, 10 Euros to be in the middle of town, we could have had free electric as well for that, but we did not bother.

Honfleur

Renovating the old properties

We walked into town with the dogs, it was lovely, they are renovating some of the old buildings, which are so pretty, the streets are very narrow, and so colourful, definately worth a visit. We had a cream tea, which was very expensive, but then they have to make their money

Honfleur

some where!  I have waited years to get here, so glad I finally made it.

As we are short of time, as we left so late, we decided to move onto Le Mont-St.Michael, so we left after breakfast and headed for our next Aires, only this time, they have changed everything since the book was printed in 2010, and we ended up in this huge car-park, adequate for us, as we could walk to Le Mont-St.Michael, which we did after lunch, plenty of other Motor-homes were there.

The long trek to Mont St.Michael

We could see in the distance where we were going, they had put in new roads, and pathways, it must have taken us thirty

Mont St.Michael

minutes to get to the village itself, and it was vibrant with lots of tourists, having coffee’s, ice creams, and crepes, the shops were full of the normal tourist tacky stuff, but the ambiance was brilliant. I walked up to the top, and looked over the

Mont St.Michael

ramparts, whilst Geoff waited below with the dogs.

We then took a slow meander back, as the buses would not take

Streets of Mont.St.Michael

dogs, so by the time we got back we were all shattered, but another lovely day. Fortunately the rain had held off, but just started again, as we got back.

Up in the morning, and we then motored to Sandy and Wendy’s we arrived about 3pm, and Geoff struggled to get ‘Rosie’ into the drive, we had to go in backwards as it is on a slope with a gravel drive, unfortunately as Geoff turned, he ended up in the ditch, so with the land rover Sandy pulled him out, and Geoff was able to reverse up, not sure if the clutch will work when we leave, as all we could smell was burning clutch plate!!

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Hello Rosie!!!!

Posted on 01/05/2012 by Christine

Hector was duly delivered, and the box was finished, we then left and went straight to Jane’s, as she was having the car for two years.  That day Bella was saying hello to the horses, when one of them kicked her, (Bella’s fault as she was barking) anyway we all thought she had internal injuries, as she was bleeding from the mouth, couldn’t walk etc., rushed to the vet they kept her in, and later we collected her, a very shocked little dog, but fortunately nothing broken, amazing.

We then travelled to Derbyshire, where we had a cover fitted for the windscreen in Sheffield, I stayed behind, and Marian and I went for a long walk. Friday we went into town and bought six big storage boxes, hoping that will make things easier!! later Geoff and Martin went to a whisky tasting evening, which they really enjoyed.

Saturday came too fast, we said our farewells, and headed back to Jane’s, the weather is awful, rain, rain and more rain. The yard was filthy because of the rain, I wanted to empty our garage out to re-arrange our stuff, whilst Geoff was having to alter the trailer, because since the box arrived,the trailer does not fit!! Eventually we sorted everything,and on Sunday we had a lovely roast dinner, and played Mahjon, it was a lovely evening.

We  said our goodbye’s and headed south again! calling in at Croydon to sort our Emissions problem out, we stayed at Crystal Palace over night, in a lovely little site, walked dogs in the Park, very good.

The guys at Croydon recognised the Motor home, it was the original place that the emissions system had been fitted, and they were talking about the owner, and saying how ‘Hector’ was always called ‘Rosie’ so we have decided to revert to her original name, perhaps she will perform better. The engineers said we would need a different emissions system to sort the alarm out, (here we go again) come back tomorrow!  They MOT’d the van, and it passed which was good news, we then went to get the emission certificate (LEZ) which also passed. Back to Kathleen’s, Geoff got up at 5am to go back to Croydon, still did not work, we needed another part, we are both getting really fed up by this time, as we thought we were on our way!!

We went out for a lovely meal in Horndean, drowned our sorrows, and decided to say our farewells to Kathleen and Tom, we travelled up to Godstone, to get yet another part, and the guy refused to fit it, so back to Croydon where the guys there were really nice, fitted it whilst we had some lunch.  Everything seemed to be ok, so off to Dover, we got there about 7.pm bought some tickets, and we are just heading going now,starting our travels at last!!!

A big thank you to everyone who has put up with us over the last few months, we have enjoyed our time with everyone, but glad to be on our way, nothing personal!!!!

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New Forest Shake down AGAIN!!

Posted on 22/04/2012 by Christine

Peacock being friendly

First thing Thursday morning, pouring with rain, off we go to Southdowns, everything done, and hopefully working, we collected ‘Hector’ or the ‘love bus’ as Andrew calls it, I prefer that name. We travelled down to the New Forest, we went to Longbeech, when we arrived, the warden said we could only park on the concrete basis, as the grass was sodden, we found a good spot, and sorted ourselves out, only five other vans, so peaceful.

Deer surrounding 'Love Bus'

Everything was working well, what a different trip to last time, we watched a Dvd, unable to get a tv signal as we were surrounded by trees, but it was worth it, such a beautiful place. All lights working, plenty of power in the batteries, brakes now repaired, and all the other jobs have been done.

Friday morning Herbert and Liz came over, we had lunch, and between showers we went for a walk, only to get soaked on way back. In the evening we went for a lovely meal, spoilt only by bad service, but Geoff negotiated 20% of the bill, so not all bad. We drove back to find we were locked out, so we had to negotiate back to the ‘love bus’ in pitch black, we were giggling, at the fact we were two pensioners living rough, and people do not understand us, but we are happy.

Next day Herbert and Liz came over eventually having got lost, and Geoff had to go out

Waterloo Arms Lyndhurst

and fetch them, we had coffee, then went to Lyndhurst for lunch, a lovely thatched pub.

We took Sooty and Bella for a long walk, they were chasing the deer, and squirrels, they thoroughly enjoyed it, so picturesque, so relaxing, such a lovely place.

Sunday came round too fast, we had to go back, as Southdown’s  have more work to do, they are fitting a box at the back, as we have run out of space, let’s hope we get it back on Monday!!

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Easter Family Week-end

Posted on 10/04/2012 by Christine

Good Friday, and it is a lovely day, Mark, Paula and the girls arrived at the Woodcroft, we had been sitting in the garden, sun-bathing, whilst they had been struggling with the

Mark enjoying himself

traffic.  We had a quick lunch, then travelled to Barton-on-Sea, where we walked all along the cliff tops with the dogs, ending up at a cafe where we had cream teas, bang goes the diet!!  In the evening we had dinner in the Hotel, followed by entertainment, well what a laugh we had, we all were dancing, I think the other guests thought we were mad, perhaps we are, but we all had fun.

View from Andrew's window

We all met at breakfast, and Mark Paula and Tyla went shopping, Geoff Ashleigh and I went to Tesco, and later Jane and Dave arrived, we all met up at Andrew’s flat, had lunch, then caught the ferry to Studland, and walked the four dogs

Jane and Tyla

on the beach, just as we were getting back it started raining. In the evening we went to an Italian

Paula Ashliegh,and Christine

Restaurant, the food was excellent, and it was lovely to have all the kids together.

Breakfast the next day, we then went to Hengistbury Head, walked all over the top, past the beach huts, then of course back to the cafe, where Jane managed to eat two of the most sickly cakes she could find, we were more reserved. Sadly then everyone went there own way, but it was so lovely seeing everyone again.  A big big thank-you to Andrew for making it all possible again.

Dave

Andrew and Geoff

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