Wednesday 20th September
After a good visit, especially catching up with lots of Nanny//Elton bonding, and not to forget the bonus, sailing, it was time to leave. We had to continue our journey whilst Andrew and his skipper had to prepare the boat prior to sailing her back to England for the usual winter servicing and repairs after the chartering season.
We hit the road, destination Valence to meet the broker tomorrow morning and view this “Cotter”, a 12.85m Dutch Steel Cruiser, a purpose built coastal and inland waterway vessel. This was a relative short trip so there was no rush in leaving and therefore a few stops along the way was fine. Christine had found a nice-looking overnight stop within a km of the marina but had limited places, still we will be there early afternoon.
After a pleasant drive in the sunshine we arrived as planned only to find the chosen site was already full up, 👹, OK, let’s find the marina as they may have parking but no, there was a big sign with numerous “rules and regulations”, one of which was no “camping cars” (motorhomes), so off we trundled but about 1/2 a mile along this narrow one way lane we found a car park adjacent to the river with much “dog walking” terrain, “bingo”, in we went, selected our spot and settled in for the rest of the afternoon and night; good job we did as during the following hour or so the park was full of motorhomes, obviously a known “overnighter”. Even though it was full they still kept coming and a couple tried to squeeze in alongside us; totally impossible as there was a lamp post and a kerb but one determined “German”, in a Concords, and they’re very, very big was determined and by now we were beginning to panic, firstly for the safety of Rosie and secondly we wouldn’t manage to open our doors so got out with Tom-Tom and Rosie looking veryannoyed; that did it and they went!!!!
Later in the afternoon Christine went for a walk to check we could get into the marina easily and how long it would take and the pooches had a good run around, but later they paid the price, they were both covered in “burrs”, so Christine set about picking them out as a brush wouldn’t touch them.
Apart from our parking place being full it was very quiet so settled down for a good nights sleep 🤞🤞