Day 3 – 7th May 2009 – Jumieges to Lisieux / Livarot

Last nights dinner was awful from my point of view, but Ant absolutely loved it…. Tinned Pilchards in tomato, leek and onion sauce, with new potatoes, sweetcorn and carrots. Let’s hope tonights chicken curry is a little better. Although at the moment, the fridge is only working on 240V hook up, the leisure battery option is not working at all. Not sure why, we have changed the broken fuse that was in the 12v connector, but still no fridge light inside. On a positive note, it means that Ant’s first venture underneath the van wasn’t to fix it, but to find spare fuses in the under-van storage boxes.
We left Jumieges this afternoon after doing some clothes washing, checking emails one last time and refilling the water tank. All set for a night or two in the wild.
We got to the edge of the village which is on the river Seine and found a dinky open top ferry which transported us and 4 other cars across the river at no charge at all!! We were gobsmacked; not only could we officially class ourselves as ‘in-seine’ once half way across, but the privilege was free.
Normandy is a very quaint part of France, very clean and tidy with tiny villages dotted amongst vast open fields of bright yellow rape and swaying corn, still green with youth. Very beautiful, very quiet and thankfully an easy introduction to driving and getting by abroad. A woman even opened her shop up to serve us this afternoon when she heard us try the locked front door – very hospitable.
Today is much much warmer than any other, Ant has donned the shorts and doesn’t intend going back to the longs…. We’ll see! I am still clinging tightly to my jeans and cardys. The wind is unfortunately still capable of doing embarrassing things to my body. Best we keep heading south tomorrow.
We stopped for lunch at the edge of a farmer’s field up a single track lane in the middle of nowhere… or so we thought. I now know that quad bikes are road legal over here – they even have number plates and brake lights! Lovely fresh French baguette with cheese and pate. Mmmmm. Diet going out the window I feel.
We continued on through Lisieux (Taunton’s twin town) and we have finally stopped at a roadside car park area at the end of an old and disused railway line where we will spend the night. The view out across the valley is awesome, it’s almost half seven, sun still warm and bright and Ant is still pondering the fridge problem, so probably best I put the kettle on.

Day 2 – 6th May 2009 – Fecamp to Jumieges

We woke to a very windy and overcast day, but much brighter than yesterday. Showered, breakfast and I took a quick wander into town to see the Palais Benedictine – which wasn’t all that, but it saved me from witnessing Ant making his sausage, mushroom and cheese omelette. Too much to bear after my tasty oats and nuts muesli – eugh; measly as it turned out!
Then we decided to drive inland along the ‘Routes des fruits’ which is a scenic road along the river Seine. We found this campsite which is a bit posh for us and very pricey. But has internet access, electricity and clean showers- something I suspect we will have to see as a luxury when we get a few months in.The campsite here in Jumieges, is called ‘Camping de la Foret’ due to its location on the edge of a national park forest – the only problem being that each pitch is neatly segregated with a thick hedge which you can’t see a thing through! So time (and privacy) to try out the solar shower me thinks!

Day 1 – 5th May 2009 - Newhaven, to Dieppe, to Fecamp – northern Normandy.

Boarded the ferry at 9am after a tearful goodbye to Mum and Jon.
Ant slept most of the journey, whilst I invested in a new road map of Europe and we decided on heading along the coast towards Fecamp.
We set up at a lovely campsite, some clever hillside driving by Ant placed us on a small spot overlooking the sea. We walked into the harbour town/village to find somewhere to eat and watch the Champions League game (typical!!!) but ended up in a pasta place, drinking Italian vino and watched only the first 20 minutes of the game (Man U were up 2-0 – so Ant got down heartened with it - hehe!), before heading back to bed. Lets hope it doesn’t take too much longer to recover from the WOWO weekend, else we will see only eyelids through most of France!

We're Off!

Have had a fantastic weekend with you all and can’t believe it will be a year until most of us meet again. But thank you all so much for coming and giving us the best send off ever (and the best hangover for a while too!).
I have no idea how to explain ‘Beanman’ to the wider audience, but I can say he will be sorely missed over the coming year and I am already looking forward to next May bank holidays appearance.
It’s still raining here at the campsite in Sheffield Park, so we think we are going to have a little afternoon nap before our final meal on UK soil (if all goes to plan!). So it’s Au Revoir, adios, and goodbye. Take care and we will see you all soon. xx

The trial run

Well we made it home again - our trial run went very well, a few minor hiccups to sort out (small oil leak and washer jets that won't turn off!) but all in all a successful trip.
Only got as far as Chichester on Wednesday night (slight issue with my mums memory and some forgotten keys!!), but the campsite was great; simple, cheap and clean. Ant discovered the size of shower cubicles aren't going to be what he's used to when Thursday morning he managed to successfully shower, dry and then balance on one foot to get his underwear on, before accidentally knocking the shower button with his elbow and so having to go through the whole process again!! oops.
We set off again for the West on Thursday and made good progress with the engine running smoothly, fairly cool and consistent which was a good start. A night in West Buckland was followed by a minor panic from me (or was it a major eppy-fit?!!)about the whole trip - me thinks last minute nerves were surfacing! But we pressed on to Teignmouth in Devon and spent the afternoon with family and the evening letting our hair down with the local band ('36FF'!!!) in the Ferryboat pub. It's amazing what a good sing song and a few bottles of vino can do to steady the nerves and put things into perspective!.
Back to Bathpool for saturday afternoon where we set up under the apple trees at Tanpits Cider Farm alongside grazing bunnies and very vocal peacocks. Idyllic. We both slept off our hangovers at various points in the afternoon before cooking and preparing for round four and a hilarious evening discussing the ins and outs of 30-something relationships with some great friends. Gonna miss you guys. Thanks for coming along though, was much appreciated, especially to camp in such freezing conditions and to wake to such a grumpy farmer on Sunday!!!