Once settled into the apartment and all the boxes we had stored in Molly's garage were carried in! Luckily, in a sort respite from the wind and rain!
The rain returned with thunder and lightning and went on all night. We did get a brief lull so I could take Reggie out for his last walk of the evening before bed.
October 12th.
I was up early to it still raining and Reggie needing his morning constitutional. Then it was back to the apartment as the rain began again. With the forecast being the same for the foreseeable future we briefly considered leaving early and heading away from the rain zone!
Come to sunny Spain. they said!!!
Later it cleared up a little and we ventured out for a short walk to the west. It's Spanish National Day and so it seems the restaurants that were closed last year were actually open this year!
Our apartment over the hairdressers!
Molly parked up...
I called into the shop that says it's open 365 days a year but that hasn't been open at all in the 14 days we have been here previously. Some biscuits and a large bottle of horchata! I first had it on visits to Murcia back in the mid-90's.
Then back from there for lunch. With it still dry we had another foray out and once again I gave the Nikon a run out.
With it still dry and the sun staying out we were able to sit on the balcony. Our apartment is not the best. Inside it's okay but the outlook isn't that good and the balcony gets light but not sun. Still it's dry! The sunset was pretty good.
Later, after dinner I took Reggie for a walk and to check the van.
October 13th
The weather hadn't improved all that much and so it was a case of being cabin fevered in the apartment with forays out to give Reggie a walk. So not much to report.
October 14th
What a change in the weather. It's sunny. It stayed dry all day.
After breakfast we got our stuff together and set off in the van. We had looked at maybe going to Benicassim but lately, reviews of van parking areas have suggested that break-ins have been occurring.
So we decided to head for the Mercadona at Oropesa del Mar, that we have been to a few times before. It's only about 25 minutes down the N340. Usually, we park up near the seafront and take a walk and a coffee in a local bar. Once we shopped we got Reggie out of the van and had coffee in the sun on the terrace of the café by the Mercadona.
Back at Kione we went past along the coast to see if we could find a park-up for lunch. In the end we found a nice spot near to the Camping Tropicana site at Platja de Manyetes. There's supposed to be no overnight parking in these spots, but a few hours for lunch should be okay.
We got the chairs out and sat in the sun. Claire even had a paddle. Reggie got his feet wet as well. We stayed there a couple of hours before returning to the apartment and unloading the shopping. Maybe go back that way again tomorrow?
Platja de Manyetes
Selfie at Platja de Manyetes
The afternoon was spent relaxing and reading.
October 15th.
It would seem that the rain and flooding that Storm Alice brought to the coast between Tarragona and Alicante/Murcia has finally gone away.
We were up early today as we were expecting the cleaners to come in. They have been crashing around in various blocks all week! In the end they arrived around 9am.
We then packed up our stuff and headed off back to Peñiscola to park up alongside the beach again, and this time rather than hide from the wind and rain, but to get out and take a walk along the promenade and maybe have a coffee or even lunch.
We were also running low on cash. We started the trip on October 1st with €120 in notes and some change. We were down to €15 in notes and maybe another €5 in coins. So the first stop was a bank. To draw €70 incurred a €7 fee. So we aborted and went to a branch of Santander. The same! This wasn't to do with our bank, this was the ATM bank. We are used to free ATM's in banks in the UK. We sucked this one up.
We had a coffee in a side street, and then went to the promenade to walk along. Reggie was feeling his age a bit and it was quite hot. At one point it was 27C. So we decided to cut the visit short, and forgo the walk into the old town, and head for "home".
So instead of some deep fried seafood we had sandwiches made from bread from the day before. Still okay.
We spent the afternoon either reading and relaxing or taking Reggie for his frequent walks. I downloaded some software to see if I could edit the videos that the new dashcam produces. I could barely understand how it worked. Finally when I had got a short video made it failed to save it!
October 16th/17th
Two full days left in Alcossebre before we have to pack the van, clean the apartment and set off homeward.
So we did very little but enjoy the fact that Storm Alice had finally blown itself out, without causing too much damage in this area. Further north in Catalunya there was loads of flooding. To the south in Murcia there were reports of electricity failures and no drinking water.
Thursday evening we took a walk into the town along the beach promenade and the wooden boardwalk.
We popped into Ale Hop and Claire bought a few things.
We thought about having dinner out but in the end the restaurants looked a little full for the three of us.
Friday was again local to the apartment. We even loaded most non essentials into the van.
We were lucky we could park pretty much in the same place each time we had just been out. Right by the entrance to the complex.
October 18th
We were up early. Checkout time is 10am and we were ready long before they opened reception.
Today was also the day that TomTom was going to have another brain fade.
We had to clean the apartment. Brush up given the equipment they left for use.
A brush that hair and dust simply stuck to it and a long handled dustpan that was pretty useless when used with the brush!
We had to return the keys, the two TV remotes and the air-conditioning hand unit. The latter three were in the apartment when we arrived.
Once checked out it should have been plain sailing. N340 to Peñiscola, AP7 to Vinarós, then the N232 all the way to Zaragoza.
Instead we went on some roundabout way towards Lleida, way to the north east of where we were going and then looping back!!!
I blame TomTom's mapping for this, but Google Maps was hardly much better.
The more we went on the more frustrating it was. We finally found our way to Huesca where we maybe should have been hours before?
The end of the day was at the magnificent Canfranc Estancion. As well as a the hotel there is a new motorhome area. The cost is €9 a night with or without electric hook-up.
The hotel (https://www.barcelo.com/en-ww/canfranc-estacion-a-royal-hideaway-hotel/) is a little more expensive and peering through the windows it looks expensive.
We setup and then went for a walk. I like to travel with a little waste as possible. This includes fresh and waste water. Our fresh water tank in 100 litres which amounts to 100 kilograms of our payload. Waste water is a little heavier per litre... we could carry 90kgs of that... I filled up with three fills of the 6 litre watering can....
Of course. A walk wouldn't be a walk without a coffee. I mean a coffee. Not a coffee each but coffee. My "dos café con leche por favor" that was been successful many times failed me this time.
Before that we dropped into the tourist office. Why? When I reserved our space on the aire it said to print the page and display in the window. Print?
On one of the forums it suggested going and getting them to do it. The lady was confused. In the end the reservation id I had written out would suffice.
October 19th
Leaving the Canfranc aire the route was to go through the Somport Tunnel. I had the dashcam running and have managed to get a couple a couple of stills from the footage!
Our destination today was planned to be Donzenac in the Dordogne, a few miles north of Brive la Gaillarde on the N20/A20.
Once again TomTom threw a wobbler. A simple trip up the N134 from the Somport Tunnel to Pau before making up for low speeds on a toll motorway led to us disappearing onto narrow, winding C roads.
The N134 does a kind of loop to get from Oleron to Pau. So TomTom and the equally hopeless Google connived to waste time doing a cross country trip to avoid this loop!! In fact by the time we stopped on the A65 services to regroup, we had done less than 70 miles in two hours.
Donzenac was simply too far to arrive in daylight. We changed destination and I plucked Saint Leon sur Vézere out of the Camping-Car Park app.
After another roundabout route and narrow roads we arrived. When right on the edge of the road cars still bulled through the other way. One clown in Porsche came through. We heard a bang. He had hit us. I didn't feel anything. We thought he had banged the bank on his right. He hadn't. He'd hit our left wheel arch. There's a small crease that I didn't notice until the morning when I came to empty the cassette. The door to that is scraped and there's the slight damage. I hope that his Porsche is worse off!!!
It is what it is. If the Porsche fool had slowed down it could have been avoided.
More annoyingly is that Saint Leon is just off a wider road from Les Eyzies to Montignac. And TomTom hadn't chosen that wider safer route.
Once settled we had a walk around the village. It's one of the Beaux Villages de France. There were some places for sale and a few for rental with some web company. Both those were locked up and dark.
October 20th
With the plan to go to Donzenac aborted yesterday and us ending up on the CCP site at Saint-Léon sur Vézere, it meant that we needed to rethink today and the rest of the week's journey and overnighting spots.
We set off around 1020 today. We were originally heading up the A20/N20 to another CCP site at Thénioux near Orleans.
What should have been a simple run eastward to Brive became another C roads funathon.
Once we finally got onto the A20 after a little of the A89 we discussed options. By the time we stopped at the Area Porte de Corrèze services we had decided to abort Thénioux and get somewhere not as far away.
Checking the road map and CCP app we hit on the aire at Oradour sur Glane. It's a popular aire as it's not too far from the "village martyr".
We went there some years ago. It's a very sobering experience. Oradour-sur-Glane Memory Center | Limousin – New Horizons https://share.google/Ny8nRf3gYi1c5HH6I
By the time we had setup it started to rain. The village isn't dog friendly as it's a memorial. It's 15 minutes to walk but not in the rain!
Maybe tomorrow on our way out?
The re-think means that the Tuesday overnight has to change. Instead of the champagne aire near Epernay, we will now keep going roughly north to the Loire Valley and another CCP aire at Veuzain sur Loire.
It's only around 125 miles so we might get a chance to pop into a chateau or two...
It means that the Wednesday route up to the vet at Buchy, who we have used before, for Reggie's worming and passport stamping, will be slightly longer but on very familiar roads via Rouen!!
October 21st
Today's trip was Oradour-sur-Glane to Veuzain sur Loire. It is only around 125 miles between the two. Incredibly on mostly one road, although each department changed the first number! It's either the D675 or the D975.....
It is about halfway between our start point in Oradour and the vet in Buchy.
Reggie is booked in again at a vet we have used in the past a few times for his worming pill and passport stamped.
Our first stop at Bellac where is seems all the supermarkets are around one roundabout! We chose Carrefour over Intermarché as the fuel station was cheapest.
Our tank was showing we only had around 120 miles range left of our last Spanish diesel.
Here diesel was €1.495, the cheapest we have seen so far since crossing the border. That equates to around £1.309 according the Halifax Clarity. Cheaper than at home!!!
We did a little shopping. Fresh bread. It's hard to beat proper French
bread.
Lunch was had up the road around 1pm. We hadn't seen many picnic areas. The one we found is on park4night. It was at Martizay (https://park4night.com/en/place/118402).
Onwards to Veuzain. The CCP aire is a few hundred metres from the Loire.
Once through the barrier we could see there was only one van already parked up. One side of the aire is grass, the other gravel hardstanding.
After so much rain, and more forecast, it was the gravel for us.
We had a walk to find the viewpoint from this back across to Chaumont sur Loire where there's a large imposing chateau.
On the side of the roundabout there are rows of vines. Each row a different grape variety that is grown and used locally. There were some interesting info boards and sculptures.
Sadly on this trip we aren't able to visit any, but we can always come back.
Dinner was in again and I was able to watch most of Arsenal beating Atletico Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League on Amazon Prime. The firestick working off my phone as there's no WiFi on site.
Tomorrow? North via the N10 and Chartres and Rouen to the vet.
October 22nd
Today was Reggie's trip to the vet for his worming pill and passport signed up.
But first we had to get away from Veuzain sur Loire to head up towards Chartres and then Rouen.
The choice was to go to Blois and then north or diagonally north-west to Vendôme and onto the N10.
TomTom chose the Vendôme route. It was a little frustrating again as this section of the N10 chops and changes from single lane 80kph to the 90kph two lane "overtaking" sections that are so short it's still hard to overtake anything.
Still, we arrived in Buchy for the 4pm vet appointment at just after 2pm. We parked in the Carrefour Market. It's not far to the vets from there.
We did a little shopping and then had lunch before a rest up. Then go the vets.
Fifteen minutes and €36.80 later we were back at the van.
We decided to go to the Camping-Car Park aire at Incheville for the night. I had toyed with going straight to Calais Camping-Car Park but Google Maps showed it was around 100 miles.
With Storm Benjamin almost on us, it seemed two nights in the way of the storm would be a bit much.
As it was, Incheville is not that far inland and the wind hit along with heavy rain. To be fair it has rained heavily at times since we crossed into France through the Somport Tunnel!!
Saint-Léon sure Vézère? Tick
Oradour-sur-Glane? Tick
Veuzain-sur-Loire? Tick
So why would Incheville be any different?
The park up is near some lakes and is mostly flat and quiet. The wind got up and we spent some of the night listening to the wind and rain.
October 23rd
A not so long drive up to Calais. We didn't rush. When you touch into a Camping-Car Park aire you get either five hours, perfect for a rest or to use the service area, ir twenty-four hours. As we didn't have to leave Incheville until 5pm we didnt hurry ourselves.
We did the services as we left and headed back to the A28 to Abbeville. Rather than the boring D901 aka the old N1, we chose the A16 toll motorway.
We paid our annual visit to the Aire De La Baie De Somme on the A16. Storm Benjamin was still blowing a gale. Whilst I got us both a coffee in Starbucks (!), Claire made sandwiches.
Then it was back on the A16 north. At Isques there was an obligatory exit for HGV and motorcycles. Between here and Boulogne is a notoriously windy viaduct way up high and they were making vehicles avoid it. We decided to go that way.
In the end we arrived at the aire. Plenty of space and we ended up in pitch 92. There are 102 here.
Once setup we headed out for a walk to look for the beach . It's not that far and we emerged through an alley to see the closed carousel in front.
The storm had abated a little and DFDS were running so we guessed that Irish Ferries would be running the following day...
October 24th
A pretty peaceful night. I was up with Reggie a couple of times from around 6am as he cried to go out. On one occasion there were a few vans packing up to go. Too early for me.
Home day. We were up at around 8am and planned to be away at 11am to get all the jobs done and get to the port in good time, should there be any holdups through passports and customs...
Checking in with Irish was really simple. French passport was simple. Quick. Efficient. No queue. My UK passport stamped as usual. Claire's Irish passport checked in the machine.
As usual. UK passports. Slow. Longer queues... Oddly we didn't get stopped to see if we had any stowaway or if the gas checked.
The Oscar Wilde is a former P&O vessel and the "pet den" is the old pet lounge. It's generally comfortable and the crossing passed quickly enough. Reggie was a little clingy wanting to sit on us, which is something he rarely does. The crossing bought in Euros and cost £23 less than P&O, so I suppose no free coffee was to be expected!
The last 14 miles of the trip passed easily and we were soon on the drive. Time to clear all the boxes from the back of the van.
Another holiday over. Where next?
October 25th
Before I set off from the drive on October 1st I zeroed Trip B and once back I took a photo. Not too bad.
October 30th
Fat club this morning. 4lbs on over the holiday! For anyone that has every done Slimming World to shift the bulk, I am in a grace week. I am 1lb over target. Not bad for all that time away.
The rain returned with thunder and lightning and went on all night. We did get a brief lull so I could take Reggie out for his last walk of the evening before bed.
October 12th.
I was up early to it still raining and Reggie needing his morning constitutional. Then it was back to the apartment as the rain began again. With the forecast being the same for the foreseeable future we briefly considered leaving early and heading away from the rain zone!
Come to sunny Spain. they said!!!
Later it cleared up a little and we ventured out for a short walk to the west. It's Spanish National Day and so it seems the restaurants that were closed last year were actually open this year!
Our apartment over the hairdressers!
Molly parked up...
I called into the shop that says it's open 365 days a year but that hasn't been open at all in the 14 days we have been here previously. Some biscuits and a large bottle of horchata! I first had it on visits to Murcia back in the mid-90's.
Then back from there for lunch. With it still dry we had another foray out and once again I gave the Nikon a run out.
With it still dry and the sun staying out we were able to sit on the balcony. Our apartment is not the best. Inside it's okay but the outlook isn't that good and the balcony gets light but not sun. Still it's dry! The sunset was pretty good.
Later, after dinner I took Reggie for a walk and to check the van.
October 13th
The weather hadn't improved all that much and so it was a case of being cabin fevered in the apartment with forays out to give Reggie a walk. So not much to report.
October 14th
What a change in the weather. It's sunny. It stayed dry all day.
After breakfast we got our stuff together and set off in the van. We had looked at maybe going to Benicassim but lately, reviews of van parking areas have suggested that break-ins have been occurring.
So we decided to head for the Mercadona at Oropesa del Mar, that we have been to a few times before. It's only about 25 minutes down the N340. Usually, we park up near the seafront and take a walk and a coffee in a local bar. Once we shopped we got Reggie out of the van and had coffee in the sun on the terrace of the café by the Mercadona.
Back at Kione we went past along the coast to see if we could find a park-up for lunch. In the end we found a nice spot near to the Camping Tropicana site at Platja de Manyetes. There's supposed to be no overnight parking in these spots, but a few hours for lunch should be okay.
We got the chairs out and sat in the sun. Claire even had a paddle. Reggie got his feet wet as well. We stayed there a couple of hours before returning to the apartment and unloading the shopping. Maybe go back that way again tomorrow?
Platja de Manyetes
Selfie at Platja de Manyetes
The afternoon was spent relaxing and reading.
October 15th.
It would seem that the rain and flooding that Storm Alice brought to the coast between Tarragona and Alicante/Murcia has finally gone away.
We were up early today as we were expecting the cleaners to come in. They have been crashing around in various blocks all week! In the end they arrived around 9am.
We then packed up our stuff and headed off back to Peñiscola to park up alongside the beach again, and this time rather than hide from the wind and rain, but to get out and take a walk along the promenade and maybe have a coffee or even lunch.
We were also running low on cash. We started the trip on October 1st with €120 in notes and some change. We were down to €15 in notes and maybe another €5 in coins. So the first stop was a bank. To draw €70 incurred a €7 fee. So we aborted and went to a branch of Santander. The same! This wasn't to do with our bank, this was the ATM bank. We are used to free ATM's in banks in the UK. We sucked this one up.
We had a coffee in a side street, and then went to the promenade to walk along. Reggie was feeling his age a bit and it was quite hot. At one point it was 27C. So we decided to cut the visit short, and forgo the walk into the old town, and head for "home".
So instead of some deep fried seafood we had sandwiches made from bread from the day before. Still okay.
We spent the afternoon either reading and relaxing or taking Reggie for his frequent walks. I downloaded some software to see if I could edit the videos that the new dashcam produces. I could barely understand how it worked. Finally when I had got a short video made it failed to save it!
October 16th/17th
Two full days left in Alcossebre before we have to pack the van, clean the apartment and set off homeward.
So we did very little but enjoy the fact that Storm Alice had finally blown itself out, without causing too much damage in this area. Further north in Catalunya there was loads of flooding. To the south in Murcia there were reports of electricity failures and no drinking water.
Thursday evening we took a walk into the town along the beach promenade and the wooden boardwalk.
We popped into Ale Hop and Claire bought a few things.
We thought about having dinner out but in the end the restaurants looked a little full for the three of us.
Friday was again local to the apartment. We even loaded most non essentials into the van.
We were lucky we could park pretty much in the same place each time we had just been out. Right by the entrance to the complex.
October 18th
We were up early. Checkout time is 10am and we were ready long before they opened reception.
Today was also the day that TomTom was going to have another brain fade.
We had to clean the apartment. Brush up given the equipment they left for use.
A brush that hair and dust simply stuck to it and a long handled dustpan that was pretty useless when used with the brush!
We had to return the keys, the two TV remotes and the air-conditioning hand unit. The latter three were in the apartment when we arrived.
Once checked out it should have been plain sailing. N340 to Peñiscola, AP7 to Vinarós, then the N232 all the way to Zaragoza.
Instead we went on some roundabout way towards Lleida, way to the north east of where we were going and then looping back!!!
I blame TomTom's mapping for this, but Google Maps was hardly much better.
The more we went on the more frustrating it was. We finally found our way to Huesca where we maybe should have been hours before?
The end of the day was at the magnificent Canfranc Estancion. As well as a the hotel there is a new motorhome area. The cost is €9 a night with or without electric hook-up.
The hotel (https://www.barcelo.com/en-ww/canfranc-estacion-a-royal-hideaway-hotel/) is a little more expensive and peering through the windows it looks expensive.
We setup and then went for a walk. I like to travel with a little waste as possible. This includes fresh and waste water. Our fresh water tank in 100 litres which amounts to 100 kilograms of our payload. Waste water is a little heavier per litre... we could carry 90kgs of that... I filled up with three fills of the 6 litre watering can....
Of course. A walk wouldn't be a walk without a coffee. I mean a coffee. Not a coffee each but coffee. My "dos café con leche por favor" that was been successful many times failed me this time.
Before that we dropped into the tourist office. Why? When I reserved our space on the aire it said to print the page and display in the window. Print?
On one of the forums it suggested going and getting them to do it. The lady was confused. In the end the reservation id I had written out would suffice.
October 19th
Leaving the Canfranc aire the route was to go through the Somport Tunnel. I had the dashcam running and have managed to get a couple a couple of stills from the footage!
Our destination today was planned to be Donzenac in the Dordogne, a few miles north of Brive la Gaillarde on the N20/A20.
Once again TomTom threw a wobbler. A simple trip up the N134 from the Somport Tunnel to Pau before making up for low speeds on a toll motorway led to us disappearing onto narrow, winding C roads.
The N134 does a kind of loop to get from Oleron to Pau. So TomTom and the equally hopeless Google connived to waste time doing a cross country trip to avoid this loop!! In fact by the time we stopped on the A65 services to regroup, we had done less than 70 miles in two hours.
Donzenac was simply too far to arrive in daylight. We changed destination and I plucked Saint Leon sur Vézere out of the Camping-Car Park app.
After another roundabout route and narrow roads we arrived. When right on the edge of the road cars still bulled through the other way. One clown in Porsche came through. We heard a bang. He had hit us. I didn't feel anything. We thought he had banged the bank on his right. He hadn't. He'd hit our left wheel arch. There's a small crease that I didn't notice until the morning when I came to empty the cassette. The door to that is scraped and there's the slight damage. I hope that his Porsche is worse off!!!
It is what it is. If the Porsche fool had slowed down it could have been avoided.
More annoyingly is that Saint Leon is just off a wider road from Les Eyzies to Montignac. And TomTom hadn't chosen that wider safer route.
Once settled we had a walk around the village. It's one of the Beaux Villages de France. There were some places for sale and a few for rental with some web company. Both those were locked up and dark.
October 20th
With the plan to go to Donzenac aborted yesterday and us ending up on the CCP site at Saint-Léon sur Vézere, it meant that we needed to rethink today and the rest of the week's journey and overnighting spots.
We set off around 1020 today. We were originally heading up the A20/N20 to another CCP site at Thénioux near Orleans.
What should have been a simple run eastward to Brive became another C roads funathon.
Once we finally got onto the A20 after a little of the A89 we discussed options. By the time we stopped at the Area Porte de Corrèze services we had decided to abort Thénioux and get somewhere not as far away.
Checking the road map and CCP app we hit on the aire at Oradour sur Glane. It's a popular aire as it's not too far from the "village martyr".
We went there some years ago. It's a very sobering experience. Oradour-sur-Glane Memory Center | Limousin – New Horizons https://share.google/Ny8nRf3gYi1c5HH6I
By the time we had setup it started to rain. The village isn't dog friendly as it's a memorial. It's 15 minutes to walk but not in the rain!
Maybe tomorrow on our way out?
The re-think means that the Tuesday overnight has to change. Instead of the champagne aire near Epernay, we will now keep going roughly north to the Loire Valley and another CCP aire at Veuzain sur Loire.
It's only around 125 miles so we might get a chance to pop into a chateau or two...
It means that the Wednesday route up to the vet at Buchy, who we have used before, for Reggie's worming and passport stamping, will be slightly longer but on very familiar roads via Rouen!!
October 21st
Today's trip was Oradour-sur-Glane to Veuzain sur Loire. It is only around 125 miles between the two. Incredibly on mostly one road, although each department changed the first number! It's either the D675 or the D975.....
It is about halfway between our start point in Oradour and the vet in Buchy.
Reggie is booked in again at a vet we have used in the past a few times for his worming pill and passport stamped.
Our first stop at Bellac where is seems all the supermarkets are around one roundabout! We chose Carrefour over Intermarché as the fuel station was cheapest.
Our tank was showing we only had around 120 miles range left of our last Spanish diesel.
Here diesel was €1.495, the cheapest we have seen so far since crossing the border. That equates to around £1.309 according the Halifax Clarity. Cheaper than at home!!!
We did a little shopping. Fresh bread. It's hard to beat proper French
bread.Lunch was had up the road around 1pm. We hadn't seen many picnic areas. The one we found is on park4night. It was at Martizay (https://park4night.com/en/place/118402).
Onwards to Veuzain. The CCP aire is a few hundred metres from the Loire.
Once through the barrier we could see there was only one van already parked up. One side of the aire is grass, the other gravel hardstanding.
After so much rain, and more forecast, it was the gravel for us.
We had a walk to find the viewpoint from this back across to Chaumont sur Loire where there's a large imposing chateau.
On the side of the roundabout there are rows of vines. Each row a different grape variety that is grown and used locally. There were some interesting info boards and sculptures.
Sadly on this trip we aren't able to visit any, but we can always come back.
Dinner was in again and I was able to watch most of Arsenal beating Atletico Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League on Amazon Prime. The firestick working off my phone as there's no WiFi on site.
Tomorrow? North via the N10 and Chartres and Rouen to the vet.
October 22nd
Today was Reggie's trip to the vet for his worming pill and passport signed up.
But first we had to get away from Veuzain sur Loire to head up towards Chartres and then Rouen.
The choice was to go to Blois and then north or diagonally north-west to Vendôme and onto the N10.
TomTom chose the Vendôme route. It was a little frustrating again as this section of the N10 chops and changes from single lane 80kph to the 90kph two lane "overtaking" sections that are so short it's still hard to overtake anything.
Still, we arrived in Buchy for the 4pm vet appointment at just after 2pm. We parked in the Carrefour Market. It's not far to the vets from there.
We did a little shopping and then had lunch before a rest up. Then go the vets.
Fifteen minutes and €36.80 later we were back at the van.
We decided to go to the Camping-Car Park aire at Incheville for the night. I had toyed with going straight to Calais Camping-Car Park but Google Maps showed it was around 100 miles.
With Storm Benjamin almost on us, it seemed two nights in the way of the storm would be a bit much.
As it was, Incheville is not that far inland and the wind hit along with heavy rain. To be fair it has rained heavily at times since we crossed into France through the Somport Tunnel!!
Saint-Léon sure Vézère? Tick
Oradour-sur-Glane? Tick
Veuzain-sur-Loire? Tick
So why would Incheville be any different?
The park up is near some lakes and is mostly flat and quiet. The wind got up and we spent some of the night listening to the wind and rain.
October 23rd
A not so long drive up to Calais. We didn't rush. When you touch into a Camping-Car Park aire you get either five hours, perfect for a rest or to use the service area, ir twenty-four hours. As we didn't have to leave Incheville until 5pm we didnt hurry ourselves.
We did the services as we left and headed back to the A28 to Abbeville. Rather than the boring D901 aka the old N1, we chose the A16 toll motorway.
We paid our annual visit to the Aire De La Baie De Somme on the A16. Storm Benjamin was still blowing a gale. Whilst I got us both a coffee in Starbucks (!), Claire made sandwiches.
Then it was back on the A16 north. At Isques there was an obligatory exit for HGV and motorcycles. Between here and Boulogne is a notoriously windy viaduct way up high and they were making vehicles avoid it. We decided to go that way.
In the end we arrived at the aire. Plenty of space and we ended up in pitch 92. There are 102 here.
Once setup we headed out for a walk to look for the beach . It's not that far and we emerged through an alley to see the closed carousel in front.
The storm had abated a little and DFDS were running so we guessed that Irish Ferries would be running the following day...
October 24th
A pretty peaceful night. I was up with Reggie a couple of times from around 6am as he cried to go out. On one occasion there were a few vans packing up to go. Too early for me.
Home day. We were up at around 8am and planned to be away at 11am to get all the jobs done and get to the port in good time, should there be any holdups through passports and customs...
Checking in with Irish was really simple. French passport was simple. Quick. Efficient. No queue. My UK passport stamped as usual. Claire's Irish passport checked in the machine.
As usual. UK passports. Slow. Longer queues... Oddly we didn't get stopped to see if we had any stowaway or if the gas checked.
The Oscar Wilde is a former P&O vessel and the "pet den" is the old pet lounge. It's generally comfortable and the crossing passed quickly enough. Reggie was a little clingy wanting to sit on us, which is something he rarely does. The crossing bought in Euros and cost £23 less than P&O, so I suppose no free coffee was to be expected!
The last 14 miles of the trip passed easily and we were soon on the drive. Time to clear all the boxes from the back of the van.
Another holiday over. Where next?
October 25th
Before I set off from the drive on October 1st I zeroed Trip B and once back I took a photo. Not too bad.
October 30th
Fat club this morning. 4lbs on over the holiday! For anyone that has every done Slimming World to shift the bulk, I am in a grace week. I am 1lb over target. Not bad for all that time away.
