A busy departure day.

[Mr porky]

Hi everyone
We are currently parked at Shrewsbury after fitting in what seems like a week of things into 1 day.
The list includes

A meeting in Manchester
A site visit and measure in manchester
A pick up of wheel studs from a trailer company in Chester
A supermarket top up of silly things food wise which are sometimes difficult to find in continental Europe.
A filling at the dentist in Middlewich
A missed delivery of a new rim for a trailer
A conversation with rim supplier as the DHL app won't work
A conversation with farmer Jeff where I store some trailers, he's going to swap my tyre and fit the new rim (great relief)
2 pints of delicious Butty Bach beer In a local pub near to our sleepy spot
A well needed meal at Hickorys smokehouse
Waking up 2 hours ago thinking to myself I hope DHL find the farm/storage next time

Not too bad a start but it did seem as we deserved the beer and food last night, it should be a decent drive today to the camc site next to Folkestone.
We are looking forward to this trip as it seems we have been in the uk too long over this summer.
This was due to family time which is always nice and a bit of dental work that was overdue.
We decided to use the chunnel which does seem to have gotten quite pricy but when I gave Phil the options he insisted on tunnel even when I would have been happy with irish ferries.
Looking forward to a easy time in france with no set path just sticking to the east side as we are off to Dusseldorf salon to view electric bikes and other bits we need.
We may call into Luxembourg as its been over 5 years since we where last there and possibly the mosel region again, not sure we will see where the wind blows.

 

[Flairy]

Germany is so easy been going since 1974 and still loads to see

 

[namwaldog]

Anywhere around here you think we shouldn't miss

We overnighted on the CCP Aire at Fumay (N 49.997170, E 4.709920) which sits in a loop of the Meuse very close to the France /Belgium border, downriver from Charleville-Mezieres.
It is a nice old town and sits on a via Verde if you want a nice scenic flat bike ride.
There seemed to be a few restaurants within walking distance of the Aire, but we slummed it at the Friterie at the end of the quay!
I posted some images at this thread...

Yet another disused railway line. Ardennes

Continuing our quest to find Monsieur Beechings old railway lines for pleasant cycling we found this one which follows the Semoy river from Montherme on the Meuse up to Les haute rivieres. It follows the river the majority of the route and a very very gentle incline until after Thilay a couple...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

(Scroll down to the last post.)

 

[Mr porky]

We overnighted on the CCP Aire at Fumay (N 49.997170, E 4.709920) which sits in a loop of the Meuse very close to the France /Belgium border, downriver from Charleville-Mezieres.
It is a nice old town and sits on a via Verde if you want a nice scenic flat bike ride.
There seemed to be a few restaurants within walking distance of the Aire, but we slummed it at the Friterie at the end of the quay!
I posted some images at this thread...

Yet another disused railway line. Ardennes

Continuing our quest to find Monsieur Beechings old railway lines for pleasant cycling we found this one which follows the Semoy river from Montherme on the Meuse up to Les haute rivieres. It follows the river the majority of the route and a very very gentle incline until after Thilay a couple...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

(Scroll down to the last post.)

Thank you

 

[Mr porky]

Oops I should have booked till Monday as it's a lovely spot. No matter we shall move on, possibly to Saint-quinten.

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[scousebird]

Oops I should have booked till Monday as it's a lovely spot. No matter we shall move on, possibly to Saint-quinten.

At Cappy? Can you not just stay another night as you won't pay until you leave.

 

[Mr porky]

At Cappy? Can you not just stay another night as you won't pay until you leave.

I'm not sure how that works, yes we are on but as we try to book another night it says it's full. I would hate to be the person that took another person's pre booking.

 

[scousebird]

I've never booked a CCP so I don't know how it works either.

 

[Mr porky]

Ok I have had a lookabout and there's 6 free spots with more leaving. I think it may be a glitch in the system and it just hasn't reset. We are off for a walk into the village and will check later.

 

[Mr porky]

We had a mooch around the local village and its quite pretty with a bar/general store and a restaurant.

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[Mr porky]

An easy drive to Saint-Quentin, we have parked up on the local aire next to a canal and swimming pool.
Mooching around may occur but been a Sunday everything will of course be closed

 

[scousebird]

A lot of French shops are also closed on Mondays

 

[Mr porky]

A lot of French shops are also closed on Mondays

Yes we have come across thus before.

 

[Mr porky]

We have had our mooch about and as suspected 90% is closed, however it's a really pleasant city/town with a lovely basilica which although the outside is under a refurb it's still worth a look. A couple Of restaurants and bars open so we have stopped for a light refresher.
€10.60 for 2 x 330ml draught beers, ouch. Nice spot though overlooking the town hall square.

 

[CAB96]

I'm not sure how that works, yes we are on but as we try to book another night it says it's full. I would hate to be the person that took another person's pre booking.

I thought with CCP you just stayed until you left, and paid on exit?

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[bellabee]

I thought with CCP you just stayed until you left, and paid on exit?

Yes, you're right. People are coming and going all the time.

 

[Barryh]

A couple Of restaurants and bars open so we have stopped for a light refresher.
€10.60 for 2 x 330ml draught beers, ouch.

Never figured out why beer is so expensive, probably tax or something. But the number of folk you see leaving a really good swig in their glass!

 

[Mr porky]

Never figured out why beer is so expensive, probably tax or something. But the number of folk you see leaving a really good swig in their glass!

It's cheaper to buy wine, however we really wanted beer.

 

[Flairy]

Love the pictures keep them coming won’t you i prefer wine if your buying

 

[Mr porky]

We moved on to Reims this morning parking up next to the stadium , a 15 minute walk to get to the stunning Reims Cathedral. After a good walk-around a light lunch was enjoyed before a mooch around the shops.
We did consider a champagne house visit but cost and time was against us.
We decided the park up spot was not good enough for a sleepy spot as it had a lot of road noise. We travelled to the out of town Hyper u shopping area as we needed to do laundry and it could be our nighttime location, oh dear not at all. (It's all blocked off with rubble as they had a traveller's problem and have only just shifted them)
Laundry completed we travelled again to one of the first aires we ever used over 6 years ago at Saint-Imoges, just squeezed in and voila a quiet safe spot.
Beer is in hand and dinner is been prepared.

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[namwaldog]

That picture with the beams of light coming through the stained glass window is a cracker!!

Thank You!!

 

[The Coops]

You must be getting soft, No Champers?

 

[Mr porky]

a photo of the dodgy location I mentioned at Hyper u shopping area outside of Reims.

 

[Mr porky]

You must be getting soft, No Champers?

We actually picked a cheap case up from a supermarket the other day. Phil does love his sparkling

 

[Mr porky]

We tried to use the aire in Epernay but when I inputted it into the sat nav it had a 3.5t limit so we decided to move onward to Metz, 2 hours later we have parked up at the aire on the river next to the campsite.
Lunch called with a bottle of wine obviously afterwards we wondered around the indoor food market and shop's before finding a lovely craft ale bar on the rue de change.

We may do some camping behaviour later as our sleepy spot has a patch of grass overlooking the river.
Life is perfect.

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[Peavy]

As we didn't get everything on my shopping list we called into a intermarche supermarket to complete our weekend shopping and I know we are in france for a little bit before we go into Germany but I'm not a great fan of German wines so we took this opportunity to fill up our cellar (yes morelos come equipped with wine cellars).
We also got a new anti mossy racket hopefully this is a better one as the last one didn't last.
Camping behaviour is now on the cards as we are at camping de mon village which is an old municipal campsite run by the aire company camping cars and it's very peaceful until the local French airforce decided to use us as a fake bombing spot (we could be in mar menor in spain )
We are paid up till tommorow lunch we may move on or just chill .
Lunch was a clara beer and a light lunch.View attachment 939169View attachment 939170View attachment 939171

That Chovi all i oli was bought in France? That's from down here
Didn't know they sell it there

 

[Drum Major]

Looks lovely enjoy

 

[Mr porky]

That Chovi all i oli was bought in France? That's from down here
Didn't know they sell it there

Bought in the uk. Morrisons

 

[bellabee]

Metz looks lovely - as does your lunch .

 

[Mr porky]

Metz looks lovely - as does your lunch .

We are tempted to stay another day but we may move on, heading for dusseldorf for the weekend as there's a food festival on in the city centre.

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[Mr porky]

As we are sat enjoying our coffee and looking out at the beautiful view thinking should we move on or spend 1 more night. Not sure, I think another cafe culture day may be in order then move to a stellplatz tommorow between here and Dusseldorf.