Friday 14th September 2018 – Carolles, Normandy, France

We were woken by a lorry driver collecting his trailer but soon dropped off again, only rousing when the cars started to arrive just before 08:00 – much better than last night!
We needed to do a small amount of shopping but discovered that the Intermarche that we stopped at had a Foire Aux Vins. This meant that they were selling huge amounts of wine, much provided in boxes that are very easily stacked in the locker under the van bed. This was too much of a temptation for me and, even though it was very early in the holiday, I bought a few cases.
We stopped for lunch at the pretty village of Feugeres on the D57 and admired their huge cider mill and press as we left the village. This was a good route with very pleasant countryside and nice villages.
our destination for the night was Carolles, just off the coast but with a beach a couple of miles away at Carolles Plage. The campsite was good and we decided to eat in as, after a wander around the village we found that there was only one restaurant.
Photos: We had never seen one of these before – a pizza machine that produced a pizza of your choice in 3 minutes!; The cider mill and press at Feugeres.

Thursday 13th September 2018 – La Haye-du-Puis, Normandy, France

It was a lovely, quiet night until just before 5 am when the roar of a motorbike announced the arrival of the first of 40 or 50 Harley Davidsons. I love the throaty sound of these bikes but not at five o’clock in the morning! A member of the port staff took up position just behind Henrietta and directed all incoming cars and motorbikes to the correct lane for booking in. We didn’t hear the cars or the directions for them but I can tell you that all the Harley Davidsons were directed to lane 26. The directions had to be shouted so that the riders could hear over the engine noise and the van literally vibrated with the bass note. The last bike arrived, late, at 06:15, just 15 minutes before we had to get up for our ferry. Needless to say, we didn’t get any sleep after 05:00.
The option of staying at Poole port is a very good one but, if you are thinking of taking it, make sure that there are no planned Harley Davidson meets in the Channel Islands!
The ferry crossing was really calm and the journey out of Poole Harbour, passing very close to Brownsea Island, was a delight. We arrived on-time at Cherbourg and were lucky to be the fourth vehicle off the ferry. Unlike most of the vehicles that headed straight down the Cherbourg peninsular, we turned West and headed for the ‘Ruines Megalithique les Pouquelees’ shown on our map. When we arrived there, we found that the ruins were at the top of a hill that we couldn’t drive up. It was well after lunchtime and, given that we had been awake since 5 am and were hungry, we decide to follow the sign to the ‘pic-nique’ area 300m away in Vauville. This turned to be right by the beach with stunning views in all directions, a wonderful location for lunch. We watched interesting birds having their lunch on the beach and fishing boats catching other people’s lunch whilst the shadows of small, fluffy white clouds chased each other over the sea and sand – magical. And then we had a fly-past of a WWII aircraft, probably a Spitfire.
As we drove out of Vauville, we passed an interesting-looking church, chateau and botanical gardens. We noted that we needed to plot a return visit for a more detailed investigation.
On then to Le Haye-du-Puits where we had identified an aire du camping-car. It is not the most salubrious of aires, being part lorry park and part car park with a very uneven surface. It was also very busy when we arrived and, hoping that most of the cars would leave later, we left the van in an unsuitable position and headed off to investigate the town. It is pleasant enough but not spectacularly interesting. I suspect that much of the town was destroyed during the allied invasion at the end of WWII but the church was still intact and worth visiting.
We moved the van into a more suitable position but the car park was still very busy and it was only in the late evening when we returned from eating out in the town that the car park had cleared. Photos: View from our picnic spot at Vauville; Vauville beach.

Wednesday 12th September 2018 – Poole, Dorset, England

Wednesday morning and early afternoon was spent, like most Wednesdays, working with Hands on Heritage (aka Axe Club) at the Avalon Marshes Centre, Westhay in Somerset. Here we work on reconstructing an Anglo-Saxon long hall and part of a Roman Villa. If you get a chance, go along to one of the open days here and see the project in progress.
By late afternoon we had finished the last-minute packing of Henrietta, our Hobby motorhome, and set off for Poole. We were booked on the 08:30 Brittany Ferries sailing from Poole to Cherbourg and to avoid a very early morning drive to the port, we decided to stay in the port overnight. We arrived to find a few more motorhomes lined up facing the check-in booths and joined them to watch the sunset over the marina before turning in for an early night, aware that we would have an early start in the morning.

New Sojourn to Brittany, September 2018

This is our second sojourn of the year after we spent a few weeks in Ireland in June / July. I didn't find enough time to do a blog whilst we were there but I was determined to write one for this trip. Our plan is simple - take our motorhome Henrietta on the ferry to France and go where the van takes us. If the weather is good, we will stay in the Brittany area and if it takes a turn for the worse, we will turn south to warmer weather. The trip will take us three and a half weeks with our Eurotunnel train booked for 8th October.