Our French Adventure 2014. 15th May to 27th June

Well all packed up and ready to go so we left at 5.30pm on the Wednesday evening for Poole Ferry terminal.  Good run down and we were on the Quay by 8:15. One other motor home there who's owner looked relieved to see us. Turns out she was an 85 year old lady,taking her motor home to France.
Then up at 6.30, round to the right lane for the ferry, which we boarded at 7.45.
Crossed the 'oggin' on a sea that was flatter than the proverbial mill pond.


Straight run down from Cherbourg to Villedieu-les-Poeles.  This is a favourite site of ours, in the middle of a  beautiful town. We arrived to find that Julliet and her husband had left, the managers, and new people were in charge. The site was rather unkempt. It turns out that the new managers had never camped, motorhomed or caravanned!  However we were made welcome.

After two days, with cracking weather, we moved south to Camping de la Motte in the Vendee. Good little site with a very large pitch.

After one night there we moved on th Camping de Montreal, at St Germain Les Belles.Hans and his wife welcomed us as friends and we shared a meal with them in the bar that night. We love this site as it is on the edge of a lake, and we had a lakeside pitch.

Our View from our Pitch

After two nights we moved on again, this time to Millau where we stayed at Camping des Deux Rivieres. This was a busy site in the actual town.

We left there and climed to over 900m on our way to La Floride, which is in Le Barcares, which is on the Mediterranean coast about 12 miles north of Perpignan. We had been allocated pitch M34.This was our home for the next 28 nights. The pitch was large, with our own private toilet, wash basin, shower and store room.

When we arrived I showed our ASCI card, and the receptionist lady, who spoke four languages fluently worked it out that the camp site offer for 4 weeks was better than using the ASCI card.  We spent time setting up properly.

The pitch is about 25yards from the beach, and half a mile from the local village! Lizzie siad I should say that it works out as less than 14 euros a night for a 28 day stay!

We soon fell into the routine of me wandering up to the village for croissants and bread, then breakfast, followed by Coffee in the local village, then the rest of the day sat in the sun reading or sleeping!  Please note the temperatures were, in the shade in the high 30's.

I will not bore you with details of daily living so just a few highlights!

A meal in Le Barcares of Whelks, clams, Razor clams, whelks etc.

Another night it was a grilled Lobster for only 19 euros

The market, which happens on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.  The chickens done on the Rottissiere were yummy.

One day we went to Perpignon, which is a lovely city, but was rather spoilt by the itinerant people from eastern europe who were wandering around. Still enjoyed our visit though.

On the 14th of June we set off for a day trip to Andorra! as we climbed to over 3000m the Freelander2 started to overheat, so cutting our losses we turned for home! On the Monday I rang Red Pennant and explained we did not fancy driving home with an overheating Freelander.  They quickly sorted a garage for the following morning.  We turned up at the garageat the due time. He took a quick look and then, aided by translation from the ladies at Red Pennant directed me to another garage.  This turned out to be Land Rover Perpignon!  We presented ourselves at the service managers desk.  He explained, in English, thet the computer was busy until 2.00pm, so come back then. We duly were back at 1.45.  The Freelander was plugged into the computer, and a faulty fan module was diagnosed.They did not have one, so one was taken off a brand new Freelander2 in the show room.  We were back on then road, albeit 761 euros down.

We stayed on at Le Barcares for an extra couple of days to make sure all was well.  Then, after booking a pitch for next June we turned for home.

We set of towards Toulouse, and stopped at a site called camping 3 Cantons!  A really beautiful site just off the Motorway.

From there we headed north to Camping De Montreal, just for two. nights.

After that we headed to camping de la Motte for one night.

Then we returned to  Villedieu-les Poeles for our final two nights in France.

WW2 display in the street!

We left VdP at 2.00pm on the Thursday,driving with heavy hearts to Cherbourg, for the 6.30pm ferry to Poole.

We landed in Poole at 9.45pm, and were home just after midnight.
2232 miles covered at 26.1 mpg
An amazing trip,that I have tried to condense.

Roll on next May!

To date we have done 73 nights in the caravan this year!

A final picture. This is the local taxi in V de P

Not bad, a Discovery 4!Class!!!!

Bayardo Farm CL 9th/10th of May

A short run to this CL,just south of Marlborough,  for just two nights as our final shakedown before we set off for France.
The site was easilly accessed. Longish grass and a bit soft underfoot. As very strong winds were forecast we pitched with the off side of the caravan facing SW. That worked as we had gales from the South West and the awning rocked a bit but was Ok.
On the Saturday we met Kim, Graham, Matt and Abi for lunch in Marlborough.
Whilst on site we heard a Cuckoo and saw a Hare.

Pleasant weekend. Another Bailey Pursuit, a 530/4 turned upon the Sunday.

Nice site,which we may use again!

Tredegar House CC site. 22nd April 2014

Well we looked round for somewhere else to go and spotted Tredegar House just between Newport and Cardiff.We had been looking for a CL, 5 caravan site, but this was about the same price, so I popped up and collected the Caravan from storeage and brought it home to pack. Maragret, our char lady was at our home doing her thing so she inspected the new caravan and gave it her seal of approval.

We then set off along the M4 over to Welsh Wales. As we were going along Lizzie said that thesideof her face ached, but that it would be ok. 

We were on site by 1.10, pitch 38. This is a really nice tidy site with good size hardstandings. We quickly set up in the sun and relaxed for the afternoon.

Our Pitch

The National Trust Park next to the Caravan Site was invaded by travellers at 3.30pm, so the whole of the site went iinto lock down! Plenty of Police and security men around. We cooked dinner and turned in. 

The site stayed in lockdown mode until Wednesday morning, although the travellers had been evicted the previous night!  Good work by the National Trust.

We went to Tredegar house for Coffee, and then as Lizzies face was rather swollen we got an emergency appointment at the local health centre.  Lizzies face went down during the day, and we were toldit would probably go away, if not we needed a dentist.

Bit of a damp day, so I got to the bottom of the Cool bathroom!  It was a pipe that had come adrift in the wardrobe, so that was soon sorted. I do have to say this heating seems excellent. Just set the temperature and forget it.

Thursday started really well. Lizzies face had returned to normal, so after breakfast we set off for St Fagans. This is the Welsh National Folk Museum.  Lots of oldbuildings have been collected from all over Wales and rebuilt there. Many have people working in them showing traditional crafts.  It is at least 25 years since I was last there.  We spent several hours just wandering the site.

A good use for an old Tram

How shops used to be!

The China department

The Village Institute. Library, reading rooms and a concert hall

A Showmans Tractor

Roundabout

The whole fair

The stove in the School. I hadoneof these in my classroom when I first started teaching!

On Friday Lizzie woke with a really swollen face, so wephoned her dentist at home.  No chance of an emergency appointment.  So we rang the Welsh Health service emergency dental line in Cardiff.  They put us through to Newport, and then we were given an appointment at a dentist in Cadicott for two hours time.  Off we went, and Lizzie saw this nice dentist who removed a rather angry tooth.  Lizzie soon began to return to normal!  It only cost £13.00 as well. Excellent service.

Saturday morning saw Lizzie virtually back to normal so after breakfast it was Coffee at Tredegar House followed by a tour of the house.  When we got there we were told the disabled lift was not working, so were given free tea and coffee to compensate.

The house was very good so I will let the pictures tell the story.

The dining room

Bed in the day room!

Many outstanding portraits

Part of the outside

On Sunday we had a leisurely clear up before driving home and putting the caravan back in to storeage.

Whilst we were on the Tredegar House site were aware of people going past and looking at our Caravan.  It is such a new model that we have not yet seen another one, either being towed or on site!

Our Brand Spanking New Caravan and Green Acres CL! 10th April

Well.on Wedneday 9th of April, after much cleaning and polishing of our 2006 Bailey Ranger 470/4 we traded it her ( caravans are like ships, always female) in for a brand spanking new Bailey Pursuit 430/4, Platinum edition.
This a new model being built by Bailey, so we have one of the first.This is a fixed bed caravan, with a rear wash room, Solare panel on the roof, Alko ATC traction control,Alko wheel lock, microwave and computer controlled heating and hot water systems.
We spent the afternoon fitting her out, ready for departure the following day to Greenacres CL, which is not to far in case of any problems!
Set off at 11.00am onThursday for Bibury. She towed very well,although felt a bit nose heavy, sowhen we arrived I checked the nose weight and it was high!  Guess who forgot to empty the on-board water tank which is at the front! Whoops!
Set up and put our brand new matching awning up. All went well. Had a go at programming the Computer controlled heating. All ok, except for the bathroom which was a tad chilly. New oven worked really well!

Slept really well in the fixed bed!  Ahh, the sheer bliss of not having to make the bed up each night and pack it away in the morning. Breakfast on the Cadac.
then off to Gloucester to find Dunelm mill to get new matching bedding for the caravan.

On Saturday it was colder so we went to Cirencester, which is a lovely little town and purchased new wine glasses as our previous ones had got broken whilst travelling. They were left on the shelf and neither of us noticed.

Lots of Hares in Cirencester!

Do not know why the hares, probably a charity thing!  Will find some more next time we go there!

Back to the caravan where Lizzie started rearranging cupboards in a more logical way!

Sunday was a really cracking day, so after a hearty breakfast it was off to the Swindon and Criclade railway.Travelled the line on an ex Southern region DMU.  This railway may be short but it is really lovely. Great fun.

A seat for me?

Back to the caravan and I cooked a full Sunday roast, complete with Yorkshire pudding.  The new oven is very good.

Better photos will appear in due course!

On Monday we cleared up and took the caravan back to storeage as the dreaded travellers were on the common!

I have to say that our first trip away in the new caravan was absolutely brilliant!   A real step up from our previous one!

Cheddar CC Site. 19th to 23rd of March

Only home for a couple of days then off again, this time to Cheddar Caravan club site!  This is a typical Caravan Club site with lots of 'elf and safety' warnings The first is that the access road is difficult as it is narrow and you must not arrive before 1pm.  For goodness sake the entrance road is only 120 paces long, and if you cannot reverse a caravan you should not be towing one.

Anyway I digress.  We drove down, via our favourite Burger van. Rolled on to the site and set up on pitch 8.         One rule during the winter months is always find a south facing pitch. That way you benefit from any sun that may be around.
This really is a very small site, only 65 pitches for which they charge you £18.00 per night.  The only facilities are the ablutions block, dish washing and laundry area.  In fact the facilities were nowhere near as good as Northam Farm,where the charge was £13.00 per night.
Next door was a commercial site that looked very good and only charged £13.00 a night.There is even a CL across the road that is probaly cheaper.

The site is very close to the centre of Cheddar, and the walk into town is via the Strawberry line, (one of Dr Beechings casualties), which is now a Cycle/footpath.  The other way is out of the gate, turn left and wall up the road, that has no footpath into town. Elf an safety rears its head again with CC signs warning you not to go that way!  Guess which way I went?

On my first trip into town for papers I could only find Tesco's!  Got a third degree grilling from the assistant over why I refuse to have a Club Card.  She did not like it when I expressed my opinion of Tesco's.  Soon found a Budgens so that got our support!

Next door to us was a motorhome using an Aus Tent as a Dog kennel!  That sure is a pampered pooch!

On the Thursday we went into Wells, and had coffee at the Bishops Palace Coffee shop. This really is an excellent setting.

 Then it was on to the Cook shop where a new kitchen timer and various other bits and pieces were purchased. This is a lovely little shop which is not overly expensive.  www.kitchenmonger.co.uk

Street was the destination for Friday. We wandered around the retail outlet centre, spending money at Marks and Spencers, and the  Procook shop, knives and things for me. Drove across some of the levels and saw many sandbags piled up still.

Saturday was a lovely day, nearly as good as the previous week.  We went to the market, overpriced and not particularly interesting.  More coffee in the Bishops Palace!  We then drove over the top of the Mendips,and down Cheddar gorge back to camp. Can you spot the mountaineering goat in the photo?

Langostines with salad, followed by Duck pancakes for dinner!  Yum Yum!

Cleared up on Sunday morning and left the site by 12.15.  Probably got a black mark from the CC for leaving late.  Home via our Burger Van again,

Neat site, but not in a hurry to visit it again!

Northam Farm Caravan Site. Brean. 12th-16th of March.

Well we have been sat at home for too long,so we looked round for something different. We settled on Northam Farm at Brean. This is a commercial site, not the sort that we would normally use,but we are looking for somewhere to take Izzy, Freddie and Ami for a long weekend in the summer.  It is also considerably cheaper at £13.00 a night, than a Caravan Club Site at nearly £20.00 per night.
We drove down through Keynsham and Chelwood and over Chew Valley Lake.We had forgotten how narrow Blagdon is to drive through!  A bit like the Kingsbridge Start Bay road.
We got to the site at about 4.00.  The site was easy to find and we were soon set up on the Dog free field, a real bonus! The hardstandings were block paved, so in order to put the awning up the caravan had to be sited right on the edge of the pitch.

The site was very quiet, although there were hundreds of caravans there, mostly empty. There are many fields full of caravans, mostly tourers pitched up for the season, and a few static mobile homes. We soon discovered that the club house, a must when Izzy and Freddie are with us was 600 yards down the road, which is quite busy. Do not think that this site will be suitable for the children as the club house is so far away.

On Thursday it was into Weston Super Mare where we had morning coffee in the very posh restaurant at the end of the pier!  Would reccomend anybody visiting WSM to visit this restaurant. The pier is good fun as well. Bit of retail therapy in WSM, I bought some more cook books, then back to Berrow where we found Morrison for essential supplies. It was such a glorious day that we sat on the beach at Brean for a couple of hours in the warm sunshine watching the Sand Yachts.

We had lost a bolt holding our grill door in place, so a good rummage in my tool box, essential for any caravanner,brought forth a replacement bolt, so all was fixed.

Friday dawned foggy, a real good thick sea mist. we drove to the northern end of Brean beach, to the National Trust shop for coffee. The fog lifted, leaving another bright sunny day. Drove back along the beach and spent more time watching the sand yachts.

When we got back to the site loads more caravans had appeared, and most of the previously empty ones were now occupied!  Our peace was shattered!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny so we set off into WSM to meet Donna and her family for coffee.  Had a wandere alongWSM front in the sun before returning to Brean beach to enjoy the sunshine and the sand yachts.

On the Sunday we did not have to leave the site until late afternoon, unlike CC sites where you must be gone by noon. We did some clearing up, made tea and coffee and put the drinks in our thermos mugs,then armed with the Sunday papers set off for the beach.  Proper Sand Yacht racing today!  Rather exciting as they travel up to 50mph (allegedly)

Quick clear up of the caravan then off home.  A really excellent few days days. May use this site again as it is close to the beach and very cheap

Hunters Moon CC Site, Wareham, Dorset.

Well we should have gone to Minehead CC site, but that is really a bit of a dreary site with lots, and I realy mean lots of gravel and not much grass!  So we settled on Hunters Moon site,which was to be a new one for us!
It really is a pleasant drive down to Wareham through Bath, Warminster and Blandford. When heading this way it always makes us feel as if we should be on our way to France, as we travel this route on our way to our channel crossing from Poole.   Oh well that is a few weeks away!

We set upon pitch 47, and then realized that we had forgotten a few things, principally the awning!  That is a result of not making a list of what needs to be moved from the garage to the caravan!  During the winter we tend to keep a few thingsin the garage rather than storing them in the caravan.

After a good nights sleep,I was up early for a quick trip home! Despite the bad weather we have been having it was a beautiful day!   Fortunately without the caravan on the back it is not too much of an arduous journey.  I was back at the site by one, to be greeted by a full cooked late breakfast prepared by Lizzie! Then it was off to explore Wareham, and a bit of afternoon tea! Itisamazing how our life revolves around food and drink.

On the Wednesday, another beautiful day it was off to Poole as we needed toiloet fluid.  We then drove through Sandbanks, admiring the expensive houses. We then did a first for us and crossed on the chain ferry to Studland!

There was a market advertised in Wareham for Thursday, so we decided to visit it.  One stall,so that was a waste of time. We decided to head back to camp via Bovingtion Tank museum. Did not pay to go in, as I have been before,but enjoyed looking at the static exhibits.  Then we went round to the viewing area where we were able to see some tracked personnel carriers running about!

Friday was wet all day, so time for some reading!  When I say wet, it was absolutely horrible!

Saturday was bright and clear, but very windy, so as we were going out for the day the awning was packed away.  We set off for the Norden station on the Swanage railway.  This railway operates every weekend of the year,and for late spring, summer and the autumn it operates everyday of the week. We caught the train and had a super journey through beautiful countryside to Swanage. I have to say this is another superb railway. Everything was neat and tidy.

 As we rode through their storeage area, everything was lined up really neat and tidy!  I think we will ride on this railway again in late spring or summer.  After coffee in Swanage, we returned on the train,sitting on the other side of the carriage, so we could enjoy different views.

From there we drove down through Studland to the ferry to Poole, as we needed to purchase some evening dinner.

Sunday was a beautiful day. No need for coats as we cleared up.

We had intended to stay here for only three nights, but as the railway was open and the weather, apart from Friday was excellent, we stayed for six nights!

One comment about the Hunters Moon site is that as it was very quiet, one ablutions block was closed, which I have no problem with. However, even though it was closed, the heating was going full blast and the lights were all blazing away.  I thought that the Caravan Club were trying to save money by not using so much electricity.

Home now,planning our next trip!