France 15th August 09 - 6th Sept 09

16th & 17th August 09 – Charroux

We continued our journey down to the Charentes region to visit our friends Mandy & Brian. We stopped for 2 nights at an aire in Charroux; it was a very quiet little town, so we spent our time relaxing.

18th & 19th August 09 – Verteuil Sur Charente

We stopped at a beautiful ‘free’ aire in Verteuil Sur Charente, it was a tight drive into town but well worth it, the aire is relatively small but there was only one other motorhome. The aire sat in a small grassy park area with a stream running through. We spent some time meandering through the streets exploring the quaint town complete with its very own chateau! We spent 2 days here which consisted of washing, paddling in the stream, reading and relaxing. We had received a call from Mandy to say Brian had not been well and so had decided to delay our visit for a couple of days.

20th August 09 – St Quentin S Charente

We stayed at a large ‘free’ aire at a reservoir in a rural area and spent the day cycling and relaxing.

21st August to 31st August 09 – Le Touché

The next 9 nights were spent in Le Touché near Angouleme at Many and Brian’s. We had a great time, playing petanque, water volleyball, swimming in their pool, canoeing on the Charentes, dining at a wonderful French restaurant. The weather was hot hot hot so a fair amount of sunbathing was done too. Brian’s Son and girlfriend visited too.

 

31st August 09 – Broglie

We set off early heading north; we decided to drive as far as we had the energy for today, we needed to be back in the north of England for the 9th Sept for a conference. We stopped at an aire in Broglie which was in a very quiet spot in a small town; we had a relaxing comfortable nights sleep.

1st Sept 09 – Le Crotoy 2

Again we set off this morning travelling north to pass some miles – we were not doing our regular sightseeing as we need to get back to the UK. We stopped at a great aire which was a very large sight right at the seaside. We had a great wander around the town, which had some great bars and restaurants, a lot of them were closed due to the season, but we felt sure it would be a busy place in summer.

2nd Sept 09 – Le Touquet Paris Plage

We stopped at a great place, arriving mid afternoon Le Touquet Paris Plage. The aire was at the marina towards the east of town and was very busy. The town itself was quiet again due to the time of year, but had an abundance of shops, restaurants, pubs and Aqua Park! In the summer months it must be absolutely buzzing. We took a cycle ride into the town, parked up watched the kite surfing on the beach and enjoyed a ‘huge’ ice-cream! Wow life with McFee is a dream come true! Love it love it love it.

3rd Sept 09 – Calais

Now we decided we would drive right to Calais and stay on the aire there for the night. We had heard many scary stories about staying at Calais so were very hesitant, but decided to give it a go. We arrived at the aire mid afternoon to severe wind blowing sand everywhere, something worthy of the Sahara! We ended up with sand in ‘every’ nook and cranny possible. We feasted on ham and cheese baguettes with a portion of chips……there was enough food to feed all the motorhomes on the aire, but boy did we enjoy it! We wondered if the ferry would sail the next day due to the high winds. We spoke to Roger and Norma our friends near stoke on trent and arranged to stay overnight with them tomorrow.

4th & 5th Sept 09 – Rog & Norms (Midlands)

We got the 9.25am ferry from Calais, the weather had calmed overnight so no issues with sailing, arriving in Dover at 9.55am (local time). We spent most of the day travelling to Rog and Norms arriving with them around 5pm. We had a very warm welcome from all the Stevens clan including Bess and Darcy (the dogs) Norm had made a lovely dinner for us and throughout the evening we proceeded to devour a fair few bottles of wine. We caught up on each others escapades over the last few months and plans for the next few months too. We had only planned to stay with them for 1 night but due to the copious bottles of wine the previous night we thought the offer of ‘stay as long as you like’ made sense to stay at least another night – clearly with less alcohol.

6th Sept 09 – Blackburn

We set off mid morning heading for Blackburn stopping off en-route to see Mal’s sister. We caught up with my family and spent the night outside of my parent’s house. We made a booking at the campsite in Clitheroe for a few weeks, taking up our residence tomorrow!