Saturday
At long last our summer holiday was destined to start. Scheduled for a 7.00am start, we awoke a little earlier (naturally excited) and decided to head off at approximately 6.15am. Well this would give us more time in the duty free at Folkestone! We picked up the ‘van, drove the Southerly descent, stopping ritually at our usual trio of service stations, namely Ferrybridge, Grantham North and Berchanger Green – the former where we enjoyed a bacon butty and coffee!
The tunnel was scheduled for 4.50pm, we arrived in plenty of time and headed to the duty free. Never having been before apart from a very quick toilet visit last year, we were a little disappointed to say the least. Nothing really to buy ‘duty free’ apart from some perfume and a small selection of drinks and toys! WH Smith was there, along with plenty of ‘food and drink’ outlets, but that’s it! Never mind, more money to spend in France then!
No delays on the ‘Chunnel’ and we arrived in Calais and started chewing motorway straight away. We stopped off at one Aire on the A26 before heading for the designated Aire to ‘sleep over’. The Aire I had chosen was one of the poorest for caravan’s I have seen so far. The bays are drive in only, reverse out! And then that is followed by a very tight exit road. Needless to say, we didn’t stay as I didn’t want to get hemmed in over night, so we headed for the next Aire along, which was a more modest affair but perfectly adequate. Following a rather interrupted night, only to be expected with cars coming and going, people talking and shouting and lorries pulling up and starting their generators – we soon found some piece and managed to get a few bits of broken sleep, enough however to recharge our batteries for the next leg of our journey!
Sunday
We awoke with a quick getaway, as light was in pleasant abundance at 5.00am! We made short work of the rest of the journey. We had some pleasant stops at Aires along the way, weather was beautiful and really made the journey exceptional. Scheduled to arrive at 1.00pm, we found ourselves at our holiday destination at 12.00pm. We pulled in and went to reception, only to find it closed! We therefore headed for a walk around the campsite to find the pitches that took our fancy! Heading back to reception and the bar area, we found the reception open and to our surprise, the pitch allocated was one of our favourites, probably the best on the site, if it was made by Carling! The assistant on reception duly pointed out that pitch allocation was given on a notice on the door so that we didn’t have to wait. Fair point, but this wasn’t abundantly clear, nor mentioned in any emails or booking forms!
In goes the caravan onto ‘103’ – what a pitch, bloomin’ massive with water point! The next matter to consider was how to position the’van. Awning front, canopy front, both out angled? After some playing about with the motor mover, we eventually decided upon a standard awning front approach. We then duly went to work with levelling, utilities and putting the awning up. During the scorching heat, it did throw down a brief out pour, just enough to make things a little messy with water and grass, but that didn’t stop us! While our continental friends ran for cover, we soldiered on and erected that awning! By 5.00pm we were set, food and drink was then on the menu!
Monday
Found the nearest Intermarche and stocked up on the essentials. Stayed on the site for the rest of day. Showers were welcome, very nice, clean, perfectly adequate, A welcome rest bite from the rest of the trip!
Tuesday
Washed the ‘van including the roof with our new ladders. They work brilliantly and better than had hoped, the roof was looking as good as new! Time also to erect the satellite! It took a bit of time to find the Astra birds, but eventually I found them. Time to invest in a better Sat finder I think! Weather a bit dodgy today as was yesterday, but the forecast looks better for the rest of the week!
Wednesday
Went for a walk down to the riverside, very pleasant. Looking to catch a river river trip from Chalon Sur Saolone if we can one day. A gospel concert is on the cards for the Sunday, looking forward to that! Drove into the town centre today to find a Tobac – yes cigarettes are in requirement! We eventually found one, and wandered around the town and market as a consequence. Not much there to be honest, but at least we’ve done Chalon Sur Saolone! Wrapped the evening off with a BBQ. Very nice, although the kebabs were a little fatty!
Thursday
Did the trip to Taize! Wandered around the site for a bit, a few talks going on but not much, no music unfortunately! We went to the gift shop where we spent a small fortune on some wall art and music books, all in a good cause I guess so what the heck! Cath was suffering a bit from prickly heat, so we called in to a pharmacist on the return journey. The guy there spoke a little bit of English which was good and prescribed some cream. Fortunately this worked well and the infected area eased considerably! Upon returning to the ‘van, I decided to fit the new Milenco feet. The old ones took some getting off but once the technique was found, it was a simple job. The new feet work well and should prove very useful especially when the stackers need to be deployed! Ping Pong – I won three games to nil, enough said! More neighbours have come and gone, mainly the Dutch, this site has a high turnover – being so close to the A6 I can understand why.
Friday
A trip to Tournus today, not much there, fairly well built-up so not as rural as some of the other towns. On the way back we stopped off at Sennecey Le Grand, a much smaller town. It had a small market on the go, we soon meandered through it and then headed back to base. Weather still glorious, stayed outside for the rest of the day and then headed in once darkness fell yet again!
Saturday
Rain! A visit to the supermarket was in order, so we made the most of the bad weather and headed there. Fully stocked up again, we headed back to base where the weather gradually improved over the course of the day. The site was looking quite empty by now, but gradually some more happy campers arrived, including some British next door! The satellite working away, we managed to get some ‘Little House On The Prairie’ and ‘The Waltons’ action in at dinner time, before we headed out for the sun. Then the heavens opened up again and an almighty thunderstorm headed our way. This wasn’t a short 10 minute storm, no this lasted until the night time, where the rain continued through the night! That was the most prolonged storm I have ever witnessed so far. Needless to say, the satellite brought more entertainment for the evening. Some poor English folk arrived next door during the storm, setting the ‘van up in the rain – been there, done that – a few times!
Sunday
Pitch was bone dry when we woke up. We had a leisurely morning, just enjoying the sun again. There was a gospel convert on at the local church at 4.30pm, so we headed to that when the time came. It turned out to be quite a large choir, the church absolutely packed out. The songs were all in English and it was quite good, too much melismatic jazz warbling though and not enough multi-part choir harmonies for my taste though! Back at base, we got chatting to the new neighbours next door, turns out they are from Darlington!
Monday
A visit to Cluny was scheduled for the day, so we headed off first thing. I decided to let the sat-nav lead this one and enjoy the best of the very rural roads that France has to offer! And boy, are there some good ones! We arrived and enjoyed a pleasant walk around the town. We didn’t go into the Abbey, but bought yet another piece of wall art which depicted the view from where we were standing very nicely. We also managed to get our holiday thimble from here as well, my French obviously working not too bad as I was served without complications! A slight detour on the way back to use the N6 for a less intense drive and we were back at camp once again. Weather very nice, out came the BBQ for some chicken, beef, sausages, peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes! Asked by a second person about setting up their satellite system. Starting to feel a real seasoned caravanner now!
Tuesday
Fantastic weather, blue sky from dawn. Decided to stay at the campsite for the day, as we had covered most of the attractions about. We finally checked out the swimming pool and had a swim. Lovely pool, nice and quiet, just the ticket on this glorious day! Another BBQ followed which was equally as nice as yesterday’s!
Wednesday
Weather very poor – cold and cloudy. So pretty much a stay in the ‘van or awning and read, internet or continued with track plans!
Thursday
The time had come again to take the awning down. This we did in scorching heat, 29 degrees. Following this I washed the remainder of the ‘van roof and also the nearside side. Following that nothing else to do but relax I’m glad to say!
Friday
Pack up and drive time. Nothing too rushed though, as we only had to get to Northern France, about a 6 hour drive away. Weather was kind to us, warm but not too hot! We tried to overnight at our scheduled stop, but the reversing caravan bays and full lorry bays forced our hand to find another stop. Unfortunately, on exiting the site I some how headed out bearing South! This added some excitement to the trip forcing a detour, turn-around and retracing our steps back North. France, unlike England isn’t blessed with roundabouts above the motorway where turning around is pretty straightforward. Instead we had to leave the motorway, pay and then find a suitable minor road to ‘swing around’. This we did and we soon found ourselves back on track! We eventually found a nice Aire to stop for the night, complete with shop! An Aire we will bookmark for future journeys.
Saturday
An early start, back on the A26 as soon found ourselves at the tunnel. No delays, time for some shopping as well. Much better than the English end, you can get wine and cigarettes here! The journey back through England was trouble free, despite the Tour de France being held in Yorkshire this year. Caravan put back into storage, alarm engaged – no texts from Phantom so all is well following the fix! Back home, restored the house to order in about three hours following the daughter’s stay there – and normal life resumes again!
- Date: 21st June 2014
- Nights: 12
- Pitch #: 103
- GPS: 46.654662, 4.944320
