French Leave

French Leave

The third week of August 2012 and we are setting off on another trip to France. An overnight stop at Black Horse Farm allowed us to make a reasonable early start the next day. We got to the Tunnel to find one of the earlier shuttles had been cancelled so no chance of getting an early crossing. To cap it all when we got to France the motorhome in front of us broke down causing further delay. Day two and we were already having to re-plan out overnight stops!! This did lead to us discovering the delightful campsite called Camping St Claire at Neufchatel en Bray.

Over the next week we gradually made our way south via Clermont Ferrand and the Millau Viaduct to Portiragnes Plage and our Mediterranean campsite called Les Sablons. Nothing really wrong with the site but still very busy into the first week of September, don’t German school kids ever go back to school!!! The day we left it seemed the whole world and his wife were leaving!

Time to head north and we decided to use an alternative route to Millau and headed across country to the small town of Soreze and another delightful campsite Camping St Martin. Having stayed a few days we continued our journey to the Dordogne and Camping Soleil Plage at Vitrac. A bit torturous to get to but well worth it. We spent a very pleasant week in the Dordogne where we visited a couple of lovely gardens. Our next stop was just a bit further north to Chateau Le Verdoyer which as campsites go is a bit on the remote side but popular none the less. One excursion our form here was the Martyr’s Village at Oradour sur Glane. It’s a place I have wanted to see for many years but we had never been near enough. I defy anyone to go there and not have a making of a tear in the eye.

Our next move was to the Loire Valley at, Montsoreau which is on the river about half way between Saumur and Chinon. We stayed at Camping L’Isle Verte which is a short walk from the village. The weather had taken a turn for the worse with rain and wind and not that warm. One afternoon we drove along the river to Chinon to have a look round. Like lots of Loire towns and cities there are lots of impressive building giving a clue to its past importance.

We were now heading towards Rouen but needed a half overnight stop en route just north of Chartres. I devised a cunning plan so that we would not need to traverse Rouen on our journey north so took a detour to Les Andelys stopping for a few day at Camping I’Iles des Trois Rois which right on the River Seine and overlooked by Chateau Galliard. The town of Les Andelys as a reasonably short walk way but have to say a lot of our time here was spent watching the river traffic of barges and hotel boats.

Trying to avoid Rouen is not easy and the cross country route takes time and is slow but we eventually got to the motorway for Calais. We spent a couple of nights at Camping Les Epinettes, at Peuplingues, a site we had first used earlier in the years. It is a fairly basic site but pleasant enough for a couple of nights. We allow enough time for a trip to Carrefour in Calais before making our way home the following day.

A full account of this trip and many more photographs can be seen here http://www.davidklyne.co.uk/french_leave.html

David