Post It from Camping Eure, Pont De l’Arche, Rouen, Normandy, France. Monday 28th April, 2014

We packed Bessie, our Bessacarr E480G motorhome up in readiness for our two month holiday on the Continent over a couple of days for the off on Sunday 27^th April.

Smokee, our cat, had been playing up with his appetite not long before we left so we ended up with boxes of Felix to take away with us instead of his normal tinned food and space was running out as to where to store it all with the many other things we take for a two month journey to foreign climes. We also had our new kitchen tent and a windbreaker which all added to the weight and just to make sure I actually took her to King George dock in Hull on the Saturday to check the overall and axle weights. We were in luck, fully loaded and with a full tank of fresh water and fuel we were right up to our maximum weight of 4005kg and the important part was that we were correctly balanced. That was a stroke of luck

We set off on Sunday morning in pleasant weather and had a good journey from East Yorkshire down to Black Horse Farm Club site near the channel tunnel for an overnight stay. We had stayed here once before when catching a ferry but this time we had elected to catch the train, which was very close by.

After a good night’s sleep we set off for the train terminal in the hope of catching an earlier train than the one I had booked. To be fair I had only booked an 1150 train in the expectation I could get an earlier one around 1030 but we were out of luck, they had a lot of high vehicles travelling that morning which meant we had to take our booked departure time. We had never hung around at the terminal before in the car so it gave us a chance to see what was there and use the free internet connection. There was not a lot to see so we settled for a Starbuck’s latte to pass the time away.

The journey in the tunnel was uneventful but quick and we were soon on our way south to Boulogne on the motorway before heading off on the Route Nationals to avoid the exorbitant tolls for our size of motorhome. The whole journey was stress free and there seemed relatively little traffic on the roads so we arrived at our first nights stop in France in good time.

We had seen this camp site from the bridge over the River Seine before but had never stopped there but a recommendation from another Club member, Valda, meant it would certainly meet our needs. It is quite a pretty site with grass 57 pitches on the edge of the River Seine and it is overlooked by an impressive old church and some quaint old houses. The church bells strike the hours but hopefully not all night! After our evening meal of Extra Special lasagne from ASDA and salad we decided to have a walk around the small town area. The literature in the camp site office said it had 70 shops and a special market on a Sunday morning. All the shops were now closed and only one restaurant and two pizza take away shops remained open as we strolled the old town streets admiring some very old timber framed buildings dotted around.

The site was clean with ample facilities for the size, including free Wi-Fi, and there appeared to be a couple of permanently occupied pitches by contract workers, as is often found on municipal sites here. The price was a very good 11.70 Euros a night for the two of us with electricity and the occasional view of a passing river barge made my day, being an ex-sailor and all that. Had the weather forecast been drier I think we would have probably stayed longer and may have even ventured by bus into the centre of Rouen and strolled the river side footpath where I had earlier seen people fishing.

Regards, Roy