France 2018

I wanted a reasonably early start in case of hold-ups on the M25. The clock in the bedroom area of the MoHo was still on Central European Summer Time from the Scandinavia trip. I didn’t think it was worth changing it given that we would have to change it back again today. So Dud woke up and saw that the time said 08:15 so she decided to get up – but it was only actually 07:15. She’s not an early morning person so it was a good way of getting her up in plenty of time. She thanked me for it!

We got ready and serviced the MoHo and were away for just after 09:00.

The M25 was free flowing so there were no hold ups. M20 had some 50mph sections but traffic was moving – at least, on our side – there were a couple of spells of standing traffic on the other side. Only a couple of years ago, the M20 was an awful stretch of road. The surface was awful and there were lots of nasty pot holes but they are now spending a fair bit of money on it and, I suspect, in a couple of years, it will be a good road.

We got to the tunnel and were offered an earlier crossing – which we accepted. We got to the holding area and almost immediately our letter was called so we were virtually straight through.

When the ticket printed at the gate, Dud noticed that it did not have the wheelchair symbol on it. I distinctly remember telling the lady when I booked so it was an omission on their part. When we got to the final check point, I told the attendant that we had a wheelchair user and she accepted it without question. On previous occasions, we have been first on but she told us that they put wheelchairs either first or last. Given that boarding had already started, we were going to be last. I also think that they put us last on a train even earlier than the earlier one that we had accepted. As soon as we were on the train, they closed the doors and away we went.

I’d set the satnav for Éperlecques while we were waiting at Folkestone so no wrong turns when we came off and we were soon on the A26.

The Sanef tag has lost its stickiness and keeps falling off. I think that’s down to the high temperatures that we’ve had this summer. There is a péage when you come off for the Éperlecques exit – which alway puzzles me because you don’t go through one prior to that. Anyway, we stuck it back on as we got to the péage and it worked fine. I suspect we could just leave it loose on the dashboard and it would still work. Might try that at some point because it fell off again shortly after.

Last time we stayed here, we’d set the satnav for the town of Éperlecques but not the campsite and we got lost so I pulled in to a layby and looked up the actual address on the phone. That worked and we were straight to the site.

We checked in and found the pitch. I could see the direction of the satellite from the MoHo next door but I could also see a tree in the way from our pitch. I tried it anyway but it would not lock on so I moved the MoHo forward a few metres and that made the difference and it locked on.

We all went for a walk. I’ve commented on it before but this site is full of mainly Brits. That doesn’t detract from it though – it’s a very pleasant place and the owner/manager is very helpful and will speak to you in French or English – your choice. He’s also interested in dogs and asked the breed. He was not sure about Airedales but we saw him later when we went for the walk and so now he knows what they are.

Tea was Youngs fish fillets – and very nice they were.

The tv satellite decoder is still only picking up ITV channels. I must get that sorted. I eventually connected the Sky box and that worked fine and even picked up BBC and the other channels that it doesn’t normally get. A visit to the Blockhaus beckons tomorrow.

Decent night’s sleep. We woke up around 08:00 and there were some kids shouting in the distance. Why aren’t they at school? Weather was overcast with occasional light drizzle.

I used the watering can to top up the water rather than take the MoHo to the service point – there’s lots of taps around the site. Then we just lounged around for a bit and caught up on reading the papers.

I’d seen on the Blockhaus web site that they are closed on Tuesday mornings. The commandant at the site here had told me that they did school visits on Tuesday morning so we hadn’t planned on going anyway. We set early afternoon. It looked as if the rain was not going to clear so we went prepared with coat and brolly.

I’ve always had an interest in stuff concerning World War 2 and I found the Blockhaus fascinating. The wheelchair was a bit tricky in places but we coped ok. Ellie did not seem to appreciate the exhibits but she was quite keen on sniffing the different plants. It must have been an impressive bit of civil engineering to build something like that – but I suppose when you can call on thousands of concentration camp prisoners for labour and not care about health and safety, then that would help.

Each of the exhibits had a description in various languages. There were also a number of points where you could press a button to start up a presentation. Again, a choice of languages. Problem was, we were going round just behind a Dutch couple so, every time we came to a presentation, it was half way through in Dutch and so we had to wait for it to end before we could set off the English presentation.

The exit was not very wheelchair friendly and a Dutch woman had to help us get the wheelchair through the revolving gate. We got there in the end. The rain was starting to become persistant and, as we were coming out, a bus load of Belgians were at the start of their trip round so we had timed it well.

I had thought of walking from the site to the Blockhaus – it’s about a 15 minute walk but there’s a bit of a drag and that would have meant an uphill push on the way back so we went in the MoHo. We got back to the site, parked and chilled for an hour or so before a tea of chicken and pasta in a Philly sauce.

We are still getting all channels on Sky so watched tv. I took Ellie out in the rain late on. We are a wine-free zone tonight – I couldn’t be bothered to get some in so it could be an early’ish night. We move on tomorrow.

The rain stopped during the night but it was still overcast when we surfaced this morning. We had breakfast, serviced the MoHo and were away by around 11:00.

We were aiming eventually for somewhere near Caen in Normandy which was around 200 miles from where we were. We wanted to take the D roads and 200 miles in one day on that type of road is not what we want to do so we decided to take a couple of days to get there and so set the satnav for Dieppe.

First port of call was a Carrefour just down the road from the campsite. When we got going again, it looked like we were going to end up on the autoroute and I realised that I had not amended the settings to avoid toll roads. I did that as we were driving and it re-calculated and took us back around 4 miles before setting us on the revised route.

We’ve been down a fair bit of this route on previous trips but at least we’re actually starting to feel like we are in France. Chateau du Gandspette is a good site (and we’ll go there again) but there are so many Brits on the site that you feel like you are on a CMC site in the UK.

We stopped for some lunch in the Aire de Behen on a free section of the A28 – we’ve stopped in there before. We decided to drive for another hour and then pick an actual destination which we did and we picked Camping Les Mouettes down the coast from Dieppe. We’d thought about stopping on an aire but decided to try a camp site on the basis that if we liked it, we could stay a couple of nights – which we never do on aires.

We got the site from the ACSI book and I’ve commented on previous trips that the format of co-ordinate in the ACSI book is not the same as the satnav expects. I’d seen on line that co-ordinates can take different forms so I checked the settings on the satnav and there was a format that looked more like those in the ACSI book so I gave that a try.

That seemed to work and it took us straight to a site. But looking at the site, it bore little resemblance to the description in the book so I assumed that the co-ordinates had not worked and we decided to look elsewhere. We followed some signs to another site but that didn’t look too good either so we put in the address of the original site and it was actually the one that we had pulled in to earlier. Turns out, there is an aire next to the site and it was the aire that we were looking at and the real site is actually quite pleasant.

Ellie and I went for a bit of an explore and there is a track down to the beach. We didn’t go as far as the beach – we can have a look tomorrow. For some reason, there was a bloke playing bagpipes in the beach car park. Looking back, I wished I’d gone up and asked him why but we turned round well before we got to him. He was playing “Flower of Scotland” as we walked away.

Tea was minced beef ragout and scallop potatoes. Nice as always. Still getting all channels on the Sky box so Sue gets her soap fix. We may stay another day.

Ellie and I went for a walk to recce where we could take the wheelchair later on. The track down to the beach that we went on yesterday is a non-starter because there is a steep path with steps. Whilst checking it out, we looked at the board giving the wartime history and we realised why the piper was there the day before. There was a heavy loss of Scots soldiers in the war. For the second time, I really wish I had gone up to him to ask why he was there.

We’ve been to Normandy previously and so we are reasonably familiar with the D-Day landing beaches. We are also aware of the rôle of Dunkerque in the 1940 evacuation but I did not realise that the area we are in today also had a rôle in the 1940 evacuation. You can see why because Veules Les Roses and the next town down the coast – Saint-Valery-en-Caux – are openings in a coastline that is mainly cliffs. There is more information here.

When we were back at the MoHo, Dud used her hair-straightener and it fused the electric. CMC sites are rated at 16 Amps so you can (within reason) run almost everything from the electric but we know that European sites are often as low as 6 Amps. I have no idea what this particular site was but I went out and could not see any capability of resetting the breaker so I switched the cable into another socket and we were up and running again. I did let one of the camp workers know that we’d tripped it so I presume he reset it.

On my recce earlier, I’d found the road down to the beach. It was a bit steep but do-able with the wheelchair so we all went for a walk later on. Going downhill was quite hard work but we managed it and had a pleasant walk along the prom. There was a café serving moules and chips. I love moules and was very tempted but it looked busy and I’m never sure whether there’ll be issues with the dog – so we didn’t stop.

There were a couple of seafood stalls but there was nothing going on – possibly you need to be down there earlier in the morning to catch them open.

The trip back to the campsite was fun. I had to do it in stages because it was so steep. I must be getting old. Actually pushing the wheelchair is hard enough but Ellie does not help stopping and sniffing everything in sight.

We got back and sat in the sun for a while and then had tea of corned beef hash. I used the electric plate on the hob which was possibly not sensible given that we had fused the electric earlier. Sure enough, that fused it again. I swapped the connection and reported it the next day.

Woke up to a fine but cool morning. We had parked next to a walkway through the pitches and had half expected there to be some noise from people walking past but that was not the case and it was a quiet night. We were moving in the direction of Caen so got through breakfast and then the emptying/filling processes reasonably quickly

There is another Bailey parked up on the site – actually, there were 2 others on Wednesday night. I would have said hello but did not see anyone around. On the way out, a couple near the van waved so I assumed they were fellow Bailey’ers so I stopped. We had a quick chat – mainly about waste water disposal! What is it about someone with the same make of MoHo that makes you want to establish contact. I was wearing brown shorts but I don’t feel the need to chat to everyone else wearing brown shorts!

We needed to empty grey water (which, I have found out, is the same in French – “les eaux grises”) but that is done not on the main camp site but in the aire next door. So you get a fob for the barrier for the aire and then use the drain in there.

We stopped at a Leclerc in the next town of Saint-Valery-en-Caux. That’s the other town that was involved in the 1940 evacuation. I got most of the stuff I wanted. There was an excellent fish and seafood counter and I really fancied getting some langoustines but I didn’t have the confidence in my vocabulary to get any. I did ask an assistant in the fresh food area if they had any chillies – but I didn’t know the French – she shrugged her shoulders so I didn’t get anywhere. I’ve just looked it up and it’s “piments”. Regardless of the translation, I didn’t see any today and didn’t see any the Carrefour that we previously tried. I’ll run out soon – how will I get my chilli fix?

We got to the town of Ourville-en-Caux and came across a roundabout with a copy of the Statue of Liberty. That’s not the first time that we’ve seen one of them in France.

We stopped for lunch in a Parking at Port Jérome sur Seine. It was quite a pleasant spot – which was a surprise given that it was right outside an Exxon Mobil refinery.

We’re noticing a lot of Normandy flags. The coat of arms consists of 2 lions – ie a cutdown version of England’s 3 lions. Normandy was the home of William the Conqueror (or Guillaume le Conquérant as he’s known around here) so you would assume there is a connection – but check out Wikipedia and maybe it’s not as cut and dried as that.

We set off again and the satnav took us on a route that showed a crossing over the Seine – but there was no bridge to be seen. We stopped in a parking spot (to be honest, we stopped there because Ellie had done her business earlier and there were no bins in sight so we put the bagged up business in the locker and then pulled in when we saw a parking area with a bin). We then spotted a small ferry coming in – and spotted a sizeable queue on our side waiting to get on. There were no trucks or MoHo’s in the queue and we couldn’t see where to join the queue so we ignored the satnav and headed for the Pont de Normandie – which sounded like a more acceptable way to cross the Seine.

We were following signs to Trouville and Deauville which is where we had a few day’s break some years ago (pre-MoHo and pre-Ellie) but we then turned off that road and took a more direct route to the campsite which is nearer to Cabourg. We missed one turning (entirely my fault for not concentrating) but re-traced our steps and arrived at the campsite, Campsite Les Peupliers (peupliers = poplars), Merville–Franceville. We’ve booked for 2 nights because it looks a nice place.

We all went for a walk round the site. It’s a bit like both of the previous sites and there is a mix of tourers and permanent chalets. The chalets all look reasonably smart so it’s not at all like the shanty towns we saw in Spain. We are not far from the beach but the access is by steps only so not a possibility for us.

Tea was pizza which I’d got from Leclerc. We’re still getting good Sky reception so a night of Emmerdale and double Corrie.

The weather first thing was cloudy but it quickly cleared. Leisurely day today so no rush to finish breakfast – which was croissants from yesterday’s Leclerc visit.

Ellie and I went for a walk to the beach and I let her loose on the sand. She had a bit of a freedom run but was quite interested in the shells – particularly the razor clam shells which she first rolled around in and then took one and ran off with it. I think it was empty – it certainly would have been after she had finished with it.

We came off the beach in a different place and there was a sign saying no dogs (and no horses) between 09:00 and 20:00. There wasn’t one of those on the bit where went on the beach and even if there were, I would have done the same as the French and ignored it. The beach was virtually deserted so what’s the harm?

Later in the afternoon, I took the toilet cassette to empty it. There’s a MoHo bourne type service point and that’s the chemical disposal point. When I got back, something was not right with the cassette when I re-fitted it and when I went inside to check, the blade that seals in the nasty stuff would only partially open. I spent the next hour trying to figure out what was going wrong and how to fix it – including checking on line to see if anyone else had had the problem. There were a couple of posts saying what to do so I eventually enlisted Dud’s help and she operated the lever inside the toilet while I checked the outside. There a cog wheel that must have gone out of synch and when I forced that back into the correct position, all was well. We always use the on board facilities and Dud would not cope with having to use site facilities so that could have been an issue.

It’s strange when you start to poke around in shitty (literally) areas that at first you try hard not to touch anything but once you get into it, you stop bothering about that and just get on with it. We’re on a septic tank at home at the drain has a habit of blocking and I clear it with drain rods. It’s the same there – you just have to get on with it – it’s not going to kill you having to deal with it.

Prior to the problem, we’d got both chairs out in the sun and I was looking forward to sitting and relaxing while watching the progress of Bury vs Town on line. The toilet incident put paid to that and, on top of that, Town lost 4-0 so all in all, not a great afternoon. I’d also planned on going for a swim – the site has indoor and outdoor heated pools – but I didn’t get round to that either.

Dud wasn’t hungry so we decided to eat a bit later so Ellie and I went for another walk on the beach. There were more people about so I kept her on the lead this time. We got back and I made a chicken curry – or rather I cheated and it was from a Patak jar.

After tea I watched England vs Spain – so another football disappointment. After that, I took Ellie on a late night walk and we headed off site and I was going to have a bit of a look round in the village but all of the street lights were out – it was around 23:00. I always carry a torch and I wear something high-vis but it was pitch black so a waste of time.

We came back to the site and after a minute or so of getting back, the lights on the site went out as well. Makes economic sense, I suppose.

I’d noticed last night that you can hear what sounds like loads of ducks nearby. Their noise seemed to be made louder by the darkness. You don’t really notice it in the day – possibly because of other background noises – but it’s really pronounced at night.

We’re moving on tomorrow. This is a really nice site and we have a spacious pitch but the beach is completely inaccessible for Dud and there is no prom so she can’t come with us on any walks. We’ll move further down the Normandy coast and look for more of a sea front village location.

We got away at a reasonable time after a walk down to the beach for Ellie and I followed by breakfast of croissants. We’d decided to head along the coast in the direction of Arromanches-Les-Bains and then see where we ended up.

We drove over the Pegasus bridge. As mentioned, we’ve been in this area previously and we’ve already been round the visitors’ centre at the bridge. The bridge has been rebuilt but using the same design as the old one. The old one is actually preserved in the visitors’ centre. It’s well worth a look but we didn’t stop again today.

As you drive along the coast, there’s signposts for various D-Day beaches and also for allied military graveyards. When we got to Arromanches, it looked quite busy – lots of people about and lots of tourist busses – so we didn’t bother stopping. Again, we’ve had a good look round previously. I assume the crowds were because today is Sunday and also it’s good weather. We may stop on the way back.

We stopped for lunch and picked some possible sites from the ACSI book so we headed towards the West side of the Bay of Seine – which is the base of the Cotentin Peninsula. We picked a site in Carentan and we got there at around 15:00 but the commandants’ office was not open until 16:00. I had a quick look round and, although it looked a reasonable site, there were a lot of trees which could stop the satellite dish locking. We decided to try another site from the ACSI book so set off again.

The site was Camping La Baie des Veys. It looked ok so I checked in for 2 nights. The commandant is very helpful and has excellent English.

The hookup for the pitch we chose is quite a way away so it’s the first time I’ve needed to use the additional cable that we bought back home. When we were in Scandinavia, there were 2 occasions when we were a long way from the hookup point. On one of the occasions, the commandant loaned us an extension cable but on the other occasion, we moved the MoHo nearer to the point. No need for that today with the new cable.

We all went for a walk but there’s not a lot round here. The sea seems a long way away and it looks like marsh land. We’ll have a better look tomorrow.

Tea was pork chops – very tasty. After that, tv (the excellent “Bodyguard”). Looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow – hopefully, less stressful than the last relaxing day.

We had a bit of a lie in. When I took Ellie for a walk, I was surprised to see that the tide was in and what looked yesterday like miles of marsh was now under water. After a leisurely breakfast, I took Dud to see it as well.

I got the drone out for the first time this holiday and flew it over – or rather in the direction of – the water. I’m still not confident when flying it. I can’t get it anything like as high as I would like. There is a default max flying height of 30 mtr. I thought I’d amended that setting but it still appears to apply. More practice and experimenting with the settings needed.

On a walk yesterday, I’d noticed some hard-backed books on a concrete block by the side of the path. Today I noticed a few more. I didn’t make a note of the book titles but they weren’t classics and they were all in English. I suppose the intention is to spend some quality time sitting and reading them in peaceful surroundings. I didn’t do that but a good gesture.

We pottered about in the afternoon mainly chillin’ in the MoHo. It was warm outside but the wind was getting up and it kept coming over cloudy so not conducive to getting the chairs out.

Tea was chicken risotto – which was, as always, delicious. I seem to have a set limited number of meals that I cook in the MoHo and I’ve almost gone through the repertoire so it will be repeats from now on.

We’ve decided to move on tomorrow and will go to the top of the Cotentin Peninsula. This is a nice site but limted in terms of access to anywhere.

We topped up with water before setting off but could not drain the grey waste because there is no MoHo service point. As nice a site as it was and as pleasant as the owners were, you have to say that makes it not really suitable for MoHo’s for other than short stays. We can go a couple of days without draining but no longer. We’ve read on Facebook where some people carry collapsible containers and use that for draining waste and then taking it to a sink so maybe there’s an argument for getting one of those.

Anyway, we saw that there was a nearby service point in All The Aires book and it was on our way so we headed there. It was at the side of a garage attached to the Super U supermarket but there was a car almost blocking the drain. I started to manouevre the MoHo as best I could when an American knocked on Dud’s window and said he would move the car – which he did.

As the waste was draining, he came over and we had a chat. Pleasant bloke but he was not forthcoming about his military history. He obviously had one because he had come to France after a stopover at Mildenhall which is a major US air base in the UK.

While we were at the garage, we topped up with diesel. We needed to do a shop – bread was in short supply – wine and beer was as well but it was mainly the bread that was bothering me! I don’t recall ever shopping at a Super U. I had low expectations but was pleasantly surprised – good food choices and I finally got some chillies (piment vert) though they are not particularly hot ones.

We then let the satnav take us to the site that we had chosen near to Cherbourg – it’s actually in the town of Maupertus Sur Mer and it’s Camping L’Anse du Brick. The satnav got us close but I’d had to amend the settings for co-ordinates to find the service point so now I had to change them back for the format used in the ACSI book. I must have done something wrong because it took us past Cherbourg but then told me to go off-road and it showed a destination in the sea. Needless to say, I did not follow its instructions. I wonder what will happen in those circumstances when we have driverless cars? We pulled in to a layby and I used the address and we were only a few hundreds yards away from where we needed to be.

I checked in and the lady in reception was quite happy to use only French and I did quite well. I’m sure I’ve made this comment before but I suspect if I lived here, I would be almost fluent in a few weeks. The ACSI card gets you a good rate out of season but that would have meant a small pitch. She offered some bigger ones and with a sea view so I took that. We’ll always opt for more space if we can get it. And the excellent view over the Channel made it even more worth it.

It was quite overcast so Dud watched Classic Coronation Street while Ellie and I went for a walk. There’s a footbridge from the campsite to the beach. There are some quite steep sections but no steps so we may be able to tackle it with the wheelchair. But the last section to access the beach is steps so that’s a no-no.

There was a sign saying to keep dogs on leads but when we got on to the beach, there was a border collie not on a lead. There were also some other people so I didn’t let Ellie off – she would have been jumping up the other people and probably chasing the collie. I’ll go again in the morning and will let her loose if there’s no-one about.

Tea was frittata which has used up all the eggs that we bought. I’d bought some prawns in the Super U. I wanted to buy some stuff from the fresh seafood counter because the choice was so good but I’m not confident in what I’m buying so these prawns were already packed. They were also whole so I had to spend a bit of time cutting off heads and tails and taking the skins off. They were already cooked but when I’ve seen chefs on the tv preparing them, they always take out the intestine that runs along the length of the body. That had not been done with these but I couldn’t actually see one whem I tried to open one. I suspect we ate them with the intestine still in but they were still tasty.

When Ellie and I went out again, we went down to the beach again but the beach had gone and the tide was right up against the edge of what had been the beach. We had another late night walk and I was going to have an explore out of the main gate to the site but there didn’t look to be any sort of path so I gave up on that and we just walked around the site.

We have no internet access. The lady in reception said that mobile signal was almost non-existent but there was free but limited site wi-fi (or wee-fee as the French call it). My mifi has a very weak signal which makes connection almost unworkable and the site wi-fi is open so the security setting on my works laptop will not allow connection. That’s after what was a very slow connection for the last couple of days. Won’t do any harm to not be on line.

Another relaxing day planned for tomorrow.

A trip down to the beach first thing for Ellie and I but the tide was up so that cut that short.

We chilled for a bit after breakfast and then decided to head into Cherbourg for a look round. Cherbourg was the first bit of foreign soil that I saw when a crowd of us took the ferry from Southampton on a camping break in Saint Malo. That must have been around 1974. Dud and I then went through the port on our honeymoon in 1981. Needless to say, the port area has possibly changed a bit since then.

We drove through Cherbourg and then set the satnav to get back to the campsite and ended up driving through the centre and then retraced the route we took on the way in. It’s less than 10 miles from the campsite so not the longest of days out.

Yet another trip down to the beach for Ellie and I. It’s been drizzling for a lot of the day and some of the slopes are quite steep so taking Dud in the wheelchair was not to be.

The tide was out and the beach was almost deserted. There were a couple of surfers in the water and a reasonably elderly couple walking so I let Ellie off the lead. She shot off with her “I’ve been stuck in the MoHo for a week so I’m going to go mad” type run. It’s a bay with the only way out by the steps down which we came in so she couldn’t escape anywhere.

We walked to the end of the bay and then turned to go back. The walking couple had not, as I had expected, taken the steps to leave the beach and they were heading back towards us. Ellie spotted them and ran up to them. The bloke was ok but the woman was clearly frightened – given away by the fact that she was saying “J’ai peur” (I’m frightened!) I told here that Ellie was friendly and was only playing and she didn’t seem too bothered and people have the right to walk on the beach without being pestered by a dog so I had sympathy for her. It was still funny, though!

Tea was the last of the home-made sausages that we bought with us. We had them with some Uncle Ben’s rice that we bought somewhere in Scandinavia. I had no idea what the flavour was – the wording on the packet was Scandinavian. They tasted like a tomato flavour so it turned out ok.

We move on tomorrow and are now on our way back.

The day started with our usual trip to the beach. There was some sand available but the tide was coming in – and was coming in quite fast. You could see each wave was advancing further than the last one so we gave a walk on what beach was left a miss. I find the sea quite fascinating but also quite frightening – especially with a clueless airedale.

We got away reasonably early for us – around 11:00. We set the satnav for Deauville which takes us a fair way on our way back to Calais and we followed the satnav even though we knew it would take on the Route National. We made decent time and pulled in for lunch once we had passed Caen and were only 20 miles or so from the site to which we were headed.

On a couple of occasions, Ellie had pulled herself off her collar. When she does that, Dud gets hold of her and puts Ellie half on her lap but within the seat belt. We then stop and put her back on her lead (I’m talking about Ellie, now!) and she is usually ok from then one.

We got to the site – Camping La Vallée de Deauville at Saint Arnoult just outside of Deauville – and checked in. Dud was tired (or Classic Coronation Street was about to start) so Ellie and I went for an explore. When we got back, I tried to ring the
vet whose number was posted in the reception so that we could make an appointment for Ellie’s worming tablet. I got through but the signal was bad and it cut out before I could set anything up. I googled the vet and they were only 2.1Km so I decided that Ellie and I would have a walk and we could book the appointment face to face.

We set off ok but the path soon stopped and we had to walk alongside the road – which was quite busy so not a relaxing walk. It became increasingly overgrown and Ellie was becoming less and less comfortable. It got to the stage where she started to pull herself off her lead like she does on the MoHo. Clearly, that is not a good idea on a busy road so we turned round and headed back.

When we had earlier googled the location of the vet, Google Maps had shown another but longer route which seemed to follow the road/footpath in the opposite direction out of the campsite so we followed that route. We walked and walked and eventually came to the D677 which was where the vet should have been. We followed that road for ages but didn’t see the vet. I kept thinking, let’s just go down the next block and they should be there – but eventually, we came to what appeared to be a dead-end so we headed back. We had been walking for nearly an hour and I knew Dud would be worried but there was no way I could get in touch with her so we just had to plough on and get back. I’ve since checked the map and although we were on the correct road, we were miles away from the vet.

After an age, we got back to the MoHo – luckily, just as “The Chase” was starting so good timing. I rang the vet again and this time, the signal held out. Also, the receptionist spoke excellent English so we set up an appointment for Saturday at 15:00. That will mean that we will need to be here for 3 nights but that’s not a problem because it looks a nice site.

There is a Kabe just down the road from where we are parked. First one that we have seen outside of Scandinavia.

Tea was a beef mince ragout with scallopped potatoes and other veg. Very nice, as usual.

Relaxing day (hopefully) tomorrow.

Weather seemed a bit brighter to start the day. After a leisurely breakfast, we sat outside in the sun. I caught up on some old Motor Cycle news – some of which, I suspect, we carried round Scandinavia with us earlier in the year!

We all went for a walk round the site. It’s quite big site mostly taken up with cabins – tourers seem a relatively small part of their business. There’s a big lake at the edge of the site so walked to that and then round some of the cabin areas.

A chillin’ afternoon. I even nodded off in the sun at one point but that was soon cut short by a barking airedale.

Tea was fish cakes that we had bought with us.

Not a lot to report today. Another semi-chillin’ day tomorrow but we will need to take out the MoHo to take Ellie to the vets. And we’ll need to a shop – which will possibly be the last French shop of this break.

We woke up to a cloudless sky. It was a bit chilly but nice and warm in the sun. Ellie and I went for a walk around the lake. There were some anglers there but they seemed more intent on chatting and smoking than angling.

We sat in the sun for a couple of hours. I got through a few more Motor Cycle News and also some Grimsby Telegraphs. There were some articles that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss and also a list of funeral guests that related to someone that I knew – so worth reading.

The vet’s appointment was at 15:00 so we started to prepare the MoHo around 14:00. We went to the service point – which is a Euro Relais but it works without putting in any money or jetons. I drove on and there was a group of people sat opposite in a chalet having lunch and drinking wine. I disconnected the pipework for the gray waste and let it flow. It never smells pleasant but that didn’t seem to bother the neighbours. Luckily (for them), I didn’t need to empty the toilet!

The satnav took us straight to the vet’s. It was miles away from where Ellie and I walked yesterday. We would never have got there on foot. Memo to self – be wary of accepting directions from Google Maps. We were early (en avance – another phrase I have learned – or possibly re-learned). We sat in the reception and there was a women there with a rabbit. It wasn’t the sort of rabbit that we see in our garden – it was all tarted up. Ellie saw it and didn’t take too much notice but possibly some kind of rabbit smell drifted over and she started to get a bit excited. It wouldn’t do for the rabbit to be killed by an airedale in the vet’s reception but luckily, I kept her restrained. €45 for the tablet is at the top end of what we have paid but at least, the vet gave her a good going over.

We then did a shop at the Carrefour that we had seen yesterday and after that, we went for a drive heading towards Deauville/Trouville.

Its difficult to know where one of them ends and the other begins but there were a lot of people about and it looked like the fair was in town. Traffic was very heavy and there wasn’t a chance of parking the MoHo so we drove through and out again. At one point, we passed a café serving oysters and behind it was a seafood market. I would have loved to be able to stop and have look at the market but the density of traffic and the number of people made it not possible.

We got back to the campsite and it was around 17:00 so I started the tea. I had taken a chicken breast out of the freezer because Dud had suggested a chicked pasta so it was a good opportunity to try the pasta method that we had seen on the James Martin tv show the day before. That’s where you put the raw pasta into the main post and cook it a bit like a risotto. It worked really well and was very tasty. We’ll definitely do that again.

On our late night walk, someone was setting off fireworks. It looked close so I suspect someone on the campsite. It frightened Ellie. The next one was 10 minutes or so later and that frightened her even more. We got back to the MoHo and she was still disturbed. I went into the washroom and she started scratching at the door so I let her in and she sat in the washroom while I got washed. It’s not the biggest area but she sat there quietly while I got washed.

A bad night’s sleep. I mentioned about the fireworks last night that scared Ellie. We don’t know if it was that or something else that scared her but she was very restless in the night. She kept jumping up and resting on the bed and she also kept trying to get into the bathroom by opening the door herself. She does that at home – she can open the sun room door into the kitchen by pawing at the handle. I got up a couple of times and put her back on her bed but after a couple of hours, she was doing it again. As it got light, we could hear some gun shots in the distance and that spooked her but that would not have been the case in the night.

I gave up around 07:30 since she was then standing by the door. Given that she had had her worming tablet yesterday, I thought that might be affecting her system and she needed to go out so I took her for a walk. She was very nervous on the walk – tail between her legs all the time – and she was not productive in the toilet department.

As I was packing the electric cable, I heard the people on the other side of one of the hedges mention an airedale terrier and I realised they were commenting on Ellie looking out of the windscreen at me so we had a quick conversation. Ellie also caused some amusement with the people staying near the service point – they had a laugh at her sitting in my driving seat while I was filling up with fresh water.

As we set off, Ellie slipped her collar. She’s done that a few times and is getting quite proficient at it. She then sits at the front with us and usually ends up on resting on Dud’s lap. Dud will put the seat belt round her but it’s not ideal. I also suspect that it causes a double take from the locals because they will think that the dog is in the driving seat! Today, we pulled up in the square in Saint Arnoult near the camp site so that I could put her collar back.

There is a fresh fish shop there that we had thought about using yesterday and, surprisingly, it was open today so I called in. They had a great choice but I wasn’t sure what to buy and then decided I would like some scallops (coquilles in French). I asked for coquilles and they said that they weren’t available until autumn. I didn’t think too much of it at the time but I could have caused an international incident because there’s been problems recently with the French fishermen attacking British boats because the Brits can fish for scallops but the French can’t at the moment. I bought some crevettes (prawns) for €7 so avoiding any sort of conflict. I wish I’d been more confident because they had some of what I think were urchins which I’ve never tasted.

I set the satnav for Honfleur so that we could drive through there and the intention was then to follow the coast in the direction of Dieppe. Honfleur was very busy and some of the directions were a bit tricky but we got through and then headed for the Pont De Normandie. I remembered this bridge as being spectacular from when we here before and it didn’t disappoint today.

We stopped in a layby for lunch and picked a campsite – Camping Le Marqueval at Pourville-sur-mer near Dieppe – and we were there within an hour. We actually drove past it first time and ended up in Pourville. There’s a Huitrière (oyster eaterie) on the sea front that I am determined to visit tomorrow if we can walk down that far.

We’re in a decent spot by the side of a lake. I set up the satellite dish and switched on Sky F1 channel in time to see the results of the Singapore race so that ruined any attempt to watch it later without knowing the result.

I then watched a Youtube video on how to shell and prepare prawns which proved very useful so I set to work doing just that and, though I say it myself, I got really good at it (still not convinced about leaving in the vein/digestive tract but google appears to suggest it’s not harmful it you eat it). Second time this trip but I did a prawn risotto and it was as good as or even better than the previous one this trip.

Ellie and I had a good walk round the site where we found the MoHo service point. Then back to the MoHo and we watched Bodyguard – I am a fan of the Line of Duty series and this is written by the same bloke. I think I’ve commented previously that the story is not really credible – but that does not detract from the fact that it is a cracking series.

Hopefully, a chillin’ day tomorrow but we’ve seen some weather forecasts that would suggests we will catch the tail-end of hurricane Florence and so it will be windy but warm. We’ll see.

Cloudless sky and already quite warm when I took Ellie out – so no sign yet of Hurricane Florence. I even got out the table so that we could have breakfast outside – which, I believe, is the first time that we have ever done that. Very pleasant it was, as well.

We chilled for a while and then all went for a walk in the direction of the beach that we had seen yesterday. There is a cycle track running past the campsite and we found that it went almost all of the way to the beach so there was plenty of room for the wheelchair and for Ellie.

We got to the beach and we got to the Huitrière (Oyster restaurant) that we’d seen yesterday but the restaurant was closed. However, there was a sales place underneath the restaurant that was open so I bought a dozen for €14.60. I asked the bloke if they were easy to open and he (of course) said yes. More of that later.

We then walked along the prom and saw some notices that boasted about Monet painting scenes of the beach and cliffs. We’re actually not far up the coat from Veules Les Roses but there’s not a lot of reference that we saw to wartime activity – apart from a Canadian flag in between a couple of French Tricouleurs.

We passed a café/bar type place and decided to have an ice cream. We were on the prom but access to the café was only accessible by steps – which rules us out. I still went in and ordered a couple of ice creams and then went back to Dud to sit and wait for them. After 10 mins or so, I got fed up of waiting and went back in. As soon as the bloke who had taken my order (and my cash) saw me, I could see that he had forgotten us. He apologised and the ice creams came out a few minutes later. I only wanted a cornet but these were full blown afters type ices. Very nice and very welcome and neither of us had any difficulty in polishing them off.

We got back to the MoHo and sat outside for a bit. I was actually nodding off until Ellie started barking at one of our neighbours walking their dog. I then got my trunks on and went for a swim in the outdoor pool. I’ve been wanting to go for a swim all break but haven’t for some reason. I knew that if I didn’t go today, then there wouldn’t be another chance to do it and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t do it. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that my trunks are ancient. The elastic has long gone and I have this phobia that they will disintegrate while I’m swimming – which would be embarassing to say the least. Must get some new ones.

Dud will not have seafood so I made her some cheese on toast while I checked out Youtube videos on how to open oysters. I eventually got the hang of it using a screwdriver from the toolkit. I only stuck it in my hand once. I didn’t have the courage to have them raw so I did a pasta sauce and pan fried them – but only very lightly. They were delicious. I have 4 left that I will have as a started for tea tomorrow – I may have them raw (I may not!).

We are watching UK tv so when the 10 o’clock news comes on, it’s actually 11 local time but we still think of it as 10. So I took Ellie out at around 23:15. There is not usually anyone around when I take her out at that time but tonight, I saw another torch down one of the lanes and then 2 dogs appeared suddenly and they took an interest in Ellie. One was a lab and the other was a mangy mongrel. The lab was ok but the mongrel did a bit of nose to nose face off and then went to attack Ellie. She backed off and I went to kick it but it backed off. The owner(s) were nowhere to be seen. They then had another attempt to get near and I was all set to boot it but they kept enough distance to stop me doing it. Probably as well because I would have given it a good kick given the opportunity.

Effectively, today is our last day of the holiday. We travel tomorrow towards Calais and will stay somewhere near the tunnel overnight. We would usually stop at Gravelines but Dud wants to try somewhere different. Today was a good day.

There seemed to be quite a few people leaving this morning. We were one of them. As I was packing up, I noticed a fresh water tap between us and the next pitch. I hadn’t seen that previously and I’d been walking down the road to another tap to top things up. Must have looked a bit silly (not for the first – or last – time).

Our first port of call was the recycling centre just down the road. On the previous day, I’d used the last of the toilet fluid that Dud’s sister Mary had given us before we went to Scandinavia. It’s lasted ages and I wanted to let Mary know that we’d finished with it so I took a selfie of me kissing the container outside the recycling bin. Problem was, it didn’t work and all that was on the photo was my face. Oh well, nice try.

We set the satnav for Calais because we still weren’t sure where we would stay. We also changed the preferences to allow autoroute use and we were soon on the A28 and in a paying area.

Not a lot to say about the journey other than it was becoming noticeably more windy so, at last, we must be getting the tail end of the hurricane – or maybe, it’s just windy!

Ellie spent most of the drive out of her collar. Every time we put it back on, she pulled it off. She’s becoming a regular Houdini in the way she gets out of it. We need to put another hole in the collar to make it tighter. It’s not a major problem for us but could be nasty if we hit anything and she’s not restrained.

We chickened out of making a decision about staying somewhere different and headed for Gravelines. There were quite a few MoHo’s on the quayside where we’ve parked previously but the bit further down where we’ve also parked previously had loads of room so we parked there. I nipped into the old town to buy a couple of last minute bits (ie wine!) and then Ellie and I went for a walk down to the beach area. Though, as with most of the places we’ve visited this trip, it had very much and end of season type look with half of the places closed down already. We left Dud in the MoHo because the wind was high so it would not have been a pleasant trip. It was that high that I did not put up the dish.

Tea was steak that I’d bought from one of the supermarkets. I was going to excercise my new-found oyster shucking skills but decided to leave them until tomorrow when we’re home.

The wind died down – in fact, it dropped almost completely, so we put the dish up so that Dud could watch tv. Ellie and I went out for a walk round the square. It was around 22:15 but the bars and restaurants were all closed and the place was deserted – which is what we usually find in France. As we got back to the MoHo, a police car (with “Police” and not “Gendarmes” on the side) drive slowly past the MoHo’s. We’ve read that some people have had problems with thefts of bikes from the back of MoHo’s so I assume that’s why the police prescence.

Home tomrrow so a reasonable early start to get to the tunnel.

I’d set the alarm for 07:30 but Dud was a bit restless and woke up early and so got up around 06:30. That gave us a lot more time and, after a longer than planned walk for Ellie, we set off and got to the tunnel around 08:15.

Pet check in did not take long and, unusually, there were no queues to get through check in and then both sets of customs. I’d half expected to be put on an earlier train but that wasn’t the case and we were directed to the shops area to wait to be called. That gave us time for croissants for breakfast. I’d actually put them in the oven when we were at the pet reception on the expectation that we would have to turn the gas off whilst waiting.

The screens were giving us a countdown to when we would be called – I’ve not seen that before and it’s really useful. There were 3 other MoHo’s waiting with us and you could sense that as the countdown got closer to zero, they were sat poised waiting to go. That proved to be the case and 2 of them went straight off when we were called. It doesn’t actually make any real difference – the train will still set off at the same time regardless of where you are in the queue. But I knew that we would be put at the front anyway and that proved to be the case. I bet they were really cheesed off when we went in our own lane and were then let through before everyone else.

When we were setting off a couple of weeks ago, we’d seen big queues on the M20 in the direction that we were now heading. Luckily, there weren’t any today and, although we slowed down a few times, we kept moving.

It was becoming very windy. We caught some gusts sideways on and you could feel it moving. Caravans are a problem in those sort of conditions but you would hope that the extra weight of the MoHo (engine, transmission etc) would give it a bit more ballast and prevent being blown over. We did hear later on on the radio that a lorry had overturned on one of the M20 sections that we had driven through and they closed it for a while so, luckily, we avoided that.

We stopped for a cup of coffee and some diesel at the service station where we always seem to stop and then we ploughed on and did not stop again until Peterborough Services on the A1. I really don’t like that place since you are directed to the same area as the lorriws and so it is always busy and noisy.

We didn’t stop again and made it home around 16:00 ish. Ellie did her usual mad excited rush around the garden and we unpacked some of the stuff but will do most of the unpacking tomorrow.

I still had 4 oysters left over and decided to have them as a starter. I got a flat bladed screwdriver out of the garage and that made short work of opening them. I’d been building up to having them raw and so put a squeeze of lemon on them and did in fact have them raw – including the sea water that was still in the shell. They were delicious. I’m sure I’ve had them before but the experience is increased by having to open and cut them away from the shell.

All in all, a good break.