France – Sept 2016

Heavy rain again in the night. Even though I’d checked that the roof vents were on their lowest opening, I still laid there thinking that maybe the rain was getting past. So I got up and checked – and they were ok so at least I could stop thinking about it. That was around 03:00

The rain has brought a change of temperature. All previous nights we have kept the quilt off the bed. I was woken up around 05:00 by a shuffling wife who was trying to get more of the covering sheet – and the only way she could achieve that was by taking the sheet from me. I asked if she wanted the quilt putting back on but she said no. After a bit, the fact that she was shivering made me get up and put it on anyway.

Just as Ellie and I were getting back from the morning walk, a couple of husky type dogs came out of a nearby garden and were barking and being generally threatening. I had to stand between Ellie and them – though in the end, they were perhaps not as threatening as at first appeared. That set off all the dogs in the neighbourhood so it caused quite a racket. I wish Ellie would not be so timid with other dogs.

During breakfast, Sue (as she usually does) sat in the driver’s chair. When we’re parked up and I’m not sat in it, Ellie likes to sit there. She decided to do that this morning – even though Sue was also sat in it. Quite amusing as per the photo.

When Ellie and I were out earlier, I’d seen some signs pointing to Doussard as being 25 minutes away and it mentioned La Plage (beach). I took that to be at the side of Lac d’Annecy so I thought it would be a good walk for us later. The weather wasn’t great but the rain appeared to be holding off so we got the wheelchair out and off we all went.

We got on to the ‘road’ where I’d seen the sign and carried on down it walking on the left so that we were facing oncoming traffic. We saw a few bikes but no cars and then we came to a cross roads and the ‘road’ that we were on had barriers to prevent cars from using it. It reminded me a bit of the track round Carsington reservoir but it was wider than that.

Eventually, we got to Doussard but there was no sign of a beach. In fact, if you look at the map, Doussard does not appear to be even on the lake – although one of the signs proclaimed – ‘Doussard – source du lac’ – so maybe there was something like Welbeck Springs where the lake starts.

So we gave up and turned round and came back. I’d joked with Sue that I bet we got to the farthest point and the rain would start – and guess what happened. It was not a problem for me because it was quite hard work pushing the wheelchair so I kept dry from the heat I was generating but Sue had to use the umbrella.

At one point on the walk back, Sue spotted a Bailey MoHo on the road running parallel to the track. We suspected it was the one that we’d seen in the service station near Reims but I asked them on Facebook and they said it wasn’t them. So, at least 3 Baileys in the area.

When we got closer to the campsite, I knew from our walk earlier that there would be some fairly steep climbing to do. It doesn’t seem steep when you’re just walking but when you’re pushing a wheelchair, it seems very steep. I had to stop a couple of times to get my breath but we made it.

To continue the ‘dog shit on shoe’ saga, I wore the said shoe for the morning walk with Ellie and also on the walk to Doussard. I figured if I wore the shoe, the movement might get rid of the remaining bits of shit – but it didn’t so I still have work to do.

Nice chicken pasta for tea – I put some capers in (bought specifically for last night’s pizza) and that added a subtle taste that I’ll try again back home.

It started to rain later on after Sue had gone to bed and I hung on for a while before taking Ellie out. Since it didn’t stop, we went out anyway. On the way back to the campsite, we were walking past what appeared to an open piece of land (there appear to be a lot of those) and a dog started barking in the blackness but at what appeared to be a safe distance. It was a macho type bark suggesting a big dog. Problem was, the bark started to get louder. I still couldn’t see anything in the dark and wasn’t actually sure if it was one dog or two but it was definitely getting louder so I assumed that it/they were not actually contained.

Eventually, I saw that it was just one dog but it looked like a Rotweiler type breed. I’m not frightened of dogs but I have a healthy respect for some of the fiercer breeds. It was heading towards us still barking and I stood our ground and shouted at it to stop – which is probably a bit stupid because if it were a French dog, would it understand ‘stop’? Well it didnt stop but it slowed down and we then carried on walking. It followed for a while but then gave up. Must admit, my heart was pounding a bit – Ellie’s was probably doing the same.

Rained for most of the night and was still raining in the morning.

After we’d been for the morning walk, we were having breakfast and I could hear hounds howling and could also hear the occasional hunting horn being blown. I’ve no idea where the hunt was – possibly wild boar???

I’ve read how the old town of Annecy is a like a cut-down version of Venice. It seemed a shame to come all this way and then not to see that but that sort of visit poses problems with reduced mobility. We’ve met an older gentleman on the site a couple of times – possibly the father of the camp site owner? He has excellent English and is a really friendly bloke and I mentioned to him that we would like to visit. He said that the best way to do it is by boat – there’s a service that runs round the lake a bit like a bus. I told him that Sue needs to use a wheelchair so that rules out the boat and he said that there is a car park close to the old town that would take the MoHo and we would be ok there with the Blue Badge. He even went to check it out on the internet and came back and told us that it would be ok.

Before we attempted the old town visit, we went to try and find the beach area that we had missed the previous day. We found it and parked up and Ellie and I set off for a bit of a walk. It turned out to be a very little bit because dogs are not allowed – so we gave up and turned back. I’d have been a bit p*ssed off if we’d actually found it the previous day only to have been thwarted because of a ‘No Dogs’ rule.

On the drive back into Annecy, we saw the MoHo that was our neighbour at Folkestone – V9 TUG – what are the chances of that? Then, we headed to that recommended car park – as you will see from the video, access was a bit tight – but there weren’t any spaces so we decided to give up on the old town visit – maybe some other time.

Instead, we headed for the opposite side of the lake just to see it from a different perspective. We attempted to get lake-side in a couple of places but trying to find a parking spot for a 7.5M MoHo sometimes proves difficult. Eventually, we got parked up and Ellie and I went for a walk while Sue made some sandwiches. Disappointingly, there was another ‘No dogs allowed’ sign so the walk did not last long.

When we set off again, I drove round the car park to show Sue the lake and the ‘No dogs’ sign but hadn’t realised the angle of the incline out of the car park. There was a scraping sound as the chassis at the rear hit the tarmac – you can hear it on the video. I checked later and there were scratches but no real damage. Second time that has happened this holiday – though the first time was on grass so the grass came off worse. That’s in inherent problem on a van with a large overhang after the rear axle.

We needed to empty the grey waste so we called in at the Aire on the outskirts of Annecy. It was horrendous! There was an old Brit MoHo parked over the drain but the MoHo’s were so crammed in. The owners of the Brit MoHo turned up while I was looking to see if it was occupied. They apologised to me and drove off so we got the waste emptied. I know I mentioned earlier that parking close together is the norm in the Aires but this was really bad. Had we been planning to stay there then I know that we would have carried and found somewhere else.

We headed back to the campsite and had a quick detour while I nipped into a Carrefour to top up supplies. Amongst other things, I bought a couple of cheap toothbrushes – more of that later. Another night of rain. Our last night here.

It rained most of the night and was still raining in the morning. We were going to be on the move today but I had a little job to do first. I took the dog shit shoe back to the toilet block and used one of the toothbrushes that I had bought the previous day and that got in all of the nooks and crannies and finally finished the job. So that shoe was back in action. I thought about cleaning the tooth brush and then giving it to Sue to use for cleaning her teeth but decided against that (only joking, dear).

We’d decided to spend the second part of the the holiday around Clermont-Ferrand so we set the satnav for Villefranche-sur-Saône – slightly more than half way. Intention was to stay in an Aire overnight.

Not a lot to report on the journey. Garmin took us back along some of the roads that we came in on. We stopped at a MoHo dealership and got some blue chemical for the toilet – I’d thought that morning that it would be touch and go whether we got to the end of the holiday on what we had bought. I wouldn’t like to think of the state of the toilet cassette if we ran out!

It was raining and misty for almost all of the journey which was a shame because we missed out on seeing a lot of what must have been spectacular views. We followed the same route out of Annecy that we had come in on a few days previously. We were on the D1084 for a lot of the journey and that shares a lot of the route with the A40. The A40 has some spectacular elevated sections as you can see in the video. It is ‘L’Autoroute des Titans’ – the ‘Motorway of the Titans’ – what a great name.

The D1084 takes you past the Monument des Maquis de l’Ain which is a memorial to the 700 Franch resistance fighters from this area that were killed in World War 2.

We stopped for lunch within around 30 miles of Villefranche but it was still only 14:00’ish so we decided to head towards Raonne as there appeared to be quite a lot of Aires in that area. Raonne is yet another sizeable French town that I’d never heard of. There’s been quite a few of those this holiday – that’s a good thing – new experiences and all that.

We decided to head for the Aire at Les Sauvages – it looked a decent place in ‘All the Aires’. Les Sauvages translates literally to ‘the savages’. As we arrived in the town, the mist descended – or rather, we’d climbed into the cloud cover.

We followed the Aire sign and ended up in a block end in the car park. The Aire is alongside the municipal stadium. There was a football game going on so the car park was full and some cars were blocking the service point. We reversed out and it looks like there are 3 separate areas which are meant for MoHo parking so we picked a spot.

Weather was not great – windy and raining and no visibility. The Aires book says that there are some good views but we’ll have to take their word for that since visibility is down to about 20 yards. That problem of visibility was something that had dogged us throughout the day. I suspect that we drive through what were really good views but the reduced visibility meant that we couldn’t view them.

I tried the satellite dish on all settings again but got nothing. What was even worse was that there was no internet reception on the MiFi. No tv and no internet – that must be a bit like how the end of the world will be.

Nice tea of lamb meatballs bought from the Carrefour the previous day. Sue came up with the idea of doing them in tomatoes so I built on that. We were a but isolated so I made sure the doors were locked.

The rain stopped in the night but it was still misty when we got up. I say misty but we were at 2,400 ft so probably it was actually low cloud. It cleared for a spell when I took Ellie out so I got some reasonable video – but then it came in again and the rain started again with a vengeance.

I checked a few sites in the ACSI book – which I rarely use – and, anyway, it’s 2015 so may not be current. I saw a site which stated it was Puy-de-Dôme which was the area we fancied. Rang them and they said there was no need to reserve, just turn up.

We partly serviced the MoHo. I didn’t bother with topping up the fresh water because we would be on a proper site tonight so we would be able to do that there. The vidange (drain) at the Aire was a mess – there was even loads of spaghetti over the grid – why don’t people clear these things up when they leave – but then, we’ve seen a lot worse than spaghetti scattered all over the place. It didn’t look like a black waste drain (I always think that should be brown waste!) so we emptied the toilet in the adjacent public toilet. Not sure if that is good form or not but we left it as clean as it was before we emptied.

There was just one car parked up in the car park this morning (as opposed to the full car park the night before). It had blocked one route to get the the service point but we managed to reverse in from the other side. It wouldn’t need many cars to be parked to make it impossible to manouevre over the drain.

The drive was through some pleasant countryside. It was a shame about the poor visibility because I bet there were some spectacular views that we missed out on – again.

We stopped for lunch only 5 or so miles from the camp site so took our time. The approach to the camp site was on narrow roads that I took at a reasonable lick but still cautious – so imagine my surprise when an artic pulling a 40 foot container caught us up and sat right on our arse through the bends.

The new satnav has ACSI sites pre-programmed so we knew it was going to take us there – but, in spite of that, we missed a late turn and had to go down the road and then double back – not an easy manouevre with a 40 ton truck up your arse.

When we arrived at the site, the commandant came out to meet us. When I rang earlier, he had realised that I was English and then spoke to me in almost perfect English but with a Dutch accent. When he introduced himself as Jan and after a couple of sentences, I realised that was because he actually was Dutch. Isn’t ACSI an organisation that had its roots in Holland?

We have a nice pitch with what should be a spectacular view over the Auvergne valley but we are most definitely not near Puy-de-Dôme. We are actually in the Parc Naturel Régional Livradois-Forez. Regardless, we have booked for 3 nights.

When Ellie and I went for a walk, the view over the valley was quite spectacular. There were various set of lights that can be seen – some of them in distance I would suggest are from Clermont-Ferrand.

Also, on the walk, I had to put the torch in my pocket (so that I could tie up the shit bag (but no need to mention that) and the darkness was at an intensity that I rarely experience.

I’ve tried the satellite dish on all settings again and no joy. But we have a reasonable internet connection through the MiFi so not the end of the world tonight.

For Ellie’s morning walk, we went again up the track that we’d used last night. It’s fairly thick woodland and looks prime wild boar country – something backed up by the picture of a boar on the back of a Jeep 4×4 which parks just out of the campsite.

Some of the trees are labelled with numbers and they have acronyms VTT FFCT on them. I made a note of that to check it out hoping it was some kind of wild boar connection but it turns out to be some French cycling association – http://ffct.org/randonner-a-velo/vtt/

At one point, I stopped and listened and could hear absolutely nothing. So last night in this wood, I experienced complete blackness and this morning I experienced complete silence.

We were still in varying degrees of cloud cover and it alternated between reasonably clear and misty which meant that you couldn’t see the skyline and at times, you couldn’t see any of the view. Slowly it cleared and started to look like the first signs of sunshine for a few days.

After breakfast, I checked on the Maxview web site to see if there was any hint as to why the dish would not pick up any satellites at all. While I was at it, I thought I may as well download the software update from last year. I did it and installed it into the dish controller and set it searching for the Astra satellite – but I got bored after a couple of scans so I switched it off.

It was gradually becoming sunnier so we actually got the chairs out and sat for a couple of hours in the sun. Unfortunately, while I was in the van clearing up the lunch dishes, Sue fell out of her chair. She had been leaning over holding on to Ellie to clear something from her fur and Ellie had pulled which meant that Sue fell. Luckily, no injury – but not very nice for her.

It was clear enough to see the skyline on the far horizon and we could pick what we suspect is the Puy-de-Dôme – which is where we intend to visit tomorrow if the weather is anything like.

We had been planning a supermarket trip to top up supplies so packed the chairs away and set off for the Leclerc in nearby Thiers. When I saw the route, it looked like we would be on narrow roads out of the camp site but then on to a better – namely the D7 – after all, if it has such a low number, it must be major. It turned out just to more of the same. The roads are not quite as narrow as some we’ve been on in the UK and, most importantly, there were no stone walls – but they still needed a lot of care and we were mostly in second or third gear.

Thiers is quite a spectacular place with the housing built into the hillside.

We got back to the site and topped up the water and then had a tea of Toulouse sausage. After tea, as I was clearing, I thought I’d give the satellite another try. I set it going on the Hotbird setting but nothing. Seeing as I’d reinstalled the software update, I thought I’d try the Astra setting – more in hope than expectation. After a good few minutes, it stopped and locked on. I don’t know if it was the re-installation or the better weather but at least it was working. I couldn’t get Sky to work but that could be because the box needs to reinitialise after being switched off but we could get the Freesat channels.

On Ellie’s late night walk, the view of the lights in the Auvergne valley was even better than the night before. During the day, you can see the nearest village and some nead distance ones but you can’t pick anything out in the distance. That changes at night and it’s a lot like the view you get when you look out of an aeroplane window at night. If you draw a line from the camp site to the Puy-de-Dôme, it passes through Clermont-Ferrand so my guess from last night is looking correct.

Ellie was getting a bit excited on the walk. We could hear more than one owl – but we have owls at home so she knows what that noise. Maybe some wild life had left a scent. She barked again and, like this morning, it echoed.

We decided to have a day out to get a closer look at the Puy-de-Dôme. I’m sure that our niece, Laura – a geology graduate – could explain what a puy is but check out Wikipedia if you want to know. My simple explanation is that it’s like a volcanic pimple that builds up but, thankfully, without bursting.

On the dog walk in the morning, we experienced the eerie silence again in the woods behind the site. That changed when we went past a field with a couple of horses. One of them came over to the fence – probably thinking that it was going to be fed. Ellie has grown up with seeing horses virtually every day but that didnt stop her barking – and after a delay of half a second or so, the bark came back as an echo. I’ve only experienced that once before that I can remember – on a Youth Hostel holiday with my dad – so it was actually a weird experience. In order to experience it again, I did a bit of shouting myself – as you can see in the video.

We set off toward the Puy-de-Dôme and skirted Clermont Ferrand on the way there (and back). We didn’t get a feel for the place but it’s the 23rd largest city in France so not a small place.

We parked up quite close as you can see from the photo and had some lunch. We even drove round the car park but stopped short of checking out the train up to the summit. A wheelchair and a dog would probably not have made it an easy experience.

On the trip out and back, we went through Chignat. There was some interesting architecture on the town limit signs that I’ve googled since and can’t make out what it is. It reminded me of an oil derrick type structure but I can’t see anything that refers to that. I would love to be enlightened on what that is meant to symbolise one day.

On the way back, we pulled in at a viewing spot that gave a great view over Clermont Ferrand. That doesn’t come over on the photo but it provided an intersting view.

When we got back to the camp site, I asked Jan, the commandant, where I could empty the grey waste. I’d emptied it the day before in what I thought was a drain but it was just a storm drain – sorry, Jan. He told me that there were a couple of drain covers on the site where we could do it – one of them was close to where we were parked and the other was very close to where a tent had pitched. He is a very helpful bloke and insisted on helping so we went to the one near our pitch and he helped me reverse with the drain tap over the drain. I wish I had a rear facing camera which recorded how he did that because it was a very calm ‘come on, come on….’ and then, when the tap was over the drain, it was a frantic and exagerated jumping up and down with a stop gesture of the arms – bless him.

So I got out and turned on the drain tap and ……..nothing. It was a bit like when you go to the gents and someone is watching and you can’t do anything. I realised it was because the Bailey was at an angle so I re-positioned it (more frantic waving when I was in position) and then it drained fine.

Jan left us while the tank drained (Baileys are very slow at doing that) and when it finished, I had to get the tool kit out for a lever to help me to get the drain cover back in place correctly. At which point, one of our new Dutch mates came over and asked if I wanted a hand – which I didn’t at that point because I had got the cover back in position. Another example of why I think they are not really set up for MoHo’s – but don’t let that put you off because the commandant and most of the campers are good, well-meaning people and it’s a good spot.

We had breakfast before we set off. I like to get going and have breakfast on the road but Sue was hungry so didnt do that today.

Our Dutch friends bade us goodbye and one of the men stood and watched as I reversed off the levelling block and then gestured frantically to let me know that the block was still there. I wasn’t going to drive off without but I suppose that he meant well.

I have to comment on the toilet disposal point on the site. It was just a curved piece of pipe sticking out of the ground but it’s one of the most effective disposal points that I’ve used. You have to stick the outlet of the cassette down the pipe so no splashback and no mess in spite of how primitive it looks.

While we were topping up the water before leaving, our Dutch friends kept coming down to use the loo. There were 4 caravans there and I dont think any of them used their on-board facilities. They used the site toilets and even did their washing up in the site block. At one point, one of the woman went into the cubicle right next to where I needed to be to connect the hose for the fresh water. Didn’t seem to bother her but it put me off a bit so I went back into the MoHo until she’d finished. Always tempting in those situations to strike up a conversation by asking if they’d had a good shit!

We drove to Vichy (isn’t that famous for something? – Sue thinks a drink, I think it’s a way of doing potatoes) and then on to Moulins and Nevers. We stopped at a Leclerc on the outskirts of Vichy but it was a Drive. We’ve seen them before but this one was only a Drive – you couldn’t just go in and shop, you had to have ordered it and then you drive into a bay and they bring it out to you. Strange.

We stopped at an Aire de Repos just outside of Nevers and then made the decision to head towards a particular Aire at Léré. We were actually very close to St Benin d’Azy where we’d stayed last year but decided not to go there again. Temperature was in the low twenties so nice and warm. We diverted into the outskirts of Nevers and found an InterMarche where I topped up supplies (and wine).

We’d done a long stretch on the N7 which became the A77 so managed to get a few miles in. Bit boring but we need to be in Calais on Saturday night so the more miles we can get under our belt, the better. But I’m sure that we ended up driving some roads that we’ve done last year. I’ll check that out when I map it from the dashcam footage.

We turned off the main roads at the Nuclear Power Station that is on the banks of the Loire. There is actually an Aire close to that but we were heading a few miles away.

We got to the Aire and there was one place left. The parking places are marked out and whilst they are much closer together then you would expect on a site, there is a fair bit of breathing space between us and the next MoHo. Problem you get, though, is that because UK vans have the door on what is the UK nearside, that means that if you are next to a French or other EU country MoHo (odds on that you will be) then your door opens on to their door.

After tea of a decent steak from InterMarche, we all went for a walk through the village. There was a woman walking her dog in front of us and so that meant that Ellie spent most of that part of the walk barking after the dog.

Satellite dish locked on – I’m starting to think that the download actually did do the trick – although the further north you get the more you are in Astra 2 range – so we watched some tv.

The Aire is alongside the Canal latéral à la Loire. It would have been nice to look out over the canal but there was a big barge parked right in the way. Also, the Aire is next to a grain warehouse so we had expected to hear lorries loading grain from the early hours – but that didn’t happen. The night actually passed quite peacefully.

Sue said that the MoHo who turned up late after the 4 official places were filled had parked in the field next door. I hadn’t spotted that but that is typical of the French attitude to rules and lines and marked places – bit like the bloke at Nuits-Saint-Georges – and good luck to them.

We’d walked past the church in the centre of the town a number of times but I noticed in the morning how there was a noticeable lack of windows and those that there were were very high. It would have been interesting to look inside – I bet it was very dark.

We finally got to fully empty the grey waste – been trying to do that for days. There was a noticeable load of crap at the end of the discharge. I would have felt guilty if we’d dropped that on the road but since we were over a vidange, it didn’t matter because I could hose it down the vidange.

We’d not seen any vets in the last couple of days and it was time to get Ellie’s worming tablet sorted and her passport stamped ready for the Channel crossing. I’d googled vets in the area the night before and there was one nearby in nearby Neuvy-sur-Loire. Goes by the name of Clinique vétérinaire RAMJA Jahja – that has to be a joke because he looked very French to me.

I rang them and the lady that answered had no English so I rambled on and tried to get through to her what we wanted. I’d googled worming tablet and it comes back at comprimé vermicule. I hadn’t a clue what she replied and then she put me on hold with some weird music. I listened to it for 5 minutes and then hung up and thought that we’d look for another vets later on. But after a few minutes the phone rang and it was Ramjar Jamjar so again I told him what we wanted and he said to call in at the clinic.

So, another saga unfolded. I set the satnav for the address on google and we ended up in a square in the town. I walked around for a fair bit but could not find anything that looked like a vet so I ended up going in the Post Office and asked. The very nice lady gave me directions which I half understood – I thought she said that the vets was on edge on town on the road to Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire so we headed back out out of town – no easy feat given the one way system.

Still couldn’t find it on the edge of town so I ended up ringing them again and the lady explained that we needed to head towards Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire which is what we did and we eventually found them – nowhere near where the address suggested. I hope that bloody dog realises the stress that she causes. €24 for a single tablet for both of the bits of the passport was a reasonable amount. I’d asked if they had many Brits asking for the same thing but I must have been the first – that probably lessens the closer one gets to Calais.

We then pressed on to head north and ended up going on many of the roads that we’d used last year. We moved out of the Loire area and into the Champagne region and there seemed to be a lot of activity – presumably harvesting the grapes. There were places where there were double axled caravans parked up – presumably lots of itinerant gyppos doing the harvest. There were also lots of white rental vans parked up on amongst the vines – again, itinerant grape pickers – Eastern European or whatever.

We eventually got to Fismes. A lovely town nicely kept. We got to the Aire and there was no-one parked so we picked the best spot. Very, very noisy from the Friday tea-time traffic. Sue was tired and so went to bed very early. The traffic noise slowly died down. At around 21:00 I heard another low ticking diesel engine and assumed another MoHo. When Ellie and I went out for a walk, sure enough, there was a Pilote parked up behind us. Reassuring that we are not the only MoHo in the village.

On our walk, there was a gang of 5 or 6 youths. Immediate thought is that they are threatening so you get prepared for action but they all said Bon Soir – and with little hint of threat. It still makes you think how exposed you are, though, in some Aires.

Ellie walked through the square – as always some fascinating architecture. A bit incongruous but someone was having a party and there was a strong beat booming out over the square. Then, the town hall clock struck 22:30 and the chimes frightened Ellie.

Considering that we were just at the side of a reasonably main road, we didn’t have a bad night’s sleep and slept through until gone 08:00. We’d expected that the traffic noise would start early but it didn’t.

I had a quick chat with our French neighbour as he stood outside his van having a smoke. I did ok – saying about how the noise had not materialised.

Having walked into the town centre last night, we walked alongside the river this morning. The houses had huge long gardens – most in a good state of repair with plenty of vegetable patches.

Looks like Fismes was hit badly in both wars. The bridge that we were parked near had an inscription that it was donated to the town by the state of Pennsylvania after the first world war. We also passed some monuments to American units so they must have been involved in WW1.

We set off in good time and took the N and D roads (including D1 – must be important with the number ‘1’). We stopped for breakfast and then carried on and actually drove round the outskirts on St Quentin (remember to pronounce it ‘San Contann’ and not the Johny Cash version). First time we’ve actually seen it as opposed to seeing signs on the A26.

But as good a time as we were making, we needed to get some more miles in quickly otherwise we would not arrive at Gravelines in time to get a reasonable spot – so we turned on the Autoroute. I was still a bit nervous that the tag wouldn’t work but it soon bleeped and we were through.

The final péage on the A26 is some 20 miles or so outside of Calais. There was a bit of a queue when we got there – most of the cash booths had 5 or 6 cars queueing – so it was gratifying to head for the empty liber-t 30kph lane and roll through without stopping. Financially, it costs more to do it this way but it makes life so much easier (**** might pay to put this much earlier in the account****) Smug does not do it justice! *** 13250067 refers

At one point on the Autoroute, there was a young black lad walking at the edge of the fast lane. It was a highly dangerous thing to do but I suspect it was one of the least dangerous things that he’d been through on his journey – and I suspect getting picked up by the Gendarmes for doing it would be the least of his problems. We also came to a bridge across a river )****x check the dash cam) and there was a sign saying no pedestrians. I can imagine that they negotiated their way out of Libya, across the Med in a horrendous conditions, walked through Italy, France etc and then they see a sign showing a pedestrian in a red circle – how many laws have they broken and how many times have they risked their lives to take a blind bit of notice of a road sign.

We reset the satnav to the actual co-ordinates of the service point at Gravelines. I’m not sure why that is a mile of so away away from the Aire – but it is. Payment was by debit card which is so much tidier. So we topped up the fresh water, drained the grey water and emptied the toilet. That would be the last service that we do this trip and it means that we can just head off in the morning and we are set all the way back to home.

We’d passed by the Aire on the way to the service point and could see that there was already quite a few vans parked up but when we got back, there were a few decent places so we picked on and backed in. We decided to go for a walk – temperature was mid 20’s so it was nice enough to do that. I got Sue’s chair out and while we were getting ready, another Brit reversed in alongside. A really nice A class unit with auto levelling.

We had a chat to them and they’d actually been in to Calais before coming out to Gravelines. In Calais, a refugee had attempted to climb underneath their MoHo and hitch a ride to UK. I wasnt sure at that point whether they were just arriving in France or whether they were going home but it was the latter. The man told me that he’d got out of the MoHo with a baseball bat that he keeps and told the refugeee to clear off. There was no drama but that made me think of something that we need to add to the checklist for the next trip.

We then walked to the prom via a nice footpath/cycle track. It was a lovely day so the walk was very enjoyable. I’d done a similar walk with Ellie last time we were here (April last year) but then it was out of season so places that were open today were mostly closed back then.

When we got back to the MoHo, we could see a few boats heading towards us. Turns out that there was some kind of local celebrations(pilgims?????). I wished I’d got some video but I way busy doing the tea (Marlinsm, chips and peas_.We saw the boats come back a couple of hours later.

Satellite dish had locked on so we had a very British Saturday evening watching Strictly – and our neighbours were watching it as well.

Interesting what tips you pick up but at one point, our neighbour opened up the toilet compartment and swapped the cassette for another cassette. That’s another good idea that I may take up. Save panicking when the toilet is nearly full and you have no means of emptying it – just swap it for another one and empty them both when you get chance.

I took Ellie for a walk and we went across the creek to the restaurant that we’d walked to last time we were here. I did not have on my high vis so when the path stopped, we turned round.

As I was finishing having a shower, I heard fireworks. Déjà vu there. But this time, they frightened Ellie as opposed to frightening me. They did not last long so probably not the public display that went on last time but some private celebration.

Fairly early start to the day. Ellie and I went for a walk while Sue got ready. Some of the MoHo’s had already left. We set off for the tunnel in plenty of time. We saw no illegals at all on the way there.

We arrived at the tunnnel, got Ellie cleared through the pets’ passport area and then queued for quite a while to get past security. The French police did their usual check for explosives by sticking the sniffer type device through the window and running it round the steering wheel.

When we got to the UK border control, the guy asked where we had stayed overnight and then asked if we had looked under the MoHo before we set off. He wasn’t joking either. I hadn’t but told him that I had. Evidentally, some of them target the Aire at Gravelines and do actually hide under MoHo’s. I doubt that they could do it with ours because it is low profile but I suppose desperate people will try desparate things.

We were booked on the 08:50 train *** check this **** but weren’t offered an earlier one. Nevertheless, we didnt bother with the shop area and went straight to the departure area. They put us in a line and we were about fourth in line. We could see that they were loading the train prior to ours and then the barrier went up and they started to let out queue through….. that is until they got to us. They let the vehicle in front through but stopped us – and we stayed there until our booked train. Shame – that would have saved half hour.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. I always think it is quite depressing driving back down the M20 after being in France but all good things come to an end.