Blenheim 14 - 19 Jul 2016

We were given tickets to the Battle Proms at Blenheim Palace for a Christmas present, so it made sense to extend the trip a bit and make the most of the visit. Similarly, we had Tesco vouchers that we could convert into an annual pass for Blenheim Palace and, as the Caravan Club site is next door, it all tied in rather nicely. Accordingly on 14 Jul we drove to Bladon Chains Caravan Club site, set up and had a walk into Woodstock, then along a footpath to Bladon Church to find Churchill's tomb. It has to be said that the traffic around here is horrendous with narrow pavements and lorry wing mirrors missing you by millimetres. It was nice to visit the church and graveyard, but not negotiating the roads.

On Fri 15 Jul we took the rather expensive but regular bus into Oxford where we had a bimble around and had lunch in the Four Candles, named after the famous 2 Ronnies Sketch (Ronnie Barker went to school in Oxford).

On Sat 16 we cycled into Blenheim Palace, had a wander around then returned to the campsite ready for the arranged transport to take us back into Palace, as we had been informed by the organisers that there was no pedestrian or cycle access. There was a lot of people waiting to go. The transport returned twice then never came back, leaving us there. We rang and were told they weren't coming back!  Bloody useless incompetent Barstewards! Not happy, we marched into to Palace via the "No Pedestrians" route ready to blast any of the Battle Prom staff should they decide to stop us. They didn't, so we walked and despite the hike, enjoyed the prom. As for the useless organisers - well they can ***** right off!!!! Tossers.

Sunday dawned a nice day so we cycled into "our" palace for another mooch around. There really is an awful lot to see there, so on Monday we had another trip back, had a tour of the Upstairs, a walk around the pleasure gardens, an early night and home on Tues 19.

Winston Churchill's tomb

Bladon Church

Oxford

Blenheim Palace

That Capability Brown knew a bit about Landscaping

Europe May to Jul 16. Week 6 - 3 to 10 Jul 16.

Sun 3 Jul - another market, another long walk, this time to St Raphael which, as we were informed by the Frejus Tourist Information Office, is much too far to walk to. Pah! Don't they know who we are? Anyway, following the wading route along the beach (noticing a Frenchman digging a channel across the beach near the river estuary) we arrived at Frejus port and found an excellent free shuttle ferry across to the other side. From there the massive market stretched all along the sea front and we had an enjoyable hour or so bimbling along, walking around St Raphael and discovering the inner child by taking a trip on the big wheel.

After a delightful lunch of Moules Frites, we headed back along the beach only to find that the bloody Frenchman and his new channel had diverted the course of the river and the force of the water had created a deep estuary! Watching a couple of other people cross we set out for the wade, only to find the water coming up to our chests and us with baskets of fresh fruit and veg balanced on our heads!  We got some very funny looks when we arrived back at the site, fully dressed but soaked to the chest.

A couple of evenings ago a French shed-dragger and his wife had set up on the pitch opposite. There was the usual hours of entertainment watching the faff and palaver of a caravan and awning being established, but this one was different. The couple had bought a complete fitted kitchen and a full sized fridge and actually built a kitchen in their awning. They then sat down and watched telly...and watched telly. Every time we went past they were watching telly. They were still watching telly when we arrived back on our final night at this site. Remarkable - travel all that way, set up a replica of your own home and then sit there and watch TV. Crazy!

The estuary wade out wasn't so bad

St Raphael

Everything including the kitchen sink. Oh, and a telly of course!

Mon 4 Jul and it was time to start heading back North. The first stop was a fantastic private aire owned by a wine cooperative in the village of Chusclan, which is on the Ceze river just north of Avignon. It was warm, the cicadas were making a hell of a din, the wine was excellent and the aire clean and pretty. What more could you want?

On Tues 5 Jul, after an early start to get through Lyon and the notorious traffic holdups, we stopped at Villefranche sur Saone. The stopover an old campsite next to the river with a hideously complicated entrycard system. Looks like nothing has been done to the site for about 20 years, including cleaning the tatty and dirty toilets and showers, yet it appeared to be a very popular stopping point. We walked for miles into town and found not much there worth seeing, so we had a couple of drinks in an Aussie bar, tried to buy some water in an intermarche  at 10 minutes to closing and they wouldn't let us in, sat by the bar next to the campsite for a beer and was ignored for about a quarter of an hour, so we gave up and went home. We won't be rushing back to this dump

On Weds 6 Jul we found Beaune, the wine capital of Burgundy. However, the toothache that had been developing nicely over the last day or so was reaching the stage where it needed looking at so we spent a bit of time trying to find a friendly dentist. No joy, so we explored the town anyway.

The following day we went to the local hospital to see if they could help with the poorly tooth. They pointed us at a medical centre, which was well and truly closed up. Hmmm. Anyway, we continued our journey north, noting how the weather was getting cooler and the skies less blue. We stopped at a couple of villages seeking a dentist. At one tiny place I banged on the door of a surgery and was told by a passing little old lady that "He wont help you". "Why?" I asked. "Because he is dead". Fair enough. We stopped at one of our previously favourite sites, Lac de la Liez, near Langres, to spend our last camping cheque. The reception told us that they were not taking camping cheques (despite the website advertising they did) and they wanted to relieve us of over 30 yoyos to park up for the night. Well they can feck right off - we won't be going back there again.   Eventually we arrived at a great little spot , Camping Lac d'Orient, in the Aude. What a pretty area! We definitely want to come back and see more of this. The incredibly helpful ladies in the newly opened tourist information office found me a dentist in the local town and so we enjoyed a nice lasagne and a pint of Leffe Ruby in the campsite restaurant, albeit by this time the gob had swollen and it was very difficult to eat.

On Fri 8 July we visited the dentist who was willing to help and an appointment was made for 2pm that afternoon. Never had I looked forward so much to visiting a dentist, counting down the minutes like a child waiting for Santa to arrive. The lovely lady dentist, who spoke little English, immediately identified that I had an abscess and prescribed a mountain of medicine. Knowing the French predilection for inserting tablets in an unconventional manner, I read the labels very carefully! 

A colourful and well maintained war memorial in Lusigny sur Barse

Lots of lovely drugs!

With the painkillers kicking in we drove further north to park up in champagne. One of the first questions I had asked the pharmacist was if I could drink alcohol with the antibiotics and having received the all clear (it is France after all) we opened a bottle of bubbles and admired the fields of young Moet and Dom Perignon ripening nicely.

On Saturday 9 Jul we did our last minute shopping in the Hypermarket in St Omer then parked up in Watten in the Nord Department for our last night. We were hoping to revisit our lovely pizza van but he wasn't there. What is it with the French and their unreliable pizza vans?

Watten aire - notice the French van on the corner hogging most of the space

On Sunday 10 July it was up early, a stealthy departure from the aire and an early crossing back to blighty.

Europe May to Jul 16. Week 5 - 26 Jun to 1 Jul 16

Sunday is a day of rest and that's just what we did - lazing about, reading, swimming in the pool, dozing. It was almost like being on holiday!

On Monday 27 we wandered back into town for yet another market. One can never tire of the sights, tastes and smells of a Southern French market and, despite all the delicious fresh fruit and vegetables on offer we went home with the biggest ever pizza for lunch!

A whole stall devoted to Birkenstocks

As the French say "Miam Miam!"

On Tuesday it was up onto the Valensole plain to enjoy the sights and smell of endless fields of lavender, then onto one of our favourite restaurants for lunch in Sainte Croix du Verdun, Le Comptoir (http://lecomptoir04.com/restaurant-comptoir-04-sainte-croix-du-verdon), which overlooks the lake and serves rather nice duck (of which, I imagine, there is a plentiful supply). We wandered down the steep hill and around the lake  before climbing back home, which was parked in the local aire.  

On Weds 29 Jun we left Ste Croix for a little drive around the Valensole plain before heading to a campsite 700m from the delightful little village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. However, when they said 700m from the village, we didn't think that the meant vertically! It was a steep, steep climb up to the village and an even steeper climb up the 252 slippery steps to the little chapel, Notre-Dame de Beauvoir,  that hangs precariously above the village.  

Twilight rose glow over the village

On Thus 30 Jun we decided that, as we were so close, it would be rude not to go and dip our tootsies in the Mediterranean.  Accordingly, we trundled south and arrived at a very good value campsite, La Plage d'Argens, just outside Frejus  (thank you ACSI card). We quickly set up and walked through the rear gate of the site onto the beach. The beach here is divided into sections and the route from the site takes you straight out between the section reserved for kite surfing and the nudist section. Unfortunately, this section was not filled with beautiful bodies but loads of rather large elderly people whose skin no longer fitted them properly, so we paddled along the beach past the dog section and the family section. There didn't appear to be a section for "relatively normal people who just want a bit of peace and quiet and perhaps a free ice cream or two", but is was very nice all the same.

Must be a Yorkshire Beach - t'air & t'eau

On Fri 1 Jul we walked along the beach once again to the market in St Aygulf, bought some marvellous tapenade, had a beer or two and wandered back again to undertake some serious relaxing.

On Sat 2 Jul we took a very long walk to Frejus market, then down to the port and decided that we should be able to get back to the campsite via the beach, provided that we could wade/swim the estuary of the L'Argens river. Nothing ventured and all that, and the wade through the quite significant current was easily accomplished with the water going to just above our knees.

During the day we did notice a number of signs advertising that that old rocker, Johnny Hallyday, would be performing at the old naval air station which is just across the river from the campsite. We were tempted, but decided that after all our exertions that day we couldn't be bothered and he was so close that we would probably hear the concert for free anyway.

A Dassault Étendard IV Gate guardian on the beach outside the disused airbase.