France May to Jul 17 - week 1- 26 May - 2 Jun 17

We said that we would never travel anywhere on a bank holiday. We did - big mistake!!!!

Friday was ok as we travelled down to Kelseys Farm in Bexley, our stop to do Mother visiting duties before crossing the channel. Enroute we stopped at a weighbridge near Cambridge and were happy that we had loads of spare payload, despite being loaded for a 6 week journey. On Friday afternoon, in glorious sunshine, we entertained the mother in law in a local pub in Bexley. On Saturday we braved Transport for London and, as the trains were screwed yet again, we spent a total of 5 hours travelling to and from West London in roasting heat. We would be glad to see the back of the pathetic and hideously expensive London transport system.

Kelseys Bexley - you wouldn't think that you were so close to London

The Bank Holiday curse struck again on the Sunday as we had a slow jaunt down to the tunnel,
 stopping at a shopping centre near Gillingham for supplies (we were going to pop into Camping International but they offer nowhere for motorhomes to stop, so we didn't bother). Apparently the curse of London Transport had spread to Eurotunnel and there were delays there as well. We queued for an hour to get into the terminal, managed to squeeze in amongst  the thousands of eastern european van drivers towing huge car trailers, and spent an hour an a half sweating as thousands of vehicles tried to manoeuvre and park in spaces built for a few hundred.  Its about time that Eurotunnel invested some more dosh into that ageing and now unreliable crossing.

Queues for Eurotunnel

Eyesore, but necessary, fences when you arrive in France

Finally, late, we parked up at Cité Europe and had a good nights sleep until the storm started. Boy what a storm! The van rocked with the blasts of wind and there were at least 50 flashes of lightning a minute. It was like strobe lighting.

On Monday we did some shopping, filled up with fuel and then the diesel cap managed to self-destruct. Things were going so well! We bought an emergency cap in the local store then headed down to Le Croytoy - a very pleasant aire in a nice seaside town.

Tuesday we set off for Fecamp stopping at a Fiat dealer in Dieppe for a new fuel cap. Of course it was closed for the obligatory French 10 hour lunch break and when he did finally open we were told that it wasn't a Fiat cap but a motorhome one. Grrrr!!

On to Fecamp where we had a walk around this rather uninspiring Norman town, tasted some Benedictine, had an ice cream and retired back to our night stop on the car park, not expecting to get too much sleep as we were near a noisy road and next to a station. We were right. The diesel train started its engines at 0630hrs ready for a 0700hrs departure and as soon as he had gone the bloody church bells sounded. As for the stupid little tit on his backfiring motorbike, popping wheelies up and down the road, the sooner he falls into the harbour the better!

Benedictine

A much quieter site was found on Wednesday at Entretat where we parked up and walked the impressive cliffs, narrowly missing getting caught by the tide as we explored the undercliff cave. The site was full of French vans and it was quite fun commenting on French Motorhomer Fashion. The catwalks of gay Paris it ain't!

Cow's Piss - how delightful!

Thursday saw a quick run in hot sunshine across the impressive Pont de Normandie and onto the aire at Honfleur, parking next to a lovely elderly Belgian couple who wouldn't stop chatting. We wandered around this lovely old port, discovered the beach, and then bought some Cantal cheese before finally trying to stay cool and hydrated in the searing heat.

The Veggie Van arrives at the aire

On Friday we went to Caen to a couple of dealers to source a replacement fuel cap as we had a full tank and didn't want our fuel nicked during the fuel tanker strike. Then off to visit the Green Howard's memorial at Crepon, then along to coast to a campsite in Bernieres sur Mer for a few nights lay up.