Loire Valley

 We drove onto Orleans and found a beautiful park and site overlooking the Loire river.

Looks good for fly fishing too.

We met an Australian couple from Melbourne. Matt and Mel, were newly weds and a lovely couple who spent some time with us sharing places they had seen.
Grant listened to an Australian AFL game and enjoyed called Andy in South Australia. We went for a late afternoon bike ride but returned with the sound of thunder and lightening and when dark clouds followed raced back to the park.


It rained overnight but had cleared the next day as we left from Muides and visited the Chateau of Chambord - which is one of the biggest Chateaux of its type in France.

Just another McMansion

Ok - so its a little bit impressive

No problem with the neighbours

The centre staircase is the best - a double hellix (Leanardo DaVinci inspired) - but doesn't photograph so well

we can't be outdone by all the tourists to my right

Mademoiselle on the terrace

We were given a interesting interactive device which allowed us to find out about various sections of the Chateau by putting in the number displayed alongside an exhibit which was helpful. We climbed a lot of stair and learnt a lot about the history of this building from 1519 to current days. It was initially intended as a hunting lodge but it's architecture made it an extravagant chateau and very worthwhile visiting.


Later that day we headed to Chinon and visited the Royal Fortress of Chinon with a visit that started with the royal quarters and continues throughout the site.

Loire River Valley looks great - from one of many bridges

Chinon Fortress

Apparently the neighbours were always looking to knock you off in those days.

Lots of restoration work going on as this was largely a ruin until recent times

Fortress overlooks the Vienne River

The camp ground where we stayed is just over the river.

All along these visit trails you would find film and either interactive
or audio terminals to help you discover the site and its history. The history of the fortress portrays the great figures who have left their mark there. We stayed overnight at the Auger Island Camping Ground which is situated face to the castle, close to the river Vienne and next to the town centre.



Driving to Bordeaux, we had been told about the beauty of Saumur, an area south of Tours. It's a beautiful rich area with a delightful cobble stoned village.  We enjoyed riding through the streets and investigating the grounds of a nearby Chateau on the Easter Monday.  Most shops were closed with cafes and some restaurants open for business and Grant spotted a friendly black labador wagging his tail on a balcony. It was so nice that we decided to stay for a couple of days and parked our MotorHome on the banks of the river Loire which is just over the bridge from the village centre.

Good choice of accommodation with most sites nestled under the cover of trees and surrounding bushes. After setting ourselves up we headed off for another ride and lunch/early dinner at a corner cafe/restaurant.

The Shower

This is post is about the shower, not a shower - THE SHOWER. If you have travelled around camp-sites in Australia then you will have been confronted with a range of showering solutions which vary widely and owe their heritage to many a bygone era.
However since our first initiation to the humble shower block in the UK and its French counterpart  it has become clear that this is where the foundation of  IKEA has been forged. It is as if one salesman has sold the entire industry on a flatpack model of shower cubicle. There is probably an obscure village in Outer Mongolia dedicated to prefabricating shower cubicles for Europe.
As part of this package comes the all-in-one shower head with a push-button actuator designed to expire whenever your eyes are filled with shampoo or whenever you have soap in hand and the other arm raised.
Considering they are all of the same heritage their performance can vary widely - some require an almost ferocious attack on them in order to keep the water flowing, while others conspire to lull you into a false sense of  complacency, waiting until you are distracted by that warm stream of water flowing over your body - before dribbling to a splutter.
We await the Spanish interpretation of the water torture we anticipation.

Grant Smith

Le Mans

Leaving Mont Saint-Michel we headed inland via Rennes to the Le Mans famous dedicated motorcar museum with over 150 vehicles on display including some motorbikes.
There was heaps of great gear on display - if your a petrol head (or diesel as most of the recent winners are powered this way) then this is a nice diversion, you can even do laps I think. It was not worth doing a hot lap in the Fiat though.

Grassed surround to tram tracks looked good, not to sure it would work in Aust.

Audi

Bentley

Awesome collection

Can't beat the oldies for history though

Nick-named the Pound of Butter

On seeing our camper we were immediately admitted into the hall of fame.

It was a lively and interactive display which linked history and modern technology. It was fantastic and we both enjoyed looking at the vehicles and reading the
history behind each vehicle displayed and the link between the Le Mans 24 Hours race.

Normandie

Leaving Dray-Dunes we drove to Dieppe, walked around and then headed south to Fecamp and to a site which overlooked the ocean. It was beautiful.

Mutts can travel everywhere.

This was the line-up at Dieppe

Great Location at Fecamp

I'd better check those wheel chocks again.

It looks warm - but it wasn't.

We left Frecamp and drove South crossing the Seine river by ferry and heading to Caen.

Crossing the river in the ferry

 This was where we finally purchased 2 new bikes, safety gear and security locks. These are cheap imports from Carrefours (supermarket chain), they look ok and have front suspension - with a bit of luck they will last long enough to see us through. Whoops I spoke too soon, Helena's pedal has dropped off twice (even after being wrenched back on.)
Parked the Motor Home at a beautiful country park near Bayeux - meeting Matilda the pig and a little white dog.

We are not quite sure how she got in there.

 Known as Camping Reine Mathilde it was a friendly park. We took out our new bikes to Port Bessin, which was a beautiful port close by where we saw many boats stranded by the exceptionally low tide.

Stranded boats

Later that evening we enjoyed the company of a Dutch couple who exchanged stories over several glasses of red wine. Early next morning we headed off to Bayeaux to see the world famous Tapisserie de Bayeaux - a medieval masterpiece - 11th century embroided cloth which stretched 68 metres and visualises the famous tale of William, Duke of Normandy who set off to conquer England in 1066. It was hidden and saved from destruction for over 900 years.
We then visited the D-Day Museum at Arromanches with superb views across to the 'Mulberry Harbour'. We saw the 360 degree cinema (www.arromanches360.com) which combines the message 'The Fight for Freedom' by combining vision from the war and life as it is today. A moving message.
The village museum featured the expertise of the British to create a fabricated harbour so they could deliver supplies to those fighting the war. It was incredible.

Arromanches - great history and atmosphere

French Tank overlooking Arromanches

Some of the remains of Mulberry Harbour

We left mid-afternoon and drove along the coast to Mont Saint-Michel and strolled thru the castle which stands just off the coast and surrounded by a tide which can
quickly change within a few minutes. We observed the 'tidal wave' as it rolled into place around the castle. The castle itself is now inhibited by x 2 monks who
live in a secluded area with the rest open to tourist activity which includes a hotel,retail shops, restaurants, post office etc.... Commercial reality but disappointing really.

Le Mont St-Michel in the distance

Very industrious Monks

This tidal flat is from the Abbey - which is already way out in the bay

Impressive from any angle

No I am not going up there to carry you down

Awaiting the incoming tide.

A boutique hotel and shops are enclosed within the outer walls of the Abbey, I wonder what the Monks think of that.

These monks were taking photos of each other - so I don't think they were locals.

here comes the tide in a racing torrent - a 14 metre tide.

 
We stayed overnight at a park which was close to the Mont St Michel walkway and appreciated easier access to the internet. We took the next day off, relaxed and read.

Oxford to Dover

After getting our van serviced in Oxford and looking around for another bike yesterday - we set off for London to set Katie.

One of Katie's neighbours walking his ferrets, as you do!

We caught up with Katie and Benjamin at Twickenham, we spent some great time with them at her apartment before we took Ben for a walk down to the Thames. A great little area by the water with some great little parks.

Benjamin getting into Angry Birds game.

Benjamin waiting to go for walk

We had a great walk around Kings Park and Benjamin kept a lookout for squirrels as well.

Katie and Ben in Kings Park

Ben leading the way

Benjamin feeding a squirrel

After farewells in the carpark at Twickenham we had to negotiate afternoon traffic through London to get back to Traci and Tim's place for a farewell dinner, as this was the last visit before heading to Dover.

We managed to squeeze into a tight park in their street and waited until Traci came home from work.
We had a neat vegetarian Indian night out before saying our goodbyes and heading off to Dover to catch the ferry for Calais.
By the time we left we were dog tired and kept getting satellite problems with our GPS, adding to the problems was the main tunnel under the Thames being closed for repairs. We spent well over an hour getting re-directed around London as our GPS tried to send us back to the closed tunnel.
We eventually got over using Tower Bridge which looked spectacular at night so we felt a little better seeing that at least.

Finally out of London we pulled over at a service area and had a sleep...
We eventually finished our journey to Dover at about 3:40am and pulled into wharf area set aside for people waiting for early ferries.
Down to the ferry and a smooth crossing to Calais.

in the queue

ye olde white cliffs of Dover

Coming off the ferry

Once off the ferry we headed up the coast to Dunkerque and settled on a caravan park at Dray-Dunes. We walked from our park to the coast and saw evidence of the Pill Boxes etc scattered through the massive dune areas. I think the low tide mark is one of the lowest I have seen. A cold and desolate coastline, for which you would have to be keen to want to swim there, even in summer.

Meeting the locals - lucky the door was locked.

A bit of a look through Dunkerque and there are dogs at every turn. Shops looked good, but you can't get distracted this early in the piece - Helena begs to differ.

This one was looking very lost on a corner - a good thing he couldn't understand English

Ugly but cute!

Oops things are getting more serious, Helena is taking photos of jewellery.

I'm sure we had bag shops in Adelaide.

And dresses, gee I need a coffee.

 How we got out of there without a major purchase I'll never know, back to camp and a well earned warm shower and an early night is coming up.