We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time; it’s been a stressful year with the impending court action against me taking up a lot of both of our time. On 3rd September Fiona booked a non-refundable ferry crossing for the evening of Sunday 8th September so there was no going back.
We set off in good time and in the rain and headed for Newhaven for the 5pm sailing to Dieppe. Despite the Goodwood Revival festival threatening to block all the roads around Chichester, and our sat nav taking us all along Brighton sea front, Newhaven was achieved in a little under 3 hours.
The ferry journey took just 4 hours; that’s a good 2 hours quicker than the Portsmouth to Caen ferry. We disembarked soon after 10pm in the dark, in the rain, and headed for the motorhome aire at Dieppe where we stayed the night. The aire was surprisingly quiet, given the number of Motorhomes parked up, and its proximity to the ferry port.
Burneuil sur Aine was the next overnight stop. The aire is perched on a hill on the village outskirts, and we were all alone for an hour or two. Mme. arrived to collect the €5 for the night. Three more Motorhomes arrived during the evening, but when we woke next morning, only one remained. We didn’t hear any of them leave, so our sleep must have been deep.
Our driving target for the next day was the city of Reims. It’s the unofficial capital of the Champagne region, but we really wanted to see the Cathedral. Inside, it was grand, and quite imposing, though not the most spectacular place of worship we’ve seen. Overall, Reims, didn’t quite “capture” us, so we left after a walk round the city. If you’re interested in our stopovers, this one was bad. Not only was the access through some narrow streets ( a tram driver gesticulated to us to “go back” at one point) but the parking was tight- round the back of a youth hostel- real “shake hands with your neighbour” tight. Not our kind of place. Onwards….
The aire at St. Imoges was the perfect place for the night. We’d swerved past Epernay, not really being keen to do an expensive “Champagne Tour” at any of the Champagne Houses. We’d rather spend it on a bottle of our choice. We did try to spend some money in St.Imoges, but there were no shops. A walk round the village proved that. It’s such a great idea to provide these aires- often free, like this one, but we don’t always have a chance to thank the community. Anyway, another very quiet night was enjoyed here, before the next drive.
As we travelled across France, some place names were familiar from our Alsace trip last Autumn, including Neufchatel where we’d had an awful experience on some narrow streets, with me (Fiona) offering guidance on foot, as Andrew manouevred the Moho between parked cars on both sides…eek! However, we also had great memories of a favourite Aire, in the tiny village of Goncourt. We rarely visit anywhere twice, but this was irresistible. It’s still gorgeous, a riverside parkup, with sightings of herons, swifts/ swallows and cattle in the nearby fields. Free to park, and use services, but the suggested 3 euros is never begrudged. In fact, I donated a lot of small change, adding up to over the suggested payment. The next day, we set off (not such a good night’s sleep, thanks to rain dripping from trees overhead) and encountered one of France’s specialities..”route barré” signs, with not much info on the diversions. I had to resort to that big map thing…and hope for the best. Fortunately, Satnav soon got the message and we found a different way to the cutely named Etival Clairefontaine, but it was well worth it. A modern aire, 2.5 euros for 2 hours, or 8 euros for the night. Just need the “code” from your ticket….except the ticket needed to be prised from inside the machine! Great timing as we parked up just as Andrew’s solicitor phone to check he’d received some important paperwork, which he was able to deal with immediately.