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A Night on the Farm

The next morning, moving on from St Mere Eglise, we headed along some small, winding roads towards Utah Beach, and Le Musee du Debarquement. A continuation of our education on the subject, including a very interesting film, and even more artefacts and real life stories of the invasion.

Our Aire of choice for the night was on a farm. Ignoring the slight “farmyard” smell, we pitched up, once more among Dutch, German and French Motorhomes. These included an unusual 1952 bus conversion driven by an elderly Dutch couple.

The bikes came off the rack and we cycled to Pointe du Hoc, a 100 foot cliff where on D Day a US Army Ranger assault group courageously scaled the cliffs using ropes, ladders and grapples whilst under enemy fire. From the viewpoint we could see the multitude of craters caused by Allied bombardments which targeted the Pointe du Hoc German gun emplacements.

Back at the farm, our BBQ attracted the attention of two farm residents- a tiny kitten and a large dog, neither of which got any food from us despite their best efforts. Tonight, we also had The Big Changeover- 1 tog duvet to 4.5, as requested by Andrew, who claimed this resulted in a much better night’s sleep.

And we’re off…..

Saturday has arrived, and we each have a 6.30am alarm to swear at. A quick shower and dress up, and we’re off to Portsmouth ferryport for the 0900 Fastcraft to Cherbourg. We use our “locals’ privilege” and arrive just before the check-in closure time. Soon, we’re boarding, and Andrew has the unenviable task of reversing the Moho onto the ferry….eek! After indulging in a croissant and coffee, A has a snooze, while I do some people-watching. The upside of being among last to board is that we are then among the first to disembark.

Our first destination in France is St. Mere Eglise, where an effigy of a US Paratrooper, John Steele, still hangs from the church, as a tribute.

The adjoining Airborne museum was our next port of call; an amazing place to learn more about why the town had been a strategic target for D Day. It also explains the story of John Steele, and the other paratroopers who landed here on 6th June 1944. Having found the town’s Motorhome Aire, for our overnight stay, it was a walk back into town for a delicious meal, with obligatory bottle of cider, at a creperie.

Click on the link to see our other D-Day ’75 photos: D-Day 75

USB and HUD

We had already updated the van’s USB charging capability by adding in 2 switched USB sockets in the ‘tech’ cupboard and had added a 5Amp 4 USB socket, all connected to the leisure batteries, however, we had limited USB charging ability in the van’s cab. In the cab there is the standard Ducato 180W 12V socket alongside the unused lighter socket. Occasionally we use a double USB plug in these sockets, but decided to replace the lighter socket with a proper USB socket to provide 2 x 2.1Amp outlets.

Connecting the new socket was a breeze; the dash disassembled easily and the lighter socket was quickly removed. The crimp connectors on the new USB socket connected to the van’s wiring so no modification was necessary. The new socket is fused separately by its own 5A fuse as well as by a 15A fuse in main fuse box.

The dash display on the Ducato is not particularly well lit and looking at the speedo means taking one’s eyes off the road. The speedo reads in mph, which is not brilliant when abroad. I do use the sat-nav to tell me the speed, but there again, that means taking my eyes off the road. To provide a bigger, better, clearer display of speed we bought a HUD (head up display).

The HUD is mounted in our usual line of vision and can be powered from either USB or ODBII.

When powered by USB, the HUD estimates the vehicle speed using GPS. When powered from the ODBII socket the HUD uses the van’s on board diagnostics to display speed in mph or kph, water temperature, battery voltage, engine revs etc. We have connected ours to the ODBII socket and hidden the cable in the dash panel.

4 Counties camping

Finally, time to escape for a few days. A quick trip to Normandy had been a possibility, but the costs and time spent on the ferry made a short break seem overly expensive so instead, a plan was hatched to visit somewhere more local. There are some easily reached counties near Hampshire, and now seemed an ideal time to investigate. The West beckoned us. Ever mindful that the school holidays were imminent, we weren’t looking for coastal areas, happy for a bit of culture.

Wiltshire

Our first county hop. Soon, we were stocking up in Lidl just outside Salisbury , after which we headed off to the camp site. We had driven through Salisbury a number of times and had stopped there once for a meal, but we had never taken the time to have a good look around. This time we did. From the campsite the city centre is a pleasant walk of about a mile and a half, mostly along the river Avon, and the old centre was easy to find – we just looked for the tall spiky thing on the skyline.

We knew that the Cathedral was going to be special and it didn’t disappoint. Conceived in the reign of Edward III and completed in only 38 years, this magnificent building really is a sight for sore eyes.

Salisbury Cathedral, a marvel of medieval times.

We paid the entrance fee (cunningly disguised as a donation) and explored the Cathedral; we even took advantage of the free, newly-established tour of the Cathedral’s stained glass windows and to cap it all we viewed the Cathedral’s original copy of the Magna Carta. The Cathedral is a magnificent edifice in really gorgeous surroundings, so during our 2 days in Salisbury we spent many hours wandering around the surrounding area, including the gardens- thankfully without a hint or sniff of the Novichok left by some suspicious Russian “tourists”in 2018. So, we now know a bit more about Salisbury, and it’s well worth a visit. Next county?

Somerset

For Somerset, we chose Wells as our base for a few days. I’d wanted to go to Wells ever since watching the excellent film “Hot Fuzz” which was set there. Fiona had been before, on a flying visit. Our campsite of choice was Wells Touring Park, an adults only site. This was a short-ish walk from the city, but there was also a bus stop outside the site, so we opted for bus travel for a change. The site was great- spotless facilities, and it was quiet and peaceful. Once in town, we were ready to spot some film locations. There is a regular “Hot Fuzz” tour, on Saturdays, so we missed that. The cathedral is another stunning location, and, having paid another “donation”, we were able to wander round and explore it. Wow! what a place….possibly even more stunning than Salisbury’s , the jury’s out on that one.

Wells Cathedral, another medieval masterpiece.

The free cathedral tour was about to start as we arrived so we joined it and were treated to an informative and interesting tour, full of extra Things to See. Later, on our meanderings we “discovered” the Bishops Palace and as it was late in the day, decided to come back and do the full tourist visit the following day. The palace itself was, hmmm, OK, but its grounds were well worth the entrance fee.

After 6 days of glorious sunshine, the weather changed on Friday. When I say changed, I mean it rained all day. This didn’t really matter to us as Friday was a travelling day and we travelled down to Moreton campsite which is just outside Dorchester. What did matter to us was that our Sat Nav took us 7 miles along a very narrow, winding road, only to turn back at the end and head in the opposite direction, back to where we had started 30 minutes earlier. That awful moment when you realise what she’s asking you to do…Damn technology.

Dorset

En route to Dorchester we diverted to the main Tesco for food, only to find its car park very difficult to use, definitely not suited to larger vehicles.

The rain stopped prior to our arrival at Moreton and once settled in we wandered over to its railway station and caught the hourly train into Dorchester, which was a 7 minute journey time away. A visit to Tourist Information had us loaded with maps and suggestions of places in the town to visit; my preferred place was Goldies pub on London Road. It’s the oldest pub in Dorchester, so a visit with some history…oh, and they have Hobgoblin Gold on draught. Delicious. The weather continued to improve overnight and Saturday saw us again catching the train into Dorchester for another good look around, following one of the recommended Walking Tours of the town, doing some shopping and, of course, another visit to Goldies.

A day and a half was probably enough time to spend wandering around Dorchester so we had only booked 2 nights at the Moreton campsite so Sunday morning saw us packing up and heading for Aldridge Hill in the New Forest.

Hampshire

The “Camping in the Forest” Aldridge Hill campsite has no facilities; no showers, no toilets; it does have both grey and black water waste disposal as well as fresh water taps and only cost £40 for 3 days. Of course we have our own toilet and shower onboard, and our two leisure batteries provided ample power “off grid”.

Our pitch looked out over the heather towards trees which was home to numerous cattle, highland cows, horses and a multitude of butterflies. All of the above roamed through the site at various times of day and evening. Well, they do live in the Forest, we’re only visitors.

Aldridge Hill is 10 minutes cycle ride from Brockenhurst, which has an independent baker among its range of local shops so we were able to enjoy “viennoiserie” and fresh coffee for brunch, once back at the campsite, while marvelling at our surroundings in the New Forest.

The weather turned very hot; over 30C, which we felt was too hot to cycle around the forest. Even the New Forest ponies were feeling the heat, and taking shelter. Instead, we settled for long walks on some of the many forest trails, keeping ourselves cool in the shade offered by the trees. Highlights were the sight of a woodpecker doing his work on a tree, and a treecreeper, flitting about in the woods.

Our three day stay at Aldridge Hill passed all too quickly. It was a very relaxing place. We will definitely be back. Downside is, this site has a very short season.

Local beauties

We’ve lived down here for 30 years and I’ve run, walked and cycled the bridleway from Locks Heath cricket club grounds to Brownwich Beach many hundreds of times. I have read the Hampshire County Council notice board that tells me about the local fauna and flora, but I never seen one of the ‘white admiral’ butterflies they claim can be seen in and around the woods. That was until last Saturday on the return leg of my run. Across my path fluttered a large black butterfly with white banded wings. A beautiful creature, perfectly formed. I watched it for a minute or so until it flew away.

The next day, Fiona and I walked the path to the beach. It was a long walk, we were out for almost 3 hours. On the way home we again spotted a white admiral which made the long walk in the hot weather well worth it. However, we had forgotten to bring the camera along.

I was determined to get a photo of such a beautiful creature so returned again to the woods on Thursday armed with my camera and plenty of patience. This is what I saw:

Link to more butterfly photos: butterflies

D-Day ’75 Portsmouth

In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion five days of events were staged in and around Portsmouth & Southsea from the 5th-9th of June.

With the improving weather on Sunday 9th we decided to get to the park and ride at Tipner for the short bus ride to Gunwharf and then walk over to Southsea and see what was happening. The weather was cool, jackets were necessary, as was sun factor 50, sun specs and a sun hat.

By the time we arrived Lizzie, the Donald, loser May, nouveau Napoleon and the BBC had all buzzed off and headed to France leaving Portsmouth and Southsea to us ordinary people.

On the large open stage a number of acts performed their WWII pieces; some read wartime memoirs and entertained us with song and dance from the period. My particular favourite was the rendition of “they were only playing leap frog”, a Great War song.

Outside the main arena there was a vintage vehicle show consisting of a number of wartime vehicles including Jeeps, ambulances, a staff car and others. There were a few buses, a gorgeous MG PA from 1934 and even a small helicopter.

As Southsea is right next to Portsmouth there were plenty of ‘people watching opportunities’; there were plenty of large bodies plastered with tattoos on show – and that was just the women.

I love to see people who have the confidence to dress up in period costume. There were a few men in American uniforms, some women dressed as WWII nurses and the occasional ‘civvy’. All good fun.

Whilst at Southsea, we paid a visit the Navy memorials on the seafront, where the names of thousands of lost souls are cast in bronze. A very poignant structure.

Off to France in March ’19

Le depart

After days of warm, spring like sunshine we awoke to a Sunday morning of grey clouds, rain and gales. Worse than that, we were due to catch the 8:15 ferry to Caen and the winds had whipped the channel up into a frothing mass that would buck the ferry around like a toy.

Once on board we breakfasted in the main restaurant of the Mont St Michel. I wasn’t feeling well. To make it worse I had to witness a member of the Volvo sailing team bullshitting some middle aged hippy about how ‘massive’ their sustainability budget was. As she went on and on I got sicker and sicker so retired to the cut price cabin for a long lie down in easy reach of the great telephone to God. Fiona, on the other hand, decided to go solo in the prize quiz, which had been announced by Andrew, the Entertainments Manager. She could easily have won; especially given that no-one else turned up. Miserable lot! In the absence of a quiz, Fiona went for a lie-down too.

The journey South

The drive south from Caen was scary; the bit on the bridge going over the Bassin de Calix was truly awful, with very strong cross winds. I seriously feared LC was going to flip over.

The drive down to Vouvray was too long to complete in a single drive so we decided to break the journey somewhere around half way. A few hours later and we arrived at our overnight stop at St Germain de la Coudre, and wait a minute; there’s some err..travelling caravanners here, complete with an Alsatian. . I was too tired to drive any further so we stayed.

Monday morning saw us wandering around the village hunting down milk and a bakery; but this is rural France and it is Monday, so everything is closed- our journey continued without breakfast. As we left the Aire, our neighbours were just dismantling a barricade to the tennis court area, as you do (or at least they do). All 4 of LC’s wheels were intact, phew.

We arrived at Vouvray early in the afternoon and found the free overnight motorhome parking straight away, parked up and headed into town for some food, as one of us had forgotten to bring the milk despite her being asked to do so.

Provisions bought (once the only supermarket in town had reopened after lunch) we headed to the wineries for an afternoon of wine tasting. We found some delicious fizzy wine in the first place we visited, bought one bottle and headed off to another winery for the same again. The wine was an excellent accompaniment to a dinner of takeaway pizza from the Italian restaurant right opposite the motorhome parking.

Tuesday saw us revisiting our chosen wine merchant to try his still white Vouvray wines and to negotiate a discount on the fizz. We left the store with yet another sample wine having paid for the fizz that we came for. M. Fizzy agreed to keep the wine till we returned in a few days to collect it.

Tuesday also saw us running a little short of clean water as the borne at the aire had been turned off due to possibility of ice. We showered quickly but thoroughly on the Wednesday and headed off towards the vineyards of Saumur Champigny. We took a small detour to check out a Camping-Car park near Bourgueil where we invested €4 in their life-time membership with the intention of staying at one of their parks for the night as they have water, electricity, free wifi and are secured by entry barrier.

Sat Navs are really great, they are so helpful most of the time. Most of the time. Ours decided that we should cross to the south side of the Loire on the D952. Jeepers, the D952 bridge crossing at Montsoreau is barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other let alone a blooming great motorhome. That was 600metres of stressful driving I never want to repeat.

We sampled at least 8 delicious wines at our favourite wine cellar at St Cyr en Bourg, accompanied by a comedy routine from the guy at the desk, who then relieved us of a stack of €s after which we headed off to Villebernier for the night.

All alone at Villvernier camping car park

We spent an enjoyable evening at Villebernier, but overnight the heavens opened. It chucked it down from about 7pm until about 5am the next morning. As we were parked next to the Loire, I fully expected it to visit us during the night.

There was very little to do at Villebernier so we decided to move on to another Camping-Car Park, this time the one at Saumur which would give us easy access to this beautiful and ancient city.

The Camping-Car park at Saumur, on L’isle d’Offard, is a short walk over a bridge to the city centre from where we visited the chateau and its surrounding old town. It is also an even shorter walk to local shops where we bought our breakfast croissants.

The journey back

It’s Saturday morning and it’s time to start our journey home via Vouvray to pick up some of our purchases. The journey from Saumur to Vouvray is uneventful but for some unknown reason the sat-nav again tried to take us across the Loire on the D952A suicide bridge at Montsoreau despite the warnings as shown in the photo below. Not bloody likely, sat- nav! Given that the sat-nav is set up with LC’s dimensions, in particular her width of 2.35m, and the warning signs quotes 2m..WHY does she try to make us use this bridge?

Suicide bridge over the Loire near Saumur

Arriving in Vouvray mid morning, our first priority was to pickup the fizz we had purchased a few days prior from the wine merchant Guertin, and to also buy some still white wine. While at Guertin, we treated ourselves to a bottle of St Nicholas de Bourgueil without tasting it as his stock was very low. Our next priority was to get a free parking place at the Vouvray aire, located in the middle of the village and then to have lunch. To accompany lunch, we opened the St Nicholas and quickly returned to Guertin to purchase his last case. It was delicious. In the afternoon, it was time for a walk around, and an ogle at some very grand houses in the village and beyond. Another excellent take-away pizza from the local Italian restaurant accompanied more of the St Nicholas and we settled in for a number of rounds of Rummikub and a very wet evening in the ‘van in Vouvray.

The aire at Vouvray is very handy for the village, and while we were there it was never full, despite only having 3 spaces. Unusually for aires, it also had clean, 24 hour open toilets adjacent to the car park. Worth noting, it’s also easy walking distance of the Boulangerie, and a supermarket, which is open on Sunday mornings, handy if someone has forgotten to bring extra coffee beans.

Coffee beans were bought at the local supermarche and then it’s off to St Suzanne for a stopover for Sunday night, and a wander around this very old and pretty village. Along the way we watched the odometer closely as LC passed the 10,000 mile mark.

The wind had dropped significantly by tea time so we were able to get the BBQ out and cook outdoors. Setting off on the Monday morning , there was a bit of a Hotel California moment “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave” The card reader at the exit barrier wasn’t working, so we had to phone the CampingCar Park support number so that we could exit the carpark. A helpful French/ English conversation sorted us. All good fun.

The journey between St Suzanne and Villers Bocage was fraught. The sat-nav wanted to take us all over the place as can be seen in the photo below:

Ignoring the sat-nav and resorting to reading maps we reached the motorhome aire 2 hours 20 minutes earlier than sat-nav’s predicted ETA, using her “unusual” route.

Villers Bocage is a pretty town, with a bustling main street. Look closely, however, and you will see that most shops are closed on Mondays..yip, we arrived on Monday! A quick couple of drinks were enjoyed in a bar- Andrew’s 2nd beer of the trip, and my 2nd Monaco. Determined to find a restaurant for our dinner, we had a quick shifty at Trip Advisor, and once back in the van, after a quick post sat-nav nap for Andrew, we set off again into town. One particular bar/brasserie in our sights, we loitered, waiting for it to open at 7pm. Oh lala…spot on 7pm, we saw…the owner promptly take in his menu A- boards, so clearly it was a closure, not an opening, so, Plan B, we trotted off to Le Vrai Normand, a “posher” restaurant, offering regional specialities (neither of us fancied the tripe, funnily enough, but there were other, more acceptable offerings). Table for 2 found, the meal was superb…3 courses €15.40pp, all delicious, and finished off with coffees. Followed by a short walk back to the van.

Devizes, winter ’18

Christmas is approaching and Fiona wants to visit the Bath Christmas market again so we book a few nights at the Devizes Camping and Caravanning club site from where we will visit the Bath markets. With a home made Chicken jalfrezi and plenty of fresh food on board, on midday Sunday we headed off towards Devizes. We arrived at Devizes campsite shortly after 2pm, well before the daylight had faded so once we had parked up we put on our boots and set off on a long walk down the canal footpath in the direction of Melksham, looking for the elusive pub ‘somewhere down there’.

The canal towpath walk in the late afternoon was pleasant; the weather wasn’t too cold with no wind and it was dry. The winter countryside is a lovely place to be when it is dry.

We walked for about 1 km before heading back as the skies were beginning to darken. Needless to say that we didn’t find the pub.

Back in the van we cooked a pan of Pilau rice and finished cooking the chicken jalfrezi for dinner. Delicious. Then it was over to the ‘Three Magpies’ pub for a drink before bedtime.

The chicken jalfrezi recipe comes from the Balti House, Rishton. Chef Hussain has made a few videos of himself cooking some of their meals. The videos are available on Youtube.

After a cooked breakfast on Monday morning we put on our boots and coats and headed off towards Devizes along the canal towpath passing the marvellous Caen Hill locks which are a masterpiece of early 19th century engineering. The Caen Hill locks allow the river Avon to rise around 230 feet over a distance of 2 miles using 29 independent locks.

The area surrounding the Kennet & Avon canal is a haven for bird life. We spotted geese, ducks, kestrels and a Heron.

The hedgerows along the canal are bursting with the berries of hawthorn bushes giving many of the hedges a bright red hue.

The hedgerows are full of hawthorne bushes with their berries

Monday evening saw the end of the dry weather. On Tuesday it bucketed down all day. We had chosen Tuesday to walk around the Christmas market in Bath so we caught a fairly early bus and headed to Bath for the day. The rain was relentless; we got soaked so took the 4pm bus back to the campsite where we hoped to dry our clothes before evening.

Fish & chips and a couple of pints of Wadsworth Old Timer in ‘The Three Magpies’ got my vote on Tuesday evening in Devizes .

The New Forest in October

It’s time to get back in the van and head for the New Forest. This time we are spending a few days at Long Meadow campsite with ‘Team GT’, our fellow motor-homing friends. Long Meadow is a short walk from Brockenhurst which is easily reached via forest paths from the campsite. We chose to park in the large grass meadow rather than the more cramped hard-standing pitches. Of the 72 grass pitches only 2 were occupied, and those were by ‘Team GT’ and ourselves so it was going to be a nice peaceful few days.

The weather on arrival was sunny and bright, but not warm. Dinner for four at our place was a lamb tagine served with rice after spending an afternoon enjoying conversation, sunshine and wine.

It got colder the next day but the lack of sunshine didn’t spoil the gentle cycle journey to Brockenhurst where we enjoyed a wander around the village followed by a relaxing hot drink together before we set off back to the campsite. Despite the cold we were snug in Team GT’s van for scrabble, rummikub, a delicious curry and an uninterrupted flow of fermented grape juice.

The New Forest is such a magical place; a mix of animal grazing, heath land and forest land with a variety of wildlife; buzzards, kestrels, owls and more in the air and very many ponies, cattle, donkeys and deer allowed to roam freely.

The sun came out on the following day but Team GT had to depart early leaving us to our own devices. Fiona and I headed onto the forest tracks on our bikes and enjoyed a splendid autumn day in the New Forest before heading home the following morning.

Sadly, we were only there for 3 nights although I could have easily stayed longer. Long Meadow along with most of the other New Forest campsites closes soon for the winter and doesn’t open again until March or April.

In the woods near long meadow, New Forest

Fiona’s new hobby

I’ve always checked the change in my pocket; I’ve looked for unusual or special coins ever since I was a child. I collected the Victorian coins I received as pocket money when I was young and now have a small bag of “old money”. Recently, I have collected – or rather been reluctant to spend – the special coins now in circulation, notably the £2 and 50p special coins. I have saved these coins in a Dr Who tardis money box. Recently Fiona has shown interest in the special coins that are in circulation today; this includes £2, 50p and 10p special coins. Fiona’s interest has gone as far as “buying” a bag of coins from the bank for sorting through. When the good ones have been removed she’ll take the rest back and get some more later on.

Oooh look, a Kitchener £2 as well as 2 other WW1 £2 commemorative coins, and Britannia. A 1066 50p featuring Harold not William, so much for being the victor eh, and a good few Beatrix Potter coins. Nice