Monday 15th April, Hèrouvillette 79510

Back Again! Well, it’s been a while since my last post and there’s a lot to catch up on. Thursday 11th I left the last campsite to go and pick Raychel up from Caen, and Ollie and I turned up a little early. Just as well because the ferry got in half an hour early. I was lovely to see Raychel, and be able to converse with someone in English, and we headed to the Aire in Herouville where I had stayed before (and lost Ollie) so we could catch up and settle in. There was a slight problem in that the only bridge over the canal for miles was closed, so we had to travel miles to cross it and then head to the Aire. When we finally arrived, we set about settling in. Friday 12th Disaster, we went for a walk to the supermarket, and tabac, and when we got back, I couldn’t find the keys to the van. Panic! I retraced my steps, and no joy. I went to the Tabac and asked if anyone had handed them in, no joy. But the supermarket was closed. I retraced my steps back to the van, and met Raychel and Ollie, headed the other way. No joy. Bugger. The keys have the key to the top box, the key to my bike lock, and worst of all a remote for the alarm on the van ☹. The bike is padlocked to the front of the van by the tow loop, so until we get that off, we can’t go anywhere. Luckily we have 2 sets of keys, but unluckily the second set were in the van ☹ so I had to break in (no damage), so we could at least have somewhere to sleep. Saturday 13th Got up, retraced my steps and asked in the Tabac again, the supermarket, and the Boulangerie . Nope ☹ Bought beer and crisps and went back to the Aire in time to watch the rugby (Gloucester vs Bath) and try to forget about the predicament. (Difficult). Sunday 14th Got up late and headed to the Pegasus Bridge Museum. What a fantastic place. They have the original bridge, numerous excellent displays, including interactive displays. They also have a reconstruction of one of the gliders that was used in the initial attack to secure the bridgehead. The first soldier to die on D day was at Pegasus Bridge. The French people are very reverential to the Allied troops who fought to drive back the German troops and liberate France, and this is shown at this memorial museum. We grabbed some food at a café, and then wandered back. We were all absolutely knackered. Monday 15th Woke up, went back to sleep, woke up and prepared to head back into town to see if the keys have been handed in, and if not, plan what we are going to do. We’ve already stayed longer than the 48 hours that we’re allowed, so we have to at least make some effort to do something. The plan, should the keys not turn up, is to see if I can get something to cut the cable on the bike lock. At least then we can drive somewhere to get replacement keys and locks. We will also have to get another remote for the alarm, and get the top box lock cut and replaced. AAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!! Tuesday 16th After a restless night’s sleep running through how I was going to approach asking at the garage, I got up early and went to Garage Michel to see if I could borrow a hacksaw or a set of bolt cutters to cut the padlocks off the bike and the top box. 3.5 mile round trip before breakfast!! Ollie loved it. With a bit of google translate magic, I left the garage with a hacksaw and minus my wallet for security. Once back at the van, I tried to cut the padlock on my bike. Now I know what ‘hardened’ actually means on padlocks! No chance. I sawed through the cable in a few minutes and then the hasp on the top box and removed both padlocks. We’re able to move again!! Bloody brilliant. We needed petrol, and the garage was on it’s 2 hour lunch break, so we went to the British war graves cemetery in Ranville. It doesn’t matter how many times I go to places like that, I am shocked into silence looking at the endless rows of graves, some labelled ‘A Soldier’ or ‘A Sailor’. There were numerous German graves there as well. Definitely a somber but peaceful place. It always brings home the futility of war, and the fact that we should never let anything like that happen again. Looking at the ages of these poor kids, I couldn’t help but think that they had very short lives, so that I can be where I am today, doing what I’m doing. I have total respect and awe at the bravery of these young men who made the ultimate sacrifice. We decided to head back to the camp site in Bayeux where I had stayed before so that we could gather ourselves, shower and do some washing. We also want to see the tapestry. Cooked the lovely pork chop that Raychel had bought for me for dinner, and had a couple of glasses of red wine (I’m sure that the French keep all the good wine for themselves!) before going to sleep. I’ll do some washing in the morning. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday stayed at a 4 Euro per night car park in Bayeux. Visited the tapestry and got interviewed by an Austrian reporter, drank some beer, visited the market on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon we headed for Arramanche where there is the remains of a German Battery that was taken out by the navy, and then the personnel were captured by the British army. I'm going to stop there, and try to keep up from tomorrow :-)

Sunday 7th April Saint Lo 79227

Well, I got up about 10am, showered, tidied up, threw Ollie's ball for him until I was tired of it (he never is!), and then prepared to leave this lovely site in Bayeux. 2 nights with electric cost me 50 euros, but it was worth it to gather myself and empty and fill up Brian. I set off for a free site near Saint Lo. Arrived mid afternoon, and fell asleep after lunch. The place is empty! There are facilities, and a restaurant and a great view. I'm feeling strangely disconnected from myself today, so I'm going to have an early night and hopefully feel better in the morning. Great news and bad news from Raychel. She's coming out Wednesday - I'm not sure I'm as much of a loner as I once thought. Ollie is a really good travelling companion, but I miss my little whirlwind of chaos! The bad news is that her house is going to cost a bit to sort out for when the new tenants move in. Nothing has gone smoothly with our little adventure, but things have to start looking up shortly don't they?

Friday 5th April - Bayeux 79208

It's been a while since i last updated - mostly down to being busy and not having any data. Arrived in Herouvillette for a couple of nights and ran out of data. No sweat I thought, I will buy another data passport. But no, the Three website was down for hours :-(. I tried again the next day, but it was still down, so I called them up and they stop people spending over a certain amount. Then you have to let them know if you want to go on spending more. I left it, and hoped to get a data SIM for the router. Disaster and Relief. On the night of the 4th, as I say, I was at this lovely little free stop by the side of a river, and Ollie loved it because he's never seen ducks before - he was very interested!!! I decided to take him for the last walk of the day along the river. He again ran up and down the path by the river, very interested in the ducks. Then a big black cat appeared and ran to a fence and up and over. there were also a couple of dogs barking in the gardens that backed onto the path. AND THEN OLLIE WAS GONE!!! It was like bloody magic! I thought that he couldn't have gone far so I continued alone the path calling out his name. I came to the end of the path and turned back, still calling his name and whistling for him. Got back to the van and still no sign, and it was now starting to get dark. I grabbed a torch and went along the path again, then having not found him, I went around to the front of the houses that backed onto the river and began knocking doors. A couple of people said they hadn't seen him and I got no answer from a couple. Then at one house, a man answered the door, and although he couldn't peak English, his daughter obviously studied it at school, and understood what I was trying to say in my grade 5 CSE French. But they hadn't seen him either. I was really starting to panic now, he had just disappeared. Had he fallen in the river? Had someone taken him? Then a car pulled up and a woman got out and went to the house I was just leaving. The daughter must have told her why I'd been there, and she said 'Oui, oui', and mentioned the boulanger which I had walked past earlier in the day. I said merci beaucoup and began to run (despite my bloody cough). I went into the road on which the boulanger was and stopped. I thought I could hear Ollie barking, so I shouted out to him. Then all of a sudden, he was there!!! Oh the relief! I really thought I'd lost him. He was pretty excited to see me too, and I put him on the lead and went back to the van promising myself that that would never happen again. After leaving Herouvillette and a nice little free site with facilities via token available from the local boulanger, I headed for Caen to see if I could get a SIM there, which was difficult with no data (no sat nav), and without the maps I was sure were in the van somewhere, but I arrived to a very busy town with loads of traffic and strange people dressed in outlandish costumes. It turns out that it was carnival day. After failing to get into a car park, I gave up and headed out of town. Then I saw a sign for Bayeux, and as I haven't been there since I was at school, I thought 'that'll do' and headed there. Bayeux That night (4th) I found a free stop. I still had no data and tried to sort out more but no joy, so this morning 5th, I bit the bullet and bought another data passport. I went to the Orange store in Bayeux, and bought a data only SIM for the router, which came with 5 Gb of data, so I will keep that in reserve. I went to Carrefour (expensive), then to the local municipal camp site to stay for the weekend 20 Euros. I will watch some rugby tonight and then The Clash (Bath vs Bristol at Twickenham) is on tomorrow. The site only has WiFi in the TV room, so I will take my laptop and headphones, and some beer and watch it in there. I made an awesome Spag Bol for Ollie and I (watching him eat spaghetti was funny!), then went over to the local Aldi to get some bits I'd forgotten earlier. Semi skimmed pasteurised milk seems quite hard to find in France, so I bought some UHT. I hope it doesn't ruin my tea! The weather is cooler and overcast, but I'm not at work and the Guinness is cold! Saturday 6th - the day of 'The Clash' - Bath vs Bristol at Twickenham. Great match, possibly the best Bath have played all season. All they need to do is do it every time! Consistency is the key. I watched the other match as well. The site has WiFi in their TV room but not over the whole site. I was going to play the match through the TV via my laptop, but it turns out I don't have a display port to HDMI connector. Something else to purchase. After the rugby, I took Ollie for a walk to a bar in town, and then got completely lost for over an hour trying to find may way back to Brian. Still, Ollie enjoyed it! And I don't think I took any photos!!! Sorry!

1st April 2019 Le Havre 79062

I left St-Martin d'Aliermont late morning with the intention of heading to a proper camp site to empty and refill Brian. I felt rough as I've got a cough and cold which has been keeping me awake at night. I'm also slightly concerned that I have used up all my data so early, it gets refreshed on the 15th! Luckily, I used a data passport for watching the rugby (unlimited data for a fiver a day, expensive, but what can I do!?). And to cap it all Ollie threw up on the quilt! Yuk! Filled up with 70 Euro worth of fuel and made a fool of myself at the petrol station trying to speak French! On the way to Le Havre, I set the sat nav to avoid toll roads ('cos I'm tight), and meandered my way through some stunning scenery, with small villages of mixtures of old (very) looking and new looking buildings. I stopped and had a lovely chat with Raychel on the phone. Still no definite date for when she will join me, but it sounds like things are coming together, so hopefully not too long now. On the way there was a sign saying 'panorama', so I thought, 'why not?'. I turned around and headed down the small road that the sign indicated. Panorama du Marais Vernier. I'm so glad I did, I never expected the views! There is a natural amphitheatre about 45km square, made by an ancient meander of the Seine. The sun was shining, the views were perfect, and a couple of hang gliders flew overhead. Lovely!

After that I headed on to Le Havre using my phone as a sat nav, but worrying that the battery was going run out as it didn't seem to be charging enough to allow me to use the maps, and listen to music. I made it though. Set up camp in Aire De Camping Car Honfluer. which has electric, water, and waste disposal for 11 Euros for 24 hours. I've just had dinner of Pommes Frites and salad, and I my have a wander into town if I feel up to it later.

Dieppe 31st March 2019

Today I drove down to Dieppe with a couple of stops on the way. One 'comfort break' was at a stop overlooking a huge salt marsh that was being used to graze sheep.

I ended up in St-Martin d'Aliermont in a public motorhome stop which is supplied by the council. There were only 3 spaces, but it was deserted. Unfortunately the waste disposal points were out of action, so I'll have to find somewhere when I leave. A couple more vans arrived while I was there. I called my mum to wish her a happy mother's day! I decided to stay for 2 nights as I was feeling rough with this cough and cold. I'm sure that the people in the vans next to me could hear me coughing and sneezing, and obviously Ollie would jump about 3 foot in the air every time I sneezed! Saturday night (well, the afternoon and night really), I watched rugby on my laptop using my phone as a mobile hotspot. I fell asleep towards the end of the third match and managed to spill red wine on the duvet and the laptop. I switched it off, and like the super IT expert that I am, I put it aside until the morning. It's a nice little village with some lovely old buildings (they seem to be everywhere!). The camping stop is next door to the local (amateur?) football club, and on the Sunday they had a tournament so there were people coming and going all day (at least after the market had gone from the car park (7am until 1pm). I dug out my tools, and the picnic table and spent a happy hour taking the laptop to bits and drying it out, and then re-assembling it. Thank goodness it works fine after the red wine incident. (I'm typing this on it!) I bought some bread and Camembert for my lunch, and had an early night. I was out like a light, but kept waking up to cough or sneeze.