On the Road Again!

That Leisure Shop came back quite quickly and have refunded the money.  It's a shame that they weren't up to the job. They are a really good idea but needed to be a little more robust.

After getting back from three weeks in Spain and France where the weather was abnormally hot we decided we can't put our old dog through that anymore. As he has got older he is less happy travelling in the car and in the van. He doesn't settle like he used to and it's unfair on him. Once I can get through to Eurotunnel I can cancel the booking. In the past they haven't refunded the fare but have deferred it as a credit to be used within 12 months. We shall see. It will save us some money as our travel insurance for us and the van ends on August 28th, and we would have needed to renew that. The dog comes before holiday travel. Let's see what the future brings.

What a couple of days these turned out to be!! The rough plan was to leave Bernay and with only 60 miles to the vets in Buchy, to call in somewhere on the way.  I had toyed with the idea of Monet's Garden at Giverny, but it doubled the mileage to Buchy. On top of that we had a long drive to Calais and the CCP after the vet. Instead I saw the Le Bec Hellouin was en route. So we set off.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bec-Hellouin A few miles short I began to shiver and feel really cold.  By the time we had followed the signs to the campervan parking it was much worse. It's a long wa...

Today what should have been around a 240 kms drive in pretty much a straight line was far more complicated by TomTom. Checking the route on Google Maps and on MyRouteApp was far more direct than the ridiculous roundabout route chosen by TomTom.  We did take a look at the Chateau at Chaumont sur Loire and they have motorhome parking in with the coaches.  And that was the problem.  There were six coaches and their passengers were queuing to get into the chateau gardens. We decided to crack on. Chaumont was on the original route! It was after here that things went wrong that also meant more miles and of course, more tolls on a variety of motorways.  We stopped for lunch on the A28 and then set off again. Their was a fenced dog area, but Reggie couldn't be less interested.  We arrived at the CCP aire at Bernay at 2.33pm. NO problems with the barrier this time. ...

Remember when both the chairs and the rooflight went tits up we were in France and not at home in the UK. Email was therefore the contact tool available.  1) Pilton Compact Chairs . Following my email to That Leisure Shop on Saturday, I had a standard "out of office" reply. I included photos of the bent tubing. It was probably naive of me to expect a proper reply on Monday. Maybe Tuesday? Nothing. 2) Remis Rooflight .  I emailed ARC who did the work on the taps. They replied quickly and once they viewed the photos of the rooflight, they found the kit that would repair the winding mechanism. They offered a date and I accepted the invoice quote and date to run it up there. Excellent service.

Another longish day for us and mostly on toll motorways A71 and A85. We left Riom and headed north. The A71 seemed to go on forever. A short stop at the aire "Centre of France' for lunch at the McDonald's. A chicken burger each. Next it was the Intermarché at Noyers-sur-Cher.  Whilst Claire was in the shop, Reggie and I were looking for shade and came across this old 2CV in an adjacent parking lot. It's amazing but in 1976 I almost bought a "Dolly"! Then to our first attempt at a CCP site at Pontlevoy. It was showing 20/20 pitches available. It wouldn't open the barrier when we touched the card against the sensor.  Thinking there was a problem we looked for another nearby. That's how we arrived at  Monthou-sur-Cher.  Again we couldn't get in. I called the CCP number and they sorted it. It's far better with a picturesque lake nearby. Looking at the app ...

On Saturday evening we decided that we had had enough of being pretty much stuck to the pitch. Cabin fever!!  Temps in the day still hovering around 35°C.  I've already had the Chips Rafferty wannabes scoffing at "only" 35!! Google Chips if you have never heard of him. How I began to envy my brother Neill and his mate Patrick as they ride around the island of Ireland in the mere 20's and rain!!! With the "free" days we had earned over the years, the total cost of the stay worked out at £12 or so a night. So hardly a large expense.  I had actually thought about leaving earlier and finding a dog friendly hotel with aircon. Bugger the cost!! In the end we decided to head north earlier. Don't believe Google when it claims higher ground will be cooler. It's not true in these circumstances. At 1350m above sea level in the Pyrenees in was 32°C.... Anyway. We packed everything,...