On the Road Again!

Yes. I know. I shouldn't have...

With it now being 47 days since we had a very light sprinkle of rain, and after the MoT I decided to ride to Dogs. Quite pleasant but still a lot traffic considering it's school holidays. The miles to empty was showing 14 miles. I detoured a little via Tesco and it look 18.12 litres to fill to the top of the tank where the baffle is below the filler cap. It worked out at 52.7 mpg. Down 2.5 on the last fill in November 2025!!!! Once at dog's I parked up. Only five newcomers had arrived this morning. Took no pix. Then as I was getting ready I found this cheeky little fellow.... Even Mr Baloo had turned his back.

143rd!!!

300th!!!! Oh my dear God. Must do better. 15565 kms in total for all the years. 555 for 2025.

Gave the old girl the quick once over. All the lights work and the puny horn peeps... A quick go over with Muk Junkie and the sheepskin glove, and then rinsed off with a low pressure hose. Tyres have plenty of tread and are pumped to the right psi. Brakes work. The waiting whilst it's in the bike shop is always the worse bit.... I went across the road to a hairdressers that has an attached coffee shop.  A nervous wait.  I  would see Vera wheeled into the workshop, then out again..... Finishing my coffee I crossed the road... Pass. It can't just be me that is nervous until they say "pass" and hand you the paper copy. I had a look at a big scooter they have. As well as Peugeot they now have a few different Chinese marques. This is the Zontes ZT368T-G   and it is pretty heavily specified for £5000 or so! From there I went back through Folkestone and along the coastal A259 home. And home.

Continuing with the longer stays idea, I was looking for another site to follow the Cote de Nacre week along the D-Day coast. Our wedding anniversary is in the week after Nacre. The plan to keep days on the road short for the dog's sake means I was looking at nearby Normandy and across into Brittany. I alighted on another Sandaya site.   Sandaya Mont Saint Michel Campsite . Another campsite that is actually open. The reviews on their site and again on Tripadvisor were very good. I waited for Claire to give it a once over and we booked it. What was different is that this is a premium pitch that comes with a private sanitary unit. It's marginally cheaper than Nacre too. I have allowed for two overnights between the two sites. There are only 80 miles between the two though. There are places on the way I'd like to divert to along the way. Places like the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mere-Eglise and the other D-Day museums along the way. There are options such as Camping-Car Parks ...

With all the health problems we have decided that France, Normandy and Brittany, is the limit. We also have to take into consideration that the heatwaves that have brought incredibly hot weather to parts of Europe, that travelling with a dog who will be 16yo by the time we depart is not enjoying spending too long in the van. So I began to work my way across the English Channel coast from Calais where we will arrive towards Brittany. The idea is to keep the daily mileages quite low so that we arrive early enough to enjoy where we are. The first booking is for a week. I decided to check out Sandaya Côte de Nacre . We have had a few stays with them and they have been okay. What's more importantly they are open!  It seems that France closes down, in the main, at the end of September! Saying that, they also close some of their sites! Why a week?  This stay is around five days into the trip. I am looking for aires on the way down and a week means we have a base and a chance to chill...