Not sure about the bread!

We popped into the town this morning to get a couple of necessities.  I saw a boulangerie called L'Instant Pain!  I'm still not sure the owners understood the marketing blunder, he may be puzzled why he doesn't get any British tourist trade?  We tried somewhere else just in case.  We also got some stamps for 'carte postales'.  We have delayed our first proper French shopping trip till tomorrow when we move on.

Today we are staying put.  It is such a nice place and although the wind is cool is continues to be nice weather and manages to get warm later in the afternoon.  We wanted a bike ride along a cycle route near La Loir.  It turns out that the cycle route is also on the pilgrimage route to Santiago De Compostela in north west Spain.  A couple of years ago Janice and I were in Northern Spain and we were adamant that every road led to Santiago etc etc.  We didn't see any pilgrims today.

Our first stop on our ride was at Montigny-le-Gannelon where we saw a nice chateau overlooking the river.

We armed our bikes up and went to have a closer look.  There was a nice information board at the gate and another on the veranda at the view point.  We took some photos...

Then a 'nice' lady appeared and promptly told us in good English to get off the property!  Well, if she had closed the gate and if there were no information notices we might have been a bit more cautious about entering in the first place.  Miserable old ......!

Sorry, but we didn't take any more photos but we cycled on to Cloyes-sur-le-Loir and had our packed lunch in the park by the river and then had a coffee in a cafe.  We carried on to the small town of Moree. You will be pleased to know that we got three more churches under our belt but you will also be pleased that none were worthy of any photos.  We retraced our steps and got back to Chateaudun.

I have been trying to buy a double hose attachment, one that had a 'male' attachment on both sides!  I need it for filling up at the water dispenser at the aire de camping-car location.  I think the system is that you put 2 euros in the slot and you get up to 10 minutes worth of water to fill up our tank.  I cycled to an out of town retail park and saw a Mr Bricolage store that was having a closing down sale.  There was a massive array of different hose attachment except for the one I wanted.  Instead I found a three way 'male' connector ( no rudeness please!) that I thought would do if I either put my finger over one end or connected two hose pipes instead of one!  You will have to wait for the next blog to find out how we went on refilling or water tank.

We had new neighbours in the camping car park when we got back.  Moving again tomorrow.

Lost in France?

Would you believe it....we are here travelling around France and we didn't have a road atlas.  We do have a sat nav so we aren't completely clueless.  Today we said our goodbyes to Ger and Sian and started travelling south.  We had looked at Ger's road atlas the previous night and decided to head to Chartres.  I have driven through the city about three years ago when I was touring France on my own and I knew it had a majestic Cathedral but I couldn't find anywhere to park the van, so I didn't stop.

This time we parked on the outskirts on a supermarket car park.  We called into the supermarket and I purchased a fairly compact road atlas.  The sat nav is good at getting us to places but we need the overview of the route and also an idea of the locality when we get somewhere.  We didn't need to consult the map to cycle into the city, we had been able to see the Cathedral from about 10 miles away and now we just looked for the twin steeples to find the centre.

It was another bright and sunny day.  Fairly cool out of the sun but who's complaining.  There seemed to be some sort of Scout and Guide Jambouree taking place outside the Cathedral as they all were gathering with their heavy rucksacks.

The Cathedral was seriously ornately carved inside and out.  Definitely in the top ten French Cathedrals but I was also wowed by St Aignan's church in the Historique Quartier.

It was older and was definitely 'faded glory' but it was totally empty (unlike the packed Cathedral) and it had real character.

We did walk around the city centre too, not just visiting the churches.  You will be thinking that I am a Churchaholic!  I admit I have got a problem because I can't pass one without going in but I am getting therapy and I am cutting back to an average of four per day!

As expected France began to close down for Sunday afternoon and rather than staying at Chartres we travelled on to Chateaudun.  We found an 'aire de camping-car'.  It was in perfect position in the shadow of the Chateau and next to La Loir river, which is a tributary of the Loire.  It couldn't be a better position and it's free!  

Not bad hey!

The town itself was lovely too.  We managed another two church visits too!

We found a load of conkers on the floor under a tree and we improvised our own version of boule by having a competition to see who could throw the conkers into a litter bin about 10 yards away.  Janice won, so I'm in a sulk!  French kids can't play conkers like we do in the UK otherwise there wouldn't have been so many lying around.

Chateaudun seems to be famous for the defence of the town by an assortment of 1,000 locals against the attack of 12,000 Prussian soldiers in October 1870.  As normal the French were valiant but ultimately defeated and then they later celebrated their courage and turned their defeat into some kind of delusional victory!  Sorry France, I didn't mean to cause any offence, honest!

Our evening meal was rather more simple than we have had the last couple of nights.  We were overindulged by our hosts and need to slim down before we are overindulged again by my brother David and his wife Wendy later this week.  So, no booze tonight either!

Skip to my Louvier.

A good day in prospect.  We had a late start with a two stage breakfast.  Cereal and muesli for first breakfast, then I went to the Boulanger for a baguette feulliette and a pain au raisin for second breakfast. 

We went into the nearby town of Louvier and walked around the market.  We bought paella for our evening meal.  The church was spectacularly old.  

Afte lunch we had a nice walk down by the Seine before settling down to a near perfect evening of TV viewing.  Rugby, Strictly and more rugby.  Interspersed with eating paella and other goodies.

Overall not too much to report today but it was nice to be relaxed.

You can take the man out of Vernon but you can't take Vernon out of the man!

Had a nice start.  I ran around the pond and Janice did some weights and mat exercise.  We did this watched by local school children who were doing PE on the football field next door.  The kids were well behaved and respectful to the teacher.  I thought that British school kids may not be quite so well behaved.  

Our plan was to go to Monet's house and gardens at Giverny.  On our way we enjoyed the different towns we passed nearby.  We went to Rack and Rouen, Janice had me by Le Goulays and the worst place in France must be Pissy-Poville!  

It's a place that I have been to before but as a confirmed philistine I particularly like Monet's paintings, and the gardens are lovely.  I had some doubts about what the garden might look like at this time of year.  I needn't have worried!

I took so many pictures it was so lovely.

As you can see the weather was lovely.  Inside the house was good too...

We went to a larger town near Giverny called Vernon, and no we couldn't resist having a look around.

I need the book to remind me of who I am.

Vernon was an unlucky town in the war.  It was bombed by the Luftwaffe in 1940 and then the Allies in 1944 prior to the Normandy landings.  Of course I would say that it is possibly the best town in France but  might be showing some bias!

We drove to stay at my long time friends, Sian and Geralt at a village called Vironvay and they overlook the River Seine.  It was lovely to see them for the first time in a couple of years.

We had a great welcome with lots of lovely food and drink French style.  Lovely salad, home made quiche, nice cheese course and fresh pineapple.  Super hosts.

Avez-vous une cuppa!

I suppose the title makes us sound like a couple of tea drinking chimpanzees, which is not far from the truth in some respects.  My French language skills are similar to that of a chimpanzee although I think Janice is rather better.  We have actually listened to early parts of a language CD and have been reciting our version of French phrases but not much is sinking in.  I have told some people before about my French prowess at school.  In the third year my French report said '15% - This subject is a mystery to him'.

This morning we had an early, bright and crisp start at 6.30am to try and avoid any congestion on the M25.  Our ferry from Dover was scheduled at midday and we had to be at least an hour early.  

This was the Dartford Crossing of the Thames.  I had been prepared enough to pay my 'toll' online before we set off.  Cameras check your registration number and if you don't pay in advance you have to pay online by midnight the next day otherwise you are issued with a fine!!

We arrived at the ferry early enough to be put on the 10.15am ship so that was really good.  The crossing was quiet and quite quick (that's a lot of 'q' words).  At Calais we saw the migrant camp and it looked grotty to say the least.

We drove down to Abbeville in the Somme region.  We had a coffee in the van and had a little walk around the town including the church and market.

We used our new fangled sat nav to direct us to an 'aire de camping' park at a town called Montville north of Rouen.  Whilst travelling I committed the cardinal sin of driving in Europe.  I came off a motorway and turned left onto a quiet road and I stayed on the left side!!!  Then as a car came in the opposite direction I realised and quickly got onto the right side but it gave us both a shock. Whoops!

Montville is a nice small town with good facilities.  The car park is fantastic for motorhomes.  It has a place for fresh and waste water and toilet waste etc and we parked next to the football pitches and swimming pool.  To my relief I managed to get the fridge working on gas and also the vans central heating system....all ticketty boo!

Only a training session tonight!

We had a little walk and someone said 'Bonjour', I replied 'Bonjour', I'm sure they were convinced that I was really French by the quality of my accent and vocabulary!  If I wear clothes bought at Decathlon, the French sports supermarket, I'm sure everyone will think I am a native.

Just to finish here is today's quote:-  "there are four questions you should ask yoursef to lead you to success. Why?  Why now?  Why me?  Why not, me, now?"  I'm sure you could go a long way with this advice.

Birthday girl.

It's Janice's birthday today, what excitement.  She woke to open some presents and cards and a cup of tea in bed.

.she was very excited to get a special present from me......stop being smutty, it was Rod Stewart's autobiography, what more could a girl want!

Also, I had lots of treats planned for the morning......a trip to buy a new bottle of calor gas, shopping at Aldi and refuelling at Morrisons Petrol Station.

The day should improve. 

We went into St Albans in the afternoon and had a nice look around the Cathedral and the park area.  Did you know that in Roman times the city was called Verulamium, it was the third biggest city in Roman Britain.  The river is called the Ver.

Tonight we are going out to a fish restaurant with the Murray family.  Nice celebration.

Nice little surprise at Laura's flat.

Tomorrow we go across the channel to Francais.  Just think of all the cheese, bread, pastries etc I can eat!

Time for a rant!

Sneezing update -  on Sunday I went into an early 2-0 lead but ended the day being beaten 5-2, I was gutted.  Yesterday I made a recovery with a 3-0 win including a sneeze in Fortnum & Mason.  Janice should be careful about sneezing in future...see the attached link.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-34449375. Aren't some people strange!

Quote of the day - 'You won't find a solution by saying there is no problem', William Rotsler (whoever he is)?  Quite right I think.

We woke listening to Chris Evans on Radio 2 as normal.  I generally like him but I sometimes get a bit tired of his constant brightness and him plugging certain singers or events.  I also like to have a rant about news items.  Within 10 minutes I managed three rants in quick succession, I thought I would share them with you whether you want to hear them or not!

First - Children's TV programmes.  Why is Peppa Pig so popular and what happened to the Teletubbies?  These programmes become popular and then disappear but why.  Children of 2 or 3 surely aren't so discerning in their viewing tastes and what appeals to children of 10 or 20 years ago should still appeal to children of today.  I think it is more about the parents choices and the marketing products that are sold in the shops.  In short we are allowing our children at a very young age to be subjected to direct manipulation by advertisers!!  If you disagree with anything in this rant you can satisfy  yourself that I know nothing about Peppa Pig (which is actually very true, coz I don't think I have ever watched a whole episode but I do know how to spell Pepper properly which most young kids probably don't now)!

Second - BBC plugging singers, events and television programmes.  Chris Evans is constantly plugging certain artists and songs.  Currently it seems all about Sam Smith and the new Bond Theme. First, he exclusively announces that Sam Smith is writing and singing it, then a week later has an exclusive interview with Sam Smith, next week we get an exclusive orchestral clip of the start of the song.  The following week we get the whole song exclusively and this week we have Chris Evans talking us through the video of the song before it gets released.  This example isn't the only one.  Surprise, surprise, Sam Smith's song becomes the first Bond theme  to go straight to number one in the charts!  My point is that the song and the Bond 'brand' is a commercial business.  I wonder what has been paid to the BBC to get such coverage of the Bond song and are 'we' the public happy with being unwittingly manipulated in this way.  It is blatant advertising by an organisation that we don't think has adverts...how wrong can we be!

Lastly - football managers.  The radio broadcast two interviews morning.  The new Liverpool manager whose name is something like Kloomp? spoke at length.  He used lots of words but the content of his speech was that he liked entertaining football.....wow, what a great new idea, no wonder he will get paid millions for ground breaking ideas!!  However, Mourinho, the Chelsea manager also was talking to the press and managed another piece of eloquent nonsense, "I'm not the best manager, but no-one is better!" What shocks me is that people seem to listen to this claptrap and think that these people are clever.  It's a complete case of 'Emperors New Clothes', no-one seems to be willing to expose them for what they are.....over paid toss pots!!

My next rant will probably be about David Beckham!!

Sorry for all that but a travel blog shouldn't ignore the society we live in, after all it is part of learning 'what's what' and I will return to the happy travels of Janice and Richard.

We have had a lazy day, hanging around the van this morning and then to Laura's flat in St Albans to make a teatime meal, tuna pasta bake.  We managed a little food shopping in the afternoon. We didn't take any photos....sorry.