Week ending Saturday 20th May 2023

Sunday, 14th May 2023

 Left home 8am. Good journey to Folkestone and Eurotunnel, motorways never terribly busy and with a following wind, we made it in just 4 hours. Arrived a couple of hours before our booked time and took an earlier crossing, 2.20pm local time. Arrived at our overnight stop, Les Epinettes at 4.30pm local time, just 8 miles from Eurotunnel.

Tired but pleased to be here we had a bite to eat, watched a DVD "A rather English marriage" then to bed.

Onboard Le Shuttle on our way to France.

Monday, 15th May

Slept well, up at 7.30 and away by 9.15am. 11°C, cloudy and quite windy

Stopped around 12.30 for lunch at a services where we filled up with diesel, £1.40 per litre, a little cheaper than at home.

Our journey from Calais to Bayeux, 367km or 228 miles, took us through 4 road tolls and one bridge toll with a total cost of €41.50. 

Good journey with little traffic on autoroutes but we drove through several heavy downpours.

Arrived at Camping Municipal des Bords de l'Aure de Bayeux around 3.30pm, rain now stopped, sun shining and 14°C. 

Smart site, well kept and beautifully laid out. Ladies in Reception most helpful with information about the area along with site facilities including, in fact stressing, that the electricity points were just 6 amp. Well, we'll manage I thought.

Having booked online some while ago she had our details as required and so took us to the pitch she had reserved for us.

All caravan pitches were grass whilst all motorhomes were hardstanding and, given Bayeux had had a similar amount of rain over the past few weeks as we'd had in the UK, the pitches were very soft. Added to this our pitch, although a good size, had a moderate slope all of which made setting up somewhat tedious. The mover kept slipping as wet freshly cut grass got between mover and tyre and lost grip and the jockey wheel simply dug itself into the sodden ground.

We eventually managed to get set up, and, water and electricity connected, dragged ourselves inside and put the kettle on for a cup of tea. POP! the trip blew. To cut a long story short, and after a number of POP's, we ended up boiling a saucepan of water for all our drinking needs, didn't put the heater on (it was quite chilly at night) and kept an eye on the fridge in case that went off.

 Our pleasant but soft, soggy and sloping pitch.

Tuesday, 16th May 

We slept well and, on waking, found the outside temperature was 10°C and inside, 9.5!

I cannot recommend coffee made from water boiled in a pan ..........

That's enough!!

 We decided we must find another site so, on to Google where I found three within a 15 mile radius.

We visited two and it was the second one we fell for. Reception was in an ancient farmhouse where we found Delphine, an exceptionally cheerful and helpful lady. She said she had plenty of free pitches as it was still early in the season. Above all she told us the site had 10 amp electricity on all pitches. Determined to find a pitch we would be happy to stay on, we walked around, chose one then told her we would be back.

Back to Bayeux where we first stopped for lunch then started packing up. Friendly receptionist was understandable about our need for more amps so we set off for Camping Les Picard at Tournieres, some 20km southwest of Bayeux.

 

Reception, Le Picard

An easy journey from Bayeux to Tournieres, arriving at 2.30pm. 

Again we had the problem with the mover. The grass had been recently cut and was very wet. The front jockey wheel sank into the grass and soil and with the tyres so wet and partially sinking into the soft grass the mover began to slip again. Rescued though by Monsieur who brought his little van with a tow hitch on the front and positioned the van for us.

All set up by 4pm and by now the clouds had vanished and an early summer sun shone down on us from a cloudless sky. Still a chilly north easterly wind but out of it, the sun felt good. Wi-Fi was pretty good too, and free.

Wednesday, 17th May

Another good nights sleep, cooked breakfast and off into Le Molay-Littry, our nearest town just 5km from here. It's a town which, back in the 17th century, was a local source of coal, making the town very wealthy. It's also twinned with Bovey Tracey in Devon.

Here we found a Carrefour Contact, rather like a Tesco Express. Topped up on foodstuffs plus a few unnecessary purchases. 

Beautiful day, clear blue sky but still that chilly wind.

After lunch we put the awning up. The grass had dried out nicely and, given we only had three hands between us, it all went very well.

Salad for dinner, sat out in the evening sun sheltering from the wind behind the caravan.

 Thursday, 18th May

We do seem to be sleeping well since we've been away with less getups in the night than at home. Up at 7.30 and over to the showers. They are some of the best showers we've had when away. They're outside but with a solid canopy over them, a good size, so no banging your elbows on the sides. The shower heads are the size of a dinner plate, water temperature is controllable and continuous, so no button pushing!

We are meeting cousin Jane and husband Steve today. They are staying at Ryes, some 20 km from here and towards the coast. They rented an air B & B and are there for the week.

We set off around 10am for the 20km journey stopping for diesel on the way.

Arrived at Ryes just after 11am. Had coffee with them and a good catchup as we hadn't seen them for some nine months. The girls exchanged books then we set off on foot to Arromanches-les-Bains, on the coast where the Normandy landings took place on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

The walk took us across the Normandy countryside and along quiet country lanes.

Had a wander round the town, taking in all the WW2 memorabilia shops and cafes. So much to see. Just looking out to sea could occupy so much of our time with remnants of the Mulberry Harbour, towed over from Britain in June 1944, still present.

Soon we were hungry and found a pleasant restaurant where we had lunch.

It was very busy everywhere and it took us a little while to discover that it was  Ascension Day and, in France, a Bank Holiday.

A stroll back through the lanes to Ryes where we sat and drank coffee and talked.

Home by 5.30, tired having walked some 5.5 miles - a good day.

Friday, 19th May

A cool start to the day, just 14°C but it was a shopping day today.  Off to Leclerc in Bayeux. I wish I had taken a picture of the building, it was massive. It took us an hour and a half to find all we needed as we kept getting distracted by all the things we didn't need.

Home for lunch and the weather had picked up with much needed warm sunshine. We spent the afternoon wandering around the site here, sat on an island and read our books, delightful.

Saturday, 20th May

More shopping to top up our dwindling supplies. Discovered we have a Super U hypermarket at Le Molay Littry, just 6 km from us so set off after breakfast.

Another cavern of a place with everything you could wish for, but find of the day went to the carwash located at the entrance to the carpark.

For €8 we got the best wash and polish ever. No brushes, just many high powered jets of water.

And that's the end of our first week.

On to Week ending Saturday 27th May 2023