We took advantage of the cold but sunny weather to take a ride out to St Astier which was hosting a Vide Grenier.
As daughter Sophie will remember we were last there in February of 2019 and it lashed down with rain and there were only a few hardy stall holders braving the weather. Today there was a good turnout of stalls with lots of interesting bits and pieces, we restricted ourselves to only spending 12 euros on a throw for the settee in this house.
St Astier is a small historic town on the River Isle (L’Isle) and was much more pleasant to walk around in the sunshine than the lashing rain. We walked from the town centre down to the bridge and then along the river to give Layla a chance to run around off the lead.
It was amusing but interesting at the same time to see that all the Christmas decorations were still in place, in these country towns the decorations are often hand made, not too fussy and run with the same colour scheme through the streets.
Well here we are back again at our second home, due to a variety of commitments and health treatments we haven’t been here for five months, so there was a degree of trepidation of what we might find on arrival.
We left home on the 9th at 5pm to catch the 10.45pm Brittany Ferries crossing to Caen. We haven’t taken this crossing for some time as we have been using the ferry to Le Havre with its dog friendly cabins. However the one ferry to Caen, the “Normandy” now takes dogs, as the journey from Caen to our house is shorter, quicker and a little cheaper with regard to tolls we decided to give it a go.
We were quite impressed, there is a defined parking area for vehicles with dogs which is immediately adjacent to a corridor with the dog friendly cabins. The dogs have to wear muzzles for the journey to and fro the cabin which Layla hates but it did stay on for 3 minutes, you are met at the car by a member of the crew who shows you to your cabin on deck 5 and did the same in reverse this morning, it worked well so congratulations to Brittany Ferries.
When we started our journey it began to rain heavily and our route through the Cotswolds was pretty miserable visibility was poor and the road flooded in places. Thankfully after Oxford it began to dry up and the rest of the journey was much easier, except for the Smart motorway work and the 50mph speed limit for mile after mile on the approach to Portsmouth. Today’s drive was different, it was pitch dark when we left the ferry at 7.30am and it didn’t get light until after 9am, thankfully it was a dry day and gradually it got brighter and brighter the further South we drove and we arrived at the house in sunshine and 12 degrees.
Thankfully we found nothing amiss on arrival, apart from one roof tile that had blown off , but even replacing that should be easy as it is on the edge of the roof. The grass and trees hadn’t gone too mad with growth so it shouldn’t take us too long to get everything back to normal. The interior of the house was as you can imagine cold, but dry and now after a few hours of the log fires roaring away it is beginning to warm up.
The evening is going to be spent sitting, toasting toes and sipping something alcoholic.
Tonight Homer is resting his wheels on a campsite at The Royal Oak Inn approx 1 mile from Monmouth in Wales.
We came here via Tintern Abbey ( not Tintagel Abbey) as I kept mistakenly saying. There is good parking there and it’s possible to stay overnight.
Tintern Abbey is a magnificent13th century abbey nestling along side the River Wye and was originally founded for Cistercian monks in 1311, unfortunately it was closed for New Year’s day so were only able to view it from outside the walls.
From Tintern we drove to Monmouth where we didn’t find easy parking for motorhomes but as some car parks were pretty empty we parked across 2 bays. We had a slow ramble around the town but as it is a bit of a gray day the light was beginning to fade so we quickly drove the short distance to to tonight’s resting place.
We drew our New Year road trip to an end with a meal in the Royal Oak, safe in the knowledge that we didn’t have to drive anywhere afterwards. So the end of one trip but all being well the start of the next decade’s explorations.
As I mentioned in the previous blog, we couldn’t take Layla into places like the Roman Baths or large shops, so today I volunteered to dog sit whilst Alison, Peter and Michelle took the bus back into Bath to enjoy what was missed yesterday. I have been to the Baths before albeit a long time ago.
I spent my time home almost alone, by finishing reading a book I’ve been enjoying, popping into the farm shop here on site and buying a dozen extra large eggs for £1.53, taking Layla for a long walk and finally booking ferry crossings to France for January.
Michelle took some photos for me for the blog and on the last day of this decade is for the first time ever, writing something for the blog!
Make the most of it folks! It’ll be another 10 years before I write again.
I’m rather glad that I did go back into town and walk around the baths. It felt rather surreal walking around somewhere the Romans had 2000 years ago. The use of the computer generated graphics and 3D models, really brought the relics to life and made it easier to imagine how the buildings,objects and people looked.
Afterwards, I enjoyed a mooch around various shops, both on my own and later with Alison. Bath city centre had a positive vibe and it was rather lovely catching glimpses of the magnificent architecture as we shopped. I would love to visit here again , perhaps in the spring when the days are longer and warmer.
Have a wonderful New Year everyone !
We saw the New Year in with Alison and Peter and wondered where we might be this time next year.
Happy New Year everyone, here’s to a happy and prosperous decade.
Our day commenced with domestic routines, very necessary to keep on top of, as we move from site to site.
Peter and Alison’s Fluffles was having difficulties as the waste water tank wouldn’t empty out the waste water. There followed a 2 hour session where we tried to solve the problem and the waste water pipe went on and off the tank quite regularly, there didn’t seem to be any valid reason for the difficulty. The gauge read full but no water emerged. Eventually with the water hose running into the sink a small amount of water did emerge and we left the situation like that. We will see what the next few days brings.
After lunch we caught the bus into Bath, free for me, the benefits of a bus pass😊 £9 for the others for a group ticket giving an all day use.
Bath is of course renowned for it’s architecture and it certainly doesn’t disappoint, we commenced with a view of the Poulteney Bridge and weir on the River Avon.
From there we walked up hill through delightful narrow streets full of shops until we came to The Circus, a circle of beautiful houses, which of course unless I took a panoramic shot is difficult to show here to its fullest.
From here we headed further uphill until we reached “ The Royal Crescent” again magnificent architecture
As we walked the streets we did gaze in a few estate agent shop windows, there was one house in the centre of Bath for £1,999,500! Unfortunately I didn’t have enough credit on my card. Walking back down into the City we came across a park where they had installed an outdoor skating rink, every one appeared to be having great fun!
Our next stop was the Abbey next to the Roman Baths, of course Layla wasn’t allowed in so she sat on my lap whilst I was on a bench and drew admiring smiles and strokes from passing tourists(Layla, not me) I was kept entertained by a guitarist/ busker who played very well indeed. The queues to go in the Roman Baths were incredible, mainly made up of Far Eastern tourists.
We couldn’t leave Bath without seeing the famous Sally Lunn’s cafe / restaurant, because of Layla we couldn’t go in but instead had refreshments in a courtyard cafe opposite.
We then took a different bus back which dropped us off close to the camp site, a very pleasant afternoon, only seeing a small amount of the city.
Tonight Homer is resting his wheels at Penn Hill Campsite on the outskirts of Bath.
This morning we left Broadway and travelled via the notorious Fish Hill to Stow on the Wold, thankfully here the local authority provide parking places for motorhomes. ( you can overnight here). We spent an enjoyable 2 hours mooching around the town visiting numerous shops.
From Stow we travelled the short distance to Bourton on the Water where again there is dedicated motorhome parking on the coach and car park next to the Co-op supermarket. After a quick lunch in Homer we joined Alison and Peter for a walk around Bourton. It was packed, there were 10 coaches in the car park with what appeared to be every nationality under the sun pouring out for their whistle stop tour of the village. Having said that the people wandering around couldn’t detract a great deal from the picturesque nature of Bourton, even in December it was pretty.
We drove from Bourton to tonights campsite 2 miles from the centre of the city, we chose a route that would bring us here without going into the city, however as we were about to take the road we had planned on, there was a sign saying no vehicles over 6ft wide! No good for us, so I swung back onto the main road which took us into the city where I had to duel with city tour buses, one way roads and traffic lanes that ran out when it appeared they were taking us in the correct direction. Ah well, we made it eventually.
Tonight Homer is resting his wheels at Northwick Farm campsite approx half a mile outside Broadway, we are pitched next to Fluffles having met up with Alison and Peter.
Together again.
After lunch we walked down into Broadway and spent a happy few hours wondering in and out of the many shops here. It was a first time event for Alison and Peter, but only 3 weeks since we were here last but as Broadway is one of our favourite places to visit we were quite happy to spend time here again.
Broadway.
Broadway.
Cotswold stone buildings.
After our shopping trip we had our evening meal in Homer and then joined Alison and Peter for drinks and nibbles ( they have a cocktail cabinet) we started making some provisional decisions on next years adventures, so watch this space!
Our plans had originally been that today we would visit Malham Cove, but as the day was overcast and drizzly plans changed and instead Alison and Peter took us to the village of Haworth in Yorkshire, home of the Bronte family.
We commenced the visit by taking a walk to the railway station where we were lucky to find that they were running steam trains today, unfortunately we didn’t have time to take a ride on one.
We then walked back up the steep hill into Haworth itself, the main street was lined with lots of individual shops and cafes, the shops were selling craft items, paintings jewellery etc very interesting there were quite a few items we would have been quite happy to purchase.
At the top of the village is the church, old school and parsonage that are heavily linked to the Brontes and the stories that were written.
After lunch in Haworth we were driven back over the moors to a very difficult to find picturesque village of Wycoller a place visited by Charlotte Bronte and which is thought to feature in her writings.
The tiny village is at the end of a single track road, visitors have to park in a car park and walk approx half a mile to the village, there is nothing commercial here apart from a cafe that also sold a few gift items and sweets. It has a river running through that is crossed either by a ford or by several pedestrian bridges of ancient construction just wide enough for one person at a time.
We then spent a very pleasant evening at Alison and Peters eating Pizza and partaking of a glass of wine or two.
Tonight Homer is resting his wheels on Royal Umpire Caravan Site near Leyland in Lancashire.
We have headed north to spend the weekend with our friends Alison and Peter who live nearby, we had also intended to meet up with another friend Gwen an ex French property owner now back in England but unfortunately she was ill.
The journey north on the M6 was as usual a soul destroying experience with about 30 miles restricted to 50mph because of the creation of a “smart” motorway which in my opinion is just creating a death trap if you break down. Any way enough of moaning …..
Alison picked us up from the site at 1.30pm and took us back to their house, during the week they look after Alison’s sons dog Buddy a beautiful spaniel, so after exchanging pleasantries it was decided to take Buddy and Layla out for a long walk.
We drove to Rivington an area of the West Pennine Moors near Chorley, the area we walked in was once owned by Lord Leverhulme who was born in Bolton, he was an industrialist and politician and became famous amongst other things for his soap industry, ” sunlight soap”, he created Port Sunlight and once owned the Isle of Lewis and South Harris. At Rivington he had a cottage, summer houses, a dovecote, pigeon tower, aviary, kitchen gardens, lakes and ponds. The original wooden cottage was burned down in 1913 by an enthusiastic suffragette who set fire to it after being driven there by her chauffeur!
After packing up this morning we drove down into Leek and parked on a car park opposite Lidl, the good news was FREE parking on Sunday.
Throughout the main street there were stalls showing the wares and skills of the local crafts people, pottery, wooden items, knitted goods, metal work from blacksmiths etc plus food stalls and buskers. The items for sale were individual and selling at reasonable prices.
After this wandering we returned to the car park and said our farewells to Peter and Alison, the journey home was slow and the traffic heavy.
taraabit 