26-27/07/2014 : Last day - Calais (via a breakdown truck)

Saturday

An interesting day and a day of 2 halves. 

We started out early heading for an Aire close to the Belgian border about 2 hours from Calais, giving us an easy drive for a 4pm ferry. However at about 11.30 am a sudden horrible vibration indicated Frank was poorly. We stopped to find the right nearside tyre completely gone. Luckily we had just come of the auto route and were travelling quite slowly. Looking at the jack I was not at all comfortable that it was up to the job so we called the break down service. They were brilliant and a really nice French man turned up sorted everything - and we were on the road less than 90 minutes after stopping.

Waiting for the recovery truck

While we were digging out the break down paper work I noticed that the ferry was 9am so  Plan B! Instead of a short drive we now had a long drive. We headed for the Aire at Gravelines which we used last year.

So a long day on the road, but it was a beautiful evening overlooking the canal and boats and sunset.

We chatted to a few couples who had just landed in France. The young couple next door in the hire van knocked and asked for help. If only they knew how new we were to this!!

Gravelines Aire

Miles today 232 Aire 6 Euro.

Sunday

Ferry and then the drag up the motorway and home!!! It was a great holiday.

23-25/07/2014 : Champagne

Thursday

Weather glorious. Heading for Champagne today and identified an Aire by the river at Mareuil-sur-Ay close to Eperyney. It was a very pretty location but full with no prospect of anyone moving. We then did a round robin of possible locations around Eperney. We settled on a very quiet Aire/French Passion stop at a village called Chevigny. The owners were champagne producers and the site was beautifully kept with all facilities in really quiet village surrounded by vineyards and farm yards. It had been a longer than expected day so we had a little explore and then settled down for a peaceful evening at the van. That was until the Dutch guy next door got his Satellite dish out and put the TV on loud. Really pissed us off!!

 Miles today 152 Aire 5 Euro.

Friday

Woke to another glorious morning and so we decided we would spend the day exploring locally. Jo went for a run and me for a cycle .The other two vans departed and so we had the place to ourselves for a leisurely breakfast.

We set off on our bikes to the nearest town,Vertus, and into the heart of the vineyards. They were really quite interesting and beautiful and the regimented order appealed to me. We had picked up some croissants in Vertus and sat amongst the vines eating them for lunch and then we watched some of the weird and wonderful machinery working amongst the vines.

After another lazy afternoon at the van we went for a long walk amongst the wheat and sunflowers. When we got back we settled up with the owner and brought 3 bottles of their Champagne - 1 bottle each for 2 graduating students and 1 for our 25^th Wedding Anniversary.

A few other vans had arrived, including another 22 year old iconic Hymer occupied by a family from Manchester. We chatted with them till dark. It may have irritated the other vans especially the Belgians with our loud and late conversations - but it was fun.

Miles today nil and the Aire free as we bought champagne.

22/07/2014 : Lac Des Settons - Burgundy - Gurgy

Tuesday

So the weather is not great again. Started OK, Jo ran and I cycled but by the time we got back to the van it is raining again.  Some research of the Aires Bible and we decide that rather than heading further and further away from Calais we will try to identify places further North and East where we can do non weather reliant activities.

We head for Lac Des Settons in the Burgundy region. It is only a couple of hours drive through beautiful countryside and I managed to get the photos of cows Jo wanted. The Aire is a great spot right next to the lake. The weather still rubbish however so we don our waterproofs and head for an afternoon on our bikes. The bonus was we came across a lovely restaurant/hotel/tea room where the chef makes his own chocolate on the premises. We had the best hot chocolate ever. Mug of hot milk and a big lump of chocolate to dissolve into it -  yummy!!

We cycled for about 4.5 hours so collapsed for the evening in the van.

Lac Des Settons - Misty

Lac Des Settons - 12 hours later

Miles today 88  Aire free.

Wednesday

Still plotting our route North now and working our way towards the Champagne region over the next few days.

A nice spot for dinner.......

Tonight’s stop is at Gurgy a few miles north of Auxerre.

We arrived there about 1330 after a very pleasant drive through Burgundy countryside. It is a lovely spot and we parked about 15 meters from a peaceful and pretty river with lovely views. Glorious sunshine all day today. In fact we woke up this morning to a very different view over the Lac Des Settons than we had last night. Went out for a bike ride along the canal and river tow path for an hour or so and had a lazy afternoon when we got back.

.........by the river at Gurgy

Got chatting to two couples from Blighty who were doing the same as us and slowly making their way to Calais and later in the afternoon we made the mistake of going to the regional produce shop and got captured by the enthusiastic owner who wanted us to sample everything, including snails. He told us we were in the Chablis wine region and area for snails. Both Jo and I can take one of those and leave the other!

Miles 63.  Aire no charge.