Chez Maison Bleue

It's 'interesting' having a satnav with a sense of humour. We only had 80 miles to do and it was supposed to be an easy day however the satnav obviously thought  differently. Everything was going hunky dory until the last 15 miles when IT obviously decided to direct us 'as the crow flies' instead of on roads. Bri's reassurance to Rachel that 'it will be alright, trust me' didn't really help. A rather tiresome 15 miles later we arrived unscathed at Chez Maison Bleue and the oldies had a lovely evening with Carolyn and Nick. This morning we woke to beautiful sunshine and armed with our newly acquired local knowledge will be having a leisurely day with no satnav!

http://chezmaisonbleue.co.uk/en/

Apologies

Apologies for 3 photos of Rachel with no caption, should have said 'The self imposed limit of one bottle a day didn't seem like such a bad idea after all'!

Also, I woz 'ere

Tuesday 29th

Had our most peaceful night so far, no rain, perfectly still night, in fact it was dead quiet, probably due to the fact we were parked next to a cemetery! Just one other van here, another Brit surprisingly, they only decided to stay the night coz we arrived, safety in numbers :-). Woken to a beautiful sunny day :-), we need to get another 200 in today so hope to be south of Cahors in the late aft.

4pm, 242 miles arrived at Grissoles (20 miles north of Toulouse), loads of vans here, one other Brit, also heading to Spain and Portugal. We only have 80 miles to do tomorrow to get to Chez Maison Blueu, should be an easy day...

En route from the 'graveyard' aire

Sunday night/Monday

Another very wet and windy night, OUTSIDE the van thankfully! First thing Bri donned his Typhoon Trousers, honestly, that's what they're called! And braved the elements to try and fix the wheel arch (failed) and do the usual motokennel tasks whilst I did my usual, which obviously involved bringing the ball back to him. Visits to 2 dealers drew a blank, of course it IS Monday, they are bound to be shut!

Lunch stop

Saturday night/Sunday

A rather wild night at Wissant, the wind and rain wasn't confined to just Britain! We were on our way south at 8.30am and had the roads pretty much to ourselves. Although we were into a head wind the clouds gave way to warm sunshine which made the trip on the toll free roads very pleasant. One of our coffee stops was next to a field of French French beans, Rachel couldn't restrain herself, you can guess what's for supper tonight! 200 miles further on we stopped at our next aire in a small village near Dreux. I made friends with 2 French kids on roller blades, they couldn't speak any (dog) English but I soon had them trained how to throw a ball :-) Bri reports good and bad news. The good- free leccy, plus all the services, he washed all the cow cake off the motokennel so it looks like somebody owns it now. The bad - a rivet (no not Bri) has come out so the front offside wheel arch is a bit 'flappy' plus another placky bit in the wheel arch has come loose :-/ First stop tomoz, the local Rapido dealer (17 miles south of here, that'll do Grommit). Amy phoned this eve to say there's a severe weather warning for Northern France, it's lashing it down at the mo' but by tomoz eve we'll be another 200 miles further south :-)

Z1!!

Whilst waiting for the underwater choo choo the old man spied this in a van across the car park. Two guys from Munich drove over yesterday to buy it for a mere €17,000 and were returning today. The best example of a Z1 I have ever seen (not that I know much about stink wheels) and the best Bri has. :-)

We spent the day at Brownhills until they had completed several minor jobs on the van. One of them was fit a speedo which shows mph AS WELL as just kph, mind you it's so inaccurate they may as well have fitted an Eccles cake, at least that has some purpose :-p. Late afternoon we headed for a rendezvous (I just lurrrve to get these French words in) we Richard and family for Xmas pressie swop, we only saw them for a few mins as we were both off on our separate travels. We arrived at a Britstop about 8pm  The Fleur de Lys, Widdington, now the old man isn't easily impressed these days but when you walk into a busy pub and the landlord welcomes you and introduces himself, now THAT'S impressive! Maybe he mistook Bri for somebody who actually had money! An excellent array of beers and food available but the oldies just sampled the beer this time. A very peaceful night spent in the pubs car park so thanks Chris, mind you we half expected bacon butties delivered in the morning :-)
http://thefleurdelys.co.uk/ 

After a quick restock from Maidstone Aldi we arrived at the tunnel well ahead of time so depart just aback of 5pm. Tonight's stop is an aire just outside Calais.

Awesome Service!

I just want to say what awesome service we have received from Brownhills (our dealer). Not only do we get free overnight stay on their 'aire' (leccy hookup and all the usual facilities) a TV lounge, showers, pool, jacuzzi, sauna. This morning when the motokennel went in for its jobs I didn't have to stay in the kennels they have, they gave ME a proper house! The oldies are allowed in as well coz I'm not that bothered about the TV and kitchen etc, quite happy with the rug and heater :-) What other dealer offers this?! Meeting up with Rachel's bro this eve :-)

Le Grand Depart

Fully loaded and ready pour le grand depart, pardon my French :-)

We left an unusually sunny Carlisle about 12 bells and had a leisurely drive to our motokennel dealer at Newark (anag). Stopped for lunch at Scotch Corner where we, or should I say Bri, met a lovely couple in another camper. I was getting bored so dragged him away so we could make our overnight stop in time!

The old guy has just returned from his swim, jacuzzi and sauna so now we can look forward to an evening of red wine and chilli, but I suspect I'll just be getting a few grains of rice :-p

I Need a Holiday!

Stress or what?!! No, not whether I'm being optimistic taking aftersun, just trying to get photos on here! Technology, aaaaaghhh!!

Welcome :-)

Welcome to MY blog, a bitches eye view of our (Brian, Rachel and my) latest trip around Europe.

For the new followers, this is MY take on our travels. I hope you enjoy seeing and reading about some of the places we visit.

As promised (by Bri) he is taking me away from all the loud bangs of Bonfire Night and we are heading south in search of quieter, and hopefully warmer climes for the next 2 months, until we head to Amy and Yann's for Christmas :-). 



For this trip we have a new motokennel, which has more room at the front end, so hopefully Bri won't stand on my tail this time! We set off on Thursday but don't cross to France until Saturday night, the plan then is to take 4 days travelling to Chez Maison Bleue (between Carcassonne and Andorra), where Rachel's friend lives. After that its Spain and Portugal, although I haven't yet decided where exactly.

Here is the new motokennel :-)