A Wet Day in Cambridge

Had a feverish night - don't really know why, maybe something I ate. Woke to lots of rain - what a change from yesterday.  Managed a shower and breakfast, then said goodbye to K, who is off working this morning, but going to a Quilt Show at RAF Duxford this afternoon. She took the car.

Thought I would go and get some food for this evening, so caught the train into Cambridge. Takes about 10-15 minutes and costs £4.50 off peak day return. Sat in a carriage whose only other occupant is a guy who is fast asleep with three empty cans of Stella in front of him - the time is 10.07 am.

View from the train window

The train terminates at Cambridge. I get off, leaving the guy fast asleep and snoring. Arriving at the platform I feel a bit dizzy, so take a slow walk to the exit. Didn't need to show my ticket. Got outside and began to seriously doubt the wisdom of going into town. It was still throwing it down, and I have toured Cambridge many times.

Outside the station - bikes and taxis

So - back into the station, visit to the Marks & Sparks food outlet, stock up with a few choice items.

Back through the ticket barrier - I didn't have to show my ticket - and on to the next train for London Liverpool Street. Two stops later I am back close to the hotel. Trip completed in under an hour - and I didn't get wet. I still have a complete set of tickets - so could go again later if I feel up to it ;)

Cup of tea and some pills - waiting to feel better.

Anglesey Abbey - Cambridgeshire

Trying some live blogging using my phone. At the place above, sat on a bench in the autumn sunshine.  I have been to this National Trust place a few times,  but never when it was this crowded. Even the overspill car park was full.

There are lovely gardens here, a mill which still grinds flour, and a house to explore.  Bring a packed lunch,  or use the restaurant - a great day out. 

Back to the Channel Tunnel, and Home

Thursday 2^nd October

Another disturbed night’s sleep – probably the prospect of going home. We were up at eight and I cooked bacon, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes to keep us going.

The service point for this aire is about a half mile away from where you park up, so I drove there and waited my turn to empty the tanks. From there we were directed by the satnav to the nearest point for diesel – which was a Super U just on the edge of town. We filled up, and made our way back to Calais. We passed some police on the roundabout near Super U - they were obviously looking for something, as they were stopping cars. We sailed straight through though. 

By the way - back on the 8th September I said that we were running low on toilet fluid - well, I bought some biological washing liquid to give that a go. Whilst it worked in part, I would say that it is no substitute for the real thing, and we will remember to take extra supplies with us next time.

We made good time back to the Tunnel. As we arrived before ten thirty I was given the option of an earlier train – so we went for it, and were sent to line up for the eleven twenty train. We waited about twenty minutes before boarding, and the train left dead on time. Just over twenty five minutes later we were back in England. On the way back we were thinking about our European van trip for next year. K fancies Italy............

Too Much Shopping and Pont de l'Arche Revisited

Tuesday 30^th September

We didn’t sleep very well, and got up for a cup of tea at about 4am. We managed to grab a few more hours, and when we finally surfaced we found that there was a heavy mist. It made all the spider’s webs easy to see. 

I cooked K some scrambled eggs and ham for breakfast, and we took our final showers – we intended staying on aires for the last two nights, so didn’t expect any facilities. By the time we had packed up and availed ourselves of the very useful motorhome service point at the site, the time was getting on. We knew that there was a LeClerc supermarket just down the road, so we headed there to buy some things to take home with us.

It was a very big store – and we wandered around for far too long really, meaning that we didn’t leave until after two thirty. We decided that K would drive for the first part of the journey, and I would do the latter half. We were heading back to Pont de l'Arche – but this time to the aire that we had spotted last time we were there. The drive took a while, and we didn’t really stop for lunch – just a quick drink and a cake when we changed drivers. We arrived at about seven twenty – which is much later than we normally try to arrive at places. Luckily, there were a few spaces, so we parked up and ate the rest of the ‘risotto’ from yesterday, once I had warmed it up.

We listened to an Agatha Christie play for a while, and then went to bed.

Wednesday 1^st October

Another misty morning. We left the aire by nine thirty - after another cooked breakfast. We were heading for Cite Europe at Calais to do some alcohol purchasing to take home. The weather stayed misty for quite a while, then the sun came out. We decided to take the toll motorway, as the satnav said that it would save us about 35-40 minutes. However, we stopped at the Baie de Somme Services to empty the tanks, and ended up spending nearly an hour looking around, and in particular, feeding the remains of our rice to some very noisy ducks. It was fun.

We made it to Cite Europe and did a big shop in Carrefour. Lots of other motorhomes there as well. Well loaded with booze (well, the van was), we headed off for an aire at a place named Gravelines – about fifteen miles away down the motorway. The skies opened, and the rain came down quite heavily.

We arrived at about five thirty and took up a position overlooking boats on the river – well, I think it’s a river. Gravelines is at the mouth of the River Aa. It is a fortified city, rebuilt by Vauban – just like St. Martin on the Ile de Re. It is also star shaped. The aire costs six Euros a night in summer, three a night in winter – when I tried to pay at the machine this time however, it told me that I was in a non-paying period, and wouldn’t take money. I didn’t complain too loudly.

A few other motorhomes arrived – mostly British. It had been a long day, so we decided to have showers in the van – very nice. Our water heater works well. We settled down and I cooked some very tough steaks for food – along with mushrooms and French petit pois. Again, we listened to an Agatha Christie story before retiring to bed at about ten o’clock.

Tour of Tours

Monday 29^th September

Managed to kick the laptop power supply back into life – which means that I am writing this on Monday. We have been to Tours today. It rained all through the night, and we were expecting it to rain on us today – but we have been very lucky and escaped it. In fact, this evening has been very pleasant and we managed to sit outside for a while in the sun. This is a very nice site, and the showers are amazingly hot! I had a shock this morning and was desperately trying to turn the thing down.

We set off on the bikes, and despite the fact that the site had given us a useful map as to how to get to the cycle track it still took us fifteen minutes to get there – a few wrong turns – and I got the blame of course! We got onto the track eventually, and it was very good. Most of the track into Tours was alongside the river Loire and the scenery was great. 

We saw many birds – egrets, cormorants and others. The track was fairly level and easy to ride. I think that we both pedalled all the way in; hardly using the motors at all (I did use it to start off once or twice when I had stopped in the wrong gear).

We reached Tours in about forty minutes, and chained the bikes up outside the Saint Gatien Cathedral. Wow! What an impression the cathedral gives. It is amazingly impressive from the outside, and the inside is a feeling of space with wonderful stained glass windows. I feel that it is almost on a par with Chartres, and personally, more impressive that Santiago de Compostela. Pictures can’t do it justice, the feeling of devotion is almost overwhelming – and I’m not a religious person. It has undergone a renovation program and is looking amazingly clean and bright. The current building was constructed between 1160 and 1547, but a religious structure has been on the site since about 350 AD. A volunteer guide came over and told about the cathedral. He struggled for some words, but his English was good. He was obviously very proud of the cathedral. We had a good look around.

The only thing that we didn’t like much were some modern ‘stained glass’ windows, which were a kind of photo montage on glass. They seemed to jar a bit with the age of the rest of the building.

We left, unchained the bikes, and went for a tour around the city. We found lots of half timbered buildings in the ‘old town’ – very attractive. Most had been turned into café’s and restaurants in the lower halves it seemed. 

I did a small shop for lunch and bought some cheese, bread, tomatoes, some Serrano ham and a bottle of water. 

We rode to find a bench – the one we chose was near a grassed area close to a statue of Descartes. We continued our ride after lunch. 

We found one weird glass fibre ‘statue’ which looked like a monster from a very blocky video game – reaching out for you. Could find any info on it there – will have to look it up. Close to this statue I bought a ‘Tartelette au Fraise’ in one of the patisseries. I would have that with some coffee later.

The sky was threatening rain as we rode around – but we found Charlemagne’s Tower and the Collegiate Church of Saint Martin. 

We also rode along the tram tracks that cross the centre of Tours – and headed for one of the bridges over the Loire to take some pictures. Then another bridge to take a picture of the bridge that I had taken the first picture from (!)

 

We rode back along the river to the camp – taking advantage of the electric facilities of the bikes – we thought that we would be rained on at any moment. As it turned out, we missed the rain, but when we got back to Les Ville Aux Dames, we found that it had rained a lot there – so we were lucky.

As we were putting the bikes away the sun came out, so we sat outside drinking coffee, and I ate my tartelette – I shared the strawberries with K – but she couldn’t eat the pastry as it had wheat in it.

We managed over an hour before the sun faded, and then retired to the van where I cooked chicken with salad and potatoes. We listened to some more audio book, and then tried to get an early night, as we had a way to go in the morning.

Onward to Tours

Sunday 28^th September

Awoke to another sunny day. After showers and breakfast we packed up the van and prepared to leave. We had paid the day before, so that was taken care of. Pausing at the drainage point, we emptied the tank and filled up with water. We are heading for Tours – hopefully the traffic on a Sunday will be OK.

We decide to stop at the Ackerman Cave on the way to get K some fizzy. It is fairly quiet, and I manage to park with no problems. We make the purchase (whilst taking the opportunity for a small wine tasting – I only had a mouthful because I was driving, K finished hers). The satnav was trying to take down a main road to Tours, but we wanted to drive along the river and so ignored her protestations (I know that it’s an electronic GPS based device – but it speaks with a woman’s voice – so we think of it as ‘she’).

We stop for lunch at Langeais, next to the river, close to a bridge. From the bridge you can see the Château de Langeais. We pause for about forty minutes and I stretch my legs. 

The journey is very pleasant, all along the bank of the Loire – although sticking to the speed limit didn’t seem popular with the locals, who overtook me at every opportunity – as usual. We arrived at the camp site ‘Les Acacias’ in La Ville aux Dames at about two o’clock and are pleasantly greeted by a young man who gives us a lovely pitch in the sun. The shower block etc. is fine – haven’t tested the hot water at this point, because I am now up to date with the log, and am writing this on site.

We decided just to stay on the site, as it’s a Sunday and we don’t really want to go anywhere. We sat about and enjoyed the sun – it’s supposed to rain tomorrow. We will cycle into Tours anyway – it’s about seven kilometres. I cooked a home made meatball and chorizo ‘risotto’ for food – far too much again. Will keep some for lunch.

Having fun with the power supply for my laptop. Seems when it gets too hot it stops working. Not sure what to do yet, as it’s a sealed unit – I know from experience that there’s not a lot you can do when they fail. Hopefully, it will keep going until we get back. Just because it’s about twelve years old – really!

The Loire Valley and Saumur

Friday 26^th September

Awoke about eight to the promise of a lovely day. By nine the sun was blazing and the temperature was rising. After showers I made pancakes and coffee, some time later we slowly packed up the van.

We nipped next door to the emptying point on the aire, and then set off for Saumur – the trip should take about three and a half hours. We made a slight detour to find a Super U to buy a few things. Whilst there we have lunch before setting off again.

We arrive at Camping Ile de Offard about five o’clock, and find that it has been considerably ‘spruced up’. A major facelift, with lots of new interesting things to stay in. It’s now part of the ‘Flower Camping’ group. Quite a welcome change. We parked up and sat in the sun for about an hour. After food we sat and listened to an Agatha Christie novel - ‘Nemesis’ whilst I put a goodly part of this log onto the net – with pictures – Ooohh!

Saturday 27^th September

Being so quiet, and dark when all the blinds are up, we didn't surface until half past nine! However, once awake we moved fairly swiftly and showered (amazingly hot showers btw), breakfasted, got the bikes ready and were off down the road to Saumur centre by about ten forty five. It was market day. Lots of traffic. There are cycle lanes – but mostly they are just marked by green chevrons at the edge of the road – and some drivers come rather close – especially when crossing the fairly narrow bridges.

We found the Tourist Information Office (they had moved it from the last time we were here), and gained a map of the ‘Cycle the Loire’ type. K studied it and concluded that we were on the wrong side of the river. We weren't, it’s just that the map gave that impression. I rode back up to the junction to check. We were fine, so we headed off in the direction of Gennes. 

A brief word about electric bikes here. They are great because you know in the back of your mind that if you want to, you can twist the throttle and you will gain that bit of extra assistance with the ‘hard’ bits. Or, if it’s the journey home, and you are tired because you have mostly been pedalling all day, you can open up the throttle and sail home with almost no effort. We do pedal most of the time – but the things mentioned above are very welcome.

We thought we would be following the river. We were for a while – then we turned inland. Up and down we went. After a while we stopped and considered our position. We were way above the river with sixteen kilometres to go to Gennes. We had only come about four – it seemed more. We decided to head back to Saumur – but not following the cycle route. We took a more direct road, and were soon on the road right next to the river where all the ‘Caves’ of the various wine manufacturers were. We found our way to Ackerman’s – one of Ks favourite bubblies – and wandered in. There were lots of wines – but the prices were about the same, or even slightly more than we had seen elsewhere. Besides which – carrying cases of fizzy on a bike is not a good idea. One weird thing – I saw a small lizard scampering across the floor. I took a picture of it trying to hide behind some boxes of wine.

We returned to the bikes and road along the river again, looking for a place to stop for lunch. We found a bench in a nice spot and paused to eat and drink. After a while we rode back to the centre and walked up through the market, which was mainly clothes and shoes, back to the bridge by the tourist office that we had started from. We rode over the bridge and back to camp. It was only about two o’clock, so we changed and headed for the swimming pool. It was very sunny and warm. 

View of Saumur Château from the Swimming Pool Area 

We lay back on the sunbeds and roasted a while, then went into the pool. It was good – and not even particularly cold. We got out for a roast again then, after a while, went back in the pool. Back to the van about five and then sitting outside with a drink. Then showers and food – I cooked pork chops with fried vegetables and broccoli. With a glass or two of wine it went down well. Off to Tours tomorrow.

The Beach and St. Martin

Thursday 25^th September

Woke up at eight, up by quarter past. It was a lovely morning, with blue skies and no wind. I got the wifi going on the computer, found nothing of real interest whilst drinking my coffee, and so went for a shower. Came back and washed the towels. They seem likely to dry on a day like today.

We decide to go to the beach this morning, as it’s such a good day. We pack a few things and head off. The sun is warm. We set up and go to explore the rock pools that have been exposed by the falling tide. Lots and lots of hermit crabs, all scrabbling about. A few darting fish. We come across something on the sand between rock pools, covered in flies. It looks like a large slug – about 15cm across, and moving as a slug or snail would move its head – but obviously damaged. Parts of its insides are exposed. The flies are everywhere. I go to find something to put it back in the water with. I find a plastic pole thing and manage to roll the creature into a close by pool with a largish rock in it. It moves beneath the rock, looking for shadow I suppose. At least it is free of the flies now.

(Addendum to this - I looked up about what this this could be when I returned to the UK, and believe that it could have been what is commonly known as a 'Sea Hare').

We walk about and collect driftwood. I find some more plastic poles and collect them to take back to dispose of. We return to our spot on the beach and sunbathe for a few hours. I listen to ‘The Maltese Falcon’. After a while I go and take some pictures, and then we have Orangina and some cakes, before sunbathing again.

Back to the van for lunch about two thirty, and then off on the bikes to Saint Martin. Cycle track all the way – so that’s good. We get to the town and ride about, remembering the last time we were there. A double boule of artisanal ice cream goes down well, some pictures of donkeys, and it’s time for the return journey. After putting the bikes away we sit in the sun with drinks and snacks enjoying the dying rays.

I prepare steak, potatoes and salad for the meal. K has a shower and we eat. K washes up whilst I go and take some pictures on the beach – it’s a good sunset tonight. I update my log, and then we watch some more Star Trek before retiring to bed. Moving on to Saumur tomorrow.