Ferry from Caen and Littlehampton - 29th Oct ‘19

Up early again and another familiar activity- packing up Brunnehilda in the drizzle /rain. By 7 we had left the campsite by 5 past we were in a rather chaotic series of queues. When we eventually got in it was a smashing vessel - but only seemed about half full.

It had 2 cinemas and a couple of restaurants. A bit of a misunderstanding and we missed the start of Downton Abbey so we settled down to an English breakfast, a bit of reading, a bit of napping and then a bit of lunch. A very easy and pleasant 6 hour sailing - arriving at Portsmouth at 1.15pm (local time!).

UK Customs seemed to be in overdrive - checking every van, motor home and caravan. The girl poked her head in Brunnehilda and got me to open the XC60 boot. We were confronted by a large body shaped bag with Isabella written on it in big letters - gulp, I braced  myself! Now I’m no customs officer but I would have thought given the circumstances a body shaped bag in the boot with Isabella written on it would have at least been worth a prod? It wasn’t! She glanced around the boot, thanked me and we went on our way - onto the M27 and Littlehampton. Only about 40 mins away.

The Littlehampton Caravan Club Site is exceptional nice. It’s clean, immaculately kept and laid out in straight lines with ample regularly placed facilities. A pleasant and extremely efficient lady told us exactly (and I mean exactly!) how to set up our van on the pitch. Nothing to complain about but I have to say I miss the French / Italian smile and casual instructions to park where and how we liked!

Set up is getting bloody quick now - like a Formula 1 team changing a set of tyres. We’ve only been caravanning for 4 months but we’ve probably done more set ups and pack ups than most would have done in 3 or 4 years!?

We found a huge Sainos - the current supermarket of choice- in nearby Bognor. And what a whopper, happiness definitely is a fully stocked Sainos. Walking round buying bread, milk, eggs and all the normal stuff we both noticed how much cheaper most stuff is in the UK!

We had a drive around Littlehampton as the Autumnal evening closed in. And blimey it’s bloody cold! We may be used to the rain but we’ve not had to face cold on the recent trip. So much so that we’ve had to read Brunnehilda’s heating system instructions again and get the fire / fan kicked off.

We found an Indian restaurant in the centre of town - the Little Magna. We literally walked in as they opened the door at 5.30. The waiter told us the chef was held up in traffic but he would only be 15 mins. 45 mins later he rushed in and we finally got our food at 6.45. It was worth the wait though. I had an excellent King Prawn curry dish and Kim’s Vegetable Malay was rather good too.

I’m currently reading Eric Idle’s autobiography. It’s a real giggle and full of very impressive celebrity stories. Not normally the stuff I like but I have to say he’s very funny - wish I guess you might expect

Back to Brunnehilda to warm up. A cup of tea, Spots on the sound system and a game of canasta.
Eat your heart out Mr Idle. Who needs drinking and partying stories with Mike Jagger, Robin Williams, Billy Connolly,  George Harrison and David Bowie when you’ve got that!?!

To bed dreaming of our Sanremo view out the kitchen window ....

Long journey from Clermont Ferrand to Caen - 28th Oct ‘19

Very few pictures on today’s blog because frankly, there is nothing to show you!

Up early and on the road by 7.30am. Arrived at Port of Caen at 5pm - 390 miles later.

- Volvo went superbly.

- Brunnehilda behaved herself.

- Toll roads good albeit expensive (I reckon tolls have been £200 each way!)

- 3 Aire stops- one horrible croissant and one half decent fish and chips

- The Co-pilot was excellent - apart from losing a toll ticket but I don’t think that cost us anymore than it should have done? Mentioning lost things ... I’ll update you on the glasses mystery later.

Seriously on the last point ... people said that putting up an awning together was “divorce in a bag” but I was never too concerned - as it turns out correctly. But Kim and I were both a little wary about 8 hours a day driving together. We really shouldn’t have worried - we worked well as a team on all the hazards (and by jingo, there were a lot) that were thrown at us and also had lots of fun.

Eventually after a wrong turn by me we found the easier back route out to the motorway from Camping Huttopia Royat - the secret was to go through a village called Ceyrat and pick up a main road lower down. Within 30 mins we had cruise control on and heading north on the motorway.

The campsite here at Caen - Riva Bella - is all you would want and need for a one night stay. It’s within 5 mins drive of the ferry terminal, adequate toilets and a load of restaurants handy. Although the huge Carrefour did shut at 8pm!! I finished off the holiday with moule creme while Kim had oeuf  et frites. It was ok. It was very sad to see a small migrant camp (about 20 guys huddled around a fire) just at the entrance to the campsite- the poor sods, what an existence. If that’s better than where they’ve come from, just imagine where they’ve come from!?

So, as we approach the finish of our first foreign trip with Brunnehilda, here a few random reflections:

Biggest disappointment:

- Food - especially breakfasts and especially in France

- Some of the weather 

Biggest surprise - bad:

- The cost of motorway tolls

- The scary roads - especially in Italy

- Sone opening hours of restaurants and shops

Biggest surprise - good:

- How relaxed and tolerant the French and Italians are behind the wheel

- The superb flushing capacity of F&I toilets - literally nothing gets left behind ... if you know what I mean?

- Quality of sites - especially the Italian one

Lowlights:

- The infamous mountain road and nearly getting wedged in!

- The mud in the first 2 French sites!

Highlights:

- Swimming in the Med with my number 2 son - in all sorts of weather!

- Sitting in an Italian restaurant in the pouring rain watching couples scampering by with their brollies up - like a scene from a movie

- Having a coffee in a deserted coffee shop in an ancient medieval hill village

- Having a laugh together at all the crazy things we said, saw and did

Finally, we were struck by how nice all the folks we met we’re. The French, The Italians and the holidaying Germans. I can’t think of one person that wasn’t friendly / helpful or both. We’re all the same really with a few differences that make it fun and interesting so why on earth do 17 million Brits want to:

- vilify them

- blame them

- despise them

- criticise them 

- disassociate themselves from them 

- remove themselves from them

- find differences between themselves and them

- fear them 

Very very sad.

Breaking News:

My missing glasses turned up! Turns out it wasn’t a black hole at all. They had just managed to squeeze themselves down a gap between the wall and the mattress. I could hardly get my fingers down the gap so how the glasses got there I don’t know. Kim suggested it might be something to do with the weight distribution on my side of the bed??

Time to sleep - ferry at 8.30 am tomorrow morning.