Travelling East again

Monday 26^th to Friday 30^th August Travelling East again

Our last day in Notre Dame de Monts was spent on housework. We spent a lot of time getting the blog up to date (mainly because the internet connection was so slow it took forever to load any photos). We also spent time looking at our finances (need to get back to work!), answering e mails and general paperwork. We went to the launderette with all our bedding and went shopping. I decided that we would have a nice meal as it was our last night here. So I bought some mussels (never prepared them before), cream, white wine, garlic and onions and some crusty French bread. I had a quick check on the internet to see how I could cook them and then we drove back up to our beach aire. Before our supper we went for a good walk in the pine forest and sand dunes before returning back to the van. I then washed the mussels, pulled out the ‘beards’ and got on with my recipe. It turned out to be a fantastic meal that had cost about 7 euros including a bottle of white wine.

The following day was time to move on but before we did so we drove back into NDDM to use the daily free half hour of wifi to load some more pictures on the blog. We then set off in the direction of Angers and back to the Loire (but the other side this time).

It was cooler today and it was a pleasant drive. By late afternoon we arrived at Bouchemaine and to one of the best aires of our travels. The site had plenty of both hard ground and grassy areas for each van, electricity was included in the overnight price and there were wonderful views of the River Loire. What is more the sun was shining and it was much warmer than it had been on the coast. We decided to get the kayak out and we went for a gentle paddle on the Loire for about 1.5 hours.  The flow on the river did not trouble us at all. That evening after we had walked around the small town, we had our supper in the setting sun and spoke to two English couples who were parked nearby. This was quite a rarity for us and I still do not really understand where all the English motorhomers go because we have seen very little of them.

As the spot here was so lovely we decided to spend most of the day at Bouchemaine. I read in the sunshine until lunchtime and then we both walked into the town to pick up some bread and something for supper. Again we spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun before packing up. We eventually left about 5pm and it was around 8pm when we reached the little portside aire on the River Sarthe  in Le Mans. There were only 7 spaces at this aire and we were the 10^th van but we managed to squeeze ourselves in before settling down to a late supper.

The following day (Thursday) we were up early. After breakfast we walked along the river towards the old centre. Le Mans in known as a Plantagenet city and the buildings around the cathedral were lovely and quite at odds with the rest of the modern commercial city. The cathedral itself had some lovely stained glass windows and a wonderful set of flying buttresses but it does not look in proportion. That is because the money ran out and the cathedral ended up in a Romanesque style rather than a gothic one.

We continued our walk along narrow alleyways, pass a fountain and some lovely small gardens. I t was quite an atmospheric place and we enjoyed exploring it before heading back to the van and the real reason for visiting here – to see the 24 hour race course. Mike was very interested in this although motorcar racing has always left me cold. 

We drove to the 24 hour Le Mans museum and parked there. I sat in the van whilst Mike wandered around the track, the pits and the grandstand. I was pleased to be able to pick up wifi so whilst Mike was out I skyped Mum (Cathy and martin and liam were there too) and did some paperwork. Nearly two hours later Mike returned but he was not finished yet. We then drove Buster around the track as a good part of it is on public roads.  Once the car business was done we set our sights for Chartres but we were much later than we planned.  Chartres was over 120km away.  We had had no lunch and it was nearly 3pm. We ended up stopping at a supermarket for supplies and then eating our lunch in the carpark – urgh!!

We eventually arrived in Chartres and after driving around the centre and failing to identify anywhere to park we drove down to the river where there was plenty of parking and only a short walk from the centre. Chartres is a lovely cathedral, quite elegant after Le Mans, with some exceptionally beautiful rose windows.  We had mainly come to see the cathedral but we also walked the ‘town route’ which took us past other churches, markets halls, little squares and back down to the river. It was a very pleasant tour.

It was now 7.45pm – we had not identified anywhere to stay overnight in Chartres so we hit the road again. The route we chose took us through some agricultural areas – huge fields adjoin the roads but no parking spaces. Eventually we found a car park in a small town just outside of Etampes.  It was next to a picnic area and a children’s playground and was a perfect place to spend the night. We had a late supper and went to bed.

Back on the road the next morning we continued our drive to Fontainbleau. Mike had identified a municipal campsite at Samoreau which was only a few kilometres away from the chateau at Fontainbleau. We arrived at the campsite midmorning. Although it was a largish site it was virtually empty. We parked in full sight of the River Seine but then was disappointed to find out that the campsite had no internet access which meant I could not do my planned marking. I worked for about 4 hours on some other stuff and then we went for a cycle along the Seine. At this point the river is beautiful. It was clear with little fish and quite still with weeds growing in it. There was very little river traffic. At one point I remarked to Mike how quite it was as there was not much bird song either. After a few kilometres we stopped for a drink in a small village before turning round and heading back to the campsite, picking some blackberries for supper on the way.  We had a salad supper outside but the nights are getting cooler now. Back inside the van Mike started to get his CV up to date – the need for work and money is becoming more urgent as we near the end of our journey.