Monday 22nd April.
We are now in Cheddar and slowly moving towards Devon. We now have a car and have got somewhere safe to store the motorhome for a few days so that we can visit family and friends before we move back into the Chapel on May 15th. Its strange having a car now and we get a few strange glances when I turn up on my own on a camp site closely followed by this woman in a car!.. Lorraine wanted to get back to work full time and thanks to a lovely boss has been given her old job back. Bradley's paws have mended and the spring in spaniel is definitely back. A temporary filling I had in France has dropped out so thats good timing for a visit back to my dentist and its off to Clarkes Village in Street today clothes shopping. One thing we have noticed since being back is how much cheaper everything is here and even diesel is almost the same now!.. Catch up later x
Monday 15th April.
The Channel Tunnel popped us out in record time again, It must be downhill from France and I'm sure the wind was behind us!. They put us on an earlier train so had plenty of time to get some food in before going to the campsite. We found Morrisons in Folkestone and Lorraine said she got quite emotional seeing all the familiar foods again. I was laughing more as Lorraine forgot her pin number for the UK bank card!. We have a few things we want to see in the UK whilst we still have the motorhome so are now in Milton Keynes to visit Bletchley Park. It wont be long now before we start to head for Devon and are already getting UK insurance policies and other matters sorted... so much to do!
Wednesday 10th April 2013
Today, as is always the case, we set off for our next campsite making sure the sat nav didn't take us on any toll roads which are getting really expensive now. It means in general we have a nice relaxed journey seeing many sights and town centres you would not normally see. I could see that we were only a few kilometres away from our next campsite at the end of our journey with only a small town to pass through. On approach to the town I immediately noticed a bit more activity at the side of the road than one would find normally for a town of this size. Then people in yellow jackets holding paddles started to appear at junctions which wasn't a problem until we reached a junction the sat nav wanted us to take, only to be waved into the wrong road. Suddenly people were everywhere and the sat nav was now getting cross with me as we were waved into more roads we didn't want to take. We now appeared to be heading towards the centre of the town and felt like we were the only vehicle on this section of road. The waving of the marshals with their paddles was getting more urgent with increasing numbers of barriers and people behind then watching our slow nervous progress into the centre of town. We reached a roundabout and the sat nav has a loud gong' sound on it when it detects you are on the wrong road and the voice was frantically telling me to turn into roads that were now impossible. It is at this stage when you realise that our lack of understanding the language etc is really against us when at a roundabout I decided I wanted to take the third exit when the man with the paddle was pointing at the first exit. I put my thumb up and he replied with his thumb up and we swung around taking the third exit. His expression was priceless and I could almost detect the gasp from the crowds either side of us. We slowly crept up into what was the real centre of the town and the road was looking less like a road now with barriers getting narrower and the crowds closer to us watching us with interest. As it dawned on us we were now in the latter stages of an important and large bike race I suddenly heard the sirens and saw in my mirrors the lead car of the impending peloton. Also I realised our snails speed of 20mph would now have to increase to stand a chance of keeping ahead of the peloton. The gongs from the sat nav were now deafening joined by the towns tannoy system and crowds trying to hurry us along towards the finish line which was now in sight!. I will never forget the official as we approached the now very narrow finish line hanging out of his elevated box shouting at us "aller, aller, aller" (go…go..go!) So I did, putting my foot down exiting the finish area and disappearing up a side street to recompose ourselves. The sat nav was now trembling on the dashboard and we soon found that roundabout once more taking the first exit this time and giving the nice man with a paddle a courteous smile as we passed. We managed to navigate around the town and arrived at the next campsite a bit later to really enjoy that relaxing cup of coffee.
Au revoir
Thursday 4th April 2013
We have come to the end of our stay at this lovely house in Angoville au Plain. The owners David & Sue returned on the 27th March and ourselves and some friends gave them a fantastic surprise 'welcome home' french style at the train station with a banner, air horn, champagne and chocolates. After a lovely visit to Bayeux and that famous bit of cloth and a wonderful send off from Angoville we have been back on the road for a few days thinking that the winter would now be behind us but how wrong were we!. This time last year we both had our shorts and T'shirts on but what a contrast?
We always said that we would know when it's time to come home and that moment arrived when we reached Brest and the snow arrived just behind us!. It may have been that we were spoilt with the space and luxury of the two houses we had over the winter and it's not that we didn't want to get back in the motorhome as we still love the cozy feel, the fun and the flexibility, but the time is now right to go back home. When you think about it we first had snow at the end of October last year and since then you could count on one hand the times the temperature had got into double figures!. We have given our tenants notice and will be back in The Chapel on the 5th June at the latest.Whilst the days outside still barely reach above 4ºc it gives us a great opportunity to arrange and organise things for the return. There is so much to organise with insurances being the most important. We have to arrange Bradley's vet treatment and passport visit and will head for the Channel Tunnel on the 15th April. Lorraine decided on going back to work full time so that I can continue to live the life I am accustomed too (Ouch, that slap hurt!) and her old boss has just offered her a wonderful position back at County Garage. With that problem out of the way we may even be able to visit a few more locations in the UK that we have wanted to for some time and hopefully arrive back in Dover to some sunshine and higher temperatures!.Off towards Paris tomorrow to visit that wonderful castle (Chateau de Pierrefonds) where the BBC filmed the 'Merlin' series.
Au revoir
