France October 2025
20th Oct
This would be our third trip to France but this time we will be travelling from Poole to Cherbourg on Brittany ferries.
We set off after making sure that we had packed everything and got groceries and fuel and very soon the Satnag was telling us that there were delays on our route. We were fine for time as our ferry wasn't leaving until tomorrow morning at 8:30 and we had arranged to park over night at the terminal in the boarding lane for £15.
We eventually arrived at the ferry port after a few diversions and parked in the lane by the check in kiosk, which was closed as every one had gone home. (No overnight ferries from Poole!
Andy went to scan the QR code to pay the £15 and checked out the nice clean and warm toilets. There was also and elsan point and a tap for fresh water if you need it, we didn't so back to the van to settle down and watch three episodes of 'Riot women' on iPlayer and then after a pot noodle each, bed.
21st Oct
We were woken up by a loud knocking on the door of the van at around 6:15am but by the time Andy had got to the window there was no one there. We got dressed and put the kettle on and Andy checked with the chap in the kiosk about sailing times etc. and then we turned the gas off and drove through passport control, no biometrics (Entry Exit System) here and parked up and waited for our turn.
Soon we were called over to the vehicle check area and a nice young man came into the van for a look around, all clear and we were on our way.
We parked and sat down on the cafe deck and had breakfast as the ferry left the port.
The journey took four and a half hours and was smooth and we just snoozed until it was time to get back in the van and drive off and into Cherbourgh.
It was about 30 odd minutes to the Aire at Surtainville which we had chosen as our first stop and we were soon pulling in and we chose our spot.
We had a quick walk over the dunes to the enormous beach which was 2 minutes away. As we climbed over the dunes the wind hit us, we thought that this must be the beginning of storm Benjamin which was coming from the south west. The next few days would be interesting!
Back at the van we had a good evening watching three episodes of 'Riot women' on BBC 1 and hit the sack.
22nd Oct
A good nights sleep and breakfast and then a 3km walk on the beach and back along the path where we discovered a rather large catterpillar crossing the path. Andy got the drone out and video'd the beach and Aire.
Back to the van for hot dogs and then off to the U market on our bikes to get some wine. It was about 3 km to the shop but very hilly.
We got two 5L boxes of wine, red and white for 26 Euros ! That worked out to about £2.30 per litre and they were very drinkable!
We had a nice afternoon/evening drinking our wine and eating our Quorn korma as the storm hit us for real.
We went to bed as the 50 MPH gusts rocked us and torrential rain blasted the van. Not much sleep tonight we think.
23rd Oct
What a night!
Very worrying to be honest with the high winds. We are parked against a hedge which is shielding us a bit from the weather but still scary. We didn't get much sleep but as morning came the rain died down a bit and the sun tried to shine.
Andy checked the bikes at the back of the van and then we walked around to the campsite to buy a token for the water machine on the Aire. We were told that the machine was broken but if we paid the 4.65 Euros we could use the hose 'round the back, we paid and then went for another walk on the beach.
It was really windy on the beach and we soon returned to the van to get the water. We drove 'round to the tap and put 125L in the tank and filled the flush tank and our drinks bottle too and then drove back to the Aire to settle for another windy afternoon and evening watching Destination X on BBC1.
Friday 24th Oct
Up at 9am, it's cold this morning so the diesel heater went on straight away. Andy sat with his first cuppa and caught up with this blog, we will have to add the videos later, perhaps we will settle at a site somewhere for a few day with decent wi-fi so he can catch up with the media editting?
We got the van road worthy and emptied the grey and black waste using our new motorised valve which Andy had installed before we left Essex.
This makes the emptying of our grey waste tank much easier as we now just click a switch in the habitation area to open the valve! When there is no water available to rinse the toilet cassette, (black waste) we rinse it out with the grey water! (Simples).
So off we went south and soon pulled into the free Aire at Saint-Georges-de-la-Riviere, ///machine.scrounge.biscuit where we parked in the designated motorhome area and headed up the steps to check the beach out, coats on and as we cleared the dunes the windy was amazing. We are still catching the tail end of storm Benjamin and will be for the next day or two!
We gave up on the walk and settled down in front of the TV all afternoon, watching F1 and Youtube until the leisure battery got so low that we had to give up and go to bed with torches!
We had a bad night, no sleep due to the wind and rain and a squeakey bed which wasn't actually the bed folks but something that was stored under it which was rubbing on something when the van was being rocked in the wind!
Andy gave up at about 3am and got up to re-arrange the stored stuff under the bed to try to stop the squeak, with only a head torch on! Sorry Sue...😉.
Saturday 25th Oct
That was a crap night! Windy and rainy all night, the van was rocking like a bugger and it was cold as the diesel heater won't start up until the leisure battery gets enough solar to wake up!
Andy made a cuppa and checked the battery as the sun peeped it's head over the dunes and started to warm the place up, oh van life really does make you appreciate the simple luxuries that non van lifers take for granted, us included when we lived in the house.
Central heating on timer or thermostat, warm house before you get out of bed! Lights, TV, kettle, toilet flusher all work no matter what the weather?! Oh well....
Eventually the sun did it's best and the battery woke up just in time for us to leave!
We packed up again and set off south again towards a Camping-car park at Saint-Gemaine-sur-ay ///barcode.horseback.solved which is going to cost us around £13 but water and electricity is included so we will charge everything and use electric heating and cooking to save our gas.
When we arrived we could get the barrier to go up, we scanned our card a number of times but no luck and then a French guy turned up on his quad and Andy, with his best schoolboy french managed to understand that we should phone the number on our card to get a code to open the barrier.
We parked up and plugged in and got everything on charge before heading off on the bikes to Lidls, 30 minutes away.
It rained on our way back, £35 the poorer but, hey, when you roll the dice like we do you can't always expected a double six!
We made the best of the afternoon by trying our best to drain the 10 litres of french wine that we had bought on Wednesday whilst listening to Oasis and Snow patrol, with the diesel heater warming us up nicely.
Sunday 26th Oct
At 2am (ish) we were awoken by the rain and water running throught the ceiling in the lounge! The leak that Andy had thought he had repaired had re-appeared.
We held washing up bowls and waste bins to catch the water and eventyually Andy removed the inner blind from the ceiling and found where the water was coming in.
He got the ladder out and swept the standing water off the roof and the leak subsided. Another job!
We got to bed but it started raining again and Andy got up to sweep more water off the roof.
Morning came and the leak had stopped but the van now looked like a work shop! Ladder, tool box, bits of skylight blind and a bin catching the water.
We got ready and hit the service area before attempting to exit the Aire with the help of a code from the phone support people and got on the road south east to our next stop, a free Aire at Cerences.
The journey was uneventful and we soon pulled into the Aire and chose our pitch, backing the van in so that the water on the roof would run off the front and not into the lounge.
There was an ancient Lavoir on the Aire. This was where the women of the village would bring the family's clothes to wash them, I hope the water was cleaner then than it is here now!
We had some brunch and then a walk around the town, it was Sunday so everything was shut but it was nice to get some fresh air and stretch our legs.
The rest of the day was spent catching up on sleep and rest.
Mon 27th Oct
Andy got the ladder up in the lounge and discovered a small hole where the hinge to the canopy is fixed to the roof so he spent the next hour cleaning the area and using glue to fix the hinge in place where the screw had failed and water proof tape he sealed that area of the roof and we crossed our fingers that it would be good enough to stop the rain coming in.
We replaced the blind assembly and put tools away before driving over to the service area to empty waste.
And then we left the Aire, stopping at the bins first which were full so we couldn't use them.
We arrived at the Aire at Parc St Lys in Sourdeval,
///wherein.dodge.destined
after driving the 50Km in sunshine and pulled into our pitch nose down, just in case! This Aire was free to stay for up to 72 hours and had free EHU at (alledgedly) 6amps but when Andy plugged in and switched on the 3 amp battery charger in our Sargent EC328 unit it tripped at the source! He swapped our cable to another live outlet and just used it to charge phones and laptop etc.
We got our coats on and had a walk around the small market and the church ending up in the Cafe Marakech where we had coffee American!
Back at the van we got the heating on and relaxed whilst listening to James O'Brien's Mystery hour on LBC catch up.
After a few hours we went to the bar de la Poste (a bar in a post office and convenience store) and had a couple of small beers and sat people watching for an hour before heading back in the dark.
Wed 29th
Pension is paid today so we are off to Lidl on the way to Le Teilleul where we have stayed before at a free Aire with services.
///allocating.premonition.cracked
We drove through some beautiful scenery and fairly narrow roads and ended up at the Aire after getting shopping at Lidls.
In the evening we biked to Sarah and Mil's place where they made us a chicken curry for dinner. We sat and chatted over beers and wines until around 9pm when we decided that it was time to let these lovely people get to bed as they had been rehearsing this afternoon and had more to do tomorrow.
Mil gave us a key to the front door and insisted that we use the house as our own!
Back at the van we put the heater on and got to bed.
Thursday 30th Oct
Andy woke up to the noise of two chaps collecting the fallen apples with an interesting looking walk along mower machine?!
We wondered whether they worked for the commune and then decided that they were working for the farmer who owned the land that the Aire was occupying and they would use the apples to make cider?
We went to Sarah and Mil's and Andy made the most of the fast internet and constant power to work on the website.
Sarah and Mil were rehearsing and we were able to let ourselves in with the key which Mil had given us yesterday.
Mil made a lovely pasta dish after their rehearsal and we sat and chatted and drank again until it was time for bed and we got onto the bikes and hit the road for the 5 minute journey back to the van and bed.
Fri 31st
This morning Sue was making a butternut squash soup and so Andy got on the bike and headed off to Sarah and Mil's to catch up on the website. Sue turned up later on and we both walked down to the rehearsal room, which was a little chapel a minute from the bar. The rehearsal was good and the music was very enjoyable.
We both left before the end and hit the bar where everyone was getting ready for Halloween, children were dressed up and were collecting their sweeties constanly as we sat at a table by the window in the sun drinking Leffe and Loburgh and Sue got onto the Aperol.
Then Sarah and Mil turned up with Carl, the drummer, and his partner Debbie and Nigel, the sound engineer at rehearsal and his wife Julia, who invited us to a music bingo night at
The Vintage bar tomorrow evening.
We sat drinking and chatting for another hour before getting back to Sarah and Mil's place stopping off at the shop to get sweeties for the Halloween kiddies who were bound to knock.
We delivered the sweeties and then Andy walked around to pizza machine and bought three pizzas for our dinner, a brilliant machine which delivers hot pizzas in three minutes!
Back to La Maison Mougenot to fill our faces!
Eventually it was time to leave Sarah and Mil and bike back to our home on wheels, we said Aurevoir and promised to catch them at the gig in Caen next Saturday.
We got back to the van at warp speed 3 and sat and watched celebrity traitors which we are both hooked on now, and then bed!
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