Awaycation Summer 2023 - France

For some reason Reggie decided that he needed to get out of the van every two hours or so from around 1240am. It makes it very tiring for me as I have to go with him. Eventually I guess we managed some sleep. We wanted to be away early and get an earlier train home. Neither of us like the dead zone between checking out, be it a campsite or hotel or apartment, and the flight or drive home on the last day. We just want to get going! In the end we arrived over an hour before the last check-in...

Day 15 After another night with the air filled with the sounds of metal being scrapped, clanking of equipment etc, we decided to get up early. Or rather Reggie decided that after an exacting day by his standards, he would wait until 5.40am to decide he needed a pee. Getting back to sleep was difficult for us. Him? Almost instantaneously asleep. So it was just before 8am that he was awake and ready for his breakfast. Back to bed again! Eventually we were up around 8.30am. I took him for a...

The thunderstorms that seem to have been following us up from the Mediterranean finally caught up with us with venom today. Apart from torrential rain at Malzieu-Ville and again a Bray sur Somme we have escaped the worst of it. Until..... Overnight we were jolted awake by water dripping onto the bed from the roof light above us. It hadn't leaked during the rainstorms we had driven through. I dried the channel where the flyscreen and sunshade slide through, and it seemed to be an end of it...

The overnight at Confluents in Migennes was the worst overnight of the trip so far. The site itself isn't bad, it's just this weekend the event on the neighbouring rugby club ruined the stay. The incessant inane chatter and shouting of the DJ's and loud music went on until 1130pm. The fridge in the van just across the hedge was on/off all night. Then this morning... Before 8am it started all over again. More shouting but less music. Not the best €19 spent. We packed up and set off as...

Day 10 Did nothing. Ate the pre-ordered baguette with the super glutinous Camembert. Day 11 Time to leave Saint Nectaire. Today we should be ending the day at Camping Confluents in Migennes to the north west of Auxerre. As usual I had built in a couple of Beaux Villages to the non-toll journey. We had to retrace our steps back to the A75 and so I pulled into the Intermarché at Champeix again to fill the tank. Last time we just went into the store. It's still the cheapest diesel around...

We set off from Camping Lambert a little before 10am. That was the time we thought was checkout time. It was what was recorded in the Tripit intinerary. To get out of Millau northwards took us along the Dourbie valley and then on another climb up some more long climbs. Our first stop was to get a coffee at a services about an hour after we set off. Today I had planned to stop at two Beaux Villages. Both of them looked close to the A75 so wouldn't take much of a detour. The first is a...

Another totally lazy do nothing day. After the rainy end to yesterday the forecast today for the Millau area was much more of the same. Our neighbours to the right, both UK caravans, packed up and left. We had left the awning and groundsheet out and both were sopping wet. We had a walk to the reception to pick up our baguette and croissants. The sky was grey in places. The indicator on the fresh water was showing red and so whilst Claire did the washing up I made a few trips to the...

So here we are having lunch in the Camping-Car parking in La Couvertoirade. We didn't get up until late. It was hot and sticky again overnight. So no sleeping bags just sheets used again. We packed up and it was around 11am when we rolled. First stop Carrefour on the outskirts of Béziers for supplies and whilst there I topped up the fuel tank again. Here was the cheapest we have since we arrived in France. Then up the A75. When I was planning I forgot that this was free all except for the...

The awning stayed out last night and the tie-downs did their job. The wind had gone up a bit. The down side is that the centre arm locating point at the top fell out and so we can't use it. Not being 9ft tall I can't reach to put it back.... It looks broken. Another job for JC? So this morning we packed up. When Reggie had his first pee, I had to brush all the little grass flies off him plus one mosquito that seemed to have bitten his foot. It's dead now, the #@#@#@! The same happened...

Day 5 With our next stop only about 150 miles away we had a lie in until 0830. Our neighbours had been chatting since around 0600... At least the party animals up in the lodges had given up after a day on the sauce at around midnight. So much for camp rules to be quiet after 2200. The plan was to go across to Albon to fill the tank at E Leclerc as the FillGo app showed it the cheapest for mike's around. As it was Sunday, the shop itself is only open to 1230. It was packed. So was the...