Beech's 1st moho adventure

[Helen Ariel]

Bienvenue everyone to the start of the adventures of one very special dog and her adoring humans. Beech is a 10 year old lab and has recently become a very excited moho resident.

Back in March her journey was scheduled to begin with a couple of months touring about Devon, Cornwall, Wales and Scotland but obviously a little C word got in the way of her trip of a lifetime and she spent a couple of months living at her grandads place in rural Oxfordshire. She was pretty happy with this turn of events as it goes as she was spoiled rotten during this time and had a huge garden with a stream to play in.

Today though the big day arrived and Beech has finally begun her EU adventure which will hopefully last around 9 months.

Mum and Dad human found a handy seafront spot to overnight in Folkstone last night before setting off early for the chunnel. We all breakfasted in the van upon arrival in Cap Gris Nez and then took a stroll across the rocks and sandy beach as the tide was right out. Beech took great delight in the rock pools and plunged her whole head into several. We were more interested in the structures that provide a home for mussels and can't wait to sample some. After lunch we drove a leisurely 1.5 hours to our 1st ever Aire, Aire de camping car Quend Plage and Beech went to sleep whilst we got very excited about actually being in France on a real Aire and cracked open a bottle of wine to celebrate.

Frites from the friterie nearby were collected and consumed with a salad and pan fried salmon fillet fresh from Asda and everyone is in need of an early night after a very exciting and tiring 1st day.

 

[ChrisSue]

Our humans bought us a motorhome and we have missed our trips in it this year.

 

[Rob and Val]

What a great start to Beech's European adventure! Love the photographs. We hope you all have a wonderful time. We would love to hear more of your adventures.

 

[FIDGET]

Which way are you headed , south or west , may be able to suggest some pleasant aires.
Terry

 

[Helen Ariel]

Which way are you headed , south or west , may be able to suggest some pleasant aires.
Terry

We are going towards Arras to visit a great uncles grave then south to the Alps for around a month with our mountain bikes.

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[FIDGET]

camper contact 1176 rural by lake fab dog walks
-----: ---------- 28718 again by lake large car park
3908 by canal or 8211 by the same canal but a car park
2298 by small lake with restuarant
2162 by lake with restuarant
You can tell from suggestions I like rural waterside aires with dog walks

 

[Helen Ariel]

So after a couple of nights in Quend Plage, which is a rather dilapidated little seaside resort with no character, we have moved south to a big aire on the edge of Le Crotoy. Quend Plage has a huge beach but for us the best thing about staying there was practising our French with the kids while they played with Beech.

There must be about 75 motorhomes on the aire on the southern outskirts of Le Crotoy, ranging from a small number of PVCs, through loads of coachbuilts, to a DAF truck based beast and a Dutch Unimog style 4x4.
Mainly French, then Belgians, a few Dutch & 3 Brits including us.

Le Crotoy itself sits on a sandy bay with a huge tidal range and is famous for its seafood so we had to have some moules de Bouchon for lunch at a lovely quayside restaurant.

Delicious, especially washed down with a couple of cold ciders & local beer. As is customary I believe, you can guess the price for;

2 x 1.2 litres of Moules de Salicorne (samphire) with frites
2 x 33cl cider
2 x 50cl beer

A nice stroll back to the aire took us past the building that is now on the site of the castle where Joan of Arc was held prisoner shortly before her trial & subsequent execution.

A good start to the trip so far. Slightly more people wearing masks over here than back home, but we’ve not been in any shops or supermarkets yet.

 

[Helen Ariel]

FYI, the Quend Plage aire was €8 for 24 hrs, and €2 for water.
Le Crotoy is €7 for 24 hrs and €2 for water.

 

[scousebird]

2 x 1.2 litres of Moules de Salicorne (samphire) with frites
2 x 33cl cider
2 x 50cl beer

€38

 

[Helen Ariel]

We were ready for our 1st French breakfast this morning so had planned a trip to the boulangerie but as we were still having our morning tea in bed we heard a frantic beeping and Dad human cleverly surmised it was a bread van and got up sharpish. He may have got a little over excited what with it being our 1st time and arrived back with enough breakfast for 4.

As her hairy ladyship had seemed a little over tired the previous night and it was forecast to be cloudy we decided to go for a bike ride today and leave Beech to rest.
We peddled out to Saint Valery about 10 miles away around the bay and found it's a very attractive town but the best bit for me was finding a great spot for foraging samphire! I'll be buying some fresh fish and serving that up tomorrow for a gourmet meal.

The sun came out around lunchtime and so the loungers came out and people watching and rudimentary chatting to neighbours filled the afternoon. We gleaned that it was ok to have a gas bbq here so fired that up for a perfect Friday evening. You've probably gathered already but foodie delights will come quite high up the priority on this trip.

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[Helen Ariel]

And yesterday’s bill for lunch came to €49. Realised we’d been charged too much as we didn’t have the Triple beer but one that was €2 cheaper!
Bill should have been €45.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Helen’s other half posting today’s update as it’s rather personal.

So I finally managed to do something that I’ve wanted to do for over 30 years which was visit the grave of my great uncle Jim.

This was the info I had;

“James Reynolds Moran, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), 1st/6th Perthshire Battalion, who were then attached to the 152nd Brigade of the 51st Highland Division, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.
Born 24/09/1895 in Rattray, died of wounds sustained on April 3rd in France & Flanders on Friday 14/04/1916.
Buried in grave I. A. 43, communal. cemetery, Aubigny-en-Artois”

He was only 20 years old when he died. My grandpa, Jim’s younger brother, was only 11 when his big brother died.

Touching to see that all nationalities are buried together, be they British, Irish, Australian, Canadian, South African or German.
Always good to see how neat and tidy all the cemeteries are, regardless of size or location. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission do a sterling job.

Easy enough to find his grave, but I’d always wondered how he sustained the injuries that caused his death. I knew the dates, knew where he was located, knew the regiment he served with, so got searching online for more information. I’d always thought that he’d died during the Battle of the Somme, but the date of his death was too early for that. Turns out that he had experienced the true horrors of war that occurred before the Somme.

“On 1st March 1916 orders were received for the Division to march northwards and take over from the 23rd French Division of the XIlme Corps d'Armee in a sector north of Arras, now known to history as the Labyrinth. This move was due to the necessity for the British to take over more line from the French. The object was to free as many French Divisions as possible for the defence of Verdun, against which the German was delivering his great attack.
Preliminary reconnaissances of the new line by senior commanders and their staffs began on 3rd March. The first troops moved off to the new area on 6th March. During the march, the Division staged in the Beauval-Candas area and the Frevent area. Finally, Divisional headquarters opened on 12th March at Duisans, General Harper taking over command of the line at 8 am on that date.
The march to the new area is chiefly memorable to those who took part in it from the fact that much of it was carried out in a blinding snowstorm, with all its attendant discomforts.
The cold was intense, and was severely felt by parties proceeding to carry out preliminary reconnaissances in motor lorries and by the troops as they arrived each night to their new billets.
In March the Division went into the line from Neuville St. Vaast to Roclincourt. During this period, assailed by mines and follow on attacks the 1/6th had to be withdrawn from the Division because of devastating casualties.
As soon as the aforementioned blizzard had cleared and commanders could find out the disposition of the men, it became evident that the ground in the forward area was far too thickly held. Orders were in consequence issued for the line to be thinned immediately. Small sectors of disused trenches were dug out to accommodate the surplus men temporarily while a more detailed scheme of defence could be formulated.
The advisability of this measure was soon proved, as from 24th March mines were continually being exploded under or in close proximity to the front line. A typical case occurred on 26th March, when at 2.30 am the enemy fired two mines simultaneously, one on the left of the 152nd Brigade, the other on the right of the 153rd.
These explosions were followed by a heavy bombardment of our front and support trenches with shrapnel, all types of trench-mortar bombs, and rifle and machine-gun fire. A party of about eight Germans then advanced towards the crater in the 153rd Brigade area, but were driven back by two officers and a party of grenadiers. Our losses were severe: four officers (one killed, two wounded, and one missing) and 74 other ranks (14 killed, 24 wounded, and 36 missing). In addition, there were 24 other ranks suffering from shock. Of these, one company of the 6th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders lost 2nd Lieutenant O'Neil and four men killed, five wounded, and 15 missing. The missing were those unfortunate men who were buried by the falling earth. Of these two craters, the one on the right proved to be seventy yards in length. On 31st March another mine was fired by the Germans on the front of the 153rd Brigade, with the loss of one officer wounded, six other ranks killed and three wounded. The explosion of this mine was also followed by an intense bombardment by weapons of all natures. A party of Germans then entered asap. Of these one approached a Jock who had survived the explosion, and pointing his rifle at him, said, "Hands up, Englishman!" The infuriated Jock threw a Mills bomb at the German, having failed to remove the safety-pin, and shouted, "Scotsman, you bastard". The bomb struck the German full on the forehead and felled him. He was captured, and subsequently died in the casualty clearing station from a fractured skull.
The 6th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were particularly unfortunate as regards mines, and by the 10th April had already experienced six mines on their fronts.”

I managed to narrow things down to the exact time & location of the mine that he was injured with, and by mines I mean these were when the Germans & the British used experienced coal miners to burrow under the trenches of their enemy to plant massive amounts of explosives.

“At 19:15 on 3rd April 1916 the Germans simultaneously detonated 2 sets of explosives which they had laid in tunnels beneath the British lines. One created this crater, the other detonated 60m to the south. The line was being held by the 1/6th Battalion of the Black Watch and one man was killed & 4 wounded.”

This time & date ties in with the explosion that created the Zivy Crater that is now a mass grave containing mainly Canadian soldiers.

He died 11 days after he was injured. I hope he was not alone.

RIP great uncle Jim.

What could you and the millions of other casualties of wars have achieved? What potential has been lost?

We stayed at the Notre Dame de Lorette military cemetery for the night and it was just as moving to see his name there too, along with hundreds of thousands of casualties all listed in plain alphabetical order. A reminder that we are all in this together. Something we all need to remember...

The last paragraph really got to me.

This was a beautiful place to stay.

 

[nicholsong]

So after a couple of nights in Quend Plage, which is a rather dilapidated little seaside resort with no character, we have moved south to a big aire on the edge of Le Crotoy. Quend Plage has a huge beach but for us the best thing about staying there was practising our French with the kids while they played with Beech.

There must be about 75 motorhomes on the aire on the southern outskirts of Le Crotoy, ranging from a small number of PVCs, through loads of coachbuilts, to a DAF truck based beast and a Dutch Unimog style 4x4.
Mainly French, then Belgians, a few Dutch & 3 Brits including us.

Le Crotoy itself sits on a sandy bay with a huge tidal range and is famous for its seafood so we had to have some moules de Bouchon for lunch at a lovely quayside restaurant.

View attachment 405776

Delicious, especially washed down with a couple of cold ciders & local beer. As is customary I believe, you can guess the price for;

2 x 1.2 litres of Moules de Salicorne (samphire) with frites
2 x 33cl cider
2 x 50cl beer

A nice stroll back to the aire took us past the building that is now on the site of the castle where Joan of Arc was held prisoner shortly before her trial & subsequent execution.

View attachment 405780

A good start to the trip so far. Slightly more people wearing masks over here than back home, but we’ve not been in any shops or supermarkets yet.

Jealoooooous!

 

[Helen Ariel]

Well Beech has had a spectacular few days since leaving the North of France and arriving in the Champagne region to stay at a free aire in Mutigny. We had it to ourselves for quite awhile and picked the best spot by the grass with trees shading one side of the van and a stunning view across the valleys covered in vines.

When it had cooled down a bit about 7pm Beech took us exploring into the woods above the village and we were pleased to discover a network of easy mountain bike trails and decided to come back for a ride in the morning.

After an early walk Beech was left to chill in the shady van and we headed out on the bikes. The sun had some heat to it already by 10 but in the woods it was lovely and cool and we had a little explore of the trails then popped out into the Champagne vines and flew downhill into a small and immaculate town by a canal.

Rather than take the main road back up to the aire DH spotted a smaller more direct road up and luckily this photo opportunity above allowed us both to save face and have a breather half-way up without admitting that our lungs were about to explode.

As we passed the Mairie DH suggested getting a bottle of bubbly as well you know when in Rome... a rather shy and flustered young woman greeted us and was desperately trying to tell us something whilst pointing behind the till and our French wasn't good enough to understand until we saw there was a tiny bird that had got trapped there. She was scared of it and wouldn't go near it so we jumped to the rescue and quickly caught it and released it. We tried a couple of different champagnes and then bought a random bottle off the shelf as we really aren't connoisseurs but wanted to put something back in for the free aire.

We stayed and relaxed at the aire the rest of the day sunbathing and bbqing and packed up ready for an early start which brings me to today.

A big drive to the Jura region and a huge change in scenery again. Steep wooded hillsides and rocky crags and arrived early evening to a jam packed car park/aire on the edge of Lac de Vouglans. Luckily day trippers were just starting to leave and we nabbed a spot next to another motorhome and headed straight down to the lake. It was so stunning and inviting looking i ended up joining Beech for a swim as my shorts are technically board shorts anyway and the black m and s sports bra easily passes for a bikini top. It was such a lovely temperature!

Back to the van, absolutely starving so quick bbq and as per usual Beech starts making friends with the neighbours and we have a lovely chat in broken French and English which they are better at. I think this socialising is actually the highlight of the day for DH and something that has been lacking for the last few months. This is such a stunning place that the original plan of cracking straight on to the Alps in the morning may not happen but forecast is less good tomorrow so we'll see but i know i want to come back and explore around here a lot more.

 

[Helen Ariel]

We also saw some lovely cars on our drive down. I think it’s a bit more than patina now though...

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[Rob and Val]

You are having such a good time that we are drooling!

 

[Helen Ariel]

You are having such a good time that we are drooling!

Yes I'm not actually quite sure any of this is real. I think maybe I'm just asleep having a great dream.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Our second day at Lac de Vouglans was a bit showery so Beech decided we should go for a bit of a walk. We started out down on the shore of the lake and then the footpath started to climb up the steep side of the valley but it meandered up and down never gaining too much height. After an hour or so we scouted a path that looked like it would climb up and loop back on a slightly higher path to where we started so took that as we hate to retrace our steps and were starting to think about lunch. This track got steeper and steeper and took maybe an hour to reach the very top of the cliff with amazing views across the lake. Hungry and tiring we had another hour of descending back to the aire with some very slidey sections of trail.

After we all inhaled lunch we drove up to a remote viewpoint we had spotted on our drive in and stayed the night looking out over the lake. So beautiful and peaceful.

Just when you think things can't get anymore stunning you drive to the Alps and realise that this is what motorhoming is really all about!
We arrived in Landry in the Haute-Savoie region yesterday afternoon and picked the most level spot we could find in a ramshackle campsite with views of snow capped mountains and as we are here for 10 days finally got to try out our awning and really set up camp properly. I think it will come in handy as it is forecast to be sunshine and 28 to 32 degrees for the next week.

We have a couple of days to settle in with some hiking and then we are on a fully catered and uplifted mountain bike holiday with Bike Village who are located next door but one to the campsite. This is a holiday within a holiday for us and one we have done twice in the past. It will be challenging physically and mentally at times but should be a brilliant and joyful experience with good friends.

 

[DBK]

Sorry I overlooked this thread when you started it, I've now caught up, it's been a good read. If you don't mind me making an incy-wincy suggestion adding a map helps folk see where you are. I use Google Maps on my trip reports which shows your location as a blue blob. Then just take a screen shot and post that. You'll find it useful later to remind yourselves where you've been.

 

[Rachelc]

Looks fab, is your dog going with you on the cycling holiday?

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[Helen Ariel]

Will try to reme

Sorry I overlooked this thread when you started it, I've now caught up, it's been a good read. If you don't mind me making an incy-wincy suggestion adding a map helps folk see where you are. I use Google Maps on my trip reports which shows your location as a blue blob. Then just take a screen shot and post that. You'll find it useful later to remind yourselves where you've been.

Will try to remember if i have the patience! It's tricky finding the time to keep up with the journal at the moment no chance of forgetting where we have been though as every overnight stop gets marked with a star on Google maps. with 9 months to go there will be a lot of stars!

 

[Helen Ariel]

Looks fab, is your dog going with you on the cycling holiday?

Beech would love to but no it's going to be very challenging terrain and lots of chair lifts. She'll be staying behind at Bike Village with their dog Rocket.

 

[Rachelc]

I did wonder! Do they offer dog sitting as part of the service then? That's fab. Have a great time x

 

[Helen Ariel]

Not something they officially offer but as we've been twice before without the dog and motorhome and have very good mutual friends, they were happy to.

 

[Helen Ariel]

We’ve been keeping track of where we have stayed with the gold stars. Green flags are places that we know we are interested in staying at. Hearts are places we really want to visit for various reasons.

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[Helen Ariel]

Great view looking down the valley from Landry on last nights dog walk.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Can’t believe it’s been 11 days since I updated this thread! We’ve spent this time mainly riding (and carrying!) our MTBs around the Les Arcs & La Plagne area near Bourg St Maurice, staying with our friends at Bike Village. We’ve been coming here on and off for about 6 years but have friends who’ve been coming every year for over 10 years. This repeat business speaks for itself. If you want to ride some great trails in the Alps I can highly recommend them.
It was great for Beech as we could stay in our motorhome on the campsite that’s literally next door - only separated by an overgrown orchard.

First we took Beech on a walk that turned out to be longer than expected. From Landry we walked to the Funiculaire in Bourg, took that up to Arc 1600, walked to Arc 1800, then down to Landry at 750m. The final stretch was challenging to walk down as we dropped over 1000m in about 5km!

The view from Arc 1600 looking down the valley towards Albertville.

The final descent where we walked past some beautiful, but very isolated houses. It didn’t look like anyone lived there in the summer which is considered off-season.

Spotted this lovely old Citröen on its last legs. We were too by this stage as it was a hot day.

Spotted some classic Alpine views on our MTB rides. This was above the La Plagne ski resort. We took a chairlift up to as high as we could go, then cycled up for another 500 vertical metres. We then traversed all the way around the head of this valley and back down the other side from right to left on the photo above.

While the climbs were tough, some of the descents were even tougher! We knew what we were in for, and it’s why we keep coming back to ride in the Alps.

The adrenaline was flowing as much as the trails!

One of the best trails we rode dropped down from Montchavin.

It was a trail with lots of consequence if you got it wrong as the rocks were large and numerous...

An added bonus with this trail was that we popped out right beside our motorhome when we finished it!

More amazing views above Valmorel.

An awful lot of consequence hiking our bikes to the summit of the Crève Tête.

Some of the walkers were incredulous at what we were doing. If you look carefully you can just see the lift station we cycled up from in the background.

Summit selfie. You can see the trail we rode down on the ridge line to the left of the pic. That’s why we call it singletrack!

This pic is looking back up at the summit where you can just make Beech’s mum starting the descent.

Thank goodness the week was fully catered as we were always exhausted by the end of the day.

Didn’t get any pics of the mains or starters as they didn’t last long enough!

 

[Helen Ariel]

And a few choice pics from MH's phone:

 

[Helen Ariel]

 

[Cat53]

Wow! Fantastic. Can’t see me pushing the wheelchair up there though...so I’ll live it vicariously through you!!

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