Yesterday Sunday 19th June and another very hot day. 37 degrees but the promise of thunder storms by 9pm in the evening.

We took another drive out to see nearby towns but first we found a very large ATAC Store in the village. Open on Sundays until midday. They have everything you need grocery wise but also a camping section for useful bits and pieces.

Then it was off to Avallon. We couldn't remember if we'd been there before but a very nice town. We then headed for Vezelay and it was at this point we remembered visiting there. The alarming thing is though that it wasn't all that long ago, 2018 to be exact. Old age is catching up fast. The weather this time around was far better however but it brought out 100s of people so parking became an issue. Far too hot to walk around for long anyway.

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Back to the town of Vermenton and we discovered the "port area". What a lovely place with a number of large holiday boats in dock.

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At about 6pm there was a change in the weather. Still clear skies but the wind was picking up which was a blessing. Almost on the stroke of 9pm it started spotting with rain but we were prepared for it. Then a huge thunder storm blew in from the west with torrential rain, quite windy and hailstones, some about 20mm round. They were bouncing off the grass as high as a golf ball would and we immediately though of some caravan damage we'd seen in Germany after a hailstone attack.

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Randa

We love sitting out and watching the storm's progress and eventually it moved to the east. Very exciting and fortunately no dents in van or car.

Tuesday 21st June. Another big thunder storm over night but the weather, although a lot cooler, is still humid.

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We moved on today, west of Orleans, to the town of Vendome. 165 miles in a little under 4 hours. Camping Au Coeur de Vendome. ACSI 1582. A large open campsite within 400 metres of the town and free access next door to the Municipal Swimming Pool. Large pitches and very pleasant managers. The toilet block is clean (no loo rolls) and there are really good showers. 16 euros a night but no free WIFI however. Very expensive by the hour/day but 10 euros for 7 days. We won't be here that long but it's cheaper to purchase it that way in the long run. There appears to be a small menu restaurant on site. There is road noise from the N10 which runs past the site but most of the pitches are several hundred yards away. Access to the site isn't straight forward but is easy as long as you pay attention.

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Although it doesn't say it in the ACSI book, the reception is closed between 12:30 and 1:30 pm and no new arrivals before 1:30 pm.

Although we had picked this site several months ago, today on the journey, I was having second thoughts because all the photos of it look rather gloomy. However, so far it looks fine and the little we saw of the town when we made our way to the campsite looked very interesting too.

What we've found out is that much of the town was bombed on June 14th 1940 with the loss of many ancient buildings. That seems very early in the War so it need a little more investigation into what the bombing was trying to achieve.

Randa

Vendôme holds special memories for us as we first visited it a week after our first grandchild was born and spent a lot of time in the toyshops looking for gifts, some of which she still treasures. She is 24 next week. Where does the time go?

There's a recommended walking tour of the town - details available from the Tourist Office - and it's well worth the effort. If you find out about the bombing do let us know.

Hell, I've just checked the Calderlogue for September 2014 when last we were there and that summer Dulcie had taken her O levels. She's now a software developer and already earning far more than I ever did.

Time for a return visit then Brian? This campsite is OK and we were given a well produced 16 page booklet in English at reception called "Listen to the Story of Vendome".

There is a paragraph or two in it that talks of the Air Raid of 15th June 1940 (Wiki mentioned it as being an allies raid) where 4 hectares were flattened and 89 were killed with 200 wounded. I'll see what I can find out but it's a hell of a way down south for an air raid and for what purpose?

Randa

Last night there was a large Music Event in town. We heard it from the campsite but didn't go into town to investigate. Our Dutch neighbours told us about it when they returned.

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This morning is still quite humid and there is a threat of rain but nothing so far. Therefore armed with the information given to us by the campsite, we set out to do one of the two walks Aaron Calder is talking of. We also wanted to ask at the Tourist Office about the war damage and why? They didn't have a clue.

We did the Town walk today and will save the castle walk until another day. The town is very pretty with a wealth of interesting buildings and floral displays to see. Here are just a few photos.

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Randa

More one nighters arrived during the course of yesterday afternoon. Isn't it cute to have all the campervans from various countries in Europe, all gathering as closely as possible to each other just in case of an injun attack. Circle the wagons

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Thursday 23rd June and another warm day with no rain.

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How wonderful to see fields of Sunflowers again. these are the first we've come across this year.

Today we took a long drive through the Loir Valley. Yes, Loir and not Loire which is about 20 miles south of us.

Our first stop was the stunningly beautiful village of Lavardin with it's huge Chateau ruin on the hill and Roman Church below.

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A short distance away is the town of Montoire sur le Loir. A lovely town with a large old railway station, now a museum. Outside the museum we were fortunate enough to see an old commuter train with many passengers waiting for a spin up the line.

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Now for the spot of madness because at this point we had decided to turn back but about 20 miles further on there is a town called Montval sur Loir. Our youngest grandson now aged 5, has a train set at our home and his favourite pass time is shunting the trains onto a turn table and parking them in various sheds set out on a semi circle. We discovered that There is one almost exactly like his model in Montval called "Rotonde Ferroviaire de la Vallee du Loir". We knew ir would be closed today but we took a chance at hopefully taking a glance at it and perhaps a photo or two and we were not disappointed.

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https://www.sarthetourisme.com/patrimoin...vallee-du-loir/

We did visit other villages on route such as Troo and La Chatre sur le Loir.

Randa

A few things I forgot to mention. Firstly, has anyone though to copy pigeon shit and mass produce it as a super glue?

There are loads of bloody pigeons on this campsite but to compensate there are many moorhens and ducks who come to visit us daily. There's one Moorhen who has taken a fancy to Mrs Cat although the feeling isn't reciprocated. Mrs Duck brings her family of ten to visit us every day.

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Mrs Cat also doesn't like Ducks and on that point we have been having some friendly conversations which a Dutch couple with a caravan just across from us. Yesterday evening he noticed Mrs Cat for the first time and started to approach here asking us if she was OK with that. Mrs Randa said OK but she doesn't like Ducks to which he thought she said Dutch so backed away immediately until we explained.

We also had a bit of a laugh with him as he tried to set up his large "Statillite" dish on a stand and we mentioned that we remember the episode where Del Boy and Rodney tried to do the same thing on their balcony.

Randa

Friday 24th June. A bit overcast today so we took a drive down south to the River Loire (with an e). We've stayed at various locations in the Loire Valley but not at Blois so we drove through the city to have a decco. Another grand City with a very elegant Chateau right in the middle of it. It's in quite a difficult location on a road junction with a fine park opposite and a large Church with some nice stained glass and interior decoration. Almost impossible to get an outside shot however without getting knocked down by passing traffic.

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We then decided to drive up river to Chambord, about 13 kms away and near the opposite bank. We camped here in 2002 and had a major problem with our camping trailer which forced us to buy a new builders trailer from a garage in Suevres.

Chateau Chambord is a remarkable place with an unusual designed grand building and splendid gardens. The shame is that half of it is covered in scaffolding as they renovate the bell towers. Therefore I've added a link to show how it should be.

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https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/searc...485G0&fr=mcafee

It was then that the heavens opened and it rained so hard it was difficult to drive. Eventually we drove through it and before coming back to the campsite we took a look at Vendome castle and the views from Castle Gardens.

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S IMG_3592.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)South Gate into Vendome called St George's Gate.

Randa

For anyone who may pass this way in the future, this cafe/restaurant is superb. Only a 10 minute walk from the campsite, pass the Cathedral and turn left.

La Comedie. We had lunch there and Mrs R's fish salad was huge, inexpensive and looked very good. < 14 euros. My "strange looking" sausage, chips, salad and mustard sauce was OK but the sausage wasn't really to my taste.

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Plenty of seating outside but a nice deep restaurant with no smoking indoors and about time too. Nothing worse that having second hand drags off someone else's fag.

We are moving on tomorrow.

Randa

Thanks for the link Islay . I quote from it:- "A free booklet (available at the Tourist Office ) will guide you to discover the emblematic places of the city to trace the events of this dark period of history." Not a chance as the not that young lady couldn't help at all.

The reason for my interest is that the bombing took place at a time when you would have thought the Brits had more on their minds than a place like Vendome. Just after Dunkirk and just before the French surrender and the Battle of Britain.

Randa

Guess where we are?

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Sunday 26th June and quite a fine day today. We have travelled north about 160 miles and are now camped near the River Seine on one of its loops to the west of Rouen. There are few bridges to cross the river south to north so we had to drive around the west of Rouen and approach the campsite from the north east or use one of the several small ferry crossings. We are at Camping de la Foret about 600 metres from the town and ruined abbey of Jumieges. (ACSI 990) 18euros a night and the WIFI is expensive. Top class toilet facilities and large, hedged pitches. Good looking indoor/outdoor pool that I'm not allowed to use as I do not have any budgie smugglers preferring to use proper swimming shorts but Mrs Campsite was adamant. At my age there's not much of a budgie to smuggle anyway

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We timed our arrival just right for the second campsite in a row arriving at 1:30pm when reception re-opens. I really must say that the drive here on a Sunday was almost a delight as there are no lorries allowed on the road apart from a small number delivering essential goods. Islay will explain more I'm sure. We only saw one lorry on the move over the whole trip but dozens parked up at lay-bys and services. We only used a small section of Peage to the south of Rouen which only cost us few euros. The rest of the journey was done on nearly empty D roads.

Randa

What a small world. In 2019 when last in France we had a couple of nights on the site on our way to Il de Re. We left Merseyside about 9.00pm and arrived on site, a bit early, at 10.00am next day.
If you walk down into the village square then you can catch a nice bus into the centre of historic Rouen. Leave the car, it's a lovely scenic ride in and from memory very reasonably priced
Be warned about that little river. The ferry boats do not take Caravans which we found out the hard way after doing a u-turn on country roads with Caravan on the back
This entailed unhitching the van and blocking the road.

Colin.

Hi Colin. Yes, Rouen is a splendid city with many grand buildings including the Cathedral and the quarter where Joan of Arc was put to death. Did you know that during WWI Rouen was a huge allied hospital city and many died from their injuries there. there's a massive war cemetery to the south of the city and we were able to trace and visit the grave of one of my great uncles.

This area of France is often overlooked by folk who wish to travel further south but especially for those who wish to give France a try, the Normandy coast offers much. Honfleur is magic and Trouville and Deauville should not be missed. Then there's the whole coastline of the D Day Beaches and Bayeux while further north towards Dieppe, Etretat with its famous "Elephant" Cliff and Fecamp. Inland too there's much to see like Lisieux with its massive Basilica.

All this just a ferry trip from Blighty.

Randa