Trip to France

[Pudsey Bear]

We found that after a couple of drinks, we liked the UHT milk so we might switch to that, if we can find some here, we brought six litres back with us anyway, we also found as we struggled to get a coffee we could drink anytime that the supermarkets sold drums of cappuccino mix which we made up in our Costa cups and had a drinks on the go which is ridiculously cheaper so that might continue.

Another thing is we have never in any of our 12 previous van drunk water from the fresh tank, but I had been filling and emptying the tank for weeks prior to the trip and we set off with our own full tank and then only filled with potable when we could find it and not had any tummy trouble so we need to look at that, the issue is getting it in the UK off site.

France was great, but next time we'll take some Sviss francs and maybe spend a bit more time in Svitzerlund, maybe Luxemburg too and more of southern France, maybe see what the Germans are up to as the van has a sticker already.

Aha, I just remembered, we got a tug by border force in Dover coming back, we were in their shed for about 45 minutes being asked all kinds of questions, I think it might be that when asked where we had been for so long I reeled off the countries, they went over our paperwork very carefully and looked in the van twice but they let us go.

Wild stuff, amazing, when I get a chance I'll post the pics and vids of all the stuff we saw on our travels loads of big birds, Red Squirrels a few times, and deer were everywhere in the hills and open countryside.

Here we protect our railways, over there, not fences anywhere and some lines were right by the road only separated by a foot or psychopath.

Cyclists in the main had brains, not too much lycra about just people enjoying the freedom, when it wasn't raining which it was most days but not all day, but they do know how to do rain in France.

They know how to do roads too, ribbon smooth 90% of the time, but the ones not done recently were a bit tastycoming back here to our crappy tarmac was the worst part of returning home.

Dunno why but the Camping info one never worked for me even after re-installing a couple of times, nor Park, search did a good job as did WC when they had something near us, lack of reviews was the problem mainly.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I'm just weeding out the dash cam pictures as the delay before it takes a picture is about three days so a lot of useless ones.



We had been waiting for this chap for ages, he emptied his cassette, then he wiped it down with a cloth then washed the cloth a few times, then his wife came out to inspect his work, he gave up and washed the cassettes inside and out again, then he found another cloth to wash, I'd had enough and asked him just how long he was going to be as we couldn't get past him, he then had to change from his crocs into his driving shoes.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Utah beach where I decided to almost kill myself going walkies by my own.

Liz going to look at the monuments further along Utah beach.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Thsi bridge had contraflow on it and the lanes felt really narrow and it had bolts or somthing sticking out, lovely bridge but a bit scary.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

We found that after a couple of drinks, we liked the UHT milk so we might switch to that, if we can find some here, we brought six litres back with us anyway, we also found as we struggled to get a coffee we could drink anytime that the supermarkets sold drums of cappuccino mix which we made up in our Costa cups and had a drinks on the go which is ridiculously cheaper so that might continue.

Another thing is we have never in any of our 12 previous van drunk water from the fresh tank, but I had been filling and emptying the tank for weeks prior to the trip and we set off with our own full tank and then only filled with potable when we could find it and not had any tummy trouble so we need to look at that, the issue is getting it in the UK off site.

France was great, but next time we'll take some Sviss francs and maybe spend a bit more time in Svitzerlund, maybe Luxemburg too and more of southern France, maybe see what the Germans are up to as the van has a sticker already.

Aha, I just remembered, we got a tug by border force in Dover coming back, we were in their shed for about 45 minutes being asked all kinds of questions, I think it might be that when asked where we had been for so long I reeled off the countries, they went over our paperwork very carefully and looked in the van twice but they let us go.

Wild stuff, amazing, when I get a chance I'll post the pics and vids of all the stuff we saw on our travels loads of big birds, Red Squirrels a few times, and deer were everywhere in the hills and open countryside.

Here we protect our railways, over there, not fences anywhere and some lines were right by the road only separated by a foot or psychopath.

Cyclists in the main had brains, not too much lycra about just people enjoying the freedom, when it wasn't raining which it was most days but not all day, but they do know how to do rain in France.

They know how to do roads too, ribbon smooth 90% of the time, but the ones not done recently were a bit tasty, coming back here to our crappy tarmac was the worst part of returning home.

 

[barryd]

Camping car infos I always used with a laptop and Google Chrome as it auto translates and I had the same matching poi for the sat nav and autoroute. If there was no internet I used the offline version.

As sites go it's rubbish but the content was always the best. Maybe there are others that have caught up now.

 

[mark61]

Perhaps border force where hoping you'd make them a cup of ya fancy coffee.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I might for one of them but Liz was there and I'm 74 but PHWOAR

 

[Robmac]

I might for one of them but Liz was there and I'm 74 but PHWOAR

 

[Jo001]

supermarkets sold drums of cappuccino mix

We buy that on Amazon, far cheaper than the stupid sachets for silly prices. Mr 001 likes it, me not so much.

Here we protect our railways, over there, not fences anywhere and some lines were right by the road only separated by a foot or psychopath.

Yeah, it's sort of like people over there are taught that if you walk onto track and get hit by a train, it's going to sting a bit. Here, we still have to train adults to put their underwear on before their trousers because they really aren't superheroes.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

We buy that on Amazon, far cheaper than the stupid sachets for silly prices. Mr 001 likes it, me not so much.

Which one do you buy? a link would be good as there are so many on there we too do not want sachets as we tried those and weak as nats pee.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

We did find this weird and although we knew what it meant it didn't make sense wherever we did see it when usually it was the opposite.

Maybe I was missing something?

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Not sure if you're cut out for aires life, if so many things bother you. Lucky you didn't get caught up in a big bike race coming through. They have their priorities right over there.

I don't mind cyclists normally, by that I mean people who cycle, not the lycra clad idiots on the roads these days in the UK, in France they seem to have a different more sensible attitude that they were not the only ones using the road and they didn't seem to be racing either.

 

[Jo001]

Which one do you buy? a link would be good as there are so many on there we too do not want sachets as we tried those and weak as nats pee.

This one - and currently on offer at 33% off.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nescaf%C3%A9-Gold-Unsweetened-Cappuccino-Tin/dp/B003TJ9ZW8?pd_rd_w=NLdEA&content-id=amzn1.sym.2ac4a9aa-72c3-4397-b96d-a1f5244e661f&pf_rd_p=2ac4a9aa-72c3-4397-b96d-a1f5244e661f&pf_rd_r=TWGW5268CR1V5E62VMYT&pd_rd_wg=MIeuu&pd_rd_r=553b56a8-cf5e-430b-abed-74c6ff4ef66a&pd_rd_i=B003TJ9ZW8&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_m_grid_dv_rp_0_13_scp_i

 

[Pudsey Bear]

This being at home is mega boring after 6 weeks away, the garden is like a jungle, gladly not my department, but Liz is saddened by it, I told her when we bought this place it might be nice now but as you get less able it will upset you, that fell on deaf ears, speaking of which, I'm having to repeat almost everything I say to her, I SAID.....

 

[barryd]

This being at home is mega boring after 6 weeks away, the garden is like a jungle, gladly not my department, but Liz is saddened by it, I told her when we bought this place it might be nice now but as you get less able it will upset you, that fell on deaf ears, speaking of which, I'm having to repeat almost everything I say to her, I SAID.....

Try six months! I had to seriously bollock my next door neighbour last year for neglecting to mow my lawn for at least two months.

Best thing is a strimmer before you go near it with a mower. Make sure you have a helper with a rake.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Not a chance mate, this used to be a garden nursery, and has really nice bushes everywhere, I'd just rent a mini digger and save all the pissing about, but she isn't keen.

 

[Tonybvi]

This being at home is mega boring after 6 weeks away, the garden is like a jungle, gladly not my department, but Liz is saddened by it, I told her when we bought this place it might be nice now but as you get less able it will upset you, that fell on deaf ears, speaking of which, I'm having to repeat almost everything I say to her, I SAID.....

Luckily our son pops round in our absence and looks after the front garden so that the place looks lived in. Unfortunately there’s another 6 acres out the back and he refuses to tackle that. All is well if the tractor and grass topper work but they’re very temperamental, as they’re pretty ancient and I keep forgetting to sevice them! In the case of non mechanical starting a fair few of our grandson's sheep come round and do a reasonable job.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I'm just in the process of uploading several million pictures and sorting the wheat from the chaff and came across this picture

but I couldn't remember where it was, so looked on the properties>details tab

to get the co ords, but for some reason Google doesn't get them.

So I thinked look on the phone and I clicked details and it said location not turned on or similar, so I turned it on thinking future pics would have the loction info but not this particular one.

Wrong, it's all there location etc but more than that I get a sort of timeline set of pictures on the map in location and I can click on it and see all the pictures, I never knew this feature existed, maybe it's new, certainly helps my recall of places we've been.

I can click or zoom in to anything.

 

[QFour]

EPERLECQUES BLOCKHOUSE is worth a visit. V1 and V2 rocket launch site. and Museum. There are still some Tallboy holes in the ground which put an end to the place. You can stop on a free aire at Watten.