Campervan Catastrophes - La Rochelle

Waking up abit blury eyed after our evening in Paris we got up, left the site around 12 o'clock and made our way south west to a small village called Beaumont-sur-Sarthe just 30mins outside Le Mans. This was our first experience on a camping Municipal, a campsite owned a run by the town or district (council). It was one of the cleanest, most picturesque sites we have been to. 

When we arrived the town was quiet and seemed deserted, there wasn't a car in sight until we turned down a narrow street and saw a flurry of people gathered at the end of it. There was a small bric a brac sale going on with all sorts of bargains to be had. Lots of traditional little French vintage gems, suitcases, children's toys, pieces of furniture and so on, if we weren't so tight on space (and on a budget) we definitely would have been buying. 

The La Sarthe river ran alongside the site and beyond that were cow field upon cow field, which made a pretty decent view for breakfast. Camping municipals are notoriously basic and relatively cheap to stay on, this one cost €16 per night (inc electricity and the dog) compared to the €42 per night we paid in Paris. The facilities at this campsite were really good so we decided to make the most of them and the good weather and do all our laundry whilst we were there. 

Perfect Laundry Drying Weather 

The next day we walked with the dog into the village which seemed much busier, there were people all over and a little market selling fish and vegetables. We carried on through to the outskirts of the village and along the La Sarthe where we saw a huge bridge with some beautiful houses lining the river. Beaumont-sur-Sarthe was a lovely place to stop for a couple of nights but any more than that and you'd probably find yourself pretty bored. The next morning we got up and set off for the next stop La Rochelle (this is where the fun starts). 

La Sarthe River 

We started the 5 hour journey to La Rochelle, making good progress along dual carriage ways and A roads, trying to avoid any road tolls. We stopped at an Intermarche to stock up on food along the way and were set to reach our next stop around 6 meaning we'd have plenty of time to get set up and settled before dark. Little did we know......bumbling along through a village doing about 50km/h (30mph) we heard 2 loud popping sounds, we looked at each other perplexed but put it down to noise from a yard we'd just passed, as we pulled up to a set of traffic lights we heard a scratching noise coming from under the bonnet. We pulled over up the road and had a look around the engine (neither of us being particularly savvy on motoring) we sprayed a bit of WD40 and tapped a few pipes with a screwdriver and continued along the journey believing we had probably solved the problem. A little further up the road travelling about 80km/h (50mph) there was an almighty rummble which sounded like we were about to take off. We stopped at a busy industrial estate in the hope we might come across a) help and b) somebody English who would understand us. One panicked phone call home to dad later we determined that a bearing (or two) had shattered on the water pump belt meaning that the chances of the engine overheating and cooking itself (again) were pretty high. Due to the fact that our poor little camper blew up a few weeks back meaning we were delaying leaving the UK by almost a month we didn't want to chance it happening again so called the RAC. After a few conversations with their offices in the UK and Lyon they sent someone out to have a look. After almost two hours and with night time falling a recovery truck appeared in the distance, both so relieved we jumped out of the camper desperate to get the van fixed and get back on our way. This proved difficult as the recovery truck driver didn't speak one word of English (and our French is poor to say the least). With a translator on the phone he told us it was irreparable at the side of the road and we would have to wait until Monday to get it into a workshop. 'Would you like to be left in the car park at the industrial estate or would you like to be taken to a (closed) garage' the translator asked. We managed to persuade him to take us to the nearest campsite so we had somewhere safe to stay until we could find a garage on Monday. 

Our good fortune didn't run out there, after half an hours drive and a travel sick dog (won't go into detail but needless to say we were scrubbing the inside of the truck with disinfectant) we pull up outside an Aire. Essentially this is a carpark for camper vans and mobile homes to stop and sleep when making a long journey. It's almost midnight, we turn up in a dark, silent village, covered in dog vomit on the back of a huge recovery truck, flashing lights the whole shebang. Curtains were twitching and we knew we wouldn't be popular the next day. When we woke the following morning (although neither of us really slept wondering if we'd be on the next ferry home) all wasn't as it seemed, this Aire was actually pretty good. It cost us €7 to stay the night, there was drinking water, toilets and access to electricity if you could get plugged in quick enough and we even managed to get some free wifi. We walked about 10 minutes down the road and came across a 4* Campsite with an English speaking receptionist who offered to help us, she said she could call her mechanic first thing Monday morning and get them out to look at the van. 

Monday morning we arrived at the campsite bright and early checked, playing it by ear as to how long we would be staying. The mechanic arrived and with the receptionist with translating he told us we would need a whole new water pump. The mechanic said he could have the part a fit it the following day so we needed to arrange a recovery truck to get it to the garage 5km down the road. We phoned RAC EU to ask for help, a couple of arguments and £20 of credit later they agreed to pick the van up first thing the following morning. This was all we needed, we only left home three weeks ago!! 

The Mario Brothers Recovery Service 

We were intending on saving the box sets for winter when we are stuck in the van but with nothing much else to do without a van we decided to get started on Game of Thrones, we didn't leave the van for the rest of the day. The following day a recovery truck turned up to collect the van and take it to the garage, the recovery guy looked exactly like one of the Mario Brothers. He was loaded and off within 10 minutes and warned us we the van wouldn't be ready until this evening. With nothing else to do but twiddle our thumbs, the receptionist recommend we go on a 21 km bike ride. It went through 3 villages and lots of cow fields. 

Tour De Coulon 

We packed a survival bag of peanut butter sandwiches apples and strawberries and set off on our bikes, Oscar in tow. The route was easy to follow and there was loads to see, a couple of horses play fighting in a field, a beaver swimming round in circles in a river and loads of frogs (possibly toads) singing the loudest strangest tune you've ever heard, so much so it caused Oscar to jump straight into a stream full of cow poo. 

The Little Beaver

The survival bag only lasted us to the first village about an hour after we left, we returned four hours later with major saddle sore. We had a phone call to say the van was fixed and ready to collect, the receptionist insisted we took her car as it had started to rain so one of us needed to learn to drive a left hand drive on the right side of the road pretty quick. We collected the van and headed back to the campsite for an early night before finally settling off again the next day. We had a hamper of chocolate and wine made for the receptionist to say thank you for all her help.

The Thank You Hamper 

We arrived in La Rochelle to beautiful sunshine Thursday afternoon, time to relax after a crazy few days. 

City Hype - Brits in Paris

Before the roads were crazy

The journey into Paris was somewhat eye opening if not terrifying. There doesn't appear to be any sort of road etiquette other than to drive where you like at whatever speed you like changing lanes whenever you like with absolutely no warning! Although all the French seem fully aware of this well kept little secret so it's just visitors and tourists who don't appear to know what they're doing. We found the campsite (Campings Indigo) easily and were greeted by multi-lingual reception staff which saved the embarrassing, odd and quite frankly nonsense French/jibberish sentences we'd been putting together previously. The campsite had a restaurant, bar and shop with all the usual facilities and 2 hours free wifi a day which was a bonus. Just outside the campsite was a large field which had a running track and a horse track around the outside, we took Oscar over for a walk after settling in and caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. The field was full with people, some playing cricket, some playing football, some walking their dogs and a man flying some sort of drone type aircraft around his head. When we headed back to the campsite we passed a beaten up old transit van with purple velvet curtains, the front seats were piled high with junk. As we walked past the side door on the van flew open, and a lady who looked a lot like the crazy cat lady from the Simpsons (only a little larger) hung out of the door in some saucy underwear and a robe then started summoning us in French, I don't think she was inviting us in for crackers and wine. After seeing the tower neither of us could wait to get into the city the next day so we headed back to the camper, had pesto and mozzarella ravioli for dinner and settled down for the night. 

The following morning we woke to rain so decided to take our time pottering around and planning our route into the city until it had stopped. We left the campsite around 11 and walked through lots of green leafy lanes until we hit the chaotic, horn honking hustle and bustle of Paris City Centre around an hour later. First we spotted the grand apartment buildings, each apartment had beautiful window boxes packed tight with bright flowers to decorate the huge french windows and iron balcony edges. Then we spotted the upmarket stores you don't normally see on your local high street such as Joe Malone and Mac, then an array of cafés, bars and brasseries lining the streets with people eating, drinking and chatting, the flavours and smells spilling onto the street were incredible and Oscars nose was working overtime. He's never really been anywhere that busy with so many people so he was in his element. He wore a red neckerchief to look smart. One girl pointed to him and said to her friend 'ah look at the little French Beagle' and a French lady shouted 'J'adore Beagle', a few people took pictures of him too. He loved all the attention.

Oscar in his smart red neckerchief 

We started our sightseeing mission at the American University of Paris, we followed the River Seine down towards the Eiffel Tower where we took pictures from every single angle possible before taking retreat on a bench to watch the hordes of people milling about chatting excitedly in various languages. The Americans and the Chinese seemed among the most excited to be there!! 

At the Eiffel Tower (Obviously) 

From there we walked back along the Seine taking frequent shelter from the short lived heavy downpours to the Grand Palace, Place De La Concorde and The Louvre before crossing the 'Lovelock Bridge' the Pont des Arts where we added to the hundreds of thousands of locks with a message that read 'Kayleigh & Jac Eurotrip 2014'. 

Pont des Arts - Lovelock Bridge 

Kayleigh & Jac #Eurotrip2014 

Lining the river from start to finish were canal boats, some used as restaurants and some used as houses, there were artists selling their different interpretations of skylines, backdrops and landmarks, stalls selling souvenirs, postcards, fridge magnets and collectors editions of Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire. Then there were the inner city street magicians and their network of helpers seen mixing with the crowds making a fortune from unsuspecting tourists, whom we would definitely have been included if we hadn't watched so many episodes of the The Real Husstle! 

By this time we'd been walking for about 6 hours so when we came across a little rabbit run of thin, winding cobbled streets we decided to stop for a Nutella Crepe and a drink. 

The busy backstreets 

We stopped and sat outside a bar people watching. Six rounds, a plate of nachos and complimentary olives and feta later we decided to leave to see the Notre Dame before making our way back. 

Taking a break from sightseeing 

Watching the world go by 

This obviously took much longer and required an emergency Subway stop for an Italian BMT after a few Coronas before it dawned on us that we'd drifted another couple of hours from our campsite throughout the day. We were unable to get a taxi or the Metro because of the dog and the bus routes were far too complex for us by then so we decided our only option was to pay a man called Pierre to ride us back on his tricycle. He told us he could only take us as far as the 'Gates of Paris' and we would have to walk the rest of the way. We chatted to him non stop on the way back and in the end he must have felt sorry for us so decided to take us all the way back. What should've been a 40 minute journey turned into an hour and a half of map checking and turning around and at one point we were forced to lift his tricycle over a barrier. 

Such a log day, but the best so far, so much to see and do. There's something about Paris and we'll definitely go back one day (hopefully en route back to the UK in a few months). 

Guard Goats & Tractor Folk (Northern France)

Finally, after every single delay possible and much anticipation we've set off. We are in Northern France and have spent the last week settling in making sure we have all the essentials we need for the next 12 months (ish). We set off from home around midnight Mon 29 April, travelled to Dover and hopped on an early morning ferry to Calais. Taking full advantage of the free wifi, unsure of when we would be able to use the internet again we found a campsite in a town called Licques about 24km south of the ferry port and headed straight there as soon as we arrived in France Tue 29. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Camping Les Pommiers and tried not to get too used to the 4* accommodation and facilities that this campsite had to offer. 

Home for the next few months.

We met a cute elderly couple from Norfolk who were heading home the following day after doing a 7 week tour of France and Spain, needless to say we spent the next 4 hours firing questions at them. They were so helpful and we were gutted the following morning to find we had overslept and missed them leaving. They had left a gift outside our camper that will definitely help us over the next few months. A site guide and touring handbook with details of 4500 sites in France, Spain, Portugal and Andorra accompanied by a note saying nothing other than 'good luck'. So to the adorable old English couple with the Silver Smart Car, if you ever read this, thank you so much!! Later that day we walked 1.5km to Carrefour to stock up on essentials before heading back and falling asleep in the sun. That night we celebrated the beginning of the adventure with baked Camembert and a bottle of champagne. 

Camembert & champagne to       celebrate the start of an adventure. 

Wed 30th we decided to pack a picnic and get out in the sunshine to do some exploring. We followed a 12km trail which took us about 3 hours mainly across farmland and through orchards and vast countryside. Horticulture is huge in this part of France, there are more tractors than cars and more cows than people. When we got back to the campsite we had a quick omelette, put a film on and were all asleep within the opening titles. 

Thurs 1st May we woke up to heavy rain so decided to hang around the campsite and spend some time planning the next couple of stops on the map. We pretty much spent all day studying maps, atlases and grazing on bad food. 

Friday we were up at the crack of dawn packing everything away ready to head to the next stop. After checking in with family and doing the FaceTime rounds we set off towards Lille. We stopped around 128km south in a town called Aubers. We booked 4 nights on a 2* campsite called Camp des Roses and before setting up camp we went out in search of more food and a new gas bottle. We found a huge industrial estate with everything we needed. After another hour in Carrefour, a large queue at a drive through petrol station and some fairly embarrassing language issues we were soon on our way back to Aubers. We set up camp, did some hand washing (always learning), made some tea and spent the evening scrubbing up on our French...still none the wiser. 

Saturday we got up made a selection of sandwiches and were off out on another walk with Oscar to see what was about. We wandered around for about 2 hours, past some huge houses, no two were the same and every other house had a guard dog or sometimes a guard goat neither of which Oscar was bothered by no matter how much noise they made. Luckily enough we managed to find our way back to an open field, probably the only one in Northern France that doesn't home cows or horses so we could let Oscar off his lead. He was running around like a lunatic, as mad as a box of frogs before collapsing in a heap panting for water, think it'll take him a while to acclimatise bless him. 

We are adapting well to living in such a compact space and are learning how to make the most of the little room we have. Cooking isn't easy although we've managed a few home made meals including carbonara and chilli. 

We left Aubers yesterday morning and travelled 4 hours south to Paris via Saint Quentin. We are staying in Paris for the next few days, no doubt the phones, camera and iPad with be packed with touristy photos in a flash. 

En route to Paris, possibly one of the most terrifying journeys we've ever been on.