Selina and Toby – Grey Gap Tour
Two brits travelling around Europe in a campervan before Brexit screws it all up for everyone.
The area around Coulon has has the nickname of ‘Green Venice’. There are hundreds of km of canals originally dug to help drain and farm marshland. It’s possible to rent canoes, kayaks, punts, and electric boats, but we opted to splash out €1.50 on a ‘Carte Velo’ and cycle around the area. Selina was game and did 50km having not been on a bicycle for 40 years.
Next stop is La Rochelle – we do like to be beside the seaside!
We left St Amand Magnazeix about midday as we spent about two hours working with the layout of the bikes on the rack (yes, it’s a tough life) – but we do now have a rear view from the camera – thanks to Toby’s dad!
Our first bit of péage as the section of the A10 from Poitiers to Niort cost 14€. Normally we will avoid toll roads, but today it suited us to get to Niort and get sorted.
A quick trip to the Tourist Information Office and we know what the town has to offer. An uneventful evening, Selina made some headway in the ‘European Scrabble Challenge’. Scottish smoked salmon in the van and the Gendarmerie came by at 9:15 in the morning collecting the site fees.
Wandering around plus visits to museums and churches the following day and a huge omelette in the van for dinner. Friday we head over in the direction of La Rochelle taking in ‘Green Venice’ on the way.
A great chance to catch up with Toby’s dad and unwind. Not that we had anything to unwind from, but it was great to be chilled out for a week. We took the Kayak on the lake, we cycled about 80km during the week and we even got a drone shot of the Mothership. We also reminded ourselves that we are rubbish at ten pin bowling!
Limousin is very brown at the moment – the area has been very short of rain this year. Just a couple of pictures to show of the week. We went out for a few meals: of special mention, the Restaurant Le viaduc at Busseau-Sur-Creuse: www.restaurant-leviaduc.com We had a wonderful meal and an awesome view of the 1863 built viaduct.
Parthenay is close to Poitiers and on the banks of the Thouet. The aire for the night was ten euros which included electrical hookup and toilet. Like many aires, this one is associated with a nice campsite. You can stay in the campsite proper and use all the facilities, showers, swimming pool, etc and pay twenty euros, or stay in a simple spot and get access to none of the facilities for considerably less. In the morning they provided us a code to get into the campsite to use the motor-home servicing point and then we were on our way. Aside from enjoying the wonderful view of the Thouet and the lake, we didn’t get to see Parthenay! — in Parthenay.
A one night stopover in Oudon, Loire valley. A small town that happens to be about a third of the way to Limoges and on the banks of the Loire. We had a nice stroll along the river and a great pasta dinner in the van. The aire de camping-cars here was free, very spacious and although it didn’t have any facilities, it was fine for us.
We have been very relaxed about exactly when we would leave. It doesn’t make too much difference to us exactly where we are and when, so there was no pressing schedule.
We heard about some issues at the St Malo terminal for travellers coming to the UK, but that doesn’t really affect people coming out of the UK. So St Malo it was. We’ll worry about getting back later – much later hopefully!
Brittany Ferries don’t inflate the prices much as it gets close to departure date (at least not for the 7.5M mothership), so we booked the day before travel.
A relaxed trip down to Portsmouth, topping up the LPG and diesel on the way and we were amongst the first onto the ship.
The St Malo overnight crossing from Portsmouth means a lot to us – all the times we have been to France over the last few years, we have always tried to book the same ship, Bretagne. It has a wonderful restaurant, Les Abers, and it has always set our trips off to a fine start. The Grand Marnier souffle is bloody fantastic.
This time being among the first on the ship meant that we were first into the restaurant too and were greeted with a sunset over Portsmouth while enjoying a wonderful meal.
Saturday AM and a fantastic sunrise over St Malo & we were among the first off the Boat. The only buttock clenching moment of the day was when the border force in France directed us into a lane that was narrow and low – just 20 cm to spare on the height and probably 10 cm on either side too, including pulling the mirrors in, but it was fine in the end!
Then a drive down to Oudon by the Loire to a free ‘Aire de Service Camping Car’. Yes, free as in beer and speech.
At the moment, we are on a schedule to be in Bessines near Limoge on Monday and then we will relax for a week or so.