Bonjour la France

The day started with the unwelcoming wake up muzak choice of Britanny ferries and Piers Morgan on his TV breakfast show, which was so exhausting I wanted to go straight back to sleep. He and his co-host discuss a news story and it seems that the format of the show is that they always take opposing sides in an extremely forced and false way.  What an exhausting job for them too. And what a surprise, they were discussing Brexit.  It felt good to be leaving all this behind again.

The night was extremely cosy and comfortable in our little cabin and the first glimpse of St Malo out of the window was spectacular and exciting.  Clear blue skies, old boats, new boats, an old walled town, a lido in the sea, an old convent and fort.  Here begins our WE LOVE EUROPE tour in our WOW machine (white on white), Taran’s name for our trusty (we hope) campervan.

 

First stop was of course St Malo, where we had our first croissant and I first started to rediscover the fun and challenge of speaking French again.  Then on the back roads through stunning countryside villages to The Loire.  French scenic TV – I could watch it for hours, well I suppose we are watching it for hours.  Taran in the back cuddling up with Beepy Rory his favourite furry animal while learning Russian on Babel, me at the wheel, Francoise Hardy on spotify, and Kelty on route planning, admin and blogging.  All the way to Chenonceau Chateau – the ladies Chateau.  Six ladies lived here running the place between 1499 and 1972 from a King’s mistress to Simone Menier of the Chocolate family who transformed the grand halls into a First world war hospital.   I was particularly taken with the small room looking out onto the moat where Catherine de Medici ran France.  I could see her there at her desk making pressing decisions about the future of her country but also probably daydreaming a bit when looking our at the gorgeous view.  The kitchen was also impressive with rows of gleamingly polished brass pots and pans.  If only we could have time travelled to see it all in action.   We noted that there were no bathrooms but Taran told me that people didn’t wash then.   They thought it was a healthier option and lathered themselves in sweet smelling potions instead. 

Leaving the chateau I picked up my small bottle of Prosecco, which was confiscated from me on entry.  Margaret had given it to us leaving Oxford to christen WOW but I had forgotten it was still in my bag.   How embarrassing – it wasn’t a good look.  

Our first campsite was in Favorelles-sur-Cher.  Not the most scenic of camps but well located and run by a nice Dutch lady who had lived in France for 26 years and fell in love with camping so here she is now with five star Tripadvisor campsite of her own.   It took us a while to choose our spot.   There were a few old timers dotted here and there, who were clearly very experienced campers and looked on with some distain and maybe annoyance as we started to get organised in a fairly noisy and spread out way.  Then a branch fell from a tree right in the space beside us.  We now realised why everyone else had parked far from trees.  There is going to be a big learning curve over the next two months with our new way of living.  Setting up wasn’t a slick operation yet but we did manage to keep relatively calm and when installed cook a delicious pasta and settle into a very cosy long sleep.  I think I am going to have a love hate relationship with WOW.   But I was certainly very happy to be going to sleep in France and in our tiny but snug new home.