Chores

Our Sunday began with a final walk along the sea front in Ault. We discovered that this location was a favorite haunt of Victor Hugo judging by the number of streets, bars and restaurants named after him in this part of Normandy.

Vince hit the road mid-morning to head for our next stop Veules-les-Roses which is also on the coast. Originally we planned to stop off somewhere for a break on the way but by the time we felt like a break we were heading on to the Dieppe ring
road so we just kept going.

In a masterstroke of bad planning we arrived at the campsite just as reception closed for lunch. A traditional French two hour lunch d’oh! No matter, we just parked up, put the kettle on and had our own lunch while we waited. Camping les
Mouettes is a member of ACSI which meant that we could use our ACSI discount card for a few Euros off. Another British couple were ahead of us in reception – they paid 22Euros while we paid 19 – result! The main reason for using a campsite
was so that we could charge up the batteries and get our washing done. The sun shone on our first afternoon so we thought stuff the washing and had a little walk into town, then had a drink or two outside under Vince’s awning!

Veules les Roses is a gorgeous seaside town whose claim to fame is that it has the shortest river in France which flows
into the sea – 1149m! Walking along the river you can see that many rich French used to holiday here by the fancy villas and cottages including a faded old Swiss chalet. We stumbled across La Place des Ecossais, named for the 51st Highlanders who made a brave stand in this village against the advancing German army in 1940. There are two guns on the clifftop recovered from a wartime wreck to remind everybody that this was where the last allied troops were evacuated under fire a few days after Dunkirk.

This morning, despite our best efforts we could put it off no longer and loaded up the campsite’s large washing machine, then while it did its thing we (Gill) did the hoovering & dusting while I gave Vince’s outside a good clean to get rid of the accumulated dirt and spray from our run down to Canterbury a week ago.

Once the chores were done we decided to go down into the village only to find it mostly closed! It was a complete contrast to the crowds of French people having family time together here yesterday. We couldn’t even get a coffee so we retreated to Vince for Camembert baguettes.

This afternoon we’ve been thinking ahead as we only booked two nights here. We think we’ve found a good Aire in Honfleur, a pretty harbour town near Le Havre. We stayed there a couple of years ago in foul weather so we’d like to see it in the sunshine and enjoy some fresh seafood. One of the things Gill is keen to see are the Grand Marees – the huge spring tides – at St Malo. The next ones aren’t until 7th and 8th May so we’re thinking we’ll do a clockwise loop round Brittany first, finishing at St Malo, then dart south down the west coast into (we hope) more warmth and sunshine.

Maybe we will, maybe we won’t – that’s the joy of a trip like this, we’re completely flexible so any recommendations will be very welcome 🙂