We were looking for a stop over near the Eurotunnel which we had not stayed at before when Wendy found Tardinghen aire. This is a working farm with a small number of tiered pitches over looking the sea and other pitches in a field area behind the barn.
Facilities are basic with fresh water, waste water disposal and chemical toilet disposal. This suits us as we try and be self sufficient. There is also electric hook up available at some pitches.
The farmer is very friendly and collects the fee in cash in the evening.
On our way back north we have been revisiting several places we stayed at in 2014. The next is the aire at St Valery sur Somme. It’s a very tidy aire with automated barriers. I did not take a photo of the aire, only the weather as it has changed significantly from the glorious 40°C.
It’s rain and 20°C now.
The town of St Valery sur Somme is about a 15 minute walk from the aire. It’s lovely and well worth the walk.
It is a little steep as you approach the town. The historical memorabilia shows this street has changed very little over its history.
We continued to travel North and stopped at Jumieges. We are returning from our previous visit on 2014. There is a short ferry crossing across the Seine, with the campsite being only 5-10 minutes drive from the slipway.
The weather has been fabulous this whole trip and it peaked at 40C. This was really too hot for Max, so Wendy wrapped him in a cold water blanket and put a fan in from of him. He was cool and comfortable whilst we were roasting hot.
With very high temperatures we tried to keep a shaded area for Max.
I tool advantage of the hot temperature and peeled off the “Free Time” graphics on our van. We have been planning to create our own logo, so I’ll need to do this now.
The pitches here are large and are enclosed with hedges so they are quite private. This is a quiet site.
We had a stop over at Granville aire as we started travelling North. The aire is really a car park on the outskirts of the town beyond the harbour. There is not much of a view as most vans park against the wall.
There is a brilliant view over the wall though.
There are also several relics of world war two at the cliff.
We travelled south to Mont Saint Michel. We were last here in 2014. It hasn’t changed much and is still magnificent.
Max (our labrador) is an old man now and not really up for the walk to Mont Saint Michel from the campsite. Dogs are not allowed on the bus so we relaxed here at the campsite for a couple of days.
We agreed with the AA we’d drive to the Eurotruck Iveco dealer in Saint Martin and then call them from there after the mechanic had inspected the handbrake.
My French is poor and the mechanics did not speak much English so with the help of Google Translate I tried to explain the fault with the handbrake. The garage were very helpful although they explained they did not have the handbrake cable in stock.
With hand signals and goodwill the mechanic and I communicated and explored the fault. I was a little embarassed to find the handbrake cable termination had become unclipped from the bracket due to slack in the cable. The mechanic clipped it back on and tested the handbrake. We were fixed in 10 minutes and the garage refused to take any money. Wendy donated a €20 contribution to their tea/biscuit fund and we were on our way – relieved.
On hindsight I should have investigated the fault at the Boulogne sur Mer aire. The slope of the aire with no handbrake put me off on safety grounds, but I might have saved us the concern and the trip to the garage.
We drove from the garage in Saint Martin to the aire in Le Crotoy. Whilst at the aire I adjusted the handbrake cable to ensure we did not have any more problems.
The aire is located between houses and a mussel/oyster processing facility. It has a very short walk to the beach, although when the tide is out it is very far out with a long walk to reach the water.
After touring for one week with the “kids” we sadly said goodbye at the Eurotunnel and we headed on our solo two week tour, stopping overnight at Boulogne sur Mer aire. We’ve stayed here several times before and enjoy the views from the cliff.
We experienced our first technical problem here. The aire is on a slope and our handbrake failed so we carefully chocked the van in place. We decided not to investigate the fault due to the slope and Wendy located a local Fiat dealer. It was Sunday so we planned to call the AA In the morning and relaxed for the night.
The ladies visited Mercier champagne one day and the Moet Chandon another when we were enroute to Sameon. Whilst the ladies toured the champagne Duncan and I watched the Tour de France and the Formula 1 from the comfort of our campervans in the Moet Chandon car park.
This was a quiet rural site with enclosed pitches.
Sameon was a convenient overnight stop for us at the end of an idyllic first week. The “kids” were travelling back to the UK on the Eurotunnel the next day. So this was our last night together, for now.
McNaughts On Tour 