Tapp's Travels

We have become addicted to Crémant de Bourgogne.

Well, perhaps addicted is the wrong word, but we do like it.  We managed to sink more than a couple during the holiday.  Possibly several more than a couple!  It was a way of keeping cool!  And that’s our excuse!

Camping Lez Eaux is not the sort of site at which we normally settle in.  It’s a huge place, but divided into a number of smaller “sites” around a chateau.

We were in area 2 on pitch 230.  Right on the edge, facing fields with cows in.  Behind a rather spectacular tree house.  But with no loo up there, and 30 rickety spiral steps to get in or out, it’s not for us!  And we are not even allowed to go up for a sticky beak!  Visitors have to sign a disclaimer before they take up residence.  Not sure how useful that would actually be in the case of an accident.

We are joined by neighbours, David, Kath and Mollie.

Before settling down they tried 14 different positions with their camper van!   I think this was number 13!

They were later to insist that they believe pitch 229 at Lez Eaux to be “the most difficult pitch in France!!!”  There’s not much shade but there is a tree with low branches in the middle and it’s a bit slopey!

On Saturday June 21 and, in some places the following day as well, the whole of France celebrates my birthday with a Festival of Music!  It’s everywhere.  Small villages and big towns alike.  We’ve been to quite a few over the years!  We chose Granville for the Sunday afternoon and evening.  We first tangled with a lone piper

French bagpipes – collectively known as “cornemuses” – encompass a stunning variety of over a dozen regional styles.  But this geezer looks to be playing the Highland bagpipes.  One group of youngsters took ages to set up and get going.  But in fact, unbeknownst to us, the whole town was supposed to be working to a timetable.  They were just waiting for their time slot!  I suppose some of the acts were pretty noisy and could interfere with each other.

Further down the street this band didn’t seem to have got the email about the timetable.  They just kept going, changing singers and lead guitarist at intervals.  Not exactly our choice of music, but there were two free seats in the front row.  And we need seats!  Some of the gang appeared to have been drinking all afternoon “in preparation”!  Possibly all day, even!  And I suspect there was some other chemical substance in use.  Other than nicotine, that is!

The French are renown for smoking, but we thought there was more evidence of the habit this year.  A huge number of young people are seen puffing away on fags and, increasingly, on nasty, fruit flavoured vapes.  And young parents do it while holding their children.  What chance do the kids have.  They’ll be addicted before they get to school age!  And I do mean addicted in this instance.

Enough of that!  It’s now my birthday.  And it’s Monday.   A notoriously difficult day to find restaurants open – especially immediately after a music festival running into the early hours.  A lot of people are still asleep!  We’ve no reservation for a celebratory lunch!  We’ll have to wing it!  We are going to visit Chérencé-le-Roussel today.  The village where Jeremy and Lucy got married 24 years ago!  On the way, we deviated from the main road a couple of times to find the eatery of our dreams.  The first three villages we tried were as dead as door nails!

And did you know? …  The expression “dead as a doornail” dates back to the 14th century.  It originates from medieval carpentry, where heavy handmade nails were driven through wooden doors and the protruding ends were hammered flat or bent.  This process (called “clinching”) permanently locked the nail in place, rendering it completely unusable for any future projects and effectively “dead”.

Thought you might like to hear that!

Anyway, returning to the main road, we immediately came face to face with a restaurant.  With a carpark.  With cars in it.  La Table de Scion.  It looks very suitable.

An excellent choice.  The campsite reception told us later that they thought it was one of the best restaurants around!  (A not very helpful, retrospective recommendation!)

Indeed the food was lovely and I sat staring at their wall decoration.

It reminds me of home where we have the identical thing hanging in our garden room!  Known to a few as our Gran-tree!  (Our caravanning friend, Granville, was heard, famously to say “You’ve dithered and looked at that tree for half an hour!  Just buy the ruddy thing and let’s get home!”)

After lunch, we carried on past Villedieu-les-Poêles (which sort of translates as “Town of God and Ovens” – probably best left un-translated!) to Brécey and then to Chérencé-le-Roussel.

This was the house where Lucy’s parents lived and where the reception was held.  As I recall the weather was brilliant on the day and very few went in to the barn to dance.  And then at about midnight everyone went “home”.  The band was contracted to play till 3 am and they were on their own for the last three hours!  … As I recall!

This was the church where the marriage ceremony was held.  The ONLY church in France we found to be locked!  Sadly, because it’s the one church where we know how to get the Bells ringing!

While driving round rural France over the past few weeks we have seen a number of huge inflatable cushions.  They look like those found in childrens’ playgrounds – sort of bouncy castles without the actual castle walls.

I’ve wondered what they are.  And in Chérencé I have the chance to examine one close up.  This confirmed my growing suspicion that they were actually not for kids to jump on!  They are actually “Citernes incendies”.  Fire-fighting water tanks!  This one holds 120 m³ of the wet stuff.  There’s apparently a huge network of these reservoirs across France, all coordinated at the municipality level.  They can be like this one (the cheapest option), or underground, or constructed hidden in buildings or even as mobile trailers parked ready.  Typically found in remote rural areas, especially where the local water supply is limited.

This is the Moulin de Jean, near Cuves, where the guests at Jeremy and Lucy’s wedding met for a celebratory meal the night before the event.  About a hundred of us.  Tables everywhere.  We decide there and then that we will celebrate Glenda’s birthday here in a few days time.

An interesting view of our home on wheels!  I wonder how I got that picture?!

We decide to head up the coast.  The beaches are, by and large, not very pretty.  They are usually very long and very straight although we did find some exceptions in the region of Regnéville-sur-Mer.  And we discover that Gouville-sur-Mer is a good two km from the sea.  And when you do find the beach, at low tide the water can be another km away.  If you want a swim, (and that can be a further km before the water is deep enough to actually swim), take a picnic and several bottles of water for refreshment on the trip.  But it’s far too hot for beach walking.

We see on the map there is a restaurant near Granville’s international airport.  It gets a high rating!  After several false starts, we eventually find Les Valseuses sur Mer.  It’s not only close to the airport, it IS the airport.  While dining, we get a ringside seat with a great view of the runway.

But it’s far toooo hot.  The car is still registering 40° when we get back home in the late afternoon!

We have a second birthday coming up.  I need to go and see if the lone piper from Granville is available to play Happy Birthday!