{"id":7902,"date":"2026-07-19T11:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T11:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=7902"},"modified":"2026-07-19T11:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T11:36:22","slug":"14-normandy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=7902","title":{"rendered":"14. NORMANDY."},"content":{"rendered":"

We have become addicted to Cr\u00e9mant de Bourgogne.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Well, perhaps addicted is the wrong word, but we do like it.\u00a0 We managed to sink more than a couple during the holiday.\u00a0 Possibly several more than a couple!\u00a0 It was a way of keeping cool!\u00a0 And that’s our excuse!<\/p>\n

Camping Lez Eaux is not the sort of site at which we normally settle in.\u00a0 It’s a huge place, but divided into a number of smaller “sites” around a chateau.<\/p>\n

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We were in area 2 on pitch 230.\u00a0 Right on the edge, facing fields with cows in.\u00a0 Behind a rather spectacular tree house.\u00a0 But with no loo up there, and 30 rickety spiral steps to get in or out, it’s not for us!\u00a0 And we are not even allowed to go up for a sticky beak!\u00a0 Visitors have to sign a disclaimer before they take up residence.\u00a0 Not sure how useful that would actually be in the case of an accident.<\/p>\n

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We are joined by neighbours, David, Kath and Mollie.<\/p>\n

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Before settling down they tried 14 different positions with their camper van!\u00a0 \u00a0I think this was number 13!<\/p>\n

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They were later to insist that they believe pitch 229 at Lez Eaux to be “the most difficult pitch in France!!!”\u00a0\u00a0There’s not much shade but there is a tree with low branches in the middle and it’s a bit slopey!<\/span><\/p>\n

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!\u00a0 It’s everywhere.\u00a0 Small villages and big towns alike.\u00a0 We’ve been to quite a few over the years!\u00a0 We chose Granville for the Sunday afternoon and evening.\u00a0 We first tangled with a lone piper<\/p>\n

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French bagpipes – collectively known as “cornemuses” – encompass a stunning variety of over a dozen regional styles.\u00a0 But this geezer looks to be playing the Highland bagpipes.\u00a0 One group of youngsters took ages to set up and get going.\u00a0 But in fact, unbeknownst to us, the whole town was supposed to be working to a timetable.\u00a0 They were just waiting for their time slot!\u00a0 I suppose some of the acts were pretty noisy and could interfere with each other.<\/p>\n

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Further down the street this band didn’t seem to have got the email about the timetable.\u00a0 They just kept going, changing singers and lead guitarist at intervals.\u00a0 Not exactly our choice of music, but there were two free seats in the front row.\u00a0 And we need seats!\u00a0 Some of the gang appeared to have been drinking all afternoon “in preparation”!\u00a0 Possibly all day, even!\u00a0 And I suspect there was some other chemical substance in use.\u00a0 Other than nicotine, that is!<\/p>\n

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The French are renown for smoking, but we thought there was more evidence of the habit this year.\u00a0 A huge number of young people are seen puffing away on fags and, increasingly, on nasty, fruit flavoured vapes.\u00a0 And young parents do it while holding their children.\u00a0 What chance do the kids have.\u00a0 They’ll be addicted before they get to school age!\u00a0 And I do mean addicted in this instance.<\/p>\n

Enough of that!\u00a0 It’s now my birthday.\u00a0 And it’s Monday.\u00a0 \u00a0A notoriously difficult day to find restaurants open – especially immediately after a music festival running into the early hours.\u00a0 A lot of people are still asleep!\u00a0 We’ve no reservation for a celebratory lunch!\u00a0 We’ll have to wing it!\u00a0 We are going to visit Ch\u00e9renc\u00e9-le-Roussel today.\u00a0 The village where Jeremy and Lucy got married 24 years ago!\u00a0 On the way, we deviated from the main road a couple of times to find the eatery of our dreams.\u00a0 The first three villages we tried were as dead as door nails!<\/p>\n

And did you know? …\u00a0 The expression “dead as a doornail” dates back to the 14th century.\u00a0 It originates from medieval carpentry, where heavy handmade nails were driven through wooden doors and the protruding ends were hammered flat or bent.\u00a0 This process (called “clinching”) permanently locked the nail in place, rendering it completely unusable for any future projects and effectively “dead”.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thought you might like to hear that!<\/p>\n

Anyway, returning to the main road, we immediately came face to face with a restaurant.\u00a0 With a carpark.\u00a0 With cars in it.\u00a0 La Table de Scion.\u00a0 It looks very suitable.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An excellent choice.\u00a0 The campsite reception told us later that they thought it was one of the best restaurants around!\u00a0 (A not very helpful, retrospective recommendation!)<\/p>\n

Indeed the food was lovely and I sat staring at their wall decoration.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It reminds me of home where we have the identical thing hanging in our garden room!\u00a0 Known to a few as our Gran-tree!\u00a0 (Our caravanning friend, Granville, was heard, famously to say “You’ve dithered and looked at that tree for half an hour!\u00a0 Just buy the ruddy thing and let’s get home!”)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After lunch, we carried on past Villedieu-les-Po\u00eales (which sort of translates as “Town of God and Ovens” – probably best left un-translated!) to Br\u00e9cey and then to Ch\u00e9renc\u00e9-le-Roussel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This was the house where Lucy’s parents lived and where the reception was held.\u00a0 As I recall the weather was brilliant on the day and very few went in to the barn to dance.\u00a0 And then at about midnight everyone went “home”.\u00a0 The band was contracted to play till 3 am and they were on their own for the last three hours!\u00a0 … As I recall!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This was the church where the marriage ceremony was held.\u00a0 The ONLY church in France we found to be locked!\u00a0 Sadly, because it’s the one church where we know how to get the Bells ringing!<\/p>\n

While driving round rural France over the past few weeks we have seen a number of huge inflatable cushions.\u00a0 They look like those found in childrens’ playgrounds – sort of bouncy castles without the actual castle walls.<\/p>\n

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I’ve wondered what they are.\u00a0 And in Ch\u00e9renc\u00e9 I have the chance to examine one close up.\u00a0 This confirmed my growing suspicion that they were actually not for kids to jump on!\u00a0 They are actually “Citernes incendies”.\u00a0 Fire-fighting water tanks!\u00a0 This one holds 120 m\u00b3 of the wet stuff.\u00a0 There’s apparently a huge network of these reservoirs across France, all coordinated at the municipality level.\u00a0 They can be like this one (the cheapest option), or underground, or constructed hidden in buildings or even as mobile trailers parked ready.\u00a0 Typically found in remote rural areas, especially where the local water supply is limited.<\/p>\n

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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.\u00a0 About a hundred of us.\u00a0 Tables everywhere.\u00a0 We decide there and then that we will celebrate Glenda’s birthday here in a few days time.<\/p>\n

An interesting view of our home on wheels!\u00a0 I wonder how I got that picture?!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We decide to head up the coast.\u00a0 The beaches are, by and large, not very pretty.\u00a0 They are usually very long and very straight although we did find some exceptions in the region of Regn\u00e9ville-sur-Mer.\u00a0 And we discover that Gouville-sur-Mer is a good two km from the sea.\u00a0 And when you do find the beach, at low tide the water can be another km away.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But it’s far too hot for beach walking.<\/p>\n

We see on the map there is a restaurant near Granville’s international airport.\u00a0 It gets a high rating!\u00a0 After several false starts, we eventually find Les Valseuses sur Mer.\u00a0 It’s not only close to the airport, it IS the airport.\u00a0 While dining, we get a ringside seat with a great view of the runway.<\/p>\n

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But it’s far toooo hot.\u00a0 The car is still registering 40\u00b0 when we get back home in the late afternoon!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We have a second birthday coming up.\u00a0 I need to go and see if the lone piper from Granville is available to play Happy Birthday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have become addicted to Cr\u00e9mant de Bourgogne. Well, perhaps addicted is the wrong word, but we do like it.\u00a0 We managed to sink more than a couple during the holiday.\u00a0 Possibly several more than a couple!\u00a0 It was a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-france-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7902"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7943,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7902\/revisions\/7943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}