South past Nancy

Whenever I see signs for Nancy I always chuckle at the line from Renne in 'Allo 'Allo.

"We're all Nancy boys here, herr Flick"

That line probably wouldn't get past the BBC woke brigade now.

Anyway, we left our overnight parkup on the banks of the River Meuse in Riven without any emergency evacuation orders due to flooding, so that was a bonus.

It rained most of the night but had stopped by morning.

Before leaving we visited the local boulangrie for strawberry tarts, delicious.

Our route took us into Belgium, then Luxembourg and finally back into France.

We're now in a little town called Mirecourt on the banks of the river Madon, about 50 km south of Nancy.

Mirecourt is famous as manufacturing centre for violins and the Lute, there is even a museum here to show the history, sadly it was closed this afternoon.

It was overcast  when we arrived and then the sun came out to play so it was a very plesant afternoon and warm warm with it.

We're at a camping car carpark which is an organisation that manages motorhome aires in France. They're paid for, usually about 10-12 euro for the night including electric and water services. So they're very good value and usually very clean and well maintained.

Just in front of us is a park with some amazingly detailed tree sculptures.

However. at this one there is a fair in town, so we might be having thump thump into the night, we'll see ?

Update - the fair seemed to close down about 7pm, so the prospect of a peaceful night returns.

Update on the update - the fair seems to have struck up again at 8.30pm

We've been able to get tv everywhere we've been so far thanks to the satellite system.

 

So we've been able to keep up with events in London.

Slight change of plan for the route, from here I'd planned to go into Switzerland and across the Alps and drop down in the Italian Lakes. That route seems to have the most unsettled (wet) weather for the next few days, so here's the new plan. . . . . .

We'll carry on south, probably into Anncey, then further south to the Cannes / Nice area of the Mediterranean. I'm not sure where yet as I've done no research for that area.

France is the most motorhome friendly country in Europe with almost every town and village having at least one area with facilities for motorhome parking. 

The exception to this, so I'm told is that Cote d' Azure area.

So it'll be interesting

Strawberry tart from the boulangerie in Reven

Mirecourt scuplture park

Ed parked up in Mirecourt

River Madon

The Funfairs in town

Mirecourt town views

It's back ....... Door of the day 

A lot of the houses in the town look really run down even semi deralict, this was one of them. I think there was once a statue in the niche above the door

We're the blue dot

Mirecourt, in relation to Nancy

Gravelines to the Ardennes

 

Friday 9th September

It chucked it down all night and was still raining this morning.

France's dry and parched lands are looking rather water logged now.

So I didn't get out at all except to give Louis his excercise, so no photos.

Given the rain, I binned off the places I'd planned to visit and set the sat nav for south.

We drove through the French Ardennes region which is a very beautiful area. 

Our free Aire parkup for the night in a little village called Riven on the river Meuse and we're sat here with a great view of the river. I'm just hoping it doesn't flood overnight. 

I think we'll be ok.

Again it's been too wet to get out much, but I'm still hopeful, fingers crossed 🤞

We've been watching the round the clock coverage of the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth, RIP.

Tomorrow I think we'll head further south to try and find some dry weather.

OK, the sun came out about 7pm, so managed a few photos

Our free Aire parkup at Revin overlooking the Meuse

Don't be fooled by the blue skies, it was a brief appearance

My neighbours for the night

Sissinghurst

Thursday 8th September

We had quite heavy rain showers overnight but The Hawkenbury was a great place to spend the night after a very tasty meal in the pub.

It was a little drier by morning but that didn't last, more showers came regularly.

We set off for Sissinghurst Castle Gardens and the sun came out and that was very welcome.

We decided to do the woodland lake walk around the estate first as Louis isn't allowed in the formal gardens so we'll look at those later. 

It was bright sunshine initially but then, predictably we had another rain shower.

After drying off from the woodland walk the heavens opened, again, and more or less constant rain set in. 

So very disappointed, we accepted we weren't going to get to see the formal gardens as we couldn't see the point of walking around in the rain.

Give that, we set off towards the channel tunnel with a visit to Tesco en route to get a few forgotten items.

Thankfully Louis pet passport I got in Republic of Ireland last year was accepted without question which was a great relief.

They also fitted us on an earlier crossing which was welcome.

Thirty five minutes later we were in France and on the way to our free parkup at Gravelines.

I've not been here before but it's a good place to spend the night. It's actually next to a large man made rowing lake but that couldn't be seen from the Aire due to a large embankment, I'd planned to climb up it but not in the rain.

I put the tv on were saddened to hear the news from Balmoral of HM Queen Elizabeth ll  - RIP HM

It's also still raining, persistently :(

The evening was spent hearing the touching tributes paid to HM

Sissinghurst Oast House

Sissinghurst views

Cliveden and a rural Kent pub stopover

Well Cliveden turned out to be a bit of a Nation Trust disappointment.

It's a beautiful building, but now a rather pricey hotel, conference centre, restaurant, spa and any number of other retail outlets.

I think the woodland estate might be the only bit managed by the NT, and looks worth a visit but part of it was closed for forestry works and the skies looked threatening, so it was really just quite a quick walk around the grounds, dodging the showers and back for lunch in the van.

The M25 around London wasn't nearly as congested as it could have been, and frequently is, just a slow section near Heathrow held us up for a few minutes.

We're now at The Hawkenbury pub, in a lovely little rural village of the same name. I was pleased to see the village has some traditional Kent Oast house buildings so I had my camera out of course.

They're happy for motorhomes to stay on the carpark overnight and even happier if you book a table for dinner which we have.

They served a mean cod, chips and peas for £13.50 which isn't much more than the local takeaway chippie at home, so great value. It was actually two fish, the smaller one I got wrapped up and took with me to have for lunch tomorrow, winner I think !

It's just a few miles to Sissinghurst and that's our destination for tomorrow, I just hope the showers give us a break.

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden a rather cute dove cote

Cliveden gardens

Cliveden gardens

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden partarre garden, the River Thames can just about be seen in the distance

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden grounds

Cliveden - some detailed stonework behind protective glass

The Hawkenbury Pub parkup fot tonight

Hawkenbury traditional Oast House

Hawkenbury traditional Oast House

Hawkenbury farm house

Back into Europe ..... at last

After our forced confinement within the UK for the last two years we set off tomorrow morning to make our way down to Kent and the Euro Tunnel for a crossing to France on Thursday teatime.

I have a couple of garden visits planned in the south to break up the journey to Kent.

Being confined to the UK was actually an opportunity to visit some fantastic places that are closer to home, and the UK does have some stunning scenery and interesting places to spend some time exploring.

I really enjoyed Northern Ireland last year and the Causeway Coast was incredible, not to mention the friendly locals.

Wales, Malvern Hills and Shropshire are other favourites visited during lockdown.

Ed the motorhome has been fettled, checked, cleaned, MOT'd and loaded with supplies and is ready for whatever we find in Europe.

He has a nice shiney new UK sticker to replace the GB one that is no longer valid (so everyone will think we're from Ukraine now, lol)

A top up off engine oil, coolant and some air in the tyres, so we're all ready for the rubber to hit the tarmac !

 

The plan is to head down through France, Belgium, explore some of the Swiss Alps, Italian Lakes, Slovenia and Croatia.

It's a similar route to which we've taken in the past, but having just scratched the surface before, there is still plenty of fantastic places to explore that we missed previously.

As much as I'm keen to go to different countries in the motorhome, I'm very excited to be going back to Croatia, the beautiful crystal clear waters of the Adriatic are a strong draw and never fail to impress me, I love that unmistakable warm Meditteranian feel it has.

As always though, the plan is flexible and may change .........

The new UK sticker as required now, apparently the GB sticker didn't include Northern Ireland and they felt left out, so in the name of inclusivity, we now have UK stickers which does include them in the party

A little gesture of support for our friends facing the Ruscists 

Louis scrubbed up well at the groomers