Rugles on La Risle

Thursday 24th September 2023

Our free parkup in La Bouille proved to be a little noisy due to the river ferry running into the night, until about 10pm and restarting at 7am.

Apart from that it was excellent, although we had a really warm sticky evening and thunderstorms this morning to freshen things up a bit.

We had a much shorter driving day today, about an hour and a quarter to a village by the name of Rugles, on river La Risle.

Yes I know it sounds like an ale, but that's not why we came.

Actually it was just in the right direction of travel and had a nice looking motorhome aire with all services provided including electric hook up, all for free.

So thank you to the residents and Maire of Rugles on La Risle for providing these services to motorhomers.

It's in a nice position overlooking the village green, historic church, river with a water mill and just a short walk into the village.

Sadly the village is suffering in a similar way as many UK towns and villages with lots of closed down shops containing posters in the windows to try and make them appear still occupied.

Even the Boulangerie had suffered this fate. Thankfully there's another or the locals would be protesting.

Here's the Boulangerie, just what one should look like or so I thought,
sadly it's closed down. The bagettes are just pictures :(

The Aire had a dispenser for tourist information and there was a map containing a historic walking route around the village. 

So that's me occupied for the afternoon, and now the sun's out.

Actually it turned out to be a lovely warm evening and very welcome after this mornings thunderstorms.

Some village photos from my walking route ......

La Bouille on the Seine

 

Wednesday 23rd August 2023

Farthing Common was a great place to spend the night after we were treated to a spectacular sunset at dusk.

The alarm was set for 0330 🥴

The crossing went smoothly, I'm always anxious about Louis passport being accepted. 

For some reason that I'm not entirely sure why, I always half expect them to find a problem with it.

But so far, getting his EU passport in the Republic of Ireland has proven to be a great decision.

First stop was the beach at Stella Plage. It's a typical seaside town but quite pleasant and it gave us the opportunity to have some breakfast and a walk along the promenade.

Dogs not allowed on the beach in high season unfortunately.

Stella Plage complete with early morning sea mist

After we were rested we set off for tonight's parkup on the River Seine near Rouen. We're in a little village called La Bouille.

It's quite a pretty village with a few bars and restaurants, a boulangerie and a car ferry shuttling across the river.

Our parkup is right on the river front and we can watch the barges passing by in front of us.

Tomorrow we'll head further south and west to somewhere yet to be decided.

La Bouille village

Vive la France ! Here we come

Tuesday 22nd August 2023

Tomorrow we leave our rather unpredictable wet and windy English summer and head across the channel into France.

Destination was going to be unknown apart from getting to Calais and turning left or right depending upon the weather forecast.

But Lauren and Chloe have a week in Portugal booked so it seems like a nice plan to arrange to meet up with them for a few days.

It also links in well with a long planned trip I already had in mind to travel to the Basque Country in northern Spain towards Santiago de Compostela then south to Porto.

So an opportunity to go a little further south to where they would be seems a shame to miss.

I've got a bit of a plan for some places to visit as we bimble down through France and I hope to have a week or so in the Dordogne and Lot regions.

Then cross the Pyrenees for some mountain scenery and into Spain.

That's the plan then . . . .  let's see where fate takes us to ?

I booked an early Tunnel crossing 0520 tomorrow, it seemed like a good idea at the time to save a few quid, but now the time has arrived, getting up so early it's not so appealing, ah well.

At least we'll be early into France, I'll probably just drive for half an hour from Calais then find a beach for a walk to stretch our legs and give Louis a run.

I'd forgotten how much I dislike driving that journey from home, around Birmingham, then around London on the M6 and M25 carparks. 

What a nightmare.

Anyway we made it to a beautiful overnight parkup at Farthing Common just 20 minutes to the channel tunnel terminal.

Farthing Common is the highest point on the North Downs at 285 metres above sea level so there are great views over the Kent countryside.

We're also on an old Roman Road, Stone Street which originally ran to Canterbury.

I wonder who Willaim Gammon was ?

Evening walk over Farthing Common