The Shed, France and Beyond

La Garangeoire – The Vendee – 2010

2010-09-15T18:07:00.002+02:00

What can I say ! We just cannot stop coming here.
Voted one of the top 10 European sites and lives up to it every time. Just coming to the end of the stay here and moving on to Normandy and the ferry home. Sad to leave really because this is the place to chill out with plenty of sun, temps usually in the 21c – 26c area for most of September.

The staff on the site are first class and speak both French and English. You can not stay here without treating yourself to a meal in the excellent Restaurant, we had 2.

They even do a meet the chef (free) morning once a week which Lesley went on and came back with nothing but praise the kitchen area was spotlessly clean and the chef explained about how he made the pate de foie gras for the Restaurant and the macaroons which every one on the tour had a go at piping.

Wish I had gone round also but missed it.

For a good walk, followed by a 1200hrs meal, Lac Jaunay (Lake) is about 10 mins drive from the site. The L’Auberge du Jaunay couldn’t be better. The bar – creperie – Restaurant sits high on the northern bank with stunning views across the lake whilst tucking into some good French food and of course some good wine.

Wild life on the lake abounds. This was one of the many large green lizards we came across basking in the sun. This was the one day I never bothered to put the long lens on, sods law as they say but it came out quite well.

It is also a good place to relax with your own picnic at the many places on the surrounding banks. Pictures are worth a thousand words as they say so here are a few more of the areas we travelled to this time round.

My Wife is a stamper!!!

2010-06-30T19:12:00.001+02:00

Things I’ve Learned as a Stamper's Spouse
By Jon Van Bruggen

My wife is a stamper.

By stamper, I mean a paper-crafting, blog-hopping, creativity-oozing stamper. She’s not a crafter and she’s definitely not a scrap booker. She’s a stamper.
Perhaps you’re also an involuntary member of this unique and growing collection of people I like to simply call Spouses of Stamper’s… or SS’s.
By having been an SS for the past few years I’ve learned a thing or two about the stamping sub-culture. And even though I’m armed with this knowledge, the various quirks and expectations of stamper’s are still hard to manage at times. Perhaps you’re an SS and you think you’re the only one experiencing these things. Know that you’re not alone! We’re in this together! And so, for all of the SSs out there, I submit to you the top 10 things I’ve learned as an SS:

Delete “scrap booker” from your vocabulary and then empty your recycle bin. Remember...she's a stamper!
The outside of a greeting card is one hundred times more meaningful to a recipient than the words written on the inside. Or at least the outside of the card takes one hundred times longer to complete.
Organza and Grosgrain have nothing to do with anything organic or wheat-based. They’re ribbons.
When your wife says “I just want to change one thing about this card,” you better cancel your dinner reservations because you’re not going anywhere for a very long time.
What looks like the aftermath of a tornado is really just a uniquely organized stamp room.
Never, ever, ever say “Don’t you already have paper like that?” Trust me. It’s not the same paper.
Redeeming the weekly 40% off coupon at Michaels trumps having milk in the refrigerator and clean socks to wear. Seriously, are your personal health and hygiene that important? I didn’t think so.
The primary purpose of making cards is not to send them to others. It's to create space for that new die-cut machine.
Much like the sun, you can’t turn off your wife’s creativity. As an SS, just give in already and prepare for many more dinner conversations about the latest blog-hop or stamp-a-thon.

Château de Chambord.

2010-04-21T18:19:00.003+02:00

The royal Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture that blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Italian structures.

Chambord is the largest castle in the Loire Valley, but was built to serve only as a hunting lodge for François I.

We spend the best part of a day here and the Chateau was stunning.

A short walk across the grass behind where this picture was taken from is a very nice bar. We arrived here late in the day but on our next visit we will certainly drop in for lunch at 12:00hrs

Conkers

2010-03-28T19:51:00.001+02:00

Our first trip out in the van was to Conkers not far from Swadlincote weekend of 12th March. The weather was some what chilly and the wind blew across the site. We had brilliant fish and chips cooked to order on the Friday night from the mobile fish and chip van that visited the site.

Saturday morning/afternoon we took a walk round to Conkers to have a look – it looks brilliant from the outside and we will certainly be returning to take a look on the inside.

Out of the wind on Saturday it was really warm in the sun,but true to form the weather changed on the Sunday and it became over cast and damp

Today we mourn the passing on of Common Sense.

2010-01-26T18:21:00.001+01:00

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;

I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

New Background Layout

2010-01-13T23:54:00.001+01:00

For some weird reason my background layout “NoteBook” stopped working yesterday, not sure why, but anyway I’ve now changed it to this blue one. Looks quite good I thought. Business as usual again.

Pictures from 2009

2010-01-02T17:05:00.002+01:00

January

Granny ( Nita ) Christmas 2008/09

Sadly no longer with us but we love and think of her every day. xx

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February

Snow ! Real snow in the back garden.

But 2 days earlier we had a visit from the local Fox!

British weather you’ve just got to love it. Lol

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March

Testing out the new shed at Broadway CC. Weather was glorious.

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Met up with Carol and Mark to test out the on site bar facilities

and also, the off site facilities.

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April

Cameron round for the day. Warm and snug and watching Thomas, he’s nuts on

Thomas the Tank Engine

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Chapel Lane CC

Travelled to Birmingham Canal District from Chapel Lane, first visit to

Birmingham in years and I mean years !

Lock Keepers House, now a bar. Well, we had to find a bar somewhere for light

refreshment and to rest our feet.

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May

The sun came out in May so now it was time to introduce our grandchildren, Cameron

and Emily to the joys of water.

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June

Well its that time of year again so off to France.

This time Samantha and Ashley came with us to see what all the fuss was about

when we talk of France and the campsites.

We took the usual ferry across, Portsmouth to St Malo, this leaves Pompy at about 20:30hrs it has a cabaret lounge and bar and is a nice leisurely crossing.

You have to book a cabin for this crossing for £50.00 but its well worth it. Plus your not kicked off the ferry at 06:00hrs (Caen Ferry), so don’t have a wooly head when you leave the ship at 07:30hrs in the morning. Trust me a clear head for the first 20mins is essential when adjusting to driving on the RT hand side of the road and towing a shed! But after that the French roads are a dream to drive on with traffic jams and road works very few and far between.

On this trip we headed off to the Vendee to a campsite called

“Camping Le Pin Parasol”. The site was excellent, very large pitches, middle of the country side and high above a lake “Lac du Jaunay” where there is a crêperie overlooking the lake. Will do a whole post on this site and area.

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July

This was a quiet and sad month as Granny Nita, Lesley's lovely mum passed away.

We will all remember the good times we had with Nita, also know affectionately as

the mad Australian.:-) No, she wasn’t mad but made us all laugh with some of the things she sometimes came out with.

She came to these shores as a war bride in 1946 and never lost her aussie accent. She loved her family and was very proud of all her great grandchildren.

We miss you Nita, ‘Good on yer’

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August

A quiet month also but managed to have a good day out at the zoo with the family.

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September

Lesley gets her NHS long service award.

And then its off the France again.

South Brittany to start off with then worked our way back to Caen via St Malo and Mont Saint Michel. Separate blog post for whole trip with pic’s.

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October

CC Site near Belper (very tight little site!)

Then off to Critch Tramway Museum with Grandchildren and Family.

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November

Ventured off to France again but without the shed and car this time.

Ryan Air took ourselves, Carol and Mark for a few days in Carcassonne .

Lesley and Carol plan the day and a view of the Castle from the old town bridge.

Would have had more pictures but the camera battery failed and we had not packed the charger – doe ! I got the blame anyway, thats how it goes.

The town within the Castle walls, or at least a bit of it.

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December

Christmas.

Grandchildren, mince pies and Santa Claus.

Not much more we can say about December.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR CARAVANNERS THE WORLD OVER

2009-12-31T14:39:00.001+01:00

Lesley and Joe want to wish all campers and caravaners a very

Happy and Prosperous New Year

Coulon - Marais-Poitevin.

2009-10-31T17:35:00.001+01:00

Coulon is in the Deux-Sevres department, west of Niort and at the centre of the Marais-Poitevin region. The village - listed one of the most beautiful village’s in France is in an area the French call The Green Venice of France. Lesley and myself cannot recommend this area enough, its stunning and so peaceful you will just not want to leave. The campsite we use is on the edge of the village and is called Le Camping Venise Verte. Take your bikes because this area is full of cycle trails 2500 miles of them so they say.

Château de Creully.

2009-10-31T16:43:00.001+01:00

A small Chateau situated a few miles away from one of our regular camp site stop over's. ( Chateau de Martragny )

From 7 June 1944, the day after D-Day, until 21 July, the square tower housed the BBC war correspondents and their radio studio, from where the first news of the Battle of Normandy was transmitted.

Hummingbird Hawk-Moth.

2009-10-31T16:05:00.001+01:00

The first time we ever saw these was in France on our first visit about 4-5 years ago.

Fascinating to watch and very fast.

We have seen them all over France on our travels

Happy Halloween – Don’t leave the Pumpkins near the Beer!!

2009-10-31T13:41:00.000+01:00

Some Bar in Ile De Re

2009-10-29T21:22:00.002+01:00

Saint-Martin-de-Ré has extensive fortifications, reflecting the strategic importance of the Île de Ré. During the Wars of Religion in the 1620s, Cardinal Richelieu ordered that the island be fortified as a counterweight to the Protestant nearby city of La Rochelle on the French mainland. This included a citadel at Saint Martin. After La Rochelle had been subdued, Saint-Martin's fortification were largely demolished to remove its potential threat to royal power.

In 1627, an English invasion force under the command of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham attacked the island in order to relieve the Siege of La Rochelle. After three months of combats in the Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré against the French under Marshal Toiras, the Duke was forced to withdraw in defeat.

Later, in the 1670s, the French engineer, Vauban was commissioned to review and overhaul the island's defences and, as a result, Saint Martin was enclosed by extensive and modern walls and embankments. This was done in three major phases ending in 1702 and the end result was an enclosed town capable of housing the island's population for a long siege.

After that they started to build some bars !! And the Roulstone’s arrived :-)

Saumur Cavalry School Bar

2009-10-29T20:57:00.001+01:00

The French cavalry school has been in Saumur since 1768 and of course cavalry regiments have long since abandoned the horse in favour of horse power, so now it is essentially a tank school. But horses are still used for all the official pomp and ceremony. Anyway that’s the end of the history lesson :-)

Both Lesley and myself having a military background soon found the bar the army guys used and what a great time we had.

We went back later in the week on the Friday for an evening meal which we booked after this session. After the meal we realised we had been the only people eating there all night, he had kept the bar open for just us ! Friday of course, all the army guys had gone home for the weekend. Must have been cus we mentioned we had been in the Navy but the hospitality was second to none. We will return :-)

A la Carte - Lesley Style …

2009-07-27T18:10:00.001+02:00

Corned Beef Hash, Yummy. We really know how to live it up. lol

Blowing the lid off an urban myth !!

2009-07-27T18:06:00.001+02:00

Taken from the Caravanning News Group

Since this debate rattles on from time to time, with much deliberation over how and what, I thought I’d try to get an expert view on the feasibility of using narcotic gases to knock out the occupants of motorhomes/caravans.

Since they do this all the time, so to speak, I thought I’d ask the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Somewhat to my surprise, they provided the following reply. Interesting isn’t it? Sleep tight folks!

Dear Mr Kirby,

Thank you for your enquiry. I would like to inform you that you are not the first enquirer with this question. Professor Hatch, our Clinical Advisor, has given the following previous comments:

"I can give you a categorical assurance that it would not be possible to render someone unconscious with ether without their knowledge, even if they were sleeping at the time. Ether is an extremely pungent agent and a
relatively weak anaesthetic by modern standards and has a very irritant affect of the air passages, causing coughing and sometimes vomiting. It takes some time to reach unconsciousness, even if given by direct
application to the face on a rag, and the concentration needed by some sort of spray into a room would be enormous. The smell hangs around for days and would be obvious to anyone the next day.

There are much more powerful agents around now, some of which are almost odourless. However, these would be unlikely to be able to achieve the effect you describe, and the cost would be huge enough to deter any thief unless he
was after the crown jewels. The only practicable agent is probably the one used by the Russians in the Moscow siege - I advised the BBC on their programme about this. The general feeling is that they used an agent which
is not available outside the KGB!

Finally, unsupervised anaesthesia, which is what we are really talking about is very dangerous. In the Moscow siege about 20% of victims died from asphyxia, because their airways were unprotected. If the reports you talk
about are true I would have expected a significant number of deaths or cases of serious brain damage to have been reported."

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Regards, Ms Shirani Nadarajah

General Administrator

Professional Standards Directorate

The Royal College of Anaesthetists

The New Shed

2009-07-27T02:44:00.001+02:00

After 10 years with the Swift Azzura, which served us well, decided it was about time for a new shed.

Roll on France this year

Our First Week In France

2009-07-27T02:27:00.001+02:00

Friendly people.

Everywhere we went the locals were friendly. Every day I bonjour'ed all the way to the toilet and back :-) I even bonjour'ed the English campers and guess what! They bonjour'ed me back which I found quite amusing, must have thought I was a local. One French lady or should I say madame, said my French was very good, which made me feel quite proud, seeing as I could only say bonjour, madame and Monsieur. Anyway, the week went on and I bonjour'ed everything that moved. In the UK being so familiar in and around toilets would get you funny looks or even arrested. :-).

One of the main reasons for travelling to Normandy for our first trip to France, as I have said before, was to just do a short stress free trip and a recce. Our second reason and something we have been planning for some time was to visit the D-Day beaches and towns, plus pay our respects at a few of the war grave cemetery's. Something I personally think everyone in the UK should do at least once as this was an important stage in our history and those who died for the liberation of France & Europe should never be forgotten.

For those caravanners that take the tele away with the van, on this side of France the reception from the channel islands is excellent, even the Status aerial on the roof of the van received a good signal. Everywhere else in France, you will require a Satellite system, which I will possibly talk about in the future, not that I'm any expert.

Our first campsite and on the this trip our only campsite, was situated on the coast and near to the small but charming town of Les Pieux. This we booked via Select Sites which included the ferry crossing from Porstmouth to Cherbourg.

Camping Village Le Grand Large, 11 Route du Grand Large, 50340 Les Pieux [tel:02 33 52 40 75] is a medium sized site situated on the west coast and adjacent to a beach that stretches as far as the eye can see. It has the following-: wc, chemical waste disposal, baby facilities, showers, hook-up , gas, laundry, shop, bar, restaurant, snacks, heated pool & child pool, playground, games, boules, tennis, dogs, open 5Apr-21 Sep.

Once we had settled in and ordered our daily bread from the on site bar/shop, we made our way to Les Pieux and the travelling market which visited a circuit of local towns, today was Les Pieux's turn. The French markets are old fashioned and full of local produce, long may they continue. As a boy I can remember going to Long Eaton Market in Derbyshire, this was in the 50's. Fresh vegetables, meats and sausages with meat in them. A lot of which came from local farms. We have moved on in the UK and in some way's not for the better. The French village markets as I said earlier are old fashioned and have held on to old traditions and standards, they are full of local produce, a joy to walk round sampling meats, cheese, pate's, mushrooms, the list goes on.

More to follow:-

First Experience of France

2007-04-27T02:32:00.000+02:00

Came off the ferry in Cherbourg missed the turning on the island and ended up having to do a U-turn in the city with the shed on the back, tension is building. Lesley is driving and I’m doing the navigation, which I’m usually good at, I may add. But after 2 beers on the ferry and 2 kwells! I think my judgement is impaired somewhat! I even think I was still wearing the 2 stupid bands on my wrists, hey oh! This was all pre TOMTOM Go I may add, but I will cover this excellent GPS innovation later in the stories.

So we find the route out of the city and are given our first introduction to the French road system, which, and I quote from the excellent Destination France Magazine, “everything the British road system should have been and isn’t”. Trust me on this one, the road system is excellent, the tension which had started in Cherbourg just drained away, even if we were on the wrong side of the road.

We were heading for the village of Les Pieux then onto the camp-site of Le Grand Large at Anse de Sciotot. This is approximately 20 miles from the ferry port and we considered it to be a good location for our first venture into France, in other words, no pressure.

All the pitches on this site were what we would call super pitches, each had its own tap and waste drainage point, excellent! The site itself is on the coast, so 80 yards and your straight onto the beach the site consists of a pool, usual toilet block and bar which doubles as camp-site shop. Something we soon got use to was ordering your baguettes for the following day which you collected from the site shop at about 8:30hrs. Sliced Hovis who needs it! When in France do as they do. The thing to remember about French baguettes is eat them the same day and no more then 6 hours after purchase. If you don’t they make excellent short fence posts the following day!

Which brings me to the point, yes we are English and be proud of it, the same as the French are proud of being French, but stop being English when you hit the shores of France, loosen up a bit, eat the French food and attempt to speak a little French, don’t bother looking for the fish and chip shop, their aren’t any! The only thing I would suggest taking are good old fashioned PG tips or Typhoo tea bags because the only tea bags I have ever found in Europe are Lipton’s! In the shops on the ferry the ruddy things are everywhere! No wonder the French don’t like tea, they must also think we all drink Lipton’s! Someone should put them right.

2004: When It All Began

2005-03-27T01:29:00.000+01:00

Having spend the last 20 years camping, trailer tenting and caravanning in that order, 3 years ago we decided to venture over the channel to France. Since then we have kept saying to each other, that’s Lesley the wife and myself, “why did we not do this years ago”! Well several reasons but looking back, all very lame reasons really.

The car may let us down when we get to the other side of the pond, what! we had a 240 Volvo, quite old, but its still going so I am told, the thing was built like a tank.
In my youth and early 20’s I use to get terribly sea sick, I know this because having been to sea in a warship(HMS Scarborough) in the late 60’s, crossing the channel in a force 8-9 was no joke! I thought we, the crew and ship, would not survive the trip. Even the French pilot would not come out and take us into port (Dunkirk) So this and a few other bad experiences on ships put me off that cross channel crossing with the caravan.
Could not speak the language and thought the French didn’t like the English.

The wife constantly refers to me as “Pessimistic Pete “ well she’s wrong about that because my names Joe! Anyway, that aside, just under 4 years ago we decided to invest in a new car to tow the caravan, which from henceforth I will refer to as the “Shed” Plus even better, we bought a French car which can be repaired anywhere in Europe if we break down. So this set my mind at rest and null and voided point (1) above.

Next came our first ferry crossing back in July 2004 a day crossing from Portsmouth to Cherbourg, funnily enough, this was were I sailed from on my last trip to France and this was not a good memory as I have said earlier. Things are not looking good, but she who must be obeyed, had matters well in hand. “Open your mouth” I heard her say and in went 1 or 2 Kwells. “What do they do” I asked, “never you mind” I was told. Once on-board and sat down in the cafe I was given 2 bands with buttons on each one? “what are these” I asked, “put them on your wrists with the button pressed against the pulse area” it was at this point I thought to myself, she’s taking the P…..! Bare in mind I was wearing a short sleeved shirt so the bands stood out like something you would see Michael Jackson wearing!

After 30 minutes into the journey the Kwells kicked in, moved into zombie mode. May have looked like a tit and mumbled to people for about 6 hours but arrived on the other side of the pond and no sea sickness whatsoever. Null and void point (2) above.

Point (3), well did I say Lesley had CSE French from her school days in Watford, “no” well she has and armed with this we thought we could take on France and beyond. The French don’t like the English bit was just rumour and something we would have to find out for ourselves. France here we come.