Near Noyal-Muzillac - Summer splendour

Friday 30/08/19

We are enjoying glorious sunshine and warm temperatures in Brittany!

The advantage of doing this pre-sit is that we get to enjoy more of the summer weather and produce from the garden, much of which will have faded by the time we would have arrived originally; mid-October.

Although the strawberry harvest is almost over, I still managed
to pick the perfect strawberry

Jess is slowly getting more used to us (and more tolerant of Jasper); she really has the most mesmerising eyes.

'Jess in a box'

Two months in the UK - a summary

Wednesday 28/08/19

We're settling down into our Brittany sit and I am out of action (and out of gardening!) with a throat infection, so it's a good time to reflect on our trip to the UK.

Our current home on the left.

We ended up spending longer in the UK than originally planned but the beauty of our current lifestyle is the flexibility it offers us.  We simply set up a few house sits (it turns out we are quite in demand at present and have been turning away sits) to keep a lid on accomodation costs, (it's not so easy to free-camp in the UK) and give us bases to help with Charmaine's revision.

We used CMC (Caravan & Motorhome Club) sites for the periods between the sits and had some lovely stays in these as well, especially our 'holiday' at Kimmeridge Bay in an affiliated site.  The house sits also all worked out very well and we met some lovely people and their pets.

We spent a total of 65 nights in the UK, 9 of them on campsites and the balance in sits.

Bokkie drove a total of 783 miles (1.253 km) and didn't particularly enjoy the congestion, narrow roads or driving on the wrong side of the road although it was nice being able to read the road signs!  We tried to limit filling up in the UK as diesel is much more expensive, so made sure we entered with a full tank and left with an empty one.  We only bought 80 litres of fuel at a cost of £106 and our consumption is still around 29 mpg.

We used almost no LPG but did make sure we filled up our bottles as, strangely, LPG is cheaper in the UK than in France.

We spent a total of £1,618 (€1,484) in direct costs.  As before, this excludes 'above the line' costs of which there were quite a few as we had to repair Bokkie's brakes, get her through the MOT and fix Charmaine's car and renew insurances, etc.  The highest cost, as expected, was groceries at £677 followed by campsites £169 and diesel of £156 (this is diesel consumed as we used French diesel as well as the UK diesel we bought).  We also did a fair amount of minor repairs and stocking up of clothing and essentials for the upcoming winter sit.

Our daily cost was only £24.52 (approx. €22.50) mainly due to us house-sitting so much of the time - which cut down on diesel, gas and accommodation costs.  It was really interesting to find that groceries were generally more affordable in the UK than France.  The decline in the value of the pound will make this even more pronounced back in France for the winter, but at least we can bulk-buy a bit more in the house, something we can't often do in Bokkie.  There is also all the amazing produce from the garden which (with the owners' permission) will be enjoyed.

One of the two vegetable gardens, bursting with produce

Saucy French carrots

Jess with her lovely golden eyes 

Jasper deciding to go to the source in his hunt

The cutest little bat outside my window

All in all, it's lovely to be doing the pre-sit in the Brittany house as we are enjoying the gardens in summer, and it gives us the opportunity to see what we might need for the long sit and get ourselves set up for the winter.

Now I just need to shake this throat infection - the garden and surrounding countryside is waiting...!

Near Noyal-Muzillac

Monday 26/08/19

We've arrived at our house-sit location so I won't give too much detail on our location.  We had a lovely time in the campsite and it was just what we needed to hide from the heat.  We were amazed at the families touring with kids in trailers towed behind their bikes, or following on their own tiny bikes with Mom and Dad carting all their camping gear.  They would either stay a few days in their tents and explore the area or stay overnight and continue their journey in the morning.  It is really a popular area for cycling with flattish routes along the canal and disused rail lines.

We went into Le-Roc on Sunday morning as there was supposed to be a market but we couldn't find it (and it's not a big town) so we settled for a baguette and the boulangerie.  Mid-morning we set off to the house as we were only about half an hour away.

We're in the white house attached to the amazing barn conversion the owners live in when they are in France
Photo credit: B Claridge 

Lovely views from our bedroom

It was lovely to meet our hosts again and the garden looks amazing in it's summer splendour.  We also got to meet Jasper,  the 4-month old kitten we will be looking after along with old-girl,  Jess (a 14 year old stunning black cat).  We aren't on photo terms with Jess yet, but she is lovely as well.  So far she just comes in for food, but no cuddles yet....we'll give it some time.

Jasper, exploring.     Photo credit: B Claridge

Our daughter sent Jasper a toy which he loves.

As you will see, Jasper already has us wrapped around his fingers (?) and is quite a handful when he is awake.

We had a wonderful supper with our hosts (with lots of veg, salad and berries from their garden) and they departed to Spain with their caravan this morning.  We have a lovely house for the next three weeks,  loads of gardening to do and two lovely cats to cuddle.  Then we get to do it all over again for six months from October, heaven!

Le Roc-Saint-André

Friday 23/08/19

Another glorious late summer's day in Brittany.  We woke up reasonable early (compared to all the other campers) and set off for our morning run / walk (Toni runs and I walk).  The mornings are quite cool and the walk along the canal was stunning.

Early morning along the canal 

After breakfast we decided to explore the route along the canal a bit further on our bikes and set off towards Malestroit, about 8.5km away.  It was a stunning cycle and we got to practice our French along the way - well, only our greeting really: greeting each and every cyclist, walker and fisherman along the way(it's compulsory!).  The only part of my French to change is my sing-song 'Bonjour' is now a shorter bark as this is how we are greeted; not sure if it is for general use or only when someone is hurtling past you on a bicycle.  We'll have to see.

The flower theme also extends to all the locks we have passed - stunning.

Time for coffee and some people watching

Ornate stained glass windows

Malestroit old village

The village of Malestroit is lovely and we had a coffee and some snacks before heading back again.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the campsite as it slowly filled up with weekend campers.

Ornate steeple on the Le Roc church

The bridge outside the campsite

Another lovely day!
                                                                         

Le Roc-Saint-André

Thursday 22/08/19

We woke up this morning and went for our run/walk while it was nice and quiet.  On our way we spotted a balloon departing from the field next to the aire and it climbed away quickly into the perfect flying weather.

We were still contemplating what to do and where to go as the weather is set to get much warmer, and the aires are all still quite busy with summer holiday travellers.  

Because we are now quite close to the house we are going to, so don't have to travel so far any more, we decided to take a break from the driving and try to find a caravan site to stay at.  This would mean we can prepare ourselves better to deal with the next three hot days as we can set up our awning and sit and cook outside more easily - something we often can't do on aires.  We also have access to showers and can deploy Bokkie's heat shields (towels over the windows and roof vent) to keep the sun out.

We managed to find space at a campsite only half an hour from our final destination and it is absolutely fabulous!  There is a contingent of WWII era vintage vehicles on one part of the property, and the campsite also has a selection of vintage caravans, glamping tents, eco-homes and cabins for rent.  It is bordering a canal with a beatiful cycle path and is filled with people relaxing and kids playing.

Just what we need for a few days to relax; no more driving for Bokkie until a short hop on Sunday. We are delighted to have found this place - and can now see how much the French and other visitors are enjoying their summer holidays.  It's nice to be a part of that.

Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët

Wednesday 21/08/19

Bokkie is enjoying some Goldilocks weather at last, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, just perfect.

The panoramic shot shows the extent of the wartime harbour at low tide

We were treated to a wonderful sunset over Arromanches last night and had a reasonably good night's sleep in spite of the masses - ear plugs are a blessing in noisy sites.  

We decoded to get moving quite early as we wanted to leave before the majority of the crowds woke up and started their exodus, and the new intake arrived.  We decided to move away from the very touristy coast and resume our journey towards Brittany.  We also needed to find somewhere to fill up with water and our eagle-eyed navigator (Toni) spotted the sign at a large car park as we were passing through Vire.  

We decided to fill Bokkie up, have a shower and then walk around town, even though we didn't have terrible high hopes.  The town was largely destroyed in WWII (95%) and what we had seen so far wasn't really very pretty.  How wrong we were, it had some real gems including the remains of a castle built in the 1100's and a medieval gatehouse. 

Medieval gate house / clock tower

Church of Notre Dame in Vire

Remains of Castle Donjon - built in the 12th century

Church of St Anne in Vire

We continue to marvel at the flower displays in all of the french towns and villages - they are often very detailed, and are simply amazing.  It seems the village councils take so much pride in their surroundings.  All the streets have beds and baskets bursting with flowers and most gardens are stunning as well.

We moved on after lunch to a lovely Aire in Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët, on the banks of a lake and park.  We spent the afternoon reading and people watching under the shade of the trees,  and took our customary stroll through the village and around the area.

Our view across the lake

Bokkie and friends in the background

Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët church

The weather is set to get increasingly hotter for the next couple of days (and peaking on Saturday),  so we are trying to decide our next move - stay here for another day or move and find somewhere cool to stay?  We'll decide after our sleep.