Grey light drizzle again this morning, third day
with a wet start but clears by lunchtime to beautiful sunshine. Changed plan a bit because of the rain – decided we
might as well keep driving a bit further until it cleared. Stopped at a supermarket to restock before
mid-day as nowhere is open on Sunday afternoons in France. We also ran out of water and needed to empty
toilet so chose to use an aire service point in the supermarket car park, this
was the first time we’d had to use one, first time for
everything! Chris finally gave in to
buying a yellow hose in the shop as the one he’d brought wasn’t long enough or
wide enough despite attempts to make it work!
Unfortunately just as we started to use the aire it started to properly
rain, the first proper rain we’ve had since being here – so we got
soaked! The service point said 2€ for a
jeton but we couldn’t see where to buy the jeton from so I asked a Frenchman
who was waiting behind us. I managed to
explain what I needed and that I could see where to buy the jeton, there was a
mobile laundrette point next to the aire and I worked out it wasn’t there, so
the man took me over to the car wash but he couldn’t see where either!!
Eventually we did find the jeton machine but then we realised that it only takes
payment by card – we already knew that the French banks are in dispute with the British banks and so are not recognising that there is any cash in the
accounts, it’s why the machine at Ile d’orelon didn’t work. So, I tried my card and it appeared to work
until the end when it said ‘cancelled’ but then spat out 5 jetons!! Who knows what was going on! So put jeton in, filled water, and emptied
loo, unfortunately in the rush Chris left the water cap at the service point,
he’s not impressed!!
Chose to head for a peninsular just South of Brest
and a town at the end called Cameret-Sur-Mer.
The road follows the coast and some beautiful sandy beaches made
stunning scenery. As we drove down
towards one bay we could see a T25 at the bottom and it’s owner was waving
profusely as we drove past. Virtually all
VW owners wave and beep their horns at us, I love it!!! We waved back, beeped the horn and realised
it was British and Chris recognised it from Bustypes and Club 80-90, it was ‘Kev
the Rev’!!! Chris loves this van - apparently Kev gets a bit of stick for the colour ("hearing-aid brown) but Chris loves it!
It was 1pm so we decided to
turn around and go back down to the bay to say ‘Hi’. Kev knows everything about T25s so had a good
look around Flo, he recommended 20/50 oil for the summer months as its thicker
and will stop the engine light coming on (which it was all day yesterday!!) . Chris and Kev, Mrs Kev and another couple they were
with, went over all the changes we’ve made. They’ve been wild camping in a bay just down the coast. We had our lunch and then carried on up the
coast but we were really pleased to have stopped and chatted them.
10 minutes up the road was the village of
Cameret-sur-mer, the aire was on top of the hill and right next to a really
large standing stone circle (actually it was more like a horseshoe
shape!). It was a massive aire but there
weren’t many free spaces – we got one just by the entrance. Set off for a walk straight away.
We explored the stone circle then followed
the footpath to the cliff path.
A ruined
chateau, the home of a famous French artist, that had been bombed by Germans
was right on the cliff edge – looked sad.
Walked to the brow of the hill and had a great view of a sandy beach, we
would have considered walking down but the kids didn’t want to!!
We could see a large fortification on the
next hill across, probably from WW2, but too far to walk to. So, instead, we decided to walk the other way
along the coast path and what a good job we did as we found some amazing German
bunkers to go in!! For about ½ a mile
stretch there were loads that hadn’t been filled in and you could still see
where the guns would have been.
At the
very end of the headland was a museum in memory of the War-at-sea, out the
front there were about 10 huge anchors from war ships on display. There was an older French fortification that had
been added to by the Germans too. It was
a real gem to find all this, Chris was especially pleased!! With no guide book for this area we seem to
be doing really well for finding some super spots!!
Buffet tea went down well as kids were hungry after the walk. We had finally bought a watermelon for the kids who have been nagging for ages to get one, I really don’t like them!! Showered outside the back of Flo again. Our immediate neighbours are not that friendly although I am trying to smile at them!! Ha ha!! A lot of people are walking past us on their trip to the bins and recycling, most are very friendly. One old couple asked us if we were Swiss, we said no, but then they carried on speaking to us in French, basically saying nice about Flo and asking if we liked the area etc, we managed to make ourselves understood!! Funny!! Another British woman stopped to talk to us, she had had a few G&Ts we think!!!! She’d owned a house near Dinan for 4 years but now sold it and bought motorhome. She gave us a few tips about which wine to buy – she likes one called Roche Mazet red cabernet sauvingnon or white sauvignion, she said she’s tried all the cheap supermarket wines and that is the best!! We’ll look next time we’re at Intermarche. Also she suggested we stay at an aire called Wissant just north of Calais, she said its good for the supermarket and has a good beach. Finally she says we should buy a book called ‘Campervan Stop’ which has aires that ‘All the aires’ doesn’t have.
More great shooting stars again this evening,
clearer that last night even!!!
