France 2025 .... into the Valley (the Loire valley)

The conundrum started as soon as the ferry booking was made, Tassie (our campervan) lives in a storage yard and access is from 7am, our Portsmouth - Caen ferry is booked for 8am.

A 90 minute drive from storage to the ferry port, points to a Plan B requirement.

Finding a place to stay overnight close to Portsmouth was preferable, needing to be at the port around 6.30am to check in and go through security (more of that later)... the challenge is most camp sites are gated and barrier entry / exit is not permitted between the hours of 11.00pm & 7.00am.

Convenient to Portsmouth is Port Solent Marina with free overnight parking in one of their public car parks, a call to the security staff on the day of use is all that is required to get permission to park subject to availability on arrival.

Knowing we would be sharing the same bays with patrons from the amenities around Port Solent - the question was.... would space be available in a busy car park with poor camber for sleeping!

The thought of a relatively flat bay for a few hours sleep would be taken as a win, especially parked alongside the departing midnight revellers from the cinema and various bars and restaurants.

The back up plan - a cabin was booked for the 6 hour crossing - to help catch up on any missed snooze time.

As luck prevailed Tassie found a decent spot in a packed car park, and a 6 hour sleep was roughly achieved... hurrah!

Alarm set for 5.45am, just 20 minutes later we were packed up and off to check in at the port .

On arrival at the port of Portsmouth, just a couple of vehicles were ahead of Tassie and then directed to a waiting channel for the security / customs check. The last time we were here we waited for about an hour, so expected a bit of a wait.

Thinking about breakfast and not knowing when the catering outlets opted up for business when aboard, I offered to make some cheese rolls. There is some mixed views on taking dairy products to France - post brexit!

About 3 minutes later - cheese - rolls - butter all out - Jo hurriedly announced "we are being called forward" quickly everything that could move was stashed apart from a sharp knife which got put into the glove compartment !!! Well I was under pressure of time to sit back in the passenger seat.... and it was still in my hand, my only defence m'lud!!

The port security chap then asked us to vacate the vehicle for him to made an internal van inspection - dutifully he had a look around... he either ignored the cheese crumbs as he poked his head into the toilet cubicle (looking for extra non paying / non passport passengers perhaps), or he had no interest what was until a recent change in rules reversing some of the post brexit rules - our dairy contraband.

His final question was "do you have any sharp knives on board" which is an odd one given that there is a full cutlery drawer, the obligatory "No" was given almost in unison, to which he seemed content at, not knowing had he opened the glove compartment there would have been a bit of explaining to be done!

On board 30 minutes before the departure of the eco friendly Hybrid -LNG boat the "Guillaume de Normandie" (named after Normandy's favourite son William), he is also buried in Caen- better known to Brits as William the Conquerer.

Despite an overcast sky, the sea was in a calm state, we were quickly and serenely passing by the Portsmouth naval yard, Gunwharf Quay and out into the Solent around the 1860's built round sea forts towards the south eastern edge of the Isle of Wight, before heading south towards France.

A few hours sleep, a coffee and a cheese roll later, it was almost time to disembark at the Caen port of Ouistreham.

Tassie was the 3rd vehicle disembarking the 15.00 arrival time, at 15.06 we had cleared french immigration - passports stamped, and we were out on the roads of Ouistreham, satnav set to our next stop of Granville aka the "Monaco of the North" and previous home to Christian Dior, we were back in France on adventure and road trip... off we went ... first a stop at a Leclerc supermarche for more supplies!

Quite an uneventful 90 minute drive, long straight A roads in the bright sunshine, passing the outskirts of the occasional deserted village (probably behind shuttered windows hiding from the heat) then finally we arrived in Donville Les Bains on the outskirts of the town, a down hill hairpin bend the last challenge to be done just by the entrance to our campsite for the next 2 nights.

Our allocated pitch was a pleasant and decent 7/10, its unofficial rating given for being - a level pitch (up and down & side to side) - a decent size with shade and sun - local to other amenities, e.g cafe / beach and most importantly local to the required boulangerie for the daily baguette et croissant!

We quickly settled into the pitch, it has become a well rehearsed drill, water tank fill up, electrics on, front windscreen cover (to keep cool) and chairs out - cold drink in hand, we are now good to go.

It's always amusing to see how many UK vehicles are also parked up, on our wander around the family small site we spotted 5 other UK plated motorhomes, 4 were clearly in a convoy with a circling of the wagons in action, amusingly no one was about but a microwave and large hot plate was all on prominent display, suggesting a big dinner was planned for later.

The long sandy beach faced due west, with clear blue skies a couple of great sunsets were being looked forward to.

Weather wise it was overcast yet mildly warm, and perfect for a cycle into the town of Granville the following day, all we needed to do is follow along the beach road to the south.

Like much of northern France there is a fair amount of memorials reflecting the occupation of France, Granville was not an exception, as we found on our cycle.

Stumbling across an old ammunitions bunker sabotaged by the occupiers, there is a real sense of how the land was defended over 80 years ago.

The town held up its Monaco claim badge well, hills narrow cobbled streets leading up to Le Roc, which housed an old  12th century fortification with well preserved re purposed buildings, complete with draw bridge and mini Notre Dame Cathedral.

After a potter around the old town buildings and lanes, our cycle journey headed down the hill towards the port.

The port did not want to lose out with its boast as "France's leading shellfish port"  with a cycle out to the Cap Lihou harbour lighthouse where we came across some rather unusual metal objects piled up on the harbour side, on close inspection it suggested they were used for dredging the many shallow sandy bays for shellfish.

Our evening finished with a walk to the local beach bistro, which was hosting a music event over the weekend, catching the last act on the Sunday night over a couple of cocktails and a trip to the beach as the sun was setting. As it was the Glastonbury weekend, our musical night was Glasto - french style!

Moving 130 miles south we headed to the Loire Valley, the french proclaiming it the "Garden of France" due to its abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards and asparagus fields (much like the UK's county of Kent aka The Garden of England.. more importantly Kent has hops - essential for beer brewing!

Dictated by the sun's direction and seeking as much coolness as possible, temperatures were nudging into the high 30's, Tassie pointed diagonally across her pitch to help minimise direct sunlight, it was stifling, our campsite had limited shade, the awning came into its own.

Staying at Montjean Sur Loire, (between the bigger towns of Nantes & Angers), the site was small and quite empty of touring vans and tents, there were more longer term visitors staying in their mobile home type wooden cabins, which occupied about half of the site, the heat inside suggested why residents took them outside sitting under any shade available.

The site had a small outdoor pool, as unlucky would have it, it was just finalising its readiness for opening - on the day that we were leaving!

Spending a couple of days, there we opted to have a little drive out to check out the Loire Valley towns of Angers and Saumur, the air conditioning in the van was more preferable than the intense heat outside!

Opting to take the quieter B roads, we wound our way through the rolling countryside with vineyards on all sides, Pays de Loire and Anjou wine being the most prolific names that kept reoccurring.

Angers on first impression is a pretty town particularly the outer fringes, which are very nicely laid out, lots of greenery and pretty wildflower verges line the roads. That gives me a thought to get into a bit of 'guerrilla gardening' when home, and repurpose the grass between the pavement and the road outside Chateau Claygate, the council's verge grass cutting service may welcome one less patch to churn up!

Anyway back to Angers, we spotted a huge Decathlon, and spent a little too long inside the air conditioned building, we did buy some pétanque type game though!

With a 6.3m van, finding a parking space can be a challenge, notwithstanding any height restriction barriers for Tassie to try to limbo under! Lack of options, we decided to move on to Saumur, around 30 miles further into the Loire Valley.

Fun Fact - Angers is twinned with Wigan (UK)!

Driving along the road, we did spot a kangaroo farm as well as a camel grazing in a field with a Shetland pony.. all a bit unreal for the middle of France!

Passing a number of chateaux along the way (most reminded me of the Disney logo of a castle with round Rapunzel towers and dramatic high walls), Samour's chateau commanded a hill top position looking down the valley and its namesake Loire River.

Chateau de Saumur, now a museum which also boasts as the international horse riding capital of the world, has a huge display of old horse related items.

A wander around the chateau in 38 degrees of heat was reduced to a shorter whistle stop walk around the battlements and vineyard.

Fun fact - Coco Chanel was born in Saumur, and it's twinned with Warwick (UK), think this area of France got the end of the twinning alphabet!

The following day having slightly neglected our little town of Montjean Sur Loire, previously a famous bustling port in the 1800's due to its lime kilns, now a quiet shadow of its former self.

We took an amble around the town, it was similar to many we had driven through, despite pretty buildings, there was not a lot to life, much of the town with shuttered houses and shops all closed up.

The boulangerie also closed, our daily habit of a 'baguette a day' needed a fix. Thankfully just outside a baguette vending machine was on hand, credit cards accepted 1 euro 30! The baguette ended up being quite a decent one!

In the centre of town an unmanned petrol station bought into the deserted town five, with its arrangement of more vending machine choices, ranging from a charcuterie platter, pizza, fire wood & charcoal, and a variety of cheeses and meats plus an Amazon locker! This town really had no one around - apart from passing traffic.

An old castle which then became a church in the 1800's, sitting on the highest ground around looked imposing.

Invitingly lit up by the setting sun, up the steep hill I went to have a closer look at the church, it sadly showed it's had years of neglect. Jo opted not to go up the hill, she did not miss much!

What was once a proud imposing building now shone in the sunlight as just a stone beacon on the hilltop.

Our time in the Loire was coming to an end, the heat was dictating we head for the cooler breezes from the coast, out next stop west would be Ile de Noirmoutier.