Unlucky for some? Well, you the reader arguably as I’m still churning out guff about our summer caravan tour around France. Don’t worry though, less than two weeks to go so the pain will be over soon, honest!
Friday saw us say goodbye to Mike & Cath at Le Cormier as we continued our journey north. Once again, I’d check the route offered up by the Sat Nav app and there appeared to be no surprises. We’d again be spending a lot of time on the smaller yellow ‘D’ roads but they posed no challenges so far.
All went well until we reached the town of Montoire-sur-le-Loir. The sat nav took us around the town square intending to have us exit on the far side to pick up a new road. Except that fairground rides were unloading in the square and a number of roads had been closed off. We had no choice but to go back across the bridge, turning off onto another road instead. Once the sat-nav got that message that we wouldn't be doing a u turn going around the square again, it re-routed and we were soon back on course. In the end it only cost us about 10 minutes, and as we weren't in a rush, it hardly mattered.
I assumed the controls a little while later and had my own little drama to deal with too as we passed through St. Calais.
An already narrow street had had chicanes added to slow traffic. I passed through the first one, then halted to let on coming traffic – who had the right of way – pass. However it seemed that a motorhome had followed me through as well blocking the road. The car facing sensibly let me around although space was tight and Patsy got much closer to the bollards than was comfortable. I waved my thanks and continued on my way but clearly the same generosity was not extended to the motorhome behind me. Someone was going to be reversing – and I was mighty glad it wasn’t me!
Thankfully there were no further surprises and the sat-nav got it spot on, announcing that we had arrived just as we pulled in to the campsite a little before 2pm
We were met by Peter & Sarah and after the usual formalities had been completed we were shown to our pitch. Again, some will already have seen some pictures on social media, but what a view! Gently sloping grass pitches divided by conifers looking over a gorgeous little lake surrounded by trees. Just wonderful.
There was no Wi-Fi on pitch so we headed over to the cafe/bar/restaurant to do the usual updates. Trev went to get the coffee – yeah I know, an occasion in itself – and returned with said coffee and two glasses of what looked remarkably like real beer.
And it was. Oh heaven. Nearly six weeks since I’d last had one. It was nectar.Yum.
Later after a quick foray to the nearby supermarket we returned for dinner. Home made pizza was on the menu and they were delicious. Taste buds were further tantalised with a taste of one of my favourite ales – London Pride. Peter had kindly kept the very last can for us. I graciously but reluctantly shared it with Trev!
Saturday was another public holiday – yeah, Saturday, celebrating the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which, Peter advised us meant even less would be open on a Saturday then usual, and only in the morning. It had been a wet night and the morning was a lot cooler so we decided to go for a drive around to get our bearings.
The campsite – Forest View – is located right in the middle of the Perche National Regional Park and there looks like plenty to see, both natural and man made.
Our first stop was just up the road – Bretoncelle. It being Saturday morning there were actually people about – well, the bars and cafe’s were busy anyway. A very pleasant little village.
Further east we came across La Loupe – bigger but not as pretty, the old Hotel de Ville looks over the centre square and is certainly not the most attractive we’ve seen. In the front wall was set an old Royal Mail post box. Not a common sight in France. Funny that, however a small plaque above solved the mystery. La Loupe was twinned with Royston in Hertfordshire and the post box was a gift. Nice.
We passed through a couple more villages before pausing briefly at one of the bigger towns – Nogent-le-Rotrou. As expected it was quiet but worthy of a second look during the week. The short drive back offered some more lens clicking opportunities.
And that was it for our first full day here at the lovely Forest View. Nice and relaxing. To finish lets have a look around this lovely site:
There are three camping areas – the open area in amongst the remaining apple trees from when the site was once a cider farm. Then there are lakeside pitches – where we are – and a ‘quiet’ section back from the lake.
There is a new facilities block offering all the usual and a B & B too.
The cafe/bar restaurant opens six days a week and Sarah cooks up a two course ‘plat du jour’ on alternate nights. we catered for ourselves last night but went over later for a drink and it smelt delicious – and was clearly very popular.
Right, that’s nearly it, but before I go, this is what greeted us yesterday morning. Nice eh?
And just when you thought you’d got away with it – a couple of videos:
And a couple of slideshows:
