France

09
Sep
2021

Something new & French shores once more

Twinwood Festival

A first for me and van attending a music festival which more than exceeded my hopes. It didn’t pour down for the whole time, so the van was never at risk of getting mud-bound. It was all the better to be able to share the enjoyment with my daughter and son-in-law, and we had alot of fun, not least some jive for beginner lessons.

The range of music from the decades from 1930s upto the 70s – rockabilly, swing, soul, gypsy jazz, Frankie Valli tribute act, and more, was fantastic. Lots of people dressing up – here’s me doing a token bit, and below a snippet of the music and dance on offer. Highly recommend if you like music which puts a smile on your face, gets your feet moving, and encourages you to sing along. The musicianship from all the bands was excellent, and they were really pleased to be performing following their Covid lockdowns.

Portsmouth – Caen – Chatellerault

From the festival near Bedford, it was a smooth drive down to Portsmouth, and the ferry crossing found a calm sea. It was great to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law who had by chance booked onto the same crossing and, better still, enjoy their commodore class cabin for a rest after traipsing literally miles over the last few days.   

Fallout from Brexit meant that I waited about 45 mins after leaving the ferry for the French border control to check my passport and Covid vaccination certificate.  They didn’t check, and therefore confiscate, the remaining dairy produce in my fridge, so the next morning cup of tea did not have to resort to the hidden UHT carton.  By the time I got through the border it was about 10:30pm, then I had a drive to the stopover. Amazing achievement – I had made it into France!

This was a free aire about 20 miles south off the coast in the hamlet of Grainville-Langannerie outside the Mairie.  What a brilliant place – one other van there, and straightaway Blue felt at home, away from England’s current lack of provision, if not in some quarters disapproval.

But the next morning and checks prior to setting off revealed that the hissing of air sound I thought I heard while waiting at Portsmouth harbour, and didn’t check for a variety of reasons, had obviously been caused by my passenger rear tyre, which was pretty well flat!!! Tbh, if I had checked it I don’t know what I would have done at that point.

Google again sorted me out producing a tyre place 12 miles down the still empty main road, so drove gingerly there, and was of course delighted that they could sort me out. Good service as I’d experienced with the same problem 2 years ago on the way to Brittany in Monte2.

I was on my way again, via long, straight, non-toll non-busy, non-roadwork-hindered roads, to the house of friends from way back now living in France a few miles from Chatellerault.  Drove all day in effect mostly at 55 mph, but lots of slowing as the roads I took, whilst direct, still went through many small towns.  Blue sky, rising temperatures, taking note of the countryside in the departments of the Orne, Sarthe, and into the Deux Sevres (part of the Loire valley and plains) and arriving in the Vienne.

Posted by admin in Events, France
16
Sep
2019

Unplanned early return & tears for brexit

Just 2 weeks after I wrote the post on the ferry heading for Calais, I am writing again on the ferry in the other direction, heading home early due to family illness.

In Switzerland I was hedging my onward options due to the situation – not wanting to travel further east and south – so I took the opportunity in the decision time to join my sister and her husband on a campsite at Le Lavandou on the French Mediterranean coast, where I have stayed twice before. I was able to be an extra person and vehicle on their double-sized expensive pitch – so cheap for being on a 5-star campsite in that location! – and enjoyed 3 lovely days of more Summer.

This area and the medieval town of Bormes Les Mimosas is beautiful.

The past 3 weeks hold the record for the miles/kilometres driven, and having made the decision that I should return to the UK, I have certainly covered territory in 2 days: 9 hours driving from Le Lavandou to Beaune in Burgundy, mid-way up France, and a further 7 hour to the ferry, with cruise control all the way and Monte2 fantastic. More than 300 miles from Dover up to Lancashire.

So it’s a goodbye again as I sit at the rear of the ship and look southwards at Calais receding into the late afternoon, early Autumn sunlight. I wanted to record the really unexpected wave of sadness which swept over me earlier as the town came into view from the motorway heading to the French coast, the realisation hitting that this would probably be the last time for me before the UK leaves the EU.

I am happy to admit to the depth of this feeling – and to explain it as being like a grief for the ending of my own personal relationship with the EU – and France in particular over the years – and all its potential options that I have taken for granted as being part of my life since I started studying French and German at university in the late 70s. All this emotion found its echo coincidentally and most unexpectedly in those moments by the randomly-ordered Stevie Wonder tracks I was listening to. I did choose to ‘go with’ all the emotions and associated reflection.

My hope is that Brexit will sooner or later become in reality only a bad dream, as I thought it was when I woke up the morning after the referendum 3 years ago. I am a citizen of the UK, but will always feel that my valued citizenship of the wider European grouping known as the EU has been taken away from me on spurious grounds and on balance for no real benefit in the complex, interdependent world of now. I have much sympathy for those EU nationals who’ve been resident in countries other than their own for many years, who now feel everything’s up in the air, beyond their control, and ‘no longer wanted’,

Came across this building – see the caption above the door – in a little Swiss hamlet near the Italian border.

Posted by admin in France, Musings, Places
06
Jul
2019

Honfleur – and then ferry

For my last full day and night of the Western Odyssey I drove the few miles across Normandy countryside to where the Seine flows into the sea between the town of Honfleur and my sailing port of Le Havre. I stayed at the very nice 2-star Camping du Phare, for an extremely reasonable cost without electricity, given it’s location at this beautiful little town on the tourist trail. There’s loads more to visit around this area, just over the Channel, beaches as well as the other towns and villages, and well worth a return trip.

Le Havre was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in this style:

Posted by Jackie in Cities-Towns, France, Places
04
Jul
2019

War Grave

The grave of my Mum’s first cousin, Captain Arthur Deakin Eteson

I visited the WWII cemetery at Hottot-Les-Bagues to look for the grave of Captain Arthur Deakin Eteson, only son of my Mum’s aunt and uncle, who died in the Normandy landings aged 27. In looking for his grave, (before realising there is an index in each cemetery) I found myself saying thank you across each row of graves. All nationalities were represented, but most seemed to be under 25, and as young as 18. The cemetery was beautifully maintained, as are they all, and places for reflection. What tragedy – no computer game!

  • Gravestone at left under the tree
Posted by Jackie in France, Musings, Places
04
Jul
2019

WWII and the EU

I drove to Caen WWII Memorial Centre and spent 3 hours dedicated to reminding myself about this momentous and horrendous time period in not just Europe but the world’s 20th century history.

In continuing to my overnight stop at the village of Asnelles – the D-Day landing site ‘Gold Beach’, it was obvious how much this area of France commemorates with respect what happened in June 1944. Streets in Asnelles are named after British regiments – eg, Rue du Devonshire Regiment – there are plaques and streetlight banners highlighting armed forces individuals who fought in the Battle of Normandy. And up and down the beaches are wartime defenses, and equipment just left there as a very vivid reminder of what happened then.

I decided to watch the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’, which I really feel should be compulsory viewing in schools for all 16 year olds, as well as films such as Schindler’s List, as the still living participants and witnesses of it all become ever fewer. We should make all efforts to not forget the horror which was unleashed as a result of evil philosophy on behalf of leaders who in Germany, Italy and others were able to seize power, and then distort almost completely the moral framework of their citizens. The fact that such ideologies continue to flourish and have since then managed to escape Pandora’s box, and wreak similar evil in our lifetimes, means we must not take for granted the relative freedoms and prosperities we have enjoyed in our liberal democracies.

In conversation with others, the fear of the rise of populism and nationalism in its worst forms throughout Europe was a repeated theme.

  • Normandy Landings

As I set off this morning and stopped briefly on the cliff tops at Arromanches, I thought about the EU, and how I want to celebrate the force for good that I, in my simple perception and knowledge, feel it to have been through its evolution since the second world war. In reflecting on how difficult it is for the opposing sides in Northern Ireland to overcome the wounds and legacies of that historical conflict, imagine the gulf, the bitterness, and the need for revenge and retribution, amongst and within the nations of Europe arising from WWII, coming also after WWI. In the span of one person’s lifetime, I am proud that these nations’ representatives have worked so hard together within this structure and its previous incarnations, I feel, to establish an order which indeed has restrained enmity and sought to enable its peoples to flourish from out of the devastation of that war.

Perhaps one will say that indeed it served this purpose in the 20th century, but now it needs reform and is no longer right for the world as it is now, and Great Britain’s place within it. My view remains that all things considered, the EU is still a force for peace, for prosperity, for flourishing of its peoples, and yes for ‘good’ , which the United Kingdom is leaving for an empty slogan of ‘taking back sovereignty’, and a misplaced confidence in a Britain of its empire of the past. To face the challenges of now – strong-man politics, the rise of populism and nationalism, globalisation with potentially rampant corporations in reality stronger than nations, climate change, we need to be part of that bigger community, to be able to stand together as a block to defend and continue to develop the values of freedom, human rights and social democracy, which have been so hard won .

In conversation with others, whether Dutch, German, or French, sadness at the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU was a repeated theme.

Posted by Jackie in Cities-Towns, France, Musings
03
Jul
2019

Against the clock now – Mont St Michel, Normandy Beaches, Honfleur

Booked the ferry from Le Havre to return to the UK Fri 6 July, and planned the route from Perros-Guirec via Mont Saint Michel, Caen and the Normandy beaches and then Honfleur town visit. Apart from passing through, this is my first visit to Normandy.

The weather continues to be perfect for driving, stopping somewhere overnight, and walking/cycling to explore.

Mont Saint Michel was very impressive, although I decided that a visit to the inside of the Abbaye would wait for another time. The surrounding countryside is peaceful, and seems ‘gentle’. Don’t know whether this will change once the full Summer holidays start. Stayed on a camping car private aire called La Bidonniere about 2.5 miles from the start of the causeway and can see the Abbaye through my van side door.

This morning I woke up quite early and had just the sound of birds, gentle breeze and the faint echoes of successive village bells chiming 7am, from across the flat plains. Perfect.

  • view in distance from Monte2
Posted by Jackie in France, Places