Cycling to see Les Frères Sisters at Chef Boutonne cinema

It's been ages since I had time to write a proper weekend roundup post so my apologies to those of you who've kept popping by to find out what we're up to and who have then clicked away again none the wiser!

We returned to Chef Boutonne a week ago where I was relieved to find that Horace does indeed fit just fine onto the parking space by our static (as Dave said he would, of course!). The weather was beautiful for most of our journey down through France, in contrast to that from the UK which saw our Poole-Cherbourg ferry cancelled at about half an hour's notice (having got up stupidly early in the morning too). So we zoomed(ish) from Poole to Folkestone, stayed overnight at a nice CS near the Channel Tunnel, and made our first journey under the sea on the train next day. I appreciated that we got to be in a double-height carriage as I imagine it would have been very claustrophobic in a car. However, the journey was certainly swift and, other than not knowing when to leave the holding area, pleasantly easy. I think we'd still use the ferries further west rather than drive all the way to Calais or Folkestone again, but if we find ourselves needing to cross in that eastern corner again, the Tunnel could be our choice.

Horace at Bec Hellouin aire 

It's felt like a busy week, although I am now struggling to remember quite what has taken up so much of each day! Travelling down, we stopped at our first free aire in Bec Hellouin which is a stunningly pretty village in Normandy. It's chocolate-box pretty, almost too pretty! The aire is basically just the car park behind the abbey and there were a couple of other motorhomes already parked up when we arrived.

Bec Hellouin 

If you don't know about aires, they are dedicated places for motorhomes and campervans to stop overnight. Most French towns and villages have at least one such place. If there's no facilities, they're usually free or there might be a small charge if water, waste facilities or electric hookup are available. The system makes finding an overnight place far easier than it used to be for us with a caravan when we had to find a proper campsite each night. The EU offers grants to places that want to set up aires so there are now hundreds across France, Germany, etc. One of our motorhoming intentions is to offset the additional costs by regularly taking advantage of aires - and this one was certainly a great choice. Peaceful and beautiful with only the Abbey bells to distract us in the morning (it was a Sunday!).

Bec Hellouin abbey 

Another intention now that we only have Horace to drive around, is to make greater use of our bicycles for short journeys. The motorhome obviously uses more diesel than our car did, plus it's not always convenient to park - although Dave is turning out to be an admirable parker! So I'm happy to say that we cycled to the shops earlier this week which, as it was our first cycle in ages, was somewhat painful! However we persevered and this evening we cycled into Chef Boutonne to go to the movies. Part of the library building doubles up as a cinema with comfortable tiered seats and a proper large screen. Today's film was an early evening screening of Les Frères Sisters in VO, based on the Patrick deWitt novel The Sisters Brothers. We'd both loved the book so wanted to see the film too. VO is Version Original meaning, in this case, English language dialogue with French subtitles. A good learning tool! It was a beautifully shot film with loads of gorgeous wide scenes of desolate wilderness. I couldn't actually remember much about the novel so have no idea how faithful this film is - Dave thinks there are differences. However it was fun to be able to visit a cinema again and then to jump back on our bikes to whizz home in time for a warming curry!

Chef Boutonne cinema 

Back in the UK - traffic jams and April showers

Gee, but it's great to be back home!

Donkeys at Lost Pines CS 

We had a beautifully calm Channel crossing which I particularly appreciated - not being a natural sailor! Six hours from Caen to Portsmouth were made even easier by my sleeping for four of them and we had our own cabin which I firmly believe is worth the extra cost. Ouistreham's Les Pommiers campsite was again perfect for the ferry terminal. €18.10 per night with our ACSI card to include electric hookup and good facilities and then only about a ten minute drive along easy, well-signposted roads so not overly taxing for a sleepy person at stupid o'clock in the morning. I am much more confident at driving onto the boat towing the caravan now too. This crossing was aboard the Brittany Ferries' Mont St Michel which seemed to have a far more spacious car deck than we experienced previously on the Cap Finisterre. If you're a bit nervous about towing your caravan on and off a ferry, maybe try and book yourself onto the Mont St Michel. I don't know much about the rest of the boat's facilities. Our cabin was adequate and the sheets weren't as threadbare as I remembered from the other boat. The coffee from the bar was also adequate, but don't be misled by the huge white sofas by the windows - they are surprisingly hard!

Sanitary block at Lost Pines 

After the mostly quieter continental traffic of the past six months, driving the M27 out of Portsmouth felt like being in a video game again, but at least I knew to expect it this year. We headed straight for Bournemouth and are now on a wonderfully ramshackle Camping And Caravanning Club CS in St Leonards. The site is called Lost Pines and costs £12 a night including electric hookup. It is down a very bumpy little rural road and consists of five concrete hardstanding pitches with grass inbetween them. There is a brick-built sanitary block with two toilets and a shower each for men and women. The owners keep four little donkeys in a paddock just behind the CS and this reminded me of Camping Casteillets in southern France. Fellow caravanners who have used Lost Pines over several years told me that the owners used to have a successful market garden, but illness has curtailed this. Greenhouses still line the site entrance, but are overgrown with brambles and falling down - a melancholy sight. It's very quiet here too.

Our pitch at Lost Pines 

Unfortunately for our purposes, Lost Pines is almost a complete EE network blind spot. We zoomed to the nearby EE store at Castlepoint Shopping Centre on Thursday afternoon and were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get a new SIM card for our Osprey. There wasn't even much of a queue. Their current good deal is 32GB of data for £28 per month on a rolling 30-day contract which should suit us. Back at Bailey though, even with the Osprey wedged in the skylight, most of the time we just get two bars of 2G which is scarcely enough to download emails. We are meant to be starting our househunting efforts here. We can't get Rightmove! The signal does improve after about half-past nine of an evening, but in the daytime we are better off driving half a mile away and parking up in a layby.

We drove into Bournemouth yesterday for a stroll around Christchurch Road and then through the Gardens by the seafront. Roadworks on the A338 made it quite a journey just to get that far and I really didn't like the sheer volume of traffic everywhere. I had previously thought of Bournemouth as a town, but it is really more of a busy city - and presumably gets even more manic during the summer season. The Victorian architecture is frequently beautiful however, especially looking up above rows of shops to see interesting window and roof details. Christchurch Road was fascinating for its variety of cultures and range of little independent shops. We saw a dozen different cuisines offered in less than five minutes walking. I don't think I could cope long-term with the noise and bustle though. Plus our Ford Mondeo Estate isn't going to be a convenient car for ad-hoc roadside parking! A shame as there are a few potential in-budget flats that caught our interest online. I think we're going to be moving on soon though.