We have swung round now, and are at an Aire at a place called Quarre Les Tombes

in the Burgundy region.

Tomorrow we will head further west and join the Loire.

Walked around the town, and had a beer at a bar (Quarre Cream), first drink out! 

Spoke to a couple of English men at the bar, one retired, the other working just enough to not touch his money in the bank, both in their fifties....

 

Today's photos are of the businesses in the town and the even smaller library than yesterday for people to exchange books at.

The large house with Angela walking past is a b&b.

We travelled a lot further today, and are nearly as far as we are going before turning to return to the ferry. No sure whether the route will be north or south of Paris yet, depends on the weather. The van touch wood is behaving impeccably, with the cooling fans now running in all hi & love speed modes, and we think the engine is running smoother and needing less gear changes on the hills.

We are in a an Aire by the canal at Langres.

It is very nice with free water and WC for the brave!

We took a walk down to the next lock (ecluse), and back along the other bank. I was in front of Angela and called her to see a very large snake sunning itself on a slab of concrete, unfortunately it slithered off before I could take a photo or Angela could arrive. Quite slim, I would say between 5 & 6 feet long, the snake not Angela.

 

Today's photos are all of the site we are at, and give a flavour of what a good

Aire de camping is like, we even have a library with some books in English!

Above the fortified town of Langres looks down.

The lastphoto shows the view out of the van this morning framed by the door,

what a view to wake up to. Last night's Aire is up in the top 3!

Chambry

We are now east of Paris in Champagne country. We are staying at a small village call Chambry which is home to dozens of small champagne producers. Some seem based in just average size houses with a large workshop in the garden.

Photo shows vineyards next to van, these run 270 degrees around us

There is a very disconcerting scarecrow in a garden opposite, not sure if it's to scare of the birds or the campervanners!

Other plus point is we have free electricity and water here.

Yesterday we cycled out to see the Guards Grave where 95 Guardsmen were buried after they were overwhelmed by the Germans whilst holding them back to allow the British to retreat after the battle of the Mons.

A total of 300 where killed, the Guards Grave is on the side of the road and in a beautiful setting facing into the forest where they fell.

Last night a very nice BBQ with sausages, peppers and courgettes.

The plus today is I decided to find out why the  radiator fans did not work and have fixed them!!! This is the high light of the past week. 

Pont Ste Maxence

Moved to a small town Pont Ste Maxence on the river Oise, a top recommendation in our site book.

Pont Ste Maxence Marie

Angela made a brilliant salad for lunch followed by melon

When no other camper vans turned up, and due to a drunk falling about outside at 4pm, and large number of lager shops in the area. We decided to move on despite the excellent position with.

 Large barges regularly passing right by the van. 

Villers Cotterets

That was a good call as we have ended up at the best site so far, at Villers Cotterets. This town was the birth place and home of Alexandre Dumas, a large statue of whom stands in the town.

The Hotel de Ville is very attractive, though last night I had to take the photo through the gate as it was closed.

We are sited behind the swimming pool in what appears to have been part of the park for the chateau, cost to stay zero. I think you can see why the whole of France is full of camping cars, since we arrived over and above the cost of diesel, and food we would have bought at home we have spent just over 4 Euros.

We have decided to stay here for 2 nights, so will get the bikes off the back of the van shortly and cycle up to the Tourist Information Office and find out whether there are any local off road cycle ways.

The girls in the tourist offices are always enthralled to find we are from Oxford (would be too hard to explain Longwick) where Harry Potter went to school, I think they believe he might be in our van!

Yesterday we stayed at a small town called Gournay en Bray.

The car park was nice and we backed into the town park which was a bonus.

Walking round the town we spotted a very large (12 litre) bottle of wine in the window of a Cave, it had a personalised printed label on it which was for a wedding on the same day as ours 5th June 1999! If it had been the day before it would have been even spookier!

Today another example of synchronicity, we missed a turn and had to go back on ourselves, we stopped in the parking area for a war cemetery holding the remains of 1800 French soldiers from the first world war. I walked in to take a photograph and spotted a different style headstone on one of the graves. It was for a British pilot killed 100 years ago today.

Also a really nice vegetable curry Angela cooked, and some interesting shots from around the town.

Mesniere en Bray is going to be our home for another night.

When the area cleared we chose a flatter spot as we don't carry levelling blocks due to the lack of space, and cooking was awkward with the pans trying to slide off the cooker!

We went for a good long cycle ride and the photos show quite a selection of wild life.

I counted 14 big edible snails along the old railway track and was going to have a go at cooking them until I found out they have to be cleaned by feeding on lettuce or bran for a week, so they escaped an awful end!

Along with camels, there were alpacas, lions, goats, Shetland ponies, cows and all the other animals you would expect at a French circus.

It's our 19 wedding anniversary today so as we have cycled to Neufchatel en Bray for lunch there was only one cheese to choose!

We drove to Saint Valery to take a look around, this is the first place that Angela took me to in France many years ago. It has become very commercialised in the period since, and all the small shops are now bistros and gift shops etc. Still managed to find a few interesting sights off the main thoroughfare.

Saint Valery

Being nosey looking into someones front courtyard

That is some fancy tree work

A nice French garden

Someones lunch at a bistro

A fishing boat decorated for a wedding

A charming house by the quay

An interesting little shop

Mesniere en Bray

Later we drove to an Aire in a small town called Mesniere en Bray with a beautiful chateau. The covered notice board outside is where we had to take shelter years ago when we cycled to Paris along the Avenue Verte.

A large white peacock was wandering around as they do so that is included.

Nice Aire, surrounded by countryside, and next to the water tap!