Category: Feb 2017

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And So The End Is Nigh…..

The Silver Machine is parked up tonight, in the Aire round the corner from the Ferry Terminal in Dieppe, ready for take off tomorrow at 5am for a 7am sailing. Dieppe looks a nice place and looks interesting enough to return for a week end sometime.

We arrived at 12 midday and spend the afternoon having a look around the town centre and harbour. The Chateau houses a great art collection and specialises in painings of Dieppe by different artists over the years. Well worth the 4.50€ enterance fee.


We left Chateaudun at 8.15 this morning and had a relaxed 150 mile journey to Dieppe, as ever, avoiding tolls. Rounding Rouen was a potential pitfall but turned out to be straightforward enough.

Chateaudun was yet another attractive and interesting village. The Aire is set truely in the shadows of the Chateau de Chateaudun. You climb 120 steps to reach the village centre, an attractive square with shops, restaurants and bars round the outside.


Although it rained when we first set out in the afternoon it didn’t affect our plans. We went out in the evening for a beer in the local bar, cafe and betting shop before going for a really nice meal in La Bonne Adresse.

So tomorrow we leave France and return to Brexit Britain. It will be strange after 10 weeks on mainland Europe but we look forward to the next stage of our adventure……..training to be Assistant Wardens with the Caravan Club.

So before I go Margaret, I leave you with St Vincent de Paul or at least a bust of the saint who seems to have had some connection with Chateaudun, and Gordon I give you a Patisserie shop window! Enjoy!


Take care everyone, good health and have some great adventures. CHEERS!

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Into the Valley……

After driving around Poitiers, today’s drive crossed a flat, very rural central France all the way to Amboise set in the Loire Valley. The Silver Machine has landed on an Aire, next to a campsite, on an island overlooking Amboise and the impressive Chateau d’ Ambroise.

The Chateau has a rich history being the 15th Century residence of King Charles VIII and the home of the Royal Court. Leonardo da Vinci’s tomb is in the Chateau, Leonardo having lived the last years of his life in the nearby Chateau Close Luce. Mary Queen of Scots spent some of her earlier years in the Chateau before returning to Scotland.

Oh and it rained early afternoon, first rain for about 2 weeks so can’t complain.  Visiting the Chateau tomorrow before heading off to Chateaudun.

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Unearthing a Gem

Today we decided to push on a bit further to give us a chance to have a couple of nights in Amboise in the Loire Valley on Wednesday and Thursday. The Silver Machine landed in Verteuil sur Charante, a gem of a little village about 50 north on Bordeaux. There are another 2 motorhomes in the small aire which can only accommodate 8 motorhomes. There are free services but they are unfortunately shut off for the winter.

We follows the D810 pretty much all the way to Dax, joined the A63 at Castets basically because there were no tolls and the N10 from Bordeaux. The journey was straightforward but unexciting and if we did it again we would pay the toll to avoid the D810 to Biarritz and Bayonne.

Verteuil Sur Charente sits on the Tours to Santiago del Compostello pilgrimage route and is dominated by a large Chateau in the centre of the village. We had beers by the river with an English couple who parked next to us. Turns out they work summers for the Caravan and Camping Club dusting the summer finding their travels during the winter.

Bit of a sat nav adventure coming into the wrong end of the village. Tight squeeze for the Silver Machine but we made it.

Great end to an uneventful day.

Forever onwards tomorrow. Next stop Amboise.