A hard night's day

  Chartres, France
Saturday, May 24, 2008

Well, it's getting towards the end of our first day. We arrived at Portsmouth at 7pm last night - 4 hours before we were due to sail. We left booking too late to get a cabin or a sleeper seat so they told us to turn up early for a chance of any cancellations or no-shows. This was duff advice. The reception staff inside the port weren't old enough to manage a cancellation list - that was the job of reception on the boat. Meanwhile the boarding staff were busily placing Bongo at the bottom of the pecking order and despite being one of the first to arrive, we were one of the last to be boarded. End result - we were about 15th on the cancellation list. There were 6 names called for cancellations, and you can bet they all arrived after us.

We were on an LD lines ferry and the good points were: nice clean ship, good club class area, reasonable food and proper French coffee in the club class bar. The lows were cold plates and a long queue to pay for breakfast because people were paying by card and they had no electronic readers. The coffee was vending machine stuff in the restaurant, and embarking and disembarking was poorly organised. Upgrading to club class was a good move, given the state of the main passenger area next morning. The builders in the lorry in front of us can be grateful I decided not to utube one of them unconscious and incontinent in the main bar.

We made for Pont-Audemer, stopping for fuel on the way. The diesel is still a bit cheaper here, even with the current exchange rate. Our next goal was fuel for us. We love food shopping in France - it's the best. There are markets in every town, and loads of butchers, greengrocers and delicatessens in every high street. We don't usually shop in a supermarket, even though French ones are so much better than ours.

Pont - Audemer. A typical townhouse

We stocked up on meat, cheese and salad stuff. When I asked for 2 avocados, the assistant checked if they were both for today. I only wanted 1 for today and she gave me one ripe one and another that would keep. The unripe one she put in a paper bag so I knew which was which. How different from Sainsburys et al. They charge a premium for 'specially ripened',then they put 2 of them in a load of nasty plastic, so the second is overripe before you get to it. But don't get me started on the state of British food ...

Pont-Audemer is a nice enough little town. As it's close to Le Havre but not right on the port, we might go back to stock up before going home.

From there we followed the river south and stopped at Le Bec-Hellouin. This is a treasure we found 3 years ago, while camping with friends, and I hadn't realised how near it was to Le Havre. The camp site is on the hill outside the village. It's a peaceful spot in a level field, so we'll aim for that on our last night.

The village is beautiful - full of immaculate half timbered houses and this year the roses are amazing (gardening's another hobby). The village is home to an enormous abbey and this time we were able to get inside the grounds for a look around. We're not religious, but the history and craftsmanship are always fascinating. I was surprised at the simplicity of the church, probably because we've seen inside too many super-ornate Spanish ones recently. The church was not a separate building but part of a large monastery that looked like a mini Versailles. Definitely worth a visit, and there is some good quality hand crafted pottery in the shop as well, if you're into that kind of thing.

Le Bec Hellouin

We indulged in more food shopping (not recommended when you are hungry), and had a swift half on the terrace of the village inn, then continued our journey. We diverted east and followed the Eure, passing through Louviers and stopping for lunch on a river bank in Chambray. On our way south we stopped at Pacy sur Eure, where I'm ashamed to say we went shopping again, this time getting more cheese, fruit and ham. We finally found a camp site on a hill outside the village of Maintenon. It was ok, but the water wasn't over warm in the shower, and it was one of the most expensive places we have stayed in France - €15.60, without electricity. The weather set in just as we arrived so we had a hasty meal and an early night.