Nearly 5000kms under our belts and first chance to clean the camper...
What a palaver!
So many nooks and crannies to clean especially behind and around the bike carrier on the back. The roof has to be cleaned from the sides rather than getting up onto it and the large tinted window covers have to be cleaned behind by opening them.
It was a lot easier cleaning the much larger Carthago but I'm sure I'll get used to it
A New Year and a revival of our blogging!
Downsizing - We planned to do this at sometime in the future but circumstances brought our plans forward some years.
Our previous van was a 2006 7.8mtr Carthago A-class and we now have a 2018 5.99mtr Challenger PVC and our first impressions of the change are as follows:
PROs
Drivability - much like a car.... Easy to manouver and park
No additional speed limits to abide with so faster journey times
No additional weight limits to consider
Much less affected by crosswinds
Better fuel economy
Quicker to heat internally
Very comfortable ride
No special categories required on driving licence
Standard glass/bodyparts should replacements be needed in future
Less problem getting on tight fuel forecourts
No need to consider waving to other motorhomers because they don't realise you are driving one until its too late :)
Hi all,new at this ,anybody recommend a beach in north Wales/north west..i can take the grandkids and pull up for the day and wind out the sunvisor for a few hours ,happy to pay but struggling to find anywhere ,Thanks in advance everyone..⯑
| Port Perros Guirec |
| Bars, Restaurants and Shops at Perros Guirec |
| View from a walk round from the Port |
| Beach at Trestraou |
Watersports activities are available from here but sadly windsurfing is not allowed for some reason, not that I can windsurf.
If you continue on round from here you come the the spectacular Pink Granite Boulders.
Another lovely sunny day, that's 8 days in a row, never have I had it so dry for so long.
Today we took a trip to Josselin to visit "the must see" Chateau. We arrived as usual when everything is closed during the period of 12.30-2.30pm. They were also doing major work in the town, relaying all of the pavements.
| Chateau at Josselin |
It was well worth the visit, you actually drive by the chateau as you come to the town, with the Nantes Brest Canal on the other side.
Lots of parking which is all FREE.
We did have a little mishap with Mrs SatNav who took us down towards a very narrow lane when we were trying to find parking, which we had to turn round in a small square. Should have known when we have to do a three point turn to get round the bend.
Today we visited the giant boulders at Huelgoat, these were amazing, and well worth the visit.
There is dedicated parking for camper vans along the lakeside, just past the parking for cars.
Today we hopped on our bikes and decided to cycle from St-Aginan to the Dam at Lac Guerledan. Weather was a bit on the showery side, yes even here in Brittany it has April Showers.
We cycled up the path along side the Nantes Brest Canal which was nice and flat, at a sign stating pedestrians only and showing only 0.7km to the Dam we followed the cycle trail. This began a very steep climb and took us miles out our way and we ended up at some holiday camp, not a Dam insight.
We then back tracked and took the pedestrians only route, to find this is as far you can get to the Dam. (see photo below) Very disappointing, it looks nothing like the photo's in all the brochures, probably due to the fact we were on our bikes and not in a helicopter.
There are two options to cycle along the canal, one is more off road and through the wood, more suitable for mountain bikes, the other is easier to ride along.
After getting soaked, we headed back to the camper van and had a nice cup of tea and a sandwich, one thing missing after our exercise was cake, so off we popped to find a patisserie.
We had a visit to Pontivy which is located in Morbihan, more or less in the middle of Brittany. The town is situated on the River Blavet. Parking was easy with plenty of free spaces along the roadside and even though it was market day (which is a Monday 9am-2pm) there was parking in the market place where the market is held.
The Market at Pontivy has stalls offering fresh fruit and veg, meats a few cloths stalls, probably about 30 stalls.
After wandering around the town we eventually found the Chataeu des Rohan, which you would have thought would have been easy to find as it is such a large building. The signs are not great and you can't see the Chataeu from the town centre. If you walk along the river with the market place on your right you will then come across the Chateau just past where the river joins the Nantes Brest Canal.
The Chateau is currently ungoing some stone works as part of the wallk collapsed in 2014, so you can't walk all the way round it at the moment.
Although impressive, it does not look as good as shown on the websites and leaflets.
We decided to try out the Camping Aire in Dinan on Friday night, which is situated under the viaduct. We arrived around 6.30pm. We thought that we would be the only one's there as it is April and out of season, but to our surprise it was nearly full, with only two spaces left. It is Free to stay from 7pm until 9am. The parking metre is a little difficult to understand and I had the help of about 20 french fellow campers assisting me. The meter asks you to input 4 numeric digits of your number plate which of course in the UK we do not have. In the end on the advise of my helpers we just added a few zeros. It also stated it was 2.30 euros for 2 hours, but on putting in just 2 euros we obtained a ticket for 4 hours.
This is a superb little Aire, that is situated on the river at Dinan Port, there are no facilities here, but there are toilets a 5 minute walk on the way into town on the left hand side.
Dinan is a walled town and it is quite a steep walk up from the port along a cobbled street, where you walk through an archway into the walled town. Lots of gallery shops, gift shops and restaurants within the cobbled street. Some lovely old buildings.
At the very top it becomes quite a big town, with a variety of shops, patisseries, banks, gift shops, basically everything you would expect from a town.
After a relatively smooth ferry crossing from Poole, we arrived in Cherbourg about 1pm. We negotiated from the port and took D650 down to Surtainville, where we stopped for a spot of lunch (plenty of parking here and a designated area for camper vans/motorhomes. A small village with a shop, bar/restuarant and toilets.
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