Friday, 23rd May. 2025. Our Fourth Day in France

Preparation

After we picked Poki up from Southampton we had a week to prepare her for a trip to France. Having been back in the UK for over a month, we already had itchy feet and wanted to be back on the road again.

It was all a bit of a rush, though, as we were later picking her up than anticipated. We had to unpack everything from our South American trip, give her and all her contents a good clean and repack her for a month in France. In addition she needed an MOT (WOF to our NZ readers).

She failed the MOT on 4 points, 2 minor things and 2 which rated her as “too dangerous to be on the road”! One of these was rather ridiculous. A broken number plate, which we had patched up in order for her to go through the electronic tolls in Uruguay. My grandson, Louis, who works at Halfords, an auto accessories shop, had organised a new plate for us, so this problem was quickly remedied.

The other problem was not so simple. She had failed the emissions test. This resulted in Dennis having to take her to a tuning specialist, located 152 miles away. Dennis thought it might be a computer issue. The specialist said this was not the case, but showed Dennis what to do to reduce the emissions.

We had a retest booked for 08.00 on Tuesday, 20th and then had to be in Dover for 11.00 for our ferry crossing. We were on tenterhooks as to whether she would pass. Fortuitously she did, and we were rapidly on our way to Dover.

Escalles

We arrived in Calais, after a smooth and uneventful crossing, at about 15.30. Already having passed through French passport control at Dover, disembarkation and entry into France was a piece of cake. Very quick and easy. We didn’t venture far into France, though, being rather shattered after an anxious night worrying whether Poki would get through her MOT.

Finding a nice campsite a few miles down the coast at Escalles, we stopped for the night. After dinner we decided to go for a walk and set off in the direction of the beach. On the hilltop overlooking the campsite was a large obelisk. We changed course and headed up hill to the Obelisk. It turned out to be further than it looked. A short cut off the track had me mountain climbing using my hands to help pull me up. Dennis, of course, had gone up like a fleet of foot mountain goat.

The obelisk was built to commemorate the Dover Patrol. The Dover Patrol was a joint French/British naval operation which patrolled the Channel on the look out for German vessels during the First World War. There were also German gun emplacements and radar on the cliffs from the Second World War.

Some of the many refugees we passed heading for Calais and hoping for a small boat to take them to the UK. Maybe they were 3 of the 800 who arrived on the beaches of Britain the next day??

Roadside flower

Roumare

We had a lazy start to Wednesday morning setting off after 11.00. It turned into a very wet day. The first real rain we had seen since our return from South America. Miserable for us, but badly needed.

We were heading, slowly, for Villers en Ouche to visit our friends, Mike and Wendy. Our progress was even slower than planned due to meeting several “Route Barre” (Road Closed) signs. On most occasions these were on small country roads with no detour signage, so we got side tracked for a while.

Approaching Rouen, we thought we would call it a day and looked for camping. We found a nice site at Roumare. There was a thick cover of trees so we managed to keep the tent pretty dry. The rain stopped at about 21.00. Next morning we woke to a lovely sunny day.

Again, we weren’t up very early. 09.30, but were well rested after a great night’s sleep. Heading through the big city of Rouen and the bridge over the river Seine, we took a route we have travelled before via Brionne, skirting Bernay and Broglie, arriving at Mike and Wendy’s place mid afternoon.

Villers en Ouche

Interestingly, Villers en Ouche is the first place marked on our map as we visited Mike and Wendy at the start of our journey in 2018. It was lovely to catch up with them again and Wendy made us a wonderful dinner of raclette and very yummy trifle. They have 2 new rescue dogs from Romania. Bobby and Charlie. They are very sweet, but have some issues having been ill treated in their early lives.

Day four in France

Today we went into Gace with Mike and Wendy for lunch at one of their favourite local restaurants. Good value at EUR16 for 3 courses. We followed this with coffee at another local favourite cafe. A really friendly welcome from the owner. We were also joined by another English cycling friend, originally from Yorkshire, who promptly lay on the floor to perform stretches to relieve an injured back! Dennis sympathised.

Le Mele sur Sarthe

Having said our farewells to Mike and Wendy we set off for Le Mele sur Sarthe where we are now camped. After dinner we walked into the town and back to the campsite by the lake. Tomorrow we will go to the pretty town of Mortagne au Perche. Being Saturday it is market day so we are very much looking forward to that.

Much sold out by the time we arrived.

We have visited many countries and wonderful places, but our favourite is France. We love the way of life, the food, the pretty villages and markets. Wherever we go we always want to return to France.

I think we will buy this, move in and restore it, and live happily ever after..:) What do you think?

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