A French Wood-yssy

Tell me that doesn’t look like a giant wizzie 

As we hit the last week of our European odyssey the temperature has plummeted, we’ve met our only unpleasant person of the whole trip and we’ve visited a penis-shaped church in an oak tree. Oh, and we’ve completed our second jigsaw of the holiday - we know how to live!

Getting jiggy 

Our night on the cliffs at ArromanchesLes-Bain was quiet and totally freezing. Thankfully Dickie’s central heating held out and we only froze to death when Hugo needed to pop out for a quick wee (or should I say ‘oui’?)

D Day Garden

Honfleur was next on our list of stops. We’ve been there many times before and were amused to meet a very unpleasant Belgian man at the Aire. He was most unimpressed when we momentarily stopped him from washing his van (very frowned upon) when we filled up with water. Our day was cheered by a fabulous meal in Le Fleuron and by noticing the medieval public toilets opposite the wooden church - very posh.

Posh dunnies 

Feeling the need for more wood, the fluffy one decided we needed to go and see the tiniest church in a tree in the world so we headed off to the village of Allouville-Bellefosse. Little did we know that it resembled a giant wooden penis in more than a small way. It has two little chapels inside the tree, one on the bottom and one half way up. If you’re in the area, do pop by and see it for yourself.

From every angle ...

Looking up ...

While you’re there pop in to the friendly bar/tabac opposite for a step back in time. On the outskirts of the village are several carved statues (yes, more wood) and Mr Fluffy thought it would be fun to walk out and visit them this morning. You may be able to see how I felt about this from the look on my face.

Thrilled

We are now in Le Tréport where I found the biggest hag stone in the world after a seafood meal at La Goelette.

We’re going to miss this amazing french food - sigh. The Eurotunnel awaits us on Wednesday.

Remembering Them

Standing strong

As we look out over the sea to Britain from the Aire at Arromanche-Les-Bains where the allied forces landed on D Day in 1944 the sky is blue, the sea is calm, and the air is crisp and cool.

Hugo enjoying the sand near a mulberry harbour

I didn’t know what they were either

If it wasn’t for the mulberry harbours dotting the shoreline it would be difficult to imagine what it would have looked like during that time with hundreds of battle ships heading towards the beaches.
Nearby there is a memorial garden with a series of statues of soldiers and steel spikes. It was dedicated last year for the 75th anniversary of the landing. Poppy wreaths still lay at their feet, left over from the commemorations.

That shadow is annoying me

Calm today

Powerful piece

Earlier we had a run on the beach and Hugo was incredibly excited to feel sand under his feet again. To add to his fabulous day we let him think he was taking Dickie for a drive.

‘I love driving’

Don’t tell him, Pike.

I Blame the Dog

Allo, Allo lookalike

As we sat in the restaurant in Lessay last night we were sure we’d stumbled onto the set of Allo, Allo. The place had, indeed, been there since before the war and I don’t think they’d decorated since. The town itself was overrun by German troops who had blown up the abbey by placing 50 mines and two bombs within its walls. It definitely had the WW11 ‘vibe’.

A small piece that remains of original abbey

Dinner was probably the most average meal we’ve had on our trip so far. To say chef was keen on sauce is an understatement as you’ll see in my photo below.

Mmm, saucy

Hugo showed his disdain for the food by farting constantly during proceedings. There was a certain amount of terror on our faces each time we saw the waitress come into the room but thankfully each putrid aroma dissipated before she reached our table. Luckily I know how to say ‘the dog has farted’ in french (don’t ask). Also luckily we were the only ones eating there last night so no one else had to put up with his hideous botty stench.
On a different note, the tallest menhir in Brittany (or maybe France) was on our way to Lessay so we popped in to check it out as we had done several years ago when we went to France in our very first camping car. The area is full of menhirs and dolmen and one year we based a trip around seeing as many as we could. This year our focus seems to have been food.

Does Mr Fluffy look jealous?

Model Menhir

Next, Arromanches Les Bains.

Dunnies to Dolmen

Chateau Gontier

Our usual views of lakes, beaches, castles and other gorgeous sites was usurped a few nights ago when we stopped in the village of Vihiers only to be welcomed with a stunning view of some urinals.

Distant dunnies

It was only for one night, for obvious reasons, then we headed to Chateau Gontier (sung to the tune of ‘Tarara Boom Dee Ay’) and had a lovely river view that was only marred by an evening of several chaps on two-stroke motorbikes whizzing around Dickie until the gendarmes came and scared them off.
Fougeres, a medieval city in Brittany, was calling next.

Wonky house

Fairytale castle of Fougeres

Church colours

We enjoyed a stroll around the town which actually had OPEN shops after 2pm, checked out a couple of massive churches, and wondered about living in the medieval village at the base of the magnificent chateau which was, of course, closed. We decided that, although they look lovely, it is likely that they would be cold and dark so we’ve decided against selling up and moving into a 12th century house in France.
We’ll stick to the van for now but at the moment it’s getting harder to find water. The French tend to turn the usual camping-car water filling stations off at this time of the year due to the cold. We did find some today after a few fruitless stops but it meant we got to check out some rather cute villages along the way to our current stop, Dol-de-Bretagne. At Bouzages La Perouse we came across a maison des voeux (house of wishes) and a grave with the campest statue we’ve ever seen, and at Sougen I had a minuscule chat in French to the coach of the local football team.

Strangely camp gravestone/statue

House of Wishes

Come in, my pretties

Tomorrow we will visit the tallest dolmen in France.

Super Sights

Dolmen de Confolens

We weren’t expecting the sight that greeted us at the entrance to the cemetery at Confolens. As fans of megaliths we heard there was an interesting one there and, good grief, we were shocked when we saw this massive stone sarcophagus carved with dragons sitting on top of a dolmen. The tomb is for Cecile Crevelier who died in 1884. Her husband, M. Gontier, either loved her a lot or was a very superstitious man.

We’d spent the previous night in Nersac. Being too late for lunch at Le Ponte De Meure was not a problem for the patron of the restaurant. His wife had the idea of doing us a takeaway which turned out to be a three course meal for 13 euros each. Unfortunately we were talked into a bottle of wine which we discovered, too late, was 28 euros so it turned out a little more expensive than we expected. Oh well, the homemade endive salad, cassoulet, and plum cake was particularly yummy and we didn’t have to eat again ... until next time.

Food for days

Last night Hugo was thrilled to spend the evening in an actual house when we visited friends, Steve and Cathy, who were kind enough to cook us dinner. Luckily they love dogs and weren’t upset even when he sang along to the ringing of the telephone and attacked their neighbour. (Don’t worry, he barked but didn’t bite.)

Will I ever see the inside of a house again?

Our hosts

Bellac is a pretty hillside village with, of course, a lovely church, a river that floods occasionally, and a lively artistic community. We worked up an appetite on an uphill walk there before our yummy dinner at our host’s house. who doesn’t love goat’s cheese in puff pastry, chicken and rice, more cheese, and chocolate cake. Hugo was particularly keen on the chicken skin.

Bellac

This morning we strolled around the church of the amusingly named St Hilaire in a nearby belle village. Impressive misericords peeped out from the choir stalls and we enjoyed a 14th century Madonna and child and a naive statue of St Hilaire himself.

Like a Virgin

St Hilaire (ious)

Misericords

I’m ready for my closeup 

The gang 

Thanks to Steve and Cathy for their fabulous hospitality.

Santiago, Swans and Seaplanes

Clear skies at last

As we drove through the Spanish Pyrenees to St Jean Pied de Port we noticed a few pilgrims emerging from the fog as they walked along the Camino to Santiago. It reminded me of the fluffy one  appearing out of the fog as I met him in Roncesvalles after the first leg of his walk 16 years ago. He chose February 16th, my birthday, to head off on his walk so the weather was actually worse than this. I hope they make it to the end because I would not last a day walking in this.

Through the reeds

It feels like the fog has followed us all the way from Bragança until we arrived by the lake here in the French village of Gastes today. The sun is shining and boats are pootling around between swans, fishermen, and the occasional seaplane that has been keeping all of us visitors amused during the day. Hugo has enjoyed a few swims in this relatively balmy 15 degree temperature as well.

Modelling the new shoes

Swan Lake

Dickie does Aquatic

As I’m sitting here in Dickie the sky is turning a soft shade of pink and the temperature has dropped to 13 degrees. Time to get the heating on and plan tomorrow’s stop. It looks like an ornithological park on a lake about an hour away. Sigh.

Hot pink action 

A Foggy Farewell to Portugal

Farewell Portugal 

Any hopes of achieving a successful Veganuary have disappeared on this trip. It seems almost impossible to get anything vaguely Vegetarian let alone vegan. Yesterday’s chickpea stew came with a great big pork bone in it and my estofado de Cordero had lamb in it! (Chortle)

Meaty

Spain arrived through our window two days ago as we drove through heavy fog to Villarda, a village on the Santiago de Compostela route where Graham had stayed when he walked it 16 years ago. Unfortunately all the churches and pilgrim related places were closed.

Hot fog action 

Hola Spain! ... again

It’s not a pretty village, it’s certainly seen better days, but there was a market in the morning where I could rootle through some fungus-fuelled mandarins to select a couple of edible fruits.

The only exciting thing to photograph in Villarda

The water tap had frozen overnight so we couldn’t fill up. Disaster. Not really: we managed to fill the tank very slowly from a half frozen hose at a petrol station nearby. There are few things less exciting.

On the Compostela

Today we arrived in Pamplona through even more fog and the fluffy one managed to purchase two pairs of shoes at a non-charity shop. A real feat - if you’ll pardon the pun.

Hugo enjoying the ‘Running of the Bulls s’ monument

The Aire here seems safe enough but we’re surrounded by about 20 homeless people hanging out on the benches in the corner. We probably won’t go back into town again just in case.
Tomorrow, Roncesvalles.