Honfleur is a delightful town, which has developed around an old fishing harbour. In typical Continental style, the old buildings have been maintained to preserve the look of the town and it is very attractive. Tall (5 and 6 floors), narrow houses stand shoulder to shoulder right around the harbour, not all of them very straight!
It was market day on the day we visited and what a colourful event! At first we were disappointed as the stalls seemed to have nothing but cheap plastic and clothing, but as we got further into town, more and more of the local produce appeared. We tasted, and bought, some wonderful cheeses, and marveled at the shapes that various breads were twisted into.
After a lunch of mussels and ‘frites’ we took a roundabout way back to the campsite to enjoy some of the local views.
Our next night was spent at a tiny village with the impressive name of St Vaast La Hougue, a little east of Cherbourg on the Cotentin Peninsula. As we were waiting for a bank card to catch up with us by courier, we spent much of the time doing various bits and pieces of ‘maintenance’ such as laundry. During this time, Carol and Steve left us to return to the UK, so we decided that it was high time that we got ourselves a local SIM card for our phone, and with this in mind, we made for Valognes, the nearest town of any size. Here, we were directed to, of all things, a photography shop, where, we were assured, someone spoke English. Well, we’re not sure what happened to the English speaker but we got hold of a young man of about 20 who at first seemed promising, apart from his frightful adenoidal problems, but it turned out that having greeted us, he had then exhausted his English vocabulary! Then followed about an hour of very fractured French and the usual gesticulations, as once again, Neels’ French did not seem to cover the topics we needed! Also, to buy a SIM card for a cell phone involved registering us on a computer, which was another problem as we obviously do not have a French address, and the computer kept rejecting ‘Onrus River’ as a place! Eventually our young man gave us an address that the computer approved of so we now live at ‘Place de l’Eglise, Valognes’. Please don’t visit us though, we probably won’t be there!
When we finally managed to get away from St Vaast (overnight courier from Oss took four days in the end) we decided to try out one of the France Passion farms for the night. Our choice was La Turgotiere which is an apple farm producing cider, apple juice, Calvados and a wonderful concoction called Pommeau, similar to port or sherry. After tasting, we bought a bottle of cider and a bottle of Pommeau – just the thing for a cold night.
That night it started raining and got very cold and the next morning was grey and rather miserable. We had a quick walk around the farm and discovered that they kept cows, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, chickens and rabbits. A very busy farmer indeed.
Our onward journey took us past Mont St Michel, and we were very glad that we had been there twice before as the island was shrouded in mist and didn’t look at all inviting. Our second choice of farm was owned by a butcher who had nothing to offer for sale, but did give us electricity so we could watch our DVD of the Andre Rieu concert on the very small screen.
Next stop was a camp site again (time for a decent shower) near St Malo. Neels wanted to visit the hydroelectric scheme on the Rance River, which was a real mission as Jane, our Tom-tom voice, didn’t know about it and kept wanting us to turn the wrong way. We got there in the end and it was very interesting. Just that one scheme supplies 15% of France’s needs; provides a very necessary bridge across the river; and has not damaged the ecology of the estuary. Far more efficient than wind farms and far less unsightly. However, not many places have a tidal difference as great as they do here.
The weather seems to have changed for the worse with rain again today, Sunday 20th, and the forecast looking bleak for the next few days.
It was market day on the day we visited and what a colourful event! At first we were disappointed as the stalls seemed to have nothing but cheap plastic and clothing, but as we got further into town, more and more of the local produce appeared. We tasted, and bought, some wonderful cheeses, and marveled at the shapes that various breads were twisted into.
After a lunch of mussels and ‘frites’ we took a roundabout way back to the campsite to enjoy some of the local views.
Our next night was spent at a tiny village with the impressive name of St Vaast La Hougue, a little east of Cherbourg on the Cotentin Peninsula. As we were waiting for a bank card to catch up with us by courier, we spent much of the time doing various bits and pieces of ‘maintenance’ such as laundry. During this time, Carol and Steve left us to return to the UK, so we decided that it was high time that we got ourselves a local SIM card for our phone, and with this in mind, we made for Valognes, the nearest town of any size. Here, we were directed to, of all things, a photography shop, where, we were assured, someone spoke English. Well, we’re not sure what happened to the English speaker but we got hold of a young man of about 20 who at first seemed promising, apart from his frightful adenoidal problems, but it turned out that having greeted us, he had then exhausted his English vocabulary! Then followed about an hour of very fractured French and the usual gesticulations, as once again, Neels’ French did not seem to cover the topics we needed! Also, to buy a SIM card for a cell phone involved registering us on a computer, which was another problem as we obviously do not have a French address, and the computer kept rejecting ‘Onrus River’ as a place! Eventually our young man gave us an address that the computer approved of so we now live at ‘Place de l’Eglise, Valognes’. Please don’t visit us though, we probably won’t be there!
When we finally managed to get away from St Vaast (overnight courier from Oss took four days in the end) we decided to try out one of the France Passion farms for the night. Our choice was La Turgotiere which is an apple farm producing cider, apple juice, Calvados and a wonderful concoction called Pommeau, similar to port or sherry. After tasting, we bought a bottle of cider and a bottle of Pommeau – just the thing for a cold night.
That night it started raining and got very cold and the next morning was grey and rather miserable. We had a quick walk around the farm and discovered that they kept cows, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, chickens and rabbits. A very busy farmer indeed.
Our onward journey took us past Mont St Michel, and we were very glad that we had been there twice before as the island was shrouded in mist and didn’t look at all inviting. Our second choice of farm was owned by a butcher who had nothing to offer for sale, but did give us electricity so we could watch our DVD of the Andre Rieu concert on the very small screen.
Next stop was a camp site again (time for a decent shower) near St Malo. Neels wanted to visit the hydroelectric scheme on the Rance River, which was a real mission as Jane, our Tom-tom voice, didn’t know about it and kept wanting us to turn the wrong way. We got there in the end and it was very interesting. Just that one scheme supplies 15% of France’s needs; provides a very necessary bridge across the river; and has not damaged the ecology of the estuary. Far more efficient than wind farms and far less unsightly. However, not many places have a tidal difference as great as they do here.
The weather seems to have changed for the worse with rain again today, Sunday 20th, and the forecast looking bleak for the next few days.
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