Almost home.....

I'm sitting here writing about the last few days of our trip waiting for a delayed departure on the Eurotunnel. The last few weeks the Eurotunnel has had a few breaches of their security fences and apparently last night one of the immigrants was killed trying to get through the tunnel. We don't like being delayed a couple of hours, but you have to feel for these people who are so desperate that they risk their lives in search of the hope of a better life in the UK. The migrant situation in Calais is at breaking point and I have no ideas what the authorities can do about it.

We have just spent a lovely couple of days on a campsite at Neufchâtel-en-Bray, Camping Saint Claire, a busy site but very well organised, clean and nicely kept with large pitches. But best of all right outside was a cycle track - L'Avenue Verte from Dieppe

to Forges-les-Eaux, a wonderful tarmac track almost completely flat. Unfortunately our first day on site it was raining so we had to sit it out and spend the day sitting in the van but luckily for our final day of the holiday the sun was shining and we were able to get out and cycle from the site all the way to the outskirts of Dieppe - a round trip of 40 miles - our longest cycle trip of the holiday.

The track forms part of the London to Paris route and has given Keith the idea of perhaps doing the complete ride at sometime in the future. I don't think I'll be joining him, I can be support team!

NEWS FLASH!!!! We have just been given 50€ to swap our departure time from 2.20pm to 3.20pm. We were asked to swap by a Dutch pop group who are playing in a gig in London and with the two hour delay would not have time to do all their sound checks etc before their performance, that extra hour means that they are much more likely to have a successful gig - their first in the UK and very important too them. All we had to do was wait another hour in the car park, so we had a cup of tea and sat listening to the radio. By the way, we did get the swap confirmed at the information desk so we didn't end up stranded at the terminal!

A surprising end to our holiday, an unexpected bit of money towards our next trip in September.

It's been a wonderful nine weeks, we have seen so many places, met so many interesting people and had a fantastic time. 

Have a look at our trip on Track My Tour:

http://trackmytour.com/4mf56

Taking the middle way...

So after almost eight weeks we leave the beautiful coast of the south of France and head north up the middle of France to the town of Millau - home to the tallest suspension bridge in the world. We had traversed the bridge on previous tours but never dipped down into the town to discover the town and its locality. My first impression was how big the town was and we came to discover it is a very popular place for all sorts of sports particularly ariel sports like paragliding - the sky was peppered with paragliders like a rash! The weekend we arrived the town was host to the Natural Games which was mainly slack rope walking (including people walking across the nearby gorge - EEEK!) mountain biking, canoeing,paragliding and a music festival. As you can imagine the place was pretty busy and our campsite (Les Erables) was pretty full but it didn't stop us getting out on our bikes to explore the surrounding countryside. It probably won't surprise you when I tell you we have cycled 500miles since we began this trip all those weeks ago! We decided that we had to see the Millau viaduct from below so here are a few photos from an angle less seen!

We would definitely return to the Millau area, the countryside is beautiful and there is lots to do, we also discovered a lovely campsite a few miles out of town that we would love to go to on a future trip.

After 3 nights there we continued slowly up north trying to avoid the tollroads but using the slower but more scenic roads. It takes longer to get to your destination but is much more interesting and if you need some shopping there is always a

supermarket enroute (we found a Lidl which if you know me now - I love!)

We arrived at Le Bonhomme, a campsite in Central France, southeast of Chateroux. The Dutch owners Frank and Wil (short for Wilomena?) are very friendly,they have had many years of experience as managers of campsites in Holland, but came to France in 1999 and created  this little piece of camping heaven. Frank said to me that  he wanted to have a campsite like it should be and I think they have achieved it! The site is set in the middle of the countryside so is incredibly peaceful, the pitches in their massive garden are really large and we found a secluded place in the shade of a pretty tree. 

All around in the surrounding area are lots of interesting villages and small towns along tranquil small roads, but best of all is Happy Hour in the garden where all the campers meet at 5pm for drinks at 1€ each. It's like stress management counselling for campers!!! We intended staying at Bonhomme for two nights and ended staying for four we loved it so much!

The cycling along the quiet roads was brilliant despite the heatwave. The smell of the hot wheat ready in the fields for harvesting and the Tarmac melting on the road, crackling under our tyres sounding like Rice Krispies, always in the distance the sound of a combine harvester, the farmers busy working to get their crops in before the inevitable storms after the intense heat.

We found some lovely places to enjoy our picnic lunch in the shade, although strangely our peace was shattered both times by a lone Frenchman in a white van who arrived, parked nearby and left the van door open with radio blaring!! Hmmmph!!!! The second time he even joined us on our picnic table and proceeded to eat a melon, slurping loudly!!!

Still it's their country I spose......

Only a few more days so we have to wrench ourselves away from the delights of Bonhomme and continue our journey towards Calais and the Eurotunnel.