Monday 15 July 2013

The Marina is not the quietest of places and Monday morning saw the arrival of a number of fairground trucks so we were up and about somewhat earlier than our norm. The sun was hot but, tempered with a cooling light breeze off the sea, it was very pleasant. Round to the Plage Aire to do a quick service and also pay our dues – the parking attendant had left a ticket on the windscreen but it was expected and we don’t begrudge E7.00. (For information the parking office is at the old municipal campsite reception, although that site is now closed and about to undergo redevelopment).

We had spent the last week or so debating whether to go either to the Dordogne, or alternatively to Switzerland, basically reviewing the weather forecasts because our record for weather is, to say the least, questionable. However last night we decided to go with our first choice so Terry spent an hour or so planning a different route, and then throwing it away because there would be no aires or campsites around at the time we expected to stop!

So Abbeville on the D-roads and then Rouen, using the autoroute as we've been this way before (and it’s non-peage!). We don’t rush, however, just keep to truck speeds which keeps the fuel consumption under control – and cruise control comes in handy too. After our experiences with Rouen earlier this year, we thought we’d got the closure of the Pont de Mathilde sorted, and so we had except we took a wrong turn just after and ended up on a roundabout tour to get back on track. Never mind, we’re in no rush (but we’ll avoid Rouen in future).

Plodding through the countryside and various towns and villages in the hot sunshine our target for tonight was Chartres where we had spotted a couple of municipal campsites, there being few aires hereabouts. Being a bit later than we expected meant we were caught up in the early evening rush hour traffic which was a pain, but the air-con kept us cool.

Camping Municipal Morancez would not be an easy place to find without satnav, situated as it is outside the Chartres ring road and through several small villages – an RV size vehicle would find it tight although once arrived there is plenty of room. Situated in parkland and adjacent (but not accessible) to a lake it is a very pleasant, spacious site with full, if perhaps not copious, facilities. The friendly guardian quickly booked us in and showed us to a roomy shaded (drat, forgot to think about the satellite TV) pitch where we quickly got organised and settled down to a pleasant relaxing evening.