Time to get the bikes off the back of Frodo. Since we are here largely for some oysters or preferably a plateau de fruits de mer, it was time to go searching for that, too. There is an area of…

We got on the road after our night at the Camping-Car Park. Sure enough, in a village a little way down the road was a pleasant looking free aire. The village appeared to have no commerce so I don’t really…

Well, brave may be a bit of an overstatement; adventurous may be nearer the mark. Prior to leaving on this trip, Francine discovered another chain of places for Camping Cars [the French term literally meaning Camping Bus] to stay overnight:…

Right, I had my nature break now it was time for some culture. We woke ourselves up with some coffee and took a leisurely stroll up into the village to the entrance to the chateau of Azay-le-Rideau. The pathway was…

From Amboise, we’ve decided to make a short hop, just 50 kms, west along La Loire to call in to see the picturesque chateau at Azay-le-Rideau. We were heading for a camping municipal in Azay-le-Rideau itself and the accueil [reception]…

On our June trip to France this year we had suffered from a lack of markets. Francine was determined to make up for this oversight and we began by visiting Amboise market. Amboise holds its street market on two days…

Unbeknownst to me, Amboise had been the last home of the great Leonardo da Vinci, or Leonard da Vinci as the French would have it. Towering imposingly above La Loire river is the impressive Chateau Royal. Leonardo, however, lived in…

After a pretty disastrous trip down to Cornwall in early July – torrential rain and a leaking Frodo -we are now taking Frodo back to France, which has proved to be a happier hunting ground. Once again we booked an…

Falaise is famous for two things, although prior to our visit en route to our Ouistreham ferry, I was aware of only one of them. A while after D-Day in the battle for Normandy, allied forces surrounded an estimated 50,000…

We’d had an entertaining stay at our camping aire naturelle between Marseillan and Mèze with plenty of wildlife and seafood but it was time to think about getting back north for our return ferry. We have done it in two…