Carcans

After what seemed like a long drive we arrived at a campsite by a lake in a forest in Carcans. We are parked up under the tall pine trees which provides some welcome shade. Colin swam in the lake whilst I paddled as we listening to a band preparing for an end of season party on the beach. This site is due to close in a couple of weeks and there is hardly anyone here. The shower block is spotlessly clean and I have even done a little clothes washing this morning. Today temperatures are due to reach over 30c so we will take things very slowly. Every now and again we hear a crack and another large fir cone drops to the ground.

We are having a wonderful time.
Wish you were here.
Deborah x

Oh what a night….

…and day. Futuroscope never ceases to amaze us even though this is our fourth visit. Yesterday we practically had the place to ourselves, or so it felt. The park is so enormous and just wandering around the place and admiring the copiced trees, beautiful flowers and amazing sculptures is enough to fill our hearts with joy. This time round we surfed the waves in Tahiti, scared ourselves on a 4D adventure, went into space, visited an Eco house, enjoye a lovely meal together and watched 70 foot high holograms of ballerina’s dance on the spectacular lake after as darkness fell.
You could say we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and must have walked quite a few miles in the day. Luckily our motorhome was parked just outside the front gates so we even managed to fit in a tea time siesta.


Today we will continue our journey down to the south, who knows how far we will get before hunger demands us to stop for a bite to eat or the sight of another beautiful place to stop tempts us, but we are heading for a place under the trees on a beach somewhere. We are living the easy life!
Deborah x

Just by chance…

…we found this lovely free leisure park to stop for lunch yesterday. We ended up staying until the early evening when we drove fifteen minutes down the road to the car park at Futuroscope, our stop for the night. The Le Lac de St CYR comprises of a large lake with a beach surrounded by a cycle path that twists and turns through trees and along the river Vienne. Colin did a reckie and then together we cycled approx 4 miles around the lake. In the heat of the day it was lovely to lie on the sand and soak up the sun.

Today we have the excitement of Futuroscope to look forward to but not before my egg and bacon breakfast that looks just about ready!

Wish you were here

Deborah x

The Loire River

Saturday night we stayed at another very pleasant free Aire on the edge of the Loire river and close to the town centre at a place called Beaugency. The following day we followed the river down to another beautiful little town called Amboise. It is quite surprising how quickly the Aire’s fill up so we were pleased to get one of the last few places left. During the afternoon we wandered into the town along the river. It is place steeped with history and has an enormous medieval castle. It was very interesting to read up about the history of this place and the valley of the Loire. The chateau at Amboise was home to Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, for much of her early life, being raised there at the French court of Henry II. She arrived in France from Scotland in 1548, aged six, and remained in France until 1561, when she returned to her homeland – sailing up the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh on 15 August that year.
The great Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life in Amboise. After a relaxing evening and another few episodes of 24 we both enjoyed a jolly good nights sleep.

Today we are heading for Futuroscope which we fancy visiting tomorrow. It will bring back lots of lovely memories spent there with our children when they were only about 9 and 11. Hopefully it won’t be long before we can bring Elliot here too. It will be our fourth visit to this amazing parc of technology and we are promised a new spectacular night time show on the lake. Meanwhile we have found a lovely stop for lunch and an afternoon siesta. This is the view from my bed.

A good relaxing time is being had.

Deborah x

Nonancourt

What a find this was. An excellent free Aire  close by to a lovely river and easy stroll into town. Lots of lovely very old properties like the one below.

We didn’t quite make it to the chateaux as we were all quite weary from the drive which was longer than we thought. No worries as Colin and I spotted another one in Nonancourt, so after a leisurely breakfast we walked back in to town only to find out it didn’t open until 2pm on a Saturday. Never mind third time lucky as we plan to visit a very medieval castle in Beaugency today.

Deborah x

Le Touquet and onwards

We had a good day yesterday chilling out at the beach opposite the Aire here by the Marina.

Le Touquet is the place that the wealthy Parisian’s come to play with their yachts.
The man in the next van said it cost 19 Euro’s each to use the indoor pool. We decided not to go for that option choosing instead a leisurely stroll along the beach and back through the woods. Our friends turned up later but had to stay at another nearby Aire as ours was full. Colin worked out that the Aire takes in approx £92,000 in the summer season alone! We got our 11 Euro’s worth but had to pay out another 2 Euro’s to fill up and empty.

After a slow start and a morning conference we are now on our way down to meet Mme de Yturbe who lives at the Chateaux D’Anet. She has promised to show us around her ancestral home bought by her great grandmother in 1860. We shall meet up with our friends at a nearby Aire at Nonancourt and probably have an afternoon nap before exploring further.

A good relaxing time is being had by all.

Deborah x

That Friday feeling

Do you have it? Unfortunately I don’t, in fact it is hard to know what day it is. That’s what happens when you don’t have the routine of work. Yesterday was spent sleeping and when I wasn’t sleeping I was feeling as if I should be as I felt so tired. I wonder if some one can have too much sleep? Maybe if I treat myself to a Crunchie today I will get that Friday feeling?

I think I should force myself to do something today so I shall start off with a nice relaxing bath using the bath bomb kindly given to me on Wednesday by Pauline. Then I will have a rest because a bath usually exhausts me before going to visit my daughter and if I can manage it the supermarket.

I wonder what it will be like when I get my energy back? I hope never to take it for granted again. Being pain free will be a luxury as will not having to take so many pills.

Still I do know this time will pass and I am constantly being told how well I am doing especially as I am in the middle of treatment.

Sometimes I do think I am in a parallel universe or some kind of dream and I will wake up soon and feel my long dark hair and hurry myself off to the office for another day at work.

The weekend is coming and hopefully the sun will be shining. We may take our motor home out for a run, so if you see a rather old odd looking vehicle give us a honk on the horn,

Have a good one.

Deborah