# 12 weeks in 2007, Our first major tour in Europe



## Annsman (Nov 8, 2007)

This is made up of e-mails we sent to our "non-vanning" friends during our first tour abroad last year. It was 12 weeks starting at the begining of May and ending in mid July. We got back in time for the floods and torrential rain. We had only been van owners since the March of 2007 and only had 2 week-ends away in the UK before we set off.

Some of the e-mails are missing so it isn't a "complete set", but ther are enough to give a good idea of what we did and the places we went to and people we met on the way.

* 12th May 2007 Brighton

Here we are in sunny Brighton. Yes, after 5 days on the road the sun has 
come out. It is still windy though and we are hoping it calms down for 
Tuesday when we sail for Calais.

We missed out Yeovil completely and have come along the South Coast. We stayed just outside Bournmouth at a small farm site on Friday night. No facilities except water & electric, but for £5.50 you can't expect the 
Ritz.

We arrived in Brighton at lunchtime today and we think we will be staying until Monday. It is the festival week so there is lots to see and do. Ann especially has found lots of shoe and jewellery shops to keep her happy and I have checked out the doughnut and ice cream stalls, both are up to scratch you will be happy to hear!

Our next stop is Folkestone and then we leave Blighty for the Continent and all destinations South!

We will report again soon

Still living the dream!!

18th May 2007

Hi all, We are at Chatelaillon-Plage, just South of La Rochelle on the SW 
coast of France. The weather has been foul, with wind and rain since we 
left home! We have changed our plans and we are heading at speed for 
Spain in the hope that the sun MIGHT be shining there!

I apologise for any stray odd letters or symbols that appear, French keyboards are set out differently to ours and have weird symbols where 
letters should be§

Au revoir mes amis

*22nd May 2007

Subject: The dream goes on!

Bonjour mes amis!

We are in Biarritz today, (Monday), staying on an aire with elec. and 
water for free! The sun has come out at last, it has only taken 1500 miles 
and 2 weeks to find it! Hurrah!

We nearly didn't make it this far though. When we were in Chatelallion 
Plage in a moment of madness we decided to hire bikes and cycle to the 
town market, about 2 kms, about 500 mtrs into the trip one of us decided she had had enough of cycling upright and fell off! Right in front of a 
car. Thanks to our guardian angel and the french driver being awake a catastrophe was averted. It was close, the back wheel stopped about 12 " from Anns' head! We moved onto the pavement, thinking it would be safer, but oh no, not content with doing it once she did the same thing again, only this time it was a concrete telegraph post she was heading for, being > saved this time by a "men at work sign". To give the guardian angel, and ourselves, a break we walked the rest of the way to the market, and back!

She is covered in bruises and aching in places she didn't know could ache, but at least she is here to ache! We have decided that that is more than enough excitement for one trip and are sticking to 4 wheels or 2 legs from now on.

After Chatelaillon we went to Mimizan Plage where we stayed two nights on an aire right next to the beach for 5 Euros per night, water and 
electricity inc. We met a couple of Brits, who have sold up their house 
and been in Spain since last Sept. They are going back to the UK for a 
family wedding then heading back out again. It has made us think!! It 
has really surprised us how many people are doing what we are. We thought we were being like pioneers and being very daring but it is as common as going to ASDA!

Our "home" is behaving perfectly and we are very comfy and happy trolling along, especially when you can stay 300 metres from the beach in Biarritz for next to nothing. We are heading into Northern Spain later this week after a couple of days rest in the sun.

Internet access is more difficult than we thought and we don't know what 
it is like in Spain, so it might be a few days before we get in touch again.

*29th May 2007

Well, here we are and the sun is shining! We have had to miss out vast 
chunks of both France and Spain to find it, but as we are "ahead" of our 
schedule we will probably come back to them later, or we may leave them until next year! That´s how flexible you have to be when you are on the "road"!

On our way South we stopped off at a place called Plasencia. The site was in the middle of a natural park and we hav been surrounded by rare birds and the most fantastic scenery. We have given up counting eagles, 
vultures and storks as they are so common. We have also seen some azure winged magpies. They have the most fantastic coloured wings, blue but they are as viscious as the plain ones at home.

We are now in Seville, which is a beautiful city with some magnificent 
buildings, lovely plazas and wide tree lined streets. We got the bus in 
from the site and it was driven by an off duty racing driver! He only 
stopped begrudgingly for passengers, spent most of the journey in the 
outside lane of the dual carriageway beeping and swearing at anyone in his way. We would have paid a fiver for the ride at Alton Towers, we are not looking forward to the return trip though!

Ann has stayed off two wheels since the last time so things have got less exciting! Her bruises are fading but the memory is still vivid, although the flashback are getting less!

We are going to have a few days here then move on to Cordoba and Granada for a couple of weeks culture then we will be free to hit the beaches for sand, sea and...... sangria, (for Ann of course).

We have met several people who are touring in vans too. Some are doing this really long term and planning to venture to Greece and Italy after Spain. They have sold their homes in UK to pay for it and live full time in their vans. We have thought about it and are compiling a list of suitable vehicles to investigate on our return. Anyone wishing to place a 
realistic offer for a 3 bedroomed semi in Penketh should put at least two hundred thousand in an envelope ready for our return!!

We will be in touch again.

Hasta luego compadres!

June 3rd 2007

Subject: Marbella, its blooming hot!

From Seville, which we really enjoyed. We were going to go to Cordoba but being shallow we decided to go straight for the fleshpots of the South 
Coast and get the culture later. It´s the beaches we want!!

We went to Tarifa first. The beach was very nice but the site was a bit 
iffy so we only stayed for one night. We then went to La Linea which is 
the town next to Gibraltar. We did debate whether to go to Morocco, which is only about 14 kms away, but Ann didn´t trust me not to sell her for a camel and some goats. In my defence, they would have been good quality camels and goats! So we did the tourist "taxi tour" around the rock. This was very interesting and shows how the place is a monument to naval power.

There are not many military people there now but the place is full of 
tourists! It is a tax haven as the population don´t pay any taxes at all, 
which explains why they want to stay part of the UK Crown and not join to 
Spain. All us daft Brits are paying tax to keep Gibraltians in the 
sunshine. Revolution Now!!!

We had a nights "free camping". We parked up on a beach at 12 noon with 4 other vans and stayed there for the day and the night for free. Magic, just 20 yards from the Med. We even went swimming. A bloke and his "girl" set up fishing near us and spent 7 hours with three beach rods catching nothing but seaweed! In England the beachcasters dress in waders and full waterproofs, here they wear their trunks and their women spend the day topless bringing them drinks and ****. Why the hell anyone wants to live in Spain is a mystery to me!

We have moved on to a site for tonight, Sunday, to fill up on water, do 
> the washing and get the bus to Marbella. Then we are going to "free camp" our way to Granada for the culture. We are still planning to come home eventually, but we are going to take the long road so don´t wait up!

June 6th 2007

Hola amigos, Have we been getting cultured or what? We have spent 2 days in the city of Granada and have seen more sights and heard more tour commentaries than we thought there were anywhere. We know about the Moors, their palaces, the Christians and their churches and destruction of the Moors´palaces and how the Moors came back and were vanquished again. They were persistant little blighters!

Even though the temp. is very hot the mountains around here, The Sierra 
Nevadas, are still snow covered and the skiing is still going on, apparently! That is typical of the variations in the country. The scenery 
is spectacular as you come down from the North with the hillls then the 
plains, then the mountains and then finally the coast. When you fly over 
it you miss so much and we have both been surprised and impressed by the "Real Spain".

The bull fighting is big here, although we ain´t going to that thanks! We 
happened upon a festival in the street today. With lots of costumes and 
bands playing. The main street was shut and crowds flocked in. With 
absolutely no crowd control, barriers or apparent regard for health & 
safety and only 2 policemen on horses. The politicos at home who want to cancel walking day and other things because the police want paying and other rules and paperwork should come here! We had no idea what was happening at first. It turns out it was for Corpus Christi, whatever that is!

We are full of culture now so we need to return to more shallow pastimes, so we will be heading back to the coast tomorrow. But not before we hit a tapas bar tonight!!

Hasta luego y adios.

June 11th 2007

Subject: Hola amigos y bienvenido a Espana

Hi all from the sun. Anyway, we have left behind all the culture and moved along the coast. We stopped at various places getting here but at one site, at La Garrofa, I ended up jamming on my guitar with an Irish guy in a bar until mid night! How rock & roll is that? He wore dark glasses all the time and kept getting interrupted by phone calls from a guy called "Bob" and another one from "The Edge". He didn't say the edge of where so I am none the wiser!

Although he was several leagues ahead of me technique wise I think I held my own with the chords I strummed. It all ended when he and the others in the bar went to a party, with a guy dressed as a pirate! he looked like Keith Richards from the new Pirates of the Carribean" film, no honestly he did!. He had the pirate hat, the hair with dangly bits in and uttered unintelligable noises then laughed a lot so it could have been Keith after all. We were moving on the next day so we retired for the night. We didn't get much sleep though because we could here the music and drumming from the party then them all coming home at 04.30. Life on the road eh?

We are now in Mojacar, which is where we got the whole idea for this 
lifestyle from. We were a bit apprehensive about coming back here in case it wasn't as nice as we remembered. But thankfullly it has proved to be better! We are camped on the beachside at a "free camp" place used by motorhomers from all over Europe. We get water from the Red Cross 
building for nothing, ( I think they have registered us as refugees so we 
will get food parcels next week!), so the whole things costs nowt! How 
good is that?

We are staying here for at least this week and into next, then moving on 
again further up Spain then into France at the begining of July. This of 
course is all a bit dodgey at the moment because we have heard that Anns' Dad has had a fall and is in hospital, as we type, so we are on stand by to get home ASAP if we get the call. So if all contact is lost and then we suddenly turn up at home, don't be surprised! (Happily it didn't happen!)

We have been in the sea at least twice a day and it must be warm to get me in. The whole thing still makes us shake our heads in disbelief that we are actually here in our own motorhome. It was only 4 months ago that we came here and saw other people doing this and decided to look into it back home, and before you could say nomads! we are here and "living the dream!"

Adios for now.

June 2007

Subject: More stuff from Spain

Hello everyone, we are still in Mojacar and still enjoying our travels. We are having a holiday from our "holiday"! All this adventure is SO exhausting, you´ve no idea of the stresses we are under! The constant sun and heat, the sound of the sea in the background never goes away and the need to sit in the shade and have a drink is so energy sapping.

We have come to the market in Garrucha today as there are not enough shops in Mojacar, apparently! We have seen some bargains in the shoe wear, and ladies, there are bargains to be had in clothes too. There are 2 streets about 1 km long and the stalls are the full length of them both, and we have stopped at them all! Oww! that has resulted in some domestic violence, i.e. a clip to the ear!

At the beginning of the week we were on the free site on our own, but 
since then more people have arrived who are travelling in their 
motorhomes. One couple who are next to us at present, from Rochdale, are out until January, going on to Portugal, Italy and Croatia next. They are the same age as us and gave up their jobs in the UK to travel before they get "too old". That said we have met several people in their 70´s in 
vans, who have been all over the place. One chap was on his own. Some are going over to Morocco. I think I have said before that it makes our 10 weeks seem quite tame now!

We have booked our ferry back to the Uk. We will be leaving Calais on the 16th of July, then meandering up to Worcester to farm sit for the weekend. We are more then half way through our trip now and in one way it seems to be going very quickly and in another it seems such a long time to have been away from home and our dog. We have both said we haven´t missed our house and "things" as much as we thought we would, but we have missed all of you! No honestly we have!!

Gosh this is getting a bit deep and profound for my liking, I´m off back 
to the beach and warm, blue sea to re charge my batteries.

Adios for now

June 18th 2007

Subject: What we do!

We are just reporting in to say a quick hello and to say we are still in 
Mojacar, for now. It is still hot and we are relaxing before we start our 
touring again on Thursday. We are going North to visit 2 lots of friends 
before we move on to Barcelona for more culture and then on to France.

There we are going to visit "The Theatre d' Image" in Les Baux. It is 
said to be the 2nd most important art gallery in France, after The Louvre. 
They apparently project the images on to the rock face of a quarry instead of having them in frames. Well it's different ain't it? But is it art? 
Discuss!

Hope you are all ok and not too damp from the weather in the UK.
Lots of love, Ste and Ann

June 21st 2007

Subject: Back on the road!

We are now going back on the road. Our "holiday" has come to an end. 
Mojacar is fantastic and we would recommend it to anyone who wants a 
"Spanish holiday" but without the "Costas". It is a resort that is quiet 
and relaxed. The prom is long and has different areas with shops selling 
seaside tat, (if you want that!), proper clothes and jewllery shops are 
also available. The choice of food is excellent with Brit meals, (included in that are Chinese and Indian), Spanish Tapas bars are 
everywhere, (this is Spain afterall) and we can thoroughly recommend the one near the English bookshop! B B King playing on the stereo and freshly made Tapas, what more could you want!

We are refreshed and suntanned now even in our hidden places! We trying not to think that in 4 weeks our "adventure" will be over and instead of waking to the sound of the sea it will be our alarm clock.

We are planning our next tour already. We are thinking of that many 
things to see, and that many places to visit we will need 6 months next 
time! The World isn't that small when you are driving it! We would 
recommend this way of travelling around to any of our young (or older) 
readers. We wish we had done it years ago! So if you are interested in 
doing something like this, go out buy your van and hit the road, don't just think about it!!

That's all for now, we will report in later. We are going to head for 
Barcelona and see if there is any more culture out there. We'll let you 
know.

June 24th 2007

Subject: No, You F+++ OFF!!

This is the title of this leg of our tour. We haven´t grown sick of each 
other, but we were staying at a camp site at Cabo Roig the other night and we were woken by a drunken row next door between r "neighbours"! (Debs & Jon you are never this rowdy!) The gist was that SHE had been talking to a guy in a bar, not a problem per se, but it turns out he was a prison officer of all things! Well naturally you wouldn´t your wife to be 
speaking to someone like that so HE took offence and so it began. The 
fianale was the all time drunken exchange, " Well you can F*** Off!" No, 
YOU F*** Off!", NO; YOU F*** OFF!" etc, etc. There was other stuff, which if it hadn´t been 02.30 until 03.30 would have been funny. If I was writing a sit com it would have been an episode on its´own! The urge to 
open the door and shout "Will you both F*** Off" was tremendous, but don´t worry Mum I resisted it!

To get to Cabo Roig we had dragged ourselves away from our free camp in Mojacar and went to Los Alcazares to see some friends. We had another free camp here, outside their front door in the street! We have no shame now! They provided us with " Full English", free showers and English newspapers. So thanks Paul & Shelly.

It was then on to Cabo Roig to visit John & Irene. It was from their flat in Cabo Roig that we got the idea for this trip, so we had to go back to let them know how we were doing. But the downside was we had to pay to camp on a site, although the entertainment was free!

It was very wierd, but nice, seeing people we knew from the UK again. And affirmed again how much we have missed friends, family, (and our dog), and not things.

From there it was to a site North of Valencia, to a seaside town called 
Moncofa. There we again paid but there was free entertainment laid on 
again, although it was more official! It seems the 23rd of June is a 
fiesta day to celbrate a mixture of mid summers day and St Joans´day. No idea who she is but she must be special to have a day to herself. 
Although to be honest the Spanish don´t seem to need much excuse for a 
party! Anyway things don´t get going until after 11 at night. Then 
everyone goes down to the beach sets up a picnic table and lights their 
own small bonfire. They then write their sins down on a piece of paper 
and throw the piece of paper into the fire, jump over the flames and then 
run into the sea, (presumably to cool the burns to their legs), Hey presto 
your sins are cleansed. Seems to be a lot less commitment to going to 
confession everyweek and it leaves Saturday free! There seemed to be every family in the town sat on the beach in the dark with a camp fire. 
It was like a scene from "Lost"!

Meanwhile the council had arranged a "gig" in the town. A band was 
playing on a stage and anyone not on the beach was drinking and dancing 
infront of the stage. The grand finale, (and anyone who has anything to 
do with H&S look away now), was a massive firework display. In the UK the planning for this would take weeks with barriers, stewards and risk assessment meetings. Here the firework team "rope" off 
enough explosives to invade a middle eastern country with one strand of 
"barrier tape". held at a strategic knee height by old crates. There 
were no lights to show this tape, presumably they would spoil the effect!

The crowd control team move in 3 minutes before launch. I say "team" it 
was one bloke in an orange jacket with a torch and another guy with a 
whistle but no orange jacket, so you couldn´t actually see him and at 
first we thought we were at a rave! They moved the crowd back to a safe 
distance. Not the girly 50 metres as wiritten in the risk assessment 
document but about 15 to 20 feet maximum seemed sufficient here. Then the whole thing literally exploded into the night sky! Forget your Roman Candles and Fire Fountains This was "Shock & Awe" at its best! George Bush would have been proud of the display of fire power here. They were spectacular and must have cost a fortune. The only ones that didn´t go into orbit before exploding with an ear shattering bang did that at zero feet as they came out of the holder! Despite the lack of safety measures the beach was not full of dead and dying Spaniards. When you looked along the coast there were fireworks going off all along it.

D Day must have looked like this!

After 20 minutes they stopped and everyone drifted away to continue 
partying. We went back to the camp foolishly thinking we could sleep but 
the midnight curfew on the site had been ignored completely and the music and drinking went on until the early hours. It is the most exhausting holiday we have ever had!!

Although this went on late, there were whole family groups out until very 
late, (or early a.m.). From babes in arms to grandparents they all were 
getting liquored up! Despite everyone from the age of 5 upwards drinking for several hours there seemed to be no malice in anyone. No one wanted to fight you if you "looked at them funny like" or looked towards their wife/girlfriend. It was very nice to be part of it, although we didn´t really have a clue what it was about!

We are now just outside Barcelona and so we will be spending a few days 
getting cultured again and catching up on our sleep before hitting France!

Adios!

Ste & Ann

June 29th 2007

Subject: Bonjour Mes Amis!

Bonjoiur et vive La France! As you may have guessed we have left Spain 
and entered France, which by the way has yet another style of keyboard to master so apols now for any mistooks!

Anyway you left us about to visit the wonderful city of Barcelona, which 
we did, but it was closed! Yes on Monday all museums, galleries and 
tourist cable cars shut for the day. Even though it is the tourist 
season, bank holiday weekend and there are cruise ships in the harbour, 
and our van was on the most expensive bloody site in Spain for a few days, they have the day off!

Though on the way home we spotted several ¨civil servants¨who were 
working. and they were hoping to work ¨hard¨too! They were the local 
¨Martini girls¨, so called because they are available any time, any place, 
any where! They pose at the side of the road and wait for passing trade. 
There fashion sense is minimalistic to say the least, anything more than 4 
centimetres long skirt wise is classed as winter wear! So as this is a 
hot country, in more ways than one, then wayhey!!

Meanwhile back in culture corner! Barcelona was impressive and we will go back, when its open. From the tour bus we spotted a building that was 
designed by Antoni Gaudi in the 1920.s that was open. Probably because it is owned by a bank and they want a return on their investment! It was 
fantastic though. Very difficult to describe but if you imagine a building on a Roger Dean album cover, ( see Uriah Heep and Yes, circa 1973), but in real life. I don't know how else to describe it but if you want to see more then come to Barcelona or look up Gaudi on t'internet.

From Barcelona we went into France, the spiritual home of vanners! The 
whole country is set out with motorhomes in mind; We even have our own parking places in the towns, usually in the centre with water and 
sometimes electricity laid on. In the main they are free but some charge 
a nominal fee. e.g; 5 euro, 10 at the most! Virtually every town and 
village has at least one. These "aires" as they are called, must pay for 
themselves though because the people in the vans then spend their money in the town and don`t just stay on a campsite for the week. The councils in Britain could learn from this. But the the Taliban in Halton closed their award winning TIC so what do they know about tourism?

Sorry just went into rant mode then.

In France we visited the Camargue Area, which is as beautiful as the books say it is, with the wild white horses and the black bulls roaming round the wetlands. We went to a town called Les Baux de Provence where there is The Cathedral d' Image. This is an old quarry cave where they project images onto the stone faces and the floor. These form a theme which is set to music. When we visited it was Venice. This was old paintings and photographic images put together that played out to reveal a stylised impression of a Venice day. ( I could write a script for Alan Wicker with this tosh!). It was a fantastic experience. Very hard to describe, (again), but it made the hairs on your neck stand on end and we both thought it was one of the highlights of our tour. We will go back again when we are round this way, because the themes change regularly so each visit would be a totally new experience.

Talking of new experiences. The camp site we stayed at was in a forest 
and when we arrived we opened the doors to let some forest air into the van. As well as the air a massive big fly, the biting type, flew in too. 
Ann moved with lightning speed for the fly spray and swatter too. It was 
no contest and the fly breathed in more fumes than if it had lived in 
Widnes for 20 years. There was that much spray the leaves were falling 
from the trees and I now need a lung transplant! As the fly breathed it's 
last a giant hornet came in through the other window. Ann thought it was 
at last 2 inches long,( but that is after a lifetime of me convincing her 
things are bigger than they are!),

After the hornet was despatched too the van was hermetically sealed. I now now what is's like to be an astronaut. You can see the world go by but you can't touch it! Luckily morning arrived before the oxygen ran out, and the door could be opened enough for me to disconnect the electricity cable so we could drive off at speed.

From there we have moved to Millau, on a free aire! to see a magnificent 
suspension bridge, (It puts the Runcorn bridge to shame!), It is 1000 feet 
high and is nicknamed the air bridge because sometimes the clouds obscure the pillars holding it up; (That is when there are clouds here, the sky is so blue and its' sooo hot!!!! If only it would rain now and again.) 
It spans a valley 2.5 kms wide and is a really impressive sight and feat 
of engineering. Designed by a Brit, so we can feel some national pride 
too! (Sir Norman Foster).

From here we shall turn towards Arcachon for a few days by the seaside.
Our return to reality is looming, too fast for us, but we will keep you 
posted of more news from L' Europe, as we continentals say.

Au Revoir et bon chance mon braves!

July 2007

Subject: It`s all battles here!

Bonjour mes amis, Nous sommes en Bayeux et l' histoire es formidable! 
Not bad eh for someone who gave up french in 1973!

We left Les Baux and headed North stopping at L'Aguillon sur Mer, Kerne 
and Carnac on the aires in those seaside towns. We encountered a problem with our electric and we have moved on to Bayeux onto a site, so that we can "hook up" to their supply. we are here for the next 4 nights until Sunday when we head off to Le Touquet and then to Calais to get the ferry to good old blighty.

We have not been wasting our time though and we have been taking in the local history, about the ancient stones put in place 8,000 years ago at 
Carnac. They are in lines, all 3000 of them, set out in rows of about 20 
foot wide. No one knows what they are for, why they are there or who put them there. I of course have a theory, and it is no less valid than 
anyone elses. I propose that they are the entrance to either a giant 
ancient post office. Where the druids would queue in an orderly fashion 
for their stamps etc. either that or it was just a massive tourist scam 
similar to Stonehenge and the pyramids. Once upon a time, there was a meeting and the people wanted to get visitor numbers up but as WW2 hadn't happened yet, they looked at Stonehenge and realised that they could do something with the pile of stones they had got from the local farmer. So a plan was made and the easiest thing was just to lie them out in parallel line for about half a mile or so, and a tourist industry was born! Stop shaking your heads you can't prove it wasn't!

The next big name in these parts was William the Conqueror, or, William 
the Bastard, to give him his local name. No wonder he was a good fighter 
with a name like that. You can just imagine the problems he had in 
registration at school! He was also in touch with his feminine side 
though and very good with a needle and thread to judge from the tapestry!

Then there is the D Day stuff that happened literally just across the 
road! Bayeux was the first town to be liberated in the afternoon of the 
6th of June, and they have been making money from it since then! From 
postcards to old ammunition clips it's all for sale here. even the market 
stalls sell guns!!

We are very concious that we are returning to reality very soon and 
although this dream is ending we are planning others for the future, so 
any donations will be gratefully received as when we get home we will be 
moneyless, jobless and depressed! Enough surely to get your sympathy! I will be sat on a tartan rug with Holly at Market Gate in Warrington most 
days so please don't pass me by! Ann has other plans, she is hoping to 
appeal to a specialist market available on most web sites under the name 
of Madame Vanner, (credit cards accepted).

Thats all for now and we will see you sooner than you can say BONJOUR!

July 2007

Subject: The last word!

Verily and forsooth the Tomos tour has nearly reached it's final scenes 
and they are in merrye olde Englande againe.

Yes we are back in the UK and at the moment we are in Stratford upon Avon, Hence the opening line!

The last time we contacted everyone was in Bayeux after seeing the 
tapestry. After that we visited the D Day stuff in the area. Well I say 
"We". Ann stayed in the van outside while I went to see the war stuff. 
It was very interesteding and I hadn't realised just how close the D Day 
invasion was to ending quite differently. The americans suffered on one 
beach so much they were only an hour away from withdrawing completely. The other beaches would then have come under attack from the Germans in large numbers and the war would have gone on for another 2 or 3 years in the West, and Europe would have been completely different.

The other thing that I found quite compelling was "seeing" the realism of the whole thing. The ages of the allied troops fighting was only in their late teens and early twenties. At one place, The Pegasus Memorial, the British airborne troops had 2 guys aged 17! It makes you think that at 17 I was out following rock bands and drinking cider with my mates and they were charging bridges and getting shot at!

The French have a fantastic respect for these people and they are held in 
very high regards. We have been given a "thank you" post card to be 
passed on to a guy Ann Knows who was there on the day. It means that much to them.

From Bayeux we moved straight on to Calais and spent the night on the aire which is right next to the ferry port. It cost 7 euros and there were a 
lot of vans there waiting for the ferry to UK. At the back is a municipal 
campsite that had all the facilities, showers and loos etc. So yours 
truly just walked in past the gate and helped myself to a hot shower! 
Cheers Calais Council!

The next day we did intend doing some final shopping, getting lunch and 
parking up to wait for our ferry time. We did the first 2 things, but 
then we met a couple in a supermarket car park who were in their van 
having come back from Croatia amongst other places. There was a terrific thunder and lightning storm so we sat chatting in their van before making a dash to ours next door. From there we ended up following the signs for the port area and before we realised we were in the queue for passport control! From there we were directed to the booking in gate and they offered us a place on the ferry leaving at 5 o clock. So we jumped on that and were back in Dover at just after 6.30.

From there we moved on to a farm site for the night then onto Stratford yesterday. We have done the tour bus thing this morning to Shakesperares house and other places. We might get more cuture this evening. That said the RSC theatre is closed for refurbishment until next year. What is it with the tourist places we visit. We go to Barcelona and it's closed! We go to La Rochelle and it's closed to motorhomes! And now Stratford is closed too.

Fortunately there are other places, (in fact it is called "The other 
Place"!) So we might see something yet. Although to be honest the 
closure of the theatre might give him time to write something new! The 
guy's living on his reputation the same as Beethoven, both of them are 
robbing a living at the moment!

This might be the last mail from the tour because we are back home on 
Monday. Are we downhearted? Absobloominglutely, we are gutted!! But we are looking forward to seeing you all soon.

So it's goodbye from Me & goodbye from Her!

That's it I hope ypou've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed reliving it. We are off again soon in our new van and like all of you, hopefully having new adventures, meeting fantastic people and seeing wonderful things.

Aint vans great :?: *


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## smithies (Jul 1, 2007)

Hello Annsman,

I did enjoy reading this.....next time (?)..why not come to Morocco ????...you will love it...se you there !!! :wink: 



Jenny and Gordon


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## Nora+Neil (May 1, 2005)

Enjoyed the read.

Was in the Camargue this Sept was disappointed with it, towns are now so commercialize. I thought that it would be more wild. New buildings everywhere.


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## petepub (Oct 28, 2008)

[align=justify]
We are going on a trip to France, Portugal, Spain etc in 2009 end of Feb early march.
This will be our first time in our new motorhome and we are abit nervous, we have been to France with a caravan before (once) but never in a motor home.
We do not know how long we will go for. 
Your trip sounded great and it looks like you enjoyed it. We went to Les Beaux in October what an amazzing place.
Thanks for the artical.


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