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First weigh in having gone back to the WW plan, and I'm pleased to report that I lost 6lbs this week. It's a good job too actually, as I have been super-strict with myself about sticking to the plan and have exercised like a mad thing!
I had 26lbs to lose to get me to goal in 11 weeks by Christmas, and now have 10 weeks to lose 20 pounds. That's a round 2 lbs a week, so I had better get cracking!
Flag it:I was watching a comedy programme I'd videoed when I was on holiday this morning and something they did really interested me. Aparently there are websites out there which can work out when you are going to die!
Now I don't want you to think I'm getting all maudlin and depressed on you girls, far from it. I am in fact genuinely interested on how the life choices you make, affect your longevity and particularly in view of my recent efforts to get fit and lose weight, I want to know what kind of a difference I am making to myself. The results make AMAZING reading!
Inputting various details such as whether or not you are happy, stressed, eat breakfast regularly or have a pet can make a HUGE difference. I used this calculator which I found from googling the phrase of this blog title: http://www.moneyforums.co.uk/death_calculator.php
but there ARE others, much more tongue in cheek versions which I think are more of a wind up! Check this one out for example called DEATH CLOCK!: http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~palfrey/tom/death/main.htm
The MOST interesting information you get is when you change the variable information. Having regular breakfasts can make a difference of 4 years, and being a light drinker, rather than teetotal means you actually live LONGER. Wow!
Lastly, a professional journalist with far more writing talent than I, has written an article about this very subject. Check it out, you'll be wanting to calculate the day you're going to die too - and hopefully in a good way!: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2007/09/17/hlifes pan117.xml
Flag it:I've been putting things off you know.
For a week!
Since I got back of holiday and sadly, today decided it could wait no longer.
I had 4 really rather unpleasant administrative tasks and buniess type letters to write concerning my finances and have today, after putting it off since I got back form holiday, have finally got them done.
I'm feeling pretty relieved to be honest and see now that I could have probably dealt with them earlier if I had felt brave enough. This is just a little note to remind myself (and others if you like) that getting something horrid out of the way can often bring a pleasant feeling of relief. It's nice to know I don't have to do it any more (well for at least 10 days or so when I'll have to deal with the replies!
Flag it:This is the first week back for the second year of A level french for me and I was REALLY looking forward to it, but sadly it hasn't all been plain sailing.
I enrolled and paid for the course way back in June, about a week after I sat the AS exams, as I was really keen to get the ball rolling. The first class was scheduled for this Tuesday (just gone) and I even scheduled my return from holiday around it so I would be back in time for the 1st lesson. It's one of the few motivating pleasures I have in my life at the moment which gives me a reason to get up in the mornings, so when I checked my answerphone messages on my return form holiday, my disappointment to be told that the course wasn't running was enormous.
They offered me an alternative to join the first year AS students again in a sort of combined class with the two different levels of students, but on a Monday evening. They wouldn't run the second year class on a Tuesday at all. To cap it all, I only checked the message at 9 p.m. on Monday (having SOOOOooo many other things to attend to on my return), that I missed the first class.
Disappointed on Tuesday morning at having missed the first lesson, I rang the college to explore my options, get the homework from the tutor and confirm my attendance for next Monday and was told that the person I needed to speak to wasn't there, but they would ring me back. In the mean time, I confirmed my attendance for the Monday class and settled back to wait another week. The next day, (yesterday) I got a phone call from an administrator to say that I couldn't even go on the mixed class as it was now full and they had no more room.
Well, suffice to say, I nearly fell over.
The college it seems, despite having had my money for 3 months, was now preparing to abandon me halfway through a 2-year course, with no qualms whatsoever, leaving me no time to make alternative arrangements. I was absolutely furious, but kept my cool, depite the jobsworth on the other end of the phone getting shirty with me! I calmly suggested that they did what they did with the AS class last year and allow more students to start the course (rather than the 18 they had at the moment on the list) as drop out rate is incredibly high for this course. Last year we started with 22 and were 15 within 3 weeks (and only 8 took the exam). After much more unecessary shirtiness, he agreed to go away and investigate, and has recently rung me back to say I CAN now go on the course, they moved the class to a bigger room and accept that there WILL be dropouts.
It's a huge relief, but I'm still a bit niggled that all this argy bargy was necessary, that I have MISSED the first lesson, and that I'm aparently going to be studying the same material for 2 years running.
To those of you who don't know know how important my french is to me, this will all seem like a bit of a storm in a tea cup, but this course is my lifeline to social interaction and giving some meaning to my life in a way that nothing else is. To put it in perspective, I don't have any other friends or family and I'm not working at the moment and this is the only chance I get to get out and have adult interaction with people. Putting it in to that sort of perspective, may help you to inderstand why I have subsequently got VERY tearful over it and coupled with another wretched incident on Monday night, I'm afraid I'm a bit knocked for 6 at the moment.
Flag it:Saturday 25th August
The Ferry crossing was very busy for a 10:30 p.m. sailing, loads of freight and a surprising number of tourists to boot. We arrived in Calais at about midnight (English time) and found a great place to spend a quiet night in our camper van, in the car park of the local hypermarket, Auchan. Shared a bottle of Asti Spumante, one of my favourite sweet and fizzy wines, to help us de-stress, and woke at about 8:00 French time, feeling like I'd had a really good night's sleep. Losing weight really has made a whole world of difference to so many areas of my life, and getting a good night's sleep is no exception. I sleep so much better these days almost anywhere.
Breakfast in the shape of Auchan croissants was right on the doorstep and we both had 2 each with some home made jam. Yummy. Our first taste of France, and what I'd been promising myself ever since we set off from home.
This was the start of a fairly (VERY) naughty points day, but compared to what we both used to pack away on a French holiday we were both pretty reserved. Lunch on the go for the journey was chicken sandwiches, but sadly the tarte aux pommes (apple pie) and tartelettes aux framboise (mini raspberry tarts) bumped up the points tally. Coffee and tarte again at 17:00 didn't help the points count and by the time we found a bar and place to stop in Le Ribay where we had pression and kir (white wine with a splash of blackcurrant liqueur), followed by beer and fizz in campi with more chicken sandwiches, crisps, tortilla chips and tarte, I had had 48.5 points for the day. I didn't even end up feeling really full so it's still a mystery to me, but I'm tracking them all the same and it will be an interesting experiment to see how much weight I put on.
We took the journey very slowly compared to previous cross-country voyages. Leaving as late as 11 a.m. after shopping, we stopped for nearly an hour for lunch, then tea, and probably only travelled for 5 hours in total. That's OK as we have factored in our increased holiday time, and have the lee-way to do everything at a leisurely pace. It's lovely to have the freedom of 4 weeks do to as we please.
We refuelled just outside Alençon, where I got my first opportunity to practice my AS level French, asking a lady at the petrol station if English credit cards now work in French 24hour automatic petrol stations. They never have before, but twice now, our chip and pin cards have been accepted in the handheld devices, so there's a good chance if we find a new outlet with newish technology, that they might.
I was going to pay for the petrol by leaning out of the window, so when Partner stopped the van 2 metres away from the window, I had to leap out. I looked pretty silly with no shoes on and one trouser leg rolled up. To recap, I was bitten on my lower calf 2 days ago by a mosquito and my body has leapt to my defence. So hugely though, that when my leg is in the seated position (such as when driving) my lower leg swelled up and hurt like a bugger. 7 hours in that position was really hurting so I had rolled up my jeans to get out the way of it and in fact travelled as a passenger some of the way with my foot on the dash board in an effort to minimise the swelling.
We found a super place to spend the night. Off the beaten track it was really quiet and safe, and near to a bar for our first pression (draught lager) of the holiday and boulangerie (bakers) for bread the next day. Just on the outskirts of a tiny village called Le Ribay, we were safe and sound, and well off the main road. To top it all the clouds parted and the sun came out and we were treated to red sky at night.
Felt pretty good that I did my exercises twice already today, and am going to do the last set in a mo. Hooray!
Sunday 26th August
Slightly disturbed night sleep (I should have had my earplugs in!) even though the place was deserted, we did have the odd car driving past in the night. We slept late till about 9 am again, so by the time we'd had breakfast, done my exercises, washed up and packed the bed away, it was about quarter past 10. We pootled off to the boulangerie we had spotted the night before for our baguette and hit the road at about half past 10. That was half an hour improvement on yesterday!
The sun was shining again and the weather was so summery and lovely for us. A few notable things on the journey, The town of Mayenne was suitably geared up for the Rugby world cup, having bedecked one of it's primary roundabouts with rugby themed topiary and artwork!. Also a few interesting signs appeared further down the road. "THT Non". And "EPR", next to a picture of a pylon. We have guessed that THT might stand for tour haute tension, and EPR might be energie something renouvellable. We'll check it up in the big book of words later.
We drove straight through to the campsite at Notre Dame de Riez and saw a little note of welcome in reception, asking us to come and find them all in the bar. The staff were having their end-of-season party and were having a right royal time by the look of it. We found a lovely quiet level spot and proceeded to demolish our baguette and the rest, making short work of some more tarte aux pommes and at least 3 beers.
After lunch, we went to the pool, as the sun was well and truly out and the clouds were fast disappearing. The pool itself wasn't heated but we soon acclimatised. We both did our 10 lengths and spent a relaxing hour or so reading books by the poolside. We came back to campi, once things at the pool started to get very boisterous and read some more. Partner even fell asleep in his chair in the sunshine, something he never normally does.
After half an hour or so we felt rejuvenated enough to start exploring. Less than 10 minutes cycle in to the centre of the village of Notre Dame de Riez we found the two local bars, a restaurant, the boulangerie and the little supermarket. Feeling like getting some proper exercise, we decided to take one of the many specially constructed Vendee cycle routes in the area to see where it would lead us. The weather was just about as perfect as it could be for cycling. The route started being signposted to St Hilaire de Riez, the neighbouring beach town, but did meander a lot and after several un-signposted junctions where we had just followed our noses, we weren't sure where we were heading exactly. Partner particularly liked the butterflies which flew along side us as we cycled, and the little cat which tried to fool us in to not noticing him, by crouching down and lying motionless in the grass even when we were staring at him! After half an hour of cycling, we turned round and come home, having thoroughly enjoyed the cycle, but promising to take the sat nav with us next time. An hour of cycling earned Partner and I, 3.5 and 3 points respectively. Sadly I note that 10 mins of lengths in the pool don't earn us anything!
Back at the campsite, we had worked up a sweat so went for a lightning cool-down dip in the pool, before getting changed in to some mosquito-proof clothes and cycling back to a local restaurant we had spotted in the village. We had a wonderful meal of a seafood filo pastry parcel, with a piquant (smelt like turmeric flavoured) sauce, followed by Kangaroo steaks and sautéed vegetables and a cocktail of fresh fruits with cognac, sorbet and fresh cream. We also had an aperitif and half a litre of wine and the whole thing was just over 50 euros. What a bargain and it was delish! I have had such a lovely day today, doing ALL of my favourite things.
Monday 27th August
We woke this morning, at nearly 10 o'clock. Good heavens, what a lie in! I feel refreshed for the first time, in at least a week and feel ready to go. First weigh in of the holiday, and after 2 days of treats I wasn't expecting the damage to be too bad, but was extremely disappointed to se that I had put on 2lbs so quickly. Partner had stayed the same, but seeing as our points tally had been 50 and 60 points a day over the weekend, rather than the 18 and 27 we are actually allowed, I suppose it's not surprising.
The weird thing is, that compared to a holiday in the past, we haven't been excessive. We would always have a couple of croissants for breakfast, usually followed by toast and cereal. Then we'd have sandwiches (with beer or wine) for lunch, using full fat mayo and butter, spreading the cheese and pate pretty thickly. In the past, dinner would be something cooked in oil, with vegetables and more wine, and there would certainly be a couple of cakes or a petit pot de crème or two. This was normal. We haven't exceeded that this time, in fact I would say that limiting ourselves to only 2 croissants at breakfast this time, and having chicken instead of cheese and pate, and low fat mayo and no butter, was a reduction. I am shocked and stunned to see how many points are (and were) in the food we eat on holiday.
I'm trying to work out in my head how I can be so focussed at home and let caution to the wind so avidly once I am on holiday. We're thinking that it might be the safety valve we all need when following a strict regime. Perhaps it's a bit like Partner's "cry for help" food at the party. It really made me laugh when I saw his plate piled with 3 slices of pizza, sausage rolls, pork pies and Chinese nibbles - and NO healthy stuff! I have certainly thrown myself in to eating what ever I want since we got off the ferry. I think maybe now is the time to rein it in a bit with a day of sticking to my points?
In two days, I have managed to put on 2 lbs (I'm back to 11 stone) but Partner has luckily stayed the same, (not surprising as his WI for last week was surprisingly 2 lbs higher than I thought it might be). Extrapolating that, I am looking at putting on a pound a day or 29 pounds (over 2 stone) over the course of the holiday. I was pessimistically thinking before I came that 8 would be nearer the mark looks like that was in fact optimistic, not pessimistic. It just shows how easily and quickly it can all go back on again. It's also sad to think that that is how I derive my pleasure, still, from food that is. I really wish it wasn't that ways. On the plus side, I do also seem to derive pleasure from exercise, and the hour on the bikes yesterday, really gave me a lift. I also loved feeling like we could just go out and have a meal because I didn't fancy cooking (and Partner bless him couldn't face washing up either!) Today, I really do fancy having lunch in a café in St Hilaire de Riez. Perhaps Partner will be firm with me!
Having got back to base after a very long afternoon, I feel very pleased with our accomplishments. We said ‘yes' to ice creams, but ‘no' to pizza, churos, kebabs, beers, and Mr Whippy! We started by cycling to St Hilaire de Riez. The town itself is very new and very friendly and has a swanky boulevard an office de tourisme. While waiting for said office to open, we whiled away a happy hour or so, eating ice creams and paddling in the rock pools while the de came in. We were both fascinated by the contents of the rock pools, and the speed of the flowing tide. Having bought a map of cycle routes in the area, we then decided that St Jean de Monts wasn't really that far away and we would cycle there.
The weather was gorgeous, so we applied loads of sun cream and set off. There are about 4 smaller communes between St Hilaire and St Jean, and each on seemed tackier than the last. Burger bar after burger bar, but it didn't seem to matter, Cyclists were well catered for en route and we arrived in about an hour on the magnificent se front of St Jean de Monts itself. We were parched and bought a can of cold drink, then another two after that! I waited outside the tourist office while Partner went in and browsed. Then we set of to explore St Jean itself, It had a beautiful and cooling fountain on one of it's roundabouts, and I couldn't resist paddling in it, it was so hot. After that came a pedestrian precinct, that looked straight out of the best (or worst) that Malia or Faliraki has to offer.
We set off home but with about 3k to go my energy suddenly deserted me. It was as much as I could do to pick up essential supplies in the Hyper U and get back to campi. We arrived home at approx 7:45, having cycled for at least 4.5 hours and completely shagged out. The route we took can be found here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1268633. We changed in to our cozzies (Partner in to his new one which we had bought that day) and headed straight for the pool. Only a couple of lengths, as we were tired and hungry and still had to cook dinner. We managed to rustle up some Chinese chicken and watermelon for afters and saw off a bottle of fizz, pretty quickly. By 9 pm, we were satiated, tired, but pleased with the day's events. The sunshine has done us proud and we were proud of ourselves for the amount of exercise we had done.
Tuesday 28th August
Didn't sleep too well last night as the wind kept me awake, but must have had just enough sleep as I have been able to function OK today. I had only watermelon for breakfast, in an attempt to keep down my points tally for the day. I did a mammoth washing up session this morning, while Partner emptied the poopy pot and filled Campi's water tank. After some judicious place marking, we were able to get him back to the same spot exactly that he was in before and was nice and level.
We cycled in to Notre Dame de Riez for bread for lunch, and minimised lunch time points tally too, then sunbathed by the pool, practicing a bit of diving when it was time to cool off. In the afternoon we went for a medium length cycle ride via the cycle route laid out on the map we bought yesterday to the nearby village of Commequiers. They have an attraction there called velo rail http://www.frenchentree.com/france-poitou-charentes-holiday s-leisure/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=20688 where people pay (the rather large sum of 22 or 33 euros,) to hire a pedal powered rail vehicle and then cycle all the way to the next village of Cöex and back.
Our own route itself was beautiful and well off the beaten track. We would never have taken some of the turnings if it had not been for a map telling us too, they were so small. We also picked and ate some of the nicest blackberries I have ever had and treated ourselves to coffee and tarte aux pommes when we got back. The nice lady who runs the site, then told us that could use her internet connection briefly, so I may go and try to surf my boards in a bit.
Wednesday 29th August
Slept quite late again today (with the help of earplugs and closed windows) so didn't even wake up until 9:15. I felt refreshed when I woke, but the nightmare I had hd of people I know dying and appearing to me as ghosts, was disturbing. I seemed preoccupied as to whether my parents were to haunt me in the afterlife, and the whole thing was very vivid.
We breakfasted on a treat of toasted brioche and scrambled eggs, although I did make a concession to health and didn't have butter on it! I also prepared some watermelon to take on an outing to Cöex.
We had seen an advert for the scented garden at Cöex: http://www.lejardindesolfacties.com/ and quite fancied cycling there. The weather forecast was supposed to be a storm, but the morning was merely overcast. The latter half of the day however was brilliant sunshine and we both caught the sun badly having not worn any sunscreen or taken a hat for such weather.
The route was a 24 mile round trip which we managed in about an hour and ¾ on the way there and an hour and a quarter on the way back. We had ice cream as a treat, instead of lunch, and enjoyed about 2 ½ hours wandering around the gardens, smelling and looking at the flowers and plants in what had turned out to be brilliant sunshine. The indoor tropical rain-forest was a particularly pleasant surprise. We took plenty of photos (even filling up the huge CF card we have and using the back up) and had a swim when we got home at 7 p.m. We surfed the net a bit at the pool again and had a healthy Bolognese for tea (with some not so healthy tortilla chips and dips as aperitif nibbles). Partner found this web-site for the local village: www.notre-dame-de-riez.com which has a photo of the inside of the lovely restaurant where we ate the other day.
Thursday 30th August
Market day in St Hilaire de Riez, so we set the alarm for 7 a.m. Good job we did, as it was 5 past 9 before we rolled out of the campsite, having washed, tidied, and sorted for the day. The market itself was fairly small, but a lovely array of French produce was available, and we had our first naughtiness of the day, in the shape of hot saucisse. Then followed a coffee in a local bar, with a pain au raisin (raisin pastry). We then cycled to the nearby tourist hamlet of St Giles Croix de Vie which consisted of a plethora of waterfront restaurants and bars (and another pain au raisin and an almond croissant which was heavenly). Having found a pizza place which did takeaway, we had a really lovely ham and mushroom one with lardons, (sautéed bacon pieces) for only €8. Afterwards we found a quiet beach with a man-made lagoon, and read our books and paddled in the sea and the rock pools until the tide came in.
By this time we were REALLY thirsty and had forgotten our bottled water, so we had a couple of beers in a St Hilaire town centre bar, before cycling out to the Marais Salant, www.sel-de-vie.com where they have been harvesting salt from the seawater for hundreds of years. It was a very interesting and informative tour, and Partner was very helpful in translating the bits I didn't understand. We bought a bag of sea salt to take home with us, and a small luxury one for Patrner's Mum.
Cycling back to the campsite, we stumbled across the owner offering beers at one Euro each, so we popped in to the camp site bar which was very welcoming. We surfed the net for a bit, then after a hot shower, came home to chicken sandwiches and home made sangria, which went down very well. I was shocked to learn that we had cycled 17 miles and earned 13 and 5.5 points each for the 3 hrs of cycling and 2 hrs of walking about that we had done. No wonder we were so exhausted today when we got home.
Friday 31st August
Woke this morning after quite a good night's sleep, but feeling extremely exhausted. The cycling of the last few days has taken its toll, it seems. This mornings exercises, (and last nights as well) were particularly difficult. Not from the point of view of stretching of of muscle strength, but because I felt I was really pooped.
I've downloaded all the photos, updated the weight tracking graphs and found the addresses for the French postcards. All we have to do now is summon the energy to cycle somewhere! We had considered cycling about 15-20 miles today, to the Moulin des Gourmands http://www.vendee-tourisme.com/fr/guide_touristique/moulins/mo ulin_des_gourmands.php , however both of us were very achy all over and feel like we deserve a rest. We've had a leisurely breakfast, washed-up, cleaned and tidied up and are now surfing the net by the pool. The pool is deserted and we have it to ourselves and the sun has come out again (although it is a little cloudier today).
Well in the end, we not only cycled to the Moulin but back via St Giles Croix de Vie, adding almost an extra hour to hour cycling day! Almost 20 miles and over 2 ½ hours of cycling earned us a fair few exercise points today! We treated ourselves to almond croissant and pain au raisin in the St Giles bakery opposite the tourist office, and to a coffee each on the bar au port in the town (one of the nicest I have had here it has to be said.
We rounded off our stay in Notre Dame de Riez, by going back to the lovely restaurant La Marais. Walking there and back this time, we had steak and magret de canard (lightly cooked duck breast) and it was lovely again. Walking back in the dark, it was so black you could see the stars.
Saturday 1st September
Off down South today, we left at the crack of 9:30 (!) after thanking Caroline from the campsite for a lovely stay. The Domaine de Renarières has to be one of the friendliest places I have stayed. She was effusive about Partner's French, which pleased him no end.
We lingered shopping in Hyper U, making sure we picked up a nice bottle of red for our friend Mike from the area. By the time we left there it was at least 11:00. We drove cross country, along the coast, and took our time getting to the Foirac area of Bordeaux, where I am pleased to say that we finally found the Dulong Entreprises! They weren't selling direct, but it was kind of nice to say that we had found them after all that time. Off to a hypermarket, we bought some prize-winning Bordeaux reds and clairet (and a clairet for our friend Mike, as we think he'll like it)
We drove in to the centre of Bordeaux http://www.bordeaux-tourisme.com/ and were very impressed with the grandeur and architecture being offset by the evening sun. A beautiful and historic city, we should go back there for a longer visit someday. We found a great overnight stop, at the end of an as yet uncompleted, zone road in Floirac and had a good night's sleep.
Sunday 2nd September
Croissants and coffee for breakfast, and I'm feeling a little ashamed of myself for overeating for the last week. My jeans feel tight, and even though I have earned 51.5 exercise points in the last 5 days, I am consuming more than I'm burning. I need to rein it in a little, but it's very hard with all this loveliness on offer.
The A63/N10 was a lovely quick road south to the departement of les Landes and we arrived at Camping de la Cote http://www.campinglacote.com/ just before 12 noon. The site is much bigger than the previous one and seems newer and cleaner, but less personal somehow. All the toilet blocks are brand spanking new, as is the pool complex and everything exudes efficiency. We've got a beautifully quiet and tranquil spot and have just finished lunch, with a bottle of the gorgeous Bordeaux clairet, a light and fruity rose wine particular to the Bordeaux region. Partner has been in the pool for the last hour and I have been reading my book next to Campi. I think, I'll just finish the book as I have only a few pages to go and then will join him at the pool.
Haven't done any exercise today, but managed to minimise the points awfulness! We had a lovely barbeque this evening - our first of the summer, with beer rather than wine (less points again!) My knee is still painful, having spent the whole of yesterday being very swollen. That's what I get for overdoing the exercise. I have to learn to listen to my body when it tells me it's had enough. I'm not very good at that at the moment. I feel very tired today, despite not having done anything to speak of.
Monday 3rd September
I was feeling ill at ease yesterday and couldn't quite put my finger on it. I woke this morning feeling in a similar way and the reason manifested itself at about 8:30 when I got on the scales. 11 stone 5. In 9 days, I have put on 7 pounds. This is not go. On no this is so so bad. How is it possible to put on nearly a pound a day? I haven't even gone way overboard on the fat, cheese, cake and pate. I haven't even had ANY pate at all, and up until Saturday, hadn't had any cheese either. What's going on. OK so I'm way over my points each day, but I have been exercising like a woman possessed. I haven't touched the butter, since day 2 and am not using any cooking oil for food preparation. I've had only 10 croissants since I got here (just over 1 a day), so that's hardly over the top yet here I am with my jeans feeling really tight, thinking that it's the end of the world.
It's NOT of course, but suddenly the reason Partner didn't want to bring the scales on holiday becomes clear. It's all very well tracking what I'm weighing, IF I'm then prepared to do something about it.
And to a certain extent I have. I've cut out breakfast on several mornings now (or just had fruit) and have stopped myself eating pot or cream yoghurts, or having crisps etc. I don't feel bloated exactly, but I do feel fat. And it's only 7lbs on. Mind you that is half a stone - in only 9 days. I'm going round in circles now. I can't seem to get my head round it.
It seems I have two choices. Either ruin my holiday, by not having the lovely things I want, - and lose weight. OR Have the lovely things I want, and put on weight and feel awful. Either way, it seems I get to feel awful, either by not having the lovely things I want, or by feeling fat. It's the eternal dichotomy though isn't it? It's what I face for the other 48 days of the year and the choice I make seems simple then. I want to be slim more than I want the food. Here it seems different. Here it seems I gave myself permission to have what I wanted, and underestimated the damage I could cause. Maybe this is one of Miriam's times when 'grey is my friend'. Have SOME of the lovely things I want (enough so as to still enjoy my holiday, and not have absolutely EVERYTHING which springs to mind. Have beer OR wine. Have croissant OR coffee in a bar. What other choices can I make? Cut out the tarte aux pommes for a start - even if it IS on special offer (that was more painful than I thought it would be). Make fat saving choices wherever I can. It's pretty much what I have been doing actually. I have had brioche, but haven't had butter on it. I have had French bread, but avoided the cheese. I HAVE been making wise choices, and to a greater extent, INFORMED choices. But I have been allowing myself some leeway. Is it time to rein in the excess all together? I don't think anyone can expect to lose weight on holiday. STS would have been lovely. 2 lbs a week was what I was aiming for, but even that seems wildly under now. Shall I settle for a stone on and see how that makes me feel? I need to come out of this depression if for no other reason than not to spoil our holiday. I now Partner hates it when I am low, although he has done his best to help me out. Hopefully he understands now that pretending the information doesn't exist doesn't help. Dealing with it does.
Writing about how I feel and sorting it out in my head has also helped. I wish he would do that too.
Tuesday 4th September
I feel like I've finally settled in here. It took a while as the whole area to start with it was much busier than last year. But that is because we are at least 2 weeks earlier than last year. For the most part, the children have disappeared and the occupied emplacements are diminishing and we are getting to know our way around.
It rained over night (the first time since we got here) but by the time the sun rose, the cloud were already starting to clear and the sun came out in force a few hours later. We are very jammy with the Super U right on our doorstep (that was completely manic yesterday lunchtime) and we have investigated as far as Soustons http://www.soustons.fr/ . It's not as touristique as Vieux Boucau http://www.ot-vieux-boucau.fr/html_vieux_boucau/fr/plan_et_acc es.htm but has its charms. We found take away pizza and a very pleasant terrace café (Hotel du Centre) for a peaceful biere afterwards. We found the tourist office (quite large, for somewhere so seemingly not touristique) and the sculpture of Francois Mitterand, a resident of the town for many years.
The cycle ride to Soustons was stunningly beautiful. Through pine forests, dappled and shady. I would happily cycle that again today if it were it for a major problem with my knee. It has swollen up (the right on this time) and is so painful to walk or stand on, that I fear I may have to spend the whole day today, doing nothing at all. It's really worrying me (as these things do) that as soon as find something that I can do which I enjoy, I get injured and can't do it. First with the running and now with the cycling. I was really enjoying cycling the long distances, but it seems I shall have to go easy and try not to overdo things.
I have also cut down on the naughty eats for the last few days, so I don't feel so full and so bloated, which s making me feel better. We have self-catered for the last couple of days in the slow cooker and it's working out really well. We also took the opportunity of the Leclerc's cheaper prices, to stock up on provisions. It was a good job we had the panniers, and lucky Partner was willing to be pack donkey for the afternoon on the way home.
Wednesday 5th September
The forecast is for at east another four days of sunshine - hooray. My knee is very painful, so today will be a do very little day, either spent in the campsite, or by the beach. In fact we spent the whole day in front of campi, basking in the sunshine, which would have been OK if it hadn't been for the unpleasant atmosphere after words in the morning. It took me a LONG time to get over it. Too much alcohol (2 bottles of wine between us) and too much food today, and NOT in a good way.
Thursday 6th September
We cycled to the beach for the first day today. Partner went swimming in the sea, while I stayed on the beach reading a book. We went to Vieux Boucau after coming back to camp for a hot shower and some clean clothes, where we ate out for lunch at the Creperie Au Pub Mail. Partner had omelette basquaise and I had salade paysanne. No alcohol today for lunch, to try to counteract the excesses of yesterday. Things have started to improve but I still feel very tearful and agitated. Sleep was difficult.
Friday 7th September
Today was yet another beautiful sunny and gorgeous day. We have soooo been spoilt by the weather, while we've been here. The meto forecast for the next 4 days shows bright and clear and somehow we can't imagine it being anything else.
We cycled the 14k of so to the pretty village of Léon today via the fabby piste cycliste. I am so pleased about the efforts they seem to have made in this region for cyclistes. We stumbled across the local market in the morning and went to town on the local delicacy called Floc de Gasgogne. It's an aperitif (fortified wine) made form 2/3rds grape juice to 1/3rd Armagnac (the local brandy). We bought 6 bottles of the stuff from 2 different sellers and another 3 bottles of prize-winning moelleux (which was fantastic). Of course it was Partner who volunteered to be pack donkey on the way home, but the 3 coffrets snuggled nicely in the green panniers which we had thoughtfully brought with us.
We had a lovely prix fixe menu in a local restaurant for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed every bite. We got chatting to two very nice French Ladies, who settled a French grammaire discussion for us, and the told is about the poor weather of the earlier season. They even offered to take our bottled purchases back to Vieux Bocau with them so we wouldn't have to but despite it being a tempting offer I declined. One day I will be able to accept kindness like that. Not yet but soon. In other news, my knee hurts today in a new and interesting way, but I tried not to let it stop me in the ride.
We went for a welcoming dip in the pool (which we also love) when we got back and then decided to shop for provisions. That Super U on our doorstep is all very well, but it seems to go through periods of intense tourist activity, which display decidedly locust tendencies. Of course there was no bread left, so instead of bread and ham for tea we decided on a salade paysanne (not unlike the lovely one I had had in Vieux Boucau the other day). No eggs! We came home with what we could get and Partner then cycled like a mad thing in to Vieux Boucau for eggs and also managed to get some bread. We eventually sat down to eat at about 7:30 with the loveliest salad we could have wanted. Partner even remarked that the lettuce was OK!
Have just written our last 4 postcards and we'll post them tomorrow, on our way out to Soustons. Partner has still to have his litre of rum and raisin ice cream which he has been hankering after all holiday.
Saturday 8th September
Cycled to Soustons today, which was pretty easy really. We had originally thought we might have lunch in town, but nothing on the menus, grabbed our fancy, and of course it being the weekend none of the restaurants were offering the prix fixe. We indulged at Leclerc. Partner, with a whole tub of rum and raisin ice cream and I with some pain au raisin. I had the best part of 3 pain - oh dear). We also bought the makings of our own brochettes (meat kebabs) and carrots for a barbeque with salad. When we got home, I made them using the skewers from the last lot and stuffed them with herbes de provence, They were very nice. Partner felt a bit poorly in the afternoon, and had to lay down inside campi for much of the afternoon, which I dinner. He says his head hurt but I think it might have had a little to do with having troughed a litre of ice cream only an hour or so beforehand! Unfortunately in the night, I was very poorly indeed too. It felt like my intestines were constricted somehow so that when my body was trying to move stuff from one part to another, the constriction was making it VERY painful. It woke me up to start with, and then had me crying out in pain, and dripping with sweat. I thought I was going to pass out with the pain, which was on a par with the gall stone pain of some years back. After an hour or so, it passed and subsided enough for me to fall back to sleep. However, the discomfort has remained with me for more than 24 hours now, and whilst I didn't feel in agony as before, the niggling sense of something not being quite right is still there.
Sunday 9th September
We are really getting in to using the slow cooker for our meals. It means we can prepare stuff in the morning when we have more energy and use the already paid for electricity to cook it, rather than paying again for the gas. We've had blanquette de veau, honey and mustard pork, pasta bolognaise, and tonight is Chicken tikka masala.
We have also spent the day doing those little chores that you have to do from time to time, to keep the place spick and span. A bit of hand-washing didn't go amiss and we are both quite impressed with the hand-washing powder we bought in St Hilaire, although SOME frottage (rubbing) is required despite their claims to the contrary.
We had a few (too many) beers for lunch so, didn't have any with dinner. My stomach still hurts and is bothering me.
Monday 10th September
Weigh in day today and I've put on another 2 lbs (I‘m up to 11 stone 7 now). Partner stayed the same - I can hardly believe he has only put on a pound in all the time we have been here. It shows how much the exercise makes a difference to him. I'm only doing a very little more than I normally do, but he is doing massively more, and it's really paying dividends for him.
The weather is lovely again today (that's something like the eighth lovely sunny day on the trot we've had, and we're both looking a lot browner. We had a lovely day by the beach, where we swam in the sea and went for a beautiful salad lunch at the sea front restaurant Mojito. The same place we went to last year! I had a Caesar salad and Partner had a carpaccoi salad (thinly sliced beef) and both were yummy. On the way home we stopped at Super U to buy a saucepan and some dessert and that's when the INCIDENT of the holiday took place. I managed to leave behind the Euro purse with a few euros and a credit card in it. We went back as soon as we had discovered it but no-one had handed it in, so we stopped the credit card and I felt sick. I have come to realise however, that it is not prevention of these incidents which makes life bearable, but how we deal with them as and when they occur. It seems as if I have suddenly accepted that you can NEVER prevent anything bad from happening. That how ever many precautions you put in place, something will always trip you up. The trick with dealing with a life that does this is to minimise the risks as practically as you can, and deal with any consequences as quickly and sensibly as possible in an aftermath. I now realise that that's what we have done. We carried very little cash around in that purse just in case something like that happened, and had brought two spare credit cards as back up. We phoned the credit card company as soon as we had exhausted al avenues of search, and reported it to the police as soon as possible the next day.
If I take nothing else away from this holiday, I should remember the feeling of satisfaction that I can derive from taking sensible risk prevention measures, and dealing with an incident to minimise fallout. OK true, so I haven't slept at all well since it happened, but I have slept, and I have dealt with it, and I AM moving on and I am proud of myself.
Tuesday 11th September
Cycled to Soustons today, to find the Gendarmerie (the gendarme was very pleasant and helpful by the way), then went for a lovely beer on the terasse of the Hotel du Centre. A cloudy start to the day but by about 4 pm the sun came out again. Partner bought his Auto magazine again and we decided it would be good for my French if I bought a Paris Match magazine. On the way there, blow me if a couple of French people asked me for directions. I did the best I could in my panic (!) and they seemed to understand. It was obvious I was foreign, so they were quite grateful that I seemed to be able to impart the knowledge that they required.
The Paris Match is quite interesting, but a lot of the words are beyond me. I will have to give it another go with a dictionary, as despite telling me he would help me, as usual, Partner's snapping returned within minutes of doing it with me. I am telling myself that his back hurting wasn't helping, but I get very cross with his attitude sometimes.
We bought quite a lot of shopping at Leclerc, including a huge crate of 24 bottles of beer which I successfully strapped to my bike carrier then transported home again, without breaking any. It certainly made the bike handling tricky though. No sharps turns or harsh braking for me on the way home. We also got some lovely pain au lait (mini brioches) with pepites de chocolat in them. These are completely lovely and gorgeous and I think have overtaken all other cakes at the moment in my rankings as my favourite cake. I had 4 (FOUR!) after lunch. Not surprising that I wasn't very hungry at tea time then
Wednesday 12th September
At home today, and yet another sunny day. We got up VERY late after a long lie in and have given campi a bit of a spruce up. Partner is only a bit grumpy because of his back and that's OK. I'm trying to help where I can, but like me he doesn't listen to his body hurting until it's to late and has to be reminded to slow down. He seemed to appreciate my help with the washing up this morning, though and that was nice.
We did a bit more hand-washing (together this time) and we put a Korma in the slow cooker, and I just had fruit for lunch (not surprisingly, it's all I fancied after eggy-broche in the morning for breakfast). Partner was feeling teeny and indulgent and was going with the most crap he can eat in one sitting. Tuiles, Muscat, yellow goo and semoule aux raisins.
Thursday 13th September
Cycled to Mesanges ostensibly to have lunch at the little bar there, however having discovered the plat du jour was red cabbage and isle flotante, neither of us were that keen so we cycled on to the beach via the cycle path, to see what it was like and it was a bit odd really. The beach itself is over 2k away from the centre of Messanges village down what seems to be a VERY main road for such a tiny place. When we got there, there was a big sign up saying "Baignade Interdite!" which was really odder still and very little in the way of cafes.
We sat on the top of the dunes for a while, looking out to sea, and then cycled back in to Messanges and on back to the campsite, where we had lunch back at campi. We cycled out to the Vieux Boucau beach in the afternoon and spent a good few hours there after lunch, reading and sipping beers from our stash.
We went out in the sea again, and the tide was up this time. The waves were almost as big and crashing as they were last time and we were again almost knocked over by them. Having wised up to the effects of the breaking surf though, we stayed out while the worst were coming in and didn't get too much sand in our crevices like last time.
After supper back at campi, we cycled out again in the evening to the lac and sipped a couple of beers by the lake side as the sun went down. Very atmospheric.
Friday 14th September
Another overcast start to a day which turned out beautifully sunny. We went for an enormously long cycle ride from the campsite to Hossegors and Capbreton. These two towns are next to each other about 20km along the coast. Capbreton seems to be the more established seaside resort with Hossegors catering for the trendier surfer dudes and new clientele. Admittedly, things seem newer, brighter and more freshly painted in Hossegors. The cycle ride itself was partly on wooded cycle trails and partly by the road side. We stopped for lunch in a local fish restaurant and both had the fish dish of the day which was lovely. A very small serving of mussels, with a small merlin fillet, basque potatoes, thai rice and piperade sauce and a small portion of dressed lettuce. The pudding was apple crumble and cream which was delish. We cycled all over Hosegoors then across the port bridge between the two towns in to Capbreton and down to their beach. We had our second portion of churos for the holiday and nearly couldn't eat it all, but I do love them. We bought 12, and the vendor gave us 14! After eating 7 each which was many more than we had had the day before, we did start to feel a bit queasy!
We found a Leclerc and bought petit pot de creme (chilled cream based custard desert made by nestle) and bierre (always good holiday staples) and cycled back a slightly different route, this time along the lakeside at Capbreton, which took us about 1 ¾ hours. I wanted to stop at an aire de picnic for a while on the way home, while we had a drink of water. I hoped it would help me conserve my energy for the long cycle ride home, but Partner was being bothered by flies and asked if we could leave almost as soon as we stopped. We were completely knackered by the time we got home at just before 7, although thinking about it, I didn't feel as exhausted as I was after the ride to St Jean de Monts, even though the distances were comparable. After eating our honey and mustard turkey which had gone in the slow cooker that morning, we fell in to bed. I think I must have fallen asleep when my head hit the pillow and slept very well.
Saturday 15th September
We got up early (for us anyway) to go in to town to see the market and the little festival of paté de fois gras in the town. I got the new Paris Match (and have been trying to read some of it) it seems a bit more difficult than the last edition, but I shall keep it and go over it with a dictionary at home. It may even prove useful in giving me some inspiration for my A level oral subject, which has to be much more current affairs or controversial than the AS oral. At the moment, I am really struggling to think of anything to talk about which I won't find incredibly depressing and distressing!
In the market, we also bought olives, saucisse, cheese, a custard filled almond covered pastry and a couple of tiny purses, and a bottle of wine at the festival. We tasted more including some floc, some tortinere and pastis (which is a large plain cake) and probably would have bought more things, if it weren't for the fact that we ran out of cash and none of them were taking plastic.
We cycled on around the town to the other side of the lac marin, which was quite beautiful. We were amazed to see an aire de camping car charging 10 euros a night just for people to park there. It was cramped, crowded, with little or no shade or privacy (no electric as far as we could see) and a bit like a cattle market. I couldn't see why people would want to stay there when they could stay I a lovely campsite like this with facilities and a pool for a few centimes extra.
We had a lovely bread and cheese lunch and a whole bottle of wine and I got rather squiffy. Partner did the washing up (for 3 meals-worth!) and then we went to the pool for a read and a swim. Once I had sobered up we spent the afternoon by the pool, then had omelette for tea, but I didn't have anything to drink.
Sunday 16th September
The internet weather forecast, posted by the campsite owners on their shop door each day, has been warning us of bad weather to come on Monday, for the past 5 days now. It started off as a forecast of fortes averses (heavy showers), which then changed to averses eparses (scattered showers) so we took what we thought would be our last chance at sunbathing and went to the beach.
The digital temperature readout in town was saying 38 degrees, and it was extremely hot. Coupled with being a Sunday, the world and his wife seemed to be at the beach and it was incredibly crowded. We arrived at low tide and as the tide came in and the waves got bigger as the sea level crossed the natural sand barriers, it was fun to just try to stand in the sea and not get knocked over by them. We spent all afternoon there from 2 pm till about 7. Fortunately, we covered up with goo and are brown enough anyway now that neither of us got burnt.
Checking out the Mojito, we were told they weren't serving food in the evening because of the big French world cup rugby match against Namibia, so we cycled off home to shower, change and to do a bit of pre-rain preparation. We cleaned off the awning and brought it in, took down all the washing, and brought in all the furniture before we went to sleep. About ¾ of an hour later we toddled off a lot cleaner and sparklier having got all of the sand out of our crevices (there was a lot of it) and went back to the beach to Le Calicoba restaurant where we sat on the beach terasse, high on the dune and watched the sun go down over the Altlantic ocean, while we ate our incredibly good meal for excellent value. Salade paysanne (leaves dressed with sauce maison, walnuts and pinenuts, with thin strips of dry cured ham and asparagus and haricot verts on them, followed by entrecote for me and magret de canard for Partner, with beautifully cooked frites, then an especially good crème brulee). As the twilight diminished, we could see an electrical storm in the distance and watched the forked lightning with interest, although the noise of the sea mad t difficult to hear the thunder and determine if the storm was moving towards land or away from it. Another storm started in a different direction, and having settled the bill we left the restaurant sat on the side of the lac marin drinking a beer. The wind then decided to pick up incredibly in the space of a few minutes so we came back to the campsite and threw open the windows to try to get some fresh air in to campi and lo and behold it rained in the night.
Monday 17th September
The day itself dawned bright and clear, it seeming as though the worst of the rain was over and done with, but the refreshed weather forecast in the shop window advised of couvert (cloud cover) and that the sunshine of the morning would disappear over the course of the day, so after the weekly weigh in (1 lb on and a weight of 11stone 8) we had breakfast of eggy brioche. Then we prepared the Chinese chicken meal for the evening, did the washing up and left for a cycle ride to Messanges to have the lunch on the bar which we had been promising ourselves for ages.
We had a small salad (crudités) followed by chicken for me and lamb for Partner, then isle flotatante and flan vanilla. Very nice and the cycle ride there and back was very short in deed, only taking us about 10 minutes each way. We got home and put everything left outside campi away, just as the first few drop of rain began to fall, and snuggled ourselves inside with a few episodes of Blakes Seven. When the rain shower passed, we decided to go out for one more time, to cycle around the lac again, which we really liked the last time. We did it twice (once in each direction), having found that it took us less than 20 minutes for the circuit.
When we got home we put the bikes away and sat down for tea. We managed to have an argument (I took exception to the way Partner would come out with things), but patched things up eventually so got to sleep around 10 pm.
Tuesday 18th September
We got away from the Camping de la Côte at approximately 10 am, having done the washing up and had a leisurely breakfast. We got to Bordeaux for about 5 to 12 and did some wine and food shopping in Carrefour there. Partner very much likes their own-brand pot as a substitute for when the laitière isn't available, as it's quite a bit cheaper. We stopped just north of Bordeaux at about half past 1 for lunch of bread and yumminess, and pressed on northwards stopping at Château-Renault (North of Tours) for the night, at approximately half past 8.
Wednesday 19th September
We work very early (helped by the alarms which we had set the night before, for 7 a.m.) We had stopped in Netto car park for the night and didn't want to be in their way at opening time, so were on the move, after having had breakfast, by 8 a.m.
We stopped in a leClerc for some croissants and got a bargain at 1 euro for 10! We also got a very nice tarte aux pommes for 8 persons, for 2 euros. We got to Rouen for about 12 noon, and stopped and parked campi in the Quai Jaques Anqueteil where you can park for free. We cycled in to the town centre, where we had a lovely 3 course lunch at Le Diplomate for only 14 euros each. Mushroom crèpes, then escalope normand for me and canard for Partner, and a crème brulée each to finish. The bread was jolly nice and we shared a pichet of rosé. Afterwards we took the new TEOR bus, an ordinary bus and the tram all of which were free for the day and pootled around the city. Rouen itself is very spectacular with old architecture and statues in the part of it which escaped bombing in the war. The left bank however was pretty much flattened, and has been colonised by ugly sky scrapers and nasty concrete boxes, from the 50s and 60s at a time when concrete was new and interesting and people needed buildings fast not pretty. The eyesores are still there, but thankfully there is still enough of old Rouen to be charming and French.
Rouen doesn't like cyclists very much though (well not as much as the Vendéens or the Landois, so navigating the streets en velo was something of a challenge, particularly when pedestrians with a death wish, just walked out in front of you. The cycle lanes, were sporadic and dangerously short and pathetic (ending abruptly in the middle of a route) and the state of the pavements on which we were forced to cycle as a result, were appalling!
Anyway, by about half past 4 we made our way back to campi and put the bikes back on the rack for the final leg of the day's journey to Bois-Heroult. We arrived at about 20 past 5, to find Chantal with the children. Zabou arrived about an hour later and Franck turned up at about 8 pm. We had dinner very late (for us anyway) at about 9:30. It was a lovely escalope normande (chicken in a cream sauce) with sautéed potatoes, and went to bed very tired indeed and both slept well, having first taken the precautions of multi layering ourselves and getting out the heater.
Thursday 20th September
We slept later than everyone else, and when we came in to the house at 9 a.m. everyone else had gone to work and school. We had breakfast of the last of the croissants and had a nice warm shower to clean the grubbiness of the journey off of us. We cycled in to Buchy at around 11. am. And the journey only took us about 30 minutes. We popped in to the Normafil atelier to say Hi to Zabou and found Franck had been delayed on his trip to La Rochelle. We chatted for a bit (helped him wrap a bulky piece of titanium) had a small tour of the little usine/atelier, and then went to find the Champion supermarket. Having given up, we had a pression in the Le commerce bar, like last time and then cycled off again, this time finding Champion, but finding it closed for lunch! - Only in France.
We went back to the town square baker for bread then cycled home a different way, which only took us 20 minutes. We had a lovely bread and cheese/chicken/pate lunch with a bottle of Asti, and then Partner took himself off to fix their children's computer which was broken. I sat in the sun for the afternoon, dong Sudoku puzzles.
The evening meal was lovely again, filet mignon, with cauliflower (covered in a lovely spicy mixture) and lots of bread and cheese afterwards. We decided then and there to get some of the spicy mixture from the supermarket which was secret des aromes. Partner had put the heater on during the evening, so afterwards, when we went to bed a bit earlier and a bit less squiffy than the previous night, Campi was lovely and toasty.
Friday 21st September
Woke earlier today, had breakfast in campi and were out cycling by 10 a.m. Got to Buchy in 27 minutes today and Zabou was there waiting for us. Partner finished off fixing the children's PC by connecting to the internet at the Atelier, while I cycled to Champion for shopping. They have built a new store on the outskirts of Buchy which was just as well as the old one was pretty much falling apart.
When I got back Partner sadly hadn't made much progress, as Zabou's machine was playing up. He fixed it for her eventually but then it went again, and he had no end of trouble getting it to work. It seems that it was a very old machine and the network connection was so flake. He was disappointed he couldn't make it work, but did really well to deal with his feelings.
We stayed there until at least 4 pm, with me reading and nibbling olives, before Partner eventually gave up. We cycled home for lunch at abut 4:30. Consequently when Chantal and Jean-Pierre came over for the evening meal at 7, I wasn't really hungry and avoided all the nibbles. We spent the afternoon seemingly in campi with Antionne and Zelie who were asking all about campi and ended up playing DS games in him. Zelie out high-speed bunny in the camera case which was really sweet.
In the evening, the Rugby was on the telly in the back ground (France were playing Ireland) so Franck was pretty engrossed in that, but I found myself able to keep up with conversation which made such a difference from previous visits.
The meal itself was huge pieces of beef in a tomato sauce with a side order of plain pasta. It was lovely. Then we had more bread and cheese and Chantal had brought a whole platter of little cakes, which we shared between the nine of us. We chatted over wine and coffee and finally went to bed about 11:30. I had followed nearly all of the French conversation, and said quite a bit myself too. Franck's English has also improved so that at times he was able to speak to us in English.
Saturday 22nd September
Alarms woke us at 7 and we had a quick shower and breakfast, and said goodbye to all who were up, and left by 8:15. We drove, mostly in silence, as Partner was tired, to Calais and stopped first in Cite Europe. They have banned camper vans from the coach section and banished them to a piece of waste ground with no trolley (where you could even push a trolley over that ground even if there were any.
We had an argument in Carrefour and left without buying anything. It seems I am angrier about this camper van exclusion than I thought. I got the manager's name and website address to write and complain, I will see if I get a reply, although if I can't find an e-mail address, it will have to be .
We sorted things out by the time we got to Auchan and bought yummy things for lunch and used up the last of our Euros and bought just enough shopping to use the 5 euro voucher they gave us. We had lunch in the car park and then made our way to the ferry port to see if they would let us get on the earlier ferry at 16:55. We were officially booked in the 18:20 , but fortunately the one before wasn't full and they let us go nearly an hour and a half ahead of time.
They ferry itself was REALLY busy, with a lot of people on it. One truck driver even got angry with a family of 5 for taking up a corner seat and two free standing chairs. We kept well out of it! The weather was gorgeous for the crossing and we left Dover in campi at approx 5:30. The journey home was uneventful, except that we noticed a new Starbucks outside the M25 on the A3, and we had to negotiate the Hindhead bypass road works, which would be awful I think during rush hour. Got home at 8 p.m., unpacked campi's fridge and came inside for something to eat. We were going to have showers as we felt really hot and sticky, but were so tired by 9:30 after eating; we fell in to bed and straight asleep.
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