The Emerald Isle beckons- Ireland 2018

Dave posting;

Hi to you all,

We have been “home” since 10th August 2018 when we came back from our European Tour we have been very busy visiting family and friends up and down the country from Chesham, Oxford, Doncaster and Liverpool, old friends in Prestatyn and new friends in Manchester whom we met in Croatia, we didn’t manage to see everyone this time so if we missed anyone we’ll see you all on our return.

In this short period of time at home we have been living in Pogo on Caravan and Camping club campsites which were both working farms at Rivington and Jumbles Country Park and staying at our daughters’ house at weekends helping our son-in-law with house improvements ready for their baby which is due in the New Year, after all that we need a rest so off we go, the road is calling!

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The Emerald Isle…..

Hi,

Well, it’s not long to go now before we catch a ferry and start our next adventure……… we are off to Ireland and we are going to travel along the Wild Atlantic Way.

The new road atlas has arrived!

We are really excited and looking forward to the fun, merriment, the views, the scenery, the history and of course the very friendly locals.

Dave & Cathy

Cisterian Abbey and a Picardy rose – France

Saturday 4th August 2018

Cathy posting,

 

Last night we watched a film called The Monuments Men with George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman and Cate Blanchett, at least 12 men mostly art critics and historians braved the front lines and 345 more were to rescue art from the hands of the third Reich once it was known that Hitler had ordered that if the Third Reich fell then it was all to be burned it’s a movie about the true story of the greatest treasure Continue reading

Welcome on board – St Valery – France

Thursday 2nd August 2018

Dave posting,

Yesterday we wanted to visit Khal Burg but it was closed, we had read that it is now a monument to the local and Ukrainian prisoners who worked for 10 to 14 hours a day tunnelling and building this observation post for the German army, dozens of them died in their endeavours, built during 1942 following the Canadian landings in Dieppe during operation jubilee, Treport was considered Continue reading

A birthday to remember – Le Treport – France

Friday 31st July 2018

Cathy posting,

Its Dave’s birthday today, he’s finally caught up with me and is the grand old age of 57, one of the reasons I picked this place was for the sunsets, he just loves sunsets.

We have picked a walk along the cliff top to Criel Sur Mer, and set off quite early before the heat sets in, disappointingly we had to walk on the road quite a bit because unlike the UK where we seem to be able to get close to the edge of the coast be it beach or cliffs most of the land near the edges was Continue reading

Somme bay sunrise and a Normandy sunset – France

Monday 30th July 2018

Cathy posting,

I was wide awake at 5.20am this morning and could see the light peeping through the open blind, Dave woke too and was out of bed in a jiffy when I suggested we go to the beach to see the sunrise, once on the beach we decided we needed to walk further down to the village, we were a bit early! Watching the locals going on to the salty grassy low sand dunes to gather some sort of crustaceans, we had a bench to ourselves, no sound Continue reading

Bobbing along the coast in Northern France

Sunday 29th July 2018

Cathy posting,

We are just bobbing around at a bit at the moment and loving every minute of it, this morning Pogo is parked at Cayeux Sur Mer (GPS N50.21500, E001.55325), we are still in Somme region, we moved just 22kms south a bit from Le Crotoy, it was raining a little and nice and cool which is good as the air con is not working, we’ve not switched it on since our flat battery and when we have a longer drive we’ll test it out, it’s a free Aire behind the sand dunes, we’ve come here as we’ve heard that if we are lucky we might see basking seals at low tide.

Dave spotted a parking spot in a largish bay of hedges with 3 other motorhomes, I said there’s room for 2 don’t you think? but he said no I’ll park in the middle in case we want to get our chairs out, well one thing we have learnt on this trip is if you haven’t already used the space with chairs or something then someone will park extremely close and guess what, yep, 10 minutes later a French guy literally launches his motorhome with a very fast reversing manoeuvre into the space between us and the next van, I was sitting typing and I thought he was going to hit us! our step is down and when we get out later there is only just room for our bodies between the step and his van, it’s our own fault for leaving a space with literally van only width on both sides, we have not done that before and lesson learned park moderately and do what others do and get your chairs out immediately, unless of course it says no camping behaviour which this Aire did not.

P1080453Once the rain had subsided we went to see what was on the other side of the hedge, we found a few trails to walk along and a path over the dunes, we saw immediately that there must be seals on the sandy flats as there were little groups of people stood around with cameras, we managed to see them with our binoculars even they were not too close, later we saw a couple of them bobbing their heads up and down in the water, we took a long walk along the beach as it was a lovely cool evening until a huge dark cloud decided to lighten its load on top of us!

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Used the zoom on the camera from a distance

The whole area is being regenerated with walking and biking trails and dedicated Aires, another is in the process of being built, there were bill boards explaining the plans and €639,000 is being spent, however it still feels au-naturale, it’s great now but it will be even better, we will be back here again that’s for sure.

We walked back at a bit of a pace and dried off and after tea watched a DVD “The Field” it was a good film starring Richard Harris about an Irish land owner whose life changes dramatically when he tries to save his patch of Emerald field to the jeopardy of all else, it reminded me again of the reason we are renting our house out, it’s bricks and mortar and it’s been a great family home but we don’t need it more than we need to have fun and adventures.

Cathy x