Paradise Found! Camping La Chassagne, Auvergne, France

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Paradise Found!

I tend to fill the kettle and leave it on the hob the night before. In the compact living space of the caravan, this means that all I need to do is lean out of bed to reach the knob to switch it on for my morning coffee!

The occupants of the tent next door were up early; it was 07:30. The smell of toast wafted into the caravan. I love the morning smells of a campsite. In Britain, the delicious smell of bacon frying…

My reverie was interrupted by the shrill screech of the smoke alarm. I shot out of bed. The kettle was still cold! It seems that half asleep, in semi-darkness and without my glasses, I had turned on the grill rather than the hob. Crumbs in the grill pan explained the smell of toast as they heated up to the point of near combustion… Thank goodness for the smoke alarm. Otherwise maybe WE would have been toast!Continue reading “Paradise Found! Camping La Chassagne, Auvergne, France”

A Change of Heart – & A Change of Direction!

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Ruby gazes wistfully out of the caravan window. “It’s too hot to do anything!”

The temperature in Brittany continued to hover in the mid 30°s. With hardly a breath of wind, I found it too hot to do anything. The poor dogs were expiring.

Then we met a Dutch guy who lived in Portugal, our planned destination. He said that the temperature there was breaking records and pushing an unprecedented 50°C!Continue reading “A Change of Heart – & A Change of Direction!”

Beacon 6 & Black Magic in Brittany – And All Because the Lady Loves… Poole to Penthièvre, France

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The Exquisite Light at Poole Harbour

6am and our ferry ‘Barfleur’ slid across a Poole harbour so smooth that it seemed almost solid. The water glistened like a jewelled mirror, just as it had on so many wonderful days when we had flown across its surface on our windsurfers.

Poole Harbour is a very special place. The light is exquisite and unique. Everything seems keen and in focus. Even the air surrounding you seems to shimmer with the brilliance of a magnesium flare; sharp and clear, as though it is charged with its own strange energy.

Poole is Europe’s largest natural harbour and its excellence for windsurfing is partly because it is shallow – so shallow that in the huge expanse of water, you can stand waist-deep almost everywhere! Needless to say, large ferries need to stay in a well-dredged shipping channel to avoid grounding. Professional pilots are employed by large ships to guide them safely out of Poole harbour.

A small boat accompanied us across the harbour. “Do you think that’s our Pilot boat?” I asked Mark. “I doubt it.” He replied. “It’s got ‘Captain Cod’ written on the side!”Continue reading “Beacon 6 & Black Magic in Brittany – And All Because the Lady Loves… Poole to Penthièvre, France”