Blog 1.29: Days 39 and 40

October 30th and 31st

Be careful what you wish for.

Yes, it's much cooler now, and we've even had a few spots of rain. However, I'm still not complaining - it's the last day of October, after all.

Sunday, as predicted, turned into a day of rest, appropriately enough. We didn't even set foot outside the Aire at Rouillac. It's so peaceful there, and with only us and three or four other vans scattered around the thirty-odd pitches, we certainly had room to breathe.

This morning, though, it was time to head north again. All the usual minor chores completed, we braced ourselves for the fight to exit, but once again the lady on the phone, speaking excellent English, quickly expedited our passage remotely, while requesting we call again at the next stop so that they could ensure we received our pass card from its pay station. Which M duly did, and duly received said card. Excellent!

Setting off via the Super U fuel station (which annoyingly refused our Revolut card even though it had several hundred Euros on board and had worked there the day before) we topped up with diesel and set off - shortly to clock up the first 4000 miles on the van's odometer.

La Faute sur Mer. Towards the Grand Plage

The Aire we were targetting is in the small and pretty seaside town of La Faute sur Mer. This one is far more popular than the last one though, even if the last one was far more attractive, at least to my eyes. One of the benefits of the Camping Car app setup is that it allows one to see, instantly, online exactly how many vacant pitches there are on any selected Aire. This one has 31 pitches, yet as of last night had only two available, so we weren't sure we'd get on. However, leaving Rouillac at the time we did, with an estimated travel time of a couple of hours or so, was going to get us here at about 1pm - always a good time given that many will have hit the road by then, and most will not be arriving at their destination until much later in the day.

And, yes, when we arrived there were seven spaces, and we were able to pick a very suitable one. Lucky? Yep.

Setup done, we walked the short few steps to the boulangerie for huge fromage, jambon and salad rolls, and cakes. Finding somewhere to sit and eat under cover wasn't so easy though, as it had started raining. Sheltering in a convenient bus stop, the batches (don't start...) were consumed, and we walked on down to the Grand Plage.

We'd noticed lots of places around town advertising moules, and it quickly became obvious why when we reached the dune-backed sheltered beach.

Grand Plage looking towards LaTranche sur Mer

There are mussel beds as far as the eye can see!

Mind you, it's very definitely off-season here, notwithstanding the number of motorhomes on this and the other local Aires, and most places are either shut for winter, or at least for the afternoon. We couldn't even find a coffee on the way back to the van. Hmmph.

A decision has to be taken now as to whether we book for a second night here or move on again tomorrow.

No worries one way or the other.

Mileage so far: 2680