Tuesday, May 14th 2019 Carnac

It was a pity to leave, a lovely campsite, but we decided to head on off.

Packed away a dry canopy and off we were to Carnac. First stop was the stones, here we took a 40-minute tour ride, passing the stones and then a circuit around the coast pointing out the historic and a few more prehistoric sites.  Picnic lunch at the site, and then a walk around the nearby stones. You don’t have access to the stones, you have to look at them from behind a fence, a bit like Stonehenge. But so many, many standing stones!

Stopped at the SuperU for some beer, wine and food, and then onto our campsite. Nice pitches, but all a bit busier than we have encountered. The first time we have had to pay an extra Euro for 10 Amp, above the all-inclusive ACSI rate. Also had to use the ‘French adapter’. Didn’t know they still used them over here. Also, Madam had to come and connect you. Ho hum.

Steak for supper, much better than the restaurant steak. I do cook a mean steak, or so I am told.

Took a walk down to the beach for the sunset, alas it was over, and too far around over the land. Nice beach, sand and rocks. Must investigate the restaurant and bar later.

Hopefully tomorrow we will walk around to the harbour where there are over 1000 yachts. Biggest marina in France.

Wednesday, May 15th 2019 La Trinite-sur-Mer

Sunny day, better than forecast. Some wonderful Mare’s tails (Alto Cirrus Clouds) in the sky. Beautiful, but a precursor to cloudy days.

Morning walk along the beach and around the headland to the other beach and back to the campsite. Passed by one thatched house, very close to the sea. Very cute, but thatched near the sea? The beach, as I already mentioned is quite pretty, a mixture of sand and rocks. Lots of natural oysters were embedded into the rocks. Inviting bar and café overlooking the beach, the menu contains Moules, so hopefully will be some tomorrow for a meal.

Lunch back at the campsite, English cheddar cheese and a bottle of Adnams. Very French! 

I went for a walk to the yacht basin. Apparently the biggest in France. Some huge trimarans. On the quay were notice boards giving information about each of the boats and their skippers.

Back at the campsite, tea and then the duck breast (aka Magret de Canard) and “chips”. Had a starter of stuffed vine leaves, wanted somewhere to put the excess duck fat to freeze, so the vine leaves tin came in handy. Of course, some of the duck fat was used to fry the parboiled potatoes while the duck was resting.

One lot of rather noisy campers.

Thursday, May 16th 2019 Camping

Woke up to a cloudy day. Despite the no-rain predictions of the day before, today predicted some precipitation. This caused R to take rucksack and waterproofs. S pooh-poohed this and was proved correct, no rain.  Morning meander along the beach towards Carnac, then inland to see the nature reserve and the renovated salt pans. Who would consider eating that black looking salt when you can buy pure salt easy flowing salt for a hundredth of the price? Especially when you see the sea birds nesting in the nearby lakes. Maybe the salt tastes fishy?

Back at the campsite, the noisy Belgians were packing up. Hopefully a quieter evening. How can people have so much to say at such a loud volume?

We got to see the inside of our new neighbours’ campervan. A German couple with a VW. Same popup roof as ours. They bought it from a company near Stuttgart which buys VW vans and sends them to Poland to be converted. Nice to see some real wood in their van.  They had incorporated a hand shower at the back and an emergency loo. The lady had made an external shower curtain which hung off the tailgate when in use. Could not understand why anyone would want a cold shower when there are hot ones available, but who knows. Their van seemed to have more room for packing in stuff. They slept upstairs, though they could also do so downstairs. I think the answer to storage is many European conversions is to raise the height of the bed, to increase storage underneath. This does mean sleeping downstairs when the roof is down, could be claustrophobic.

Watched a small lizard whizz around at high speed where he intercepted another lizard on a similar outing, a quick tussle and they went their own ways. No idea if it was a fight or l’amour.

Lunch of bread, cheddar and Cornichons, then a walk around the lake and some birding.

The local birds at the campsite are very friendly, hop around your pitch and come very close. A female blackbird keeps offering me a beak full of worms, she even establishes eye contact and cocks her head. I have declined. A jay came down to take R’s apple core and I could have easily touched it. R thinks the goldfinches etc look thinner (sleeker?) than ours. Perhaps these migrate?

Supper was pasta with a sauce of tuna, onions, pepper and pesto.

A new Dutch camping neighbour arrived this afternoon, driving a Tesla X. I think she runs a business because she was always on the phone in several languages. Anyway, I have been invited to look around her car.

Friday, May 17th 2019 Lunch out

A quiet day, slow start and then went for lunch at the local beach restaurant. Quite a nice meal. I started with six Oysters, and then a plate of Sardines and potatoes. To finish a crepe called ‘The Beach’ I suppose it was meant to look like a beach, Chantilly cream, nuts, ice cream and a gooey sweet mix. Lovely. Rosemary had a sweet and sour salad, followed by cod stuffed with bacon and leeks, with a cream sauce. Her dessert was a chocolate mousse served in a full-size Bonne Maman jar! Rather more than she expected. The meal was swilled down with beers. We now have a loyalty card, so have to go there next season!

Afterwards, we went bird watching on the salt making areas. This time we watched the mating ritual of some Common Terns. Didn’t understand the fish offering, nobody came for it for ages, and when they did, off went the receiver of the gift, leaving the giver on his own. All very strange.

Back at the van, the rain came in as a light drizzle.