Today it rained. And it was no ordinary rain. It was torrential, a river falling from the sky. And we had to drive in it. But at least it cooled it down a bit.
We’re struggling to find a shop in France. It’s probably our own fault for sticking to the back roads, and even a bakery is hard to come by. We’ve spotted a couple of pizza vending machines and a few baguette vending machines, but no actual shops. On the bright side, we’re not spending much, and with some luck we might lose some weight. Except that whenever we do find a shop, the first thing that goes in the bag is chocolate.
We did eventually find a bakery and bought a long, curved baguette. Naturally, I made Mike pose with it. He was mortified, but like a good boy, he reluctantly did what he was told. The locals avoided eye contact. One woman definitely smirked. I, on the other hand, was laughing head off. The photo is on Facebook. Viewer discretion advised.
Our first stop today was to look at a free camping car place near a lake. What I’ve noticed in Europe is that no matter whether it’s a lake, a pond or a puddle, motor-homers seem to flock towards it like a herd of thirsty sheep! And this place was no different. There must have been hundreds of motorhomes, crammed in next to each other, just to be near an over-commercialised lake. Not even overlooking it, just a big crowded carpark nearby.
It’s hard to describe the feeling I get when I see this kind of mass hysteria, and it’s not pleasant. It’s like everyone has suddenly become a sheep, with no mind of their own. Why on earth anyone would want to park and sleep in such a place is beyond me.
When I was researching places to visit in Norway, I noticed that everyone seemed to head to the same spots, so they ended up enjoying a stunning view alongside hundreds of others. We made a point of avoiding those places. I think Instagram is partly to blame. People see a photo and decide they want to go there, without realising they might have to queue just to get “The Shot.”
Anyway, that’s my little rant over. Not much happened today, so this seemed like a good time to have a moan. I’m also struggling to find somewhere to upload my latest video. I love France, yet I hate it!
I’ve also got a mini French food tour in mind. There are three things I want to eat before we leave: confit de canard, moules frites (if we get close to the sea), and a proper plat du jour in one of those little villages where there’s just one meal on offer – no menu, no choice. So far, no luck on any of them! Maybe tomorrow.
France makes things so easy for campervaning, I think because they have a big camping culture themselves. The Aire de camping car spots are everywhere, and most of the time they are free and include a dump point for black and grey waste. Sometimes they even have water and electricity for an extra cost.
Anyway, we drove through storms for most of today before arriving at a small Aire de camping car. I was expecting it to be busy as it’s Friday night and the first day of the French holidays, and we’re only 150km from Paris. But there was only one van here, so that made us happy. All the other campervans are probably either stuck in Paris traffic, or trying to find a suitable puddle.
There is a little epicerie (grocery) store here, so we popped in and bought some chocolate and biscoff, but completely forgot the milk. Oh well. Diet starts tomorrow!