Saumur Castle and back to UK

We visited the castle at Saumur this morning before setting off on the long drive back to Calais.  The castle was note very exciting but probably worth a visit.

We had lunch in a small town just south of Le Mans called La Fléche - my last Andouillette of the holiday!

We got to the ferry port at Calais on time but the queue of traffic was moving very slowly.  It took ages to get to passport control and then onto P&O Ferries check-in.  We had arrived at the port at 7pm (latest check in was advertised as 7.25pm) for the 7.50pm ferry.  We didn't get to check in until after 8pm and we were told that technical problems meant things were late.  We were booked onto the 10.30pm ferry and told it was already running 30 minutes late.  We eventually got onto a ferry and left just after midnight, meaning we left Dover around 1.45am. 

This was a rather unfortunate end to what had otherwise been a fantastic holiday.  The worst part about it was the total lack of communication and apology from P&O so were effectively just left sitting in the car for hours.  A complaint has been made!

The start of the journey home - overnight at Saumur

We left the south of France around midday today after packing everything up into the car.  I'm amazed that it fits! We had a long drive and got to Saumur in the Loire Valley where we were staying overnight in the Mercure Hotel. On a small island on the Loire.

We had dinner in a lovely restaurant called Restaurant du Carousel.  On the way back to the hotel we saw the lovely full moon over the Loire river.

A little walk around the Courant d'Houchet

Today we did a walk from Pichelèbe around the Courant d’Houchet.   In  the picture you can see some cork oaks that have had some cork bark harvested.

We had a relaxing afternoon at the campsite and dinner at the campsite restaurant ready for departure tomorrow heading for the Loire Valley for our final night in France of the holiday.

Bayonne and Biarritz

We went to Bayonne this morning and explored the Cathedral, the Museum of Basque culture and History of Bayonne, the church of St André and had a little lunch at a café called Bar Rémy. We also saw the oldest Trinquet in Bayonne.  A Trinquet is a pelote court, and pelote is a traiditonal Basque game played a ball and a strange sort of bat that attaches to the hand with a sewn-on glove.

We went on to Biarritz later in the afternoon where we had a general explore and went to the Russian Orthodox Church and the Chapel Impériale (which was sadly closed).  We walked along the coast to the Rocher de Sainte Vierge from where there is a nice view of the main Biarritiz beach to the North and the Spanish coast to the South.   

We had dinner at a restaurant called Le Corsair at the little marina at Biarritz – we both had lovely salmon rillettes followed by delicious dorade (bream) with roasted peppers and almonds.

A trip to Léon market and an afternoon on the beach.

We set off a little earlier today and went to Léon to the market there.  There were lots of interesting stalls.  We bought Olives, Tomatine (a sort of tomato and herb paste), bread, Floc de Gascogne (an aperitif wine), Saucisson, fruit, some nice steak and some fromage blanc to have with strawberries.  We spent the afternoon on the beach behind the campsite and cooked dinner at our tent with all the goodies from Léon.

A day at the campsite

We spent a lazy day at the campsite in really nice warm weather.  We had a trip to the campsite pool which was a bit full of screaming kids for our liking! We had dinner at the campsite in the Pizzeria, on its supposed last night of opening for the 2012 season (although it actually stayed open for the next week too).  The restaurants area at the campsite was quite busy and had good entertainment most nights.

More rain, a trip to Capbreton and to Dax

 We woke up to a rainy day today.  Not a good start on a new campsite.  We had breakfast and then decided do a driving tour.  We went to Capbreton which is a very touristy port and resort then drove onto Dax where we saw the cathedral (Notre Dame), the famous thermal fountain (water at 64C), a forum and some nice gardens along the banks of the river Ardour.  We had a delicious evening meal back at the campsite with Gordon having sea bass and me a delicious salmon steak.