And so dear reader, it rained ..........

Well we had an early night - boring I know, but we were shattered and fortified with a nice glass of the red stuff we were soon snoring our way into the early hours - but we were awoken by very heavy rain which continued................. all night ...............When we got up we were surrounded by large watery pools sitting on the surface of the Aire. We headed off to exit the Aire after brekkie and knew in advance our charge would be 12€. Well, that was what we thought - standing in the gloom with my very glamorous pussycat slippers on, my barcoded ticket and credit card in hand, all instructions were in French - whatever next! So where it said ‘cancel the previous transaction’ - I didn’t know what I was doing and the machine wanted to take 56€. After much huffing and puffing by my lovely man - we managed between us to cancel the previous transaction and pay said 12€ Brilliant - all I can say is ‘every day’s a school day’ and we departed this lovely area with big smiles on our faces and the correct balance left in the old bank account. We headed for Dieppe - we’d planned it and by jove we were going to do it - except for one small problem and something to bear in mind for all you newbies (which we certainly are as far as foreign travel is concerned) not all Aire open so early in the season - in fact, most of them don’t open until 1st April and close end of October. Very similar to the UK. Anyway, we just couldn’t find an Aire where we wanted it so we decided to travel a little further. We have a kind of unwritten agreement that we will only travel a couple of hours a day and there is an intention to stay for a couple of nights if we find a super duper spot with all facilities. Well, a loo and a shower. Of course, we have all of this on board, it is a luxury to find a nice well managed shower block believe me. Fecamp caught our eye and looked like a nice coastal spot. We are in fact at this point ‘Wild Camping’. Now please don’t snigger 😏. No, we are not holed up in Outer Mongolia with a twig for a toothbrush and the saliva from the lesser spotted canary as our paste - however, we are utilising all onboard facilities - gas and our battery so to all intents and purposes, ‘Wild Camping’. That’s ok but it is nice to have a mod cons about so tomorrow we leave for pastures new. Now, a little side issue, our son calls me a ‘Wierdo Magnet’ because for some strange reason, everyone with a social problem or a little bit too much on board, makes a beeline for me, whether it be in a pub, or on a street bench. So. We park up in Fecamp and make way for the lovely local St Benectine building namely Un Palais-usine Flamboyant. In other words a flamboyant palace where some gorgeous alcoholic wine has been made for centuries. Wow, what a place! Well my beloved wanted a beer as he won’t be driving until tomorrow so we call at a small ‘tabac’ near the harbour and our site and proceeds to purchase a beer or three. He plonks me next to a lovely chap who proceeds to impress me with his English Language skills - sad to say this wasn’t two way traffic!!! Anyway, he is very keen to tell us that he is off to Montreal to hitch hike 13,500 kilometres - wow. He then shared the fact that he learnt most of his English from Rock Singers like Mick Jagger and the Beatles but most of all and the highest on his list was ‘Elvis’. So to recap, I’m sat in a bar with my dog next to a man I had never met before today sings straight to my face ‘Love me Tender’. The whole song - no breaks for a rub down with a towel, no surree jimbob, the whole song. He must have felt the heat from my face like a spontaneously combusting radiator - life, as they say, is a rich tapestry and my husband learnt a few new french words after he seemed to be dragging his feet getting me out of there. All he could say once we had left the establishment (in between guffaws of laughter) is that he wished he’d recorded it ................. another good day - back at ya tomorrow.