Campervan Therapy

Eight days to go and we’re off. We’re spoilt for choice but Ireland, France, Italy are on the agenda. We’re all set for new adventures and a return to favourite haunts.

The Roadtrip Begins – Ireland and France

Ireland

Planning our trip, I scroll through our photographs. There’s Eagle Point, in County Cork where the next stop across the Atlantic is the United States. It’s got a rugged peace, and an ever-changing sky, the waves and curlew cries the soundtrack to our nights.

 So I toy with that idea, but finally settle on a family fest in Wicklow by Glendalough’s lakes and rugged mountains.

France

We’re already booked on Irish Ferries’ swanky new WB Yeats Ship, from Dublin to Cherbourg. In March, when we crossed, the cabin and its massive TV screen made us think we’d stumbled onto a cruise by accident – which, knowing this pair of shambolic ramblers, would not be past the realms of possibility.

La Flèche – on The Loir River

La Flèche is a great stop-off south from Cherbourg, so we’ll head there. We visited in March. The creamy, limestone town sits on the rambling river, cycle tracks running from the municipal campsite along its bank. There’s  great restaurants, weirs, ancient mills, a château and two massive lakes signposted from the river track.

The lakes, once old gravel pits, are as different from each other as they come. The first is manicured with a white sandy beach, supervised swimming, willows, golden reeds, lawns for lounging. The second is left to the birds, the cormorants drying their wings, the terns swirling over the island. In March, I listen through the ear trumpet for the rare Little Bittern’s call. But instead I hear Bob Marley’s dulcet tones singing Exodus from two young men’s phone as they stroll on by.

France’s Municipal campsites

We’ll  use these wherever we can. I try to convince myself it’s not just because they’re cheap,  but because they’re in towns they help us travel a tiny bit more sustainably so even He-Who-Loves-Four-Wheels agrees to cycle and walk everywhere.

France’s A20 – ‘Free’ Way South

I can never resist a free section of motorway as French tolls are greedy on the pocket if you’re in a campervan more than 2 metres tall. For me, there’s no contest between a fat stack of cash paid on tolls or a slap-up French menu.  So we’ll take the A20 South, stopping off in St-Cirq-Lapopie, on the River Lot, which we drove past once, its sign claiming it’s the prettiest village in France.

At Easter we cycled from our campsite in Charente to Talmont-Sur-Gironde, which also claims to be the prettiest village in France. In fact lots of villages claim that, so I’m looking forward to seeing which one wins.

Well, these are my plans for the start of our road trip. How far we’ll stick to them remains to be seen.