We have been at Camping Manjastre for ten days now, and are well and truly settled into the camping routine. Aaron, Kylie, Mia, Abi and Raphy are here also, and we are having a lovely time. But we are busy; swimming, out and about, eating plenty of food, and playing cards in the evening.
And the problems in Britain seem far away, however I still feel angry about the recent antics of our leaders, although the new prime minister appears to be keeping a a lid on things now. I am not proud of having a British passport.
Sadly events in the world have overtaken the problems in Britain, and the recent tragedy in Nice has been too awful to comprehend fully.
We started our trip with a few dramas and as always, bad luck happens in threes.
Our first drama occurred as we were about to line up at the Port of Dover check in. Two German truck drivers realised they were in the wrong lane and drove across in front of us, without checking if there were vehicles in their path. We stopped, and the trucks slid past us, with barely a gap between us and them. The second truck smashed our wing mirror. The driver did not care, just shrugged his shoulders, and sped off. There was no use taking the number of the truck, as there was no way we could track it. A new wing mirror will cost us £550 when we return to the UK. Expensive.
Walter taped the wing mirror up, and ever resourceful, bought a cosmetic mirror on the ferry, which he stuck, using velcro tape, onto the wing. Amazingly the wing mechanism still worked. Thank goodness, we had sticky back velcro in the car, bought in the UK to fix the new mosquito netting onto the caravan windows.
And the third drama concerned the electronic badge for the tolls. It worked as we entered the toll, but malfunctioned as we tried to leave at the other end. Luckily I was not trying to travel through the automatic toll at the recommended speed of 30 kmh otherwise we would have connected with the gate. But it would appear that malfunctioning badges were a regular occurrence as we quickly received assistance and the badge was scanned. We now have a new badge, sent to the campsite.
Obviously they only last about five years.
The journey was very slow between Lyon and Valence, quite normal, with the usual stupid drivers, driving at reckless speeds, tailgating and passing on the inside lanes. A few French drivers used their fingers to tell us how to drive on the road. We were feeling especially vulnerable, with our GB numberplates, one of the few British cars on the road.
Setting up took longer than normal, due to me having a previous cleanout and tidy up, and then not knowing where I put things. But we kept our cool.
And talking of sites, we are on the top level, behind the restaurant and not far from the pool and toilet block. We are right in the middle of the action, which is kind of exciting really.
But there is a downside. Eighteen months ago, the owners made the sites on the top level and the bottom level, into super sites, or serviced sites, so that each site has a water tap and sewerage facilities. And they charge more for them, which is understandable.
But the problem is people on the cheaper sites forget that we are paying more for the luxury of using the sites, and hook their hoses up to the taps. Of course should people ask if they can fill their caravan tanks up, using our tap, we would be more than happy to oblige, but a hose permanently attached to our tap, without asking, is a bit much.
Now people may think we are nit picking, but it rankles somewhat when one is paying for the privilege of having a tap but find you cannot use it because someone else has their hose permanently attached to it.
So early Sunday morning we were the first people at the garden shop to buy a hose, and I must say we are really enjoying the luxury of not walking a few metres to the tap or a few more metres to the water point. Sadly it does affect friendships, as the owners are not willing to enforce the new conditions related to the 'serviced sites', even though they collect the money for them.
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