Aire de camping cars
Verteuil sur Charente
High street Bistro
Verteuil sur Charente
river and mill Verteuil sur Charente
Chateau Verteuil sur Charente
Day 11 - Pissos (France) to Verteuil sur Charente (France)
Pissos and the day on the aire de camping cars starts clear and sunny.
We are up early, breakfast and plan our route for the day. Another three days to get to Caen (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) 750 km so 250 km/day plus Sunday morning for contingency time. It feels very do-able, we don't like to drive every day, our normal way is to stop a couple of nights when we find a suitable location whether it's France, Spain or wherever we find ourselves. This journey is different, we're pushing ourselves back to the UK as quickly as we can, trying to outrun the unseen Corvid-19 that could be all around us - or not, we have no way of knowing. Travelling in our Hymer motorhome does mean that we have our own bubble, Alan thinks it's a bubble of sanity too. There are very few people out anywhere is Spain or France so we are not coming into contact with people.
As we leave Pissos, we see a fruit stall selling local strawberries and white asparagus, we buy both from her. She has some minimal English and Alan is able to converse easily with her in French, she wishes us well and hopes we will come back. The produce looks wonderful, more expensive than a supermarket, but it is local and one has to remember that the French people value high quality produce, especially French produce and are willing to pay a premium price for it.
Back on the D-43, then D-348, we merge onto the A-63, a good dual carriageway to Bordeaux. From Bordeaux, the E-606, another fast road, to Angoulême and the N-10 north to Les Nègres. From here a short drive on D-31 to the small village of Verneuil sur Charente (on the river Charente).
We have covered another 133 miles along our route.Verneuil sur Charente is a delightfully old village, with several narrow right-angle bends in the road which we need to negotiate. There is a fabulous, well-maintained chateau high up on the ridge overlooking the river, it looks totally out of place. We find the Aire de camping cars we are seeking, next to a sawmill. We are second here (another Brit before us). We park up on the end of the Aire overlooking a lovely park and the river at the end of this.
It is only 3.30 pm, sunny and about 24˚C, so we put on our sandals and walk across the bridge over a very high, fast-flowing Charente river, up the steep hill to the eglise (it is locked). From the eglise along the road above the village to Chateau Verneuil, a magnificent French chateau. Built originally in 1080 (and rebuilt in the 1450s), always in the hands of only one family (Rochefoucauld). The notice tells us it was used in WWII to house French troops from Alsace-Lorraine. It still stands as a magnificent monument to French architecture, but alas… it is closed (only open June to September) and would be closed anyway due to Coronavirus.
We walk through the village, down to the water mill, an idyllic location with restaurant and terraces that overlook the river. The restaurant is closed (due to Coronavirus) but the message on the door requests visitors to return again soon. A sad reflection of the times. Back at the Aire, another camper has arrived, it carries a Netherlands registration plate, the occupants are sitting out in the sun, drinking wine at the picnic table and pouring over a map.
There is a ping on Alan’s phone. He checks the message which tells him that France has closed its borders including all ferry ports and all the ferries from France are cancelled. This is depressing news! However, we must keep positive and be pragmatic (being depressed won’t get us home). We check the website, yes… no ferries operating out of France. Alan checks with Eurotunnel via their website. All crossings on Saturday and Sunday are sold out, but there are places on Monday. Without hesitation we book the first available crossing at 8.20 am the following Monday from Calais. Another cancellation of our plans, another extension to our drive through France - although we love using Eurotunnel we had booked our return from Santander so that we avoided a week of driving through France, but needs must.
We celebrate another step along the way with a bottle of white wine and the remainder of the crevettes. Gill cooks chicken stir fry for tea which we eat with some of the French white asparagus, bought yesterday at Pissos, they are delicious.
We check our distances: almost 700 km to Calais. We revise our calculations, another three days driving is do-able to get us there in time. We offer a silent prayer and plan our travel for tomorrow.
Summary of motorhome journey
Total miles |
mpg | average speed mph |
hours driven |
142 | 32.4 | 46 | 3:04 |
Totals for this journey |
|||
1399 | 28.5 | 35 | 39:39 |