Camping de la Baie in La Trinite-sur-Mer

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Tuesday, May 14th 2019 Carnac

It was a pity to leave, a lovely campsite, but we decided to head on off.

Packed away a dry canopy and off we were to Carnac. First stop was the stones, here we took a 40-minute tour ride, passing the stones and then a circuit around the coast pointing out the historic and a few more prehistoric sites.  Picnic lunch at the site, and then a walk around the nearby stones. You don’t have access to the stones, you have to look at them from behind a fence, a bit like Stonehenge. But so many, many standing stones!

Stopped at the SuperU for some beer, wine and food, and then onto our campsite. Nice pitches, but all a bit busier than we have encountered. The first time we have had to pay an extra Euro for 10 Amp, above the all-inclusive ACSI rate. Also had to use the ‘French adapter’. Didn’t know they still used them over here. Also, Madam had to come and connect you. Ho hum.

Steak for supper, much better than the restaurant steak. I do cook a mean steak, or so I am told.

Took a walk down to the beach for the sunset, alas it was over, and too far around over the land. Nice beach, sand and rocks. Must investigate the restaurant and bar later.

Hopefully tomorrow we will walk around to the harbour where there are over 1000 yachts. Biggest marina in France.

Wednesday, May 15th 2019 La Trinite-sur-Mer

Sunny day, better than forecast. Some wonderful Mare’s tails (Alto Cirrus Clouds) in the sky. Beautiful, but a precursor to cloudy days.

Morning walk along the beach and around the headland to the other beach and back to the campsite. Passed by one thatched house, very close to the sea. Very cute, but thatched near the sea? The beach, as I already mentioned is quite pretty, a mixture of sand and rocks. Lots of natural oysters were embedded into the rocks. Inviting bar and café overlooking the beach, the menu contains Moules, so hopefully will be some tomorrow for a meal.

Lunch back at the campsite, English cheddar cheese and a bottle of Adnams. Very French! 

I went for a walk to the yacht basin. Apparently the biggest in France. Some huge trimarans. On the quay were notice boards giving information about each of the boats and their skippers.

Back at the campsite, tea and then the duck breast (aka Magret de Canard) and “chips”. Had a starter of stuffed vine leaves, wanted somewhere to put the excess duck fat to freeze, so the vine leaves tin came in handy. Of course, some of the duck fat was used to fry the parboiled potatoes while the duck was resting.

One lot of rather noisy campers.

Thursday, May 16th 2019 Camping

Woke up to a cloudy day. Despite the no-rain predictions of the day before, today predicted some precipitation. This caused R to take rucksack and waterproofs. S pooh-poohed this and was proved correct, no rain.  Morning meander along the beach towards Carnac, then inland to see the nature reserve and the renovated salt pans. Who would consider eating that black looking salt when you can buy pure salt easy flowing salt for a hundredth of the price? Especially when you see the sea birds nesting in the nearby lakes. Maybe the salt tastes fishy?

Back at the campsite, the noisy Belgians were packing up. Hopefully a quieter evening. How can people have so much to say at such a loud volume?

We got to see the inside of our new neighbours’ campervan. A German couple with a VW. Same popup roof as ours. They bought it from a company near Stuttgart which buys VW vans and sends them to Poland to be converted. Nice to see some real wood in their van.  They had incorporated a hand shower at the back and an emergency loo. The lady had made an external shower curtain which hung off the tailgate when in use. Could not understand why anyone would want a cold shower when there are hot ones available, but who knows. Their van seemed to have more room for packing in stuff. They slept upstairs, though they could also do so downstairs. I think the answer to storage is many European conversions is to raise the height of the bed, to increase storage underneath. This does mean sleeping downstairs when the roof is down, could be claustrophobic.

Watched a small lizard whizz around at high speed where he intercepted another lizard on a similar outing, a quick tussle and they went their own ways. No idea if it was a fight or l’amour.

Lunch of bread, cheddar and Cornichons, then a walk around the lake and some birding.

The local birds at the campsite are very friendly, hop around your pitch and come very close. A female blackbird keeps offering me a beak full of worms, she even establishes eye contact and cocks her head. I have declined. A jay came down to take R’s apple core and I could have easily touched it. R thinks the goldfinches etc look thinner (sleeker?) than ours. Perhaps these migrate?

Supper was pasta with a sauce of tuna, onions, pepper and pesto.

A new Dutch camping neighbour arrived this afternoon, driving a Tesla X. I think she runs a business because she was always on the phone in several languages. Anyway, I have been invited to look around her car.

Friday, May 17th 2019 Lunch out

A quiet day, slow start and then went for lunch at the local beach restaurant. Quite a nice meal. I started with six Oysters, and then a plate of Sardines and potatoes. To finish a crepe called ‘The Beach’ I suppose it was meant to look like a beach, Chantilly cream, nuts, ice cream and a gooey sweet mix. Lovely. Rosemary had a sweet and sour salad, followed by cod stuffed with bacon and leeks, with a cream sauce. Her dessert was a chocolate mousse served in a full-size Bonne Maman jar! Rather more than she expected. The meal was swilled down with beers. We now have a loyalty card, so have to go there next season!

Afterwards, we went bird watching on the salt making areas. This time we watched the mating ritual of some Common Terns. Didn’t understand the fish offering, nobody came for it for ages, and when they did, off went the receiver of the gift, leaving the giver on his own. All very strange.

Back at the van, the rain came in as a light drizzle.

Castel Camping de l’Orangerie de Lanniron in Quimper

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Friday, May 12th 2019 Camping l’Orangerie de Lanniron

Another sunny day, we packed up the tent and moved on to Quimper.  Selected an called Castel camping l’Orangerie de Lanniron near to the centre of Quimper. It is set in the grounds of chateaux, (not up to Rosemary’s exacting standards, cos no turrets) overlooking the river Odet, which at low tide is a mud flat. Good grounds, with, I am told, rhododendrons, azaleas & camellias.

Large campsite with gites and a huge camping area. There is also a 9-hole golf course and a couple of restaurants, épiceries and a swimming pool. Alas, out of season most of this was closed, though the bar and restaurant near the entry are open, probably because of the golf course. A couple of weddings were underway in the grounds when we arrived. Expected lots of loud disco music into the late evening, but no, it was all packed up and gone by late afternoon.

The grounds are gorgeous, trees, flowers, birds and open spaces. R says not as claustrophobic as the previous campsite. There should be a 2K walk into the centre of the city which misses the main road in. We shall see tomorrow. Reckon we have struck lucky here, lots of bird song, and relatively quiet despite being near to the main roads. There was so much blossom and flowers. Very tranquil.

The afternoon was warm, T-shirt weather. Cooked alfresco and ate outside. Still writing this outside at 9.30 as the sun is setting and still not cold. Makes a change from a few days ago. Will it be cold tonight?  Last night was, could have done with the thicker duvet.

Saturday, 13th 2019 Camping l’Orangerie de Lanniron

Hurrah, another Sunny day, walked into Quimper. The gate to the footpath was closed, so had to walk quite a long distance to the campsite exit, and then double back along the outside fence. Yes, this was quite an extra walk as this campsite is very large. The footpath then headed down a leafy lane towards the city, under a road and then alongside some city gardens. There was also a field with named Breton rare breed cattle.  

First stop was the bar for a drink of beer. Downmarket bar, part of a Tabac. R, after she went to the loo, decided women weren’t encouraged to drink here. Then on to the tourist bit, cathedrals shops and lunch. The disappointment of the day was lunch, ordered a steak rare and it came out tough and overcooked. Long walk back to the campsite. Did my heart paces, steps and move minutes today. Supper was purchased on the way back at a small supermarket. R had not written a shopping list, so much was forgotten.

At the campsite, we did a final walk around, found the ‘canal’, which did have a load of midgies, and some toads making the most goddamn awful racket. Could not think what it was to start with. A nice place.

Camping de L’ile Verte in Saint-Benoit-des-Ondes

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Thursday, May 9th 2019 Neolithic sites and Saint-Benoit-des-Ondes

Packed away in the dry, not a lot to do as no awning to pack. We backtracked to see a couple of Neolithic sites, before heading on to our next overnight stop.

The first Neolithic site was La Pierre Toureresse, a 25-minute drive. Google took us down a residential road to a field and wanted us to continue on an agricultural road where, according to a sign, only farm vehicles were allowed. We stopped, parked and walked down the track. After a few hundred meters we came to the site. The site had been excavated and documented. Not a great amount to see and we were soon on our way. No signs to the site.

The second Neolithic site was the Tumulus de Colombiers-sur-Seulles, a further fifteen-minute drive. This was a larger site with a large barrow. There was a small car park off the side of the road where we parked safely. Then we could walk a few meters to see the barrow. An earth mound with a lot of neatly placed stones at the base. A lot of reconstruction had been done to make it look like how the archaeologists think it should be. Some explanatory notes and also a reconstruction of a Neolithic dwelling (or shed).

We drove to the coast at Arromanches-les-Bains and sat at the cliff top to eat lunch and look out at the sea at the remains of Mulberry harbours built during the D-day landings. It is so sad, but amazing how quickly these engineering achievements were built during wartime.

Headed on to our new campsite in Saint-Benoit-des-Ondes, passing around Bayeux. Before we arrived at the campsite we visited our third archaeological site of the day, called d’Outre-Tombes. This one again Google wanted to take us up some rather grassy uphill roads. We ignored these and found a road which was signposted, metaled but narrow.  Again a not impressive array of stones, which did not correspond to the map. Presumably, because the French had used this site to demonstrate the way stones could be moved without machinery. One stone had the following notice on it. 11 Juillet 1999 a l’aide de cordes, 173 personnes ont deplace a la force de leurs bras, ce bloc de granit de 31.5 tonnes, sur une distance de 13.11 meters. A second block had: Juillet 2000 l’equipe de ‘C’est pas sorcier’ est venue filmer por la television, la technique de levage de ce menhir.  All I can say is in 6000 years some archaeologists excavating the site will be confused by the locations of the stones.

Arrived at the campsite Camping de L’ile Verte in Saint-Benoit-des-Ondes, erected awning, achieved an impressive time for this, and then went for a walk. The campsite had nice large pitches with high hedges. Made for privacy, but R was claustrophobic. The site road was narrow, and the hedges went to the road which did make parking and positioning a tad difficult, especially with the caravan across the way having its towing hook almost on the road.

During our walk, we noticed a few restaurants and oyster outlets. The place selling oysters had its own washing tanks and large arrays of oysters in tanks of water. Impressive. Could not understand why there was no security over the tanks.

Friday, May 10th 2019 St Malo and Cancale

Today was meant to be a wet day. Stayed dry for longer than expected. We travelled to St Malo to fuel Morrison. Down to his last 70 miles, he had done well with 644 miles on the one tank of fuel from the UK. 111 Euros spent and he was replenished. The supermarket was huge, R bought herself a sweater, so was now warm. Can’t say the vegetable counter was any good, so little choice. Also, the cheese counters seem to have shrunk from what they used to be. A few ingredients for meals purchased.

We then attempted to park in St Malo by the docks but failed in this endeavour. All carparks have a 1.90-meter height restriction, and most parking on the street required payment at meters and we had no coins.

We gave up and went for a drive around the headland and back to the campsite. Stopped at a nice beach called Plage de la Varde , ate lunch and managed a walk, and then down came the rain. Continued to Cancale and looked at the hundreds of fruits de mer shops.  Back at the campsite supper and then the rain all night long.

Saturday, May 11th 2019 Lunch out in Saint-Benoit-des-Ondes

The ground outside was very soggy after the overnight rain. Slow getting up, waiting for the sun to show behind the clouds. Went for a walk along the shore, investigating the restaurants. We eventually chose the nearest, called Carte Sur Table. Quite a nice looking restaurant inside. It does have two outside areas for dining. The front terrace and the garden terrace at the back. We chose to dine inside as it was not yet warm. Unfortunately, when we entered we were the sole dines, though a few more turned up later.

An Amuse Bouche was immediately presented. It was very tasty cold mushroom soup.

 I chose Oysters to start with, and Rosemary a salad. Her salad was huge, while I received more oysters then I thought were arriving. Oysters were predictably lovely.

For the mains, I chose John Dory. John was quite large and was presented with potatoes, cauliflower and carrots with a sauce on the side. R started with a salad (again!), followed by cod stuffed with leeks and bacon in cream sauce. For the end, R went for some vanilla ice-cream, while I had a selection of smelly, local cheeses.

The afternoon was predictable spent snoozing in the warmth of the canopy. A quick walk by Steve to earn his Heart Points.

Camping Bords de l’Aure in Bayeux

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Monday, May 6th 2019 Deauville and camping at Bayeux

Left Camping Saint Nicolas, Le Bec-Hellouin. Taking down and packing away the awning/canopy was fairly straight forward, even fitted into its bag on the first attempt. I call that a success.

We headed over to Deauville and parked in the station car park. Walked across the road to the marina where we admired the yachts. One was even leaving under sail in the marina. The buildings along the streets were a very different style to ones I have seen elsewhere. Lots of tall roofs and unneeded small pinnacle type roofs. I thought they must be a nightmare to keep watertight where they joined the main roofs. Rosemary, of course, loved them, as she thought would our roofer back at home. Walked into the main town square where there is a fountain, with eight roads all coming in together. A quick stop for lunch which we ate in a picnic stop on the road to Bayeux

Set up camp in Bayeux where we were staying in the municipal site on the river L’Aure. Decided not to put up the canopy as the green space was quite small. Still nice campsite in the middle of town, so we would not be doing any driving while we are here. We took the riverside walk into town, about 20 minutes and looked at the main places we would be visiting the next day and planning the restaurant we would stop at for lunch.

Two beers before we walked back to campsite, were over 11 Euro ☹ . Walked back to the campsite and set up for the evening meal, Toulouse sausage stew. Yum Yum.

Tuesday, May 7th 2019 Bayeux Tapestry Museum and Museum of Art and History Baron Gerard

Still sunny, thought it was going to be more cloudy today. Stayed fairly bright and almost warm the whole day, slight drizzle after 7 pm. Started the day with our order of Pain Au Chocolat plus cereal, eaten outside.  We then walked into town and headed for the Bayeux Tapestry.  Here we bought tickets that would allow entry into several museums for 15 Euro.

The first part of the Tapestry museum was the Tapestry. There you are issued with an audio guide. There is no stopping the guide, so make sure you go in with a gap between you and the people in front. This ensures they have moved on between the sections, so you have a good view of the tapestry. For something nearly a 1000 years old, it is in remarkably good condition. We also learnt a lot about Harold which I had not known. It seemed from the Norman propaganda viewpoint that he and William were almost good pals, and that Harold had gone to see William to vow allegiance to him agreeing that he, William, would be the next King of England when Edward died. It seems that Harold went back on his promise and was crowned King, causing William to come over here and fight for his “rightful” Kingship. R made a note to do a spot of googling on the subject.

After the main course, you go upstairs where there is an exhibition on the history and the further wars which William had to fight to keep England under control. Well worth seeing.

Next, we went for lunch at Le Pommier where I started with raw Salmon, followed by a Fish Gratin with spinach. Rosemary started with a salad of vegetables and fruit, and then chicken with a lemon and honey sauce, which she said was far better than it sounded. We both ended with a lovely creme brulee, very shallow, but a large dish, maximising the brulee.

Onto the museum of the Museum of Art and History Baron Gerard, a very newly renovated building housing and exhibition concentrating on the history of the area which took you from prehistoric times all the way through to the 1800s. R was overcome by the bobbin lace making, and really liked the white ceramic pottery made in the 1800s. This included the usual cups and saucers, and also laboratory ware.

Back to the campsite, where we had a small snackerel, drinky poos and eventually sat inside at around 7 pm as a small amount of precipitation started. Due to be coming down harder during the night.

Wednesday, May 8th 2019 Bayeux Normandy Landings Museum

Mixed weather today, it rained and the sun shone. Started out late because of the rain, no matter, no big itinerary. We also decided to eat lunch out, again to offset the drizzle.

First was a visit to the Normandy Landings Museum. This told us the story of the D day landings, with potted resumes of the main generals on all sides. There was a mixture of diagrams showing the armed forces, and words to explain the actions. Videos in strategic places to show the terrain and actions which were occurring in the battles. Many physical remains from the war, from shaving cream, cigarettes, bullets, gas masks, and radios. Even spotted one radio transceiver which looked very much like one my grandfather had in his shed. I wonder what happened to that.

There were descriptions of the planning, the landings, the French resistance and Charles de Gaulle.

Nearby, there was the British Cemetery, and also a memorial to journalists killed in action. The memorial for journalists listed by year the journalists killed in action on large upright stones. The list is large with so many killed. Presently it goes up to 2018, the 2019 deaths to be added. We then walked around the British cemetery. So very, very sad.

We walked back to the centre, just arriving at the restaurant we had eaten yesterday. 2.30 was too late for a French lunch, despite the wording outside saying 2.45. Now it really started to hammer down with rain. We searched around several other restaurants, all saying they closed at 2.30. We sheltered under a canopy and debated a pizzaria (there seem to be loads of these in France these days) or the creperie place opposite where we were standing. This was open all day. We ate some very tasty galettes (Ie a crepe made with buckwheat flour).

Next, we visited the Cathedral, far more ornate and spacious than the one we had seen earlier. Prince Charles had visited here on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war and had attended a ceremony where a new bell had been installed in the belfry, making a total of 17 bells.

Walked on back to the campsite, where we spotted another English VM camper van. We went over to chat with them about their bike rack on the back. A VW rack which they were pleased with.

Simple supper of cheese and bread, hopefully, the smell in the fridge has now gone. The goat’s cheese did not smell much when individually smelt, but the fridge was highly pongy. Yes, the fridge was much better after the removal of the cheese.

Route planned for tomorrow, some Neolithic stuff, and a campsite near St Malo.

Camping Saint Nicolas in Le Bec-Hellouin

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Friday, May 3rd 2019 On our way to Le Bec Hellouin

Set off from home at 6.30. I wondered why Google wanted me to go around the South of London, maybe she knew better and there were road works or accident. A quick look at traffic and yes M25 was closed but between the A41 junction and the M40 junction. Puzzled we ignored her and continued on down the A41. She was persistent, telling us to go South. Suddenly it twigged, I had set the no toll road option in readiness for France. With the aid of my backup Google Sat Nat operative, changes were made to the options and all was well. She now liked our route and stopped her nagging.  A timely reminder, we needed to buy a crossing pass, so again the co-pilot logged on to the Dart payment page and paid for two crossings.

Arrived at the terminal in 2 hours and 30 minutes and were now faced with 1-hour 40-minute wait for departure. Normally when you arrive early you are offered an earlier crossing. Not today, the terminal looked very busy. This called for breakfast at the LEON café, some playing with the Twitter and then onboard the Eurotunnel. The crossing was under 40 minutes, and then we were straight off to our first stop.  Google programmed back onto avoid toll roads. A short break at a BP garage for coffee and to check Twitter, then we were shortly at Camping Saint Nicolas in Le Bec-Hellouin. This campsite we visit regularly. It is around three hours from the port and has nice walks down to the abbey. While we were there we bought the ACSI camping site guides and camping card. By the end of the holiday, we had recouped the cost of these and made a considerable saving in out of prime season campsite fees.

This year we had taken the awning, erected it in lovely sunny weather, and sat outside drinking our JDs, Ricard and locally produced Farm Cidre. We must remember not to buy this Cidre, it is not the best. We treated ourselves to food at the campsite café, Moules Avec Roquefort, while R had a huge omelette and chips.

Another British VW camper-van rolled up next to us with a young loud couple. She was especially loud ?

Saturday, May 4th 2019 Visiting Honfleur and Pont-Audemer

Alas, the rain came in during the night, breakfast under the awning. One advantage of the awning is you can leave stuff in there, and it’s quite quick then to disconnect the van and drive off. First stop was food shopping at the nearest town Brionne. We had walked there on a previous visit. It takes 12 minutes to drive and over an hour to walk over some hills and through woods. Still raining, but dying off as we headed on to Pont-Audemer where we had a walk around quite a busy shopping centre and quaint town. Of course, it was closing or closed up as it was now 12.30.

Not far now to Honfleur, a quaint touristic town on the Seine where it meets the sea. Parking alas was on a meter and was 4 Euro for 2 hours. Lots of restaurants selling Plateau de fruits de mer. Now have a base guide price of around 45 Euro for an FDM. Not sure what the attraction is of this town, but it did seem busy with tourists and guides taking coach, or river cruisers around through the streets. Could be a stopping point for river cruises.

It had stopped raining and the sun was out, so back to the campsite where it was lovely and sunny. (Still managed to have a heavy burst of rain at 9.00.)

Supper, R was not feeling good, so I ate toast and pâté.

Sunday, May 5th 2019 Evreux and Medieval jousting at Harcourt

Quite a cold night, the sun was shining, but clouds around. Despite the weather forecast, there was rain. We set off to Evreux to see the Notre Dame cathedral. Are all cathedrals called Notre Dame? Found somewhere to park, the city was deserted, all the cafes and restaurants were closed. The cathedral was also deserted, met only two others leaving. No chance of a French Sunday lunch!

A wander around the city we came across a car boot sale. Nothing we liked, R always looking for Ricard glasses and flat irons. 

For the afternoon we stopped off at Harcourt, fortified chateaux and arboretum. This was on our way back to the campsite. We were surprised to find the village heaving with people, and car park attendants routing us to playing fields to park. It was a special day, they were having a Medieval fare with jousting, the French against the British. Even managed to down a French-made IPA beer. Strong and quite tasty.

Back at the campsite, it was now sunny, and almost warm under the canopy. Supper cooked as a sausage stew and some wine. Took a quick walk down for the Abbey to get my exercise and to see that the place was still there. Tomorrow we are off the Bayeux.

Welsh Shoot

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At the weekend we were having our annual shoot against the Welsh. Instead of driving down, shooting and driving home, we decided to stay a few days in Wales. So today we set off to St David’s in Morrison the VW T5 and camp a few days in Wales. It was around a five-hour drive to St David’s where we camped in the Glan-y-mor Camp Site. We had pre-booked and we never did see the owners. The site was open and a few others were there as well. Once set up, a walk down to the sea. It was quite windy today, and the forecast for the night and next day was even more wind as storm Hannah was arriving. There is plenty of walking along the coastal paths here.

The night was windy, we did not put up the van roof, and still, the van was rocked by the gusts of wind. In the morning we walked into the city of St David’s. We, of course, visited the Cathedral and ate lunch in a local pub. In the evening I walked along the coast to a point and photographed Ramsey Island which just appears beyond St David’s

On Saturday we headed back towards St Bride’s Major for the Sunday shoot. We first visited the Melin Tregwynt Mill. Here they weave fabrics. I am not technical about fabrics, but R says they are wonderful and have a different pattern on each side, due to the clever weaving. The Mill was not in operation at the weekend, but we were able to walk through the mill and see the looms sitting there. There was a nice cafe and shop there. R should have bought herself a woollen pullover, she would need it in a few days when we were in France. Interestingly to note that the wool itself does not come from Wales!

We headed on, making a detour to see the castle at Carmarthen, not much of a castle. I was very disappointed, and then it transpired I was expecting the castle where Prince Charles was made Prince of Wales. But that was Caernarfon castle. Oh dear!

We headed on and arrived at the Heritage Coast Campsite at Monknash. This campsite, despite the low season, had a restaurant and bar. We made use of the bar where they had a reasonable selection of craft beers. Apparently, locals used the bar and restaurant despite a well-stocked pub 200 yards up the road.

We walked down to the coast. This was along a narrow road, and then down the side of a stream to the coast. The rocks on the shore were fabulous, large and flat. The light was good, despite the storm, with a brilliant blue sky. There were some excellent breaking waves and Oystercatchers feeding on the rocks. The walk back took us through a field with lots of horses. These were all huddled over one side of the field attempting to keep out of the wind.

The next day was shooting at St Bride’s Major. We met up in the car park of a pub in St Bride’s Major and drove to the quarry. R terrified I would damage Morrison as we drove up the road to it. Then it was back to the Star Inn in Wick for lunch. I dropped R off and drove to the campsite and walked back to the pub. Amazingly we had won this round of the shoot. The first time ever.

In the morning we drove home, stopping off at Penarth for R to reminisce about her early childhood. We walked on the pier and had coffee there. We drove along the road she had lived on but she failed to recognise the house. (Later we learnt from her brother Steve, just what we’d missed.)

Home again Home – Day 15

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Early morning wake up call, then a leisurely final breakfast before we were herded onto the coach for the trip to the airport. Thankfully we could check our baggage in all the way to London. Passed through several x-ray and detector machines. I was asked to have my lens checked by security staff, in case the Cairo security team took exception to it. Binoculars had to go into hold luggage.


We had a long wait for our connecting flight at Cairo, some of the group went on a trip to see a mosque. We stayed in the airport hotel, read books and ate a buffet lunch which had been booked for us. The buffet was similar to the boat buffet, but although the sweets looked absolutely stunning, their flavour and texture left a lot to be desired.

The final flight home was uneventful on a Boeing 737-800, thankfully not a MAX.

Philae, Aswan High Dam and Bird Watching – Day 14

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Our last day visiting sites. We left for the trip to the Temple Island of Philae, this involved crossing the old dam and then catching a tourist boat to the Island. The Temple of Philae was flooded when the dam was built. In 1979 UNESCO designated Philae, Abu Simbel and other ruins as world heritage sites. Back in 1960, UNESCO started a project to try to save Philae, a cofferdam of steel plates was built around the site. The monuments were then cleaned, photographed and dismantled into 40,000 units before being transported and reconstructed on the Island of Agilkia about 500 meters away. The temple was reopened in 1980.

The boat trip was short. I was allowed a go on the helm! We were soon assembling for our walk around the temple. The first time we saw so many cats posing to be photographed. When we left the site, Rosemary was privileged to be able to feed some of the animals from a ham sandwich proffered by a German tourist. (It was his packed lunch. R envious of tourists who were allowed such things rather than have to go to back their boat/hotel for lunch.) Back on the tourist boat, some vendors were allowed onboard to sell items. This was the first place we had seen Black Africans, Nubians, in Egypt.

On the coach, we travelled to the Aswan High Dam and parked in the visitor centre in the middle of the dam. This dam is huge, with the largest man-made lake in the world. It is not a high tech looking dam. All the previous ones we had seen were tall concrete structures. This dam is made of rubble and clay and has a very gentle slope. It was built by Russian expertise in the 1960s. The dam is able to control the flooding of the Nile downstream.

Back on the Misr, we had lunch and then went for our optional bird watching trip on the Nile amidst the cataracts. A few bird pictures were taken (1000, cut down to just a few).

Finally, we had a trip to the Nubian Museum. The museum, a new one, opened in 1997 has materials recovered from the tombs and temples of Nubia and tells the history of the area. Apparently, there were also some lovely gardens to look around, but as always on these trips, there is never enough time.

Finally back on the boat our final cocktails, dinner and farewell from the crew along with instructions for the morning.

Edfu and Kom Ombo – Day 13

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Today we visited two temples. The first was Edfu Temple, we disembarked and either caught a horse and carriage or walked the 200 yards to the coach. Having pity for the poor horses, the guides did not condone the carriage idea. The drive to the temple was fraught by the large numbers of horses and carriages returning from the temple. Some visitors had beaten us and had been there very much earlier than us. At least they had left. This temple is in good condition, with near perfect pylons and interior and exterior walls. There was still defacing of faces by the Roman/Christians, this was higher up because of the sand which had buried the base. The carvings into the sandstone are exquisite, you can see the muscles in the limbs, and the way the knee cap has been shaped.

Back to the boat, and we immediately left for Kom Ombo. Lunch and tea before we disembarked to see the temple and mummified crocodile museum. We docked, and then there was a short walk from the boat to the Temple. An ominous number of shops were on the river bank. Two gods seemed to be represented here, Sobek and Horus. Sobek has the crocodile head and could have been here because of the grand island on which huge numbers of crocodiles once lived. Perhaps worship of Sobeck was to appease their appetites. Another carved item on the wall was a set of surgical instruments, were they for surgery or used for mummification procedures? Much debate ensued.

After the temple, we walked to the small crocodile museum and viewed the mummified crocodiles, plus crocodile related items. A nice museum. A short walk back to the boat and we managed to escape the clutching hands of the many vendors.

As soon as we were on board we departed for Aswan.

Cocktails and then dinner.

Karnak and Luxor – Day 12

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A wake-up call, breakfast and then out to see a couple of temples on the East side of the Nile. First stop was Karnak Temple. The walk from the visitor centre to the temple had been made spectacular with open paved space from the Nile to the Pylons. Lighting had also been placed in the tiles in a long strip to the temple. But…. as George commented, the temple is thousands of years old and much is still standing, the modern tiled area, perhaps 20 years old, was already falling to pieces. The day was cloudy as well, so no beautiful blue skies to set the monuments off.

The columns were magnificent, as were the needles. We liked the ‘spreadsheet’ (of numbers of offerings) where the columns were added up, and then there was also the grand total. Lotus and Microsoft eat your hearts out, spreadsheets were invented a long time ago.

Rosemary liked the graffiti on the columns; old graffiti is good and historical, while modern graffiti is a scourge. She started googling the names when she was back on the boat. Examples were 1850, K.Wroblewski; 1857, F.C.Drake; 1804, John Gordon; A.L Corry (she’d hoped for an “H Carter Wos ‘Ere” type one, but no). Another observation was the graffiti was always high up, out of modern-day reach, a testament to the sand which used to cover the site and has since been removed. You could also see on many monuments the lack of vandalism by the Romans at low levels, but higher up, the chipped out faces. Again the sand protected the lower levels of the monuments.

Back on to the coach and a short drive to The Temple of Luxor. On the way, we made a short detour to see the Papyrus Institute, a short demo of Papyrus making, and then the hard sell of art painted on Papyrus. We resisted.

At Luxor, there was a long alleyway lined with sphinxes going in the direction of Karnak. Originally, the two temples had been joined together by a 2 Kilometre sphinx-lined alleyway.

Outside the pylons of the Temple was a row of colossal statues of pharaohs, even now a new one was being restored and rebuilt. Inside the temple was a Mosque which had been build on top of the temple. It looked incongruous so high up. Again this was because of the sand which had entirely filled the temple at some stage. The entry to the mosque was from higher ground on the street side of the temple. After renovation began, it was decided the mosque could stay.

Lunch beckoned, amazing how hungry one gets with regular feeding. We arrived back for lunch, and the Misr immediately set sail for Edfu. We apparently passed through the Esna Lock on the way. This must have happened when we were partying because I never saw it.

Another lecture by George Hart this time ” An Artist on the Nile: The legacy of David Roberts”.

Dinner, a good Egyptian buffet, was after the fun of everyone dressing up in their Egyptian costume of Galabyia for the Crew Show. There was some dancing and embarrassing photographs were taken. R had said when I booked the trip that she could already feel a headache coming on for that night.

Finally there was also a quiz evening on Egyptian history, sadly our group did not win, despite the best endeavours of our note taking American.