The Grand Tour of Tuscany September/October 2024 Week Six

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Sunday 7th October

The weather has turned and we have had enough. It is time to head home. It has been a great trip. We tried to chase the sunshine down the coast but it is hit and miss and to be honest we have been along this stretch of coastline before.  We change our ferry booking to October 10th! So now begins the long journey home across France.

Today is Sunday 7th and we have driven to just south of Lyons. Tomorrow we head for Amboise all being well. We will hole up there for a couple of days and catch the train into Tours or cycle the Loire routes if weather permits.

Today has been a steep learning curve. Too much driving in one day. Leaving it late in day to find a stop. The first two sites we tried were full. The third, we managed to get a space. Squeezed in between huge converted lorries and 8m+ motorhomes. All look to be long term motor homers. Some seem to be based here semi-permanently and have spread themselves out taking up other spaces which is irritating.

Monday 8^th October

We make the final leap to the municipal campsite at Amboise. Another long day’s drive of some 300 miles. The site is under trees on an island in the middle of the Loire. Grass pitches with EHU. Clean facilities. Plenty of hot water for showers. We are both exhausted.

Tuesday 9^th October

Amboise is beautiful. We wander the streets and then visit the last home of Leonardo Da Vinci, the place where he died. It seems fitting as we started our Tuscany tour, after Lucca, by visiting Vinci, his birth place. The museum and house are fascinating and worth visiting. Models, interactive displays, excellent multi-media presentations. Beautiful gardens.

We treat ourselves to omelettes in a local Tabac. It has begun to rain. Again!

Back at the site, the grass is puddling. The gravel roads are puddling. Another day of torrential rain and it is seriously doubtful as to whether we will get off the pitch.

Wednesday 10th October

We abandon Amboise. It has rained all night. Water has been flowing off Bryony like mini watefalls. It is very soggy below and another day of this and we will not get off this pitch. We head up the road to Le Mans where we end up on the free aire down at the quayside car park. Flat, with a services pillar. We visit the cathedral, stunning, and then do some window shopping. Tomorrow we will head to Falaise to see William the Conqueror’s castle and then onto Caen.

Drenched, soaked through, we have the afternoon in the van. The heaters are on full drying out coats, trousers, umbrellas and footwear.

Thursday 11th October

We head from Le Mans to Falaise and William the Conqueror’s castle.

How have we missed Falaise on previous trips? What a fantastic place. It's a definite stop off for a day and a night on the way back on our next trip over.

The castle is brilliantly done. Interactive iPads to visualise each room and actors projected onto walls playing roles from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Matilda, king John, Richard the Lionheart, Henry 1st and 2nd. Quite enthralling if you are a history buff.

Info boards in English and French. Fascinating. And as a closeted historian who has taught key stage three history for many, many years, I learned a thing or two that I hadn't known before.

Loved it.

And a bonus. There is a free site with no services in the castle car park and a World War Two museum within the town as well.

We end up spending the afternoon at shopping centres on the outskirts of Caen

Mine is my normal pilgrimage to Decathlon where I pick up a great fleece, half zip, for ten euros. Ridiculously cheap.

Maggie stocks up her wine cellar at Carrefour.

Bryony is drained down. The gas is off. We are heading for the ferry port.

What a way to finish? I manage to catch a quick snap of the northern lights from a French, highly illuminated ferry port! Never in a thousand years did I imagine I’d be able to do that!