The First Trip to France (North Wales to Honfleur (FR) - 660Kms)

Special thanks to:
Adrian for his hospitality in Honfleur 
Jonathan for his hospitality and a night out in Sandwich 

North Wales to Honfleur 

 The start of the real adventure into the unknown.

Before we left Sydney we had arranged to meet up with Adrian for a week at his cottage in Honfleur, Normandie

Sandwich by the harbour

Friday 22^nd  July  - Up early and set off for - Sandwich in Kent where  my nephew Jonathan lives there with wife Stephanie and two sons Lucas and Elliot. We were spending the night there before taking the ferry from Dover to Calais. Unfortunately Stephanie and the children were away in France that weekend. We  set off from Colwyn bay about 11.00 rather uneventful except for a nightmare traffic jam on the M25 (London Circular)  but managed to arrive about 18.30.

Jonathon showed us a good time in Sandwich sampling several pints of the local brew followed by a Greek meal at the local Greek Taverna.

Sandwich

Saturday 23^rd July  Got up about 9:00 had some breakfast and then went for a look around Sandwich. Interesting town definitely worth a second visit. Said good bye  to Jonathon and headed off to Dover. Arrived about 12:30 in Dover to catch the 14.00 ferry. Once on board had fish and chips  (WRK washed his down with beer so there was no doubt about who was going to to do the driving). Arrived in Calais about 17:00 local time. Then drove down to Honfleur which took about 2.5 hours. Found the house without too many problems and settled in. Very nice cottage thatched roof - weather still very mixed and quite cold and showery.

Honfleur harbour at night

Went into Honfleur for dinner at the Relais des Cyclists - started with very small shrimps which has been quickly dropped into salted water - you eat the whole thing which is a shade of gray rather than pink - quite nice but neither of us liked the heads so by the time that was removed there wasn't too much left., Willy then had a plate of sea food which included lots of whelks (bulots?) rather like a sea snails but bigger with more bits, I stuck to a pot au feu de poisson - which was really nice. Then an apple tart to finish with and then home.

Adrian's Chocolate Box Cottage

Sunday 24^th July - Got up about 10:00 went to the supermarket in Honfleur for the basics and then went to Trouville to find the Sunday market. The place was heaving so didn't stay and drove back via the coast road. Adrian arrived about 15:00 and went to look at a brocante (look it up)  - more stuff than I have ever seen in my life - Adrian managed to buy something to add to his already large collection of French bric-a-brac.

Returned to the cottage and then went out for dinner to the 'ladies restaurant' - it's place run my multiple generation of the same family. Had a fix price meal - started with moules done in cream and then roast chicken followed by the obligatory  piece of apple tart.

Haddy and Adrian 

Monday 25^th - Haddy (old friend of Adrian from London) arrived - stayed in at the cottage for dinner Ado cooked a chicken and had snails for the starter - my first time.  Even though they were delicious, I assume they are an acquired taste.

Went to the SRF (broadband shop which was vodafone) for the first of many trip to get my tablet wireless network up and running. Asked for a mobile broadband sim which at first was free, then €15 and finally €30. Any way it apparently had several days of free Internet access and it seemed to work OK so was on the air from the cottage at reasonable speeds for most of the times. More on this later

Also good news on the driving front. I think that either I made driving a right hand drive car on the wrong side of the road look so easy or I made him so nervous, WRK decided that he would hence forth do some driving. This was a great relief.....

The Beach at Touville 

Tuesday 26^th July - went for a drive to Trouville with Ado and Haddy - walked along the board-walk (Promenade des Planches) which is actually in Trouville's twin town of Deauville famous for Polo and the Film Festival which was about to start while we were staying in Honfleur.  Had a look around Trouville famous for it's casino and then went back to the cottage and out to a pizza restaurant - La Parasol in a rather grand building in Honfleur - good food I had a salad served in a folded pizza (calzone). Didn't drink as it was my turn to drive. 

Wednesday 27^th July

Haddy, Willy, Adrian et Moi
at the cottage 

Met Haddy and Ado in Honfleur at the Albatross (has free wifi)  cafe on the harbour had a rather nice omelette  with mushrooms and cheese and ham - lovely. Weather was terrific really hot and sunny - could this be the beginning of some decent weather?
Managed to get the car locked in the car park - forgot that all shops close from 12 to 14:30 so when we went back to get the car found it was locked in the Carrefour car park until the shops opened again. 

Bridge linking Lehavre
 and Honfleur

In the afternoon we decided to go into Le Havre looking for camping gear - had decided that we needed to reduce  expenses and as the future car journeys were going to involve nights in hotels camping seemed to be the way to go. Ended up buying a very light (and hence very small) 2 man tent,  2 sleeping bags and ground sheets. The tent was bought because of it weight - just in case  we every went hiking (moi?) Unlikely but you never know. WRK decided to get a sleeping bag with a survival rating of -6 whereas I went for one that had a survival of zero on the basis I would never be outside in any of those temperatures.



Unfortunately Le Havre is building something big which involves closing off many road - the Tomtom just couldn't handle this so was an absolute nightmare trying to find a address that WRK was looking for. In the end gave up and decided to go to the local naturalist beach  - too cold to take any clothes off let alone all of them. 

Dinner at home again - Ado had been to the fish market in Touville (La Poissonnerie) . Had a plate of seafood with hugh prawns which really were enormous.

Thursday 28^th July - Lazy day, paid another visit to the SFR shop - this time to buy some Internet time - €35 for 1Gbyte - must be the most expensive internet in the world. Is valid for 2 months though so will use it on our return in September. Went home and tried to register 'Le Top-up' but this had to be done from a French phone - another trip tomorrow to see Mademoiselle SFR.

Went out for Dinner with Ado and Haddy to L'homme de Bois. Really nice place with great service. Had Soupe de poisson - really getting into this, in Normandy it's served with croutons, cheese and rouille (garlic and red pepper sauce) followed by a steak - both were excellent

Friday 29^th July - Met up with Ado and Haddy at the Albatross before Haddy leaves for London. Had lunch and then went to LeHavre and the camping shop looking for more camping equipment - chairs and of course a new pair of sun glasses for WRK.

As this our last night at the cottage before setting of for Norway took Ado out to dinner - nice restaurant (can't remember the name) Had liver and onions which was rather nice.

Off home - tomorrow is a big day as we venture into the big unknown heading north to Norway.