European Encounters

Monday 22nd September 2014
France

We were pretty slow getting going this morning. Our excuse was that the awning seemed to be wetter inside than out from condensation and we had to wait for it to dry. I think the only reason we left at all was because we ran out of milk for tea.

We arrived in Carnac at about 2pm. First stop was a supermarket as food and drink supplies were running dangerously low. We were in there for ages. There seem to be at least two separate sections for each of wine, cheese, cold meat and crockery in any French supermarket. We came out €80 worse off again, but at least we got some plates to eat off now. We did come out without a pétanque set, which is something we've been after since day one or two of our trip, but we weren't prepared to pay €20 for only 3 balls. I'm pretty sure you can get a set of 6 or 8 in Asda for about a tenner.

After our mega shop we had lunch on the beach, then Claire read for a bit (I think) and I had a nap and gave myself indigestion in the process. I woke up to be confronted with a child having a tantrum and what I thought was one of those saggy Continental European women with no shame sunbathing topless only a few metres away. We decided that was our cue to find a campsite and headed back to George, to find that he had another British vehicle parked next to him. A surreptitious inspection of the tax disc by Claire revealed that our car park neighbours were from Burton on Trent. We were just about to drive off when the car's owners returned, who were non other than the brazen bare breasted sunbather and her bearded companion. We made a quick exit so as not to be associated with them by any number plate or tax disc spotters.

Finding a camp site was not as easy as it has been for the last few days. There are plenty of sites around here and we wanted one close to a sandy beach. A few of them were closed as it's out of season now, and those that were open had too many static caravan type things for our liking, or were really expensive. We eventually settled on one which claims to be only 100m from the beach we had lunch on earlier. There are static caravans here but we can't really see them from our pitch. The warden was very relaxed and told us (in English) to find a pitch, use the electric, do whatever, and come and pay in the morning. We're pretty sure that it will be less than €20 so have put the awning up and plan to stay for 4 nights.

We're pitched up in a very diverse section of the site as we have French caravanners, German motorhomers and Czech campers (4 adults in one estate car and a not exactly huge tent - very cosy) nearby. A motorbike has just arrived but it's dark and they're being very quiet so I don't know where they're from. I'll make sure I have a sneaky look by torchlight on my way to the toilet later. The German man is quite friendly and came over to ask us the results of the Scottish referendum, and express his relief at our reply! We're pleased too, but not for EU socio economic reasons like he is. We're just pleased that Scotland is still part of where we live, because we like it there.

Tomorrow, apart from remembering to pay the laid back warden, we will probably go to the market in Carnac and to the beach.

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