2. Jun, 2022

2. Jun, 2022

2. Jun, 2022

2. Jun, 2022

2. Jun, 2022

THURSDAY 2-06-22

It was a fairly peaceful night, though I, in my role as Roof Vent Monitor, did detect some spots of rain kicking off at about 01:30. Unless heavy rain is suspected, in which the vent is immediately closed,  the drill is to hang my mac over the television so that it covers both the TV and the end of the diner sofa. This is because the roof vent in the lounge/diner area is a bit too close to those items for comfort. That way I can leave the vent locked in place opened at about a sixty-degree angle. That just leaves me to continually monitor the one directly above the bed. It would be very easy to just shut it and roll over, but the trouble is, in temperatures like we're having, the heat just builds up leading to an uncomfortable night. Fortunately it all came to nothing, except that we awoke to a cloudy, breezy day.

The boiler was fired up for a lovely hot shower. I changed over to the second cylinder last night because the boiler didn't like the low gas pressure left in the almost empty first cylinder. It had lasted us exactly four weeks, which I think is pretty good going given that we have used our own shower facilities quite often, and for every hour that we weren't hooked up to a campsite mains electricity supply (220V), or driving along (12V) the fridge has had to be powered by our onboard gas supply.

This morning we went for the walk we did intend to take yesterday, but couldn't motivate ourselves to do so. First we crossed over the road outside the aire and almost directly opposite the roadway which took us over to the other side of the basin. Walking south I appreciated what I'd photographed yesterday. In a building which looked like, and must have been another submarine pen on the opposite side of the basin was housed the French Navy's first ever nuclear powered submarine 'Swordfish'. It was built in the 1950's and travelled more than 27,000 miles submerged under the ocean before being decommissioned in the 1970's. It is the only submarine still submerged in the water where it belongs. All other museum submarines are out of the water. It could be viewed, but for a price of course. I would have loved to have taken a look round it but we didn't really have time.

Further along we came across what was claiming to be the 'Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery'. Looking at it, I formed the opinion that the authorities were left with a few scrappy bits of steel off the shore, and rather than go to the expense of removing it, decided to add a few more bits to it and call it an artwork.

I will research yesterday and today in greater detail once we get home and amend the pages.

We came across a few memorials to events there in WWII, but none of them were very grand, maybe because the Allies needed to bomb the crap out of the town in order to knock out the submarine base.

After lunch we made ready for the road and set off for Fougeres, further north and on our way home. The early part of the journey was painful in that we had to sit behind a convoy of lorries on a single lane road doing just 80kph. I had to keep checking my mirrors in case a tortoise tried to come up my nearside. Thankfully the latter part of the trip was pretty much all motorway and we arrived here at about 14:30.

There are two kinds of free aire. Those which are exclusively for motorhomes, as they should be, and some are a shared car park with cars. These are the worst kind, and the kind we have here (N48.355273 W1.211054). When we arrived there was no available space for us, and so I waited my time just outside the parking area. Eventually a space came up and we shot in to it, but it wasn't ideal, so I spent the next couple of hours on and off moving the vehicle along the line as cars left, until we had occupied the area we needed.

As we are likely to be here for two nights it was worth getting the inflatable levelling pads out. Again some interest in them. Just wait until they go on-line and find out how much they cost, that should kill it.

Tomorrow we are forecast thunderstorms from tomorrow afternoon, with some being severe, so that gives us something to look forward to. It means we'll have to be up in good time and crack on with looking at the town before either it gets too hot, our it pours down with rain.

In the news I see the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations have already kicked off, including a flypast involving just about every aircraft the MOD could muster, whilst further east Turkey wishes to rebrand itself as Türkiye. I think they should go he whole hog and call it 'Giblets'.

Having seen the gradients involved for tomorrow I'm beginning to wish I'd been born a Sherpa.