{"id":424,"date":"2012-05-01T13:22:06","date_gmt":"2012-05-01T12:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=424"},"modified":"2025-11-23T05:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T05:16:09","slug":"if-theres-nothing-worth-watching-on-the-telly-tonight-read-our-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2012\/05\/01\/if-theres-nothing-worth-watching-on-the-telly-tonight-read-our-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"If There\u2019s Nothing Worth Watching On The Telly Tonight, Read Our Blog\u2026\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

We decided to stay 2 more nights at the Loisirs des Groux campsite at Mousseaux sur Seine, that is, after we managed to find someone to pay.\u00a0 We then spent the morning wandering around Vernon admiring the mediaeval buildings of which the Tourist Information centre was the star. We bought veggies and some coquilles St Jacques (scallops) and prawns at the local market. Then while buying another baguette, which was too hot to hold, having come straight out of the oven, we spotted dessert.\u00a0 Yes, Rodney has now had his first French tart and it was very good\u2026\u2026.. When we got back to the campsite it was pouring with rain again, so we couldn\u2019t really go for a walk or a bike ride, instead we slothed out with Sudoku, our books, origami cranes and researched where to head for next.\u00a0 The weather is forecast to be bad around here until mid next week, so we really do need to head south and east to try and find less muddy weather.\u00a0 If not we really will need to buy some wellies !!!<\/p>\n

\"\"
The ancient\u00a0 Tourist Information Office in Vernon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
A couple of French tarts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Should have bought\u00a0some wellies!\u00a0 We had planned an early start but it continued raining all night and poor Eileen couldn\u2019t get a grip at all, even though we had parked her on the anti slip mats.\u00a0 After spraying mud all up her sides and a bit on Rodney, we had to give in and find the campsite owner. She managed to tow us out with her four-wheel drive on to\u00a0the tarmac path and we then tried to clean Eileen a bit with a bucket.\u00a0 We cleaned ourselves up and I then went over to the office to return the gate key and thank the owner yet again.\u00a0 I\u2019m getting good at my “merci beaucoups”. \u00a0Unfortunately, as I stepped out of the office I slipped on the top step and slid down four slimy wooden stairs on my back. I let out a good scream which led to the owner and friend rushing to my aid for the second time in less than half an hour. I was a bit shaken and sore, it all happened so fast, but all body parts seemed to be moving alright.\u00a0 So I went back in to the office to wash the mud off my hands and then back inside Eileen to take off all my mud soaked jeans and shirt and change in to dry clothes.\u00a0 Finally we set off about 10:30am with me finding it very hard to sit on my bottom. We stopped off at McDonalds to send the last blog, check emails and have a drink to recover from a very bad start to our day.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Eileen being pulled\u00a0off the sodden grass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We headed south across endless flat fields of wheat and rape.\u00a0 The only things that stood out were the occasional villages, forests and lots of wind turbines and the cathedral at Chartres could be spotted from about 10 kilometres north of the town. When we arrived in Chartres it seemed to be closed.\u00a0 There were practically no cars moving and nobody walking around.\u00a0 We\u2019ve never seen a town of that size so quiet and empty.\u00a0 It was a Sunday and it was lunchtime, but for a major tourist centre, we were a bit concerned as to why we were the only people out and about.\u00a0 After wandering around a few streets we found the cathedral, where there were a few tourists and just one Japanese tour group.\u00a0 The cathedral was obviously undergoing some major renovations, so it wasn\u2019t looking its best, but the sun shone on it for a little while and the stained glass windows looked beautiful. The rain started again as we walked back to Eileen and continued raining most of the way south through Allaines-Mervilliers, right though Orleans and east to the village of\u00a0Jargeau.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Chartres Cathedral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We found the Camping de Isle aux Moulins and parked Eileen right next to the river Seine. We were apparently too late at 6pm to use the washing machine, but when I showed the campsite owner our horribly muddy clothes, he took pity on us and helped me load the machine.\u00a0 An hour later, when we wanted to use the dryer, he said \u201cno, tomorrow\u201d, then took pity on us again and helped me load the dryer.\u00a0 After 2 \u00bd hours we had two bags full of lovely warm clean, dry clothes to pack away.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0 wish I had learnt some French at school; I\u2019m really struggling to converse with anyone and I spend most of the day clutching my French phrase book and dictionary.\u00a0 At the same time I\u2019m also trying to get to grips with the whole new language of \u2018camping\u2019.\u00a0 Last night\u2019s campsite was described as: ‘200m cont strt on into Rue du 44eme Regiment d\u2019 Infantrie. Lge, mkd pitch, pt sl, pt shd, htd wc (pt cont), chem disp, mv service pnt, shwrs inc, el pnts (5A) \u20ac3.50, lndtte, tradsmn, 2% statics\u2026.etc\u2026etc\u2026etc.\u00a0 We\u2019re getting the hang of it; I just wish I could pick up some French as quickly.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Loire at Jargeau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the Isle aux Moulins we both woke up to a blue sky sunny morning and very painful buttocks for one of us.\u00a0 Rodney took a photo of the bruising so that I could see what it looked like; that\u2019s a photo for my eyes only and definitely won\u2019t be on this blog !!!\u00a0 \u00a0After a 9am breakfast and some tidying up, I sat out in the sunshine writing this blog while Rodney emptied out our grey water and filled up our fresh water tank.\u00a0 Nearing midday we hopped on our bikes for the first time in France and headed east along the south bank of the Loire River to Chateauneuf sur Loire.\u00a0 We had a nice lunch there and then cycled back along the north bank to St Denis de l\u2019Hotel, over the bridge and back into Jargeau for another baguette.\u00a0 All up, we cycled about 20 kilometres and my bruised bottom felt every bump on the track.\u00a0 To add to my woes I fell off my bike into a nice patch of stinging nettles, on the way back. \u00a0I was wearing a T shirt, so I now have both arms covered in stinging lumps.\u00a0 Rodney has decided to trade me in for a less accident prone idiot ..\u2026\u2026perhaps another French tart\u2026.!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Joan of Arc reclaimed Jargeau from the English but the Royal Mail survived!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We decided to stay 2 more nights at the Loisirs des Groux campsite at Mousseaux sur Seine, that is, after we managed to find someone to pay.\u00a0 We then spent the morning wandering around Vernon admiring the mediaeval buildings of which the Tourist Information centre was the star. We bought veggies and some coquilles St […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8127,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions\/8127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}