(Glass shelves filled with porcelain from a famous factory in Bayeux, no longer operational)

We have arrived in France! Our ship docked right on time at 4.15pm, at 5pm we were in the supermarket and back on the road by 6pm. We had planned to stay the night at Isigny sur Mer because it was a great place to stay back in February even though we nearly came to blows over the water being turned off… This time the water was turned on but there was no space to spend the night. That was a bit of a shock, it seems this might be the popular time of the year for motorhomes in France…

(Tools used to make the famous Bayeux lace)

Denis was not dismayed (I was a bit) so we decided to follow our previous advice to ourselves – take the opportunities when they arrive – we filled up with water. There was a moment of hilarity (not for me but for the watching Frenchmen) when I pressed the button and only half the water reached the tank, the rest spraying me in the face. Oh how we (read, they) laughed… but we were friends in the end because one man came over with a spanner and a bunch of connectors and made all the water go into the tank. I thanked him profusely with the water dripping down my glasses. Denis was in search of even a tiny spot for us to park and came back to see the Frenchman and me smiling at each other… so he smiled along too. He’s very trusting.

(I love the way the shadow of the lace fell on the wall panels)

It was nearly 7.30pm and I was hungry and tired, not a good combination – for Denis. There was nothing to do but head for another location and hope for the best. And we did really well. Half an hour later we were pulling into the parking area of a museum in Bayeux with plenty of space. The joy of finding a place cleared my hunger and tiredness so we locked up and took a walk into town. We had only reached the cathedral (very lovely looking building) when the hunger and tiredness returned. We raced (as only people of our levels of fitness can) back to Ruby, made dinner, washed dishes and straight to our lovely comfy bed, our first night back in France.

(Isn’t that just adorable? The antique chairs up hight out of harms way)

Then this morning we visited two very good museums. We took an early visit to the  Bataille de Normandie (100 meters from our parking spot) and saw a concise overview movie of the invasion of Normandy. For some reason that whole episode in history makes me tear up. After that I went to see the MAH-B. It’s an old restored town house with the history of the area told through art. So that includes prehistoric pottery, Roman artefacts, paintings,  lace making and modern porcelain. It was unique in the way it was designed, very simple but with style, very French. Very lovely.

(Very lovely French restaurant opposite the cathedral, Bayeux)

We’ve moved on again tonight and are behind the sand dunes of a Normandy beach. We can hear the waves, an insomniac seagull and we are so close to our neighbour’s motorhome we can hear him snoring.

All is well, Mairead.