(View from the door)

We had another little mishap with the sat-nav before we finally arrived at Mortagne-sur-Gironde in the afternoon. It’s such a beautiful place and the sun was shining madly to make it even more beautiful. Of course I was searching for shade…

(Nice shade)

This is a marina (or port) for luxury yachts on one side of the huge estuary that leads to Bordeaux. As well as space for yachts they also have room for motorhomes. What we didn’t know at the time was this was a bank holiday weekend for the French. Unlike the Irish bank holidays which are usually on a Monday (except Christmas and St.Patrick’s Day and Good Friday, hmm didn’t know we had so many exceptions) this French bank holiday started on Thursday and ran until Sunday.

(Brave sailor)

So it was busy, very busy. Which is good because then all the services are open. There were little wooden takeaway shops for drinks or chips or crepes or oysters. There were numerous restaurants also. I got the sense this was a taste of what it might be like in the summer but for the rest of the year it’s probably closed. We were very lucky to be here at this time so we celebrated with takeaway chicken and chips!

(A little off center?)

We slept well that night and the following morning we were up early to visit our friends. We needed to empty all the grey water and black water otherwise Ruby would be sitting outside their house in the sun fermenting… better to prevent that. Fortunately there was an area on the far side of the yachts to empty and get everything smelling lovely.

Shipshape, Mairead.

(Mortagne-sur-Gironde €9.50 includes electricity pay at parking meter. All motorhome facilities and possibly restaurants. Can you see the huge estuary leading down to Bordeaux?)