Our intention to spend our last night, for a few weeks, in England in a pub was thwarted by the nearby Black Horse which had the effrontery to be fully booked! So pasta in Basil it was.

We were up with the lark. Well to be honest Sarah was up with the dogs at silly o’clock while I rested up for a long hard day of driving. For once we were actually off the site and at the Channel Tunnel an hour earlier than planned and had the good fortune of being allowed on an earlier train. So after a 35 minutes of resting on our bed while the train took the strain, le Shuttle disgorged us into northern France.

Eurotunnel from inside Basil

We set the SatNav for Chartres and told it to avoid toll roads. Initially this plan worked well as we whizzed past Boulogne on a toll free dual carriageway. Inevitably our luck did not hold, we were eventually routed onto one of France’s famous Route National. Good empty roads but with one new draw back. This year France has reduced the speed on all its non dual carriageways to 50 mph (80kph) for cars and for portly motorhomes, such as Basil, who weighs more than 3.5 tonnes, the speed limit is now 70kph which is only 43 miles per hour! We are hoping there is a small leeway allowed by the police and therefore tried to keep our speed around an indicated 45mph, but it was still painfully slow.

The scenery in northern France is nothing to write home about. Largely monocultural agriculture set in a flat or gently rolling landscape. It is distinctively French, but it is one of the least attractive parts of this large country.

After a quick stop to pick up a compulsory baguette and another stop for lunch, we decided that Chartres would be too far for today and so we marked up a few potential aires for the night. For those of you not familiar with aires you will find an explanation here.

The co-ordinates for the first aire must have been incorrect because we ended up down a muddy lane next to a factory with no sign of motorhome parking. We were luckier the second time when we located an aire in the very pretty town of Pont-de-l’Arche. The aire is just outside a communal campsite (49.305976, 1.155964) and it is at reception where you pay your 5 Euros for the night. If we look hard through Basil’s front window we can see one of the River Seine’s tributaries just 30 metres in front of the van.

Basil in the aire. It is still holiday season so the aires are fairly cramped at the moment.

We have been for a wander round the town and it is full of beautiful, half timbered medieval houses and a small abbey. The numerous bars provided us with a strong temptation to stop for a cold beer, but we decided we may well be eating out in Chartres tomorrow night so we would resist.

Abbey Pont-de-l’Arche

Well Pont-de-l’Arche

These days the dogs are veterans in the motorhome and whereas a 18 months ago Mabel would constantly get her lead tangled around the table leg, now, while we are travelling she just finds a comfy spot to rest herself and stays put for the whole journey. They have now stretched their legs on the banks of the river and wandering around the town and Melek has, of course, left a mark or two for the other town dogs to remember him by!

Old house Pont-de-l’Arche

Inside the Abbey