Legoland
We set of Thursday evening for Legoland and found a quite street to park up on. Friday we had tickets for Legoland.
Legoland was pretty quiet so we enjoyed lots of rides without having to queue up. My favourite was the Deep Sea Adventure and Abi’s was the Haunted House Monster Party.
I managed to score a netball goal and won Abi a ginormous cuddly octopus…..that then had to come to France with us!
After Legoland we had dinner with our friends in Send, Surrey and spent the night on their driveway before heading down to Newhaven to meet up with Andy and catch the DFDS Ferry to Dieppe. Abi enjoyed playing with Nathaniels indoor train set and admiring his lego collection.
It was dark when we arrived in Dieppe, we had a 30 minute drive to a free aire in Val de Saâne. The next morning we wandered around the little village, bought a few supplies and then headed to Rouen.
Rouen
The next day we drove down to Rouen and managed to park both vans for free just outside the city. We set off on our bikes and explored the old town. It turns out we very nearly parked across an active railway. There were no signs or barriers. When we returned from our bike ride a huge freight train was rumbling past the front of Rockstar!
That night we parked in another free aire ??
We took the tolls road down to Le Mans, wow that was a mistake with two vans! Still, we tried to recoup some of the costs by stopping in one of the services areas to refill our water tubs and collecting some wood for the next bath.
Le Mans
The following day we visited Le Mans. Andy couldn’t find a parking space for his van as it’s much longer than mine so we parted ways and agreed to meet back up at our friends house in a day or twos time.
Abi and I did some shopping, watched the trams and wandered around the old city streets before heading to ??? where we’d found another free aire.
After a wander around the village we drove towards Saumur, stopping along the way at a scenic spot on the River Loire.
Not long after we arrived a flotilla of Loire Barges came down the river enroute to a big annual fesitval.
Chateau Saumur
The next day we explored Chateau Saumur and the town before continuing south west to visit our friend Andy Robinson.
Puy Du Fou
We spent the next two nights on his driveway before enjoying two days at Puy Du Fou theme park. Andy only did one day at the theme park and then he set off to do more exploring, we agreed to meet back at the ferry port in a couple of days time.
Cluizel Chocolate Factory
We found a free aire in ??? and Andy was near by so he joined us that evening. The aire had a bagette vending machine, we’d seen lots throughout the trip so decided we had to give it a try.
Abi and I then said goodbye to Andy again and we headed to the Cluizel Chocolate Museum.
Once back in Dieppe we reunited at a Buffalo Grill for dinner with Andy before catching the ferry back to England together the next day.
Abi won her first ever game of Connect 4 against Andy on the ferry journey home.
Our trip wasn’t over yet, as the final party was joining my niece for her 18th birthday party.
