Landscape of the Somme Valley
We fire Vin up and continue with our journey east. Its not long and we are in the countryside, it is beautiful. Rolling hills, quaint villages, farm shops, trickling rivers just about everything you associate with France. We then notice a sign “Somme Valley” and immediately think of the slaughter and horror of trench warfare during World War I. The view out the window of the Somme valley of pretty countryside is a far cry from the thoughts in our head.
We drive for a few hours until we reach our stop for today, Beauvais. We stop on the free city aire, which is located on a hill. The elevated position provides a good view of the city and its unusual shaped cathedral.
Beauvais Aire
As we park up next to a French motorhome we are made…unwelcome. On the whole we find the French to be really friendly but when you get the odd bod, they are well and truly odd. Our greeting went one further when they extended their outdoor mat 2 inches before kicking off their shoes, tutting loudly and slamming their door. Oooo la la. We could take huff but instead we decided to take a walk and say hello to the friendly French.
We were the only English on the site until a GB plate turned up. They take the last parking spot. A lovely couple from Birmingham who now reside in Spain. A few hours of swapping stories and having a laugh helped us forget our grumpy neighbours.
Our Bumble sleepy spot: N049.424427 E002.080454
Beauvais Cathedral
Heavily bombed in World War II, Beauvais is now a modern town built around the Cathedral St Pierre. It is one rather large and stunning Gothic cathedral but the twist is it never got finished. A quick toot from afar before we set off for Paris via Lidl. It’s our first shop since leaving home and Craig is in his element. Dashing up and down each aisle like a kid in a sweet shop. Chucking goody after goody in to the trolley. It was only when we hit the last aisle he realised how much stuff we had in the trolley. Oh dear, looks like we’ve shopped for a house and not a motorhome. A slight oversight. Where will we put it all? We crossed our fingers and joined the long Lidl queue (somethings never change) before stuffing Vin to bursting point.
We continued our journey to Paris. Once again, the countryside was beautiful…why had never discovered this part of France before? Like most people, we roar past it on the route to ‘somewhere’ from Calais. But we fell under its charm in seconds. Old abbeys, ruined watermills, sun-dappled forests, tranquil streams gliding at their own sweet will, and cows so fat and sleek and contented we wanted to hug them.
Little shabby chic building
About half way along our route, we turned off the main highway on to a smaller A road. As Craig looked in his rear view mirror he spotted flashing lights of a police car. Next minute the sirens went on. Craig slowed down to let the police car pass. To our surprise they stayed on our tail. Once more the siren sounded. “What are they doing?” We both peered out the wing mirrors in wonder. The sirens sounded again, the lights swirled, the headlights flashed…”oh ek, I think they want us to pull over“.
Two policemen walked over, a young chap (not so nice) and an older chap (much nicer). They informed us that we did not wait long enough at the ‘stop’ sign. The rule in France is you must wait 3 seconds at all stop signs before you pull out otherwise it is a fixed €90 fine. Craig quickly replied with “Pardon Monsieur“. The young one wanted to issue the fine, whilst the older guy was more relaxed. After much debate between the two, the older guy accepted our apology and politely waved on our way.
Our drive to Paris took a wee while longer with all the 3 second stops! Lol
We arrived at Indigo Camping just after lunch. Thankfully it is just outside the clean air zone, so we didn’t need to purchase ‘certificat qualité de l’air. Many cities in Europe use low emission zones, urban road tolls, traffic limited zones and traffic restrictions to improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion and make historic city centres attractive to tourists. We use this website to check out certificate requirements
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- Indigo Restaurant & Cafe
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- Indigo Camping
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- Gypsy Caravan’s for rent
The reception at Indigo Camping was very busy. A French public holiday + heatwave = chocablock. Despite the queues the reception staff dealt with each visitor in a polite and swift manner. We reserved a plot for 4 nights and 5 days at the reduced ASCI price of €19 from €42 per night. Not bad for a campsite just 5km from Paris centre, located smack bang on the Siene with golf course and gardens just minutes away. Within half an our we were parked up and settling in…Paris here we come!
We’ve come across some very odd French people before but thankfully lots of really lovely ones too!
Looking forward to following you again, we have a ferry booked for the 15th October and looking to travel for a year before heading back for the MOT and give the Family a hug then head off again. Did you pre booked in to Indigo Paris advising you had a ACSI card or just arrive and booked a plot?
Hi Chris, we just turned up and presents our ASCI card. Its a rather large campsite, so plenty room as long as its not a public holiday.
Tip – pull up at the reception, park the MH and take a walk around the site. All the plots are numbered, so take note of a few that take your fancy. The reception staff are superb, so will do their best to accomadate.
one ,two ,three Go and don’t forget ,he he take the foot off the pedal. If you can’t beat em ,join em Craig ,just make a few discs with Aussie ,Fra Ger ,Swiss and so on. put a friendly one on. ,It’s all goes with the travelling ,laugh & enjoy. Keep the foot on the pedal. ,Have a great time ,watch the World Go Bye ,Brandy & Coffee on Ponnientte & Lavante Beach ,Chow Loads of Luv Pops xxx Mac n Tosh xxx Hasta Luago xxx
You never fail to make us smile pops.
Good to hear you on the road again, met you all in Lithuania last year.
Agree about the French they are usually the most unwelcoming, we are usually the only Brit in the village and made to feel welcome by all
Take care and enjoy
Hi guys, so good to hear from you! How’s things…where are you now?
Craig and Jo
We have received cool receptions from some other EU campers. We have GB plates on our Hymer but we are an Aussie couple 3 months in to our 2 year trip. When some of the campers find out we are Aussies and not Brits our reception usually improves. We were surprised – can only think it might be a Brexit reaction. The countries we have been to are France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Poland, Slovakai and Denmark
Regards Rob and Krys Henshaw
http://www.aussieeuropeantour.com
That’s because everyone just loves ❤️ Aussie’s x x x. The friendliest people on the planet. Would be good to meet up with you whilst you are on tour. We will keep watching your blog and shout if we are near you!
We had a similar unfriendly down right rude welcome in a refugee style camp site in Italy 🇮🇹 by Germans ..
I remember you mentioning that.
Oh those little rules in all these countries – I am sure some of them are there just to catch us out. Glad you’re back in the road again and enjoying your travels
Good to see you guys back on the road…. we’ve missed you! You have been a huge inspiration to us! We hit the road 8 months ago & are loving life!! Only returning for MOT in Oct then off again! Thanks for heads up on the 3 second stop thing… didn’t actually know that, despite having driven in France for many years! Oooops!! We’ll make sure & count next time!! 😉
Thanks for your kind words. The MOT is a bind…we should check out the rules. It would be great if an approved UK MOT garage could go mobile. They would make a fortune and we wouldnt have to go home!
Never heard of that before! We will remember in future x
You have some tales you four ! We had a similar story with a French couple on an aire. They were already taking up 2 slots with their camper and all their gear and still were unsuited when we pulled in next to them Wonder if they were the same ones 🤔 Great that you got away with your horrendous crime though ! 😂 X
We do seem to pick the grumpy ones. Next time we’ll take a photo then we can conpare!