2004, Day Seven, Houlgate

Day seven 17th June

Had a day out down the town, we had something to eat, had a beer or two and looked through brochures from the local estate agents.  All in all a quiet relaxing day, then it was back to the site to watch some more football.

When we got back the van Georgia did not have her sun hat and no one could remember when she last had it. With some smart thinking I checked on the camera to see if we could tell when she last had it on and she had it on the last photos I took just outside the site. Tim got back on his bike to go look and was back in no time with the hat, whose a smart granddad.

We are the early match tonight, so we get settled in to watch, result, England 3 - 0 Switzerland, so we are still in with a chance of progressing through to the next round.

Day six or Day eight

2004, Day Six, Houlgate

Day six 16th June

We don't have enough things to cook with in the microwave (there are too many of us), so I ask Mick and Bren to look for some microwave containers when they are at the supermarket, they got some (and we still have them in the van and still using them regularly in 2010).

Today we had a walk down to the sea front, it was very warm, so of course we had to stop for a refreshing drink, only water for the girls though.

 

Let me try to explain how to bath twins in a motorhome, find a site with baby washing facilities (family wash room), or if not, we have a baby bath with us that fits in the shower tray and use the van shower to wash them.  This is fun for them but the person washing them gets very very wet.  This site has a family wash room this makes getting the twins ready for bed much easier, much less messy and cheaper (no gas used).  The girls have also been sleeping fairly well, we have not been getting up too often in the night.

You can also use a washing up bowl to help keep cool or just to play in.

Tonight we watch more of Phoenix Nights.

Day five or Day Seven

2004, Day Five, Houlgate

Day five 15th June

Mick and I set off to find a supermarket to get meat for a BBQ, we have found two supermarkets close together using AutoRoute.  They are both in the next town, Dives-sur-Mer, about four kilometres away, but it seamed to be a lot further driving there.  The supermarkets, a Super U and an Intermarché, are actually opposite each other, we choose the Super U as it is on the same side of the road as we are (if we had been going the other way it would have bee the Intermarché).  Mick also toped up with petrol at the Super U.

Later we all walk down to sea front, the beach is long, wide and golden.  The promenade is lined with beach huts like the ones at a lot of costal resorts back home.  There is a casino on the front but we do not use it.  The street behind the front running parallel is where the bars and restaurants are.

All the kids, big and little have a play in a park on the way back.

 

It's a glorious day so its back to the site and off to the pool, the twins are not that keen on the water, it was a little bit cool.

 

After a cooling the pool I have a beer in the bar before going back for tea.

We decide we will use the campsite takeaway tonight, so me and Nick pop over to order but it doesn't appear to be open, we go back over later but it never does open.  Luckily we have plenty to eat.  We then settle down to watch a DVD of Phoenix Nights, though tonight we just watch the outtakes, hilarious.

Day four or Day six

2004, Day Four, Houlgate

Day four 14th June

We have booked a site in Houlgate on the Normandy coast for three nights and set off as soon as everyone is packed up.  First we need fuel, there should be a petrol station on the way out of Gravelines but there isn't its closed (it is still on AutoRoute in 2006 but it is gone altogether by then).  Fuel isn't that desperate so we carry on with the journey and will stop when we see a petrol station.  We head south on the A16, back past Calais until we get to the tunnel terminal, where there should be a petrol station.  So we turn off and head for the supermarket but there is no petrol station there as shown on AutoRoute but there are two shown but before we go looking for the second one, we all decide to go shopping first.   We have to park in the coach/lorry park, there are height restrictions on all the other car parks, it just means you have to walk further.  It is quite a good place to shop and we think this is where we will come on the way home to stock up on booze.  We did get a plastic parasol base, the type you fill with water to give it weight.

So where is the second petrol station, well we can see it but we can't get to it so we drive round and round until we find a way to it through a lorry park.  Coming out of the petrol station, we have to be very careful not to end up in the tunnel, heading for home.

The rest of the uneventful journey to Houlgate is punctuated with stops for the twins to eat and to move about for a while.  We use the A16 to the A28 to the A29 across the scarily high bridge over the Seine to the A13 and then on local roads to Houlgate.  AutoRoute takes us through the town to get to the site but there is no need to, the problem was the accuracy of the directions to the site and it is actually further from the sea than we thought.  

Even though we had prebooked it still took quite a long time to book in and then when we got to the plot we had been given, a Dutch caravan was already on the pitch. Brenda and I walked back over to reception and after some messing with the computer we were given a pitch higher up on the site, this had better views but was further from the pool and bar.

Houlgate

Camping De La Vallee

88, Rue De La Vallee - 14510 Houlgate

Web Site

As we will be here for three days I decide to put up the porch awning, this will give us a bit more room, it is only the second time we have had it up. Problem is we have two tents to put up beside the awning and we only have one rubber mallet (mine) and one hammer (mine) and I come last, I have to wait until the others are all done with them, before I can get the awning up.
By the time we have every thing set up, it is getting dark and we want our tea, we have prepacked salad, garlic bread (it's the future) and three large lasagnes that we bought on the way.  Only the oven is acting up, it gets hot and then cools down again and it takes about an hour and a half to get them ready and not all at the same time.  It all goes down fast enough though.

Me and Dot, Mick and Brenda pop over to the bar for a couple and watch the Sweden v Bulgaria match.  Mick goes up to the bar (we have not bought beer in a bar yet this year) and asks for four large beers, the look on his face is a picture when he finds out how much it is.  I worked out once that, in the UK it is about four times more to buy the same beer in a pub as it is in a supermarket, in France it can be up to ten time more.  That morning Mick had bought a box of 24 bottles of beer, for the equivalent of £2.50, the beers in the bar were about £3.00 each.

Day three or Day five