Tapestry or Embroidery?

I’ve always wanted to see the tapestry but we’ve either run out of time or not been in the area before. 

The journey to Bayeux, via Omaha beach was again interesting to say the least.  But I suppose I’m getting used to it now.  I do believe though that if I’m scared driving then I’d be more scared as a passenger, so I’ll stick to the driving for a bit longer.

Omaha beach was ok, not much there but good to have been and had a look. Courselles (Juno beach) which we visited a few years ago was more informative and would be great for cycling also with a campsite and aire just off the beach.

We had lunch in the van at Omaha beach and then moved onto Bayeux where we arrived at about 1.30pm.  We always like to get to aires early to get a space as sometimes they get rather busy.  We never travel at night, though that does seem to suit some people – probably because they don’t pay for overnight parking that way.  We like to relax with a glass of wine (or two, or a litre) and sleep that off, choosing to travel in the morning.

The aire in Bayeux is simply a car park in the middle of the city.  But it is free and there’s water, dump and electricity for charging your battery.  However you do have to share it with cars!! What an inconvenience.

We trundled off to the Tapestry leaving the poor dog in the van, it was a bit warm so we made sure she had enough water and ventilation.  She wasn’t happy about that but can’t go everywhere with us. She was a bit hot and panting when we came back but obviously not too distressed as when she got out of the van she was running around in the sun. Not like last year in the Vendee when she had a paddy at about 3 am in a panic of “Get me out of here”.  We opened the van door and she shot out and laid under a bush on the cool earth, panting. It was over 30 degrees then.  Poor dog she does wear a fur coat all year round. Still she enjoyed the ice cube I gave her and all was forgiven and ok.

I loved the tapestry and am really glad that we came to visit.  Bayeux is a pretty and lively place and again very touristy – needless to say we didn’t visit the local hostelries, preferring to stay in the comfort of our (motor) home.

And to the question – is it a tapestry or an embroidery – it is most definitely an embroidery and very well done – I couldn’t believe how long it was.

Finally decided that as we were in a city I’d try to laptop and see if I could get a connection.  NO NO NO – I’m now 5 days without my emails – withdrawal symptoms coming up.  I tried loads of things but to no avail.  Ok plan two – get the tablet out – just connected when the battery ran out and no means to charge without electricity.  So to the phone – scared that it’s suddenly going to spring into life on 3g, download loads of mb of data at extortionate roaming charges I used this gingerly.  Not enough signal to pick up the free wifi that I’d identified on the laptop.  Give up she cried, my public (and the estate agent)  can wait. 

I think I may have sorted the laptop out now and found that the free wifi I was trying to connect to is not actually free – but at least I got connected so I’ll wait until we get to a campsite and get a proper logon to test again.

We’ve now been away 6 nights and have spent a total of 32 euros on overnight stays.  So we’re averaging less than 6 euros a night (just a comment for when we FT, we’re not actually that tight on holidays). I’ve just realised that 6 nights stay overs have cost less than the 4 pints of lager that we had between us). We haven’t been to a campsite yet and have stayed on aires.  Now getting down to basics, in this van we are more inclined to use the “facilities” than we were in the other one, probably something to do with not having a plastic toilet and cassette to carry your “waste” to the dump.  Whatever, this has meant that we are much more self-sufficient and don’t need the campsites.  Can’t wait to have a proper shower with loads of water to wash my hair in though. The one in the van is adequate but you do get a different perspective on the amount of water you use when it isn’t coming down a pipe all the time.

I’m up in the middle of the night writing my diary to you all and my battery is about to fail so I’ll stop now and get a bit more sleep. 

Today we’re off to Mont St Michel, about 100 miles of what I hope will be mostly motorway and I’ll continue later.