So the journey for stew an I ends here…. But for the lucky scamps they have another week!

Amazing holiday, not so much of an adventure this year, but more relaxing. We have started planning the 2015 adventure and filled the van with beer and wine to get us through till next year!

Au revoir!

A day of travelling and not getting food shopping!

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We woke up on day 18 with one set of plans, and went to bed with another! Always the best way!

The day started for team adamson with a run. I’m sure if I lived in st Gilles I’d be so skinny from all the beautiful beach running. An easy 3.5 miles along the sand of an almost deserted sunny beach was a great start to a great day!!

We got back, showered and breakfasted (the worlds biggest jam is still going!) and hopped on out bikes. Our plan was to head to the market to buy dinner for the evening. Between stew and I we managed some amazing French to buy squid, bullots, prawns, oysters, moules, salmon, crab and of course oysters. We bought the biggest lettuce and some nice salad bits along with some bread. We also visited the bakers to get the children some lunch, and a small but delicious looking cake each for them!

We met up with the Hargreaves at the towns kind of fete/festival thing…. There they showed the local traditional trades, and producers bought their wares. They also had food stalls selling regional dishes…. We met the gang outside the oyster tent, and the conditions were perfect for some of the usual mayhem! We all shared oysters, grilled sardines, and moules, a bottle of wine and chatted about the plan for the next hour…. At this point Steffan thought we should ensure we had fully tasted the wines of the region! With his fluent French and ability to charm his way around a French person, we set about the tasting. Each stall was happy to chat about the teroir, and give us 3 or 4 glasses of wine…. I even noticed that some of the stalls had spit buckets…. But we didn’t bother with any of that nonsense. I couldn’t tell you how many we tasted, but we had red white rose cognac armenac sweet wines and dry wines!!! The children even got involved involved in the action with grape juice. I think it was around this point that Gemma got interviewed by the mayor on the loudspeaker! We made a few purchases, and got back on our bikes and clunked back along the cycle path back to camp.

The plan had initially been that the Hargreaves were going to sleep in our awning as they were maximising their holiday and leaving before 6 to head for the ferry. We decided that given the wine that we’d bought specifically to accompany the fish, it would be prudent to “get Lynn on it” and use my mums encyclopaedic knowledge of ferry crossings to get a better time sailing….. And she didn’t disappoint! Thanks mum!! We also did our usual trick of grabbing as many extra hours in France as possible… We are due in work on Wednesday morning and were trying to get booked on an overnight so we went straight to work…. But there were no cabins so we have pushed back to an evening ferry.

We sat down and enjoyed the seafood and the perfectly paired wine and spent our last night with the Hargraves slightly sloshed, Eating great food With great friends! Fabulous!

Penny slept in the awning too for the first time on her own…. And loved it! She’s getting so grown up!

I really am so not ready to come home….. And I am going to consider becoming a gypsy!!!

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Day 16 was fun filled and action packed with penny learning to bodyboard and the boys “taking the rubbish to the bin” and disappearing to the bar for some time. Oh how I laughed when they returned after the takeaway on site had closed somewhat limiting our dinner options due to lack of supplies.

So yesterday we had a very low key day. We needed to move pitch first thing as we decided to stay in st Gilles for another couple of days. It was defo a 3 coffee day!

The children seemed very content just playing so stew and I popped to a new bargain shop we’ve found whilst Gemma and Steffan went for pizza.

We got back and stew and I set up the net for some beach ball. And before we knew everyone was joining in. The challenge moved on to all kinds of activities before I got fed up with loosing and moved on to a quiz!

We got ready and headed into town for some dinner. Mmmmmmmm mussels for stew Fraser and I…. Beautiful!

A go on the merry go round whilst all lit up and a cycle back in the dark ended a lovely evening!

After the big cheese event we woke up surprisingly full of beans!!

Gemma and Stewart went for runs first, quickly (ish) followed by steffan and I followed soon after. It’s so beautiful around here… The flat cycle paths and wide beaches are great running teratory… We even ran back a little way along the beach.

When we got back we only had time for one coffee, before all getting on our bikes for the short cycle to the canoe hire place. We had booked a couple of Canadian canoes for 2 hours…. 2 hours of canoeing in a very long time, and on reflection an hour would have been enough but slowly paddling along the picturesque river, with meadow, bridges and sand dunes to look at was a lovely way to further tire ourselves out.

Home for lunch, and then a swim, before a cycle back into the town, for some ice creams and a go on the merry go round, before an earlier than usual bed after another chapter of the story.

I’m now sitting outside the van with the gorgeous stew cheffing up a sausage or two, with a completely exhausted body, and slightly sunburnt face…. Feeling slightly broken but very chilled and content with life…. The candlabre is ready to light as the stars pop out, if I can stay awake that long!

Yesterday was a fab day…

First thing we managed 3 coffees whilst the kids all played happily together. I did the camp chores whilst all the girls went swimming and the boys went to the supermarket unsupervised! They were so proud of themselves that no naughty purchases were made! We did send them with a fairly prescriptive list and they did get everything out on the table proudly upon their return.

We had lunch and headed to the beach…. It was awesome. We all had a go on the surf board and the kids dug a daddy trap!

We headed back with a view to going to the night market, but all the kids went to sleep, we opened the wine and started our seafood feast!

An ice cream And a competitive ping pong saw the night rounded off… Until stew decided he would hit the cheese! Stew had 3 bites of cheese drowned with lots of port, and has vowed never again!!!

We woke up slightly jaded after out last night on ile de re. An evening of drinking games and team pingpong set us up for a hilarious last night with the Heissigs. Stew is still chuckling about Emily’s random outbursts of English words she finds funny (she is French!).

We packed up quickly, really quickly in fact! Less than 1 hour including showers and got on the road. Over the beautiful bridge and back into French france.

Stews in built navigation and Hatred of satnavs meant we arrived an hour and a half after the Hargreaves! Though we did stop to get supplies for the evening. After setting pitch up, the boys explored the bar, with the children in tow Gemma and I sat in the sun and enjoyed the peace.

We went for a swim…. The frightful sight of stew and Steffan in budgie smugglers was too much for me! Bleugh!

Stew and I headed back to get dinner started. BBQ with chicken, pork chops and sausages, salad and bread, orangina for the scamps and wine for the grownups. Yum!!

We got on our bikes after tea, and headed into town in search of the double decker carousel. After Sophie walked into a lamp post the kids got on… It’s beautiful.

We all had ice creams and the stopped in a bar for a quick drink before heading home for bed. All with smiles on our faces, and weary eyes…. Everything’s awesome!