A late entry to the blog (as I am sitting here on Friday morning doing it), but to be honest I don’t care and couldn’t be bothered to fill it in last night…….pretty much sums up the day, relaxed.

Starting with a hot hot hot 5 mile run along the causeway and through the town and back, it was a chilled out day for Team A.

The children played rugby in the park with as many friends as they could find, whatever the nationality.  There seems to be an international language of bundling each other in the sand!

Went to the beach in the morning, where Penny made a space ship to go to Jupiter, then did some washing!

After a spot of lunch from a little shady shack, we all had a chill out – well I did some more washing!

After more park rugby, we went out for tea, pizza for the children and moules for mummy and daddy.

A late night for the children and a little sit out under the stars for us, finished a lovely relaxed day.

‘Allo ‘Allo, it is I, L’Eclaire …….not really, it is I, Stewart!

I have been allowed to guest blog tonight as a surprise following a surprising day!
All was good on L’Ille this morning with some sunshine, a long sleep from team A and a pumped coffee for mummy first thing! Things were pretty normal with two days left at Noirmoutier, then disaster struck, thunder in the distance heading our way!!!!
After breakfast of more fresh bread, the children headed for the park, the adults to the bar (sadly just to check out the weather forecast, as this is where there is internet!)! Much of France not looking good, especially northern France where we were heading next!
The heavens opened, with rain stopping play, so we stopped for an early lunch! If only the heavens opened at the cricket, as I see the Aussies have enforced a follow on….bad times!
The lunch conversation led to the surprise, in that by then end we had ditched all of our plans and were packing the van ready to head to St Gilles, just down the coast!
St Gilles Croix de Vie is great, my happy place and the best place in France, end of! Massive beaches with great waves, amazing bike paths and a great little town with everything you could wish for. One hour and twenty later we were in sunshine……it always shines in St Gilles – though I have to admit I am sitting out in the rain writing this now!
Back to the old faithful campsite where the lady in reception recognised Sarah and asked if her friend was joining us – we camped here last year for a week with the Hargraves and obviously made an impact!
A quick pitch and time to kick into the usual “shall we just stay an extra night?” mode! So on the phone Sarah goes to Brittany Ferries, needless to say we are now coming back on Wednesday night!
Dinner out tonight, by the seaside……but just long enough for us to pop into the town to find the regional fete, this is the one last year that we had so many wine tasters that we were four times over the limit when we got back to the site, following Stefans chatting to all the wine sellers! So tonight we did it alone and somehow we came back with six bottles of wine, with Sarah packed up like a mule with it all in her panniers!!!
Dinner of moules was delicious by the sea and we topped it off with some chis chis, before coming back to camp and writing this in our little pop up tent as it is raining and the kids are sleeping in the van! Still makes a good shelter to drink a bottle of the local Vendee rouge we bought!!!!!!
   
    
 

Another quite relaxing day…. after making ourselves get out of bed by 10, we went and got bread for breakfast.  The children got watches before we came away on holiday as i thought that it would be a good way for them to gain a little independence, and be able to play in the park with a time limit.  Its worked really well all holiday, and this morning proved the motivation required to get the children dressed and sun creamed up so that we could get out.  They had seemingly arranged to meet their gang in the park at 10:30 so following breakfast they were ready in super quick time.

Currently stew and I are sitting outside the camper van, waiting for the children to go to sleep so that we can go to bed! we are pooped!
This morning started late, we didn’t get up until 9.45, and after a quick bowl of cerial and some fruit we got ourselves ready to go out on a cycle adventure. we took all the essentials, suncream, water and swimming costumes incase we came across a new beach, and headed off. Stew had seen that there was a port on the island and he wanted to find it. l’herbaudiere is across the other side of the island and we thought that there might be some cycle paths. Until now this had been the one thing that had let us down in this part of france, we’d not managed to get on to any decent paths that went anywhere. We headed straight into the town first, and picked up the cycle path. The route took us through salt flats which were all being used to get the delicious salt Noirmoutier is famous for. there are huge piles of it. I guess due to the high concentration of salt on this land there is very little wildlife about. We went through a couple of small villages and arrived after about 10Km in the port. There wansn’t a lot there really, apart from a few bars and tat shops, so we found somewhere to have lunch. It was kind of a burger bar we settled on, only it not only sold burgers but muscles and crepes, so we were all happy. a quick wonder around to let our lunch go down, and we headed back towards home, aware that the children had already cycled 10Km and there were at least that home assuming we didn’t get lost.
Once back, the children fancied a some time in the park and an ice cream, which seemed like a good idea. stew had a bit of a rest and the children made some friends in the park. we went for a quick dunk in the sea and penny made a space ringo for going to mars, but it was time for tea so the adventure to mars had to wait. we had sausages on the bbq and then the children went back to the park to find their friends, and ended up with a massive game of what I think must have been rugby but there didn’t look like there were many rules and a bit of a language barrier!
I’m tired out so it won’t be long before stew and I are tucked up…. id like to think it will be before it gets dark!
laters!

Noirmoutier… we woke up in the middle of the night because it was too hot…I looked out the vent of the van and

the moon was lighting the sky the stars were out and we could hear the sea from the van! bliss!
After a leisurely get up penny and I went to get the bread…. croissants for stew and I, fraser had a pain au chocolate and penny decided she would eat the whole baguette! there was no real rush to get out. Stew and I had a little browse of the wifi, Stew checked his fantasy football league whilst i looked at the mortgage rates (situation normal!!) whilst the kids played on the park and I had a coffee! totally chilled.
After a while we headed back and got ready to head into town on the bikes. The ride is through a nature reserve and as soon as you get to the bottom of the campsite road you can see the town’s castle and church. Past the salt flats and a random donkey, and loads of posh looking boats we weaved in and out of the other cyclists and pedestrians. We parked in a little square (noted that there were some nice looking restaurants for later in the week!) and parked our bikes. We found little shop selling all kinds of random beady bracelety type things, and got some new leather cord for stews key…. we each have a key around our neck for freckle when we go away…. that way we can’t loose it and stews was getting a little worn. We also found a cool toy shop where fraser bought a catapult, on the condition that he never used it against his sister! we headed up towards the castle and found ourselves in a french carboot sale type affair… all kinds of random stuff for sale…. we popped out of carbon sale street right by the castle. We walked around the edge and found a posh restaurant we’d have to sell a child to eat at and then decided instead to run about in the moat of the castle instead. We ended up back where we started in time for an ice-cream. A wonder back through the shops and then i remembered the shop where the best bread in the world is sold… we saw them sprinking something on the top of it, i think it’s some kind of addictive narcotic! once we started the loaf it was impossible to stop.
We still hadn’t managed to find any oysters, as the fish shop was closed. we found a market and luckily it was shutting but not before we found the oyster stall. 12 oysters was £2.45 (roughly) and it got me wondering why we don’t have more in the UK especially when the afternoon when the sun is shining and you have a cold glass of wine in your hand and a big smile on your face! We got back to the campsite after a trip to the supermarket to grab some other bits and did exactly what you would expect with the oysters… and bread… and some prawns. Yum!
The children had a bit of time out of the sun and we sat and relaxed, chatted and generally came to the conclusion that if we were millionaires we would still have the same holidays, only for longer.
Next on the activity list was pony riding. there were some little ponies on the site which you could go on a trip on… so the children spent some holiday money on a trip around the campsite on a pony! Fraser completely loved it, and kept stroking it. He especially liked feeding the pony. Penny look like a professional, and the man thought she was a rider. We came back and the children had filled pancakes for tea before an early evening trop to the beach for a swim in the sea. Penny found some other english girls who were doing gymnastics and went and joined them whilst fraser tricked stew into going in the sea!
Home, a shower and an early night tonight for our scamps as they are tired out from all the fun. we are about to light the bbq and enjoying a little aperitif in the sunshine, before we have some fish and salad… lovely day, more to come tomorrow!
Bon nuit!

Yesterday we were having too much fun with the Spencers to be fill in the blog… sorry!
After a completely promising start… stew pumped me a coffee, and delivered it to my bunk! the sun was shining and the children were lovely!
The day started with a leisirely cycle into the local town. It was only about 1Km from the site, but there were 4 children and 4 adults to coordinate on this mammoth task! Once we had found the right cycle path we were sorted! Mainly downhill, along the side of a pine forrest, the cycle was easy and fun. Penny and Holly really enjoyed each others company, and Henry certainly enjoyed the “unicycle ride”! we arrived and abandoned the bikes just outside the small market. Just as we had finished the bikes a man on an accordion stated playing… it was like a scene from “Allo Allo”… with a beautiful cobbled street and a church to match the moment could’t have been more french! The market itself was a little disappointing… with a few sweet stalls, once cider stall and some random toys. As we moved through the handful of stalls, we could hear what I can only describe as the french derek from the frog and frigate, sitting on a bar stool playing acoustic guitar outside a bar with a pint of beer. We decided that we would find a spot, grab a coffee or an oragnina and enjoy the moment! The girls played marbles, the boys wanted the guitar in fascination and the grown ups just chilled for a blissful relaxing moment, including a French version of the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil!
We cycled back to the campsite… it’s enormous. We decided to do a lap of the site, and saw an idea for a break later in the year, the coolest tree houses which you had to climb a ladder! amazing and definitely one for my bucket list!
Time to head back for a lunch of pate, cheese and still warm bread…. after which the girls chilled a bit more and played marbles whilst the boys enjoyed a game of football. Katie and I sat down and meant to read our books… but just ended up putting the world to rights. Stew went for a pint with fraser too!
We gave the kids and early tea, before heading over to the “ibiza pool party” which was very cold!!! the children loved staying up late at the pool and the loud music, and fraser enjoyed the slides. We headed home and got the children warmed up and snuggled down for the night…. before we decided on a takeaway pizza for ours. Spenny and I decided it would be fun go on Henry’s unicycle – or better known to most as a tag-a-long bike! hilariously with me on the front and Spenny on the back we cycled down the path, how the bikes survived I have no idea… photos to follow….we decided to walk!
A lovely, less cold evening followed probably with a little too much wine, and very happy mummies and daddies! cracking fun!
This morning was a similar affair in terms of a leisurely get up, this time we had to pack freckle up and get ready for our departure. We were packed quickly and then headed over to the pool for a morning of fun! slide races, wave pool fun, mummies being dunked and children with huge smiles were all the order of the day. around lunch time we headed back for a repeat of the previous day lunch before all squeezing into Freckle and headed to the ice cream parlour for a last event as a gang…. as we waved goodbye to Domain des Ormes and the Spencers, we looked forward to our favourite place, Noirmoutier and all the fun that would have in store.
We made good time on the journey, and I obvs loved the Nantes bridge!! (goes without saying). Once arrived, camp was set up in super quick time…. the sun was shining, the sea was blue and we headed to the little restaurant on site and had a fest of mussles and pizza, fraser found some friends to play table football with and life literally couldn’t be any happier for team adamson this evening! I absolutely LOVE IT here!!!
I will update again tomorrow! Promise!

s 

The wind howled through the night, but by morning it was brighter. I promised myself that I would run every other day, and so on went the trainers and I headed to the front for a nice seaside run… with my trusty accomplice on his bike (fraser)… and before we knew it found ourself in a running race! We were getting a lot of funny looks as we were well befd the field! Fraser put his turbo speed on and we headed back to camp! Once back, we put the coffee on, enjoyed some of the most amazing popping candy chocolate spread and then started packing away. it was so easy this time..

we headed down the road to meet up with the spencer family… near Dol de Bretagne. On our way we got stuck in a traffic jam as we went passed mont saint Michael, where some crazy french man was hanging out the window taking photos of Freckle…. Once we arrived, we managed to get booked in without any dramas! It more like centre parcs than a campsite…. with endless swimming pools, bars, a golf course and activities.

We headed straight to the pool, and the children were pleased to see each other.

After a swim we gave the children a bbq and had a couple of early evening drinks…. before dinner the girls went off for a shower on their own and we started thinking about our BBQ or chicken, sausages and scallops…. it was more of a bbq tapas than a meal.
By the time we had eaten the stars were out and there were even a few shooting stars! 
Right much fun to have!
Laters 

It was at some point on Wednesday at work when I was moaning about how much I still had to do to get ready for holiday and my poor work colleagues listened to me juggling work priorities and printing ferry tickets, that Jo suggested that we went a day early… initially i dismissed it and secretly whilst pouring over a stupid contract looked up the options for a change… nothing.
By the time i got home I had come up with the ideal that I should call the ferry company and see what our options were! by 5pm we had convinced ourselves that we could do everything we were planning to do the following day before midnight and be in a position to leave home just before 6am this morning and head to poole to catch the ferry.
All round it has been the perfect solution…. whilst i missed my night before holiday flap, customary of these times, I channeled my energy into cleaning out the fridge and packing what was left.  
We had also bought a new tent…. this trip for us is only around 11 days (was supposed to be 10) and we have certain things that as adamson holidaying in France we must achieve! this meant that our usual 3 day stop minimum has been reduced to 1 night in places. We have also got a slightly impaired stew, whilst he has recovered from surgery with amazing gusto, there are still a few limitations with his shoulders (lifting above his head) and general strength (probably due to his having every rib broken 6 weeks ago!). This has lead to us wanting to ditch our large (and trusty) awning in favour of something smaller and lighter. HOWEVER last year when camping in the UK a torrential downpour which left every item of my clothing drenched in a small pop up tent… and obvs this was another essential avoid! a few weeks ago we ordered a pop up awning…. the advert spoke of instant errection and completion in 3 minutes…. whilst this was arguably the case, a curry trump could have blown it down and the clear up operation that followed would have resulted in a certain divorce! If i could have chopped it into tiny pieces and sent it back to the manufactureer I would have!

We found another tent called the instant tourer… it claimed to have a 1 minute errection and be super waterproof…. blow me if we didn’t have it up in the time…and then down again! so it all just seemed a bit easy!
The ferry was fairly uneventful… apart from Penelope trying to shop lift a cooked breakfast… she thought it was school dinners! I obviously got travel sick (always!) and had a little sleep, and the speaker in our room wasn’t working so we nearly ended up coming back to England! We got of to a slightly gloomy Cherbourg, but totally grateful we’d not been on the Vomit Comet!
This part of France always reminds me a little bit of cornwall… pretty gardens, windy roads and old buildings…. there were a few villages that couldn’t have been more french had they tried!
We arrived and set up the van in super quick time… the rapid errection of the new “instant tourer” left stew devastated that he didn’t get a beer!

Once set up we put that right and had a few minutes of a gymnastics display and football whilst we had a cheeky beer. We decided that as time was marching on we would pop to the beach for a look at the sea…. what started with a paddle ended up with eh children swimming in their clothes! stew wondered back to get his fitbit steps up for the day and got a change of clothes and the children had a ball in the sea… so lovely and warm too!
Following the beach we headed to the little restaurant on the campsite right by the beach (we are at camping l’ermitage in grandville) where Stew fraser and I had huge portions of muscles, super cold white wine (not fraser) and fresh (still warm) bread, whilst penny opted for a grilled ham and chips option. Coffee and deserts followed and we walked away wondering how so many restaurants in england get it so wrong!
The sun has shone for us this afternoon but as it get towards 9:30 here the wind is picking up and we are wondering when the rain will arrive. This campsite is literally 20 meters from the beach so the breeze is strong, but we are having a perfectly relaxing evening enjoying France, life and Freckle…. vive la france!
Bon nuit!