After the disaster of our quiet evening last night, we woke up to Fraser having had a full 13 hours and being super chirpy!  Penny was slightly less excited it was morning.

We packed up and sorted out all the clothes I washed yesterday, and the children went to the pool.  One of the benefits of being right beside the pool was that we could watch the children whilst we packed up…. with the added benefit that the Scamps thought they were super grown up and independent.  It was hilarious to watch actually!

We had planned to head off and hit the beach for an hour, but with the sky full of clouds and the road full of traffic we changed the plan and decided to get off up the road.  As we moved along the jammed road my mum reminded me on a text that it was Black Saturday… the busiest day on the road in France.

Heres a french camping tip for you… when you don’t need to move on a Saturday, don’t!  We knew this but due to other factors we needed to move today, however it was super busy.  I used the traffic jam to good effect, spotting an oyster shop on the side of the road and nipping in for a dozen, and running along the traffic queue to catch the van back up… they will be nice later!

We finally made it off the island, and the traffic flow started to move nicely.  I made an attempt at getting an on the go coffee at the petrol station as the signs were all good… proper machine etc, but it still wasn’t the same!!  I’ve not seen a Starbucks in France!

We hit some more traffic as we approached the vendee, but we were in the middle of sunflower crops so it looked pretty!

We arrived around 3.30 and started setting up.and as we got out of the van something didn’t look quite right about the bike rack.  On closer inspection the tow bar mount was coming away from the van chassis.  Now even i realised that this was not a good situation.  How the whole thing didn’t fall off coming along the road is a mystery as it was really hanging off.  That would have been catastrophic for anyone behind us, our bikes and poor freckle. 

I called our international break down who didn’t inspire me with confidence.  They said that they may have someone who could look at it on Monday.  Since the man thought it was May, and then when I confirmed that they would call first thing on Monday, he said possibly, I feared that I couldn’t leave it to chance.  He thought that there was little point in trying to get the van fixed today, as everywhere would be shut and that the closest place they could offer was around 30 miles away.  Without the tow bar being fixed to Freckle, there are no bikes and no bikes would have been a disaster on many fronts.

Luckily we have stayed at this campsite since we first started coming to France with Archie and the lady in the reception is Irish and remembers us and always welcomes us like old friends.  I popped into reception and explained the situation.  She quickly called a local garage who were still open (by this time it was gone 4pm and the french don’t like working late on a Saturday) and they said that if we popped along they would have a look.

We hopped in freckle and hot footed it to the garage less than a mile away.  They were expecting us and said that if we left it with them that they would be able to weld it back together.  We were relieved when they told us to return at 6:30.  Luckily we were by the main shops so headed to Mc Donald’s, and I thought I would call the breakdown people.  They said that as I had found somewhere that could fix it today that they would cover the first £150 of the repair.  They called the garage and did the negotiation on price and at 5pm we received a call to say that the work was all done.  This is only the second time that we have had to use our breakdown cover for in all the time we’ve been coming to France, and yet again we have had some super service and been back on the road in no time.

Once back at the site, the Scamps managed a quick swim before the late night of last night caught up with Penelope and she needed to go to bed.  We quickly got some pizza for the chidrens dinner (a super healthy day food wise!!) and P went on to bed.

Fraser is off to bed now and Stew and I are hoping for a more peaceful evening and some oysters and steak!  We keep reflecting on what could of happened if the bikes had fallen off and once again feeling totally lucky!! Fingers crossed for peaceful evening!