Civray - 22 October 2019

22 October

Last night we had potatoes fried in oil and butter with onions and lardons - not healthy - but very tasty.

Also watched another episode of World on Fire, which we’re enjoying.

Yesterday a French moho arrived quite late and parked up without a proper space on the edge of the tarmac and had two big barky dogs. They just barked nearly incessantly - any movement nearby set them off. About 11.15pm we heard the moho start up and go. Tintin spoke with one of the English women this morning and apparently her friend had told them to leave, as the dogs just barked and barked. Don’t know how the owners can ever sleep!

The English women collected her dog from a kill station in Spain a couple of weeks ago - seems to be doing well - but nervous. So sad that there are so many unwanted dogs around the world...

Serviced Dave this morning, then I drove for about an hour towards Ruffec. First did a Lidl shop. Had lunch in the carpark - very salubrious! Then drove to Intermarché about 5 minutes away in order to buy fresh milk. Tintin was going to get fuel whilst I went shopping, but there was a height restriction. Drove back to the area where we’d come from, and filled up with diesel at E.Leclerc.

Then drove to Rémy Frères, a Mobilvetta and camping car accessories place in Ruffec. We wanted some of the grey plastic screw hole covers (for want of a better description!) which fall out - and bought 12 for €23. The owner is called Christian, his two sons work there too. If only we could deal with a dealership like this! He kindly came out and looked at Dave’s damage, ‘not a problem’ he said! We do like him! His son went onto his computer, and virtually straight away wrote down the prices for various bits we might need. Also, out of curiosity he gave the prices for the front damage, looks like it would be about £700 cheaper in France!

He also had the same model Mobilvetta as us, but has just sold it, not because he didn’t like it, but he is getting the 2020 Mobilvetta Krosser P86 as an upgrade instead.

Went and had a look at five of the newer Mobilvettas, and various others. Mc Louis are made by the same group, Trigano - but didn’t like those. Were quite impressed with the Font Vendome, a 6m van - but silly money for a van!

I then drove for about 30 minutes to Civray, to a park4night place with only 2 moho places right next to the Charente river. We had a couple of attempts at getting to the carpark, quite narrow streets, and one way systems - as usual!

Not sure of the significance of the English red phone box!

Went for a very quick walk into town - feeling quite chilly! Was about 7° outside this morning, and about 9° inside Dave - first time the heating has been on! It was forecast to rain, but it’s now 7pm - so escaped it again!

It’s fair to say that the church of St Nicolas is in need of repair, but has an interesting and ornate facade. It smelt old and musty inside - can’t imagine brides wanting to get married there!

So, after our commune last night - back to being Billy in a carpark!