28 Feb – Thursday
We intended to leave around 1pm and finally at 4:30 we set off for Folkestone to spend an overnight at a local campsite to Dover. This being our first long trip with The Poacher (our Defender) if we were going to break down, I didn’t want it to be in the middle of the night.
Arriving at a reasonable time, Stella walked us to the local pub for an evening meal to set us up for our following long day.
1st March – Friday
The crossing could not have been any calmer. Not many passengers on board, but this was due to the Ferry being full of Trucks.
We set out goal for just North of Reims to the stay the night in a rather nice, new, posh campsite. I can’t say if it was the navigator or the person who input the co-ordinates in the Sat Nat, but we managed to overshoot, much to the Driver’s dismay at having to negotiate the centre of Reims towing over 8 metres of caravan.
Rather than getting any more lost, we changed our destination to Troyes. This was achieved by taking a break, looking at the map and checking the input of coordinates on the Sat Nav. Being optimists, whilst this added an hour and a half to our journey, it also meant we were an hour and a half closer to our ultimate destination.
The campsite was beautiful on the edge of a lake. At 7pm, with dinner in the oven, we had a knock on our door to ask if we would like to attend a wine tasting. You’ve never seen two people get their coats on so quickly! Tasting a variety of wine, we were glad we missed the first campsite.
2nd March – Saturday
Our first stop was a Patisserie to stock up with eclairs, bread and beautiful quiche. At mid-day we stopped having heated the quiche in our portable stove (small box plugged into a cigarette port). A successful FaceBook Marketplace purchase. Meandering through central France, we took in the beautiful countryside, abandoned buildings, fairytale chateaus and Steve moaned about my map reading.
We reached our campsite at 6:30 in time for dinner at 7. The owner, lovely Elsa insisted we had a welcome drink before we did anything. Our kind of hostess! We attended dinner making 17 volunteers from France and Holland, multi-lingual, and of course us from the UK. The wine flowed, the conversation engaging and we couldn’t feel any more at home.
3rd March – Sunday
How Sundays should be, waking up to birds, looking out of our caravan to a forest. After having morning coffee with the team, Steve was excited at playing with his Mallet and putting up the awning to the caravan. It wasn’t long before the awning was up and the mallet was lost. At least it wasn’t a bunch of essential keys this time! After two days’ travelling, it was time to be able to organise the inside of the caravan and get ‘ship shape’. Luckily we are both organised and tidy and with the sun shining, the heating was off and the door open. Ah, there’s the mallet, on the bike rack!
We had our second evening meal with the group, this time only 12 of us. Steve and I don’t join the work rota until tomorrow.
We fell into bed exhausted from fresh air, great company, a meal cooked by someone else and of course copious amounts of wine.
We were woken up early morning by vicious storm Freya. The caravan was rocking and the awning making threatening noises. We were safe though, Steve had taken storm precautions the previous day and I’m going to make him a Boy Scout Storm Badge which he thoroughly deserves.
4th March – Monday
We weren’t too sure what to expect today, so make sure we had breakfast in the caravan before we met everyone for 9am coffee and briefing. The owners of the campsite Els and Reiner had prepared a spreadsheet for the week sharing chores to include the wood stove, morning coffee, afternoon tea, shopping and cooking for dinner, dinner service and dishes and last, but not least, forestry. We had a selection of mini mokes to tow trailers which we filled with fallen branches and logs. When I packed, I knew I was going to help, but only today realised I don’t have work clothes! Ah well, it’s time to just get stuck in, enjoy the woods, fresh air and exercise. Stella has been bouncing around everywhere, as each volunteer enjoys throwing balls and sticks for her.
Steve and I met at 1 in the caravan for a cuppa and slight rest before the afternoon’s chores. He continued playing with logs and I went shopping with Hens, a Dutch professional chef to decide on tonight’s meal.
Cooking for 12 in your own kitchen is achievable at a stretch, but cooking in a commercial kitchen that has seen better days, only half the equipment works, out of three sinks only one has hot water, and none have a plug is definitely a challenge.
Hens created meatballs with a Dutch dish of mashed potatoes, carrots and onions. With sleeves firmly shoved up arms, I made apple crumble.
5th March – Tuesday
Much the same as Monday, a 9am start just made as Steve had work to do. Couldn’t send him out on a man’s day of work on an empty stomach so with the clock ticking made him fried eggs on toast.
We met for coffee and I realised a day consisted of meeting at 9 for coffee and a chat, start working at 9:30, coffee break at 11 for half an hour and finish for lunch at 1pm. I’d spent the morning burning branches, so smelt a treat!
At 2 its convenient to shop for the evening’s meal so out I went with Marjan. Her menu was pasta with a ragu sauce full of vegetables. Dessert was finish off left over crumble, tiramisu and a cheese board.
6th March – Wednesday
We woke up with the alarm at 7 and couldn’t believe we’ve only done two days’ work. Our bodies were telling us it felt more like a week. But, we were able to move so that was good. Steve didn’t have as much work to do, we didn’t rush for 9am and joined the others for our morning’s chat of how the day was going to run.
I was back in the forest with Hans, driving the Minimoke, collecting branches and finishing burning the pile of branches and leaves. Was so pleased when it was lunch time. Confirming there were no more bon fires, I enjoyed a long, hot shower. It was our turn for dinner, so Steve and I made a list. It was more a case of me reading things out and Steve agreeing. We decided on chicken casserole with green beans and roast potatoes. I’d promised an English dessert, so it was brioche and butter pudding. We said goodbye to three of our work mates, Jan, Marjan and Hans, toasting them with Kir Royal. Our meal went down well and we were so tired and so full we forgot to bring out the cheese board. Apparently Jan, Hans and campsite owner Reiner have known each other since kindergarten but this was the first time they had got together in years. Its astonishing, but we’re with the same people each night (so far) but each evening’s conversation is fresh and interesting.
Stella is having lots of fun, as the entire campsite is ours and she’s not restricted to our pitch or has to be on a lead.
Yawn. Absolutely done in from three days’ physical work, lots of fresh air, unbelievable appetite each evening and lots of wine. I shall fall asleep in no time tonight!
7th March – Thursday
After a bit of a necessary lie in, until 10:30, much needed and appreciated, the day started with our group morning coffee and absolutely no rush to do anything. New friends Anneke and Harm arrive, the parents of Hens, the 27 year old I’d been working with both in the Forest and Kitchen. Anneke is a professional chef. Our getting to know you went through to midday.
Encouraged by talk of mice droppings on the glass shelves, it wasn’t long before I’d put all of the drinking glasses through the 3 minute cycle dish washer (I really want one of those – our new kitchen dishwasher at home takes a minimum of 2 hours) and obviously rearranged them in what I thought was more practical groupings, according to the beer pumps, cold drinks, and soft drinks. If there is any after life I shall come back in time and motion management.
Rather than rushing as we did last night, I took my time to make pears in red wine (we bought the pears yesterday), whilst Steve carried out more forestry duties. Steve and I had already decided on our menu for the evening; mussels in cream and white wine, cubed roasted potatoes, green salad and pears in red wine. Making the most of our trip into Boussac we visited the local Bricolage, which turned out to be a poor imitation of The Range. We tried our best to buy anything we didn’t need and barely managed to spend 15€. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a cheap expense week.
After last night’s ‘bull in a china shop’ cooking experience, we had Els gave us the best compliment, of saying it was a shame their chef was returning in a week’s time!
Once again the conversation flowed with new topics, loads of laughter and returning to the caravan I crashed for an early night.
8th March – Friday
Another lazy start, encouraged by Els who reminded us we are on holiday. The weather is still coldish, windy and we haven’t yet had a day without rain.
I retired to the caravan until 4, when it was time to emerge for afternoon tea and help Anneke in the kitchen. She was making mussel soup from last night’s left overs, a white fish on a bed of puree potatoes and spinach, followed by individual cheese selection dishes and individual chocolate lavcakes. I loved working by her side; so professional, organised and wonderful to watch. She showed me a few tips which I shall remember, especially since I’ve never had a cooking lesson. The time passed quickly, we washed up as we went along – it was Steve’s and my turn for Service and Dishes, so I tried hard to reduce the end of the evening workload.
I couldn’t believe it was our 7th full on evening meal on the trot. Just goes to show what exercise and fresh air can achieve.
9th March – Saturday
Our first full day off, I had breakfast in bed, and caught up with work on the lap top also in bed. Steve was more than happy to keep the mugs of tea coming my way. Inbetween rain showers, I trekked to the shower and enjoyed my ‘me time’. Fresh, clean and energised I did even more nothing. Well, almost nothing, I watched back to back episodes of Ricky Gervais’s After Life, all six episodes. I thought it was brilliantly well acted. His character Tony has recently lost his wife to breast cancer and has lost the will to live, enjoy life and be nice to anyone. I’m sure anyone with a great loss, or who has been depressed will relate to this superbly written series. The main characters seemed to be played by stand-up comedians; each one totally credible in their role. I was quite tearful watching the final episode.
Anyway, it was decided to go out to a restaurant tonight, as our hosts Els and Reinier wanted to take their friends out and it seemed like a good excuse to visit a local restaurant. We went out with Guillaume and his wife Renee (Dutch living over here) and Thomas (French) thinking of purchasing the campsite. It was a restaurant we had been to before and all five of us had duck. Must have been one huge bird! As usual the conversation flowed, we found even more things to laugh at, commented how well behaved the young French children were and even found some local postcards to buy. Thomas did our driving; well he did have a car with four seats and a heater!
10th March – Sunday
Used to my weekend lie in with tea in bed, recharging the batteries and looking out of the caravan window to our private grounds. Wonderful. It was a bit blustery and stormy last night, but our caravan and awning, thanks to Steve’s expert boy scout efforts, are doing well. I don’t think we’ve yet had a day without rain. We had morning coffee with just Els and Reinier and discussed dinner. Steve and I had intended to cook a full on English Roast, but thinking about the 8 successive full dinners we’ve had, plus the leftovers in the fridge have decided on a simple sausages with onion gravy served with mashed potatoes. That meant, all we had to find at the supermarket was sausages and some lard. What is a Sunday meal without Yorkshires!
Feeling smug with myself, having removed my seat from the Landy to keep it dry I had my comeuppance. Getting into the Landy, the roof just leaked and leaked from last night’s and this morning’s rain and this time instead of my seat in a bin bag, it was me! Steve’s been waiting for a dry day to reseal the sun roof so it’s still on our ‘to do’ list.