life on the road

Thursday 28th May 2026 – moving a little further north to Quend Plage….

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Another very hot day and we were in two minds whether to stay put and enjoy the little bit of shade that we have on this Aire but as we have exhausted the walking opportunities from here and our days are numbered so to speak, we decided to move 30 miles further up the coast to the little village of Quend Plage.

After a small grocery shop on the way we arrived on the Aire just on the outskirts of this rather typical second / holiday home village. . Not quite as much shade here but a little. It is a large Aire with basic facilities apart from electric, which is not a problem for us, especially in this weather and is quite busy with mostly French vans enjoying the sun….

By midday we are settled and managing to channel a little breeze through the van, choosing to sit outside and wile away the afternoon planning until it has cooled down enough for us to venture the half a mile through the village to the sea….

A stunning wide expanse of pale damp sand, backed by soft high tide sand and dunes, awaits in either direction….

The main beach in front of the village has a dog ban (not that this appears to mean a great deal!) but for miles either side the beach is open to be walked and enjoyed – our perfect beach walking kind of beach – we shall enjoy it over the next couple of days.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 30
  • Miles walked – 3
  • Beaches – 1
  • O/N – £8.70 (no EHU)

Wednesday 27th May 2026 – an early morning stroll along the boardwalk to Cayeux-sur-Mer….

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Another very hot day so we get our skates on for an early morning walk to the neighbouring village of Cayeux-sur-Mer passing Brighton Lighthouse standing tall and proud, along the way….

Cayeux-sur-Mer is another one of those sort of Dorma Villages, where the main village is a mile or so inland and this is just a shell of mostly closed up holiday apartments and properties with a small collection of bars (some open, some still to do so) in the centre.

However but it does have a fine wooden boardwalk running for a couple of kilometres along the top of the stony beach backed by a row of cheerfully painted beach huts for almost as far as the eye can see….

The odd conveniently photogenic boat….

And still more beach huts and in this case providing us with a welcome bit of shade to enjoy a cup of coffee and a sit down before making our way back by jumping into whatever shade we can find….

We were glad of the opportunity to sit outside the van in the leafy shade with the little wisps of cooling breeze for the afternoon and in my case crack on with some future planning and in Tilly’s take a snooze on the cooler earth. We didn’t venture out until about 9pm and even then the temperature was still in the high twenties so it was just a quick whizz around the block before bed.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles walked – 5
  • Beaches – 2
  • O/N – £13.56

Tuesday 26th May 2026 – at last we make it to the beach at Brighton Les Pins….

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Fortunately not a long drive today as it is still incredibly hot and even with a stop for food and fuel we are at our Aire in the small mostly second home resort of Brighton Les Pins by midday.

Finding a pitch under the partial shade of a tree, we open all the windows but chose to linger outside under the shade of the tree where a tiny whisper of slightly cooler air is oh so welcome.

Even at half five the temperature really hasn’t dropped very much but we are getting hungry so decide to hug the shade of the trees as we walk the short distance down to the beach.

The beach stretching into the distance in either direction is at high tide just a wide bank if rounded pebbles, but at low tide, as it is now, a huge expanse of wet sands lead down to the sea….

The sea, though not the crystal clear waters we have become accustomed to is a rather sandy brown but actually pleasantly warm and I enjoy the refreshing paddle along the edge whilst Tilly scampers along just out of the seas reach….

Though I do manage to get her to scamper through the puddles and get a little damp and more importantly cool down a bit, that way….

Time to call it a day and head back to eat and sit in our shady spot until it cools down enough for us to sleep.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 46
  • Miles walked- 4
  • Food – £39.63
  • Ad Blue – £10
  • Fuel – £103.88 (ouch)
  • O/N – £13.54

Sunday and Monday 24th & 25th May 2026 – two more very hot days spent travelling through chunks of the day to get to the coast….

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As this current heatwave continues, so does our journey north and then westwards. We are trying to get reasonably early starts to avoid driving in the worst of the afternoon sun and still we are benefitting slightly from the sun being behind us instead of full on the windscreen.

By early Sunday afternoon we have made it as far north and West to O-de-Selle, a small sleepy hollow village a little south of Amiens and well on our way to the Normandy coast. Here we found a lovely shaded pitch backing onto a stream, giving us the chance to sit out and cool down whilst watching the ducks lazily making their way up and down stream….

Later, we did venture down into the village and for a wander along the river, though not another sole stirred on this warm Sunday evening….

Away early in the morning we were soon arriving at the coast, however we quickly realised that it is also a Bank Holiday in France and being such a fine day, everybody was heading to the coast as well! Our planned stops at firstly St Jouin-Bruneval and then Etretat were so not going to happen, both resorts being absolutely overflowing with parked cars and certainly the beach at St Jouin-Bruneval was jam packed with no opportunity to even hop out to take a photo.

Time to find somewhere quiet and preferably shady to stop and come up with a Plan B. Fortunately I hadn’t booked anywhere for an overnight stop and the chances of getting onto the ones that I had earmarked near the sea are slim to nonexistent so a real Plan B was to head further north and inland to Luneray, where I was able to book a space on an Aire for the night.

Arriving much later and much hotter than we planned, we waited until early evening before venturing out for a brief cooling walk along the handy, leafy cycle path and called it a night.

Tomorrow is a another day….

Sunday’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 192
  • Miles walked – 3
  • O/N – £12.50

Monday’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 179
  • Miles walked – 3
  • O/N – £13.70

Friday and Saturday 22nd & 23rd May 2026 – travelling from Switzerland up to northern France….

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After making the difficult decision to leave Switzerland, over the weekend we made inroads on our journey back up towards the coast of Northern France. As forecast the weather has been beautifully hot and sunny, so we have tried to do all the driving in the mornings, arriving on site around midday. Fortunately by driving north the sun has been behind us making it bearable to drive in and keep relatively cool.

On friday we arrived at our Aire next to Lac de Kruth-Wildenstein in the heart of the National Park Unfortunately all the shady pitches had already gone but there was a little bit of breeze which boosted by the fan I have in the van, provided a little relief inside. At about 4 we took a wander down to the lake and strolled in and out of leafy cover for an hour or so before admitting defeat and returning to the van….

After a quiet night, though the aire had filled up during the evening, and after a short stroll to the lake we were on the road just after 9, again heading northwards. It was an easy mostly dual carriageway drive, not the most interesting but I was grateful for the simplicity and speed as we watched the external temperature rising to 28 degrees by the time we arrived at an aire on the outskirts of the small village Charny-sur-Meuse (I’m sure we have been somewhere else along the Meuse).

This time we found a spot underneath a tall tree but even so it was a struggle to keep in anyway cool and even though we waited until about 4 to head out we really struggled without any breeze and very little shade whilst walking to last more than half and hour – just enough time to see the river and wander into the village and see we weren’t missing anything before heading back to the sanctuary of our shady tree….

It looks to be another hot one tomorrow so I intend to use the Toll roads tomorrow and an early start to get a good few miles westwards and that will leave us with a relatively short hop on Monday to reach the coast and then breathe….

Friday’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 138
  • Miles walked – 4
  • Fuel – £91.35
  • O/N – £12.87

Saturday’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 155
  • Miles walked – 3
  • O/N – £13.35