Six o'clock start with black coffee to wake us up as the ferry arrived in Le Havre. Chris drove with great style and confidence and never once strayed onto the wrong side of the road. We got well on the way using the toll roads then moved onto the cheaper option. The French was beginning to come back, and we were able to tell the girl in the supermarket that we were on our first day in France, in French. I learned that to reverse is 'reculer', as Chris reversed out of the parking space. We bought excellent cheese and lovely olives with fresh bread and then some nectarines for later. Only one bottle of wine, Chris was more abstemious than I expected. It was warm and sunny all day and as we got further south, seemed more and more French, softer countryside, mostly farming land. Definitely, at least two hoopoes, seen perched on telephone wires, but from a moving car so no photos. The camp site here is busy, a mix of caravans, tents, motorhomes and chalets. We are on an island opposite the chateau in Saumur. After we set up camp, wine having been imbibed, we walked around the island. We saw egrets, the big ones, terns, not sure which sort, cormorants, pied wagtails, a bright yellow small bird not yet identified, grey herons, and two coypu. Hope to get a close better picture of these tomorrow or the next day, they are common and a pest and you can get coypu meat locally, I understand. We won't be having any coypu meat. A French man told us there are also beavers here but mostly they only come out at night. Also a seal was once seen by him at Saumur.
Nice swimming pool on site, we may try it.
Kate
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