Reunited with Friends

30th May 2019

The next leg of our trip was the journey from the Normandy Coast to a little village called Vindelle to see friends! We decided to do this over a few days with a stop off in the Loire valley.

The Loire valley is known for its Château’s so after a bit of googling we decided that Château Chambord would be the best one for us to visit! We free camped in a spot nearby so we could get up early to check out the Château before heading further south. We arrived at the Château and decided not to pay the entrance fee and instead walked around the massive grounds. We didn’t have a burning desire to go inside so we decided to save a few dollars and put that towards some great French wine. Priorities, right? 

After walking around the grounds of Chambord, we made our way to our next little free camping spot which was literally a grassy field in the middle of a French farming village. As we were cooking dinner, one of the most unexpected things happened. A man with his wife and 3 kids pull in in a horse-drawn carriage. The funny thing was, this man looked incredibly similar to David Bain, and was even wearing a red jumper .. we can confirm the next morning each family member was account for. Distasteful or a little bit of humor? You be the judge. 

31st May 2019

The next morning we made our way to Vindelle to visit Becs and Jack and their two gorgeous kiddies, Vinnie and Aurelia! Becs and Jack recently relocated from Dunedin and bought a beautiful property to renovate – what a dream! 

As soon as we reached Vindelle, the weather turned it up a notch!! We went from days of roughly 20 degrees to two beautiful HOT days where the temperature was hitting 30 degrees! That was a shock to the system, but a welcomed shock! 

We arrived on Friday afternoon after navigating our way through the small French village roads. We were greeted by lots of hugs and a cold glass of wine which set the tone for the weekend! 

We spent the afternoon catching up with Becs and Jack and learning about their new lives in France. We got the grand tour of their beautiful new property. For those of you who want to check out their French way of life, here is a link to Bec’s blog where she details the ins and outs of their home! https://medium.com/@rebeccajenkins_24068/to-live-is-to-dream-db3796f3d960 .We are really excited to follow along their journey and watch the development of their property. We then gave everyone the grand tour of our van which took all of about 30 seconds! Vinnie and Raya were totally in love with the van, they thought it was “so cool” as Vinnie would always say. That’s evening, Becs cooked a beautiful curry for dinner. Nothing beats a hearty home-cooked meal! 

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We woke up in a very hot van and the day continued to get hotter! Each morning Jack walks with Vinnie and Raya to their local bakery to pick up a fresh loaf of bread, how French is that?! Becs is a whizz in the kitchen and cooked up a beautiful brekkie before she organized lovely fresh baguettes to take down to the river. We spent the afternoon sitting by the river, sipping on wine & beer while the kiddies swam and Morgs napped (of course!). We had a lovely afternoon and a great way to escape the heat for a few hours.

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That evening, Becs cooked up another fab meal. This time it is was homemade pies and man, they were good! We spent the rest of the evening chatting away and hanging out. 

It was our last morning and we enjoyed one last yummy breakfast before getting back on the road towards Bordeaux. 

We were really sad to say goodbye, we had such a great weekend with Becs, Jack, and the kids. It was awesome to see them in their new home and the beautiful lives they have created for Vinnie and Raya. What an epic childhood they will have!! I think Vinnie, Raya and myself became besties over those few days, they were my little shadows! Vinnies favorite saying was “so cool” which Morgs and I have now adopted and say in the same tone as Vinnie. 

Becs and Jack, thank you so much for having us!

Till next time,

Au revoir, see you soon ❣️