Touring France in your Renault
EVEN when you go to great lengths to book accommodation and transport, the end result can be a disaster, so it’s an absolute holiday joy when the stars align and the outcome exceeds your expectations.
That was what happened on a recent holiday my wife and I took in northern France.
It was all self-help, mainly through booking.com and rentalcars.com. And two of our accommodation choices I would heartily recommend to anyone seeking pleasant self-catering bases in Normandy.
The absolute standout was Le Calipel at Saint-Vigor-desMonts, only a relatively short drive from such much-see sights as the Bayeux Tapestry and Mont Saint-Michel, and other pleasant places such as coastal Granville.
Le Calipel was a beautifully renovated old barn, complete with antique furniture. No surprise perhaps, because the owners had been antique dealers. It was roomy and homely, and the welcome pack the best I have scored in decades of selfcatering in Oz and overseas.
How’s this for a welcome … a souffle, baguettes, cheese, homemade jam (and soap ... correct soap, not soup), milk, juice, butter and wine.
Equally welcoming were the hosts – an expatriate English couple who had warmed to rural life on their farm. Only a territorial goose gave us any bother, occasionally stalking our car, which presumably was parked in its space.
The roomy one-bedroom barn was perfect for a relaxing day in, something we did on a pretty ordinary rainy day, and as a convenient base to head up to Bayeux to see the 11th century embroidery detailing William’s 1066 conquering of England and all that.
The tapestry is so vast that it carries on around the corner in its dimly lit, glassed display case. There were only a few visitors looking at this astonishing piece of history, on a late spring afternoon. Also nearly deserted was the stunning cathedral nearby.
Just as impressive, perhaps even more so, was Mont SaintMichel, the towering Gothic church on its own little island. It’s even more impressive than the one across the channel in England.
On another overcast day, the Mont was busy with day trippers, with the crowded main walking drag a bit claustrophobic. I’d hate to be among the masses there on a hot summer’s day.
Less crowded were the walls with expansive views over the tidal flats, where various “pilgrims” were on walking tours.
Also near Le Calipel was the pleasant seaside town of Granville with its busy street market and long stretch of beach.
The other accommodation delight was La Cabane du Pecheur, a self-contained flat in Honfleur, a gem of a medieval town at the mouth of the Seine.
La Cabane boasted massive wooden beams, a lovely airy living area, quirky bathroom and reasonable-sized bedroom. It was in the main street, just a few hundred cobbled steps from all the charming olde worlde action: restaurants, St Catherine’s timbered church with massive wood pillars, and a harbour ringed by eateries each competing loudly
Photo: iStock
for trade.
For the holiday overall, we opted for a self-drive means of transport – a car hired from Lille.
So, the tips here, for an enjoyable self-drive, are: get an automatic, pick it up in a smallish town to avoid bigger-city road dramas and confusion, make sure the sat-nav speaks your native tongue, and wherever possible use four-lane roads until you get a feel of the car and the road system.
After a couple of days I was happily roaring along at the
legal highway maximum of 130km/h.
The lovely little Renault Clio was a good deal at about $30 a day, and enabled us to head from Lille to Amiens for Anzac Day, then up to Dieppe before down to Honfleur and SaintVigor-des Monts, before tracking back past Falaise (birthplace of William “The Bastard” Conqueror), the cathedral towns of Lisieux and Evreux, Giverny to see the lovely Monet garden, before finally turning north again up to Lille to board the Eurostar.