Back with Peter Peugeot

So we arrived back in London after some annoying fog delays on 6th September and picked up our little car from Tash's house in Cambridge. It was so good to drive him again and go through all the things we had left in the car and forgotten we even had.. Like Christmas! 

My first impression of being back in England was CLEAN. New York is amazing but the smells of rubbish and humidity are like nowhere I've ever been. We headed straight for the Oxford area and stayed in Bambury so that we could see some of Matts relatives, Carol and Lee. We woke up on that Sunday Morning and went for our first run overseas in a nice little park and then to a farmers market for breakfast :) Luckily Carol and Lee were able to catch up with us on pretty short notice and we brought with us some vanilla and strawberry jam we tasted at the markets. We will also go and catch up with them for dinner next year before heading home. 

Waiting for fog to clear after delays and a bumpy flight  in Porto airport 

Weather on the drive from Cambridge to Oxford.

The next few days we spent catching up with Ian and getting our car's MOT sorted. As seems to be the way with us, everything fell into place right at the last minute so our car is now roadworthy for another year! We stayed at a cute hotel right on the beach and got up at sunrise to take photos and go for another run. Mum and Dad, you'll be glad to know I'm getting lots of use out of the GPS watch! 

Next was the train into France where drove little Peter on to the train, sat in there for half an hour before driving off again in France! The whole process was so so easy. 

Eating our bacon and egg sandwiches while waiting to be let on board. 

On the train... 

Please keep to the right...! 

Peter cruising along easily...

First up in France was Le Havre. I felt really out of my comfort zone in France at first because I felt like we hadn't learnt enough French to get by in the small towns. But we successfully ordered some food and had a walk around town. The next day we moved on to Omaha Beach where we started camping again for the first time in ages. Our campsite was right on the beach and our campsite's private walkway to the beach even had a bunker from WWII. 

Celebrating being so close to the Champagne district. 

Croissants - ordered the night before, baked fresh in the morning for collection. They were amazing which is no surprise considering where we are :P

One night we woke up to a bunch of rustling in our tent and I woke up freaked out and woke up Matt. When he looked out the zip there was a hedgehog sitting in our tent! It was so adorable but really stubborn. He kept just looking back at us then proceeding to try and hide in our stuff. In the end Matt gently pushed him out until he ran away. We weren't awake enough to figure out how to take a photo :( haha 

The view from our campsite 

The bunker.

More WWII relics on the coast. 

Whilst in the area we went and visited Pointe Du Hoc - the strategical point held by the Germans in WWII where the Americans landed. The defences there were huge...it took us two hours just to walk around the area which was full of bunkers, tunnels and massive bomb craters overlooking the cliffs. 

Me in a bomb crater

We also visited the tiny little museum next to our camping grounds.. 

The soldiers would stand inside this dome for protection with their guns out through the square gaps. Everything there was mind blowing. Including fold up bikes that soldiers would take with them when they parachuted and gas mask suits for babies. 

After two nights there we drove the long stretch to Noirmoutier and arrived past check in. Luckily we weren't the only ones so managed to get in. The camping villages here are nuts! Proper heated indoor and outdoor pools, slides, fountains, grocery stores, laundries, gyms, bars, restaurants, playgrounds, kayaks, tennis courts, basketball courts, table tennis ... Honestly the list goes on. All for around 25 euro a night!! Oh yeah, and wifi and electricity :P We have been living like kings in our tent apart from the occasional water flooding incidents which are annoying but not a deal breaker. 

We went into town to try some of the crepes that the French are famous for... I had crepes with homemade salted caramel butter on coffee icecream with cream. I was not disappointed. And Matt had duck haha..and some crepes and icecream for dessert. It was a cute town and the walk in from camp was nice and sunny! 

Our next stop was just outside of Bordeaux, a place called Lege Cap Ferret. We had some car trouble on our way where the exhaust practically fell off and was dragging on the ground and making Peter sound like a tractor. We just happened to pull over near a garage and after being quoted 45 euro and 3 hours work (which already seemed like a miracle), we actually ended up paying 15 euro and it only took 1 hour. 

We came across these big concrete structures near the sea that appeared to be sinking, some were right up on the beach and some were nearly completely underwater further out to sea. We were pretty confused about what they were until we got home and google told us they were also WWII relics and a part of the Atlantic wall. Woops, sorry for walking all over them :S apparently the French government has no interest in maintaining them because they feel the stories bring shame on them... Not sure how true that still is, but they are pieces of history just sinking into the ocean. We are used to paying entry fees to see that kind of thing! The ocean was angry here at the point with waves of all different directions crashing into each other and the wind was so strong. It was fun exploring though. 

The ghost town we broke down in. Not one thing open because we broke down in the town's lunch break... 1.30pm - 4.30pm! 

Our camp now in Hossegore... A little surfing town! Stay tuned :) 

Route 66 and Texas

We stayed at Amarillo last night. Prices of hotels are much, much better here. We managed to get the Holiday Inn for around $88. We had done a long drive so were relieved to have made it! Our days in the car involve a constant battle between the air con and the sun through the hardly-tinted windows so it's always a relief to get into the hotel. We continued along  Route 66 and also the pre 1937 Route 66 which was really cool to see - these days they don't get as much traffic due to major highways that have taken their place but we wanted to see them anyway. We could not believe how many dead towns there are - so many restaurants/hotels/petrol stations that are either closed down or look like they're about to be. 

Just before we reached Amarillo we stopped off at Cadillac Ranch. Over the years the cars were graffitied and all the parts stolen so now they are just shells. Amazing to see though - there's no signs for it or anything so we just had to keep an eye out. 

Just drove through Austin, Texas. The downtown area was nice, we hadn't eaten since our Venti Cappucino's this morning from Starbucks so we stopped at a little takeaway place called Freso's. We sat in our car out the front and absolutely devoured our pepper wood-grilled chicken and salsa tortillas - the staff were probably wondering if we hadn't eaten in a week. 

We will be in San Antonio by tonight and are staying there for two nights. Tomorrow we are going to Six Flags which is an amusement park with crazy rides. We are both excited for a day out of the car :)