It was cool and rainy when we woke up in the aire in Cormainville.

Glenn went out to see if the tabac round the corner was open. It wasn’t – but he came back with 3 onions and a potato that he picked up off the road – the overflow from the tractors whizzing about. Angela calls them TGV’s – Tracteur Grande Vitesse 🤣🤣🤣

We soon got driving through the fields again – lavender was a surprise – and then corn, wheat, potatoes and onions.

We stopped in a small town to get some bread from the boulangerie. They were preparing for a country abd western festival. Glenn saw a chap walking along with a plastic cactus – obviously part of the hall decoration.

We went around Chartres with big church spires but kept going.

After 2 hours we arrived in the campsite by the river Seine at Poses. Reception was closed for lunch when we arrived but the barrier was open. So we found a pitch we liked beside the river and had lunch, but we couldn’t get the electricity to work. We were the only campers we could see. I went to check in and was told our pitch was ‘reserved’. We then had to move to another area around the other side beside a few vans and tents and next to houses. A red double decker bus is the snack shop.

We then got on our bikes to cycle to the bird reserve about 4km away.

On the way we found a cemetery with commonwealth war graves. We checked it out and found 2 Scottish Gordon Highlanders killed on the same day – 27th August 1944 probably in the liberation of France after D Day. There were 2 new looking graves of Polish names from August 1944 – perhaps Poles who had fought with the resistance or British army.

We then continued to the Grande Noe reserve. It had a small shelter where we could look out over the birds and not be seen. There were a lot of birds there. We had a big rain shower – followed by the sun coming out.

There were also another 2 surprise visitors.

It’s interesting to see the 2 species beside each other.

We met a French woman there – also a keen birdwatcher. She was very enthusiastic and told us the names of the birds in French. Her daughter is working in French Guiana where she is visiting next week. Glenn airdropped get some bird photos which she was very happy with.

We then cycled back to the campsite – the last section up the Seine. There are strange limestone outcrops – one seems to have been turned into a fort.

Just outside the campsite is a waterski school with a marina. The red double decker cafe serves food for non campers here too.

We went back to the van and went through the cupboards, garage and fridge to make dinner. We need to clear them out a bit as we only have a few days left. We had pesto pasta with tuna, peas and parsley – and an onion Glenn found on the road this morning. We were in bed by 9.30pm as there was no tv – our internet reception was bad. We were tired anyway – still recovering from the boat trip.