My husband and I had a dream of buying a motor home and traveling to France, so in 2006 after much research we traveled to Manchester and bought our beloved 1987 Talbot Express Auto sleeper,it needed a great deal of TLC,but eventually we got it ready for the trip to the Vendee in France.
Our adventure began when we started the ignition at our front door in Belfast loaded up with supplies, maps and everything on the list of things you will need from the motorhome forums on the internet, we drove the length of Ireland to Rosslare Harbor in the South of Ireland as we were booked on to the ferry to France,when we arrived at the top of the hill going to Rosslare disaster struck as the ferry we were booked on to was sailing out of the harbor, we were late, we had to spend two nights parked up in the car park waiting for the next ferry.

A few days late but still excited we arrived in Cherbourg France, this was it, our dream was being fulfilled, we traveled down to the Vendee region,this was all very new to us we had no idea of how to survive for 3 weeks in France in a motor home, it hadn't occurred to us that maybe we needed to do some pre-planning, as luck would have it we came across a tourist information office with about 30 motor homes parked around it, I quickly pulled over and said to Michael see if there were any UK registration plates on any of the motor homes so that we could ask for advice on what we do as we don't speak French we were a bit out of our depth. We met a lovely guy called David and his little dog Penny, he was from England, it was meant to be that we came across this place because he gave us all the information we needed to go on and have the best holiday I have ever had, it was amazing, a different place everyday, a beach to eat breakfast on, a forest to relax in while we ate our dinner, nights sitting on rocks watching the sun go down, driving through little villages of the beaten track, St Malo, La Rochelle, what idyllic places, historic buildings, golden sandy beaches, La Boule stunning, St Jean de Mont, lively and exciting, although my favorites part of St Jean de Mont was the old town, little markets brimming with fresh fruit and veg,the smell in the mornings of croissants, and fresh bread,after a few days we were even attempting to speak the language, and we felt that the French appreciated our efforts, most of the time we parked up for the night in University Campus Car Parks, or in the middle of little village squares, nothing fancy but to us this was our dream and it lived up to every bit of it. This was a holiday I will never forget.

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