Monet's Garden & Vernon

September 10th

Landed early in Le Harvre and made our way to Vernon, about 80 miles, arriving mid morning . The only hairy bit was in Le Havre when driving @ 60mph, the road suddenly narrowed and dipped through an underpass with a height restriction of 2.6 metres. I knew the van was 2.45 metres high without the ariel, so continued and emerged unscathed, but J a bit rattled ~ a reminder to be vigilant for height restrictions.

We made camp at Camping at Les Fosses Rouges quite a way out of Vernon. Then visited Monet’s Garden at nearby Giverny, which was stunning , although ambience spoiled somewhat by busy road splitting the main sections. The gardens retained a remarkable range of flowers for September, including giant sunflowers and dahlias. The water gardens, subject of many of Monet’s most famous pictures were evocative of the paintings.

Rest of day spent exploring Giverny village and Vernon itself, with its numerous medieval buildings.

During the evening, there was a sudden very loud whooshing noise, and one of the van’s rear tyres deflated. I thought about trying to change the wheel, but J didn’t think this a very good idea, with the heavy fully laden van (approx 2.5 tons) and the soft earth of the campsite. Called out an engineer on the breakdown insurance who came from Le Havre to change the wheel @ about 9 pm , so felt a bit guilty.