Base Nautique de la Frette to Epernay, France

27 July 2017

The day did not start well. When preparing to leave site, Neil went to empty the Thetford as Lucy pee’d, one not very happy wet daddy! We set off for a frosty drive, luckily it was only a short drive onto Epernay where Lucy would avoid Neil for the rest of the day.

More rain today but the show must go on so after parking up the vans in a simple but fine aire right in the town we set off to take a look round.

Top of Trip advisor’s ten things to do in Epernay was the Champagne Avenue, this did not disappoint. The Champagne houses were amazing, no expense spared. From the luxurious Champagne houses we stumbled upon a traditional Irish pub, this was probably more suitable for a us, not sure we’d have got pints in the Champagne houses.

A lucky chance stop on the route back to van found saw us pop into another Champagne house, to our surprise the owner beckoned us down a flight of stairs into a cellar of tunnels. The tunnels were eerie and cold, they went on for miles. We giggled our way round getting lost and as Lucy panicked more that we were never coming out we luckily saw light at the end of the tunnel and the shop where we decided to buy some Champagne to sample.

At nearly €40 for a round of drinks out we decided to drink beer at the van, we sat out watching the locals play boules and once chilled drank Champagne into the evening. The kids discovered a sport court next to the aire so got the tennis rackets out for a quick game of tennis before bed.