We had our breakfast in the house in the morning, then set off home. We stopped at Tesco for some fuel and to buy a meal-deal for lunch.
Later we stopped at a service station on the M6 for a walk and to eat our lunch, then headed home, arriving about 4.30pm.
Our total mileage for the trip was 2,498 miles. The places in France we stayed overnight are marked on this map:
We left Eastbourne in the morning, and drove to visit Shirley's sister Jenny and husband Gordon at their house in Heckington in Lincolnshire. On the way we stopped at a motorway service station for lunch from Greggs.
Once at Heckington they took us in their car to their daughter Alison's house in Sleaford, where we had a get-together with the rest of the family - her husband Gary and children Ella and Ollie, plus Shirley's other niece Fiona.
After spending the afternoon there we returned to Heckington.
In the evening we went for a drink at the 8 Sails brewery and windmill.
We'd ordered a Chinese takeaway for dinner, which we collected on the way home.
In the morning we drove to Asda to get some food for a barbecue. Then we picked Phyllis us from her apartment and took her to her bungalow, which she is in the process of selling.
It needs a bit of work done - cleaning in the house and deadheading and weeding in the garden, so we set to work.
After a few hours labour we had a barbecue for lunch - chicken, veggie sausages and some salad stuff. Phyllis's daughter Tracy had joined us.
Later back at the campsite we only wanted salad for our dinner.
Today Shirley took the bus into Eastbourne, and took Phyllis out for an 80th birthday treat. First lunch at a Chinese restaurant, then a cup of tea at the seafront. Later a big ice cream sundae near the pier.
Meanwhile Scott walked from the campsite through some fields and over to Pevensey Castle. There are some waterways in the bit immediately behind the campsite.
Then he went round the castle. It's on the site of a Roman fort, though has been rebuilt many times.
Later we met up again when Shirley got the bus back to site.
We took a walk along to Aldi for some shopping - Scott had chicken Balti curry and Shirley had a cheese and tomato pastry.
We drove back to Phyllis's apartment and parked the campervan in the car park. We then walked into Eastbourne centre to meet with Shirley's niece Tina. We had a walk round the dog-friendly shopping centre, then went our separate ways.
Shirley stayed in Eastbourne and went for lunch at Wetherspoons with Phyllis and Tina, while Scott drove to Norman's Bay and had a walk on the beach.
We met up again back at the campsite later, and had a barbecue of marinated spicy pork with pepper, courgette, and potato salad.
We docked just after 4am, and disembarked very quickly. We headed straight into the car park at the ferry terminal and lay down to try and get a bit more sleep. We actually slept till about 8am.
Once we got up we drove to Tesco in Eastbourne for a cooked breakfast and to do some shopping.
We parked near the seafront at the west side of Eastbourne and went for a walk down to the promenade.
After this we went to visit Shirley's sister Phyllis in her apartment in Redman King House. She showed us round the house and gardens and we sat and chatted in the flat for a while.
Later we left and drove to our campsite Cannon Camping which is on the main road between Eastbourne and Pevensey Bay. We paid £38 per night for four nights including electricity, which is more than we paid for any of the sites we used in France.
After having salad with potato salad for dinner we went for a stroll to the nearby beach.
We left the site today to head back to the ferry port in Dieppe, about three and a half hours drive.
On the way we stopped for lunch in La Mailleraye-sur-Seine, a small picturesque village on the south bank of the Seine.
We then carried on to Dieppe, and parked on the campervan aire on the seafront. You can park for up to 5 hours for £7.
We went for a walk along the promenade and up to the castle, with good views back down to the front.
We walked through the busy town streets and the port, then went back to the campervan.
We made tartiflette for dinner and had it with some tomatoes. The car parks around us seemed to be still very busy, and there were a lot of people around on the beach. We only found out later this was because the Bastille Day fireworks were taking place tonight, even though Bastille Day is tomorrow.
At about 9pm we drove over to the ferry terminal and checked in.
We got on the boat about 10.30, and left Oscar in the van. We took a couple of beers on board and had them while sitting on the recliner seats.
It was at this point the fireworks display took place, and we had quite a good view of it through the window.
We managed to get a couple of hours sleep during the crossing.
Today was much cooler and more overcast. We drove to Utah beach, which is the smaller of the two beaches that the Americans landed at on D-Day.
There are memorials and equipment around the area outside the museum there. We had a wander around.
We decided to go into the museum, so left Oscar in the campervan. It was very interesting and kept us occupied for a while.
We drove on to the fishing village of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue further up the Cherbourg peninsula to have a wander round. As we approached it we passed lots of signs saying there was an oyster festival on today.
The village was bigger than we thought, and busy, so it took us a while to find a parking space big enough for the campervan. Eventually we found a suitable spot to the north of the village, and set off walking back to the port by the promenade.
It turned out that oysters are a very big thing here. The tide was out so we could see loads of the racks they use to cultivate them. Baby oysters are placed in sacks and attached to the racks, and left to grow for up to 3 years feeding by filtering the sea water that covers them when the tide comes in.
On the dockside we came across the oyster festival itself, it actually seemed like it was quite a small affair.
We walked round the port to the south.
Further round there's a causeway to La Hougue, a peninsula that's almost an island that has a fort on it. We walked round it - first we tried to go clockwise but found there's a section where you have to walk along a narrow sea wall that's really not wide enough to pass anyone. So there are signs saying everyone should go anticlockwise, so we backtracked and did so.
We then went into the centre of the village, had a look at its church then had a drink sitting outside a bar.
As we walked back along the promenade we saw a kind of amphibious bus that was taking people on trips round the oyster beds and out to an island.
We drove back to the campsite. It was still a bit chilly for a barbecue so we cooked inside today - sausages, courgette, tomato, pepper, and mushrooms.
