Husband has looked through our ACSI book and found us a site thatis new to us, although we know the area well. The weather has continued to warm up as we travel and is edging into hot, rather than warm.

We cross the Charente at La Roche sur Yon, turn on to smaller roads then head for a small peninsula, driving through some villages until we reach the seaside village of Port des Barques. There’s not a lot to the village, although clearly there’s a big focus on shellfish, judging by the stalls lining the seafront car park. Opposite there’s a row of buildings with maybe two or three bars- that’s about it!

We’ll investigate the bars and places to eat later or tomorrow, but we must go on down through the village and to the other side to get to the site.

The site, ‘La Garenne’, [the warren], is vast. Besides being in the ACSI book it’s also a municipal camp site. These are often good value, ‘no frills’ type sites with good services. La Garenne has been kept tidy but not manicured or planted up. The pitches are huge, most with a combination of sun and shade, which suits us nicely as we need sun for solar power and shade for ourselves. We check in and choose a place on a corner near reception, with a big, dense tree on one side and open on the other. Perfect!

The sea is just across the road, although the beach is rocky rather than sandy. Once we’ve set up [which takes all of 5 minutes including pulling out the awning] we take to the shade. Opposite our pitch there is a mobile kiosk and a fenced off area furnished with tables and chairs- all in the shade of the trees. There is also a menu board. It all looks very promising. We chug down some cold beers. Husband asks, “Do we want to cook anything tonight?” It’s hot and we’ve travelled all day and I don’t need asking twice.

At this pop-up restaurant the menu is simple but perfect for a hot evening. There are also more cold beers! I’m in awe of the two women running it, since there’s a steady flow of diners requiring all sorts of things including ice creams and they are on the go constantly in the draining heat, one taking orders and serving and the other cooking. Cooking!

After eating we sit outside long after dark as it’s far too hot to go in. Up among the branches of the dense conifer on our pitch, huge buzzing insects lurch in and out. After much deliberation I decide they must be cicadas, their wings providing the loud buzz as they blunder around. There are also swallows nesting in the laundry, tiny chicks peering out waiting to be fed.

At around midnight we retire to the interior of the van, where in spite of opening all skylights and windows, blacking out the windscreen with our reflective sheet and using nothing but a sheet, the night passes in a restless, sticky drag of wakefulness. The morning dawns just as hot. We’ve just read that Dr Michael Mosely, media health guru, has died while hiking in the heat of a Greek afternoon. Nevertheless, someone has to trek up to the village for bread. Hmmm…

For fiction by me, Jane Deans, search for novels: The Conways at Earthsend [an eco-thriller] and The Year of Familiar Strangers [mystery drama]. Visit my website: janedeans.com