Plans are useless, because things always turn out differently

Guys, let me tell you, what a day! From ecstatic to devastated in a matter of hours. But let me start from the beginning:

Yesterday evening was pretty chill, the rain stopped at some point and we fell asleep around midnight. This morning we had the advantage that we didn't have to move the outdoor furniture after breakfast, so we could easily set off to our next destination. First, we quickly emptied the cassette toilet, refilled the water, and drained the gray water - let's go.

We drove smoothly towards Étretat (there is a huge rock arch overlooking the sea, it's supposed to be great for photos and maybe Drone could have her first mission there). But as they say, things don't always go as planned...

Étretat is a small town with a touristy center, completely overcrowded. Cars were parked all over the place on both sides of the road at the entrance of the town. I had spotted a parking lot ONLY for motorhomes at the exit of the town, but when we arrived, it was full! There was another parking lot for cars, but that was also full, and cars were parked on "our" parking lot, there was no space left. An excited, self-proclaimed parking attendant waved her arms wildly and blocked all incoming cars, she shouted at us in a snappy tone "tout est plein!!!" which means "it's all full!!!" She made gestures indicating that there was no chance for us to find a spot to park. I politely asked her if there was another parking lot somewhere, but her very energetic head shaking looked like "no chance!"

So Étretat was off the table. Honestly, you can't imagine the masses of cars and people walking to the chalk arch. It's insane!

Alright, let's regroup and find another destination. It should be a campground near the beach. On the way, we stopped for gas for the second time on our trip, in Fécamp. Service is a big deal there, because the nice young lady immediately came out of her booth, took the gas pump and filled up for us. I'm not being ironic, she was really nice. We soon reached the campground, but there was a catch. The beach was not far away, but the cliffs were the obstacle to jump into the waves. There was no way down from the cliffs to the bathing beach. So if we had set up camp at 2 p.m., we would have been bored for the rest of the day, because there was nothing in the area to offer. Not us, that would have been a wasted day! We researched a new destination and continued on.

The road now led us over the Pont de Normandie - a cable-stayed bridge with the largest span in Europe, crossing the mouth of the Seine. Unfortunately, we forgot to install the GoPro beforehand - annoying! Herbert then drove us along the coast until we arrived in Trouville-sur-Mer after 171km. The campsite here offers a great view of the sea, it is located a few meters above the beach, but there is a (very steep!) staircase leading directly down to the cold water. And suddenly you hear more and more German tourists, so far that was extremely rare.

After setting up camp, we immediately put on our bathing suits and walked down to the beach. Wonderful, this is how vacation should be! Sun, beach, swimming, collecting seashells (there are so many here!). But an hour and a half later, everything looked different: thunderstorms with strong winds and heavy rain were approaching, we just had that yesterday ☹ Now experienced in setting up and packing up, everything was stored back in the rear garage in 5 minutes. Looking at the weather app is currently ruining our mood. The next few days in northern France are expected to be rainy, if not stormy. That's not fair!

Well, there's no use crying about it, we can only hope and make the best out of it. Tomorrow we will approach another desired destination, keep your fingers crossed that it works out - it worked with the parking space in Aachen! I believe in you!

Best regards

Die3Bolis