Shopping

PLANNING In advance

Especially useful is the comparison shopping with various supermarkets in France and England

On the boat

The boat seems to be the same price as France for cigarettes and tobacco. After all, supermarkets are not allowed to sell them so there is no real price competition! Beer/lager seems cheap onboard but there's no selection for wine really. Spirits seem the same price on/off board. Spirits are roughly the same too.

At the port

Huge supermarkets. Load up before you go home with fruit flans and real cakes, fresh, ripe vegetables and fruits, cheeses, meats. Bottled water, wine - clothes and so on! Dishwasher tablets, olive oil, dog biscuits - whatever! (See Day-tripper.net above to see what's the best bargain!)

As you come off the Cherbourg boat there will be signs for LeClerc. Auchan is right up on top (probably the biggest and has a whole shopping mall too). Carrefour is in the centre of Cherbourg. If you are loading up with Perrier, wine and other heavy items it saves driving with all that weight if you can manage to shop just before you get on the boat.

NEAR THE GITE

You've got the two bars mentioned here. They sell, or the shop next door sells, all your basic foods.

VIRE

Your next stop is Vire. The town centre has everything that British towns have and everything British towns used to have. Ironmongers, stationers - well, there's no point in my listing them all. The Tourist Centre (assuming you came into town up the hill from Maisoncelles) is down, 2nd right, opposite the main car park.

Carry on straight over the roundabout (the road to Cherbourg) and as you level out you have the main out of town stores. On the left look for Champion, a major supermarket. Further on, on the right, after you pass MacDonalds (please pass MacDonalds! I love their milkshakes and have been known to eat a Big Mac. But everything has it's place - and in France where the food is wonderful and cheap, MacDonalds has no place!).

Actually, if you turn right and for MacDonalds and then go left rather than carry on up to it, you pass the Depot Vent. These are the great antique and junk stores where people leave things to be sold. Anything and everything. Really worth a look round - there's at least one in every town.

So - further on down there are huge clothing stores, DIY stores, InterMarche (another major supermarket) and so on and on

The nicest supermarket is LeClerc (I think) and it has a bricolage (DIY) bit. Maybe Champion is the biggest (cafe too). It has a sort of DIY place too, and seems to be the cheapest petrol in the area. An easy way to reach LeClerc and all the other big shops, missing out the town centre is...(plus to go on to Cherbourg or Caen, Bayeaux and all points north or east is this)... is ...

Go into Maisoncelles from the cottage. In the village turn right by the church. Turn left at Baby Jesus and keep on. Turn left at the main road. This road ends up in Vire. After a while you'll see a right for Caen, Cherbourg, etc. if this is where you're going which cuts out the town. Otherwise go a little further and after a bad bend you'll notice a sign up on a wall in front of you on the right for LeClerc. Go up the little lane there. LeClerc is on your right.

All supermarkets are open Monday through Saturday, usually till at least 8pm (except for Bank Holidays). Many little food shops are open on Monday too. And boulangeries on Sunday, a few all day.

Many visitors have said that Sourdeval, though small, is a nicer shopping place than Vire. Leave our gite and turn right. Keep going then turn right and keep going.

CAEN

The second biggest city in France they say - the old town is great to wander around, up by the castle. The bottom end has the bigger stores - Gallerie Lafayette, Monoprix and so on. However for serious shopping go to Mondeville. Car parking is very cheap - maybe a couple of pounds for 3-4 hours, if not free. From Vire to Caen, onto the Peripherique (ringroad) SOUTH (that is SUD). Carefully look out for the Mondeville sign (I've only been once and I think it is exit 12 or soon after (which means it might be 13). I found it a nightmare of crisscrossing roads and found myself happily enroute for Paris at one point, but once there...Carrefour is massive, shopping mall around it. And alongside Toys R Us, and loads of other ones - Conforama, But, etc.