The virus has put many aspects of our lives on hold or worse, it has cancelled some aspects altogether. Work for Del, for example, has all gone. Every single day has gone. Hayley has saved the day however with work from ITV. The hours are punishing up at 2:30 am and finishing at 10:00 am. This has of course added a high level of uncertainty about the future a future that we no longer have a say in. Forget Brexit, that’s chicken feed, this is something else. The holidays have also been cancelled. Our year was a healthy calendar of work and holidays. Full and exciting. Good quality work to help finance some excellent trips away. After all, that’s what work is all about, isn’t it? That’s all changed.
During the later days of June and early days of July, infection numbers and deaths began to fall all around Europe. Could there be light at the end of the tunnel? Maybe. We took the decision to take a holiday, our usual 4 or 5 weeks in the van discovering more of Europe and hopefully beyond. We always liked the idea of a trip to Norway and to try our hand at some wild camping at the foot of some mountains with a morning view of a vast mirror-like lake.
Hayley has put a lot of effort and time into the planning, routes, places to stay local, rules and regulations, stuff you really need to do, and to know unless you want to look like an idiot. A route was set and agreed upon, toll cards signed up for and ferries priced up. The plan was to head for Calais then run a straight northeast course across Germany then up to Denmark for a ferry to Norway. Spend a week in Denmark, two in Norway then a week heading south through Sweden and then home.
If you are going to do a trip like this during these rubbish times, it’s not just the countries that allow us Brits to go into but also which countries allow their immediate neighbours to cross into. A long afternoon was spent doing just that, finding out who allows who to come and go. Soon we found that Denmark was a problem. To spend time in Denmark you have to stay a minimum of 6 nights and provide proof of your stay. We are a motorhome, we have no idea where and when we will be in a place or for how long. If you want to transit through Denmark to get to Norway, then they require information about where you are staying in Norway. Again we can’t say. To add another problem into the mix travelling between either Denmark or Norway and Sweden has its own complications as Sweden is seen as a “red” country in Scandinavia.
Now what? Europe is a big landmass, huge, but with the virus still prevalent and with the number of infections now starting to climb it’s decided that we will only do two or better still only one European country.
There is no point in living in fear of the virus. It doesn’t care who you are, what you are, or where you are. You can get the virus in any country and at any time. Your home country is no safe haven unless you lock yourself indoors 24/7. Maybe to get rid of the virus that is what we should do? The other option is to continue your life as best you can, given the restrictions. Wash your hands, keep a reasonable distance from others. Who knows what’s reasonable 1m, 2m, or 50m? Wear a mask in public places. Of course, they work. Your doctor and dentist use them all the time. Be sensible.
We travel. We love to travel. Apart from work, it’s all we do, otherwise, what would we do? Should we? Of course, we should! Let’s go to… FRANCE!
WEEK 6: Voorhout, Netherlands to East Cowes, UK – 492 miles
Saturday 27th April 2019 Voorhout Day 2
Our last week. We will be home on Tuesday night in our static bed. By the time we are back we will have been out just a day or two shy of 6 weeks. We have enjoyed this trip just as much as our first one. It rained again last night and it’s so cold and very windy today. We decide to stay another day here and once the rain has stopped we will cycle to the beach. It supposed to clear up a bit, but we are not betting on it.
Before we go we have a look at the week old calves and get a fuss of sweet black cat.
The cycle is 7.5 km long to the coastal town of Noordwijk, halfway there it pours down, and we get soaked. We take some shelter and set off once it stops but within minutes it pours down again. Hayley’s hands are turning purple. We are so cold and soaked through and the wind so strong, we are fighting against it on the bikes.
The Dutch are little bit like the Brits, nothing is going to stop them going to the seaside. When we get to Noordwijk it’s busy. It’s Kings Day today so everyone is dressed in something orange, there is a fair on and we grab a delicious fish and chips to warm up before chancing it on the beach.
Bad idea. It’s raining and wind is blowing so hard that the sand hurts your face. It’s so bad the weather. A shame really because in the sunshine it probably looks lovely, then again so would the Port of Grimsby!
We decide to cycle back. It’s stopped raining. We go to the town of Voorhout. There is a fete on for Kings Day. It’s brilliant, everyone is out, there is music on, food and a market. Lovely.
Back at the van, we make tea to warm up and change clothes and try and dry out. It just rains for the rest of the day and night, We do like Holland, the weather has been terrible, but we like it. It’s all very clean and tidy and neat. The villages and towns are very sweet and so far the people have been nice to us. It’s such a shame about the weather. Oh well.
Sunday 28th April 2019 Voorhout to Zerikzee. 71 miles
Yes, it rained all night last night. Miserable. We set off for a little drive to look at the tulip fields, but it’s a little disappointing as they all look like they have been cut back or something. Not what we were hoping for or expected. Thanks to the Keukenhof though, we did get to see some spectacular tulips in full bloom.
We trace our steps back through the Hague, Rotterdam, do the drive over the longest dam ever and head for the island of Zerikzee.
The campsite is brilliant. Plenty of room, very clean and tidy with hens and sheep.
In the showers, there is a little basket of free eggs that you can help yourself to. Now that’s a nice touch.
The town is a short walk. It’s like a mini Amsterdam, very pretty and charming. A nice place to stop and have a beer. The walk back takes us past the local old windmill.
Monday 29th April 2019 Zerikzee, Netherlands to Bruges, Belgium. 66 miles
Before we leave, we have the idea that it would be nice to have breakfast in the town so off we trot only to find that everything is shut… but everything, nothing is open. We need coffee. No matter, back at Jess there is a spot of sunshine where we get a breakfast table out and have boiled eggs, from the local ladies, with coffee. All very nice.
Today we are going to the Belgian town of Bruges. The route is back through the 6.5km tunnel. The toll is less in this direction, we’re considered a smaller class 1 van. With all the rain we have probably shrunk!
It’s cool at the campsite in Bruge. We use our bikes to cycle into town only to discover that we have left the bike lock back at the van. Grrr! Back to the van, get the lock and cycle back. It might be Monday but the town is busy, very busy. We lock the bikes up and set off for a walk.
It’s a nice town, busy, but nice. We find a place offering boat trips through the town so we give it a go. Its a very good way to see the town that has some lovely buildings and very low bridges.
Time for some lunch. We hunt around and find a quirky little place with a huge red hen outside.
Inside we have local beer, mussels and a pile of chips. Smashing. To finish off the culinary experience, we have a Belgian waffle.
A very nice day in a nice town. We cycle back to the van full of food and finally finish with a digestive 30-year-old brandy. Whew! Diet tomorrow…
Tuesday 30th April 2019 Bruges, Belgium to East Cowes, UK. 252 miles
Well, it’s the last morning of our second van trip to Europe. It’s going to be a long day today. We head south on the motorway towards Calais but before boarding we have a final shop to do.
We stop at the Wine Warehouse and fill poor Jess with 90 bottles of wine! Now she is really heavy. An uneventful crossing over the Channel to Dover, back along the M25 towards Portsmouth, where we are able to get on an earlier ferry and back to home.
Another fabulous van trip, and again Jess performed well. She looked after us and we think we looked after her. Soon we are unpacked and Jess is wrapped up, cleaned up, cleared out resting, and ready for the next trip.
WEEK 5: Fegreac, France to Ellewoutsdijk, Netherlands – 550 miles
Saturday 20th April 2019 Fegreac to Vitre. 75 miles
It’s a beautiful morning by the river. We are so pleased that we moved away from St. Nazaire, an interesting place but we do like being in the countryside, next to a river or canal. It’s a warm morning so we have a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs and salmon listening to the birdsong. Before we leave we have a short walk. It’s nice here.
Today we are going to a municipal campsite in Vitre north east of where we are now, it’s a good hour and a bit so we get going. We are looking forward to a bit of a bike ride but when we arrive at the site it is 30 degrees, hot and humid. We can’t be bothered It’s too hot for messing about on bikes so we stay in the shade of our tree that we are parked under.
Planning underway in the shade
By late afternoon it’s cooled off enough for us to get on our bikes and head off into the town. It’s a lovely place, with lots of old wooden buildings and churches. Very clean, tidy and old! We like it but we are getting hungry.
We get the bikes off the back of Jess and cycle into the town. It’s a lot cooler, nice in fact. We find a nice little dark wood-panelled old restaurant called Auberge de St. Louis and have quite a feed of traditional French fare.
Frogs legs, duck a l’ orange, fillet of beef and escargot. For dessert, chocolate fondant and creme brûlée, all quite delicious. Apparently we eat quick, according to the maitre d’. We even make it back to the van before dark.
There is an owl outside hooting tonight.
Sunday 21st April 2019 Vitre to Arromanches-les-Bains. 108 miles
So far, almost every night we have had to have a little bit of heating on as there is a bit of a chill in the night, however, last night was the first night that we had no heating on!
It’s a nice sunny morning this morning. After breakfast, we set off to find some fuel for Jess and food supplies for us. Today we are doing a good two-hour drive to the coast to Arromanches-les-Bains to have a look at Mulberry Harbour, amongst other things. The Mulberry Harbour is actually the remaining bits of a temporary harbour built by the allies in its fight against the advancing Germans. There is a lot of interesting stuff along this stretch of coast and sadly we don’t have the time to see it all, but we have every intention of having a good look around with the time that we have and then trying again in the future on another Jess trip.
We arrive at the aire and park up at a windy cliff edge. It’s sunny but breezy and we have a good view of the harbour pieces, some of them are even on the beaches.
The beach is massive and stretches out for miles on a low tide but also goes for many miles along the coast. We walk into town but as it’s easter and it’s packed. There is a museum here that we thought we would have a look in. It was really good and interesting but you could hardly move. Such a shame.
After a bit more walking around the town we head back to the van and have a beer in the cab and look at the remaining bits of Mulberry Harbour. Later we watch a documentary on the subject with the real thing just outside. It’s quite a story. Pizza tonight. Ace.
Monday 22nd April 2019 Arromanches-les-Bains to Saint Vigor le Grand. 6 miles
A nice clear morning this morning, but the clouds are gathering. Today we are going to go to Omaha Beach, just up the road but first, we will go to the American cemetery. It’s a short drive and we are soon parked up and walking to the cemetery, There are over 9000 graves here of men, many as young as 17 who gave their lives on the beach that the cemetery overlooks, Omaha Beach. It’s a beautifully manicured place, peaceful and tranquil. All these men buried here, it makes us think about the folly of humans.
Another short drive and we are at Omaha beach. The tide’s in and we are able to stand on the last bit of sand before the waves cover the whole thing. Omaha Beach is where thousands of lives were lost as soon as they stepped off the boats that brought men from larger boats out at sea. It was one of 5 beaches used in operation Overlord on the 6th June 1944 to fight the Germans and push them back from the Normandy coast. If you haven’t seen it, the check out this opening scene from the film Saving Private Ryan. Terrifying.
After a sobering day, we head back into the countryside to an aire for the night.
It’s a lovely place with a few hens pecking about and geese that chase after Del every time they see him. The town of Bayeux is nearby so we get on our bikes and cycle into the town which is the home of the famous Bayeux Tapestry. After a quick look around the town we go in and look at the “the rag“.
Wow! It was brilliant. It’s one of those things that you hear about at school and through your life, so we have to see what its all about. For 13 euros you get an audio guide that talks you through the whole thing as you walk along looking at this amazing 950 year old artifact. A brilliant story, commentary and music all well worth the visit. So glad we did it. We played medieval music during dinner just for fun.
Del’s rear bike tyre blew up today in the heat…
Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Saint Vigor le Grand to Saint Saire. 153 miles
Another change in the weather. It’s grey this morning as we set off, realising that we have left the water adaptor behind after a service that took ages. We are on the hunt now for a hardware or gardening shop to buy a hosepipe adapter.
Today we are going to a cheese producer in the town of Liverot. From here we will drive northeast all the way up toward Belgium and Holland.
Once we get parked up at Liverot we are greeted by a very professional and slick tour of the factory. You get to see the whole process of how some of the world’s famous cheeses are made.
Of course, there is a shop and of course, we buy some. We get a Liverot (nicknamed the ‘colonel’ due to its wrapping of five raffia strips), naturally. A Camembert, and a ‘Petit’ Brie‘, which is huge, nothing petit about it.
We now have to do longish drive, just under 2 hours to a chicken farm where we will be staying the night in the town of Saint Saire. We are greeted, as usual, by a very friendly lady who shows us to our pitch. It’s very nice here, but for a chicken farm there is a distinct lack of them. In her best French Hayley asks “where are all the chickens“. The nice lady tells us where and soon we are surrounded by hens, cockerels, guinea foul and just for good avian measure we hear a peacock! We buy some cider and eggs from the nice lady and settle in to a game of Pétanque. There is a place just for it next to our van.
Pasta for tea and a little bit of… Cheese…
Wednesday 24th April 2019 Saint Saire to Maisnil-lès-Ruitz. 91 miles
One day it’s bright and sunny, the next cold and grey. Today… It’s sunny. Breakfast with the door open so we can hear the hens. Once cleaned up we are on our way and onto the usual collection of motorways, roads various from good wide single carriageways to narrow bumpy roads. They’ve got all sorts here. Jess gets a wash en route. We are going to an aire in a park called Maisnil-lès-Ruitz. There is plenty to do there, bike riding in the nearby woods and forests, there is also a huge public area of tree walking nets, the biggest in the world by all accounts, good walks, oh and there is one of those toboggan things on rails, not bad, but not as good as the one in Germany. Should be a good stay.
Once we arrive at our foresty aire, we get a good spot in the shade. There are a few other vans here but it’s no where near busy. It’s good. Just how we like it, one or two vans to keep us company. Safety in numbers you could say.
We decide to do one of the easy bike routes, only 6km. It was a tough. Lots of deep dried out mud that left huge rutts in the track, swarms of insect that needed to be constantly batted out of the way, up hill and down hill. By the time we are back at the van we are worn out, but satisfied with our endeavours. It was quite good really, we enjoyed it. Del has a go at sorting our Hayley’s cheapo bike. The brakes squeak, the gears are clunky. It was only a 100 quid after all! He manages a slight improvement but really Hayley needs a new, decent bike.
Del’s very decent bike…
Thursday 25th April 2019 Maisnil-lès-Ruitz, France to Ellewoutsdijk, Netherlands. 121 miles
Guess what…? It rained all night last night and this morning it’s cold and rainy. Hayley had plans to try out the tree net, but thats off now. We have some breakfast and cut our loses, pick-up and clean up and set off for Holland via Belgium. We think.
Hello Belgium
Goodbye, France. We love you. We really like France it’s a lovely place, the food, the drink, the views, the history and the people, but today we are moving on and to another country, Holland or The Netherlands or The Low Countries! Maybe some better stable weather too?
It was supposed to be a 2 hour drive today. Simple, but we got lost in Ghent somehow, still don’t know how but finally we get into Holland and into a 6.5km long tunnel, we pop out the other side onto a peninsular which is where our campsite stop will be tonight.
Holland is very different. It’s flat of course, very clean, new and tidy. Nice. It’s good this van thing, you really get to see how different countries are. It is fascinating.
Once parked up in the corner of a damp field the heavens open up and it rains heavy for hours. It’s miserable. We take our chance and go for a walk up on the dyke. Yes our campsite is below sea level. Gulp! It’s a massive expanse of grey water with an oil refinery on the other side. It’s a bit bleak at the moment, when the sun is out it’s probably very nice… Not today!
Friday 26th April 2019 Ellewoutsdijk to Voorhout 103 miles
This morning it’s a lot brighter, but rain is forecast. Again. After the usual stuff in the morning, Hayley plots a course to Voorhout. Today we are going to see some tulips and go to the Keukenhof.
It’s been on our list of places to see and today we are going there. The drive is interesting, we drive across a huge long dam, up through Rotterdam and the Hague. The first campsite we come to is full, so we about face and head off for our second choice, a cattle farm. She can choose them Hayley! We are welcomed in and given our pitch, right opposite the cow shed. We like it really, we can sit in the cab and watch them in the rain, but we also get the chance to go over and say ‘hello‘ to them. They are sweet.
It’s a 7km bike ride to the Keukenhof and the weather is fair, so we prep the bikes, and ourselves for rain and set off. They like a bike here. It good for cycling. It’s flat and smooth, all marked out and safe. Here they respect cyclists, it’s not quite the same back home yet. We pass a few tulip fields but they all seem a bit bare, not as many colourful strips of flowers as we hoped. Maybe we are too early.
10 minutes later we arrive at the Keukenhof. It’s a huge place and it’s very very busy. Once inside everyone is spread out so its not to bad. It’s beautiful here though. We didn’t realise that there are so many shapes and sizes of tulip and so many colours. It’s all well maintained and lovely to walk around, made all the better with the weather which has now settled down to broken sunshine.
There is a small petting zoo here that we take advantage of, once we have pushed all the kids out of the way of course.
A very nice place and very nice cycle back.
back at Jess the weather has improved further so we sit outside with a cold beer. Tonight dinner is burgers. Veggie burgers. Well has to be with this lot around looking at us.
WEEK 4: Caumont-sur-Garonne to Les Sables-d’Olonne – 335 miles
Saturday 13th April 2019 – Caumont-sur-Garonne to St. Emillion. 40 miles
We came down through the middle of France to get to Spain, now we are zig-zagging our way up and as close to the west coast as we can to get back.
The birds this morning are noisy as we sit outside by the canal for a lazy breakfast. It’s lovely here, but we have to get a move on. Today we are going to St.Emillion and to a vineyard called Chateaux Arnaud de Jacquemeau. We are welcomed by a very kind elderly chap in his 70s who kindly shows us to our pitch and Hayley manages, in her best French, to arrange a tour.
It’s very quiet here and we are given a short tour. It’s lovely.
We buy a bottle of their GrandCru 2012. We have learnt a lot today about how wine is made, and happy with our knowledge we head back to Jess for a short rest.
The town of St. Emillion is not far from here so we set off for the short walk to the town. It’s a Saturday today so it’s packed with tourists. It’s nice, though and we spend an hour or two walking around this lovely town before heading back to Jess for a traditional French dinner of steak and frites, with a bearnaise sauce followed by a very nice runny brie.
Later we sit in the setting sun, next to Jess with a glass of the 2012 Grand Cru and watch the sun setting over the vineyards. Once the early evening chill sets in we go inside.
What a great day.
Sunday 14th April 2019 – St. Emillion to Blaye. 47 miles
You just can’t trust the weather at the moment, it’s spring of course so it’s very changeable. Today we wake up to grey skies and drizzle, completely different from yesterday. Time to leave this lovely vineyard. We are going to stop at a lighthouse on the Medoc spit of Bourdeaux. We desperately need water in our fresh water tank for showers and washing up, but we are having trouble. It’s a Sunday so we can’t get the tokens required to pay for the water at the aires, so we change our plan, and take a small ferry across the Gironde.
It’s a bit tricky this ferry as the entrance onto the boat is at the side rather than the traditional front or back of the boat, and it’s quite a small ferry to boot. We are taking the 15 minute ferry to the citadel town of Blaye, so after a bit of shuffling about to get on the ferry and we cast off. The weather has cheered up as well which makes al the difference. Once again we are going to a winery where we can get free water and electricity. We need water…
We disembark only to be in the thick of some heavy traffic in the town, it’s chaos. We soon find out that there is a wine festival on, which is quite popular. We slowly make our way through the town and finally we have arrived at the Chateau Marquis de Vauban and we are just in time for the 5pm tour. With enough time to get in to our pitch, plug into some power and more importantly, we fill up with water.
The tour was interesting and of course, as tradition dictates, we purchase a couple of bottles which we try in the sun next to the vineyards.
(This drinking wine next to the vineyard is becoming a habit. A very good habit!) We meet a lady travelling alone in a little red VW campervan with her dog.
Monday 15th April 2012 – Blaye to Bignac. 71 miles
Our toilet needs emptying, but we can’t do it here, the facilities are broken so sadly we do need to move on to somewhere where we can refresh the toilet. Sometimes camping life can be disruptive by simple things like this, things we take for granted at home or at a hotel.
We spend some time with our next-door neighbour in the VW who had a cold night last night. We had the heating on! We have breakfast together and say goodbye to Deborah and her cute little dog whose name we can’t remember!
Today we are going to a campsite which is run by an English couple. It’s supposed to be very nice with a nearby lake. We both feel like we need a campsite stop, and so does Jess. We like the free aires and being off grid, but you can only do it for three or four nights before you really need to get plugged into some power, take on fresh water, do laundry and just stretch out for a while, and that moment has now come.
We arrive at Camping Marco de Bignac. It’s lovely here, out in the middle of nowhere. The site is very green and meadow like with a lake, all the facilities that we need as well as some goats and geese.
Lovely. Once parked up on our pitch we get everything done, plug into some power to get things charged up, drop the grey water, fill up fresh and recharge the toilet. Even Jess gets a good cleanout. She deserves it. We all get a good airing!
We are located in an area that’s quite close to Cognac, our destination tomorrow. In the meantime, once we have taken advantage of all the facilities and given Jess some fresh air, we go for a walk.
We must come here again, it’s so peaceful and the walk around the lake is smashing, just what we needed. Hayley makes us a brilliant dinner of quesadillas, nice and hearty.
Tuesday 16th April 2019 – Bignac to Segonzac. 48 miles
The peace and tranquility of this lovely place was shattered last night by heavy rain. It’s really loud on the roof of the van, It kept us awake for most of the night, tired today so we got up late. After breakfast the rain has gone and it’s brightening up so once again we take a short walk around the lake, do another complete service on Jess and set off in search of a car/van wash. Jess is absolutely filthy. The rain and long drives have left her looking a right mess, we could also do with some diesel and LPG.
We find a supermarket that has both, the diesel fill up is fine but the gas stops after only dispensing 2 euros worth of gas, even though the bank has shown a pre-authorisation of 103 euro! We walk back to the supermarket to find a a manger or someone who can help us. It’s hard, very hard. Finally Hayley gets to speak to a customer service rep and with her limited French explains what has happened at the LPG pump. Hayley is then put in touch with a man on the phone, she has to explain it all over again about what happed at the pump, we think he understands what she is saying but unfortunately Hayley doesn’t quite understand his reply! We are in the middle of nowhere, nobody speaks English, why would they? The clue is in the name, pre-authorisation. We will just have to wait and see what happens over the next few days, hopefully it will only show the 2 euros.
Deborah, our lady neighbour at Chateau Marquis de Vauban, the one with the VW camper and the dog, recommended that we go to the Michel Forgeron Cognac house, where you can stay, get a tour of the Cognac brewing process and they will of course sell you some. We have to go…
After a short drive we arrive at the Cognac house, near Segonzac. It’s a beautiful old house with outhouses, a small green in front with a huge tree. We’re welcomed by a very friendly guy, who is the son of the family and he is accompanied by his puppy who is so very friendly but also scared. A lovely little thing who follows us. He follows us to our pitch but when we make a move to stroke him he runs off barking at us, then comes back again. Eventually he settles down and becomes our friend spending the afternoon with us. Del rolls around with him in the grass and he even get up on the step of the van for a little nosy inside. We like Sammy very much. He can come with.
Later in the afternoon, we are escorted by the lady of the house to a tour of how Cognac is made.
Very interesting and it’s all done at this place, grown, distilled and bottled. We try many different vintages of Cognac including a 50 year old one but we settle for buying a bottle of an 1989 vintage that we tried directly from the barrel. We also tried and bought a bottle of Pineau an apéritif of grapes mixed with a splash of brandy. Very nice.
It’s a lovely calm and peaceful place, we sit in the sun at the side of the van. It’s warm. Dinner tonight was a lovely pasta followed by a swig of our 30-year-old Cognac. The French know how to do it…!
Wednesday 17th April 2019 – Segonzac to Coulon. 65 miles
We had a lovely peaceful night last night, but there is always something. If it’s not raining it’s agricultural machinery rumbling about, and what a racket. Well it is what they do, they are not on holiday. It’s what they do…
Finally, at 9 am, we are up and having a lovely breakfast, we say goodbye to Sammy the dog and one of the sons waves us off. What a great place. It would be really good if we could come back here again next year. It’s so… French…!
We can’t come to the Cognac region and not visit the town. So we set off and find the town and get parked up in an aire for a couple of hours. The town of Cognac is beautiful, well of course it is… We have a coffee in one of the pretty squares and spend a good hour walking around. We still have a good drive ahead of us to get to Coulon. Coulon is supposed to be another one of those prettiest towns in France places. We shall see.
The journey feels like a slog. We encounter a couple of roadblocks and the roads are all ‘D’ roads (small), some are even single-track and not in the best of condition. Finally, we arrive at Coulon, feeling a bit beaten, but glad all the same to be here. The aire is huge, there is space for up to 80 vans and for 10 and a bit euros, you get a nice space with all of the facilities.
The town is a good walk down the river, so after we have settled in and serviced Jess we set off. It is very pretty, but is it one of the prettiest?
We are not sure yet. The river has lots of punts for hire, single, pairs or groups but they are very expensive to rent, not on our budget anyway. It’s a bit of a tourist trap really, it’s nice, doesn’t take long to get around but everything is so expensive. We manage a small beer and head back to Jess.
We need some exercise so we get the bikes down and do a 5km ride past, canals, fields and some swamp land that has the bike track on an elevated wooden route, brilliant.
A very enjoyable ride, but we are getting hungry.
Back at Jess, we get talking to the only other Brits here. Peter and Kay are from Poole and they are doing a short EU trip in their Romahome which they bought on the Isle of Wight… A great dinner tonight. A great day…
Thursday 18th April 2019 – Coulon to Les Sables-d’Olonne. 78 miles
We are not sure that Coulon is one of the prettiest towns in France. Yes, it is pretty, but we have seen prettier. The fact is, you can’t really move anywhere in France without stumbling on a pretty town. Another quick van service and we are off.
Today we are going to a campsite near Les Sables-d’Olonne. This campsite is one of those ‘family‘ campsites. Dubious. It’ll be full to the brim with families and kids. Loads of kids. Loads of noisy kids. We’ll give it a go.
We arrive and it’s a big complicated weaving mass of small roads and paths with pitches. The pitches are generous enough and it’s actually not too bad, and not too noisy. Quite pleasant really.
Time alone today. Del does a complete Jess the van clear out and clean up while Hayley gets her bike down from the back of Jess and sets off and does a 24km bike ride! The views are spectacular and she manages to cycle to the Port where the Vendee Globe boat race starts from.
The town is a very classy place with lots of long sandy beaches. It’s busy today, it’s the Thursday before the easter weekend.
Exciting day tomorrow. We were too late to do it a the start of the trip, but now we have our tickets for the Airbus tour at St. Nazaire. Yes….
Friday 19th April 2019 – Sables-d’Olonne to Fegreac. 78 miles
Busy day today. Lots of driving to do today. today we are going to see some German submarine pens, and an aircraft factory then after all that we need to find a nice quiet place for the night, so we are up early and we are away. It’s Good Friday today and we are warned that everywhere could be busy, so we need to be quick but at the same time make sure that we see everything.
We set off for St. Nazaire, but first, we need some fuel and food. We find a place but it just takes forever to do these two simple jobs today. We arrive at the aire, which is busy, but there are some spaces spare so we are in luck. We are parked near to the submarine pens and once parked up, we secure Jess and set off to have a look around them. They are quite impressive and imposing. Massive concrete structures that form huge entrances to loading bays for submarines. The Germans built them this way so that the allies couldn’t bomb them. They would be loaded with fresh crew and ammunition and then set off and be submerged and straight off into the Atlantic. The Germans were very good with concrete during the war. They built a lot of impressive stuff.
There is an old sub here from the 60s and for an extra fee, you can go on board. A crazy idea. Build a metal tube, fill it with torpedoes and men, and then let it loose underwater for days at a time! They are so basic inside but complicated. Full of tubes and wiring going off in directions. It’s very claustrophobic in here, you have to be made of tough stuff to be in here for days and underwater. Not for us…
There is a bus that leaves here rather conveniently for the Airbus factory. The only ticket we could get at short notice was conducted in French, no matter, Hayley will see us right. To be honest the tour is so impressive you don’t really need to listen to the tour guide. It is just amazing to see airliners being built from a green aluminium shell at one end to a gleaming, brightly colour painted aeroplane at the other end. We move from building to building and see the different processes at work. It is fascinating. Especially the wiring that goes on under the floor of an aircraft. We like it. Very good and highly recommended. More so if you can understand what’s being said.
It’s late afternoon when we make our way back to the rather industrial aire where we are parked. The smell from the factory is wafting over. We are very close to a major town and we are not that keen on staying here any longer now that we have seen what we come to see. It would be nice to set off and look for a place that’s green and clean. Hayley gets to work to see if she can find something.
At 8 pm we arrive at an aire with space for 10 vans. We get a space and it’s nice and quite a contrast from where we have just been. We are parked next to a river and a canal. It’s very peaceful, there is the added bonus of a couple of goats wandering around.
It’s going to be a peaceful night as the sun sets over the river and all we can hear now are croaking frogs. A perfect end to an interesting day.
WEEK 3: San Pere Pescador, Spain to Castelnaudary – 326 miles
Saturday 6th April 2019 – San Pere Pescador, day 2
We like it here very much. We plan to spend the rest of the week here in the Costa Brava before starting our journey back north and towards home.
The weather this morning is better than last night. After the heavy downpour, we wake up to clear sunny skies. It’s only a short walk to the beach so we stick our shorts on and go for a walk.
It’s breezy today so despite the spring sunshine it’s still quite cold in the wind. We head back to the van and have a good game of mini-golf. Del wins, but really wins!
There is a nice little shop here so we get stocked up with some extra provisions, then a pizza and schnitzel at the camp restaurant.
Back at Jess, it’s nice in the sun and we get some shelter from the cool wind. It’s a lovely peaceful day. After a beer or two, we take another walk to the beach. The visibility is amazing, so clear, crystal clear and the Bay of Roses looks absolutely stunning.
Sunday 7th April 2019 – San Pere Pescador, day 3
We have a good long lie-in today, but once up we have a healthy breakfast, for a change, and we just potter around the van for the morning doing jobs that we have let slide over the past few weeks. It’s a cold wind blowing from the north, freezing but we are still in our t-shirts and shorts, but not the Spanish, they have their padded jackets and jeans on while huddling against the wind.
Our bike ride from base to L’Escala and back – 24km
After lunch we get the bikes our and do a good long cycle ride from San Pere Pescador to St. Marti Empuries then on to L’Escala. St. Marti is nice.
It used to be a Roman enclave and still has lots of Roman ruins with the original mosaic flooring. Really good. L’Escala is a typical Spanish fishing town. A lovely place which has had some renovation work done along the front making it more pedestrianised, but other than that it’s still the same L’Escala. In total a 24km bike ride! Good.
L’Escala is famous for its anchovies so we are on the lookout for some, unfortunately, the best shop that does them is closed… No matter we head for the front and have a nice ice cream, sitting looking at the bay and the snow-covered peaks of the Pyrenees. It’s that clear.
A lovely dinner back at Jess followed by another walk to the beach to look at the spectacular bay.
Tomorrow we are moving on to another place that we used to frequent on the boat.
Monday 8th April 2019 – San Pere Pescador to Cala Montgo. 9 miles
This morning the weather has cleared up some more, but there is still a cool wind blowing.
After breakfast we pack up and service Jess with fresh water, empty the grey water and refresh the toilet. Today it is a staggering 9 miles, 20 minute drive to a bay that we used to anchor in called Cala Montgo. We used to go there and anchor in the bay in the hot sun, bobbing about, using the tender to go ashore to buy pizza and ice-cream to bring back to the boat. We had some lovely overnight anchoring there, so today let’s see what its like on land. Being April places are still closed, so it’s very quiet and cool. We shall see.
The campsite is nice and quiet, not many people here, we get a nice pitch and settle in. We go for a walk to the bay and have a beer and reminisce. It looks very different now, the weather, the sky etc. all make it look different. Still nice though. We are looking for lunch and find a restaurant doing a menu del dia (menu of the day). We find one doing a paella and sepia for 18 euros. It’s cold so we head back to the van to get our coats and head back out but Hayley decides to make her own paella instead. We have a delicious paella outside in the sun, sheltered from the cool wind. It was wonderful, really tasty and really comfortable.
We are visited by a bird, which we toss little bits of bread to. Tiny little friendly thing with one leg! Poor thing.
Tuesday 9th April 2019 – Cala Montgo to L’Estertit. 15 miles
Heavy rain last night, very heavy. The weather is not great today. According to the forecast, it will be damp all day. No matter, we have a lovely breakfast of coffee and pastries at the camp cafe and once we are cleaned up and packed we move on to L’Estartit. Another short drive.
The campsite is supposed to be a similar rating as the Aquarius campsite in San Pere Pescador. No way… It’s a bit scruffy in parts and some of the shower/toilet blocks are not working. The site is also at the scruffy end of the town which is a bit of a walk away. There are other like-minded Brits here, escaping the UK and its Brexit woes.
Once settled in we walked around the camp. It’s okay but nothing like the camps we have been to in Costa Brava so far.
It’s a long wet walk to the town as we get the odd shower of rain. It’s cold too. We walk to the marina at the other end of the town and have a beer before doing the walk back. It starts to rain again. Oh well.
Another ace dinner on Jess.
Wednesday 10th April 2019 – L’Estertit to San Pere Pescador. 20 miles
We are going to do a part turnaround today. Not far though. We are going back to the Aquarius campsite, the good one, the nice one. We have quite a pile of laundry building up so it will be a good place to get that done. It’s sunny but with good wind. We will probably do another day or two here. We shall see.
Washing day…
We get a different, quieter spot this time, with lots of space to get our washing line strung out as we take turns going to the washing machine. We will get the washing dry today. It’s windy today, very windy. Oh, and a pigeon manages to drop a poo on some of our clothes. Nice.
…toilet duty.
Thursday 11th April 2019 – San Pere Pescador, Spain to Castelnaudary, France. 141 miles
The weather is not good this morning, it’s very windy, fierce. The skies are grey and threatening. Not what was forecast? During breakfast we make the decision to get some miles under us today and move on, the weather is not great. The campsite is great, but there is only so much you can do here, so we say goodbye to the Aquarius Campsite. We liked it here. A very nice place.
Hayley gets the maps and books out and sets us a route to leave the Costa Brava and make our way north again, back through France and towards home. We have only been here for a week, it took a week to get here but it has been worth it.
The wind is fierce as we drive over a bridge that is exposed to the wind straight from the coastal town of Leucate which is wide open from the sea and the wind funnels up to the road at high speed. Nasty. It’s so strong that Jess is getting really pushed about on the bridge.
Back in France
Del is at the wheel and doing a good job of keeping Jess in a straight line. We are heading to the town of Castelnaudry that is responsible for giving us a tasty French dish called cassoulet, a nice hearty stew, probably something that we need.
We are using another Camping Car Park, which uses a card an a barrier, very neat, very simple. We first met this system in Capdenac. By the time we get parked the weather has turned cold and grey. We are having a bit of trouble with the alarm showing errors, so we start to swap out door sensors and have a phone conversation with he manufacturers, Vanbitz. After a while and a bit of fiddling we are all up and working and Jess is secure again. All done in the rain.
We set off, it’s cold and damp, but we brave the weather and set off. We are located in a town which has France’s biggest canal basin located on the Canal du Midi. It’s massive and we are really close to it, but it’s so so cold. We have had enough and go back to Jess, we are soaking wet and cold. We get the heating on and soon thaw out. It’s not nice out there. Hayley looks up the best restaurant in town so that we can try some of this cassoulet. The best in town is closed but the second is open, Restaurant Chez David.
At 7:30 we step outside again, it’s stopped raining, at last, but it’s still chilly. We arrive at the restaurant which is small and cosy. It all looks very charming but has a small twist in that the waiter is a big skinhead with tattoos and the music playing is death metal, it’s not loud, but they are playing it all the same which is unusual. Hayley has a flambeed camembert,
Del a salad. We both have the cassoulet which was brilliant. Very rich, very heavy, so much so we can’t eat it all and we are offered a doggie bag (sac de chien?) to take the rest home. There was a little room for a Del to have a creme Catalan! Hayley is not sure about cassoulet. It’s a bit ‘meaty’. She says.
The walk back to Jess was cold and wet. By the time we got back to the van, the rain was heavy. We got back just in time. We are tired now and full…
Friday 12th April 2019 – Castelnaudary to Caumont-sur-Garonne. 143 Miles
Finally we wake up to sunshine. What a relief, the rain was getting us down a little. Today we are going to Caumont-sur-Garonne, we are going to a free aire there. We set off and after many hours of driving and some dodgy roads, (that’s what you get if you avoid the expensive motorways) we arrive at our next stop. It’s a long day but the drive is very pretty.
We drove through lots of lovely countryside, vast expanses of bright yellow rapeseed fields, green pastures and tree-lined roads. The French countryside is beautiful.
Once we get parked up we need some exercise after being sat down driving all day. It’s nice, the sun is out, it’s cool but the fresh air and the cycling brighten our day. Dinner tonight? The doggie bag from last night with a salad…! Yum…
WEEK 2: Luant, France to Empuriabrava, Spain – 483 miles
Saturday 30th March 2019 – Luant to Martel. 142 miles
Short on diesel and drinking water, we find a supermarket and re-stock, but while there we pick up a 1kg pot of potato salad. It’s very nice indeed. It’s quite a slog this getting south thing, but we are doing well. In about 3 or 4 days we should be in Spain! It’s mostly free motorway to our next stop. Today we are stopping at the medieval town of Martel, “The town of seven towers“, is a beautiful place.
The tiny local campsite is closed so we park in the aire across from the church and just outside of the town. We manage to bag a nice spot on the the green, it’s lovely here, very nice. We sit about and just laze about in the sun in our shorts. We will explore the town later when we go for dinner.
Dinner at the local restaurant was ok. We are a little early in the season as a lot of the places are still empty. We eat dinner at the Le Sans Lys. Hayley has duck, Del has steak. We finished with a very poor cheese board, unusual we thought. The French are supposed to be good at this cheese thing.
We have a nice evening walk around the town and end up in a bar that has some live music on. We have a couple of drinks and Hayley gets kissed by a rather tipsy Frenchman who is going around the bar kissing everyone! Just like the French that…
A nice walk back to Jess and a quiet night. Too much to drink though. And kissing…!
Sunday 31st March 2019 – Martel to Capdenac. 189 miles
Its a cooler morning today, but it’s bright and sunny. We need water desperately and we need to change the toilet! We set of towards the A75 and we try 4 aires. One is blocked by a visiting circus. Two have the water turned off! and the 4th has a rather steep and narrow entrance. We arrive in Capdenac which has a campsite that has a barrier and a card machine that requires membership. We pay the fee, but we can’t get in. A quick call to the management company and the barrier goes up and we are in.
It’s rather nice here, next to the river, with a main road running next to us but it’s not too noisy. The site is run by Camping Car Park. You pay a fee for a card that you swipe to get into the site. They run quite a few sites throughout France and part of Spain, so it might come in handy another time on the trip. We manage to do a full service on the van and we are facing the river. Nice.
We decide to get some exercise and drop the bikes from the back of the van and set off and head towards Capdenac le haut which is a winding road upwards that goes through a tunnel and pops out in the town of Capdenac on high. It’s supposed to be one of the prettiest villages in France however we are scuppered as the road up is very steep.
We are not fit enough for this so we give up and free wheel back done to Jess and have a lovely paella outside. All very, very nice.
Monday 1st April 2019 – Capdenac to St. Pierre La Mar. 165 miles
Not a great sleep last night, no idea why. We finally get up at 9 am. We need to service Jess again. We find a place where we can get diesel, water, air for the tyres and they have a vacuum cleaner here so we give Jess a bit of a clean up inside. We take the tight, winding road up to one the prettiest French towns, Capdenac. It was worth it. There was a place to park up there and we had a good walk around the town. We are now setting off for Millau and the famous viaduct!
The route to the Millau Viaduct is very twisty but pretty and finally the viaduct comes into sight.
It’s quite impressive, and spectacular as it spans the valley. Quite something. Del drives us over the bridge while Hayley takes pictures and just sits in awe at the construction of the bridge.
There is an exhibition here which is brilliant that tells the story of the viaduct, why and how it was constructed. Time to move on. We are heading to another aire in the town of Fleuny. Once near it’s a 5km drive on very iffy roads. It better be worth it, it better be open. It’s closed…!
We decide to drive on towards St. Pierre La Mar, on the coast. Again the roads around here are very bad, full of potholes, bits missing, twisting and traffic. We arrive at St. Pierre La Mar, which is full of camper vans, we can now see the Med. We have been driving for 6 days from home to the Med in Jess, which we have really enjoyed. We have seen some lovely places.
St. Pierre La Mar is a strange place. We walk into the town, it’s the beginning of April, spring, but the town is deserted, it feels very strange to walk around. A few restaurants are open but it just feels weird. We decide to go back and to eat dinner on Jess after we walk on the beach and look out to the Med. We are quite proud to get here. This is the area that we used to sail our boat Stargazer around and now we are here in Jess, our land yacht.
We’ve arrived at the Med…!
Tuesday 2nd April 2019 – St. Pierre La Mar, France to Port Vendres, Spain. 75 miles
After a quick service at the St. Pierre La Mar aire, we set off to find diesel and GPL (heating and cooking gas).
Hayley at the wheel today
We find a station but it involves a lot of reversing and forwarding and reversing and soon it’s very busy. There is also a van wash here, Jess is due a good bath again, so for 12 euros she gets a good wash and once again she looks very respectable on the road as we zoom down the A9 motorway to make for the border town of Port Vendres. We stayed there many time on Stargazer, so we are looking forward to getting there.
We arrive at the town of Port Vendres and we are parked just at the side of the port in a nice little overnight parking spot. The police come in the morning to collect the payment! We set off for a walk to the town which was just as we remember it. A small fishing town/harbour with lots of restaurants around the perimeter of the harbour.
Its very nice, so nice we have a nice lunch out of crispy pork/salmon mousse and steak, all helped along with a red wine from the nearby town of Collioure. Lovely.
We spend the late afternoon back at Jess. It starts to rain, heavy rain but once it stops in the early evening we go for a walk along the harbour wall to the red light that we passed many times on our boat.
The sea is flat calm. It’s a lovely night. Tomorrow we will be in Spain.
Wednesday 3rd April 2019 – Port Vendres to Roses. 52 miles
At 8:15 a very polite French policeman turns up to collect the 6 euros for the overnight stay. Today we will cross the border into Spain and head for the seaside town of Roses, another place that we stopped on Stargazer.
A cat from Cat Mountain,Llanca
We are attempting to to get there via Banyuls and Llanca. The road is over the hills and is very twisty and dangerous but we manage it.
French / Spanish border
We want to stop in Banyuls but we can’t find a space so we head on to Llanca passing the heavily graffitied border post. We are now in Spain, it’s taken a week. Another new country sticker for Jess.
After a trip many times round the one way system we park up in Llanca. It’s nice here. We used to stop here too so we know where to go. We go to a bar for some Spanish coffee and tortilla, bread and tomato. The Spanish do the best coffee, smooth and very tasty. We have a walk but the skies are getting very dark, but very dark, black in fact. There is a lot of rain on its way and things just don’t look the same in the gloom. It’s still great to be here though.
Time to set off for Roses. Not only did we come to this area by boat but we used to come here on holiday, we would hire a car and drive around the area and now we are driving around in our motorhome. Great. The campsite in Roses is in the middle of the town and is a bit tricky to find, once we get there we find that the campsite is quite tight. The roads inside are small, trees everywhere and the pitches are small.
We have laundry to do today and they have a washing machine and dryers here. You buy your tokens from the office, who are very friendly, but we find the the machine gobbles up the tokens and doesn’t start the machine. It takes ages, but ages to get the staff to give us some replacement tokens. It is lunch time and the Spanish tend to take very long lunch breaks.
We finally get the tokens and get our washing done just in time for the heavy rains to come again, but this time it’s very heavy and very miserable, not what we were hoping for. Grim.
Finally, the weather has changed, the rain has eased and stopped so we take advantage of this break in the weather and take the long walk into the Port of Roses. It’s a good walk. We need stuff for the van. We need a new pan and a mat for the van, if the rain carries on we need something to step in and out of the van without getting soaking wet shoes or boots in the van.
A great dinner tonight on Jess, fajitas, home made in the new frying pan.
Thursday 4th April 2019 – Roses to Empuriabrava. 7 miles
This morning we have lovely bright blue skies. That’s the thing about Spain compared to home. It rains heavy, and it can be really heavy, but then it just goes bright and clear unlike home where it just rains and stays grey, bits of blue sky then more grey and rain… Yuk! We set off for the short drive to Empuriabrava. Before we bought a boat we used to spend hours here sitting on the harbour wall just watching the boats going in and out, we loved it. More than 20 years ago!
Our ‘chilly’ stop
The free stop in Empuriabrava is next to a refrigeration plant, but it’s a nice stop. There are other vans here so we have company. Once we get settled we get the bikes down, it’s been a while since we did that, and set of for a bike ride. It’s nice and flat here so we can get some good exercise. We are on our bikes for a good few hours exploring, we really enjoy it, seeing all the places that we used to go to all those years ago.
Now we are hungry but what to eat? Spain is good for a ‘Menu of the day‘ 10 to 12 euros gets you a two or three course lunch which usually can be very nice. We cycle back towards the van at the other end of town keeping an eye open for a restaurant to fit our budget, no joy, however there is a supermarket near where we are parked, they have a menu of the day! A supermarket has an outside restaurant that does a menu of the day, very classy!!
It fits our budget so we get a table and we have a wonderful lunch, we are not kidding, it was just perfect. Pan con tomate, iberico ham and calamares. We sat outside and enjoyed a great lunch in the afternoon sunshine with a glass of cava. Does it get any better?
Not far from here is an airfield that has a very world-famous and popular skydiving centre, so of course after a few drinks and a great lunch, we weave off on our bikes to the airfield. It has undergone some changes since we were last here, with a new building and a flashy cafe. We watch the planes take off full of folk who, 20 minutes later are landing on the nearby grass field. Looks great but not for us!
Near to the airfield is a new shiny aluminium building that does simulated skydiving. You put on a suit and step into this large glass tube, a big fan starts up and you get pushed up, floating about. Takes all sorts. Hayley is interested but not sure.
Back at Jess, Hayley decided that she will give the skydiving machine a go! Takes all sorts! We set off and she pays the fee and is soon dressed in a suit, helmet and some goggles. She steps into the machine with Alex, a very helpful chap from the venue, and within seconds she is pushed up the glass tube. She loves it as the speed is dropped and revved up making her go up and down, giggling and screaming as she is pushed up at high speed then drops like a stone. She has a great time.
There is an offer that allows you to go even higher and spin, it’s a bit extra but who cares, it’s not everyday you can do this kind of thing. She is shot up to 15m at high speed and coached how to spin down by the very able Alex. She comes out with her hair all over the place grinning and red!
After a good scream and a giggle, we go back to Jess. Cheese and biscuits tonight after our heavy lunch. A great day.
Friday 5th April 2019 – Empuriabrava to San Pere Pescador. 8 miles
It’s sunny but cool this morning. The refrigeration machine has been working overtime, it’s covered in ice.
We still don’t know what it does or why, but a tanker appears and does something then disappears half an hour later. Today we are setting off to San Pere Pescador. We have spent so many holidays over so many years there so we are looking forward to it.
We drive to Camping Aquarius. It’s a strange drive. We drove these roads so many times years ago and now we are doing it again in Jess.
Setting up for a couple of nights stay
We arrive at the campsite which is just wonderful. Nice big pitches, great facilities and near the beach. The staff are very friendly and we get settled in quite quickly.
Our local beach
We get the bikes off again, take a good bike ride to the town of San Pere Pescador and have a cold beer in a bar while trying to rent out our flat in London. We take a good walk and bike ride around the town. It hasn’t changed at all.
We cycle back and get to the campsite just in time for the heavens to open…! It pours down for the rest of the day. Hayley makes us a traditional Spanish stew tonight which is just fantastic…
Monday 25th March 2019 – Home, East Cowes to Waverley Park, East Cowes. 0.25 miles!
Many months of planning have finally come together for today and our next journey in to Europe with Jess our 6m home on wheels. We hoped we would have used her more since our last trip out, which was back in the summer of 2018, almost, but not quite, a year. It’s been a busy and eventful year so time was gobbled up with no time for Jess. No matter, we start today, our second European van trip.
When we say planning we use the term loosely as our plan never quite goes to plan, but we have to start with something. Our idea is to drive through France, with haste, and get into Spain and visit the same places on land that we visited by boat. We want to explore parts of the Costa Brava, then turn around, back up through France somewhere then home. Well something like that. Let’s see how it goes. Time to get Jess bathed and ready.
The shortest van journey ever!
Del loads up Jess at home white Hayley goes off to do a full shop and stock up. We have a long trip today. Less than half a mile, as the crow flies, to a campsite called Waverley Park which is just behind our house. It’s useful to go there overnight. It is a good location for the ferry and to prepare and make sure that everything is working before we set off.
The spot we are given is perfect. A fully serviced pitch with a great view of the Solent. We have a lovely evening there, after restocking and checking everything. We sit in the front of the van, windows open, sipping Spritzers as the sun sets. Very nice.
Tuesday 26th March 2019 – East Cowes, UK to Poperinge, Belgium. 216 miles
Up bright and early this morning 7 am. We get breakfast, clean up and just stop at home for a shower before driving to Fishbourne for the ferry to Portsmouth. Finally, we are on our way. We arrive at Fishbourne only to be told that our ticket is invalid! Not a great start. Hayley sorts it out and we finally board the 10 am ferry.
The Brexit argument still rumbles on, with no deal made and the deadline of three days is fast approaching. In case of a no deal we are concerned about traffic in and out of Dover.
It could be chaos. In its wisdom the UK government have set up a trial on the M20 motorway called “Operation Brock”. In the event the roads are empty. There are lots of trucks lined up to go into Dover Port as we all as the Eurotunnel.
We arrive at the Port of Dover, with a quick check in and are just waved through by French customs and told which lane to go to to board the boat. It’s empty. There are a few lines of trucks but we are the only motorhome and three cars. Very odd. We can’t understand whats gong on. Maybe people are just staying away until the deal with the EU is struck or not. Never mind Project Brock. More like Project Fear, as it looks like holiday makers are just staying away. For us it was the best and easiest jump from the UK into Europe.
On the boat, it’s quiet too, very quiet. All the truck drivers are in their own lounge that’s provided for them, and there are probably 5 families in the lounge. We like this!
We disembark and head north east towards Belgium. We are heading for a campsite that we have stayed at before on our first trip. It’s a working farm in Poperinge, Belgium called Stal’ t Bardehof. It’s getting dark just as we arrive and we find that we are the only ones here. We like it here. It’s been a long and partly stressful day what with the ferry ticket being invalid and the fear the Operation Brock will blight our journey, but everything in the end was good. Tired, we settle in for the night. We are trying to get through France quick to Spain, so we will be doing some miles starting tomorrow.
Wednesday 27th March 2019 – Poperinge, Belgium to Buigny les Gamanches, France. 214 miles
This morning we are woken up by a squeaky cockerel attempting or practising his call. We have a leisurely breakfast when we get up at 8:30 am. Lots of miles to do today, so after fussing with some horses at the farm we set off. We are going to Buigny les Gamanches, directly south of Calais, southwest of where we are.
Our drive takes us through many small French towns, some very cute, some not so cute. Along the route, we make several stops buying water, pastis and some thermal cups so that we can have hot or cold drinks on the drive down to Spain.
Our thinking is to break up the trip with a stop at a France Passion stop in the town of Pierrecourt, however when we arrive at the stop we can’t find anyone, so without too much of a wait, Hayley finds another stop for us. It’s another France Passion stop, an organic cider producer, called le chant des oiseaux (Bird song). It’s set up a little like a French aire with places for 8 vans, it’s very smart and when we arrive we are welcomed by two dogs, excitable dogs… We think they are Irish Wolfhounds. Despite the owner shouting at them to ‘come back‘ they take no notice and continue to bark, run around, tails wagging at the thought that two new humans have turned up and will probably fuss them.
The town is small with not much here, but after a drink of the local cider and a chat with the very friendly owner, we have a look around. It’s a short walk but pleasant.
Once we get settled and have fussed the dogs, one of them decides to come on board to inspect the inside of our van, much to the irritation to the owner, but to the amusement to us. The dog leaves when another van comes in, which means he has to bark and run off welcoming the new arrival. Some people would probably not like that, a dog barking at them, but they were just daft, daft as brushes. They just liked people turning up, to walk around their vans and if possible get inside to have a look.
Back at Jess, we have another sip of cider as the sun sets over the orchard. A very nice day.
Thursday 28th March 2019 Buigny les Gamanches to Chartres. 140 miles
It’s a lovely morning this morning and we now know why this place is called Bird Song, they are loud, very loud but its nice to hear. We are not far from St Nazaire which is where the Airbus is made and they offer an excellent tour of the plant, however we have left it a bit too late to book a tour. Doh! We are also not too far from the D-day beaches that we would also love to see. So we have to decide. D-day beaches or do we just go down the middle of France and head towards Spain. We flip a coin. No D-day beaches today. We are going south. Our next stop will be Chartres, southwest of Versailles.
We are using the motorways today and stop at a fritterie, chip shop, wagon. Very popular with French truck drivers, however, we just want a small tray of chips and not what the truck drivers eat which is extraordinary – simply it’s a half-meter baguette stuffed with chips and you can have melted cheese drizzled on top. It’s called an American. Really!!
The town is very nice with a rather impressive cathedral currently undergoing extensive renovations. Back at the van, we have a great dinner in the evening, watching and feeding the ducks. This is what it’s all about. Del shares his rice cakes with a pheasant. A very nice day and stay.
Friday 29th March 2019 Chartres to Luant. 141 miles
Brexit day. Will there be a deal or not? A possible three hour drive today to a lakeside aire near to the town of Luant will put us half way through France. So after a nice outdoor breakfast in the sun and listening to the birds, we pack up and set off. It’s a beautiful day today. Again we are on the motorways, which can be expensive. It’s a long monotonous drive but after two and half hours we arrive at our stop, a lovely spot by a lake, where other vans are, and we have a very nice lunch before setting off on a walk around the lake.
We do get a bit lost and finally get our way back to the van after an 8km walk.
When we get back, other vans have arrived, which we like, it’s nice to have some company. It’s dark, very dark. The stars are amazing here.
The band and crew have finally arrived, late. The bus bringing them here had a few problems along the way. They were supposed to be here before we arrived more than 12 hours ago, but they had fan belt and AC issues, so when they did arrive they were not in the best of moods.
Plus it was so hot that instead of using the normal AC generator, which was also broken, the engine had to be used to power the AC which meant the engine had to be all day and night, and the back of the bus was right next to us… Great. All we can hear all day and all night is the band bus engine…
A broken Silvergray tour bus
Some of the crew come and admire Jess, taking turns to come on board to look at how we live, poke their noses into the toilet and shower, and bounce up and down trying out the seating arrangements. They are all very complementary so we set off in search of some lunch and a break from the bus engine.
After lunch and beer, we sit and watch the afternoon music but it’s far too hot. We find another toboggan run a small one. It’s ok but again nowhere near as good as the 3km one in Todtnau.
It’s late afternoon and Camel are not on stage until 10:30 tonight, so we go back to the van and try to relax, but the engine noise is driving us mad. Sometimes it goes off once the AC has reached temperature, but it soon starts up again. The back of the bus’s engine bay is also open to help with the cooling. It’s so loud.
Time for dinner. The day seems so long, it seems hours away yet before the band are on. We have a great dinner at the side of the van with the trees next to us.
Dinner at the “Night of Prog” Festival
It’s nice with a glass of red wine in the shade and the Volvo diesel engine from the bus next door!
Del goes back to work to do some more focusing in-between bands. Finally, Camel are on stage for a long 2-hour set. It goes down very well. The audience love them. The band are now in better spirits after such a bad journey here.
We help them pack up and get back to the bus and say goodbye. It seems to take forever for them to attach the trailer to the bus but finally they are done and they leave. Finally, peace at last. Bliss… We get 8 hours of Peace and quiet before it’s our turn to leave.
Sunday 15th July 2018 Lorelei, Germany – Landgraaf, Holland. 129 miles
Today is the day that we have to turn around and start to make our way back home. We have been away for 5 weeks and we have a week to get back home, de-prep Jess and put her back into storage until the next time. We love Jess. She has performed well on her first trip out, exceeded expectations, and given us no problems or issues at all. We are very pleased with our purchase.
Our return journey will take us up north to Holland and to the town of Landgraaf which used to be a large coal mining town. It’s not only the UK that’s had pit closures. It will also be a long journey today, we haven’t done a long drive for a while, 2 and a bit hours. We get packed up and do a full van service and a diesel and LPG top-up. We are ready for our last week. It’s been a nice couple of days, noisy, but nice.
Our stop in Holland is a campsite on a farm but when we arrive there is only one space left and it’s not in the best position, right by the gate, some old caravans and piles of bricks, so instead we head for an aire.
It’s a nice clean place, barriered entrance and nice pitches that we can choose from, but we are plagued with flies, loads of them. It’s hot, very hot, and we are still a bit tired from our noisy nights in Lorelei so we have bit of lay down. It’s too hot.
We watch the World Cup final. France wins… Well deserved we feel. Dinner was another one of Hayley’s paellas. It was absolutely delicious. Feeling a bit more revived and cooler, we take a walk into town. There is another festival on making a right racket. It’s the Neverland Festival. A bit more of a dance festival than prog rock.
Back at the van, where it’s now a little cooler, we find that we are plagued with flies in the van, 7 of them buzzing around. Oh well that’s camping for you.
Monday 16th July 2018 Langsraaf, Holland – Felleries, France. 123 miles
Del can’t stand the flies any longer and is up early. It’s hot already. We have a fabulous full breakfast before setting off. Today we are crossing another border into France and to the town of Felleries. Another 2-hour drive of mainly motorways to a lovely municipal campsite with lovely friendly French welcome from the staff.
Once we are installed and comfortable in our fly-free pitch we head off into town. It’s a Monday today and as is the way in France, most of it is closed. There is a nice old water mill here so we have a look around it. We are spotted by the curator and he very kindly invites us in for a personal tour of the mill. He starts up the mill and gives us a demonstration of the equipment, especially the foot operated lathe, which Hayley likes. It’s all very interesting and very nice of the guy to take the time and show us around. What a nice man.
There is a cycle track here that runs where there was once a train line. We thought that we would give it a go but it starts to rain.
We have a nice simple dinner and then back into the town. There is a jazz festival on and tonight it’s a 5-piece swing band.
It’s all very charming with festoon lights and small stalls selling crepes. Lovely.
Tuesday 17th July 2018 Felleries – Herlies. 81 miles
We have a nice long sleep in this morning. After breakfast, we are in search of a van wash. Jess hasn’t been cleaned for three weeks, she is filthy and covered in bugs. After a bit of internet searching and driving around we finally find one. Its a strange arrangement though. It look new, the wash itself is on a hill, and to get to it, and to be inside the wash area properly, the drive into it is a steep, almost 30 degree hill. It was a bit scary as Jess is side-on to go up and round into the wash area. Gulp! She’s in and washed. She looks lovely when she has had a bath.
We are running out of food so we need to find a good supermarket to stock up. We end up down a wrong street and faced with a hight restricted bridge of 2.7m, fortunately we find a side street to go down to avoid that. Very lucky. We could have been unpopular if we had to reverse all the way back up the street. Finally an Auchan supermarket. That’s a no go also as there is a height restriction there. Not doing well, until finally we find a huge Lidl with lots of space and everything that we need..
We arrive at the campsite in Herlies which is ok. Lots of static full-time caravans, some look like they have not been used for ages. The pitches are ok and private with high hedges surrounding your pitch. Too many noisy kids here, so noisy we move to another pitch.
We finally get settled. It was worth it
We finally get settled in and go for a walk around the very nice town, which is open!
Ooops!
Wednesday 18th July 2018 Herlies, France – Poperinge, Belgium. 37 miles
Back at Poperinge.
It’s a lovely morning this morning. Peaceful as well, glad we moved. We have a smashing breakfast outside in the morning sun. We pack up and set off along the French/Belgian border and dive into Belgium and into Poperinge, the place where our first European adventure in our van started.
We do like it here. There are only a couple of other vans here so it’s nice and quiet. There are lots of forest walks around here so we set off. We stumble into a relic from the war, a V1 rocket launch site.
50-odd meters of angled ramp was pointed towards London which is only 250 km from where we are standing. It’s all very interesting as it is buried deep in the forest, and this one is not the only one.
We have a lovely dinner back at Jess with a few beers and walk along the road where we watch a fantastic sunset through the cornfields.
A lovely last night for our first European tour. Most enjoyable and most memorable. That’s what it’s all about after all!
Thursday 19th July Poperinge, Belgium – Home, UK 230 miles
Up early today, at 7 am. Today we are going home, but first, we have to stop at a wine warehouse to pick up our order, an order that Hayley placed a few days ago. We are picking up 10 boxes of wine, 6 in each box… That’s a lot of wine.
Wine stored everywhere!
We are at the shop by 9 am, we have to pick up the order and then get to the Calais ferry port for check-in. The order is ready and waiting for us, so we get loaded up and get to the Port of Calais with plenty of time to spare, enough time to have coffee and croissants.
Other people have the same idea as one family has set up a full table and chairs outside their van and sit down to a full breakfast. Well why not?
The crossing was uneventful, calmer than our outbound journey 6 weeks ago. We are soon on the rough roads of the UK’s M25, and it is rough, very rough. A couple of hours later we are in Portsmouth for the final ferry to the Isle of Wight and home.
Jess is unloaded, and there is so much stuff in the van, when Hayley drives Jess back to the storage place she notices the difference, she feels lighter and easier to drive. Not surprised with all our stuff and an extra 60 bottles of wine!
Finally, at the storage park, we de-prep the last bits and pieces, drag her cover on and secure her safe from the elements.
We enjoyed our first European van trip in Europe. We saw a lot and learnt a lot. We look forward to our next trip. Whenever and wherever that might be…
Saturday 7th July 2018 Lahr – Henridorff. 63 miles
Full Jess service in Lahr
Finally, the weather has changed, it’s lovely. So nice we shall have our typical German breakfast outside, just like everyone else. All the other vans, who are mostly German, are doing the same thing. A table with a tablecloth, a basket of bread, a plate of meat and cheese with a pot of coffee.
All the same, all very neat. We have only been in Germany for a few days and so far we really like it. Who’d have thought?
Back into France today though, and we will come back to Germany on another trip, maybe the next one, but for now, we have really had a nice time in Germany.
Hayley at the wheel in France again
We are going to a campsite called Camping les Huttes, Wangenbourg however when we arrive the site is closed until 2pm, however we get told that the owner will not be back until tonight.
Odd, it’s a Saturday and the site is closed until tonight, We wait until 2pm but nobody turns up so we decide to move on, we are not getting in here today. Hayley is very good on the planning and finding places to stay and soon finds us another site, Camping-Piscine du Plan Incliné. It’s only 35 minutes away so off we go. We have washing that needs doing!
There is something very interesting here, only a 1km walk away. The Plan incliné de Saint-Louis/Arzviller. It was built to avoid 17 locks. It’s basically a lift for boats. A box 41m long travels up and down 45m high and is counter-weighted by 2 weights of 450 tonnes each!
We watch it going up and down a few times from a distance, it’s quite something. We check the opening times and decide to visit it tomorrow.
We are getting through the laundry which is helped along with a cold beer. We would like a BBQ so we make sure that it’s okay with the camp to go ahead.
Fire bucket on standby!
We set up the bricks etc and light the BBQ tray and within seconds we have smoked out half of the campsite. We make our apologies to our neighbours who just tell us not to worry about it and to carry on. It soon settles down and we have a nice feed.
Sunday 8th July 2018 Henridorff – Pont a Mousson. 84 miles
It’s a lovely sunny, warm morning. we have a nice shady spot and have a full breakfast outside in the dappled sunlight. Nice. We take our time and clean up and pack up and do the short drive to the boat lift carpark.
We make our way up to the lift house and watch the whole thing, it’s much higher up here. Very impressive. A box full of water, with a boat sitting in it, is pulled up and down a hill. Amazing.
We visit the engine room and find the whole thing mind-boggling. We also find a toboggan up here, similar to the one in Todtnau, Germany, but it’s nowhere near as good. It was worth trying out though for 3.50 euros.
It’s getting hot, time for an ice-cream before we try another France Passion site, a chicken farm but en route we decide it’s far too hot to be just sitting in the van so we change our minds and find a campsite so we can get our chairs out and sit in some shade. Hayley finds us a paid for aire that is able to take up to 40 vans. We may not get in there but we try for it and we are lucky yo get the last spot right by the river in this very popular aire.
There is a lovely little town here with a massive imposing church. We walk around with another ice cream, before heading back and getting ourselves settled in, awning out and chairs.
Dinner tonight is Hayley’s paella, always a winner. It’s delicious.
Monday 9th July 2018 Pont a Mousson, France – Bon Accueil Alzingen, Luxembourg. 55 miles
We wake up to another nice, sunny morning this morning in the motorhome car park by the river. It’s nice really. Hayley goes off to the local bakery to grab some pastries for breakfast. She returns with rather more than she thought she had bought. 5 pastries in total, no idea how that happened.
Today we are setting off for another new country, Luxembourg. Neither of us has been there before so we are keen to see it. We plan to drive to a nice campsite just south of the city. Once we get settled in we get the bus to the centre of town and just wander around with no plan in mind.
We do get to see the important bits however, the impressive Notre Dame cathedral with its impressive stained glass windows. We just get the tail end of an organ recital, and of course there is the usual array of expensive shops. There is a fabulous view from the walled area of an unusual viaduct and all the houses below.
It’s time for lunch and we are now walking around looking for a menu of the day. All European cities have a menu of the day, but not here, we cant find one anywhere.
The local brew
The normal menu is probably the most expensive we have ever seen so far. It’s very expensive. Down hearted and feeling poor, we make our way to the McDonalds in the hope that it will be cheaper there. Nope it’s just as expensive. We end up sharing a McDonalds meal. How sad is that? We are on a budget and even McDonalds is too expensive for us here. Now we feel even poorer!
We get back to the van and get the bikes off.
Local brew being sampled!
We are told that there is a very pretty route that goes into the town as well, so we thought that we would give that a try. We both consider ourselves as intelligent people, we have a van that we drive around Europe, good responsible jobs etc., but every 100m that we peddle we come across a sign telling us to go one way to the town only to find another sign saying the opposite. This goes on for quite a while. We could not find our way out of the campsite and onto the cycle track, so we just gave up!
We try a takeaway Flammkuchen or an Alsace pizza-style thing with cream and bacon. Not bad. We walk for a while and find a supermarket where we buy some beer and while there we manage to find a cheap bottle of Pastis that we take back and enjoy back at the van in the evening sun. We are visited by a grey tabby cat who gets a fuss while we are packing away for the night.
Tomorrow we are going back to Germany. Who’d have thought?
Tuesday 10th July 2018 Bon Accueil Alzingen, Luxembourg – Weinbau Otto, Schleich, Germany. 46 miles
We didn’t think it would be so soon, but today we are going back into Germany for a bit of a look around, so after a simple breakfast we get cracking. We want to go to the Mosel river and try some white German wine. Our first stop is a stellplatz belonging to a winery.
This motorway bridge is grown over, just for the wildlife to cross over.
It’s another grey day but that doesn’t stop us enjoy the drive through the beautiful Mosel valley with its steep hills of vineyards. Some are very steep, 65 degrees. It would be interesting to see how they harvest the grapes in those conditions.
We are near a large dam and a hydroelectric power plant and there is good cycling to be had here, so again the bikes are released form the back of Jess and we are off on a 5km bike ride to the town of Mehring, where we have a drink before heading back. At a nearby winery we try three wines and buy a bottle of dry white wine. The wineries here are different to France. They are either very modern and new or traditionally beautiful, in this one the two owners are having a sausage BBQ in Hawaiian shirts.
The weather has turned a little cool now, so we stay in the van for the evening and watch some ‘telly’ on the iPad. France are in the World Cup final.
Wednesday 11th July 2018 Schleich – Ellenz Poltersdorf. 43 miles
Good sleep last night. So good we are up quite late, 9am. Today we will stay at our first German campsite, so far all of our stops in Germany have been paid for aires, which has been very nice, but we are due a good campsite. We are heading to Beilstein, ‘The sleeping beauty of the Mosel‘. The drive is spectacular again, better than yesterday as the sun is now out and the steep Mosel valley vineyards just look amazing!
Jess in her new spot by the river
We arrive at the riverside campsite and the description is not wrong. As you look across the river towards Beilstein the scene is just as they say, The sleeping beauty of the Mosel. It looks unreal.
We are given a pitch right at the river’s edge, the whole place is a bit rustic in parts, not quite what we expected, full of potholes. If it rains it might be tricky. We have to pay extra for electricity, which is quite expensive. No matter we are only here for one night and we have the budget.
We take the tethered ferry across the Mosel and into the steep quaint town of Beilstein.
After walking around for a while and getting an ice cream we slog up the hill to the castle where we are rewarded with spectacular views of the Mosel Valley winding through the steep vineyards.
Back at the campsite we visit the on-site restaurant for a couple of giant schnitzels and beer – delicious.
Thursday 12th July 2018Ellenz Poltersdorf – Burgen. 13 miles
Normally not much happens on a Thursday but this Thursday is different, we need to empty our grey tank as the one here is not usable so after we do a rather chaotic supermarket stop we drive around looking for somewhere to service the van. There are lots of pretty towns and we find two aires but non of them have the facilities that we need.
Today we are going to the town of Burgen and to a hotel called Hotel Schmause Muhle where they offer overnight parking for a small fee. It is located next to a small stream, you can use the hotel facilities, they have fresh water and hopefully a place to empty the grey water. Oh, and they have a shower.
It’s very nice here, we get a nice spot right next to the stream after we empty the grey water tank and fill up with fresh.
We are now all set for a comfortable overnight stay. The local town is very nice and we stop at a coffee shop for coffee and cake, and apple pie. A big piece of apple pie, but very big…
Across the road from Jess is the local restaurant which offers an all you can eat buffet or menu. It’s a very strange place. It’s the usual dark wood, red & white check table cloths and the heavy wooden chairs with a heart cut out of the back! While eating you are being stared at by an enormous collection of owls, from large wooden carvings to tiny ceramic figurines.
Very odd but charming all the same. We’ve never seen so many owls in one place before. We have a nice dinner there before heading back to Jess, hopefully for a good night’s sleep.
The lovely town of Burgen
We are not alone, there is a very nice dutch couple staying in the carpark with us.
Friday 13th July 2018 Burgen – Lorelei – 24 miles
Del works on occasion for a band and this weekend they are in concert at the Lorelei Festival they are appearing on Saturday night as a headline act and Del is going to stop by, do the lights for them, paid of course, and then move on to our next stop on Sunday. So today we are not in a rush as we have a space reserved for us backstage, with power with all the other tour buses. Should be good.
As we are in no rush today, are we ever, we do a 38km detour to the longest suspended pedestrian bridge. No doubt that will be broken in the future. It’s the called the The Geierlay Suspension Bridge is 360m long and spans right across a valley. It’s high. We park up and it’s a short walk to the bridge, we pay the fee and off we go. Yes it’s long and yes it’s high and when you get to the middle it bounces quite a lot.
The Geierlay Suspension Bridge
We liked the bridge. German engineering at its finest. We get back to the van and make the short drive to Lorelei and the Night of Prog 2018 festival. To get there we have to cross the Rhine which means a ferry, a very expensive ferry, but that’s the way we have to go.
On the way to the ferry we must have taken a wrong turn because we end up on a steep 18%, incline, downhill, we are warned at the top not to go down if you are over 2.8 tonne, but we did, and we survived! We are 3 and two bottles of wine tonnes!
Finally we arrive at the festival and we are shown where to go for the next two nights. It’s a nice spot amongst the trees to our door side so it’s very private, the tour buses and trucks are on the other side.
Once we introduce ourselves we are given a handful of beer and food tokens. We enter the festival and the afternoon music has already started so we use our tokens to get a beer and sit and have a listen in the glorious sunshine before having a walk around the site. The view from the perimeter fence at the other end of the park is amazing. Our location is very high up, and the view is of the Rhine twisting and turning through the valley with spectacular vineyards each side.
What a view, what a place to have a show! Hayley likes the band Antimatter from Liverpool.
We have dinner at the catering tent, it’s all very simple but nice. Back at the van Hayley settles in for the night while Del has to go to work at midnight to program up the show for his band who are headlining tomorrow night.
WEEK 4: St –Hirtzbach, France – Lahr, Germany. 106 miles
Saturday 30th June 2018 Hirtzbach to Hunigue. 27 miles
Saturday morning and a race is on to get to the local bakery just in time to grab the last two pastries! It’s a very short drive today, all 21 miles of it. Today we are going to Basel. Basel has three borders, France, Germany and Switzerland. Could be interesting. We are also staying there for 4 nights and Hayley booked it many weeks ago. It’s an ideal jump point, Del has to fly back to the UK for a meeting, the flight is tomorrow, so Hayley will be holding the fort until Monday night.
We arrive at the campsite but our first impressions are not great. It’s a little bit scruffy, expensive, no wifi and it has a bit of a “hippy commune” feel about it, nothing wrong with hippies except the tie dye trousers.
Anyway, we get settled in our spot and we set off for a walk and to walk on the “Three Countries Bridge“.
We walk over to Germany and then over the border to Switzerland (it’s H’s first time there) which is a little bit on the industrial side, so we don’t stay too long.
Back to Germany for a beer on the banks of the Rhine then back to Jess, in France.
It’s hot. Very hot, too hot. We don’t have much shade where we are. Not today.
Sunday 1st July 2018 Hunigue. Day 2
Del is picked up by the owner of the campsite, who, on the side, runs a cab service to the airport which is only 5km away but charges 20 euros for the privilege. It’s an early departure, the meeting is in the afternoon and he will be back tomorrow, ready for our departure on Tuesday.
Hayley is left alone and decides to walk before it gets too hot. She has downloaded an app for the local transport, has worked out how the trams work, and makes her way into Basel town centre, which is deserted, well it is a Sunday. The Rathaus (town hall) is quite unusual. Basel Munster is a spectacular red stone church and the town itself is very pretty.
She needs money, but can’t find an ATM. Unusually they won’t dispense less than £70! It’s so expensive here that you’ll need that and more to get by. She has no currency, getting hungry ad thirsty so heads back to France and to Jess. It’s starting to heat up. Back in Germany, there is an ‘all you can eat‘ Chinese restaurant, very disappointing. It’s hot… 35 degrees.
Back at Jess, a large motorhome has parked next door which offers a little bit of shade. An ice cream van has turned up, the roof has to hinge open so the guy selling can stand up to serve you. Very cute.
In the evening it’s still hot, still 35 degrees!
The lovely town of Basel
In the evening it’s still hot, still 35 degrees!
Monday 2nd July 2018 Hunigue. Day 3
In the middle of the night Hayley is woken up by Del back in the UK. He’s supposed to be coming back today but has to visit the doctor. She re-books the flight to Tuesday morning and confirms another hotel room for him tonight.
At 11 am it’s already unbearably hot. She goes to Germany to do some shopping and on return picks up the laundry from the lady at the campsite. Handy, quick little service.
It’s far too hot to do anything, so Hayley gets the awning and chairs out and tries to grab some shade and stays with Jess, feeding the friendly birds who are also probably feeling the heat too.
The only good thing is that now the weekend is over the camp is peaceful and quiet. The site was packed over the weekend including a motorbike club. She is missing the countryside. It is a bit noisy, busy and expensive.
Hopefully Del will be back tomorrow.
Tuesday 3rd July 2018 Hunigue. Day 4
No more phone calls overnight and none this morning. Del will be back today. Hayley wakes up to a rather miserable day with grey skies, rain and thunder. A respite from the heat which is welcome.
It’s confirmed, Del will be back but not until 6 pm tonight. No matter, that’s good, so she has a nice big breakfast of eggs, bacon and hash browns.
By midday the weather has cleared up a little so she takes a walk to the German town of Weil am Rhine. Not much to it so she jumps on a tram to Basel which is very different, there is life here today, it’s busy, a quick look at the ‘Middle Bridge’ and off to the Marketplatz where she buys a pair of new boots! It’s starting to heat up again and she is in jeans.
On the river, on the Swiss side, there is the famous ‘Four Ferries‘, which is well worth a look. It’s a motorless boat so to get across the river the boat is tethered to a wire that stretches across the river which pulls the boat across. It’s very tranquil, all you can hear is the sound of the river rushing by. Nice.
She gets the tram back to Germany the takes the short walk back to France and Jess. Del is due back at 6 pm. The manager picks him up and delivers him back safely, at last, a day late…! We have a beer and dinner and chat for ages until late. It’s a nice evening.
Wednesday 4th July 2018 Hunigue, France to Todtnau, Germany 33 miles
We are leaving today. Thank god, as far as Hayley is concerned. She has been there for 4 nights, it was friendly and interesting enough but it was too long. Time to move on, before she goes mad! Today we are going to Germany. Goodbye France, but not for long, we will be back.
There are tins of beer in there!
We service the van with fresh water and set off for a supermarket so we stock up with food and drink. Germany are out of the World Cup, shame, so the Lidl is selling off World Cup branded beer cheap.
An hour later, having driven through the very picturesque German schwarzwald, we arrive at the charming town of Todtnau and find the ‘stellplatz’ which is already occupied by a couple of Spanish vans. It’s very nice, surrounded by trees. It does have the main road behind us but it’s not too bad. Once settled in we set off for a walk. Hayley is very happy to be in a new place after her unscheduled extra day in Basel, and she is back in the countryside.
Back in the countryside. At last…
This is a skiing town. It’s very pretty with a large two-spire church dominating the charming town square.
We are going to take a walk to a nearby waterfall that is popular with visitors. On the way we get distracted by a shiny metal track weaving down a hill, it looks very odd and we can’t figure out quite what it is. As we get closer we soon discover that it’s an alpine toboggan track! A massive 3km toboggan, and to get to it there is a chairlift. This we have to try.
For a very reasonable 10 euros you can take the chairlift up with the amazing views of the surrounding hills and the town of Todtnau getting smaller behind you, very small though, the lift goes high and a long way.
High up above the town of Todtnau
The return back down the hill is on the toboggan. Bargain. It’s fast, very fast. Hayley is off and away and has to stop on occasion as she is catching up with people ahead of her. She’s quick.
It’s very impressive but the walk has worn us out so when we finally get back to Jess we crack open a cold beer and paddle in the cold water pool which has been installed by the council where we are parked for walkers looking to cool off their feet.
Thursday 5th July 2018 Todtnau. Day 2
The rain is hammering down hard on the van this morning. Finally it eases off so we make our way in to the town for breakfast which was delicious. A good German breakfast of bread, cheese and cold cuts of meat with coffee. Excellent. The rain is about to start again so we head back to the van. It’s supposed to ease off later so we just stay in doors until then.
At 2 pm the rain finally stopped so we set off for the toboggan run again. It didn’t fail to impress again. It was strange going up in the chair lift today, it’s still cloudy so it feels odd to be going up and entering the clouds when it is suddenly misty and quiet.
Hayley in her element, loving the 3km toboggan
No time wasted and soon we are bombing down the hill on the toboggan run, out of the clouds and into a partly sunny day.
We find a supermarket, a Penny. Similar to an Aldi, so we pop in and buy a few essentials. Back to the van to get the boots on and go off for a hike. Hayley is still a bit achy from yesterday but we manage a small walk which is good. It’s still cloudy but back home we manage a small beer outside just in time for dinner. We like it here in Todtnau. Shame we are moving on tomorrow.
Friday 6th July 2018 Todtnau to Lahr 55 miles
We wake up to heavy rain again this morning. Seems to be the thing here, rain. We need some good weather, the rain on the roof can send you a bit mad after a while. We have a good hearty breakfast, service jess with fresh water, change the toilet and drop the grey water. It’s been a great stay here, very enjoyable. Toboggans, waterfalls, quaint little towns and good walks. What more could you ask for. We were going to a campsite, but the weather is not great so it might be better to just find an aire. They do have them in Germany but unlike France, they charge a small fee for them.
After 2 hours we arrive at the town of Lahr. It costs 6 euros for a spot which is well maintained, hard standing and very clean. It’s already busy so we are lucky to get a space.
It’s a bit like a car park for vans but it is very nice. Finally better weather, it’s hot so we get the bikes down and set off for a bike ride.
We do the 7km ride to the nearest town called Seelbach, a very pretty town. We find a local bakery or konditorei for coffee and cake (cafe und kuchen), well when in Rome. Black forest gateau is the local cake. Not Hayley’s favourite.
The skies are filling again with clouds, dark clouds. We pre-empt the coming rain and get back in the van just in time for it to pour down with rain with the odd rumble of thunder.
The couple opposite us have popped their swimwear on and are having a free shower in the rain! Well, why not?
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