A light hearted and (I hope) amusing record of some of our Campervan Trips.
It is mainly intended to inform friends and family where we are, plus, to keep our children updated on what is happening to their inheritance.
I do try to include details of Camp Sites and Aires, we visit. Checkout the "labels" listed in the right margin,
Please comment if you feel inclined, at least then I know I am not talking to myself (again).
The weather forecast for today is cloudy, but mild. We had planned to leave Annecy tomorrow, but, decide we may as well travel on a cloudy day, and hope for sunshine tomorrow!
The eternal optimists we are! We have about 150 miles to our next planned stop, Digoin, in Burgundy.
It would appear, this year, we are to be plagued by road closures. We are enjoying an almost traffic free and reasonably scenic drive, when a dreaded "Route Barree" sign appears, soon followed by a barricade across the road, to leave us in no doubt, the road is closed.
The closure is at a place called "Serrieres" and affects what appears to be the only bridge across a river, for several miles, so, we follow the "deviation" signs. Note, I say "signs" in the plural, there are actually two signs, a record in my experience of French signposting.
Several miles later, following a road which does not even appear to be on the map as far as he sat-nav is concerned, we emerge at a bridge, and a road leading in the direction we want to go. We arrive at Digoin, Camping de la Chevrette, late afternoon. We are fortunate enough to get parked and hooked up to the electrics just before the heavans open and we have a half hour downpour. The good news is, the site appears to be well located for the town, and cycling opportunities (if the rain stops!), Although it is "out of season", the place is more than half full.
Friday 18th September 2015 In terms of weather, a re-run of yesterday, ie rain in the morning, clearing to a very pleasant afternoon. As soon as the sun appears, we set out on our bicycles. There are excellent cycle tracks along the lake, it is an old railway line, so, no serious gradients. It is also traffic free, but, you do have to watch out for the "real" cyclists, whizzing along on their racing bikes. A nineteen mile round trip, with a stop for a refreshing beer. Saturday 19th September 2015 The first day for quite some time, we woke up to sunshine, A cycle ride to Annecy and a little beyond. I thought Kathleen was going for the "round the lake" trip, but, not quite, "only" 15 miles today. The sun stayed out for us, until we were passing Annecy on the return trip. We were able to dive into a bar to avoid a shower, then continue on our way. The afternoon is filled by Kathleen doing the "hair washing" exercise. A little panic when the mirror she uses during the hair-drying and straightening phase could not be found. It is very difficult to understand how that can happen, when the mirror is in the care of the tidiest person in the world. Sunday 20th September 2015
Another beautiful day of sunshine. Rather cool in the morning, but, by 11:00 a very pleasant 22C. Kathleen does her duty by going to church. We cycle the four miles into Annecy. In previous years we have had a spate of buying shoes or handbags, this year is clearly the year of the hat, since the second hat of this trip (so far) is purchased at the Sunday Market. A pleasant lunch in a restaurant overlooking the river and town square, followed by lying about in the sun. Just as Sundays should be.
Wednesday 16th September 2015 It has rained for most of the night, and, it is still raining when we wake-up. The weather forecast (provided by the BBC Weather App, on Kathleen's Android phone, and the weather App on my iPhone) tells us, "Rain until 11:00, cloudy but dry until 13:00, then, sunny until sunset. Temperatures rising to 26C". With uncanny accuracy, this is exactly what happens! How come the BBC cannot produce an accurate weather forecast for the UK, but, can achieve pin point accuracy for at least three days in a row for Annecy, France? We have a little worry about actually reversing off our pitch. Because other vans were already parked when we arrived, we had to park by driving on to the pitch, rather than reversing on. This means our front (driving) wheels are furthest from the tarmac. The ground was wet enough to produce a little wheel spin on arrival, it has rained quite a lot since then, but our worries are unfounded and we manage to get off without difficulty. After checking out, we drive the two miles or so to Camping du Coeur de Lac. At reception, we are advised to take vacant pitch 97, because, "it has the best view of the lake". Sure enough, this appears to be true. Facilities on this site are not as good as Camping International du Lac, but, the views are certainly better, and, the place has more "life", since there are a reasonable number of people here. Lunch over, and sun shining, we stroll out, find the church and Mass times, Kathleen is all set for Sunday. Thursday 17th September 2015. This will be a short post. Not sure what happened overnight, but, it POURED with rain all day, until 15:30, plus a few thunder claps. Actually, today's weather forecast was a little inaccurate, it forecast sunshine from 16:00, the sun actually came out at 15:30. Temperatures quite acceptable at 17-19C, even in the rain.
Monday 14th September 2015. Chalon-sur-Soane is very nice, and, I am sure we still have lots to see here, but, Kathleen is determined to visit Annecy. When we check the closing date for her preferred campsite there,(Camping International Lac d'Annecy) , we find it closes September 19th, so, if we are going, we need to go now! Accordingly, we pack up and set off for Annecy. Annecy is East and slightly South of here, so, I suspect, we will be following yesterdays storm, which was moving East.
A hundred and twenty miles approximately, mostly of it almost traffic free, and good road. The climb up to Cerdon is a bit slow, I miss my chance to overtake this lorry. There are only two realistic chances to pass him, I manage the second chance. You have to admire these guys driving such large trucks on these roads, not much clearance here! We have been to Camping International Lac d'Annecy twice before, it is a well appointed campsite, but, on our arrival we find the number of "little houses" has increased dramatically, never a good sign on a "touring" site, in our opinion. We left Chalon-sur-Saone in sunshine, we arrive at Annecy in pouring rain, we have caught up with yesterdays storm I think. By evening, the rain has stopped, the sky is clearing. After our evening meal, Kathleen is munching Maltesers, her favourite chocolate. She complains that the resealable bag, does not reseal very effectively. I point out her that she is probably the first person in the world to attempt to reseal a bag of Maltesers. I ask you, who ever heard of anyone NOT eating the whole packet, at one sitting! Tuesday 15th September 2015 The weather forecast is boringly accurate, sunny in the morning until 11:00, then cloudy until 15:00, then sunny until 17:00, then cloudy again. A cool 19C. There were only four campervans here, including us, this morning two of them leave. The site is like the Marie Celeste. Kathleen has found another campsite (Camping Coeur du Lac Annecy) in the ACSI book, which is open until end of October, and is only a couple of miles along the road, nearer to Annecy. We cycle along there to give it the once over, looks good, we will probably move there tomorrow. We cycle on to Annecy, but, I fail to persuade Kathleen to do the round the lake circuit. Instead we sit drinking coffee, watching the world go by. Back to the van for lunch, and we have cycled 16 miles. In the afternoon, I cycle another 15 miles, just to keep my average up!
It would appear, this year, we are to be plagued by road closures. 
The closure is at a place called "Serrieres" and affects what appears to be the only bridge across a river, for several miles, so, we follow the "deviation" signs. Note, I say "signs" in the plural, there are actually two signs, a record in my experience of French signposting.
