Alzingen and then, to Saverne

Thursday, 8th September 2016


A brilliantly sunny day at Camping Bon Accueil, Alzingen.

Yesterday, while chatting to an English couple, on the site (a much younger couple than us), Kathleen acquired a map, showing several cycle routes, around Luxembourg. 

Although the map looks well used, it is unclear, from the conversation, if they had actually completed any of the routes. 

It is not a good start that we cannot find the campsite on the map.

Undeterred, we set off.

We are (we think), following Cycle Route 1, along the River Alvette, toward Luxembourg City, the route is excellent, almost level, with a smooth tarmac surface.

Soon, we even come to the outskirts of Luxembourg City, although, on the downside, the "almost level" has gone, and we encounter some steep hills, as the route leaves the river bank.

A downhill stretch, which, in the way of these things, does not seem nearly as significant as the hills we have gone up, and, we regain the river bank, in a very pleasant park.

A little break, and a drink of water, refreshes us for the next phase.

The map suggests, we simply follow Route 1, along the river, until we reach the junction with Route 15, which we achieve with only one small error.

The map then shows a steep ascent, certainly no error there, the hill is 1 in 5 for about half a mile, a short level section, and then it goes up again for about a mile. 

We are off the bikes and pushing by now of course. Only moderate complaints. There are signposts, but, the places named are not on our map.

We eventually find what we think is the way, but, soon realise, we are wrong. We are in a rather smart urban area, and there are two builders working on a property. Unfortunately, they are Portuguese, and, although very pleasant, they are as unfamiliar with the area as we are.

Eventually, by sheer chance, or, was it excellent navigating by me?, we encounter the riverside park again, and are able to retrace our route, back to the campsite.

Twenty three miles and we have seen lots of the Luxembourg countryside.

Friday, 9th September 2016

The road selected by the Sat-Nav was closed.

The diversion had a low bridge, too low for us, the Sat-Nav did not pick it up, resulting in a three point turn in a small village.

The remainder of the journey was completed, Sat-Navless, and in more or less silence. Enough said on this subject, it is sensitive.

Kathleen and the old-fashioned map got us here.

We have been to Saverne many years ago, before our campervan travels.
It is more or less as we remembered it, very pretty and lively.

The site, Seasonova Les Portes d'Alsace, N46 43' 52" E7 21' 19", is an ASCI site, and, only 15Euro/night. It is also very pleasant. The weather is excellent, sunny, and 27C.

We have, what we hope, is an excellent spot, with a view of the nextdoor Equestrian Centre, where children are being instructed in horse riding.

One slight downside to the site, is, it is at the top of a rather long hill, when coming from the Town Centre. But, we have the scooter.

A ride into town, for coffee and ice-cream, and a chance to watch the boats on the canal which passes through the town-centre.

There are two boats passing through the lock. It is apparent, that the two women, in the first boat, have never used a lock before!

The big question is, will the well endowed woman lose her, rather skimpy, bikini top, as she struggles to throw the mooring rope over the bollard?

Kathleen tells me, the woman has a pot belly, can't say I had noticed.

The French chap, in the boat behind, shouts instructions to them, and, eventually, the succeed in exiting the lock.

The journey, as it unfolds.

This section, in video.

To Luxembourg

Wednesday 7th September, 2016

One of our "plans" was to visit Saverne, a place we went to several years ago, when we were still working, and spent our holidays touring Europe by car.

Last night, we entered the details into the Sat-Nav, to see how far it was from Le Cateau en Cambresis. 

At 300+ miles, a little bit more than we wanted to drive today was the answer. But, I did notice that the Sat-Nav calculated route took us via Belgium and Luxembourg.

I recalled, we had stayed at a rather pleasant campsite, in Luxembourg, on a previous trip, and so, it was decided, we would go to Luxembourg, approximately 150 miles.

A combination of the one hour time difference, and, the previous two days of driving catching up with me (well, I am getting on a bit), means we "sleep in" and are not out of bed until a disgraceful 8:30.

Not to worry, a mostly traffic free journey, with a stop for a lunch break.

I don't usually make a "big thing" of driving "incidents", after all, for anyone who travels by road a lot, they are common place, the world is full of idiots, but, here is a supreme bit of idiot overtaking. 

This Renault Clio overtakes me, despite a large wagon, towing an equally large trailer, coming toward us at speed, on a single carriageway. 

At least the lane markings are on his side!

I bet he needed a change of underwear when he got home, at least, if he got home, with driving like that! 

We arrive at Alzingen, Camping Bon Accueil, N49 50'22" E6 9'36", shortly after lunch-time.

An ACSI site, 17Euro/night.

It is sunny and hot, 27C.


Video of Journey.





The journey, as it unfolds.

En-route to Bruges, first stop, Luxemburg

Tuesday 1st October 2013

We arrive near Luxemburg city, Alzingen, Bon Accueil (N49 34' 9" E6 9' 36"), an ACSI site. It is time for chores, clothes washing is the order of the day.

For some reason, there is a surplus of Brits here, in addition to ourselves, there is a caravan and 6 campervan's from Britain, they all seem to have been to Croatia!

Alzingen is only six kilometres from Luxemburg City, centre, and the bus to the centre stops just outside of the campsite.

Wednesday 2nd October 2013

I do not know if the weather we are experiencing here is typical for this time of year, but, it is decidedly odd. This morning, it is dry, but, very cold. By lunch time there is bright sunshine and a cloudless sky, it is warm enough to sit in the sun sunbathing.

We catch the bus into Luxemburg City. We meet another English couple from the site, at the bus stop. A very pleasant pair, Larry and Pauline, from Brighton.

We limit ourselves to the "old" part, and I manage to miss out all of the shops, a successful day.

It is a very pleasant place, clean, orderly and quaint.

My European history is not too good, so, I am not familiar with the recent past here. It is clear from various monuments that it was over-run by the Germans in both WW1 and WW2, but, it seems to have escaped major damage.

Clearly a very affluent place, but, there are a few beggars around, despite that.

Just goes to show I suppose, no matter what the circumstances, there will always be some who float to the top, and some who sink to the bottom of the economic and social pile.

We have a good wander around, taking in the sights and sounds, including of course, the inevitable Cathedral of Notre Dame, rounded off with a pleasant lunch.

July 4th, 2010 - July 6th, 2010

Mersch - Camping Krounebieg - ASCI2010-410

The site is very smart.

We are now in Luxembourg, I was not sure what to expect, from childhood memories of "Radio Luxembourg", it had sort of "exotic" expectations to it.

In reality, it is very pretty, very rural, and very hilly. Not really high hills, but just sort of very up and down.

Monday, Bryan and Joan decide to take the bus into Luxembourg City.

Kathleen and I decide to investigate the cycle track, although we have no real intention of going all of the way to the city (it is 17km, 10.5 miles, from here), and we have been told it is quite up and down.

In the event it turns out to be easy going, it is fairly flat, as you can see, since it follows a river for most of the way.

The signposting is not up to the German standards we have become used to, and eventually we lose the track, and end up having to cycle along a fairly busy road. We decide to turn back, since we are not too bothered about going to the city, we are just out for the ride. We end up doing 20 miles, so we could have comfortably made it there and back, if we had not got lost.

One odd thing we have noticed, other than in the towns, there does not seem to be any shops, cafes or bars. Goodness knows where the Luxembourgers (or whatever they are called), do their shopping or have a drink.

We return to Mersch, find a cafe and have a snack and a drink, before returning to the van, so that Kathleen can indulge in her hair washing activities for the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday, and it is time for us to begin the final leg of this trip, we have to travel across France to Dunkirk, in order to catch our ferry home.

We say goodbye to Bryan and Joan, for the second time on this trip, as they are now heading toward Brittany, to meet up with some family members, for a family camping holiday.

Our first task before leaving Mersch is to fill up with diesel, Luxembourg we have been told has the cheapest diesel in Europe, it is 1.007 Euro per litre, which is roughly equivalent to 88p /litre, I wish we had a bigger tank!

Stenay - Aire, Port Plaisance

This is the French version of the German Stellplatz we have been using, here it costs 7Euro per night, and that includes Electric hookup, toilets, showers, waste disposal etc.

Our problem now is, we are in "high season", and most of the campsites in our ACSI book do not give discounts during this period. This means that instead of typically paying 15 Euro per night, in many cases, the price increases significantly to something more in the 25 - 30 Euro per night range. As a result, we are using Aires to try and keep our costs under control.

The Aire is by the Canal de La Meuse, which is a functioning canal, with barges and pleasure boats passing, this is the view from our window.

I say the Canal de La Meuse, there is a river and a canal, it is very difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins!, but I think the bit we are beside is the canal.

The Aire is quite scenic as these things go. It is not quite as smart as we have come to expect of the German version, but everything is usable.

We arrive just after lunch time, at which point it is about one third full, but by 16:00 it is full.

It is quite a large aire, with space for about 40-50 vans, in addition to the area you can see in the picture, there are an additional six or so spaces, next to the office (where you "clock in" and pay).

It really is quite a picturesque spot, just a short distance away (about 100 metres), is this Water Mill.

Unfortunately it is no longer actually working, but it is quite an impressive sight all the same.

We are about 40 kilometres from Verdun, of World War One fame.

Stenay, must one have been quite a significant place, there is an enormous building, which is called "The Citadel" and was clearly once a military building, it has now been converted to shops and apartments.

Overall, it is a place of faded grandeur, but it still has that a certain charm and sort of "shabby chic" which the French seem to be adept at preserving.