Friday 6th May 2011 - Monday 9th May 2011

Eguisheim, Des Trois Chateaux, (ACSI2011-1274)

An uneventful journey, except that Jane (the Sat-Nav lady) gave up the ghost completely. Not surprising really the amount of abuse she has had to put up with. Now when you switch on the Tom-Tom, it just keeps on asking you which voice you want to use, then, no matter which voice you choose, it restarts itself. This happens over and over again.

We have been to Eguisheim before (on our way to Croatia about three years ago). It is a beautifully preserved medieval village. Touristy of course, but not unbearably so. This part of France was once part of Germany and it looks very German, most of the place names sound German, even although according to the information boards it has been French since the 1600’s.

The site is one of those which is “natural” ie not all of the grass is neatly trimmed etc.

The pitches are set among trees. As ever the Dutch are here in large numbers, but there is a greater mix than we have had so far with French, Belgians, Germans, Danish, and even three other British vans, plus us of course.

As we sit eating our lunch, we are visited by a number of sparrows, who hop about eating the crumbs from our baguette.









Tomorrow is the weekend, so that means we have to find a church for Kathleen. We also need to find a shop, to buy mushrooms. We get the bicycles out and set off, we find the church relatively quickly, but no luck with a shop, so our plans for our evening meal are revised from Spaghetti Bolagnaise to Chilli Con-Carne. The exploring takes us 7 miles of cycling.


The weather is superb, even at 20:00 in the evening, it is 22Centigrade, as we stroll through the narrow streets of the village.


The site is called “Des Trois Chateaux” because there are three ruined Chateaux on the hill behind the site, reception have a map of a walk through the vineyards to the “Trois Chateaux”.

We decide, given how hot it is, that we will do the walk on Saturday morning, before the heat builds up.

You can see the three ruined chateaux on the hilltop (on the right) in the photograph.

We set off quite early (10:00), but already it is so hot we are pleased when we make to the forested area on the hill, to get some shade.

Kathleen as usual forges on ahead, and has a near miss with a small snake sunning itself of the path. I am no expert, but it is only a grass snake I think.

By 11:30, we have reached the top, Kathleen looks as fresh as a daisy not bad for a 64 year old who has just walked 3.5 miles up a steep hill!

Maybe Dr Thornley-Walker needs to reduce her tablets again!

The view is quite stunning, although the three chateaux are now in ruins.

As always I marvel at how on earth they transported all of this stone up here, and then build these enormous structures, all before any form of mechanisation?


The return journey is shorter only 2.5 miles, because we can take the steeper but shorter path downhill through the forest, so we have walked 6 miles in total.


In the evening, I wait in a nice little bar, whilst Kathleen attends church, then we find a pleasant little restaurant for our evening meal.


On Sunday morning, we cycle to Colmar, a ten mile round trip. We have a map from reception, but fail to follow it correctly on the way there, so although we are on a cycle track, it is alongside a fairly major road for most of the way.

There is some form of ceremony going on in Colmar today, a version of Rememberance Day I would guess, since there is much laying of wreaths by dignitaries, and marching of soldiers.


Soon however we are in our favourite position, ie in a pavement bar watching the world go by.

Colmar is quite a beautiful place with some fine buildings and an area of canals, called predictably enough “Little Venice”, where you can wander along the water side,

with the odd horse drawn tourist trip going by.

There are plenty of places to sit and enjoy a rest, or a picnic lunch, It is one of my most enjoyable pastimes when in France, to sit munching my way through a good French baguette.

When you are an OAP, you have to be uptodate on how to find the vital services, since you may find you need to visit them more than in your youth!

Particulalry when you have been visiting too many pavement bars.

But OAP or not, doesn’t she look a picture, outshining the flowers!


We manage to cycle back to the campsite via the correct route, which is just about all away from the main roads, and passes through quiet fields.

In the evening, there is much excitement on the site.

A stork lands in the middle of the site, and wanders around quite unperturbed, whilst everyone rushes to take photographs of it.

It is not unusual to see them circling in the sky, or perched on chimney pots, but I have not seen one this close up before. They are big birds, and it is not at all clear how it is going to manage to get airborne again from among the many trees.

I took this photograph, Kathleen says, is art, I think it just shows that “somebody” is not quite as tidy as they would like to think they are, and that the same “somebody” has too many pairs of shoes with them!






Monday we pack up, and set off for Freiberg. The Tom-Tom is broken, so we are now on Kat-nav (Kathleen-Navigating). We find our way no problem to Freiberg, but finding the site is another matter, and Freiberg is quite a big place. But, not bad, after only one false start (ie turning up at the wrong campsite), we find our way eventually, and we are still speaking to each other (only because I am so easy going).

Freiberg, Camping Hirzberg (ACSI2011-520)

The site is typically German, ir spotlessly clean and very well organised. The chap who books us in is just a little over the top, he not only gives a lengthy explanation of all there is to see and do in Freiberg, but also directs you to your pitch and has you manouvre (my spelling!) until you are neatly lined up with all of the other vans. All very nice however.

This is the area where you put your rubbish, it is so clean, neat, tidy and organised, it could only be in Germany or one of the Scandanavian countries.

Once settled in, and lunch eaten, we set off on foot to explore Freiberg (we are only 1.5km from the city centre). It is hot (27C) and sunny. A cooling beer is necessary.

In the pedestrian streets of the city centre, they have small water channels flowing to cool the place down!

Wednesday 4th May 2011 - Thursday May 5th 2011

Villers-les-Nancy, Campeole Le Brabois, (ASCI2011-1268) continued....

The plan today, is to travel into Nancy on the bus, but, it is hair washing day, so everything must be organised around that.

Whilst I go and collect a baguette, make breakfast and wash the dishes, Kathleen attends to her hair. By 10:30, it is all over, and we go for the bus.

We have already bought our bus tickets in advance at reception (1.30Euro each, each way), so we are all organised.

We arrive at the Bus Station in Place Republic, no problem, well, no problem except that I have forgotten the camera (so any photographs today are via my phone), but I have remembered to bring the street map of Nancy, a bottle of water, and some bread and cheese. Not bad for a man who had to do everything else this morning, I think.

Nancy turns out to be quite stunning, there is an enormous square "Leopold-Ville Vielle".

All around the square, there are magnificent buildings, and of course, since this is France, pavement cafes, with people sitting reading newspapers, drinking coffee, or drinking wine or beer.

The French certainly know how to relax!

We choose a seat at one of the cafes, and join the theme, watching the world go by.

It is now 11:00 in the morning and, at the table next to us, two young men are having breakfast.

They also have a two litre bottle of Rose, we do not know it right now, but when we return to the same cafe for lunch, some two hours later, they are still sat there working their way through it!

After our coffee, we wander through the old streets, we have already decided to keep the picnic for when we return to the campsite, and that we will have lunch in the square.

This is a really impressive place for what is a provincial city, eat your heart out Manchester, Liverpool or Birmingham.

The cathederal is in the process of being renovated, so is covered in scaffolding, which limits the photographic opportunities. It is not even possible to browse the inside unfortunately.

There are plenty more impressive building and open spaces however, and we have not even got to the park yet!

This one is recently renovated and cleaned, not the best photograph I have ever taken, the limits of a phone as a camera is my excuse. It is the Ducal Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine.

Next we stroll into the park, where peacocks are wandering about, and people are sitting eating their picnic lunches in the sun.

We sit and enjoy the sun for a while, before returning to the square for lunch and a glass or two of Rose.

Since I bought the coffee this morning, we discuss the possibility of it being Kathleen's turn to pay. Particularly since she is sitting with 100Euro in her purse which I gave her yesterday. The purse is not openned today.

The two young men who were there in the morning are still working their way through their large bottle of wine, joined now by two friends.

Fully fed and watered, (well wined), we need a stroll for some exercise and for Kathleen to work off the alcohol, she does not do well on lunch time drinking.

We head off towards the canal and the river.

Soon it is time to find our way back to Place de la Republic, to catch our bus to the campsite.

From my point of view, this has been a perfect day in a city. Pleasant weather, a good lunch and a few glasses of wine, a stroll in the park and by the river. Not a single shop visited. Heaven! 

The remainder of the day is spent lying in the sun, drinking wine, what hard work this is!

In the evening, by the time she has graduated to the Gin and Tonic, and talk becomes careless, Kathleen owns up to the fact that, although we have been away from home for a week today, she has not even opened her purse, except to put something in the collection at church, on Sunday.

Thursday morning, Kathleen goes to collect the baguette and buy bus tickets from reception.

The chap in reception admits that he is actually English (from Manchester), so all this time he has been pretending he did not speak English and forcing her to speak French.

We head off to Nancy again, we are joined at the bus stop by another English couple, we had thought that everyone else on the site was Dutch, but no, there is at least one other Brit.

We intend to have an exercise day today, as we maxed out on culture and drinking yesterday, so we stroll along the canal as it runs through Nancy.

It has presumably once been an area of industry and warehouses, but now it has been redeveloped as housing, shops and offices, with walkways and cycle tracks along it's banks.

We use the iPhone to record our walk on Runkeeper, it would appear that picking up the GPS signal is free, this sets me wondering, who pays for all of these GPS satellites whizzing around up there? Someone (the Americans presumably) must have put them up there at great expense.

We do about 4.5miles, and eventually end up back in the large park beside the Square, for a picnic, a rest and a sit in the sun.

Next we move on to the square and Kathleen cracks her purse open to buy the beers.

Eventually we remember, there are chores to do, we (well Kathleen) must wash some clothes, so after our cooling beer we head back to the bus station in Place de la Republic, and take the bus back to the campsite.

Just to prove it is not all fun and drinking, here is Kathleen doing the washing.

But soon it is all hanging on the washing line to dry, and she is sprawled in the sun in her bikini.

Saturday 30th April 2011 - Tuesday 3rd May 2011

Saturday April 30th 2011, Rainham, Kent.



The traffic on the southern section of the M25, past Gatwick Airport, is surprisingly light. We had expected jams because there would be many people returning from London after watching the Royal Wedding yesterday, but no, the traffic was moving quite freely, and we arrived at Brian and Linda’s ahead of schedule.

On Saturday afternoon, we all went to Rochester, to attend the “Sweep’s Festival”. This is a very old festival (400 years old, according to the literature), which has been revived for the past 30 years or so. It is connected with Chimney Sweeps (hence the name), and seems to consist mainly of Morris Dancing, with of course copious amounts of Real Ale.

Saturday is rounded off with a Chinese meal, cooked by Brian, ably assisted (that is supervised) by Linda. Victoria is the only daughter at home, so we have her company, along with her boyfriend Graeme. I hope his meeting the "Reays" experience has not put him off.


Sunday Morning, we have the obligatory church going by Kathleen.

While she is there, Brian takes me to see the area where our Great, Great, Great Grandfather (on our mothers side) was born, in Gillingham, before he moved to South Shields. It is an amazing coincidence that over a hundred years later, Brian should return to live within a few miles of our ancestor’s birthplace.

After a Sunday “Brunch”, we set off for Dover and the Ferry.

This is the first time we have used Norfolk Line since they were taken over by DFDS. They are running almost an hour late, not a good omen!

We wait patiently on the Dockside, watching the seagulls.

Once the ferry arrives, it is quickly unloaded, and we are equally quickly onboard, and on our way to Dunkirk.

We do not make up any time on the crossing, so we arrive almost an hour later than expected, at about 20:00 French time.





Guines, La Bien Assise (ACSI-2011 945)


Our regular overnight stop, when we need one after getting off the ferry.

It is well placed being just a few miles from Calais, but for some reason it always gives the Sat-Nav a problem. So, as we leave on Monday morning, Sat-Nav wars begin. To prevent divorce, the Sat-Nav is turned off, and Kathleen relinquishes the driving to take over the navigating.

As far as I can see the only difference between and female navigator and a Sat-Nav with a femail voice, is, when the Navigator makes a mistake (and they do occasionally, but we will not mention that), the Sat-Nav does not shout abuse at her.


Monday 2nd May 2011 Aire at Catillon sur Sambre (N50 32.155’ E1 35.563’)


Just off the N43, with room for four vans, right beside the La Sambres et L’Oise Canal.

It is a very pretty spot, spoilt a little by the noise as heavy goods vehicles pass over the bridge (which is able to open to allow boats to pass) on the N43. But the traffic died away to almost nothing overnight, so it did not disturb our sleep. 

There is free unmetered electric hook up. The Aires Book (All the Aires France, 3rd Edition), and the sign at the Aire say it is 5Euro per night to stay, but no one turned up to collect any money, and there is no facility to pay with a credit card or whatever, so we had a freebie. 

There is a path/cycle track along the canal, in both directions (ie North towards Belgium, and South).

I cycled along the path to the South for about three miles, after about two miles you come to a lock and a cafe (closed when I got there).

I went on for another mile, but did not come to any further signs of life, except for a few people fishing from the banks of the canal.

As you can see, Kathleen opted to top up her tan, rather than join in the healthy cycling.

We had a major panic in the evening, Kathleen could not find her bottle of Gin. Now a campervan is not a very big place in which to lose something the size of a 1Litre bottle of Gin, but we had managed it. After turning out all of the cupboards, she eventually found it, I have not seen as big a smile since I gave her 100Euro to spend.

Villers-les-Nancy, Campeole Le Brabois, (ASCI2011-1268)

A sat-nav free journey, with Kathleen sharing the driving for part of the way. Since this put me in charge of the navigating (well as much in charge as a man ever can be), I took us via the more twisty and hilly road of the two options we had.

The site is on a hill, just a short distance from Nancy. It is not full and so far seems very nice. We got free wifi (because we said we staying for three days), I am not sure if this concession is extended to everyone, or if the chap in reception did it as repayment for the entertainment we gave him with our poor French. We went there to ask for a Bus Timetable, a tourist map of Nancy, and a Wifi password. 

Just time to explore a little, and find a shop to buy wine for this evening.

 

April 2011, Spring 2011 Campervan Adventure

Wednesday 27th April 2011

Yesterday, we had lunch with our fellow campervanners Bryan and Joan, who are sat at home waiting for their daughter to produce her first baby.

We are more or less ready to go. Kathleen has thoroughly cleaned the house, so any burglars will not run the risk of infection, or tripping over a discarded shoe or other item of clothing left in the middle of the bedroom floor (by the person who never leaves anything lying about).

I have cut the lawns, done the weeding, and generally tidied the garden.

The lawnmower and strimmer are in the garage, readily accessible to who ever decides to look after the garden for us. No pressure here, but I thought I would just include a photograph of what the garden looked like on the day we left.

I am sure Dana, Claire or Phillippa, or a combination of all three will keep it looking pristine, for our return.

Wednesday April 26th 2011 – Friday 29th April 2011, Windsor



Arrive at Gary and Susana’s (Windsor), to a warm welcome. I think Gabriel has forgotten who I am, much to Kathleen’s enjoyment, he seems to remember her!

The situation is soon resolved, and he allows me to play with the bottle top which is his favourite toy at present, despite the box full of toys at his disposal.

We all (Gary, Susana, Susana’s mother, Gabriel, Kathleen and me) have a trip into Windsor town centre, and explore the “Long Walk”, which is a rather attractive avenue approaching Windsor Castle, intended for the Royals and thier guests I think, but now open to us common folk.

Gary, Gabriel and myself have a trip to Henley-on-Thames, where we will be staying when we return in June for Gabriel's Christening.

All too soon, Saturday arrives and we must leave, to head for Kent.

The last photograph of Gabriel, until we return in June. He is so close to the camera because he kept moving towards me as I tried to take the photograph.

A short trip to Chester, January/February 2011.

We have two celebrations in January, Kathleen's birthday and our Wedding Anniversary. We usually have ourselves a few days away in a combined celebration.

Pre campervan days, we typically went to the Lake District, which is not too far at two hour drive from where we live. But since we have had the campervan, we have usually used that to have a week or so "away".

January in England is not what you would typically describe as good camping weather, particularly if you remember we are "comfort campers", ie more the cosy glass of wine than sitting wrapped in a sleeping bag to keep the cold at bay. 

The normal plan is to choose a campsite near a town or city which can provide some interest if the weather is poor, but is also near nice countryside if it happens to be mild and dry, which can happen.

This year I picked on Chester, I don't know why, except I had not been there before, and good old google told me it had a well preserved city centre, with intact town walls, with plenty of pubs and restaurants (so that was the poor weather possibilty taken care of), whilst nearby the Shropshire Union Canal wound through pretty countryside (providing easy walking or cycling in case it was good weather).

Sunday 30th January 2011

We set off on a damp and dreary morning, typical January day in northern England. But by the time we have arrived at the Caravan Club Chester Fairoaks caravan site, the  sun was shining and it was a crisp bright winters afternoon.

As always, the Club site was of an excellent standard, and, given the time of year, we were surprised to find it was reasonably well populated. Nowhere near full, but at least fifty other couples had braved the January weather to be here.

We spend the rest of the daylight hours visiting the information room at reception, and exploring the immediate area on foot.

Monday 31st January 2011

Today is our wedding Anniversary.

The plan is to cycle along the canal into Chester and explore.

It is dry, but bitterly cold.

Kathleen is determined to prove she is 24 and not 64, so off we go along the canal.

It is so cold much of the surface of the canal is covered in ice.

We see very few other people, most people have more sense than to be out cycling in temperatures like these.

The cycling is quite easy of course, reasonably flat and the towpath whilst not very wide is in a reasonably good state of repair. The main problem is the bridges.

The modern ones, which have been built since the canal was constructed towards the end of the 1700's, are fine, they give plenty of space, but the original bridges like the one shown here, have a very narrow section of tow path as you pass underneath. That combined with the ice which is sometimes present can be a little scary, I would not want to end up in the canal even on a sunny day, but definately not on a freezing day like today.

Before setting off, we had consulted the Ordnance Survey Map for the area, and of course read the information leaflets provided at the site.

Basically we knew that Chester was about four miles away. But that was by road. The canal follows the contours of the land, to minimise the locks required, rather than the most direct route.

 After we had been peddling for about a mile, we passed a sign which read "Chester 6 miles". Kathleen does not usually bother herself with reading signs, I decided a diplomatic silence was called for and kept this information to myself.

The number of photographs dries up now for a while, this is becuase my fingers were numb almost to my elbows, I could not operate the camera.

But, credit where credit is due, not a word of complaint from Kathleen as she bravely peddled on.

Before long we arrive at Chester, what an impressive place, the canal goes right under the old city walls.

It is a cycle friendly place and we find a cycle rack and park the bikes then find a place to eat.

Hot soup, and hot coffee, heaven, circulation returns to the hands!

Having warmed ourselves up, we have a quick look around, the plan being we will return tomorrow (on the bus) for a longer visit.

It really is freezing cold, even the modern covered shopping centre feels like a fridge inside!

Soon we are back on our bikes pedaling back towards the campsite, taking note of the numbers on the bridges as we go, so that we know when we are back where we started.

It is now mid afternoon, and the sun is just breaking through the cloud, the temperature has, I think, just struggled above zero.

We even take a rest on a seat by the canal.

As is common, the seat is in memory of someone who has died in the past.

As you can see, he was a Project Engineer on the canal, and assuming the dates given are his dates of birth and death, rather than the dates of his employment (which I assume they are), the poor chap had a very short life, only 40 years.

As is usually the case, we seem to get back, much more quickly than we went, having cycled 15 miles there and back.

A hot shower, and  turn on the heating is the order of the day now.

In the evening, we walk along to the nearest pub (The Rake), it is not to our liking. Apologies to those of you with children, but it is a "Wacky Warehouse" type place with a play area and lots of children running around. Not what we want for our "Anniversary Meal". So we walk on to the Harvester on the A5117 and have a very enjoyable meal.

Then back to the van and settle down with the heating on, the iPod playing our favourite music and Kathleen in her favourite pose, ie stretched on the sofa with a glass of wine.

We do not usually bother with Television when we are away in the van, but this time I decided to try receiving television on the computer.

So far not a success. Problem is, this site, unusually for a Caravan Club site does not have ariel sockets in the hook up bollards, so using the digital television usb dongle I bought before leaving home, I can get a good picture, but no sound! I will keep trying and let you know how I get on.

Tuesday 1st February 2011

It is milder with a little sun, but we are not tempted to repeat the experience of cycling along the canal.

Instead we walk the half mile or so to the Chester Oaks Retail park and catch the bus into Chester.

Being "pensioners" of course we have a "free" bus pass each. This particularly adds to Kathleen's enjoyment, since like most women she likes to think she is getting a "bargain", and what better bargain can you get than to get something "free"?.

Having arrived in Chester, I get first choice of what to do (there will be a pay back I know). I opt to do the walk around the city walls.

The first thing Kathleen spots as we walk along, is a house in a street called "Albion Street". This is apparently the street where her grandmother lived, not here of course but in slightly less attractive Jarrow.

On the other side of the street is a pub called "The Albion" which has an amusing "Customer Notice" outside. It basically says "We don't do fast food, only good food. No thanks, we do not want your children running wild in here"

Shortly afterwards we pass an area called "The Roman Garden".

From the internet, I know there is supposed to be the remains of a Roman Ampitheatre here, I have to admit we do not find it, something to save for next time. Because already we are warming to this place and discussing the possibility of a return trip later in the year.

The walk around the walls is very pleasant, the walls are lower than in medieval times, but still raised enough to give you a good view as you walk along.

Eventually we come to the River Dee, as it flows past the walls.

This is the least well preserved part of the walls, and for short distances they disappear completely, partly because over the years the course of the river has actually changed.

Behind the University Building, much of the original Castle appears to be intact.

Although it is all closed down in winter, it is clear there are lots of fun things to do here in the summer months, with cruises along the river and riverside eating places to visit.

On we go, past the race course, and the well preserved walls reappear.

Eventually we cross the canal at the point we entered Chester yesterday on our bicycles.

As I say, we passed this place yesterday, at the time I did wonder at the purpose of the large basin and locks, but now I can see it is (was?) a mechanism to transfer boats between the Shropshire Union Canal and the River Dee.

It is not all that apparent from the photograph, but the River (with boats) on the left of the photograph is at a considerably lower level than the canal.

We are now almost at the Cathederal and not far from our starting point.

The Cathederal is impressive from the outside, and probably from the inside too, it is supposed to have some of the best wood carvings in Europe.

But, you have to pay to go in, this offends Kathleen's Catholic sensibilities (she says you should not have to pay to enter God's House).

The Catholics may have built the place, but I don't think they have had a say in it's running for the last 400+ years, thanks to Henry viii.

Although the whole place is well preserved, I am fairly sure these Tudor style houses are not original, they are too straight for a start!

At least the development has been done in keeping with the original style of the place.

Soon we are back at Eastgate, where an ornate clock tower stands, and we are in the city centre, the walls still pass quite high above the shopping street below.

This walkway is actually on the town wall complete with shops built into the wall.

Not a good photograph of the clock I am afraid, dare I say this in England, in January, but too much sun.

The medieval covered walkways with shops set back from the street are still well preserved and in use with a variety of shops and eating places in them.

These I am told (Google again!, what would I do without it, more housework, or even some housework is Kathleen's answer) are called "The Rows".

You will recall at the beginning, I said I was given the choice of what to do.

Now, Kathleen offers to buy my lunch, there is definately going to be a payback.

But, make hay while the sun shines I always say, so I enjoy my lunch in a pleasant little cafe in "The Rows", and enjoy it even more when Kathleen's debit card is brought into action.

Now of course the pay back comes. We have to go shopping, probably my least favourite passtime.

My first thought is "I will buy a newspaper and disappear to a convenient park bench or even a pub". I know this will suit Kathleen, since she does not enjoy shopping with me in tow, unless she can get me to pay for things!

Chester however seems to have a dearth of Newsagents, we wander through the whole shopping centre, Top Shop, M & S, Next, River Island etc etc (don't they have all this in Newcastle?) and I do not see a single Newsagent.

I am saved by Kathleen's boots, they begin to hurt her feet (good buy those what?), so we head for the bus station, and back to the campsite.

Wednesday 2nd February 2011

I get to choose what to do in the morning, the afternoon is reserved for (yet) more shopping at the Chester Oaks Retail Park / Outlet Centre, can't wait.

So in the morning we walk the mile or so to the canal and set off in the opposite direction to Chester, ie towards Ellesmere Port.

Ellesmere Port is nothing to write home about, more or less on a par with Jarrow I would say, perhaps not even that good.

The Shropshire Union Canal joins up with the Manchester Ship Canal at Ellesmere Port, more or less at the junction, there is a Boat Museum. This is our destination.

When we arrive we find that at this time of year it is only open at weekends, this of course is a Wednesday.

The museum is run by National Waterways, which I assume, like British Waterways is a Quango. 

In the way only such organisations can manage to waste money, the whole place is open, including snack bar, and it would appear fully staffed with nice helpful people. But, they are not open to the public so do not take our £4 entry fee. A very helpful young man does allow us to have a wander around (for free), and Kathleen even manages to appear enthusiastic about a collection of steam and diesel engines.

In the snack bar, I have the biggest bacon sandwich I have ever had for £2-90.

We walk it to Ellesmere Port Town Centre, find the bus station and get the bus (free again, Kathleen loves that) to Chester Oaks Retail Park/Outlet Centre.

It is massive. Some potentially interesting places like a Bosse shop, and a Toshiba shop, but the afternoon is Kathleen's so it is M&S, Next, River Island etc etc you get the picture, success at last one item of clothing (a top) is bought.

Thursday 3rd February 2011

We have a leisurely breakfast and head for home.

So far we have had a good time, except for the cold, but you cannot help the weather in England, it just is what it is.

We get almost home, on the A1(M), north of the A690 at Durham and south of Chester-le-Street, when we get a puncture. Not a pleasant experience in a campervan I discover. By the time I have pulled onto the hard shoulder the tyre is shredded, this is going to be expensive I think.

Undaunted, we phone the breakdown service (Saga, who else for two oldies like us), and settle down to eat a sandwich while we wait for the breakdown truck to arrive.

Kathleen is a model of patience.

About fifteen minutes after the initial call, we get a call from a garage in Sedgefield to confirm our position and to say they will be with us asap. Sure enough 30 minutes later a very helpful young chap arrives, decides he can change the wheel where we are rather than loading us up and taking us off the motorway (health and safety and all that), and soon we are on our way again.

A bit of a dampener at the end, still have not checked how much a new tyre is going to be, but it has not spoiled our outing, a good time was had by all.

July 7th, 2010 - July 10th 2010

 As we were packing up to leave Stenay, an English chap and his wife (Ray and Jan), engaged us in conversation. They too were planning to move on, and head for Charlville-Mezieres.

Kathleen is now focused on shopping for wine, to take home with us, so we call at Aldi and Lidl on the outskirts of town.

Charleville-Mezieres – Aire

First impressions of this aire, are good.

It is located just outside of a Campsite (Camping Mont Olympe), overlooking a Marina on River Muese.

All of this is within a public park area, with walking paths, rowing boats, tennis courts etc etc.

The aire itself is free, with a charge of 5 Euro / day for electricity (if you want it), there are only four hookup points, but there is parking for 8 vans in marked bays, and room for probably at least as many again in unmarked spaces.

When we plug in our power lead, we find the electricity supply is on, but Kathleen’s Catholic conscience, will trouble her if we do not pay, so I go to reception and pay up our five Euro.

We have a good view over the Marina, from our van.

When we arrive at around lunch time, five of the eight marked bays are occupied.

By 16:00, there are 12 vans there. The secret seems to be with these places, you have to arrive not later than about 15:00 to get a space.

We set off to buy bread for lunch, as we walk past the campsite, I notice a campervan we had seen yesterday, at Stenay.

The couple in it had very kindly explained to us how to get into the Aire, at Stenay etc, and where to get bread. They were able to tell us again, where to get bread in this new place. We do not know their names, only that they are from Whitehaven. So, they shall be known to us as “the English couple who knew where to buy bread”.

We return with bread and also a little treat, Apple Tart, to find that Ray and Jan (another couple who we met at Stenay) have arrived.

The park area, campsite and aire are effectively on a large island in the River Muese. There is a pedestrian bridge over the river to make a short walk to the very attractive town centre.

Kathleen keeping cool by a fountain in Charlesville-Meziers.

Shopping street in Charlesville-Meziers.

Ducal Square in Charlesville-Meziers, where we rest with a cool beer.












Thursday and we leave Charlesville-Meziers, saying goodbye to Jan and Ray.

We pass an aire at Catillon-sur-Sambre, it looks pleasant, by a canal.

We are pretty sure this is where Joan and Bryan a couple of nights ago. But it has no facilities at all, so we continue on to the next aire we have picked out.

Le Cateau Cambresis – Aire

The Aire at Le Cateau Cambresis is a fairly typical basic overnight stopping place with some facilities.

It has marked parking bays for five vans, with space for probably one or two more at a push.

There are four Electric hook-up points, with free Electric and free water.

It is beside a busy and noisy road and about five minutes walk into a town which has seen better days.

Things follow a familiar pattern, we are the only ones there at 14:00, then another British van arrives (Andy and Shiela from near Plymouth), and then  one by one four French vans, so the place ends up full.

Andy and Sheila walk into town to eat in the evening and tell us there is a good restaurant in the Hotel, there.

Friday, it is getting near the weekend and the need to find a church becomes Kathleen's obsession.

The plan is to stay on an Aire at Escalles (south of Calais), but when we arrive there, the Aire is full.

We set off for our second choice, which is north of Dunkirk. As we pass Dunkirk, we stop and ring Norfolk Line to see if we can get on a ferry today, instead of 09:00 Sunday morning. It is now about 14:45 on Friday, and they tell us we can go on the 18:00 this evening, with no extra charge other than the usual £10 fee for changing a booking.

When we arrive at the check in, they are still checking in vehicles for the 16:00 ferry, and since it is not full, they put on that, soon we are on the dockside, going through the usual search of the van by Immigration, looking for illegal immigrants, pets etc

Welwyn - Caravan Club Site

We arrive at Dover, at 17:00 UK time. We decide to make an overnight stop, rather than drive the 350 mile shome, having driven for most of the day already. The M25 and Dartford Crossing are there usual traffic jam, and we make it only as far as the Caravan Club site at Welwyn by 20:00, but by 21:00, we are all set up, and eating Spaghetti Bolognaise cooked by Kathleen's fair hand.

Saturday, and we have a leisurely drive home. As lunch time approaches, Kathleen expresses an interest in having a bacon sandwich.

This is such an unusaul request from her, that I begin eagerly watching out for truck stops which may provide a decent bacon sandwich.

Before I succeed in finding one, Kathleen changes her mind (well it is a woman's perogative) and declares a desire for a pub lunch.

So we stop off at Retford for a pub lunch, just to keep the "holiday spirit" going a little longer.

Kathleen even kindly offered to pay for lunch, out of our "holiday fund". Since we both contribute equally to this, I failed to see how this could be contrued as a "treat" to me by her, since I was paying half anyway!

The end of another trip!

Very enjoyable, particularly enjoyed Germany, and would recommend it.

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.