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).
Tuesday, 20th March 2018 A bright, sunny morning in Chateau Thierry, but, at 0C, not very warm!
A leisurely 180 miles to Autun, with stops for food (and wine) shopping, lunch, and coffee. A good mix of fast dual carriageway, and scenic "N" and "D" roads, all, delightfully empty of traffic! The Aire at Autun (N46 57'19" E4 18'40") has toilets, and a service point (free, except for water and electricity, for these you have to buy a token, 3.50Euro, from the garage opposite). One downside is, who ever decided to make a motorhome Aire here, clearly did not actually use a Motorhome! the parking area is far from level. There are restaurants, including a McDonalds, for wifi just across the road from the Aire, but, at the time of our visit, the McDonalds is closed for refurbishment. The Aire at Autun is located beside a lake and leisure facilities, not that any of them are open when we arrive in March! Autun is an interesting town, with many Roman remains, plus, a good selection of restaurants, cafes etc. We have the company of one other van (German), overnight, and two "callers" who use the service point and leave. Wednesday, 21st March 2018 - Thursday, 22nd March 2018
Very cold overnight, -4C, according to Kathleen, who keeps a careful eye on the temperature! The heating in the van kept us comfortably warm. Brilliantly sunny morning, with temperatures of 7C on the forecast for today. Another 180 miles south, to Tain-l'Hermitage, Municipal les Lacs (N45 4' 0' E4 51'6"). This a quite small, but pleasant, ACSI site, on the banks of the River Rhone. During the day, as we drive, temperatures even reach double figures, just, at 10C. When we arrive, it is about half full. This site is clearly a "stop-over" on the way North or South, since, next morning, everyone except ourselves and two others, are up and away by 09:00.
It is a bright sunny morning, so, we decide to have a rest from the driving and linger here another day. After almost a week of inactivity, we spend the day walking along the banks of the Rhone, into Tain-L'Hermitage and, across the pedestrian bridge to Tournon-sur-Rhone, watching the boats go by, and, generally enjoying the fresh air. Followed by a period of "chilling" for Kathleen, and, washing 800 miles of road dirt off the van, for me. Well, Kathleen did
Monday, 19th March 2018 Up at 05:00 and outside rolling up our EHU cable, which has frozen into the snow and slush, overnight. Freezing cold wind, is blowing, with flurries of snow, who says a Motorhome is not fun?
Drive the few miles to the Channel Tunnel terminal, check in smoothly and board the 06:20 shuttle, with virtually no waiting. Straight off the train and heading for an Aire at Chateau Thierry. (N49 2'14" E3 22'60") via Lille, about two hundred and twenty miles away. A stop for breakfast, and another for coffee, and we arrive mid-afternoon. Our coffee stop is at another Aire, Aire de Riqueval, (N49 57'6" E3 14'10"), it is just off the D1044, but, quiet nevertheless. There are two dedicated Motorhome parking spaces, service point, and refuse disposal. No sign of any mechanism to pay, and, no signs saying payment is necessary, so, I assume it is free (except water and electricity). There is also a Museum, which appears to be dedicated to barges used to tow cargoes on the canals. Chateau Thierry is still in fine shape, although the touch screen at the entry barrier could be more sensitive, it requires a "finger stab" rather than a "touch"! Weather, no snow (unlike the UK), but bitterly cold, 1C as we leave Calais, falling to -2C as we move inland, by the time we are as far south as Chateau Thierry, it is back at 1C, but, dry and bright!
Sunday 18th March 2018 Last night, before going to bed, we noticed that snow was falling.
We wake up on Sunday morning to find 3 inches (7cm) of lying snow! Kathleen has plans to do her "church duties" at the Catholic Church in the Hight Street, but, although she, heroically, makes two forays out, into the snow, there is to be no Mass this morning. The Priest is "snowbound" in Winchester. Looks as if his parishioners will be having a "snow day", today.
Approximately 140 miles to Black Horse Farm CAMC Site (N51 7'57" E1 9'31"), near Dover, and approximately 5 miles from the Tunnel. The snow is not as deep in Kent, but, it is still falling steadily enough to make connecting up to EHU positively unpleasant.
A visit to Victoria and Graham's first house they have owned together, for a "last night as a "Reay", for Victoria. Saturday, and we head off to Winchester, for the wedding ceremony. The Sat-Nav falls victim to Winchester's one-way system and parking problems, leaving the ladies with a longer walk than they were happy with.
Victoria and Graham's wedding ceremony proceeds without a hitch, and we are head off to the Greyhound on the Test for food, drink and dancing (for the "young ones").
The plan is to arrive at Stockbridge by this evening, just over 300 miles, to meet up with Brian, Linda and the soon to be married Graham and Vicki, plus Michaela. It is a cold grey morning when we leave, and, it only gets worse! By Teesside it is raining heavily and this continues. A stop for breakfast, at Wetherby, then another for lunch, to arrive at Stockbridge by 15:30.
Our overnight stop is a Caravan and Motorhome Club CL (London Hill Farm, N51 7' 13" ; W1 28' 35"). The CL is just off the A30, a rather busy road, but, it is far enough from the road so that traffic noise is not an issue. It is a trifle odd location, behind a group of Industrial Units (the largest of which FabTech, provides the signposting, so you know you have reached your destination.
The actual CL is a small grassed area, behind the Industrial Units. Although there are quite a few packed cars, suggesting a number of people work here, there is no noticeable noise to disturb the peace and quiet. The sun is shining! While the Industrial Units are hardly "scenic", the view on two sides is rather beautiful, but, then on the other side are the Units.
There are EHU, points arranged around the edge of the grassed area, and water (which we have found), yet to find the Chemical Emptying point, or, grey water emptying point. The ground is rather wet, so, we are, not very neatly, parked right on the edge of the CL, with front wheels on solid ground, just in case. But, since we are the only ones here, it makes little difference. It is approximately one mile into Stockbridge, but, it would appear you have to walk along the A30, there is no footpath, and, for later, no street lights, I do not think we will be risking life and limb to do that.
Not my favourite part of a trip away, but, it has to be done! The weather forecast makes me wish we were away already, and bitterly cold airstream all of the way from Siberia, so we are told, means it is very, very cold, with snow showers all day on Monday 26th February. The lawns are given a quick trim, despite the cold, to give our temporary gardeners (Claire and Phillippa) a head start. A trip to Poundstretcher, to buy more storage boxes (which are cheap), but, as always happens, we end up buying something else (sandwich toaster).
On the night of Monday/Tuesday, 27th February 2018, we have an "amber warning: from the BBC about heavy snow fall, we wake to find about 7cm (3" to us oldies), of snow, absolutely nothing remarkable. Trains are cancelled, schools closed, the country has ground to a stand-still, we do like a bit of drama, especially on a slow news day.
The snow lasts until Saturday 3rd March, which is a long time, compared to what we are used to!
Wednesday 14th March, bicycles loaded, plus the remaining "last minute" items. We are ready to go.
We do the "Grandparent baby sitting" role, to allow Gary and Susana to do last minute shopping for party items, for Salma's second birthday party, planned for tomorrow. A very enjoyable afternoon, although Salma steadfastly refuses to have her afternoon nap. Gabriel entertains us by practicing his guitar, particularly his rendition of "Happy Birth", which he plans to perform tomorrow at Salma's party. An excellent meal in the evening, clearly, Gary gets his cooking skills from his mother, not me! The final excitement is using Uber for a taxi ride for the first time. A "conventional" taxi company wanted £70 to take us from Windsor to Chertsey (a distance of about 8 miles), an Uber driver did it for £29. Driver polite, car clean, driving safe. What more can you ask, I will use them again.
Sunday, 4th February 2018 Dry, but cold. A quick lunch, then off to Maidenhead to set things up for Salma's Birthday Party. The party is excellent, all of the children seem to enjoy themselves, just about all of the food is eaten, no-one is ill, or injured in the melee, and the parents have a good old chin wag, a resounding success. Monday, 5th February 2018 The weather forecast says it may snow, we escape with just a few flakes drifting across the A1, as we drive home, but, it is very, very cold again.
We leave Chertsey C&CC site at 09:00, and have a totally uneventful drive home.
