Christmas Markets trip, 11 December 2019

It is December and thus time for what has become our annual trip to the Christmas markets, and, because we enjoyed it so much last year, we have decided to go to Strasbourg again. 

We couldn't set off before 10:30 last night, as the Swan Whisperer had a meeting, so we booked on the 01:26 crossing, as we have done in the past.  The M20 was closed not once but twice, and we had to divert via lesser roads.  Fortunately the diversions were all well-signposted, so we didn't get lost, nor even badly delayed, and we were brought back to the motorway on the second one using the new junction they have been building at Ashford.  

We didn't have long to wait for our crossing, and it was uneventful, but when we got to the Cité de l'Europe, we found that they have stopped overnight parking there.  A quick check on Campercontact showed that increasingly during November people were being plagued by would-be migrants trying to hide in their motorhome, and then from 30 November the comments all warned that overnight parking had been stopped.  I suppose it is for the best, but at 03:00, not what you want to find out!

We had seen another motorhome parked up in Lidl's car park (but how long before they put a stop to that?) so went and joined them for what was left of the night. 

By the time we were up and dressed it was 10:30 past, so we didn't have a proper breakfast, just a croissant (from Lidl) and coffee, and then we drove back up to the car park so I could do a shop in Carrefour.  I do love French supermarkets at Christmas, they are full of foie gras and smoked salmon, and wonderful collections of dried fruits in hampers and so on.  However, that sort of shopping can wait until we are on the homeward track, so I just bought a few groceries, and wanted a slightly bigger small handbag (I have a perfectly good large bag but it gets heavy !  Anyway, I found one I liked (the shop had some lovely Desigual ones, but I didn't like the clasp, which felt awkward to use) and bought it. 

And then we set off for a long, long drive across northern France.  Chaméry, where we have stayed several times before, is about half way, but since we have been there so often, and since the availability of services is always  a bit of an issue in the winter, I did a bit of research and found this rather lovely place which is a champagne growers with a dedicated, all-year-round aire.  The owners are out at the moment, but I expect they will offer us a tasting if and when they come in.  And there are services. Tomorrow we head to Strasbourg and Kehl for two nights.