Festive Fairy Tale, 28 December

So we are home.  We got up early and cleared our rooms before breakfast, and after it we sat in one of the lounges and read for awhile.  Probably we should have sat awhile longer, as we had a long time to wait at the station, but not enough time to go and do anything other than a brief leg-stretch.  However, eventually our train was called.  As predicted, it was rammed, and I was glad we had booked seats, as otherwise we might have ended up sitting on the floor, as some people had to do.

There seemed to be an extraordinarily long time to wait in Brussels, too, although I'd booked us on the recommended connection.  But eventually we were on the train back to London, where I extravagantly insisted on taking a taxi home, as I was so very tired.  And, although I managed to unpack, I have been asleep practically ever since!

So what about my impressions of a river cruise?  It was lovely!  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would love to go again in a few years.  I think, though, next time I won't book all the excursions in advance - although we enjoyed them, some of the walking tours were unnecessary, as we could have explored for ourselves.  On the other hand, the guides did tell us a great deal of history we might not otherwise have known, and they were (mostly) obviously passionate about their towns.  

We didn't much care for the cruise director - he came across as extremely patronising, and even rude on occasion. Also unprofessional, tearing a strip off one of his colleagues where anybody could hear, rather than doing so in private.  But he was a minor irritant.  

The food was mostly excellent, except when the chef tried too hard - but there was only one dish I really couldn't finish, and I do seem to have come back rather fatter than when I left.  The cabins were comfortable, and it was lovely lying in bed at night watching the river going past.  The big disadvantage of a Christmas cruise, of course, is that you don't get much, if any, daylight sailing.  On the other hand, in the summer, the rivers and moorings are packed with tourist boats, and you have to clamber over other ones to get to yours!  

I still want to do the "long trip" from Amsterdam right down to Budapest and beyond, but perhaps not this year!

By the way, TUI is a budget option; I don't know, though, what more you would get on a more expensive line!  

Festive Fairy Tale, 27 December

Day 7, Worms

Our last day dawned simply gloriously! For the only time during this cruise (the big disadvantage of a Christmas cruise!) we were sailing in daylight all morning, past Speyer and Altrip and Mannheim and all those familiar places until we docked in Worms just before lunch. 

This was one tour I rather wished we hadn't gone on, as it turned out to be, not a tour of the old town, as advertised, but a tour of the Cathedral and the Luther monument (The Diet of Worms, for anybody who remembers sniggering at that when they "did" the Reformation) Our guide was dreadful - her English was minimal outside her memorised spiel, so she couldn't understand any questions, nor did she show us more than her favourite parts of the Cathedral, so we missed seeing an awful lot of it. But what we did see was lovely, to be fair, and the Nativity scene was magic!  

When we came back to the ship, we had a cup of tea, and then the Swan Whisperer went to hear a lecture on Christmas traditions, while I did most of my packing and had a shower to change before the final dinner. As always, when the chef tries too hard, it wasn't as good as it might have been! Why can chefs never serve enough vegetables, and if they do serve any, they are still half raw? The roast beef was lovely, but rather an odd cheesy sauce, which did it no favours, and it would have been even nicer sliced a little thinner. And I goodly had fruit instead of baked Alaska, which actually looked quite nice! 

Tomorrow we have to be out of our cabins by 08:30, but we can stay on board until 11:00 if we want. Our train isn't until 12:30. It is, apparently, going to be rammed after Cologne, so I have booked seats for us. Will let you know tomorrow how the journey ends, and my thoughts on river cruising. Meanwhile, there will be far too many photos on Facebook! 

Festive Fairy Tale, Boxing day

Day 6, Breisach

Christmas Dinner last night had been billed as 5-course gala dinner, but in the end it was only the usual 3 courses, with an extra glass of champagne. The main course was turkey (there was a fish and a veggie option, but most people chose turkey) which was moist and delicious, but, alas, no roasties, no sprouts, and very few vegetables! Too much meat, really. And no Christmas pudding, either - I chose the nearest option, which was a gingerbread parfait, and was rather disappointed that it was mousse, rather than ice-cream. Most people chose the fruit plate, so virtuous!

For some reason I slept really badly again, not quite sure why.  I didn't really want to go on the tour of Breisach, but decided I'd regret it if I didn't.

However, faced with enormous flight of steps to get up to the old town, I bottled it and went back to the ship. The guide had been very interesting about the history of the town, which is incredibly ancient. And seems to have spent most of the 18th century belonging to France.

The Swan Whisperer got lost coming back to the ship, and had to ring me up to find out how to get back as he hadn't noticed how we had gone. Fortunately I was able to orient him!

After lunch it had stopped raining and he decided to go out for a 10-minute run, his first since his injury in July. Sadly, he felt a twinge in his other leg, so sensibly decided to walk back.

Then we went to a talk about future cruises which was very good - no hard sell, just a description of what was on offer. And now we are waiting to set off again, which we thought would happen an hour ago, but it hasn't. We are sitting in one of the communal areas, which is nice.

Festive Fairy Tale, Christmas Day

Day 5, Strasbourg

We weren't supposed to arrive in Strasbourg until 09:30 or thereabouts, but in fact we were docked by 6:00. We assume because there were no queues for the locks to get in, as it is Christmas. 

There was supposed to be Buck's Fizz at breakfast, but we weren't offered any, but we probably just as well! we After breakfast, there was a "pause for reflection", not exactly a Christmas service, and then it was time to get ready to go on the expedition.

We are moored quite a way out of town, almost in Kehl, and there was a coach that not only took us into the town, but drove all round it first. Then there was a walk around the town centre - I took an inordinate number of photographs considering that we have been here before and will come again! 

After that, a boat trip, which again we have done before, but still worth doing, to remind us of the various places. And a long, long walk back to where the bus was parked, which wouldn't have been so bad if the cruise director hadn't walked far too fast, so I ended up feeling breathless and unwell. However, I recovered during the drive back to the ship, and a glass of white wine with a judicious lunch (want to be hungry tonight!) soon finished the cure. 

I spent the afternoon reading and watching the service from Brixton Hill (not live!), and then I went into the lounge to watch the King - the Swan Whisperer had gone back into town to see the illuminations, as he always does. He is now back and we are going to ring the family before dinner. 

Festive Fairy Tale, Christmas Eve

Day 4, Mannheim and Heidelberg

I don't know what was particularly German about last night's dinner! It was OK, I suppose; one of those "tasting menus" with tiny bits of this and that, some extremely delicious soup, mussels, which I didn't take (don't like them much), Then a choice of chicken something or a pancake stuffed with mushrooms, which I chose, but didn't really like, so left half of it. Then a chocolatey set of puddings, and we thought there would be cheese, but there wasn't. Pity, I wanted something savoury! But not particularly German, I didn't think, and not really to my taste except the soup! 

Then there was a violinist, who was very talented, but it was billed as classical and carols, but mostly he played music from films. But extremely well, and I enjoyed it. No carols, though. 

This morning, we had booked on the tour of Heidelberg, which left horrendously early - well, 08:45, which is horrendously early when you're on holiday. The coach took us up to Heidelberg Castle,

where our guide, while knowledgeable and enthusiastic, told us far too many anecdotes about it, and couldn't walk more than 3 steps without stopping to say something else. I don't think he realised we could hear him on our vox boxes even if he turned round and walked on.

There was a lot of interesting stuff, though, like one of the Kings being married to the daughter of James I/VI, and being in love with her. And that the castle was destroyed by the French in the 30 years' war, but the ruins have been carefully curated since Victorian times!

The coach took us back down into Heidelberg, to the drop-off point for the Altstadt, and our guide led us into the main square and then abandoned us to look round on our own, as he was not coming back with us.  We have been before, years ago, but walked along a bit and then went down to the river - the Necker - and went under the old bridge

back to the meeting-point, where there were benches we could wait on until our coach arrived.

There were hamburgers for lunch, and then both of us had a long nap! Afternoon tea was being served today, but neither of us was hungry, so we just had a cup of tea in our room. And now we are listening to the service from King's, which is a Christmas "must" for us. Sadly, there is no service on the ship tomorrow, and we will be out when our own service is live-streamed, but never mind. Third year running we haven't been able to go to Church on Christmas Day.

Photos on Facebook, as per. 

Festive Fairy Tale, 23 December 2022

Day 3, Mainz

My bluetooth keyboard has run out of charge so this may have even more typos than usual. Should have turned it off or at least disconnected the bluetooth!

We slept better last night, although we did wake up at one stage and discovered we were going through heavy fog and couldn't see anything! After breakfast, I went back to sleep for awhile, and the Swan Whisperer went into Mainz. We had made a nonsense of the tours and booked into the Christmas Market tour rather than the plain tour, and left it too late to cancel the one and rebook on the other.

However, the tour was very good, despite the weather, which was not! We walked round the Altstadt - my new headphones worked very well and I could hear the guide, who was knowledgeable, although his English deserted him on occasions!

We stopped in one of the Christmas markets for Glühwein, which was included in the price of the tour, and very welcome it was, too! Some people abandoned after this, but we walked on down to the bigger market and the Cathedral, which is amazing - it is a Cathedral at one end

and a parish church at the other.

It was built over a thousand years ago, as the Archbishops of Mainz wanted a place of worship worthy of crowning the Holy Roman Emperor. Unfortunately, on the day of its consecration it burnt down, and although they rebuilt it, the moment had passed and the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned in Aachen instead. 

We said goodbye to our guide just then, and after sitting quietly for a few minutes, walked back to the ship via a friendly neighbourhood ReWe as the Swan Whisperer wanted milk. I got some vegetable seasoning that I'm almost out of. We walked to the far end of the mall that the ReWe was in, and there was the ship, much nearer than we thought!

I have had a shower and changed as I was wet to the skin - my coat is very good but today's rain defeated it. And oh, sadliness - my favourite shoes are no longer waterproof. I have another pair with me, and my tai chi shoes which I wear around the ship, but even still - they can't have been more than about 8 years old. Oh well.

Tonight there is a special meal of German specialities, which we have booked in for. I don't know how much choice there will be - usually there seems to be 3 choices for each course - soup, salad or other starter; meat, fish or veggie main course; pudding, cheese or fruit. All very good! 

Festive Fairy Tale, 22 December 2022

Day 2: Koblenz 

I don't know how they expected you to sleep when the night contained such excitements as going through locks on the Main (with two sleepy geese as lock-keepers' assistants), and going along the Rhine past towns and villages, factories and wooded hills. What, we could have closed the curtains? That would be too dull! Anyway, I didn't sleep that well! 

So this morning we arrived in Koblenz while we were getting up, and by the time we went to breakfast, we were moored. Breakfast runs 07:30-09:00 or thereabouts - huge buffet with lots of different choices. 

After breakfast we got our acts together and reported, as scheduled, at 09:45 for our trip up to the Ehrenbreitstein fort

and then a walking tour of the old town. The first part was in a coach, up to the fortress, with extremely knowledgeable local tour guides who told us about the history of the town, how it was primarily a bunch of fort to stop the French invading up the Moselle... And we had a lovely walk round the fort with our guide explaining all the defensive mechanisms that were in use. Not that they were ever needed, but they might have been! 

When the tour was over, we got the bus back down to the Altstadt, going through the Neustadt en route. There we left the coach and walked round a bit, with the guide pointing out things we might otherwise have missed.

We did get to peep inside the Jesuit church (no longer run by Jesuit, but by another Order) that we hadn't gone into last time. Then the tour guide left us by the road that ran down to the river, and 5 minutes later we were back on board. 

Lunch came next; we opted for the buffet rather than another 3-course meal (that's for tonight!), and it was lovely. Only there was rare roast beef, and I didn't notice until I was on my way out, and didn't quite like to grab a slice to eat with my fingersI Oh well, there is always tomorrow! 

A nap was then very necessary, and I had hoped to go out again later, but wasn't going to happen, so the SW went out for a much longer walk than he would have done with me, and bought me a pair of headphones while he was at it - the "Vox Boxes" are not Bluetooth enabled, and I can't wear the earbuds provided. They gave me a different kind, which I also couldn't wear, but was able to attach to the leg of my specs with a twist of wire. Not ideal, though, so proper headphones will work much better. 

In a bit, we will go and listen to the "Port talk" on Mainz, tomorrow's destination, and then it will be dinner time. I don't fancy any of the evening entertainment, so we'll probably have an early night! 

A Festive Fairy Tale, 21 December 2022

This holiday is something a little different. For some years now, we have gone on a trip in the motorhome  to the various European Christmas markets, and but this year, because we can, we have taken a TUI river cruise on the Main and Rhine over Christmas. 

We left home at 09:00 this morning, taking a bus into Brixton and the Victoria Line to King's Cross St Pancras. The Tube was remarkably empty, but the same cannot be said for the international station! The queue stretched, if not quite the length and breadth of England, a good kilometre before you could get into the actual queuing area. I sat on a bench and waited for the Swan Whisperer, who had gone right to the back of the queue, and then joined him when he eventually appeared. Even then we were snaked round the departure area for a long way! But we got through eventually and got on our train, armed with a sandwich lunch. 

The train was a good 10 minutes late, but we still made our connection in Brussels with time to spare - well enough time to find a seat, anyway. Then a nearly 4 hour run to Frankfurt; the ICE3 not as comfortable as I had thought. We were moored quite near the station, so decided to walk down to the ship, which was easy to find. We just had time to the unpack before the welcome drink and introductory talk, and then it was dinner time. 

After a delicious dinner, we are now back in our cabin

and in a bit will go back to the lounge to see the ship set sail, hear a talk on Koblenz, where we will be tomorrow, and a quiz, which may or may not be fun. More photos on Facebook. 

More new railway adventures

So today I had arranged to go Christmas shopping with the Daughter at Westfield, Stratford.  Now, I have commented before on the myriad ways of getting between Brixton and Stratford, but now there is yet another way, which is to get the Northern Line to Tottenham Court Road and then the Elizabeth Line to Stratford.

Which is exactly what I did, although to my irritation I didn't see the lift and found myself going up far too many stairs to get to the very long passage between the lines; I dislike too many steps as I get breathless going up, and with my varifocals, don't see too well going down!  But I survived.

Of course, the new link isn't very interesting as it's all in a tunnel, but I hadn't done it before, so....

After our shopping and a coffee, I decided to go home the "sensible" way on the Central Line, changing to the Northern Line at Bank.  This is a totally different experience these days, as there is the new moving walkway between the lines

and with escalators either end, it is totally step-free, which is lovely.  Plus, of course, the Southbound Northern Line platform is now twice as wide as it was, which makes waiting for a train a whole lot nicer!  And I didn't have to wait very long, either, for a Northern Line train!

The new Bond Street and other stories

 Although the Elizabeth Line has been open for some months, Bond Street station didn't open until today.  And while we were on holiday, the new link between the DLR and the Northern Line at Bank opened, as did Battersea Power Station (which every Jodi Taylor fan knows is the Time Police HQ) and, I believe, a knew entrance to Knightsbridge station.

We do plan to go to Battersea Power Station very soon - it's a direct bus ride from here - but today was about the first two of these.  We started off by getting a bus to King's College Hospital where a friend is currently incarcerated after a fall.  After visiting her, we took another bus up to Elephant and Castle, and caught the Northern Line (neither of us has used this station before, as far as we are aware) to Bank, where we eventually found the rather shiny new escalators down to the DLR.  As we wanted to go on the Elizabeth Line, we took the DLR as far as Canary Wharf, and enjoyed seeing the Elizabeth Line station there, which apparently has roof gardens, which I decided not to bother visiting.  

The Elizabeth Line duly took us to Bond Street, where we admired the huge new station,

and then came out and had a snack in Prets.  I had their Chocolate Moose (sic) which I don't think I've had for nearly 20 years and every bit as delicious as I remember it!  And then just a short walk to Oxford Circus, where we got a Victoria Line train home.  At least, I did a bit of shopping, and the Swan Whisperer went off to do something else.  And so home.  

The last dregs of summer, 19 October 2022

 So we are home.  We got up at sparrowfart this morning and were ready to leave the campsite by 09:00 - we couldn't leave before as we hadn't paid and reception doesn't open until 9.  It was only just over half an hour to Eurotunnel, so we were early and went to the service station in Cité Europe to buy us much diesel as we were allowed.  It is still a great deal cheaper than in the UK, despite price rises caused by the shortage.  Petrol, however, is dearer than here.

When we got to the check-in, they offered us a crossing half an hour earlier than our booked time.  So we accepted for 11:20, and went to the car park to wait. They called us to go through in what would have been good time for a 10:50 crossing, so we were hopeful, but then when we got to the holding area the signs said it would be 21 minutes before boarding! So we were not very impressed, as by that stage we had to have the gas off and thus the fridge off (it will run off 12 volts when the engine is running, but if it isn't it needs gas or to be plugged into electricity). Still, it gave us a chance to finish packing up the clothes and bedding, etc, so we could just sit and read during the crossing itself.

An uneventful drive to No 6, and a very nice lunch with my mother and sister (cold trout with smoked trout and quail's eggs; salad; boiled potatoes), and then we had to sort out the rest of the van - we have still succeeded in leaving behind my stock cubes and such clean clothes as I had left, and forgot that we planned to take the covers off the front seats and wash them!  Oh well, we can go down in a week or so to rescue them.

Horrible drive back to London - very heavy traffic - and then of course hard work unpacking and putting away.  All that is now done, as is the first load of washing.  Much washing.  Many loads....

No photos today, although the autumn colours were lovely. So here is a photo of the Channel which, after all, we have just been under!

The last dregs of summer, 18 October 2022

The last full day of our holiday. We started the day in Neufchatel-en-Bray, and have ended up in a camp site in Wissant. 

Our journey took us via the Hyper U in Abbeville that we had visited on our way south, and I did a rather larger Last Shop in France than I meant to, but there were yogurts on special offer and then Neufchatel-en-Bray cheese, and even a local Abbeville cheese - rude not to, really! Plus a small squash that I shall roast and stuff, possibly with an egg inside, and some pot-au-feu vegetables which I shall make beef stew with (buying the beef in Lidl at home!). And various other things... 

So then we drove as far as the Aire de la Baie du Somme where we had a picnic lunch, and mourned the disappearance of the "éolienne" which used to tower above the entrance. And so here to Wissant, where we watched people playing boules while we had a cup of tea, and then went for a walk. I didn't enjoy the first part of the walk as the path which should have led to the beach was inches deep in dry sand, very hard to walk on.

And then when we got there it was all fenced off as it was a nature reserve or something.

But we eventually found the promenade and were able to have a look at the sea, so that was all right! 

Then back to the WoMo, and I am now cooking butternut squash and mushroom risotto. Yummy, I hope! 

The last dregs of summer, 17 October 2022

There was a massive, massive thunderstorm in the night - absolutely fantastic lightning and almost continuous growls of thunder. And then it rained! How the Swan Whisperer slept through it all, I'll never know, but he really missed an amazing experience! 

However, this did nothing for my sleep, so I have had a headache on and off all day. First of all I woke up again (having dozed off) when they turned the street lights back on at 6, and then some very noisy machine came and Did Things for what felt like an hour, but was probably only about 15 minutes. I don't know what it was doing, but it made a very unpleasant noise doing it. 

So anyway, I didn't want to go for a walk this morning. I did, of course, go shopping at an Intermarché outside Evreux, and a short walk before lunch at the Normandy town of Vernon, where there is a mediaeval flour mill on the remains of a mediaeval bridge,

and a chateau.

We enjoyed walking round there and reading the panels about the buildings. Also the autumn colours of the woods above the Seine. 

We are parked up for the night at Neufchatel-en-Bray, in a very nice aire. Unlike last night's, it isn't free (there is, I discovered too late, a free one just a few miles east) but only about 12 euros, which is very reasonable. It even has a launderette! However, I think our laundry can wait until we get home now. We might even have finished it by the weekend!

The last dregs of summer, 16 October 2022

Today is Sunday, and because we are that much further north, it didn't really begin to get light until about 08:00. And we were not in a hurry, so didn't rush to get up. The Swan Whisperer went to find a bakery; the one round the corner from the Camping-car Park had closed down, but there was a shiny modern one not just so far away so he went there for our baguette, croissants and Sunday patisseries. 

After breakfast, we went for a walk round the "Etang Communal" which was exactly 1 km; there was a woman doing laps in the other direction who we kept meeting, as she was walking rather faster than we were, with the aid of trekking poles! We wondered how many laps she had done/was doing. 

We then had a look round the church - it did smell of incense, but I don't know whether there had been a service that morning - from the literature, it looked as though they only had one service a month and the other Sundays were at other churches. It was a pleasant enough building, but not especially memorable. 

Then it was time to set off; the Swan Whisperer had thought he knew what way we were going, but had not told the Satnav to avoid toll roads, so we ended up on the motorway. But we came off it shortly before Chartres, and even found a place where we could top up with diesel - only 30 litres, though, but that is enough to get us across the Channel. 

We are now parked up in a wonderful, if rather small, free aire which even includes electricity in the village of La Madeleine de Nonancourt, just by the Mairie. It looks as though it was once a private chateau.

I look forward to exploring in the morning. 

The Swan Whisperer did go for a walk, and this evening it was our church's Zoom Bible Study, so supper is rather late! 

The last dregs of summer, 15 October 2022

There was the most glories sunrise this morning.

After breakfast we act for a walk round the village, which was very short as St-Macel-en-Mersat is a very small village! The church was nice, though, and obviously cared for, although I don't think it has any source of music unless people bring their instruments.

We then set off and, after shopping and a successful attempt to get diesel, drove up the A71, stopping for lunch in a serious cloudburst, but it did stop raining shortly after we set off again. We are now in a very nice Camping-Car park at Lailly-en-Val, with a community sports ground - people were playing boules when we arrived - a fake and a church. Hope it will be fine for exploring tomorrow. 

The last dregs of summer, 14 October 2022

A quiet day today; we spent most of the morning just relaxing. My insides are all better now, you will be pleased to hear! Eventually we moved on and drove to a Super U some miles further north, where I did a shopping, and then to a service area to have lunch. 

After lunch, I think we came off the motorway and drove a scenic route through the Auvergne volcanoes, but as I was fast asleep at the time, it was wasted on me. Then we arrived at this aire at Saint-Marcel-en-Murat. We stayed here before, back in January 2017, when there was a bitter frost and our pipes froze! Tonight it is very windy and the odd shower, but no danger of frost! I hope we may get a walk round the village in the morning, if the weather co-operates. No photos today, so here is a shot of what Google lens tells me is baby sage that I took at Alès a few days ago. 

The last dregs of summer, 13 October 2022

Not a good day from my point of view, as my tummy went back on me and I felt rather rotten all day. So I only left the van to rinse out some washing that I needed to do to have enough underwear to last until I get home and a day or so afterwards.  There was a mini-helicopter - auto-giro? - on the aerodrome, which was rather fun to watch. 

We had a lovely drive today, though - a gloriously scenic drive up the D806 to the motorway (A75), and then we came off again to visit the Garabit viaduct, and actually saw a train crossing it! 

(This is the Swan Whisperer's photo; mine wasn't nearly as good) We had lunch there - I was beginning to feel better by then  Back to the motorway, and then off again to this aire at Auzon, very near the one in Brassac-les-Mines we stayed at on the way down! The Swan Whisperer has been for a long walk, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and I have been knitting and reading. It is raining again, and the colours are definitely autumnal. I'm afraid summer is over for this year! 

The last dregs of summer, 12 October 2022

It is already Wednesday, and only one week left, so we must start heading north and bid a final farewell to summer.

The sunset last night and sunrise this morning were pleasant, but not spectacular.

We didn't see our nice pig farmer this morning to bid him farewell, as we could hear his tractor some way away. 

We drove into Alès and went for a walk. It is pleasant, but not very photogenic, as most of the old city was razed and rebuilt in the 1960s,with predictable results! The Cathedral is lovely, though,

as was the cup of coffee we fortified ourselves with before returning to the WoMo and heading on towards Mende.

It was mostly a lovely drive, very scenic, if a bit sick-making. We managed to get diesel, which was a relief, and hope we will find some more but might just make it without. 

Shortly before we arrived, the heavens opened and there was a terrific hailstorm! This aire is a bit out of Mende, by the aerodrome, but we were not sure whether the town would be worth seeing except the Cathedral, which looked formidable! 

The last dregs of summer, 11 October 2022

The Swan Whisperer, having said he wanted to go to Gap, changed his mind up and decided to go to Mende via Ales instead. However, as we had spent two separate nights within spitting distance of Brignoles but only visited a supermarket on the outskirts, we decided to visit the town itself. A guidebook of ours helpfully suggested that if you park up in the Casino supermarket car park, it is only a short walk to the mediaeval town centre, and so it proved. I did a small shopping, and then we headed on. 

We had a lovely walk around the town

- there are loads more photos on Facebook - and then headed back to the WoMo to set off on a long drive, mostly on the motorway (I dozed an awful lot of the way, I have to admit!) to a tiny pig farm outside the village of St-Just-en-Vacquieres. 

There was nobody around when we arrived, but the France Passion signs made it clear where one should park, and the owner - very friendly, but with an incredibly strong local accent I found difficult to understand - came up on his tractor to say hello when he arrived. I am not sure if it is a residence or just farm buildings.

Anyway, there is a simply glorious view

on both sides of the motor home and, the owner said, glorious sunsets in one direction and glorious sunrises in the other! Still another half an hour or so before I can attest to the truth or otherwise of that assertion. The Swan Whisperer has gone to look at the pigs!

The last dregs of summer, 10 October 2022

The wind got up in the night and blew the rain away. The sky was still grey, so the Mediterranean wasn't the deep blue one expects it to be, but it was a very great deal less dreich than yesterday. 

Our first port of call was a Géant Casino (supermarket) just outside Cannes where I did a shopping and the SW swept out the van and had his coffee. The road there had been rather sick-making - hairpin bends the whole way - but not really frightening as it was nice and wide and had barriers both sides. 

After shopping, we drove up to Grasse, hoping to stop in the Pak'n'ride and see something of the town. Sadly, though, it was cars only, and although we parked up outside it to have an early lunch, we didn't feel able to leave it there. So that was a bust. 

The Swan Whisperer has some strange idea of taking the Route Napoleon (no, thank you!), but actually drove back west along the motorway (incidentally scoring some diesel which was about 20p a litre than the roadside garages, and even the supermarkets, are selling it for, when and if they have any) and up to this Camping-Car Park just outside Cabasse, but it isn't really possible to walk into the village as the road is very narrow with a lot of traffic and no pavement. So that's a bust, so too. 

I do hate not having a fixed (well, semi-fixed) itinerary, as I have no idea where we will be this time tomorrow, or whether we should start heading north, and how long will this fuel shortage last and so on. But the sun is shining and it is very warm again! 

The last dregs of summer, 9 October 2022

No summer today! It has rained nearly all day, and I don't think I have got out of the WoMo at all. Oh yes, to get bread and Sunday patisserie at the bakery in Le Val.

 Before calling at the bakery, we used the services and spent ages deciding where to go! It seemed an awful waste to be so near the Riviera and not visit it, but it was a horrible road to get there, all hairpin bends and steep drops with no barriers, horrendously narrow! And peeing with rain when we got there.

The SW had set the satnav to take us to Grasse, but the road up was again all hairpins, even though a main road, and I simply could not face it twice in one day!

But then I saw, on Google Maps, a place marked simply as "aire pour dormir", and we drove there to see. Just a large layby, but overlooking the sea, and loads of other motorhomes spending the night, too.

It is now stormy, windy and cold! I just hope this is the worst of the bad weather. The forecast does show it improving! 

The last dregs of summer, 8 October 2022

It rained in the night, and it was much more autumnal this morning. I hope we haven't said "Goodbye" to summer, even down here in the South of France. We said goodbye to our France Passion host, and our first port of call was a supermarket (naturally) where I bought our Saturday sausages and helped the Swan Whisperer buy a new cube of gas. He also topped up our diesel, as there is a severe, and growing worse, shortage of both diesel and, primarily, petrol, due to an ongoing refinery strike. 

We are hoping we can get diesel, at least until we get to Hauts-de-France, which is the area worst affected, as is the Paris area. But when we tried to come off the motorway to a service area to have lunch there was a huge, huge queue even to get off the motorway. So we came away. 

We basically drove down to Toulon and back up, but didn't see much because the main road through the city was all underground. But there were some lovely roads, although some awful hairpin bends - but only a couple at a time, not the unending array of them there was a few days ago. 

We arrived at this Camping-Car park in the village of Le Val, and after a cup of tea we set off to explore the place, which was lovely.

More photos on Facebook. And now back at the WoMo, hoping tomorrow won't be too wet, but the forecast isn't good! 

The last dregs of summer, 7 October 2022

A bit of a "nothing" day, really. I was tired, for some reason, and went back to sleep after breakfast, dreaming about a rather nice binman called Gordon (no, I don't know any binmen, and certainly not one called Gordon!) giving us a lift from Streatham in his bin lorry!

Anyway, when I came awake it was time to move on if we were not to have to pay an excess charge. So we went over to empty the grey and the black - we didn't need water, having filled the tank right up the previous evening - but when we got to the exit, my card didn't work. Again. Oh dear. However, I quickly discovered that the SW still had my card from turning on the water to empty the loo, and it was not too surprising that my Carrefour card didn't work! Once I had the correct card, no problem.

We drove through Martigues, stopping at the most enormous Carrefour you ever did see as I really fancied fish in parsley sauce for supper. Honestly, it was so huge it made the one in Cité Europe look like a convenience store in comparison.

We had decided to stop at a France Passion place between Marseilles and Salon de Provence, but when we got there, they were horribly vague about where to park, and we couldn't find the place at all, so we ate our lunch in the overflow car park and moved on to the one a few hundred metres down the road, where we were warmly welcomed, with a clear explanation of where to go, and the pitches are clearly marked, too. A lovely view of the hills (don't know why I can't move the picture!), and of the old house.

And little Thelwell girls

riding on Thelwell ponies. 

The last dregs of summer, 6 October 2022

There was such a lovely sunrise this morning! I actually got up before the Swan Whisperer, so it was my turn to make breakfast. After which, we called in at the farm shop where we had spent the night and bought some wine and one or two other bits. Including citronella essential oil to try to discourage the mosquitos that have been eating me alive just lately. I don't know how they get in - we are scrupulous about keeping the windows covered with mosquito netting at all times, but but... 

Once we set off, we made for Aigues-Mortes, a fortified town which we have been to before.

 We first called in at a Super U about a kilometre out of the town. Years ago, we spent a couple of nights at a motel in the same roundabout, and knew it was there. Then we moved on to the town proper. The motorhome parking was very near one of the entrance gates, and we enjoyed walking through the town to the main drag where every shop is a restaurant! We picked one at random to have lunch in, and I for one thoroughly enjoyed my open sandwich with onions, burger, egg and salad. Followed by ice cream. The SW chose coffee; I should have liked nougat, but they were out, so I had a scoop of "Fougasse d'Aigues-Mortes",. I am still not quite sure what it was, other than delicious! 

After lunch, we wandered back to the WoMo and set off again, this time round the Camargue to the town of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhone, crossing the river on the ferry we have used several times before.

We are in a Camping-Car park here, just by the canal, and we have seen several boats go up and down, including a naval vessel and the longest barge you ever did see - and so long I thought it was a train at first! The SW has gone for a walk, but has just come back as I type! 

The last dregs of summer, 5 October 2022

This morning, for some reason, I fell asleep again after taking my tablet and didn't wake up until well gone 09:00. I really had trouble getting out of bed and showering, too! However, once I had, I was fairly all right, and we spent the first hour after breakfast doing necessary chores like boiling the washing-up cloths to sterilise them, and changing the tea-towel, while the Swan Whisperer washed the outside windows and windscreens. 

When we were ready to move on, though, and we had a bit of a fright, as when I pressed my card to the exit barrier, nothing happened! I realised there were no lights on the barrier, and the Swan Whisperer said it was the same on the entry barrier. So I rang them up, and first the woman I spoke to - who didn't speak nearly as good English as the one I spoke to the other night - asked me to try a code, but of course that didn't work, and then she said we could lift the barrier manually. So we did that. Unfortunately, the power cut, or whatever it was, also applied to the services - which were outside the actual enclosure - so we had to come away without using them. 

Our first port of call was Arles. We thought at first it would be impossible to park, since all the ar parks we could see were full, but just as we were going sadly away, we came across an absolutely enormous, empty car park that was so new the entrance barriers and card readers, etc, hadn't been set up yet. So parking was free. There were two other, older, car parks on the site which were now locked out of use, whether permanently or just in the low season I couldn't say. 

A shuttle bus ran us into town and, indeed, out the other side to the Roman race-track. We had confused this with the arena and theatre, but there was a good museum there and we enjoyed wandering around seeing the various bits and bobs they used in daily life, although I, for one, was less than enthused by the enormous hunks of stone that formed much of the display. Of more interest was a huge wooden boat that had apparently sunk in the harbour some 2,000 years ago and had been raised. It had been carrying stone, among other cargo. There were also a great many sarcophagi - frankly, if you've seen one Roman sarcophagus, you've seen them all - and I do hope they reburied the original inhabitants with all due reverence. 

When we had finished with the museum, we decided to walk back into town - a lovely path which took us past the Roman-style garden that the museum had created. It was full of schoolchildren and others eating packed lunches, so we didn't go in, but walked up alongside the Rhône,

and then through the mediaeval streets until we got back to the main drag where we had lunch. Then we walked a bit further until we got to the old arena.

I was flagging by then, but nothing a delicious ice-cream

couldn't cure! We tried to get a sight of the Roman theatre, too, but were somehow the wrong side of it. 

We walked back to the main drag through a small but steep (fortunately downhill!) public park, and didn't have to wait too long for a bus back to the car park. 

We then drove on, via a supermarket, to this France Passion farm at Montcalm, in the Camargue, where we were warmly welcomed. The woman in the shop seemed both surprised and pleased that we had bothered to come and say hello - I have to wonder how many people don't bother. Or who stop here without being members of France Passion. Actually, looking at the map, it is possible that the France Passion place is the other side of the road, but this place takes motorhomes to, so.... 

The last dregs of summer, 4 October 2022

It appears to be summer between the hours of 10:00 and 19:00 or thereabouts. Before and after, it can be very cold, and this morning it was very foggy. 

However, after breakfast we set off to the highlight of today, the Cirque de Navacelles, which my brother-in-law said was well worth seeing. The fog had lifted en route, and he was not wrong!

The photos simply don't do it justice. I found I could only look over for a few seconds at a time, or I got very dizzy, and the Swan Whisperer didn't help by practically climbing the retaining wall (he says he was perfectly safe, but then he would say that, wouldn't he?) to see if he could see the others, who had decided to walk down! Sooner them than me, and the SW wasn't able for a long walk today as he had had two in recent days and done his tendon a lot of no good. 

We had a drink in the Café there, but that was a bit of a failure as we ordered the very special home-made lemonade. The SW ordered plain and I ordered lemon/lavender, but honestly, all you could taste was sugar! It was appallingly sweet, quite revolting. At least it meant we weren't hungry, so we decided to drive on towards Bellegarde, where we are spending the night. 

It was awful, the first two hours of the drive. Firstly we drove down and down, hairpin after hairpin, horribly scary and sick-making, and when! we had gone about 20 km, the road turned out to be blocked, so we had to turn round. The Satnav did suggest a fairly sensible-looking diversion but the SW said he didn't like the look of it, so we had to go up a different set of hairpins, horrendously narrow, much worse than the first! I was so terrified I regret to say I screamed most of the way up and was thankful I'd had no lunch! I And as soon as we got to the top, we the SW said should we stop and have lunch?! It was a good 30 minutes before I could even think of eating anything...

However, after that it was a very pleasant drive along the D999 and then past Nîmes to this Camping-car park in Bellegard. Which is by a marina, rather nice! We don't think we'll meet up with the others again but you never know! 

The last dregs of summer, 3 October 2022

This evening finds us still at Nant. We had been going to move on, but it didn't happen!

This morning, the SW and the others went for a walk up to Le Roc de Nant.

Sooner them than me, is all I will say about that! I, meanwhile, had a glorious morning doing absolutely nothing!

When the others got home, it was lunch time and past, so we had our lunch and then sat around chatting and putting the world to rights. It was a lovely summer afternoon - I do wish I'd packed shorts - and by about 16:00, we all decided it was too late, and we were too comfortable, to move! 

I had had no exercise, so the SW kindly accompanied me into the town for a brief wander round the Old Town and then a beer in the old market halls. Tomorrow is market day here and the men were putting up barriers to do people parking in the Square. 

Then back to the WoMo and eventually I cooked a cauliflower cheese which was lovely.  And we will have to move on tomorrow! 

The last dregs of summer, 2 October 2022

It was much milder this morning, and I don't think the heating needed to come on at all. The SW went into the village to buy bread, and after breakfast we used the services before heading on. 

Today's drive was down the A75, such a lovely road, as far as Millau.

We listened to our church service en route which was a bit surreal! At Millau, we came off the motorway and drove cross country through the Gorges de la Tarn and past La Cavalerie - there was a French Foreign Legion barracks and also a military firing range, and like Salisbury Plain - to this little village called Nant, where we met up with the SW's brother and his wife. 

We had lunch sitting outside, because it was so lovely. The SW changed into shorts, but I haven't packed any. After lunch, the others all went for some long, healthy uphill walk to some chapel or other - local beauty spot, anyway - and I went for a potter around the mediaeval old town centre, complete with resident ginger monster! I wonder whether all mediaeval French towns have ginger cats.... 

Back at the WoMo, I read until it was time to get supper, and then fed everybody on chicken and vegetable stew with couscous and Moroccan seasonings. And very good it was, too - a pleasant evening in good company. 

The last dregs of summer, 1 October 2022

It was exactly 7 years ago that we set off in our then motor home on our first ever motorhome adventure, the Eleanor of Aquitaine tour. We have learnt a lot since then!

Meanwhile, it was not so cold this morning, although the heating still came on. There was an artisan bakery just around the corner from the campsite, and the SW popped up there for a baguette and croissants for breakfast. I had had another bad night, although my cold is very definitely almost over, and fell fast asleep after breakfast, but when I woke up, we went back to the bakery for some patisseries for lunch pudding!

Then we went into Nevers; we had hoped to park up by the Loire and have a quick look at the Cathedral but the parking was a bit full and not really suitable for motor homes, so we came away and I did a massive shop at an Intermarché and now won't need to get anything other than bread, and possibly milk, before Tuesday!

Then a very pleasant drive down the N7, A71, A79 and A75 to this Camping-car park at a place called Brassac-les-Mines. I did book, but it wasn't necessary

as I think there is only one other motor home there. The Swan Whisperer went out for a leg-stretch, and I watched videos, and now he is cooking our Saturday night sausages!