Lockdown Lifted, 28 July

It was much cooler this morning, and we were just having breakfast when the heavens opened and we had to rush to close the skylights! Didn't last long, though.

We have had a long and dull drive on the motorway, enlivened by a hunt for diesel and a quick dash into a convenience store for bread and water.

But we are now parked up in a very windy Sangatte prior to crossing at lunch time tomorrow after a big shop and perhaps a dash round Calais.

And I have a new great-nephew, born this morning. 

Lockdown Lifted, 27 July

Once again, we are not where we expected to be tonight, having originally planned to stop somewhere outside Reims that wasn't Chaméry. However, we were going to need services somewhere en route, and the Swan Whisperer picked on this place, by the Lac d'Orient,

and when we got here it was so nice we decided to stay. It will mean a long and boring motorway drive tomorrow, but that can't be helped.

It was a pleasant cross-country drive today, lots of pretty towns and villages and countryside with newly-harvested fields of corn and still-ripening fields of sunflowers and maize. Big sky country here - the French prairies.

After lunch and a rest we went for a short walk

but it is horribly hot so we came back and flaked out in the shade of the van. Now the SW is having a Church council meeting outside (one downside of Zoom meetings is you can't use being on holiday as an excuse not to go!) and I'm flaked out on the bed. 

Lockdown Lifted, 26 July

The aire where we stayed last night gave free electricity, and there were services not far away, also free, but they asked you to use local businesses.  So the Swan Whisperer went to buy bread only to be turned away because he was wearing a thick, home-made mask rather than a flimsy disposable one!  So we thought if they didn't want our business, they needn't have it, and decided to do without.  We had half a baguette left over from yesterday, which we toasted, and then at lunch tried (not very successfully) to make toasties with ordinary bread. 

Anyway, back to breakfast, which was nearly a disaster as my poached egg slipped out of its plastic cup on to the baguette, then slipped off that and made a beeline for the floor.  Do not catch a freshly-poached egg in your bare hand - it hurts!  But at least I saved it and was able to eat it. 

We were driving as far as Dijon today, and decided to go non-motorway, which was pleasant.  Is this an archetypal or a stereotypical French tree-lined road, do you suppose? 

Sunflowers are very much a crop here - just losing the radiance of their petals now.  We don't know whether they are mostly for animal fodder or for cooking oil (or, indeed, for the delicious seed, either for human or avian consumption). 

We stopped for lunch in Louhan, by a river,

and arrived here, at Marsonnay-la-Cote (infamous for being the place where my mother spilt tonic waer on the cushions in her hotel room in 2003) just in time for the last Zoom church service of the summer.  Live worship restarts next Sunday, with limits, and I am to take the service the Sunday after, which I am delighted about!

Lockdown Lifted, 25 July

Today I finally found the cows whose bells we have enjoyed hearing over the past two days - sadly they were brought in at night se we didn't have them to enjoy at night.  

Breakfast was horribly late as the Swan Whisperer insisted on going and buying croissants and the bakery was a long 20 minutes' walk, even at his speed, from the aire.  However, we had it at last, although we deprived ourselves of eggs, for once, and had a piece of cheese instead, as quicker. 

We then, sadly, had to say goodbye to the mountains, and come back down those ten hairpin bends - and more, later, down to the Grenoble bypass, stopping to do an enormous shop at an E Leclerc  - I haven't done much shopping over the last few days, somehow, and we were running low on stuff.  

When we got to the aire, on the outskirts of Lyon, we were surprised to find that it was not where we thought it was, and although there were services, which we didn't need, having used them in Les 2 Alpes this morning, overnight stays were apparently forbidden.  All very strange - and then Park4Night pointed out the aire I thought we were going to some 5 miles away.  So I entered the lat and long into the satnav and asked it to find the nearest aire (which it mostly knows), and, lo and behold, it pointed to the place where we were!  So that is how that muddle arose!

We drove on to the aire we had intended to go to, and found most of the space occupied by a wedding party, but they soon cleared off, and as there is what appears to be free electricity, we have been playing with the television, but there is nothing really worth watching, so have turned it off.  

It is so hot  down here - we were really too cold first thing this morning, I had to close the bedroom skylight when I woke up.  But down here it is much hotter.  I wish we had another week in the Alps.... Oh well. 

Lockdown Lifted, 24 July

Today we decided to stay her in Les 2 Alpes, and to explore the village. There is a shuttle bus that takes you around the place in the mornings, at lunch time and in the evenings. We got the last bus of the morning into the village and then took the cable-car gown to Venosc, a village some 500 metres lower. There are paths, but no other mechanical way of reaching the village from above - it would be a very long way round by car!

Not that there was much to see when we got there, so we came back and did a bit of exploring around the village which is so utterly dependent on tourism that it must have suffered badly in recent months.

We bought bread and a cold drink in a bakery and sat watching some friendly sparrows while we drank it.

Then back on the bus to the motor home for lunch and in the afternoon the SW went for a hike and I had a nap and then worked on my crochet shawl, which is nearly finished.

We leave the mountains tomorrow - I could do with another week, I must say! 

Lockdown Lifted, 23 July

We have had another glorious drive today, partly retracing our steps towards Briançon, along the most beautiful lake (more photos on Facebook) 

and then up over Lauteret again. At Briançon, I saw a huge hospital overlooking the town, and wondered whether it was once a Sanatorium for TB patients. Now, I expect it deals mainly with ski casualties (and probably, this year, with Covid-19 cases). 

In this direction, there was a spectacular glacier: 

We bought a sandwich and an ice on the top of Lauteret, and ate them in the motor home and then drove on, past another spectacular lake,

to our overnight place at Les Deux Alpes (up 10 hairpin bends!). We had not been going to get here until tomorrow night, but we think we might spend another day here - there is a free shuttle bus that takes you all over, so I shan't have to walk much (I can't on these slopes, anyway) and can get bread. I think we have enough food, but I will have to do a huge shop on Saturday! It is Thursday today, isn't it? 

Lockdown Lifted, 22 July

Best laid plans, and all that.... Last night, the gas ran out, which was not unexpected, given that we had we realised, been using it 24/7 for the fridge.  We have plenty, so that is not an issue, and as it was the French cylinder that is empty, we can get more.  But, unfortunately, the fridge simply wouldn't start up again, no matter what we did to encourage it.  You could hear the self-starter clicking away, but nothing happened.  

This has happened before, in our old van, and was fixed up very quickly with a new filter of some kind - forget the exact thing - which took him all of 3 minutes to fix.  He said at the time that they don't last forever and ought to be replaced every couple of years. 

So we both slept badly and were cross and fratchety this morning.  As it is half way through our holiday, I changed things like kitchen towels and table napkins, and washed through the various masks - I just had enough to last, but wouldn't have had a fresh one to shop on Thursday of next week when we get home.

Masks drying in the bathroom.

Our route today was always going to be an exciting one, over Galibier and Lauteret. This is the monument at Galibier, and I'll put other photos, and photos I took of the wild flowers, on Facebook

Tour de France monument on Galibier

It was much colder up there, of course! We came down via Briançon, stopping somewhere for a lunch neither of us much wanted, and at a passing services that were badly needed, and then on to Gap to a motorhome repair place which refused to do anything to help us as they were booked solid for weeks. In vain did we please that it would only take 5 minutes (and at that, we could do it ourselves if we knew how to open the panel, which we will find out!). So we came away, and the Swan Whisperer said, despairingly, that he would give it one more go - and it came on!  It is definitely staying on until we turn the gas off for the Shuttle crossing and we will, of course, get a new part when we get home.  

So that has thrown our plans into disarray, rather.  We are not sure whether to find the places to stay we first thought of, or to change our plans again.  We did some shopping an bought diesel after visiting the unhelpful place, and then came on to this random aire that Park4Night recommended, and, indeed, it is very nice.  It rained and stormed, though, when we got here, which is actually nice as it was very hot and muggy (and we are still 960 metres above sea level, as at Abondance).  We don't really need to start home until Sunday.  Watch this space..... 

Lockdown Lifted, 21 July.

It was just beginning to get light when the Swan Whisperer woke me by clambering out of bed to close the skylights as it was raining! Only a very localised shower, and by the time we came properly awake an hour or so later, the sun was out. So the SW went for a 2-hour walk before breakfast! I had half thought of going to explore the village and find a bakery while he was out, but by the time I got up, it was a bit late for that! So I got breakfast once he returned.

I was very annoyed as the supermarket we decided to go to had no parking for motor homes, so I ended up going to Lidl, which didn't have any mushrooms, thus effectively foiling my plans for mushroom risotto for dinner. I got some trout instead.

The drive was not nearly as bad as yesterday's, despite millions of hairpin bends, but it was a 2-lane road so it didn't matter meeting lorries on their way down. Mind you, endless cyclists, but then there always are on French mountain roads!

We arrived here at Valloire in nice time for lunch and then we both flaked out for a bit. First I, and then the SW, went out for an explore, and to visit the giant straw sculpture competition that we can see outside our window (photos on Facebook). This is very much a ski resort, and is the highest place we've ever slept - 1,565 metres (although I've been to Boulder, Colorado, which I think is higher). Certainly the highest in the Alps, though.  Here are today's mountain views! 

And tomorrow we leave Savoie via the Col du Galibier and the Col de Lauteret to enter the Dauphiné. 

Lockdown Lifted, 20 July.

View through our front skylight

This was the view through our front skylight this morning - excuse the bird droppings, which accumulated during lockdown and which we have not been able to remove. 

The satnav suggested, wisely, that we go the long way round today, mostly on the motorway.  We followed its ideas as far as Annecy but then told it that this was dull, and could it find another route, please.  Unfortunately, there was a third route which would have been much easier as it went round the side of a mountain, rather than hairpin-bending its way over the col.  Oh well, we survived, and tomorrow may well be worse. 

"Here" is Beaufort, which is also an Alpine village.  We found our plan B site without much difficulty, but it was difficult to see where camping-cars could go in our Plan A car park.  So we came back here.  It is not unpleasant, but really rather hot!  Still, it should cool down overnight as, indeed, it did last night.  I'd rather forgotten about the occasional altitude-induced insomnia I'm apt to suffer from, but it struck rather last night!  Oh well, I expect I shall sleep tonight as we are a couple of hundred metres lower. 

It is now compulsory to wear a mask in enclosed public spaces here, and everybody does, even the children. They don't wear pretty or funky ones as I gather they do in Germany, just the flimsy disposable ones. But they all wear them. Mind you, the beach outside Annecy was absolutely rammed, no question of social distancing there. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose. 

I made lemon-limeade as we had some limes and a lemon that needed using, and we have been drinking that!  We are nearly out of the home made lemon squash I brought with us, but I've bought a bottle of French cordial which may or may not be nice.  And fizzy water, to dilute it.  We also have beer and wine, of course, and had a spritzer last night, most refreshing!

View from the aire at Beaufort

View from the aire at Beaufort (and my finger!)

Lockdown Lifted, 19 July

It has been another glorious day.  We were only going about half an hour away, up to the Alps above Lac Léman, to a village called Abondance.  The Swan Whisperer decided to go for a walk before breakfast, rather than a run, but went further than he meant, and had to jog back!

The drive up the mountains was reasonable  - not too many sharp bends, although the road was far from straight.  We are 916 metres here, about the same as Oberstdorf, and have come up about 550 metres since yesterday.  But it was really worth it! 

As soon as we arrived, the SW had some coffee and I had some lemonade - I had already had coffee before we left Anthy-sur-Léman.  Once that had been drunk, we pulled on hats and sandals and set out.  I decided that even though I am probably too old and too fat to wear shorts, I was going to anyway!  

It being Sunday, the village square was full of the market, suitably socially-distanced so we pulled on our masks to buy some Tomme de Savoie (we are, after all, in Savoie!) and some olives.  There's one thing - they won't know me again! 

Back to the van for lunch and a rest before our Church's Zoom service, which was of course at 3:30 pm here - not terribly satisfactory as both our phones decided to overheat and cut us off.  I think next week we might try on my tablet, instead. 

When Church was over, the SW went for a walk - there are lots of lovely walks round here, of course; I just wish I were more able for them.  And when he came back it was supper time!

Lockdown Lifted, 18 July

The Swan Whisperer went to the nearest bakery this morning to get croissants but alas. Google maps to the contrary, it was closed. Ah well. So after our croissantless breakfast, the first order of the day was to use the services. 

With the van empty and full in appropriate places, we set off to the nearest Intermarché to stock up for the weekend. The SW decided that we would go cross-country for the first part of today's drive and it was lovely. To quote him, the scenery was not spectacular, but it was still lovely. I agreed.

At lunch time, though, we transferred to the mototway, and it really was a spectacular drive, through tunnels and across viaducts, with views of lakes and rivers and mountains!

And so we came here, to Anthy-sur-Leman, a resort on Lake Geneva (Lac Leman, in French) and have been lucky enough to find a dedicated motorhome space just by the lake. The place is packed out, as you would expect on a summer weekend, and the other two spaces have been taken by cars, despite large notices saying not to!  The first aire we saw was full, so we were very lucky to get this space! 

Lockdown Lifted, 17 July

Last night's couscous wasn't very nice, but we ate it anyway!  And I slept a lot better than I had the previous couple of nights. 

The Swan Whisperer went for a run this morning, as he usually does when we park up at Chamery, but he got a bit turned round and went further than he meant, which then delayed both breakfast and our getaway.  Not too badly, but we were an hour later than I should have liked. 

Our first port of call was, of course, the local hypermarket, which in this case was an E Leclerc, where I bought mostly vegetables for our casserole this evening.  And some strawberry tartlets as a treat, which got a bit squashed because I forgot they were there and put the fruit juice down on them!  

In the car park, just as I was about to take the trolley back and reclaim my token, suddenly, wonderfully, a squadron of what I think must have been the French equivalent of the Red Arrows flew overhead in formation, and let off their tricolour smoke.  Sadly, all over in 30 seconds, before I could even think of getting my phone out to take a picture, but it was glorious!

We then had another long, dull drive down the motorway to the rather unlovely municipal aire in Nuits St Georges. We have stayed here before, but its ain attraction is free services which we will use in the morning. 

It has been a lovely warm day today, only not very sunny.  The battery went up to its maximum 13. 5 at one stage, which led the SW to play with our new television.  Not desperately satisfactory as its plug doesn't work so it either has to trail across the kitchen or the loo!  Still, we will have fun with it when we have electricity, and it is an awful extravagance really!  But it will be lovely if they have another Oberstdorf and we can watch the livestream there on a big screen.

I had thought of going to the Cassisarium, which is only a few hundred metres from here, and which has reopened, but then bottled it.  I'm sure it would have been perfectly safe really, especially masked, but I find I'm not quite ready for that sort of thing yet.  So I read and dozed for a bit while the SW went up to the local Mr Bricolage to get some screws and then explored the town centre. 

And tomorrow, all being well, we reach the mountains!  How I am looking forward to it - I have so missed my week in the Alps this year. 

Pre-dinner drinks

Our new toy!

Lockdown Lifted, 16 July

As might have been expected, I didn't sleep too well, but when I got up to use the facilities at about 6:00 am, I was disconcerted to find that not only would the loo not flush, but I could get no water to do it manually, either.  Investigation proved that the leisure batteries were flat, and we had to run the engine for awhile to charge them up again!

It was inevitable, I suppose - the machine has been off the road for the best part of six months, with only one excursion just before lockdown and then we turned the engine over once during lockdown, so the battery is evidently past its best.  So we will have to be careful with it, but no big deal.  If we don't charge our devices overnight, we should be okay.  I haven't planned us to go to many places with an electricity supply, but that could change. 

It might have helped had it been sunny, as the solar panels would have charged more than they did, but it was cloudy and a bit wet.  I was, as I rather expected to be, exhausted, so have done almost nothing except visit a supermarket.  Almost everybody wears masks here, which is brilliant.  I gather that, as in England, it becomes compulsory in enclosed public spaces from next week. 

Since we knew the aire here is very small, we drove straight here - I slept most of the way - and just as well, as it is now overflowing and someone asked me, sadly, whether we intended to spend the night here!  Yes, actually.... 

The Swan Whisperer has put up the television, but we are not sure how successfully, and we can't run it when not on mains power - well, we can, but it wouldn't be wise. He then went out for a walk and is just back.  I had another nap and have been crocheting and reading.  I have bought a ready-meal (couscous) for supper, so I shan't have to cook.  

Chamery, as seen from the bedroom window!

Lockdown Lifted, 15 July 2020

Watten, France

It has been a very, very long time.  The motor home was SORNed for several months.  Our Viking River Cruise was cancelled.  The ISU adult competition at Oberstdorf was cancelled.  For many weeks, our only outings were the Swan Whisperer regular runs and trips to Lidl, all of 100 metres away.  

We did go to my mother for a socially-distanced lunch in her garden and to my daughter for a birthday lunch in hers, but that was all. 

And then they announced that we could travel again! So, quickly, before they could change their minds, we booked.  I didn't really believe it would happen, but the motor home got loaded up - still rather a slow process as we don't yet automatically know where things live - and we set off.  And now we are parked up in Watten, on our way to the French Alps.  I can barely believe it!

Moselle Valley, 20-21 February

I didn't post yesterday, as there was really nothing to post about!  The gas cylinder finally ran out while we were getting breakfast, a good week after the Swan Whisperer was convinced it was about to run out Any Minute Now!  So that's all right; we will be going to Germany in May with almost a full load of gas.

We drove from the outskirts of Charleroi (a nice aire - I'd recommend it) to Gravelines with singular lack of incident.  I slept most of the way - you know me, guaranteed to sleep in a moving vehicle at any time!  However, just as we had parked up, the heavens opened and for the next two hours there was a most spectacular storm!  No thunder and lighting, but very heavy rain and wind.  And then it eased, and the sun came out in time to set, but by then neither of us felt like going out again.

Then this morning we got up punctually, and after breakfast drove over to the Super U we could see from our parking - it was further away than it looked - and I did a huge Last Shopping, and then we drove to Cité Europe where we used the services, and so to Eurotunnel, where we were offered a crossing half an hour early (yes please!), but in fact got on an extra one 45 minutes ahead of schedule.  Mind you, there was a huge traffic jam on the South Circular, so that accounted for it!  Home by 14:30 UK time, and the steady work of unpacking and putting away, and generally sorting things out.  But the orchid that the Daughter and Son-in-Law gave us after their wedding, nearly 13 years ago, has flowered again!

We definitely love our new van now we are used to it.  The loo smells more than the old one did - this may be the chemical we were using, as it was what they gave us at the caravan centre, not what we normally use - and the lighting just doesn't shine in quite the right place when one is sitting in the swivelled-round seat (this is also awkward to do).  The table is smaller than in the old machine, and awkward to move, but one can live with that.  But that is the only downside, really.  

Moselle Valley, 19 February

I should have had my act together this morning, got up betimes and headed into Koblenz, but singularly failed to get out of bed until the Swan Whisperer had got back from his "run". Poor man - it had, apparently, looked a lovely place for a run on the map, but when he got there it was far too steep and slippery for any but the most cautious of walks!

We started homewards after breakfast, agreeing that we will definitely come back both to Koblenz and to Lahnstein one of these days. But for now, we drove to Kerten, near Duren, where I did a Last Shop in Germany, and we got diesel, and then - while I slept - to this aire on the outskirts of Charleroi.

And the gas, which the Swan Whisperer was convinced was going to run out at the weekend, is still going strong, like the Widow's Cruse.... 

Moselle Valley, 18 February

So today was All About Koblenz. After breakfast, we used the services (very necessary!) and then caught a bus into the town centre. This was a few minutes walk from the Altstadt and the Moselle, so we walked along the Moselle

up to the Rhine, passing a memorial to the Roma and Sinti people who had been deported from Koblenz and murdered in the death camps. 

We went past the Castor church,

with a lovely bed of pansies outside,

and then arrived at the Rhine

 where there was a cable car across the river

but, sadly, out of use and in fact being maintained before the new season starts in March.

So we walked on, and back into the Altstadt, the heart of which was the Jesuit square and church.

We would have gone into the church

, but Mass was about to start, and although we could have gone to the service, we thought that in German we might have trouble knowing what was going on. So we went back to a restaurant called the Einstein, a few steps away, where we had the lunch special, which was lentil stew with sausages and (unnecessary, I thought) Spätzle, followed by a small ice cream, and we drank beer and coffee.

By which time I had had enough, so we went back to the bus stop and caught the bus back to the camp site, the Swan Whisperer cleverly realising that one stop further on was almost definitely nearer than the stop I'd found. As, indeed, it proved to be.

So I flaked out and the Swan Whisperer did some shopping for me and went for a walk on his own behalf. We had debated moving on but it is very nice here, so we didn't. 

Moselle Valley, 17 February

We were wakened by church bells at 7:00 am, so the Swan Whisperer went for a run, slightly further, I think, than he meant, but then, we were parked up in the car park at the start of a rambling area! So I got breakfast, and managed to burn myself on the grill pan, which hurt, but lavender oil has sorted it, although you can see the place.

After breakfast, our first port of call was a supermarket in Kobern-Gondorf. We had originally planned to spend the night there, not in the supermarket, I don't mean, but in an aire, but decided to push on to Koblenz, which is not very far away. The place we had hoped to spend the night was just where the Moselle and the Rhine intersect,

but when we got there it was €19, which said it included electricity and services, but the only thing that looked like an electric socket was full of water, and no sign of anything else. So we came away and have found a really nice aire where the Lahn and the Rhein intersect, instead.

Only €11, and although electricity is extra, we found a socket with 4 Kwh left! Water is extra, but only €1 for 100 litres, which is fine. We haven't used the services yet, but will need to tomorrow.

So we had lunch and then I dozed off for a bit. The SW went to explore and when I came awake, I did, too, walking up to the nearest DM, about a mile away, and finding out that there is a half-hourly bus service into Koblenz from near our campsite, also half-hourly train from a little further away. In fact, I almost got on a bus into Koblenz, but only had a €50 note, so didn't. Instead I walked to the DM and bought what I wanted from there, and then walked back to the campsite. It didn't seem worth taking a bus for just one stop, which was all that I could see how to take between there and here. But tomorrow we will go into Koblenz, and may stay here another night as we are ahead of ourselves. 

Moselle Valley, 16 February

I don't think we're going to run out of gas, after all! It might have been a bit closer had the big cylinder finished last night, when the Swan Whisperer said it was about to, but it is still going strong, and we have an untouched 5 kg cylindrr, so plenty. Especially as we haven't needed the heating today, it has been so mild.

I have been very sleepy all day so have done very little, but thoroughly enjoyed the drive along the river - it really is wonderful, but arguably not in the summer! 

We had hoped to spend the night in Cochem, but it was a bust, as the only parking we could find for motorhomes was only until 7:00 pm, so we drive on and found this lovely little car park with dedicated bays for motor homes, although no services or electricity. Village called Brodenbach, apparently. I will take a photo in the morning, but meantime here is one taken a bit further upstream.

Moselle Valley, 15 February

One disadvantage of the very big bed in this motor home is that the Swan Whisperer is too far away to snuggle against his back when you wake up not quite warm enough in the night!  Ah well.

After breakfast this morning he went off on another of his 2-hour walks, leaving me on my own, and then we set off downstream again, stopping at a bakery for rolls for lunch and then in the town of Bernkastel-Kues

to eat said lunch and to have a walk round the town. Actually, what we walked round was Bernkastel; Kues is on the other side of the river

and not as pretty, from what we could see. There were several double - barrelled towns we went through like that, rather like Budapest, we thought. Not that the town looked anything like Buda, or even Pest!

It was very pretty and, even in February, a great many tourists! Mind you, it was a very un-February-like day; we didn't really need coats or wraps! Brilliant sunshine,

while at home they are being shaken by Storm Dennis! 

Then we drove on along the river tu where we had hoped to spend the night, only to find it closed because of the high water. So we are at another aire, a mile or so away, same price, but this one doesn't offer electricity, which is a bore as we are low on gas.

We may go straight to Koblenz tomorrow, we'll see. The Swan z Whisperer, needless to say, went off on another marathon, but can't back in time to cook Sausages and mash as it is Saturday and we have to have Sausages and mash on a Saturday...