Beyond Vienna, 13 September 2017

Time for our long autumn road trip again, and this time we are heading - well, beyond Vienna! 

It has started with minor irritations - we put off leaving until this afternoon as I had a meeting scheduled for last night, and neither of us liked it when we crossed at 01:00.  So I paid a premium (on top of the fare is already paid) to cross in the early afternoon. Of course, last night's meeting was cancelled!  Had we known, we could have taken our normal 10:00 pm crossing. 

Then when we arrived at Folkestone, it was to learn that there was a 2.5 hour delay!  We didn't get away until 16:50, which was a serious pain when we had hoped to have arrived in France an hour before that I just hope they'll refund the premium I paid for a privilege I didn't receive, and have emailed them to this effect! 

So then we still had nearly 3-hour drive to our stop for the night, at the inclined place at Ronquières - we have stopped here before. It was 9:00 pm before we arrived, local time, and we hadn't eaten, but luckily is made a double portion of vegetable spaghetti yesterday, so it was only a matter of heating it up.  Not impressed, Eurotunnel; not impressed.

A long weekend in Scotland

This past weekend was the AGM  of the New Chalet Club, which took place in Stirling.  So I suggested that we go in our motor home, and pick up the Swan Whisperer's brother en route, so that they could enjoy a day's walking in the Trossachs while I was otherwise occupied.  All concerned thought this was a good idea, and, last Wednesday, we set off at about noon.

Scotland, even the Lowlands, is a lot further away than Brussels or Paris, so our first night was spent at a camp site near Knutsford.  We arrived at about 5:45 pm, and settled in, and when I posted a check-in on Facebook, a kind friend let me know that we were very near the Jodrell Bank telescope.  So the next morning, we headed off there to have a look. 

The Discovery Centre was excellent; informative without being too pedagogical.  There were plenty of interactive exhibits, so you could see how, for instance, a black hole eventually sucked everything into it.  The Jodrell Bank telescope itself was built well over 50 years ago, but is still very much in use, and is part of several clusters of telescopes - these, apparently, allow a much more detailed view of our galaxy than a single telescope would.

We decided to have lunch there, but it really wasn't very nice - you ordered something - a piece of quiche, for instance, or a sausage roll - and were offered a choice of chips or salad.  This was the "salad":

After this, we headed on and finally crossed into Scotland.  We spent that night in a hotel car park - one of the nice pubs that allow motorhomes under the BritStops scheme - in Leadhills, which was as beautiful as ever, and on Friday morning we arrived at the Swan Whisperer's brother's home in East Kilbride.  We went out to lunch with him and his wife and then set off to Stirling.

However, we decided to go via the new Forth crossing, as it had just opened.  This was a Big Mistake, as, instead of just adding one hour to our journey, as we had anticipated, it added a good two hours!  But it was worth waiting for:

We found the hotel in Stirling at about 5:30 pm, and I left the men to their own devices, and checked in.  There was about half an hour to relax and have a cup of tea before the first formal dinner of the weekend, which I duly did.  The food was good, and it was good to meet some old friends and some people I've only ever "met" on-line before.  However, after supper they laid on "progressive games", which are totally not my thing, so I went straight to bed and read!

The hotel did a really good breakfast, including haggis!  After this, we assembled into two coaches - we were asked to use the same coach all day, so they could be sure they weren't leaving anybody behind - and set off for Dunblane, where we saw the Cathedral:

The Leighton Library (which opened specially for our group - the librarian was brilliant and very informative):

and, of course, the Golden Pillar Box commemorating Olympic success:

After this, we piled back into the coaches and headed on to Loch Katrine, where we went on a steamship, the SS Sir Walter Scott.  This was a very pleasant journey and many of our number (not me!) enlivened it with hot chocolate with a shot of brandy in it, topped with "a featherbed of whipped cream". 

After the boat trip, the buses took us to the tourist town of Callander.  I had a look round the Callander Woollen Mill, vividly reminded of the very similar shop in Aviemore, where my mother and I used to spend far too much money on holidays gone by!  I also bought an ice-cream, but after that ran out of energy, so went back to the coach and dozed until it was time to head back to the hotel.

Our after-dinner speaker was the author Val McDermid, and very good she was, too!  I think everybody enjoyed her talk on how the Chalet School had influenced her life and writing. 

The next morning was the AGM itself, which didn't take long, and then we had a talk by Gill Simms, the author of the very popular Peter and Jane Facebook blog and whose first book is due out next month.  I think this was the first time she had been asked to speak, although I am very sure it won't be the last!

This ended the formal part of the weekend, but then there was a book sale and Sale of Work.  I was very, very, very strong-minded and didn't buy anything, but wandered round being tempted!  I'm not a collector, only a reader, so I don't actually mind what state my copies of various books are in, but 50p and £1 adds up when there are several of them!

By then, the weather - which had been glorious on the Saturday - had closed in again, and the Swan Whisperer and his brother had also run out of things to do, so they came and picked me up, and we headed on.  Because we were quite early, we decided to visit the Falkirk Wheel, which the SW and I had long wanted to see.  It was well worth the detour, especially as we were lucky enough to see it in action:

Then we took the SW's brother home, and headed south as far as just outside Wigan, where there was a canalside pub that allowed us to park up (Britstoppers, again), and we had dinner there.  The weather was dreadful, though - after dinner, I went straight back to the van, and was soaked to the skin.  The SW, however, had waited a few moments while making himself comfortable - and was bone dry!

That pattern of weather continued all day today as we drove south, but we got home about 5:00 pm, ready to sort out the van and do some washing before heading off again in 48 hours!

Hauts-de-France, 7 August

So our final morning dawned.  We were booked on the 13:36 crossing, so didn't need to hurry.  The Swan Whisperer went out for a final walk after breakfast, and then we set off to the big Auchan near Calais, where he used the services and I did a final shop.  It was rather fun, actually, as we hadn't ever approached Calais from that particular direction before, and we were interested to see a Shuttle train doing its terminal loop before approaching the station.

Then to the Eurotunnel terminal, where we checked in very quickly, but then got caught in a long queue for passport control.  However, we got through in the end, and had about 30 minutes to wait, during which various bits of packing and tidying were done.  Then finally on to the shuttle, which was ten minutes late.  We had lunch on the crossing, and finally got home just before 3:00 pm.  I slept all the way, so was able to help with the unpacking and putting-away, and since then I have made jam!

The van will go to its Sussex home tomorrow, and our next adventures in it will be at the beginning of September.  There may, of course, be other things happening in August!

Hauts-de-France, 6 August

A lazy Sunday morning, so we set off at about 10:15 towards Guines, stopping in Montreuil for bread.  We got here and found the France Passion site where we have camped. The site is parking attached to St Joseph Village, a reconstruction of French village life in the first half of the 20th century.

It was a very odd place indeed - the brainchild of a single man, and much of the work seems to have been done by him alone. The first port of call was an agricultural museum, which, as so often in these places, made us feel old by having implements we remember from our childhoods. Less so than many, as of course the brands weren't the same, but the designs were!

 Then a fairground with a half-sized Gypsy caravan, rather lovely, swung boats, a roundabout, etc, and a short display of washing machines then and now.

Then a row of reconstructed shops - quite interesting, but nothing one hadn't seen a zillion times before. The next bit was arguably the most interesting; the "faith quarter", with a lovingly reconstructed Stations of the Cross, taken from a church that was being demolished, and several different chapels, including one that the man had built single-handed, together with copies of his testimony. 

There was a path that led down to a hide overlooking a lake, and we spent some time watching swallows and swifts swooping down to catch insects.  Then back to the village with its schoolroom, the "Salle des fêtes" now used as a museum of all the bits he couldn't find room for elsewhere, a windmill, and a seemingly endless stream of workshops, garages, cycle repair shops, sawmill, etc. Very dull unless you happen to like knowing which spanner was used for what!

And, finally, back to the main drag with a tea rooms and a restaurant that does lunches but not dinners.  We decided that tea made with boiling water is, as always, nicer than that made with tepid, so came back to the motor home.

It was interesting, but a little too much about the maker, how clever he was and how pious, and how clever to be best friends with Bernard Hinault, etc.  And no history at all - nothing about either war that had such a devastating impact on France during those years.  Still, I'm glad I went.

But there were donkeys, and, on our way back to the motor home, even baby donkeys!

Hauts-de-France, 5 August

Of course, having gone as far as Arras, we then decided to retrace our steps slightly when we discovered there was a preserved railway at Le Crotoy!  So the morning was taken up by a pretty drive across country, visiting various small villages en route, and a supermarket, and we would have liked to have visited the Abbey church of St-Riquier, but it was closed until 2. 

So we had lunch in a community centre car park somewhere, and then headed on to Crotoy, where we parked rather badly (and got a ticket - they say they will send it to our home address, so no point worrying until we see whether they do or not) and went off to the narrow-gauge railway.

The railway runs as far as Noyelles-sur-mer (it isn't at all on the sea, so don't know why it's called that), and then swaps engines with the other train and heads out backwards to St-Valéry-sur-Somme, where there was just time to stretch one's legs and take some pictures before the return journey. We made sure to sit in a rather more comfortable carriage on the way back - the plain wooden seats were not the most comfortable ever; the padded ones were marginally better!

After that, we had a much-needed cup of tea, and then decided to come to this place - a France Passion place in a meat-preserving factory!  We drove via Crécy, and made a brief detour to see the site of the eponymous battle, which is basically a field full of cows, although there is a car park. We decided not to stop, but came on here. The shop is, thankfully, closed, but we were warmly welcomed by the proprietor, who wished us a pleasant evening.

Hauts-de-France, 4 August

For me, particularly, today has been a much-needed rest day. We have driven about Hauts-de-France, finding first a Lidl to do some shopping (leaves the one at home standing!), then a lake near the banks of the Somme where we had lunch, and then in the afternoon we drove to a town called Doullens, where there was a citadel, which we looked at the outside of, and a museum which we should perhaps have visited. It also had services, which we used (€2), and we had a cup of tea.

After which we decided to go to Arras again and park up in the big car park by the cemetery where my uncle's name is on the Royal Flying Services Memorial, where we plan to spend the night. 

Hauts-de-France, 3 August

Discovered today that the region is actually called Hauts-de-France, not Grand Nord (which I'm sure I read somewhere that it was going to be called), so have edited everything.

I made an effort this morning and we were up and doing somewhat earlier than on other mornings.  We discovered how to use the local buses and caught one into the main part of town, which we wandered round, including visiting the Cathedral (which we also did a few years ago with a friend), and then a cup of coffee in a local café. We walked back to the station (where the buses went to and from) and did a little shopping in a local supermarket before returning to the van for lunch.

Then it was time to go to the Hortillonages, a series of gardens in the extensive canal network around the town.  You go on a boat trip - only €6 for an hour, excellent value - and the various gardens range from bare earth to jungle, via some lovely displays of flowers.

The canals themselves were full of wildlife - mallard, coot, a moorhen.... Only snag was the guide who was appalling and didn't really tell us anything. He kept saying do ask if you have any questions, but he never knew the answers, so what was the point?  But it was a lovely ride and well worth it!

Then back to the van for a cup of tea. I had hoped to go out again and make the most of my day ticket, but exhaustion overcame me and I slept. The SW went for a walk, though. 

Now we have anything really planned until Sunday; don't know what we shall do for the next couple of days!  We will need to use a services soon, and I need to shop (again!), but we have no real idea what we shall do. Watch this space.....