Early Winter, Friday 3 December 2021

The last full day of the holiday, so of course I have to feel rotten - aching, exhausted, and really not up to par. And still coughing nicely, although less than before. As I said, if I were at home, I'd take a test, and probably will when I get home tomorrow, although as I have to self-isolate anyway until the results of our day 2 PCR tests come through, not much point, really.

The Swan Whisperer went for a walk in the morning, having been out first thing to find a boulangerie for croissants, while I read and dozed and researched a new smartphone (mine is giving notice to quit). Then I finally got dressed and we had lunch, and then drove up to Sangatte in the rain. We stopped at Auchan and I did about half of the necessary shopping, and then I made us a mushroom omelette for supper. And now I am snuggled up in bed with a hot water bottle! I feel quite a lot better this evening, so hope it was only a 24-hour bug. 

Early winter, Thursday 2 December 2021

The Swan Whisperer went for a run this morning, and came back not only with croissants for breakfast (yum), but also with the information that the tram stop into Reims was only a few metres away. 

So, after a hiatus when we couldn't find my woolly hat (it had been put away, but its matching scarf had not, hence the confusion), we set off. Tram tickets, like bus tickets in the UK, are valid for an hour, and we made full use of our hour, as when we got to the Cathedral, we found there was a Christmas Market.  One of the best ones we have been to, actually.  We had to wear a mask and show our vaccine certificates to get in (I accidentally showed the photo I had taken of my Bratwurst supper, which made us all laugh - I had opened the right picture, but must have clicked on "next" or something.  Oh well, no harm done! 

The market was much bigger than we first thought, and it was a great pity that we were neither hungry enough to make the most of the proffered samples of all kinds of goodies, from cheese to prunes and boiled sweets and everything in between, nor was it the right sort of time of day for glühwein (and the SW was driving, anyway), but we bought gingerbread for the boys (a Father Christmas and a St Nicholas, which will, of course, be for Boy 2), and ended up with a mug of mulled orange juice, which had slightly too  much cinnamon for my taste, but was otherwise very good. 

We got back on the tram with about 2 minutes to spare on our tickets and, once back at the motor home, used the services and then headed off. 

We stopped for lunch at a lovely aire in a village called Corbeny, which was by an artificial lake or pond of some kind.

It would have been a lovely place to spend the night, but there were no services of any kind, and anyway, it was only lunch time.  So we drove on to this aire, taking our time and going cross-country. This is the municipal aire of Marcoing, just outside Cambrai.  It is okay; the fresh water is out of use for the winter, and there is nowhere to empty the loo, but they provide free electricity while the street lamps are on.  I gather they go off at midnight, but I expect they come on again in the morning.  It is not particularly attractive; it is by a canal lock, but you can't see it.  Still, once  you are indoors with all the shutters closed you can't see out anyway! 

Early winter, Wednesday 1 December 2021

Another horribly wet day, and I have developed a really bad cough, which is annoying and tiring. If I were at home I'd do a test, but not sure how to get them here.

We went to a Lidl this morning, which was a bust as they didn't have any fresh milk, and I got loo paper instead of kitchen paper by mistake, but they changed it for me. So we then programmed an E Leclerc in St Dizier into the SatNav, but when we got there there were barriers all round the car park, so we went to Intermarché instead, which didn't, and I got milk and a couple of other things, including "rognons sauce madère", which we both love, but haven't seen for ages - I thought they had stopped making them. We then had lunch, and then it rained and rained

while we drove to Reims to use the services there, and there was space in the motor home park here. It's ok, but a lot of traffic noise. We nearly went back to Chaméry, but didn't. 

We didn't eat the rognons, either, but i made a big vegetable stew, which I hoped would do twice, but it didn't! Oh well. And the rain has stopped, for now, at least. 

Early Winter, Tuesday 30 November 2021

It is raining. It has rained. It will rain. It will have been raining. It is also cold, wet and generally miserable.

We drove up the hill this morning into Homberg Haut Old Town, which would have been nicer in nicer weather. As it was, I stayed put while the Swan Whisperer took a couple of photographs for me.

We drove on a bit, and I got my only exercise of the day plodging round a Super U - I think almost my favourite of the French chains. I got some nice shower gel, too, both for me and for MrsRev.

We stopped at Pont-au-Mousson for lunch, and then drove to Toul, but the water was out of use for repairs, so we drove oa couple of miles to this aire at Bruley. There is a lot of disagreement on Park4Night as to which is better - here or Toul. They seem much of a muchness to me, although there is no electricity here. But thete are services!

Early winter, 29 November 2021

It was a beautiful, bright early winter orning; blue skies and sunshine, although not exactly warm.  I gather the Swan Whisperer went for a run, but as I had fallen asleep again, I wasn't aware of it until he came back! 

Once we had had breakfast, it was time to catch the bus into the centre of Kehl,

where I visited Müller and got some 4711 shower gel, and then DM where I got moisturiser and miniature shower gels.  Finally I parked the Swan Whisperer at a coffee shop and did a shopping in Edeka, and then joined him for coffee, and we walked back to the bus stop in good time for the bus back to the camp site. 

Lunch was the next order of the day, although I found I wasn't actually hungry.  Then we used the services, and got ready to leave Germany.  By this time, it had clouded over, and was beginning to snow!  

On our drive over here (a town called Hoburg Haut in Lorraine), the weather varied between rain, sleety rain, sleety snow and snow, depending on the altitude.  But just as we arrived at our parking place (free, but electricity is very expensive so we are doing without), the sun came out again, thus proving me right when I told the SW that we would arrive before it was quite dark! 

Early winter, Advent Sunday 28 November 2021

When I woke in the night, I was aware that the temperature gradient between the inside and the outside of my duvet was extremely sharp, and, indeed, when the Swan Whisperer got up to make tea, he said it was 8° inside and only 3° outside! Fortunately, the heating is very efficient, so that state of affairs didn't last long!

We were away by 10, and drive over to Kehl. The idea had been to visit the Christmas Market in Strasbourg, but when push came to shove it was raining and rather miserable and I decided I really didn't want to walk round in a mask with my glasses so fogged up I can't see - unlike the SW, I am even worse off without them! So I stayed in the van while he went to explore, and had a peaceful afternoon knitting and reading, and there might have been a nap...

But I still got my bratwurst, as that is what we had for supper! 

Early Winter, Saturday 27 November 2021.

The parkrun duly happened, but wet and slippery paths led to the SW posting a time of >26 minutes, which he is not pleased with. And he left his phone in the van so the run won't have registered on Strava.

While he was running, I was delighted to see a red squirrel out of the window! 

The camp site had put its running water out of use for the winter, so we had to top up with a bucket, and it seemed to have nowhere to empty the grey at any time of year, so that had to be done a crateful at a time. Not impressed. 

Once we were finally ready we drove south towards Eberbach, stopping once for diesel and milk. We were visiting our niece, her husband avd very new (8 week) baby daughter. Her husband cooked us up a Persian feast, which was delicious, and we have a doggy bag!

Now we are parked up by the Necker and wondering what on earth to do now that we are supposed to get a PCR test and isolate until the results come. None of the providers have updated their websites yet, so I can't order tests, even if we do come home early, and last time my test went astray but nobody checked up! You have to have bought the tests to enter the country, but taking them seems to be another matter!