Friday 24th June
Jacki and Philip registered our proxy votes for us, but our two didn't make a difference. We are very disappointed and sad that we are going to be leaving Europe. We have a very close bond with it. We also wonder how it will affect our children and our grandchildren.
But in another sense, we are leaving Europe - in fact we are almost home. Travelled this morning to a favourite site at Licque and did our shopping to take home on the way in Lumbres, then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.
Saturday 25th June
Another lovely sunny morning and as we didn't need to leave the site till around 10, I went and had a swim in the pool here. On our last visit, 2 years ago, the owner was busy renovating the pool - now we could appreciate all his hard work. I did tell him so.
We arrived at Eurotunnel about 10.35, in good time for our 11.20 crossing and at the first booth we came to, we entered the booking reference that the Camping & Caravanning Club had sent us by email. It wasn't recognised! Oh dear - tried again. (Fortunately there were other booths for other vehicles to go to - very frustrating when someone in front of you takes for ever!) Still no luck, so John pressed the button for assistance. A very pleasant lady said wait a few moments and she would send us an 'Exit' so that we could go to the building for her to sort us out - a printed Exit card came out of the machine. So the barrier lifted and we drove over to her. She kept trying, using our name and the ref. number, to no avail, but said that our ref. no. should begin with a 3 - and it didn't. Then another lady came out of the office, triumphant - she had found us. We were not Williams, but Camping Car Williams!! So we were given the correct reference and off we went to start again. No - it didn't accept that either and the machine told us that we were now too late for the 11.20. Ggggrrrr. Anyway, another call to the help desk and she did the job for us - out came the boarding card and the barrier lifted. Phew!
The delay gave us 7 minutes to go the shop and we were pleased to find some more 'wonky bottle' wine for the Haynes' and then went to board the train. It left at 12.05, so soon we were on our way back to the UK.
Home again, we are facing the unpacking and piles of washing - and remembering what an amazing trip we have had. The weather has been a dampener at times, but the beautiful sunshine outweighs all that.
Thank you for been such great blog followers.
Sunday, 26 June 2016
Thursday, 23 June 2016
Alsace - Champagne
Photos to follow - weak wifi
Wednesday 22nd June
After some travelling on the motorway, we stopped in the village of Les Islettes west of Verdun to stretch our legs and look for a couple of geocaches before heading up the hill to an Aire that we have used a couple of times before. It is on the edge of some kind of commune, and several years ago on our first visit, we almost had the place to ourselves. It's a grassy fenced area with several gravelly pitches marked out and a few electric pods, with all the water facilities across the road, including a loo and a shower - a very peaceful spot beside a forest for 5€ a night. It was a bit busier when we came a couple of years ago, but today it was heaving - with motorhomes and workmen! Although the field is still the same, they have taken some of the grass out and widened the roadway to accommodate more vehicles and the workmen had been installing more electric pods - and the price has gone up to 7€. Today's job, though was to use a digger doing some earth-moving! We discovered later that most of the motorhomers were a large group of friends getting together - so the noise level went even higher when there were 20 or more French voices enjoying themselves! We managed to fit in Ok, with our own patch of grass and picnic table and all was quiet by 10 o'clock when we got back in the van on a very warm evening.
Thursday 23rd June
This morning was quiet till 8am, when the digger started up again! Soon we realised that history was repeating itself - memories of Nova Gorica. They were digging trenches across the entrance roadway! Several of the campers seemed to be packing up expecting to drive out and eventually we were the first in line, with planks of wood placed over the hole. We wobbled a bit, but successfully made it on our way. Just a short journey today, aiming for Camping Intercommunalite (they used to be called Municipal) at Val-de-Vesle, another that we have used before. In this heat, we just needed some grass and some shade - a lovely place for that.
Wednesday 22nd June
After some travelling on the motorway, we stopped in the village of Les Islettes west of Verdun to stretch our legs and look for a couple of geocaches before heading up the hill to an Aire that we have used a couple of times before. It is on the edge of some kind of commune, and several years ago on our first visit, we almost had the place to ourselves. It's a grassy fenced area with several gravelly pitches marked out and a few electric pods, with all the water facilities across the road, including a loo and a shower - a very peaceful spot beside a forest for 5€ a night. It was a bit busier when we came a couple of years ago, but today it was heaving - with motorhomes and workmen! Although the field is still the same, they have taken some of the grass out and widened the roadway to accommodate more vehicles and the workmen had been installing more electric pods - and the price has gone up to 7€. Today's job, though was to use a digger doing some earth-moving! We discovered later that most of the motorhomers were a large group of friends getting together - so the noise level went even higher when there were 20 or more French voices enjoying themselves! We managed to fit in Ok, with our own patch of grass and picnic table and all was quiet by 10 o'clock when we got back in the van on a very warm evening.
Thursday 23rd June
This morning was quiet till 8am, when the digger started up again! Soon we realised that history was repeating itself - memories of Nova Gorica. They were digging trenches across the entrance roadway! Several of the campers seemed to be packing up expecting to drive out and eventually we were the first in line, with planks of wood placed over the hole. We wobbled a bit, but successfully made it on our way. Just a short journey today, aiming for Camping Intercommunalite (they used to be called Municipal) at Val-de-Vesle, another that we have used before. In this heat, we just needed some grass and some shade - a lovely place for that.
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
Into France
Monday 20th June
Lovely sunny morning at a very pleasant campsite - a very attractive small town too. After a bit of shopping, we did some more travelling and decided that we would like to spend our last few days in France. So we stayed on the motorways via Stuttgart and Karlsruhe to Baden-Baden, then turned off over the Rhine into France. Soon after that we arrived at a France Passion - this one not a vineyard, but a pottery just outside the village of Betschdorf and on the edge of the Foret de Haguenau. The potter was busy pottering(?) and his wife was tending the veggie patch. They welcomed us into their large back garden and Mme carried on gardening while we relaxed in the sunshine by their fruit trees! After dinner we went across the road and strolled into the forest. Through geocaching we knew that there was a trail of carved tree stumps to discover - some of them quite alarming in the evening light!
Tuesday 21st June
We are not usually ones for spending a lot of time (or money!) in shops, but we spotted an E.Leclerc in Soufflenheim and as we wanted to buy a baguette, we had a look around. All the countries we've been visiting have been wonderful and we've eaten and drunk rather well in all of them, but none of them can equal France when it comes to the cheeses, the baguettes and the wine!! We do particularly like the latter from the Alsace. So we spent rather more than the 35c for bread!
We've come to a small campsite near Lutzelbourg, still in the Alsace, beside the Canal de la Marne au Rhin. Many years ago, with the trailer tent and children(!), we had an overnight in Phalsbourg and visited Lutzelbourg in the evening to walk along the towpath. I have always had a distinct memory of that walk around a bend in the canal as I was stung by a wasp! Ouch. This afternoon we cycled along that stretch and it really is just as I remembered. I will have a similar memory from earlier this holiday regarding an ant - but that is definitely not for the blog! You may ask me for the story - but you must promise not to laugh.
We also cycled in the opposite direction to see the inclined plane which raises the canal by 44m replacing the original 17 locks of the old canal. It was built in 1969, inspired by the only other inclined plane in existence at the time at Foxton, Leicestershire. We arrived at a perfect moment when the tourist barge and a private boat had just entered it at the upper level, so watched the caisson come down and the boats being released into the lower level of the canal. The back of the tourist boat was full of a school party who seemed very happy to shout and wave to us!
We plan to continue to move slowly across northern France over the next 3 days - driving in the morning and exploring in the afternoon - possibly staying at a France Passion or an Aire tomorrow night. So it could be a couple of days again before our next blog post. We are booked to return to English shores next Saturday morning.
Sunday, 19 June 2016
Schliersee, Germany
We left Westendorf in beautiful sunshine this morning and headed via Worgl onto the motorway following the River Inn, turning off south of Munich as there was somewhere that we have been looking forward to visiting - Hausham!! We learnt of its existence when we were in Italy because Levico Terme had a sign saying they were twinned with Hausham, Germany. Anyway as we drove past it and on to Camping Lido beside Lake Schliersee, we spotted the railway station, but certainly not much town. However, after yet another shower of rain over lunch, it was a fine afternoon for a walk along a wanderweg into Hausham.
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| From Denne Hill to Hausham? |
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| Photo taken Sunday morning through very wet windscreen! |
There were a couple of similarities with our town - it has a railway station and a fountain that doesn't work!
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| Had to put this one in to prove it doesn't rain all the time! |
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| ... this could be it ... |
Beautiful architecture, too ornate inside for us, but they had a large display case containing a model of Jesus' life that we very much admired and coveted.
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| Stable with animals and shepherds, no doubt completed at Christmastime |
Back at our lake, we admired the views from the campsite and wondered whether to stay another day and walk around the lake tomorrow.
But then the rain started again ....
Sunday 19th June
.... it continued all night and just didn't let up when we were having breakfast. So there was no point in staying. And even more reason to leave when John went to pay for the 1 night - it cost twice as much as most sites - nearly 40€!! So we did a bit more travelling towards home and twice, firstly south of Munich, then north of Memmingen, got caught in very slow-moving traffic, so took to the minor roads for a while. We came to Illertissen, on the River Iller, south of Ulm. After rain most of the way, it has been dry all the rest of the afternoon and evening and now there is even a sunset to admire - the first since Lake Bled.
We are told that proper summer is coming on Wednesday ....
Friday, 17 June 2016
Westendorf
Friday 17th June
We celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary by having a lie in - because it was still raining! But as often seems to be happening in the mountains, the sun eventually burns through the clouds and by the time we set off to walk on a path through meadows into the village of Westendorf late morning, we had blue sky.
It's a delightful Tyrollean village and we enjoyed wandering around admiring the wooden chalets and shops - at the same time finding numbers and names of buildings for a multi-geocache.
We found all eleven numbers needed except for the last one at the Restaurant Berger. We couldn't see its number anywhere, so the way to find out was to sit down, order drinks and lunch and ask the waitress. We expect she assumed that we needed the address to recommend it to all our friends, so she went and got us a little card. Then we were able to work out where the final cache would be - just along the road. We are sure we got all our numbers correct and we tried to search on notice boards by a hedge between 2 hotels but we felt rather conspicuous and will have to log a Did Not Find. Oh well, we liked seeing Westendorf.
Then we strolled down a path to the valley and puffed up the other side to Strasshausl's view point, looking across to Westendorf and the surrounding hills. The rain is certainly making the land so beautifully green.
So we did manage some sunshine and lunch out for our anniversary after all.
We celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary by having a lie in - because it was still raining! But as often seems to be happening in the mountains, the sun eventually burns through the clouds and by the time we set off to walk on a path through meadows into the village of Westendorf late morning, we had blue sky.
It's a delightful Tyrollean village and we enjoyed wandering around admiring the wooden chalets and shops - at the same time finding numbers and names of buildings for a multi-geocache.
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| An open-air theatre |
We found all eleven numbers needed except for the last one at the Restaurant Berger. We couldn't see its number anywhere, so the way to find out was to sit down, order drinks and lunch and ask the waitress. We expect she assumed that we needed the address to recommend it to all our friends, so she went and got us a little card. Then we were able to work out where the final cache would be - just along the road. We are sure we got all our numbers correct and we tried to search on notice boards by a hedge between 2 hotels but we felt rather conspicuous and will have to log a Did Not Find. Oh well, we liked seeing Westendorf.
Then we strolled down a path to the valley and puffed up the other side to Strasshausl's view point, looking across to Westendorf and the surrounding hills. The rain is certainly making the land so beautifully green.
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| Our campsite in the middle - you can see the 'winter roofs' on the permanent caravans |
So we did manage some sunshine and lunch out for our anniversary after all. Thursday, 16 June 2016
Schlossalm
Thursday 16th June
We have had some great experiences on this trip, but it wouldn't be an Alpine Adventure without going up in a cable car! Five minutes after we left the campsite at Bad Gastein, we were in Bad Hofgastein, the next village, and buying our tickets to go up to Schlossalm. A funicular took us up to the middle station and then we got in a huge cable car - not sure how many it could take, but there were about 25 people in it and it wasn't full. At the ticket office there had been a notice saying that today it was 'windig' on the mountains - oh boy, was it just! The cable car slowed down as it reached the top station, swayed from side to side silently (just like all the people inside!) and eventually bumped a bit against it's guard rails and settled into it's slot. We stepped out into 60 mile an hour gusts but although we were up with patches of snow, it wasn't really cold. We spent 2 hours walking on the stoney and snowy paths and around little mountain lakes, finding a reasonably sheltered bench by a hut to eat our picnic.
The views were tremendous, of course, and we were kept entertained by people climbing one particular rocky peak up to a cross (Hirschkar Summit).
We didn't attempt that in this wind, but the little one we did climb had a pole to hang on to for the photo!
On the way up and on the way down, we had super views of the valley and Bad Gastein in the distance.
We needed to head on a bit more through Austria today too, so headed down the valley, then west close to Zell am See and Mittersill, then north on a hair-pin road (with views of Grossglockner and surrounding mountains)
to Kitzbuhel. It seemed very busy there, so didn't stop, and carried on through a smaller valley to a campsite at Westendorf. The sun was at its hottest(27degC) when we arrived, but guess what - by 7ish it was raining again!
We don't plan to try and match the last 2 days excitement for our anniversary tomorrow! Sunshine and a bit of lunch out will be fine .....
We have had some great experiences on this trip, but it wouldn't be an Alpine Adventure without going up in a cable car! Five minutes after we left the campsite at Bad Gastein, we were in Bad Hofgastein, the next village, and buying our tickets to go up to Schlossalm. A funicular took us up to the middle station and then we got in a huge cable car - not sure how many it could take, but there were about 25 people in it and it wasn't full. At the ticket office there had been a notice saying that today it was 'windig' on the mountains - oh boy, was it just! The cable car slowed down as it reached the top station, swayed from side to side silently (just like all the people inside!) and eventually bumped a bit against it's guard rails and settled into it's slot. We stepped out into 60 mile an hour gusts but although we were up with patches of snow, it wasn't really cold. We spent 2 hours walking on the stoney and snowy paths and around little mountain lakes, finding a reasonably sheltered bench by a hut to eat our picnic.
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| The post had holes to look through to see one labelled peak at a time |
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| The frame was a nice touch too |
The views were tremendous, of course, and we were kept entertained by people climbing one particular rocky peak up to a cross (Hirschkar Summit).
We didn't attempt that in this wind, but the little one we did climb had a pole to hang on to for the photo!
On the way up and on the way down, we had super views of the valley and Bad Gastein in the distance.
We needed to head on a bit more through Austria today too, so headed down the valley, then west close to Zell am See and Mittersill, then north on a hair-pin road (with views of Grossglockner and surrounding mountains)
to Kitzbuhel. It seemed very busy there, so didn't stop, and carried on through a smaller valley to a campsite at Westendorf. The sun was at its hottest(27degC) when we arrived, but guess what - by 7ish it was raining again!
We don't plan to try and match the last 2 days excitement for our anniversary tomorrow! Sunshine and a bit of lunch out will be fine .....
To Bad Gastein
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| Leaving Faak am See |
Another big WOW day - and the van got to ride on a train through a mountain!
After another rainy night, the sun was shining brightly when we left Faak am See and drove (with 1,500 mile on the clock) via Villach and Spittal, then NW towards Mallnitz, just stopping in Muhldorf for the Spar. With the most amazing scenery through this valley, the camera didn't stop clicking.
The next tricky bit was getting out of the van, because passengers are not allowed to travel in their vehicles. We both managed to squeeze out of the passenger door and walked along the platform to the first carriage which was a passenger one. The train left at 11.50 and arrived the other side of the Kreuzkogel mountain 11 minutes later.
A few minutes after that we were in Bad Gastein - we'd decided to stop here for the night and maybe visit a hot springs pool. This beautiful town is built on a very steep hillside, all around the natural thermal springs. We read that 13 of the 25 springs have been harnessed, producing 5 million litres of hot water at 42 degC a day. Way, way down in the valley we came to Camping Erlengrund. We settled in and the owner gave us discount cards and lots of information about the pools. She recommended the Felsentherme, at the top of the town, and showed us the walk on the map. The first stage was easy - along a footpath beside the fast flowing Gasteiner Ache, passing a pristine golf course and some very beautiful houses.
Then the path began to go up and soon we'd reached the foot of one of the most amazing casscades of waterfalls we've ever seen. Again the camera was red-hot because at every bend in the river and the more we climbed was another spectacular sight of white water. So maybe all the rain we've been having was for us today!
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| Looking down - the red thing is an armchair flying fox! |
That last half hour of the walk was quite demanding, up very steep slopes and steps, but eventually we reach the pool complex - after over 7k from the campsite. It did cost just a little bit more than the Pavilions(!) but wallowing in the warm pools for a couple of hours was well worth it. Reminded us of all those lovely pools in New Zealand - but these were without the smells!
On the top floor of the building, above all the indoor pools, is a restaurant, so we went up there for a hot drink and ended up having their super pick-and-mix salad for our tea.
All this excitement had been very exhausting(!) so we did the easiest thing and got in the taxi waiting outside, back down to the valley.
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