Europe 12 Jun 14 Equisheim and Freiburg

Day 7 - Equisheim and Freiburg.  Another hot and sunny day, with lovely fresh warm bread to make bacon sarnies for breakfast. We stopped at the Leclerc hypermarket in Colmar to pick up a few supplies before heading off for a quick look around Equisheim. This really has to be the prettiest town in Alsace and we had a great time looking around and trying to take photos of the storks nesting on the roofs. We bought a kugelhopf and then set out for Freiburg and Germany. It was then that the Sat Nav decided to throw a another wobbly and tried to take us miles out of our way before it decided that there was no route to Freiburg! It really doesn't like crossing borders. 

Ignoring the silly SatNav, we crossed the mighty Rhine into Deutschland, finding the stellplatz in Freiburg without too many problems.  We then had a wander around and walked up the mountain overlooking the town and the Black Forest, then climbed the very shaky tower at the top. Great fun, although it was 38 degrees and the heat was pretty insufferable.

 

 

 

Europe 11 Jun 14 Riquewihr and Colmar

Day 6 - The Alsace wine route, Riquewihr and Colmar. An early start and a short 30km drive down the Alsace wine route (only getting lost once) for brunch (tarte oignon - delicious) in Riquewihr, getting there just before the hordes of tourists descended. This is a real chocolate-box village and it was a delight to wander around, plus we took a ride on the little tourist train. We then moved on again to Colmar which is a much bigger place. We looked at the aire, but it was very noisy and not very pleasant so we pitched up at the campsite, had a bit of a sort out, then took the bus into town. It was another incredibly hot day, so we found a cafe by the cathedral with a lovely breeze blowing to cool us down and we sat and people watched for a while before taking the bus back to the site for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

Europe 10 Jun 14 Strasbourg

Day 5 Strasbourg. We walked into Obernai and figured out how to get the train into Strasbourg. Our first impressions from the train window were "yuk", but once we wandered around a bit and found the cathedral area and Petite France we found it to be stunning. Following a tarte flambé (Munster cheese - lovely) in a delightful restaurant overlooking the river and the obligatory bottle of cremant, we had a good nosy around the city, didn't hit any of the wasters riding the gravy train of the European Parliament, and then got the train back to Oberrnai just in time for the thunderstorm to hit. At least it cooled the place down a bit!

 

 

Europe - 9 Jun 14 Obernai

Day 4 Alsace. It's a bank holiday and there was no bread to be found anywhere in Luxembourg!  Oh well, a handful of biscuits and then off towards Alsace in blazing heat once again. We made the mistake of following the sat nav rather than the map so the journey was a fairly long one, venturing into Germany and dropping down back into France at Strasbourg. Still, the scenery was lovely and we arrived slightly early for the camp site to open (the French and their long lunch hours) so we sat outside, had a cold beer and waited for reception to open. We had a nice, shady pitch, so quickly set up  and walked into Oberrnai to have a couple of ice-cold beers in the shade, We wandered around this very pretty town, had an ice cream, tasted some local Cremant and headed back for dinner and a bottle of local wine at the bus. Boy, was it hot!

Europe - 8 Jun 14. Luxembourg

Day 3 Luxembourg. The day started with a tremendous thunderstorm and the rain lashed it down, but half an hour later the sun was out and we set off for the 75 mile drive to our next stop in Luxembourg. That is, we set out to empty the waste water and found that the incredibly bad Belgian roads had worked the waste pipe connection loose, so it was a matter of putting the rear nearside of the bus on the ramps and clambering underneath to reattach and secure the pipe. Bloody Belgian roads!  We completed the rest of the journey uneventfully through some lovely scenery and, getting low on fuel, we were pleased to see the first garage in Luxembourg.  There were long queues and we soon found out why; 95p per litre! We filled up to the brim - what a bargain.  We soon found the delightful campsite camping Bon Accueil  and paid an incredibly good value 14 euros for a pitch the size of our back garden, electricity, lovely loos and showers and all in a very pretty location. The UK is such a rip-off. We had a lazy lunch and then unhitched the bikes and rode the 6 miles into Luxembourg City down a delightful and stunningly beautiful cycle track which followed the river into the city. Once there, we parked up and had a wander around this very interesting place, including a festival in the main square, but it was roasting hot and we felt claggy, so instead of staying for dinner we cycled back, showered and had a nice steak outside the bus on our very own country estate. We would like to go back to Luxembourg as there is a lot on offer here.

 

 

 

 

 

Europe - 7 Jun 14 Han sur Lesse

Day 2 - This was a long run with just under 200 miles through Flanders to the Ardennes. We both awoke with stinking headaches, probably more to do with dehydration than booze. However, after a quick sprint around Carrefour at Citie d'Europe to fill the larder and fridge, and a slack handful of croissants, we felt much better and set out for the long journey in bright sunshine. The roads in France are smooth and well-maintained. As soon as you hit the Belgian border then all hell lets loose.  The Belgians obviously have a great love of the moon's surface and model their motorways on this. We have never seen so many potholes!  Belgians also must be the worst drivers in Europe. 2 accidents in the space of 5 miles held us up but eventually we arrived in very pretty village called Han sur Lesse in scorching heat. We squeezed into the aire but the trouble with being the only British van was that our door is on the opposite side to all the others. In such a close packed aire we opened our door straight into the Belgian van opposite and had to negotiate our way over their two large, lovely dogs who decided that the space between the vans was theirs. We bimbled into town for a couple of pints of Belgian beer (much cheaper - and better - than French beer) and a fantastic dish of Ardennes forestierre - chicken, egg, ham, onions, mushrooms and potatoes served in a frying pan. Absolutely scrummy. Back to the bus for a long, cold shower and to enjoy the warm evening (30 degrees at 2115hrs).

 

The train to the Caves

Packed in like sardines

 

Europe - D Day 6 Jun 2014

Day 1 of the big road trip. Debs had arranged special leave so that we could make this journey, albeit it her miserable boss made her life hell because of it.  We agreed that "We will have to ensure that we minimise the amount we take for the big road trip". We had this discussion many times all year whilst planning,  but still the bus left home on the payload limit, albeit we had quite of lot of fresh water onboard to see us through the first few days.  Let's hope that the journey will reduce the 10kgs of lotions, potions and "product" that are so vital.  Despite the stress of leaving her office for a long break, Debs managed to leave on time albeit stressed, harassed and angry.  A quick shower, final check and then off for the long, uneventful, leg down to Calais, stopping at Maidstone services for a quick coffee.  Eurotunnel had managed to keep moving our departure time so we were now leaving at 0022hrs on 7 Jun as opposed  to the original booking time of 2320hrs on 6 Jun. The terminal was once again rammed full of French school kids. Incredibly noisy and generally stupid it made sense to avoid them. Unfortunately this was impossible on the train as, of course, all 600 of them decided to use the loo so there was a constant stream of screaming tadpoles disturbing our midnight feast of prawn salad. Anyway, to the Citie d'Europe, park up, secure and kip. There were a few more motorhomes this time.  Woke up at 0730hrs  with a stinking headache and feeling jet lagged. A bit of a stressful start and an early night tonight!

1st night at the Citie d'Europe