Final Stop

For our final stop on our way to the Tunnel we spent two nights at 

www.la-paille-haute.com 

A nice campsite used more as a stopover than a weekly stop. 

La Paille Haute is near the town of Arras, which is twinned with Ipswich, which says it all really. 

Arras has a lovely square with some lovely buildings, but really it isn't worth a visit unless you want to fill an hour.

Ancient farm machinery deposited in an enclosure by the campsite

Sunset over the Pea crop, next to the campsite

Sure he is giving me a message, not sure what

Any ideas?

Arras, the pretty bit

 Now for a short sum up

We were away for a total of 6 weeks

We travelled 3488 miles

Did we enjoy it? Yes

Are we going again?   Yes

Same route?      No

What changes? Drop Italy and Switzerland; Add Slovakia, Croatia and possibly Hungary

Why the changes? Want to go further afield and something has to go.  Switzerland and Italy because we would have to detour to visit them.

Worse campsites, both Italian ones, very small pitches and really crowded.

Best campsite, Villach, Austria, beautifully situated by a lake, peaceful and quiet, owner really friendly. Definitely visiting this site again and will spend at least a week exploring this area.

Now what? Planning for next year’s tour, but in the mean time roll on Lake District and Scotland with the Hobie Kayak in July and then on to touring the National Parks on the West coast of USA followed by two weeks in Orlando in September/October.

Fun being retired isn’t it.

 

Burtoncourt France

We are now back in France and it feels like coming home, well we can understand most of what is said to us and reading package labelling is so much easier, not to mention the super size camping pitches, the lakes and the rolling countryside = heaven.

Our campsite www.campingcroixsacker.com is in a small village called Burtoncourt which is 25 minutes drive from Metz. The campsite is set in between rolling countryside and forest and it has a lovely lake on site which is used for summer bathing by the campers.  Yesterday and today the temperature has been in the low 80’s so Bailey is cooling down rather nicely in the lake.  Like all our previous campsites bar one this is an ACSI campsite, so at 16 Euros a night for caravan, 2 people and dog it is a pretty good rate. (You don’t pay more than 16 Euros a night for any ACSI site but sometimes they do add on a bit of local tax).

Opposite the lake on our campsite

The lake used for family swimming in the summer (now used as Bailey's swimming pool)

 Metz 

Today we journeyed into Metz, driving on open roads through beautiful countryside.  Metz is a lively Cathedral City and parts of the city are quite Parisian with its river, outdoor cafes, huge cathedral, many churches and other such monuments. We both enjoyed our walk around discovering the city and soaking up the Frenchness of everything, a totally laid back atmosphere, busy and vibrant.

Tomorrow we are going to try and get an appointment with the Vet for Bailey for his passport check. Unfortunately Bailey has incurred a leg injury which gives him pain when he jumps, don't think the Vet this side will be able to treat him quickly so a return trip to our own vet is called for. We would have spent a few more days in France but to be honest we had rain this morning, the 1st since we left the UK on May 1st and sightseeing in the rain isn't much fun, so England here we come.

We are now at Arras, France, 2 hours journey time from the Tunnel, so allowing 24 hours for the vet treatment for Bailey plus time for the appointment guess we will be back around Thursday, 13th June.

Italy, Switzerland, Germany.

Firstly sorry for the delay in publishing this blog, internet is either non existent or only 1 bar which will not load the blog.

Lake Garda, Italy     26^th 27^th  28^th 29^th 30^{th May}

We liked Sirmione so much that we decided to visit the town again, this time taking our bikes for a pleasant 2km bike ride to the town. We enjoyed exploring the town in more detail and had a pleasant lunch in an Olive Grove overlooking Lake Garda.

The following day we visited Desenzano del Garda and mooched around the harbour looking at all the local boats, the town wasn’t very big and nothing like Sirmione, but a nice day out all the same.

That draws an end to our Italian stay, we braved the traffic once again and decided to head north back into Switzerland away from the mad Italian drivers, tail gating is in their nature and as for pulling out directly in front of you without looking, I am just surprised that the accident rate isn’t a lot higher. 

Sirmione below

Desenzano del Garda below

Acquarossa, Switzerland 31^st – 1st June

 The campsite is very pretty with superb views over the mountain range which still hang heavy with snow.

We took a car ride up into the mountains, some 1950 metres high where we were above the snow line and the temperature plummeted to 5 degrees. The road is mainly made up of hairpin bends and quite steep in places, although the views make it well worth the effort.

All through Switzerland you are surrounded by waterfalls some of which are very dramatic, even over the local train station at Biasco, the next small town to Acquarossa.

The stay at Acquarossa was good but it was just a stepping stone on our way to Herbolzheim, Germany. To be honest there isn’t much to do in Acquarossa in the way of sightseeing, but it is great if you are into walking and biking.

 Acquarossa campsite below

Biasco below

 Trip into the mountains below

 

Herbolzheim, Germany 2^nd  3^rd 4^th 5^{th  6th & & 7th June}

 

We arrived on Sunday and the sun was shining at full strength yet again, we have been really lucky with the weather, most of the rain when there has been any has been at night, we have only really had one wet day and that was at our Venice stop.

Anyway back to Herbolzheim, yesterday we took a ride to see some of the local towns, firstly Herbolzheim, this little town is within walking distance from the campsite and has a few shops, nothing very special but nice just the same. We then travelled to Haslach and Hausach, Haslach is yet again a small town but nothing to write home about, however Haslach does have a historical part to it and some of the houses are quite beautiful and very old, we enjoyed our visit although it didn’t take long to walk around the town.

Freiburg

Today’s excursion took us to the town of Freiburg, a short 25 minute drive away. The University town is fairly similar to Southampton with its high street full of department stores, but it does have an historic area with a huge cathedral surrounded by an outside food market and lots of outside cafes and restaurants. We spent a few hours walking around the town taking in the scenery and soaking up the atmosphere, but to be honest we were glad to get back to our camp site as the weather is so hot an afternoon sat out under our awning with cold drinks was called for.

 

Freiburg below

We are now staying on a camp site near Metz in France, will blog when I have taken a few more photos.