Much Ado About Nothing

We finally left Germany in late October and headed straight for France, glad to leave the land of pork, cabbage and potatoes.

Our first stop was actually Luxembourg where we camped by the Moselle, in a Marina – a first. We spent a couple of days just cycling along the river and walking through vineyards, enjoying our freedom and the sunshine.

Next stop Alsace and a great campsite in pretty Colmar where we were lucky enough to catch up with our mates Darren and Clare who had just picked their brand new Bimobil – Buster. He is gorgeous. We celebrated with a bottle of Cremant d’Alsace and a few good meals.

 

Buster the Bimobil (and Boris)

Turkheim in Alsace

From there we sped down to Burgundy to catch up with Steve (Professor of everything wine) and had 2 great dinners with him and the family. As usual the hospitality, food and wine were wonderful. Sadly the weather was miserable and we had to the kind of fog that sits on your shoulders.

Steve recommended that we head south through Beaujolais, an area we hadn’t done. What a lovely surprise. Although we don’t value the wine greatly, the area is gorgeous and we spent a day walking through the vineyards. Unhappily the fog followed us so we just kept heading south.

 

Beaujolais

We then found ourselves in one of our favourite campsites in the Rhone Valley and were so happy to have brilliant weather. We again we did the vineyard walk up to La Chapelle through the famous Hermitage vineyards – my favourite walk.

 

Tournon & Tain L'Hermitage

Next stop was Avignon – a city we absolutely love. The campsite is nothing rave about, but the location is fantastic – until the Rhone floods. Last year in May when we were there, it broke the banks, however this year it threatened to flood the campsite (it rained and rained). We were warned that we may need to evacuate but didn’t think much of it until a loud bang on the door at Midnight, and we were told to leave!

The Famous 'Pont' Almost disappeared.

We then camped in a carpark and we joined by the Sapeur Pompiers (fire brigade) and then the damn police. Blimey they were noisy, not much sleep was had. Anyway, the campsite didn’t flood (although it was very close), so it was all much ado about nothing. Lawrence however, was interviewed by French TV, which was hilarious  - to me.

 

Lawrence's 5 Minutes of Fame.

The weather had been so grim we just had our minds on heading south, with hope in our hearts. We spent a night in Mirepoix with its beautiful the 13^th century ‘place’, complete with old men in berets carrying baguettes.

So now we are in Andorra, the key highlights being cheap gin and cheap diesel, so we have filled up with both. The campsite is wonderful, right above Andorra La Vella. It’s so very Spanish, with clean spacious bathrooms and a great bar. Happy, happy, and we are not even in Spain proper. PLUS the sun is shining. The city ain't pretty, but the mountains are spectacular and we did a great walk.

 

Andorra La Vella - from the campsite

Next stop, real Spain, we can’t wait. You may have realised by now that we are in love with Spain.

Not sure what our moves will be over the next few months, so watch this space.