On the Road Again!

I was reading a motorhome magazine today and it has a largish section on touring and trips that people, not necessarily professional journalists, have taken. One was in the Centre area of France, and Bourges in particular.  I think we have driven or even ridden this route once, but it was long ago. So long ago I can't remember when! Anyway.  The write-up and review of the Camping de Bourges site was good and so as it's only a few € more than the Camping-Car Park I was looking at for the same overnight, it seemed like a good change of plans.  Until I looked on the website I didn't realise it was another chain of campsites.  Previously we have stayed on other campsites that are part of a chain; Sandaya and Flower Camping. So I booked it through ACSI . All in with local taxes it's €21 for a pitch with leccy and of course loos/showers. On the way south from here we should pass through a village that is the centre of France, geographically that is.  

I have allowed three nights on the "Alsace Tour" section of the trip.  This should take us from Bühl in the Black Forest across into France and through Alsace and along the Route des Crêtes to around the north of Mulhouse. I have a few places bookmarked on the France Passion system to overnight. All the places are self-sufficient and so in Bühl we will need to do the housekeeping  jobs and fill the fresh water tank. We do tend to carry a five litre spring water bottle with us for drinking water, although when it's emptied we can fill it with fresh water from the tap on the aire.  I've not booked the Bühl Camping-Car Park aire yet.  They have changed the app and website and it's all bug ridden! Nearer the time.  There are one or two other aires in France that could maybe do the same overnight! So to Annecy.  It's a place we have planned to visit in the past and never have done. Always something else came up and we did that instead.  Usually Spain! Mulho...

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I have been thinking about where to go once we are across the Channel on the timetable amended P&O Ferry. I had been hoping we would have been changed to go on the new ferry on the Dover-Calais-Dover route. called Pioneer. Then today another email. This one saying we are still on the 1005am but the boat has changed from Pioneer to Spirit of France. Except I didn't know we were on Pioneer in the first place. Anyway.... One we bump into France at the Port of Calais it will be around noon before we disembark. First stop Picard at Coquelles to stock up on  dogador  for Reggie. We have a bigger freezer now and maybe we can get enough to last him the entire fortnight. He has around 160g of meat with every meal and this means that for every 500g pack there are just over 3 meals to the pack. We are away 15 days or 30 meals away. Or (9.6!) 10 packs! Even though  dogador  is listed on the Picard website, it seems very few stores sell it...

Best laid plans of Mice and men etc... I booked the crossing on P&O for after 11am so that we didn't need to get up at the crack of dawn to get the last packing (fridge etc) before the short drive to Dover Eastern Docks. So I was a little miffed today to get an email telling me that due to  operational reasons  the sailing time has been shifted to 10.05am. Over an hour earlier than booked.  Bummocks , as someone that might read this would say! It does mean of course when we eventually bump into France at the Port of Calais we will be over an hour earlier there as well. All being good. Of course our first stop, as it has been on the last three trips across in 2022/23, will be at Picard to get Reggie some dog food - Dogador. As we have a larger freezer in the 175 we need maybe to buy a little more than usual so that we don't run out. he really doesn't get on with tinned stuff.... We should be into the low season again once in September and so the ACSI card will come in ...

I was having a problem with these posts as Blogger kept saying the "inbox" was full despite not having any clue where the inbox for the blog might be and how to check! So I had to copy and paste from the other family level blog site. Awaycation Autumn 2023 - Where? With all the planning for the Awaycation in the Summer all sorted, It's just a matter of getting the van from storage and a little cleaning, then going on the trip. It seems that the sealant that Elddis use on the body is especially sticky and gets dirty really quickly. So, we need to give it the once over before we set off in about 11 days. By InvictaMoto - 27.05.2023 Awaycation Autumn 2023 - Where? After a fortnight in France and over 2000 miles done, we began to think that maybe when we go away in September we'd cover fewer miles next time. So it seems we will stay in France. Despite all the tales of woe in UK, France is no longer a cheap destination for holidays. Basic foods in supermarkets are higher i...

This trip hasn't been looked at since Christmas Day 2022. So I am having another look to see what we can do on this trip. The options are to stay once again in France or to go east and look at Germany and maybe Austria? The last blog was about going to Germany and maybe as far as Fussen and Neuschwanstein Castle. I have read a few reviews of the parking near the Castle and they aren't all that good. When I was there last June with my bike mates, the Castle had been sold out for ages to the many coach parties. Claire and I did part of the Romantic Road already and the bike lads and I did a bit of it last year on the way home. So where to go? This trip we will be on the P&O Ferry to Calais and arriving at around 12.25pm. We will of course have to do a shop and so we have about five hours or so to the first stop of the trip. I will be checking the ACSI site to see what there is available around that time and distance. Maybe limit the total distance to the Mosel and Rhein? Even...

In my last post I mentioned I had got the return date wrong.  It was only one day! Of course it would have meant turning up at Eurotunnel and them charging us an arm and a leg to change the booking on the hoof.  I am still smarting at the cost of the last time when we came back in the snow in December. It had to be done then as we may have got stuck in France! Last time it was well out of season and we only booked a few places and used the Camping-Car Park sites more than actual campsites.  This time I have opted to book ahead. It's June and apart from the first few nights on the way down to St Etienne, I have booked two nights at a time at a variety of places. Even though we live near the sea in Kent, We rarely have a trip that there isn't at least one day where we can sea the ocean or even paddle in it.  This time no different. A couple of nights in the Camargue  near to the Mediterranean and then we turn northwards and inland. France is a relatively large country compared to...

After hitting the books and the apps, I finally picked  Camping de Mon Village of Mantenay-Montlin for the second overnight of the trip. This one is a former municipal campsite. So it will have loos and showers to save us using Molly's onboard facilities! It's also a little more expensive, with local tax added, it's a tad over €14 for the night. I wanted somewhere booked rather than letting it go to chance and this place popped up on the Camping-Car Park site and app.  It's far enough down towards Macon and we can decide which way to go from there. I had been looking on the ACSI website and found one that looked good, but the booking page kept throwing up HTTP:4 errors so I couldn't be arsed to wait about for them to sort themselves out. The site with the them is €19 as the base price but by the time it had added on EHU and a dog it was €24. Still cheap compared to UK sites but that extra is a couple of beers or pizzas! Looking forward to a pizza machine agi...

I have been hitting the books/apps today to look for a second overnight stop on the way south.  I booked some places in advance last summer as it was our first trip away in the motorhome. When we went again in November, I only booked the first night in advance and then we left it to the morning to book the next one. The PITA with Camping-Car Parks is that when you book online it doesn't eat into any balance you have on the card, but wants you to pay separately.  This in effect means you have €'s sitting the account that aren't used until you rock up at a site un-booked. As we are planning to meet Claire's ex-work colleague at her home near Sainte Etienne, I am looking for somewhere near Macon on the way down and then maybe neat StE on the next night. Camping-Car Parks aren't that wonderful in this area. So I checked the ACSI book. Some choices for both areas. But the need to pay in full now is a little off putting. I'll give the France Passion app a bit of a bas...

Another awaycation already! The P&O ferry was booked for this trip whilst we were away last year. There was an offer that vastly reduced the fare and so I took up the offer.  It wasn't quite at the level of being unable to refuse though! So where to go? We leave after the kids go back to school in early September, and so we should have a children-free adventure in the Moho. Well, that's what I am hoping anyway. Personally I'd like to go to Norway. But with only two weeks booked that's not going to be possible.  I think Norway will become Awaycation Summer (Sun?) 2024! Sun in brackets as that depends on the time of year.  I think we'd be looking at June and maybe three weeks or more.  We'd also need to be more self sufficient by then. Anyway back to #2 this year. Since I went with some friends to the Czech SOC Rally last year and we came back via Fussen and some of the Romantic Road, I'd like to try Bavaria again. Once again we have two weeks.  Claire lik...

After sorting out a few details and working my way through the various books from ACSI and France Passion, plus the websites/apps about overnight stops I eventually checked pitchup.com. For the first night in France after we get off the Shuttle I want to have somewhere booked so that we don't have to start looking for a stop. In the end I have booked one night with EHU at Camping de la Pointe near to Laon.  It's to the north of Reims and easily accessible from the A26, should we decide to take the toll road route from the Shuttle at Coquelles. Compared with many UK sites this is much less expensive. A pitch with electric and with even having to pay for the dog it's a few pence over £21. It's a grass pitch. So we have to keep fingers crossed it's dry! That's all booked so far. I'll hit the books and apps for a second overnight. The second night is more than liable to be at a Camping-Car Park Aire or France Passion. I joined the latter last year but we didn...

This is the trip we have planned for June. We decided to go earlier this year so that the end of the holiday should be over before the French school holidays begin.  It's not that I have anything against the French per se, it's just that once they get to a holiday campsite, the inner problem child escapes. Last year we had a quietish holiday until the last longer stay at a campsite near a beach on the Atlantic coast.  Once the families arrived, and I mean families, it was bedlam.  Everyone from Grandad to tiny kids seemed to think that despite being allocated their own pitch to put their tent or their caravan, that walking across my little piece of holiday heaven was okay. Once they had fallen over the bright orange guy ropes to our wind-break a few times it was becoming a joke. We use the wind-break to of course break the wind that comes off the sea or perhaps from the other direction, but also to save Reggie having to see passing mutts and bark at them.  Having nei...