On the Road Again!

Since the last update I have been looking at Maps, both paper and online, and various apps looking for places to stay in the three overnights we have between  Bühl and Annecy. I have been working in MyRouteApp to to make a route that goes from Bühl to Obernai near Strasbourg that gives us a day on the Black Forest High Road.  It's not that long but it is supposed to be scenic. I have the France Passion book and also the app on my phone to look for two overnights along the Route des Crêtes in Alsace. These generally tend to be non reserveable so it's a matter of seeing what's available when we want to stop. The third overnight has been sorted. I was looking at aires and saw Camping-Car Park has one at Chavannes to the south east of the Crêtes area. It's €13.50 per night with all services. I have been checking for a few nights on the app and there haven't been many pitches left by 7pm. So I booked it.  The new app allows you to choose the time of day when you expect t...

I have booked four nights in La Nublière.  That should give us time to charge up all the batteries in case we need to have a few off grid stops on the next part of the trip. I have been looking at Route Napoleon. It runs from near Cannes to Grenoble. Napoleon Bonaparte escaped his exile on the Isle of Elba and returned to France. On March 1st 1815 he set off to march to Paris. For most of the way the road is numbered N85 with some departmental sections be Dnn85. It's easy enough to follow on Google Maps but less so in My RouteApp which also uses Google Maps. I have created lots of routes that  need to be uploaded to the TomTom website and shared to the Camper Max. I have mapped out the route to take, but so far I haven't planned any overnight stops along the way.  I also doubt we'll go all the way to the coast. Reggie is getting older and he doesn't like the heat. Staying in the mountains will be much better. I think for once we'll see what happens.

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...

The scenic railway is called the "Train des Merveilles" and it runs from Nice Ville to Tende. Train of Marvels So how do we get there? My plan is to leave early on Sunday and head south on the motorways as far as Nuits-St-Georges. This will be the longest day to kill off miles in Northern France. Next stop Annecy. It's not a long day and I have set the routes from here to be "no tolls". I don't see the point in spending all day on the road and arriving with no time to see anything. The no tolls route takes us along Lac Annecy and then down to Albertville, then alongside the A43 to Modane.  From there you can take the  Fréjus Tunnel  or take the D1006 over the first pass of the trip over the  Col du Mont Cenis  at 2083m. This route joins the same route at Susa that would have come through the Fréjus Tunnel. From there it is into Italy. The route loops down and around Turin ending in Cuneo. I have booked an overnight here. This is the former end of the Train d...