We’re taking a break…
The day after the last update my Dad sadly passed away, so we’re now heading back to the UK, and we will resume the blog once we’re back on the road again. Mike
France
From Schluchsee to Oberkirch
Simonswald Our drive to Simonswald took us into the Black Forest proper, and the scenery was stunning. For some unknown reason, I’d always assumed that it would be pretty flat terrain, but it’s quite the opposite – steep sided valleys of evergreen trees. The camp site was on three levels, and I had to park … Read more
From Thoirette to Belfort
Thoirette (continued) Thoirette is a small village overlooked by the Jura mountains. We went for a walk along the river and the scenery was spectacular. We also bought a cheeky apple tart from the village patisserie. Back at the van, the aire was situated in front of a building which turned out to be a … Read more
From Vaison-la-Romaine to Thoirette
A Change of Plan In the last post I said that we’d planned to cut through Switzerland to get to Germany. To drive on the motorways and national roads, you need to buy a vignette for CHF40 (£33) at the border. We were aware of this and were (begrudgingly) prepared to pay. What we didn’t … Read more
Vaison-la-Romaine
The Romans had many settlements in the south east of France, and so there are lots of sites to see. Unfortunately there are too many for us to visit in the time that we have, and it would also work out very expensive if we even tried, so we settled on visiting just two. Wanting to … Read more
Comps
Before leaving La Cavalerie, we went for a walk into the village which was founded by the Knights Templar as a staging post to the Mediterranean. The ramparts of the XV century town have been restored, and it really is a pretty place. Our reason for stopping in La Cavalerie was its proximity to the … Read more
From Lannemezan to La Cavalerie
Mazères-sur-Salat Lannemezan seemed rather quiet as we left the town. As the drive was quite a long one we decided that we’d to stop off for a coffee at one of the towns en route. After parking up we walked into the town centre, only to find everywhere closed due to it being a local … Read more
From San Sebastián to Lannemezan
St Jean Pied de Port The plan for today was to do our monthly supermarket shop at the last big Carrefour, before going into France and spending the night at a village called Sare, just over the border. Getting into Carrefour was a bit of a palaver as there were height restrictions at the entrance, … Read more
Créon
Today we were up early, and arrived at the Centre de la Mémoire d’Oradour as it opened. For those of you who didn’t do your homework, Oradour-sur-Glane is the site of a Nazi atrocity committed on 10th June 1944 (four days after D-Day), where 642 unarmed men, women and children were rounded up and massacred. Of … Read more
Oradour-sur-Glane
Just a very brief update today as we’ve spent most of the day driving, and there’s nothing exciting to report. We’re parked up in another free aire at Oradour-sur-Glane, near Limoges. Tomorrow morning we will be going to the memorial museum, the Centre de la Mémoire d’Oradour. Your homework before tomorrow’s blog update is to … Read more