Alsace Lorraine

Thursday 8^th August Stuttgart to Riquewihr

We all had breakfast in the van and got everything ready for Millie’s flight home and then went up for a last coffee with Jurgen. It had been so interesting to meet him. We set off the airport leaving plenty of time to find a good place to park. This turned out to be a stell platz at the messe on the outskirts of the airport. It took a few minutes to book Millie in on her assisted flight (especially as Mike had to run back to the van for our passports). With these we were allowed to go through with Millie until she left the terminal building.  It was very sad to see her leave but we knew we would see her in 4 weeks time in England.

We then set off for France.  We had a good journey and arrived at Riquewihr around 6pm.   It immediately started to rain and so we had supper and read an English newspaper that we had bought earlier at the airport. When the rain had cleared at 8pm we set off to explore the town. We found it to be one of the prettiest medieval towns we have visited on our trip and were surprised that it is not mentioned in either of our guide books. The town was full of flowers and the buildings were highly coloured half timbered affairs. It turned out that most of these were restaurants and bars reflecting the fact that this town
is in the middle of an important wine growing region (Alsace Lorraine).  The town was a real find and has to go in our favourite list.

Friday 9^th August Alsace Lorraine region

Jacqui got up early to return to the town centre to take some photos. We then set off on the ‘Route de Vin’ to Turckheim. This was similar in appearance to Riquewihr but not as pretty. Mike and I walked the historic tour in about 30 minutes and visited the market which was mainly fresh fruit and veg, salami sausages and cheese stalls including the famous Munster cheese.

From there we travelled to Gerardmer via Munster and the Col de la Schlucht.  It was a very pretty journey rising to 1135M. At Gerardmer we took our lunch down to the lake and relaxed in the sunshine for a short while.  We then continued to our overnight stop at Luxeuil les bains where we stopped on a free aire next to a duck pond. We had arrived early but this gave us time to have a short nap and to catch up with the blog.

Black Forest (part 2 with Millie)

Thursday 1^st August Stuttgart.

We were woken by the sound of city life: bin men doing their rounds and then a workman cutting a grassy bank with his strimmer.  At 8am we bought an hour’s parking whilst we had breakfast and then headed out to find our friend Jurgen’s house in Thingstrasse Stuttgart.

We were both excited at the prospect of seeing Millie and so were very disappointed when we received a phone call from Sharon saying that they had been stuck in traffic for two hours and were going to miss the plane. By this time we had arrived at Jurgen’s flat, we had coffee on his third floor balcony and awaited news. In the end Sharon was able to book Millie onto the 5pm flight which arrived in Stuttgart shortly after 8pm. However the day’s drama did not end there as there was another phone call which despite the fact that Millie was on an assisted flight informed us that Millie’s passport had been found on the transfer bus between terminal and plane! We were very grateful for Jurgen’s help as he liaised with the civil police at the airport for us enabling Millie to enter the country on a temporary German passport. We then arranged to have her own passport flown out the following day. Millie’s first solo flight had certainly been interesting. It was about 9.15pm when we got back to Jurgen’s so we parked quickly and then walked down to the local Italian restaurant where we enjoyed a good meal.

Friday 2^nd August Stuttgart to Lenzkirch

Our return journey to the Black Forest was delayed as we had to wait until 1pm to pick up Millie’s passport. This went without mishap and we were able to continue the 150km journey south. The traffic was initially heavy but soon we were able to travel at a good speed arriving in the small village of Lenzkirch.  Here we had to negotiate an umleitung (diversion) to get to the campsite that Jurgen and Massia had arranged. They had arrived about an hour before us and we were able to park next to them. We were all hot so the first task was to find the ‘ natural lake’ the campsite owners had built here so that we could go for a swim. It was rather fun to swim with the coots and waterlillies. That night we had a BBQ and it was great to relax with a few beers from the brewery that owned the campsite.  Millie was very pleased to learn a new card game from Jurgen ‘mau mau’.

Saturday 3^rd August Lenzkirch and Feldberg

The temperatures in southern Germany were in the high 30s. Mike and Millie went for a quick swim in the indoor pool and then we all left for Feldberg.  Feldberg is the highest mountain in southern Germany and the temperatures would be cooler here. We took three buses with minimal waiting time between each and then a cable car up the mountain. All the transport was free with the Hochschwarzwald card that came with our campsite fee. We walked for about an hour up to the highest point where we ate our rolls for lunch and then we repeated our journey back to the campsite. At Lenzkirch there was a long wait for the last bus so we walked the last 30mins home. We were all very hot when we arrived so our first stop was at the brewery for beers and icecream. We had a quick swim and then got ready for a meal at the brewery restaurant that Jurgen had booked. It is chanterelle season so we all had chanterelle soup to start and Jacqui had pork steak with chanterelles for a main course.  Millie had her first weiner schnitzel which she enjoyed very much. We were all tired and in bed by 11pm.

Sunday 4^th August Lenzkrich and Triberg

Mike and Millie went for a swim after breakfast whilst Jacqui got the van ready for our trip to Kehl for the van repairs. At 11am the day looked grim: very dark clouds that were soon causing a downpour of rain and hail. It rained for a good hour and then the  skies cleared so we said goodbye to Jurgen and Massia and set off for Triberg. We had a good drive and stopped for lunch at the same picnic stop where we had slept a few days beforehand.

Once in Triberg we headed for the large waterfall and had a good wander up the hillside. At one point we took a detour to the ‘high ropes’ where Millie and Jacqui climbed around the trees on wobbly planks and ropes. Despite a good safety harness Jacqui felt uncomfortable and nervous most of the way round but Millie loved it. It should have cost 20 euros but as we only had 15 euros we negotiated a reduced entry.

Back in the village we found a cash point and went to the café for Millie to try the Black Forest cake. She did not like the kirsch taste so instead she ate most of Jacqui’s raspberry cheesecake. We left the town at 7pm and headed for the ‘largest cuckoo clock in the world’   and were fortunate to hear its last call of the day at 7.30pm. We continued our journey arriving in Kehl shortly after 9pm where we were able to park outside the workshop.  Jacqui made a quick chicken and rice supper and then bed for us all as we had to get the van into the workshop by 7am.

Monday 5^th August Strasbourg

We were up just after 6am so that we could wash and get ready for the day. We drove the van into the workshop. Sandra, who spoke very good English, explained all  the work that was to be done to both the workshop manager and us. There was a slight hiccup as the workshop manager did not like our LPG system but agreed to work on the van outside the workshop despite the 39C. They then provided us with breakfast and after that we took their hire car (15 euros per day) and headed off for Strasbourg. We were able to park very centrally, the advantages of being in a Fiat 500 over a 3.5 ton motorhome. Our first visit was to Place Kleber, it was quiet here this morning and we could see the fountains and surrounding buildings with ease. From there we walked down the shopping centre to Place Gutenberg with Millie stopping off regularly to admire earrings. From here it was a short walk to the soaring Cathedral de Notre dame. It was a beautiful building but once again it was largely covered in scaffolding for restoration work. Inside there were some fine stained glass windows and a huge astrological clock. One of the things the clock is famous for is striking midday with accuracy at 12.30pm. From there we walked down to the picturesque area of Petit France where there are lots of bridges crossing the canal. They were all highly decorated with colourful petunias.  Jacqui was hoping there would be a breeze by the waterside but it was just as hot so we decided to try to find a shady park for lunch. Back in the car we drove to the area of the European institutions and we found a lovely park opposite the European Parliament and just down the road from the European Court of Human Rights. It was around this time that we had a call from Burstner informing us that all the work had been completed so we headed back to Kehl.

It took us a while to go through everything and Mike found one blind that had been fitted damaged. This took another hour to rectify but they did provide us with refreshments.  Overall it cost over 1300 euros.

It was then a hot drive back to Lenzkirch with a Lidl shop en route. It was good to be back in the Black Forest where it was cooler and had access to swimming pools. A swim, a large beer and a BBQ and we all began to feel human again. Yet again Millie enjoyed playing cards with us for most of the evening.

Tuesday 6^th August Lenzkirch

Today was a lovely relaxing day. In the morning Mike and Millie went swimming and missed saying goodbye to Jurgen and Massia.  The rest of the morning we relaxed in the sun and at 1pm we were delighted to see Jules and Jay (not forgetting Charlie their pooch) arrive. As we had not seen them since Greece we had a long chat about our respective travels. Later on we took Jay to the ‘natural lake’ for a swim whilst Jules (who does not like frogs) tried to take photos of the numerous dragonflies  as well as of us. In the evening we shared a BBQ (largely provided by J&J) and played cards with Millie until bedtime. She was very pleased there were 5 of us so that we could play ‘pit dwellers’.

Sleep was shortlived that night as there was another massive thunderstorm. One particularly large crack of lightening followed by a prolonged thunder roll had Millie leaping into our bed. As the storm showed no signs of abating Jacqui left her to sleep with Mike and took the smaller bed.

Wednesday 7^th August Titisee

Jules and Jay left for France after having coffee with us – perhaps we will meet up there too. By lunchtime we were also ready to leave the site.  It was a showery day but we decided to go to lake Titisee for a boat trip and to look around the town.  The boat trip was free with our hochschwarzwald card and we enjoyed the 30 minute tour of the lake. The town was more disappointing being full of tourist tat. Millie was really keen to go back to Feldberg to try the other ‘high trees’ climbing set up there. As it had stopped raining we drove up there but found the centre to be closed for the next couple of days due to the thundery weather. So back down to Lenzkirch where we visited the post office to post the insurance claim off and to the campsite to return our discount cards. It was now time to leave the Black Forest for Stuttgart in readiness for Millie’s flight home tomorrow. We had agreed with Jurgen to park outside his flat for the night. Of course, with his hospitality, this meant we were invited in for supper. We had a pleasant last night with him although Millie was feeling out of sorts.

 

Black Forest (part 1)

Sunday 28^th Titisee

This morning we crossed the river Rhine at Rheinfelden and left Switzerland for Germany. We spent the morning driving through the Black forest. We pulled off the road for a coffee and were joined by a man with two daughters in their car and caravan. Unfortunately after their break they were unable to get their vehicle to start. We offered help, but lack of language and mechanical skills meant we left them in the company of a German motorcyclist to sort out their problems. I hope they were able to sort something out as there was very little shade at that stop. Just before we arrived in Titisee Mike spied a Lidl so we stocked up on some food knowing we would soon have electricity to boost the fridge. We then found a wooded campsite which was right on the edge of the lake and we set up camp. I had seen in the German newspapers that Germany was experiencing its highest temperatures this century reaching 39C.  It was obviously too much and that afternoon the weather broke with a massive storm which put paid to any ideas of having a BBQ. The rain continued to fall throughout the night and was still raining when we awoke.  We were very glad to be in Buster and not a tent.

Monday 29^th Freiburg

The rain continued to fall heavily all day. The campsite was rapidly deteriorating into a very soggy mess. We decided to leave so Jacqui went to pay. This took over half an hour mainly due to the very elderly man who was doing the accounts. Maybe he owned the site but they really needed a more efficient person on the front desk as the queue in the rain was steadily growing and people’s tempers were shortening.


On the way out we checked the campsite next door in case we returned here with Millie.  It looked better organised but it did not have lakeside access.  First we drove into Titisee.  It looked worth exploring in more detail when we had Millie; a large outdoor pool, an aquapark and some interesting shopping streets but not today as it was too wet. We continued for 30Km reaching Freiburg at lunchtime. We stopped in a side road  and heated up some tomato soup that Jacqui had made yesterday. We had this with german granary bread and cheese. We then put on our waterproofs and walking boots – we had mistakenly thrown out our wellies as we thought we would no longer need these – and set off. Friboug is a university city and this always seems to increase the liveliness of a place. Its main sight is a 13^th centrury gothic cathedral (Munster) built in a reddish purple stone.
 It also contained some lovely stained glass windows, sculptures and paintings. The town is also famous for its ‘bachle’ tiny medieval canals that run down the middle of the streets.  Today with the rain there were mini torrents in each.  

There were some other attractive buildings to view but it was incredibly wet and so we headed back to the van after a short walk round. We drove to McDonalds to spend an hour catching up on e mails, post redirection etc and then headed back to the B500 –the Hohe Schwarzwaldstrasse. Unfortunately the low cloud affected some of the views and we decided to pull of the road around 6.30pm hoping that this scenic route would be better tomorrow.

Tuesday 30^th July Black Forest tour

We had our breakfast in the very pretty surroundings in our picnic area on top of a hill on the B500.  A couple of vehicles and bikes pulled in to take photos but otherwise we were left undisturbed. We even managed to get our awning out to dry it off.

Once ready we set off for Triberg, a small town where three mountains meet. It also contains Germany’s highest waterfall. We stopped here first on our way into Triberg and went for a short walk but then decided it would be a good place to come with Millie in a few days time. We managed to find somewhere to park and then set off for our real destination- Café Schafer the home of the original recipe for Black Forest gateau.   We walked past the tourist shops selling wooden goods and visited the ‘house of 1000 clocks’. The café was at the far end of town but it was worth the walk.

From Triberg we continued north, through lovely countryside until we reached the pretty town of Schiltach. Here there was dedicated parking on the riverside for motorhomes where the two rivers the Kinzig and the Schiltach meet. It was a lovely spot and we took our lunch to a sunny bench by the river.

 We then wandered through the attractive town that was full of colourful half timbered buildings and even included an apothecary’s museum.  Jacqui had a quick chat with the curator and then back to the van for the next leg.

We were now heading towards Kehl which is where the Burstner repair centre lies. We wanted to check everything was in order for the planned repair date of the 5^th August. We arrived at 4.30pm only to find that they shut at 4pm. However they opened at 7am and there was facilities for us to park overnight free of charge. That evening we drove into Kehl to find a McD to send some e mails and then we walked through the town and along the Rhine where we could see Strasbourg, France on the other side of the river.

Wednesday 31^st July Baden Baden

The first part of the morning was spent with Burstner going through the list of repairs. It was good that we had come a few days earlier as they only had the one window replacement on their worksheet. We then drove to a camping centre at Offenburg to pick up some toilet chemicals – an essential purchase!

After this stop we headed for Baden Baden. It was more difficult to park in this town with lots of ‘no motorhome’ parking signs. We found a leafy street that looked the equivalent of Harley Street and paid to park for an hour. This gave us time for a quick walk around the town.


 It was very attractive but we found it rather sedate. We had a pleasant walk down Lichtertaler Allee , which had a shallow stream and some lovely trees including some large weeping beeches.  We picked up some bratwurst and brotchen for lunch, which was very tasty, and then continued up to see the Roman Baths which we could only see through the window as they were closed. We were now running out of time so we headed back to the van through the main market squares.

Our next stop was Hofen an der Enz.  This was a small Black Forest town and our only interest here was the fact that Caroline (Mike’s sister) had worked here in the Hotel Oschen in 1978. Although this was many years ago it was still owned by the same family. It was now a short drive to Sindelfingen on the outskirts of Stuttgart. Our main reason for being here was that we would have an easy journey tomorrow in picking Millie up from the airport. We spent the evening doing a small shop (fridge problems again), skyping Millie and catching up on e mails and then back to our car park spot for an early night.

A visit to CERN, Geneva, Montreux and Bern

26^th July, Nantua to Geneva.

Another lovely morning with breakfast taken on the edge of the lake. We then headed off on a pretty route to Geneva stopping at Lidl for a few supplies. We are still having to stop regularly due to the warm fridge situation. As we entered Geneva we passed Cern which had been on our list of MUST Do’s. But had forgotten about it until we arrived. Mike turned Buster into the Research Centre’s main entrance and a kind security guard directed us back onto the main road towards the “Visitors Centre”. CERN is the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. Our understanding of particle physics has always been elementary so we had a good two and a half hour update. Firstly we spent the first hour and a half in an exhibition room which gave the basics of the atom plus the history of the centre and background information on the 4 main experiments that are using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which is the 27 km particle accelerator  tunnel that is built 100m below ground in Switzerland and France.

From there we crossed the road to the “Universe of Particles” which in a more “jazzy” way again tried to take you back to the millisecond after “Big Bang” to try to find out the answers of how we came into being.

2 ½ hours later we were more enlightened about “up” and “down” quarks, Higgs and String theories. Matter and antimatter and the all important “Dark Matter”. It was a very interesting visit.

We now needed to relax our brains so we drove to Geneva and found a parking space on the side of the lake where we could have lunch and go for a swim. It was now 36 degrees. About 6 pm we met up with Matthew Jones. Rosemarie and Howard’s son. He was on holiday here having played in the Montreux Jazz Festival with his University big band. Matthews plays the trombone. First we went for a drink after strolling around the old town and then we had a meal. It was a very pleasant evening. Somehow it got quite late as we both caught up with emails (more problems with Mike’s tenants) and it was nearly midnight by the time we left Geneva. We eventually stopped the night on a motorway services which was useful as we had electricity for the fridge but it was too busy a road to get a good night’s sleep.

Saturday 27^th July Montreux.

This morning we continued around the lake with grape vines and stunning Chateaux all around until we reached Montreux. We found somewhere to park on the Vevery side of Montreux where was a nice beach to the lake. We took the bikes off the van and cycled along the very pretty lake shore to Montreux and on past the Chateau Chillon to Vieneurve. It was a lovely ride. Once back we plunged into the lake again around 36 degrees and we needed to cool down before Jacqui could contemplate making lunch. We made a picnic and took it to a grassy spot where Jacqui stayed in the shade and Mike went to sleep in the sun. We relaxed until 4 pm. We were entertained later by an athletic bloke giving gym and acrobatic lessons to two of his friends. We packed up our things as we planned to visit Bern this evening. However it took less time to arrive to arrive than we envisaged and it was now around 39 degrees when we arrived. It was too hot for Jacqui to enjoy walking around the country’s capital.

We lay in the van as we were both tired from our lack of sleep but it was too hot. So we packed up the last of our ice water and set off. We found that Bern had a lovely centre and enjoyed our slow amble around. We visited the Zytglogge  clock tower, the Bundershauser (Houses of Parliament),  the Gothic Munster and the many old streets and city fountains.  One of the best bits was standing on the bridge high over the river Aure watching people float down in the fast current. We still needed to find a QUIET place for the night. We identified a town north of Bern that was on a river. It was called Solothurn and it turned out to be a quiet and delightful spot.

Travelling through France to Lyon

Sunday 21^st Donzenac to Champeix

Today was a travelling day as we made our way back towards the east of France. We left our aire about 9am but as we were leaving we saw an Intermarche supermarket with a launderette in the car park. Annoyed that we had not seen it last night we pulled in to get some food and to get our bedding washed. Shopping was not easy as there are so many lovely choices in French supermarkets but as our fridge is really struggling to keep anything cold much of what was bought was in jars or cans. Once our chores were complete we set off again. It was to be another day well into the 30s but we found a lovely picnic area under shady trees where we could have our coffee. We were only saying how quiet it was in this spot when another motorhome arrived. This was a dutch couple with a large black Labrador cross. Of course we went over to say hallo. We spoke about their travels and they showed us a video  ‘ the last post’ played at Ypres that they had visited. The last post has been played every evening since WW1 (although we did wonder what happened during WWII years). We said our goodbyes and continued our journey. Most of it had been on the main road but we came off to explore the small towns of La Bourboule and Le Mont Dore.  These are in an ancient volcanic area of France and we found ourselves once again driving up mountain passes. All very attractive. We eventually stopped in Champeix at a free aire by a small river. The aire was lovely but the town was uninteresting. We went for a short cycle but could not find anything of interest so returned home to have supper and for Mike an early night.

Monday 22^nd July

Today was another hot day spent travelling. We first had a short 30km drive to Clermont Ferrand. This city is the capital of the Auvergne region.  It is a large university city and so is somewhat out of place with the very rural nature of the Auvergne and massif central regions.We explored the main centre which led us to the Cathdrale Notre-Dame. This building has a very dark exterior as it is made from the local volcanic rock. This rock is very hard and thus enabled the building to be built with slender pillars. Inside the building there were some of the best stained glass windows we have seen in France.

Already it was now very hot as we headed back to the van. Jacqui was driving today as Mike’s eyes were hurting him – probably due to the bright sunlight and lack of recent sleep. We set the SAT NAV for Lyon and continued our journey. We stopped off for lunch just outside of Thiers, another town built on a hill and could see thunderstorms clouds looming. As we drove the roads were steaming in places where rain had fallen but we were not troubled by it. We eventually pulled off the road at an Aire in Trevoux north of Lyon. This town is on the banks of the River Saone, which is very wide here. We went into Carrefour to buy some ice lollies to cool down and decided to have a simple supper of bread, cream cheese and smoked salmon washed down with some French cider. Three ice lollies each we were still hot. Mike made it to four but Jacqui’s last one melted before she got round to eating it. We had a short walk around the town and along the river but then sat outside in the warm evening air.  It was still over 30C when we went to bed.

23^rd – 25^th July Lyon,

From Trevoux it was only a short drive to the Port de Lyon where we had identified a campsite with a much needed swimming pool. We decided to stay for a couple of days to relax after all the travelling, Mike to service and clean  the van and Jacqui to catch up on some marking.

The following day we planned to visit the centre of Lyon. Instead we decided to stay on site and make best use of our time finishing off emails, doing research on the Black Forest campsites, van cleaning and spend more time at the pool. We achieved most things but were disappointed to find the pool closed all day “due to technical difficulties” . still it was good to relax and cool down when necessary with a cool shower.

Thursday 25^th July, Lyon.

We stayed at the campsite until midday as today we were going all out to enjoy the delights of Lyon “Frances Gastronomic Centre”. There was quite a bit of traffic but we managed to negotiate ourselves round the ring roads and motorways until we eventually hit town and found a parking spot by the river Saune.  Both the Soune and the Rhone flow through Lyon. It was yet another hot day. We passed the Palais de Justice and walked around the Cathedral St John before walking up the hill to the Basilica Notre Dame.





 Although it was a very hot walk it was worth it as this cathedral was beautiful. It contained some huge elaborate mosaics and was highly decorative. This Cathedral is said to be Pope John Paul II’s favourite.

We had promised ourselves one of the best possible meals in Lyon, so with the advice from our guide books we identified three possible restaurants. We chose the Petit Glouton and when we arrived decided to have the menu that listed all the local dishes. Jacqui had the Garlic Cream Cheese Salad and Mike had the local rough Pate to start, we both had the local Sausage cooked in Beaujolais Red Wine and small onion sauce accompanied with perfect Lyonnaise potatoes, French beans and salad. We both had Crepes to finish, Jacqui had Grande Marnier and Mike had, of course, chocolate followed by the best coffee he  had tasted all trip.

After our meal, feeling very full, we drove round the city to see some of the other sights and finally headed off in the direction of Geneva. On route we stopped off in Nantua, which had a beautiful lake surrounded by hills. There were two parking lots for campers. But as they charged 7.50 just for a space and we would have been parked tight next to another van we found our own free parking place by the lake, with loads of room and a nicer lake possition.

We didn’t need supper so we spent the evening with a little stroll and then sat on the bench together,  romantically, watching another beautiful  sunset go down on the lake.

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