Switzerland for a Day

Sun. 23^rd June :

After four delightful days in Italy, two days each in Bevano and Cannobio on the shores of Lake Maggiore, where we spent our time swimming in the lake, exploring the towns by foot and by bike, catching ferries to other lakeside towns, relaxing and soaking up the atmosphere, we drove to Locarno in Switzerland this morning, a mere 17 kms away on the northern end of the lake.  On arrival in this very busy and attractive town, we parked Boris at the railway station and bought tickets to Verdasio in the Centovalli.  The train we caught terminated two stops earlier at Intragna and we spent an hour roaming through the very quiet town, stopping for a cool drink at a local restaurant where we were serenaded by a singer/accordion player, before strolling back to the station to catch the next train to Verdasio.  From there, we boarded an automatically run cable car to Rasa, a small, old, car free village with magnificent views over the valley.  It was quiet and peaceful there and on our walk, we met and chatted to two Swiss couples, one of whom had just arrived at their holiday house on the edge of the village and told us that their fathers had both been born there. Back down the mountain to Locarno and Boris, then one and a half kms to our overnight stopping spot.  It has rained a few times, brief showers only so we’re hopeful that the morning will be fine and we can go for a bike ride before we leave.

Buon Giorno!

Tues. 25^th June :  We’re back in Italy after our brief but enjoyable 24 hours in Switzerland.  It was a beautiful sunshining day yesterday (Mon. 24^th) and before leaving Locarno, we cycled along the lake near our camp and then along the cycle way into the town, a short distance away and a very scenic ride.  On checking out the ferry timetables, we found that the free ferry to Tenero was to leave at 11.10am so we rode back to camp, quickly packed up and drove to the railway station, parked Boris and walked down to the ferry port…too late…missed our ferry by about 2 minutes.  As the next one wasn’t for another hour or more, we decided to move on, but on our walk back to the railway station, we noticed a funicular station so bought tickets and went for a 365m ride up the mountain to Madonna del Sasso at Orselina, a magnificent church with panoramic views over Locarno and Lake Maggiore. 

Leaving Locarno, we passed through Lugano, travelling along the shores of Lake Lugano and back into Italy to Menaggio on Lake Como, found a camp site which is a bit rough and ready, but the location makes up for that, and the amenities, while getting on a bit are clean.  It’s a five minute bike ride into the centre of town, so we’ve ridden in a few times and today we bought a mid lake shuttle ticket each…12 euro all day senior pass which entitled us to ride on a series of ferries to visit Varenna and Bellagio on the other side of the lake, and then Lenno, on our side but a little further south. 

We spent an hour or two in each town, each has its own charm, we had an absolutely fabulous day and will be extremely sorry to leave…but…there are other places to go and hopefully, we’ll be back!

Thurs. 27^th June :  An early start yesterday for the 200kms autostrada drive to Lazise on the shores of Lake di Garda, recommended to us by our German neighbours in Menaggio.  Arrived about 1:30 and booked in. It’s lovely here, different from the Maggiore and Como villages in that it is more open and quite flat, no mountains on this, the eastern side of the lake, they’re only on the other side. 

 On our bike rides and leisurely evening stroll along the lake, and into the town, which is walled, we found loads of cafes, shops etc. and many, many people, mostly northern Europeans.  As our German friends said, it is only a 3 hour drive on the motorways for most of them…a bit further for us!   So far today, we’ve done very little…a load of washing, a visit to the shops and not much else…a slow morning but hey! We’re on holidays!

We have limited wifi so trouble uploading pics. Will add them when we can.

Chamonix Mont Blanc and Lake Maggiore

18^th June

Posted  by Mike (for a change)
We drove through some awesome mountain country from Annecy and set up Boris in a huge car park, which is also a motorhome overnight spot. It was only a few metres from the cable car station, so after speaking to a young girl at info we discovered that we could get an all day pass for all of the rides around Chamonix Mont Blanc at pensioner price of 46 euros which we thought was great value.

So we boarded the cable car and up we went, and up and up and up!

Then we transferred to another cable car to go on up and up and up again to Aguille du Midi which is at approx 3800 metres. The weather was fantastic and the views were absolutely indescribable. We felt like we were at the top of the world and took many, many photos, but I doubt that they will do complete justice to the place.

As we were walking around the various viewing platforms we both noticed that it was becoming more difficult to breath and both of us began to feel a little queasy. After sitting for a while all was good but we did see several people struggling and indeed one lady had to be wheel chaired back to the cable car.

On the way down we stopped at the mid station and sat in the sun on the balcony and had a coffee and then we went for a walk around on the snow.

After we descended, we walked around to the railway station and caught the rack railway train up to the glacier at Montenvers. While there a rain storm hit briefly

but we didn’t get too wet as we travelled back down to the town where we strolled around and as luck would have it found a bar where we had a beer or two and wrote out some postcards.

Back to Boris for dinner and bed.

19^th June

Lazy morning and then on to the entrance to the Mont Blanc tunnel, which goes under the mountain to Italy.

It was 54 Euros for Boris to travel the 11 Kms through the tunnel, which was dead straight, slightly uphill to approx halfway and then down hill until we emerged into Italy. We descended down the valley through some pretty country and it was noticeable that all of the towns were very quiet. Probably mostly reliant on the ski season. It became very hot around mid 30’s and we decided to get on to the toll road toward Lake Maggiore. Interestingly the tolls in Italy are only about a third of the price found in France and soon we found our way to Baveno. The caravan park we found “unfortunately” was right on the edge of the lake and the lady insisted that I have the best spot in the camp, literally 6 feet from the lake. Tough Life!

I was so hot that I immediately went in for a swim and cooled off.

20th June

Swimming in the lake in the morning and after lunch we went for a trip on the local ferry on the lake to several beautiful ports, the best of which was Isola Madre,

with its extensive gardens and a very impressive palace which had heaps of rooms elaborately fully furnished and decorated.

The boat returned to our port late-ish so we decided to go to a lovely family run restaurant for dinner where we had delicious pizzas and a carafe of the local red. What a great day!

Millau Bridge

Millau Photos,

It has been brought to my attention, by Shells, that we didn’t include any photos of the Millau Viaduct on the previous post

So here you go Shells

Awesome Annecy

Today is Monday, 17^th June and we have been in Annecy since Saturday after spending Wednesday and Thursday nights at a top camp in Chateauneuf-sur-Isere.  There we caught up with the washing which all dried in the sunshine in no time at all…almost like being at home…and managed a few little odd jobs in between swimming in the pool, enjoying the sunshine and just taking a rest from travelling. 

 We had wifi there, and although the connection was very slow and fell over several times, we did finally manage to skype some of our family in Sydney which made our day.

After leaving C-s-I on Friday morning, our next destination was Aix-les-Bains on Lac du Bourget via the motorway, through very busy Grenoble where there was heavy  traffic congestion, partly caused by the new tramway under construction.  We managed to take a couple of photos from Boris but didn’t attempt to find a parking spot, big cities are simply not motorhome friendly. 

An uneventful journey but very scenic with snow topped mountains to admire along the way.  Our plans were thwarted on arrival in Aix-les-Bains when, because of detours caused by roadworks in the area, we couldn’t find the camping park we had earmarked, another we looked at was too crowded so we headed for the hills where we found a camp site in Trevignin, on Mt Revard.  It was difficult to find firm ground on which to park Boris and we were in danger of being bogged because of all the rain that had fallen recently. 

On our departure on Saturday morning after a quiet and peaceful night, we were greeted by the sight of a few dozen hikers carrying enormous backpacks, all congregating in the camp café before heading off up the mountain.  We had to wait for several of the hikers to drive into the camp to park before we were able to get through the barrier and then we were on our way towards Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, planning to stop somewhere along Lac Annecy for a break but……

When we arrived, we were so taken by the lake and its surrounds, that we quickly decided that we should stay for a night.  Finding a camp at Sevrier, 5 kms out of Annecy, we booked in, had lunch and took the bikes off the rack for a ride along part of the 30km bike track.  We were passed by young children, teenagers, serious cyclists, older/greyer/fatter than us adults and roller bladers but did we care?  Nay,,,not a jot, we were just delighted to be here and able to ride at a gentle pace alongside the beautiful, turquoise blue waters with mountains on either side, some still with snow on their peaks.  On our return to camp, we booked in for another night and yesterday, Sunday 16^th, Mike threw himself off a mountain…i.e. he did a tandem parapente jump with a 20 year old, Teo, and absolutely loved every moment including doing very tight circles with huge G forces  Check out their web site http://www.volbiplace-annecy.com/

A swim afterwards at one of the ‘beaches’ along the lake was cooling…the beaches are not sand but grass, and there are pebbles underfoot which makes it a bit tricky getting in and out of the water but it was amazing, being there, surrounded by mountains…I really don’t know how we can stand much more of this! 

We spent another very pleasant evening having pre dinner drinks with our neighbours Les and Shirley from Bedfordshire, and are staying here again tonight, expecting to resume our travels tomorrow…but who knows??

For any of our fellow travellers who may be heading this way in the future, you could do worse than stay at Camping l’Aloua (in the ACSI book).  http://www.camping-aloua-lac-annecy.com/camping-lac-annecy-haute-savoie/ There are several other camp sites in the area, all we have seen have been chokkers but it is less than half full here at the moment which suits us, the owners are a young couple who are both very friendly and obliging and we would definitely stay here if we come this way again.

Although there is free wifi here, we have not been able to access it…a technician was here for a few hours yesterday morning but whatever the problem was, it has not been fixed…so, we will be riding to the nearest MacDonalds later (they don’t open until 10.30am here) to post this and to send emails.

To family and friends who are about to celebrate birthdays…Laurie on the 21^st, Judy on 23^rd, Stuart on the 26^th and Joan on the 29^th…we wish you all Many Happy Returns…if we are unable to send a message on your special day, you should know that we will be thinking of you and will drink a toast to your health.  Cheers!

As you can see we found Maccas!

An Unfortunate Incident…

Sun.9^th June : 

This occurred as we were leaving the camping park…the electric steps were not fully retrieved before taking off, there were a couple of cars belonging to caravanners parked almost on the narrow lane and in squeezing through the gap, the offending steps caught the front tyre of one of the cars, ripping an impressive gash in it, damaging the bumper slightly, and bending Boris’ steps to a point where they could not be straightened and therefore had to be removed. 

After being upset and angry initially, once insurance companies had been contacted and necessary details had been exchanged, we had made friends with the Dutch couple whose car was involved.  Mike helped Cornelijs change the damaged tyre, Ada made us all a cup of coffee and we chatted for quite a while before we finally left.  For the next 24 hours, until we were able to find a caravan accessories shop and buy a temporary replacement step, we’ve had to use the driver’s door as the rear doorway is way too high for me to climb through, and a bit of a struggle for Mike as well. 

On the way to Homps on the Canal du Midi, we stopped in at Beziers to see the Neuf Ecluses (a stairway of nine locks)…

very impressive but unfortunately we’d just missed seeing a boat go through. On arrival in Homps, while making enquiries about the late afternoon boat cruise, we noticed that 4 or 5 motorhomes were parked on the other side of the canal, so we asked if overnight parking was permitted, it was, so we took Boris across the bridge and there we stayed for the night.  After an extremely pleasant and relaxing 2 hour cruise on the canal, winding under bridges and through a lock,

we had a beer in one of the restaurant/bars on the quay before returning to Boris and settling in for the night.  A happy end to a day which began a little stressful.

Mon.10^th June :

We woke to brilliant sunshine and a million dollar view of the canal and the boats upon it.  The plan was to drive to nearby Carcassonne to have a look at the old walled city, and to stay the night there at a camping park.  But…on arrival (in the rain which had replaced the sunshine and dogged us most of the way), we were told that we couldn’t book in until 1 pm and as it was only 10am and we’d just had a frustrating drive through the narrow one way city streets trying to find somewhere to park, we weren’t in the mood to drive around aimlessly for 3 hours so left.  After some backtracking, we decided to head north to Clermont l’Herault to an aires (free) camp near Lake du Salagou, arriving in warm sunshine which brightened us up somewhat.  At 8.30pm the sun was still shining and the sky was still blue…looks promising for tomorrow!

Tues 11thJune : 

On a warm and sunny morning we drove via the motorway/toll way across the Millau Bridge, a brilliant piece of engineering, then parked Boris in the car park and walked up the pathway to the viewpoint.  A well worthwhile experience.  We then drove through the mountains, through some spectacular scenery to another aires camp at Naussac Reservoir in Langogne.  More new friends were made when we met Judith and John from Devon, our overnight neighbours, and after dinner drinks with them in their ‘house’ was a pleasant ending to a very pleasant day.

Wed. 12^th June :

A cool morning, with a promise of later sunshine.  The peace and tranquillity of our lakeside idyll was shattered for about half an hour when a coach load of French old age pensioners arrived just after 8am for their morning coffee.  I swear I don’t know who makes the most noise, French schoolchildren or the oldies!! 

Another lovely drive through gorgeous and steep mountain scenery (10% gradient for 10 Km’s - up and of course down again) brought us to Valence, via Aubens and Privas, then along the Rhone River for a short distance and we have booked into a camping park at Chateauneuf-sur-Isere for 2 nights.  Despite there seeming to be half the population of Holland here along with a smattering of British and others, it’s a quiet place with a lovely swimming pool and lots of shade which will be handy as it’s finally warming up in Europe. It is now after 9pm and it is still above 20 degrees with promise of more to come. We have decided to stay here a couple of nights to catch up on the washing and spend some time relaxing by the pool.

Thurs.6^th June :

Another brilliant sunshiny morning saw us backtrack a little to Dorres, high in the mountains, for a therapeutic soak in thermal waters in granite pools…

it was relaxing and most enjoyable until we were inundated by a group of chattering schoolchildren who took over to such an extent that all the adults in the pools moved away.  There was room for everyone, it’s a shame that the schoolteachers in charge didn’t show more consideration.  Despite this annoyance, we did have a lovely hour or so lazing in the sunshine before we moved on to Collioure on the Mediterranean coast, our overnight stop.  On our way we stopped for lunch at a picnic spot that we had spotted when we were on the little yellow train.

What a magic little town Collioure!  So glad we visited now though and not in the height of summer as I imagine it would be overrun then with holiday makers. 

 Fri.7^th June : 

 It was nearly midday when we left Collioure and headed north, bypassing Perpignan and Narbonne on our way to Narbonne Beach, our intended overnight stopping place.  On arrival there, we found that the reception office was closed and we had 30 minutes to wait till it reopened, so walked around the camping park, didn’t like it much and decided to move on.  When we reached our next choice, we were surprised by the sight of a few naked males strolling around,

Obviously a nudist camp and didn’t fancy any of them anyway so moved on again, this time to Valras Plage, to a large camping park, one of many here, with a huge swimming pool with water slide, restaurant, bar, supermarket and a short walk to the beach. 

Sat.8^th June :  Back to wintery weather I’m afraid… a lazy morning followed by a bike ride in between showers.  At least, it was supposed to be in between showers but it rained quite heavily while we were out.  We did manage to find shelter a couple of times and wait until the rain eased but still got a bit wet. Mike finally found a hairdresser who wasn’t too busy to cut his hair!  He was beginning to look like an old hippie as it has been more that two months since his last cut back in Oz

! 

It’s mid afternoon now and though it’s still overcast and windy, the sky looks to be lighter, so here’s hoping.  We’re here for another night, giving Boris a day off and ourselves a lazy, relaxing time doing as little as possible!

Into the Catalans

Monday 3^rd June : 

This was a day of travel…on the fast toll motorway east, with a stop at les Pyrenees service centre where we were delighted to see, and photograph a fantastic sculpture of le Tour de France cyclists. 

We left the motorway at St Martory, paying the 15 Euro toll charge, happy to see sunny skies and estimating that we had saved much of the toll in fuel by having a straight run without having to negotiate little villages with their narrow streets and speed bumps!  There was a brief stop at St Girons, the start of Stage 9 of this year’s Tour

and then on through Foix to les Cabannes, our overnight stop, arriving at 4.35pm in brilliant sunshine.  There was snow on some of the mountain peaks surrounding us, it was gorgeous and we dragged out the chairs and table to sit outside in the sunshine with a glass of sangria.  Fabulous!

Tues.4^th June :  Blue skies and sunshine…oh happy day!  Until…yours truly slipped on a tiny bit of gravel that was lurking on Boris’ step, fell and hit my head, derriere and other parts.  A large egg quickly appeared and grew a headache and bruises have popped up elsewhere, but it was my pride that hurt the most.  Leaving les Cabannes, we drove through glorious scenery, continuing on from yesterday, and stopped at Ax-les-Thermes where we strolled through the markets before heading for Andorra.  (We’re still heading for the Mediterranean coast, just making a few detours along the way).  The scenery all the way up the winding roads to and through Andorra is absolutely stunning and we made several stops to take the obligatory photos.

 It started to rain before we reached the Spanish border but not heavily and not for very long.  There were several serious cyclists on the road, not your everyday tourist with bags hanging off the bike, struggling along against all odds, and we wondered if they might be in training for a big race?  Just before we left Spain after our brief but lovely drive, the rain came down, heavily.  8kms back into France, our overnight stop was at Saillagouse, on the road to Perpignan, on the coast.

Wed.5^th June : Another sunny morning…we caught the Yellow Train (Train Jaune) to Villefranche Vernet-les-Bains and rode through spectacular mountains and valleys, taking a zillion photos…

we were like a couple of big kids, rushing from side to side on the train, taking in the all the scenery and enjoying the train ride.  It’s okay though, there were other ‘big kids’ there too, doing exactly the same thing.  On arrival at Villefranche station, we had a 10 minute walk to the 17^th century walled town…more cobbled streets, more photos and another stunning day.

We spoiled ourselves with lunch on Gallettes and a beer or two in the cutest café.

 

 

Don’t know how we can take any more of this!!  The return journey seemed to go quickly and we left the train just as the rain came down again.  It seems that this is normal for this region at this time of the year…sunshine until mid afternoon, rain for a few hours, then it clears up.  We can live with that.  We’re now at Mont Louis, just up the road from last night’s stopover and are camped outside the walls of a 17^th century fortified city.  The rain seems to have cleared, so we look forward to tomorrow.

More from the Pyrenees

Friday 31^st May

Today we had a late morning start due to the heavy rain we’d had overnight and into the morning.  I hesitate to mention the dreaded ‘r’ word as it seems as though I’m harping on it but it has impacted greatly on what we do and where we go.  We travelled a huge 2 kms to the picturesque town of Espalette,

famous for its chillies, where we spent a pleasant hour or two roaming through the streets, and having bought a few little knick knacks and an f.a. cream cake…and taken the obligatory photos…we moved on another 7kms to Itxassou-Laxia.  This was a nostalgic visit as we’d spent a memorable weekend in the youth hostel there 44 years ago.  As we weren’t able to take Boris along the narrow winding road alongside the raging river we left him at the start of the road and walked the 1.5kms into Laxia and decided to have a celebratory two course lunch and a sangria at the restaurant. 

Across the bridge and up the hill was the youth hostel, long closed and looking sadly run down but we were very happy to be there again and find that little else had changed. We took a photo from the same spot that took a photo in 1969. It was a great moment for us.

Sat.1^st June

After leaving our overnight camp we headed into nearby Cambo les Bains for a wander around, then off to St Jean Pied de Port via a couple of little villages.  St J P de P is a walled medieval fortress town and on our climb to the citadel overlooking the town, we met a young American couple who’d just completed a 790km walk from Santiago and a little while later, a young lady from Melbourne who had walked 800kms in the opposite direction!  On walking down the cobbled lane from the citadel, through a crowd of backpackers, we noticed a group of local children entering the church with flutes, so followed them in to find 6 teenaged girls and their music teacher, on stage playing classical guitars…fabulous!  They were followed several groups playing flutes, then accordions, oboes, clarinets and drums.  It was wonderful and we happily sat to watch and listen for and hour or so. It sounded great in a 17^th century church. Some of the children then strolled up the lane playing their instruments…we were rapt! A stop in a pub for a cherry flavoured Grimbergen Rouge beer before dinner concluded a very happy day.

Sunday 2^nd June
Our Americans Donna and Jamie joined us for the drive to Oloron Sainte Marie on their way to Lourdes and Cauterets.  We made a couple of stops along the way and we are now on the outskirts of Pau.  Last night, we reluctantly decided to give the High Pyrenees a miss, at least for this trip, as the dreaded weather is not clearing and we see no point in going into the mountains at this time…so, we are heading east today towards the Mediterranean coast where according to the weather man, it is warm and sunny!

Monday 3rd June
The Sun is out!
Posting this from Maccas free wifi and having trouble with adding photos.