123 Through France and into Spain

Saturday 22nd September

What a night ! It was thundering and lightning for what seemed like an hour or so (probably 10 mins !). At one point after a particularly loud bang overhead I said to Karen "Blimey, that was loud". I got no answer. She slept through the whole flipping thing. We did not get a peep out of Leon either.

In the morning the rain was more constant and we huddled under the awning but as noon approached the clouds started to part and the sun shone through.

With the sun, out came Wallace and we rode into Lyon. John had told us of a few places so we parked Wallace up and went for a walk. Initially we were disappointed with the centre, it was very grubby but we ended up at the Place de Terrraux, which is several fire breathing (OK - steam) horses in a fountain.

 We then crossed the river Soane into the old town and the place took a serious upturn. It was very quaint and old (!) with lots of small shops and bars. We ended up supping on a beer in the Irish Bar. We are just so cosmopolitan. 

The old town. A better perspective of Lyon

The Cathederal

"The beer in here is rubbish.

Another anatomical clock. Do these people not have watches ?

Then it was back on Wallace in search of the main city park that John had told us about. He had apparently stayed nearby when he worked in Lyon.

We found the place that John stayed in when he was posted here with Interpol

The search was rapid with the aid of the Sat Nav. The park was fantastic and contained the botanical gardens and a mini zoo. It is called Parc Tete D' Or. It is quite huge and very pretty in the sunshine.

One of the hot houses at the botanical gardens

Some of the plants were weird

Karen found this monster lurking in the undergrowth

Ray had noticed a bar called Wallace, so it was only fitting that we visited it and had a photo opportunity.

Wallace outside Wallace

I was looking at the whiskeys...honest

We had walked around all the old town and along the banks of the river, however we did miss a couple of other places that John had suggested as the weather took another turn for the worse, so we headed back to the campsite via the supermarket and after a light tea, retired for the night.

Sunday 23rd September.
Once packed up we headed to Parc des Oiseaux. It is outside of Lyon at a place called Villars - Les -Dombes. It is like a large bird sanctuary with both wild and captive birds.

I don't get paid enough to do this

Same place, different faces....

We had a long wander about and then watched the live show, which featured many different species including vultures, parrots and large cranes.

Stand clear...no undercarriage

The birds flew pretty close

Wassup....aint you seen a bird eating his dinner before. This cheeky chap kept slamming this snake on the floor to kill it.

 It was brilliantly done and we could feel the air from the birds wings as they flew over our heads. Several people went home with bird poop, for which they weren't charged extra for. There was also a house of parakeets, you could get a little tub of "nectar" and walk through and the birds would come and feed and sit on you. We enjoyed this so much we went and had another go.

Before the nipping and pooing began

The colours were amazing.

If you poop, we are having parrot pie for dinner.

 It all lost it's appeal after we'd both been nipped and I got pooped on. At about 5pm we were both totally birded out so went back to Gromit. We decided that we would drive at least half way to our friends house, so set off with a view that we would just stop at an aires and sleep there and finish the journey in the morning. We pulled into two different aires and it was my fault we didn't stay there. They were in the middle of no where and to be honest I didn't feel all that safe. The third one was better. It had toilets (that should have been a clue really) and some overhead lights. I jumped into the back of Gromit to feed Leon and sort things out there and Ray was out the front. Another car pulled up and parked up next to us. A male got out and started walking around our vehicle and the grassy area next to us. He seemed to be playing pocket billiards and started "a conversation" with another male who appeared from no where. I still hadn't been seen, but the first man kept walking past the front of Gromit, obviously trying to attract Ray's attention. Needless to say that aires was also not suitable and we beat a hasty retreat and luckily for the strange man, he remained in one piece. Having failed so far we went to a campsite and got ourselves behind locked gates and felt heaps safer.

Monday 24th - Thursday 27th September.
Well I didn't sleep through the thunder and lightning last night. It actually felt like someone was letting off canons right beside the tent and the lightning lit up the inside of the tent. It was really quite amazing and the talk of the site in the morning. We are going to Billy and Sue's today and took the mountain route to their place near Marat. They are gradually doing the place up and work was on going whilst we were there. They have a large garden and Leon loved it.

The view from Billy and Sues garden in the morning

We spent the next few days in their company and met several of their friends who have also bought places in the same area. Our replacement tent arrived on Wednesday which was really quick. Sue and I kept each other company whilst Ray worked on the trailer and Billy helped the builder knocking out a doorway between the garage and the house. On Thursday Ray drove Sue me to Amber to the market and we noticed that we could hear a bit of grinding.

A side road in Ambert

Part of the market in Ambert - it was in a time warp.

 It turned out our rear brake pads needed changed. He and Billy went into town to see if we could get some whilst Sue and I entertained Mr Smirnoff. Mission was accomplished but we couldn't pick them up till the following morning.
 
Friday 28th September
A quick trip to Ambert to collect the brake pads at 10am with success. 60 Euros about treble the UK price. Anyway, once back it was an hours work to fit the new ones and whist I was out Karen did the rest of the packing. At about 1 pm we set off south towards Spain. After an hour of twisty mountain roads we hit the free motorway south and over the Millau Bridge.

Millau bridge...again

A typical French mountain village

After about 250 miles, we eventually got to Perpignan and turned off at a small campsite at 9pm. A quick 16 euros and we were in bed knackered.

Saturday 29th Sept

An early start (unusual for us) and we were off again heading for a small campsite in the middle of nowhere but near the Motorland Aragon racing circuit. Another 250 miles.

We had set off under a cloudy sky and it immediately started raining heavilly and did not stop till about 3am the next morning. We saw nothing of the beautiful Pyrenees.

Once at the campsite it was up with the tent in the poring rain - not much fun and I got soaked - we then hit the bar of Lake Caspe Camp site.We bumped into a couple of bikers. Not surprising considering we were near a racing circuit on the eve of the Motorcycle Grand Prix. The guys were Brits from Norwich who had ridden down from Calais. The pair, Andy and Pete, were a double act and the stories they had to tell kept us laughing all night. Pete was one of those people that everthing bad happened to and whilst he was chatting to us, he was still dripping wet from the ride they had just been out on. He had had a puncture on the way down and as it was on a motorway, his own breakdown service were not allowed to tow him. A specialist French firm had to be used just to get him off the motorway. It was not so much the extra 170 euros he had to pay that irked him but the 300m (yes 300m) they towed him to get off the motorway. He then had to call his own recovery service again for the privelage of taking him to a tyre place when charged him a further 170 euros for a new tyre. He only had a slow puncture which they refused to rapair and probably could have ridden all the way to Spain with the puncture ! Having said that, he was still laughing. It was a great night.

Sunday 30th Sept

Up bright and early and a quick blast on Wallace to the race track. The sky was clear and the sun was warm. We went into the grand stand and watched the British riders do fairly well but only with one podium (a third). 

Cal Crutchlow in the middle. He eventually came 4th.

We were the only Brits in the stand and we were waving our Union Jack and cheering the British riders very loudly. The Spanish around us were very tolerant, probably because we were older that most British hooligans and their riders won all three races. 

The view from the side of the race track

It was another great day and we ended up in the bar with Andy and Pete. We were soon joined by a dutch guy called Vim and another Brit who we just called "lightweight" as, although he had traveled by bike, he had booked a small cabin whilst we were all camping.

Jon Elvidge had sent us a text a couple of days previously that there was a strike by French ferry workers that had virtually stopped all the boats to Spain and France from the UK. We were worried that this could spill over and stop John getting over to Spain for the Motos Picos bike rally next week. The strike was also of concern toAndy and Pete who were looking to sit the strike out beside the lake we were at with a fishing rod in one hand and beer in the other.

Monday 1st Oct

Another gloriously sunny day. We had a slow start today and whilst packing up for our slow trip to Santander (for the bike rally) Karen received a text. The next thing I knew was, I as being pinched and punched for the first day of the month. This is not a fair war when Karen's brother John was pitching in too. He will pay for that.

 We said our goodbyes to Andy, Pete, Vim and Lightweight and Andy informed us that the ferry strike had been cancelled and it was just a matter of getting the boats back into their correct places. I think he was a bit disapointed.

We then set off again and selected a campsite about halfway to Santader. This one has washing machines and internet - Yipee. Another 200 mile drive to Logrono. 

Guess where we are now ?

On arrival we dropped the trailer off and went shopping and into town for a Spanish meal in a Spanish restaurant. There was lots of it but it was not that good. It did however redeem itself somewhat and came with wine at no extra cost. Then it was back to the ranch for vodka and gin prior to an early night. We were both knackered. It's hard work being retired.

122 Our journey to Lyon

Sunday 16th September.

As usual a nice easy morning. Leon had done his escaping through the tent again during the night, goodness knows what he'll do once we are back in the tent on Gromit. We went into Offenburg again to sit at our cafe with internet, unfortunately it wasn't working so we wandered around the town until we came across some internet and had some dinner.  Again our efforts were thwarted and we were only able to post the words and a very unflattering picture of me.  Whilst we were chewing on a delicious chicken and chips we were joined in the restaurant by 3 green clad men on horses. When we say in, we mean in. They rode their horses between the the tables, dismounted, were presented with a beer each and chatted to the customers. It was surreal but extremely quaint and funny.

Hay !!   Wheres my beer. You've neigh chance....

We are moving on tomorrow so back at the campsite we started loading Wallace back onto the trailer.  We were joined by a lovely couple from Norway, Sylvia and Nils Nordhus.  It turns out they recognized Gromit from when we were in Norway last year, even down to the fact that we had a new box on the top and now had the bike with us.  Sylvia is originally from Dundee, but speaks fluent Norwegian. Her English had a distinct Norwegian/Scottish twang.  They spend a lot of their time traveling also.  The world really is getting smaller. 

Sylia and Nils.....That Landy looks familiar...

Monday 17th September.

The tent was dismantled and Gromit made ready for take off.  We said our goodbyes and we headed deeper into the Black Forest to Freudenstadt.  The sun was shinning and it looked beautiful.  

Make with that sausages...

Freudenstadt town centre

The last time we were here it was raining, cold and miserable apart from all the Christmas lights.  We have fallen in love with the place all over again.  Our campsite is right in the middle of the forest and is very peaceful.  There is Wi Fi here so Ray went and sorted the blog out and I joined him later only to find out that he had received an e-mail from Peter who had arranged our accommodation in Santander, that they did not in fact take cats.  He was very apologetic, but it didn't alter the fact that we now had no where to stay. We searched ourselves for accommodation and e-mailed him back with the details, and awaited our fate. We set up the BBQ,  and had a meal under the stars. 

Tuesday 18th September.

We awoke to the sun pouring in the tent and birds twittering away, it was a nice way to wake up.  Better than that was the one time we were glad of the mobile phone ringing as it was Peter to say that he had got us into another hotel nearby and they would definitely take the cat.   Crisis averted.

We are headed south today in the Forest and spending a couple of days here before we go into France. 

The weather is fabulous and the area is just so picturesque, I love my life.  We lunched in Wolfach.  It is a beautiful little town and we have been here several times now.  However we had never seen it in the sunshine.  

Wolfach main street.

Their attention to detail was amazing

We ended up near Rheinweiler in a campsite, just north of the Swiss/French/German border. They served curry wurst so Ray was a happy man.  We put our new super duper tent up, but decided to sleep on Gromit.  

Leon enjoying the sunshine

It hammered down with rain through the night.

Wednesday 19th September.

The rain had finally stopped when we got up.  Ray went to look in our new tent (which had all our clothes in), and found that it had puddles in it. This is not good news, because we spent a lot of money on it because of it's durability. Our all singing and dancing tent was turning into a complete dud!.  Several phone calls later we are hoping to get a new one shipped to Billy's place in France, and Billy is going to take our one back.  It was basically a quiet day just getting everything sorted.  Several more people joined us in our little parking area.  They all had motor cycles, so straight off it was something in common.  We had Ollie and Christiana from Dusseldorf, and Annie from Copenhagen. Ollie was a loud, gregarious character and Annie had been traveling around Europe on her bike by herself.  Brave girl.  It was quite an entertaining evening.

Thursday 20th September.

Sun is shining again and we are taking down the tent, it had been cleaned and packed with tender loving care, even if it is rubbish.  That's not technically true, in principle it is fantastic, I just think the Gremlins got to it before it left the manufacturers. 

The morning mist covering the Rhine. France in the distance.

Poor Annie also had her problems, her bike chain was about to snap, so between them, Ray and Ollie found a dealer who could fix it for her but not until tomorrow.  We all left her to her fate.  

Annie with a very sick bike.

Ollie and Christiana. Mad as frogs but good fun.

We are  on our way to France, but driving through Switzerland just because we can.  High up in the hills we found a lovely spot for lunch and for Leon to stretch his legs.  

Lunch in Switzerland

Most of the scenery was this good

Our campsite tonight is called Las Fuvettes in Malbuisson, near Champagnole in France.  It is on the side of the lake and really quite lovely.  We met another British couple, although they might argue that as they come from North Wales.  We cooked in the open again and then had an early night.  

Friday 21st September

My god it was cold last night, 2 degrees.  This is the coldest we've had for a long time.  Leon and I cuddled up together in my sleeping bag. It was still cold when we got up, but the sun was out and a low mist was hanging over the lake.  It was lovely, but eerie too.  

The early morning mist on the lake beside our campsite. It was only 2 deg C

I think I may have got Karen up too early today

We are headed towards Lyon today.  We drove through the country side. It was very pretty and we found another beauty spot for lunch.  

More French sscenery

Lac de Coiselet. A hydro electric dam is at the far end.

We passed through some lovely little towns, one of them being Bourg on Bresse.  

Bourg de Besse, catherderal

We arrived at the next campsite about 5 pm.  It is called "Camping Indigo International de Lyon"

121 Into Germany...again...he ..he ..he

Monday 10th Sept

And were off again.... The next installment arrives.

After a hectic morning, dropping off the caravan after decommissioning it (we do not want to buy another water heater) and the final clear up and admin type bits and

bobs. Its funny, no matter how many times we do it it is still difficult to decide what to pack for the differing scenarios that we envisage coming across.

After parking the caravan in its allotted slot at the Kingsburys we popped in to see Billy and Sue for a cuppa and to make sure we were still on track to visit them in France in 2 weeks time. We also stopped off at Trulas work place at the hospital and saw her in her security guards uniform. It was weird to see her in a police type set up. Karen was promptly arrested as she got out of Gromit. 

We then drove back to the Hertford campsite to collect Wallace.
We then had a marathon run around to buy a full gas canister as they are not available in much of Europe. Then it was the final mind numbing trip to Sainsburys (Karen is easily pleased - sometimes ;-) ).
Our main mission for the day was to be in the midnight ferry from Dover to Dunkirk. This was thwarted to some degree by our late departure, having decided to have some grub and let the evening rush our go past first. We actually arrived at Dover at 9pm and they let us on the 10pm ferry. The crossing is 2 hours and with adding the Euro time difference on we arrived at about 1:15 am. I managed to get some sleep on the boat but Karen did not.
We then drove straight down to Disneyland Paris....

Tuesday 11th Sept
We arrived at Disneyland just before 7am, knackered and stiff. The park was shut and it was clear that they now charged for parking. At 7:30 the gates opened. 15 Euros later we parked near the entrance and waited (slept - ish) till the park opened at 10am. We were in a bit of a daze but we will get over that. The day was warm and overcast so we decided just to go in in T shirts and shorts. The entry fee was 75 Euro each -Whaaaaat.

Celebrating 20 yrs of fleecing the public

The whole experience was significantly more expensive that our previous visits. It was legal robbery. Just after we got through the gates the rain started and stayed on all day. We decided, rather than go the 5 minute walk back to Gromit to get our coats we would buy a thin plastic (throw away) poncho each. A snip at 9 Euros (bloody hell this is taking the mickey - pun intended).

How do you like our new sexy kit ?

The good thing about the time of year and the weather is that all the rides had no queues so we did not get grumpy standing around all day long. The Space Mountain was the best ride and we did that twice (when does that ever happen ?). 

Shaken and stirred

After the second one we were both dizzy, shaken, stirred and had the makings of a headache. Either it was one Mountain too far or we are getting old.

Karen grumbled something about my ancestors here. Under her breath needless to say

The pirates of the Caribbean set

The dragon under the castle

It was animated and very good

Whilst browsing the shops we refrained from buying any T shirts, Grumpy for me and Dopey for Karen. We decided to call it a day at the park and moved outside to the Hollywood bit with the bars in. We stopped in a German bar and paid a measly 10 Euros (£8) for a Pint (yes a pint).
We were sat next to an English couple and fortunately the clocked tipped forward into Happy Hour where drinks were half price - at last.
After the bar we staggered back to Gromit and moved to an area of the car park set aside for motor homes and pitched the tent. We were asleep by 9:30. Needless to say we got our moneys worth out of the parking fee. 

Wednesday 12th Sept
We were rudely awoken by the cat being sick. Luverly. After a clean up we slowly struck camp for a slow (as is always in Gromit) drive to Trier in Germany, just past Luxemburg,  so we could get a Currywurst. A mere 419km (about 260 miles) drive for a sausage. We (Karen says I should have written "I") are nothing but dedicated sausage munchers. On the route there we did see a Honey Buzzard (exiting for us anyway) and lots of wild deer.
We parked up in a small campsite where we had stayed before and wandered into town in search of a currywurst. We struck out on the sausage and had to settle for a very nice Italian. At about 10pm we went in search of a bar only to find them all shut. Bloody inconsiderate considering that we won the war after all. Time for bed said Zebedee.

Thursday 13th Sept
Having decided to spend a few days in Germany, as we both love it so much, we are heading down to Offenburg near the French border and on the edge of the Black Forest. 

We saw this at service station. Eat your heart out the Rhino's of Dumfries.

The land of cuckoo clocks and witches. The route we took took us back through France and Via a place called 'Bitche'.  Karen thinks I am trying to give her a subliminal message.

No comment...

We found a campsite just North of Offenberg. It was a nice place but appeared to be mainly used as a stop off site as the residents did not tend to stay long.
As we intended to stay for a few days we pitched the big new Jet Tent intending to sleep in it instead of the roof tent. On erecting it we found that the front door fly screen had been sewn on upside down and would not zip up. 

This was the only bit we did not test out after purchase - Doh!

Now, the more cynical among us would say that we should have tested the tent before leaving the UK. Well, we did. We erected it in Bob and Liz's garden but as the fly sheet is on the outside (unusual for tents but this is an unusual tent) we tested the door and not the screen - Doh!
This left us with a bit of a problem. We could not take it back as we were some 1000 miles from the dealer and we would struggle with the postage. We rang the dealer who despite it not being his fault, was very apologetic. We did a mutually beneficial deal on the phone. He would supply another part of the tent, an extension part, (I told you it was an unusual tent,) that was not available when we bought it due to it being brand new and imported from Australia, for a reduced price and we would ignore the screen problem. In reality, Mum has given us an old sewing machine and I can fix it when back in the UK. Job done. They don't call me Cinders for nothing. All we need now is somewhere to send the new bit to, not as easy as it sounds with out life style.

This is our current set up.

Friday 14th Sept
We dragged Wallace off the trailer and set off on two wheels into Offenburg town. Yippee....back on the bike again....
We needed to find a place with WiFi access so we could send some pictures of the defective tent to the suppliers in the UK. Offenburg is a typical German town with very clean streets and window boxes everywhere. One of the reasons we love the place is that responsibility for the up keep of the street immediately outside your property is yours and fines are issued if it is not done. In practice, this works very well and the country as a whole is very clean and proud of it too. We eventually found an internet cafe but what a nightmare that was. The German keyboards are somewhat different with the Z and Y keys being reversed - Not funny when your first name ends in a Y  and the @ key location had to be shown to me by the shop owner. I still do not know where the +  or - keys are!
When I eventually got onto my e-mail site, it was a piece of cake to load up the photos but for some strange reason it would not let me write any text. I had to send another e-mail with the text in it via the dealers own web site. I pitied the poor guy at the other end trying to make sense of it all. On our way back to the bike we popped into a little bar in the main pedestrian precinct and whist supping on delicious Greman Pils, I opened my phone and discovered that the bar had WiFi (or WLAN - pronounced VeeLAN) and we could have done the whole lot very simply on Allan. I cannot remember if we have introduced Allan. He is basically a computer tablet, like an iPad but better, as he also comes with a detachable keyboard which I am currently typing into. It runs Google software, like most smartphones, so if you can use a smartphone, you can use one of these beauties. We then rode back to the campsite and had a bite in the attached restaurant.

Saturday 15th Sept
Time for some exploring intending to blast down to Frieburg on the motorway and ride back over the mountains. We set off on Wallace at a steady (but legal) 100mph down the motorway to Frieburg (Oh Yessss...!). A small city we have previously been to in the South of the Black Forest. The market was in full swing around the cathedral and needless to say we found a Schnell Imbiss (Quick Snack) bar and devoured more sausages. 

The pride in their town center's is incredible 

 Despite the market, the square was virtually spotless. Compare that with Harlow or Walthamstow markets.

Spotless and quaint markets

We parked our bums in a busy street bar on the side of the market for a beer and when it came to paying, rather than wait for the overworked waitresses, I went inside to pay. From the reaction of the bar owner you would think I had been caught flashing at his mother. I just said OK, not understanding what he had just said but gleaning that I needed to deal with the waitress, I then turned and went back out side. A few seconds later he came outside and started shouting at me again. I gave him a look that told him he was the moron that I thought he was and turned my back on him. Karen was more confused than me but he eventually got the message and left so I paid the waitress and whispered in her ear that her boss was an idiot (it's the same word in German). She smiled in agreement.
Then it was back on Wallace for a trip through the mountains. We climbed to almost 1000m and (it was cold up there) and dropped into Triberg, another place we had visited before and went shopping. The land of the cuckoo clocks was a tourist trap, but again very clean and beautiful.

Looking down into Triberg

 Another bar, again, one we had been in last Christmas. We ordered a delightful Black Forest gateaux and whilst eating it, the proprietors son was sat up at the bar. He was about 7 years old and had a 6" bowie style knife attached to his belt. He later started to play with his 'do everything' Swiss Army knife.

The bar we visited (behind the car) and the street we had just ridden from

Black Forest Gateaux - Mmmmmm

The one man mini Army

Before leaving I decided to go to the loo. Thinking the toilet was past a closed section of the restaurant I walked past the 'closed' sign to be firmly told off by the one man mini Army. I was not going to remonstrate with a 7 year old psycho with two knives. The culture is somewhat different here.

The town of a thousand cuckoo clocks

The bear is actually climbing the rope...

Before leaving Triberg we did some more shopping and then headed for home. It was getting quite late and the sun was low in the sky when we reached the top of another 1000m mountain. The view was spectacular. We then rode down the 'bob sleigh track' style road and back to Offenburg.
It was good to be back on the bike.

A viewpoint on the way home

Once back at the campsite we found a little bar in the village and went in hoping to get some food.   The place had about 5 locals in it and 2 young female staff. We ordered some drinks and a sausage salad and sat down. When the food came we were a bit taken aback. It was sausage strips that looked more like spaghetti with gherkin on the side. It was not the best meal we have had. We ate most of it and fitted another beer in when one of the bar staff asked us what country we had come from. (Up to this point we had been practicing our bad German - hence the unexpected food presumably.) When we replied England, we were immediately joined by the other girl and then one of the locals and had an hours conversation about world travel and rafting down the 50m waterfall at Triberg (not !). The conversation was surreal, us speaking little German and them speaking only school English but it was extremely funny and we had a great time. It was a typical German encounter. They are all very friendly and will talk to anyone - like me really.

We then went to bed. The previous night, Karen had told me of how Leon had figured out a way to escape from the tent. I was a bit skeptical but as I was dropping off, she woke me to the sound of Leon scratching at the zip. Most tents have 2 zippers on one track so you can open them either way. Leon had figured out that if they are close to the ground, he can push them apart creating an opening and go in and out all night. You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks but you cannot stop an old Leon from learning them for himself. Not bad for a 16 year old.