On the road again, with Amy :-)

Chillin' at Amy and Yann's

Trust The Germans

Whilst every other European arrive at the aire in their motorhome/camper/camping car, the only German turns up in a tank

More Photos

Just some more photos of our short trip back to join The Loire

Chambord

Blois

Amboise

Thunderstorm

We needed some cooler weather so our early morning thunderstorm was quite a wake up call! The motokennel actually shook, several times! An hour or so later when Bri got up to make the customary brew I was nowhere to be seen but eventually found with my nose peering out from under their bed! We've had a few showers today which has been good and we are staying here a 2nd night so no driving today :-) 

Here. Are the usual array of pics over our last 2 days

Beautiful medieval town of Aubigny sur Nere

An aire where we stopped for lunch

La Ferte Beauharnais (WE haven't a clue where it is neither)

Our aire at the above

Trying to stay cool

The hardest job we have a the mo' is trying to stay cool, no probs for me coz I'm naturally a cool dude now that I'm a teenager B-) 

We have taken a campsite tonight, first in 9 days so everything that can either be washed or charged is being.

Here are some photos of our last couple of days

We were having our elevensies when this bat sailed by skippered by a Brit, we exchanged comments about how hard life was.

An aqueduct over The Loire

Looks like a storm's brewing!

Last night's aire

Birthday!

I am 13 today and got a new bed which is SO comfy :-)  After a bit of a play around this morning and some treats we are 'on the road again' heading north.

Note to followers- the last 2 are the wrong way round!

Across The Rhone to The Loire

A lovely trip to Le Puy then north along The Loire to our next aire.

Last nights aire in The Rhone valley

Elevensies

Le Puy

The Loire

As the last remains of the early morning mist clung to the forested gorges of The Loire we set off north to follow the river, which would eventually lead us to Amy's. Within minutes it had cleared to reveal a perfectly blue sky, this was in beautiful contrast to the array of greens displayed by the variety a trees covering the volcanic rock. We followed all the 'Route des Gorges De La Loire' tourist signs leading us from one bank to another, and then back again, despite the river eventually meandering north there were times that the early morning sun told us we were actually travelling SOUTH!! However after 40 miles we DID end up further along the river in a NORTHERLY direction and are now just west of St Etienne. We found a great aire overlooking a lake, with an area designated for swimming, it was so hot that even Rache joined Bri for a dip. Due to his open water obsession he never goes anywhere without his thermometer (must be a joke in there somewhere), the water temperature was 20c and the air temp (in the shade of course) was 30c, I even managed a little paddle myself, great to cool the paws off :-)

View from our aire & proof that this is not just an alcohol fuelled trip

Sunday & Monday

After our brief encounter with The Alps, in true Dr Livingstone fashion, we set off in search of the source of The Loire, not that Dr Livingstone used to holiday in France I don't think :-/  Really it's just an excuse to find a route to Amy and Yann's as The Loire ends at their flat, near enough.

We headed for an aire north of Grenoble, we travelled up a road which made Kirkstone Pass seem like The Fens. 5 miles of up and up and up. The painted words on the road making it clear that a certain group of cyclists climb this every year. When we arrived at the aire the so called panoramic view was, shall we say, a little disappointing, beautiful yes, panoramic mmmm....

We, or should I say Bri, decided we would move on. We travelled through some amazing gorges with tunnels which we could just squeeze through. Then rock formations of all kinds, and as the mountains became hills, the vineyards were replaced by orchards until we finally arrived at a lovely village (photos below). We are staying on this aire for 2 nights :-)

WATCH THE ROOF!

St Antoine-L'Abbaye

Twelfth Night

We set off for Italy, but 2 passes turned out to be closed and the only other option was the tunnel at Frejus. There was no advanced warning of cost so it wasn't until we arrived at the toll (at the ENTRANCE thankfully) that we found out it was €54! Only one artic had to back up to let us out ;-) We returned back down the hill sorry, mountain, and decided to stay at a campsite rather than aire, this is our first campsite in 12 days. The cheek of it, R & B threw my bed out this morning coz it stank, and THEY haven't had a proper shower in nearly 2 weeks!!! Anyway, I got a brand new pillow to sleep on and they now smell like humans again.

Friday- A Misunderstanding

It may be old people, it may be technology or even a combination of the 2 but let's not apportion blame for travelling 76 miles to get 20 miles along the road. It turned out to be the most beautifully scenic day we've had and we have found an aire at the best preserved medieval village in France, so all in all a cracking day! :-)

Thursday

Rachel was still in bed when we arrived at Lidl at 8am this morning, she must have thought she was dreaming! We had a free night at the aire, maybe coz we left before the ticket man arrived, oh well, it meant we could buy a case of wine instead. After doing the weekly shop and getting diesel @ €1.28 a litre we headed for Annecy. Arrived at 12 noon to get the last slot, another free aire :-). Annecy, what a place. I must admit that traffic awareness is not my strong point so if crossing a road wasn't bad enough then that is immediately followed by a high speed cycle lane, IN BOTH DIRECTIONS!! Once we cleared all that chaos we had the freedom of the lake, well we had to share it with scuba divers, kayakers, sailors, swimmers etc etc, but it's big enough. I'm assuming that the activities we witnessed were partly due to Annecy's forthcoming triathlon. I have never seen so many people dressed in Lycra, some old enough to know better. There were some serious athletes going through their paces.

Pictures are 

1. A not so serious ex triathlete about to not go through his paces

2. Annecy

3. Lac Du Annecy (or something like that)

Wednesday

Note to Bri - when fiddling around with the coordinates on the satnav the night before, make sure the last one you put in is the one you want for our following day's trip! We didn't veer TOO much off course but did end up doing 20 miles more than we thought. However, arrived at this aire, lovely location, swimming ensuite, although a couple of downsides being right next to the road AND a railway line, it wasn't too bad at night though. Pics show me rescuing a stick from drowning and a view along the lake with the van on the left.

Switzerland

We put 100 miles in today driving through the sunny alpine meadows of Switzerland, but finished the day back in France at a very pleasant free aire.

The photos show- 

Rache enjoying some peace from us 2 at our free aire

a Swiss alpine meadow 

moi at the sharp end of the motokennel keeping the old guy right.

A quiet day at the office

We decided to take a day off from travelling so are staying a 2nd night at this aire, we will skip through the edge of Switzerland tomorrow on our way south(ish). Not much to report really just walks, bike ride (not me of course!), French bread, pâté, wine and generally recharging of the batteries for tomorrow.

The photo "Go on, just say it"!

Chasing the sun B-)

Well we found it, so now we will try to follow it. Here I am doing a bit of route planning.

Onwards and Upwards

I don't really understand this but Rache and Bri keep prattling on about the increasing altitude numbers on the satnav whilst a party is going on deep inside my ears? I keep thinking I can hear well then all of a sudden everything becomes even clearer, then when I yawn it all goes crazy again :-/. I wondered if t was something to do with Bri spilling the remnants of last nights beer on my head? Oh well, whatever it was we went for a little walk whilst up this hill and when they weren't looking I found some old cow pat and had a good roll in it. It was dead funny coz they thought they had picked something up on their boots. Unfortunately, they had the last laugh as when we got down to the aire I was shoved under the tap and given a good dousing, it got rid of the beer smell anyway.

Everyone is happy now, the sun is out, we are at an aire about 20 miles from Switzerland, we have leccy, wifi, decent bogs for the humans, great ones for the animals. I think the beer and maps will be making an appearance soon.

Flaming June!

A nice day is when the windscreen wipers are on intermittent! As there seems to be a blanket of cloud wherever we go 'somebody' had the idea to try and get ABOVE the cloud level. It was cloudy but not raining, nevertheless his lordship would drive onwards and upwards. From entering the cloud base we drove another 1,000 feet up to an aire at Gerardmer, in the Vosges region of France, and now it's absolutely persisting it down as you humans say. However the master of the 'motokennel' has a cunning plan :-/ watch this space......

The photo is last night and I'm entitling it 'Hope?'

Friday 31st May

Beautifully sunny weather in the southern region of Luxembourg B-), it was dinner al fresco for us all and a nice glass (or 2) of vino for those 2. This aire was by a marina and the wifi was free at reception. So, after dinner Bri had gone off to play on the eye pad, Rache and I went into the motokennel. After she had done all the tidying up she left the van but failed to see the spike I had been tethered to. It had been left screwed into the ground and unfortunately the old bird took a bit of a tumble :-( or should I say, went flying?! The flying was the painless part, the hitting the ground wasn't! Glasses went flying (on their own) cut lip, grazed and bruised knees and hands, she was in a sorry state :-( After she got over the shock she took the necessary medication, half a box of red wine, and things didn't seem so bad.