The drive from Lyon to Sanremo (Italy) - 20th Oct ‘19

Another day, another country and another evening sitting in Brunnehilda with the rain lashing and the wind howling. The difference is, the heating isn’t on as it’s not cold just wet and windy.

We arrived in Sanremo at about 5 pm. We left Lyon at 6.30am squeezing in 3 stops at Aires along the way. It was about 330 miles but due to high winds for 100 or so miles of it, we had to take it easier than normal. Also the last 30 miles, from just the other side of Nice to our destination was a little hairy! It’s just wall to wall tunnels and very high and exposed bridges. Beautiful sea views but as the driver I didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy them. Nor did Kim as its hard to see much when you’ve got your hands over your eyes and occasionally groaning on terror as you see the vista dropping away outside your near side front window! She did manage to keep reminding me though to keep my hands on the steering wheel, so that was something?!

Anyway we made it safe and sound. It turns out that lorries are “grounded” between Saturday and Sunday evening so the Aires are full of them just kicking their heels and taking up lots of the available parking spaces. That said, the first Aire we stopped at was so huge it could have catered for the complete Eddie Stobart lorry fleet and still have room for little old Brunnehilda. The sun was out enough at one of them to enjoy reading our books outside. Food and drink continues to be beyond belief awful - how the French have the nerve to criticise UK food I know not! The cheese and bread is poo and the only think you can get for breakfast are sugar based products. And believe me you can have too many pan au chocolats!!

A couple of dramas worth mentioning:
1) I did it again! I put in the name of the city in sat nav when we started off and didn’t change for the more accurate street address when we got closer. The upshot was driving through the middle of a very busy town trying to find a way of turning around!
2) Not only did the ad blue light come on but the bloody emissions warning light came on as well. Luckily this happened to my previous car and it’s nothing to worry about. Although I did have to buy some more ad blue and we’ve also now got to put up with the bloody warning light being on for the next 1000 miles!
3) I overshot the entrance to the site and I had to back up which made an old French couple in their motor home very cross. This is a real shame as the French have been first class this week, all very friendly - maybe it’s motorhomers??

The site seems great. https://www.villaggiodeifiori.it By the time we set up (in the drizzle!) and had a cup of tea we decided to have a quick walk around before settling down. We’re right on the sea front, there is beach access, a pool and a nice restaurant - where we purchased a take away pizza and eat in our chairs outside in the dark looking out to sea. The pizza was fab!

One bad thing though, apart from the howling gale, we ain’t going to be able to set up Isabella - not much room and no where to peg her into!

An episode of The Wire on DVD and an early night. The caravan is certainly “a rocking” tonight! If you know what I mean?!

A day out in the Medieval town of Pérouges- 19th Oct ‘19

So, remember that famous Billy Connolly line ... there’s no such thing as bad weather just the wrong sort of clothes? I’m not convinced Billy!

The rain had stopped by the time we woke up. So it was the sound of the workmen not the rain that woke us up this morning. They are working on upgrading part of the campsite (right beside our van!) and obviously they had read the weather forecast that this morning was going to be dry.

The usual lazy morning breakfasting, tea in bedding and abluting. We left the campsite at about 12.30. With the night to sleep on it we have decided to stay put today and travel overnight grabbing some sleep at a Aire on the way down to our final destination. So that meant we had the day to spend in the area. We considered Lyon for the afternoon but decided against it, as impressive as it looked, it is after all visiting France’s second biggest city on a Saturday afternoon!?

We were keen to see a bit of traditional France so we googled the nearest Medieval walled city and came across a place called Pérouges. About 30 miles away with a route that took us through Lyon via a number of motorways and very impressive tunnels. Not so impressive is the toll system here. They are everywhere and not very user friendly. As Kim was sitting on the left side of the car she was in the firing line! To be fair, the French must know their system inadequacies as every one is very relaxed and understanding with each other.

We arrived at Pérouges at about 1.30 - what a place?!
We did manage the first 30 mins before the first of the rain storms swept in. And when I say rain ...

After getting soaked we had a look around the town museum and went in a few quant (but very over priced!) shops. They seem to specialise in Galettes so we found a lovely place in the central square called Ostellerie Du Vieux Pérouges and had coffee and galettes - gorgeous!

This place is so historical. It’s been used for the back drop of lots of French films and you can see why. I know it’s a corny throw away line but you really have to say that not much has changed in the way the place looks over the last 3 or 400 years!

The second monsoon then swept in and we got soaked again - note to Mr Connolly ... even waterproof coats can only do so much to keep you dry when you experience someone turning the tap on!

We had a look around the very evocative village church before heading back to the car and completing a very pleasant 2.5 hr visit. We’re surprised by French churches / cathedrals - you would think, being Catholic, they would be very elaborate but the ain’t. They are very plain with, unlike their Uk counterparts, a notable absence of rich / important people’s tombs and epitaphs. Not so interesting but stripped back to the raw materials of stone, glass and wood you can’t help but be impressed.

The return journey through Lyon in the pouring rain was not particularly fun. We did see lots of traffic jams but managed not to get caught in any of them! We popped into the Buffalo Grill in the retail park just across from the site for a bit of early tea. I left my veggie ness in the car for this one - it’s proving quite hard in France and in French to eat well and avoid cows or chickens!

The blue sky has returned at 6, just in time for setting. We grabbed a few hours R&R in Brunnehilda before starting to pack up. We plan to get on the road by 9.30pm - Dieu le veut!

NEWS FLASH: Change of plan, we’re knackered so decided on an early start tomorrow. So Belgian Beer, episode of The Wire and early night!

H

From Guignicourt to Lyon and a grim Wedding Anniversary- 18th Oct ‘19

A travel day. Left Guignicourt at 8.20 in the drizzle. Arrived in Lyon at 4.20 in a thunderstorm that is still raging 5 hours later. Subsequently, the Camping de Lyon campsite resembles one of those WWI battlefields we passed through yesterday! Ironically the weather for the journey was fine - we even saw the sun for a couple of hours!

Everything went well on the journey. We had a couple of Aire stops but because we had our own provisions we had no problems with food. Another surprising fact, a lot of the motorway services cafe / restaurants shut down at 3 o’clock so you ain’t gunna get anything to eat anyway!

At the first one we even managed a picnic!

The thunderstorm has given us a bit of a negative first impression of the site and when I went out in the rain to find the toilets I found an old abandoned toilet block and assumed this was it. This was the moment of reporting my discovery back to HQ!

However it turned out not to be the case but we still have enough of a downer on the place to be looking at aborting our planned second night here! The weather is due to be awful here again tomorrow!

So after the obligatory cup of tea, when things are not going well, we settled down to watch a DVD and wait for a slight gap in the rain. It came for a brief moment but enough for us to get in the car and drive 5 minutes over the motorway bridge to a huge supermarket complex.

We ended up eating at an odd food chain called Flunch! We should have guessed by the name! It‘s how a Little Chef restaurant might have ended up if Lidl (or TK Max!) had taken it over. So we celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary with a crap meal in a French hypermarket with a thunderstorm raging all around us. Thankfully there will be many opportunities to put that right!

Good job I’ve brought the canoe ... I think we might need it tomorrow morning!?