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Post by artisans on Feb 22, 2018 19:58:42 GMT 2
Imagine standing on the tarmac at CFU airport in the wash from a jet engine … now throw a bucket of water in the air! That’s much what it was like on our first night in our camper just outside Rimini in Italy … it was howling! The lady in reception was telling us that their season used to last for months, but now it’s just July & August - the weather is certainly changing.
Luckily, we were only staying one night and we headed off across northern Italy, through all those famous towns that festoon the main autostrada to Milan - places like Faenze, Bologna, Imola, Modena & Parma. The good thing about Italian motorways is that you can buy superb regional products at the service areas, and for reasonable prices. That night, we tried a new campsite at Lugano, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. It’s a shame that they’re not Italian prices too … We would love to see more of Switzerland, but how any country with a low maximum VAT of 8% can be so expensive, is beyond us. We love the journey, especially this year with over 2m of lying snow at the entrance to the St Gottard tunnel but, as usual, we spend as little as we can there and head straight into Alsace.
We stayed our third night at a very basic, but adequate campsite just outside the ‘City of the Train’, Mulhouse, and one day we will spend more time there as it sounds so interesting. Next day saw us heading off in glorious sunshine towards one of our favourite stopovers in Luxembourg. The days are sparkling, but we’re standing on hard snow, the east wind is blowing and the temperatures vary between 2C and -6C … at least we’ve got a heated swimming pool just 20m away. In a couple of days we’ll be off to Amsterdam to catch the ferry - just in time for the forecast cold snap in the UK!
Steve
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Post by janiemou on Mar 1, 2018 15:09:40 GMT 2
As Steve has already said in the shout box we are stuck in County Durham until the weather eases. We have experienced very cold weather, sub zero, All the way across the continent. Now we are mired up with snow and high winds. My family up near Glasgow have sent me photos of very deep snow, schools and shops shut. My son's work shut for the day. We might make an effort to get home tomorrow. It has cut down our time here as ferries are all booked. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
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Post by artisans on Mar 24, 2018 21:04:02 GMT 2
Despite all the attempts of the British weather, we managed to escape to France on Thursday. We sneaked out from our favourite port of Newhaven and, after a night in a carpark in Dieppe, we are now in Chartres.
We found a great campsite on the banks of the river Eure and, this morning, the sun came out as we walked the half hour into this wonderful town. The massive cathedral of Notre Dame looked magnificent in the afternoon sun and the stained glass is so beautiful. The town itself hold so many surprises, and the myriad of watercourses were not expected. We're tired now, but looking forward to a leisurely drive tomorrow to a campsite in the middle of nowhere, near to Auxerre. Roda is just a few miles closer ....
Steve & Jan
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Post by daveh on Mar 25, 2018 8:13:10 GMT 2
Have a good trip, the photos of Chartres Jan posted on facebook show the beauty of the cathedral and gave a feel for an historical city.
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Post by artisans on Mar 25, 2018 21:06:27 GMT 2
We had our leisurely drive today .... mostly sunny and really quite warm. As few trucks are allowed to use the roads on a Sunday, our trip across country was quiet, to the point of being scary. We were so ahead of time, that we pressed on a little further into Burgundy.
We're camped tonight in a tiny village called Merry-sur-Yonne, and very pleasant it is too. We keep waiting to see three things: the first vines, our first flowering Judas tree, and a roadside cactus. We'll find the first vines tomorrow as we head down from the hills into Beaune, the wine capital of Burgundy, and we'll stay there for a couple of nights in order to visit the town again. It may get a bit colder though before we head down to Avignon for Easter.
Steve & Jan
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Post by artisans on Mar 29, 2018 23:09:04 GMT 2
We have had a drop or two of rain but, on the whole, it's not been too bad. We left Burgundy in the mist, and anything above about 300m was shrouded in the stuff! In spite of the leaking atmosphere, all the vine-pruners were out in the fields as it's a job that cannot be delayed. The vineyards were littered with white vans and plumes of smoke.
But the time we got through Lyon - a real treat if you've never driven through it before - the weather had started to improve, and our campsite in Tournon-sur-Rhone was warm and almost sunny. It was the first night since we left Corfu, that we didn't need heating. The weather has been bad all over Europe this year, and a Swedish lady we met said that even in Spain it hadn't been good. She was waiting for the snow to clear from her drive in Sweden before she could go home.
We headed off south this morning, down the West Bank of the Rhone, and what a nice change it was. We'd always gone through Montelimar, on the east side, on previous journeys. We didn't want any nougat this year, so we enjoyed discovering the ancient villages on one of the famous 'bis' routes that take drivers onto the quieter, and more scenic routes. We arrived in Avignon fairly early, and what a treat to actually peel off a layer of clothing and sit having lunch outside. The last time we did that was the day we left Roda ...
Tomorrow? Well we're not sure yet as the weather forecasts are a bit contradictory. If it's fine, we'll head off to Nimes on the TGV ...
Steve & Jan
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Post by artisans on Apr 21, 2018 10:20:58 GMT 2
For anyone driving to Corfu this year, there was one thing we particularly noticed this time .... diesel prices are more or less the same now, in the UK, France, Italy & Greece. Gone are the days when there was an advantage in filling up in one country or another. In our experience, only Luxembourg seems to be cheaper.
Steve
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Post by janiemou on Apr 23, 2018 17:51:14 GMT 2
Didn't take many photos on the way back to the UK, but the snow at the entrance to St Gotthard tunnel couldn't be ignored. The roads though were clear and ice and slush free. The tunnel is 10.5 miles long, takes about 20 minutes to drive through and the temperature in the middle is around 21C.
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kaz
Roda Anorak
Posts: 3,961
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Post by kaz on Apr 24, 2018 13:12:11 GMT 2
WOW
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Post by janiemou on Apr 29, 2018 10:31:00 GMT 2
The snow continued into the UK as we got stuck in Co. Durham for longer than intended. Pictures of Scotland on our journey north along the M74 show the snow continued to haunt us. The frozen lake is at Annandale water services and the famous IT stand of pines, and the snowy hillsides are near the Beattock summit.
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Post by janiemou on May 3, 2018 17:01:49 GMT 2
We left the shores of the UK in glorious sunshine. The little port of Newhaven is now our favourite departure point. The ferries are reasonably priced, cheap on board and, at four hours, let us relax into our long journey. We stop at the arrival port of Dieppe in one of the two camper parks (aires). This time we were parked by the long sandy beach. The weather had changed, but despite a cold wind, we still had a delightful walk around the town. We found a nice little bar and enjoyed a small beer and watch the locals play dice and card games. The first photo is of Newhaven, the second is of coast towards Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters, the last one is of the ramparts of Dieppe castle. Next stop is Chartres and its famous cathedral.
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Post by janiemou on May 6, 2018 9:25:38 GMT 2
We had always had Chartres on our TO DO list because of the cathedral, and managed to find a campsite in the city itself. It was a pleasant riverside walk into the city centre. What a lovely surprise Chartres was, all half-timbered houses, cobbled streets, an open air market stuffed full of fresh local delicacies and a riverside location that was unexpected and totally delightful. So I am splitting this part into two. Photos of the town to be followed by ones of the magnificent cathedral.
This is an amazing mural on the side of a building. There are a lot of these in France decorating even quite high buildings. I saw one in Barcelona where balconies had been painted and populated with amazing portraits.
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Post by janiemou on May 8, 2018 9:39:09 GMT 2
Chartres cathedral was magnificent. It was difficult to limit the number of photos to the seven I have chosen. The outside was covered in so much detail, statuettes, biblical scenes and gargoyles. The inside had amazing stained glass windows and delicate stonework around the high altar area. The building is in the process of being completely restored with the old plaster being removed and replaced to the original state. So about three-quarters has been done and is pristine white whilst the remainder is still dingy as can be seen in one of the photos.
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