On an Italian Lakeside......

On an Italian lakeside...

Without wishing to sound like I'm writing a review for Camping Covelo, it really has to be one of the best sites we have been on for friendliness, facilities and location. It is situated right on the side of Lake D'Iseo, some pitches are literally on the waters edge and the town of Iseo is just a short cycle ride away. And the restaurant was wonderful - we had a seat on the terrace overlooking the lake and the best pizza with a delicious thin, crispy base. The staff of the campsite and restaurant all spoke excellent English and couldn't do enough to help you.

We arrived on Saturday and on Sunday we went down to Iseo town centre where many of the locals were meeting and promenading on the waterfront - the women all dressed up and looking glamorous and the men smelling of their best aftershave. It was certainly a lively place to be with a bric-a-brac/antique market, street entertainers and busy terraces of restaurants and cafes. I had always heard that the Italians had style and I felt out of place wandering around in my cycling gear surrounded by such glamour!

On Monday we went out cycling finding routes which took us off the beaten track along country lanes or cycle trails bringing us into tiny hamlets dating back 

hundreds,if not thousands of years back. In this area there has been evidence of civilisation back to the Stone Age and on Tuesday we cycled on the Ancient Valerian route - a trade route which was used long ago by the shepherds and traders of the time, it passed through olive groves and hedgerows of fragrant honeysuckle, the climb up the steep hillside being worth it for the views of the lake and its islands when we reached the top.

On our way back we found an old wooden seat by a shrine to rest and eat our sandwiches before heading back to the campsite to catch up on what we call Lafuma time ( Lafuma is the brand name of our sun loungers!) and we needed to use the campsite washing machine. We were also able to Skype my sister in France and chat to her and Mum who is staying with her at the moment.

They have not had such good weather and were quite surprised to see us in our summer clothes, we certainly have been lucky with the weather since we arrived in Italy, but the weather App forecast was not looking good so we decided to move on south  on Wednesday, reluctantly leaving such a great campsite.

We headed into the hills which proved to be a mistake! We found another good site up in the mountains but the superb views proved to be the insides of rain clouds and the campsite owner said the weather would continue to be unsettled for at least another week so we stayed one night promising ourselves we would come back on our return journey to be able to really appreciate the beauty of the site and its wonderful views

Sorry lost the photo!

Our next stop on Thursday was a site in the suburbs of Rome another 265km further south driving through showers of torrential rain to get there.

Technical stuff

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that one of my problems is that the blogging platform I use (Blogger.com) and my Ipad just don't seem to be compatible and so when I am writing a post I will often encounter problems with scrolling up the page I'm writing and also when I'm importing photos from the pad or Google+. Because of this I get really frustrated, it often takes me twice as long and I feel uninspired to try any new techniques to give the post a better look.
So this blog I am writing using an App I downloaded called Draftcraft free, what I hope will give me is an opportunity to use a few more complicated techniques and produce a better looking blog.

So this posting is really just a test to see how this App performs and whether it is a help to me, with such things a wrapping text around a photo, for example (like this)



Anyway, following on from my last post in Switzerland we decided to head south into Italy.







Our route was to take us through the Gotthard tunnel and the most direct route is across the Sustenpass. Well maybe we missed a sign but we drove for about 15 km up a winding mountain road only to find the road blocked by heavy snow!! Well, the positive side of this was the stunning scenery from the mountain, but the downside was we had to go back the way we came and take a massive circular detour to get to the Gotthard tunnel. Oh dear!!

Itwas all very beautiful but wasnt getting us to our final destination of the day

After a long days' driving we finally arrived at Camping Covelo situated on Lake D'Iseo in Northern Italy and what a welcoming place! We were greeted with a welcome drink from the bar, shown to the available pitches to chose and then assisted in getting the motorhome positioned on the pitch.
So what do we do at the end of a long days' drive? Go for a pizza!

And what a delicious pizzas they were too!

Switzerland and changing weather

And so we arrive in Switzerland and what's the first thing that happens when you enter the country? Check passport? No... You have to buy a Swiss vignette to pay for travel on their motorways,last year we paid by credit card and it cost 40 CHF (about £27), this time I paid by cash in Euros - I was asked for 50€ and was given 7.50 CHF in change - it didn't feel like I got a very good deal so if we come again next time I think I'll pay by credit card!

The Swiss motorways are quite good and at least you don't have to keep stopping to pay tolls like in other countries, there are numerous tunnels and driving through the really long ones is a strange experience, it makes you feel a bit spaced out!

We arrived at our campsite 'Alpenblich' on the outskirts of Interlaken and the young lady on reception was very friendly, speaking excellent english. We had to chose a certain pitch on the site that was designated to ACSI discount card campers, but we were still pleased with our location although the pitch was a bit smaller than others on the site, luckily there was no one nearby so we could spread out a bit. All around us were distant mountains with snow on the summits and the turquoise lake only a few yards away.

Thursday morning and we set out on our bikes with a picnic lunch to explore. Our first destination was the town of Interlaken- a bustling town full of expensive hotels, Swiss watch shops and Japanese tourists. We visited the Tourist information and a very helpful lady advised us of the local trips up into the mountains. The 'Top of Europe' trip to the top of Jungfrau (4158m) is amazing but too expensive for us this time, and the Shynge Platt was still closed because of the snow so we opted for the funicular railway up to Harder Kulm and what a treat that was! Glorious views of the lakes, the towns and the mountains Junfrau, Monsch and Eiger all topped with snow, and of course the weather was sunny so no clouds to obscure the fantastic views.

We were certainly well advised in the Tourist information - we were told to go up the mountains on that day and not to leave it until Friday. Well..... as I write on Friday we are stuck in the van with torrential rain and no sign of it clearing..... But at least it's not snowing as forecast.

Oh dear! What did I say???

We have to decide where to go next, do we stay in Switzerland or head on into Italy?? 

Cathedrals, chicks and Coypu.....

We had the most wonderful day yesterday. As I write we are staying at a campsite west of Strasbourg at Molsheim in the Alsace region of France, we are surrounded here by dedicated cycle tracks, so yesterday morning we all set out in the direction of Strasbourg. The cycle path followed the Canal de la Bruche  and is completely flat, passing through the beautiful French countryside, along the way we saw storks, ducks with their ducklings, swan and signets, moorhens with their chicks and swimming serenely along the canal - a coypu! ( we thought it was a beaver but when we looked it up in the book we realised it wasn't as the tail was long and thin)

John & Ann left us early to get back for their dog but we just pedalled along this lovely track until we found ourselves in the centre of Strasbourg. A beautiful and peaceful city with little traffic but for the cycles. We cycled to the Cathedral de Notre Dame - a most amazing example of medieval stone lacework. It's just incredible the work that goes into creating these magnificent buildings often over hundreds of years, you can't help but wonder as to how it was all done without our modern technology. The rest of the inner city is full of well restored old buildings and bridges over the network of canals and we spent an enjoyable afternoon sightseeing and people-watching the tourists!

By the time we pedalled back to the campsite we had clocked up over 33miles - we were a bit saddlesore but it was a lovely way to spend a day cycling in the countryside and sightseeing in the city.

We had arrived here in Molsheim on Sunday having spent two days in Luxembourg, still with our friends John & Ann doing our usual thing - cycling! We stayed at Camping Krouniberg at Mersch where we had stayed last year on our way to Croatia so we knew our way around a bit - where to buy coffee and a cake and where to find the local supermarket..... And luckily our weather is keeping fine in fact, it is set to improve until later in the week when we might expect wet snow when we move on into Switzerland! 

It's now over a week since that wet and miserable day we crossed the channel, we have cycled over a hundred miles on various cycle tracks, we have enjoyed the company of our campervan friends John and Ann (with their dog Boots) but now it's time to part company and head further south into Switzerland whilst John and Ann head east to Germany and Austria.

So it's off to the supermarket in the morning to stock up with food and Switzerland here we come!

Settling into the roaming life...

Sorry for the technical issues with the images on my last post, I think I am a bit rusty on the techniques, but bear with me - it will get better. Where we are now has internet on pitch so I can post without feeling pressured!
We started the day on Wednesday walking into town for a bit of sightseeing and a coffee before heading off. The town of Charville is bigger than we thought with a large square 'Place Ducal' being its centre piece - a very impressive area surrounded by elegant buildings built over arcades with numerous cafes and restaurants. We chose the one that sold the best looking croissants to have with our coffee. 

The town is also noted for its festival of puppetry held each September, the whole town becoming a Mecca for artists from all over the world.

We then journeyed on in the van to Haybes to meet up with our friends John and Ann who left the UK in the morning. The pretty municipal campsite at Haybes is right on the riverbank and also next to the continuation of the cycle track we just left at Charleville.

It was lovely to meet up with our friends and we spent the evening catching up over a meal and a few drinks.

A chilly start to the day on Thursday but at least it wasn't raining! We all set off to cycle north towards Givet at the northern end of the track. After 10 miles we found an interesting sculpture to be our resting place for picnic lunch then Ann and I headed back to the campsite whilst Keith and John heading further on - not quite making it to Belgium but clocking up a respectable 32miles by the time they got back.

Sadly it's still not warm enough to sit outside to eat but we had another sociable evening in the van chatting about our plans for the next few weeks

Our next stop to tomorrow is Luxembourg and another cycle path!

We're on the road again!!!

Sunday 3rd May. Welcome back to our travel blog after a five month winter break at home, we are off on our travels again and it was 6 o'clock this morning when the alarm went off and the first sound to be heard was the rain beating against the window but not to be deterred we were ready to go by 7.45am heading east to Folkestone and the Eurotunnel. It feels like we have been packing the van all week carefully stowing away all our goods and chattels for another long trip across Europe taking in France, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. We have a vague outline of the trip but we have often changed our minds about where to go after meeting people and chatting about where they have visited along the way. Last year we met a couple in Salamanca in Spain, they told us about this wonderful Natural park in the the opposite direction to our intended next stop so after having discussed it for a while we decided to change our plans and go there. We were so glad we did the Monfrague National Park was a wonderful place to visit with such stunning scenery and amazing bird life - we saw eagles and vultures soaring on the thermals. One day we even saw a stork and an eagle both sharing the same thermal - weird!

Anyway back to this trip - we arrived at the Eurotunnel terminal at 9.35am, we accepted the next available train and lo and behold we were in France about an hour later - how about that then!

Remembering which side of the road to drive we headed south east towards Charleville-Mezieres in the Ardennes region, we planned to stop for the night early at an Aire along the route. Now some of you may not know about French Aires, but as motorhomers we are very fortunate that almost every small town in France will have an area designated for a few motorhomers to stop overnight with facilities to service their vehicles for free or for a nominal charge. The Aire we had chosen happened to have free electric hook up for 4 vehicles and luckily we arrived in time to be able to hook up ourselves. It was also only 150 m from a Lidl store and a 10 minute walk into town with a good variety of shops so before heading off in the morning we plan to visit the Boulangerie for some delicious French bread and croissants, oh and some Camembert or Brie to go with the bread at lunchtime - perfect!

Mon 4th May. We slept so soundly after a long day yesterday- for some reason when we are in the van we always seem to sleep really well and blissfully we woke up to a lovely sunny morning. Once washed, dressed and breakfasted we headed along to the nearby Lidl to buy some of their freshly baked bread and a few other supplies. Tell me - why is French cheese so much better than the French cheese we buy in our supermarkets?

This is what we bought - what do you think of this little lot?

Then we were back on the road to continue our journey to Charleville-Mezieres (so called because it was once two towns which grew, overlapped and then became one! ) The route took in quiet country roads and sleepy villages ( where are all the people???? ) the countryside spattered with yellow fields of the rape flowers stretching into the distance.

And in no time we arrived at our Campsite - Camping Du Mont Olympe, right by the river and at the start of a 83km cycle track all the way north to Belgium, just perfect for us!

We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sunshine and preparing for our cycle ride tomorrow.

During the night we had torrential rain then at about 5am there was a flash of lightening, a huge clap of thunder and the rain beat on the roof even louder, shortly 

after we were kept awake by the sound of Muslim praying- strange things do happen on campsites I tell you! A couple of pitches along there is a small group of men wearing similar clothes to the type worn by people from Afghanistan ( yes, we did wonder what they were doing on a French campsite!)

Tues 5th May. So eventually the rain stopped, the sky cleared and the sandwiches were made for a day out on the cycle track - Voie verte Trans-Ardennes. 

The whole length of the track is flat, tarmac and wide so easy to mop up the miles. Sadly the sky clouded back over and storm clouds gathered through the day occasionally sprinkling us with a light shower of rain until eventually on our return journey back to the campsite we were hit by a torrent of incredibly heavy rain - we were soaked through! We still had six miles to go so we just pedalled back as fast as we could for a hot shower and a cup of tea to warm up!

We managed 20 miles, stopping for coffee in a village along the way and at 10 miles we had our picnic lunch sitting by the river. There were very few people along the track, but we did get hissed at by geese protecting their goslings, the ducks weren't quite so protective and just quaked as we cycled by. One duck had 10 ducklings following her, surely they couldn't all be hers?