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Thursday 4 June 2009
"We are on the road again" in the words of donkey from Shrek! We spent a while yesterday evening looking at possible routes and have decided to dip our toes into Italy on the way back up north and home again. At this point we have 10 days left and we didn't want to travel too far afield and end up having to rush majorly to get back to the ferry. We have worked it out that we should have 2 nights in each campsite from here on in with an extra night spare for a campsite we really like. We have also decided not to put the awning up to allow us more time in the areas we are visiting. As we drove the landscape changed again and it became much more arid with rocky hills spreading out in front of us. We then drove past Cannes and Nice which were impressive towns rising up from the sea like amphitheaters. And then the tunnels began... because the coast is mountainous with the mountains running perpendicular to the coast in order for a road to pass through they have built tunnels through the mountains and bridges with the most amazing vistas to span the gaps. Unfortunately the photos are all naff because there were barriers on the edge of the roads and bridges to stop you driving off the edge! We did drive past some interesting sites en route such as Mornas, an 11th century fortress atop a cliff
and a hilltop church which we were later to discover is very typical for Italy with every town and Hamlet having one which chimes out the hour from it's belltower. After an amazing drive we were extremely dissapointed to arrive at our campsite which was at the edge of a town center, in a particularly run down area. To add insult to injury it was a noisy campsite with lots of road noise and the most expensive campsite so far charging 7 euros for each of the kids! We were however too tired and too far from another campsite to move on. We did however meet a very charming local Italian lady called Maria who lived on the site. She came up to us whilst we were having our dinner and started chattering away in Italian. I told her we didn't speak Italian but it didn't make a blind bit of difference she carried on chattering away! I managed to pick up some of what she was saying which I was really pleased about even if I couldn't say much back!
Wednesday 3 June 2009
Today has been the sort of day that doesn't have a lot to report home about... but a lovely day all the same. The boys woke up late (after 9am) so the day started at a somewhat leisurely pace. We had a cooked brunch of bacon and eggs (mmh) and did a few chores (washing and washing up and putting the lunch in the cookpot) and then we settled in for a swim and a day by the pool. It has been around 30 degrees here today so it was lovely to relax by the pool and dip our feet in or go for another swim if it was getting too hot. We don't normally do sunbathing but the breeze and a good book for Dave meant we lasted out a few hours before we felt suitably baked (Dave had retreated to the shade well before the kids and I had enough) and returned for dinner and showers. After dinner Jez, Ben and I had a game of boules with the set they bought yesterday at the supermarket. The big dilema for us tonight is do we move on tomorrow or do we stay here another night... we will see what the morning brings.
Sunday 31 May 2009
We had decided despite having a calmer night last night that we would move on today. It was our intention to go into Italy and had our route planned and were all set to go. We did the usual packing up and the children went off for one last play in the park before the off. We were just about to go when one of the locals (a group of 4 French families had permanent holiday homes (chalets) on the campsite) stopped us to say goodbye. When we told him we were going to Italy he asked us about our route. He then advised us on the best route to go and told us about the tolls on the tunnels. The Mont Blanc tunnel cost 50 euros for a car and the caravan would probably be the same so 100 euros to get into Italy. Eek! We got in the car, looked at eachother and decided that staying in France suddenly seemed very attractive! We had discussed staying in France anyway so we knew which direction we wanted to head. We put Valence into the Sat Nav and were off. As we drove Katie chose a campsite with a swimming pool (yay!) It is a while since we have driven in France and we were rather shocked at the price of the autoroute. It cost us 32 euros for around 60 miles... it could be expensive to get back home at that rate as we have done over 1500 miles already!! We arrived at what the Sat Nav thought was our destination and it was telling us to drive down a dirt track. We decided that this couldn't be right and carried on along the road a little further to find that the campsite was signposted. The campsite is set off the main road a long way in the middle of several fields of trees where olives, apricots and other fruits are grown. As we drove onto the campsite it was really peaceful and we were able to choose our own pitch so we set up between the toilet block and the swimming pool and reception with apricot trees abounding with fruit for a vista one side 
and the hills as our view the other. Lovely. Bless him, Dave set too putting up the awning whilst I took the children swimming. The water still wasn't warm but good enough for the boys to get in and have some fun for more than 5 mins. After our swim we came back to dinner which had been cooked in the cook pot the night before and just needed heating through. Lovely not to have to cook after being in the car for a few hours.
Saturday 30 May 2009
What a night!! We had thought the night before was bad... last night was even worse and we were very glad that we had the strap to hold the awning down. Where in the UK the wind gusts here it was a constant wind blowing around force 7 all through the night. The awning flapped, billowed and shook, the caravan rocked and the children slept through it all (unlike Dave and I who kept waking to check everyone was still ok!) Our trip for the day was to a medieval village just 4km from the campsite. We decided to cycle the route and were extremely impressed with Alex who managed to cycle up all the hills. It was a lovely ride with views over lake Geneva. 
The village Yvoire was totally pedestrian and very pitoresque with flowers everywhere and it was very pretty to walk around. 
The best bit for the kids was the ice cream before we cycled home. Lots of lovely flavours like white chocolate, caramel, cookie, tiramisu. Between us we had 8 flavours mmmmmh!
I did venture in for a bit but the small stones were like razors on your feet when the water went out! We then went back to the campsite via Aldi had lunch and waited for the pool to open after the afternoon siesta time. As soon as it opened we were there and had a lovely time cooling off in the pool, playing tennis and relaxing. The campsite didn't seem quite as bad when in the pool! What was quite cool was watching the swallows dive down to the pool for a drink.
