Free Wild Camping

places we have free or wild camped

Arrivederci Italy!

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Thursday 19th April 2018

Dave posting,

Very warm again here this morning at Al Bateo Agricampeggio, Punta Sabbioni, we are wondering where to go next as we are leaving this site today as we head towards Croatia, we are not in a rush at all and we are feeling very relaxed without a schedule or timetable, it’s a wonderful way to live at the moment. Once again, we don’t want to travel too far, short little hops suits us fine!

Cathy is on Google maps and spots a marina where she thinks we could wild camp a little south of Monfalcone, from the views it seems to have plenty of parking and it’s near a beach, we decide to head there and take a look, if it’s not suitable then we will move on and find an alternative.

Once again, we decide to use the toll road, and another guess at how much it will cost? The trip is about 145 kms and 110 kms is on the toll. No problems this time, we used the toll booth lane that was manned, €6.80 paid (not on a pre-paid credit card this time – thanks Joanne!) and we are through!

Marina Julia is our destination and when we arrive it looks suitable, no signs forbidding motorhomes, although there was one forbidding caravans, there is a large grassy, sandy parking area, no markings, park where you want kind of place. There’s a small shopping precinct nearby and it’s peaceful.

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Marina Julia, this will do nicely!

We park in a shady spot near some trees and we go for a stroll, and we are surprised by the view, a naturally beautiful coastline, the sea gentle lapping up to the tide line, lots of driftwood and no litter or plastics. Most of the cafes and beach bars are closed, we think that we can see Croatia across this part of the Adriatic.

We see a café beach bar nearby and we walk over for a drink, 2 bottles of Moretti and we are just staring at the views and beauty in front of us, the freedom to make choices and change things dependent on how we feel is fantastic. The café has music on quietly in the background and Abba comes on, it can’t get any better for me right at this moment! Cathy pulls a face; all the family know I like Abba!  Cathy doesn’t especially when I start singing along!

Our stroll takes us northerly towards a very large camping village and further on out of site a dockyard, where we can see the top of a huge cruise liner above the tree line, we tried to go and take a look at it, but the path ended.

Returning to Pogo we move away from the shady little bay in the trees, the bugs and mozzies are about, and it looks like some people have been using this little hidden space as a loo from all the dried-up tissues we can see, it annoys us as we leave no trace behind wherever we stay not even dish-washing water.

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Across the Adriatic towards Croatia

We tried to do a blog last night, but we have run out of data, we have used 12GB in 26 days! We need to reign ourselves back in with the data consumption, Cathy has closed some Facebook motor-home groups that she was following in the UK and will return to once we’re back home, we’ve altered some settings on our iPhone’s and iPad’s, we’ve accidentally left the MIFI on a couple of nights with the iPad refreshing pages in the background, we’ve learned our lesson at a cost.

We are getting closer to Croatia and it’s a place where Cathy and I have always wanted to go!

Dave

Italian Toll Roads!

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Sunday 15th April 2018

Dave posting,

Light rain woke us this morning, it’s 8am, the kettle is on for the first cuppa of the day. We are thinking about Venice and going there, so a small amount of research in to places to park and visit, we use numerous resources, A Life In The Slow Lane, Our Bumble, Our Tour, Charlie the Chucklebus.

Time is creeping up on us and now we have to get ready to move off before 11.30am (Camping Sirmione) as is the sites rule, the bill for 3 nights on the superior pitch was €96.60, although expensive it’s definitely worth the money in our opinion, it was like a mini holiday in the tour.

We drove towards Pescheria and spotted a LIDL, in we go and buy groceries. We stay put and switch the wifi/mifi on, more Venice researching over crackers and humous. We don’t want to get a train or bus in to Venice, we want to “arrive” in a water bus, vapourette, so we decide on a plan. The plan involves stopping in the NE area of Venice and catching a water bus, but we need a cheap overnight stop tonight.

Using Search for Sites we found a free Sosta at Treviso, a quick read of the Sosta reviews in Search For Sites and we are heading there now. The coordinates say nearly 3 hours journey, so I re-format the sat nav to include tolls and motorways and now it’s only 1hr 45 mins via the A4 motorway.

A few minutes later we leave the LIDL car park and in 3 kms we roll up to the ticket machine at the start of the toll motorway, ticket issued, and we are on our way for 140 kms of motorway driving.

The weather changes to rain, the motorway is a decent drive with good road surfaces compared to the toll-free roads that run parallel to the toll roads and no lorries at all. (I think that in some European countries HGV movement is not allowed on Saturdays and Sundays).

The strange thing over here is there are no signs or information about toll road costs, or distances or towns, you just get on and worry about the euros when you exit!

radio aux

Listening to The Eagles and Foreigner albums & 90 minutes later we are coming down the exit slip road to the toll booths, we stop and put the ticket in, well we first of all I have to stand up in the footwell to reach the machine, it asks for €11.50, that’s cheap! well what a pavlava, I tried my pre-paid MasterCard three times, I tried cash but the machine wouldn’t accept notes, and now the remote ticket machine operator is telling me what to do in Italian through a loudspeaker. Mastercard, credit card, visa card, he says, I said “I am trying it but it’s not accepting it!”

This goes on maybe five times, suddenly a receipt is printed, and the barrier raises, off we go then grabbing the receipt. A minute late Cathy says the receipt value is zero, but our Reg. No. is on the receipt. We continue for a few minutes when a police car appears out of nowhere, sirens on and flashing lights, Cathy says “they are coming after us Dave!” as they drove by quickly.

Pulled up in Treviso at the Sosta, it’s attached to a huge car park which is very full for 6pm on a Sunday night. Selected a spot and put the kettle on, it feels ok with 5 other motorhomes here. There are 3 other motorhomes in the corner that look they have been here a while. The police patrol car drove around a couple of times in the evening before 11pm, it’s an okay spot, earplugs in to soften the noise of the noisy rail track 250 metres away.

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I’d never be able to get in that!

Treviso is by all means a lovely place to visit but we just wanted to sleep, Venice awaits and we’re excited.

Goodnight

Dave

What did she say?

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Sunday 8th April 2018

Cathy posting,

Up early and went for a 6.5k walk along the riverside and into the village near the sosta. It’s a pleasant enough place with lots of people cycling, running, walking, jogging and fishing, strange thing that we noticed in Italy is lots of people exercise and yet there are cigarette machines at the side of the road & near car parks, it’s an odd contrast.

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There are many small holdings very close to residential properties

 

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Cathy loved this rose tree

We are surrounded on three sides by huge tall mountains making us feel like we are in the bottom of a bowl.

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Surrounded by mountains in Chiavenna

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Lots of old style alpine roofs, the stones are holding the slates down

We had a nice chill out after lunch, did some blogging, the usual van services, water etc and set off. We had decided upon Bergamo, the research suggests it’s an amazing city with loads of history, wonderful views from the Venetian city walls from 16th Century, we fancy a bit of that.

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We got stuck behind this chap for miles! (Piaggio)

Travelled on the SS36 road which is basically a motorway through tunnels alongside the east side of Lake Como, the tunnels were not very pleasant to drive through, every now and then there was a view but before you could say ”Bob’s your uncle” we were thrown into darkness again!

Whilst driving along it dawns upon Dave that the numbers on the speed sign i.e. 90 is the minimum speed that the Italians think they can drive at! There were some scary moments and the air was a little blue!

We’ve noticed the Italian roads are a bit rough compared to Switzerland & Germany, it’s a game of dodging the potholes, from Lecco at the Sothern end of Como it was a horrible drive to Bergamo, roundabout after roundabout every kilometre for many kilometres.

Sat Naff can’t speak French very well, she doesn’t have any German or Swiss either and she most definitely can’t speak Italian! (apologies for the lack of focus on the video)

We were going to stay at a free car park but when we got there we didn’t like the feel of it being on a corner of two busy roads, also we’d located a campsite just 4 kms outside of Bergamo centre, for €18 per night plus it has a bus and tram stop right outside the gate for Bergamo.

We arrive late just before 8pm and it’s not busy, so pick your spot.

We tried to ask questions of the lady who runs the site and we’ve had success with google translate however tiredness and not having reading glasses on again and I managed to communicate with her in Romanian, no wonder she looked confused!

Gnocchi and pesto for tea and the evening was spent researching Bergamo.

Cathy

White Turf

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Saturday 7th April 2018

Cathy posting,

By the way I have updated two previous blogs, Lost In France with a video, click here and the Imperia Statue in Konstanz, click here.

We are still on the pass in Rona. It’s a lovely sunny but cold morning in the shadow of snowy capped mountains, we considered driving along the west side of Lake Como but it will take too long as we plan a stay at Lake Garda, we’re on a mission to get to Garda as we were there in 2008 on a motorbike and the mist came down to ground level and we couldn’t see the lake even though we were stood on the edge at Val Di Sogno on the North East of Lago di Garda, So we head off through the sunshine towards the Julier Pass, the scenery is outstanding.

road to Rona from Chur (13)

Julier Pass (2)

Julier Pass (9)

We found driving on the pass amazing, some very tight hairpin bends with fantastic views, there were a few very green areas but mostly snow capped mountains, the pass is up and down, the sunshine through the window made it feel like 25°  but in reality it was about 16°

Dave coped well even with the hairpin bends.

Finally we descended and near St.Moritz we see a huge frozen lake.

Then we realise we’ve been here before, yes, you’ve guessed it! On the motorbike in 2008. The St.Moritz lake and it’s the place where the “White Turf” happens each February on the frozen lake, not summer!! as I said on the video! This is a horse race on the frozen lake and all the rich and famous gather to watch it, the horses and rider might get a bit damp in summer, ha, ha!

We stopped for a break and lunch, checked the search for sites and camper contact book for somewhere to stay, we decided not to head for Lake Como and instead stopped at Chiavenna, in the Lombard region, the sosta is free with services next to the river and there’s a small supermarket and laundry opposite. However even though we could do some washing we didn’t as the sun decided to make appearance we got our chairs out to enjoy the warmth, plenty of time for chores later.

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Relaxing in the sun……

We had a meal that my sister Lou makes me, it’s chicken, gorgonzola, white wine, cream and chives sauce with tagliatelle and I love it and it just so happened the supermarket had the cheese, so it had to be done!

Found some wine for €3.50 and Dave found two large bottles of Moretti for €1 each and some cheaper Pils from Slovenia for €0.49 and the report back was that it was good!.

Cathy

Border crossings

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Dave posting;

Wednesday 3rd April 2018

Woke to the sound of gentle rain drops and rustling leaves in Ribeauville, our plans to climb the hill to Château de Saint-Ulrich quickly dissipated, we decided to get dressed and have breakfast on the road after we have driven for a short while.

40 minutes later we crossed the border on the D424 road in to Germany near Emmendingen. We stopped in a resting place and ate breakfast, switched the van Mifi on click here for our mifi blog,  and researched sites and places to stay near Konstanz, Bodensee, we have been to Lindau at the southern end before in 2008 on our motorbike so we thought we would like to go the northern end near Konstanz.

I also wanted to buy an Umwelt Plakette, a green emission zone sticker, you need one for your vehicle to be able to drive in to some German city zoned areas, it’s like the London Low Emission Zone. I tried to buy one online before leaving the UK but I was declined so I thought I’d chance it and try to buy one from any of the 300+ TUV SUD stations in Germany, I found one about 16 kms away, good news, let’s go there and sort that out and we can then relax as we drive through Germany without fear of being caught out or driving into a zone without realising.

Got to the TUV station, after presenting my V5 log book and an inspection under the van I was told we can’t have one because pogo is too old and doesn’t meet the emission standards, oh, that’s a blow but its not the end of the world.

Whilst I was in the TUV station Cathy has found a place to stay at Radolfzell, north end of Bodensee Lake which is actually Untsee,  I put the coordinates in and guess what the Sat Nav asked me if I wanted to avoid the environmental zones! What a great Sat Nav this is! That makes our lives more relaxed whilst driving in Germany.

sat nav zones

Should prevent a problem later on!

Route planned avoiding environmental zones and off we go, on our journey we see the Alps, they look fantastic, very far away but the scale and size makes them stand out all grey, dark and moody, rough jagged edges and snow capped peaks, we tried to take a photo but it doesn’t do the views we had any justice. I could have stopped and looked at them for hours, to me they are so beautiful!

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The Alps

Got to our place at Radolfzell at 3.30pm, and it started to rain hard we’d missed lunch so we ate a meal and read a for a little while and listened to music and waited. The rain stopped and we went for a walk down to the shoreline and the sun started to break out even though it was 7.30pm creating fantastic light and sunset, it was then that I discovered my camera battery was flat so I had to use my iPhone camera.

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P1030476This area near the lake looks like it would be a super place for families in warmer weather, lots of water based activities, cycle and walking paths that go for miles around the water along with cafes, coffee shops, bars, hotels and restaurants. There are two marinas plus lots of bird life, we saw a heron quite close by until it flew off to “safety”. This is a really interesting place and well worth a visit in our opinion.

sunset

Walked along the shoreline for quite a while and back through town its evening now about 8.p.m  and we spotted an Aldi and Cathy has run out of porridge! it’s a staple for her and tea bags, essential items bought we were paying at the checkout and picking our shopping up when I noticed that Cathy still had a box of tea bags under her arm that we hadn’t paid for, good job I noticed it otherwise we might have been in the Gefangnis! or Jail as we know it.

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Tree of the day! we’ve seen some unusual trees on our journey so far, the ones in France which seemed to line every road I nicknamed Brussels sprout trees, if any one knows what they’re called let us know and these above here in Germany are amazing! they look like they’ve been wrapped in fabric.

We had a relaxing evening with The Bank rolling Sausage and cheese, olives, red wine, music and chatting about our adventures so far, we agreed that we were both enjoying life in a motorhome.

Dave

Sausage gate!

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Cathy posting

Tuesday 3rd April 2018

Up at 6am wide awake as we had gone to bed early the night before, I made a cup of tea and sat outside on the bench in front of Pogo and watched the light changing on the River Moselle as the day began to break, I had a good feeling today was going to be a nice day.

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Morning coffee, it’s going to be a good day

Left the free Aire (with services) at Millery near Nancy this morning, we bought a baguette from the mobile bread van who came to the Aire. There was a small road nearby but it wasn’t a problem with ear plugs in and the church bells stopped ringing at 11pm.

Drove to Ribeauville in the Alsace region through our first mountain pass  Col De Sainte Marie, we peaked at 742 metres above sea level, very steep gradients up to 10% in places on both sides of the mountain, Pogo was miffed a bit and started overheating, not dangerously so but we put the cab heater on full and opened the windows, that seemed to do the trick!

Once we had come down on the other side we pulled in at a supermarket, time to buy supplies, lots of lovely salad and fresh meat , we bought a tin opener! It was €5.75! but we needed one.

On towards the Aire at Ribeauville next to a wine Cave – Cave de Ribeauville, we found the exact spot but now it was a building site. Dave went inside the wine company offices to ask about the Aire and was advised to go the Tourist Information office just a short walk away. Dave came back with information about a new Aire located up the pass slightly, the way we had driven, it was an old campsite it seems as the areas  for tents were still numbered it was in the shade of a large rock and away from the road so it was quiet, it took us about 7 mins to walk into Ribeauville, can’t beat that!

Were all alone for now but we saw lots of other motorhomes going to the same closed Aire as we had done so it won’t be long before others arrive, Dave parked up after putting planks down under the drive wheels to make sure we don’t sink in to the grass. The ticket machine was broken so it looks like it will be a free stopover here tonight! Waahay!

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The town really made an effort for Easter

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Château de Saint-Ulrich – up the hill!

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Butchers Tower built in 1920

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Town Hall

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zoom in to see the teddy bears!

Dave spotted a Stork on the roof of a building, he gets excited when he sees birds! And the camera was soon out!

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On one of the roofs in the centre of the village

We are in need of supplies so when a nice young man invited us into his Fromagerie to taste some cheese we thought why not? We tasted a couple and liked one which was reminiscent of Comte but a bit more fruity so we bought some, I pointed to where I wanted the cheese wire to go but he doubled it! I didn’t say anything as I thought oh well it won’t be going to waste, next was the sausage, we tried a couple but settled on the smoked one, dried hung and matured Saucisse Fumee ….. it was really delicious so we said we’d buy it and I asked him how much it was, he pointed to the scales and I saw 4.6, he duly wrapped it all up nicely in lots of fancy paper and then told us how much it was….. It turned out that my saucisse was in fact 0.46 kg and €25 !!!!  lesson learned Cathy, wear your glasses when buying stuff!

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How much!

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Traditional Alsace wine glass

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Traditional UK beer drinker!

We got back to the van and sampled the bank busting Sausage with the lovely cheese and some olives and crackers and it was delicious, erm was it worth €25 of course! at 2mm slices x 2 each hahahaha!.

Cathy

Verdun – day 2

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Cathy posting

Monday 2nd April 2018

Pogo is still in the sugared almond factory.

We woke early and walked the 20 mins into Verdun, sun was breaking through and although it’s very quiet all around as it’s Easter there were a few people milling about.

We took a stroll down to the river by the 14th century gates, it’s a lovely riverside and the Meuse as it’s called is reminiscent of the colour of the Moselle.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the Moselle, it was at Koblensz, and we were on a motorbike tour following the Rhine and when we got to Koblensz we went to the fortress Ehrenbriitstein  looking down on to the point where the confluence of the Rhine & Moselle meet,  I couldn’t get over the difference in the two colours as they met the Rhine being very blue and the Moselle a sort of soupy pea green.

Back at the riverside in Verdun we spotted a café open with chairs outside and ordered coffee, a cappuccino for me  and espresso for him, no food though but monsieur says go to the patisserie around the corner and bring them back here, off Dave goes and brings back the best pain au chocolate I’ve ever had and he had the freshest quiche Lorraine, all warm and soft in the middle.

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Breakfast in the sun!

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What’s that doing here?

It was lovely sitting in the sun

We head off to see Verdun Cathedral it’s called Notre Dame it has beautiful stained glass windows and I don’t think I’ve seen so much art on the walls in a cathedral before.

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Cathedral Notre Dame in Verdun with paintings

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The marks of the largest battle of WW1 from 21st Feb to 18th Dec 1916, 9 months, 3 weeks and 6 days! Between French and German still an every day reminder of the horrors that took place in this area, lest we forget.

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Battle scarred walls

The Eastern side was destroyed and the towers were never rebuilt

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It was freezing inside the cathedral you could see your breath it was that cold so we decide to have a walk along the river banks it was lovely and sunny and lots of joggers about which reminded me to find a walking app, our daughter suggests Run Tracker so I’ll look at that later.

These strange looking trees are all round the city.

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The area around the River Meuse has a surprising variety of fauna and it’s an area of European importance for bird life as 30 endangered species reproduce here in Spring including the Ash Coloured Eurasion Curlew for the bird lovers amongst you, hundreds of migratory birds come to this valley in Autumn and some spend the winter here.

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River Meuse

We walked back to Pogos’ resting spot at the almond factory and decide to drive 14kms just outside the city to Douaumont Ossuary high up in the hillside.

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Douaumont Ossuary

This is a monument and chapel and national cemetery of war graves dedicated to the dead and it also contains the skeletal remains of French and German soldiers who died on the battlefields, at least 130,000 unidentified soldiers bones can be viewed through windows I wasn’t expecting that and although we’ve seen the huge cemetery nothing prepares you to see bones and skulls piled on top of one another.

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Germans fired 1 million shells in 10 hours during one day in 1916

We climbed the tower 46 metres, 204 steps high and had a panoramic view of the battlefields we went back down and lit a candle in the Chapel.

 

That’s it on WW1 can’t do anymore it’s too emotional.

We got back into Pogo for a cup of tea with Jacobs cream crackers and Laughing Cow cheese! I know !! but Dave loves them!

It reminds him of all our family holidays in France when we stayed in Gites or Keycamp sites, our son Christopher had his 1st birthday in a tent in St Jean de Monts, Vendee, France, we hung his cards up on the tent poles!

Tea and crackers done and we’re off to Nancy en-route to Ribeauville. We are on a free Aire at the side of the Moselle now and we like free Aires!

Cathy

Verdun – 1st day

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Dave posting;

We left Mutigny this morning and headed towards Nancy in Eastern France, we will have an overnight stop at Verdun.

En-route we bought diesel at 1.36 euros and later stopped at a local boulangarie for a lunchtime baggette, time to try out my schoolboy French, whilst in the shop I bought  two cakes, after all it’s Easter Sunday and we don’t have any chocolate in the motorhome!

About 30 kms from Verdun we pull over and munch the lovely bagettes and cakes!

After a decent break we travel on and arrive at the free overnight site, it’s a designated spot at a factory but it’s like an Aire with no services. Verdun centre is 20 mins walk away and it seems very quite here inside the residential area of Verdun.

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Clean sugared almond factory at Verdun – a free stopover

Pogo is parked  at Dragees Braquier, sugared almonds to me and you! a sugared almond small unit/factory and it’s the smartest, cleanest factory I’ve ever seen, there’s a shop attached to pop in buy their products, maybe we will go in later or tomorrow.

When we arrived there was a locked gate across the entrance, what are we going to do now? wait a minute Dave, Cathy says and reads the signs on the gates, it looks like we are the rear entrance for delivery vehicles! So we drive around the block and found the entrance on the other side! The signs direct us to the rear where there is marked out and designated space for 3 or 4 vans, we are the first here, so we choose our spot.

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City Gate at Verdun

 

After a little rest we walk in to town it’s now about 5pm, over the bridge and through the city gates, we discover a museum tucked away and we spend an interesting 30 minutes in there, it’s an old building dated from 1525 & we found the courtyard really interesting, plus it’s free entrance on the first Sunday off every month, that was lucky!

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Musee De La Princerie

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Monument of Victory in Verdun towards the River

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Monument of Victory where records of soldiers are kept on an old carding system

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How about this! a toilet for dogs, only in France!

We head towards the cathedral, and square, once there we decide to save the cathedral visit for tomorrow when we have more time. As we wandered  back down the hill towards the River Meuse, we see a bar, Le Club over the bridge, let’s go for a drink ! we have not been to a bar yet and 5 mins later we are having our first wine and beer of the tour! I had Battin Extra at 2.50 Euros for 250ml, expensive but it was lovely! Cathy was happy as they had her favourite Rose wine Cotes de Provence. It was entertaining watching the folks in the bar as there was a bit of Argy – bargy going on with one of the local lads who had obviously had too much!!

We really enjoyed our day and evening today!

Dave

Bubbles – hic!

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Saturday 31st March 2018

Dave posting;

A yellowy sun pops its head out through the clouds and warms the day up. We did a quick morning walk for 45 minutes along the old railway track

We are looking forward to going to the Champagne region today, left about 11am and we enjoyed the drive through rural France listening to a master mix of disco hits! Guess what? we found the Aire without a hitch, it’s easy when you know what you are doing with the GPS coordinates!

We are the second motorhome here now at Mutigny in heart of the champagne region, 170 kms north east of Paris. We park next to the service bollard as we need to top up with water and electric, costs €5 for 300 litres of water and 3 hours electric, it’s a sharing system and it seems to work well enough. A kind German motorhomer lent me his water connector as mine didn’t fit, we will buy one locally soon.

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View from the Aire, vines for miles!

Shortly afterwards we walk up the hill to the centre to find out more information on the tours and walks, everywhere is closed, so we asked the locals and later knocked on the door of a Champagne producers’ home where they also make Champagne, she has a sale board ouside, a lady appears and then between Cathy and the lady, Cathy speaks a little French, we deduce we have to be at the town hall at 5pm tonight and her daughter will there to explain and help us choose a tour or tasting.

Lots of houses had these outside, Champagne for sale!

Okay we said we will come back in 3 hours and meet her at 5pm, as we walk off Cathy saw a young man unloading his car, Cathy asked him if he knows anything about the tour and tasting, he said yes, Cathy explained about the previous chat at the producers house 4 doors away, and Cathy asked where do we meet.

He then says it’s my grandad you want, hang on I’ll call him, incredibly the grandad says he can come now to the Town Hall where it takes place and he can do the tasting for us, so between the young man, grandad and us we establish that there are no English speakers on the tour so we opt for the tasting, we ask if we can come back in hour as we haven’t eaten and we didn’t want to get drunk on an empty stomach! Ok that’s no problem they said.

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Town Hall at Mutigny, Champagne tasting was inside

We pop back to the van to make lunch and an English couple arrived at the Aire, we got chatting and asked them if they wanted to join us in the Town Hall for tasting. Tony & Bet from Weymouth said yes, we got back in time and the Town Hall was open and inside was a young lady, Cathy said we are here for the champagne tasting, Cathy told her there was a gentleman coming to do the tasting, the lady said she knew nothing of this, so we waited outside for him.

10 minutes later a chap appears who we assume is grandad, introduces himself in French to us and we all go inside, and grandad introduces us to the same lady! It like a secret society or something!

The lady, Carine,  now introduces us to a variety of Champagnes in very good English, complete with detailed information on types of grapes used, two or three methods of fermentation, acidity, the local producers, how the grapes and vines are cultivated. We were particularly keen to try the locally produced ones. Grandad Bernard was showing us how to aerate the bubbles the correct way in our glass.

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Champagne lessons!

Whilst chatting it transpires that Bernard had worked in the champagne business for 46 years at Bollinger as a bottle turner, known as a riddler, the bottle is placed upside down in a holder at 75° angle. Each day the Bernard would come in to the cellar and turn the bottles 1/8th of a turn whilst keeping it upside down, this forces the dead yeast cells in to the neck of the bottle, Bernard would typically handle 20,000 to 30,000 bottles a day. Bernard told us this area produces 310 million bottles a year!

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A little display at the entrance of the village

We tried, I meant we drank 8 glasses between the four of us, four different varieties, two of which were Rose.

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We enjoyed those glasses of Champagne!

We bought 3 bottles at €17 each, £15 ! (that is a bargain at those prices) and we will save them for special occasions on the trip. We will economise somewhere else!

These champagnes tasted excellent and we were so glad we did the tasting, it was a lovely experience.

Spicy Teriyaki Salmon for evening meal with noodles, I’m trying to persuade Cathy to write her recipes for the blog as she cooks instinctively without recipes, we had another walk around the village in the evening, there are no shops, bars or shops here just houses that sell champagne but there are great views.

Dave

UNESCO – maybe not so!

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Cathy posting;

Friday 30th March – Good Friday

So it’s confession time, Dave has realised that his Sat Naff has 2 settings one is DMS -degrees, minutes and seconds and the other one is DD- Decimal Degrees! It was pure luck that we ended up at our first Aire in Ypres at all! Apologies to the Aires book you were right, our bad! (please see yesterdays post!)

So last night, Thursday we were parked up at the edge of the canal at Landrecies, it’s a small Aire for just 4 vans, there are no services but it’s a pleasant spot and it’s free! 3 other vans arrived later in the evening so all spaces were full.

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Canal side at Landrecies

Next morning, Good Friday we noticed there had been a resurrection! All the other vans had gone, and we were up quite early… after healthy breakfast of porridge we had a nice walk along the canal about 9.30 am for 2.5 miles, I’m planning on keeping a track of miles walked on this whole trip and just need to download a walking app.

We set off about 11am to head for Rozoy Sur Serre in Hautes de France – Northern France (N50°07.668′, E003°41.452) The site is lovely just 4 spaces again but this time fresh water and waste disposal, extremely quiet and landscaped, it seems quite new too and there is only us here for now.

The Aire is near a little village Parfondeval, listed in UNESCO heritage as one of many beautiful villages, we parked up and had some French bread and coffee.

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French bread, English tea, Italian coffee, a very European breakfast

We decided to walk to the village 4.5 kms away, even though it seemed to be alongside the road, however it started to rain quite heavily so we decided to drive, I get a bit stressed about driving into small villages with a big van but I need not have worried as it was empty like a ghost town not a soul about, no patisserie, no boulangerie in fact nothing at all, no winter flowers, it was described as incredibly beautiful well apart from a couple of nice cottages and a particularly old timber framed one I’m afraid I wasn’t impressed, maybe the heavy rain didn’t help but I won’t be coming back, sorry UNESCO.

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Free Aire at Rozoy Sur Serre

We went back to the Aire and as it didn’t stop raining we settled in for the afternoon, I am reading a book called In Europe by Geert Mak, it’s a sort of biography and travel journal, he set off from his home of Amsterdam in 1999 to criss cross Europe tracing 20th century history as it slipped into the 21st, I’m only a few chapters in but I’m enjoying his style already.

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Cathy in the library

It is time for tea now, chicken a la grecque we bought yesterday and tinned potatoes, well  guess what we left at home? you guessed it, yes the tin opener! never mind Dave to the rescue.

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Good job he bought the leatherman tool along!

Dave has been making a note of all the places that we’ve been to and as we go he will record them for future reference and fellow travellers, whilst also keeping a copy of all our spending daily, weekly and monthly to make sure we stay on budget.

Off to bed early as were up early for Champagne region tomorrow.

Cathy