CHRISTMAS ROUND-UP FOR THOSE NOT PAYING ATTENTION

December 17th. and an unexpected cost.

Those paying attention will have noticed that 1) the postings stopped suddenly in October, mid trip. 2)the blog disappeared completely in november/december and 3) the site has had a makeover. Those not paying attention i.e everybody will no doubt say 1)didn't notice, 2)hadn't noticed and 3)I thought something was different, and so I shall bring you all up to speed with the various reasons,trials and tribulations, as this is supposed to be my record of what's happening.
The cessation of activities in October eas down to England's abysmal performance at the World Cup. Yes, I'm sorry to bring it up when the scars were beginning to heal and the memories had been successfully buried but I was so disappointed (as we could have been in the south of France enjoying sun and wine) that i lost the will to live re blogging.
So I left us in St.Ives where we spent a cultural few days visiting art galleries like the Tate and then we headed to Bude for another few days and then a funny little site in Torrington which was on the Tarka Trail cycle track which we rode up and down very scenically. Excellent track. Then to Woolacombe and the strangely named Damage Barton, overlokking the sea but a fair hike down to the town. Tiring of the narrow roads (did I mention the damged wing mirror) we headed to a Cl at Bitton, between Bristol and Bath and on the Bristol-Bath cycle track so we visited both cities before having a problem with the fridge which seems temperamental and has decided to work only if it perfectly level in all directions. As this seemed impossible in the field we were in I gave up and we went home on the 3rd October. A result of the fridge problem was a visit to the NEC 2 weeks later to the Motorhome Show to buy a set of Milenco Quatro levelling ramps which offer a greater range of adjustment.....and a very expensive wifi booster aerial which may have been an indulgence as I subsequently discovered a mobile hot spot at Pc World which can be used all over europe for £9.99 a month giving 3gb data. and it worked out of the box.
Also had the pleasure of a lunchtime beer with Malc & Christine and a sight of the new "caravan" they've bought...
Early November saw a trip to Broadway to meet up with Jim & Kath who we met on the Russian cruise and were over for a business trip and a few days R&R in the Cotwsolds.....we took the van over for 4 nights and had an excellent time being driven round the strange fantasy world that has developed in that neck of the woods. It's so theme-park that I'm surprised they don't charge to enter it. But we had a very nice time as they are great company.
November 23-27 th. Teversal
An excellent week like last year, Ken&Jackie, Paul&Marianne,Malc&Chris and Derek&Margaret and a very jolly time was had by all. As last year, there was the day trip to Chatsworth House for the Xmas Fair which is quite spectacular ....certainly in prices.....but which I doubt we will do again. Find somewhere else for next year. But at least the fridge is behaving and the wing mirror repairable rather than replaceable as I feared, for a mere £16.
December was spent more or less at home. The van was given a clean bill of health at the annual habitation check but then the airbag warning light came on permanently. It has done this before but previously extinguished itself soon after. As there was a small issue with what I suspected was a faulty earth connection causing some warning lights to faintly glow, I booked the van in for diagnostics. The light cluster is apparently well known for an earth leakage on Euro 5 chassis  and has to be changed. good news was that they had ordered one in anticipation....bad news was that out of warranty that's £900.
Further bad news was that this would not solve the airbag warning which meeds a new ECU for another £300.......and a Happy Xmas to you to.
So that brings things up to date. The blog disappeared because I bought a new computer and decided to tidy up my email accounts. Having deleted the 2 I deemed redundant, all my google bookmarks and contacts disappeared, along with the blog, .....utterly and completely. Black hole. Fortunately Google give you 5 days to recover deleted accounts before sending them to the great shredder in the sky so I got the important one back and copied all the bookmarks and contacts to another file and reloaded them into the one google account I retain. And then deleted the old account again and the blog disappeared again as it is near impossible to change the ownership of a blog. So I had to recover the old account, again, and then set about transferring ownership to new gooogle account. The Blooger web site is very helpful..up to a point. It took several forums to discover that in order to follow the detailed and complex instructions you had to use 2 computers, one signed in to each account, as it couldn't be done on one ( as i had discovered for several frustrating hours)
So now the blog is back, and I thought it needed brightening up so this is the new look. I know its America but we did go to Monument Valley in a motorhome and I do like this picture. the GF wanted another taken in Croatia of a crowd of us but Julian who helped nobly thought this looked better.
COMMENTS WILL BE READ.
So that wraps up 2015. Off to Spain 2ndJan, a trip Norway and Sweden via Nordkapp for 7 weeks to see the midnight sun with Derek & Margaret May_July
and a complete family party in a gite in france in august plus the Rugby7s in paris and Croatia in September all to look forward to in 2016.
HAPPY XMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS.

FIRST BUS GIVE PUBLIC TRANSPORT A BAD NAME

21st September 2015

We've done a lot of buses, from Nagano to New York via Moscow,Split,Luxembourg,Barcelona, Lyon,Sorento,Berlin,Prague,Los Angeles and the length and breadth of England to name just a few off the top of my head and without doubt the worst bus company we have ever encountered has to be First Bus in Newquay. The timetables are a nonsense, the smartphone app is incorrect, the buses are filthy and the staff, who don't give a toss, cancel buses and close the terminus office to suit themselves.  They have digtal information displays at bus stops which display incorrect information  because the timetable has changed but nobody has bothered to update the system with the new timetables. The drivers can't be bothered to alter the route numbers on their bus, preferring to yell through the door "it's not a 59, it's an 84". A 3 page letter is on its way. We spent a lot of time hanging around for buses that failed to materialise and got fitter walking back from wherever we could get a bus to but wasn't where we actually wanted to be.
Added to that the weather wasn't brilliant and I had a massive tooth failure as something appears to have sheared off and the emergency NHS dentist at newquay hospital was not exactly helpful....giving me the choice of extracting the stump or going back home and having a crown implanted. As he was as reassuring as Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man, I am hoping that his assurance that it won't get any worse in the next couple of weeks is correct and that the nice Claire in Martlesham Heath will be able to sort out the seemingly massive crater I now have where there used to be a large molar. At least he didn't charge me anything which would not have been the case had I managed to get an emergency appointment with any dentist in Newquay who seem to reserve emergency appointments exclusively for existing customers. Fortunately,  one of them apologetically suggested the NHS helpline who did at least get me an appointment at said hospital but with the aforementioned result.......
But that's enough of me.
Rugby World Cup has started well and we HD a wonderful feast of rugby over the weekend
England stuttered with Fiji,  Wales triumphed but at injury cost, All Blacks showed vulnerability and Japan gave us the best game to watch since the 2003 final....who else would have spurned a penalty to draw the game in injury time in favour of opting for another scrum to secure the winning try. I'd love to know how many of the top 8 teams would have taken the draw.
So now we are in St . Ives on a lovely site above the town (walkable if steep) with lovely sea views..
if only the weather was better......but at least we managed to avoid meeting the fellow with his 7 wives and all those cats so here's a picture of the harbour.

COULD HAVE BEEN IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE OR CROATIA

17TH SEPTEMBER 2015

NEWQUAY

Been away 2 weeks having left home on 1st. Sept. took a management decision to stay in the UK for Sept/Oct in order to watch the Rugby World Cup now that satellite reception can be iffy down in the south of France but we had hoped that the weather might be a bit better than it has been so far.
1st-4th September in Southampton for the England/Aus ODI at the Rose Bowl. We parked the van at a weird campsite for 4 nights and had 2 nights at the Dolphin courtesy of Dave,Briony,Geoff & Caroline who entertained us royally for a joint 70th birthday present. Much fun was had by all, only marred by England losing,some good meals and lots of wine.
5th-11th September to Dartmouth. Stayed at Little Cotton campsite courtesy of a CC&C Temp.holiday site. Lovely site with good views and a nice downhill walk to town and regular bus back. Never stopped here before, only passed through crossing the river on ferry about 30 years ago, and greatly surprised to find one of the prettiest towns ever seen. Buzzing with trippers and we roamed around and about on the buses and ferries to our hearts content, and even had a nice walk along the cliffs. Great pubs and we had some lovely meals and snacks......and probably the best fish and chips ever {even if the meal did come to £75}. The weather was quite pleasant for the week so a very nice stop.
12th-17th September to Newquay and weather turned exceptionally nasty with a couple of days of gales. Much tent devastation around us. Again we are on a CC&C Temp holiday site at Hendra Holiday park...{bascically a THS means we are paying £10 a night instead of £21but still get to use all the facilities as the club has pre booked about 100 pitches and will pay for them whatever. This one is very well attended. Site is very large with nice view over the moors but a bit far from town which is not as nice as we remembered it, being full of youth etc. Still, the rugby starts on friday so we shall stock up and hunker down

ALL GOOD THINGS

21-22.08.2015

Last full day. Lovely warm weather, at leisure in morning so mainly packing and then a walk through the park on the river bank which was very pleasant and coffee in a local cafe. After lunch back into city through nightmare traffic for tour of Kremlin ( which means fortress and is quite common in russia, not unique to Moscow ).
Very interesting and not what was expected. Lots of elegant bright buildings and lots of churches which was a surprise. Very nice floral gardens and an oak tree planted by Yuri  Gagarin. Churches were stunning.
Dinner was a very joyful affair, much exchange of emails and we have an invitation to visit ?KanKun (which John may own), slightly muted in some cases by the thought of leaving the boat at 2.30am. Various coaches were destined to leave for the 2 airports  all through the night but we are lucky and are on the last coach out at 11.30. Quick turnaround for the ship as new arrivals begin with our coach picking up new guests. Leave on time after buffet lunch and use the M25 equivalent for Domodedovo airport the largest and furthest away. At 2.30 the journey took 90 mins, we take nearly 3hrs.in traffic that makes M25 look like a pussycat. Airport still under 10 year reconstruction is as bad as we have been warned but Viking reps are really excellent at shepherding their 14 charges through the chaos. ( extra busy weekend being end of school holidays) . Checked in online  last night and when reach BA  bag drop nice Russian lady says "your flight is very full we have decided to send you by bus". I look startled and start to protest . She looks puzzled and says "you don't want?" so I ask her to repeat what she said and it now comes back  as " your flight is very full, we have upgraded you to World Traveller Plus" . Result! !!.
Priority loading, lovely big seats with legroom, constant flow of drinks (although unfortunately  I do have to drive at other end) and an excellent roast lamb dinner.
So we finished in comfort and style. Through immigration  and customs and on the shuttle bus within the hour and picked up the car at the Hilton hotel without hitch.
Staying at Julian's over weekend.

An excellent holiday all round.
Viking were superb both in organisation and service. Staff were constantly cheerful and helpful and nothing was too much trouble. Guides were informative,interesting  and were eager to engage and answer questions  about life today and life under the Soviets. Modern politics were discussed openly, including Ukraine,  and Putin was criticised and praised in equal measure. The ship was elegant having been refurbished last year,had an extensive library of books on all aspects of Russia,games, a daily 4 page newspaper digest for UK,USA,CANADA & AUS.,daily crossword & sudoku sheets, reasonable wifi, good food, bottled water every time you left the ship..
I never saw the staff not smiling and whilst some tours were not as good as others they were trying to please everybody.
Our only criticism would be that the average  age meant that we had to make frequent stops for WCs which were not always readily available, and at times the walking pace was funereal which makes my hips ache... we were much more comfortable when given a chance to explore on our own and covered much more ground.
Russia was an experience. We would gladly go back to St.P and will look for a short break. Moscow will be fantastic in 2-3 years when the scaffolding is down and the roads relaid and I would like another look.
Cannot praise Viking highly enough. Great job, stress free.
THE END.

MIDNIGHT IN MOSCOW

17.08.2015

To Yaroslavl
The scenery changes, looking more prosperous along the Volga (and we have local guide called Olga). We skip visit to local home but John and Jim return with 3 1.5 lemonade bottles filled with moonshine vodka from some guys garden shed........
pretty churches
18.08.2015
To Uglich
Markets, churches and we wander off and fail to find the house of A.Kalashnikov. Weather still overcast and chilly. Onto the Moscow canal
19.08.2015
Arrive Moscow midday and city tour after lunch. Traffic as bad as St.P if not worse and we spend time in crawling. First impressions favourable although guide wastes time. Travel on metro and hop off to view amazing architecture on stations. Red Square impressive but big event at weekend means much scaffolding and chain link fencing spoils overall view but compensated by hundreds of small shacks like a german Xmas market liven everything up.
Weather now hot again. Evening concert most enjoyable back late.
20.08.2015
Happy birthday to me. Many cards and emails.
At leisure having forsaken museums to do own thing. Viking bus drops us off in Red Square we head to Lenin's mausoleum which is only open 4 days a week 10-1.
Queue 1/2 hour then get to see all the tombstones in the wall, every leader except Kruschev (didn't die in office ). Big bust of Stalin.  Also Yuri  Gagarin. Then into crypt. ...pitch dark, black marble,stairs impossible to see,no stopping, file round embalmed body in open casket in total silence. Absolute amazing experience even GF moved.
Once back out in RSq we head to Kazan  Cathedral  and light candles for Valery on anniversary of death.....she loved a visit to Moscow so it seemed appropriate. ..couldn't get to a working church yesterday so only 12 hours out.
Coffee  on terrace of Bosco Cafe outside GUM store opposite Lenin's tomb costs arm and leg as we imagine him spinning in grave. Deliciously ironic. GUM is a monument to capitalist conspicuous  consumption.  Wonderfully over the top.
To lunch at Dr.Zhivago in the hotel National where Lenin used to stay and Trotsky had rooms. Now chic and elegant top spot. Magnificent  lunch amongst Moscow mafia businessmen and ladies who lunch (felt slightly underdressed but when you're 70 you can do that).
Walk to Bolshoi for GF then tackle the metro system . Got lost then recovered then got lost then found the right line to Maryskaya station which is amazing art deco wonder. Metro back to pier and found lovely local market as we exited  Metro with liquor store. Arranged to dine tonight with John Diane Jim & Kathy  so intended buying champagne on boat ($170 moet & chandon  nv seeming a bit steep I was going to opt for the Russian spkling at $ 25 so a liquor store seemed provident.....long story but ended up with a bottle for 265 rubles which is about $4.50..........
However when we got back to boat there was a very nice bottle of champagne in the room courtesy of Viking with a lovely card from the management.........so we took that down to dinner. ......
And John and Jim produced a 1.5 litre bottle of moonshine with a picture  of John outside on his balcony banging on the door to be let in (see previous post)which they had taken and the reception staff had printed off for them........amazing effort on their part and given a bit more  notice would have had my face superimposed. So after the champagne shot glasses appeared and the first of many toasts, followed by the appearance of staff bearing cake the GF had organised with kitchen and mass singing.........loved it!!!!!!!! Said I didn't want a fuss........
It may have been fortunate that at 9pm we had to assemble for Moscow by night tour or we might all be blind by now.
Moscow at night is unforgettable.
We had 31/2 hours by coach and boat which were wow! Thousands  of buildings  old and new are illuminated  ( subsidised by city council)......and the reconstruction in the last 20 years and most recently make it the most modern city I've seen. It's like London Paris and new York all in one. Back to ship 12.45 and more toasts mooted but vetoed  and so to bed....wonderful day.

MONKS & SCHOOLS & VODKA

16.08.2015

Across the White Lake (confused me terribly by constantly referring  to it as the White Sea) which has to be the worst named lake in Russia, being an extremely nasty brown colour. It is not on the list of largest lakes either but you can't see the shores from the middle.
We dock at Goritzy  and get the buses to the Kirillo Belozersky monastery, the oldest  fortified monastery standing. Magnificent collection of 16th c icons.
We have local guide Natalya who is both interesting and pretty, and takes us to the local school. Although it is  holiday time pupils have been drafted in to explain the education  system to us, sing us a song and try to sell us some things they made in handicraft lessons. Capitalism is in safe hands here. It's not so bad as it sounds as the 15yr.old young lady who addressed our group was very articulate and spoke excellent English and it was very interesting with a lively q&a session.
The evening was much enlivened by an optional Vodka Tasting ($18). The session was led by 2 young ladies from the hotel management,  Anastasia & Marinna, who I awarded honorary membership of the bteam after an astonishing display of their capacity for vodka, including how to drink shots without touching the glass with your hands.
We had all expected a serious lecture on the various types and and how to distinguish between the different types of potato. What we got was 2 laughing young ladies having fun and telling jokes.
The idea was to taste 6 types .....no spitting it out and large double shot glasses filled to the brim. When we'd done that they asked which was your favourite and kept refilling the glasses and proposing toasts so it all got very jolly...fortunately we had a handout with tasting notes so I have some  vague idea about what we were doing. Actually no I don't. And my head hurt this morning but Anastasia and Marinna looked far to chirpy at breakfast.

UP NORTH & ALL AT SEA

14/15.08.2015
From St.P we first head east into lake Ladoga then north to Kizhi.
The lake is the largest in Europe and our night time crossing is rough. Things start flying round the room at 4am and requiring attention and deliberations as to the advisabilty of putting on life jackets (we have had a drill and inspection so know how to). Decide to trust the captain and go back to bed. Ship doesn't sink....It was originally  built to cruise the Black  Sea so is up to the challenge and things calm down when we enter the next  river.
After lunch we stop at Mandrogy which is best avoided. A purpose built 1996 'authentic village' or tourist trap solely concerned with selling Russian dolls and other 'craft' items to passing cruise ships. Disappointing apart from the complimentary champagne and vodka as we sail away.
We are heading north and weather has deteriorated and temperature dropped. We cross another  lake, Onega which is much calmer and only the second largest lake in Europe and arrive on Kizhi island on Saturday  morning. At 8.15 am we assemble on quayside in squally drizzle for walk to v.old wooden churches built without nails. Very impressive with 22 domes, v.old icons and nice singing from the monks. Shame about the weather. Also real preserved houses which we have local guides to explain . Winter lasts about 5 months with temps down to -35 and surrounding lakes freeze to a depth of 2 metres and daylight only a few hours. Tell them they should move south but I don't think they understand concept.
Our dining companions continue  to delight. Ed is a nuclear physicist, was sent to study in Moscow and became an Arms Control Inspector after the SALT talks. Now trains and advises other inspectors. Fund of stories but he'll  probably have to kill us .
We are very friendly  with a quartet of  John Jim Diane and Kathy from Texas who love our accent and are the bteam and have hip flasks.
We are now into lecture mode whilst sailing.....The Russian lessons drag but the History of the Romanovs  sends a large number to sleep with much snoring and digging  in the ribs by spouses....All you need to know is that they all killed their fathers/sons/husbands/brothers /uncles and it's a wonder it took till 1917 to kill them off.
The boat now enters locks as we head south to the Volga'-Baltic canal. Massive locks that take no more than 15 mins to transit.

Continued

The trouble is there is so much going on that I am way behind with this.
The Gf managed to break our cabin safe so badly that an engineer with a toolbox had to be summoned after the the normal electronic resetting gismo proved ineffective.
She followed this by effectively locking us out on the balcony at 10 pm after having been warned that for security the sliding door to the balcony could not be opened from the outside if it was allowed to close with the handle in any postion other than upright. We avoided having to spend a stormy night outside whilst crossing lake Ladoga,the largest in Europe only by the appearance of our neighbours on their balcony and handing them our room card which I always carry.......but I am getting ahead of myself.
Last day in St.P was a Morning  trip to the Peterhof  palace on the shores of the gulf of Finland,the czars summer palace. Very fine palace, but spectacular  fountains, gravity fed by lakes 2miles away. Big switch on ceremony at 11am every  day with music. Lovely gardens with fantastic  fountains at every turn.
Return to ship delayed by 2 ladies getting lost and requiring  search parties from viking support staff who accompany every outing. 35 mins late meant hurried lunch before next trip to see St.P from the waterways ending with visit to Church of the Spilled Blood which was a great memory to finish with.....an amazing multi domed church,the interior of which is covered from floor to ceiling in magnificent  mosaics.
Food is good with good choices.
Breakfast is anything you could want with much cooked to order but we have now opted for the Panorama bar continental breakfasts on our top floor which has great views has only been discovered  by a select few.
In true b team tradition I decided that our fridge and balcony required beer,preferably Russian  and set off one afternoon on a foraging expedition  having learnt from the bar staff that beer was 'peevah '.
Careful observation on our coach outings had pinpointed what might be a general store about a mile away so I thought  it worth a try.
On the boat beer& wine are free with meals in plenty but otherwise a beer is $3.50 and I reckoned it could be bought for less. The store  I had noticed was indeed a grocers and the first thing I saw was a fridge full of beer. Followed by  shelves of beer and then more fridges of beer ....... A very nice man seemed to enquire if he could help so I asked for peevah and being adventurous tried to suggest it should be Russian. ...and was taken round the corner to a huge fridge full of beer of which Balticca seemed to be the top brand. I indicated that 12 cans would be good and he pointed to the labels which were numbered 1-9 and hovered at no.7. Seemed reasonable ,at 60rubles since we are working on 100rubles = £ 1.20.
Turned out that the numbers indicate strength and no.7 is 5.5% so 72p for a 500ml can seems ok.
So my balcony is complete.
At 7pm we set sail at last for Moscow. ..champagne,vodka and canapés as we left the city.

ST.PETERSBERG-3HARD DAYS

11-13.08.2015

The operation is extraordinarily slick and professional. There are 201 people on board the boat which has capacity for 208 so almost full and needing 6 coaches at a time. Each day there are tours included and optional extra tours so they have to move a lot of people about ....and there are 2 other viking ships in the dock each on a different  schedule.
So on Tues morning our first tour to Catherines Palace left at 08.15 which was a bit early...The problem appears to be that we are about 30 mins away from city centre but it can take up to an hour in the constantly bad traffic.  Palace v.interesting : we have opted for bus 3b (b for bow didgeridoo so far doesn't get lost) which has Natasha as the guide,a very efficient 65 yr old lady who spent all her working life until the 1990s with Intourist. A terrific  guide, extremely knowledgeable and happy to talk about her life, the changes she has seen and life in modern Russia.
Back to the boat for lunch then straight  off for a tour of the city. Lovely place, elegant buildings, horrendous traffic. Back to the boat and dinner at 7. Seating is open plan,tables of 2,4 or 6 so you get to move around a lot. Everybody so far excellent company. The Americans had journeys of between 10-17 hours to get here with 2 or 3 changes and reconnecting with baggage is optional. Form filling at airport took 2 hours and was unhelpful but viking take over when they finally got to the boat.
I have a kindred spirit in Duncan an English man who lives in Washington; he decided that the wine wasn't flowing fast enough so procured a bottle of red from the sideboard and topped us both up to the horror of the waiting staff.....but now we don't have to worry at all and are well looked after...
Wednesday  - we had put our names down for the extended tour of the Hermitage (9hours and an extra $148 each!) but didn't make the cut as it was restricted to 90.
After a very long day on Tuesday  we weren't  that bothered as the regular Hermitage  visit was still going to be 5 hours so when we got a phone call at 07.00 to say that we were lucky enough to be bumped up the waiting list and would we please be ready to leave at 08.00 we declined as.   we hadn't had a cup of tea yet let alone breakfast. So we set off the H at 10.00 and got back 17.00  and that was more than enough esp as we had to have dinner and then be ready to leave for the ballet at 19.00.
The H is as fantastic as it said to be but the crowds are overwhelming and everything was difficult and tiring. It's an awesome place and huge.
The ballet,Swan Lake,
was in the small theatre in the Hermitage  and never having been to a ballet, I have to say I enjoyed it(despite the heat)
tbc......

RUSSIAN ROULETTE

Adventures on the waterways of the Czars

9-10.08.2015

After 6 months of anticipation, we finally set off for our 70th birthday extravaganza.
First to the Hilton Heathrow T5 as 15 days of car parking is included in the price....A nice if expensive meal in the restaurant followed by a relatively early night. Up at 6.00 and caught the 06.43 shuttle to the airport. Had checked in online so soon dropped bags and cleared customs....minor delay  as Russian visas have to be checked by a Russian speaker...and a hearty breakfast as didn't know  where next meal coming from.
Plane left from A zone gate which meant we did not have to use underground link to zones B or C which take up to 20 mins to reach so that was a big bonus. Left on time at 09.20 and routine flight just under 3 hrs. Snack meal of a croissant sandwich at 11am.
Landed St.Petersberg 14.30.
BA had loaded our bags and the Russians  unloaded them and we found them unlike others we came across later. After clearing immigration courtesy of a pleasingly stereotypical grumpy unsmiling Russian female officer  Viking were in high visible mode and relieved us of all baggage quickly and painlessly and whisked us out and onto to a coach along with 50 or so mainly Americans before we could blink. Weather very warm  and sunny. 40 minute ride into the city and the Viking marine terminal where 3 ships were tied up together,all leaving on different  days,so as was nearest the dock as we would not be leaving until Thurs night.
Registration was quick and a buffet lunch available which was  excellent as the GF does need regular feeding. We have an excellent cabin with large veranda and lots of space. A briefing at 17.00 which went on a bit but the staff are so enthusiastic it makes you smile. The guests are 70% American and so far have been great company.
The beer on board is Baltica about which more later. Wine is free with meals and having established a rapport one's glass is kept replenished by charming young ladies who smile a lot......food is excellent,fresh and plentiful. After such excitement..an early night.

WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN.....

The problem with travelling with friends is that time flies and and the time usually spent in updating the Blog becomes the time when  a bottle of wine and a game of cards seem much more interesting. I admit to having let things go which is a shame as the main purpose of this journal is to record our travels for our pleasure when banged up in the Care Home with dementia and desperately trying to remember where it all went....and to settle the arguments about whether we went to Cavalier sur Mer in 2005 and 2006 or missed 2006 and went in 2007.
So for our benefit I shall briefly recall what happened after we met up with D&M and where we went.
6-8June at Chantpie.....lots of cycling and a very nice lunch at Saumur
9 June Bouchemaine again and this time the weather being much nicer we cycled to Angers along the Loire on an excellent track had a lovely day
10 June Chemille..a municipal site on the way to Cholet with a very pleasant lakeside walk
11-12 June Puy de Fou, the best kept secret of France. Forget Disneyland, this is fun for grown ups. You'll have to Google it since I've been there and its probably better than the website says. At the top of the car park there is a park 400 motorhomes with electric hook ups (6E overnight plus 2E for 12 hrs electric. Electronic barrier broken whilst we were there so it was free) Must have been 300 vans parked over the days we were there and as far as we could see we were the only brits. Even a stall for bread & croissants in the mornings.
13-14 June St.Michel Chef Chef.....a pleasant area on the brittany coast and this site was across the road from the beach but it was scrubby with extremely difficult access to pitches and although it was popular we didn't linger......M had puncture on bike ride necessitating men returning to get van for recovery
15-17 June Sarzeau another lovely area with good cycling and good seafood restaurants
18-21 June Trinite sur Mer among the Menhirs of France's Stonehenge and coincidently ran into Roger, Brian & Diane from Conil who had just been to Puy de Fou as well .Excellent Sunday lunch courtesy of my sons for Father's Day on the harbour side (the collective accumulated account is enormous)
22 June Heading for home, stopped at a very nice Castels site near Rouen with yet another fine restaurant, very 'old style' french. This was the 3rd castels site this trip and none disappointed
23 June Calais
24 June Cambridge
25-28 June Wetherby Race Course to meet up with Malc/Chris/Ken/Jackie for the MidWest Yorks Centre 30th birthday Rally.....the amount of alcohol consumed was most impressive and a very jolly time had by all. K&J had a brand new Autotrail only picked up the day before to play with.
29-30 June Beverley to have Sargent Electrical reboot and update the Van power control unit which was giving some strange readings and tlc required and then to Conkers to visit Gaslow and swap the 6kg bottle for an 11kg, as this van can accommodate 2 large ones and it makes sense to carry the most...had to go direct to Gaslow as no dealer would do a straight swap + cash difference - they all wanted to sell an 11kg and I would have to sell the 6kg privately for whatever I could get. The cash difference was £55, a new 11kg was £180 so I would had to have sold the 6kg for the list price of £125 which I would think would be hard for a secondhand bottle so I got a good deal from Gaslow and they even fitted it and pressure tested the system.
1 July Home and unhappy events to follow unfortunately.
We are now waiting for the Viking cruise St.Petersberg to Moscow and hopefully may get to post our travels.

FUN IN THE SUN

3-5.06.2015

Vallee des Vignes at Concourson sur Layon was a disappointment. Nowhere near the Loire or its cycle routes and the river Layon  was a stream hard to find.
English run and nothing but UK visitors, including another C&CC rally run by the same stewards as ran the one at Cheverny and hard to avoid.  We had been seduced by promises of cycle paths which failed to materialise , only quiet and not so quiet local roads, hard to navigate without a local map, so we just roamed around the villages trying to find one with a bar or cafe which was more difficult than one might imagine.........
Anyway, we soon ran out of options and decided that staying any longer was not a great prospect so sent a text to D&M suggesting another site on the Loire between Angers and Saumur which turned out to be a gem. On a hillside among vines and wonderful views over the river valley and along to Saumur. Lovely staff who went beyond the call of duty to get us tickets for Puy de Fou where I am now sitting in the rain.
And it was hot.
D&M arrived soon after us to much hugging and kissing .....
the GF entertained for dinner and a lovely time had by all...

Nantes Machines

And it's hot

4th June 2015

After leaving Nantes,we headed back along the Loire to a pretty little village called Bouchemaine, about 10km south of Angers.  Nice commercial aire on the banks of the Maine or Sarthe depending on which map you read, but probably the Maine now I look at the village's name (doh!)
Cycle path along river to Angers  but for various reasons we didn't get round to it apart from an hours walk. Would like to go back and do it....nice spot.
Then on Wednesday to Concourse sur Layon where we hope to meet up with D&M

Temperature at 5pm is 31c and tomorrow  forecast 33.
According to my weather App the highest temp  recorded here is 28c in 2011so a bit of a heatwave.
Oh..,and my hayfever has been horrendous for 3 weeks and my usual pills are sending me to sleep for some reason, as they never used to.

I LIKE NANTES

However the blog app doesn't as I lost a second posting after 20mins and I'm sick of it. I did put an emoticon in the title of each which I've never done  before so maybe..

So I liked Nantes,top city,a view not altogether shared by the GF (and we seldom disagree on these matters,but she  failed to succomb  to its charms)especially  when we discovered after we had left that 2 large bathtowels had been stolen overnight,having been left to dry on the wing mirrors as usual. Never had anything  stolen before so were aggrieved  and violated.
Anyway I have written  a lot about Nantes twice  and I'm not doing it again,just a summary.
1.Great campsite despite towel thieves, close to city centre. Neat,tidy,clean & handy for
2. Great tram service stopped outside door and
3. 480 kms of cycle paths/lanes which work and have good priority.
Bikes,trams,walkers and then cars.
4. Easy city to navigate,wide boulevards great for cycling.
5. At least 3 rivers Loire,Cher,Erdre all with cycle paths.
6. A least 2 lovely gardens....One Japanese.
7.Some great architecture.
8. An interesting history,built on the profits of ship building and the slave trade. And a very moving and informative  monument and permanent  exhibition to the slave trade past.
9. Finally,The Machines on the Iles  des Machines.  An excellent place to spend a day ..........

Sod it

I've  just lost an hours blog about Nantes as the blogger app threw  a wobbly. I can't be arsed to do it again.

LOIRE TO VIENNE

28th.May 2015
We did Tours twice and back towards Amboise. Lovely proper cycle tracks along the rivers and exceedingly  well  used although it was a Bank Holiday weekend...lots of family groups and much picnicing on the banks. Tours is nice with a grand cathedral sporting excellent stained glass windows and an interesting old quarter....fine looking tram system through centre.
26/05/15
Left for Chatellerault which has not got a great deal going for it, with the idea of meeting Geoff  &  Caroline who were supposed to be passing through in the Cobra having been on a jaunt down south and were planning  to stop there on the way back. It turned out that they meant Chateauroux despite  insisting that the name had a double l in it and is an hours drive to the east. And anyway they were not on schedule we learnt on Thurs morning and wouldn't be there till Friday. By which time we had exhausted the delights of Chatellerault and had decided to head back to the loire and do Nantes and the giant machines.
We are staying at another Castels  chateau site which is quite delightful . The large grounds are peaceful and tranquil  with birdsong the only noise, and the owners are quite charming. We have cycled with their route maps and got hopelessly lost but the roads are fairly traffic free except at lunchtime as the french head for home or the mistress (the one going more than 50mph are doing both we decided)
We are at St Ustre and the main town is about 5 miles away and hardly worth a detour, but as the sun is shining we have had an extraordinarily pleasant stopover.
We can sit outside till 10.30 as it doesn't get dark till 11 and there is nothing better  than sitting in the grounds of a stately house with a few glasses of red watching the sun go down.

FURTHER UP THE LOIRE

23.05.2015
The days at Cheverny were spent cycling around the excellent cycle routes. We did 3 major tours of 18,20 & 25 miles all along quiet country roads and forest tracks through farms,vineyards, villages and countryside. The routes are without exception well signposted with opportunities to stop at hosteleries  for refreshments and on one occasion an excellent 3 course menu du jour for €14 (£10) including a glass of kir to start and 1/4 ltr wine. The sun continued to shine although whilst I am in shorts and shirt the GF has 3 fleeces, a black waterproof outer shell, balaclava, scarf covering mouth and nose and wrap around dark glasses, almost causing accidents at every meeting with locals who gaze in astonishment at the avenging angel of doom bearing down on them.
The rally decided to for go the quiz on saturday after we cleaned up last week ( we had decided to move on anyway) and have a whist drive. I didn't like to tell the steward that the GF would have creamed that as well so we left and went to the gardens at Chaumont.
Last there 11 years ago when we had our first trip abroad in our first motorhome so a bit of a water under the bridge moment. These gardens are still stunning with their festival and we spent 5 hours wandering through  them and could have spent another  5 if we had the stamina.
Then onto Tours where we found another site close to the river in La Ville aux Dames, which is again on the Loire au Velo  route and offers lots of opportunities for the coming week.

UP THE LOIRE WITHOUT A PADDLE

18.05.2015

Wed 13/05
After the protracted - and prolonged - celebrations of the GF's 70th. Birthday , we hit the road  for France with the intention of  finding interesting places along the Loire, as we seem to have whizzed through it for many years without stopping and now would  be a good time to revisit it and we what's new.
So over to Calais and first night at a campsite only 10 miles away instead of the usual aire on the seafront....and having passed the ' new ' Sangatte immigrant camp ( an enormous sprawling cardboard city) I think we may avoid staying in Calais for a while.
So a lovely campsite at Guines, one of the Castelets chain which have sites in the grounds of chateau which usually have a good restataurant.. And this did not disappoint. We hadn't actually intended dining out but the menu was so reasonable and mouthwatering that we looked at one another, shrugged and walked in. Very ' old rural French' with no mucking about..
Thurs 14/05
In no hurry, we meandered cross country, avoiding dual carriageways and eschewing toll roads. It would have been lovely had the early morning sun not given way to a typhoon of biblical proportions during which we had to pull off the road. This also caused a road blockage  with an overturned car that meant a 30km detour to get to our destination of Les
Andelys, a small town on the Seine south of Rouen which we have passed by many times but never stopped at. And a charming place it is too, seemingly home to many artists, judging by the number of galleries. An old castle overlooks the town, built by R-lionheart, nicely illuminated at night and the only contention being an account in the church of how the town was saved during the 100 years war when the English archers "ran away" at the last moment...... I think not ! A bit of gaellic poetic licence I suspect in historical reportage.
Anyway, a pleasant campsite on the banks of the Seine with a very nice walk/cycle path and the possibility of cycling to Giverny to see Monet's garden some 20 km away. We may well stop on the way back and explore if the weather is better.
Fri 15/05
Pleasant drive to the Loire at Blois and the sun shone as usual when we got to Chateaudun as it has done without fail since the 1960's when old Geoffrey Bowman first told us about this indisputable piece of folklore. We are stopping at Cheverny, about 10 miles south of the river on a site we picked because the C&CC are having a rally here, on the basis that they pick decent sites and this one is said to connect with 800 kms of Loire-Velo cycling tracks which sounds interesting.
Very nice site, Les Saules, about 2 miles outside the village and excellent looking Château and we found a lovely sunny pitch well away from the rally already here 2 days ago but were collared almost immediately with invitations to join any activities which may be amusing. I mustn't be too sniffy because the steward Dave did give us very good info on how to cycle to the nearby Super-U avoiding the suicidal 3mile dead  straight road that runs past the site and we would have used without prior instruction.
Site quite full with French down for the weekend.
Sat 16/05
Cycled to superU for essential wine and patisseries, a pleasant ride through the forest, 12 mile round trip in the sunshine with abundant wildlife .
Invited to join rally in bar for quiz night. Embarrassingly we won both halves quite convincingly ( I can't help knowing the names of Napoleons' and Wellingtons' horses.).....and so paid for the evenings bar bill.
Sun  17/05
Lovely sunny day. We are surrounded by birds and besieged by chaffinches hopping about for crumbs at breakfast. The site has a nice walk through woods and meadows with notes on birds to be seen and the birsongs are ever present. A very nice environment  to stay. Cycled to Cheverny  along lovely paths away from traffic just to see the lie of the land.
Boules with rally was a disaster trying to play on grass as no boules court and few people seem to have played before. Will avoid if reoccurs.
Mon 18/05
Full day cylcle back to Cheverny  to visit Château and gardens  with picnic. Most enjoyable and well worth a detour as M..Michelin used to say in his guides.
The last time we stopped to visit the Châteaux of the Loire was probably 1968/69, and Blois was an extreme disappointment as there was nothing but bare floors, no furniture and no decoration. Cheverny was a pleasure to visit and the free guide available with the very reasonable €8
entry ticket was very informative......
From the posters around, Blois is also worth a visit so hopefully a bit of restoration has been done in the last 45 years.

RAMBLINGS.......

03.03.2015

Its been a long time since I added anything here for some strange, inexplicable reason and quite a lot has passed.
We'll be home tomorrow unfortunately (as its cold here in Calais and cold in the UK and I ought to still be in the Spanish sunshine but that's another story) so I ought to roundup events.
We stayed at Conil until 20th Feb, highlights being a lovely lunch that Jaqueline et Laurent put on for 6 of us that lasted very decently from 1 to 6 pm and apart from being very convivial was extremely tasty and must have involved a great deals of work; a cracking day out with Jim & Carol we ho took us to  an equestrian centre close by which is the winter training ground for professional riders and has stabling for 1000 horses and 12 jumping rings as well as cross country and carriage driving courses. It holds competitions which last for months and prize money for the current events was 900,000€ . And there is no charge to watch for spectators. Weird or what.
We had another 3rd in the quiz by 1 point which was down to the GF overriding a perfectly correct answer which would have put us into a 3 way tie break which we would have won.
Leaving was a wrench this year as we seem to have made a new clutch of friends and another month would have been most enjoyable.
Anyway on saturday we headed north to Desperados which has not improved since our last visit 5 years ago although the road through the mountains has, and then a nice run to Benicassim on Sunday. Bonterra park filled to overflowing and had to settle for difficult pitch which required much manoeuvring but managed to move on Monday to a decent one....with much hissing and sighing from the management ( unlike Rosaleda who couldn't be more customer oriented and are putting a hard standing onto a new pitch for us next year). Bonterra park has superb facilities, everything about it is excellent and I hate it.
However we had a great week with Ken,Jacky,Malc & Chris with much laughter and copious amounts of alcohol. Highlights include the Day of the Chicken meal for €3 each and a trip to Grau with a party of 12 on the bus to the weekly market and a 3 course lunch for 11€  in an amazing restaurant on the waterfront that must have served 200 covers and kept refilling the wine carafes. The local coffee/brandy concoction was to die for and even with the ubiquitous limoncello the cost was still 11€ each. Saturday was rugby day and steak night and we had a great week.
Left on Sunday for a campsite  just north of Figueres and Monday to a site just north of Uzerches that was OK but waterlogged with cold showers. Tuesday to a site near Chartres that was also waterlogged with warm showers. Everywhere is waterlogged and cold and just short of snowing. We don't usually travel home at this time of year so this is a new experience  which I have previously managed to avoid for obvious reasons. To add insult to injury, our favourite restaurant in Calais, Au Cote d'Argent is closed tonight so an excellent meal was swapped for an indifferent one as it was too cold ton walk further into town.
And now the alarm is going off for no apparent reason and we have to be up at 6 am to get the shuttle.

AN EVENTFUL INTERLUDE........

11th.Feb 2015

The weather is odd but better than the UK and the rest of Spain. The days are sunny and even hot between  12-4pm but the nights and mornings are much colder than usual, necessitating uncalled for expenditure on heating. Normally we would spend €1 a day on electricity but the last month was €2  a day and a trip to Jerez to fill the LPG as well. The Med coast has similar patterns but the overnight temperature is at 0° or worse. The Spaniards say they have never known such a prolonged cold spell or such snow GH further north...... But with the € rate at 1.32 as opposed to 1.16 this time last year who's complaining ?
Last week saw the knockout boules competition. We drew for partners and I got Pat who's normally good, and the GF  drew John. Pat and I played like s**t and  ignominiously lost 13-0 in the first round whilst the GF stormed through to the semi finals. After a liquid lunch she narrowly lost to the Liverpudlian    who was beaten in the final by Bryan and Jacqueline so the honours were split between the uk and france.
We followed that with another  3rd place in the quiz.....the usual suspects again taking the first 3 spots. I did redeem the Bowdidge honour by winning the whist drive.
On Friday night the restaurant put on a BBQ before the England-Wales game and with the healthy French contingent here it was a fairly riotous night, the game not starting till 9pm here.( have I mentioned that there are more French than usual because they are avoiding Morocco for fear of Islamic trouble). On Saturday a good crowd gathered for the France-Scotland game, made very raucous by the French.
On Monday we took the van out for the day to Jerez, filled the LPG and walked round the town and had a light lunch.......Jerez is a v.nice city, many beautiful buildings (mostly concerned with sherry of course) and we never tire of meandering round the elegant streets.
On Wednesday it was our turn to win the quiz, with our rivals tying for 2/3 places. The best turn out yet so a very healthy 40€ prize.
I keep trying to have the odd dry day but without any significant success. The more wine I buy the more people drop by and vice-versa but the supermarket has an offer on Pata Negra Valdepenas 2006 at 4 bottles for 10 € which appears to be the tipple of taste for most.
We have some new card partners, Charles & Gill, with whom we play an excellent game of Nomination Whist when the wind is blowing or the sun goes in.
Ken & Jacky emailed to say they are going to Bonterra Park at Benicassim and as that would fit in with our return travel plans  we are trying, without success at the moment to get a booking there for 21feb onwards. As Chris & Malc will also be there it would  be a good place to stop for a week but the signs are not good so far. I rang the C&CC to see if we could join the rally only to be told that a rally only booking was £75 admin cost !!!!!! There is another site close by so we might try that.

IT'S BEEN 3 WEEKS

The GF is doing pilates twice a week and sticking to it; I started Spanish lessons but fell by the wayside......homework is a bugger when you could be off enjoying yourself.
The initial flush of winning the quiz faded and we came third the next week and then fourth. Our main rivals have reorganised into 2 strong teams and are snaffling the prize money. The whist nights are spectacularly supported and the competition is fierce for the €10 or so on offer to the winning lady and man.
The main event has been the Japanese lucky charm ceremony at which Joan's dragon was the star- 20ft long with 5 ladies underneath and made entirely of rubbish and gaffer tape. There are a couple of videos on YouTube with 2 more waiting to be uploaded.....I'll put a link in later. We found fireworks in a firework shop in San Fernando thanks to Laurent & Jacqueline whose son has a bike shop there (its complicated) and they very kindly took me over there. The dragon has been adopted by Martina and Jeanmarie who run LaRosaleda as they aim to use it in the summer.
The post ceremony party consumed much rioja and went on well into the night having transferred to the bar at some stage as the sun went down......it has been very chilly in the evenings and early mornings. After a glorious first week we had a few days of wind and rain but the sun returned last weekend and after the wind dropped it is most pleasant with spectacular sunsets.
We've walked on the beach and around the town; cycled to fruit farm for oranges and the bee farm for honey ( I've branched out from honey made from bees feeding on the orange trees to lavender honey and something labeled Extra Virgin which sounded intriguing).
Larry & Pat invited hired the camp car and invited us to join them on a trip to Jerez where we made the obligatory visit to the Terry's Bodega for a dozen litres of brandy (6 for me and 6 for Harry) .......its only at the bodega that you can buy the 36° instead of the 30° available in the supermarkets to combat drunkenness. At €8.10 a ltr. bottle  its extraordinarily drinkable . We had an excellent lunch an pottered around.
So all in  all, life is exceedingly pleasant at the moment, and with 5 evenings a week taken up with something the time just flies...........

IT'S embarrassing.......

Wednesday

We won the quiz tonight.........

GOSH....NEARLY A WEEK

Wednesday 14.1.14

Saturdays apres boules drinks became quite lively chez nous and was noteworthy in that there were twice as many people as had been playing boules for some strange reason. However it did reacquaint us with a lovely French couple, Laurent et Jacqueline, and result in an invitation to join them on Sunday morning for an oyster lunch. They have been full timing for 16 months and still crave the delicacies of la belle France so after New Year had a crate of oysters couriered from Arcachon which we know well as oyster central.
I had expected a nice demi-douzaine  so was rather overwhelmed to discover that the order had been 9 dozen which had to be consumed asap. Larry and Pat were also invited but both ladies declined oysters and made inroads into the pate,rilletttes,foie gras and prawns, leaving Larry and I trying to keep pace with Jaqeline shucking oysters for dear life. Don't know how many we consumed but we think that 2 dozen each wouldn't be far out. Accompanied with a fine Muscadet and then  Sylvaner, a very enjoyable afternoon was spent. Laurent is 70+ and was a professional photographer and is still accepting commissions. More later.

Weather has been a bit cloudy but nice and warm. Been down to beach twice and walked each way and its still lovely.
Nick & Barbara/Dave & Geraldine arrived Monday and we will see more of them in the next few days.
Excellent meal compliments of the management on Tues in preparation for the annual St.Sebastian festival on sunday
......as usual with a free meal, much wine was purchased to was it down thus writing off the rest of Tuesday.

The site is getting busier, especially with French visitors who are apparently shunning their usual playground of Morocco for understandable reasons. Regular readers will recall my comments last year about the enormous numbers of French  motorhomes in Morocco which now may well be in decline this year and thus hurting the Moroccan tourist economy.
And just to annoy anybody, I am not Charlie, because I don't agree that its OK to gratuitously insult somebody's religion and deliberately cause offence in the name of free speech.

THERMAL VESTS TO SHORTS & SANDALS IN 24 HRS

Saturday 10.1.2015

Wednesday night down to -5° and woke to another day of thick fog which lasted for over 150 miles but as we dropped down off the plateau after Caceres at least the temperature began rising. Came out of the fog 50 miles from Seville and then stopped at Jerez to top up the LPG as there still appears to be nothing nearer to Conil. Despite Repsol installing more autogas points, there is a black hole from Jerez to Algeciras even though Cadiz is a major city. As we are not staying so long down here this year , we shouldn't have to go back to Jerez to refill especially if the weather remains as warm as it is now.
So arrived Conil 4pm in bright sunshine and big blue sky all round. New van is too long for our pitch of the last 4 years so we have a bigger one close by but not in the same avenue...which may deter the usual suspects from dropping by for a beer or three........but unlikely. Apart from Paul & Marianne who can't make it because of ongoing problems with Paul's shoulder (which may spare my liver further damage) the same crowd are here so much renewing of acquaintances . Our first job was to drive up to the van wash
facility and I managed to blow the horn when passing the boules pitch just as Harry was throwing and he said words which should not be repeated in polite company to much laughter.
It took a lot of high pressure washing to get 6 days grime washed off and it took two of us to do it but now we are clean again.
Thursday night is Whist night where
the GF won the ladies prize of 9€ so we are starting off well. Quiz night starts next Wednesday and in the absence of P&M it had already been decided that we would team up with Harry & Joan......the bidding in the transfer window was extremely competitive apparently when it was known that we would be looking for new partners. We shall be the dream team once again.
Friday was spent sorting ourselves out, erecting awnings etc and generally getting comfortable which included getting the shorts out as it is so warm. A walk up to the supermarket for wine & beer, boules in the afternoon and an excellent flamenco show in the restaurant with a meal for 8€.  to round off an excellent first day.

THE WEATHER COULD BE BETTER.....

Tues.6.1.2015

Started raining on the Bordeaux ring road and never really stopped all day. The works on the A63 have finished and whilst it is a cracking road all the way to the Spanish border, it is also expensive. The alternatives are fine if you have time but will inevitably use more fuel anyway so no choice really. Bordeaux to Burgos was an easy drive except for the fog,low cloud and rain and the temperature around 3°.
Burgos is new to us, a campsite on the river within walking distance of the old town and must-see cathedral so intend stopping 2 nights. Arrived 16.30 and had nice walk along river to stretch legs. Tonight is epiphany and town deserted but must have been a procession somewhere.

Wed.7.1.2015

Extremely cold overnight, down to -3.5°
Woke to thick fog and a frozen water tank.....might not have enough in it. Found a button that says tank heaters which I've ignored up till now but it seemed to do the trick. Fog and temp  seemed set and  so decided to forgo the delights of burgos until another (warmer) day. So drove for 250 miles or more in freezing fog that seldom gave more than 100 yds visibility, and about 30 mins of warm sunshine. The dashboard readout only went above 0° for a short while and mostly hovered around -2.5°. Arrived Caceres about 16.00 intending to stay on aire but the temperature decided us to find the campsite on the outskirts so that we could be nice and warm for €16 (£12.80).
Spanish diesel similar price to france @ €1.11 ltr or 90 p

SNOWBIRDS HEAD SOUTH.........

Or Les vagabonds d'hiver as the French call themselves, are sitting in Bordeaux surrounded by thick fog having only had a fleeting glimpse of sunshine and blue skies........

Left home on Saturday lunchtime anticipating queues on the M25 at Blue water etc but sailed through of course, and the new toll system at the Dartford crossing which has done away with toll booths in favour of number plate recognition appears to have eliminated 10 mile tailbacks ( I've opened an account and registered van and car so the charge is £1.67 instead of £2.50 per crossing )
The van was loaded as usual but we now have more space so cupboards not overflowing. I also managed to spend a small fortune before Xmas having some extra electrical tweaks, not realising that the labour charge was going to be £67 per hour...I also had Simon from Dave Wallis Car Audio adapt the Cobra alarm to include a loop to wrap round the bikes which are now much lower on their new Thule rack ( which is brilliant) so that they are alarmed as well.

So whizzed down to Tunnel, put on first available so no wait, at 18.20, and heading into Calais 35 mins later, at which point the phone went and the Phantom tracker centre said our motion sensor was going off and did we know that the van was in Calais?.......
This is a new bit of kit fitted when I bought the van and upgraded the Phantom tracker. When switched on it sends an alert if the van is in motion so that if somebody stole the keys and disarmed the alarm system, when they drive off the motion sensor alerts the centre and reports every 30 secs.
The switch is hidden under the steering wheel and I didn't know it had been fitted at first and nobody bothered to tell me that it had and where the switch was. This caused a lot of grief when I drove the van for the first time.....
So I couldn't work out why it had been triggered in Calais when I had already driven to the channel for 21/2 hours...( my first fear being that the installation of the new bike loop had buggered something )......
Then it dawned on us that we had been trying to find a handy safe place for the mobile phone (the GF's shelf being cluttered with iPods,notebooks,sweets,mints,chewing gum,cables,chargers etc) and she spotted the shelf space under the steering wheel and stuffed the phone in it...... managing to knock the rocker switch from off to on. Red face and call to phantom  to apologise for stupidity and assertion that the switch must be off as I hadn't touched it for 3 days.( the switch can't be seen so very difficult to remember which way is on or off).
Great start !......but no damage....

Cold overnight but soon warmed up Sunday am and pleasant run down to La Suze sur Sarthe, just south of Lemans.
This aire was flooded last year but fine this. It has even been tarted up with full electric hookups for 6 van.....and as there were only 5 there at 3.30 we were lucky. They charge €5 but the machine wasn't working so we walked up to the village and bought our first tarts aux pommes .

Monday morning cold and misty......filled up with fuel at SuperU for a mere 90p a litre (£1.20 last year) and as we get better fuel consumption  things should cheaper this year.
Straightforward run to Bordeaux. With 50 miles to go the sun came out and the sky was blue all round....then we ran back into fog as we neared the rivers and as it gets dark its getting foggier.