Tuesday 1st September. Left the site at  Epinal around 10am and went to nearby Leclerc to fill up with provisions. Drove 150 miles to Bad Bellingham in Germany. Germany is famous for its engineering, beer festivals and penalty kicks. This was a brief overnight stay in Germany before crossing into Switzerland. We merely crossed over the Rhine and followed its course for several miles before stopping at the site. However for our motorhome this is the Fatherland, the place of its manufacture, and in response to this return home it reared its beast of a head like a stallion let loose on the plains and roared and galloped down the autobahn displaying its sleek lines and showing off to the rest of the herd.
Good site, typical German cleanliness and organisation. However a worrying trend is emerging on some ACSI sites where sites seem to be adding a bit in taxes. Book price here is 18 euros but we were actually charged 21 euros.

Wednesday 2^nd September.

It must have been 1966 and only weeks had passed since Geoff Hurst sent that ball into the top corner of the net past a German paralysed goalkeeper named Tilkowski. We still had those famous words of Kenneth Wolstenholme ringing in our ears …”They think its all over….” Well you know the rest. The Blundell family were now on their first overseas holiday together. A journey that involved a flight from Manston airport in Kent to Basle in Switzerland, then an overnight coach drive through Lucerne via Lake Como to the resort of Lido di Jesola in Italy. Now almost 50 years later I am taking the same route. Passing Basle we had to stop at the Swiss border to obtain a 32 euro road vignette to allow us to drive our 3.5 plus motorhome on Swiss roads. Not an easy task when many of the border offices are closed but eventually we found one open and headed for Lucerne.

Switzerland, famous for watches, cuckoo clocks, neutrality and now a campsite in Lucerne that charges the equivalent of £35 a night! But with no other option, and granted its got everything we need and is placed close to the city, we handed over our hard earned pension to the Swiss authorities without a fight. Wouldn’t have had a fight anyway…remember….neutrality!

I still remember certain aspects of that trip nearly 50 years ago. Things such as the wooden bridges in Lucerne, the morning mist gently caressing the waters of Lake Como. So after setting up camp we walked into Lucerne. What a picturesque city. We walked the wooden bridges and climbed high to the city’s walls where a tower, a previous defence for its inhabitants now supported a large clock: we entered the tower to examine the mechanism of this giant timepiece and then descended back into the town retracing our footsteps along the lake waterfront returning to our site four hours later. Yet another enjoyable day.

Lucerne campsite.

Lucerne

Lucerne

Lucerne

Lucerne