Monday, 31 August 2015

Saturday 29th
Drove 160 miles from Waldorf to Club Lac de Bouzey just outside Epinal. The weather has now reached the mid 70’s, sunny and hot. So after pitching we just relaxed and went for a late afternoon swim in the pool. For some reason there was a big Soiree in the area with most restaurants booked up and music and fireworks being provided up to 11pm.
Another good site with many empty pitches.

Sunday 30th
The campsite continues to empty out mainly due to the fact that French kids are back in school tomorrow. Nice to see them going to schools and not Tory and New Labour institutions labelled ‘Academy’s’ or what ever the new jargon is.

Another lovely day hot sun, clear blue skies. So we offloaded the bikes and cycled mainly down the Canal d vosges to the town of Epinal. Returning rather sharpishly after we’d caught the local intermarche before it closed. All in all a round trip of 18 really pleasant miles. Another swim in the pool about due now after the afternoon kip.

Epinal

Epinal

Thursday 27th
We didn’t quite wake to the sound of the rain on the roof of the motorhome, as we were aware of it, and the traffic, throughout most of the night. We now realised that there are two sides to this aire, one being positioned next to the quieter river or our side next to a busy road, but we still got a few hours sleep. So it was off and away early, destination southern Belgium close to the Luxembourg border.
We stopped a few times on route but finally got to Camping Domaine Moulin de  Malempre around 2pm. The rain hadn’t stopped on route and it persisted throughout the day and well into the Thursday evening.  Even in the rain this was obviously a top class site with pool and well laid out pitches. Sadly it was fairly empty and looked uninspiring in the rain. However we booked a table in the restaurant that evening but imagined being the only ones in a damp cold cellar like restaurant. How wrong we were. We walked into a restaurant with an elevated position overlooking the site, a log burner roared and crackled in the centre and we chose to sit next to this on fine leather lounge chairs that were as comfortable as old slippers.  We were served a fine Belgium lager and persuaded to choose the Belgium stew with tasty beef chunks. A tasty meal an enjoyable evening, the rain was well and truly forgotten.

Friday 28th
It was a fairly short drive of about 65 miles to our next destination Camping Left Beter – Uit at Waldorf in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is famous for ……?...Cheap fuel at 70p a litre?.......? Well if it isn’t famous for it then it should be famous for its cleanliness and tidiness. After seating the motorhome on a flat pitch we headed off to Vianden along an ‘alpine trail’. We eventually reached the outskirts of Vianden 90 minutes later. We wandered along the main carriageway wondering why we’d chosen this target for our walk, a few nice campsites along the rivers edge but what else. Finally we found the old part of the town centred on a medieval bridge. A really lovely spot where we sat in the sun at a restaurant and had a beer right beside the river. Up above us a large beautiful Chateau and ancient church looked down on us. When we got back to the site we had clocked 9 miles and burned up 780 calories.


Vianden Luxembourg

Vianden Luxembourg

Vianden Luxembourg

Vianden Luxembourg



Wednesday 26th August 2015
Now that all the little Minions have returned to their institutes of learning and Xboxes it was time for us, like so many children of the 60’s to head for one of our many European arthritis treating spa towns such as Benidorm and Torremolinos. We drove down Tuesday and spent the night at Alderstead Heath Caravan Club site. Like most club sites it was well organised and clinically laid out in the Caravan Club colour scheme of green and green.  The next day (Wednesday) as virgin channel tunnel travellers we were surprised how smoothly, quickly and efficiently we were transported over to Europe, will definitely use this again.
Our first stop was Belgium, a country famous for chocolate, beer and for being the first comparison site…”every year an area the size of Belgium evaporates from the earth” , “every year a population the size of Belgium….” And so on.
Unsurprisingly the other thing Belgium is famous for is the number of times its been occupied by alien forces, and today was no exception. As we pulled up at the Aire in Brugges we started to notice the uniformed troops of Manchester United. More about these later. So what of Brugges? Its an exceptionally beautiful town where the residents seem proud of its cleanliness and fine architectural historical buildings.  Like Vienna the best way to walk around Brugges is to follow the routes taken by the many horse and traps that navigate through the narrow streets with on board tourists . Or like us take one of the many leisure motor boats that meander throughout the cities canal network with an experienced bilingual tour guide come driver who points out the many significant buildings and even throws in a few crummy jokes. The 30 minute tour costs just 8 euros each.
After the boat trip we just leisurely wandered the streets looking at each section in more detail. Finally it was off to the city square with its fine buildings and many bars. Here the Man utd occupation was in full swing, only about a thousand of them who to be fair had confined themselves to the naughty boys corner of the square where a couple of the bars were providing them with their ‘best’ lagers for 5 euros a pint. How kind! The songs were being sung and the ‘pints’ were going down well but they were no trouble. I couldn’t help but compare them to fans of my generation, the 60’s and 70’s, We were all skinny almost malnourished young kids with long hair and platform shoes who poured out from our poorly paid office or factory jobs to support our local teams with local players.  This lot like so many supporters of English teams are, like the players, alien to the city which they represent , They had stuffed wallets, tended to be middle aged with shaved heads and beer bellies. Many speaking with  cockney  accents.
We sat amused by their antics and singing but finally moved on to a lovely restaurant on the edge of the city and closer to our Aire which at 25 euros is expensive even with the electricity but worth it just for its location in the city. 
As we sat eating our meal outside we could observe the final dregs of the Man utd occupation stagger off to the ground each battalion heading aimlessly, like their defence of last season, in different directions.
This hadn’t been a lightning tour as we had spent quite a few hours visiting this great city but as we sat finishing our meal on what had been an unforgettable day the heavens opened and the lightning flashed.


Brugges

Brugges

Brugges

Brugges

Brugges