We arrived in the charming town of Domfront en Poiraie by accident! Our original destination, the campsite at Clécy was full. It is yet another bank holiday – the French seem to have almost as many May Bank Holidays as we do! We had remembered reading about a town with a real Norman castle, a … Continue reading Busy in the Bocage and the Suisse Normand

We are back on the coast! Honfleur and Houlgate are two towns that are like chalk and cheese. Honfleur has a history that dates back to before Bill the Conqueror was a lad and Houlgate is a very smart, late 19th C holiday resort. However they are both united in a love of disruptive roadworks and … Continue reading Honfleur and Houlgate

Rouen is almost 80km up the Seine from the river’s mouth at Le Havre but it is still France’s 5th largest port. Large container ships and cruise liners are constantly sailing back and forth at all stages of the tide. The tide now is a lot calmer than it used to be. The Seine once had … Continue reading In the coils of the Seine

Monday May 22nd 2023 Warning! This post is for folk who have struggled with dog training or who don’t mind dogs. If you do please look away now? Some of you will recall the calamitous attempts in Italy and Croatia last year to introduce Bryn to the delights of being towed behind my bike in … Continue reading When Bryn gets taken for a ride

18th May 2023 It’s Bank Holiday Thursday in France and we are chillin’ on a lovely campsite in Étretat at the end of our first week on tour. I’m sorry that this is the first post of trip but that’s because we have been too busy having a good time and everything so far has gone … Continue reading Week 1 – the Côte d’ Albâtre

Monday 26th September Classy Chamonix and Climate Change One thousand metres up in the Alps lies the ski resort of Chamonix. We drove for an hour or so from Aosta, through the romantic alpine scenery of mountains, valleys, precarious castles and monasteries, and plenty of tunnels. In fact, very little of the road we took was … Continue reading When We Dashed Through France and Bryn Became French!

September 25th 2022 We are parked in the shadow of Mont Blanc (or Monte Bianco as we are still on the Italian side of the border), in the tiny commune of Sarre. At 620metres, this is our highest campsite on the trip so far. We’ve driven 200 miles north to the Alps, and in that time … Continue reading It’s a Little Chilly

Friday 23rd September With the cookery course booked (See Scuse! Part One), we skipped down the rocky path that led to the village of Monterosso al Mare, the most northerly of the five villages. Until about forty or so years ago the main business of the Cinque Terra was mainly the cultivation of vines and olives. … Continue reading Scuse! Part Three – Cinque Terre

I had damp feet on Thursday morning! There had been an unexpected heavy dew on the grass for the morning’s dog walk and it soaked through my trainers. I suppose it shouldn’t really have been a surprise, as it was so cold last night that we ate our authentic pasta carbonara  inside. Today is the Autumnal … Continue reading Scuse! Part Two – Lucca

Saturday 24th September As I write this latest update, I am sitting on my own, in the van, parked in a tiny ‘aire’, 240m up a very steep cliff overlooking the Ligurian sea.  I am very sorry, dear reader, for the lack of notes on our progress through Italy. My only excuses are the poor connectivity … Continue reading Scuse! Part One – Trasimeno and Florence