And we are off. Off to Switzerland, via France for a few days, for most of September. We’ve been pretty well occupied throughout July and August since our June trip to France. The garden has been looking absolutely splendid, helped by a lot of glorious weather and no battering of heavy wind and rain. The almost drought conditions of August have left it a bit dry in places but we have had no hosepipe ban and in fact have had some rain where lots of England has not. Gentle soft rain, the sort the flowers love. We’ve survived the British Heatwave which was supposedly going to kill tens of thousands as we’ve survived the Covid pandemic (so far at least and not surprising as we have both managed (touching wood) not to catch it 😊). I’ve ... read more

It struck me as I was belatedly sorting out the last photos from the trip that the text I put into the blog for the drive up to Laon two days ago should actually be in this one. Never mind. Not going to change it now because if I do and republish it will send everyone another message and I don't want that. ? Anyway we drove from Laon up to the north, near enough to Calais to catch the ferry in the morning. Stopped at a supermarket and had a nice shop choosing all of my favourite foods. Only regret is failing to find any Fallot Nut mustard which is a little bit specialised. Have bought it online in the last couple of years but postage to the UK is now so expensive I can't ... read more

Well that was rather a lot of rain... but can't complain the only other rain we have had this trip has very kindly fallen at night and cooled the air down after excessively hot days. Smart Car was already loaded and ready on the trailer but still needed tying down to the trailer with its straps and the trailer needs to be on the back of the motorhome. Fortunately the overnight rain gave us a break as we were getting ready to leave. Long enough to load car and trailer. We had such an enormous pitch that it was quite easy to get set up and on our way. Heading north in a Westerly direction as the rain cloud very defintely to the East. We were heading for the blue sky and sunshine again. The drive ... read more

Today we really did get to Mesnil-Saint-Pere on the Lac d'Orient even if if did take us an extra day to get there. Bob did suggest we could stay at the Merry campsite for another day but I was aware of the day of the week, Friday, and that the Mesnil campsite was likely to be busy at the weekend because it is by a lake so undoubtedly gets a lot of weekend visitors. Also no pool at the Merry site and I've swum every day except first couple on the Somme before the weather warmed up and at Merry. Easy to drive off from Merry as the car was still fastened onto the trailer. Not quite as easy as expected though as the road to the campsite is narrow and the campsite has a shop ... read more

Super day out today. Apologies for rather a lot of photos but we went to so many super places it's too hard to chose what to show here so ended up with an overload. I highlighted Issigeac on the map as recommended yesterday as a lovely village to visit though it is most famed for a superb Sunday market and this was not Sunday. Then circled 2 more places along the route and off we went. Lovely drive even without the specific villages as this is such pretty countryside. Issigeac first. No market but that meant we could wander far more freely and take photos without having to avoid accidentally including anyone. We had a really lovely stroll around, there are some wonderful buildings, some dating back to the 12th century. In Alsace there are pretty ... read more