14 September 2012 We continued driving South East in increasingly fine weather into Belgium and then Luxemburg where we stopped for cheaper diesel. We had hoped to have a look around Luxemburg city, but couldn’t find a convenient parking spot so continued into Germany and to the delightful campsite on the edge of the village of Dahn in the Black Forest. We had a walk around and a beer in the village before a pleasant group meal in the campsite restaurant.... read more

12 September 2012 The trip got off to a bad start! When Wendy went into the van early in the morning the control panel was bleeping and flashing a warning. It turned out that the auxiliary batteries were flat and a bit of investigation showed that the charger appeared not to be working. We rang Murvi (who make our type of campervan) in Devon and they said if we could get there soon after lunch they would do their best to fix it. What followed was speedy packing (we hope we haven’t left too much behind), a 190 mile drive to Murvi, 90 minutes to fit a new charger and a 280 mile drive along the south of England to Sandwich in Kent where we were due to meet up with rest of the party. We ... read more

18 October 2011 We got up early, drove to Calais in the driving rain and managed to catch a train through the tunnel 1½ hours earlier than we had booked. Surprisingly, the weather was better in England and we were home by lunchtime to complete a 2,650 mile trip completed without using any of the French toll roads although we did use the free motorways of which there are a surprising number. The weather was superb for most of this trip being mainly cloudless and warm. A real Indian Summer. Carcassonne and the Cathar Castles were very impressive as were the walks and cycle rides we did in the Pyrenees. We used more Aires, France Passion sites and car parks for our overnight stops than we have on any previous trips. As well as saving us ... read more

16 October 2011 We drove 250k northwest to the city of Angers which stands on the river Maine. Our daughter Emma did a French exchange there when she was 15. Angers has a huge castle and within its mighty kilometre long curtain wall is a 1950s building containing the outstanding 100m long Tapestry of the Apocalypse woven between1373 and 1382. Unfortunately Wendy was unable to make out most of the tapestry detail because as a preservation measure it is kept at low light levels. We also went to see the Plantagenet style cathedral but were couldn't look around inside as a mass was taking place. The aire we stayed at was in a super position on the banks of the Maine in the village of Villeveque just north of Angers. ... read more

14 October 2011 Tom and Sue showed us round their local town of St-Yrieix-la-Perche where it was market day and then the delightful medieval village of Ségur-le-Château where we had a tasty lunch in the pleasant surroundings. In the afternoon we had a guided tour of the impressive 13th century chateau at Jumilhac-le-Grand and finally looked around the Romanesque church at Ladignac-le-Long, one of many in the area. We were impressed that there are so many beautiful and interesting places to see within a few kilometres of Les Loriots. ... read more