Blogs from Verdun, Lorraine, France, Europe

After an easy day on Wednesday, Thursday proved to be the biggest day yet. Mostly because the drive to Verdun was about 3 hours. I had originally planned to stay a couple of nights in Verdun before heading to Strasbourg, but instead decided to spend the extra couple of nights in one place and just drive to Verdun for the day. That may have been a tad ambitious, but it worked out in the end. Breakfast isn’t served at the hotel until 7:30, so it wasn’t until 8:30 that I was on the road. I hit the morning peak hour heading into Strasboug, so the first part of the journey was a bit slow. After Strasbourg though, it was smooth sailing along the motorway to Verdun. Other than the relentless roadworks and substantial tolls, that is. ... read more

Nous quittons Troyes et son orage… Heureusement nous avions pu choisir une parcelle assez bien stabilisée… Il est tombé beaucoup d’eau… on aurait pu soit rester dans l’herbe, soit abîmer le gazon… Mais tout va bien et le soleil pointe son nez… Le terrain a déjà bien bu son eau et la route se prépare allègrement ! Vous aurez peut-être trouvé plusieurs églises dans les blogs de ce voyage… La France a bien sa Tour Eiffel, ses ponts gigantesques, ses grandes montagnes, sa gastronomie, ses musées, ses beaux paysages… mais il est évident que dans presque chaque village, si petit soit-il on y trouve une église… Elles sont parfois en ruines comme celle de Piney devant laquelle nous passerons et nous attarderons quelques minutes. Puis vient Avrolles et son église avec son clocher séparé. Mais quelques ... read more

.Not quite as sunny as forecast when we woke but good enough for a scooter day out. As it happened by midday the sun came out properly and we had a rather lovely blue sky day. First stop on our scooter tour of Verdun and its WWl historical sites was the Underground Citadel. Built in the 1600s to defend the city which has long been in the disputed area between France and Germany it now houses a rather brilliant display of its usage during the war. We did the tour on an automated ‘truck’ which took us along dark tunnels in which filmshows suddenly appeared on walls which then parted to let us pass through. At one point we almost appeared to be on a plane looking down and then the, fortunately short, trip through the ... read more

Geo: 49.1525, 5.36557On Thursday we left Austria and Camping Grubhof, one of the most relaxing and spacious sites we have ever stayed on, but in high season this comes at a price. But hey, we're on holiday!We were soon over the border into Germany and on to the A8 motorway. I had read about horrendous delays on the stretch between Ulm and Stuttgart due to upgrading, but apart from a short standstill for a minor accident, we kept moving - with limitations, that is. When towing in Germany you are restricted to 50 mph and between certain times and carriageways there is no overtaking, so that adds to the journey, but on the positive it is toll-free motoring for the time being.However, we arrived at our overnight stop, Camping Waldpark at Hohenstadt in rain and with ... read more

We were well rested from our day of rest,relaxation and administration yesterday and ready for a day trip that would take us west to the World War 1 battlefields around Verdun and the Muese Valley. The day has dawned clear although the overnight temperature must have fallen close to, if not into single figures, as the air felt decidedly cool as we started out after a leisurely breakfast.It is a pity that we are located on the first floor and don't really see any direct sunlight and it will probably mean we won't get to use the balcony often. We had run the level of diesel down in the car and needed to top up before we got onto the open road and after a waltz around Amneville we finally found a gas station and filled ... read more