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Fri 21st Jan

Cold night, left about 9am and said goodbye to “Henry the 7th”, the gateman - nice old soul who insisted on practicing his English on us. Blew Colleen a kiss goodbye, at least I think it was for Colleen. Soon after we left we spotted a scattering of snow on the side of the road! Didn’t see any more after that. Motored on through Loret De Mar and Tossa De Mar and then on towards Montpellier. Near Fronignan we saw the area where they cultivate and farm oysters and muscles, which they grow on ropes hanging down into the water. There are maybe 200 acres of wires strung between poles which hold the ropes. Amazing sight. Went into Fronignan to look for a stopping point but they had put up height restrictions on all their car parks to stop vans overnight. Eventually found a sort of lay-by further in town that we could sneak into for the night.

Sat 22nd Jan

Up early, it was cold and we’d had some trouble with the gas so on the road by 8am. Headed for Nimes but Doris had a brain fart and took us over a hill and far away through a couple of small farming villages. Got back on track and turned her off - promptly got lost in Nimes. Came out on the motorway and headed for Vallenes. Ran along the Rhone valley through some beautiful scenery and some really nice towns to Lyon. Astonishing place! Eventually found the campsite we were looking for Indigo, Lyon and decided to stay a couple of nights.

Sun 23rd Jan

Woke up to a heavy frost. All the water was frozen, including the waste and the washing water. Made the best of it and had a lazy day.

Mon 24th Jan

Set off about 9am and headed for Dijon. Travelled right through the huge vineyards in this region - very impressive, beautiful scenery, until that is the snow/sleet started to obscure it! Luckily it didn’t last long and it soon started to warm up a bit (+3degs). Eventually found the site we were looking for at Boanne. It was supposed to be open but was deserted so we continued on towards Dijon and stayed in an aire in a village on the outskirts of town. Had a nice meal at Buffalo Bill’s and returned to the aire. Booked the crossing back for 12.30pm Weds from Calais. Settled down for an early night.

Tues 25th Jan

Long run from Dijon to Calais up through the Champagne region - very interesting scenery but weather was “changeable”. We had sleet, snow, sunshine, rain and quite a bit of mist. Surprisingly as we got nearer to Calais the weather warmed up. Found the aire next to the ferry port and settled down for the night.

Weds 26th Jan

Up early-ish and down to the big supermarkets to stock up on wine, spirits & beer. Pretty good prices, especially the wine. Went down to the Citie Europe site where all the posh big shops are - very quiet there. Headed over to the ferry port and caught an earlier boat (11.30am). Back in UK at 12pm local time and home by about 4pm.

Summary on trip

Good, interesting and learnt a lot about travelling in western Europe. France was difficult for camping sites in the winter - we only found the one that was open on our route. Even the ones that were supposed to be open all year were closed!
The weather right across Europe has been dreadful this year and although we had a lot of sunny days in Spain and Portugal it was not as warm as we had hoped.
If we had been able to leave in September, as we had originally planned, we would have been able to enjoy the trip down through France, rather than the dash we felt we had to make originally. Looking forward to going again!

Thank you for following us on our trip - look forward to seeing you all again.

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