September's trip

I know this is pretentious, but I thought you could keep in touch with where we are and what we are doing through this site. It probably won't last, but here goes.

August is a bad month because mum has no courses and so finds it hard to fill the days. This year is worse because we are without trams for the whole of August. She is going down to London next week to look after Harry and that will keep her busy. She is really looking forward to it. I will take the opportunity of going to Barrow to see everyone and hopefully have a walk with Catherine, a game of golf with Bernard and a pint with Pat.

For me, there is lots to do. Not just the golf. I have a long list of things to do to get ready for September. The van needs cleaning inside and out. I have it booked into Spinney next week to get the bed fixed! Then there are directions, routes, campsite details, reading material etc. etc. By the way, do you like the picture at the top. It was taken on our first trip away in the van five years ago!

We set off for Dover on Sunday 6th. September and as usual we are stopping overnight at Blackhorse farm near Folkestone. We are on the ferry early Monday morning and then will head for the municipal campsite in Chalons-en-Champagne for just one night. We usually stop there. It is about 200 miles from Calais and handy from the autoroute.

From there we will set off for Germany and go straight to Cochem on the Mosel. The campsite is next to the river and we can walk in to the town. It is a picture post card town with a castle up on the hill. We hope to hire bikes for a day as there is a great cycle path along the Mosel. Kaffe und kuchen might be the order of the day!

I don't know how long we will stay in Cochem, or perhaps also in Mesenich, which is close by; but from the Mosel we will head for Freiburg. Again the campsite is within walking distance of the town.

We will then cross the Rhine and into France. We are going to explore some towns in Alsace on the Route de Vins; Colmar, Riquewihr and Ribeauville. Alsace is an area we don't know and it sounds really interesting. After that we are heading for Strasbourg.

The final week we will spend in Paris on the Bois de Boulogne campsite. We love Paris and keep going back!

Finally, we will spend Saturday night 3rd October on Calais Plage before a very early morning ferry on Sunday. Then Marie, we have two nights in London and should see you on Monday 5th October.

Well that is it. The intention is to post updates while we are away using mum's new netbook. We will see!