Ending Up Anywhere

On our second full day in Braxieux we went walking, following one of several marked walks through the woods. It was boggy underfoot from the moment we lost the trail. When you have Google Maps in your pocket you don't worry so much about marked trails and so we just walked until we were ready to change course and begin heading back. The afternoon was due to be sunny and so we returned to town in time for the shops to have closed so we couldn't buy any beer to drink. Actually the second of the two little supermarkets was open. We bought beer, and ham to make a sandwich. The shop keepers were a couple well past retirement age and there was no till to speak of, just two calculators with paper rolls. For dinner we considered buying pizza from the campsite but conceded that we should use some of the ingredients we already had and save some money. We made macaroni cheese, adding a considerable amount of garlic to make it more French. On our third and final day w...

Strangely, on our four-and-a-half hour drive north through France the weather has become warmer. Not always sunnier, but warmer none the least. So it was even more satisfying asking at Camping Indigo Les Chateaux if we might stay four nights instead of the one booked and paid for. We'd planned the single night here as a half way point between Sarlat and the Eurotunnel and had determined that we'd scope it out for a longer stay in our summer fortnight. Checking in at 2pm, we'd not have been able to fully explore the region. The campsite is in the small town of Braxieux. In itself the town isn't a destination, boasting two small supermarkets and the usual butcher, baker and hairdresser, plus a bar, cafe and hotels. However, this is a fantastic base to explore the Loire castles. It's slap bang in between the chateaux of Chambord and Cheverny, 8km and 9km on flat cycle paths and woodlands walks that crisscross this part of the countryside. On our f...

A colleague at work told me Sarlat was supposed to be beautiful. This was all I knew before we arrived as, like our prior destination, I hadn't done any research. And, yes, it turns out that is true. We arrived, after nearly six hours of traveling from Divonne Les Bains, at 1.45pm. Reception at Camping Indigo Sarlat was open and they let us check in ahead of official arrival time. We'd booked a 'plus' pitch which are larger and come with a picnic table, and we were armed with a map and the choice of two pitches. I think the campsite map is a little bit pants as we went merrily driving up a hill that looked like it was the right direction, but clearly wasn't. The girl from reception was in hot pursuit in her golf buggy, asking us to follow her back down and to the correct pitch. I know the map is at fault because over the course of the next four days we watched countless other people do the same. It was quite amusing. Sarlat is a medieval town...

Never having been disappointed by an Indigo campsite to date, we booked two for our Easter break. Three actually as our last-night, journey-breaking stopover is another Indigo site. We crossed the channel at 3pm on Thursday. Our earlier-than-usual crossing meant we could travel as far as Dijon on the first day, and we arrived at a fantastic aire de camping car in Corgirnon, a small and quiet village, by 10pm. We were able to get a good night's sleep, even finding time to chill out with a glass of wine before bed, and being in no real rush in the morning. We were on the road again for 9.30am heading to Divonne Les Bains or, more precisely, Camping Indigo Le Fleutron, nestled at the base of the French Alps and just five kilometers from Lake Geneva. We'd done little to no research ahead of time, I'm not really sure if that's laziness or the buzz of discovering things for ourselves. It can be hugely rewarding and more relaxing to explore on your own terms ...

We've had our first week-long campervan holiday in the UK, splitting the week between Cornwall on England's south coast and the Forest of Dean on the English/ Welsh border. There's really no chance of a sun holiday anywhere you can drive to in February and so a UK holiday was as good as anywhere, particularly with countryside as stunning as the Cornish coast and the Wye Valley. I'm writing this on the last full day of our trip. We've enjoyed and endured a complete mix of weathers. We've had a day of blue skies and full sun, and several days of intermittent rain. We've enjoyed ourselves no matter what Mother Nature has thrown at us. Put on a pair of wellies, waterproof trousers and a coat and you can enjoy hiking or biking just as much in the rain as in the dry. In Cornwall we stayed at Cosawes Park near to Falmouth. The campsite is immaculately kept and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. It's only downside was the lack of footpaths or pavem...

Our final day in Venosc and Les Deux Alpes was spent walking. Our six-day ski-lift passes had expired and so we only paid enough for the cable car up to the town, so wherever we went it was going to be on foot. We chose to follow signs from the south side of the town up to Pied Moutet, a forested mountainside. It was a hard slog up to the top and people would normally do it via the ski lift, but with this side of the valley being more grass than snow, the ski lift wasn't running. We took our time walking to the top, pausing dozens of times to sit or lay in the sun. The view below was stunning, looking out across more of the alps, or down over the skiing town and our village campsite base even further below. As we neared the top, the grass began to give way to snow until we arrived at the summit to see nothing but white. Having done the hardest part we followed signs marked 'Peitons' (walkers) along the top until we saw Bergerie Kanata, the restau...

We had one requirement for our first ever holiday at Christmas: it had to be white. The website for Camping Caravaneige Champ du Moulin shows snow on the ground while promising a site fully equipped for winter camping.  It lived up to the promise on all counts. We arrived just as an unseasonably warm spell arrived and although snow around the valley began to disappear during the week, it remained on the ground in the campsite for the duration. The site is five minutes walk from Venosc village which is further uphill. When you check the weather for Venosc you'll see temperatures several degrees warmer than it will actually be on the campsite which sits at the bottom of a valley, entirely in the shade during winter. So we got our white Christmas, waking up on Christmas Day with snow all around, and the benefit of it being a little warmer when we went out each day. The site's facilities are great. The showers and dishwashing facilities share the ground floor of ...