Fizz, Friends and Farewells

So, here it is then, blog #22 and well into 5 months of being away. Again, we start with an apology for the lateness of the blog. Again, not due to technical difficulties, or any issues in writing it, just plainly having way too much fun!

This one finds us on Thursday, and now in Germany. After a full 4 months or so of travelling around France, we finally decided it was time to move on and across a border. Of course, Europe being what it is these days, you hardly notice anything changing! I do think back to different times, when crossing borders would have meant passport control, and changing money. We are so lucky to live in a world where we have free movement, well for now at least. Who knows what this sort of transaction would look like in the post Brexit world, if that ever happens!

Anyway, enough of the deep and meaningful, let me catch you up on our adventures since last Monday.

After the last blog, the rest of Monday was spent at Tess & Nige's place trying to stay cool in the fierce heat. We waved goodbye to Jo and Jack who were heading further south, and enjoyed a last meal with the rest of the group in the evening.

On Tuesday, Sean and Jan were headed north for a final night on their way home and Dave, Helen and Marlene were headed directly back to the UK, so by mid morning it was just the four of us left. Now, I had made Tess promise me that if Jase and I were to stay longer, we wanted to be put to work and try and earn our keep at least a little. True to our words, Tess and I headed to do some food shopping and the boys set about repairing the old oak gates to make them operate better. The weather was again pushing into the 30's so the afternoon was spent cooling off in the hot (cool) tub with a few glasses of bubbly. Nige cooked up a stonking chilli and my favourite nachos for the evening meal. After a walk around the village with the dogs we settled down to watch a movie - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - I know we are very late to the party here, but great film.

Wednesday dawned and it was another hot one. After a stunning full English cooked by our excellent hosts, we set to work again. This time Jase was on plaster boarding with Nige in the little house, and Tess and I set to work cleaning all the bathrooms in the main house. The evening was spent enjoying a lovely BBQ before finishing the previous night's movie (as I fell asleep) and then watching The Hundred Foot Journey which was about an Indian restaurant trying to make a go of things in France - really good watch, and inspired our dinner plans for Friday!

Thursday morning, and again we are at Tess and Nige's. The boys had more jobs to finish up in the house, and Tess and I headed across to Essoyes to get the recycling done - in France, they only have a kerbside collection for "normal" rubbish and some recycling, but glass needs to be taken to the bottle bank. When you've had a houseful for the best part of a week, that means 3 dustbins full of empties! Once back at the house, Tess and I set about cleaning the kitchen and sorting the fridges out. After a nice pasta lunch, I hoovered around the big house - Tess thinks I'm mad, but I really enjoyed "making house" again after such a long time in the van! The important point though is to repay a little of what we owe for having such a lovely place to stay and being catered for so well. After a lovely cooling dip in the hot tub, Jase and I got busy in the kitchen for pizza night. We spent a lovely hour or so stargazing and spotting Mars, Venus and Jupiter along with a good few shooting stars.

Friday morning, and our last full day with Tess and Nige. Much earlier in our stay, Nige had mentioned they had a 2 person Canadian canoe, and suggested we take it out. Jase took at look at Google, and we decided there was a good spot to put in at Gye-sur-Seine just up the road from Loches. Although we have both canoed and kayaked before, we've usually done it as part of a guided trip, so going solo was new to us. However, it looked like a nice stretch of the Seine, and as Tess suggested, we could go upstream first and then paddle back knowing what was in store. They dropped us off at the put in and we headed up stream - truly stunning - just us and the water, and the odd kingfisher for company. We had to portage a few times to get over shallower sections, but it was totally worth it. We got as far as a lovely waterfall, which was very cooling for a paddle. The ride back downstream was a bit easier, and we did get a chance to run a few very small rapids and get them right.

Once back at the house, we had a lovely lunch, and sit in the shade - it was the hottest day yet 35+ degrees. Jo and Jack were back today, and Tess has decided that Friday night was curry night! We all pitched in and made a stunning meal consisting of Chicken Jalfrezi, Lamb Rogan, Cauli Aloo, Chana Sag, Veg Curry, Rice, Nan Breads and Riata - absolutely stunning, and restaurant standard!

Saturday morning and a bit of a lay in as it had been a very hot & restless night for all. After a nice brekkie and our final homely shower, we packed up the van and said goodbye to our fabulous hosts Tess and Nige, Jo and Jack plus the lovely dogs Boodles and Bonzo. We've been so lucky to be able to stay in such a brilliant place, we will be forever thankful x

So, with a few tears in my eyes, we headed towards Epernay where we would be meeting up with my bestie Jo and her husband Luke. They were already in France but enjoying a day in Reims, and heading across the next day. The drive to Epernay was nice, seeing a lovely couple of deer and buzzards along the way. Once in Epernay we did a brief food shop and then headed onto site. We've stayed in Epernay before, and know this campsite fairly well. In fact, the chap at reception recognised us from our previous stays! We spent the rest of the day trying to stay cool, and catching up on some reading etc.

Sunday morning we headed into Epernay to find the railway station and also the hotel where Jo and Luke we staying to make things easier for their arrival. We were at the station in plenty of time, and were able to wave their train in! So great to see them both after nearly 6months.

Almost as exciting was Jo bringing my camera back! It was fixed and she'd been and collected it from Jules - again thanks both! Working perfectly, so prepare yourselves for more pictures from here on! After dropping their bags, we headed for some lunch and a wander around Epernay. We'd decided to save Champagne house tours for the next day, and spent a lovely afternoon moving from bar to bar taking champagne samples along the way.

We were also treated to a lovely glass of bubbles and a couple of canapés at Jo's accommodation - it seems their host is something of a bit of a chef! We had dinner together back at the van.

Monday morning and another stonkingly hot one. We decided to take a taxi tour from the campsite and into the hills to a small champagne producer Xavier Leconte. The drive up was very pretty, seeing all the vines and rolling hills. Once there we were treated to 3 lovely samples, and the best by far was the vintage which Luke bought a bottle of for later in the day (today was their 12th wedding anniversary, congrats both).

After being dropped back to the campsite, we had a carb fuelled lunch before heading back into town and the Mercier tour. This is a tour that Jase and I have done before, but found incredibly interesting and great value. The tour starts by giving you a history of Eugene Mercier who founded the brand, and who's aim was to bring champagne to the masses (thank goodness for that!), initially via the large barrel which could hold 200,000 bottles!

You then watch a brief film, followed by a train ride around the caves which sit 30m below Avenue du Champagne - all at a constant 10 degrees, all year round - believe me, after what feels like months in 30+ degree temps, this 30 minute train ride was total bliss!

Once back above ground, we head to the sampling room for 3 full sized samples - 2 white and a rose. All really delicious. What I love about this tour in particular, is the relaxed nature - the sommelier took his time to make sure we all enjoyed our samples and weren't at all rushed - of course, as a result of which we were the last 4 standing!

The rest of the afternoon was spent mooching along the Avenue, and then enjoying the bottle from the morning's tour back in the cool of Jo & Luke's room, before heading out for a lovely Italian meal in the evening.

Tuesday morning, and again soon time to say farewell. After doing a pit stop at Carrefour, we headed to pick up Jo and Luke from town and headed to Hautvillers for a wander around. This lovely village sits in the hills overlooking Epernay, and has many of the vines attributed to the likes of Moet & Chandon. It is also houses the abbey which is the resting place of Dom Perignon.

After a picnic lunch, we headed to a TGV station just outside of Reims for Jo and Luke to continue their journey back to Paris and their flight home. Cue more tears I'm afraid! This visit marks the end of visitors for now. It's been truly brilliant for to see so many people along our trip so far, especially those who've come over especially to see us - Mum & Paul, Julian & Sarah, Dad & Liz, Jo & Luke - and of course those we've seen along their own trips Steve & Clare, Rusty & Kay, Ian & Shaaron, Tess & Nige - being away from home can be hard at times, so it's been great to see you all, thanks x

We'd decided that it was time to move countries. France had been brilliant, but aside the South west corner, we'd seen as much as we'd hoped to and more, so it was time to head towards Germany. We are still in high season so need to keep careful where we go and where we stay to keep costs down and away from crowds. Our initial destination was to be around the Black Forest area, so after dropping Jo and Luke, we spent the rest of the day driving towards the border, spending our last night on French soil at an Aire in Raon l'Etape - this was a great spot by Jase as it was literally just off the free dual carriageway, and was on the site of a swimming pool! In a change to some of the more car park locations, this one felt more like a campsite as the five spaces had been properly marked out with separating hedges between each one. After parking up, we had a very brief thunderstorm which cleared the air enough to have a bit of TV time in the van - the first we'd been able to do for weeks! It was also probably the coolest night's sleep for a good while!

Wednesday morning we woke fairly early and headed away from France and towards Germany. Having seen comment on Twitter rom fellow travellers about a distinct lack of laundry facilities in Germany, we had a brief pit stop at the last Super U supermarket to run a load of laundry through. Not knowing what sort of place we'd be staying in overnight, and wanting to get said washing dry, I then adopted a new style for the van, known as "laundry style"! Basically lay it all out as best you can, and hope it dries on route!

We also stopped briefly on the Rhin River to see a massive barge coming through the lock - literally millimetres to spare either side!

Our final destination for the day was on the Titisee lake (I know, lol!). We found the Aire without any problems, this one is located right outside of the campsite, in a small parking area. We got lucky with our spot right in the corner with enough room for the awning and the washing line to go up - yay! After checking in - €15 for the night (compared to €28.50 + electricity for the site) we learnt that we could use all the facilities within the site so it's a total bargain, especially given it's high season. After lunch we headed for a walk along the lake and ended up walking an entire circuit, around 6miles. The main town at the end of the lake is nice, although fairly busy with tour groups, and once back we donned our swimmers and headed into the lake for a lovely cooling dip.

Once back at site I headed for the showers, and am pleased to report we have a real contender for shower of the trip! This one is truly stunning - not only does it tick every box, it also has an interior door so your clothes can't get wet and a shoe rack! Real hotel quality feel too - I'm so impressed, I've been weirder than usual, and included a couple of pics - the 2nd is the door! Added to this, the wash up room has a dishwasher! Amazing, and if this is the standard of all German campsites, I'm going to enjoy my time here!

We'd planned to just stay the one night, but as it's so nice, we've splashed another €15 on tonight (Thursday) as well. Jase has gone out for an explore on his bike, and we have some housekeeping jobs to catch up with later. Tomorrow we plan to head towards a Hymer (motorhome manufacturer) museum, and then onwards into the Black Forest and towards the Bavarian Alps. We aren't exactly sure how far we will head across, but we may end up towards Austria perhaps later in the month.

So there we are, all caught up. No question this week as my sister is on her hollibobs, but feel free to pose any that come to mind.

Til next time (and I'll try to get back on a week at a time!), stay safe all

J&J x