Our Very Own Tour de France! Day 5 - 9

Chantecoq to Lake Annecy

Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th August 2017

We left  Lake Chantecoq with 2 more long travelling days in front of us, so really I haven't got much to tell you.  On both days we went about a 100 miles and in so doing we passed through more forested areas and also through many miles of farm land where huge crops of corn on the cob and sunflowers danced in the dry hot sunshine.  As we passed by I thought it was a shame we hadn't been a few weeks earlier because the sun flowers were well past their best with drooping dry flower-heads - but they must have been an absolute picture when they were in full bloom!

On Saturday we' d planned to go as far as Dole, but after shopping at Lidl, collecting some free water, and a very late lunch we decided we'd had enough so we pitched up at a free Aire at Mirebeau-sur-Beze, and our main occupation for the late afternoon was trying to keep cool as our thermometer crept up towards 35 degrees!

On Sunday we did what all good British people do - we treated ourselves to a full English 🥚🥓🍅🍄 and beans (couldn't find an emoji for that), before getting underway towards our next target which was the lakeside town of Nantua.  To start with the terrain was much the same as we'd previously experienced, but once we entered the Rhone Alps Region and crossed the beautiful turquoise waters of Lake de Vouglans the landscape changed drastically.  From here T4rdis2 was  required to steadily climb through the craggy foothills of the Alps, thus exciting our taste buds for what is likely to come later in our journey!

Lac Nantua which lies in a basin like landscape

Pic was just before the French van parked!

We reached Nantua about 3ish - and as this was a lovely Sunday day - it was very busy. We managed to squeeze into one of the last parking spots on it's tightly packed Aire which is right on the lake edge so we had views of the glossy turquoise waters right from our dining room window - or at least we did have until a huge French van parked at the side of us at about 8pm!  Now, bear in mind that he almost needed a shoe horn to get in to the space and when he'd done there was  only about 2 feet between them and us - so at that stage I warned John that if he needed to break wind he would have to do so quietly😁.

Initially we were a bit undecided wether to stay one or two nights, but after our walk along the lake edge we quickly decided to move on again tomorrow - possibly because the lake is only a couple of miles long - so it wouldn't really have been worth getting our bikes out for a ride around it, and even if we  had some of our journey would have been on the road.

Nantua, as well as being very beautiful, is also the resting place of the Deportees' Memorial under which lies a skeletal body.  It commemorates the rounding up of over 1,400 people who were conveyed to concentration camps - 824 of whom never returned.








After our walk we wiled away an hour or two doing not much and then for our Sunday tea I treated us to fillet steak chips and salad all washed down with a drop or two of French 🍷🍷!  And we had just finished clearing up  when a little tap came on T4rdis2's door.  It was our neighbours John and Jackie from down the row - so our day was rounded off with a good old natter about each others adventures, and before we knew it the wee small hours were fast approaching!


Monday 28th August 2017

This morning we left Nantua behind and initially headed along uninspiring and busy roads as we headed towards the Gorges du pont du Diable - which translates to Gorge Devil's Bridge.   Here our journey became much more scenic as the road passed through a high sided gorge with the River Dranse torrenting along beside it, and as we went we spotted several lots of white water rafters challenging the rapids!

Also, in places the road was a bit disconcerting - in places the almost sheer cliff sides were held back by netting  and there was a considerable amount of rubble behind them that would otherwise have been strewn across the roads - and this was only the start of Les Route de Grand Alps!


Having said that the road was really very good and the only real problem was the lack of a decent parking spot for lunch, but eventually one popped up right beside the river so we didn't need much persuading to dive into it while we munched  our butties - the parking space that is - not the river!


From there our journey continued, mostly uphill,on the D902,  through the chic chalet strewn ski towns of Morzine, Les Gets and Taninges until we reached the settlement of Mieussy which is one of the birth places of paragliding in France.  Here we turned off The Grand Alps route and started to climb the more steep road (D 308)  towards The Col Ramaz which lies at 1610 metres above sea level.  This required us to drive along roads with several hairpin bends, through tunnels that prevent whatever's above from falling on your head, and where there is nothing at the side of the road except a long way down!



However, we didn't quite get to the top - John had earmarked an Aire at a ski station just short of the summit - and it turned out to be a bit of a lonely place - we were surrounded by jagged peaks, pine trees and lots of space - just our cup of tea - it was spectacular.  We strolled up the hill for a while and watched a couple of para-gliders jump off the top before returning to T4rdis's comfort to sip our late afternoon cuppa.

Our overnight parking spot at Sommand

Hello!  My Name's Daisy Bell

The only company we had was the moo-sical cows!  Instead of mooing they made quite a tuneful sound with their rather large bells - it was a pretty sound that was quite soothing in the light of day, but when it continued throughout most of the night I quickly came to dislike it intensely!





Tuesday 29th August 2017

Well as you might have guessed I didn't have a very good night's sleep - between the cows ringing and John snoring morning seemed a very long time coming, at times it almost seemed as if the bovines were playing Ring-a-ring-a-roses around the van!  Then, would you believe it - just before getting up time all went quiet - I think they'd gone to be milked!


The morning dawned hot and sunny again, and our first task  (after attending to T4rdis2's ablutions) was to get back down off the Col Ramaz requiring us once again to traverse the twisty turny roads, but what we didn't expect along the way was to get caught up in a traffic jam - the responsibility for which lay with another huge herd of  🐄🐮🐄🐄🐮 mooo-ving to pastures new!  They didn't really delay us for long but after they'd gone T4rdis2 had to be very careful about wheel placement!

Our target for today was an Aire that lies in the shadow of Mt Blanc, so once again, as you would expect, this required a good deal of uphilling.  Quite early in our journey the mountain loomed up before us providing wonderful views of it's snowy peaks - we later learnt that we were quite lucky with this because apparently the peaks had been buried in swirling cloud for the past couple of weeks - but today it was as clear as a bell!  

Mt Blanc (The White Mountain) is the highest mountain in The Alps and the highest in Europe west of Russia's Caucasus Peaks.  It rises 4,808 metres above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence!

The road that we needed to travel up to the Aire at Plaine Joux was much like a very long noodle that had been tossed out of a pan and had strewn itself in a convoluted 15 kilometre uphill squiggle with lots of blind corners, narrowings, jagged cliffs and more long drops at the side.  On the way up it took us through the flower strewn settlements of Passy, Bay and Plateau-D'Assy before we reached the summit at 1353 metres where we found a parking spot with uninterrupted views of the magnificent mountain right from our windscreen

The view was very hard to tear our gaze away from, but on the plateau there was plenty more to see! There were quite a few people acting like lemmings - taking a leap of faith and throwing themselves off the shear side of this very high hill and then gracefully descending to the valley floor far below!




And there were also more bells - but this time being rang by a gentleman in a very tuneful melody!

After thoroughly exploring our immediate area we took a stroll along one of the many hiking paths down to The Green Lake (Lac de Vert), the forestation around which provided some shade from the unremitting heat of the sun - but then our traverse back up the hill to T4rdis2 ensured we were well overheated by the time we got there!

The whole plateau had a very magical quality which was  mainly provided by the looming presence of  Mt Blanc - and I think the memory of it will stay with us for a long time to come -  it' s somewhere that we feel very honoured to have been able to visit!

Wednesday 30th August 2017

Well, what goes up must come down, and we did - mostly in first and second gear, thus quite slowly, but at least our brakes didn't suffer to much!  Today we headed for Lake Annecy, but on the way we had the 'pleasure' of passing through another ravine - this time The Gorge de l'Arly - another beautiful road (D 1212) where we were closed in by high cliff walls and where it seemed some people had a bit of a death wish in their urgency to get past our big bus! 

Lake Annecy

Anyway, we arrived safely at an Aire at Faverges which is about 5 miles from Lake Annecy and  about 7 from the town, but despite that we'd picked it because it has a launderette at the supermarket nearby - after 10 days our laundry pile is in urgent need of attention.   However, the weather forecast prevented me from getting on with that mundane task because today was hot and sunny and rain is predicted for tomorrow!  Therefore, after lunch we nipped off out on our bikes to see the lake, but as it's circumnavigation  is 50 kilometres we'd no intention of going all the way around.  Instead we satisfied ourselves with riding about half way along it's length before we stopped off at one of it's leisure areas to watch all the 'messing about on the water'.  There were all manner of crafts and people in and on it- and as it's said to be the cleanest lake in Europe (because of strict environmental regulations that were introduced in the 1960s) maybe the crowds shouldn't have been a surprise.

In all we covered about 22 miles, but for an afternoon ride in the heat of the day that was far enough for both of us - especially as chores awaited our return!  But when we got back we sat and enjoyed a cool drink and generally whiled away the time until it was far to late to start our laundry - Oh well tomorrow will do - and if it rains as the weather man says it might I'll need something to keep me occupied! 

So that's our story so far - so till next time it's goodbye from me and it's goodbye from him - Take care 😗

To see our French camping spots Click Here

Our Very Own Tour de France! Day 1 - 4

Canterbury -  To Lake Chantecoq

Tuesday 22nd August 2017

This morning we left Canterbury to board our P&O ferry to Calais - usually we use DFDS to Dunkirk but as their single fare cost more than our return ticket we decided to have a change.  And other than the ferry being half an hour late our crossing was quick and trouble free - so guess which company we'll be using in the future.

We arrived in Calais about 3pm French time and from there we had an 80 mile drive to a little town on the North coast called Le Hourdel.  The towns history is steeped in all things fishy, and it's still possible to buy 'the fruits of the sea' from small stalls that line it's harbour.  Le Hourdel is also the place where the River Somme flows into the North Sea, and this along with the sand and shingle beaches ensured the area was very busy with tourists - it was heaving when we first arrived!  This didn't bode well for us finding a  vacant parking spot in our target Aire (which can hold 20 vans) and that assumption turned out to be quite right as we were just pipped to the post by a little van - leaving no room at the inn for us.  Therefore, John had to do a fair bit of manoeuvring to turn us around  before we headed back in the same direction that we'd come.  However, as we'd approached the site we'd noted numerous vans parked up on any spare level bit of land, so as a vacant spot presented itself - we did the same.


The photo doesn't really do our night's resting place justice because it's taken from too low down, but from our windows we've got views over The River Somme where it empties into the North Sea, and as an added bonus, there is a colony of adult and adolescent seals basking on the far bank.  We've often said our wild camping spots are the best ones - and this one is certainly living up to that sentiment!

Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th August 2017

Yesterday and Today have both been more travelling days - 80 and 110 miles respectively, and this has brought our total to 5 consecutive  days in the saddle, so by the time we got to today's resting place we were more than ready to hang up the ignition key and have a day off - which will be tomorrow!

However, that's not to say that our journeys haven't been pleasant and interesting, especially as we ventured further into the hinterland of France, passing through  many miles of rolling farmland where crops have either been gathered in or are waiting their turn, and also through areas of dense forest where it looks as if some of the leaves are already turning a bit autumnal!  We've also  passed quite a few immaculate  War Cemeteries and Memorials where mostly French Soldiers have been laid to rest or are commemorated - when you see so many hundreds of graves it's a very sobering vision - the soldiers buried there all belonged to someone and many of them lost their lives well before their time!

Happily, our journey so far has been mostly stress free with good roads that often ran parallel to the toll motorways - we'd ensured we'd avoid paying tolls as much as we could, and in so doing we found ourselves passing through lots of very pretty villages which have proved to be much more interesting than mile after mile of motorway.  But we did experience one episode of horror when Mrs Snoopy threw a wobbly yesterday and completely conked out.  This is our second Mrs Snoopy Sat Nav and the first one went to her grave yard in exactly the same way - so when the failure occurred we thought she was permanently KAPUT.  However, later she resumed the task for which she takes up space and now  we think she just overheated in the very warm sunshine that was beating through our windscreen. I don't want to speak to soon but today she's behaved impeccably,  so now we're just keeping our fingers crossed that this continues for the rest of this tour! ( We will have to turn the air con on to ensure she keeps her cool!)


On Wednesday night we stopped at a lovely Aire in the hamlet of Longpont which lies in a large valley close to the forest de Retz.   There was only room for 3 vans and we were very happy to pop into the last available space - an area that was very generous when compared with some other French Aires.
The Aire is situated in a partially shaded courtyard where picnic tables were available and where our Belgian neighbours on one side proved to be extremely friendly. They entertained us with a Boules Tournament (which the lady won), and they told us they'd learnt their very good English from watching Telly - maybe our redundant TV could have a use after-all!

Once we'd settled in we had a little potter into the tiny village but other than the magnificent ruins of Longpont Abbey there really wasn't much to see. The Abbey was founded in 1131 and was home to monks for several centuries, but now parts of it have been converted into a private dwelling that is open to visitors at certain times - but as the tour was only in French we didn't bother.

On Thursday morning we left the Aire - which had no water supply- and nipped back up the road to the Abbey to nick a drop or two from it's cemetery - we've learnt over the last couple of years that graveyards nearly always have a tap!




And then we settled in for an uneventful drive to a lake near Arrigny - uneventful except for our 'rock and roll' coffee stop!  We pulled up in a lay-by by the side of the road, and as the lorries rushed by we were rocked quite violently - and on the other side was a train track - so the rocking was reciprocated by the woosh of passing trains - it really was a good job I didn't overfill our cups 🌊🌊🌊

We eventually arrived at today's target Aire at about 3ish, and as it's right beside Lake Chantecoq which has a lovely cycle track that circumnavigates,  you can probably guess what we'll be doing tomorrow! Oh, and it was a good job we'd nicked water earlier because the service point here was broken and I'm sure T4rdis2 would have ran dry if we hadn't!


Friday 25th August 2017

Lake Chantecoq AKA Lac de Der

Did I mention it's been boiling hot for the last couple of days - temps creeping up towards 30 degrees, and today was no different.  But despite that, as planned, we donned our cycling togs, slapped on plenty of sun screen and peddled 22 miles around Lake Chantecoq - mostly along a well finished double width track that had fantastic views over the lake for most of it's distance. The lake also abounds with water birds such as herons, great egrets, loons, swans lapwings and ducks to name but a few, so there was plenty to spot as we trundled along.  And after a chat with another English couple I think we might be calling back here again on our way home in October, because apparently each spring and autumn tens of thousands of cranes assemble here in their migration between their wintering grounds to the south and breeding sites in northern Europe - and they told us it's a magnificent sight to see.

And I suppose I should say a little bit about the lake itself!   Wiki informed us that it's the largest artificial lake in Western Europe covering 48 square kilometres and it holds 350 million cubic metres of H2O.  It was created in 1974 to hold the water of the River Marne - thus preventing flooding of the River Seine in Paris, and we also learnt that it's name is derived from it's situation on the Der Plain and also from the submersion of the village Chantecoq when it was constructed.


Along our way there were several beaches and wooded glades so we had plenty of choice when it came to finding somewhere to have our breaks, but even with such dawdling we were still back home by early afternoon - therefore, we had lots of time to sit in T4rdis2's shade with a cool drink and our feet up - we both claimed to be reading our kindles, but I think if the truth was known we caught a few 💤💤💤 as well!



Anyway, I think that's enough for this first episode of 'Our Very Own Tour de France' but I'm sure I'll have lots more to tell you in the next few days by which time we should have reached the start of 'The Route de Grandes Alps'

Click here to see our French camping spots

On Tour Once More !

On Tour Once More 😁

Monday 14th - Monday 23rd August 2017

On Sunday 22nd we left Swanwick and set off on another Grand Tour, but before that a whole week had passed since my last blog! On Monday we were on Grandma and Grandad duty again looking after just Thomas - our other Grandchildren were on their hols! Evelyn had accompanied Mummy and Daddy on their 💝Honeymoon💝 and Jack was living it up 🏊with his Mum and Dad in Lanzarote.































Thomas's visit coincided our need to move T4rdis2 to fetch LPG so while he was with us he  got his first ride out in the van, and as we were already mobile we thought we may as well make a day of it by visiting Carsington Water near Ashbourne.  While we were there we indulged in lunch (ham sandwiches in T4rdis2's comfy confines), feeding the ducks, blackberry picking, exploring and bouncing - I would have loved a go but the weight limit was 70kg - so that counted me out!

On Tuesday we just had a quiet day at Thomas's home playing games and catching up on odd jobs and admin that needed to be completed before our departure, and on Wednesday we treated ourselves and our very dear friends Sharon and Paul to a posh meal out at Anoki - an Indian restaurant on the A38 near Burton.  The food and the company were first class, and made all the better because our meal was free!  I'd been given a voucher for a 5 course banquet for 2 for helping out at a 'Fun Day' at  Shining Star's Nursery (where our daughter Sarah is the manager), and Sarah treated Sharon and Paul because Paul is teaching her to drive.



I think it's fair to say we all had a brilliant time and the only thing wrong with it was that our evening passed far to quickly - good friends are hard to come by and we would very much have liked to have spent more time with them during our recent stay, but because of their commitments and our  💒'big event'💒 it just wasn't to be this time.

Thursday passed as mostly a lazy day with a bit more babysitting thrown in for the evening while Sarah and Paul went out for a posh nosh, and then came Friday which was T4rdis2's service day.  We were up bright and early and the van was left at the garage by 8.30am - thus rendering us homeless for the day, but luckily Sarah and Paul are very generous and hospitable with their home so we were able to share it while we waited for ours to be returned!  But really only John passed his time there - I nipped off into Derby to meet another dear friend - Sandra, and of course, while we were together we treated ourselves to a very delicious lunch in the Brasserie at Bennett's.

And that wasn't the only feast I had that day - for supper we'd been invited to Val John and Mum's house for Indian Takeaway - another lovely evening that was passed very convivially with good company, delicious food and a drop or two of 🍷🍷🍷 - at this rate I'll never be able to bounce at Carsington!

Happily, T4rdis2 got through the service with flying colours and no recommendations for any work that needed to be done, so we can now go off on our travels with an easy mind concerning our ships mechanical functions!

Saturday was our last day at 'home' and it was spent restocking our cupboards and saying a few goodbyes, but it also held a few 'scares'!  John got his bike out of the garage only to find that the controller that allows the power assist levels to be changed was 'knackered'.  The bike was stuck in 'tour' mode so it was just about usable, but really this couldn't have happened at a worse time - our ferry to France is booked for Tuesday so we've got very little time to sort it out.  I rang 'Bikes Direct' where we had them from and they suggested that if we called in on Monday on our way to Dover  they may be able to help - so now we're just keeping everything crossed that this will be the case.

 And that wasn't the only issue of the day!  I plugged my computer into our inverter to charge and ....zilch .... not even one tiny amp was toddling down the wire!  John poked, prodded, swore and grumbled but the blasted thing didn't  respond - and the inverter is a piece of kit that it would be very hard to do without on our impending voyage because we plan to spend quite a bit off time of grid!   Therefore, we decided we'd catch the bus into Derby to  buy a new one, but just before we left John had another tinker with it - and hey presto - we'd got power!  I'm not sure what sort of gremlin was messing with it, but just in case he returns, we've decided to buy a spare for our impending travels!

Finally, Sunday  arrived and this was our day of departure for our very own 'Tour de France' - but by the time we'd messed about filling up with diesel and LPG and then called at Maplin's  to buy the new inverter, we didn't get an early start.  However, that didn't really matter because we were only going as far as a campsite called Barnstones near Banbury - the journey all the way to Dover is a bit to far to tackle all in one go, and as the weather turned out to be almost continuous heavy rain in the afternoon we were quite glad to stop and take some R&R time.

So that brings me round to today - Monday!  As expected the M25 was busy and we had several episodes where we felt we were sitting in a big car park, but after about 3 hours we arrived at Bikes Direct where we handed John's bike over for further investigation and possible fixing.  The chap there was a bit pessimistic to start with, and he warned that if we needed parts it would take 3 weeks to obtain them from Germany - so we really thought that was the end of our bike riding for this tour. However, we left the 🚲 with him while we went and had lunch, and low and behold, much to our delight, he'd fixed it within an hour- and as it was still under warranty we didn't even have to pay!


Then it was forwards and onwards for another couple of hours to the Aire at Canterbury where we're staying overnight before our mid-day ferry tomorrow over to Calais -  and really we only just got there in time! When we arrived there were only 3 spaces available, and within half an hour the place was packed, but despite that, vans kept rolling up and trying to squeeze in!  Also when we arrived we got a bit of a shock - when John checked the ferry times he realised some 🐴silly mare🐴 had booked a journey from Calais to Dover for tomorrow and Dover to Calais for the 30th October!  We thought it was going to cost us a fortune to correct it, but in the end all Ferry Savers wanted was a tenner for the alteration - so no calamity there!

This tour will hopefully take us over The Route des Grandes Alpes, starting at Thonon-les-Bains and passing over all the high passes of the Alps before terminating on the French Riviera.  The inspiration for our journey came from Our Bumble - a fellow blogger who has a much more professional site and fantastic pictures - and having read their story I think if we enjoy it as much as they did we're in for a rare treat and a tour that will be memorable for many years to come.

Anyway, that's about all for now so I'll start practising my French and say Au Revoir until next time 😙😙😙

Click here to see our UK camping spots

Lots of Grandma and Grandad Duty - And a Very Grand Wedding

Lots of Grandma and Grandad Duty - And a Very Grand Wedding

Saturday 5th - Sunday 13th August 2017

Well that's over another week that has passed by of our 38 night stay at 'home', and although it's been very hectic it's also been extremely enjoyable and precious time with our family.

On Saturday (5th) we trotted off to meet our son Ben's in-laws to be - Mike and Jane.  Ben and Louise have been together for 6 or 7 years now but this was the first time we'd managed to get around to saying 'hello' properly - and we did it in grand style with afternoon tea at Horsley Lodge Golf Club. Our feast consisted of dainty sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and a huge selection of cakes all presented on vintage china and washed down with a large selection of teas from around the world - it was lovely and relaxing and it provided a very convivial spot to make friends with our new relations.

Then on Sunday we spent the day preparing ourselves for the next few busy days to come - we put our feet up and worked hard at relaxing all day - I'm sure that's what the Sabbath is for!

Monday saw us spending time with our Grandson Thomas and  little Granddaughter Evelyn - we spent several hours making play-dough models and chasing them around the campsite before nipping down to see Great-ma (John's Mum).


However, once we were there the main attraction for the kids was the park which is just across the road - the water play area was a great draw and Thomas ended up soaked through to the skin, but Grandma, Grandad and Evelyn managed to get away with only a few splashes 😂😂😂.

After that we had two weary children but that was soon sorted out by a quick 😴💤😴 for one of them as we drove  back to Sheffield when we took Evelyn home!

On Tuesday just Thomas was entrusted into our care but unfortunately on that day rain stopped outdoor play and we had to make do with telly, ipad and indoor games- but mousetrap and Lego seemed to ensure  that nobody got really bored!



On Wednesday it was Jack's turn to visit us, but as the day started wet and drizzly we  once again had to rely on play-dough and indoor games to provide entertainment - but as the weather improved in the early afternoon we packed a picnic and set off for The National Trust's Ilam Park where there was a play trail, forests and trees to climb to keep Jack entertained.

And then came 💒Thursday 10th August 💒- the big day that we'd all been waiting for for the last 20 months -💒 Ben and Louise's Wedding Day💒 !  Our morning started early with a short trip down to Sarah and Paul's house to get ready - Sarah and I went and relaxed at Serene Retreat to have our hair and makeup done while the boys took their time getting ready at home!

John and I with the Bride and Groom

Then at mid-day we were all scrubbed up and ready for the big 'off' to the venue which was the lovely Whirlowbrook Hall on the outskirts of Sheffield. The Hall is set in huge elegant gardens and stands elevated above extensive lawns which provided a magnificent back drop for the many hundreds of photos that were taken - a 'few' of which I'm sharing below!  The day was absolutely perfect, and was made even better by almost unbroken sunshine, wonderful company, and of course, seeing our 'baby boy' saying 'I do'.  We also had the opportunity to meet up with friends and relatives that we don't see very often, and of course, we were all thoroughly entertained, not only by the gorgeous wedding itself, but also  by the antics of the young children who rushed about playing, hiding and dancing throughout the day.

The Happily Married Couple, and off course Evelyn

The Page Boys - Jack and Thomas
standing to Attention - that was the stillest
they were all day!

Evelyn enjoying ice-cream!

The Bride and Groom with Louise's Mum and Dad

Sister Val, Mum, John, Sister Ange and Sister Cath

Sarah, Paul and Thomas

Vicky Adam and Jack

Jack, John, John (Val's husband) and Thomas

Me being a bit silly!

Most of the family boys - Kev (Ange's husband), John, George (Cath's husband) Adam
Ben Paul and Thomas

And of course The First Dance
But a little someone had to steel the limelight!

The little ones all behaved impeccably, but as the evening wore on some of the 'big boys and girls' became a little inebriated with all the free flowing 🍷🍷🍻🍺 so as with all good weddings, a little light heart naughtiness crept in!

We finally left the 'do' at about 11.30 and then sped back to Swanwick to wearily climb into our comfy beds in T4rdis2.

And after all that excitement we came back down to earth with a bit of a bump on  Friday!  We had to do mundane tasks like shopping and visiting the dentist before returning our hire car on Saturday morning.
However, Saturday was another lovely family day where we ended up inviting lots of them to the campsite for a barbecue style tea.  In total there were 18 guests - and cooking for 20 people in T4rdis2's confined quarters was a bit of a challenge - but in the end everyone got fed and watered and we all had a lovely afternoon in the sunshine where we reenacted the cutting of the cake!

And that brings us around to today (Sunday) where we've awarded ourselves another day off!  We've just got a week left now before our departure to France for our Grand tour over the Alps so I think we might spend some of our time doing a bit of planning and booking ferries etc, but we're quite determined we'll also be spending some of the day with our feet up relaxing in the sunshine, and also tucking into a steak dinner with a bottle of red to accompany it this evening!

So for now it's cheerio from us, and by the next time I put my fingers on the keyboard we'll probably be off on our travels again 😙

Click here to see our UK camping spots