Across Northern France to Switzerland

Shortly after leaving Brugge, we went back into France where we spent the next 3 days travelling across to arrive in Switzerland on the 13th June.
I am finding travelling on the roads very very stressful with having a wide vehicle on the opposite side of normal on narrow roads through rural villages as we travel across Northern France. I got close to wanting to just jump out and return to NZ, Bill more than happy to push me in these moments (probably after he has strangled me). At this rate we will be returning home to go separate ways.

Lovely & peaceful Campsite

And then we arrive at these pretty peaceful camps in or close to lovely little villages and the world returns to normal where we walk or bike around, having a drink in local cafes and back to talking to each other once again.


Le Quesnoy Thanks to Gman
A small village,(or commune in Fr) strategically placed, that didn't really grow into notoriety till the middle ages.

Entrance into Old Le Quesnoy

It was designed as a fortified walled village, then restrengthened after a low key take over in the 14th century and now in some decay but as a fortified area is amazing

Lots of moats around Le Quesnoy

with two layers of defencive walls and moats plus the added ability to flood different areas of said moats to quickly dampen any attackers spirits.
But the real connection here, as I didn't know, but sure some will, is the Kiwi  WW1 angle.

The WW1 Memorial to NZ Soldiers

The village had been under a harsh German occupation for 4 years and the Kiwis were given the unenviable task to liberate it which they did, with no loss of civilian life but a nasty fight anyway with the added difficulty of scaling the high walls first. Luckily the flooding bits were no longer working. There will be books written on this & they will flesh out a more accurate story than my brief description, so the village regards us well. We were wandering the quiet streets (its still pre holidays here so there are a few travellers but not many), when a guy just walked up to us and started to tell us in articulated gibberish (could be french) where the memorial to the kiwis is located (presumably) at the point of their unexpected arrival. How he picked us I have no idea, it could've been my Hop Federation Tshirt with Aotearoa on the back, or the stuffed kiwi hats we wear...... I don't know.

Bill & Helen

Several streets are named in honour of the Kiwi effort with Rue Waikato being one of the main thoroughfares and have included a photo specifically for Cousin Kevin to mull on.Yes she is a world known figure that many respect, including Le Quesnoyans! We enjoyed a "blond beer" as a reward for flying the flag in this ancient town in a typical small town French sidewalk cafe.

Not every ride is easy!

We hunted down summer and damn we found it. The Island and coastal temperatures of France have truly been left behind as we entered the Champagne district. The temperature has shot up (guessing) 10 degrees C over the the 120 km we've headed inland, yesterday and then today, this is warm like Europe is warm, should've checked the bloody air con before we left!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Etoges

From Le Quesnoy we drove on down through the Champagne region, beautiful countryside. We visited the town of Etoges, quaint wee village but as it was siesta time the place looked all closed up with no sign of people.

Chateau Etoges

With summer here, the houses have their shutters shut which makes the places look abandoned, but this is how they keep them cool. We saw the lovely Chateau Etoges, but it didn't look like they would appreciate our campervan parked up on their front lawn.
We continued onto Sezanne where we found the camp just outside the town up on a hillside, It was lovely and peaceful and very soothing after another stressful day on the roads.

Paved narrow passages

The next morning we rode down into the town & found an English map at the Information Centre that took us on a walk around the historic town.

Another passage way

After a few misread directions, lost in translation on my part, we eventually got right around the original parts of the town.

Main Street

Bills next building project

 The architecture is amazing, and with some being restored to original, would be very challenging.

All a workshop needs - stones & tiles

Garages are full of quite different materials to what Bill would have at home. We have not had the luxury of time to sample any "Champers" thus far as we still have a way to go, but seeing its reasonably central I am sure the opportunity will be explored at a later time.

Streets of Langres

Continuing on to the Medieval town of Langres, arriving at peak time, added to the stress of trying to find our way into the camp which was up on the hill inside the old city walls. Perfect location for a medieval town, with 7 towers and 7 gates and 3.5 km of ramparts, which was great for walking along.

One of Langres Gates

In the morning we walked the city wall, a total historic immersion with outlooks over the stunning countryside.

Cathedral of Saint Mammes

 The church also was special, very original and with the Gregorian Type chanting just audible as you walked round the unlit cloisters, the history was palpable

Along the ramparts of Langres

From here it was one final step into Switzerland via the town of Basel. We had no knowledge of the area but the motorways, highways & byways all converge in the area including the river Rhine (a flow somewhat larger than Nelsons Maitai). Little did we know that it is a large industrial town,sharing 3 borders and a huge hub of transit. We got into a queue on the motorway then Bam! your in Switzerland, no welcome, just pay your road tax!!!!, which we did, with some confusion as 1, we were over 3.5T and 2, we wanted to stay longer than a few days, so we agreed on a month, this was for road tax, didn't even look at our passports, guessing we can stay as long as....... Sorry for our Hosts here.
So with a little more stress on the motorways we have arrived at our hosts, Sheryl's niece Amanda, Rico, Luna & Caio, where the welcome was warm & friendly. We are parked up in a very pleasant area in the town of Sursee, which all going well will be our base for the next few weeks.

Brugge

Looking up toward the city centre of Brugge

Brugge was not disappointing.
It is a delight and had we not been steered there by goodly advice would probably have missed it. My only comprehension of this medieval city was thru the eponymous film, which I recall as a black comedy, enjoyed! Another good experience of it , in hindsight is a Maisie Rika music video we were enjoying 2 years ago on U Tube which obviously now, was shot here in Brugge.  Catch if you can.

Interesting art around the city.

Its charm and appeal lies in its subtly changed form, from a ancient city to a functioning town for a real population with a reliance ,welcome or not , on tourism.

Market Square

It is done so well, traffic is so controlled that wheeling thru on bikes, crossing & recrossing its canals is a superb way of easily quartering the old city in a day, and the

One of the many canals around Brugge

 buildings though modernised had none of the modernity that English towns and villages have been unable to suppress, ie sky dishes,TV aerials and wiring to china tacked on to the buildings exteriors.

 Perhaps the biggest real difference is the lack of motor vehicles deposited in every conceivable place, as I say a delight!! So cheers to Brugge.

Belgium is the birthplace of good beer, sadly I report we did not pass an hour or two in the "Brugge Markit" watching the world go by, finalising large securities or promissory notes(where it all started they would have you believe) drinking good beer, it was a cruel thin wind off the the channel, as we have experienced for the last few days in south of England, now in coastal France and Belgium. It simply wasn't pleasant, so ended our day at a floating bar 2 mins from where we are camped, drinking local bottled beer which was by my rating system "pleasant enough".

Market Day full of colour

We elected to stay for the Wednesday morning markets and gosh... glad we did.
A market entirely of fooooood and flowers only.

Bill loves his sausages

 The fruit & veges were so good (got some nice rhubarb & lovely nectarines at very reasonable prices, and some lovely rotisserie chicken for tea, and a tiny amount of cheese to be going on with. It would be easy to buy silly, but we resisted.

So many cheeses to choose!

The quantities of produce were huge & varied, we arrived in early at 9ish and it was steady but would expect it to start thronging, indeed after the hour we spent, it had got considerably busier.

Push bikes parked up everywhere and a nice relaxed feel to it all on a stunning morning in Brugge.

Crossing over to France - our EU adventure has begun

The world is a lesser place for now having lost two of my idiocentric left wing raves about mankind and his environs, they have disappeared into the ether and  I'm not inclined to recreate what was another litaery masterpiece.(it's a conspiracy)

Our boat

So we are sitting in our van under the White Cliffs at Dover docks waiting to cross to Calais and hopefully wend our way onto Brugge for the night and probably tomorrow.We're told Brugge is not to miss so will go this way. In honour of this occasion I've been made to shave (this is Bill writing) and S has indeed used our valuable water and washed her hair. This is a big occasion.
Thankfully they have cleared the floating mines from Calais yesterday and things are good to go for our crossing today.

Parked up nice & early waiting to depart

You enter the docks initially thru border control, very low key, just pass your passports through the vehicle  window ,one laconic eyeball and  a curt Merci and your in France so to speak,  then you come into the queueing system,which is shared amongst the shipping lines. Our line DFD Seaways has 2 routes to France and 44 sailings daily.We are in lane 82E. The price is very very cheap. 50 lb for us & the van. This is amazing, best value we've had in a while . The Chunnel was only going to be 100, so it is a competitive route.The Chunnell would be an experience  but not scenic and we do have a stunning day, in fact  the weather is still treating us well though its like an Southland summer, a mixed bag and  still cool in the wind. We have been on the coast for a few days and with the sea breezes it is  still jacket or at best sleeveless jackets.

Finally coming into Calais

We  haven't hardly started on our travels around the UK mainly as we are heading across Europe to Switzerland, to rendezvous with Amanda &Rico, in a weeks time, this doesn't leave much time to mooch around but our trip down through Italy won't wait. Europe is all so accessible from here so we  will not miss anything.
We will return to UK as I've made contact with my Aunt Sue and would like to catch up with her and her two lads we met 35 years ago. Dads side of the family are a bit thin on the ground now  so will take some digging to locate more  but Sue will help with what she knows, I'm sure.
We have been getting around on our new shiny matching bikes. Very ordinary crossover bikes as you would get from our Warehouse. We put them down on a beach to get some photo's and as we rode away noticed S struggling a bit and as for mine, well that bloody seat suddenly needs adjusting ,till we decided  to swap back, sure we will get it worked out. Seems to be the way to get around however.
The beaches in South England seem to be largely flint stone which is a stone i don't  recall from home. The thing with flint is, that it was the choice of stonemason for his necessities as they could knap a  knife edge on this and it is like glass, for warfare its  excellent, and of course with the uncanny ability to spark well when impacted on metal was good for fire and through to all the early fire arms.. This doesn't even touch on the building uses for this versatile stone , it being the material of choice for all building facings from very  early times, since moving out of the sod huts.I have now collected some small fragments to show you all when we get home and give to some (Sam) to spark their firearms. Presently  have only a few Kgs but sure my stone collection will become more solid as we  go on.
The bird life here is a little different with large crows, ravens, vultures, and rooks, all being a little sinister in our books , have not been able to draw much distinction on them yet as some are only found specifically. We are yet to see a vulture but will have the glasses ready next time S sits still long enough or catches up on her suntan. Pigeons are endemic, as we all know, however even away from the built up areas they are abundant and slightly larger, being called wood pigeons and fair game. We had a game pie with our hosts K&O, including venison, rabbit and pigeon breast.

Waiting to disembark looking out to Calais

We departed Dover on time, and had a very smooth crossing to Calais. Should have been a 90 minute crossing, but after 2 hours noticed we were stalling for time at the entrance into Calais. Finally our Captain spoke apologising for the delay, but the Dock workers had decided to go on strike! This had happened after we left Dover!! They obviously don't have to give much notice. We were allowed to dock, but not disembark as there were no staff to help off load the vehicles. Another 2 hours later, we finally were allowed to disembark. Our first experience of the French ways!

Bills Rating system

Have decided to list a rating system to the beers I have been trying, so you that are interested will have a comparison, this rating  can be applied to all things requiring a rating and may save a lot in the way of explanation. I had a beer in Lewes 2 days ago and it was "Pleasant Enough". So the rankings are from worst to best and Pleasant Enough is a travel high for me, beering in mind :) I'm not really sampling a lot and indeed at night when camped up still having a can of generic lager sourced cheaply from the supermarkets

• 1 "Lets not talk about it."
• 2 "Disappointing"
• 3 "Underwhelming"
• 4 "Not Bad"
• 5 "Pleasant Enough"
• 5 "Gruntled"
• 6 "Fair Gruntled"
• 7 "Overwhelmed"   (seldom used)

Travelling Southern England

We are currently in the town of Lewes (Near Brighton), and its looking like a lovely summers day. We are fortunate with our timing in that the Farmers Market is on this morning (being the 1st Saturday of the month)

Farewell to Waterworks House

We left the sanctuary of our Twyford home (Waterworks House) on Wednesday after gathering as many necessities as we think we need to make our foray into Europe next Monday (the 8th) when we cross over to France. Thank you Kath & Owen for your wonderful hospitality & support over our three week stay.  K&O held a long planned party on Saturday night for some friends with a BBQ where Bill managed to get involved by turning some sausages over in the evening. It was an enjoyable evening meeting a variety of people who have done a lot of travel too. One couple had lived on their Yacht for years travelling the world before settling back into a normal lifestyle in Winchester. For us Kiwi's the temperature was still a little low (freezing) for an outside party, but the hearty English didn't seem to have a problem. They had no idea what a brazier was!

Chalcroft Cottage, Bognor Regis

We bought some new push bikes that were on sale that looked a better deal than second hand ones which the market seemed to be commanding high prices on the local web sites. We now have matching white bikes, that hopefully aren't as desirable as coloured ones. The motor home came with an excellent bike rack & cover, but the down side is that it is hindering the reversing camera for now till Bill can make an adjustment., .

Bognor Regis Beach

Our first stop was Bognor Regis which wasn't too big a distance for our first day. We have found through the Caravan Club Book these rural locations of Registered Certified Sites where people offer their properties to park over for the night. We are trying to find ones just outside of towns where we can ride our bikes or walk into. These sites normally offer water and waste disposal, and lovely paddocks/ grounds in rural locations. Bognor Regis was perfect for a two night stay as it gave us time to check out Bognor Regis on our bikes the first evening, then the next day to check out Arundel where we had seen the imposing castle on our way through when we first bought the motor home the week before.

Arundel Castle in the background

Unfortunately it was very busy with it being the second day of the annual celebration of Corpus Christi - bus loads after bus loads of people were bought into this little historic town which once was a thriving little port back in the 10th Century.

A nice quiet beer

We managed to enjoy a lovely walk around the area & find a small pub around the back streets for a quiet drink & we thought "takeaways". They had a sign to say you could bring in your own food plus offered "takeaways". Great some food! But no - "takeaways" was what you can do with their beer - take it away!
It was a pretty little town, once again full of history. So many Wars / Dukes came and went at the whim of Royalty.

Typical pub across the road from the cathedral

Cathedral & Castle in the background of Arundel

We found the museum after we had over sated our appetite (didn't we Bill?) but unfortunately it was only an hour from closing time at 4, so we were asked to leave before we were ready, much to Bill's disappointment. Once again! :)

Port of Littlehampton

Friday we headed off to Lewes (pronounced Lewis), got in late afternoon, set up on a  lovely farm just out of town, a place called Kingston. Got on our bikes and headed into Lewes via the cycle way (there are plenty of them in England which is great) to check out the town on a Friday evening.

Lewes - view across the Priory ruins

All the commuters were arriving back by train, and cars were pouring into the little one way streets of the town as the weekend approached.

Lewes Castle Gate

After a couple of hours checking out the town, we found the Brewers Arms, a lovely quiet pub on the High Street, where Bill actually had a beer he rated 5 out of 8 on his new scale. (his scale ratings will be the next blog) while I had a quite Sauvignon Blanc.

We then returned to our new home for our first full home meal.

Lovely old homes - no parking though!

Living in our new home - The Hobby

Our "Hobby 600"

Last Wednesday (27th May) we caught the train from Winchester to Rye to pick up
our new home, via about 30 small villages, including Brighton, which took around two & half hours total trip. It was a lovely sunny day, saw a lot of productive countryside, and occasional glimpses of the ocean. It was mid term break last week, so there were lots of families and children travelling making it very busy.

The day before we had confirmed the money went through for the vehicle, and were still trying to follow up our insurance as we travelled. As those of you who know the system here, you can't register your vehicle without first having insurance! We had had a stressful week the week before trying to arrange insurance, which is difficult if you can't prove a residential address (must be on a utilities bill/ bank statement etc) - no the Caravan Club wasn't acceptable apparently! And we wanted to travel Europe longer than 6 weeks! We just did not fit their tick boxes! We did finally get insured, but as you can imagine, at a ridiculous cost. Three times the local rate! Extortion!
But lets not go back there, except to say they gave us grieve the day of pick up by saying they hadn't received our money! But it had gone out of our bank!
We arrived in Rye just after 1.00pm, insurance still unresolved, so I said to Bill we are going to go and have a nice lunch somewhere, and deal with this afterwards.

Port of Rye

Rye is approx 2 miles in from the open sea but is a lovely little historic port harbour as it is at the confluence of three rivers. Lots of cafes / restaurants, but with being Mid Term Break, was very busy.

Our lovely relaxed lunch venue

We managed to find a lovely Italian restaurant where we had a lovely relaxed lunch (the wine & beer did help). We were then picked up by the Motor Home company who took us 5 miles down the road to their premises. Here we used their land line instead of my cell phone, and got into a different queueing system on their 0800 number, which makes them give such a better service. But this isn't available on your cell phone! Anyway, this staff member was much more helpful, found our payment, and all on track with our purchase within 5 minutes! Amazing! Note I am using a lot of !!!, this is because you know I don't use @&*%$*@!* but I must say I was getting close too along with Bill.

JC Leisure in Winchester, who we bought the vehicle from were wonderful, our Salesman Lance (Warwick hope you read this blog if none of the other blogs just so you know we do like "Car Salesmen") was very helpful. So after another hour of paperwork, we were taken out to their workshop (about 10 miles out the other side of Rye). The workshop guys were as wonderful as the mechanics we had for Big Yella at Stuart Drummond Transport's. Spent some time going through the workings of everything inside and out. They had given a full service, so we should be all good for 12 months anyway. At which time we have to have the vehicle back in the UK for it's next MOT (warrant of fitness) as it has to be done in the country it is registered in. So we won't worry about that untill next year.
After going through a bit more paper work, we were finally ready to start our adventure with our new home.

OMG I hadn't really thought about the left hand drive position!! That was really Bill's worry, as he wanted LH drive, so he was going to be the one with that problem. What I didn't think about was the fact I would be sitting out in the middle of the road with NO CONTROL! AND ENGLAND HAS SUCH NARROW ROADS! We were now in peak traffic in a little village, but thankfully that did slow everyone down. Bill was amazing considering he had me screaming at him every 5 seconds "keep left" "LEFT".
As the vehicle comes with no household equipment, we knew we had to stop and provision ourselves. We had been told of the Dunelm Store not too far from Rye, near the main town of Hastings. With my amazing phones GPS (what did we do 35 years ago when were here last??) we got there just after 6.30 pm, thankfully the Super Stores stay open late. An amazing shop with a sale on, perfect. And specials items even better. Then over the road to a Super Supermarket to get the basics, but in particular much needed wine.

Our first night looking out over Church Barn Farm

Then off we went for the last 9 miles of the day to our first nights camper accommodation in the UK, Church Barn Farm in Ninfield, Battle.
Again, OMG, such narrow narrow lanes to drive down, thankfully very little traffic coming back the other way. We eventually found our destination - the perfect ending of a very very stressful day. The Motorhome Club we have joined over here is similar to our NZ one, in that again they are a huge organisation that have a huge number of sites on can park up, but the difference being the services offered. In NZ basic is great, although a lot of people do like toilets and water provided. Here most will have power, toilet / shower blocks / entertainment for children and a property warden. All of which comes at a cost. We were really shocked how expensive it was going to cost a night at the Club sites, but luckily they have affiliated sites, which is where people offer a place to park over for a small fee. These are the sites we will be looking for in future.
We returned to Winchester after a good nights sleep, and continue to stock up for our trip across into Europe to be in Switzerland by mid June.

All is calm on our return to Twyford