Terrafirma Travels

We did the French thing of ordering a fresh baguette for collection at 8am. It was actually our second breakfast, and v. welcome.  Nic suggested a spot of table tennis.  Nice idea but... The ball had no bounce, and kept falling into a muddy patch. It was not a good game. We longed for our own kit and our usual table. We packed up the van to take a trip down the road to the Ackerman Caves, home of one of the region's most famous sparkling wines, Cremant de Loire.  We wandered around the extraordinary caves in a self guided tour.  The 'caves' are actually old stone excavations, ideal for making and storing wine. We spotted some giant aged bottles and gasped at the soaring height of the so-called cathedral with its small hole of natural light. We learned about all the stages of making fizz. At the end of the tour were some rather fanciful art installations.  And of course, the ritual degustation. We tried 2 small glasses of fizz each. It was delicious and we bought...

Long drive day, 5 hours on the road plus stops, 540km, lovely, empty motorways, €60 in tolls! Sunshine and showers. Green landscape, no towns seen. If Camp de Lyon was 'city scruffy' tonight's Huttopia Saumur is 'country scruffy' in a nicer way - mildly bohemian/hippy vibe. Big, flat pitch - hoorah. We don't quite have a view of the Loire valley from the van - didnt have the smarts to book that kind of pitch.  On the way in, along the Loire, we happened upon many Caves offering tours & tastings. Signed up for one about Cremant Loire, our favourite posh fizz, as soon as we arrived at the site, well just after an ice lolly.

We were waiting at the campsite bus stop by 10am, with a crowd of other campers. Our bus thundered through junctions, taking no prisoners despite the fact it was a huge bendy bus. After 20 mins we reached a station where we planned to take the metro into the old town. But our Santander credit card would not allow entry into the metro. Two kind local women tried everything to help. The ticket machines were broken. L tried loading the Lyon travel app into her phone but it refused to load. We were apparently stuck. Until L tried her debit card, et voila. We had not realised that only a debit card would do. Had a coffee in the centre, wandered around the old town. Found a traboule, one of the mysterious ancient passageways that are to be found around old Lyon. The door has a brass plaque requesting the curious to be quiet when they enter in. The stone interior winds around different high buildings and ends up in another street. Very Gormenghast, or Harry Potter.  By now it was time for...

A cool grey morning dissuaded us from a swim, and anyway it's a long drive today. We feel like we're headed 'downhill' to home now with only 6 days left ... but we still have the delights of France. Prompt departure at 9am all of 200m to El Gigante supermarket for more food & drink topups plus paracetamol. On the road (many roads ... have I said what a mess the road system is?) by 10 as planned. Cloudy sun, good driving day. We've decided on 4 short 'watches' of about an hour and twenty, with a long break at Chamonix, because these roads and traffic are quite tiring.  Good road and less traffic as we head north west towards Mont Blanc, much easier driving. Pee stop and swap drivers somewhere. As we get into the mountains the scenery is excellent and the series of tunnels quite stupendous. Only 5 cars and a few minutes queue, and no customs, to pay €56 (!) to transit the Mont Blanc tunnel - it's impressive but at 11.6km it's shorter than the other...

L went for a run inside the enormous campsite, as the security gates will not open until 0730, too late for our schedule. She tried to run on grass or concrete to avoid waking the sleeping hordes in vans and tents. Coughed endlessly as pollen blew in a fierce breeze.  By 0915 we were ready for the bus to the ferry port to take us to Isola Madre, one of the famous Borromean islands on Maggiore. Reception suggested that instead of the bus, we take the child-friendly road train that picks campers up to take them into town. We agreed. It was a rollicking ride, first of the day. Cost us twice as much as the bus! A number of jolly German couples got on board, laughing like drains, and soon we were dropped off at a street market somewhere near the port. No signposts to help, in Italy everyone assumes you know where to go. The tourist office told us where to find the ferry ticket office and we bought our round trip tickets. It was not where Reception had told us, with full confidence....

L forgot to mention yday the great porridge incident; she got up quickly because the kettle was boiling and tipped the table - which in fairness is very tippable. Two bowls of porridge half-emptied into the driver's seat, and N just managed to save his coffee from adding to the mix. Much cleaning up,  and today the seat looks fine, although the driver's trousers yday were damp. Took the 'pretty' route to Como i.e. no motorway, and it was pretty ... tortuous. The Italian road system is a jumbled mess.  Without Mrs Googlemaps we would still be out there. Another trillion roundabouts, and OMG the Italian driving is v close to being a contact sport. Don't get us started on the state of the roads. Also all the buildings in this part of Italy seem tired and grubby - the whole place looks run down. The people, of course, are all lovely.  Como is big and choked with traffic and the road system is a mystery. Still, we found the ideal parking spot facing the lake and just 5 m...