Day 10 - Annecy

What an amazing place this is. Fantastic mountain and lake views and a nice old town. One of the nicest places I've ever visited.

col du Semnoz (1670m)

After breakfast decided to go cycling and climb the Col du Semnoz from Annecy, 450m high to 1670m in about 17km. Though! Made a "friend" on the way up, a French guy which didn't speak English at all. I can't speak French either but somehow we understood each other with 3 simple words. Difficile! Magnifique! Amazing! We cycled together for over an hour just to get to the top. It was cold up there, 24º in Annecy and only 8º in the top. Massive difference.

We spent the afternoon in Annecy, walking around the town and spending a lot of time around the lake just enjoying the views and weather. Absolutely amazing views and the color of the water is unreal.

I wish the pics could show how nice this place is!

Our day ended with a bbq, grilled steak and beer and now writing this quick post.

Day 9 - Geneva

Woke up this morning at 7am when the local church was ringing bells for at least 3 minutes... on  a Sunday. And then again every half an hour. Lesson learn here - don't stay near church.

Our plan for today was to go to Geneva, as it was just 30 min bus drive from where we stayed. 

We arrived in Geneva, and almost the first thing that we noticed was how many Portuguese flags are everywhere. Later on we also found many Portuguese restaurants and cafes. Fabio felt like home. haha. 

Geneva is very nice, specially around the lake of course. We walked for quite a long time by the lake, and we still couldn't stop being amazed on how beautiful it is and the water so clear and blue. And the best part - peaceful. It seemed almost strange that city so big is so quiet. 

At lunch we went to small restaurant, and had  the most expensive panini that I've ever had. 

When we came back to our little village, Shelly was waiting for us with a little note on it, that says that this is not a campsite. Oh well. So we left and came to Annecy. Another insanely beautiful lake in the city and we get to stay in campsite, just near by it. We decided to stay in a campsite to take a little break from driving and also we need to wash our clothes. haha

Day 8 - The Storm

Couldn't write this post yesterday, but better late than never.

At the end of day 7, around 11PM after we finish our bbq dinner outside, write our blog posts and just ready to go to bed, a massive storm came to hit us. Thunders and lightning, strong winds and torrential rain. Wind calmed down early, but thunders and rain just kept all night. It was a big adventure because we were plugged in to electricity in the aire, using socket extension, eu-uk adapter plus all kind of adapters, as there was 4 vans plugged in to only 2 places. The rain and wind was so strong, that even if it was under some kind of roof, the extension was getting hit by the rain.It felt quite dangerous and I had to go in the rain and unplug it from our van. Laima was quite afraid, and said she would never sleep in this weather. Just started watching a movie and problem solved, she was sleeping in 10 min even with a big noise caused by the rain. 

Next morning we bought a  fresh baguette, had a nice breakfast and set off. The first half an hour driving we realized how big the storm was, lots of branches destroyed, even trees completely broken, sheds and green houses ruined. A lot of damage but nothing on us. 

After about an hour driving we finally had our first contact with the Alps. What a great experience! We drove into Nantua, which is a town surrounded by mountains and a lake, Amazing scenery but the town didn't really seemed that nice. We were planning to overnight there but decided to move on. Dozens of Portuguese flags everywhere in this little town though. I still had time for a quick 1h20 bike ride, my first contact with serious mountains, went up to 800m and it was incredible.

When we left Nantua, we were planning to overnight in St Juliens Genevois, a town right in the border with Switzerland where we could easily visit Geneve the next day. Again we changed plans. The town was awful, we just entered a car park and there was cars with the 4 tyres off, probably stolen. We just left the town and set the gps to a small village nearby, Neydens. What a great choice, just parked in a nice place, with good great views and very quite (apart from the school party full of kids until around 10pm). The best was, there was a direct bus straight into Geneve from there taking only around 30 min.

Day 7 - Dijon

Woke up this morning with the sad news of UK leaving  EU, but while everyone is talking about that we went for an early morning run and exercise near the Lac du Kir. Yesterday when we arrived there we could order baguette or croissant for the next morning, so today we had a fresh baguette at 9am waiting for us. How nice.

After breakfast we walked to Dijon center, at least 30 min walk each way. But the town is nice and busy with lots of touristic places to visit and shops. I couldn't resist and bought two little jars of Dijon mustard. We didn't have much time there, as we had to check out before 12 pm. And also it was still so hot. 

Weather news were promising rain and thunder, so we got headed forward to find a place to stay tonight.

Stoped in the middle of vineyards to have lunch with surrounded by great views and then headed south to a town called Chalon Sur Saoni where we were planning to stay overnight. It didn't seem like a friendly or interesting place at all, so we just had coffee and changed our plans trying to find a nicer place. We ended up in a very small village, Sornay, lovely aire with only 3 other motorhomes arounds us, free water, services and even electricty.



Weather is still nice, some clouds around promising rain, but still warm. We still had time for a bbq chicken and beer.

Tomorrow we'll keep heading South, getting closer to where we want to be for a while, the Alps region. I already have some big mountains at sight.

Day 6 - It's HOOOOT!

Yes, even for me, used to Portuguese summer weather, today was a very hot day. It's 11PM in Dijon and we're still both sitting outside with a temperature very close to 30º. Mosquitoes are certainly enjoying this banquet.



Today started with a nice walk in the little village where we stayed overnight and then setting off for a few more miles on the road. First stop in Chaumont, cute little town with a really nice feeling. Small and old streets with a lot of people eating and drinking outside in cafes/restaurants. After some shopping, yeyy i finally bought a belt as I forgot mine at home and my shorts were falling all the time, we had lunch and moved on.




Next stop Langres. At the end of the Champagne region, on top of a hill at around 400m high, a nice little town surrounded by walls. Again nice shops and cafes, really great atmosphere in these places but it was 2/3 PM. It was HOT!




Last destination, and from where we are writting this post, Dijon. Near the lake Lac Dir. First payed overnight stay, but it's a lovely place with electricity where we can charge all our van/phones/laptops/etc batteries properly. And wifi, that most important thing these days. There's also a swimming beach in the lake just a few minutes walk away and walkable distance to Dijon city centre. Well, not sure about that yet as we tried to find it about half an hour ago and quit to come back, write this post and finish our bottle of wine.

Awww almost forgot. We bought very cool hats.

Day 5 - Boiling hot

Weather was really nice in the morning so Fabio decided to go for a ride, and I do yoga (in front of all the vans felt a bit awkward) It turned out to be a challenge for me as there was so many mosquitoes biting me. In the afternoon we went forward in out trip and thought to stop in an aire near Lac Du Der Chantecouq. It was a really nice and big place, but unfortunately the water and electricity stations were only at the entrance, so we thought we will have a look at other aires around the lake. We found one aire near lot of bars and cafes near the lake and stopped there to watch Portugal game. Only that none of the bars were showing the game... Because it was already late we wanted to look for a different place to stay, but when we were about to leave, it turned out that the barrier is broken or something and we can't get out of the place we parked. It was already nearly 7pm and the tourism office was already closed, so we managed to find a different way to get out. That is - moving some big stones out of the way and driving over the flowers...

At least we  got out and no one even noticed.. or that's what we think. After breaking the laws we found a small village with a nice aire and decided to stay there and do a little BBQ. Yey. That's what we came here for right?

Also we were the only ones there and it was very quiet. Except few cats in the bins.

Day 4 - Reims and the lovely little village

Reims is a very nice town/city. We are so surprised, we thought it would be very small, but it turns out it's quite big and pretty. We even think it would be perfect to live there. What I liked the most was that streets were not busy. Seems like for such a big town there would be bigger population, but not there.
We noticed that locals walk around with their fresh baguettes, and we found that really funny, so we bought one as well, to fit in.
That baguette was so delicious, we understand the French now.
Reims also have the nicest cathedral. The windows were so beautiful.
Later on we had to go for some shopping + very important  - mains cable for our motorhome. We obviously couldn't find one, so Fabio decided to buy parts and build it himself.

We decided to stay overnight in a small village near Reims, because the aire looked really nice. And yes it is, couldn't ask more for free parking and free wifi  under the trees beside the canal. They also have really beautiful vineyards around. 

And we even went for a run - finally.

Day 3 - Rain Rain Go Away

We slept in, well 9.30 is already late for us. But that was well deserved after all. Finally we could find a grocery shop that's open. Yey we have bread with ham and cheese now.
We drove to Reims today. Long 3 hours drive, but that's about all we did today, as it is raining so much all day. Boooo. Lazy day for us.
Reims looks really nice though. Hope tomorrow weather will get better.

Day 2 - Dover - Calais - Arras

Woke up early and ready for our ferry to Calais. We were so surprised on how big the ferry is and how much cool facilities they have there. Game room - we obviously had to try it. Overall very enjoyable ride.

When we arrived in Calais, we went straight to Arras, except for a quick stop in roadside aire for lunch, which Fabio cooked when we were still at home. I am so thankful for that, as it's so nice to have something ready to eat when we travel.

After few hours drive we arrived in Arras. Seemed like a very quiet town, until we found the main town squares, where all the people were gathering for France - Switzerland game. 

It was a big surprise when we realized that nothing is open at 14.30. Not even one shop. But then again it was Sunday. We only found one gas station which had a small shop, which didn't have much in it, but at least we got some water. 

After dinner we went for a beer in town and tried a little beer tasting. 

Not much to say about Arras, as pretty much everything was closed, but we still enjoyed the day with warmer weather and lesser troubles. :)

Day 1 - On our way

18th of June 2016

All packed and ready to set off, Shelly has just came from a full service and timing belt change preparing for a long marathon. Our trip started with a planned long journey from Leeds to Dover. Ferry booked for the next day at 9:25am, so we were planning to come all the way down to Canterbury and spend the afternoon/evening there.
First lesson learnt: Prepare to change plans! After about an hour drive all the instrument panel in the van stopped working, no speed/temperature/etc indicators, turn lights, etc   stoped in the first motorway services available and no easy fix for me (total noob). Time to find a garage which just became a nearly impossible task on a saturday. The very few which were open were either "too busy" or closing in 10 minutes. After a big detour, around 2h later found an halfords open in Lincoln. After taking instrument panel off, nothing wrong with it they found it was just a fuse. Very difficult to locate the problem, as no one thought one single fuse would control everything, but very simple to fix.  In the meanwhile, and just to make everything better in the retail park before getting to halfords I totally forgot i was driving a 3m high van and hit a metal structure! Ouch! Not a big damage but a very ugly bump in the over cab bed.




After all this troubles we finally managed to get time to have our first lunch of the trip in the motorhome and set off, now with Dover as a destination as there was no time left to visit Canterbury. We just arrived at Dover around 7:45, parked on the marine parade where we would spend the night, and went to find a pub to watch Portugals game and have a well deserved pint and burguer.

Dover didn't seem like the nicest place in the Uk, or maybe my expectations were too high, but we still had a good night sleep after a though day.

Day 0 - Introduction

Fábio & Laima

Welcome to our blog. In this space we'll write about our adventures together, starting with an exciting trip around South Europe in our motorhome very soon.

We are Fabio and Laima, Portuguese and Latvian respectively, living in Leeds, UK. After a few busy years with work we've decided that it's time for a break and take some time to  do some of the things we enjoy the most, travel and outdoor life.

We'll be travelling in our motorhome, Shelly, without a route defined but an idea of travelling through France, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal.