Campervan Tales

Some days the sun shone
Some days the sun shone

Some time ago, when we discovered that the Swiss O Week was returning to Zermatt, we decided to go in the campervan. We had also wondered about going to Yorkshire to sample the Tour but worked out that we could do it in France before the orienteering. So that is what we did. The Lakes 5 Days were taking place at a suitable time for our travels so we included them in the bundle. You can see a version of our itinerary here. All in all, things worked out very well and the van with its new “Co-Pilot” sat-nav system was especially well behaved.

 

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The van on the new Tarbert to Portavadie ferry at the start of the trip

After a flying visit to Stonehouse to see “Caketin” and her Mum and Dad, we called into Morecambe and Salford Quays to catch up with Hilda and Kathleen and Nicholas. En route to Harwich we picked up Tour Highlights and World Cup Finals in various hostelries whose car parks provided impromptu overnight stops. The Botanic Gardens in Cambridge provided a welcome  afternoon break and our only hiccup was to discover that I had forgotten to load the Benelux maps into the sat-nav so we navigated to Luxembourg using a map of the cross channel ferries!

 

Nicely set up in Bessancon.
Nicely set up in Bessancon.

Our first day of driving took us to Bessancon and a overnight stop in one of the main city centre car parks. Nobody seemed to mind and we had plenty of time to sample the pre-start atmosphere. The plan to drive to see the finish at Ayonnax didn’t quite work out we caught the back-markers and struggled to get out of the town because of all the road closures. A quick dash over to the start of the next stage in Bourg-en-Bresse saw us set up in a shopping centre car park with time to spectate the start of the next stage. I’m glad we did it but for me cycling, like orienteering, is not really a spectator event.

Bourg-en-Bresse.
Bourg-en-Bresse.

We decided to leave the Tour at this stage. If we do it again, perhaps we’ll spectate every second stage, to keep the rushing about to reasonable levels. Heading for Switzerland took us to a jazz festival at Bonneville and through the Alps around Chamonix/Mont Blanc. The drive to Zermatt was uneventful and as it turned out, we were extremely lucky with our choice of neighbours at the campsite in Randa.

 

Day 5 - not a line feature to be seen!
Day 5 – not a line feature to be seen!

The weather and the orienteering in Switzerland were varied. Some days better than others. The highlight for me was the re-arranged Day 5 Trockenerstegg with its views of the Matterhorn, its retreating glacier and moonscape terrain. The event and the Zermatt area generally weren’t cheap but the organisers helped by providing great value travel passes as part of the event. Meeting up with Emily, Richard and “Caketin” was great for us and they seemed to enjoy themselves as well.

Suse was impressed with the "buzz" in Glasgow - despite the rain on the last weekend.
Suse was impressed with the “buzz” in Glasgow – despite the rain on the last weekend.

After the event, Suse flew back to Glasgow with E, R & C to do some weeding and to watch the cycling at the Commonwealth Games. I drove back to Calais by myself with lots of stops and snoozes.  There was plenty of time for some cycling and some sketching at Gray, St. Dizier and Guignicourt. Once it finally stopped raining things were actually quite pleasant. Incidentally, I stopped overnight in the same car park in Bessancon but found it a very different place. We must have  moved the Red Light district for a night on the way down and it was obviously intent on making up for the lost business.

I teamed up with Suse again in the Lake District for the Lakes 5 Days. We toughed it out until the Wednesday rest day and both agreed that we’d had enough. Poor weather, crowded roads and generally pretty tired. I think we were both glad to get back to Larick House and get stuck into the garden.