Summer 2015 - 7th Post (France)

26th to 29th June 2015

Prutz (Austria)
Section  51 miles
Total 4014 miles

Stopped over at the campsite at Prutz for three nights, weather hot and mostly sunny. Promised stroms just became a wet night. Used the free travel card and took the bus (90minutes) along the Kaunertal Gletscherstrasse to the Karlesjoch cable railway at about 2750m that went up to 3,108 m to a rocky col with views across the Austrian, Italian and Swiss Alps. The col is actually on the Austro-Italian border. Unfortunately, when I was at the top it was cloudy and grey and the view was not brilliant. There are ice fields above 2700m that fed the Glectscher Glacier. However, when walking down the valley from the cable car station there were good views of an ice fall and the tongue of the glacier - which flows down to about 2000m. Spent another afternoon wandering round on the side of the main Inn Valley through alps and pine forests.

Kaunertal - Permanent Ice-fields at the head of the Kaunertal Valley

Landis - Village with the Inn Valley below

Landis - Village Pond, Castle and Hotel

Kaunertal - Ice-Fall and Tongue of the Glectscher Glacier

 

 

30th June 2015

Scheidegg (Germany)
Section  103 miles
Total 4117 miles

 

Drove through the west of Austria crossing into Germany near the eastern end of Lake Constance (Bodensee). Found myself of the Deutsche Aplenstrasse with great views to the south and the Alps; but locally rolling wooded hills and mainly arable farming. Spent the night at a Stellplatz (German equivalent of a french aire) just outside the town of Scheidegg - wandered around the local hills and pine forests in the afternoon. Getting very hot again.

 

Scheidegg - Foothills rising to the Bavarian Alps from a walk from the Stellplatz

1st July 2015

Ottobeuren (Germany)
Section 81 miles
Total 4198 miles

Initially drove east towards the edge of the Bavarian Alps near Fussen - but the stellplatz I wanted to use has now banned campervans! There was a campsite but the whole place was really busy and crowded. Having been to Fussen a few years back and visited Schloss Neuschwanstein decided to avoid the crowds and headed north to Ottobeuren where there was a free stellplatz at the edge of the town. Wandered through wooded hills (not too steep!) on the bike in the afternoon - mainly to try and keep cool by moving - and then walked into the town in the evening when it had cooled down a bit. The place is dominated by a huge baroque basilica decorated with painted plaster which seems extremely common in this part of Germany. As are cloistered abbeys - although many of the cloisters seem to have been converted into hospitals and similar places.

Ottobeuren - Cathedral



Ottobeuren - Cathedral

Ottobeuren - Display Map showing the Footpaths to the Shrine of Santiago de Compostella in Galicia, Spain

Looking at this explained why I keep coming across the Way of St James, the Jacobsweg or the sign of the Scallop, marking a route, in so many places in France, Germany, Austria and Spain as there are umpteen paths all around Europe! An idea for a van trip would  to follow one of them.

 

2nd July 2015

Bad Buchau (Germany)
Section 43 miles
Total 4241 miles

Heading across southern Germany towards France the next stop of was at Bad Buchau (Bad being German for Bath). One of a multitude of 'Bads' in the area - basically thermal spa resorts. The resort buildings looked quite recent here perhaps seventies or eighties, quite elegant with ornamental gardens for exercise! The Germans seem to take their spas more seriously than the French. The three stellplatz allowed reservations and stays of up to thirty days! The one I parked up on was next to the Fenersee - a large peat filled post glacial hollow with a remnant lake in the middle, which is slowly reducing in size. As usual in these parts clearly signed cycle and walking routes. In the afternoon followed a cycle path around the whole area (about 20km) and in the cooler evening walked along a 1.5km elevated walkway to the lake itself. Expected a lot of bird life; but only saw some warblers (they all look the same to me), kites (which are all over the place in Germany and France), moorhens, mallards and a few swans.

Bad Buchau - Kloister Church
On closer inspection it turned out to be used as a 'Rehabilitation Centre'
with a bar bizarrely situated next to the gateway
 

Bad Buchau - Water, Reed Beds and another Church

Bad Buchau - Kloister Church, Reeds and Water

 

3rd July 2015

Ravensburg (Germany)
Section 39 miles
Total 4300 miles

Continued broadly west towards France to the medieval town of Ravensburg, famous (at least according to Lonely Planet) for games, toys and a multitude of towers. Well there were a few towers, spires a gatehouses - but I was a little let down! The place was heaving with visitors. Cycled down the valley in the afternoon and encountered a huge cloister church that had been converted into a hospital. Various buildings were spread out within the abbey church's ornamental gardens and park - a lovely place to get ill (and hopefully recover)! Well into the mid to high thirties in the afternoon again.

Ravensburg - Tower, Square, Church

Ravensburg - More Towers, Squares, Churches

Ravensburg - Even more Towers, Squares, Churches

 

4th July 2015
Messkirche (Germany)
Section 75 miles
Total 4375 miles

Very basic stellplatz at the edge of the town; but fine for the night. So hot in the afternoon! I just parked up in a shaded wooded picnic area above the town and tried to sleep and went for a stroll at about 5pm. It's amazing how hot the south of Germany can be in the summer and how cold in the winter. You need a siesta and a lot of shade! A few years back I visited a friend in Augsburg a couple of times in the same year - in the summer it was 35C and at Christmas -15C.

Messkirche - Town Church

5th to 6th July 2015

Tuttlingen (Germany)
Section 24 miles
Total 4399 miles

Driving through the Upper Danube Valley with limestone cliffs, wooded hills and gorges ended up in a free Stellplatz close to the centre of a pleasant town in a parkland area next to the Danube. Having visited Schloss Waldstein, now a youth hostel, en route with interesting views down onto the wide, flat bottomed limestone gorge of the Danube. From Tuttlingen, cycled up the valley on a cycle way one day and then walked up to and around the castle hill on a way marked route another. Still high thirties in the afternoon. Did not have the energy to move after one night and stayed where I was! Met a couple from Fife who turned up on the second day - great to be able have long conversations in english - the first time since halfway down Croatia! Strange thing with the Danube near here - about ten kilometres north of the twon the river was virtually dried up (the floor of the valley is limestone karst) and some of the Danube water (which should have ended up in the Black Sea) then flows underground to another river and into Lake Constance to end up via the Rhine in the North Sea! Good for a pub quiz?

Tuttlingen - Danube and Park
The Stellplatz was behind the trees just beyond the bridge

Tuttlingen - Danube and one of the Town Bridges

Schloss Waldstein - Looking down into the Danube Valley
 

7th July 2015

Breisach (Germany)
Section 82 miles
Total 4481 miles

Was heading for Freiberg near the Rhine and French border - but when I arrived at lunchtime the stellplatz was shade less, mainly concrete, full of vans and it was bloody hot - every one was just crashed out in whatever shade they cold find. Moved on to a place right next to the Rhine at Breisach with a large cathedral church on a fortified hill. Some shade from isolated trees manage to get some shade and crashed out in the van and a chair. Really oppressively hot with grey thundery clouds in the evening - sadly, no thunderstorm to kill the heat - just odd lightening flashes and rumbles. The two Germans next door just basked in the sun in the afternoon - I don't know how they did it - they must be acclimatized. Staggered  around the town in the evening.

Breisach - Town Walls and Cathedral

Breisach - Main Street in the Old Town
80% of which was destroyed in WW2

Breisach - Route Marker for Jacobsweg passing by
the Cathedral.

Breisach - Elegant Town Gate and Moat

8th July 2015

Murbach (France)
Section 45 miles
Total 4526 miles

 

Before going into France stocked up with some food shopping at Aldi in the morning. German food is so much cheaper than France and probably cheaper than the UK. Butter was 60p, cucumber was 28p and a bottle of Rioja was £1.45 (haven't tried it yet though!).  Odd that many German and Austrian places don't accept credit cards, I had to pay cash! The day was cooler, cloudy and damp as a beautiful weather front passed over from the west!

Crossed over the Rhine and the Rhine Canal near Colmar and drove up into the eastern side of the Vosges ending up at a tranquil aire in a deep wooded valley at Murbach which had the remains of an abbey church and a medieval garden adjacent. The previous days heat had really worn me down and I only managed a stroll around the abbey and a chapel on the hillside.

Murbach - Abbey Church and the wooded  Ballon des Vosges in the distance

Murbach - Abbey Church
Notice that the nave and aisles have been robbed away and replaced
by a cemetery
(blame the French Revolution - France's answer to Henry VIII's Dissolution)

Murbach - Decorated Abbey Estate Gateway on the 'main road'

9th July 2015

Fontroy-le-Chateau (France)
Section 87 miles
Total 4613 miles

Drove across the southern part of the Parque Regional des Ballons des Vosges initially heading for Bains-les-Bains - aire was busy there so I went on a few kilometres to Fontroy-le-Chateau. The aire was next to the main road, but hardly any traffic after six o'clock. A narrow canal, La Canal de la Est, passes through the village. The place has an air of abandonment - so many empty shops on the main street - just a bar and small grocery store left. Wandered around the village, canal, ruined castle and a couple of hills in the early evening.

Fontroy-le-Chateau - Town Gardens and Ruined Chateau

Fontroy-le-Chateau - Port on the Canal de l'Est
Surprisingly a 'narrow canal' - the lock was a similar width to those in the UK

10th July 2015

Monthureux-sur-Saone (France)
Section 19 miles
Total 4632 miles

A very pleasant landscaped aire, with flowers and shrubs, just adjacent to the Saone, which has its source some twenty kilometres to the north. The Rhine headed for the  North Sea, this one ends up in the Mediterranean after joining the Rhone, near Lyon. A much more prosperous looking town than Fontroy-le-Chateau. This is still in the Vosges; but, at the western edge -  the hills are lower, mainly wooded with steep sided valleys. Followed a trail through the forest in the afternoon which actually followed the bed of a double track railway line for about 7km. No idea where it originally went!

Monthureux-sur-Saone - Neatly Landscaped Aire

Monthureux-sur-Saone - Old Halt and Level Crossing Lost in the Forest Walk 



Monthureux-sur-Saone - Some information about the  Halt
(I am confused after the second  line !)
 

 

11th July 2015
Goncourt (France)
Section 39 miles
Total 4671 miles

Continuing with the river them crossed wooded hills and much more open valleys than the Vosges and ended up adjacent to the Meuse (which ends up in the North Sea). Getting hotter again and it was pretty exhausting walking in the afternoon through some rock formations and deep into a forested area. Best laid plans....I carefully put the French IGN 1:25,000 map onto my phone so I could use the GPS app that I have on it if I had problems in the forest (I always get lost in forests - you can never see any landmarks or topography). Of course I got lost..went to get the phone out and use the GPS and found that I had carefully left it in the van. Had to carefully trace my way back from memory (fortunately most of the route was way-marked)..hence an intended two hour walk became a five hour hike! Another pleasant aire at the edge of the village adjacent to a very slow moving river covered in water lilies which are not yet in bloom - must look amazing when they are.

Goncourt - Water Lilly covered Meuse next to the shady Aire
On the hillside the forest I was lost in! 

12th July 2015

Lailey-en-Val (France)
Section 244 miles
Total 4951 miles

Arranged to meet up with Graham and Vicki (two friends from Lancashire), who are having a six week holiday in the Loire/Brittany area in their camper, in a few days time - so headed cross country towards the Loire via Auxerre (looks well worth a visit at a future date). Stopped and visited Chateau Sully on the Loire in the afternoon and spent the night at an aire closer to Blois at Lailey.

Sully-sur-Loire - Chateau Sully

Lailey-en-Val - Neatly Landscaped and Very Crowded Aire

 

13th July 2015

Laval (France)
Section 144 miles
Total 5059 miles

Continued along the Lore Valley around Blois (visited in 2013), then cross country to La Fleche, where I spent a lazy afternoon, and then on to the town aire Laval, just south of Rennes. Which is on yet another river this time the Mayenne. Full and busy as it is a four day holiday for a lot of people for Bastille Day (14th July)

La Fleche - Le Loire
(not to be confused with La Loire - the river with all the Chateaux)

La Fleche - The Chateaux
(nowadays the Hotel de Ville)

La Fleche -Imposing Entrance to the Famous Military Academy

Laval - Old Town Bridge on the Mayenne

Laval - Old Town and Chateau
(not sure what the imposing building on the left is)

14th July 2015

Morlaix (France)
Section 131 miles
Total 5190 miles

Last hop to catch up with G&V in the town aire at Morlaix. Pleasant meal together with them, provided by Vicki and then a walk into town to see the street dancing, on a proper wooden floor erected in the square, together with an excellent live band. This was followed by an impressive fireworks display for Bastille Day which seemed to go on for ages. Both Graham and I managed to forget our cameras.

Morlaix - The Railway Viaduct

Morlaix - The River Port at the Head of the Estuary

15th July 2015

Plouescat (France)
Section 26 miles
Total 5216 miles

Moved up to a quiet coastal aire on a headland at Plouescat with G&V. Graham gave me a fishing lesson; but no fish caught - although it was encouraging that the locals in the same area were not successful either.

Plouescat - Morning Mist in the Distance

Plouescat - Morning Mist on the Horizon

Plouescat - Wonder if  these guys had better luck with the fish than Graham and Myself

 

16th July 2015

St Theogonnac (France)
Section 25 miles
Total 5241 miles

Left G and V at the coast and ended up travelling a short distance to a pleasant aire on the edge of the village at St Theogonnac. Interesting visit to the Parish Close (a common feature of this part of Brittany - it enclosed the original, very small church and graveyard) with an impressive ossuary and cavalry in granite.

St Theogonnac - The Ossuary in the Parish Church Close

St Theogonnac - The Calvary in the Parish Church Close

St Theogonnac - The Calvary in the Parish Church Close

St Theogonnac - Some of the ornate decoration in Church

St Theogonnac - The Triumphal Arch, Ossuary and Church
(also noticed the very short skirt)

17th July 2015

Plougasnou (France)
Section 35 miles
Total 5276 miles

Moved up to a coastal aire adjacent to a large anchorage and harbour with weird granite rock formations. Wandered off walking in the afternoon; but noisy and busy with a lot of French vans - probably there for the weekend.



Plougasnou - Part of the Extensive Anchorage from the Aire

 

18th July 2015

Lampaul-Guimiliau (France)
Section 30 miles
Total 5306 miles

Moved a little inland to end up at a large and essentially empty aire in a wooded parkland area at the edge of the village of Lampaul-Guimiliau, a few kilometres SW of Morlaix. Another impressive Parish Close here as well. Rich carvings and a huge campanile. Amazing that such relatively small and essentially poor rural communities could afford such exuberant churches in the 16th and 17th centuries.



Lampaul-Guimiliau - Shop Front
The hydrangeas are very typical of Brittany - you hardly ever see them in the UK now 

Lampaul-Guimiliau - The Calvary in the Parish Close

Lampaul-Guimiliau - Parish Close and Main Street

Lampaul-Guimiliau - Ossuary and Triumphal Arch in the Parish Close

Lampaul-Guimiliau - Madonna and Child, Spring and Covered Pool just below the Church
(I could not find out what this was about, no information board and Tourist Information was closed)

 

19th July 2015
Preboulle (France)
Section  95 miles
Total  5401 miles

Through north Brittany to meet up with G&V at a campsite, not far from the coast, at Preboulle before heading off for a week's 'break', i.e. no driving around and just chilling out for a week at the campsite at Erquy.

Preboulle - Spacious Campsite

19th July 2015

Erquy (France)
Section 15 miles
Total 5416 miles

Short trip up the road, stocking up at Lidl on the way, for a few days at Camping Guen, Erquy - planning on doing less than normal and get the blog up to date as there is a good internet connection. Erquy is a pleasant French seaside town, quite developed around the harbour area but with windswept cliffs and sandy coves a couple of kilometres to the north, east of Cap Erquy. Unfortunately, todate the weather has not been brilliant - often cloudy and cool! The current plan is to work south through eastern Brittany and then head down to the south west to some of the rivers flowing into the Garrone/Gironde and follow their full length - such as the Tarn and the Lot. Looks a lot hotter down there.