14/08/11 Early Reflections

In all we covered 4,840 miles, of which 3,423 were the route i.e. getting from place to place. We averaged - I make it - 4.66 mile per £ which I think is roughly 27/28 mpg in all conditions.

We visited - some more than others - 10 countries, in order, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, Italy, Switzerland, France 

Neither the Pathfinder or CRV put a wheel wrong, so big thank yous to :

Mr Honda for building such damn reliable cars, despite thunderstorms, pulling 1000kgs of trailer up a 15kms mountain pass in 30C, or just grinding along autoroutes at 100/120 kph it just went & did whatever. It deserves its 125,000 mile service next week.

To Peninne for making such a good camper-van, extremely comfortable, leak proof despite sever testing, and bake proof too, everything worked perfectly.

To Brian & Helen Stockton for looking after the Pathfinder so beautifully since new and then our good fortune to acquire it from them. It will be cleaned and minor blemishes fixed over the next few weeks ready for next time. 

14/08/11 Home again

After a good night's sleep, up and away by 9.30 ish. Easy run up to Calais by 10.30, but what is this - a queue to get into the ferry port. Never had this before. Finally get through border control and to P&O booking in but we are 10 minutes late for boat - even though it actually leaves 15 minutes late itself.


So onto next one, back in Dover by 1pm and reasonably uneventful run home arriving just after 3.30.


So after 4,840 miles we return home, everything intact.


No doubt in a couple of days reality will kick back in, meantime not sure we really realise we have done it and are back. Was it really seven weeks ago we drove off to Dover to start this little escapade ?

13/08/11 Day 49 Mersault to Grosnay

Yesterday's weather arrived this morning !! Nice an easy pack up for last time and headed off about 10.30am, after fuel stop onto autoroute. Only went about 100kms and it became generally cloudy although still around 25C. Until we got to Reims and turned north towards Calais, when it promptly started raining and dropped to 19C. Getting us ready for tomorrow.

Arrived at hotel - Best Western, Metaire, Grosnay and what a find, looks like a converted old chateau & distillery with 3 restaurants attached. Room lovely, bathroom excellent, have booked one of the restaurants - The Distillery. Only £79 for the room for the night on Expedia, a steal.

Meal was excellent, bit pricey but worth it. Need to check this place out more as it is only one hour from Calais and well worth another visit, need to find out what there is to see / do in the area.

12/08/11 Day 48 Mersault

Bit of an anti-climax, like the cricket today, Meteo France, which is usually reliable, still insisted at 10am that there would be sun, some cloud and 24/25C, so why is it overcast, and a bit chilly at around 18C ? As we were committed to Saturday hotel and Sunday ferry not much we could do about it now, so c'est la vie.

After a slow morning got on bikes and had a look at Mersault, quite pleasant and with some shops, bars, restaurants etc quite bustling for a french village. We carried on down the road some 5 kms to the next village and apart from a restaurant doing good trade, back to normal i.e. very quiet and few people.

Back to campsite, tidied up ready for tomorrow, and what's this, 7pm skies clear, sunshine and everyone in pool, only about 10 hours too late. Nice meal in campsite restaurant and then bed.

11/08/11 Day 47 Canal de Bourgeone

After the chateau back to Pont D'Ouche and time to have a look at the towpath and canal de bourgeone. Again very pleasant and easy to ride on, please please BWB take note, so lots of cyclists. This time more boats and locks as well. Some of the locks would make lovely holiday homes, being very rural, yet not far from civilisation.

All in all Burgundy is getting the thumbs up and is on the list to visit again. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but it will be the last day, Saturday and Sunday will be taken up with returning to the UK. 

Got quotes of £60 for ferry and £214 for tunnel, guess which one we will be using. Now just need to find a hotel.

 

11/08/11 Peter / Anne have you moved ?

We saw this sign and wondered if you had moved and started another business !!

 

11/08/11 Day 47 Chateauneuf en Auxois

Another hilltop town, but this one is very good, very pretty and just a couple of bar/restaurants, one hotel and a couple of shops. Otherwise neat and tidy and a lived in village. The chateau itself is also very good, with fantastic views across Burgundy. I was impressed, add to your list !!

 

10/08/11 Chagny is twinned with Letchworth

Here is the proof. Paul & Zoe as great wine lovers why have you not capitalised on this connection for some great trips to Burgundy ??

 

10/08/11 Day 46 St Leger sur Dheune

Hurrah the blue sky & sun are back, all right not quite the 30C but at least back into the 20s. Having found the Canal du Centre in Chagny we went back there with the bikes.

Lovely towpath nice smooth tarmac -BWB take note - but it would seem the Canal du Centre is not a popular one as despite several villages on the way, no facilities i.e. bar, cafe, restaurant. Until St leger sur Dheune, a lovely canal village, with a port, some very nice houses and bars etc. So we stopped for lunch and very good it was. Conscious we had to cycle back the 13kms it had taken to get there we only had a salad and small beer. On way back found two more nice camp sites which have been logged for future ref.

Back at Mersault able to get long wave so could listen to England thrashing India at the cricket, even if weather sounds naff. So on with the barbie !!

 

09/08/11 Vino

Burgundy is a very important wine growing region, we know this. On the ride back from Beaune we followed the wine route, basically the wine growers roads through the vine yards. As you ride alomg all you see are amazingly straight rows of vines with either plummy or bright green grapes, that go for miles in all directions. Do we really drink this much of the stuff, we could not guess how many thousand bottles we were looking at.