14th July – finished work for 3 weeks and off to (mainland) Europe – yippee!

  • 16th July – after sitting on our backsides in the van for nearly 48 hours we found ourselves in “Bitche” in France – a great wee town built on a little hill with a big Citadel at it’s top – had a good 6 mile run here, before heading off again to Meersburg in Germany where we had a good walk up and round the old town and an hour of rapid pedalling in a pedalo on Lake Contance.20160716_063841
  • 17th July – took the ferry across Lake Constance to Constance (well nearly – the wee ferry terminal is about 2 miles away) – bike ride to Constance so that we could explore the old town before cycling in a clockwise direction back to Meersburg – only about 45 miles back to base but undulating and hot,  hot,  hot – good bike ride though but not impressed at being overtaken by an old boy on an electric bike.

     

  • 18th  July – arrive Camping Ground Jack,  Val di Mello in Italy,  where we spend the next week climbing,  walking and cycling – mostly walking for me.   Fabby  wee campsite with amazing views.   Weather varied from toasting hot and pouring rain and some huge thunder an lightning storms.   Great walks and one of the highlights was coming across the horses and donkeys in a beautiful hanging valley.
  • 27th July – good  but tough walk above the town of Chiavenna – great views over the valley and up to the surrounding mountains – lots of evidence of the the glaciation that it is famous for and also sites where they had been quarrying for soapstone – good walk until I slipped on a rock as smooth as a newly washed babies bottom and landed prone on the ground with bruised shoulder,  left hand and right ankle, not too mention my pride – made it back to town and realised that when I’d slipped I’d dropped my dry-bag containing keys,  wallet, phone,  etc – super fast walk back uphill and luckily located bag and contents before a further hobble back into town.
  • 29th July – I abandon ship (aka The Van) and cycle from Chur in Switzerland to Vaduz in Liechtenstein,  mostly following the Rhine – nice and easy bike ride.   Once in Vaduz had a good wander round the town and up to the castle but don’t think the King and Queen were home.

     

  • 30th July – arrive at Camping Attermenzen,  half way between between Tasch and Randa and just over 5 miles below Zermatt – we spend the next 4 days here.   From the campsite you can get the bus or train up to Zermatt or walk or cycle – we opted to cycle the short but tough uphill – we never got the expected freewheel back down as the wind always seems to blow up the valley and on the last day, especially,we had some hard downhill pedalling into a serious headwind.        We walked as many trails as possible,  trying to see The Matterhorn from as many places as possible  – the scenery was amazing,  in particular the glaciers but also a startling reminder of how quickly they are disappearing.   Did you know that Mark Twain had also been to Zermatt,  amongst lots of other places – I didn’t until we walked the Mark Twain Weg (trail).   I also saw my first “Blackneck Goats” – also known as gletschergeissen (glacier goats) – I personally would have called them 1/2 black / 1/2 white goats but they still look very cool.
  • 5th August – back in France and our last night before getting the ferry home.   Stayed the night at an aire at Gravelines,  just 12 miles from the ferry at Dunkirk – too all my campervan friends I can really recommend this aire.   Weren’t here for long but long enough for me to walk the 1.5 miles to see The Phare de Petit-Fort-Phillipe (The Petit-Fort-Phillipe Lighthouse) – a new lighthouse tick for me!