On the road again!

As they say at the races, "they're in the final stretch now"............with Sancerre, Dijon, Lausanne, Lake Garda, Venice, Tuscany, the South of France, Provence, the Midi and the Tarn behind us all that remained according to our original plans was 18 days in a motorhome on a itinerary that would take us from Toulouse to Paris via the Acquitaine, Brittany and Normandy.......without any specific details as to where, when and for how long! Marion had visions of stopping alongside beautiful fields of sunflowers and watching the sun go down sipping a glass of wine while the kids made indian houses out of sticks they found lying around.

Ummmmm........

With travel fatigue starting to get a real grip, it was slowly dawning upon us that we should have perhaps done things the other way around and got the camping bit out of the way up front when we weren't yet missing our comfortable beds at home. So the first adjustment we made was to limit our motorhome trip to just the Acquitane region and we spent a small fortune investing in travel guides and maps for the region which Marion got to work on whilst still at the Wackwitz'.

To cut a longish story short, we bravely checked in to the Avis branch just outside Toulouse, to collect our motorhome on the Tuesday morning but only after having decided the day before to significantly scale down our ambitions, ditch the idea of focusing on the Dordogne (we'd save this for another trip when we could do it justice) and restrict our camping efforts to just the SW Atlantic coastline between Arcachon and the mouth of the Gironde. We all felt the need for the smell of the sea and a walk on the beach. Bets were still on as to whether we'd last the full 18 days or not!

Well, it took us the best part of the day to get organised, pack out our clothes and things into the spacious (not!) cupboards in the motorhome and shop for the various items we realised we'd need for our motorhome stay. Other than some bedding, the motorhome came with nothing other than fixtures and fittings which meant that we had to buy everything else from kitchen utensils to deck chairs to ..... you name it! Anyway, too many euros later we left Toulouse and headed up the A62 for Arcachon some three and half hours away with a fully equipped motorhome, ready to take on the camping world!

After an hour and a bit on the road we all hit the wall and decided that as we'd had enough for one day we'd find ourselves a spot for the night at one of France's aires and finish off the journey to Arcachon early the next morning. We found ourselves a great spot alongside a lovely sunflower field and set about trying to convince ourselves that this was they way to travel.....and then we went to bed and we realised what we had in store for the next few weeks......beds to rival Hotel Wilson in Dijon or perhaps a prison cell, ie: we could all look forward to little or no sleep for the next few weeks!!

The next morning we rolled into Arcachon and checked into the campsite there, a three star resort, for two nights and set up camp between a wall and hedge with a view overlooking another motorhome! The next morning, Marion and I didn't say a word to each other when we woke up but simlpy looked at each other and then checked out one day earlier than expected. The whole campsite thing is clearly not for us!

We headed up the coast towards L'Herbe which we'd read was a nice spot and with all good intentions of setting up camp there for the night. But not before we had done the dirty deed and emptied the motorhome of its dirty water and sewage....the picture says it all!

L'Herbe was indeed everything that the guide books said it would be and will be remembered as the place in which Sean and Kyle tried their first oyster. Sean's reaction was 'Yuck' but Kyle decided he quite liked them and helped himself to 3. L'Herbe is a really small village entirely devoted to oyster culture with a few rows of small clapboard houses set right up against the water's edge. Unfortunately, we found out once we there that motorhomes were not allowed to stop there overnight, something that would become a feature of the next few days. We did however manage to find somewhere to "hide" the motorhome in Cap Ferret at the northern most tip of the Arcachon basin and settled down for the night next to another oyster farm in what we thought was a lovely peaceful spot....until 4 am in the morning when firstly a huge truck arrived to collect the garbage followed by an even bigger truck that arrived to collect the previous days oyster haul to be shipped off to far corners of the continent.

We were really fortunate the next day to find a very pleasant spot in a pine forest alongside the coast at a place called La Porge where we spent two nights. For some reason, despite the signs saying that motorhome stays were regulated in the area and that there was a 700 space motorhome campsite just a few km's down the road - a motorised refugee camp lookalike place - we were one of only a handful of motorhomes in the park that stayed overnight and managed to escape any kind of interference from the very obvious Gendarmerie patrols.

By Sunday afternoon and with the prospects of nowhere to set down for the night we decided it was time to call a family meeting to discuss where to from here......the conclusion was unanimous......"we want to go home"! And so with the decision taken, we headed back to La Porge Beach to the spot that we'd camped in the previous two nights.....only to leave a few hours later with the boys tucked up in bed the idea being that if we left La Porge then, ie: Sunday evening, we could get the motorhome back to Avis early on Monday morning and perhaps even get back to Brussels that same night.

8am monday morning and we were on the road again towards Toulouse after a late night stop over for a few hours sleep at the same aire that we'd stopped off at on the way out of Toulouse - boys still asleep - full of excitement that we'd get the motorhome back and unpacked and be on the road to Brussels by 11 am. As we drew near to the Avis branch, we suddenly realised that the place wasn't open on a Monday and that it would only reopen at 9 am the next morning and that all the rush back had been for nothing.

So, we headed back into Toulouse to the nearest Sofitel (remember, the hotel chain with the great beds!) and checked in for the night to pig out on all the things we'd been missing for the last few days....soft beds, CNN, WiFi, bath, etc, etc and only briefly left our room for dinner at a little Chinese place around the corner.

After a great nights sleep we all bundled ourselves back into the motorhome and headed back for Avis where we handed the motorhome back at 9 am sharp to a very disbelieving rep.........packed our car and were on the road by 10am and were back at home in Brussels by 8pm. Opening the front door and walking into the entrance hall never felt so good. The boys made a beeline for their playroom and Marion and I just lapped up all the space and the familiarity of everything.

Despite the realities of motorhome living that we encountered, the days spent in Arcachon, Cape Ferrat and La Porge were fantastic with some of the nicest beaches that we've seen anywhere in the world providing us with a wonderful opportunity to take in the sea and the sand. We always thought that Cape Town's Atlantic beaches were unique but I'm glad to report that this area of France has everything beach wise to rival the best that Cape Town has to offer and that we will definitely be back for future summer holidays.....just not in a motorhome.

But now its all over...............

It has been a great experience all around for all of us. As you can imagine, there's a lot that happens in three months, good and bad, whether your at home or on the road as we were. Despite the fact that we are all so pleased to be home and feel somewhat tired physically, we feel energised mentally and ready to get stuck back into things once again. This in itself, after all we'd been through as a family in the preceeding 9 months, made it all worthwhile.

We've got loads of pictures to remember it all by which we look forwardto sharing with those of you that are brave enough to indulge us when we next see you. As well as the pictures there are loads of stories and insights, learnings, frustrations and "how we'd do it next time" discussions that haven't been written about in these pages that we'll be ready to share with you if you care to indulge us.

August will no doubt be a month of getting back into the routine of urban living before the boys start at their new school, Marion gets back to her yoga and demanding schedule as a full time mum and as I put the planning in place for the start of my new business.

It seems appropriate that a good way to end off this blog would be by taking a look at the best and worst of the last few months.............

The Best......

Marion's Best - 1. Venice; 2. Beaches around Arcachon and Cap Ferret; 3. Bastille Day Festival at Cordes-sur-Ciel in the Tarn

Kyle's Best - 1. MarineLand 2.ParcAsterix, 3. Charlie and Justin Wackwitz in Tarn, 4. Grand Tournament at Carcassonne; 5. Andrew Thompson in Bonnieux

Sean's Best - 1. Grand Hotel at Lake Garda; 2. Parc Asterix; 3. Andrew Thompson in Bonnieux

Neill's Best - 1.Being in Venice; 2. Swimming at La Porge Beach; 3. Relaxing at House in Chiusi

The Worst...........

Marion's Worst - 1. Bert being attacked by dog and dealing with the results; 2.Boat's toilets (Yes, Mom, I actually cleaned out toilets numerous times a day after swearing I would never ever do toilets); 3. Hotel Wilson in Dijon; 4.Beds in the motorhome

Kyle's Worst - 1. Boat and the locks on the Midi

Sean's Worst - 1. Nothing (now that's a positive guy for you!)

Neill's Worst - 1. Motorhome; 2. Hotel Wilson in Dijon; 3. Boat toliets and bathroom

Best Meal...........

Marion's Best Meal - 1. Lunch at L'Auberge de L'Aiguebrun and lots of others that I can't remember now including gelato in Italy

Kyle's Best Meal- 1. Gelatto in Italy, 2.All the other food

Sean's Best Meal - 1. Take Away Pizza at little town between Lausanne and Lake Garda; 2. Spaghetti Bolognaise at Osteria Meati in Lucca 3. Fish in a little village between Dijon and Lausanne (and everywhere else too)

Neill's Best Meal - 1. Tuscan Beef Steak at Osteria Mieti in Lucca; 2. Lunch at Auberge de l'Aiguebrun in Provence

Boat? Chateau? Boat? Chateau?

If the last two weeks are anything to go by then I'm afraid its Chateau hands down!

After having abandoned ship (pardon the pun) two days early and headed inland to Hans and Rene Wackwitz' lovely chateau in the Tarn, about 45 minutes NE of Toulouse, we were well pleased to have our feet firmly placed on terra firma once again. Hans and Rene's chateau is set in surroundings of sunflower, maize and wheat fields and in an area of France that we all agreed is particularly picturesque....and largely "sans tourists"!

It rained for the first three days of our stay here but that didn't make all that much difference as we were so pleased to have so much space around us.......so pleased in fact that we only briefly left the property to visit the local supermarket to re-stock the larder and visit Gaillac in the wine growing area of the region for a walkabout and lunch. After the dull villages of the Canal du Midi (baring Carcasonne) , it was great to be in a town with some life and energy. The kids spent the days exploring the house and hunting for rabbits in the enormous grounds - with not much luck as far as the rabbits go despite dad's offer of Euro10 per live rabbit and Euro 5 per deadrabbit.......what Dad's will do for a bit of peace and quiet!

I'm not sure why it is but we always seem to end up in kitchen stores when we visit French towns and Gaillac was no exception...probably something to do with the fact that the kitchen stores in Brussels are so crap! Needless to say, we managed to add some purchases to our collection.

Hans and Rene, their two sons (Justin (13) Charlie (9)) and their adorable 4 month old Jack Russel Polo, joined us at the house late on Wednesday evening. Marion, the boys and I all enjoyed, once again, having some alternative company other than "just the four of us" and Kyle took to Justin the minute he met him and barely left his side for the next four days.......Kyle made an interesting shadow to Justin's tall lanky profile. Sean, Kyle, Justin and Charlie became almost inseperable over the next five days and many fun hours were had playing football, swimming, climbing and the like. The highlight though was playing with Polo and we have all agreed that its time to add a younger dog to the family when we get back to Brussels - although I'm not sure how Bert is going to react to that idea. Having said that though, Bert stood his ground when confronted with a playful Polo trying to invade his peace.

Marion and I also enjoyed having the opportunity to spend more time with Hans and Rene and to get to know them a little better. Hans is a member of YPO in Brussels and has been one of the several YPO members who have reached out to us since we arrived in Belgium and have made our settling in process that little bit easier for which we are most grateful.

We visited a number of really nice towns over the next few days including Lavaur, L'Isle sur Tarn and Cordes sur Ciel which despite some "Hilltop Town" fatigue proved to be most enjoyable. In particular, Cordes proved to be a real hit with the boys thanks to a medieval festival being held on Bastille Day. It never ceases to amaze Marion and I what an effort Europeans put into having a good time. Every village, town, city....you name it....has festival after festival devoted to anything historical, edible, drinkable and anything else they can think of...and the locals put loads of effort into making these as festive as possible.

The Cordes festival was no different and you would be excused for thinking that you had stepped back in time with loads of medieval entertainment and free entry to people dressed up in medieval attire meaning that the town was crawling with appropriately dressed folk. We practised shooting with a bow and arrow, watched the flag waving demonstration, listened to medieval music, looked into the medieval Lord's tent, gazed at the medieval weapons, admired the spectatular view, ate medieval biscuits, told stories of medieval times and ended things by visiting the town museum which was a reproduction of a royal medieval house. For many years, Cordes, founded by the Count of Toulouse, was on the pilgrims' route to Saint Jacques de Compostello and so was a relatively wealthy spot in its time.

After having tired of preparing dinners for 8 people we decided to all head off to Gaillac for dinner on Sunday evening to find....you guessed it....another "fete" in progress, this time a "fete generale" with the obligatory fun fair having taken over the entire village much to the delight to four younger members of the party who disappeared only to return with all sorts of Chinese made junk from swords to stop watches to pen knives......won much to our horror in some kind of gambling game which Justin haddeclared was so much fun that they could get addicted to it.

Monday evening took us in to Toulouse for a guided tour by Hans around the centre of the town before sitting down for dinner in the very pleasant Place St Georges with the "Touloise" (if there is such a word) thankfully sparing us the "fete" treatment....two nights in a row would be a bridge too far! After Paris, Toulouse is the second largest University town in France which probably accounts for the high energy levels that one couldn't but help notice. Although we only spent a few hours there, Toulouse seems like a fun place and will be added to the list of the places we'd like to return to one day for a more indepth visit.

Tuesday morning saw us packing up the car (again!)and leaving the Wackwitz' and their Chateau to headoff to Roques sur Garonne outside Toulouse to collect our motorhome that will be our home for the next 18 days of "camping" before we head back to Brussels at the beginning of August. We have now survived the first two days camping but, given our "success" on the boat we are not offering any odds on whether we'll manage the full 18 days or not. We've changed our plans and will no longer be taking on the 120 degree arc between the SW and N of France but have opted for a more sedate and less challenging itinerary that will see us heading for the beach and the Aquitaine region.

To be honest, travel fatigue is starting to set in and we are all longing for the familiarity of home and to once again having a day to day routine....and most of all to our beds and our pillows.

When next you read this Blog we may well be writing it from Brussels...as they say, stay tuned!

PS: Bert has fully recovered and is now well enough to travel in a basket hanging from the handlebars of my bike......much to the amusement of all that we pass by!

I'm sure that last time I said I wouldn't do that again!

Firstly, apologies for not having filed an update for the last two weeks.

Now that that's out of the way, lets get you up to date with what we've been up to......and there's lots to report.

We left off last time with us having just left Italy and having made our way back to France via the Cote D'Azur. It certainly felt good to be back in France and the little spot that we had booked in a town called Vence in the the hills above Nice proved to be everything the internet site had promised, including expensive! After our very "lived in" experience in Lucca, the newly decorated suite that was our home for four days was most welcome even if we didn't make full use of the numerous gadgets that it came decked out with, including a bath that emptied itself and then proceeded to dry itself (sounding a bit like a nuclear explosion in the process).

We all found this SE corner of France to be a little too "crowded" (and too expensive) for our liking with both tourists and locals a plenty. We did however visit a really quaint little town called St Paul de Vence which was really picture perfect and littered with fantastic art galleries - if only the prices hadn't been St Tropez style - Marion especially liked the bronze of a man at Euro 165 000....I cant think why when she gets me for nothing! Vence itself was also a really pretty town with all the french attributes including a superb little shop selling french home goodies some of which, needless to say, will be making the trip back to Brussels with us.

We had always planned to use Vence as a base to explore the Cote D'Azur and the Var Region as a potential location for our dream holiday home (once we win the lottery!). We managed to see a fair bit of the countryside whilst we were there heading off into the interior one day. The area is very wooded and this, together with the fact that it is relatively densely populated, meant that we never really felt at ease whilst we were there. So all in all, we have decided that it just doesn't live up to the beauty of Provence despite being so close to the coast.

At the end of the four days, we packed up the car (again!), and headed SW for Provence and Bonnieux where we would spend the next five days with the Thompsons at their magnificent home looking out over the vineyards of the Luberon Valley with Bonnieux on the one side and Lacoste on the other. The setting is truly spectacular surrounded by vineyards, lavender fields and cherry tree orchards and still remains our favourite spot so far.

We'd decided that, given the boys fascination with all things to do with the sea, we'd make a small detour on our way to Bonnieux to MarineLand in Nice to see its killer whales and dolphins and splash around at AquaLand next door. One small problem however needed to be overcome - the fact that no pets are allowed at Marine Land. Marion came up with the brilliantly inspired solution of finding a dog parlour nearby at which we could leave Bert for a few hours to have his hair done while we were doing our thing at MarineLand. Problem solved........we thought!

After having spent a few very pleasant hours at MarineLand we headed back to the parlour to collect Bert only to find that all had not gone that well whilst we were away and that Bert had been attacked by a large dog whilst doing a wee outside - that's what the parlour owner told us anyway - and that he now sported a rather nasty looking puncture wound on his shoulder and looked very sorry for himself.

Well, to cut a long story short, 36 hours later Bert was under general anesthetic at a vet practice in the Luberon having an abcess under the bite wound cleaned up, a drain inserted across his back and a compression bandage fitted around his chest area as it transpired that the skin and muscle on his back had been torn apart and some major damage caused by the offending dog.

Despite my best efforts to convince Marion that Bert would come through this all she was not convinced and had visions of waking up one morning to find that he had died during the night. In fact she was awake the entire night listening for his breathing! I'm glad to report however that Bert has lived up to his reputation of being a tough old guy and has made it through. His bandages were removed on Saturday by a vet in Carcassonne who gave him a clean bill of health and declared that the wound et al looked "tres joli"! Best of all, Bert is back to himself, eating like we've never seen him eat before and doing everything else that dogs do from all the right places. He does however look a little odd with half his hair shaved off around his chest - perhaps he'll start a new fashion amongst daschies!

Bert's unfortunate experience did put a bit of a damper on our stay in Bonnieux and our planned trips to Lourmarin and Aix en Provence were cancelled as obviously Bert couldn't travel whilst he was in the state he was and we didn't feel it was fair on him or the Thompsons to leave him at the house unattended. Nonetheless, we all thoroughly enjoyed our time in Bonnieux and felt very priviledged to share such a beautiful place with our wonderful hosts Craig, Lisa, Alayna and Andrew. Sean and Kyle in particular totally disowned their parents for almost the entire duration of our stay deciding that Andrew and Alayna were far more interesting company than us oldies. To be fair to them, they hadn't had any contact with other kids for the previous six weeks so its not suprising that they overindulged in the company. We did manage to have a lunch at our favourite auberge in France called L'Auberge de L'Aiguebrun between Bonnieux and Lourmarin - under the old cedar tree in the garden....our fourth visit to this wonderful spot inspired by Peter Mayle.

And talking about overindulging, the Thompsons wine cellar and liquor cabinet will take a while to recover from our visit as for some reason - and those of you that know us well will know that we are not big drinkers - we seemed to get through an inordinate amount of wine whilst we were there. On the first night and after everyone else had gone to bed, Craig and I managed to polish off half a bottle of his finest Armagnac and I admit to waking up the next morning still feeling drunk - I can't recall when that last happened........all due to Craig's influence I am certain, a view with which he does not concur. Exactly who was pouring has not yet been determined (It was Craig)!

Giving us all more to talk about, Neill outdid himself arranging dinner one night with what he thought was a tarte-de-pomme (apple tart) for dessert which turned out to be a tarte de pomme-de-terre (potatoes) much to the amusement of all concerned. Craig also took great pleasure in highlighting certain features of Marion's South African accent particularly her pronunciation of yes which apparently comes across as "Nyeeeees" to the unattuned ear!

With Bert on the road to recovery we decided to continue with our journey as planned and packed up the car (again!) on Monday morning to head off for Port Cassafieres in the Languedoc where we had arranged to collect the boat that would be our home for the next seven nights on the Canal du Midi. We stopped off at Avignon on the way to do some provisioning and buy a pram for Bert - yes, a pram for Bert - and rolled into Port in the early evening to be told that the route that we had opted for on the Canal was a very arduous one given the distance, the number of locks and the fact that there were effectively only two crew members on board......and that they thought we better allow for an additional day (at no charge!) if we were to have a reasonable chance of completing the journey on time.

The boat we had hired looked quite impressive lined up on the dock and certainly ten times better than the one that Marion and I had hired on our previous boating trip on the Lot River some 8 years earlier (I'm sure I'd vowed never to go boating again after that trip) and the boys seemed visibly excited at the the prospect of what lay ahead....their first quasi camping trip ever!

The boat however proved to be really hard work for Marion and I as we fought what almost felt like a gale force headwind for four days straight. This, together with the manual labour required to get through the numerous locks and the stench of the manual toilets (that Marion described as the worst kind of boys boarding school toilet smell - I'm not sure when she was last in a boys boarding school toilet but we won't go there) eventually paid its toll and with Marion and Sean both getting colds with sore throats, headaches and all the rest we decided to abandon ship in Carcassonne two days early. The boat company advised that they would have to charge us E500 as a penalty for doing this but for some reason decided to let us off when they came to collect the boat on the Sunday....I think the guy took a fancy to Marion and decided to let us off! So some good luck to round off a week that to be honest we could have probably done without even though Sean and Kyle enjoyed the experience.

The Canal Du Midi runs through some very lovely parts of France and is most picteresque with its tree lined banks and picture perfect vineyards. Having said this, the towns and villages that we passedthrough were, other than Carcassonne, really very disappointing with only Le Somail managing to conjur up any kind of positive reaction. As for the rest............

We spent two nights at Carcassonne and visited the old "Cite" on Saturday spending the whole day walking around this magical medieval town, tourists and all. From a distance, Carcossonne is probably the best example of a walled medieval city that any of us had ever seen. We braved the mid afternoon sun to attend a medieval jousting tournament that happened to be taking place that afternoon and of course the boys were totally enthralled. Kyle had set his heart on buying a Kings outfit that he'd seen during the course of our ramblings and insisted that he wear it, crown and all to the tournament much to the amusement of many of the spectators.....just imagine it, Kyle in kings outfit and Bert being pushed around in a pram - what a sight! We've now been to medieval tournaments in Spain, UK, Belgium and France so are becoming experts on the subject.

With some unplanned time on our hands before arriving at our next stop we decided to take Kyle to the Dinosaur Museum in Esperaza which to all of our suprise turned out to be great with some excellent displays and a fantastic dinosaur shop filled out with dinoasaur stuff galore including a fluffy Triceratops that now sleeps with Kyle and has been named Donnie. We stumbled across a traditional french market in the town after our visit and were intruiged to see all the goings on of what was very clearly a hippy community of note.

We are now ensconsed at Hans and Rene Wackwitz' wonderful home in the Tarn between Toulouse and Albi after having arrived here a day earlier than originally planned (and two days earlier than per our revised plan as a result of the enforced extra day on the boat that then never materialised - I am sure Hans thinks we are a bit odd). The weather here has been wet and cool since we arrived which is a pleasant respite from the heat of the last few weeks particularly the 36 degrees on Saturday.

The Tarn seems to be a wonderful area and there appear to be loads of interesting places to visit and things to do so I am sure we are going to enjoy every minute here. After being cramped up on the boat for five days and nights it is a real treat to have all the space that we do here and we feel very privileged to be able to share in the pleasures of this lovely spot.

Next Tuesday the real adventure begins when we pick up the motorhome that we'll be living in for the next three and half weeks. We are a little apprehensive as to how its going to all work out as our aptitude for roughing it is clearly not finely tuned....as the boat experience will attest! Our initial plan was to cover off the 180 degrees between Bordeaux and Normandy but I think we are now leaning towards rather doing more of less and focussing our efforts in the Dordogne and perhaps parts of Brittany.

And then its back to Brussels in the first week of August.....and to be honest, we are all looking forward to being home and to getting our lives back to normal....whatever that might be given the uncertainty in our lives right now.

That's all for this installement. we'll try and get the next one in on time......until then - Sante!