La Dolce Vita

Yes, we’ve been in Italy for 3 weeks, but before I rave on about it, a bit about leaving France.

We spent 4 days in the Vercors, doing some brilliant walking. This is another stunning area where we could have spent weeks. We had our last Sunday lunch in France in the tiny local village at a wonderful restaurant. Another memorable meal.

Walking in the Vercors

We crossed into Italy in a rather dramatic fashion through the Alps at Colle dell’Agnello, 2744 metres. More amazing scenery that I won’t go on about, I think you all know what the Alps looks like. I was quite excited as this was my first true alpine crossing, no boring tunnels for us.

Alps!

Half in France, half in Italy

First stop in Italy was Piemonte and the associated wine regions of Barolo, Barbaresco and the Langhe in general. We hired a smart looking Lambretta scooter, thinking it would be the very thing to zip around vineyards. Wrong! First one got a flat tyre so we missed our afternoon appointment. The second one was so ratty we feared for our life and handed it back. We did our usual trick of visiting wineries and buying too much wine, then having to stand on my head to fit it all into Boris.

Beautiful Barolo Vineyards

Wine tourism in the area is well organised and the wineries are very welcoming, happy to spend time with you, open their precious wine and show you their secrets. Being a wine geek, I took more photos of vineyards and tanks and barrels. I won’t bore you with those!

From there we drove across to Verona to meet our friend Sam who is currently travelling the world thanks to a happy redundancy. We spent most of the time at Lake Garda. After spending a few days at the southern end, we escaped the tourist hordes and headed north. Did some great walking and had an ongoing scrabble contest. Sam won as usual. In fact, I blame Sam and the scrabble for not updating the blog.

Dinner at Lake Garda with Sam. This is the campsite restaurant, slumming it as you can see.

We had to leave Boris in Brescia (not far from Verona) to get a few ‘issues’ sorted out. We needed a new fridge door, a new window and a few handles needed replacing – stuff like that. Plus some boring mechanical things to be done on the blue bit. So, instead of hanging around Brescia, we decided to head for Venice by train.

We booked the world’s most expensive, but rather dull 3 star hotel - 250 euros a night (gulp)!! Venice was booked up and that was all we could manage, but it was in a brilliant location - spitting distance to San Marco and a stone’s throw from the Rialto. The Japanese and American tourists were out in their thousands, blimey we couldn’t breathe. We did the obligatory Palazzo Ducale and from then on avoided tourist areas.  This meant I saw bits of Venice I hadn’t seen before and we had a grand time touring the back streets, finding wonderful but empty churches, and of course getting lost.

Dear Old Venice

I’d read recently in a magazine that a grower had started a vineyard in Venice. How could we resist a challenge to find a vineyard? So we took the ferry to the island of Mazzorbo (right next to Burano) and there it was, a tiny walled vineyard growing the ancient white wine variety of Dorona. No wine has been made yet, so sadly we didn’t get to taste it.

Venice doesn’t change. It just looked a bit more faded than my last visit 5 years ago. Of course we managed to eat very well with rabbit and porcini featuring strongly. It’s porcini season in Italy and we are being little piggies, sniffing them out wherever we can.

We were so happy to get Boris back and settle back in our little home. We drove directly north to the Trentino area and camped in a cloud (I think it may be No.9). It’s cold up here and the mornings definitely have an autumnal chill. We’ll do some hill walking here and head even further north into the Dolomites, maybe even Austria, before heading to Slovenia and Croatia. Don’t panic – we’ll be back in Italy in early November.

Today we went into Trento with it’s magnificent Duomo where the Council of Trent met in 1545 to be see what could be done about the pesky Protestants and their Reformation. I wish I’d kept count of the number of Cathedrals and churches we’ve done- must be hundreds!

So once again we’ve overindulged and are back on our water and veg diet.

Famous Last Words

Ok, I know, the blog posts are getting fewer and further between. It simply means we are having fun and can’t be arsed writing about it.

I last left you in Dijon and from there we headed back to the Rhone, to see the bits we missed on our way up. We camped near Tain L’Hermitage and our brilliant spot had views across to the famous Hermitage vineyards of Chapoutier and Jaboulet etc.

We could look directly across the river to ‘La Chapelle’, a wonderful wine (and chapel) that Lawrence had a great collection of until I came into his life. It’s a bloody good drop of Syrah. Sadly, we can’t afford to buy more, and we simply don’t have anywhere to store it.

View from campsite - Hermitage vineyards and La Chapelle on the hill.

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary here, and because we couldn’t find a restaurant with a decent wine list open on the day, we decided to cook our own. We bought a fab bottle of Hermitage, opened a good Champagne to start and finished with a Jurançon doux – oh and we had some food as well (confit de canard and delicious cheese).

We spent the Monday walking through these famous vineyards, examining vine training and techniques, always fascinated. One is not just allowed to walk through, but actively encouraged with pathways and good signage explaining varieties and even vinification techniques. Sheer heaven to wine wankers!!

Me at La Chapelle

Next stop was ‘The Ardeche’, a mountainous region on the eastern edge of the Massif Central. The plan was to do some walking, but I had some odd virus and wasn’t up to much. We managed one lovely (but easy) walk and of course a few lunches and brilliant scenery.

The Ardeche

We then headed back to the Gers to catch up with Alison and David (remember the house Au Petit Lombard?) and spent the weekend drinking rosé and soaking up the sun.

Sunny sunflowers in the Gers region

Millau Viaduct on the way

We then spent almost two weeks in the French Pyrenees staying with my sister Pip and her hubbie Mike who have rented a Gîte there for 3 months. Remember the ones who rode from the Black Sea to the Atlantic??? Yes, the mad ones.

They are now ensconced in a tiny village in a truly beautiful area south of Foix. The region is filled with soaring peaks, small villages and thousand year old churches. We spent the 2 weeks cycling up hills to pubs and cafes, and cruising downhill home. The walking in the area is wonderful and we did a memorable walk following a stream that became cascades and then a majestic waterfall. All this exercise of course, was rewarded by lots of good wine, the odd beer and a few good lunches.

Hiking in Pyrenees with Pip and Mike

We did a quick foray into Spain, (having said “we won’t be back” – famous last words) via Andorra. Andorra is everything we’d read about, overdeveloped, low rent ski resorts and cheap gin (which is why we were there!). The drive through the Spanish Pyrenees was simply stunning, breathtaking, so different from the greener, softer, French side. We spent the night in a low key Spanish town and raided Mercadona (favourite supermarket) for good cheap Spanish wine.

Pyrenees Waterfall

Sadly we had to say au revoir, and head to Toulouse. Can you believe we needed to get new tyres on Boris?? No, I can’t either. Anyway, the ones we had just weren’t up to the weight of the vehicle. One more bottle of wine and they might burst. So we spent 2 nights in Toulouse to get this sorted and managed some cycling along the canal in the Centre Ville and a bit of sight seeing. Most of this was spent in the Mephisto shop. For those of you with a shoe fetish combined with a need to wear to ‘old ladies shoes’, Mephisto is the business. I could have bought 20 pairs of these stylish shoes but since I already own 2 pairs of Mephistos I had to restrain myself and allow Lawrence to buy one pair.

We are now in Aix-en-Provence, a surprisingly lovely town, on our way to the Vercors for some mountain walking, or so we hope. After that, wait for it, we will head to ITALY!!!

Flower Market in Aix-en-Provence

After spending 2 years doing Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and the UK, we are FINALLY going to Italy!!! “Hallelujah!!” I hear you say. I couldn’t agree more.

And introducing….

(Drum roll please)

Boris the Bimobil – here it is. Our latest home away from home.

Boris

We finally picked up the new vehicle on Friday July 26, only a week later than we’d hoped. There were a few technical hitches, but we got there in the end, albeit a bit rushed.

Bed and Dining Area

Kitchen, Bathroom and Wardrobe

It was 37 degrees the day we took possession and despite best laid plans of being organised, everything was running late and we were sweltering. So basically we threw all our stuff in and headed for a camping spot for the night.

Ignoring the chaos, we sat and quaffed a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate and sat back to admire our new home. This was quickly followed by a bottle of Gruner Veltliner and more admiration. Judging by my head the next morning, maybe we had a little something to finish. We spent the weekend trying to get organised and trying to keep cool. We were largely unsuccessful on both counts.

As part of our ‘getting to know our way around our new toy’ initiations, we put up our awning in anticipation of a thunderstorm and relief from the heat. What we got was a gust of wind from nowhere that made short work of our BRAND NEW awning. So, back to Bimobil factory on the Monday to get a new one fitted – oh dear. Not a great start.

Anyway, 2 weeks later we are feeling at home, and have found places for most of our stuff. I was panicking on day 1 thinking we’d a made huge error of judgement as to how much one little Bimobil could hold, but, as I am the ‘Master of Packing’, everything now fits.

We spent 5 days in Alsace, exploring pretty, pretty towns, vineyards and of course, the wine. The sweltering weather continued, and we were just too darn hot to do much. I know, I know, some people are never happy, but really it’s been one extreme to the bloody other.

Alsace - geraniums are compulsory

Currently we are in Dijon and have had a marvellous time driving around famous town and vineyards, and riding along the Canal de Bourgogne. Finally the weather has cooled down, but we are getting thunderstorms.

Beautiful Burgundy

My friend Steve, wine guru, Professor, Master of Wine etc, has moved to Dijon (from Champagne) and we’ve been able to catch up for dinner (he’s also a very good cook). We took him a bottle of wine that he hadn’t tried before from the Portuguese region of Colares – I think this is a first! Apparently he did teach me about this wine in class, but I’d completely forgotten. The student redeemed herself by supplying 2 bottles of it!

From here we head south to finish off the Rhone Valley. Someone's got to do it.

Slow Camper

We have a new name!

NotTheMogBlog was not really descriptive enough for us anymore. SlowCamper really says it all. Our new domain name is www.slowcamper.com, but the old one still works and you'll be redirected, automatically. 

We take possession of our new home tomorrow, so will post photos ASAP. I'm like an expectant Mother at the moment and hoping to have new baby to show off VERY soon.

Hope you like the new look blog.

Watch this space...

Blogger’s Block

I coined this term after declaring to Lawrence that I had writer’s block and that was my reason for not posting a blog for so long. Then I thought I was being a bit ambitious calling myself a writer, hence ‘blogger’s block’.

I also felt that we hadn’t done anything exciting to report and he was horrified! “We picked up the Landcruiser!!!” he exclaimed, as though this was excitement itself. So yes, several weeks ago we picked up our shiny blue Landcruiser from somewhere in London (having made it safely from Australia with only dead battery to bother us) and drove it back up to our friends on Northamptonshire. As it has been modified to support a one tonne living space on the back, the damn thing was like driving in a bouncy castle.  I felt sea-sick.

Landcruiser with coffin attached.

We then had to drive it to Munich – the prospect was daunting. Can you imagine driving a bouncy castle 1000km, and on bad roads at that. Fortunately it settled down a bit and wasn’t quite like being on the high seas.

We spent overnight in Strasbourg - beautiful

As I write, the gorgeous new ‘home’ is being fitted and we should be driving off on stage 3 of our adventure next Thursday.

We have been staying in Bonn with Stuart, Lawrence’s brother. He’s had some surgery and spent 5 days in hospital so we were chief dog sitters. I’ve been force feeding him (Stuart, not the dog) healthy food and stocking the freezer for the next few weeks. I also put the dog on a diet.

Prior to all this excitement we spent 3 weeks doing the rounds of friends and family in the UK. Sister Helen in Glasgow, Paul and Liz in Stratford-on-Avon, Priscilla in Surrey, Pete and Kath in Wales (yes, they had us back), and finally Stephanie and Mark in Spratton. The weather slowly improved and summer finally arrived.

Lunch in a castle in Wales

Today in Bonn it’ll hit 30 degrees – now THAT is exciting.

We’ve bought new bicycles as the fold-up ones have outlived their usefulness. We’ll leave them in Bonn for Stuart and his daughters when they visit. Our grown-up bicycles looked a bit daunting at first, but yesterday we cycled the 62kms to Koblenz, along the Rhine. My arse may never be the same again. I feel like I’ve been on a camel.

Ready to hit the road

We bought some of those padded cycling pants. They give you the unfortunate feeling that you done something nasty in your underpants, but they do help pad out your bum. Maybe this is why so many Germans have fat arses, they do cycle a LOT. It really is the thing to do here. I love watching the old ladies, riding along sedately to do a bit of shopping or go to the pub. A nice change from the UK where they get on motorised scooters and terrorise pedestrians.

Today is Sunday, so we’ll walk down to our favourite pub on Rhine for lunch and enjoy this brilliant weather while it lasts. Stuart is allowed out now and can finally have a drink, having finished his antibiotics. Lawrence and I have had quite a few days off the booze, getting in some liver cleansing ready for the next onslaught when we get back to France. Needless to say, yesterday we had few beers after our LONG bike ride.

So, Hilda has been sold and is now living with Steve. Mojo has also gone to a new home with Tim and the trailer has been sold for a song (some lucky character got a real bargain there.)

Will post photos of our new home once I get my hands on it – can’t wait!