The Lavender of Provence

For the last two years we have used a fantastic photo on the front over of our brochure. It is of a motorhome parked up next to swathes of lavender in full bloom. The photo was taken in Provence and we often get asked where the best place is to try and see the lavender.

Close to Nyons

In terms of timing, the lavender season runs from late June to the end of August. In theory the best time is late June and early July although it depends quite a lot of what the weather has been like. We have been in June for the last two years and have been lucky on both occasions with plenty of fields just coming into bloom.

The Abbeye de Senanque

The best region is the Luberon, which is a semi-mountainous areas with dramatic ridges and gorges. Our route took us from Valence, which is considered to be the official start point of the "the south of France" down to Avignon. Rather than going straight down the A7, head towards Nyons and then south towards Carpentras. If you go this way it is not ridiculsouly touristy and you get to see the fields up close.

A more trodden route is to head towards the picture-postcard hilltop town of Gordes and then up to the Abbeye to Senanque, where you can see the view that the Provence Tourist Board seem to use every year (as seen here)!

The High Alpine Road up the Grossglockner

A couple of the bends on the High Alpine Road

One of the highlights of our recent tours to the Swiss and Austrian Alps was a trip up the High Alpine Road, which winds its way up Austria's highest peak, the Grossglockner.

The mountain itself tops out just below 4000 metres and the road allows you to get up to around 2700 metres. There are various option for getting up it which include driving up yourself. It is a toll road so you will have to pay around 40 euros for the privilege, although it is worth it. 

A man with a tame marmot!

The alternative we took was to let someone else do the driving by taking a bus tour. During the summer months it is possible to go up on a scheduled bus, which costs around 30 euros per person.  As there were lots of us we were able to club together to hire a coach, which meant we could then have complete control over where we stopped.

Aside from the view, which can only be described as stunning, there are plenty of other stops along the way including a couple for interesting museums and no shortage of cafe and restaurants. Marmots can also be seen running wild.

There are 36 hairpin bends on the road, each one of which has a sign showing the name, number and height of the bend. Overall we all found the experience fantastic but strangely tiring. Perhaps it was the thin air!

Keukenhof Flower Parade

A classic bus at Nordwijk

Last year we went to the Keukenhof Gardens for the first time and were absolutely amazed by the scale of the event and the riot of colours and smells. This year, we made sure we were there for the Flower Parade Weekend.


The idea of the parade is that there are around 40 floats all decked out with different themes but all featuring thousands of flowers. The creations were incredible and it must have taken hours and hours to put them together.

This year the parade started in a small town called Noordwijkehout, near to the Keukenhof Gardens. The floats arrived in the town at 4pm and were parked on the main road, allowing everyone to get a really close look at them.

A classic car at Nordwijk

At 9pm the floats were illuminated and the procession started around the town. The route changes a bit each year but is published well in advance allowing you to pick your spot.

In the morning the floats were moved to nearby Noordwijk on the coast for another procession. They were joined by a selection of classic vehicles also draped in flowers. Over the course of the day, the floats make their way up to the Keukenhof Gardens.

All in all, it was a real spectacle with the whole event attracting thousands of visitors.

Preparing for the new season

Our latest recruit

So the touring season is nearly upon as and we cannot wait to get going. One of the consequences of running a tour business is that the van is in use all year. so we have not really had to winter-down the motorhome or bring it back to life - it just sits there on the drive ready to go!


Admittedly there has been a bit of "Autoglym" applied and we are training our youngest grandson how to apply "Simoniz Back to Black" on the bumper (see photo).


The closed season has seen quite a bit of ebay activity and we are looking forward to using the new low wattage kettle and toaster (Wendy's idea) and the new step ladders to get the bikes off (my idea).

Our first trip of the season is Springtime in France tour, which we will run every year even if we are the only people on it! We find that Springtime is a great time to motorhome generally. The weather is on the turn and the campsites are all still fairly quiet. Paris is particularly appealing (and dare I say Romantic) at this time of year and there should be plenty of activity (in terms of flowers rather than romance) in the Tuileries near the Louvre and a little further out in the Luxembourg Gardens, which are our favourite.

Daffs at Keukenhof

We have been keeping a close eye on the daffodil situation is Holland for our trip there later in the month. Apparently the first one popped out in February, so we are hopeful of another grand display this year.

2016 Starts Here

Well it's been ages since we last blogged. In fact we hadn't realised just how long ago it has been. 2015 to be precise! 

That's not to say that we have been doing nothing since then. After we had been to the NEC, we headed straight off to recce a few new sites for our Alps Tour and for our Croatia & Slovenia Tour. 

Lake Bled

Those of you who are coming with us to the Alps will be pleased to know that our two main sites in Austria exceeded all our expectations. Both and 5-star, amazingly well-equipped and both with superb restaurants. So much so that we have organised a group meal in each location!

It turns out that Croatia and Slovenia are very, very quiet in October and November. We literally had the place to ourselves and were often the only van on the some of the campsites we stayed on. We are really looking forward to getting back there in September when it will be a bit warmer and everything will be open!

The Austrian Alps

The thing that most struck us in Slovenia and Croatia is how much of a contrast you get when you move from town to city to coast to countryside. It really is a very varied experience including some mountain driving in the Julian Alps (though nothing to worry about).

So apologies for the long delay. We have been very busy booking up campsites and ferries, writing tour packs and doing lots of boring paperwork. We will be really pleased to get out and about doing what we love at the start of April.

We are now producing a newsletter every month and Wendy will be hammering Facebook once the season starts and we have lots of lovely to photos to share with the world.

THE NEC Motorhome Show

The gates open!

 Out of all of the many exciting destinations we go in Europe, you can't beat Birmingham! To be more specific, the NEC in Birmingham during the Motorhome Show. It would be fair to say that the Caravan Club Temporary Site is not the best campsite we have ever stayed on, but the real highlight is the show itself.

Many of you will have visited the show so know what it's all about. We have the benefit of exhibitor's badges, which gets you into the show before it starts - and that really is fascinating.

We arrived on the Monday afternoon before the show expecting it to all be ready. There was no carpet down and all you could see was a sea of hi-viz jackets, with people beavering away.

Before the gates open

The logistical operation of getting all of the vans, caravans and accessories is mind-blowing. Our set-up is nice and quick so we were gone by 4pm leaving everyone hard at it. When we arrived at 9am the following morning the transformation was complete. All the stalls were ready, the carpet was down and the show was ready to open.

The busiest day is the Saturday when 25,000 people attend. The atmosphere among the exhibitors was palpable as we could see thousands of people arriving and queuing to get in from early in the morning. Nearly 100,000 people attended the show over the 6 days!

On Sunday at 6pm there was a massive cheer from the exhibitors when the announcement came over that the show was closed for 2016. For most that meant another 3-4 hours of taking down the stands before they could go home. 

The sea of hi-vis re-appeared and by the time we left the sparkies had unwired the electrics, the carpets were being taken up and the car parks were near empty. They all get a few days off now before they do it all over again for the Cat Show!

Lake Garda

Sunset on Lake Garda

We have recently returned from an amazing trip down to Lake Garda. Our route took us down through the Somme and Burgundy regions of France, before spending a night nestled under the majestic Mont Blanc. It was then a trip through the famous tunnel and into the rain in Italy. Bizarrely, it was sunny one side and then chucking it down when we drove out the other side.

Thankfully this soon passed as we got closer to our destination of Peschiera Del Garda on the southern shore of Lake Garda, where the sun was out and the temperature was in the high 20s. As the week progress, it actually got hotter!

If you just wanted a lazy week in the Autumn sun then this would be a good place to pitch up. Many of our fellow motorhomers and caravanners on the site were clearly staying up for a considerable period.

Rush hour in Venice

Our site provided direct access to the lake and within a short distance we could be in the town itself, catching a boat to any one of about 10 destinations on the lake, or picking up a train to any of Italy's famous northern towns and cities.

The highlights for us had to be a bike ride across to Sirmione, just around the south shore of the lake, with the impressive Scaligera Castle. The town is also accessible by boat from Peschiera as is Garda, Bardolino, Riva del Garda and malcesine (with the cable car).

Also, Venice, Verona, Venecia, Padua and Mantua and not far away by train. In fact, you could get almost anywhere in Italy from the train station!