A Taste of Provence

St Pauls near Cannes

Our Taste of Provence Tour has proved to be our most popular tour so far this year. In fact it is now fully booked! Thoughts have naturally turned to our last trip down to Provence, which was early Spring this year.

Provence is an incredibly varied area and perhaps this goes some way to explaining its popularity. To the west there are three towns that should not be missed: Arles, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence. They all capture the spirit of the region. Avignon is perhaps the pick of the three with its medieval walls and unfinished bridge across the Rhone.

If its medieval towns you're after you will be in the right place. The much photographed Gordes is simply stunning located on a hillside overlooking the plains in the wide valley beneath. Nearby is the highly unusual Bories Village where all the buildings are made using dry-stone walling techniques - including the roofs.

Avignon

Heading down onto the coast is famous French Riviera, which could not be much more of a contrast. Slightly chintzy perhaps but typically warm even out of season and with access to the Med. Cannes and Nice are the two main towns that lie in close proximity on this stretch.

Heading north you come into the lavender growing region. This area is also famous for producing perfumes centred around the fairly small town of Grasse.

Overall, the favourable climate, amazing varied scenery, historical cities and towns and coast, not to mention the cuisine and wine, make Provence unmissable.

The Rhine and Moselle

We have been lucky enough to find a spare fortnight to get down to the Rhine and Moselle valleys. Our main intention was to try out a few new sights for the tour next year.

Mainz sunset

Late autumn is actually a brilliant time to go as it turns out, mainly as you get such a rich variety of colours. The valleys of the Rhine and in particular the Moselle are relatively sheltered and hold on to what heat there is around. That's why they are such good areas for grapes!

There aren't that many people around in early November and the only people to to tend to see are fellow motorhomers. The Rhine and Moselle are littered with 'aires' all the way down. I would imagine that they are difficult to get onto in the season, but at this time of year you would have no trouble.

Most of the sites close at the end of October so we managed to get on a few. It's quite an odd experience being on a site on the last day before it closes.

Half timbered houses near the Rhine

Highlights of the area are the stretch from Cologne to Mainz on the Rhine and then from Koblenz to Trier on the Moselle. Koblenz is the meeting point of the Rhine and Moselle called "German corner". There are dozens of castles and small towns down the rivers, any of which are worth stopping at. Cologne, Bonn and Mainz are probably the pick of the larger places, with Bernkastel Kues and Cochen the best of the smaller towns.

We were lucky with the weather in that it was mainly dry, sunny and mild, but we can't wait to get back there in late Spring 2015.

The NEC Motorhome Show 2014

We have just come back from an absolutely fantastic week at the NEC motorhome show where we had a small stand for the first time ever. We were completely overwhelmed by the response we received as we spent the whole time talking!

We reckon that we spoke to at least 500 fellow motorhomes and shared lots of stories about motorhoming in general, specific holidays and campsites, ferry crossings, insurance, breakdowns, eating out, finding cheap diesel and fixing Thetford toilets.

Over 100,000 people visited the show and the buzz was amazing. Saturday was particularly busy with over 20,000 visitors, most of whom at least walked past our stand. People were queuing to get in about an hour before the doors even opened. We were allowed in from 8am and it is a fascinating experience to wander around before the crowds descend on the halls.

We were really happy to see many of our customers and are also pleased to welcome new customers booking this year. At the end of the show we were completely cream-crackered but had almost as much fun as we do when we are on tour.

Follow us on Facebook

In a slight diversion from our normal postings, we are using this week's post to admit that we have finally succumbed to the 21st Century and got a Facebook page. So now you can "find us on Facebook" as people say! 

We will be using it to post up lots of photographs from our trips, which might give you inspiration for a trip of your own. We will also be 'liking' things such as campsites, ferry companies, motorhome engineers and so on.

We are particularly keen on posting reviews of campsites that we use personally and as part of the business. A decent campsite really can make or break your day. In all the years we have travelled we have only had a few duff ones. Some have been exceptional and it would be good to spread the word.

So if you are already on it, please consider taking a look at it, liking us, sharing us. 

Here's the direct link:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crossings-Motorhome-Tours-Ltd/669931743103820?ref=tn_tnmn

Top 10 European Capital Cities in a motorhome

We often get asked which are our favourite cities so here's the top ten, roughly in order. The fact is that we like pretty much all of Europe's capitals so here goes anyway:

Budapest at night

Paris - we never fail to find something new to d however many times we visit Paris. We just feel drawn to the Eiffel Tower and it gives us a warm fuzzy feeling every time. Plus there are a few sites that are very easy to get to on the outskirts and you can just come in on the train.

Lisbon - although we have never been here in the van we flew in a couple of years ago and fell in love with it. It's relaxed, open and hot!

Stockholm - set on several islands on the archipelago. Packed with interesting museums and buildings yet very easy to navigate and lots of green spaces.

Surprising Zagreb

Copenhagen - lively and a bit touristy but fantastic architecture and easy to cycle around.

Ljubljana - the capital of Slovenia. Small and beautiful.


Bern - the capital of Switzerland. Also small and beautiful.

Vilnius - this one was a bit of a surprise for us as we didn't know what to expect from the capital of Lithuania. However, we found it to be much more charming than Riga and less commercial than Tallinn. Quite compact with a lovely castle on the hill overlooking the city.

Zagreb - gritty in places and not as touristy as all the others. Therefore worth visiting!

Vienna - simply overwhelming with a really handy campsite about 6 miles out on the banks of the Danube.

Copenhagen with emergency ponch

Budapest - similar feel to Vienna we thought and similarly spectacular with the added bonus of a city centre campsite about 3km out.

Wonderful Copenhagen

It's been a while since the last blog as we have just been away on our Summer In Sweden trip. We have blogged a lot about Sweden as it is one of our favourite trips. One of the additional benefits of visiting Sweden is that you pass very close to the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

View from the tower with the bridge in the background

In terms of logistics, Copenhagen is really easy to get to and there is a fantastic site called Absalon Camping, which is just off the motorway but only about 5 miles from the city. There are bus and tram stops nearby or you can cycle in on dedicated cycle paths. If you do cycle, you will find that there are hundreds of other people doing the same thing as the cycle paths criss-cross the entire city and are really well-observed i.e. you don't get people walking on them like you do in Britain.

In common with other capitals you really need a few days to get round it all, but even with just a day, you can get a really good flavour of the place. Our particular favourites are the Round Tower and the Cathedral, both of which are very close to each other, but you will find that just wandering the streets is a visual treat.

Last time we visited we searched in vain for the Little Mermaid and made a more determined effort to see it this time. We were glad of the bikes as it is a little way north of the main centre. It's only about 3 foot high and a bit of a disappointment to be honest, but that didn't stop it being the most popular attraction in the city.

Inside the Round Tower

You will hear lots of English spoken and the place does tend to fill with tourists from all over the world. Expect lots of Chinese, Japanese and Americans and if the cruise ships are in, the crowds swell even bigger. Having said that you can still find a quiet cafe or corner of a park to relax.

One final observation is the that Copenhagen is only a few miles from the Oresund Bridge that joins Denmark to Sweden. If you go up any of the towers and look east, you will see it on a clear day.

Wild camping / Aires/ Stellplatz etc

We often have conversation with fellow motorhomers and friends about the thorny issue of wild camping. They range from those motorhomers who make it a badge of honour never to stay on a campsite through to those (usually non-motorhomers) who get very agitated by big white buses spending the night "where they're not supposed to". I guess we fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.

3000 metres up in the Alps

Our definition of wild camping is anywhere that isn't a campsite and for us that mainly means the aires or aire equivalents in the various countries we have visited. Germany actually have a much bigger network of what they call "stellplatz", even though it is France who are much more well-known for them.

We are not averse to parking overnight (sensibly) in other places, but we only tend to that in those countries with a 'right to roam'. Scandinavia for example is a great place for wild camping, particularly as you head further north in Norway, Sweden or Finland.

Here's a quick whizz through of the pros and cons of the aires:

Pros:

• They are often free or cheap
• You can normally empty your grey and toilet and get water (at extra cost)
• They are often in perfect spots near rivers, beaches, harbours, town centres etc
• You are free to come and go as you please at any time and there is no checking in and out
• They are perfect stop-overs for those longer driving days when all you are going to do is eat, sleep and leave.

Cons:

• They can be busy, overcrowded and cramped in high season or in popular areas
• Popular ones have started charging more making them less good value compared to sites
• You don't get showers and other campsite facilities
• Security is not as good as a campsite



Stockholm - bit crowded and expensive but handy for the city

• There can be comings and goings at all time of the day and night making them noisy.

We tend to be a bit canny using aires these days. As we often travel in low season, there are many occasions where an aire might cost you 8 euros plus another 3 to use the service point, where you could stay in a fully loaded campsite on one of the schemes for about 15 euros, or a local independent campsite for about 12 euros.

On other occasions when you have been driving all day, paying for a campsite where you won't even get the chance to use the facilities can seem to be bad value for money. We've also had some noisy nights on aires (but then we've had them on campsites too!)

A free night next to a Swedish lake

In summary, you need to pick and choose. We spent a whole holiday using aires once and by the end we really just wanted to get on a site. On the other hand, we've stayed on sites and felt that we have been overpaying for very basic facilities. Unless you keep going back to the same sites and aires over and over again, it's always going to be a bit of pot luck.