The Caravan Club Riviera Touch Grand Tour..the final update!

http://www.vieilleferme.com/?lg=es&c=bienvenue-es&m=menu_left_esWell O wasn't able to keep my blog up to date. If anyone says that they were bored on this Tour they were an absolute fibber! Time? Where did it go? You only realise how many places you have actually been to when you flick back through your camera roll. You look at a picture and think 'that was great but where was it?!'
I think I'm up to leaving the terrible storms in Genoa and dashing to the French Riviera. Camping LA Vielle Ferme, near Nice. Oh one nice day and then.....more rain. On our planned trip out but what a lovely surprise we got later. It just didn't rain it came down in stair rods so we did our guided walk on a coach!

Actually it was great fun. We had a great driver who somehow managed to make it great fun even though he didn't speak any english and we were in a sorry state as we were reliant on my French!

We knew that we were having lunch out but zi never quite expected anything like this. Hotel Negressco on the Promenade de Anglaise. This was the entrance..

The actual restaurant

But oh...the food!

I dread to think how much the three course meal had cost. I only had one glass of house wine....wait for it...10 euros! I can get 3 bottles for that! Wow though. What a fantastic treat. It is listed as one of the best hotels to stay in in the world. Oh boy I can see why! Oh I even took pictures of the ladies loos. I was just blown away by this place!

It was far too nice to even go for a pee in!

Next stop was our final move on the Tour to Sommieres. We went as the advanced party ( in more ways than one!) to make sure that it was safe due to previous flooding. I'm pleased to report that it was perfectly safe at Domains due Masserau. I went to sleep to the sound of owls and was awoken by a bloody donkey! Here I am camping with all my friends!

But at least the pool was open and I had it all to myself!

The others soon arrived and the weather picked up again. We had two more coach trips. One to Aix in Provence and the other to Montpellier. Both beautiful cities but knackered.com!

The farewell meal was great fun. It had been planned in a nearby restaurant that unfortunately had recently been flooded so we pinched their chef and the campsites conference room and...voila!

Even in such circumstances the chef managed to surprise us with the dessert when he pulled back the dividing door.

He set fire or whatever they call it to lovely homemade ice cream! Wow!

Now I have to admit that there aren't any pictures after this point and I'm just praying that no one had a video camera. Chris got his guitar out and someone had to lead the singing didn't they? Why? I'm a shy, quiet, reserved sort of person you know! A great Tour..now bring on the next one!

http://www.massereau.com/en/

http://www.hotel-negresco-nice.com

The Caravan Club The Riviera Grand Tour French Riviera

What a lovely day on Saturday. You can walk from this campsite into one of my favourite cities in the world, Antibes. I hadn't been there for twenty years and it still didn't fail to impress. The prices didn't either though! 10 euros plus just to park the car for 3 hours! OK so its the real millionaires playground but I'm certainly not a millionaire! Its so..French! Narrow winding streets, chic shops and of course those yachts!

Look at the gym in that side-even I might be tempted to exercise.

I couldn't afford one of these even if I did win the lottery! How the other half lives but are they happier than me in my little caravan? I doubt it.

Yesterday was a bonus. Due to the weather we moved early so I organised an extra trip to Monaco. Now normally there is a lovely double decker train that goes from the campsite but you guesses..we are in France..they are on strike so coach it had to be. The weather was overcast but pleasant enough for walking around. Its one of the few places that I can get really excited by cars -'err not another Ferrari!" Common! 

For sale?! Then I saw one that I could afford....

It looked impressive outside the Formula one shop!

outside the famous casino

We do have some dreamers in our group!

The truth of the matter is that we arrived by bus. We couldn't afford a meal so we found a supermarket and bought a sandwich and sat on a wall to eat them! Some would say that we looked like tramps. I prefer to say 'we had a picnic!"

We were awaken this morning by another blooming thunder storm. Today is a walking trip around Nice and then a meal in a very prestigious restaurant ( I can't even spell the word!) Do you think they will let me in with my walking boots and kagool?!

Someone always has to lower the tone! Lol

http://www.vieilleferme.com

The Caravan Club The Riviera Touch Grand Tour 2014 update

Its so hard to keep this blog up to date. Anyone who says that they have been bored on this Tour is a liar! I'm not even sure what day of the week it is never mind where the hell I am! I will have to get the itinerary to tell you where I've been and what we be been up to!
The Last time that I blogged we were at camping Roma Flash. A campsite that is one of my favourites overlooking Italy's eighth largest lakes. The water was still 26 degrees. The views are just to die for

This pic was taken from my caravan door watching the world wake up!

This  lovely bar area is the scene of our barbecue and sing song. What a way to start the day.

From here we visited Rome. Each time I visit Rome I get more and more disappointed. I find it ridiculously expensive,dirty and disappointing. 4 euros for a cup of coffee in a budget cafe! It isn't a working city. Its simply a tourist destination. I can't even say it has the wow factor. I can't help but compare it to York and I know which gets my vote any day as the most beautiful and well preserved Roman City.I failed to be impressed before with the Tivoli fountains but even worse this time as they were being renovated and all you could see was scaffolding but still the Japanese took pictures!

We left camping Roma Flash after we had a surprise meal out which was superb. None of us wanted to leave this site or area as it is simply stunning.

We arrived at Orbetello Camping Village and the site was very Italian with very small pitches. How could anywhere compare to Roma Flash though?!

The following day we had a boat trip to Giglio Island and..another meal! Wow what a day. As we approached Giglio we could see where the cruise ship the Concordia sank. What was that captain thinking of?! Quite sobering. 

We then went to the castle on the top of the island with our fantastic tour guides and then a meal in a restaurant before the boat back..

It all got too much for one of our group

What could possibly go wrong?.......

Our group was suddenly surrounded late at night by real Irish gypsies! This was shortly followed by a visit from the local Police! I was able to make a quick call to the Caravan Club and we all moved to the next site early. Its not the fact that they were there but they were up to no good,wandering around our pitches in the early hours, car alarms going off so off we went to the next site..ahh bliss!

Norcenni Girasole Club was just heaven when we got there. I was last away and somehow found a different route to everyone else. The road got narrower and steeper..I kept going..cyclists took pictures of each other ,each hill that they had successfully climbed but the best picture of all would have been when they saw us and our caravan..we had just successfully climbed a 15 in one! Yes ..in second gear at that! I must admit I don't recommend that route! Dave started laughing. I snapped 'I don't know why you're laughing. I'm poo pooling myself here and I'm driving!" The site is huge with everything that you could want set in the heart of Tuscany just please check the route! It has 9 swimming pools and superb restaurants, shops etc. I actually think its the biggest site in Europe.

The new Hull City football team or the Caravan Clubs star players?.....

Yes just for a change we gate crashed another party and showed the youngsters how to do it! I even managed 'the twist' and the 'moonwalk' I wasn't being shown up by some thirty something lass ( don't tell anyone that I couldn't walk the next day!)

From here we went wine tasting. ( doesn't the Club think we be tasted enough already?!) 

We were sorry to leave this site. Lovely but onward we must go to camping Rapallo.

I think this site wasn't helped by the rain and some members of the group forgetting that they weren't in the UK! This was in total contrast to some we had left and in my opinion was TRUE Italian. It was very rustic but very clean with a little bar. Land is scarce for building/camping in the Genoa area so to find a campsite at all was something of a miracle. We had a lovely meal in a restaurant within walking distance of the campsite as well as a supermarket but oh boy did it rain?! 1 metres worth in one day! Some of our group turned out for the trip to Genoa and showed the true camping spirit

I must admit they did look strange particularly when the sun came out! Anyhow Genoa was an interesting place 

It didn't even stop for us to eat our lunch!

It thundered and lightened all through the night. We were all awake since 3am. The Club made an excellent decision to move us ahead quicker than planned to the French Riviera. Oh boy was I frightened driving?! Even the tunnels were flooding! As we approached France it dried up and the sun came out! Hallelujah! I have just heard that 4 were killed in the Genoa region and there has been untold damage as the river broke its banks!

So we arrived near Antibes last night in sunshine but guess what it did this morning A storm but nothing like Italy's. Its drying up now so its time to visit some old haunts...how I am looking forward to Antibes. I think I might just join a boating club!