Camping Vilanova Park Spain

Well we are finally chilling and doing our other favourite pastime-people watching! I haven't been able to do much else as we had to put the caravan on ramps here to get it something like level. We only had a basic step that came with the new caravan and guess who has twisted the ligaments at the side of her knee cap?! Megga ouch! Needless to say we have clisosed the stable door after the horse has bolted and gone and bought a new double step. What a Muppet?! Lol Anyhow all was quiet when my entertainment arrived and worse still they have to be British! A white Mercedes van pulled up opposite. It had at some point been changed into a motorhome.Out get Mr and Mrs Muppet. They are both late 60 s and excitable or what? Pushbikes were instantly got out the van and a quick cycle round the park. He had obviously been sent by the ministry of silly hat brigade ( big floppy brims) They insisted on letting everyone know they were here disturbingveveryone saying 'hello!" I was good I wanted to say "bog off let me have my siesta' but I managed a very faint smile at him in that hat. When he got off the bike I was proved wrong.He hadn't been sent from the Ministry of silly hats at all-it was the ministry of silky walks! John Cleese eat your heart out.'ahhh well thinks me back to siesta time' if only.... He is then screeching across the campsite "Archibald come here darling!" Archibald? I was expecting to find a poor child....oh no it was his cat he talks to and takes for walks! They are totally crackers. Its the walk that gets me. He must have springs in his shoes. She isn't much better. Tits out and the huge bum will follow!I know I'm a butch but really...some people!Does he really have to put GB on his numberplate?! There must be exceptions for being such an embarrassment?! What am I going to do today whilst I am nursing my poorly leg in the sunshine? People watch...the Swedish man on his own is looking like a potential candidate...more tomorrow! Lol

Caravan Club Transylvanian Tour- the end!

Well after 43 days and a total of eleven countries we a re finally on our own! Exhausted.com but what an experience! The final night of the Tour was spent at a lovely site Le Quatre Vents just outside Paris. The Club surprised us all yet again and provided us all with a bottle of champagne and a surprise meal in a typical French restaurant. The weather was chilly and there was a lovely log fire burning. The atmosphere was great. I did an end of tour little poem that was very well received and we all had a great night. The following day people started leaving early. We saw most of them off and headed for Clemont Ferrand. We stayed one night there and moved the following day to LA Nautique at Narbonne. Its a handy little campsite just off the motorway. Its quirky in as much as each pitch has its own toilet block. Unfortunately we didn't have a good nights sleep there as a person in the next caravan decided to drop dead! Poor soul. There for the grace of god..and all that! Tuesday saw us arriving at good old Vilanova Park near Barcelona. There's something about this site that I really love. We met up with Dave Watson and his lovely wife Anne Marie. Initially they offered me tea but then we thought the better of it....oh dear wine all the way! Lol We have been allocated a lovely pitch. Through the trees as I was looking at the Med in the distance. The sun continues to shine..,ahh bliuss until the Dutch came along! I think that there is a competition going on between the Spanish and the Dutch as to who can be the most inconsiderate campers! Her sh*t happens! Lol We also were joined by some Brits opposite and they are causing us great amusement-if they are plum I want to be a sugar plumb fairy! More tomorrow -sun bathing time with the laundry!lol

Caravan Club Transylvanian Tour. Camping Burgundy France

We arrived yesterday at a lovely campsite in Burgundy Le Manoir de Bezolle. I have stayed here before. It was approximately six years ago when the present English owners had just moved in. We were given a lovely welcome as we were again this time. The scenery is beautiful but like last time its very cold and wet. That certainly didn't dampen any spirits though at the lovely meal provided for us by the campsite. They did catch me out at the end of the evening though when I was nearly speechless! They presented us with a lovely card,some money and some very nice alcoholic drinks. My favourite though must be my very own personalised pinacolada! I don't know how but the butters even managed to find a picture of a car the same as mine (Ssang Yong) pulling a caravan! Today it was raining again but in the morning we visited Chateau de Bazoches near Vezelay. Absolutely beautiful and still lived in by the same descendents of Vauben ( a great military leader!) In the afternoon we visited Vezelay itself which is an extremely historic and beautiful place and then....oh no...more wine tasting in a cellar! I'm trying to have a "dry out day!" There's always tomorrow! moo Oh I nearly forgot...I spotted this sign..look carefully...do you think its genuine?! Lol

Caravan Club Transylvanian Tour Camping Switzerland

Wow wow wow! That's all I can say about today! Speechless (that's unusual!) The Club was really at its best today. We knew that we had a cruise on Lake Lausanne but no one could have prepared us for this! We caught public transport from outside the campsite to Ouchy port to find our boat _what a boat. A steamship built in 1910! We got on board and learnt that we were travelling first class! We entered this amazing restaurant and were greeted by a lovely glass of champagne! More was to come....a three course meal as well! This really was cruising first class. Anyone who didn't enjoy that...well?! The steamer,the food everything was just perfect. Just when I thought that today couldn't get any better my phone rang and my daughter Katie has passed her driving test! She hasn't even told me that she was taking it! I am so very happy for her, Tomorrow we move to France. One more stop and end of Tour! Another holiday please to recover from this one! Lol

Caravan Club Transylvanian Tour Camping Switzerland

Years ago I came to Switzerland and I didn't like it. I didn't like France either on my first visit but then fell in love with it. I hoped maybe the same would happen in Switzerland but my first judgement has proved to be right. We travelled across from Italy and got to the border. It is the first Country that I have visited that doesn't have a 'welcome to Switzerland' sign or in fact any sign to say that you are entering Switzerland but I soon found out when I was pulled over by the Duane demanding 70 euros. 'OK so what is that for?" '35 euros for your car and 35 euros for your caravan if you want to use Swiss roads!" ( I only wanted to use them not buy them!) I then enquired how long my tickets would last. The reply came that it was normally 12 months but they ran out in December! Have I really paid 70 euros to drive my car in Switzerland for a week?!! We thought it was rip off Britain! I now have so many vignettes ,tax discs etc on my window I can't see out of it! Lol On arrival at the campsite things got even worse! One price for motorhomes ( who only had to buy one vignette) and a higher price for caravans. Thank god its paid for on the Tour as I think its in excess of 50 pounds a night! The campsite is OK but certainlynot worth that! Having had a look at prices here I decided that it was worth my while driving 10 miles down the road back into Italy to find a supermarket! I dropped lucky and found a Carrefour. The car park was full of Swiss registered vehicles. The crazy thing here is Ferraris are common place as are Porches but there's nowhere to drive them-their roads are terrible! This area around Lake Lugano is a cross between Gibraltar and Monocco.Whatever they took my 70 euros for certainly wasn't or isn't being spent on maintaining roads-and don't get me going about their rude bad mannered in considerate driving standatds! This morning we went on a cruise round Lake Lugano. The weather was not with us. The boat was superb and what we could see because of low cloud was very pretty. Tomorrow we move to the Swiss/French border-I should be able to find another Carrefour! Lol

Caravan Club. More Venice Italy

Caravan Club Transylvanian Tour Camping Venice Italy

Wow wow wow! We arrived at camping Cavallino and the sun was shining. The view from the caravan was directly on to the beach! Sandy pitches were a bit of a problem but we weren't going to complain after all the mud at Lake Bled! The Caravan really pushed the boat out when we visited Venice (pun there-get it?!) We hired a public service bus to get us to the port to meet our boat. What a boat! We had it exclusively to ourselves. We visited the island of Burano and then Murano where of course we saw the famous glassware being made. It was fascinating and extremely beautiful. Dare I say it..."I was blown away." (Groan!) After the islands we visited Venice itself. Again what an incredible place. Not how I imagined it but totally clean and beautiful. I have taken so many pics that I'm going to have to carefully select what I post on here. Ten out of ten. What a top day!