France – WorldofWills

Singen in the rain to Meersburg

It was wet all the way from Colmar as we headed towards the spacious motorhome parking at the leisure centre in Singen, a small town close to the German border with Switzerland. It cost us €10 for a night’s parking and fresh water was free. We almost stayed 2 nights because of the non-stop rain, but at lunchtime on the Monday, the cloud cleared and the sun came out so we packed up, dumped our waste, filled with fresh water and headed towards Lake Constance while making sure not to head into Switzerland.

We arrived in Meersburg in the late afternoon and headed for the 3 motorhome parking areas located on the outskirts of town. The first one we approached was fairly full, with just a few spaces remaining, but it was on quite a slope. The next stellplatz was only 100metres or so up the road and was completely empty except for 3 vans, so we parked in there.

It was no more than a 15 minute walk into the town so off we headed to see what it was like.

Meersburg is ‘germanic’; it’s clean; it’s tidy; it looks prosperous. Unlike in France, it’s rooflines are horizontal and walls are vertical. Very ordered.

Meersburg is a very tidy little town that overlooks Lake Constance, or Bodensee as the Germans call it. Across the lake you can see Switzerland

Here are a few of the photographs we took while wandering around the town/village centre.

There were so many vines growing in the fields and on the slopes around Meersburg and all along Lake Constance, I didn’t know this is a wine producing area. Don’t you just live and learn?

The area, pretty much all the way from Singen to Lindau, is an apple growers paradise. There were orchards plush with fruit as far as the eye could see. Not traditional English style orchards with old sprawling apple trees. These were fruit cages or nets with thousands of closely planted apple trees grown as cordons though vertical. The fruits were mostly red, but I didn’t get to see what the variety was. I presumed the apples were grown for juice or maybe cider.

To Germany via Colmar

Colmar is a short drive from Ribbeauville and on Sunday morning, 15th September, the traffic was light and the aire was less than half full. We had been on the road for a week and had accumulated some laundry. The aire at Colmar had its very own Revolution launderette consisting 2 washing machines and one tumble dryer.

Great, as we had arrived by lunchtime we decided to do our laundry and then head off into town. The washer finished in 33 minutes but the tumble dryer didn’t tumble. it heated, but did not turn so we left our laundry in there for 20 minutes and then hung it on a line in the van so it could dry while we explored the city.

Colmar is one of the best preserved medieval cities in eastern France and I wanted to have a good look around. It was a fair walk into the centre, probably 20 minutes or so, but it was definitely worth it.

Tourist Information was closed, well, it was Sunday, so we used our phones to guide us around. The city was crowded with people enjoying a sunny late summer Sunday afternoon. We meandered around the centre for the afternoon and enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner before heading back to the van but both making a mental note to revisit it again on the way home in a few weeks.

The rain started in the late evening and it was still raining the next morning as we departed Colmar and headed to Singen, Germany. We stopped in Singen purely to break the long drive to our next destination Meersburg, on the north shore of Lake Constance.

On to Ribeauville

Etival Clairfontaine was a convenient stop for us to read Bill & Sam’s letter, anaylse the content and send a response making sure that our holiday wasn’t holding up confronting the legal shenanigans being pulled by the other side.

Etival was quiet; the Auberge and cafes were closed so after a good walk around we ate dinner in the van before enjoying a quiet night’s sleep.

The following morning was noticeably colder as I headed for the boulangerie seeking croissants for breakfast after which we headed into the Vosges mountains in the direction of Ribeauville. Driving through the spectacular Vosges towards Ribeauville was a real treat apart from the very tight turns and steep gradients. We were parked in the aire in the town centre just before midday and then off into town for a good look around (again). We had previously visited this region in 2023 and were really taken by it, hence our revisit this year.

The town is smack bang on the Alsace wine route where Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Gewurtztraminer and a few more varieties are produced all of which can be tasted and bought at the Cave de Ribeauville which was about 100metres from the motorhome aire. A 5% discount on purchases at the Cave is given if you can present a parking permit for the aire, which we had. 1 box of Riesling and 1 of pinot gris were purchased and stashed away for later consumption.

Ribeauville is a very touristic place. It is very scenic and pretty and attracts a lot of visitors, most of them come on coach tours and so the place is bristling during the day. The evenings are very much quieter, the coach parties have gone and the town empties out and the restaurants have space to eat.

We moved on after 2 nights and headed towards Colmar on our way to Lake Constance. We had intended to visit Colmar the previous year but the reviews of the motorhome aire put us right off. This time we bit the bullet and decided that if it was as bad as described then we would move on. So Sunday morning saw us pack up, dump our waste and head to Colmar.

We’re off on our Holiday

We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time; it’s been a stressful year with the impending court action against me taking up a lot of both of our time. On 3rd September Fiona booked a non-refundable ferry crossing for the evening of Sunday 8th September so there was no going back.

We set off in good time and in the rain and headed for Newhaven for the 5pm sailing to Dieppe. Despite the Goodwood Revival festival threatening to block all the roads around Chichester, and our sat nav taking us all along Brighton sea front, Newhaven was achieved in a little under 3 hours.

The ferry journey took just 4 hours; that’s a good 2 hours quicker than the Portsmouth to Caen ferry. We disembarked soon after 10pm in the dark, in the rain, and headed for the motorhome aire at Dieppe where we stayed the night. The aire was surprisingly quiet, given the number of Motorhomes parked up, and its proximity to the ferry port.

Burneuil sur Aine was the next overnight stop. The aire is perched on a hill on the village outskirts, and we were all alone for an hour or two. Mme. arrived to collect the €5 for the night. Three more Motorhomes arrived during the evening, but when we woke next morning, only one remained. We didn’t hear any of them leave, so our sleep must have been deep.

Our driving target for the next day was the city of Reims. It’s the unofficial capital of the Champagne region, but we really wanted to see the Cathedral. Inside, it was grand, and quite imposing, though not the most spectacular place of worship we’ve seen. Overall, Reims, didn’t quite “capture” us, so we left after a walk round the city. If you’re interested in our stopovers, this one was bad. Not only was the access through some narrow streets ( a tram driver gesticulated to us to “go back” at one point) but the parking was tight- round the back of a youth hostel- real “shake hands with your neighbour” tight. Not our kind of place. Onwards….

The aire at St. Imoges was the perfect place for the night. We’d swerved past Epernay, not really being keen to do an expensive “Champagne Tour” at any of the Champagne Houses. We’d rather spend it on a bottle of our choice. We did try to spend some money in St.Imoges, but there were no shops. A walk round the village proved that. It’s such a great idea to provide these aires- often free, like this one, but we don’t always have a chance to thank the community. Anyway, another very quiet night was enjoyed here, before the next drive.

As we travelled across France, some place names were familiar from our Alsace trip last Autumn, including Neufchatel where we’d had an awful experience on some narrow streets, with me (Fiona) offering guidance on foot, as Andrew manouevred the Moho between parked cars on both sides…eek! However, we also had great memories of a favourite Aire, in the tiny village of Goncourt. We rarely visit anywhere twice, but this was irresistible. It’s still gorgeous, a riverside parkup, with sightings of herons, swifts/ swallows and cattle in the nearby fields. Free to park, and use services, but the suggested 3 euros is never begrudged. In fact, I donated a lot of small change, adding up to over the suggested payment. The next day, we set off (not such a good night’s sleep, thanks to rain dripping from trees overhead) and encountered one of France’s specialities..”route barré” signs, with not much info on the diversions. I had to resort to that big map thing…and hope for the best. Fortunately, Satnav soon got the message and we found a different way to the cutely named Etival Clairefontaine, but it was well worth it. A modern aire, 2.5 euros for 2 hours, or 8 euros for the night. Just need the “code” from your ticket….except the ticket needed to be prised from inside the machine! Great timing as we parked up just as Andrew’s solicitor phone to check he’d received some important paperwork, which he was able to deal with immediately.