Having recently returned from France and Switzerland, I thought I would write a short piece for our web pages.

This will not be a day by day account, nor, I hope, will it be a rambling narrative. I aim to give the reader a flavour of my travels, coupled with a few anecdotes and some pictures.

The outline is that I was away for just on seven weeks, attending one night at the Carlyon Bay rally before sailing for Roscoff, driving through France to Switzerland and then returning to Roscoff. As ever I am accompanied by my collie dog, Spooky.

Travelling at a leisurely pace it took me eight days to drive from Roscoff to Arbon, on the Swiss side of the Bodensee.

Among the places I stopped en route were Change, near Laval, Gurgy near Auxerre, and Corgirnon, which is a small place in the department of Haute Marne. On my way to Switzerland I stayed on just one campsite at Jargeau on La Loire, all the rest were aires.

Gurgy I like very much; the aire is right alongside the river Yonne, and the town, with small supermarket, boulangerie, restaurant, bar and church is an easy level walk. I stayed a couple of nights, and on the second evening Madame from the adjacent 'van came round to enquire whether I spoke French. On hearing that I did, I was promptly invited round for an aperitif with her and her husband. This was a lovely friendly gesture, and we chatted away happily in the evening sun.

Corgirnon has a pleasant aire, the bays, which are hedged, each take two vans and have a water tap and electric point. As usual one can empty cassette and grey water, and there is a building with flush loo and hot shower, scrupulously clean. The charge for staying here is a princely 4 euros per night!

Switzerland is most pleasant, and as reputed clean. During my stay there I used only campsites which for me is unusual, and to be truthful I was itching to get back to a mix of aires and France Passion with the occasional campsite. Ironically it was on my last full day in Switzerland that I learned there are some aires. Clearly more research is required on this point.

I entered Switzerland via Basel, or Basle if you prefer, then travelled over to the Bodensee, staying at Arbon; down to Chur, then Splugen, on to Cugnasco in the south, then back north via Lungern, Interlaken and Le Bouveret.

It is difficult to say which I liked best as each area is so different. I would definitely go back to Splugen, which is high in the mountains. During the winter months there are pistes for downhill ski-ing and also a langlauf station. The campsite is on the edge of town but it is only a short and fairly level walk to the shops, and the tourist office, where the staff were most helpful.

Cugnasco is close to the Italian border, and in fact the local bus goes to Lake Maggiore. The restaurant on site looked good and well used, but there was a lot of pork and veal on the menu. Not being a meat eater, I gave it a miss.

My geography of Switzerland improved as I went along, it was not until I was in Interlaken that I realised I was in the Bernese Oberland. Overall the weather was not kind, see photos, and I never had so much as a glimpse of the Jungfrau or Eiger. One afternoon it was good enough to go to the nearby Thunersee where Spooky worked very hard to retrieve a stick fallen into the cracks at the water's edge. I then dutifully threw it for him. The bus service is free for visitors so Spooky and I went into Interlaken, and I was struck by the air of opulence and the number of hotels. It would be interesting to know how other people find it.

My final stop was at Le Bouveret, on Lac Leman. I was quite surprised to find a marina there, and even more surprised to find a memorial to the crew of a Lancaster bomber which crashed nearby during 1943. My photo of the memorial is not terribly clear, but there is an interesting web page at www.207squadron.rafinfo.org.uk/lebouveret

A summary of my, mostly unexpected, impressions of Switzerland would read as follows:-

As reputed it is clean. Everywhere I found self-service points for dog poo-bags and disposal facilities.

Bikes: Greatly used throughout, and good cycle paths. Free 4 hour 'hire' at Le Bouveret.

Cars: plenty of swish sports models.

German seems to be the predominant language and was spoken everywhere, although of course French and Italian were spoken dependent upon the region. Cugnasco had a feel of Italy and Le Bouveret of France. I wondered whether the borders are more political than demographic.

If anyone if thinking of going to Switzerland I would definitely recommend the purchase of a vignette for the motorways. At £26 and valid for a year it is not expensive, and I reckon most if not all the cost is offset by using the motorway rather than having to take some twisty and longer routes. But the choice is yours.........

And so back into France for a very leisurely journey back to Roscoff; travelling through Burgundy, to St Pourcain in the Berry region. I had been to St. Pourcain just once before when Martin and I were on holiday during 1986, and although we said we would go back one day somehow we never got round to it. I am pleased to say that it was as pleasant as I remembered, though this time I was in the campervan and not the 3 star hotel! It is completely free to park on the aire, but you have to pay 2 euros if you want water, electricity and, unusually, to empty the cassette. I was there for three nights over the weekend, and was fortunate enough to pitch up alongside the river. It’s definitely on my list of good aires.

I was interested in a France Passion stop where they kept bees, but unfortunately it was a sharp left hand turn toward a narrow track on a right hand bend, which I nearly did not see. In any event I decided against making that turn and taking my ¢ van down the track. Pity, because I think it would have been interesting and I rather fancied some honey. So, in the end I made just one France Passion stop-over at Tillieres, in Loire Atlantique. There was a good level hard standing, and having said “hello” to my hosts I enquired where I might be permitted to walk with Spooky, and was given nigh on free access. The surrounding land was a mix of vineyards and arable farming with tracks running between. Spooky got very ambitious during one walk and tried to chase a hare. I had a wine-tasting and bought a bottle of one of the best Muscadets I have ever tasted.

Somehow I managed to travel north quicker than anticipated, and so messed about on the north Breton coast for a while. I went to Cancale, plenty of restaurants and good for oysters; Dahouet, spectacular coastal views and popular; Binic, busy town with port and good beach;

St. Thegonnec, small town with an interesting old church, and free aire; and finally St Pol de Leon.

If you have read this far, thank you and I hope it was of interest. I am quite happy to receive comments and/or discuss aspects of my travels. Thanks also to Cathy Gough, without whom this would not appear on the web page.