Ornans, Champagnole and les Cascades du Herisson

After a relaxing two days in Dole, we headed to Ornans, a beautiful little village with balconied houses overhanging the river Loue, where we had a cheeky stopover by the river.  The food and wine in this area is delicious with some new tastes for us, including savignan, a zesty white, poulsard, a light and delicious red and the uniquely perfumed vin jaune.

To walk off all this delicious food, Mr B persuaded me that a post lunch hike up the Via Ferrata was a good idea . . . .

And yes, we did make it to the top!

Next day we drove through some of the most gorgeous chocolate box scenery I've ever seen, with perfectly green meadows grazed by tiny cows, placed as though on a toy farm set.  We visited the source of the River Loue, and hiked to Mont d'Or, where there are views across to the Swiss Alps (and no camper vans allowed up to the car park, hence the hike and a grumpy photo face at the top!)

Next stop, a campsite in Champagnole, tucked away at the back of the town and one of the nicest we've stayed on.  Early in the season travelling is clearly a good move, since we are sharing a 240 pitch site with just 4 other vehicles!  This is a great spot for visiting the 'lake district' here and we've had a happy couple of days travelling around, drinking in the fresh air and beautiful views.

Yesterday we went here, the Cascades du Herisson:

More hiking! and well worth it too.  A fabulous day :)  More updates soon.

J.

Dieppe to Dole - Pics!

Leaving England

Chez John et Marguerite

Chateau at Guedelon

Overnight at Clamency

 View of the church at Dole in the Jura

Dieppe to Dole

Our journey began with a beautifully calm and sunny crossing to Dieppe, followed by a long day's drive to what looked to be an idyllic aire de camping cars in Lailly, right by a church and next to a small lake, except for the all night noise from the village generators and enthusiastically mating frogs!  We learn from each trip where we would return. Next day, a short sleepy drive on to visit friends near Selles sur Cher in the Loire and to stay over at their beautiful holiday home. All along the way admiring the civic pride of the French, each town and village beautifully kept, with immaculate floral displays and a distinct absence of litter.  Next stop a peaceful aire at Clamency, via a visit to Guedelon, a mediaeval castle being traditionally built in the 21st century - National Trust take note! What a fabulous project, with each detail immaculately observed. The site incorporates an entire village with craftspeople of every kind, all working with the methods used in the Middle Ages. Now at a campsite in Dole in the Jura. Wonderful scenery here and very different to our usual route. Off to walk the town this sunny morning and then who knows. . . . 
J.

Welcome to Julie and Steve's first attempt at blogging :)

We're off to Italy and intend to update the blog about once a week - we'll see how it goes! As we are both new to this blogging malarkey don't expect too much - it will start very basic - and may even end like that!

This first blog is about our journey to and from Italy in the summer of 2015. We leave Newhaven on the 15th April and we'll be back in a while - let's see how it goes! It feels really odd leaving just before a general election - but we've made sure that we have proxy votes on May 7th - fingers crossed they make some difference....

We've got a little bit of packing still to do tonight, but here's a pic of the van waiting to go first thing tomorrow :)

Until the next time

S.