Safe Return Doubtful

Day 91 – to Ban-de-Sapt (Vosges) There was thunder rain most of the night. I find the steady drumming on the roof of the van pleasant and welcome, especially after a warm and humid day. I had chatted to an older couple from Thirsk last night, sat outside their motorhome…

Day 90 – to Mesnay With senses dulled by a midnight Jamesons I gave Roja his breakfast, which he ignored, and lay reading Simenon and listening to the World Service in the pleasant morning temperature. We both stirred though when horses began to pass. It was the route of the…

Day 89 – at Treffort The old laundry here at Treffort is a good stopover place. I occasionally use sites like searchforsites and park4night but only when desperate. They tend to attract motorhomes and so need to be accessible to them. Also, if there is a good place it soon…

Day 88 – to Treffort- (& Day 87 – Pierreclos) I failed to identify yesterday as Ascension Day, to my undoing. It falls on a Thursday, so the associated Friday makes it one of the major holiday weekends in France. I realised late in the afternoon, as I was on…

Day 86 – to Chalmazel-Jeansagnière May 17, 86 days away and by some way, this is the coldest it’s been. For just over two weeks now, there’s been rain every day. I came north from the Pyrenees a couple of days earlier than I had planned to, hoping to catch…

Day 85 – to Job The unseasonable weather shows no sign of change. Up in the forest at 1300 metres this morning it was 2C with a heavy drizzle. It was a peaceful stopover though, except for dawn when a couple of birds wanted to play on the van roof.…

Day 84 – to forest at the south of Lake Pavin The mountains as one looks to the south from Col de Serre, are the remnants of r Volcanoes of Cantal, the largest stratovolcano or conical volcano of Europe, which was formed from 13 million years ago and last erupted…

Day 83 – at Col de Serre There was a lot of rain overnight. This morning the Col was in thick cloud, but gradually it started to clear. Though the heavy showers kept coming. I had in mind a loop that took in Puy de Niermont at 1620 metres. The…

Day 82 – to Col de Serra (1384 metres) By the time I’d lazed around with the next chapter of Crawford’s book on Borders (a wonderful section about Hadrian’s Wall) the clear skies had darkened. I looked up from my book and was shaken into action. First stop was the…

Day 81 – at Mandailles The heavy morning rain meant even Roja was happy to doze a bit longer and let me concentrate on reading. I’ve just started James Crawford’s The Edge of the Plain, subtitled ‘how borders make and break our world’. I have read books that approach this…