Our annual few weeks in Europe is a little further east than recent years, meandering between France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. We spent most time in Provence, in the southern French Alps. Once the early start from home, the race around the M25 and getting on the Channel ferry is over we feel we can relax and take our time.

3 June: We managed to catch an earlier than planned ferry, but to Calais rather than our usual Dunkerque. First night at Tournai in Belgium.

4 June: We walked, along the Scheldt river, into town. Huge cargo-bearing boats speed up and down the river, co-ordinated, we must assume, in some way, as there isn’t room, in most places, for two of them to pass.

5 June: We drove SE to Chimay in Belgium, known for its excellent beer, then into a narrow French strip of land surrounded by Belgium. to Givet on the river Meuse.

6th June: We went through Luxembourg to Metz, back in France. Lovely medieval city with huge cathedral, on the Moselle and Seille rivers. Great riverside campsite with excellent facilities (including reliable wi-fi), although rather messy geese. 80 years since the first D-Day landings.

7th June: Still in Metz, we walked around the extensive ramparts which defended the old city. Very sunny and hot.

8 June: Into Germany and across the Rhine to Heidelberg on the Necker river. We stayed east of the city, in Neckargemünd, a delightful little town with a campsite overlooking the river.

9th June: Spent the day in Heidelberg. The main attraction is its Schloss, which dominates the town and generates a thriving tourist industry.

10th June: A long drive south to Baden-Baden then through the Black Forest and back over the Rhine to Colmar. Spectacular views all the way, although few photos taken. We carried out our duty, as tourists, and bought and ate some BF gateaux. Nicer than I remember.

11 June: Colmar is a very pretty town with a Medieval centre, cathedral, spectacular covered food market (with inexplicably crowded female toilets).

12-13th June: South, to Basle, into Switzerland and through Bern and Lucerne, to Morges on Lake Geneva (also called Lac Leman by the French). To a site right on the lake, where we had good hot weather for a couple of days. Used the time to relax, sit by the lake and do some shopping. A nice comfortable town, but mostly memorable for the views over the lake towards the Alps.

14th June: Raining, and slightly colder, so we were pleased that we made good use of the great weather in the last few days. Driving in the rain is ok, so we managed to cover some miles south along the lake through Geneva and Grenoble. Fantastic, thundery, alpine scenery. Then back into France where petrol, food, beer and wine is a more sensible price. Stopped at Monestier-De-Clermont, a leafy, very quiet place, with a restaurant, which got busier later.

15th June: Very heavy rain overnight, so didn’t hang around. Although we haven’t had a lot of rain ourselves, much of Europe has suffered deluges in the weeks before we arrived and any rain now seems to render areas of campsites rather soggy. SatNav sent us via a rubble track at first, but eventually we got on the D1075 south through more spectacular scenery to Digne-les-Baigns (where we stayed, with Archie the dog, years ago, although couldn’t spot the hotel) then on to Castellane. Fantastic scenery all the way – alpine at first then merging into the rural countryside of Provence.

16th June: We’re in a very friendly campsite, a mile or so out of Castellane. Some sites get a reputaion for being “international”, rather than all French, and this was one of them, particularly Dutch, German, Italian, Swiss and a few Brits. I’ve no idea why. We walked the mile or so into town. Again, a very friendly feel. A classic car club was meeting in the main square. Walked back along the river Verdon.

17th June: Into Castellane again. Sal to do some shopping, me to climb up a hill on the other side of the town, called The Roc, or the Roc of Notre-Dame, about 600 feet above the town, with a church on top. Christ’s Easter journey along the Via Dolorosa was depicted, below, en route (I only had to carry a back-pack). In the afternoon Sal painted and I pottered about, pretending to do minor maintenance to the campervan.

18th June: After a leisurely breakfast, showers, etc., we drove to the local Auchan supermarket for supplies and diesel. Then the fairly short but terrifying drive down the Gorge du Verdon to the spectacular, azure, Lac de Sainte-Croix (also sometime called Lac Verdon). This was one of the few “must do” locations we had planned in our trip, and we were not disappointed. Worryingly, the first two campsites we passed were “complete“, but we were third time lucky at Les Ruisses. A short walk to the lake and, up a wooded hill, to the small town of Les Salles sur Verdon.

19th June: Walked up to the town in the morning. Shops and restaurants. What’s not to like? In the afternoon we de-camped to the lake for a swim and sun-bathe.

20th June: We had earmarked a couple of restaurants yesterday, in the town, but, today, one looked woryingly quiet and the other had “chef problems” – i.e. he hadn’t turned up. So we had lunch in a popular and lively “bistro” type of place, which was great. More lake swimming later (Sal, I think, not me!).

21st June: Driving, more to the west now, through more incredible mountain scenery, to Orgon, still in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. We only stayed here for one night, but it was a memorable site, wooded and steep, probably a former quarry. with an attractive lake (Lac Lavau) which we walked around.

22nd June: We had a brief look around the town of Orgon which is on the other side of a hill from the campsite and lake. Very old and pretty.

Then more driving, via very congested peage motorways to Macon. The town had a large campsite used as a popular stopover for motorhomes from Germany (two massive ones near the showerblock), Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Not many French, though. We strolled to a marina where people seemed to be getting ready for an all-night rave.

23rd June: There was some sort of rave on most of last night, although not close enough to keep us awake (or to make us consider visiting). Collected bread from the campsite cafe, then north for lunch in Arnay Le Lac. Another very pretty village; a social gathering with a band (“Stand By Me”) playing.

Then on to Châtillon-sur-Seine, on the, narrow, upper reaches of the Seine. Although an attractive medeival town, the commercial, retail centre looked a little tired.

24th June: Fairly early start. Drove north to Château-Thierry, in the historic Province of Champagne, where we stopped for lunch. Sally came here as a child (something to do with a sailing trip) and we have been here before.

Then on to Péronne, on the Somme. We drove to a site on the river a little out of town, but it was packed with UK and German motorhomes, with their usual sleeping, over-tanned. elderly owners. We wanted to explore the town so we drove back in and stayed in a central municipal site, which was almost empty, but later filled up with cyclists and tents.

25th June: Being on the Somme, there are, of course, many memories of man’s general beastliness. There are many Military cemetaries in the area, and all over northen France, from both World Wars, all impecably maintained. We walked, through some gardens, into the town centre and spent some time in a WW1 museum. Harrowing, as one would expect. Particularly drawings by German soldier Otto Dix who was haunted by the things he saw. And then lunch (for us, not poor Otto) at a multi-awards-winning (if the years’ of certificates on the wall was to be believed) restaurant.

26th-29th June: For our last few days abroad Sal (Chief Researcher) had identified some sites in the Baieau Somme, where we planned some traditional seaside relaxation, specifically at Saint-Valery. When we explored the area, on a very hot day, we found that suitable sites were fully booked. So we drove to Le Crotoy, on the north side of the bay to find the same thing. Even so-called “wild” camping places (which usually means not, as you might expect, a leafy remote woodland glade, but a crowded car park with sordid “facilities”) were very busy.

So we drove on, making a few detours to other possible locations, to a small village, Condette, where we had planned to spend our last night. We have stayed here before, on at least one previous trip via Dover, as it is within an early-morning distance of Calais or Dunkerque. A hard-working elderly couple maintain the site meticulously and efficiently. Booking details are completed, in triplicate, in copperplate handwriting, by Le Patron. A lake and nature reserve are close by, with an impressive chateau which is now an art and music centre, with an emphasis on Shakespeare. Believe it or not. Nearby Hardalot (not a Sid James Carry-On baron) has long sandy beaches with wind-surfers, quirky shops and several sea-food restaurants.

29th June: The last day always includes a visit to a supermarket, this time an Intermarche, not far from Condette. Then to Dunkerque, earlier than expected so got onto an earlier sailing – time saved wiped out by delays at Dover due to UK Border Force equipment failure. Brexit’s long shadow. Also, not Brexit’s fault probably, a later unexplained diversion from the M4 through Reading.

2352 miles DTD.