The Joys of Touring in Europe

It has often come as a surprise when in conversation with Caravanners, Campervanners and Motorhomers to hear of their reluctance to cross the channel and experience the joys of touring in Europe. Many admit to being nervous about driving on the other side of the road, others worry about finding places to stay. The wonderful thing about touring on the continent are the excellent roads and numerous excellent, value for money places to stay. Europeans are ahead of Britain when it comes to providing for those of us who love this lifestyle, they have led the way for many years and consequently are geared up to provide wonderful places to meet all tastes.

The Euro Tunnel fills many with fear at the thought of passing under the waters of the Channel but once you have tried it you will be converted as you find yourself arriving in France sooner and in the comfort of your own vehicle. It is not possible to drive on the wrong side of the road and very soon many find it feels more normal. Another benefit of the Channel Tunnel is that you can pay for your crossing with your Tesco Club card points. In June 2022 I had £50.50 worth of Club Card points, this converted to £168.00 towards the return crossing, I had to pay £90.00!

The French Motorways are only 2 lanes but are in excellent condition, yes there are tolls and these can be paid easily with the help of Emovis Tag http://www.emovis-tag.co.uk an easily fitted windscreen tag which will automatically pay your toll fee, a month later you pay by direct debit. The company also have tags for Spain and Portugal.

In June we headed for Berlin, stopping overnight at a delightful small site in a quiet German village, we found this site on the park4night app, which we strongly recommend downloading, it covers all of Europe and is an essential touring tool. We arrived in Berlin the following afternoon having pre booked on a very good, reasonably priced fully serviced pitch, at DCC Campingplatz Gatow http://www.dccberlin.de outside the entrance you can catch the bus which is free and takes you into the city centre.

Berlin is fascinating and very welcoming and very reasonable, the potential downside is that we would recommend taking three days to get there against the two days we took, it is a long way.

Leaving Berlin we made our way to Grindalwald in the Swiss alps, stopping for two nights in the beautiful spa town of Baden Baden in Southwestern Germany’s Black Forest and the home of Mercedes. The city enjoys one of the mildest climates in the country and is famous for its thermal baths, restaurants and shopping. A Wohnplatz for motorhomes for 12 euros a night was our home and ideally placed to cycle the short distance into the grand and delightful centre.

Our journey through Freiberg, Basel, Bern and on into Grindalwald (332kms) was so enjoyable with excellent roads and wonderful scenery. Before entering Switzerland it is necessary to purchase a vignette, this can be done on line. As you enter Switzerland a friendly faced chap checked that our vignette was clearly displayed on the left side of the windscreen. One word of warning here, if you intend going into the alps do not rely on Google maps, our Snooper Sat Nav decided, at a critical point, to loose its way, being 2.49mtrs wide Google maps took us to our site in Grindalwald by the narrowest route it could, much to the amusement of everyone on our chosen site as they watched us literally squeeze our way on to the site the wrong way!

We had three wonderful days discovering the delights of this beautiful valley. I had wanted to go there as having once done some climbing I wanted to see the North Face of the Eiger, I was not disappointed! There are several cable cars and an amazing gorge through which the run off from the local glacier roars.

The often asked question is Switzerland expensive was in our minds, we discovered that it does not have to be, it all depends what you choose to do, one thing, load up with food before you enter the country.

The next leg of our journey took us to the French Alps and Lake Annecy. The crystal blue lake surrounded by mountains took our breath away. We found a lovely site 9kms from the town, with its own swimming pool and excellent access to the cycle path for 20 euros a night. The weather was perfect, the lake water was 22 degrees and the cycle path amazing.

We hired a boat and chugged down the lake to enjoy swimming off the stern and had a lazy lunch, being gently rocked by the breeze. The main town is very modern but the old town is a wonder to explore, with great food and a busy, atmospheric market., narrow alleys with delightful shops.

I could have stayed for good! I left understanding why so many Brits move to France!

Our final destination, before returning to Blighty, was Dijon, the home of the famous French Mustard. We found a site on the outskirts, with easy cycling into the centre of this unspoilt, beautiful city. One way of seeing the best is to follow the Owl route, clearly marked by the cities symbol placed in the pavements leading you through streets with buildings dating back centuries. The centre is dominated by the palace, now a museum and art gallery. Restaurants abound and a warm and friendly welcome makes this somewhere which should be on every ones list.

We drove 2520 miles over three weeks, saw wonderful places and met delightful fellow travellers from all corners of the world. If we had tried to do this journey in a car or by air and hotels it would have been beyond our budget and we would have missed so much. Be brave, dip your toe into touring in Europe and you will be pleasantly surprised to find out how easy, spectacular and safe it is.