From Rat Race to Road Trip: Overlanding With Four Dogs!
19th August – We are beneath a bowl of mighty peaks, so close to Switzerland that we could yodel over Les Dents Blanches to order a cuckoo clock, an army knife and some smooooth milk chocolate. The views are amazing; rocky peaks, patched by bright green hanging valleys with snow-melt cascades free-falling for hundreds of feet down sheer, limestone walls.
Campsite Municipal le Pelly is at the head of the Giffre valley, just past Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval. Sixt is a small village, probably more correctly a defined as a group of hamlets. It is located in a remote part of the French Alps to the east of the Haute-Savoie department. Sixt is probably better known as a ski resort; part of the Grand Massif ski area, which is the 4th largest in France. Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval is reached from Cluses via a good, reasonably wide mountain road with friendly, not-too-tight hairpins that did not pose any problem with our 40ft van-caravan combo! With the campsite at 1000m of altitude, remember to release pressure in the caravan toilet SLOWLY!Continue reading “30s Site Review – Campsite Municipal Le Pelly, Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, Rhone Alps, France.”
Huge, majestic craft with distinctive red-ochre sails, Thames sailing barges used to be the cargo workhorses of the River Thames and the Essex coast. Once a common sight; over 2000 barges plied these waters. Sadly, now only a handful of these historic ships remain.
Their romance had long held me in thrall, so imagine how excited I was to discover that it is possible not only to sail a Thames Barge, but also to stay on board AND race one! We took part in one of the Barge Matches, a series of races held to every year to pit the pride of barge crews against each other!Continue reading “Thames Barge Racing – The Whitstable Barge Match”
“12-Across. What is the highest point in England (8,4)?” Our last morning in Digoin, we chatted to an American chap over a coffee as he wrestled with his crossword.
“Scafell Pike (7,4)” we replied. So it appears that both we and the Ordnance Survey have got the spelling wrong. According to the informed source of the New York Times, we have missed out the ‘R’ in ‘Scarfell.’ What IDIOTS we are!
World Wide Walkies