Left England and came to Calais via the Eurotunnel. Did a quick trip up the Katwijk (The Netherlands) and then south via the western part of France, central Spain then zig-zagged northish through Portugal, then crossed Spain east to Barcelona, then northbound back through France and Belgium back to Leiden (The Netherlands) to fly home from Schipol Airport. 

THE NETHERLANDS
From Tournai direct to Terneuzen in the Nederlands where we had the truck serviced.  From Terneuzen to the Middelburg where we stayed to clean everything and put the truck in storage.  Middelburg to Leiden by train (2:20) and the spent and enjoyable few days wandering central Leiden and staying in an hotel! The train from Leiden Central direct to Schipol airport takes about 30 mins.

BELGIUM 
Arrived at the Aire in Tournai to find that travelling fair was in town and had taken over the parking area.  Found another spot at the adjacent sports ground that was still walking distance to town.  The Belfrey Tower was of the most interest.

FRANCE  
After collecting the truck from near Exeter came east - in a zig-zag sort of way - and crossed the Channel on the train.  Then we did a quick drive north to Katwijk (south of Amsterdam) and then back again to France and started south towards Spain.  We left Spain northbound and have tracked along part of the Mediterranean coast, into the French Alps, past Grenoble, through the old Volcanic area in the Massif Central, and then north via the Loire valley to Paris. From Paris we came NE to Reims but were unable to get a motorhome spot (only had 7) so we back-tracked a bit and ended up on - yes! - another canal at the small village on Pont L'Eveque.  We were going back to Amiens but decided not and have followed the canal to Honnecourt-sur-Escaut (WW1 Bullicourt, Saint Quentin area). Went northbound to Tournai (Belgium) skirting Cambrai, Denai and Orchies.

SPAIN 
We tracked south though the central plains - the rain does not stay mainly on the plains - to Gibraltar then north - did a bit of loop to go to Arcos de Frontera - then west into Portugal.  There was a short exodus from Portugal back into Spain to meet up with Guy and Cheryl and when they raced off to Madrid with their broken roof strut, we went west to Lisbon. We left Portugal northbound by crossing the .mountains north of Geres, then to the coast at A Coruna before turning east to wend our way to Barcelona.  From Barcelona we turned north and crossed the mountains again (just east of Andorra) enroute to Carcasonne.

PORTUGAL
Travelled west nar the southern coast to Cape St Vincent, then north inland looking for cork trees - found them plus a lot of marble - then east to Spain for a quick sojourn to Merida.  Tracking west we headed to Lisbon then northish detouring to go to Fatima and Tomar then continued north via Coimbra, Aveiro.  Tried to visit a National Park but they are not as we expected and continued north to cross into Spain via a very narrow and windy road to Ourense.

The original project envisaged a single 13.7 KM tunnel to traverse the hills north of Saint Quentin and join the Somme and Escaut Rivers.  The project was started in 1768 but stopped in 1775 when nearly complete. It was restarted again on Napoleon's orders and was eventually completed as two tunnels (1069 M & 5670 M).  On 28th April 1810 Napoleon rode the first barge through the tunnel from Bullicourt.

Bullicourt featured again in WW1 when in 1916 the Riqueval tunnel at Bullicourt was part of the German Hindenburg defensive line. It was filled with 34 barges, sealed at both ends and was used to shelter German reserve troops.  Considered to be impregnable, it was eventually taken in September 1918 - the Battle of Saint Quentin Canal.

HONNECOURT - northern end beside the camp ground

BULLICOURT - southern end

HOW IT WORKS
A chain - over 8 KM long - rests on the bottom of the canal and the towing engine was designed to tow up to 30 loaded barges at a time through the tunnel at an average speed of 2.5 KPH.  In its heyday 180 barges a day passed through the tunnel.  Originally 7-8 men pulled the barges and this took 12-14 hours.  Then 6-8 horses were employed and then they moved on to steam power but this had to be abandoned because of the fumes.  From 1906 they began using electric power.  This still working engine was built in 1924.

Fate again brought us to a canal campsite - unfortunately it had turned cold and rainy.

Arrived in Paris at 4:30 PM as this would be the best time to drive in - not! Only made one wrong turn and found the camp site which was on the river not far from Roland Garros - concentrating on the traffic so much didn't even notice it.  Bois de Bologne (800 hectare) was immediately adjacent - with lovely parks etc but also the seedier side of Paris life. Metro station Porte-Maillot a 10 min bus ride away.

Bois de Boulogne

Eiffel Tower

NOTRE DAME

Sainte Chappelle
Private chapel of King Louis IX and his family.  Built between 1242 and 1248 within the precinct of the Royal Palace.  Downstairs was for the staff - upstairs for the family.  Massive amount of stained glass.

Walking about . . .

Arc de Triomphe - one of but the most famous one - stands at the centre of Place de l'Etoile (now Place Charles de Gaulle).  The 12 road junction was completed in 1777 as it exists today - original convergence of several hunting trails.

Scootering about . . .
Caught the Metro to Montmatre and Pere Lachaise then wended our way by scooter to Place de Voges, through Le Marais, Les Halles and back to the Louvre to catch the Metro home.

Look at that . . . 

Today we had - what for us is now a long drive (over 400 km) - north to Paris. Yes we avoided all the toll roads - otherwise all you see is freeway.  As lunch time approaches, of course all the boulangeries are closed - for lunch - we will never learn.  Okay we'll stop at the next parking area and make something ourselves - then we saw the sign: 300 metres, restaurant rapide, snack bar, ici frites - just what I feel like - frites!

We had a wonderful lunch - hamburger with frites and omelette with onions, frites and lardon.  In the moment, couldn't remember what lardon was but the guy standing at the counter indicated it was good. As so it is - bacon pieces - duh! 

Anyway later another lady (Catherine) and friend arrived.  Catherine has a friend in Brisbane and keeps in touch by Facebook! She gave us her contact details in case we are ever this way again - and tonight I see it was on the back of her shopping list - so I hope she remembered her: Eau Vittel, beurre, huile d'olive, huile colza, moutarde and oeufs!

We don't speak French or Spanish or Portugese.  Well we can point and murder enough French to eat. This means that in all our travels we actually have very little interaction with others.  But we spent some very cheerful moments this afternoon having a chat and a look at the truck and the birds - EMU!

Sorry that we didn't catch the names of Madame and Monsieur at the Le Gold Star Snack Bar - thank you for lunch.  So if you are ever passing north of Bonny-sur-Loire  . . . 

Camped for the night beside the lake.  It was raining as we arrived about 7:30 PM but fortunately cleared to a fine day.

Vienne is located south of Lyon, on the river Rhone.  Before the arrival of the Romans it was a Gallic capital. It was transformed into a Roman colony in 47 BCE (time of Julius Caesar) and became a major urban center.  A large excavation fronted by an excellent Museum displays a small part of the city including the remains of streets, warehouses, lavish homes, baths and workshops. Some of the homes on this side of the river were 4000 sq m in size.  Lead piping can still be seen in place in the ground.  The quality and preservation of the mosaics was excellent.  Some the ruins were protected as early as 1840 and some were only discovered in the early 1900s . . . and we only happened to go past and looked for something to see in the town.  After the Romans left, the limestone blocks from houses etc were scavenged to be used to make cement - much easier than quarrying!

Scenes from the town

Having passed within cooee of some of the famous names of the Tour De France we had to come to one famous mountain place, so here we are atop Alpe D'Huez.  In winter a ski resort, in summer ????? Certainly all the hotels and chalets are closed at present.  

The camping area is right in front of the airstrip.

We spent a good part of the day driving through part of these gorges in Provence.  The limestone country is spectacular and none of our photos do it justice.