Tour de France 2007, Stage 6: Munster to Chaumont – 12 July 2007

Leaving our 'camping au sauvage' site, we dropped down from the hills behind Munster to the town itself to look at the Munster storks. Apparently some civic soul decided to encourage the storks to the town to act as a tourist attraction. I have no idea why anyone would want to encourage birds to come and deposit their guano all over their beautiful town roofs, for that is exactly what they do.

We picked up the Alsace wine trail again and headed north to Turckheim and then Riquewihr: "one of France's most visited towns"; and it showed. It was far too touristy and we decided that Eguisheim was actually prettier.

After a brief look at Ribeauville, famed for its Riesling, we set off for the Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg, a castle, high on a promontory, dominating the valley below. Begun in 1144, destroyed in 1462, rebuilt by the Hapsburgs and burnt down in 1633, the castle was totally restored at the end of the 19th century and is now a precise reconstruction of the original building.

Kaiser William II ordered the restoration, not as a royal residence but as a museum and symbol of the restored empire and German past in Alsace. However, since this area was given to France in the 1918 Treaty of Versailles, it is the French tourist trade that now benefits.

It is no wonder that it is the most visited attraction in the Alsace region and is well worth a visit. The views from the castle, almost 750m above the plain, are magnificent; along the Alsace vineyards and across the Rhine to the Black Forest and the Alps.

It was time to leave Alsace and begin the journey westward. Our destination for the night was Chaumont and the road and villages between the two were totally unremarkable apart from the fact that the roads were very lightly trafficked making for a very easy drive and the fact that we were pulled over by the Gendarmes in a routine check. We needed a driver's licence, easily found and then car insurance. I was aware that it was required to carry insurance documentation, so I knew we had it, but where? After a couple of false starts I remembered where it was; produced it; satisfied the Gendarmes; and we were on our way.

Tour de France 2007, Stage 5: St Laurent-en-Grandvaux to Munster – 11 July 2007

Surprise, surprise, it was raining when we woke so we packed our tent in the rain again. The rain was in on-again-off-again mode all the way north until we were well into the Alsace region.

The link between the Statue of Liberty and France is well known, what is probably not as well known is that the only other major undertaking by designer Frederic Bartholdi is a pink sandstone lion, “Le Lion”, in the city of Belfort. As this was on our route it seemed like a good place for a break in the journey.

We detoured off the main road to Eguisheim, a very pretty town of half-timbered buildings built along streets laid out in concentric circles which provide ready-made tourist walking routes around the town.

This town is not far from Colmar, the main centre for the area, so that was our next stop. They used the river to create canals that were originally used to move the wine stocks around the town. Now they are a tourist attraction called Petite Venice.

Along the way there were signs that warned that the road ahead was 'Route Barree a 1500m', in 1000m, at the deviation point the signs said 'Route Barree a 400m' but did our leader take any notice? No he did not. On we pressed, the only cars on a once busy road, until we arrived at the road-making equipment where it was abundantly clear that further progress was impossible, the route was indeed 'barree'. Did we retrace our steps? No we did not. We went through some private property, arrived at a cycle track and drove along that in our intended direction; ultimately arriving at the road that was the signposted deviation, where a kindly driver let us back into the nose-to-tail flow.






After Colmar we travelled away from the German border to the town of Munster, now famous for its storks and from there up into the hills behind Munster to camp at a spot discovered by Bob on a previous trip. Wild camping (“camping au sauvage”) is encouraged in France.

Tour de France 2007, Stage 4: Alpes to St Laurent-en-Grandvaux – 10 July 2007

As predicted, it snowed: but not down to 1900m, it snowed down to about 1780m, a mere 100m above our tents and the temperature was correspondingly low. Between the two of us we wore 30 items of clothing to bed that night and still woke a few times with the cold.

After daybreak the morning temperature climbed to a balmy 4 C and our leader decided it was, in fact, time to move on - the Alpes had won and tourism had lost.

We dropped down to Beaufort for breakfast and the chance to remove some of the layers, exchanging our Michelin-man profiles for our more normal svelte ones.

Suitably sustained, clothed and warmed we moved on to Thones: the location of the Museum of the Resistance the Museum of the Deportation. They are at the national cemetery and memorial to the Resistance fighters in the Haute-Savoie. It was sobering to see that nearly all the photos taken were in snow and to remember that these brave fighters did not have the luxury or breaking camp and driving off in quest of some sunshine.

Further along we stopped at Annecy: a lovely town on the shores of Lake Annecy which would no doubt look absolutely fabulous on a fine summer's day. We saw it on a damp rainy day. We walked the town centre, looked at the Palais de l'Isle - a rather grand name for a building that has spent 500 of its years as a jail, including wartime confinement of Resistance fighters and subsequently SS Officers as the fortunes of war changed.

Skirting the Swiss border we made out way over the mountains to St Laurent-en-Grandvaux where we set up camp, ate our dinner then crawled into our tent and listened to the rain on the roof, for a change.

Tour de France 2007, Stage 3: Alpine passes - 9 July 2007

We went to bed with a thunderstorm raging and were woken at 2, 5 and 6 a.m. with flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and lashing rain. In between there was the roar of the swollen river as it rushed past our campsite and, when the rain let up, the ding-dong of the cowbells across the river. All in all, a good night’s sleep!

When we finally climbed out of bed we found a stream running through the ‘front room’ of our tent and discovered that we had pitched our tent slap in the middle of the run-off path from the ground around and we were camped in 30mm of water. All credit to Ted Baker and his tent design team; we, and our gear inside the ‘living room’, were dry. With a team of helpers laid on, we unpegged and bodily shifted the erect tent to drier ground.

It stopped and started, drizzled and fizzled but was dry enough for breakfast after which we drove down to Bourg St Maurice. The road up to this campsite and down to Bourg St Maurice will be transformed beyond recognition in a few days time when “The Tour’ sweeps through. The prospect of riding a racing cycle up or down these roads strikes terror into the heart. The riders must truly be mad.

We attempted a walk up the valley to a cheese factory but the weather beat us back.

By 4 p.m. it was actually quite clear, but the local forecast was for snow down to 1900m. Since our campsite was at 1560m that did not seem a large enough margin for error for our liking.

The majority of the party were keen to break camp and move on but our intrepid leader was sure that tomorrow was going to be a fabulous day and that we would, at last, be able to see the Alpes in all their splendour.

Tour de France 2007, Stage 2: Troyes to the Alpes - 8 July 2007

From Troyes we dropped down to Dijon for a look at the home of the famous mustard and took ourselves on a tour round the town centre, following a map in the guidebook.

Further south, through the Champagne region, was Beaune; famous for its Hotel-Dieu. Built in 1465 as a refuge and hospital for the poor it has been restored to its former glory and is quite amazing. The roof is multi-coloured glazed tiles and has been copied since on many buildings in the region to create a characteristic 'Bordeaux' style

The next adventure was attempting to obtain fuel in France on a Sunday. There are many 24hr service stations and nearly all are automatic, card operated. Unfortunately although we had at our disposal a VISA, Mastercard, Amex and Maestro cashflow card, all of which claim to be accepted everywhere, what they really mean is everywhere except French automatic service stations.

After our fourth failure, and with 200km still to go to our destination we were getting desperate: however, we managed to arrange for a local who had just successfully filled his car, to put €20 on his card, which we paid him in cash. Satisfied that we would now make it to our destination we set off and after turning at the next intersection came across a fully manned (or more accurately womaned) service station. After filling up, and using the facilities we were finally on the road, passing no fewer that four manned service stations!

We passed through a tunnel and emerged to much finer weather which we took (foolishly as it turned out) to be a good sign.

We arrived at the campsite at 8 p.m. and our new tent was erected for the very first time with the help of Ezra, Bob, John and Bill. We finished just as the rain started and by 9 p.m. it was thunder and lightning, very, very frightening and absolutely tipping it down.

Welcome to camping in the Alpes!

Sitting side by side in the tent, we were literally shouting at each other to be heard over the noise of the rain on the tent.

Why are we camping in the Alpes anyway? A very good question. We have a mad friend, Bob, from NZ who considers it a fine past-time to cycle up and down these mountains and he is currently here on a celebratory 70th birthday trip. At his invitation we agreed to join him and committed before we read the 'fine print'; that it was a camping trip.

Tour de France 2007, Stage 1: London to Troyes - 7 July 2007

In a most unusual move, the Tour de France 2007 began in London on 7 July. Our Tour de France also left London on 7 July and visited a number of places on the real Tour route, either before or after the cyclists, skilfully managing to miss the travelling circus that is "Le Tour".

An early start was required in order to make our check-in time of 9:15 at the Dover ferry. Whisked across to Calais, we filled the tank with cheap French diesel, got a few provisions from the supermarket and headed along the A26. The motorway was surprisingly empty and 3.5 hours and €27 in tolls later, we were in Troyes.

What an absolutely delightful town. The old centre is street after street with building after building in 16th century half-timbered design. There are one or two towns and villages in England that have a 'Tudor, half-timbered' look, like Stratford-upon-Avon or Lavenham or the black and white villages of Hereford but frankly they don't even begin to think about approaching the scale and beauty of Troyes.

Troyes is extremely fortunate that it escaped not only the ravages of two world wars but also the ministrations of the Victorians, with their tins of black and white paint. The colours in Troyes are quite delightful; all manner of pastel tints and contrasting highlights on the timbers.

Triangle and a Quarter - 30 June 2007

Despite a week of flooding around the Midlands, and a heavy rain warning for parts of England, we headed up to Birmingham for the weekend. Months ago, when the accommodation was booked, we had visions of a sunny June evening beside the Birmingham canals. Birmingham claims to have more canals than Venice, and they do make the city interesting. (However, Venice still wins in the ‘desirable holiday destination’ stakes.)

By the time we reached Birmingham, the heavy rain had eased; nevertheless we were pleased our first stop was indoors. Near the centre of the city is an area known as the Jewellery Quarter. The Council own a property that was a jewellery factory for over a hundred years. It was owned by one family, and when the children of the founder were in their 70's and wanting to retire, they were unable to find a buyer, so, in 1981, just shut the doors. 10 years later the council heard about and decided to turn it into a museum. Thus it is exactly as they left it, down to the many plugs in one socket and marmite and jam in the fridge. The tour gave a very interesting insight into life during the last 100 years, and I recognised a gold bracelet design from my childhood - a bamboo design.

After walking the jewellery trail, we visited Soho House, the home of Matthew Boulton; a prominent manufacturer. He was responsible for getting a local assay office, so the jewellers could have their items hallmarked locally.

By this stage in the afternoon, the rain had stopped, so we were able to have a look around the canals in the centre of town. The whole area has been redeveloped and is lovely, even on a grim grey day, it must be a very pleasant place to spend a warm June evening, with cafe's and pubs all along the canal side.

We had read that a trip to the Balti Triangle is a must for eating out in Birmingham. So we tore ourselves away from the huge selection of eating-places in the centre, and drove to southeast Birmingham, to find the Balti Triangle. This is a dish made popular locally by the many immigrants. The chosen Balti is cooked in an iron dish and brought steaming hot, straight to the table. After complimentary popadums with very tasty dips, our chosen dishes (one lamb & one chicken) arrived. Enough to feed a family of four, but so delicious we were obliged to finish it all, washed down with a scrummy mango lassi.

Now that the rain had decided to stay away, we stopped at Bournville, on the way to our hotel. The Cadburys (as in Cadburys Chocolate) built this picture-book town for their workers around the end of the 19th C. Like many of the great Quaker industrialists, the Cadburys were concerned for their workers health, social and educational well-being. The village was having their annual fete on the green, and the whole place looked like a mocked up tourist attraction.