A breakfast in this Hotel is expensive and there is not much there unlike the other IBIS Styles we stayed in. However we did this to save time and that meant we could be on the road to the Calais by about 09.30 and by following the motorway we arrived at the Port in a quick time and was able to catch an earlier boat, which we were glad to do as later in this report you will understand why.
The Ship left at around 10.45 EU time and arrived on time in Dover after a very smooth crossing only made better by eating a bacon sandwich in the Club lounge during the crossing. We were off the ship pretty sharpish and headed up the M20 and there was mile after mile, about 18 miles I guess of road works with one part being cordoned off for 12 miles with no sign of activity anywhere so why cordon it off? This delay added about twenty minutes to our journey and so wee were glad we were able to catch the earlier Ferry. We arrived on the M25 which although busy, was reasonably fast, and we then said as there is not much food at home and we were both a quite tired we stopped in the Silvermere Golf Club for lunch which helped us a lot.
In the afternoon we emptied the car and then had a rest in the garden lounge for a couple of hours before then having a slight bite to eat and then discovered that the internet connection to the TV Box in the Cinema room was not working, damn will have to sort out tomorrow as to tired to concentrate tonight. We watched a couple of programs and then headed up to bed, Oh our own bed so nice…. and no hurry to get up in the morning.
It was a great trip and we did about 2750 miles altogether and the car performed well and the little fridge in the car was a godsend for chilling wine and milk.
So that's it for now and will report on any trips but non planned at the moment apart from Florida in the new year.
Following an early breakfast in the Hotel we left Colmar at about 09.15 and was a little surprised by the route the Sat Nav was taking us as it id when driving to Colmar as it seemed to avoid some decent looking main roads which may have been with Tolls. After about half an a hour we arrived at the entrance to a very long tunnel which we knew would speed things up and it insisted that we go by the windy side roads but we ignored it and carried on anyways as were already on the tunnel approach and no chance to turn whilst it keeps saying do a U-turn when you can, which was impossible. We then reverted to map reading and it was later in the day when Jennifer was driving that Noel checked every setting on the Garmin and discovered for some reason an entirely separate section of the set up regarding Toll Roads had been ticked to avoid. Oh well thank heavens it did not make to much difference.
By mid morning we were experiencing some light showers through to heavy rain requiring full lights and this meant we had to reduce our speed somewhat for safety reasons. The route took us to Nancy, then Metz and then on to Reims and this time were were on Tolled motorway and was able to move quite well and catch up a little time. It rained for pretty much all of the day until we arrived in Boulogne at arrived 17.00 and considering it was about 430 miles, according to Google, we thought our travel time considering the conditions but it is a very long way from one side of France to the other.
We were staying at the Ibis Hotel next to the old town and we were given a room on the corner of the building from where you could see the Cathedral which was nice although at at about 05.00 on Monday morning its got rather noisy. In the evening we visited a restaurant we have been to before on a previous visit and the food was very good although due to his allergies ended up having a light meal. We got back to the Hotel at about 9.30 pm and sat up in bed reading for a while before lights out at 10.30
We took a taxi downtown as we guessed that parking might be a problem on a Saturday and with the amount of German cars there confirmed we made the correct decision. En-route to the old town in the centre of a traffic island is a miniature Statue of Liberty which was made by a Frenchman who lived-in Colmar and was very famous for his architectural designs.In fact there are many buidlings as a result of his wortk in this town
The old historic town is much larger than we throught it would be and having had a good walk round looking at some of the very old buildings and after a nice cup of tea overlooking the Cathedral we then found the ‘Petit Train’ and took advantage of the 35 minute tour of the town. By this time it was close to 15.00 and much to our surprise many of the restaurants had closed for serving lunch and so we ended up in a not so good Bistro with poor food and high tourist prices which we will not repeat.
The town was very busy with tourists, mostly German it would appear, and considering the time of year we wondererd what it would be like in mid-summer, quite dreadfull with think.
The following information about Colmar is from their tourist website
Colmar, the most Alsatian city of Alsace!
Nestled among vineyards, its traditional houses, canals, floral displays, amazing cuisine, famous wines and charming accommodation make Colmar an outstanding microcosm of Alsace – showcasing its lifestyle, conviviality and hospitality – the key features of its unique, exceptional welcome.
The capital of the Alsacian wines, situated near Germany and Switzerland between the Vosges and the Rhine, Strasbourg and Mulhouse, offers visitors an exciting glimpse of 1000 years of European history.
Besides, with its 67,000 inhabitants, Colmar retains a 'country town' atmosphere which contributes so much to its charm. Wonderfully preserved from the ravages of time, its homogenous historical centre is classed as a 'protected area' and has benefited from careful restoration and ongoing improvements for more than 20 years.Every season, it offers a richly diverse range of cultural, sporting, nature, relaxation, and culinary enjoyments.You will be easily tempted by this enchanting "country town".
Colmar will also delight you with the quality of its shops and boutiques that will allow you bring a small part of Alsace back with you in your luggage! In every street of the historic centre you will find shops upon shops offering "made in Alsace" products: food, table accents, textiles, déco, accessories, soft furnishings…
We have taken lots of photos and video during our walk around but due to slow internet in the Hotel will wait untill we get home to save lots of time uploading.
We have also decided that due to the inclement weather which has turned a bit cold, wet and cloudy to head home tomorrow and so we will drive and stay the night in Boulogne Sur Mer and then catch a mid morning ferry back to the UK.
In the evening we watched some stuff on Netflix and also You Tube berfore hitting the sack.
After an early breakfast we headed off and had decided to stay within France for our journey north as to enter Switzerland would require the hassle of purchasing a motorway pass for £ 35.00 which last’s a year but we would be there for only a couple of hours and so blow that and therefore we headed off in the general direction of Lyon and then turned North.
In the early stages of the journey the weather was a bit cold but at least bright and some of the roads we went down were really very nice and then the weather changed totally and we had heavy rain and the clouds came down and that slowed us down quite a bit. Add to this the amazing amounts of roadworks en-route and it seemed that just about every motorway or main road was subject to change and quite frankly some of the changes looked totally over the top, So either this is a method to keep employment up or France is taking money from the EU to replace its road system but whichever is true there was a lot off it going on.
We stopped a couple of times for a break and also a picnic and we eventually arrived in Colmar just about 17.30 after a long day. A shower then off the the in- house restaurant which was not to bad and together with a bottle of Pinot Noir which is a local wine it was not to bad. Then back to the room where we watched the film about Laurel and Hardy which was quite good but shows the risks of fame and failure.
Because the weather was not kind we did not take any photo’s.
This was a long day in the car for reasons mentioned earlier and so an early night was called for.
Well the sun was shining and a pleasant 14 degrees Centigrade as we left the Hotel in a taxi to go downtown, as they say, after having experienced the Mercure buffet breakfast. Noel was bit baffled by the hi-tech toaster which literally takes the bread from the tow and slowly draws it down inside in little cave but then it took nearly four minutes to toast one slice of bread, amazingly slow. If he wants toast tomorrow morning he will have to get up extra early.
We arrived outside the ‘Marie’ and then walked down the dockside and had a look at the water tour boats and then considered going on the local bus tour but first a walk along all the historic all streets which many years ago a group of cargo agents and wives as guest of Swiss Air took us skiing and then a day trip to to Annecy with the idea you can spend five hours or so in the town. So we duly arrived by coach and after having the left the coach park and walked about three hundred metres when somebody suggested that a glass of something would not go amiss, actually what followed was an enjoyable disaster. So we went in a local bar where we spent about three hours and realised we needed to eat and crossed the road to a restaurant that had been suggested and then had a long lunch which ended when it was mentioned the coach would be leaving in ten minutes. We all rushed back to the coach and some of the others in the tour who had walking tours of the city, lake tours and visit to various places of interest but our small group had not seen anything except the inside of many empty wine bottles. So Jen and I were determined to see more and also have a good lunch.
We wandered through the old town taking photos and finally stopped at a place for lunch where the food was great and we had a beer and bottle of red wine before continuing our walk. We did consider again going on the tour bus but when looking where it went we realised we had by walking seen the best parts of Annecy in our earlier walk and so called an Uber to take us back to the Hotel.
In the evening Noel continued uploading photos of the day but with such a slow internet speed, but its free!!!., it took hours.
Tomorrow we head for a place called Colmar where we spend two nights and hope the weather will be as nice as it was today. We are also planning our route back to the Uk from Colmar and will follow the Tour de France route if at all possible but subject to the weather which the forecast is not looking to great at the moment as there have been bad storms in the US of A which have flown over the Atlantic and are heading our way.
Another nice morning and sitting outside in the sun for our morning breakfast whilst watching the workers in the field about half a mile away collecting vegetables for the local market or supermarket.
Although we paid via Booking.com this accommodation by credit card it would appear they don't take credit card normally just cash and/or bank transfer and so we needed to get some cash and also fill up the car with fuel for tomorrows journey up in to them there mountains. The ATM machine was in the centre of the small town which a certain part has a strong historical background. More detail as follows.
’Benefiting from an exceptional climate between the Alps and Provence, this small town located to the south-east of Gap (prefecture) combines the best conditions for agricultural production and air recreation. The territory of "Gap Tallard Durance" is dotted with orchards. A few hectares of vines still survive on Tallard and Châteauvieux and come to complete the wine offer on the Route des Fruits et des Vins which crosses Tallard. The famous Route Napoléon also makes a stop in the town. The castle, which dominates the valley of the Durance east side and the old town to the west, is classified as a historical monument and dates from the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. But Tallard is also a paradise for sports and air recreation with exceptional areological conditions. It was the scene of major events such as the world parachuting championship in 2003. Its particular aerology allows all light aviation disciplines to mix with each other: plane, helicopter, parachuting, ULM, glider, hot-air balloon, para-motor… Others Sports activities are also possible with the cliff of Céüze, which attracts climbers of all nationalities’
We took a couple of photos around the old town and noticed that there were a number of drawings on the walls all around the town which were rather nice.
We returned to the chalet and Jennifer prepared the chicken for this evenings dinner and we sorted out our cases for the next week as we are not likely to need swimming costumes and more likely to need warmer clothing . We need to leave early tomorrow morning and so have cancelled the breakfast for tomorrow morning although its a nice way to start the morning it will take to long for tomorrow for us with an early departure. We plan to have another swim mid afternoon before it gets to cool, once the time reaches around 18.00 it starts to get much cooler.
I am completing the Blog early as we know what the rest of the day has in store for us and perhaps tomorrow there will be a lot more to write about and so it was great to get this done early
