Writing the story of our trip across the Pyrenees became a bit of a chore and I didn’t get it finished. The thing is, we pretty much reached the end of our trip with a stop in Andorra. If you’re not into shopping or winter sports, don’t bother stopping except for fuel. The traffic is horrific and there’s not much going for it. And so from there we hauled across France, km after km until we reached Cherbourg and on to home. That was 2018…. work and family distracted me and I didn’t finish the write up.
And on to 2019…. to be honest that didn’t go too well either. We left the U.K. just before Easter and headed into Austria on our way to Lake Garda for some kayaking. Sadly the lakes on route in Austria were still frozen and Lake Garda at Easter is very tricky to get a pitch! Who knew? 
We did eventually find a beautiful little spot though, just south of Limone sul Garda. The site is called Camping Nanzel and it is a little terraced site with very small pitches clinging to the steep side of the lake. This means no big motorhomes and the steepness means everyone has a great view. 😎. There is a small restaurant with good food and a bar, easy access to the water and good clean toilets and showers. oh and did I mention the views Lago di Garda is huuuuge!
Limone itself is a short walk away with lots of narrow streets and retains some old world charm, despite the volume of tourists. There’s a supermarket in Limone and it’s possible to walk between the camp site and the supermarket following backroads parallel to the lake, without having to venture onto the main road which is crazy with traffic.
But… the weather is changeable, undoubtedly influenced by the mountains and the enormity of the Lake and predictably, it changed. So we decided that with the cloud on the ground and torrential rain forecast for days, we would head out of Italy, crossing the Mont Blanc tunnel into Chamonix, France. It was a bit of a long run, but we got a couple of days reprieve from the rain and the van made it over (under) the Alps without faltering.
Chamonix was a nice surprise though. We camped out of town in a small, basic site with great views of two glaciers which hang over the site Camping Les Deux Glaciers
Below the town is a well established network of footpaths and trails which head into the foothills and notably go into Chamonix. The walk is easy and pleasant, mostly level and after about half an hour, you’re in Chamonix, which is as you’d expect for a touristy town out of season. That said, there are a lot of nice bars and restaurants, as well as a cable car to the top of the mountain (shut due to high winds ☹️😩), but the tourist office has maps with walks, mountain bike trails and ski resorts. We loved Poco Loco burger (great burgers served in rustic rolls and good beer) and MBC, the micro brewery and restaurant.
Useful tourist info including restaurants
Sadly the weather came over the mountain and it was time to go. Friends in Brittany invited us to theirs for the night, so we headed off to try multiple gins (Check out Fun With Gin ) and were to introduced to “Raclette” a traditional Alpine BBQ / Fondu type thing with meats, veggies, fish and melted cheeses, yummy!
And after that, it was time to go home and back to work…. isn’t it always the way? Summer trip 2019 follows soon, so stay tuned!
The Little Red Bus 