Our trip in Belgium, Switzerland and France

[Pitstop Penny]

I thought I’d share our adventure thus far. It’s our first big trip abroad in the van since we purchased it four years ago.

The pandemic, personal troubles and other such stuff have prevented us otherwise. We have had some amazing little weekend trips. Plenty of those. And enjoyed a week in France last year. But this is our first big two week escape. And we plan to do a three week adventure next spring too. Yay!

So we began in Bruges, staying at the Camping Memling. Such a great spot for a campsite. It’s clean, friendly, handy location. It’s an overnighter, for sure. But it’s decent. We spent two nights there, giving us a full day to enjoy beer, waffles and wandering in Bruges.




With mutual headaches (can’t think why) we r hen headed to Kaysersberg in the Alsace part of France on our way to Switzerland. We stayed at Camping Kaysersberg and let me tell you, what a lovely little site it is. Proper old school, but clean and nicely laid out. Lots of shade. And they serve beer on tap, plus there’s a nice off road path into the local town. Cute!

Next, we headed to Camping Jungfrau in Lauterbrunnen where we are currently based until Sunday. And after that, we are heading to France! Our first full day today, and we got up at the crack of dawn to take a train to Wilderswil, then a train to Schynige Platte, and then we walked along a beautiful ridge to Grindelwald First. Down in the gondola and trains back to base. Phew. With a pit stop at a mountain hut restaurant to enjoy a rosti with a view of the mountains.

Sat enjoying a cold one and hoping the husband doesn’t plan another walk for tomorrow… haha! But of course I do. Nothing a hot shower, bbq and beer can’t sort out. Or a good night’s sleep. And we are happily falling into a healthy rhythm of hitting the sack early doors.




I shall share more as we go. But what an adventure so far! And to think we were almost going to sell our van, too!

 

[Pitstop Penny]

And here is our current setup at Camping Jungfrau

 

[Loz2286]

Don't miss the Trümmelbach Falls, just up the road from Camping Jungfrau.

 

[Pitstop Penny]

Don't miss the Trümmelbach Falls, just up the road from Camping Jungfrau.

Thank you! That’s what we have planned for the last day! We will absolutely do this

 

[Pitstop Penny]

Evening all. So it’s now day three in Lauterbrunnen and we are just having such an amazing time.

For our second day, we did Jungfraujoch. We then walked down from Eigergletscher to Wengen. And that was about it. Stopping off at a bar towards base.



Today we did the Panoramaweg from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. And then descended into Lauterbrunnen. And then went to Mürren. Then took the funicular up to Allmendhubel and walked back to Grütschalp before taking a gondola back down to the valley. Wow just wow.




Tomorrow, we are going to do a harder hike, similar to the first day, up to the Schilthorn from Mürren - the James Bond restaurant. We are making and packing sandwiches and taking haribo! My legs are already tired, but given we are road cyclists we must obey rule number five.

Can you tell I am having the trip of my life? More to follow!

 

[Pitstop Penny]

Evening! So today we did the Schilthorn, but not from Murren. From Allmendhubel instead.

Dear Lord. To be fair; it wasn’t that difficult. It was slow going. But we got there. After a couple of hours or so. With a nice pause at a mountain hut. I’ve definitely improved my fitness this week, as my heart stayed around 145bpm on the super steep parts.

The Schilthorn panorama revolving restaurant was fun. Expensive. But we expected that. Worth it, given this has been on the bucket list for a while. We had a filthy 007 burger and a beer. My gosh. I wolfed it down.

Tomorrow, we chill. I thought we were here for five nights. But we are actually here for six. I’ll share more when we arrive in France on Sunday.

 

[Pitstop Penny]

Hello all! It’s now day two in Lake Annecy. We’ve camped up in Camping International Lac Bleu and it’s lovely. We were a bit underwhelmed when we got here, as Switzerland and Camping Jungfrau had been so utterly awesome. A kind of comedown, back to reality type thing. Which is absurd as Annecy is so pretty.

The campsite isn’t bad. The facilities are miles away from our pitch. The bar and restaurant is ok but weirdly near the entrance and not with any nice view of the lake. Lord knows why. I had visions of sipping a cold one while looking out onto the calm waters. But no. Just a view of the road.

And you’re right next to a road here. So traffic is loud first thing. And then calms down during the day. I don’t think we’ll come here again. It’s not a bad place. It’s grown on us. The most positive thing about it is the people. We’ve met and spoke to so many friendly folk here. And it helps being right by the lake, too.

God. Listen to me. I sound like a right fusspot. I’m certainly not one to leave a review. But if I did, I would say: “Great site, in a lovely location with a very friendly crowd. Showers are clean and decent. Pitches nice and big and many with great views of the lake.”

Tomorrow we leave a night earlier than planned to head north towards Calais. We are stopping at a very rural and small quiet site near Troyes. Think typical French idyllic village with no light pollution, local wine, and fresh croissants for breakfast. Just what I dream of when I come to France.

We’ve stayed at quite a few big family sites thus far, so we’re very much looking forward to being somewhere a little more…laidback and less organised, shall we say. A nice two night stopover before heading to Chateau Gandspette campsite near Calais for one last night before catching an early Chunnel home on Friday.

To say this trip has been heaven is an understatement. Now don’t all puke up at once, haha! I am a romantic at heart, and we have had some pretty awful years of late. So we are very grateful for such a lovely break. And are ready to go home and embrace the next stint of hard work, and also (fingers crossed) moving house!!

I hope you enjoyed my little diary!
PP x