Heading South
The plan then, Luxembourg for cheap fuel, I think I’ve mentioned that, then down the eastern side of France and into Italy.
Except…we don’t actually have enough fuel to get to Luxembourg, so we’d end up filling in Belgium anyway. Also, the extra kilometres we’d being doing, it wasn’t adding up. Luxembourg was cut from the plan and we turned right.
France is great and it caters for vans so well, it is upsetting to have to pass through it at speed, but we’ve spent time in France before and we want something new. The year is getting old and we are keen to get some warmth on our old bones – that means south, and quickly.
Being tight budget conscious, we decided to avoid the tolls and take the back roads through rural France. We feel this will give us some balance between the need to pass through quickly and the desire to see some of France.
My language skills are not great. 250 days into a Spanish course and I can barely order a beer. Rosana on the other hand is good at languages and has been learning some French. I needed her help.
Old boy parked next to us, a sort of miniature Gandalf immaculately turned out in denim, appears to be asking about the wing mirrors. Okay, so that can’t possibly be what he’s asking, so I definitely need Rosana’s help. I am surprised to find out that yes, that is exactly what he’s asking. Anyway, in case anyone else is wondering, they are the original wing mirrors and they really aren’t all that great.
We have a long chat with Gandalf about camping locations and life in general using nothing more than a map, hand signals and Google translate. Our minds full of information, I then drop the hose pipe and fill the van with water.
We continue to hot foot it through France, keeping an eye on the temporary critical air zones which are not at all Godzuki! friendly. The Monteblanc tunnel is closed for maintenance, so we head further south with a plan to take the Frejus tunnel.
As we edge closer to the Alps the temperature is dropping Ah, that would be a road sign notifying us that winter tyres and snow chains are required.
Winter tyres we have, but we thought it would be easier to get chains once we got here. That turns out not to be the case at all and after a day of chasing around we eventually get a set of chains at an exorbitant price, although the cashier refuses to believe that they will fit our van based on what her computer is telling her.
Our last stop in France and the snow starts falling. But we are prepared, we have chains!