Ginger DJ Rob

With a good night's rest, the pre-lunch grumpiness was swept away by some cycling east to find a decent beach. We were grateful that the weather was kinder and cooler than yesterday's scorching hell. Il de Re is an island full of cycle paths criss-crossing to all destinations and the French embrace it with their family and pets. Along the way kids and dogs were towed in their wheeled baskets. After passing through Ars (yes, really), we stopped for lunch in La Couarde, a small quaint town at a hotel restaurant. The menu was a little restrictive for me but in the end had a combination of garlic bread and Spanish ham. Panache beer was served and Kerry had a mojito which went down very well. The service didn't have the same quality unfortunately. The first beach we came across was still a bit poor in the sense of seaweed everywhere so continued through the salt pan flats and rows of vineyards getting slightly lost by the lack of signs. Eventually we came across a lov...

We set the alarm for 6:45am to make sure we got through the campsite barrier for a 2 hour kip. After packing up the awning etc. we headed over to Il de Re crossing the toll bridge paying 16 Euro which was a little more than expected.  Driving through the island looked very much like Ibiza and got more excited passing some gorgeous beaches along the way. When we arrived at the campsite at Saint Clement des Baleines I set on the satnav and checked into the reception it was only then I realised I had booked the wrong site online though it turned out to be the one we wanted in the first place. Cancelled the other and booked 3 nights though later felt we'd made a huge mistake. At least the receptionist spoke excellent English.   Having arrived at possibly the hottest part of the hottest day ever our pitch had zero shade. I begged for different pitch and ended up choosing one right next to the entrance/exit barrier. We also had no proper food or drinks and after last night's...

With the previous night's advice from a Southampton couple we headed straight over to Futuroscope early arriving after 10am. Futuroscope is an alternative type of theme park based more on cinema experiences. As soon as we got into the park we made a b-line to the newest attraction, Dances with Robots with French DJ Martin Solveig providing some cheesy endorsement. There was already a long queue but a fun clap along interactive game to keep the teenagers happy. The main ride itself was a robot arm with 2 seats hurling us into different directions for about a minute all with Martin Solvieg visuals of him putting on headphones and taking them off. A very short experience but a good laugh. We'd been given a translator radio so used it on the next experience for Arthur 4D , a Luc Besson film theme ride - again good but short. By now it was about lunchtime and being a bit thirsty we tried out the Sky bar, a modern balloon raised us whilst sat at a bar drinking champagn...

My free satnav took us on some strange diversions twice: once saying we should have turned around even though it suggested the right way in the first place making us go a very long scenic loop; the second through some town away from the motorway we should've been on. Next time I'll check the route. Château de Chenonceau was a little further than expected but at least in the right direction for tomorrow's Futuroscope visit near Poityers. Unfortunately for us it tipped it down with rain as we arrived then warmed up quickly to hot. A pretty chateaux like a bridge across the Loire and some quaint gardens. Over an hour's drive we make it to Saint Cyr campsite next to a lake - a very well laid out site set up for families plus the lake water was warm enough even for me to swim. Some free wifi in the main building.

Another almost sleepless night thanks to thunderstorms waking us at 4am and continuing for a couple of hours. Got up about 9 and went to the reception hoping to catch the breadman but what the lady didn't tell us yesterday was that we had to pre-order. After the normal amount of camping faffing around and cycle prepare we actually set off the short journey to Blois along the Loire and over a very old bridge. We headed towards the Chateau de Blois straight into the Saturday bussle of the local market. We locked the bikes just below the entrance and bought the 3 x entry for the daytime chateau, the magic show over the road at the museum of magic and the luminere performance at 10:30pm. Inside the chateau was rich in history with Joan of Arc involved, old French kings and especially from Henri the 3rd, a right royal villain with his minions who murdered a local duke and refused to talk to anyone who wasn't his minions. The other side of the courtyard was the Maison de ...

4am it woke us with a loud crack of thunder and the rain hitting the van's roof. Kerry reminded me that the tea towels and camping chairs were getting wet whilst I was more concerned about the bikes and lack of sleep. It kept thundering for the next 4 hours so only grabbed the odd wink before getting up at about 9am. Our Blois campsite confirmed by email so headed over for a 300k drive south-west along the peage. Costing 45 euros. Approaching Orleans got the busiest we'd seen on the road with the local service station looking like the M4 at rush hour. Blois was just as hot and sweaty. Setting up the awning was hot work.  Across the campsite was a huge group of British cyclists which later had a bit of sing song in a Christian type of way. The other side of the site was a restaurant and a swimming pool which in the extreme heat every monsieur and his chien was swimming to cool down. For our evening nosh we fired up the barbie and had mergeuz and herb chipolatas, mushroom...

Van was super hot like dripping sweat at every turn so didn't really sleep that well. Moved into an actual pitch rather than the siding we'd been kindly given but didn't have a long enough electric cable to reach it. No bother as we used the gas on the fridge. Kerry bought some bread and croissants.  After lunch we headed out into Epernay town centre towards the Champagne Avenue where all the houses like Moet and Chandon are located. Like most French businesses it was shut for lunch so hung around the local park until 2pm. Unfortunately when we did enter the building for a guided tour they were fully booked for the day - something that the guide book didn't explain. Instead we headed down the road to another famous brand called Mercier though one I've not heard of. According to the guidebook it had a laser guided train for travelling through the 'caves' or cellars but there was a technical problem so this was out of order. Kerry bought an Adult and ...

Van packed in perfect time and ready for the Eurotunnel journey. Despite some M25 slowness from an earlier accident we made with almost an hour to spare. As soon as we parked up another campervan driver came over to smooze us over the van and kept chatting for a good 20 minutes! Eurotunnel facilities weren't quite airport standard but liked the 'walkies' area for holidaying dogs to get a last stretch and pre-travel poop. All went very well until we came off the train when a couple of warning lights showed up on the dashboard - service and airbag - but had to put it down to a loose wire. Bloody attention-seeking van! Our first toll road was 21 Euros and was a great, unstressful drive to Epernay. Stopped a couple of times to change driver but couldn't handle the heat too long outside. The satnav on the tablet worked well despite the bright, reflective conditions but our cigarette charger didn't work so luckily I downloaded the same app on to my phone. When we arri...

Narvik was our destination today, a road trip of 200km into another country, Norway . Last night we researched what Narvik offered and there seemed to be some impressive views, a couple of museums, in case we didn't find the views plus a couple of random sights to see in case all of the above failed. There were hardly any cars on the road, those that were driving were towing snowmobiles for off-road adventures. We'd already experienced the E10 road going to Abisko and Narvik was twice the distance. As we got nearer to the border the landscape changed from the flat, frozen lakes with the temperature dropping to minus 30 degrees C to more twisty roads passing entrances to ski resorts. For a mile we had to slow down as the signs instructed to prevent road/wheel noise that couldn't set off an avalanche. The 4wd of the Skoda Yeti also felt the ice of the road below so made the progress slow. To the side of the roads were frozen waterfalls with even one of them being c...

Up early for both trying to sort out a hire car and for our dog sledding experience . Slightly stressful sorting out the car. Went to the tourist centre and saw/heard a couple already on the Europcar free phone to say that they were busy at the time and would have to call back. The tourist desk recommended I call Hertz from the Scandic hotel. They were fully booked. Took a third phone number for a hire car company and they were fully booked. It took another call to Europcar to get a double the price 4WD Skoda Yeti. With the car booked we headed over to the Kiruna Guide Tor office. Again they seemed a little disorganised as they were expecting another couple but eventually left without them. We'd been warned that the temperature where the dog sledding was taking place was a very chilly minus 30. It was this point when I discovered that the locals drop the 'minus' when stating the temperature as it seldom gets over freezing. Met another English couple called Big...

Our hotel room was like an oven when we woke up so motivated us to go downstairs to the pub's bar for the breakfast buffet. It was a good choice of food but like most hotels, the coffee was bland and watery. Whilst getting ready I flicked through the ten TV channels. Most of them were Swedish with one Finnish, one Norwegian and one Russian. It was a mix of politics, skiing, US imports, fashion and women's chat programmes at that time of the morning. With our first booked tour starting at 5:45pm we had quite a bit time on our hands and Kiruna town centre had very little to offer. After a decent coffee in Cafe Safari we headed to the tourist office and found out the bus timetable which had a coach heading to the Ice Hotel . For about £7 each for a return we caught the bus taking us direct to the Ice Hotel within 30 minutes. The bus even took credit cards so no need for cash. Along th...

A full day of travel to get to the icy North of Sweden. Free wifi on the Norwegian Air plane which was unexpected. The inflight magazine revealed that the town of Kiruna , our destination was investing to relocate 3kms south due to the mine's expansion. Also read about a Norwegian explorer legend that had been featured in a movie called Kon Tiki. The story goes that a guy wanted to prove Pacific migration so built a raft and brought a crew along to sail across the ocean catching live shark along the way. Stockholm airport was ok. It amused me that the staff used adult sized scooters ferrying around stock to shops. Nice Brighton connection with a number of Abba memorabilia displayed including their Eurovision outfits, winner's medals and Brighton Dome admission tickets. Otherwise it was a case of eating at the New Orleans restaurant drinking Brooklyn Beer on tap and laughing at the Swedish choclate brands like Mums Mums, Kexx and Plopp Met a Norwegian guy (from Nar...

Walked up George Street (think of it as Sydney's version of London's Oxford Street) past the shops and office blocks. As we approached The Rocks , I spotted a side street with an art installation of bird cages hanging from wires above. On closer inspection there were also well-hidden speakers broadcasting bird songs of those specicies no longer in the Sydeny area (either migrated away or extinct). Found David Jones department store for Kerry amongst the Westfield shopping complex (is it Australian or a UK company?). Sadly for Kerry they didn't yet stock the Dita Von Tease clothing in store. Within the same block is the Sydney Tower which we booked the 360 restaurant for next Sunday. Walked further towards The Rocks then sat down to check our bearings when a tramp approached us asking for spare change. She had a 100 yard stare. We said sorry, no, She asked for a cigarette. We said sorry again as Kerry had barely enough for herself at which point she had a go at us for sa...

Very, very, very tired after perhaps sleep calculated in minutes. Breakfast was excellent with more choice than expected. Some awkwardness and lack of eye contact with our Japanese neighbours but at least everyone was ready to go at 5:20am for the Uluru sunrise. Again it was no secret to every tourist who all got up even earlier than us to get their viewing place. Coaches and their guides had already set up breakfast tables for their passengers. The raised viewing platform was already humming with people so we found a quiet spot further in front of everyone. Although it had a more vegetation (trees and shrubbery) but only one couple was there enjoying the silence. We kept quiet ourselves looking for the same chilled vibe but then a German couple and teenage son arrived chatting away. Worse though were the pair of British gap year guys who just talked and talked ignoring the sunset and the majesty of the scenery. It got to the moment of them talking about X Factor that something had t...

Such an early start with an 5am alarm but my paranoid mind woke me 2 hours earlier. We managed to leave just after 5:30am whilst it was still dark. The satnav predicted an arrival time just short of 9am. At the start of the journey there were a few cars and UTEs on the road and as we approached Newcastle many construction and mining workers were arriving to start their day. After Newcastle we joined the motorway and if it wasn't for the different place names you couldn't help feeling we were driving in the UK. Getting out of Sydney was slow when we first arrived but returning back was horrendously slow building up our stress levels. Through hideous traffic that never seemed to let up. The rush hour and traffic lights added more and more pressure, and the satnav recalculated a later arrival time as we crawled along. By the last 5kms we were truly panicking especially as the baggage deadline was about to come up (30 minutes before the flight). Through a tunnel we lost the satnav...

Original plan was to have breakfast down at the beach but the grey weather must have put off the cafe owners who didn't bother opening up. Instead we went back to Nelson Bay marina where I spotted a modern day Long John Silver with a proper wooden leg. Normally the dolphins would hang around the edge of the marina but we had to make do with some window shopping of boats for Neil. We must have been getting too acclimatised as with the 21C we felt we needed long-sleeved tops. Went back to visit a few more beaches further down the coast but the damp air and greyness didn't look that inviting to stay. Only a few hardcore (and jobless) surfers stuck around. Near one of the beaches was a known area for koalas where eucalyptus trees for common. It took awhile but Kerry spotted one sleeping but it was so high up and had its back turned to us so couldn't really see its face. Lunch was at Murrays Brewery which offered a taster 'wheel' of their six beers. Unlike the Blue ...