Life In New Lanes

09
May
2026

From Paris to the South West

I decided to revisit the Camping Sandaya in the town of Maisons-Lafitte on the banks of the Seine to the west of Paris from which a 5-minute walk/cycle to the station will bring you + bike to the Arc de Trimphe station. Everything worked – it’s a lovely campsite offering an out of season price of 21eu plus tourist tax for the pitch, 2 adults including electricity, with shop cafe/restaurant and swimming pool. Raised a smile about my & friend’s tent stopover in abit of mud on the bikepacking ride at the end of last season!

The next day I enjoyed cycling round some of the main Paris landmarks I’d missed back in September.

On the campsite side of the Seine

Another night beckoned with good weather the next day, so I decided to cycle some of the Dieppe to Paris route along the river before crossing it to get to Versailles.

Suffice to say, this was a somewhat naive plan, slightly offset by the glorious sunlit route of the flat waterside distance in the well-heeled burbs, wooed by the Paris cycling infrastructure, which doesn’t necessarily extend to the hills and dual carriageways up, over and under which (fortunately) my legs had to push my bike. It was some of those ‘where is flippin’ Versailles’ as the climb went on & on, and ‘am I going to end up on a dual carriage/motorway with no way back’ stress-building thoughts. I obviously made it, and collapsed to enjoy the coffee – the prospect with which I had kept myself going.

This was my second lifetime visit to the park area, the first I think when I was a student back in the day. I was struck by how extensive it was. I could see the lovely palaces in their setting, but chose not to go in instead enjoying all the tourist and parisien life of all ages cycling, walking, rowing, picnicking and sightseeing by electric car and little bus.

Knowing that I could get a train to the La Defense station and then change to one to my town, for the sum of 2.55eu gave me the reassuring return journey. Nevertheless following satnav to get to this Versailles station proved somewhat tortuous, so all in all I knew I’d earned a complete do nothingness when I finally got off the train knowing my pad was thankfully just round a few corners.

Now I’m at the end of the next day’s well-judged departure and travel plans. Good weather is forecast for the south west coast near Bordeaux for the next 2-3 days, so it’s been time to move on. Today has reached 24deg but being Saturday, the roads were empty. When was the last time a main road – the free autoroute A10 between Vierzon and Limoges – looked as empty as this in England?  The Creuse Valley region certainly looks worth a visit.

An interesting observation of myself is that if I get used to a site and enjoy being there, I tend to subconsciously assume a more defensive posture and expectation of the next journey and place.  And yet once underway this tends to dissipate.

My thoughts while driving for some of this afternoon went to remembering individual family and friends whose life has ended – at least on this earth -, and how absurd and therefore horrific their death is; all that character, personhood, relationship, love, has just simply disappeared abruptly. It’s a very very deep and expansive ‘missing them’ and plaintiff cry ‘where are you’, which also contributed to some wakefulness last night. Inevitable more frequent thought patterns as I and loved ones get older.

I have stopped half-way in the region between Poitiers and Limoges, following the recommendation of one of my catalogue of Motorhome Monthly Magazine articles from 2018 I think, for the municipal campsite at the little historic town Le Dorat.  This is now being operated on the platform/scheme campercarpark.com, for what appears to be less than 10eu per night, (bit of confusion re having to buy a credit-loading card for re-use as well as the stopover) including electricity, little toilet/shower block, 5 mins walk to the town square with cafe, boulangerie, even a cinema. How lovely is all this.

 

 

Posted by Jackie Barnes in France, Musings, Places, 0 comments
06
May
2026

2026 France, Germany, Netherlands

The 2026 trip was officially put into operation a month or so ago with the booking of the ferry to France. The plans were considered in the shadow of the Trump & Netanyahu and their governments’-induced needless loss of hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives from illegal bombings & targeting of civilians in Iran & Lebanon, reciprocal shelling on sites in the Gulf states, shortages of resources with impact for food production across the world, and other significant impact on global economies and the person in the street arising from this and the diesel price instability and hikes and fuel shortages, adding to the continuing Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank, and of course Ukraine still fighting off the other tyrant. I’ll record these unprecedented, at least in my lifetime, sufferings whose responsibility falls according to my study on those 3 war criminals and their sycophantic, greedy and power-addicted enablers, for when I may look back from however my near-future unfolds.

At the moment this minion is fortunate and thankful to be many steps removed from all this. Since last writing, two grandsons have been born to my daughter and youngest son and their partners. I was struck on visiting to give them all a last hug before this grand depart, by how much I will miss the little ones. I am able to enjoy spending alot of time with them, and other little great nieces and nephew who also live locally, which is such a joy despite being knackering. My granddaughter who is now almost 3, loves coming into ‘Nanavan’ and when I opened the bathroom door to remind her of what was behind it, she again caused such a laugh with her main  expression of toilet expertise – namely “is that a soft-close lid?” My little shower room equipment doesn’t thankfully extend to a hand dryer, of which she is pathologically scared.

My choice of day to drive towards the south coast avoiding bank holiday Monday traffic proved wise as once again I entered into a very nostalgia-evoking memory lane with Heart 70s radio. A lovely journey break and stop over with relatives near Oxford and then the ferry with a calm sea and bright day heading for Le Havre, France from Portsmouth. No reservations initially but just target places on my travel list to Carcassone and then upto Germany & the Netherlands.

Off the ferry and we were not put through any Schengen border new requirements. The 2-hour journey to the planned first night stopover at the free motorhome parking provided by Giverny, worked. How fantastic to be on the continent where the philosophy hasn’t been to monetise every blade of grass or parking space. What would have been the overnight cost was able to be spent on the entrance fee for the Monet museum, house and garden. Very busy it has to be said, causing me not to want to join the big queue to get into the house from the gardens, but I got the picture! 🙂 Heavy overnight rain had dissipated and it’s been a really pleasant day. Am so happy in this free setting that I’m staying another night, and then will head to a site closer towards Paris for a day of train plus cycle tomorrow. Just one minor annoyance in that there’s a known problem with my TV aerial which needed fixing and I had forgotten about it. This realisation was prompted by the concept of trying to see if PSG vs Bayern Munich might be available this evening so that I could watch some good football and see who Arsenal will meet in the Champions League final.

Posted by Jackie Barnes in France, Musings, Places, 2 comments
07
Oct
2025

Paris à Velo

Cycling the 5km to our Aparthotel Home & Break in the Porte de Choisy, Place d’Italie area south east from our arrival at Notre Dame, was a slightly uphill affair but continued our initial journey on different types of the Paris cycling infrastructure. Our room was on the 6th floor with small kitchenette including sink, fridge, microwave, kettle, very comfy beds, with enough space to take the bikes up to, preferring to do this and seek forgiveness after rather than be reliant on asking for a key from the often busy reception for their official bike store. This cost approx £360 for 4 nights, and absolutely met our needs with the exception of being pretty hot as the windows could only be unlocked by someone from reception on safety grounds, and the cool aircon having been switched off for the whole hotel given the autumn/winter season. Complete luxury nevertheless compared to the toilet requirements during the camping cold nights and deflating (expensive) mat which I forgot to mention previously. The area was a ‘China/East Asia’ town, so we enjoyed some Thai food one evening.

We loved our three days exploring, on now unladen bikes, many of the city’s sights in fantastic weather 🙂 including going into the cathedral, the Jardin des Plantes, the Bastille monument, Place de la Republique, the Bassin de La Villete, the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Bassin de la Villette

Always an enhancement to listen to some quality live music:

 

We even managed to meet up with my brother and cycling buddy who had cycled from Caen to the Mediterranean and training it back to the ferry had a 4 hour transfer time in Paris, so we cycled once again along the Seine and upto the Montmartre area and Sacre Coeur.

So that ticked two off of this trip’s aims – bikepacking with a tent & seeing more of Paris.  Re the latter, we didn’t cycle up the Champs Elysee, or along to the Eiffel Tower, nor the Tuileries or Louvre, and plenty more for next time.

But as for the cycling infrastructure – absolutely amazing.  I think every street or road we needed to use from the outskirts and throughout the centre had some absolutely clear provision or other for bikes. It seemed to me that cars definitely did not have priority, and even though I think their numbers have significantly diminished over the last years since the major push for cycling, walking and public transport, still they were caught in jams and could not compete with the efficiency and effectiveness of travel with 2 wheels. It took us some time to understand what we had to look for when it came to navigating intersections, as there was a variety of different cycle lane approaches, and traffic lights were not as responsive as they could be which imo leads to a significant amount of red-light jumping by cyclists.  One of the principles adopted in the Netherlands for cycling infrastructure design is to keep bikes moving and this was the approach adopted anyway by the majority of cyclists in Paris 🙂

There are loads of bike maps for Paris on the internet and youtube videos of how this really radical, significant change in such a relatively short time has occured, not least https://youtu.be/woFlJx7Rv78?si=JjZF3LBvfMjwcPVO  & Paris en Selle.

After 3 days we were ready for the return journey home getting the bikes on the train and travelling from Gare St Lazare to Rouen, then change to Dieppe. This did involve having to book the bikes onto the Rouen train, then hang them in the allotted place for the journey necessitating the removal of the paniers etc, and then have a somewhat stressful time doing the transfer to the Dieppe train in 10 minutes – the Paris train was thankfully on time. A tick for French trains so far.

We managed it, and arrived to rain in Dieppe and a short ride to the ferry port for the 6pm crossing back to the campervan and the journey to North Yorkshire.

A good ferry crossing again, despite the Storm Amy warnings for the north, and a good non-stop journey in the van. This was despite navigating the one-junction full closure of the M1 around Northampton, but absolutely helped by Greatest Hits 70s radio and additional sing-along by this first mate.

Would I do it again?  Yes for the bikepacking, trains etc, camping with the caveat of being in warmer climes and a mattress that doesn’t deflate in the night.

Last but not least – here’s the star of the show – ie my Brompton. Not particularly liking the field tracks or cobbles but managed the weight of all the stuff and the miles, and responded like a thoroughbred to the city.  The genuine face of delight on the rider trying it out for the first time says it all  🤣 🚴‍.

Posted by admin in Cities-Towns, Equipment, France, Musings, Places
06
Oct
2025

Bikepacking – who’d have thought

Almost 2 weeks ago a friend Nicola and I cycled our bikes onto a ferry to the continent for the first time, the actual culmination of July travel musings about bikepacking with my brompton – including camping, wanting to see what Paris had done with its cycling infrastructure, and spend more time in that city than the odd days in the previous decades as a stopover on the way to warmer climes in France.

My research turned up the Avenue Verte route from Dieppe to Paris and the tentative decision was made for a trip in September, weather dependent.  I used the Sustrans guide book and then the France Velotourisme site for this and all the other routes across the country.  Both good resources imo.

Over the next few weeks I assembled equipment, leading to the bike looking like this .

The weather forecast towards the selected time period was looking favourable, so we landed in Dieppe after a night-time drive in the campervan down to Newhaven, leaving it there in the port parking.

After a 4-hour pleasant ferry crossing, which I would recommend, we cycled in the sunshine to our first campsite in Arques-la-bataille a few kms along the route. Nothing had been booked apart from the Paris hotel, so we had ultimate flexibility to change or abandon the route and/or accommodation.

1st morning take down

We counted the first night as a success in that we managed to get some sleep, pack everything away and get it back onto the bikes. The tent, borrowed sleeping bag, thermal inner and ‘Trangia’ cooking set did the job, meaning cups of tea and porridge for breakfast. The campsite was very pleasant, including heated toilet block next to the pitch, as was the 30 miles of former railway line route the next day.

The weather started off bright and we enjoyed the landscapes and quick views of chateaux on route.

The gloom increased though and we stopped for a coffee or two to get out of the cold in Neufchatel-en-Bray, finally arriving in very low dark clouds and mist at the Forges-les-Eaux municipal campsite. These two sites were in their last week of opening, and felt it, and the latter had no heating in the toilet blocks. But of course very cheap. Bedtime was preferable to sitting outside in the cold and dark, so between 8 & 9pm by the time we’d done everything; the availability and usefulness of a picnic table and benches were recognised and used for sitting above the wet grass to cook, have food, and keep things dry from the dew while packing up the next morning.

The lack of rain and wind continued in day 3 thankfully, but we had decided to try and book ourselves into one of the two small hotels in the town of Gisors when we arrived, having cycled 40 miles including some long hill climbing. Beautiful route again.

Another highlight was meeting 4 guys from the UK also cycling to Paris at the almost top of one long climb, providing a lift for our spirits with good fun conversation and the very welcome gift of sweets.  I didn’t get immediately what they meant with their ‘spooning’ 🤣recommendation for keeping warm, but we pointed out that we more than happy to be in our own separate tents despite the cold. They did say that we could join them in their chambre d’hote as Nicola indicated we may have to crash their pad should we not find a hotel room, but it might not be pleasant spooning between the four, and putting up with their snoring. We didn’t need to gatecrash and had a wonderful nights sleep in a 2-star hotel after a lovely meal out in the centre of the small town.

We now had another planned 3 days of cycling and two nights of camping before getting to our booked Paris hotel. The weather forecast was looking good and the day started positively bumping into the 4 guys again who recommended a cafe which could meet one of Nicola’s romantic (not unreasonable altho’ for late September …) expectations of being able to sit in a small town square at a french cafe in the sun:)

So that we would only have to put up and pack up all the kit once more, and then enjoy a non-cycling day, we decided to combine two days cycling into one to reach the last campsite – a 4-star in the town of Maison Lafitte on the Seine, hopefully meaning heated toilet blocks, and a cafe/restaurant for a comfortable meal whiling away some evening time.  This meant 50 miles of cycling and abandoning some of the route’s tracks aross fields in favour of our own satnaving on quiet roads. It was a long day, sunny, no wind, but I at least was knackered and had had enough of being on the bike as the approach to the town seemed by now interminable.

The decision was a good one, the campsite was lovely but the pitches were without decent grass, having mainly been occupied by motorhomes over the season, so somewhat muddy, and no picnic table set up. Packing up, although in the sun, took quite a long time on the next but one morning, avoiding mud and dealing with the heavy dew and condensation. We enjoyed the restaurant evening meal and cafe the next morning.

Our grand Paris Entree was 30 miles of cycling along initially beautiful parts of the Seine, including through Rueil Malmaison, perhaps similar to places along the Thames, west of London.

The route then morphed into separate cycling provision along busy dual carriagways in very industrial logistics areas.  No cafes, McDs, or similar for a needed stop for quite a way. Thankfully the Komoot app navigation, into which I’d loaded a GPX file of the route performed a treat, and matched the regular Ave Verte signs at the key intersections. Back to tracking the Seine, we now cycled along the Saint Denis canal through the banlieus of the same and then Aubervilliers, both more deprived areas.  My phone having finally given up the ghost re power, we followed cycling signs to Notre Dame, the final destination of the route.

And we did it. 

 

With a celebratory french millefeuille for me.

 

We had reached the reality and luxury of a hotel base for 3 days of cycling exploration of the city and train journey back to Dieppe.  Next post to document this.

 

Posted by admin in Cities-Towns, Equipment, France, Places
01
Jul
2025

Last Stop Cologne

My third stay in Cologne was this time at the Campingplatz Stadt Koln, about 5k from the city centre, in a beautiful setting right on the Rhine river.  The only downside was the constant background noise from the bridge adjacent carrying motorway traffic, but this was a minor niggle compared to everything else. I could cycle upto the bridge and along its pedestrian/cycle ways and then along the river – in fact both banks – and in 15 minutes be at my son and partner’s new apartment. This is in a lovely part of the city called Sudstadt – lots of green space, cafes, restaurants, and 5 minutes to the river bank.

In addition to actually cleaning the windows as my main contribution to their settling in, I enjoyed a bike visit to the ‘Rodenkirchen Riviera’, just 10 minutes away south of the bridge.

The green spaces, trees and waterways of the cities I have visited this time have been really well maintained and used by so many of all ages, presumably given apartment living but also so important for helping with living in the rising heat of climate change. I think 40deg is forecast for Cologne today and many of the apartment buildings are old and not adaptable for this. The parks are full of families late afternoon and into the evenings, and in most cases people are respectful of each other and friendly, and, while not having stayed in deprived areas with the problems potentially arising from poverty, I have felt safe everywhere.

The afternoon/early evening ferry crossing from the Hook of Holland to Harwich with Stena Line was a first, and I really recommend this service as well as hiring a cabin to be able to have a decent rest. The drive back  though was not one of my best due to warning lights and messages from the van, and in the UK A1 closures and diversions. Thankfully back home, before moving to unpack the van, get it and the e-bike to some servicing, tame the garden and start seeing my family and friends again, my roundup of these last 7 weeks can be no other than:

What a fantastic trip
What fantastic health I’ve enjoyed
What a fantastic van
What fantastic companions along the way
What friendly people I’ve spent abit of time with in conversation
What fantastic weather
What fantastic bikes
What fantastic food I’ve eaten
What beautiful land, and cityscapes I’ve had the privilege to see and ‘be in’
And what a fantastic home life of family and friends to leap from and come back to each time.  I think that’s it!

Posted by admin in Germany, Musings, Places
26
Jun
2025

Salzburg & North to Wurzburg in Germany

Salzburg – long on my list and always reinforced in my annual viewing, usually at Christmas, of The Sound of Music.

 

 

 

Another beautiful city where I spent 2 nights at Camping Aigen. Along with almost all the campsites visited this trip, I would stay again. It’s about 5k very pleasant cycle ride along the river Salz to the city centre with lots of space, lovely setting and with a bustling cafe/restaurant which is used by many locals.

After my arrival I decided to cycle in to get my overview knowing that thunderstorms were in the offing. My tiredness from a bad night’s sleep, the drive, albeit not too long, and a change in the weather affected my enthusiasm, but the Mirabell Gardens, scenes for some of musical, were host to young people from the States in choirs and bands performing a variety of music with great positivity despite the threatening weather.

I love coming across live music unexpectedly and it was just what I needed to sit and listen for a while before deciding to head back to the site and leave the proper visit till the following day. I was disappointed that my chosen bit of culture I wanted to pay for – The Sound of Music performance by the Marionetten Theatre, in preference to a avery close second of a live performance of some of Mozart’s music, Salzburg being his birthplace – was only on the day after my departure. This couldn’t be postponed given that I was now on a timetable for driving a long way to reach my ferry reservation at the Hook of Holland, it would have to wait for another visit in the future. I just about beat the thunderstorm which lasted most of the evening and through the night.

I woke up to a resumption of the beautiful weather, and decided to get on a walking tour, which was fantastic and like the ones in Spain well worth doing. 1.5 hours of potted history from enthusiastic qualified guides. What was interesting to me, was that similar to Verona, the previous day my lack of enthusiasm had not been mitigated as I missed discovering the existence of the stunning old town squares and streets, overlooked by the fortress on the opposite side of the river to the Mirabell Gardens. The walking tour of course focussed on this area. Two visits to a city are always better, particularly when the first is after a taxing drive. I had a coffee afterwards with fellow tour attendee Mia from Glasgow, visiting her partner who had just transferred to the Red Bull headquarters there for work. That was a really nice meet-up. I then spent the next 2-3 hours walking up to the fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg, and then around the green space up there taking in the views over the other side of the city to the mountains, to the Museum of Modern Art, before heading back down and enjoying the river area in the heat.

Once again, a small city for living – well-used cycling provision, lots of green space, open-air swimming pools, and of course with the mountains close by. I was sorry to move on as there’s more to see and do there and I recommend for a city visit. Hopefully I will return sometime.

The journey to Cologne was a minimum of 720km so I decided to have a 2-night stopover to visit the university city of Wurzburg, on the Main river, about 120k southeast of Frankfurt. As I only drive around 60mph I expected this to be about 4 – 5 hours of driving which, as I have learnt, is more than enough for me when I don’t need to push it. It’s certainly great to have air-conditioning as it was in the 30s when I arrived at my selected site.  This was a 17eu a night, including electricity at a village boating centre on the river.  Although tired from the driving, I felt that using the cycle path along the river to the city – some 10km – would be good after sitting for so long and used the Brompton.  The cycle path was great, and it was good to see how the river is used along the way for swimming etc.  But due to the heat and underestimating the distance, I’d had enough just short of the main part of the town, so returned to the site knowing I could try again the next day.

Although the site was a really nice setting and perfect in terms of what it offered for the fee, and I did feel comfortable there, overnight the reviews accorded with my experience in terms of intrusive noise from the nearby rail, river and the main road traffic. So I considered moving on the next morning to Cologne or to an official motorhome car park offered by the city right on the river opposite the centre which had good reviews. The latter was a good decision and is where I am now sitting, along with some 30 or so other vans watching the river traffic, having spent the morning and earlier part of the afternoon exploring this pleasant place, again full of lovely cafes, streets and squares.  Not quite in the league of Verona, Lucca, Salzburg or Maastricht, but worth a stop nontheless. The towns/cities that I have enjoyed on this trip all seem to be around the population size of 125,000 and have a university.

Tomorrow I continue the journey north to spend 3 nights in Cologne. I am seeing my eldest son and partner and their new rented apartment together which they have just moved into this week in a central part of the city, but will be keeping out of their upheaval’s way, staying at the city’s campsite a 3.5km cycle ride along the river.

I will be leaving the continent this time on the ferry from the Hook of Holland to Harwich on Monday.

 

Posted by admin in Austria, Germany, Places
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