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Yoko in need of more TLC
Posted by daveb on September 20th, 2007
I’m learning more and more about our bus; more and more things are going wrong! This is to be expected, I guess, as we don’t really know its history. We got our fuel leak fixed and also I had the fuel filter changed at the same time. Oh and the fuses keep popping out of their slots in the glove box, which makes our lights go all funny.
I’m really enjoying the opportunity to learn about mechanics and stuff. I think Squiffy is starting to realise just how reliable Goj, our last car, really was!
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The ultimate campsite pitch?
Posted by daveb on September 19th, 2007
Our first Swiss campsite was in Rolle, on Lake Geneva. We parked up at night on the front, right next to the lake. I woke up early the next day to suck in the view.
Some people live full-time on the campsites that we’ve been to. On this one, I could be tempted.
Note to my mate, Martian: Do you remember getting to that state campsite in Snake Creek, USA at night and then waking up to find that we were backed-onto a magnificent forest lake? Here, it was just like that all over again.
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How do you make a Swiss Roll?
Posted by daveb on September 19th, 2007
I worked in Zurich for a short spell a few years ago. The business people with whom I came into contact took themselves very seriously. Don’t get me wrong: They were great people and had most interesting things to say. I just couldn’t find a single soul who told a joke, or laughed at mine. Maybe that says something about my jokes. Regardless, I had formed a view that Swiss folk, whilst warm and friendly, have no sense of humour.
I am delighted to report that I was wrong. We’ve been in Switzerland for just two nights now and already we’ve met more happy, great-humoured people than we did within two weeks in France (excluding the young Belguim couple we met, who were great too).
Take Marco and Veronique; a couple that approached us on a petrol station forecourt to tell us that Yoko was leaking fuel. Within minutes of chatting to them (in fluent English, of course as the Swiss are masters of many languages) we were on the receiving end of a proud tour of their beautiful apartment, overlooking Lake Geneva, Mont Blanc and the Alps. Followed by coffee and help with our route planning around their marvellous country. Slightly confused as to why a local couple would be so welcoming to us strangers–and tour and host us in their home–I put the Swiss humour to the test by asking Marco “What are you selling?”
“Timeshare!” he delivered with perfect timing, forcing all of us into laughter.
So here’s my joke of the day (hope you find it funny!)
How do you make a Swiss Roll?
Push him down a mountain.
PS: To Marco & Veronique: Thanks for the bottle of wine that you gave us, we cooled it in Lake Geneva and enjoyed it last night whilst sat on our deck chairs on the edge of the lake, pointing towards the mountains.
Filed under Switzerland, Thoughts • 3 comments »
From flatlands to forests
Posted by daveb on September 18th, 2007
Driving south-east from Dijon, the landscape changes within what seems like just a few miles; from the straw-coloured agricultural flatlands to fern-green forests, repair-ready barns to alpine log chalets. The air seems somehow lighter, crisper. We have crossed the border into Switzerland.
The road twists and climbs. Hearing cowbells, live, for the first time invokes a squeal of excitement from The Squifter. Eventually, our climb levels-off and we begin to descend through some tight hairpins. Oh boy, am I glad that we replaced those tyres! Another sharp right and all-stop. There it is. Probably the most magnificent view that I have experienced in all my life.
“Look at THAT VIEW, chicken.”
Look at the picture at the top of this Web page. I took it the Grand Teton National Park in California USA and will never forget the moment of elation as Martian & I walked past the last tree in the forest to be greeted by this view. For me it has a bit of almost everything: Snow-capped mountains, gently moving water, the greenest trees and one big wide-open space.
The view from the elavated mountain platform gave me more. Much more. The same elements through a much wider lens. The photos that I took are below, but be warned that even using my naturally wide-angled Canon Ixus 850IS, cannot do this vista anything more than a passing nod. C’est manifique!
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Strange looks
Posted by Squiffy on September 17th, 2007
When you have a 25 year old automobile with English signs down the side and a noisy engine, you get a lot of strange looks when you chug up to places in France. However, this is nothing comapred with the (understandably) bemused faces that greeted us when we put ourselves on segways to take a tour of Dijon. If you are not familiar with a segway please see our photos. I can only describe them as a cross between a shopping trolley and a scooter (for the family Nollett – a hi tech Mrs Cortes hospital scooter). Dave rightly thought that it would be a fun way to explore the city and we couldn’t stop giggling when we were on them. You make them go forwards and backwards just by moving your weight back and forth and you just sort of swoosh along on them. Dave said they reminded him of robots whereas I thought they’d be well placed in a Harry Potter movie. Whatever, they attracted a lot of interest both from passers-by and car drivers alike, and were a great way to zip around town. Our guide, who could handle these things very well and resembled an imp, took us through the parks and gardens of Dijon, and along the canal and river, all of which were very pretty.
We both really liked Dijon, it has quite a lively yet relaxed feel: there were a lot of people enjoying the sun at pavement cafes and the large Saturday market kept us amused for a while. It consisted mainly of food stalls selling everything from the locally made mustard, to various cheeses to what we presume was some kind of animal brain – euugh. Thoroughly recommended for a place to relax and soak up the vibes of a pleasant city. Happy to report the municipal campsite was of good quality too.
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Foreign keyboqrds
Posted by daveb on September 16th, 2007
I hqte foreign keyboqrds:
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Toilet humour?
Posted by daveb on September 15th, 2007
[If you are easily offended, a member of my girlfriend’s family or a potential future employer, please skip this post.]
So I got all the way to Dijon without having to use a French standy-uppy-toilet-for-number-twos. I’m writing to you from the Dijon city municipal campsite which, as municipals go, is pretty good actually. Alas, in the end we all succumb to an unscheduled and thus unprepared call of nature — yes, I’ve just returned from a standy-uppy-toilet-for-number-twos for the first time.
I feel dirty.
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Langres
Posted by daveb on September 15th, 2007
We’re on our way to Switzerland, via Dijon, and stopped-off to eat our cheese cobs in the walled Medieval city of Langres. We took some arty shots to give you a view of the typical architecture of this region.
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Photo of The Week
Posted by Squiffy on September 14th, 2007
Today’s Photo of the Week shows what daveb refers to as a ‘Squiffy Park’. It could be argued that I got a little too close to the bushes. However, he did come away unscathed.
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First pitstop for Yoko
Posted by daveb on September 14th, 2007
From day one, I’ve had a deep mistrust of one of the tyres that we were running on our camper; it just looked wrong. The tyre was the right model. The air pressure was right. It had just passed an MOT test.
Yoko, our VW camper van, has been developing a new sound every day. Nothing serious, but rather just a bit of personality growing as we wake her from the slumber in which she was placed by her previous owner.
Today, those charming noises developed into something more serious. At low speeds, we developed a significant chug and at high speeds, well, we couldn’t actually get to any high speeds. Happily I spotted a ‘Speedy’ workshop (same chain as Kwik-Fit in the UK) out of the corner of my eye and pulled over. A tyre change later and most of our squeaks and squeals had gone, however another tyre had suffered badly as we ignored the early warning signs. In fact, the mechanic mentioned that we had been quite lucky in getting to him without it going “boom!”; for those that read my last travel blog, contrast this with having <link>two tyres simultaneously explode on a 36 foot motorhome</link> at speed on a highway, in which we had to get the police to close a lane and the poor on-call tyre-changing guy nearly got killed when a dumb motorist ignored the police signs and narrowly avoided his legs.
I’m pleased to say that two new tyres later, and our machine is running brilliantly again. We even treated her to a hoover and a wash to say thanks for not adding another notch to my bedpost of crashed cars.
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