Tuesday 21st July, Somewhere in Switzerland. ( near Wolhausen )

So what have we been doing since last blog you ask?

A couple of stages of the “tour de France and a visit to a reconstruction of a 13th century Chateau called Guedelon in the French countryside. It is being built in an old quarry from where they are mining the rock and harvesting the wood to be a living history book. They are using architectural drawingsfrom the middle ages and each of the craftspeople are there to demonstrate the old techniques and to work out answers to yet unanswered questions. You can walk around the area they are working and even in to the building area and up onto the top so it is quite close up and personal. We found it quite interesting and even though there are only about half way through a 25 yr project it was easy to see how it would all look when finished.

We have had enough now of the “tour” and after spending a lot of time gallivanting around Franceit we decided Switzerland looked nice, and close. And why not? So on Sunday morning we packed up and crossed the border.We took a less travelled road and just after the border came across a small village having a fete. The road was blocked through town and we had to divert past the paddocks but we decided to park and have a look. The first thing we noticed was a loud din and as we approached we came upon a group of men walking with huge cowbells on their shoulders swinging them to get them to ring. They were dressed up in their traditional clothes and had a bit of a crowd following them so we did too. We followed them to a small paddock where they rang their bells for everyone, it was only for a short while and then they stopped and packed up. I think we may have come in at the end of what they were doing, but who knows.There wasn’t much doing with the rest of the town other than a couple of beer tents and a bow and arrow shooting stall so we decided to keep going. We eventually came to Dambelin where we found a camper spot for the night in a car park close to the town. We found that this one was free, which means water, electricity and toilet disposal facilities and so we were quite pleased at this arrangement. After a walk into the town centre (which was very quiet being Sunday) we set up for the night. A bit later Ewout did his usual walk around the area to check it out, and the other campers and started talking to a Swiss couple who were very helpful and as we had no idea where to go suggested a tour route for us that she explained was very beautiful. They were even kind enough to give us an old map of theirs (before 1984) which even though is not up to date has helped us with our drive.So now we are enjoying the beautiful views of picture book countryside, quaint houses and distant mountains. I can’t believe how green it is almost iridescent and the air is crisp and clean with every now and then a faint hint of cow dung. The last couple of days we have enjoyed bright sunshine and have been lucky enough to find a place to stop for a couple of nights beside a swiftly flowing river. Today after a 40 minute walk up through the hills to a small village where we bought our bread we were even been brave enough to have a bit of a dip, pretty cold as it was which left us feeling refreshed and our skin tingling.

So where to next? We plan to head to Luzern then down to Interlaken, across to Montreaux, Lausanne and Geneva before heading back into France then to continue down to Spain to meet Ewout’s cousin Mike at his holiday place in Denia.

I will be celebrating my 50th Birthday this week and even though we had thought it would be in France I expect it will be equally nice in Switzerland. I had always said I would like to celebrate with a hot air balloon ride but as Interlaken is the adrenaline capital of Switzerland I might have to do something more thrilling. (for Debbie; I will look forward to joining you when you do yours instead. Ha ha)