Leaving Spain, we flew (in a chitty chitty bang bang way) through France en-route to Switzerland and the Alps.  We will be back in France for a little longer in September so this was merely a transit trip.  Despite the pace, we managed a few good times, starting with a lovely afternoon / evening in Avignon where we camped right in town by the river with a spectacular view of the Palais des Papes.  Avignon itself is a rather smart walled city and judging by the grand facades and the designer labels for sale, some of the historical riches remain.  Needless to say, it was window shopping only for these three paupers!

The rather impressive Palace of Popes was home to six Popes during the 14^th century, after one chap – Pope Clement V – moved the papacy from Rome.  I get the impression he wasn’t popular there!  Each pope extended, remodelled and refurbished the palace, with the result being a monstrous 11,000 square metre sink hole for the Churches money.  It gradually fell into disrepair following the return of the Papacy to Rome in 1370.  Now under UNESCO care, it is still an impressive place to wander around and consider the wealth that was once kept in the secret underground vaults.  A beer in the square reminded us that we were no longer in the land of cheap cerveza and we retreated back to the van for dinner.

The next day saw us driving through the Massif Central, with towering cliffs above us and our first foray into the hills after leaving the coast.  This is of course the Rhone region, renowned for its wine, but resisting the urge to visit Châteauneuf-de-Pape, we headed on to Parc naturel régional de Chartreuse, driving through some beautiful scenery before spending a pleasant evening in a quiet campsite called Trois Lac (have to admit we didn’t even see one Lac) near Chambery.

Heading off promptly the next morning, we arrived at Lake Geneva early in the afternoon on a sunny Sunday.  A lakeside pitch was secured and we headed on to the beach to join hoards of locals enjoying the early summer sunshine.  Hiring a pedelo, we tried to jettison William – abandoning him on a rock in the lake but despite our quick pedalling, he managed to hitch a ride back to shore by holding onto the back of the pedelo.  Note to self – get a motor boat next time you need a quick getaway J.

An 8km run / ride took us into the very pretty medieval town of Yvoire, which William and I wondered around enjoying the teeny hilly streets and ‘olde worlde’ buildings.  This was despite Deane advising us that all he had found was one drab hotel and a pub on arrival in the town (I guess he didn’t run through the little arch with the sign saying ‘Yvoire Medieval Village’).

The next day we left France (we were camped on the French side of the lake), stopping just over the Swiss border for a mooch around Chateau de Chillon.  This castle, built on the rocky edge of the lake, has its earliest historical note in 1005, and is really a series of numerous buildings connected together over the years.  Its real claim to fame is as a prison (both ancient and recent), with some rather sad stories of misery – including the political prisoner Francois de Bonivard imprisoned in 1530 and written about by Byron in ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’.  Despite this, the castle has wonderful areas to explore, including the keep where you can wind your way up the steep stairs to safety from the invading husband and son.  Will found the open latrines and amusing old toilet related anecdotes and pictures especially amusing.  Boys!

We left Chateau de Chillon and headed into the Alps – where we were to spend a fabulous week or so – across both Switzerland and Austria…..all that to come in the next blog.