We packed away the van in the nice dry morning and set off to the Jura, specifically we were headed to a campsite called ‘Les chalets Huttopia des monts Jura’. It is on the Swiss border near to Geneva and CERN.
We made good progress down the autoroute and at Dijon headed towards our destination. A planned stop at Champagnole, just of the N5 to buy some groceries and refuel the van, the first fuel stop since leaving home. I knew the N5 was closed on the final part of the route a little beyond Champagnole, Google had put in a bypass around the road closure. Oh no, the road closure started many miles before where Google thought it was! We ended up driving up and down the same part of the N5 following signs to Geneva and realising this was not the way to go. (R maintains I got v tetchy; obviously not true.)
Change of plan, let’s set course to another campsite we had stayed at before, not quite the same direction, but near enough and it would avoid the N5. So off we set to Camping de l’Abbaye. We arrived there, intending maybe to stay a few nights. We went to check in at campsite. Full, well one pitch with no electric. So, we headed off again to another ACSI site 20 minutes away. This was a municipal in the town of Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux and had plenty of spaces. Outside of ACSI season, it was still only 19 Euro a night with electricity.
We paid for three nights, decided to put up the awning in ‘shed mode’ (most of the pitch was tarmac) and prepare supper). We will stay here for three nights, and then maybe move on to the site near CERN. Still an hour away. Not a busy site. There do seem to be lots of walking and ski resorts to visit around here. We will the use the van during the day to visit some of these.
This campsite is open all year round and is quite high up. You can see that by the way the loo block and dish-washing facilities have been built. They are well insulated and double glazed.
Another sunny day, but very much cooler day. Some clouds around. Yesterday’s campers virtually all left again. New ones started to arrive in the afternoon. We are definitely in the area where people come for one night only. A Dutch van staying near us borrowed our European to 16Amp adapter. He then passed that through a 16amp adapter which spil into two, so both of us could plug in. I was surprised he did not have a European adapter. Wrong he had one, but not one that accepted the earth pin from the socket on the post. That surprised me, his van could potentially have been live, and only earthing when someone got in and out. How dangerous is that?
Today R started proofreading our daughter S’s thesis. I started reading the kindle version of the second volume of the Three Body Problem, the Chinese sci-fi book. So not a lot happened today. A couple of walks around the pond. Saw a Kingfisher on the pond, managed a photograph of it with the phone. Went back a couple of times with the big lens and no further sighting of the bird of the bird. Unfortunately, a few fishermen on the banks now.
Today’s hoard of travellers arrived in the late afternoon, usual commotion around the power points. One van wanted to lay the cable across the road, insisting he had been told he could. The site owners asked him to move elsewhere.
Planning to go to a site near to CERN. Still in France, but we will travel over the boundary into Switzerland and back into France.
Bought a baguette, and a couple of pain au raisin from the local shop. Excellent bread. Very hot day with temperatures in the 30s. I went for a fast walk and ran across two bridges and along the River Marne. 13k in 2 hours and 20 minutes. I know this is not marathon running! A few dragonflies on the walk. Geese seemed to be confined to the pavements of the suburbs!! Back at base lunch on the baguette and then a lazy afternoon finishing the first book in the Three Body series.
Prepared supper, and while we were eating it, the thunderstorm came in and drenched us. I put up the awning, getting wet, while R sheltered in the van remaining dry. After the awning was up, she came out to sit outside.
Interesting goings on in the site. One van packed up and left during the rain. The pitch next to us had a drying line and cloths drying out. So, no one parked there. We think the previous occupants might have left it by mistake. Chap from opposite came and begged us to charge his mobile for a few hours (he was on a no-electricity pitch). We duly obliged. His son came to collect it, bringing with him, as a thank you, a packet of very nice biscuits. Very sweet of them.
The honey seller is now ignoring us.
The town had a huge firework display tonight. Is this something to do with the Paralympics and the flame carrying?I know they are involved in this.
Discussion on whether to move on, going to head to near Geneva, but decided to stay on one more day before heading off.
Today was cooler and cloudy. We set off to the town centre, walking. Google says 40 minutes, but we were a little slower. Our first destination was a sewing machine museum. Disappointment on arrival, it was closed, and if you wanted to visit, you had to make a booking. Two Saturdays a month, the 1st and the 3rd it is opened without appointment, so sadly no use to us.
Next into the centre for a coffee. That was a disappointment, nobody around, all the restaurants were totally deserted.
Then walked to the park, Le Grand Jard, where an offshoot of the river Marne appears. A few people were here, the cafes were opening up, so we had a beer and a lunch.
Looked around the cathedral, and then walked home along the canal.
Back at the campsite, pretty well everyone had gone to be replaced by a new set of people. Looks very much like this campsite is a stopping off point.
Bought some cakes from the baker and patisserie outside the camp site. They were very good.
It warmed up during the day, the later afternoon and evening were quite warm. The honey man came around again to try to sell us some honey. He has been here every time we have visited.
The alarms woke us at 5.30 and we were away before 6.00. There was a little precipitation as we drove off on relatively quiet road. We were early enough to miss the queues on the M25/A41 junction.
The M25 was fairly quiet, though there were large sections with speed limits of 50 mph. Huge, sections of improvement work with nothing happening. I know it was early in the morning, but how can such large sections be worked on at the same time.
Crossing the Elizabeth bridge and we were on our way. A little rain and grey sky followed us down the road
Heading down to the M20, I saw there were some ‘Road Works’ and we would be down to 2 lanes, travelling on the wrong side of the motorway. Rosemary shouted that the Channel Tunnel crossing route was on the left. So, I obeyed her, and then found we were in the truck queuing system, which had been resurrected. Only trucks in this lane, while all the cars on the other carriageway stormed past. This section of several miles had a slow speed limit. There was stoney silence in the car. I have no idea why the queueing system had been instigated; in any case it had been removed by the time we came home in September. I drove all the way down the 10-mile truck queue lane on the M20 to join all the other cars.
Still, we arrived well ahead of the schedule and moved up two departures at no extra cost.
In France there was a strong wind, but the day was cloud free. The further we drove the warmer it became, necessitating the aircon to be turned on.
Our destination was the town of Châlons-en-Champagne. We booked into the site, Camping de Chalons en Champagne, for three nights, expecting to tour the town (and R fusses over me doing “too much driving”). We have stayed here twice, but not looked around the area. Before arriving at the campsite, a quick visit to buy some food at the huge supermarket, Carrefour Chalons En Champagne. We drove into the campsite behind a California VW, which was also blackberry coloured. Picture taken of the two blackberry-coloured VWs by the woman from the other van. They were staying one night.
At the campsite, there were loads of Brits passing through for the night. Bikers camping across the way, the female doing a striptease. Some lads next to us, they were working during the day and staying at the campsite. This seems quite common practice in France. They went off fishing in the evening.
The pond was still in existence, and bats flying around. The bat detector suggested they were Pipistrelles.
R and I headed off to Glastonbury for the one-night Glastonbury Abbey festival. We were to camp in the temporary Abbey Festival campsite for a couple of nights. We arrived at the site just before 1pm and were shown to our pitch. The usual guys were on site. The Welshman soon has us parked.
A lovely day, so we went for a walk, walking up the Tor to view the surrounding lands and campsite from above. The nuclear reactors off Hinkley Point were well in evidence. Also spotted the new design towers which are to carry the power from Hinkley Point power station. On the other side of the Tor, we should have been able to see the Pyramid Stage. Without its coat, the steel frame is hard to spot. The extremely zoomed in phone camera does show a very ghostly pyramid on the edge of the field.
After our walk up the Tor, we headed to the nearby Glastonbury Brewing Co and taproom. First time we had visited here, and it won’t be the last. Chatted to some fellow campers.
The next day was music day, so we walked into Glastonbury for the Extravaganza. Our usual look around the shops, and lunch in town. We ate in the same place as last year, the George and Pilgrims Inn. Across the road we popped into Visions, a card and photoshop run by Michelle, a Glastonbury photographer who we follow on Bluesky.
Bought supper in Tesco and headed for the queue to get into the Abbey Extravaganza. It is a laid-back enjoyable festival (hence R comes), with large groups of people bringing in chairs, tables and huge picnic meals and bubbly. Not sure if we saw any candelabra this time. Tonight’s entertainment was provided by the Shepton Mallet Big Band (good fun), Hothouse Flowers and finally Keane. After Keane was the usual firework display. A huge display which runs on and on. R quite taken with Keane (!).
Walking around the site, when I was buying some refreshments, I bumped into Michael Eavis. He is definitely looking old these days. Also, he seems to be confined to a wheelchair, or in this case being driven around in a buggy.
Getting out is a little tedious, with huge crowds converging on small exits. A final walk through the town to catch the courtesy coach back to the campsite.
Longburton and Sherborne
Sunday, decided not to rush up the Tor for sunrise, leave that to Michelle, who does it most days. We headed off to see Ken and Sue. (This turned out a disaster with me scraping the sill of the van on a piece of concrete. It’s been fixed now, paint redone, but there is still an indent in part of the sill.) We found them in their usual good form.
After our visit, we headed off to a Camping and Caravan Certificated site. Stopped in Sherborne at Waitrose for some supplies. West Hall Farm is a small site (5 vehicles only) at Longburton. It was very quiet, and we were the only occupants. There were a couple of caravans which had been rented out, but were presently empty. The site was quiet, but had electric hookups, toilets and showers. The toilets and showers were rather basic. There is a wedding barn there as well, I think this is what the owners were concentrating on.
The campsite is a small corner of a large field. At the bottom of the field is a stream, ponds, reeds, birds and dragonflies. The field contained three alpacas. Up the private road is a pub, where I did have a drink, and the bus stop.
The next day, Monday, we caught the bus into Sherborne. Here we walked around the town, following a town walk itinerary. Plenty of charity shops seem to have crept into the itinerary. R triumphant at finding a book which apparently I wanted to read, The Three Body Problem. A light lunch at the Digby Tap.
Back on the bus to the campsite, where the sun was shining, and the wind was quiet. An idyllic spot. On our walk back from the bus to the campsite, we met a Romany who said he had worked all around the world, helped out all sorts of landowners over in Norfolk and knew/was related to (we got a bit confused) the Kray brothers. He really needed to get someone to write down his life story.
Cerne Abbas
Another idyllic day. We caught a bus going in the opposite direction, so this time towards Cerne Abbas. Cerne Abbas, the home of the Cerne Giant. Here we ate at ‘The Giant Inn’, and then went for a walk through the village. Fabulous butterflies and our first of the season English Hummingbird Hawk Moth, all on a Buddleia. We saw the remains of the Abbey and St Augustine’s Well. Nearby there was an archaeological dig in progress. The dig was excavating the old Abbey which had been destroyed by Henry VIII. Walking on further we went to view the Giant. It is fenced off to stop erosion, a drone is a must. Or walk down to the layby where there is a good view of the Giant. We walked back along the stream and stopped at the Giant Inn again for a drink while waiting for the bus home.
Avebury
Today we packed up and left for home. On the way back we stopped at Avebury. Very busy, carpark pretty full. Difficult to get pictures of the stones without hundreds of people blocking the views. Anyway, there were some stunning thistles, and it is always worthwhile seeing.
A trip into Oxford for the day. Silly Steve forgot his bus pass and had to pay £2.00 each way from the Bicester P&R to Oxford. It was a lovely hot sunny day, and we spent our time walking around Oxford. First it was the shops, and then down to the Botanic Garden where we had our first glimpse of the sculpture commemorating Philip Pullman’s daemons and Lyra’s and Will’s bench.
Next, we had an early supper at a Japanese restaurant called Edamamé. An exceedingly small restaurant. Today, Thursday was ‘Sushi day’, it was serving ony Sushi. Despite arriving early, the restaurant was almost full. It was efficient; orders taken, the food soon arrived and we were on our way.
We walked along the Cherwell and University parks, visiting ‘The J.R.R Tolkein’ memorial seat before heading to the Natural History Museum to hear Isabella Tree talk to a few select BBOWT members. We were initially entertained with canapes and drinks before the talk started. Isabella Tree had on display signed copies of her latest book, The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small (Bloomsbury, 2023). The talk introduced the contents in the book, how she and her husband set about rewilding 3,500 acres of terrible farmland at Knepp in West Sussex.
An interesting talk which makes one think about the changes we can make to our gardens and lifestyles. Thankfully her techniques do not require us to become total vegetarians, animals are a prime driver in the rehabilitation of the land. It does though require us to be more selective in the meat we eat. The rewilding has been a success, with many different breeding raptors, and ‘turtle doves’, almost extinct in the UK. Cattle, beavers and pigs manage the land. The pigs and cattle adding some income through the butchery.
The festival was over, and the populace were leaving. This year, Love Fields laid on a Monday takeaway breakfast. This was new and lined our stomachs for the drive home. I hope they repeat. Except we chose to have a walk around the festival site to see if there were any bargains to be picked up. It was amazing how tidy the site was, hardly any litter on the ground. Too early to see if all the tents were taken home. A dry festival, so there should be no excuse to leave anything behind.
Rod Stewart
Let us hope next year when Rod Stewart plays the Legends Slot, that the weather will be kind.
We picked up a coffee, and some cut price nuts from a vendor. A walk up to the stone circle where some diehards were still sitting around. I stopped to take some more photographs of the ‘Model Glastonbury’ by Bellas’s bridge. I do this most years.
We left and eventually took the queue out of the grounds. At Love fields, because we were in the posh part of the site, we did not have to wait and were quickly on to Pylle Road. Then we stopped, there was the hour drive up Pylle Road, each site and camper van site prioritised their vehicles onto the road. The further we travelled the faster we progressed.
This was the first year I never saw the owners of The Love Fields. Owen was about saying goodbye to the glampers, but we missed him.
Selina and Phil purchased me a bottle of gin from Love Fields, called ‘We are not Worthy‘ gin as a thank you.
Anyway, we have our tickets for next year and will be at Love Fields yet again. Too early to say who is playing, other than Rod Stewart (Legends slot) is confirmed on the Pyramid stage. You can keep a track on festival rumours at the efestivals site. Another excellent site is ClashFinder where Glastonbury is a core listing. I find ClashFinder so much easier to use than the official festival apps. It has an excellent mobile webapp which works without a mobile phone signal. (Assuming you have registered and loaded your itinerary). You can also keep notes on each act you watch, and that information is there for you to review later, and on your laptop or PC. For those who like a hardcopy itinerary, you can print it out.
Another dry morning, though cloudy and not very warm. Not much planned, did walk through the Carhenge and photographed the Car Henge in the daylight instead of the dark.
Good Habits
Walked past the ‘Band Stand’ and spent a while there watching the first couple on, called ‘Good Habits‘. They played the Cello, and Accordion. Because it was early in the morning, very few watching. So sad, quite enjoyable.
Seasick Steve
This must be the fifth time, at least, I have seen Seasick Steve. He attributes his succes to Jules Holland. Seasick Steve was about to give up music and lose his home, when a scout found him and invited him to play on a Jules Holland show. Since thoses days he has been a regular visitor to the UK. He thanked us for our support many times. The changes I have seen over the years are mainly the instruments he plays. In the early days they were totally home constructed string instruments made for garbage. He still plays those, but now much of the music is on proper commercial guitars.
Back at the West Holts stage it was Balming Tiger, a South Korean music collective from Seoul. They sang and danced to a background track.
Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse are a roots reggae band from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. They played the West Holts stage in the afternoon. Excellant.
Glastonbury-On-Sea
The pier, Glastonbury-On-Sea has been there for several years, Today was the first time I ventured onto the pier. Seemed to be inhabited by robots. Yes, it was worth the visit, especially as I was walking by and it was not to busy. Some of the arcade entertainment devices were not working, but others were. Fun to watch.
SZA
I decided to see SZA. Found a reasonable spot between the sound mixers. I am afraid I was not impressed. It seemed a very strange headline act. The large number of people leaving the show was very noticeable. Indeed, I did not wait until the end and headed off. The stage backdrops were very impressive, but I could not get to like her songs which appeared disjointed. Not the best headliner for the final act on the Pyramid Stage. A huge disappointment.
Another dry morning, and after breakfast headed over to the West Holts stage to see an Irish band called Kneecap
Kneecap
I lasted 10 minutes with this Northern Ireland band, not my cup of tea, I couldn’t understand a word they sang or said. Not at all sure why they have a big following. So back to Pyramid via the Theatre and Circus area to see Ayra Star
Ayra Star
At the Pyramid stage I watched Ayra Star with her 10 backing singers. Very beautiful to watch, but not my style of singing.
Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy
Now at the West Holts stage to watch Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy. They are a Ghanian group, singing gospel, It improved as the set went on. I did leave a little early so I could see the Last Dinner Party at the Other stage.
Last Dinner Party
Saw the ‘Last Dinner Party’ last year when they were playing the first set at ‘Woodsies’ on Saturday. Now they have been promoted to the “Other Stage”. Missed the first part of their set, but made it to listen to quite a few songs. Excellent as before, especially now I can sing along to the chorus of ‘Nothing Matters‘
Circus Funtasia
Decided to watch Circus Funtasia, Selina had mentioned it from the previous day. The five motor bikes driving around the inside of a sphere was interesting. The next act, close to my heart, the man on stilts with chain saw.
Coldplay
Watched Coldplay with Selina and Phil. We were far back, so no chance of seeing Coldplay in the flesh, especially with the array of flags. A good crown around us enjoying the event with dancing around us, including a Scottish guy in kilt. Selina appears in the video below.
