European Travels – Making Hay and the New Routine

As I type this post I am sat outside ‘Elvis’ (our caravan for those of you who are new here!) watching a farmer in the distance make hay in the fields. My daughter is attempting to ride her trike, my dog is taking a rest from the afternoon sun in a nearby bush and hubby is preparing dinner. I’m thinking to myself: this is free, this doesn’t cost a bean … this is beautiful! And I realise that it’s moments like this that continue to feed my hunger for independent travel without time limits and why I feel such an urge to convince everyone to head off on the open roads with their family in search of cheap, but utterly rich, adventure.

We had a great crossing from the UK into France; helped not least by the amazing weather we have been experiencing day in, day out. This time last year when we were in the South of France it rained relentlessly for several weeks leaving us with no way of washing or drying our clothes and running out of entertainment ideas for the little one in the camper, but this year it seems that the North and SW of this vast country are the way forward. We’re currently somewhere near the coast not far from La Rochelle and despite the fact that really we’re blitzing through France this time with our hearts firmly focused on the North West of Spain, it is proving to be a pleasant blitz. The great thing about France is that if you have a caravan, or even a tent for that matter, you can simply pull off at one of the numerous ‘picnic’ areas, pitch up and bed down for the night. The scenery is always gorgeous with rolling fields and woodland and water and picnic tables are readily available – who needs a fancy apartment in a resort?

Isabella enjoys one of our first stops!

It’s safe to say that our latest adventure has started smoothly and enjoyably, but I am however already noticing quite a few differences this time around when it comes to travelling with my daughter. In some ways she is so much easier because when we pitch up she is happy to amuse herself running around digging in mud or sitting in her sun tent playing tea-party with her teddies, but in other ways it’s a little harder. She gets bored quicker in the car and is no longer happy to just sleep the entire day when we’re on a long stint. We find that we have to do a couple of hours and then stop for a hearty lunch before heading off again while she has an afternoon doze. When she is awake she demands much more entertainment so I have had to expand my previous repertoire of This Little Piggy in every style imaginable and now I have to write – over and over – all the words she knows on the sketcher or perform all the Mama Mia songs from start to finish; with actions. Our car must make quite an interesting spectacle to fellow motorists, but keeping baby happy on the road is probably the most important and the most difficult part of longer travel stints and the least of my worries is how ridiculous I might be looking in my quest for success in this area! However, one of the great things this year is that she is totally in her own little routine so once she goes to bed we can sit out, sip wine and look at the view without constantly having to run in with milk and cuddles. Not that we don’t still love bedtime milk and cuddles! but it’s kinda nice that we’re not up and down throughout the entire evening this year.

So far we’ve visited the friends we made through our volunteering stint in Normandy at the beginning of the year. Isabella ran around the gardens as if she had never left, played with her old friends; the chickens, ducks, turkeys and sheep and stayed up to enjoy the beautiful light evening, socialising with old friends and new volunteers (what did I just say about routine? Ahem). And now we’re on-route to the Pyrenees to catch up with the people we volunteered with last year on a small horse farm. I’m really excited about seeing that view again: rolling fields as far as the eye can see with just the vague outline of impressive snow-capped mountains trickling across the sky in the distance. Ahhh, blissful. But if I’m honest I’m truly looking forward to some new adventure and sights further south, wondering who Isabella’s playmates will be this year, what interesting characters we might meet and the new things we might see and learn. I know that this journey has only just begun because as we found out last year, you never actually know what’s going to happen or what will be waiting around the corner.

Do you know any great places for free camping that you can share? What are the views that make your heart pound? Have you been on a road-trip with your children? I, and I’m sure everyone else here, would love to hear about your experiences!

Alice Griffin is a freelance writer who, along with her husband, two-year-old daughter and dog, is currently enjoying her second year of long-term, open-ended travel across Europe. Currently she is sunning herself in SW France, but soon she hopes to experience the more rugged and wild locations of the North West coast of Spain before heading to the Portuguese mountains. You can read more about Alice here