Ok so yesterday morning’s slight coolness was just a passing fancy and the temperatures soar with the rising sun, though to be fair there is a little bit of breeze blowing, and so after a shortish morning walk we settle down for the bulk of the day to be spent doing odds and sods in and around the van and completing our planning.
Mid afternoon it appears to cloud over a bit so having had enough admin for a while we make a break for it and make our way along the footpath through the pin trees to Fort Mahon, meandering in and out of this vast and very pretty holiday village on the way….
By the time we have made it down to the beach at Fort Mahon it is late afternoon and we are feeling the presence of pretty much full sun again and the beach is pretty busy being a Saturday….
Down on the beach it is most pleasant with a nice bit of breeze so we enjoy a sit and Tilly soon finds a stick to chase before we make our way back paddling through all the water rivulets and pools left on the sand by the receding tide….
I hate to say this, but waking up this morning and finding that it is a cloudy and considerably cooler day, is quite a relief. To be on the safe side we still aim for an early walk and head straight down through the village to Plage de Quend and begin walking along the vast expanse of damp firm sand northwards….
It is probably less than a mile to Fort Mahon, a slightly larger and possibly a little more lived in village….
We leave the beach to wander up through the village and whilst there is certainly more to it in the way of shops and the like, it is not particularly interesting or attractive and we soon return to the beach as it has gotten quite a bit warmer and the beach at least offers a slight breeze and of course the option to paddle in the shallows….
Rather than press on any further up the beach we make a slow return the way we came, with Tilly being able to enjoy a nice run around on the sand and with some encouragement a little paddle…
Before heading back to Quend Plage as the tide is rising….
Back at the van we find ourselves a little shade and slight breeze and I settle down to make plans for the rest of our time in France and the areas of coast we plan to cover in the UK before heading back to Cornwall for the summer. As for Tilly – well she just makes herself a little well in the sand/ dust in the shade and relaxes.
We do take another stroll down to the beach in the early evening and Tilly gets to enjoy chasing the ball in the cooler air before settling down for the evening….
Another very hot day and we were in two minds whether to stay put and enjoy the little bit of shade that we have on this Aire but as we have exhausted the walking opportunities from here and our days are numbered so to speak, we decided to move 30 miles further up the coast to the little village of Quend Plage.
After a small grocery shop on the way we arrived on the Aire just on the outskirts of this rather typical second / holiday home village. . Not quite as much shade here but a little. It is a large Aire with basic facilities apart from electric, which is not a problem for us, especially in this weather and is quite busy with mostly French vans enjoying the sun….
By midday we are settled and managing to channel a little breeze through the van, choosing to sit outside and wile away the afternoon planning until it has cooled down enough for us to venture the half a mile through the village to the sea….
A stunning wide expanse of pale damp sand, backed by soft high tide sand and dunes, awaits in either direction….
The main beach in front of the village has a dog ban (not that this appears to mean a great deal!) but for miles either side the beach is open to be walked and enjoyed – our perfect beach walking kind of beach – we shall enjoy it over the next couple of days.
Another very hot day so we get our skates on for an early morning walk to the neighbouring village of Cayeux-sur-Mer passing Brighton Lighthouse standing tall and proud, along the way….
Cayeux-sur-Mer is another one of those sort of Dorma Villages, where the main village is a mile or so inland and this is just a shell of mostly closed up holiday apartments and properties with a small collection of bars (some open, some still to do so) in the centre.
However but it does have a fine wooden boardwalk running for a couple of kilometres along the top of the stony beach backed by a row of cheerfully painted beach huts for almost as far as the eye can see….
The odd conveniently photogenic boat….
And still more beach huts and in this case providing us with a welcome bit of shade to enjoy a cup of coffee and a sit down before making our way back by jumping into whatever shade we can find….
We were glad of the opportunity to sit outside the van in the leafy shade with the little wisps of cooling breeze for the afternoon and in my case crack on with some future planning and in Tilly’s take a snooze on the cooler earth. We didn’t venture out until about 9pm and even then the temperature was still in the high twenties so it was just a quick whizz around the block before bed.
Fortunately not a long drive today as it is still incredibly hot and even with a stop for food and fuel we are at our Aire in the small mostly second home resort of Brighton Les Pins by midday.
Finding a pitch under the partial shade of a tree, we open all the windows but chose to linger outside under the shade of the tree where a tiny whisper of slightly cooler air is oh so welcome.
Even at half five the temperature really hasn’t dropped very much but we are getting hungry so decide to hug the shade of the trees as we walk the short distance down to the beach.
The beach stretching into the distance in either direction is at high tide just a wide bank of rounded pebbles, but at low tide, as it is now, a huge expanse of wet sands lead down to the sea….
The sea, though not the crystal clear waters we have become accustomed to is a rather sandy brown but actually pleasantly warm and I enjoy the refreshing paddle along the edge whilst Tilly scampers along just out of the seas reach….
Though I do manage to get her to scamper through the puddles and get a little damp and more importantly cool down a bit, that way….
Time to call it a day and head back to eat and sit in our shady spot until it cools down enough for us to sleep.
As this current heatwave continues, so does our journey north and then westwards. We are trying to get reasonably early starts to avoid driving in the worst of the afternoon sun and still we are benefitting slightly from the sun being behind us instead of full on the windscreen.
By early Sunday afternoon we have made it as far north and West to O-de-Selle, a small sleepy hollow village a little south of Amiens and well on our way to the Normandy coast. Here we found a lovely shaded pitch backing onto a stream, giving us the chance to sit out and cool down whilst watching the ducks lazily making their way up and down stream….
Later, we did venture down into the village and for a wander along the river, though not another sole stirred on this warm Sunday evening….
Away early in the morning we were soon arriving at the coast, however we quickly realised that it is also a Bank Holiday in France and being such a fine day, everybody was heading to the coast as well! Our planned stops at firstly St Jouin-Bruneval and then Etretat were so not going to happen, both resorts being absolutely overflowing with parked cars and certainly the beach at St Jouin-Bruneval was jam packed with no opportunity to even hop out to take a photo.
Time to find somewhere quiet and preferably shady to stop and come up with a Plan B. Fortunately I hadn’t booked anywhere for an overnight stop and the chances of getting onto the ones that I had earmarked near the sea are slim to nonexistent so a real Plan B was to head further north and inland to Luneray, where I was able to book a space on an Aire for the night.
Arriving much later and much hotter than we planned, we waited until early evening before venturing out for a brief cooling walk along the handy, leafy cycle path and called it a night.
After making the difficult decision to leave Switzerland, over the weekend we made inroads on our journey back up towards the coast of Northern France. As forecast the weather has been beautifully hot and sunny, so we have tried to do all the driving in the mornings, arriving on site around midday. Fortunately by driving north the sun has been behind us making it bearable to drive in and keep relatively cool.
On friday we arrived at our Aire next to Lac de Kruth-Wildenstein in the heart of the National Park Unfortunately all the shady pitches had already gone but there was a little bit of breeze which boosted by the fan I have in the van, provided a little relief inside. At about 4 we took a wander down to the lake and strolled in and out of leafy cover for an hour or so before admitting defeat and returning to the van….
After a quiet night, though the aire had filled up during the evening, and after a short stroll to the lake we were on the road just after 9, again heading northwards. It was an easy mostly dual carriageway drive, not the most interesting but I was grateful for the simplicity and speed as we watched the external temperature rising to 28 degrees by the time we arrived at an aire on the outskirts of the small village Charny-sur-Meuse (I’m sure we have been somewhere else along the Meuse).
This time we found a spot underneath a tall tree but even so it was a struggle to keep in anyway cool and even though we waited until about 4 to head out we really struggled without any breeze and very little shade whilst walking to last more than half and hour – just enough time to see the river and wander into the village and see we weren’t missing anything before heading back to the sanctuary of our shady tree….
It looks to be another hot one tomorrow so I intend to use the Toll roads tomorrow and an early start to get a good few miles westwards and that will leave us with a relatively short hop on Monday to reach the coast and then breathe….
The bus was crowded and with hindsight we should have walked down as it was probably only a couple of miles, but we are here now. The village was very busy, every cafe / bar doing a great trade on this beautiful afternoon and in fact after the serenity of Murren we were quite keen to see what needed to be seen and then move on, we started at the bottom and walked up the main street….
Pretty but too busy, so enjoying the part shade we joined the few other walkers on this glorious afternoon walking up the footpath back to the car park at Stechelberg, taking a few moments to wonder at Staubbachfall one of 72 waterfalls in the valley surrounding Lauterbrunnen….
From then on it was almost just us and nature with our guiding beacon the Jungfrau, oh and a few tunefull cows and goats proudly clattering their bells as they munch on the lush grass….
You could just loose yourself here….
We passed a couple of small picnic areas with benches and tables on the way, one with a compostable toilet and barbeque area and several other stopping points with fresh water fonts / troughs and plenty to bins – very walker friendly. There was even one of those vending machines selling cheese and random cooked sausage as well as drinks and normal snacks.
A short drive back down onto site after a lovely day, some much needed food and a bit of planning is now required and some decisions need to be made.
Considerations:
I am struggling to find anywhere to stay in Switzerland for the weekend as the sites are either fully booked or massively expensive. As an example the site we are currently on, that we would have happily stayed on is £55 a night and even at that, I would have had to have booked it when we arrived as they only had a couple of spaces available. The ACSI card that we used to stay at £28 per night doesn’t apply at the weekends.
I had wanted to do the 3 pass route through the mountains – the Furka, Susten and Grimsel but they do not open until June.
It is incredibly difficult to find places to park up and leave the van to explore on foot without incurring a ridiculous parking charge.
The weather is forecast to be very hot over the next week or so which will make driving around and visiting places a bit of a challenge.
After a fair bit of thought and research, mindful of my remaining time in Europe and the weather forecast I have decided, not totally unsurprisingly, that we are going to head back up to the coast and complete the section from Honfleur to Calais and enjoy the sea, beach and sunshine before returning across the Channel.
An absolute stunner of a day for us today, starting with a saunter down to the Lake to gauge visibility and sure enough – pretty good….
After various discussion with the site personnel and a fair bit of googling we have decided that our best course of action is to drive the relatively short distance up to Stechelberg where there is a huge car park at the cable car / bus terminal and go from there. There was no problem parking though it was pretty full and I suspect at the weekend and during the summer parking up here will be quite a challenge. Already the views of the surrounding mountains are quite incredible….
Before getting the cable car we take a closer look at Stechelberg waterfall and the fast flowing icy blue River Lutschene….
The cable car is packed to the rafters so no chance of evening admiring the views let alone capturing them as I am having to carry Tilly – who incidentally was getting a lot of fuss and attention but we took a moment at the top when the car had emptied out and wow….
Murren was just a bit unreal with 360 degree of mountains all around – most significantly the Eiger 3970m, Monch 4107m and Jungfrau 4158m (4 times the height of Snowden!!)….
And towering immediately overhead the Schilthorn 2970m….
The main street of the traffic free village was quite busy but by wandering through the beautiful back streets it was peaceful and magical….
It was also surprisingly warm and so after a while we were quite content to find a little bit of shade and just sit for a bit soaking it all up….
Words fail but I hope the photos give you just a small measure of how stunning it is.
After taking a slightly less crowded cable car back down we caught the bus to Lauterbrunnen and will continue in Part 2.
On and off showers through the night and morning and visibility looked a bit compromised so we postponed our mountain excursion until tomorrow when the forecast looks better and took a leisurely walk along Lake Thunersee in the direction of Thun instead….
A beautiful couple of miles took as to Sundlauenen a tiny little lakeside hamlet….
Also a stopping off point for the lake bus and we timed it just right (to see not board)….
At this point the footpath takes you on a significant climb away from the lake and above the road, which also disappears into the mountainside….
We opted to return the way we came and spend some time down by the lake, giving Tilly some green space to have some off lead play (she soon found a stick to chase) before returning to the van to plan tomorrows little adventure….
Back on site, it has warmed up nicely and the paragliders are out in their numbers providing the early evening entertainment…
Freedombird travels through Europe in Spring 2026 (Part 2) 