Back On The Road
With more time than money
A campervan journey from High Wycombe to Murcia Spain via Gex France.
A delightful sequel to Spain in a campervan. Mini-Adventure series.
That covered the first trip through Spain, and experiences both volunteering on organic farms and hiking legendary mountains. Exploring its cultural heritage to understand what it meant to be Spanish.
You can Read the Blog Posts HERE
Travelling with more time than money, means enjoying what life has to offer. Experiencing the downs to appreciate the ups. Travelling on a shoestring you see the value in life's necessities, being practical with spending and it motivates you to tread lightly... Cooking with local produce and using less plastic. To walk and cycle more, to interact with other travellers and locals, and get off the tourist trail.
Travellers mottos: Travel light, leave the place better than you found it, take photos, leave footprints, give hugs and steal kisses.
The journey so far
Scaling back, becoming houseless for a while, but not homeless and working for myself allows me to hit the road for as long as I like. Working remotely for a few hours twice a week keeps the business operation ticking over while adapting to a slower pace of life on the road, and not on a grand tour.
Its not seen as work or wasting your time, if you are truly enjoying what you are doing - Making a difference
After leaving the comforts of High Wycombe, I spent a few days in sunny Hampshire offering my garden services in exchange for a room and meals allowed me to help someone and have a good time, before heading to Gravesend for the night with friends/family before driving to Dover to cross the channel too France, taking the toll road for the first day and a half, before hitting the non-toll roads that take you mainly through lovely villages, rural countryside and the odd city. Means I can stop and sock-up the atmosphere, buy fresh bread and stop in nice areas.
On the 2nd night I stopped between two lakes, 'The Orient Forest Regional Natural Park' A beautiful location, with cycle paths and wildlife. Woke up to a car park full of campervans and as luck would have it, stage nine 'Troyes' of the Tour De France was going to be passing by.
Met a guy from Germany called Marcal, who shared a German beer and we exchanged life stories... Part of life's simple pleasures.
It just so happens my friend was travelling with his girlfriend the same way, so we continued together for the next 2 days on the road towards Switzerland.
Stopping at; Sources of the Seine to dip our feet. Parked by the River Saone at Saint-Jean-de-Losne to cook dinner before carrying on to lac de Vouglans for the night, where I parted early in the morning to collect my friend who arrived in Geneva from Spain. As we are both Trusted House Sitting a dog called Luna, a cat called Rex and 6 chickens in the beautiful town of Gex. There is lots of exploring to be done and some great hiking in the Jura mountains, where we are surrounded by natural beauty, and an ultimate adventure destination. It's less touristy than the French Alps region, that is only an hour away we can view from Gex, and is less unknown. The locals and those who have made Gex their home, you will find they are genuine, a community feel, and a slower pass of French life can be experienced.
Due to varied weather changes, near the mountains, we can experience storms and hot days. There are lots of beautiful areas to visit depending on what we wake-up to....
Amazing views of Mont Blanc.
I've been admiring the mountains from 100 km away, for the last few days, from the trusted house/pet sitting, across Lake Geneva. We headed off to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, and took the cable car up to Aiguille Du Midi 3842 metres to view Mont Blanc, and hiked back down the legendary mountain.
Plan du l'aiguille hike: Cascade du Dard - Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
Descent of 1280 meters.
3 hrs.
From Gex there is an old disused railway line that's been turned into a fantastic cycle and walkway - A pleasure.
Sunday we cycled to the town of Divonne-les-Bains for the Sunday morning market, a bite to eat, and soak up the French way of life in the center of town - To live a bit like a local.
It's very easy to get around by bike, there are more local restaurants than fast food available, and people have time to enjoy their meals - The good food culture.
Another great hike over looking Gex:
4 hrs. hike; Grand Mont Rond, in the beautiful Jura Mountains. With amazing views of Mont Blanc and Lake Geneva. We can see this ridge from where we are stying.
You can View: Touring in the campervan Google Map
To continue in the next Post...... In the mean time you may like to view Instagram posts.
