Europe Adventure 2007

22 - 24 July

After a heavy night of rain our campsite now resembled an extension of lake Geneva. Undeterred we set about organising ourselves out of the mud with our sights firmly set on a chateau in the Burgundy region of France.

In the lovely town of Beaune we found the tourist office to be helpful yet the attendant staunchly refused to make a few calls on our behalf to secure accommodation. It was left to Steve to again practise his french and was warmly laughed at by our chosen receptionist. Although many of the local establishments were full (or exorbitantly pricey) thankfully our first choice from the brochure was free, well available at least...

Chateau Challanges is a resplendent 18th century manor house set on 15 acres of parkland and gardens. To our great delight our room was decked out in typical french period furniture, upholstery and wall paper. We felt more french than ever just standing in the room.

It was a very hot afternoon so our first priority was to have a swim, before a classic impoverished backpacker selfcatered meal of soup, bread and tea overlooking the vineyards at sunset. Over the coming 2 days we spent our time reading LOTR, exploring Beaune, indulging in regional wine and filling ourselves with buffet breakfasts.

This was a magical last fling to send off our time in continental Europe topped off by receiving phonecalls from Camilla's best friend and parents.