Our family touring holiday in Europe

Hello from Liepvre in eastern France, south of Strasbourg! This is the first time the Thynne family has motorhomed abroad and, despite a couple of mishaps, we're loving it.

We arrived safely at Dunkirk on Sunday lunchtime and all seemed to be going well until the sat-nav (nicknamed 'Suzie') sent us on an interesting but unnecessary tour of Lille. Trying to turn back on ourselves at a roundabout we were beeped by a couple of lads in a Peugeot. I wasn't sure whether I'd done something stupid - had I gone the wrong way round? All was revealed at the first 'Aire' stop - the battery locker door was open. Lesson one - check all locker doors at least twice before departure.

Our first stop for fuel went okay and gave me the chance to try out some French. "C'est trop chaud pour moi!" I beamed at the cashier. He gave me a funny look and said, "Soixante euros s'il vous plait."

Our first overnight was at a Belgian site near Dinant. It was pretty basic but the kids enjoyed the pool. I would have liked a dip myself but was told in no uncertain terms that "shorts" were not permitted. I protested that these were "swimming shorts" but the chap was having none of it. "Shorts!" he exclaimed, pointing at me. He was bigger than me so I gave up...

It was sweltering in the motorhome Sunday night and the midges had a field day with us. Lesson two - flyscreens are there for a reason!

We had a long drive through Belgium, Luxembourg and France on Monday. The last couple of hours were through lovely scenery in the Lorraine region. Unfortunately Suzie sent us on the road to Selestat "par col". I wasn't sure what this meant but it turns out to translate as roughly "via mountain". An hour of white-knuckle hairpins and "descents dangereuses" ensued but the Bailey coped brilliantly. And thank God for air-con.

Anyway, we arrived safely at what turns out to be a beautiful little site - Camping Haut Koeningsbourg near the German border. I thought I'd booked in advance but had misunderstood the return email. Fortunately the friendly folk found us a spot and we enjoyed a pleasant evening of bacon sandwiches followed by a stroll through the town. It's lovely here and I'm almost sorry we're heading onwards to Italy today. Bye for now!