It was a sad day yesterday.....

....when we lost our campervan.




We had spent almost two months with the vehicle and taken to highs and lows (mainly from problems with the van itself). But overall we had a fantastic experience. I always thought that 2 months in a small space with nowhere to go and no one else to speak to would either make or break a family. I'm pleased to announce that the skinner family are all good friends, well most of the time. We managed to travel 4,557km getting to Rome from Paris. And it took us 50 days. The guys we gave the van to at rome airport had flown down from Paris and said it would take him 24 hours in total to get the van back. ,I suspect he will not be visiting as many churches and museums on the way!

Esther's blog has all the details of where we have been and what we have seen but for me the highlights were:

in a French cafe in Rambouillet watching the ABs beat the French in the RWC, seeing the Mona Lisa, being able to visit so many places with few tourists around as we are out of season, getting to know the family better (strange to say but true), trying to learn to pencil draw, Florence which was just a real nice city to visit (we also had a pencil portrait of Benjamin and Naomi done, great to watch), being comfortable in France speaking the lingo - it's amazing how much came back to me from school days, visiting Maranello and getting to drive a Ferrari. I'm sure there are plenty more and you will hear about them I'm sure!

There was always going to be lowlights, thankfully not many:

Driving the campervan in the first few days ( the accident and just getting to used to the van), parts of Venice (crowded, with narrow streets and impossible to navigate even using a map). - one a challenge for a 'control freak', Trying to speak Italian (with no base to start with I have resorted to finger pointing) and having to give up the campervan - I think it would have been good to go further!

Would I do it all over again, absolutely. And I would know all the things to do before driving out of the hire place.

Some recent photos to make you smile..

We found an excellent improvement to my golf game...


...just need to find the right golf course.

Looks like Rome council were a little over zealous with their request..




And the prize for Movember goes to...





The waves were rising and Naomi didn't spot it..







Sorry folks, if you haven't been to the leaning tower of Pisa, it is no too late, Benjamin managed to push it back up...


It was one too many gardens/museums for naomi..


A variation on where's Wally....



Laters
Alex

What goes 0 to 100 in 3 seconds, has white knuckles and swears a lot...

Me driving a 2010 458 Italia Ferrari. 570 bhp. A very fast car and dangerous in the hands of someone like me, especially someone who has been driving a camper van for the last 5 weeks.

I was spoilt today. No churches, no shops, no emptying the campervan toilet (actually that was done) and just one museum - the Ferrari museum in Maranello, the home of Ferrari. The museum itself was very informative - even Esther enjoyed it. There were lots of cars from the old to the new. I wanted a photo from my favorite in the museum.....







We can all dream - the 458 Italia. Naomi wanted a photo with her favourite - me!

We left the museum and were hounded by youngsters trying to sell us time in fast cars for competitive prices. And they thought I was an easy sell. And they were right.

When we got 'dragged' to check out the cars on offer at one place, they actually had the chance to drive the 458 Italia. Good choice said the co pilot - it was his favorite and also happened to come in as the most expensive. Typical.

With fantastic bartering on my part, I managed to get a 13-14 minutes (instead of the 'usual' 10) of driving time and a free in car video.

I signed a document (after reading very carefully), was put in the car, given about 10 seconds of instructions and then asked to drive away.

I have never been so scared on the roads in my life (apart from that time when I had my Paris incident and that other time when Esther was driving......only joking).

So here is a pic of me looking very comfortable before I got into the cockpit...







(I'm the good looking one who hasn't shaved for the past 2 months).

I was directed out of town, which was down two or three roads until we got onto what can only be described as straight road with no houses on either side. 'gas, gas' the co pilot shouted. Foot was down with a nice tempered acceleration. Went pretty fast pretty quickly. Next bit of straight road. Slow down, let the cars ahead get further ahead. And then 'floor it', so I did - the form I signed said I had to follow all instructions. Difficult to describe, but probably like a bat out of hell, but faster. Next time I got more cockey and went for gold. I risked looking at the speedo. Over 170 kph, and in a 50 limit and back down to 50 in less than a few seconds.

A once in a lifetime experience and I fell back down to earth as soon as I jumped into the camper van and headed out of Maranello, the home of Ferrari (and probably a few unpaid, and unissued, speeding tickets).

Laters
Alex (Schumacher) Skinner
PS the scariest is when he told me to floor it and overtake two cars on the inside. They didn't even get a glimpse of me as I sped off.







PPS I want one - don't we we all

PPPS I actually bought one on the spot, admittedly not an original but one by

PPPPS I will be holding private viewings of the in car video for those interested

Back on the road

I write this from a carpark off the main road near Venice. Yesterday we managed to drive all the way from nice to Venice. I would tell you how long that was but we haven't yet got an Italian sim card so not online. We may have returned to the uk before this blog gets posted, who knows.

Obviously the camping car got fixed. After the last blog and the worries we had, can you guess what was wrong.....a fuse had gone missing! It took the guy in Avis about 5 minutes to get the car back on the road and allay all our fears.

How simple, and how frustrating (underlined if that was possible on the iPad).

We reckon that when we were in the marseille Avis the lady there played around with the fuses and forgot to put one back. How else would one go missing from a cupboard which we don't even use. The other possible scenarios are:

1. Someone broke into the camper can and stole it
2. The fuse self imploded and disappeared entirely
3. Benjamin decided to work out how the electrics in the camper van worked and took it all apart and forgot to put back one little ol' fuse - this could actually be a possibility

I am about to draft a 'dear Avis' letter outlining the problems hour by hour in detail. We lost at least a day of church and museum seeing - the kids were gutted.

So there you have it, 7am in a truck park. Skinner family awake except Mrs S..... And today we head into Venice. Esther was reading, that between November and April it is high tide so bring your wellies........so could be an interesting day.

A few amusing photos for your enjoyment.....

I posted a picture of the sat nav previously with a roundabout we were approaching. Well this one shows how clever our camper car is at times...we are driving in the sea just outside St Tropez..No bridges involved!





We loved this taxi but felt it wasnt quite going to get all the skinner family in..





We waked past this car thinking it was trying to get out of this tight park, in fact as we watched a little longer it was quite clear that she was trying to park up. I now know why vehicles are fitted with bumpers. The bumpers photod here were used extensively.




Benjamin being his hero, Bear Grylls, as he built a shelter on the beach in Antibes. It was totally wind proof but may let in water. Benjamin was able to get fully under his camp!




Naomi contemplating how to attack her rose shaped ice cream...



Benjamin and Naomi are all over art - literally for this sculpture until I read the little placard which said please respect the art and do not climb, I think that was the rough english translation.


Naomi has become a semi professional photographer (actually she is not too bad). Benjamin has become a mime artist.



Benjamin's favourite shop...



What a fantastic development in modern living. Unfortunately it was not working, just when I fancied chips out of a vending machine..


Laters
Alex

Is it nice to get stuck in Nice

We are sitting in our camper van having breakfast, well me and the kids are, Esther is having a little lie in. No change there then! I am trying to figure out our next steps.

From day one we were having problems with the electrics in our van. It wasn't a big deal to start of with. The fridge wasn't working when it should. Fine when standing but when we were on the move it was off. We actually were able to manage our food and avoid too much loss - one fatality only a tub of ice-cream, only a few tears from Esther and kids.

Next the plug stopped working when we were plugged in at a campsite. Again we managed to work with that one. The iPad charged when needed.

We have visited almost all the Avis campervan locations in France - 4 out of six.

The troubles happened three nights ago when the warning lights for the batteries stopped working - showing that there was no power in the car battery and little in the auxiliary battery. This started to get us worried. So off to the Nice Avis shop. They had a quick look around, went to the fuse box and pulled out a broken fuse. Didn't I feel a useless mechanic - doesn't bode well for my kit car. It fixed the fridge issues and the plug and the warning lights but it wasn't until last night that we realised there was a larger issue lurking within the camper van...

We ran out of auxiliary battery and the lights or heating were not working after a day out on the town. Even when plugged in at the campsite. Now that is a bigger problem. Everything works when the engine is running, but that is not a sustainable solution. It charges the aux battery and then we are ok but for only a few hours.

So it is Sunday morning and we are hoping Avis is open. A very good fix or a new van. The skinners are not happy. It means we lose a day as today we were planning to head across to Italy.

Is it nice in Nice, we spent a day walking around yesterday and it is a pretty cool place. Esther will have the details and the photos on her blog soon....but we also have Internet issues and will need to try and get a sim card when in Italy so who knows when....

Laters
Alex

Some more photos...

In a previous blog I mentioned about how Benjamin managed to find so much during the day. Here is the evidence from 4 hours in Avaignon....




There were some other metal objects which his mum confiscated!

Guess who went to the Haribo sweet factory...




A supply for the next 2 years, although I suspect they will get
demolished within the next week or so!

The French streets are generally tidy although we did stay at a place where it took them more than 24 hours to empty the bottle bank which was outside of where we parked up for the day...




OK a slight exaggeration, but we have been enjoying the local 'produce' every night.

That's it for me, I know Esther is gagging to update her blog...Which gives you more useful info on what we are actually up to.

Laters
Alex

Location:Avenue du Val Saint-André,Aix-en-Provence,France

Some funny photos...

I realise that you are not learning much about where we have been and what we have seen from my blog. I've left that to the more literary hand of the better half, check out esther's blog.

In the meantime here are some of our photos...

The pied piper?




A typical French junction that we have now mastered. What the sat nav doesn't show is all the road works aswell..



The wind in Montpellier was a little stronger than what we expected..




Benjamin and Naomi spent quite a bit of time at this shop...




A happy family snap (like all the others)...



And two photos of the Wellington basin reserve of the past (in fact from 70AD). The concourse doesn't have any bins so Esther didn't lose her sunnies - a story from one of the first sevens we went to in Wellington..





I have become a typical frenchman carrying around my baguette. It has been amazing how normal it is, at any time of the day, to be carrying around a French stick.....



Laters
Alex

We have been cheated all these years

I was gob smacked. I'm never one for fast foods but all these years I have been led to believe that the golden arches, the world wide brand of McDonalds was a FAST FOOD chain.

Well I learnt the real truth when I saw this....




McDonalds admitting that their fast food has not been that fast and in Montpellier (at least) they have faster food.

Question is whether this is where they will stop or will be seeing McInstants?

Laters
Alex