We went to Beaune today and shopped their marché.  We wanted to park at their centre ville campground and go to the famous hospice for lots of wine tasting but it was yet another campground that hasn’t reopened.   We experienced a lot of that yesterday near Dijon so we ended up in an aire de service on A6. 

The American equivalent to that would be staying at an interstate rest area but it’s a whole lot different here.  The big highways in France are privately-owned toll ways.  There’s one that’s a parking area with pique nique tables and usually toilets every 40 km.  There’s also a full service aire every 40 km as well.  The two styles alternate so there is a safe place to stop about every 20 km (~12 miles).  The full service aires have gas, diesel, and propane (more about that later).   They always have at least one café plus a big convenience store with fresh baguette sandwiches, croissants, and salads.  They have clean toilets and most of them have showers too.  They have pique nique tables and playgrounds.  They have separate parking for cars, camping trailers,  motorhomes, and trucks.  The parking for campers is usually separated from the highway by a hill and some trees. So last night we stayed in one of those. It was in the 50sF so we had most of the windows closed, but I’m not sure I would have heard much road noise even with them open. I had a shower that was almost hot enough but so much larger than the inverted tanning bed my camping-car calls a shower. The cafés closed for no apparent reason at 19h30, so we ate frozen paella from Aldi (better than it sounds). We got up this morning, made coffee, and left. It was 100% legal and free. Well, it was sort of free. The toll was 3€90 for the section of road we used and I paid 10 cents more than I should have for the 50 litres of diesel I bought (lesson learned). So actually the campsite (which was totally private) cost about 9€ but it will cost half that next time since I will buy the diesel elsewhere.

We found an open campground today in the Parc Naturel Régional du Morvan right on this misty and drizzly lake. The pub is open but the café is limited to chips and junk food until next week. There are very few campers here. The showers, toilets, laundry and dishwashing stations are all open. There are signs everywhere to remind you to wear your mask, hand sanitizer at every entrance, and disinfectant with clean rags with which you are supposed to clean every surface before and after you touch them. Campgrounds in Europe usually do not have pique nique tables at each site, but clumped together in a more communal area. We have electricity at the site and access to water and sewage for 10€ plus 2€ per load of clothes washing. I thanked the people for being open. They said that their cabins were fully booked next week so they had no choice but to open now to get the campground ready.

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but we will probably start working our way back north in case the parts we are waiting for come in to the dealer on Monday. By the way, while I am away from Strasbourg, I am posting these blogs from my phone using only the pictures I took with my phone. Hopefully someday I will reformat these posts when it is easier to use a computer and I can then add some photos I took with a real camera.