Rue de Chateau, Neuchatel

We woke at 5.00am to a beautiful summer’s morning. My brother in law, Keith, drove us to the airport and after a short drive through the peaceful english countryside we arrived at Gatwick which, in stark contrast, was seething.

There were numerous hen parties, stag parties, cyclists and bikes, groups of musos and holidaymakers. This is EasyJet’s hub and gateway for Brits taking a holiday/weekend break to Europe. At 7.30am Wetherspoons bar was packed. Among the characters we spotted were Superman, MIckey Mouse, Spiderman, Batman and Muscleman. However the prize for originality would have to go to the young bearded guy dressed as an Amish woman.

After a short flight we arrived in Basel Airport. Nestled on the German, Swiss, French border it’s a town with multiple languages and two currencies (the Swiss don’t use the Euro). We had no Swiss Francs but this wasn’t a problem as if you’re on the Swiss side they accept Euros and you get change in CHF. We caught the bus to Basel station and then after a short train trip to Beuggen we arrived at McRent Rheinfelden to collect the campervan.

Rue de l’hopital, Neuchatel

It was a GlobeScout  Fiat – good size for two, although you can drive with four people, as there are sufficient seats, but the van itself only sleeps two. The staff there were really friendly and helpful and we had a quick guide to the workings of the van. Unfortunately the guide book’s in German and neither of us have any German but hopefully have good memories!

We also managed to hire a couple of bikes from the guy in the E-bike shop across the road. He was really just selling E-bikes and motorbikes and all we wanted was a couple of basic run-abouts to get about towns during our travels. He eventually hired us his daughter’s and wife’s bikes and seemed a bit concerned that we were going to be riding bikes with no crossbars!

Collegial Church, Neuchatel

The trip to Neuchatel took around 2 hours and we went through the foothills of the Alps which we could see in the distance. We’d bought a GPS in UK and that made life alot easier although we struck a problem when arriving at the “Aires” in Neuchatel as it’s above a tunnel for the Autoroute so it kept leading us back into the tunnel! When we finally reached the spot there was a bit of a gypsy encampment there and their dogs seemed a bit threatening but the people were friendly and the dogs were well controlled and we had no problems.

The centre of Neuchatel is beautiful and we were lucky enough to strike the Saturday market. It’s an old town centre and very typical. There’s good public transport and it’s compact enough to walk around. A self guided walk is available from the tourist office which takes around 2 hours and is well worth doing as it takes in all the old town including the chateau and collegiate church.

Place Pury, Neuchatel

J’ai decouvert que “Neuchatel ” est  deux anciennes mots française  – neu (nouveau) et chatel (chateau). Il semble que tous les gens ici parlent français et ils sont assez facile à comprendre. Tous les panneaux et les noms des rues sont en francais. La ville est très belle et il est situé au bord du lac. À l’autre coté du lac on peut voir les Alpes oú il y avait encore beacoup de neige. ll y a un funiculaire pour aller à la gare et le centre ville est plein de vieux batiments et très charmant. Le construction du collégial eglise a commencé en 1185.

Traditional Dancing, Neuchatel