We have had our camping car for 10 years now and are still in love with the freedom it gives us to travel and have all our home comforts with us, not to mention all the space to carry our bikes and bring home plenty of wine from the vineyards we visit! I've searched my sketchbooks and only found a few drawings of our extra home so I thought I would put them together in this post.
This first picture was drawn on the Mediterranean coast a few kilometres west of Sète. The main road had been diverted from the coast so the old road became a camping car park where you could spend a night or three as long as you were self sufficient in electricity and water etc. as there were no facilities.
On our journey to the south of France we usually stop in the geographical centre of the country at St Amand Montrand, where Bob used to work as a repair engineer about 40 plus years ago. There is a camp site but it's not always open and the camping car aire is very convenient being just off the road into town and next to an attractive canal.
We park at the water's edge for the night to recover from the 8 hours of driving it takes to get there and walk into the town for a meal in La Rotonde, the bar bistro where Bob and his colleagues used to gather all those years ago.
I've drawn Bob here in the morning studying his Kindle while I sit in bed with my cup of tea. There is only room for one of us at a time to move about in the camper so in the morning I stay put until he goes off to shower, then I get up to make the breakfast. It's a nice life being relaxed and not in a hurry and I had plenty of time to draw.
This is copied from a photo taken from a bridge over the river Tarn at Millau, another of our favourite stopovers on the route south. The campsite is right next to the river and if we arrive early enough we get this lovely pitch on the bank.
This little sketch is in the trip to Sweden book and drawn on one of the rainy days when we were stuck inside on the camp unable to do anything but relax and drink a glass or two of wine!
When we go to England to visit Mum we always stay at Alderstead Heath caravan club site and here we also have a preferred pitch next to the bluebell woods. I've drawn these silver birches several times now as you can see in this view through the windscreen.
In May the bluebells are fabulous with their scent and the colour, irrestible to try and capture in watercolour.
There are rabbits too who pop up here and there but I've only managed to draw them once.
We are off again to England again next week so hopefully I'll be back with more sketches of Alderstead as well as some of the family.
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