About Turn.......we're homeward bound!

Eleven nights.........that's how long our stay at Camping Manor Farm in Interlaken had stretched out to; clearly a measure of just how much we had enjoyed the campsite, the weather and the surrounding area. It was certainly not the length of stay we had originally anticipated and as such (with only 5 more nights of our holiday left), it put paid to the Italian leg of our tour for another year at least!

It was Monday 29th August and we had to be back in Calais (for our train home) by Saturday, a distance of approximately 550 miles. The weather had turned for the worse and the mid-range forecast for Interlaken did not look too promising either......this was a good excuse to say our goodbye's and set a course for home.

It was nearing lunchtime before we got our wheels in motion and onto the A8 out of Interlaken, but no matter, we only had 130 miles to travel to our next port of call....aptly the address of which was Port de Plaisance de Colmar!

Our route to the Motorhome Parking at Colmar Marina

Conveniently located just off the A35 the historic Alsation town of Colmar is an ideal staging post for those traversing the eastern side of France into Germany, Switzerland or Northern Italy. Bizarrely, having passed by numerous times, it is one place we have never stopped, as a combination of both time constraints and travelling distances previously dictated against.

However, having enjoyed our stop at Kaysersberg en-route down, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to try out the stop-over and pay a visit to the medieval town of Colmar and broaden our Alsace experience even further.

The Marina at Colmar is a perfect stop over

We arrived at the Colmar Marina early afternoon to glorious weather and found that there was plenty of parking opportunities, both on the hardstanding tarmac or on the grassed area which appears to be a recent extension to the parking area.

A well maintained and peaceful location

The motorhome parking facility has been open since the summer of 2013, and utilises the port area and its facilities extremely well. As the area is all securely fenced and gated arrival and departures are restricted to between the hours of 8am and 7:00pm. You do receive an access code for the gate upon arrival which allows access to the site out of hours.

Van pitched up and levelled on the grassed area

Although open all year round there is a two season price differential, with peak season pricing applicable from 1st May to 30th September and again from 15th November to 31st December. At €15 per night including electric this is still a fair price considering the location. Thankfully, we were not charged the apparent €8 extra for our tag axle van, so am unsure how this is applied or policed....it maybe more stringently enforced at times of maximum capacity perhaps?

Decent size pitches but you'll need a good run of cable for electric on the third row back.

Details of the Colmar Marina and up-to-date motorhome parking information can be found on their website: Colmar Marina

Street view Bike Tour of Colmar Port de Plaisance

An early afternoon tea had us sufficiently fuelled for a trip into Colmar on our bikes....approximately 1 mile from the Marina. Regrettably, less than half-a-mile into our journey and disaster struck! The rear tyre of her ladyship's bike received damage that resulted in a tear, that was so bad, no amount of air from our hand-pump would keep it inflated. The walk back with a 25kg e-bike inverted on its front wheel in mid-afternoon sun was more than enough exercise for a three week holiday!

On the (very long) walk back it was clear just how important our bikes had become to us on our holiday travels and it was decided that we must try and get the bike fixed asap. So once back at base camp a quick Google presented us with a couple of bike outlets located in Colmar that may assist in supplying (and hopefully fitting) a new tyre. 

First on the list was one I felt would be the most likely to help........the Velodocteurs, located at Colmar train station. Recognising the shortcomings in my conversational French it was decided that a telephone call was probably not the best course of action. Instead I decided it would be far easier riding my bike to them (as it's the same one as her ladyships) and pointing vigorously at its rear tyre hoping to convey the predicament we were in.

So, armed with address details and co-pilot loaded onto my iPhone, I set off in the faint hope the remainder of our holiday could be saved. Surprisingly, (no real thanks to co-pilot) I made the journey in good time and was able to demonstrate, wave arms, point and babble sufficiently to get the general predicament across to the excellent staff. Unfortunately, they did not have a tyre suitable......but they knew a man who did! They very kindly called another local bike store to check ahead and make sure he could assist. I was presented with general directions to his store and told he closes at 7pm......it was now 6:35pm!

Thankfully, Lulu Cycles in Colmar was not too far away and was in fact closer to us at the Marina than the Velodocteurs were. I reached the store in good time and was happy to find that he did in fact have a suitable 20" tyre in stock, more importantly he could fit it........and to cap it off, even more importantly, he could come and collect the bike too!

Lulu Cycles, Colmar - Excellent Bike Recovery Service

Arrangements were made for Lulu Cycles to call by the next morning to the motorhome parking area at the Marina, collect the bike and recover to their premises where they could effect a repair.....not such an easy task with a nu-vinci hub e-bike. As they were only about a mile from us it was decided that we would walk up and collect the bike just before they closed for lunch. All in, the recovery service and fitting of new tyre cost €40....which was a small price to pay in the circumstances. 

With a fixed bike we were able to continue on our travels and take in some of the sights that the wonderful town of Colmar had to offer.

A bustling town centre

Painted and decorated medieval buildings adorn the centre

Colmar is certainly a place worth visiting and hopefully we will make use of the excellent motorhome parking facility again on our travels through the region.