Travels with Tinkerbelle by Susie Kelly

While the village farmers have been busy with the harvest; the combine harvester engines chugging well into the night and the tractors with the huge trailers for gathering the bales rattling their way through the village, I have been travelling around France from the comfort of my sun lounger.

Travels With Tinkerbelle: 6,000 Miles Around France In A Mechanical Wreck by Susie Kelly follows Susie, her husband Terry, two dogs and Tinkerbelle, a clapped out campervan, around France.  Starting in Brittany, they drive the Atlantic Coast to the Pyrenees, cross the mountains, follow the Mediterranean to the Alps and then head north covering 6000 miles by the time they arrive back in Brittany.  Wow, what a road trip, and I was very jealous, although I would have been happier in a VW Campervan with a stripy roof as I always wanted one of these as a child.

The chaos that is Tinkerbelle struggling along, sometimes on difficult terrain with two adults and two large dogs, one still a puppy who delights in eating non-edibles, makes for some very funny tales to read.  I think Susie has a great mix of describing the France they see out of the window, the often hilarious mishaps that occur, both from their four legged and four wheeled traveling companions, and interesting snippets of French history trivia.  I learned a lot on my virtual travels with her and although many places they visited I was familiar with, I have added to my list of places I still need to get to.  I was also pleased to confirm that it is not just us who struggle to find somewhere to eat out (or someone to serve us) in France!

Susie Kelly has also written about her solo walk across France, Best Foot Forward - A 500-Mile Walk Through Hidden France (see here for my review), The Valley Of Heaven And Hell - Cycling In The Shadow Of Marie Antoinette, her cycling adventure in the Marne Valley (see here for my review) and life running gites in Poitou-Charentes in Swallows & Robins - The Guests In My Garden (see here for my review).