Leg one of our monumental summer road trip takes us from Harwich to the Hook of Holland on a pretty impressive Stena Line ferry.  It’s a fairly long crossing but with plenty of entertainment it flies by.  There is an on board cinema, complete with comfy seats and popcorn, arcade and gambling areas, a large shop for all your duty free needs, basketball court on the upper deck, a play area where we watched a great live magic show and plenty of restaurant and bar options.  We even get to enjoy a siesta in our cosy cabin!  Fresh and ready for action we reach Hook of Holland late afternoon.
 
About two hours from the ferry port and only about an hour north-east of Amsterdam we find ourselves in a picturesque little village called Heeg. Watersportcamping Heeg are our hosts for the next 4 days and its truly a delightful experience exploring the campsite and the beautiful lake it sits upon.  The campsite offers luxury cabins as well as lakeside pitches, there are a good variety of spaces to put your tent or campervan, most have shade and plenty of room to stash your boats, kayaks and paddle boards.  There is a lakeside cabin where you can get refreshments and delicious ice cream, they also sell fresh bread for breakfast which can be ordered the day before.  The campsite offers plenty of activities, sailing lessons, boat rides, kayaking and paddle board hire.  

On the second day of our stay two men arrive with a Dutch Tub on the back of a tractor!  There is much anticipation and excitement as they set it up lakeside, fill it with water and light the wood burner, we are told to keep loading it with wood and give it 3-4 hours to heat up.  By the evening we are sitting in a beautifully warmed tub admiring the stunning sun setting over the lake.  If you appreciate a good sunset, you will definitely not be disappointed here.  Bright red and pink streaks fill the sky as the sun goes down and the lake reflects it back in all its glory.

While the Dutch Tub heats up the children are having a sailing lesson!  The sailing teacher, Judith, has been on the water most of her life and is as child friendly as she is competent.  She also impresses the teenagers with her previous title of No 3 kitesurfer in Holland!  She shows the children the ropes and in no time they are skimming across the surface of the lake as if they’ve been doing it their whole lives.  From the 5 year old to the 15 year old it is thoroughly enjoyable and full of inspiration, the children spend the rest of the afternoon paddle boarding, kayaking and exploring the vast beauty of the lake.

One the third day we manage to tear ourselves away from Heeg and take a drive into Amsterdam just over an hour away.  We’ve booked tickets for the Van Gogh Museum (the children have been studying him at school).  The younger children are offered the chance to take part in the exhibition treasure hunt and they all rise to the challenge while the teenagers wonder off on their own checking out the many paintings and interactive displays there are to see.  Everyone is wowed by the Sunflower painting and the slightly surreal experience of walking through Van Gogh’s dreams.  
 
After grabbing a picnic at the supermarket we make our way to meet John, the captain of our private boat ride!  He tells us the rules of the boat; basically there are no rules except enjoy yourself and don't get knocked overboard by any low bridges!  We get settled in and with an ice cold beer in hand and some surprisingly delicious supermarket sushi, we cruise lazily down the winding canals and under the many bridges of Amsterdam.  The hour flies past far too quickly and before we know it we are being offloaded onto the side of a canal in the centre of town.  We have a last little wonder on foot before heading back to the metro to head home.  There is a crazy heatwave hitting Europe and it’s one of the hottest days so far – well into the late 30’s.  Everyone is looking forward to getting back to the cool campsite in time to see the sun go down.

We love a road trip and have travelled as far and wide, all the way down to Western Sahara and Morocco to Eastern Greece and a whole lot in between.  Here are a few suggestions to whet your appetite.  Also check out our How to go on a road trip and Quick Links pages for more practical information. 

This year my ‘little’ brother turned 40, not so little any more huh!  One of his big passions is snowboarding so it wasn’t a great surprise that his choice for a family birthday holiday was a week skiing in Cortina, Italy.  Being the only one of my family who hasn’t skied before and having two small children I was suitably apprehensive about the idea!  However, having been reassured that it would be fine and plenty before me had survived such feats I threw myself into it with a suitable amount of gusto! 13 of us embarked on this journey from the youngest (my 3 year old) to the eldest (my mum's 80 year old partner). In typical Lumley family crazy holiday style it was a proper case of planes, trains and automobiles.  With some of us arriving by campervan, some by plane and my mum took the scenic route and arrived by train!  We had booked a large chalet about 10 minutes drive from the nearest slopes, which comfortably fitted us all in and had a large veranda with an amazing view of the mountains.  It was the end of the season so we unsure of what to expect in term of snow and how busy the resorts would be.  Luckily for us it was pretty quiet although the down side was that only about half of the slopes were open, generally the higher ones where there was still plenty of snow.  One thing I wasn’t prepared for was how much ‘stuff’ was required for our family of four and how heavy it all was.  With the kids unable to carry much of their own stuff, it was a full body workout just getting to mountain top!  I also wasn't prepared for the cable car, I don’t like small spaces, especially not small spaces that seem to be magically suspended from a piece of knicker elastic that stretches almost vertically up a steep mountain side!  Luckily, because it wasn’t too busy, I was able to hyperventilate quietly by myself in the corner without a big audience other than my family who are used to my funny turns!! Anyway I digress, the feeling you get when you're on the top of the mountain is quite out of this world.  You literally do feel like you're on another planet, the white brightness of the snow and the amazing view and the muffled sounds, there’s something to appeal to every aspect of your senses!
 
I watched my nephews 7, 11 and 13, zoom up and down the hill and wondered (naively) how hard could this possibly be - well pretty damn hard, let me tell you!!  The first day was a cacophony of bumps and bruises, not helped by having a 3 and 5 year old intent on hanging off me while the husband went off to practice his snowboarding.  The second day was only a little bit better, but by the third day and with lots of help from my much more competent family I was slowly getting the hang of it.  I was definitely spending more time on my skis than on my bottom!  By day 4 I was doing parallel turns and was coming down like a pro (kind of!)  my 5 year old who had two lessons was also coming down like a pro (she was in fact much better than I was!) although she had age and a lower centre of gravity on her side!  My 3 year old on the other hand was insistent that he didn't need a lesson, because he already knew how to do it apparently (must have been Eddie the eagle in a previous life!) he struggled to stay upright but was much more interested in building snowmen and throwing snowballs away.  The last couple of days were a lot easier and much less painful!  With my youngest being occupied by grandma, I really got into the swing of it and managed to navigate the lifts and the slopes with ease.  My daughter and nephews zoomed up and down like a bunch of experts seriously outdoing most of the adults!  We were all sad to be leaving the snow and the slopes but excited to be travelling on to stay with our old Italian au pair in Padua.  We waved off daddy who was returning to London to work and my sister and I and the 5 children bundled ourselves into the campervan for the next leg of the trip and travelled in convoy with the rest of the family to Padua.

After recharging our batteries having a great few days in Padua we waved off the rest of the Lumleys and our lovely Italian hosts and moved on towards Alassio a pretty coastal town on the Italian Riviera.  We set up camp in a small campsite right on the seafront in Albenga, another small seaside town just 10 minutes away and used it as a base to explore the nearby area and chill out on the beach enjoying a daily dose of fresh local gelato.  Highlights here were the very reasonably priced cafes and pizza restaurants and Pelle the amazing football playing dog!!
 
We then headed north through France to Ardeche, named after the river Ardeche and lying in the South Central region of France.  Small windy roads take you up and down mountains allowing glimpses of the rugged breathtaking scenery until you reach one of the many viewing points and get a full view of the river and the craggy rocks. There’s plenty to do and see, some of our favourites were  Kayaking down the Pont D’Arc, the museum and Madeline Cave.  We stayed at a lovely, and at this time of year, very quiet, campsite a few minutes from the river.  There aren’t many shops or restaurants nearby it's a pretty rural area, although this is part of the charm.  The river edges have little stoney beaches, perfect to sit and take in your surroundings.  The water is lovely and shallow and although cold its sparkling and clear and provided many hours of entertainment, paddling, stone skimming and watching the kayaks.  Ardeche is definitely somewhere we were all keen to return to, its certainly somewhere we will be back to spend a week in the summer.

Check out my campervanning top tips here. 

Playing cards (Buy here or pick up a souvenir pack from wherever you are)
Nothing beats a simple pack of playing card for versatility, also a great way to make friends and learn new games from around the world.  Slip a couple of packs into your luggage and search up some games for players of all ages.  You can find an astonishing list of games and instructions here.

Story Dice (Buy here)
Simple collection of die each with a different picture.  Arrange them how you like to create a story linked to the images. The possibilities are endless!

​Articulate Mini Game (Buy here)
This has been a favourite of ours recently and we've been in hysterics playing it.  It's so funny how your children choose to describe things, a real little insight into their brain cogs whirring! Basically you just have a describer who has to describe the word and a guesser who has to figure out what the word it.  Much more entertaining than it sounds. 

The People Game
This is a game we love and have played in restaurants since the children could first draw.  Based on the game consequences, everyone has a pen and a piece of paper. Everyone draws a head and a neck. Fold the paper so only a tiny bit of the neck is showing.  Pass the papers round in a clockwise direction.  Everyone now draws a body down to the hips.  Fold the paper again and pass round. Then draw legs down to the ankles and fold over, pass on and finally draw the feet.  Pass on one last time before revealing the picture.

Sussed (Buy Here)
This is a recent discovery and we've had lots of fun with it in a very mixed group of ages.  Each player has a card and decides which of the three answer options they would pick for each question on their card.  Members of the group then have to guess which answer was chosen. The questions range from the fantastical to the philosophical and choices lead to much hilarity and sometimes deep discussions.  There's a scoring systems and the person with the most points at the end wins although the scores feel a bit irrelevant compared to the conversations this game generates.

Dobble (Buy Here)
Simple but addictive little game suitable from 4+.  Every card has one graphic which matches one graphic on the previous card you just picked up.  Spot it, shout it out first and win the card.  The person with the most cards at the end wins.  Even the grown-ups were playing this one once the kids were in bed!  Comes in a nifty little tin too.

Boggle (Buy here)
We played this loads as children and now enjoy playing it with our own kids.  Shake the box of letters and make as many words as possible out of the letters that land upright before the timer runs out.  Simple but fun and great for spelling!

Uno (Buy here)
For younger children this card game is great fun for counting and outwitting your opponents! Each turn follows the number or colour played before it and there are a few special cards with different powers to mix it up.  The person to get rid of their cards first wins but don't forget to shout 'UNO' before the other players if you only have one card left or you will have to take a penalty of more cards.

Quiz Cards (Buy Here)
We really enjoyed these quiz cards on our recent holiday (we had the 'Where in the world quiz' and how to survive' - a fun way to find out what we all knew and learn loads about other places and survival in the process.

Craft box
We always take a little box of crafty things with us on holiday.  It always includes most of the following items: pack of felt tips, pencils and sharpener, stickers (loads), palate of dry paints and a couple of brushes, scrap book/notebook/diary/pad of paper, glue stick, mini flower press, string, playdough,  Plastercine and sticky tape.

Our first CamperVanTastic road trip back in 2007.  Read about it here.

Read our Arcachon/Coulier road trip story here.