We left Bruges on Friday 31st March in a drizzly downpour which lasted all day. We were aiming for Brussels to spend the weekend with my brother’s family. Our main concern was finding somewhere safe to park Basil. Brussels only has one official place for motorhomes and that is in totally the wrong part of the city.

First we scoped out an area next to a large canal slightly outside the city where we would have to use public transport every time we wished to meet up. The area was very industrial and isolated so it didn’t take us long to decide this was not suitable. So we headed into an area near my brothers house, which he had suggested. I didn’t hold out much hope since everything in that area normally has a two hour wait limit. We struck gold, however, finding a spot that allowed parking for five hours and no restrictions at weekends(50.879329, 4.397848).

We met up, almost immediately, with my brother Joe, his partner Béatrice and their children Noah (18) and Lula (17).

A great weekend was had. Plenty of Belgian beer drunk and French Wine drunk as we caught up with each other’s news. In the daytime on Saturday we had a wet walk in one of the many forests which surround Brussels and then watched Lula play hockey.

The weather remained cold and wet and so on Sunday Joe and I went into central Brussels to see the René Magritte Museum. It was under renovation so there was only a selection of his paintings on view, but they still gave a great impression of the breadth of his work including some styles I would never have associated with Magritte.

Having said our goodbyes on Sunday night Sarah and I set off south at 10am on Monday. This time we are not messing around on side roads. It’s going to be motorways all the way, at least until we find some warmth.

On Monday we reached Phalsbourg, a small town in the Voges region. It has an excellent motorhome area with free electricity! (48.765432, 7.259675). We had a wander round the town and Sarah played endless ball with Skye to make up for the long day in the car. Skye has been a superstar when travelling. She just heads for her bed and doesn’t move a muscle until we stop. Once we stop, however, there is plenty of muscle movement!

To pay the village for its facilities we bought our breakfast from one of three boulangerie. Croissant, a strange, but delicious, pastry swirl called a raspberry snail and a baguette. What a delicious start to the day.

Today has been another day of travelling. Two hundred and fifty miles through Eastern France and into Switzerland. I was surprised by how flat the northern part of Switzerland is. The mountains only started to appear after more than an hour of driving.

There was no snow at lower levels, just on the highest peaks, which we avoided by diving through the 12 mile long Gotthard Tunnel, which brought us out into beautiful sunshine in the Italian part of Switzerland. We parked up for the night on a private aire, in a village called Rodi, where full facilities are available for €20, including electricity (46.489973, 8.739593). Until the sun dropped below the snowy mountain peaks, we were able to grab an hour sitting in our chairs outside, endlessly throwing a ball for Skye.

Tomorrow Italy.