Motorhomo!

Back to Life; Back to Reality!

2011-10-27T18:18:00.008+01:00

Yes, we are home!

And yes, this post is long overdue!

We’ve been back in the UK for nearly 8 weeks now, so what have we been up to?

Well, we’ve moved into a flat in Leeds, bought a little car/rust bucket for £500, caught up with most of our family and friends, David is teaching again, Alex is looking for work, and the 3 of us are generally settling back into life in the UK.

As we write this however, we’re actually looking out to sea from the restaurant on the ferry Mont St Michel! We’re half way home having visited Alex’s family in Normandy for a couple of days.

It’s amazing how quickly 20 months on the road can feel like you’ve only been away for 2 weeks!!

We’ve had the time of our lives over the last two years. We’ve seen some amazing places and have no regrets whatsoever about selling up and hitting the road for a couple of years. We’d highly recommend it to anyone.

And to think it all started about 3 years ago when Alex read a book called ‘How to Live Off-Grid and Unplug from the Ratrace’. Alex never reads books!!!

A huge thank you to everyone who helped us with our adventures over the past couple of years, particularly our parents who couldn’t have been more supportive, looked after the cat, and dealt with all our post for us!

The map below shows exactly where our travels have taken us over the past couple of years. The yellow lines show 2009, red shows 2010, and pink shows 2011.

Quite a bit has happened since we left Sweden to visit Copenhagen. We had a couple of weeks exploring Denmark, a few days in Berlin, and a week in Prague and the Czech Republic – all amazing experiences that will stay with us for life.

We will fill in the gaps in the blog over the coming months and we’ll add new posts from time to time when we do something worth writing about.

We hope you’ve enjoyed following our travels.

Give us a couple of years and perhaps we’ll do it all again!!

Gretta Garbo, Geece, and Shaggy from Scooby Doo!

2011-08-31T13:14:00.019+01:00

Taking the ferry from Turku in Finland to Stockholm, the Swedish capital, takes 13 hours.

Setting sail at 8:45am we were a little worried that Charlie wouldn’t be able to sit still for 13 hours.

We went prepared, packing an enormous packed lunch in one Bag for Life and Charlie’s bed in another! And the dog was good as gold in the end. As soon as we got settled somewhere we unrolled her duvet and she plonked herself down and watched the world go by.

There are a vast number of islands, islets, and skerries between Finland and Sweden. The ferry snakes its way through them for miles, picking its way through narrow channels, and only being out in open sea for a short time.

First impressions of Stockholm were pretty good, as we drove off the ferry and through the centre in glorious sunshine. It’s a city of islands, grand 19th century neo-classical architecture, and H&M!!

The camping spot for our 3 day visit was a 15 minute walk from the centre along the waterfront – perfect! Stockholm is set on 14 islands so you’re never far from the water, which suited Charlie just fine - although she gave some of the locals a wide berth...

We started exploring in Gamla Stan, the old town, a warren of narrow medieval streets.

The Royal Palace isn’t the most attractive of buildings, but we had a wander around and stopped to watch the changing of the guard.

Sweden’s monarchs are married and crowned at Stockholm’s cathedral, the ‘Storkyrkan’. It’s a surprisingly small place but it houses a fantastic 15th century sculpture of St George and the Dragon, and a very striking silver and black altarpiece.

We visited both of the city’s markets on our travels, and also passed the PUB department store where Gretta Garbo once sold hats!!

Being children of the 80s, we both remember watching the Mary Rose being raised from the depths of Portsmouth Harbour on Blue Peter, so we were keen to visit the Vasamuseet.

The Vasa is a ship which lay in the mud of Stockholm harbour for over 350 years after it sank on its maiden voyage. It didn’t sink in battle; it was just badly designed and rolled over just a few minutes after being launched back in 1628. That’s IKEA flat packs for you!

The building is pretty impressive, but the ship itself is an amazing site and several tiers within the building allow you to get a close up view of different sections of the ship.

The visit inspired us to watch the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films. What a mistake!! We gave up half way through the second one after we both fell asleep.

Ask yourself what Sweden is famous for and one of the things you’ll surely think of, after IKEA, is ABBA. So you can imagine our disappointment to find that the ABBA museum still hadn’t opened – despite it being raved about it in our guide book!

We could have taken ourselves on one of the ABBA walking tours, but we’re not interested enough to see where different album covers were photographed, and where Benny once had his hair cut in 1978!!

The tourist office also offers walking tours based on Stig Larson’s ‘Millenium’ trilogy, and many of the place names were certainly familiar to us after reading the books last year.

The Kaknas TV Tower was a 5 minute walk from where we were parked.

One of the highest buildings in Scandinavia, a trip to the top is certainly one of the city’s highlights. We won’t forget seeing the great views as a number of hot air balloons drifted across the city as the sun went down.

Stockholm is a visually stunning city, but it felt a little stayed to us and as though it really needed to let its hair down. But perhaps we didn't spend enough time there 'letting our hair down'!

Our brief trip to Upsalla was perhaps a little ill advised - an hour’s drive in the wrong direction to see a fairly plain town with quite a nice cathedral.

The following week was spent travelling down Sweden’s east coast, and across to Malmo.

There are some lovely towns along this stretch of coast but Kalmar, with its impressive castle and historic centre was certainly a highlight.

The town is particularly significant in Scandinavian history because of the Kalmar Union, a treaty from 1397 which brought Sweden, Norway and Denmark together as a single Kingdom which lasted for over 300 years.

We had a couple of cheap haircuts in picturesque Karlskrona; a good job as Alex was starting to resemble Shaggy from Scooby Doo!

One of the town's best known attractions is the Rosenbom; you raise the beggar’s hat to put a coin in - steps are provided for the vertically challenged!

We had a quick stop at the university town of Lund to look at the magnificent twelfth century Romanesque cathedral, with its astonomical clock.

Our last day in Sweden was spent in Malmo, on a very wet and dreary day. The city is nice enough, but nowhere looks stunning on a day like that does it.

Malmo gave us our last experience of a government run off-licence – it seemed to be the most popular place in town!

The city’s most interesting new building is the Turning Torso skyscraper. The highest building in Scandinavia, it consists of 9 stacked cubes that twist 90° from the base to the top.

It’s fair to say that we didn’t really warm to Sweden in the end. And we’ve found wild camping really quite difficult at times, despite there being some stunning stretches of coast that would be a dream in many other countries.

Another reason for our less than positive experience in Sweden is probably the timing. We’re approaching the end of our 18 month ‘holiday of a lifetime’. Our ferry back to the UK is booked for early September; we’ve been working on our CVs and keeping an eye out for jobs; and we’re having to think about the practicalities of settling back into a ‘normal life’ again.

But let’s not think about that - we’ve still got over a month to go!

In the next episode we enjoy ‘wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen’, and Charlie scares the life out of us by knocking at death’s door... and getting halfway through it....

Sunsets, Traffic Wardens, and Kaikki Päättyy!!

2011-08-10T13:33:00.009+01:00

We loved Helsinki!

We probably weren’t expecting much after an amazing few days in St Petersburg. It’s not a big place, but it has plenty to offer and a really good feel to it.

The city has 3 very different churches that are all worth a visit. The most obvious is the eye catching Lutheran cathedral, which dominates the harbour from its position on a spur overlooking the main square.

The interior is surprisingly plain which contrasts nicely with its close neighbour, the rather grand Russian Orthodox Uspenski cathedral – the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe...

The Temppeliaukio kirkko is a bit of a hidden gem. Set in the middle of an ordinary residential square away from the city centre, the architects carved this church out of the granite bedrock and placed a copper dome on top back in 1969, making it quite different from any church we’ve seen on our travels so far.

Wandering around the market down by the harbour we finally spent some time at one of the many great food stalls we’ve seen in Finland. We took the opportunity to sample some tasty sausages and meatballs made from Rudolph’s distant relatives!

Finland is quite a youngster, having only gaining its independence from the regional superpowers – Russia and Sweden - in 1917. The classical composer Sibelius was writing pieces such as Finlandia at the time, which helped push a sense of national pride and identity when the country was still ruled from Moscow. He’s seen as having a major role in the country achieving its freedom and is now a national hero.

The memorial to the composer in Sibelius Park is quite unusual; a cluster of huge steel tubes of various lengths, suspended above the ground next to a sculpture of the composer’s face.

One thing which caught our eye in Helsinki was the advertising for the new Harry Potter film (it means ‘everything ends’ apparently)...

Alex could have sat on the pavement for hours admiring the city’s central railway station! It’s a stunning building; an Art Nouveau masterpiece which has 4 masculine figures on the facade, each holding a glass globe.

From our wild camping spot by the water just beyond the harbour we had some great views of the boats coming and going, and of a stunning sunset over the city.

We would highly recommend Helsinki as a holiday destination and would love to go back one day. In addition to the city’s sights, you can take trips out to Saint Petersburg in Russia and to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

Heading west from Helsinki, we spent a day at the Nuuksio National Park. Charlie had spent a few days in kennels while we were in Russia and we’d done a lot of heavy sightseeing, so the walks through Finland’s familiar trees, lakes and mozzies, which we’ve now grown quite fond of, made for a relaxing break.

Our final stop in Finland before catching the ferry over to Sweden was Turku. In all honesty we didn’t spend a lot of time seeing the town’s sites, but we did manage to do the laundry and have a session at a proper Finnish sauna, something we were keen to try before we left.

Unfortunately we will always remember Turku for its traffic wardens! Firstly, we got a 40 euro parking ticket because, although we hadn’t overstayed our welcome, we didn’t have one of those cardboard wheels in the windscreen to show our time of arrival.

And 20 minutes later Alex was completely baffled when another traffic warden tapped on the window and told him he was parked upside down!! It turns out that parking on the opposite side of the road is illegal in Finland! Who knew!

So that was Finland, in just under 2 weeks. We’ve been surprised at just how much we’ve enjoyed it and are looking forward to going back at some point in the winter to see the northern lights and do a dog sled safari.

Talking of dogs – we need to get ours a haircut. She’s starting to look a bit like a wookie!!

Next time; we visit another capital – Stockholm – and see southern Sweden.

TTFN!

St Petersburg, the Soviet Cafe, and Service with a Snarl!

2011-07-19T11:24:00.021+01:00

Having packed Charlie off to kennels and parked the van at a campsite on the outskirts of Helsinki, off we went to Russia!

With this St Peter Line trip from Helsinki you can stay in St Petersburg for up to 72 hours without a visa. If you want to read more about the practical details (the ferry, the hotel, van storage etc) take a look at europebycamper.com. Adam and Sophie posted tons of useful information on their blog following their trip - thanks again guys!

The Princess Maria left Helsinki at 7:30pm for the 13 hour sailing, with its slightly dated decor and DFDS shower curtains hinting at its former owner.

The boat was full of Russian and Finnish holidaymakers, and the announcements in Russian, Finnish and slightly dodgy English kept us amused – each one ending with the words ‘you are welcome!’ in a thick Russian accent.

After a few beers and a couple of games of cards we tried to order some food. The response to each menu item we enquired about was ‘is finished’, until we heard ‘is potato’ and quickly ordered before that also disappeared!

To keep costs down (just €38 each!) we were sharing a 4 berth cabin with a friendly American, who we’d bump into a number of times, and a mystery man who we only ever saw asleep!

From the second we docked at the brand new cruise ship terminal just outside the city there was so much to take in. We boarded the shuttle bus and were whisked past grey communist era blocks of flats on the outskirts of the city, and immediately noticed the crazy mixture of vehicles lined up at the traffic lights – clapped out old Ladas, brand new Porches, and a surprising number of stretch limos and Hummers!

We were dropped at St Isaacs Cathedral and, after a quick detour to the tourist information office and to wait for a ‘hop on, hop off’ bus that never turned up, we climbed to the top of the cathedral’s golden dome. The views over the city from the top were magnificent.

St Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, and was the capital of Russia for over 200 years. The city feels very European and is stuffed full of grand baroque and neoclassical buildings, many of them designed by Italian architects.

The interior of St Isaac’s cathedral is just as impressive as the views from the top...

We’d had pretty good weather that morning but just as we emerged from St Isaac’s, the sky went black and a huge storm blew in complete with torrential rain, thunder and lightning. Taking shelter in the cathedral entrance, we were a little surprised when the man next to us leaned over and said ‘we could have stayed at home for this couldn’t we!’ It turned out he was on holiday with his wife and on the same ship as us.

It was now 2pm so we headed to our hotel to check in and have a quick lunch (which largely consisted of things lifted from Princess Maria’s breakfast buffet!)

The SKY hotel is cheap and basic but it’s in a fantastic location, just off Nevsky Prospekt, and some of the city’s main attractions are just a few minutes away.

We headed next to the Church of Our Saviour on the Spilt Blood. Built on the exact spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated when a bomb was thrown at him in 1881, both the exterior and interior of this church are stunning. The interior is completely covered in colourful gilt mosaics and the exterior... well, it’s probably best just to show you the photos...

St Petersburg was built on a marsh and the river Neva, which connects Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland, and a number of canals cut through the city.

Our next stop was the Peter and Paul Fortress and cathedral, just over the river Neva. The cathedral houses the tombs of nearly all of Russia’s emperors and empresses. The last tsar and his family were only interred here in July 1998. Nicholas II and his family were assassinated by the Bolsheviks in 1918 but their remains were only discovered in 1979, and officially identified in January 1998.

We continued our walking tour, stopping to admire the striking blue dome of the St Petersburg mosque, the battleship Aurora, St Peter’s Log Cabin, and the Rostral Columns.

By now our feet were complaining quite a bit, so we made our way back to the hotel via the local supermarket where we picked up a selection of Russian beers. We had been looking at what we believed to be Russian wine, when a fellow customer pointed at it and wagged her finger as if to say, ‘no, really, you don’t want to touch that’!

We spent the evening in a local Italian restaurant – not authentic Russian cuisine we know, but the food was good even if it was served with a snarl! This was in sharp contrast to the authentic Russian lunch we had the following day at the Soviet Cafe. We stumbled upon the place quite by accident but it was fantastic, and came complete with middle aged women chatting and knocking back vodkas at 3pm!

That night we pretty much passed out while watching American Idol dubbed into Russian!! This is perhaps one of the many signs of how Western, and particularly American, cultures have moved in over the past few years.

The next morning we were up early and happened to visit the Kazan Cathedral during mass. The sound coming from the small group of singers on a balcony high above the congregation was beautiful, and made the whole thing quite magical. It’s certainly an experience we won’t forget in a hurry and was one of the highlights of our trip.

The Hermitage is one of the world’s greatest museums. It’s an immense collection of art and historical artefacts, first collected by Catherine the Great and now housed in a huge complex which includes the Winter Palace.

We should probably say at this point that we are not particularly into art, but when in Rome....

We spent 3 and a half feet-aching hours getting lost in the maze of corridors and highly decorated rooms, which are just as impressive as the art itself.

So what were the highlights? Well it all becomes a bit dazzling in the end and you do get a bit blasé about it - ‘oh, it’s another room of priceless Picasso’s’ etc!
We did see the grand 18th century Peacock Clock ‘do its thing’, which only happens once a week!! And we were trying to find the exit when we stumbled upon a fantastic exhibition of Annie Liebovitz photos.

With only a couple of hours left, we wandered around a bit more of the city hoping to cram in as many sights as possible!

It’s fair to say the most dangerous element of our visit to Russia was the shuttle bus trip back to the ship. Ladies clung to their handbags for dear life as we were swung around corners at breakneck speed!

Once onboard we watched the other cruise ships set sail before settling in to enjoy the ships colourful and slightly strange cabaret show.

The energetic dancers were great, but after each number a curtain would slowly open to reveal an ageing saxophonist who would anaesthetise the audience with his renditions of cool classics! We particularly enjoyed the singer whose accent made for an interesting interpretation of some songs; our favourite being Shakira’s, ‘Un Denise Yor Closs’!

So that was Russia in a nutshell – a crazy and amazing whirlwind visit. It took a couple of days for our feet and brains to recover!! To anyone thinking of making a similar trip – do it; you certainly won’t regret it.

In the next post we eat some Rudolph, experience a proper Finnish sauna, and are completely baffled when a Turku traffic warden tells us we’re parked upside down!!

Michael the Moose, Moomins, and Many, Many Miles!

2011-07-15T16:25:00.008+01:00

On our last day in Norway we paid a visit to the Sami Parliament in Karasjok.

The Sami are an indigenous people who’ve lived a semi-nomadic life across the northern parts of Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Russia (also known as Lapland) for centuries. The parliament was established in 1989 to give the Norwegian Sami a voice, and it now works closely with the Norwegian government on issues that affect Lapland. The impressive new parliament building was opened in 2000, and is shaped like a traditional Sami lavvo hut, much like a North American tepee.

After 5 amazing weeks in Norway, we finally crossed the border into Suomi. Yes, it’s one of the most expensive countries on the planet, but it also has to be one of the most beautiful. We loved it so much that we picked up a hitchhiker...

Rather than blue suede shoes, Michael’s actually wearing Blu-Tac shoes which help him cling to our dashboard! He joins Colin, who we picked up in Portugal earlier this year...

We were surprised at how quickly the landscape changed when we crossed into Finland. The fjords and mountains were replaced almost immediately by mile after mile of trees and lakes.

Our first stop was Inari, where we took a 3 hour walk to the Wilderness Church. We did the walk at high speed as the second you stood still, 20 mosquitoes would land on your face! So we only stopped en route to have a look at some Finnish camping cabins.

Anyone can turn up and use these cabins, and they’re completely free! The best one we saw consisted of a main cabin with table, chairs and a fireplace, a covered outdoor fire pit, an earth closet, and a little wooden sauna conveniently located by the lake for the all important cold plunge!

We really wish we’d known about them beforehand as it would have been great to stay there- watching the sun not go down.... with a face full of mosquitoes!!

The Wilderness Church has been a Sami meeting place for years, but the current church was built in 1752 and is completely made of wood. It’s a lovely spot and we were lucky to have the place to ourselves. After hours you can simply let yourself in, have a good look round, climb the tower and ring the bell!

We then spent a day at a great campsite in Sodankyla where we finally managed to book our trip to St Petersburg in Russia (you can read all about that in the next post). We’d only heard that this trip was possible a few days earlier. Adam and Sophie of europebycamper.com had just done the trip and couldn’t rate it highly enough on their blog, so we felt we had to give it a shot.

Our main difficulty was finding kennels for Charlie as most were fully booked because of the summer season. But after several hours of searching, we finally found one and got it booked.

This meant the race was now on to get down to Helsinki to catch our ferry. Fortunately there’s not a great deal to see in northern Finland, apart from those trees and lakes! There aren’t many settlements either, so we managed to plough south pretty quickly.

On their retreat from northern Finland and Norway in 1945 the Nazi’s burned every town and village to the ground. Their scorched earth policy was intended to hinder the Russians who moved in on their retreat. But the rebuilding has made these towns rather bland places with few historic or interesting buildings.

The wild camping in Finland, as in Norway, is fantastic. We stayed at a number of spots by rivers and lakes along the way, so our swimming-obsessed dog was happy at the end of a long drive. We even managed a dip ourselves!

One spot near Vikajarvi was at the start of a 3 hour nature trail through the forest, which passed an observation tower. You can climb this for some great views of... well... trees and lakes!

We crossed back over the Arctic Circle just north of Rovaniemi at Santa’s Office! Yes, this is where the great bearded one lives, and you can drop in and see him any day of the year (bar one of course, when he’s a little bit busy!). The complex of shops is a bit tacky, but it’s all good fun. We chickened out of seeing the man himself, but we had a little sit down in his office!

We only managed a quick dash around Oulu. It seemed like a nice place and we would have stayed longer if we’d had the time. But with Russia calling, we had to push on.

A couple of days later we had another quick dash, around Tampere – making a special detour to visit Moominvalley! This museum houses original Moomin books, paintings and drawings by the author Tove Jansson.

On our final night before arriving in Helsinki we were ‘moved on’ in the little town of Hameenlinna. We’ve only ever been ‘moved on’ 3 times before. It’s a bit of a pain, but it’s just one of those things when you wild camp. At least ‘The Apprentice’ had just finished. On the previous occasion we were halfway through the season finale of ‘Glee’ so weren’t best pleased to be interrupted!!

We moved at quite a pace through Finland, from start to Finnish (!) We covered over 1600 kilometres in just a week between Nordkapp and Helsinki and would like to have spent more time exploring if we’d had the chance. We’re pleased we managed to get out and do a couple of walks though... through all those trees and lakes!

In the next episode; we pound the pavements of St Petersburg and experience service with a snarl - Russian style!!

Reindeer, Rations, and Fish-Head Biscuit Tins!

2011-07-11T11:20:00.010+01:00

We didn’t stop for long in Trondheim. Just long enough to whizz round the sights while our pants whizzed round in the harbour-side laundrette!

The city is pleasant enough, with an impressive cathedral and old town full of wooden buildings similar to Bergen’s Bryggen.

You may have guessed from the last post that there is a place in Norway called Hell. We didn’t stop there so can’t claim to have gone there and back, nor can we confirm whether or not it ever freezes over!

From Trondheim, a 6½ hour drive took us to the Arctic Circle. On this line around the globe the sun doesn’t set at all on the summer solstice, and the midnight sun occurs for longer periods the further north you go.

We camped for the night by the visitor centre along with at least 50 other motorhomes and a travelling circus!! It felt like quite a landmark in our journey. It hadn’t been getting dark at night for a couple of weeks, so we were looking forward to actually seeing the sun in the middle of the night.

Our next stop was Bodo, a small town that acts as the main hopping point across to the Lofoten islands. Having missed the first come first served ferry by 3 car lengths, we headed up into the hills and found an amazing wild camping spot. We spent that evening watching the sun move across the sky above the Lofoten Islands‘ string of jagged peaks on the horizon.

The 4 hour ferry from Bodo docks at Moskenes on the most southerly of the islands. Our guide book said you’d never forget the approach to the islands, and it couldn’t be a truer statement for us. We approached in glorious sunshine on a flat calm sea and were grinning from ear to ear at the sight of the chain of mountains that spread up the coast into the distance.

From January to July there’s one thing you can’t really avoid on the Lofoten islands; the pungent smell of fish. The island’s fishermen catch an astonishing amount of cod as it makes its way from the Barents Sea to spawn. The fish is quickly decapitated, tied into pairs at the tail, and hung out to dry on wooden racks that you see right across the islands. It’s left there for 3 months, so you can perhaps now imagine the smell!

We spent a couple of hours learning all about the industry at the stockfish museum in the little village of A, pronounced awe. We were enticed by the free coffee and biscuits, although the museum has some rather unusual biscuit tins used, we can only assume, to keep the consumption of biscuits by visitors to a minimum!

Most of this stockfish is shipped to Italy, Spain and Portugal where it’s a very popular ingredient. We actually saw a lot of it for sale while in those countries last year, but had no idea it came all the way from a string of little islands off the coast of northern Norway!

But what happens to the cod heads you might be asking? (doubt it but anyway...!) Well they’re dried as well, in long strings that are hung from the same racks, and shipped out to Nigeria!! The sight and smell of these heads really is something for those with strong stomachs!

Stunning is probably the best word to describe the Lofotens. The mountains and fjords are so picturesque, and more so with the little brown fishing huts and grass topped cabins that dot the water’s edge.

The sight of some of the golden sandy beaches here might also have you running for a dip, but the water really is cold! We’ve had some glorious weather in Norway at times, but it has been very cold. While the UK has been basking in golden sunshine and temperatures of 20-something degrees, it’s barely got into double figures here.

There are a lot of motorhomes in this part of the world. We’ve seen lots of vans from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, and even Portugal. We’ve seen very few Brits though – only a handful in the month we’ve been here.

It’s no surprise that there are so many motorhomes. The wild camping spots you can find are pretty amazing, and we’ve rarely struggled to find somewhere with a great view. One of our favourites was on the old road to Unstad. A new road tunnel to the village has rendered the old pass obsolete, so we camped at the top looking down the glacial valley to the village below.

It was only the next morning we realised the spot was a favourite on the coach tour agenda! Several buses made their way up to our spot so their groups could take in the view.

After a few days on the islands we pushed north again and spent a couple of hours exploring Tromso. The largest city in these parts, but feeling more like a town, Tromso has some fantastic modern architecture including the 1960s Polar Cathedral, the brand new library, and Polar museum.

After some deliberation we decided at this point to complete the journey through Norway by visiting Nordkapp, the most northerly point of mainland Europe. We’d been undecided about it for some time, mainly because of the distance involved. But we came to realise that it’s unlikely we’ll be this close again, and might as well go for it.

So this leg of our travels ended up being all about long drives. The E6 heads all the way up through the country from Oslo in the south, to Kirkenes in the far North east – a distance of around 2500kms. You might naturally assume that it’s a motorway, but it’s actually no more than your average, rather bumpy and very winding A-road. There’s little to see along most of it, apart from mile after mile of stunning scenery - snow capped mountains surrounded by crystal clear fjords.

As you arrive in the far north you start to notice something different – reindeer! They graze at the side of the road in herds and quite often, wander across it as you’re ploughing along at 60mph!

We stopped for a couple of hours in the town of Alta to have a look at the amazing Stone Age rock carvings. Reindeer, bears, birds and boats all feature heavily in these carvings which date from 6000 to 2000 years ago, and cover a number of rock surfaces around the bay.

Our journey north continued to be full of fantastic scenery and amazing wild camping spots.

The visitor centre at Nordkapp is owned by a hotel chain and every visitor is charged £25 to get to the cliff top that claims to be the most northerly point in Europe. The only problem – after the cost – is the minor detail that it’s not actually the most northerly point at all! This claim to fame is held by Knivskjelloddrn, the next headland along which is only accessible by a 5 hour trek. You can probably guess which one we decided to head for.

We arrived at Nordkapp just before midnight, passing a lot of reindeer along the way. We also had a close encounter with an enormous sea eagle that took off right next to us. It was massive, and it felt quite magical to have seen one so close.

A concrete pillar marks the most northerly point, and there’s a little locker nearby which contains a visitors book and all sorts of crap left by previous visitors! You can make a note of your number in the book and give this to the local tourist office (along with 50 Kroner) to receive a certificate of your achievement.

So that’s about it. We’re now officially heading south again and hoping that Finland brings us some warmer weather, and some affordable alcohol! We’ve been rationed to about 2 beers a week for a while now – a situation that cannot continue!!

Scandinavian countries have a very different approach to the sale of alcohol. You can only buy beer in supermarkets - no other forms of alcohol. For those, in Norway, you have to visit one of the government run Vinmonopolet shops. There aren’t a huge number of these – one in each decent sized town and a couple more in the bigger cities. But with the merchandise being as eye wateringly expensive as it is, we’ve only visited once!

In the next episode, we pop into Santa’s office, Moomin Valley, and Russia!!!

Roads, Boats, and Ice Bobbing!

2011-07-01T16:57:00.009+01:00

We awoke one Saturday morning in June to see our first cruise liner carefully making its way down Aurlandsfjorden through the mist towards Flam.

Up to 4 or 5 cruise ships a day make anchor in the most scenic fjords and shuttle their passengers ashore for day trips to local sights. The pollution coming from the steady stream of coaches and shuttle boats that ferry the passengers around is a bit of a controversial issue. But the sight of these ships in the narrow fjords is quite amazing, especially when you consider how far inland they are. Geiranger, for example, is 200km inland!

Many of the Japanese tourists on this particular cruise ship hopped straight onto the ferry down Naerofjord - the first leg of our day out.

The ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ tour is a round trip that’s heavily promoted in these parts as a great way to see the area. A 2 hour cruise takes you along the UNESCO listed (!) Naerofjord to the tiny village of Gudvangen. From there you take a coach to Voss, and then the train to Myrdal. At Myrdal you cross the platform to join the Flamsbana, the world’s steepest railway, which snakes down the mountainside and back to Flam.

The weather was a bit grey and chilly, but it was a great day out and a welcome break from driving everywhere.

The Japanese tourists on the ferry were busy snapping away at everything, including Charlie who posed for a number of pictures. Honestly, she should charge for her time!

Heading north from Flam you can either take the world’s longest road tunnel (a staggering 24kms), or you can drive up and along the Snow Road. We opted for the latter - there are so many long tunnels here and they tend to get a bit samey!!

A number of roads across Norway have been designated as special tourist routes, and architecturally impressive viewing points and information panels are being erected along them. The Snow Road is one of them and the viewing point high above Aurlandsfjord is certainly very impressive. It sticks straight out from the mountainside with a clear glass wall at the end so you can really appreciate the views below.

We camped for the night a little further up the hill and as it was still light at 10:30pm, we set off up the mountain in front of us to be greeted by more stunning views at the top.

The other major natural features in these parts are the glaciers. Jostedalbreen is Europe’s largest icecap (487 sq km) and several fingers, or glacial tongues, are easily accessible. We had a great view of one of them from our overnight spot near Olden.

The following day we walked up to the Briksdalbreen glacier with a number of coach parties. The lake at the foot of the glacier was full of blocks of ice and since Charlie can never resist a swim whatever the temperature, she was soon bobbing for ice cubes - cue more snapping by Japanese tourists!

After visiting another couple of glaciers we continued north on another mountain road. Some of these roads are only clear of snow between May and September and we passed the remains of some pretty big snow drifts along the way. Oh, and we also saw a few moose too! Is that the plural of ‘moose’?! Mooses, meese, meeses... let’s go with moose shall we!!

That night we camped near the viewing point high above the village of Geiranger and one of the most popular and photographed fjords; Geirangerfjord. The next morning we woke to glorious sunshine, and a smashing view of the Queen Mary II and 3 other cruise liners moored in the fjord below.

After a walk up to and behind Storsaeterfossen we decided it was time we hired our own boat (well, the ferries are a bit slow).

Like the beginning titles of Howard’s Way, we bounced across the water in a little motorboat, giggling like idiots for an hour!! A shame the boat hire place only had extra large lifejackets; we don’t remember that ever happening to Jan Howard or Ken Masters! But the views of the cruise ships and of the waterfalls cascading down into the fjord were superb.

The Trollstigen (Trolls Ladder) is another of Norway’s tourist routes. After climbing for many miles, the road suddenly snakes down the mountainside with 11 hairpin bends and a 1:12 gradient. It’s a fantastic drive with some great new viewing points, and an amazing-looking visitors centre is due to open there later this year.

One of the tourist routes we sadly couldn’t recommend is the Atlantic Highway; a road that links several tiny islands and that’s heavily promoted in all the guides. Why The Guardian newspaper crowned it ‘the world’s best road trip’ in 2006 is completely beyond us!

The road is only 8km long. There’s little to see apart from a couple of rather ordinary bridges. And worst of all, the road takes you to Kristainsund - a dull town with expensive toll roads you have to take to get into and out of the place! The coast here is nice enough, but there are far nicer routes and towns elsewhere.

So that’s your lot for this chapter! Apart from a picture of David on a big glittery tractor!

In the next chapter we pass through Hell but we don’t stop!

Waterfalls, Tolls, and Trolls!

2011-06-27T11:39:00.010+01:00

We’ve had a fantastic couple of weeks seeing the best of the Norwegian fjords between Stavanger and Trondheim. We’ve split this into two posts; the second of which is coming soon!

We were all pretty knackered after the long walks we’d done in the previous week....

...so we hopped on a ferry at Tau and headed to Stavanger. The town is perhaps most famous for two things; sardines and oil (that’s the thick black stuff, not the stuff you put on your salad!)

The story of deep sea oil and gas exploration in Norway is an intriguing one. Oil was first discovered under the North Sea in 1969 and, having used some of the profits to develop the country’s infrastructure and pay off the national debt, the government started saving up.

The fund will provide pensions and healthcare for future generations of Norwegians and it now stands at a whopping $450 billion!! Norway is one of the world’s richest nations, one of the biggest investors, and one of the biggest producers of fossil fuels.

The petroleum museum in Stavanger is very interesting but it’s a little ‘rose-tinted’. Some sections are sponsored by the likes of BP and Statoil (the government oil company) and want to tell you just how great oil is.

In quite a contrast to this, we really enjoyed the little Canning Museum. Based in an old sardine cannery in Gamle Stavanger (the old town), the museum takes you through the whole process of preparing, smoking and canning. With thousands of little rubber fish standing in for the real things, you don’t even have the smell to deal with!

We really enjoyed Stavanger with its busy little harbour and narrow cobbled streets of colourful wooden buildings.

Moving north we headed towards Sorfjord, one of the branches off Hardangerfjord, passing some quite spectacular waterfalls on the way - the first of many!

This is a picture of Langfossen, the 5th highest waterfall in Norway, where the water drops 612 metres. To get an idea of scale, look closely for the road bridge at the bottom of the waterfall.

Having passed the dual waterfalls of Latefossen....

..we took a slight detour to climb up to the Buerbreen glacier. It was a great walk with a number of steep sections that had ropes attached so you could haul yourself up!

We spent a couple of days exploring the tiny villages around Hardangerfjord.

Eidfjord was a pleasant but rather quiet place. The nearby Voringsfossen waterfalls were impressive, as was the view from Kjeasen Farm, a very isolated place perched high on the mountainside. It’s a shame it was a bit grey and rainy at that point so we couldn’t fully appreciate it.

After a quick stop at Steinsdalfossen near Norheimsund, a 50 metre-high waterfall that you can walk behind, we found ourselves in Bergen.

There are quite a few toll roads in Norway. In most cases you drive straight through and either pay at a petrol station, through an online account, or you receive an invoice in the post. We’re on a budget and although it’s impossible to completely avoid the toll roads (in most cases there are no other options), we are trying to minimise their use.

So it was a little... well, let’s say ‘frustrating’ to find ourselves a bit lost in Bergen; going round in circles and passing under the toll cameras several times!!

Our guide book says it rains, often relentlessly, 260 days a year in Bergen! So you can imagine our surprise to be there in glorious sunshine. We made the most of it and spent a good few hours wandering.

Bryggen is the most popular area of the city. The former dock, which was an important trading port of the Hanseatic League, is the quintessential Norwegian image. The buildings are lucky to still be around as the city council wanted to tear them down after a fire in 1955. It was only after important archaeological remains were found that the colourful wooden buildings were given a reprieve.

Later that day we took the funicular railway up the hill behind the city to see the amazing view.

Every country has its own particular line in tourist tat. It’s black cabs and double deckers in London, bulls and sombreros in Spain, and in Norway it’s mini moose and trolls! You see them everywhere. The best known mythical character from Norwegian traditional folk tales is the troll; known to live under bridges and harass billy goats. See if you can spot the troll in this particular picture...

Oh, and there’s a moose in this picture...

After a good night’s sleep in a little spot on the hillside behind Bergen, we headed north. But not before we'd passed under another of the city's bloody toll cameras!

One Church, One Pulpit, and The Fear Of God!!

2011-06-12T10:32:00.008+01:00

God dag!

Greetings from Stavanger on Norway’s west coast. We can’t tell you a great deal about it as we’ve only just got here, but we wanted to share some photos with you from the last couple of days.

From Oslo we headed first to the wooden stave church at Heddal. Although this is the biggest of Norway’s 28 stave churches, it’s still very cute and not as big as you might imagine.

Driving north we then reached the town of Rjukan. We came here specifically to climb Gausta, a peak sold to us in our guidebook as one of the best in this part of the country. It certainly didn’t disappoint!

You can apparently see one sixth of Norway from the top of Gausta on a clear day. We didn’t hold out much hope of seeing anything at all when we first set out as the top was completely hidden by low cloud.

After stopping for lunch near the summit, the cloud suddenly lifted and we were greeted by the most amazing views.

To reach the true summit (which isn't where the antenna is on the photos) you have to clamber along a rocky ridge with steep drops on either side. Friends, family and regular readers may already know that Alex suffers from somewhat severe vertigo, so it made for an interesting hour!

We managed quite well to start with, lifting the dog over some of the more precarious bolders, and trying hard not to look down! But in the end it got just a bit too hairy for us and we decided to turn back about 100 metres from the top. Nevertheless, it was a great walk and one we won’t forget in a hurry!

The 3 hour drive south towards Jorpeland took us through some breathtaking scenery. It would be a major tourist draw in any other country, but it's par for the course in Norway.

Later that day we set out on the two hour walk up to one of Norway’s most photographed sights; Pulpit Rock. This square lump of rock protrudes from the side of a mountain. It has a flat top, but on three sides there’s nothing but a 604 metre drop straight down to the waters of Lysefjord.

Alex nearly had a heart attack watching people sit with their legs dangling over the edge. David peering over the edge didn’t help matters either (sorry Linda – there was no stopping him!)

Again, the views from the top are stunning and if you ever get the chance to visit, it’s worth going in the late afternoon when most of the hoards have gone.

And that brings you right up to date, with us enjoying a bright sunny evening by the sea near Stavanger.

Incidentally, we’re no longer aiming for the Arctic Circle by the 21st June. There’s just too much we want to see and there’s no point in rushing through it.

Next stop - Odda and Hardangerfjord.

Oh and by the way, that wine box that cost us about £1.50 in Spain; £30 here. Yes you did read that right - £30!!

Ha det!

View Oslo to Stavanger, Norway in a larger map

Speed Bumps, Ski Jumps, and Bird Dumps!

2011-06-11T17:09:00.007+01:00

We will be exploring Denmark on our journey south towards the end of the summer, so we whizzed straight through on our march north. We didn’t even have time to pick up a pastry! It’s all about national stereotypes here I’m afraid!

We spent a lovely night by Frederiksborg Slot in Hillerod (‘slot’ is Danish for castle), and pressed on to Helsingor to catch the 20 minute ferry over to Helsingborg in Sweden.

Our first major destination was Gothenburg. Unfortunately the thing we’ll remember most about Sweden’s second city is the UNBELIEVABLY expensive campsite we stayed at; £42 for one night! And they kicked you out by 11am the next morning – grrr! Of course we should have done an about turn as soon as we were told the price but it was late, raining, and we needed to do the laundry!

If the bicycle reigns supreme in the Netherlands then the estate car is king in Sweden. Every third vehicle we passed was either a Saab or a Volvo. It’s great to see the national car manufacturers so well supported at home. How many of us bought a Rover?!!

The Bohuslän coast north of Gothenburg is famous for the tiny granite islands and little traditional fishing villages that pepper the coast right up to the Norwegian border.

We kicked off by walking around Marstrand, the prettiest of the islands and made even more so by the fantastic weather we had.

There are literally thousands of islands along this stretch of coast. Some are connected to the mainland by bridges, but many are only reached by ferry. In one hour long journey we had to catch three ferries, one of which only travelled around 100 metres!

We spent a few days exploring and fell in love with the area which is full of little brown fishing huts, racks of cod hanging out to dry, and beautiful public swimming areas (the water was still just a bit too chilly for us!)

As we got towards the Norwegian border we had a slight issue with a speed bump.

Warning signs in most places are red, but for some reason in Sweden they use their national colours of blue and yellow. This might explain why David didn’t see the speed bump and took it at about 30 miles an hour! All the books flew off the shelf, the bathroom cupboard emptied onto the floor, and the bag of charcoal that’s normally kept on the bike rack landed in the middle of the road. We only know this last part because we found it 10 minutes later when we drove back up the same way!!

You’re not supposed to bring any fresh food into Norway, so we held our breath at customs hoping not to be stripped of our contraband cucumber and bananas!

Safely through, and after a couple of quick stops at Halden and Fredrikstad, we headed to the little town of Drobak which sits on the shores of Oslofjord (the fjord that stretches up to Oslo funnily enough!)

At Drobak we caught the passenger ferry out to Oscarsborg fortress which lies on a couple of little islands in the middle of Oslofjord. It’s famous in Norway as the fortress that sank the German battleship Blucher as it headed for the capital in April 1940. Delaying the advancing German army gave the royal family and government time to flee abroad, and the commander in charge that day is now a national hero.

Having only been the capital city since 1905, Oslo doesn’t really have the great number of historical buildings found in other major capitals. However, the new Opera house on the waterfront is outstanding– a stunning building that’s supposed to resemble a giant iceberg.

One thing the city does very well is museums. We’re not ones to spend a lot of time in museums, but when a good slice of them are free – why not!

The National Gallery houses one of the 6 versions of the Scream painted by Munch (another national hero), and the Museum of Modern Art has some quite... well, bizarre but interesting installations.

The Viking Ship Museum houses three impressive 9th century boats which were discovered buried in the Oslofjord region. They were used as tombs for rich Vikings which explains why they are so well preserved despite their age. It’s amazing to think just how far the Vikings travelled in these boats; from the Mediterranean to North America.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park is crammed full of 212 works by Gustav Vigeland. He was still working on the park when he died, 20 years after he started. The bronze human figures are amazing, but the monolith in the centre is quite spectacular, a writhing mass of naked human bodies.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo every year, and the Nobel Peace Centre provides a huge amount of information on previous winners. It’s a thought provoking museum that has a number of good interactive elements.

Our final stop before leaving Oslo was the Holmenkollen Ski Jump and Ski Museum in the hills a few kilometres from the city centre. You can take a lift to the top of the ski jump for some fantastic views of the city and the fjord beyond.

We liked it so much we stayed the night!!

We had a great time in Oslo, but we did have a couple of less positive moments. Our bike lights were stolen one night while we were in the pub, and the next day Alex took a direct hit from a passing.... well, it must have been an albatross!

Greece - better late than never!!

2011-06-04T12:45:00.002+01:00

Yes, we’ve finally written about our month in Greece in October/November last year.

And just like buses, you wait for ages and two turn up at once!

‘Butter Beans, Rubble, and Bananarama!’ picks up where we left off in the previous post, ‘Ferries, Feta, and God Save The Queen!’ and takes us from the Peloponnese to Athens.

‘Mini Metros, Moore, and Spartans with no Pants!’ follows this and covers the remainder of our time in Greece.

We’re now in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, having spent just over a week exploring Sweden’s beautiful Bohuslän coast.

We’ll try not to leave it 6 months before we write about it!

Mummies, Musicians, and the amazing Miniatur Wunderland!

2011-05-29T07:59:00.009+01:00

Heading for Denmark, our journey through northern Germany took us to three places which really stood out; Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck.

Bremen has some beautiful buildings around its central square and we spent a few hours seeing the sights. Charlie is now so used to being tied up outside buildings while we pop our heads in, and nine times out of ten there’ll be someone cooing over her when we get back!

The city is famous for its beer (Mmm, Becks!) and the musicians from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale – the donkey, the dog, the cat and the cock. There’s a statue of them in the city’s square, stood one on top of the other, and it’s traditional to hold the donkey’s legs and make a wish. David tried this but he’s still not the 6th member of Take That!

One of the city’s more curious attractions, if it can be described as such, is in the Bleikeller (lead cellar). Eight mummies including a Swedish general, a careless roofer, and a student killed in a duel have been gawping up at visitors from their glass topped coffins for over 300 years. Creepy!

We then had three fantastic days taking in Germany’s second city, Hamburg. The city has a great feel and there’s plenty to occupy tourists for a few days while remaining a big working city and one of Europe’s largest ports.

Many of the historic buildings in Germany’s towns and cities were destroyed during the Second World War but most have since been rebuilt. The St. Nikolai Church in Hamburg however has been left a ruin as a memorial to all who’ve died as a result of oppression and war.

The small museum in the old crypt features some pretty startling pictures and facts about the destruction, not just in Hamburg, but Warsaw in Poland and Coventry in the UK.

All that remains of the church is the blackened spire and a glass lift now takes you up the centre of it for some great views out over the city, the lakes, the river Elbe and the docks.

During our time in Hamburg we managed a boat tour of the waterways, a trip up another church tower for the views, the Elbe tunnel, and a couple of nights out. We also took a stroll down the famous red-light district, the Reeperbahn, but the prostitutes seemed more interested in the dog than us!

It’s hard to describe the gob-smacking excitement on entering Miniature Wonderland. So hard, that it’s perhaps best just to take a look at a few photos and the promotional video - none of which really do it justice.

It’s named quite appropriately, and having calmed down a little after being there for a couple of hours it was amusing to notice that every visitor was wearing a grin from ear to ear!

It’s billed as the world’s biggest model railway but it’s so much more than that, with lorries that speed along the roads and an airport complete with planes which take off and land.

We loved our time in Munich and Cologne last year but we’d have to say that Hamburg beats them both. We’re now very much looking forward to tackling Berlin in the autumn.

From Hamburg we moved onto Lübeck, one of the few German towns not to be completely destroyed during the war. It has a beautiful Alstadt (old town), with towering green spires on its churches and a particularly impressive town hall.

Marzipan is big business here; in fact they claim to have invented it. One slightly bizarre attraction is the Marzipan Salon above the Niederegger Cafe. The life-sized marzipan statues are particularly (and unintentionally) funny!

We’ve heard that Scandinavia can be eye-wateringly expensive, so we took the opportunity to stock up while in Germany. It was quite a job to fit it all in and we’ll probably be fishing cans of kidney beans out from behind the water tank for months to come!

Windmills, Big Wheels, and Big Red Rubbery Balls!

2011-05-27T15:24:00.006+01:00

To say the Netherlands is flat is a bit of an understatement. The landscape is so pancake flat it’s almost unnerving, especially to two people from Yorkshire!

And wherever you go you’re surrounded by water as the whole country is latticed with canals and drainage ditches. It’s hard to see how the place isn’t constantly flooding but that’s why there are a lot of windmills here, which pump the water away from where it’s not wanted.

From Blog pics

From Amsterdam we headed into north into Noord-Holland. Now, here’s a little-known fact for you; Holland and the Netherlands are not the same. Holland is made up of just two of the 12 provinces which form the Netherlands – an area roughly between Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Den Helder.

After a quick stop at the very small and very quiet town of Edam, where we managed to resist the big red rubbery balls (quite an achievement for cheese lovers), we headed on to the coast at Hoorn.

From Blog pics

The huge stretch of water which separates Noord-Holland from the province of Friesland was once the Zuider Zee, or ‘Southern Sea’. But in 1932 a 30km long dyke called the Afsluitdijk was constructed at its mouth. The Zuider Zee became the Ijsselmeer, a huge fresh water lake; parts of it were drained and turned into farm land and the whole area was thus protected from flooding.

From Blog pics

Many of the country’s famous explorers once set sail from Hoorn to discover new lands such as New Zealand and Tasmania. In 1616 William Schouten set off to discover a route around South America and named its tip ‘Cape Hoorn’ in the process, after his home town.

From Blog pics

We spent a couple of days wandering around Hoorn and nearby Enkhuizen, where we camped at the harbour facing hundreds of Dutch barges. Both towns are very picturesque with attractive harbour areas and lots of very grand merchant’s houses.

From Blog pics

Having crossed the Afsluitdijk, we visited the world’s oldest working Planetarium at Franeker. It was built by Eise Eisinga, a local wool comber, on the ceiling of his living room in 1774. It took 7 years to complete but still accurately shows the movement of the planets, tide times, phases of the moon, sunrise and sunset times, position of the sun in the sky and much more.

The whole thing is run by the mechanism of one small clock and you can see all the connecting wheels, cogs and weights on the upper floor. It’s quite an incredible machine and well worth a visit.

From Blog pics

Our last stop before moving on to Germany was Groningen where we viewed the town from a big wheel, Alex having momentarily forgotten his fear of heights until it reached the top!

From Blog pics

The town’s most interesting sites were the Groningen museum buildings, and the huge number of bicycles which had recently been fished out of the town’s canals!

From Blog pics

In the next episode we have a whale of a time in Hamburg, and David rubs a donkey’s legs and makes a wish!

Tot straks!

Bicycles, Joints and Jedward!

2011-05-18T19:48:00.008+01:00

On arriving in Amsterdam we headed straight to Camping Zeeburg, which is well connected to the centre of the city; just 20 minutes by tram or bike.

The bicycle reigns supreme in the Netherlands. There are cycle tracks everywhere you look and they’re quite often a good distance away from the main roads. It’s amazing to see so many people, especially children, tearing along on them.

Everybody seems to ride an upright town bicycle that would look quite old fashioned in the UK. Our mountain bikes look quite out of place, but there’s not a lot of call for mountain bikes in a country where the highest point is just 322 metres! 27% of the Netherlands is actually below sea level!

Cycling into the centre of Amsterdam was a little hairy. Bikes were coming at us from all angles at some busy junctions, and we weren’t too sure of the rules.

The hardest part was actually finding a parking space i.e. a railing to chain the bikes to. We were very excited a little later on when we saw the ultimate solution; a multi-storey bike park!!

Seeing the city by boat was great, and the tour we went on was full of interesting facts. There are over 100 kilometres of canal in Amsterdam, far more than we had first thought.

On average one car per week ends up in one of the canals, but three had apparently been fished out the week we visited. Perhaps the drivers had spent a little too long in one of the city’s many ‘coffee shops’, which sell rather more cannabis than they do coffee!

We spent Saturday night watching the Eurovision Song Contest in one of the many bars in the city, where Jedward were surprisingly popular. Let's not talk about Blue shall we!!

The following day the streets were full of people watching Amsterdam’s main football team, Ajax, win the Dutch league – queue lots of beeping car horns, fireworks and singing!

We spent a lot of time simply wandering around Amsterdam, but we did the usual tourist things too; admiring the architecture and giggling at the prostitutes in their shop windows!

We also visited Anne Frank’s house, where the Frank family hid from the Nazis for 2 years from 1942. The story of the family is now so well known, but to see the actual building really brings the story to life.

All in all, we really enjoyed Amsterdam. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s very picturesque and has a lively centre.

From here we’re hitting Noord-Holland and then Friesland (home of the cows!) before moving on to Bremen and Hamburg for the weekend.

TTFN!

Belgian Beaches and Dutch Dykes!

2011-05-13T17:45:00.014+01:00

So we’re on the move again!

We had three weeks in Blighty catching up with friends and family, and an excellent weekend in London on the way out which included a fascinating tour of the Palace of Westminster (seriously - everyone should go on this tour!!)

We’ve been slowly making our way north for a couple of days, through Belgium and the Netherlands, and are now approaching Amsterdam.

Highlights so far have been cycling around Zeeland, the Thursday market at the lovely town of Middelburg where David tried a pickled fish and raw onion sandwich - nice!...

...and the Delta Project - a series of impressive sea defences on the Dutch coast.

This map shows our intended route for this trip, which will hopefully be around 5 months long.

We’ll be going at quite a pace over the next 6 weeks as we want to reach the Arctic Circle by the summer solstice on 21st June. On this date we’ll not only experience the midnight sun, but the sun won’t actually dip below the horizon. Should be fun and just a bit confusing!

First things first - we’ve a long weekend in Amsterdam and a lot of washing to do!

View Summer 2011 in a larger map

Cork, Port, and Mateus Rosé!

2011-03-30T13:24:00.018+01:00

View March 14th - April 16th 2011 in a larger map

Greetings from Salema on the sunny Algarve! Yes, we’re back in one of our favourite spots in Portugal - right at the bottom on the far left!

Hang on a minute; weren’t you about to board a ferry from Italy to Greece last time? Well, yes we were. But that was nearly 5 months ago now and quite a lot has happened since. We’ve had a month in Greece, a few days camping in the coldest of conditions in Germany, Christmas, another 10 days in France, oh and as many of you will know, David also went for a short walk out of a first floor window with his eyes closed!

We’ve today added a post which covers the first two weeks in Greece. Others will follow to fill in the gaps, but for now we’ll just fill you in on the last couple of weeks.

Our plan for summer 2011 is to travel up through Denmark, Sweden and Norway, back down through Finland, catch the ferry back to Stockholm, and then head for Croatia through Germany and the Czech Republic. We’ll basically keep going until the money runs out and we have to return to something resembling normal life again.

We’re coming back to the UK in April as the first of a new generation of Ellis’s is due to make an appearance then. But we’ll be off on the road again a couple of weeks later.

So with a few weeks to spare we thought we’d head for the sun – hence us now being in the land of cork, port, and Mateus Rosé!

We left Yorkshire on the 14th March and after an excellent evening in Coventry with Phil and Kingsley, headed to Portsmouth to catch the 24-hour ferry to Santander in Spain.

Now, this is a major luxury for us. We’d normally travel via the cheapest route possible, but this would have meant Dover to Calais and a very long drive through France over a number of days. So instead we decided to splash out and travel in style. We even shelled out for a cabin – such extravagance!!

Kennels of different sizes are provided in a room on the top deck, so Charlie was packed off with her bed and food bowls and she seemed to settle quite quickly. We popped back every few hours to make sure she was OK and take her out.

The ferry was great and we were lucky to have calm seas all the way. We’d packed enough picnic food to feed a small army so spent most of the journey eating Pork Pies and drinking coffee from our Thermos. Yes, we know – just how old are we?!

Highlight of the crossing had to be the brother and sister vocal duo (well, one sang, the other played the tambourine!) We passed at least a couple of minutes listening to them murdering a couple of classics. X-factor fans - think ‘Same Difference’ but much, much worse and without the cheesy grins!

Having docked in Santander we made a bee-line for the cheap diesel and, of course, Lidl! Then we were off, spending two days on the drive south until we entered Portugal near Elvas.

We spent the first night in Portugal next to Barragem do Luciano, a reservoir to the south of Elvas. We popped our weather station in the shade under the van and the thermometer read 26 degrees right up until the point that Alex drove over it, having completely forgotten it was there!

The next day we headed to the delightful little town of Estremoz and spent a couple of hours wandering around its huge main square, bustling market and hill-top palace. There’s so much marble in this area that many of the buildings and pavements, and even some of the toilets are made of it!

Next stop; the castle at Évora Monte which sits on a steep hill and provides amazing views over the plains around.

After a quick look at the largest stone circle on the Iberian Peninsula (92 stones placed on a hillside somewhere between six and seven thousand years ago), we moved on to the main attraction in these parts – Évora.

Although only a small town, Évora is packed full of sights, with its Roman temple, Moorish alleys, medieval aqueduct, and sixteenth century palaces. It’s no wonder Charles and Camilla popped in a couple of days later! We enjoyed its laid back atmosphere, and then had an omelette in the car park before hitting the road again.

Having driven for 3 hours through the vast openness of the Alentejo region, where olive and cork trees stretch as far as the eye can see, we arrived at Paderne for our first night back on the Algarve.

Mini Metros, Moore, and Spartans with no Pants!

2010-12-09T12:58:00.000Z

Of all the amazing places we’ve visited in Greece, Ancient Delphi wins first prize for most spectacular setting.

Spread across the steep slopes of Mount Parnassos under huge cliffs, the site is crammed full of temples, treasuries, a stadium, theatre, and lots of steps!

The ancient Greeks believed Delphi was the centre of the universe after two eagles, released by Zeus, flew around the world in different directions and met here. The first sanctuary was built around the 8th century BC and pilgrims flooded in to consult the oracle, who was believed to speak for Apollo.

We made our way down to the coast and camped by the beach at Itea that night, waking the next morning to find we’d gained some new neighbours.

Heading north we reached Thermopyles, site of the famous battle in 480BC when 300 Spartans defended a narrow mountain pass against the invading Persian army. The story was made into the film ‘300’, which wasn’t entirely accurate as all the actors had pants on!

We then stumbled upon a natural hot sulphur water spa. We jumped at the chance to sit under the waterfall and swim about in the hot water, while Charlie looked on longingly from the van!

Travelling up the east coast we stopped briefly at Sesklo, the first known ruins dating from 6800BC. These were the final ancient ruins for us: there are only so many crumbling walls you can look at before you get so bored you want to eat the audio guide!!

The beach resorts on the east coast heading up towards Thessaloniki were closed for the winter and quite deserted, despite the fact it was still 26 degrees! So if you ever fancy camping on a beach with no one around, this is the place to come. Be warned though – the mosquitoes are the size of Mini Metros!

It was at this point we decided to change our travel plans. We’d originally intended to head home through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary but we realised we wouldn’t have much time to explore them properly.

There seemed little point in simply driving through them on our way home for Christmas dinner, so we opted to catch the ferry back to Italy and drive home from there instead.

Meteora is one of the most visited places in Greece, and for good reason. The area is littered with huge rock pinnacles which look like the setting for a science fiction film.

Many of the rocks have monasteries on top, some of which date back to the 14th century. One of them was used as the villain’s lair in the James Bond film, ‘For Your Eyes Only’ - the bit where Roger Moore had to climb up the rock and then send a basket down to collect the rest of his team!

Staying at the motorhome aire in Meteora was a strange experience. We had a beer with the family who own it as they watched the Greek version of ‘Have I Got News For You’ in their deserted restaurant. It felt like we were sitting in their front room as they laughed at the host, who looked remarkably like Alexi Sayle.

The next day we took the opportunity to go for a walk up between some of the huge rocks. We got a little worried when we lost the path and had to scramble down a very steep slope. Images of Michael Buerk on ‘999’ sprang immediately to mind!

On our final day before catching the ferry back to Italy we found a deserted beach about half a mile south of the Albanian border. It was one of the most gorgeous places we’ve stayed on the whole trip, with great views over a flat calm sea to Corfu. We spent the day sunbathing, and the night beside the campfire; it was the most perfect way to end our time in Greece.

We would highly recommend Greece to motorhomers. The historical sites, beaches and weather are simply stunning, and the wild camping opportunities out of season are limitless. We would love to go back and see the islands and southern Peloponnese... maybe next year!

Butter Beans, Rubble, and Bananarama!

2010-12-07T18:05:00.000Z

The Peloponnese is shaped a little like a hand, with four fingers striking southwards. As we moved east our next stop was at the tip of the little finger!

Our friend Richard’s parents, Robert and Elaine, moved out to Greece from Marsden in West Yorkshire a few years ago. They designed and built Jasmine Villa, and have a couple of self contained holiday apartments on the first floor.
The villa sits close to the coast in its own olive grove and has beautiful views out over the Gulf of Hydra to the island of the same name.

Sadly, the winter cover had just gone on the swimming pool when we arrived – bad timing on our part!!

Robert and Elaine looked after us very well for a couple of days, feeding us up and showing us around the lovely little holiday town of Ermioni. The town sits on a promontory, the end of which has been left as a park with glorious views out to the nearby islands.

Sorry it’s taken so long to get this post online Robert and Elaine. Thanks again for looking after us, for the olive oil, and for the great tip about Greek butter beans in tomato sauce!! We stocked up before we left the country and have only recently run out!!

Making our way towards Athens we called in at the fantastic Roman theatre at Epidavros. Set in the hillside with views out over the rolling countryside, it’s remarkably intact to say it’s about 1700 years old.

We spent that night on Acrocorinth, the fortified hill above Corinth. The ruins of this fortress are spread over the top of a steep hill behind Ancient Corrinth.

To be perfectly honest we’d got a little tired of looking at rubble, so we peered at the remains of Ancient Corrinth through the fence! But the views from the top of Acrocorinth looking over to the Greek mainland are amazing and put it on our highly recommended list.

The Peloponnese is connected to the Greek mainland by a thin strip of land 6km wide called Isthmia. The idea of cutting a canal through it had first been raised as far back as the 7th century BC, but it wasn’t until 1893 that it was actually achieved and ships no longer had to sail all the way around the Peloponnese.

We stopped to watch a couple of boats pass through the Corrinth canal and then made our way on to Athens, home of the very first European city, the Acropolis.

Despite the greater Athens area being a vast sprawl of apartment and office blocks, the historic centre is now really easy to get around on foot. This is largely thanks to the 2004 Olympic Games which saw a number of new pedestrianised areas introduced. The road that loops around the Acropolis is now particularly good, and stunning at night when all the sights are lit up.

So where did we stay while in Athens? Well, we had one very expensive night at the city’s campsite, run by a rather grumpy woman who complained that we were only staying one night! But we then found a great place to wild camp, just 10 minutes away from the Acropolis by foot. It wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea and it wasn’t exactly level, but we managed and it saved us a small fortune in campsite and public transport costs.

We had a great few days in Athens and felt really pleased to have driven all the way there. We set off to leave but got a little bit lost and ended up driving right through the city centre with Bananarama’s Venus blaring from the stereo! Putting our entire music collection on our iPod makes the shuffle function a little like Russian roulette!

And so began our journey home for Christmas. We just had a few thousand kilometres, 6 countries and 6 weeks to go!

Ferries, Feta, and God Save The Queen!

2010-12-03T12:03:00.000Z

View October 17th - 27th 2010 in a larger map

Catching the ferry across the Adriatic from Italy to Greece isn’t really the same as crossing the English Channel.

To start with, there are no lines or queues. When you arrive at the port everyone drives their vehicles up to the bottom of the ramp and stops wherever they like. Being English we found this just a little bit disconcerting!

Then comes the rather chaotic boarding process. We watched from deck as a group of Italians and Greeks tried to reverse a car transporter and trailer onto the ferry. This took a lot of hand waving, shouting, and about 20 minutes!

The crossing from Brindisi in Italy to Igoumenisa in Greece takes around 8 hours and you can actually stay in your vehicle for the whole crossing - campers are even supplied with electric hook up points. So we stayed in with the dog, had dinner, watched a film and had a nap.

Most of the passengers on the ferry were Bulgarian and a lot of them stayed in their cars and smoked for the whole journey (you don’t see that on P&O!).

Approaching Igoumenitsa we passed between Albania and the island of Corfu which are only a few miles apart.

We docked at 1am and drove a couple of miles down the coast to a wild camping spot and went straight to sleep.

In every country we’ve visited so far we’ve been able to have a stab at the language, but as soon as we woke up the following morning we understood the origins of the phrase ‘it’s all Greek to me’! We just couldn’t make out a word and quickly realised that the phrasebook we’d bought wouldn’t be much help either. I mean, where do you start with a sign like this?

The phrase book did at least cover some of the essentials – for instance, ‘yes’ in Greek is pronounced ‘ne’ and this is usually accompanied by a misleading shake of the head! (‘no’ is pronounced ‘ochi’ just in case you were wondering).

One of the first things you notice when driving in Greece are the little roadside shrines or chapels; memorials to people who’ve died on the roads. It’s sobering to see just how many of them there are.

You also can’t help noticing the large number of stray dogs. We’re suckers for a sad looking pooch so Charlie lost quite a few of her dog biscuits to the locals, something she wasn’t too pleased about!

The weather was a really mixed bag during those first few days. It was sunny and warm during the day but we saw some amazing lightening storms at night. The whole sky was illuminated as if someone had just switched on the lights, but we rarely heard any thunder.

We woke up on day 3 however to find that the beach-side car park we were parked in at Ammoudia had been completely flooded after heavy storms overnight. We made a fairly sharp exit and headed inland.

Ioannina was the first large town we visited in Greece and we had a very warm welcome. We were waiting at a set of traffic lights when a man, noticing our British number plate, stopped and sang us the first few lines of ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’!! He then shouted ‘God save the Queen’ as the lights turned green and we sped away! Probably the most bizarre experience of our trip so far!

Ioannina sits on the shore of Lake Pamvotis, so after a good wander round the town’s sights and narrow streets we took the ferry out to the island - imaginatively called ‘The Island’. It was surprisingly cold, but we set off on a walk around it.

There were several restaurants on the island which had tanks of live eels and crayfish outside ready to be cooked up, but we had a ham sandwich!

After this we headed back to the coast and spent the next few days travelling south before crossing the fantastic new Rio-Andirio suspension bridge onto the Peloponnese peninsula.

After a quick drive through Patra our first stop was the town of Diakofto on the north coast. This little town is wedged between the sea and steep mountains, and you can take a rack and pinion railway up through the amazing Vouraikos Gorge to the lovely little town of Kalavrytia.

Kalavrytia is famous in Greece for two relatively recent historical events. It’s said that the revolt against the Turks, which lead to the Greek War of Independence, started here in 1821. The town also suffered one of the worst atrocities of WWII, when the Nazis burned it down and massacred all of the men over 15 years of age.

The first of the ancient sites we visited was Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games. Athletic events first took place here as far back as the 11th century BC. The official games took place here every four years from 776BC for over 1000 years. The Olympic torch is still lit here before it begins its long journey to the site of the next games.

One of the main differences between the ancient and modern Olympics is that only men could compete in the original games, and they did so in the buff! In fact women weren’t even allowed to watch the games and any caught sneaking in were thrown from a nearby rock. Seb Coe; take note for London 2012!

The site, which lies in a wonderfully green and peaceful spot in the hills, contains the remains of numerous buildings including temples, a gymnasium, and stadium. We picked the perfect day for our visit as it was warm and sunny, and the site was almost deserted. The museum is also excellent, showcasing some of the finds, recreating the facades of a number of the main buildings, and clearly explaining the purpose of the site.

One of the great things about staying in Greece at this time of year is that it’s easy to wild camp next to beautiful and deserted beaches, and to have fires there in the evenings. We managed 3 weeks without once paying to park or camp anywhere, which we felt was quite an achievement.

We did still need to fill up with fresh water and empty the waste tanks, but our Italian camper guide helped us to find suitable places. One of them turned into quite an interesting experience!

The motorhome aire looked pretty deserted when we arrived but we found an emptying point and got on with it, presuming someone would come out to take our money. And 5 minutes later, she did; a rather abrupt and confused looking lady. Now, we don’t speak a whole lot of Bulgarian. In fact, to say we don’t speak ‘any’ Bulgarian would be closer to the truth. It took quite a lot of flapping around with our Greek phrase book to realise that she didn’t speak any Greek or English either! It made for an interesting conversation! In the end we agreed a price by her writing the figure in the dirt on the side of our van! How embarrassing!

We moved on and headed East across the Peloponese on some ‘interesting’ mountain roads, passing through some poor and sparsely populated areas. Out of a population of 11 million people, 7 million Greeks live in the greater Athens area alone and many of the regions are trying desperately to stop young people moving away. Some of the areas also still bore the scars of horrific bush fires which destroyed huge areas back in 2006.

The north eastern Peloponnese was the nicest part of Greece we saw. One particular highlight was the castle above the town of Argos. We drove up the steep hill not really knowing what we’d find, but it was such a beautiful spot with fantastic views over the town and the bay beyond that we ended up staying the night.

One of the main tourist destinations in this area is the ancient city of Mycenae, the ruins of the mighty kingdom that ruled most of Greece over 3500 years ago. Mycenae was the home of Agamemnon, the Greek king who invaded Troy with his horse! One of the most impressive parts of the site is the huge beehive tomb of Agamemnon.

A lot of what’s written about some of these ancient sites is a mixture of fact and fiction - legends of the gods etc. But Mycenae was the setting for Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey.

Nearby Nafplio, the original capital of a united Greece, was also very impressive. Surrounded by 3 castles, it has a great setting and some lovely restaurants. We walked up to one of the castles, 999 steps apparently, to get a great view of the price board for a good ‘tut’ and about-turn!

In the next episode, we drop in on Robert and Elaine from Marsden, drive through the centre of Athens with Bananarama, and go a bit Bond!!

The Vatican, Volcanoes and Arrivederci!

2010-12-01T17:02:00.000Z

View October 1st - 17th in a larger map

We arrived at the outskirts of Rome on a busy Friday afternoon and, after doing the weekly ‘Big Shop’, hit the mother of all traffic jams! We reached our target a couple of hours later; an aire about 20 minutes away from the city centre.

We travelled in to the city several times over the next few days and saw most of the famous sights. We dragged the dog around the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and St Peter’s in Vatican City. The sheer scale of some of the sights and the period of time they cover is quite amazing. There are Roman remains dotted everywhere amongst baroque churches and neo-classical statues.

Our favourite spot was St Peter’s in Vatican City. Built on the site of St Peter’s tomb and now the principal shrine of the Catholic Church, the size of the place is unbelievable. A trip to the top of the dome is a must for the stunning views out across Rome.

On our last morning we visited the Vatican museums. We drove right through the city centre to get there (an experience in itself!) and found the queue to get in, which was...well... about 2 kilometres long! We queued for 2 hours to get in but it was very much worth the wait. If you get the opportunity it’s definitely worth a visit just to gaze at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And there’s so much to see in the museums - you could really spend a couple of days there.

After a busy few days in Rome it was time to hit the beach, especially as the weather had warmed up again. We found a lovely spot at a place called Sabaudia, about an hour south of Rome. White sand and calm seas meant that we were able to soak up some sun and get some swimming done – not bad for October!

Driving in Italy is not easy! As well as the ‘over enthusiastic’ Italian driving style and the countless mopeds and motorbikes weaving about like agitated wasps, there are the pot holes to deal with, some of which are bigger than the road itself.

What’s more, there are signs everywhere. Signs for hotels, cafes, shops, supermarkets, police stations, swimming pools, archaeological sites and pretty much anything else you can think of line the road. It can be pretty difficult to concentrate on driving. And if you’re actually looking for somewhere and could do with a sign – well, this is what you can be faced with at a road junction...

We’ve camped in all sorts of places this year but we never imagined we’d be spending a night in a volcano! But you can do just that at Pozzuoli near Naples. The volcano is semi-extinct (it hasn’t erupted for a couple of thousand years) so what better place for a family holiday!

The campsite is on one side of the huge crater, and there are bubbling mud springs and jets of steam shooting out of the planet on the other, just a few hundred yards away! The ground sounds hollow under your feet, a very odd sensation, and there’s a strong smell of sulphur in the air. The funniest part is the campsite sauna which looked more like an old B&Q garden shed placed on top of a steam vent!

The Rough Guide says of Naples – ‘It is filthy, it is very large and overbearing, it is crime infested and it is definitely like nowhere else in Italy.’ The city is clearly quite poor in areas and you really have to have your wits about you as you try and navigate the bustling narrow streets trying not to look too much like a tourist waving a map and guide book around.

We caught the train into the city and had a bit of a wander, but it didn’t take long before we were persuaded to stop for pizza. Naples is the traditional home of the pizza and the best are cooked for just a couple of minutes at a very high temperature in a wood-fired oven. Much thinner than pizza in the UK, they arrive bubbling on the surface and with a light, crispy base. There are usually just a few simple toppings as well – not a pineapple chunk in sight! Fantastic!

Moving round the Bay of Naples we arrived at Pompeii, the town completely destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. Excavations that began in 1789 have now uncovered the remains of a whole Roman city, including covered heated swimming pool and luxury hotel complex. But to be honest, there isn’t a great deal to see on much of the site. It takes a lot to imagine a glorious palace when all you’re looking at is a bit of old brick wall!

Many of the sites we’ve visited have had great audio guides that give you a bit of blurb about the different exhibits or rooms you’re looking at. But the one at Pompeii went on and on and on! Each room or building seemed to have 20 minutes worth of the dullest monotone voice rambling on with information that would have sent even the Time Team to sleep! Somebody had obviously decided that you needed to know not just what a room was and how it was used, but what they had previously thought it was before they changed their minds!!

From Pompeii we took a trip to the top of the destructive volcano itself. The only active volcano on mainland Europe, Vesuvius has erupted more than 100 times with the most recent being in 1944. It’s supposed to erupt every 30 years, so it’s no wonder the people living nearby are getting worried. It was all very quiet when we visited – just a few jets of steam emerging from around the crater.

We headed for Sorrento, and were happily making our way through the town when the road started to get narrower and narrower. We were eventually faced with an alleyway that a Fiat 500 would have struggled to get down. Bringing the traffic to a halt so we could perform a nineteen point turn is an experience we’d rather forget. Did we mention that Italians beep their horns and wave their arms about a lot if the traffic stops for longer than a heartbeat?!

It was somewhere around this time that we realised Charlie had picked up a new trick. Well it’s less a trick; more a demand from a dog that’s growing bossier by the day! When her water bowl is empty she puts a leg in it and pushes it around the floor until you refill it for her. We thought it was quite funny at first. And then she performed this new party trick at 3 in the morning!

Continuing south we reached the beautiful Amalfi coast, where the road winds its way around the cliffs which rise steeply out of the sea. It’s a stunning drive and the villages that are tucked into the little bays are very picturesque. Unfortunately for us, the weather had taken a turn for the worse when we arrived so we didn’t see it at its best. We did manage a lovely morning in Ravello though, with its amazing views.

From here we headed east towards the port of Brindisi where we were due to catch a ferry to Greece. On route from ‘shin to heel’ we called in at the town of Matera, famous for its ‘Sassi’ or old town, where houses and churches have been hewn into the rocky sides of a river gorge since the Middle Ages.

The cave houses were inhabited right up until the 1950s when the locals were re-housed in the new town. Some of the original cave dwellings have now been converted into shops and hotels but many lie deserted. It’s a very strange and eerie landscape to wander around. One of the cave houses has been preserved as it was when the occupants left, giving a great insight into what life was like sharing a cave with your animals; you can still journey up the Colne Valley to Marsden for a similar insight!

After a couple of days on the nearby coast we arrived in Brindisi to take the 8 hour ferry to Greece. After much shouting and waving of hands as lorries were reversed aboard, it was arrivederci to Italy.

Little did we know that we’d be back in just 4 weeks time.

Towers, tour guides, and tons of attention (for Charlie!)

2010-11-23T11:23:00.007Z

View September 18th - 30th in a larger map

The Cinque Terre (literally meaning five lands) are five tiny villages on the north west coast of Italy. Wedged into a series of coves between sheer cliffs, the villages are only really accessible by train. The line from the nearby town of La Spezia runs through miles of tunnel, emerging occasionally at a village station before disappearing underground again.

We spent a lovely, if not rather busy day hopping on and off trains, enjoying the fabulous scenery and the ice cream! A number of footpaths run between the villages, and it’s customary to leave a padlock somewhere along the Via dell’Amore (Lover’s Path). The area is an essential destination for Australian and American backpackers and there were quite literally thousands of them about. Unfortunately, many of the paths were closed due to heavy rain which meant that the trains and villages were extremely busy.

Just beyond the Cinque Terre is the beautiful little town of Portovenere. Even prettier than the Cinque Terre, it’s a bit further off the beaten track so not as busy, but it’s a delightful place with great views of the surrounding coast.

From Portovenere we moved on to one of the most striking sites of our tour; the extraordinary looking marble quarries at Carrara. Huge slabs of marble have been cut from the mountains here since Roman times and everyone from Michelangelo to Henry Moore has trekked up here in search of the perfect stone. Carrara is still the world’s largest marble producer and exporter.

We spent a couple of nights at the excellent motorhome site in Lucca, which was very handy for the city centre. Lucca is one of several northern Italian towns brimming with amazing architecture and impressive works of art. One of the great things about wandering round these towns is coming across a plain looking church and peering inside to see huge paintings by someone like Caravaggio or Titan.

Charlie attracted a lot of attention in Italy. We couldn’t step outside without people cooing over her or saying ‘ah piccolo’ or ‘ah bello’ (that’s ‘ah small’ or ‘ah beautiful’!). Some wanted their photos taken with her, and a conductor on one of the vaporetti in Venice even picked her up and cuddled her for the duration of the journey!

Pisa is of course famous for a certain tower with dodgy foundations, but we were more impressed by the buildings alongside it in the Campo dei Miracoli (the field of miracles). The cathedral and baptistery, which also lean slightly due to the sandy earth below, are both stunning, even more so when you consider that building began in the 11th and 12th centuries.

We were amused by the line of tourists taking the obligatory photo which appears to show you holding up the tower. We are, of course, above such things…

We were even more amused by the hilarious boxer shorts that featured a leaning tower, but that’s another story!

After a couple of days in the sun we hit Florence in time for David’s birthday (24 again!). The birthday cakes sent over by Alex’s mum disappeared within minutes, and we then set off for lunch!

Celebrated by many as the most beautiful city in Italy, Florence is a mecca for art lovers as it’s home to several major galleries. You can see Michelangelo’s David here, and the Piazza della Signoria is full of impressive statues. The city’s vast duomo is one of the most impressive and colourful we’ve seen, due to the different types of marble used in its construction.

We enjoyed a wander through the maze of mediaeval streets, had a good lunch, and followed it up with a great night out. We ran into a couple from Glasgow and it was great to have some English speaking company to compare travel notes with.

Florence has to be the tour guide capital of Europe. They’re everywhere; marching around waving telescopic car aerials with tassels attached, as groups of slightly confused looking tourists struggle to keep up and understand a word of what’s being said. It seems the current trend is for the guide to have a Madonna style headset on and a small loudspeaker attached to their chest, which does make them look a little like C3PO!

While in Lucca we managed to blow up the in-car charger for our laptop - disaster! We ordered another from the UK and had this delivered to David’s Dad who rerouted it to a colleague of his based in Florence. Our thanks to Lorenzo for doing us a huge favour and our apologies that we didn’t have time to stop for a coffee.

Everywhere in Italy seemed to be full of stylish, good looking people (so obviously we felt right at home!). This is unsurprising as even the smallest towns are full of boutiques selling expensive designer clothes – not a Pri-Mark or Bon Marche in sight!! It did make us feel a little sad about the state of the British high street with the huge chains dominating every one, and small business being in decline. It certainly appears that the small independents are going strong in Italy.

After a couple of days in the Brit filled hill towns of Tuscany we arrived at one of its most spectacular.

San Gimignano is famed for its mediaeval towers and the church which is filled with amazing 13th century frescoes. The towers were built by feuding nobles in aristocratic rivalry in the 12th and 13th centuries. Set in spectacular countryside and with a beautiful centre with many interesting buildings, San Gimignano is definitely worth a visit, especially in the early evening as the sun starts to set and the crowds disperse.

After a lovely overnight stop in the little walled town of Montereggioni where we awoke to find a classic car rally passing through, it was on to Sienna. Famed for its huge scallop shaped piazza, and the bareback horse races that take place there every summer, it really is a beautiful place.

The cathedral is striking; its black and white striped walls give it the look of a giant liquorice allsort!

Sienna also resulted in another visit to a gelateria! Even the smallest town in Italy has several gelateria, where homemade ice cream is displayed in colourful mounds waiting for the evening ‘pasagieta’ when everyone heads out for a stroll and a couple of scoops of their favourite flavours. When in Rome! ... or any other city for that matter!

Rome was our next destination but arriving during the Friday evening rush hour wasn’t the best idea we’ve ever had!

Gondolas, gastronomy, and Charlie’s transport troubles!

2010-11-14T11:03:00.010Z

View September 5th - 17th 2010 in a larger map

The aires and campsites close to Venice are, of course, rather expensive. We spent 4 days in Venice and accommodation didn’t cost us a single cent and being from Yorkshire, we rather liked that!

We were camped next to a canal in the little town of Oriago, about 5 miles outside the city. The spot was close to a shop, pizzeria, and laundrette and it took just 30 minutes to get into Venice by bus or train. It couldn’t have been better for us.

Everything you’ve seen of Venice on TV and in films doesn’t really do it justice. The place is simply stunning. There’s nowhere quite like it and everyone should go at least once. It’s a lot bigger than we were expecting. The miles of canals, bridges and alleyways are great for wandering, and the more you do so, the more you leave the crowds behind and discover the real Venice.

A historical regatta was taking place on our first day in the city. Teams of gondoliers of all ages competed in different races along the Grand Canal, and spectators lined the route to cheer on their teams. There were also processions of older boats decorated with large flags that draped in the water behind them with gondoliers wearing period costume. It was an amazing and colourful sight.

Travelling by boat in Venice is not as cheap as you might think. A ride in a gondola will set you back around £60 for half an hour (needless to say, we turned that one down!). A day pass for the vaporetti, the water busses which ship people along the bigger canals and around the islands, costs 16 euros. We spent a couple of days exploring the different routes and outer islands - the map of the network looks very similar to the London Underground map. Murano made for a peaceful break from the busier parts of the city. Largely residential, it’s a mini version of Venice that’s home to the city’s famous glass works.

We then spent a couple of days exploring the city on foot and walked many miles in total. Venice is known for being quite expensive so we set off each day complete with packed lunch and Thermos of coffee!!

Venice is bursting with amazing art and architecture. We’re not really big art buffs so we didn’t visit the galleries, but it was great to see the fantastic paintings in the churches by artists such as Titan and Caravaggio. The best piece we saw was The Crucifixion by Tintoretto in the church of San Cassiano. The best view of the city was from the tower of San Giorgio Maggiore; where the city and the islands stretch out below you in every direction.

Bologna is famed for its porticos, or covered pavements (over 38km of them in total), and for having the very first university. The city centre is certainly very grand; its central square framed by several impressive palaces. The best part however is the sixteenth century Neptune Fountain, which features four mermaids shooting water from their breasts!

The city also has its own leaning towers - the Due Torri. In the Middle Ages the city had hundreds of towers, but only these two remain. A rickety wooden staircase clings perilously to the inside of the taller tower – it’s certainly not something for the faint hearted – but the views across the city from the top are pretty amazing.

Bologna is also home to one of Italy’s major modern art museums – Mambo! We decided to visit on a Sunday afternoon but found that the security staff outnumbered the visitors 3 to 1. It wasn’t a pleasant experience being chased around the galleries by the staff, who were obviously bored and felt they had to keep a very close eye on everyone. We didn’t stay long!

We found Bologna rather claustrophobic with all its covered pavements and, after having such a great experience in Venice, we didn’t really warm to it. We’ll also remember Bologna for an officious ticket inspector who fined us because the dog didn’t have the right train ticket!

Modena, famed for balsamic vinegar and its famous sons Luciano Pavarotti and Enzo Ferrari, was like a breath of fresh air. A Celtic festival was in full swing when we arrived and half the town had turned out to watch a ‘Sealed Knott’ style battle between the Romans and Celts. When the battle was over, the music and drinking began and there were the usual stalls selling what we generously term ‘ethnic tat’.... or ‘hippy shit!’

After a quick detour to the beautiful town of Mantua, we headed to every food lover’s favourite city, Parma – famous for Parma ham and Parmesan. Obviously we had to go out and sample the gastronomic delights, and we certainly chose well. The restaurant’s excellent antipasti were prepared at a counter in the middle of the restaurant on several sparkling meat slicers. Traditionally, you follow this with a pasta or risotto dish, and then a meat dish. We were somewhat stuffed when we left!

A motorhome show was taking place in the city’s exhibition hall so we had to call in and check out a few new vans. There were hundreds on display but none seemed better than the one we have at the moment. Thankfully there weren’t too many ‘must have’ gadgets on sale so all we ended up buying was a new guide book and some toilet chemicals! The last of the big spenders!!

Aside from its magnificent 11th century Duomo and octagonal baptistry the thing that really struck us about Parma was the number of bicycles. And it’s quite amazing what people manage to transport on them; in some cases, 2 kids and the shopping and even the dog. Having seen this we decided Charlie might like a new mode of transport...

No, sadly not a Fiat 500 or a Vespa, although there were thousands of them buzzing about. No, we thought she needed this...

She seems quite happy in her new basket. She’s only fallen out once! Not sure we’ll be cycling through Leeds like this though!

We left Parma heading for the coast and a date with hundreds of back packers!

Shakespeare, Skype and Squeaking Marmots!

2010-10-19T14:40:00.018+01:00

View August 22nd - September 4th 2010 in a larger map

As well as being a great German compound noun, the Grossglocknerhochalpenstrasse (or ‘big bell high Alp street’), is one of the main routes through the Austrian Alps towards Italy. The road opened in 1935 and was one of the first built specifically with tourism in mind.

At 28 euros to drive along, it’s not just the road that’s steep! But we’d been looking forward to the journey for some time and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s an amazing drive with countless hairpin bends, tunnels and stunning mountain views.

The road is completely blocked by snow from November to May, but there was just enough left at one of the highest points of the road for a small crowd to gather and throw snowballs at each other.

One of the main stopping points is the Swarovski Observation Tower, a glass observatory furnished with telescopes that give you a close-up view of the nearby Pasterze Glacier and Austria’s highest mountain, the Grossglockner. There’s also some rather sobering information on how the glacier has shrunk over the past 75 years. There are lots of marmots up here, which make a high pitched squeeking sound and look a bit like a badger sized hamster!

The road ends in the picturesque village of Heiligenblut; so named because the church is reputed to hold a relic of the Holy Blood.

The next day we crossed the border into Italy, a country we’ve wanted to explore for some time and which first made us think about going on the road.

We spent our first week in the Dolomites, a region of huge mountains made of pale rock which gives them a striking, almost lunar feel. We dusted off the walking boots and managed a couple of decent walks.

The paths in the area are extremely popular and were filled with walkers from different countries... with their NORDIC WALKING POLES!! One of the walks took us up to the base of the Tre Cime di Laveredo, a strange mass of rock with three sharp peaks, and the nearby refuge. Refuges give hikers somewhere to sleep so they can complete high level walks without having to drop back down to lower levels. They’re more like a basic hotel than the rickety old shack you might imagine!

While in Cortina we had a chat on Skype with some friends who dared to have a get together in London without us! It was great to see them all in Sharon’s kitchen. We’re often quite loud when we get together: let’s hope the campsite didn’t mind overhearing our raucous conversation.

We left Cortina on the Great Dolomite Road, another amazing mountain road with a number of high passes and stunning views. We stopped halfway along at the Falzarego pass and, after another walk, decided to stay the night. Waking up on August bank holiday Monday to a blizzard was quite odd! It snowed for a good hour and there was quite a covering.

After the cold of the mountains, arriving at the northern shores of Lake Garda and being able to strip down to T-shirts and shorts again was quite a relief! Garda is Italy’s largest lake at 52km; so large that it actually alters the local climate making it milder and sunnier.

The road that runs down the western shore of the lake is quite amazing. Much of the first few miles from Riva del Garda is in tunnels, which give only an occasional glimpse of the lake. The tunnels are quite narrow so meeting a coach coming the other way can be quite exciting!

It’s easy to find picturesque villages with amazing views further down the lake, such as Gargnano and Salo with their beautiful lakefront promenades. Charlie loves swimming and took the opportunity to practice her diving here...

Verona was the first Italian city we visited. The city centre is beautiful, with its bustling cobbled streets and piazzas, impressive Roman arena and more modern(!)Romanesque buildings.

Shakespeare and opera are the big draws here. Although he never visited, Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet in the city (the Montagues and Capulets are based on real families). Juliet’s balcony is one of the busiest places in town. You can queue to have your photo taken on it, if you don’t mind a couple of hundred people watching you from below.

The Roman arena is an impressive site; the third largest of all Roman amphitheatres and now the host of a famous opera season every summer renowned for its staging of Aida.

In fair Verona we also gave a wide berth to the overwhelming number of nightmares that are ‘living statues’! Quite why these people feel the need to paint themselves silver, create a tent-like costume from an old bedsheet, and terrorise innocent tourists is anyones guess.

After a quick stop at the pretty fortified town of Soave (wonder why we stopped there!), we headed on to a wild camping place we’d heard about near Venice. And it turned out to be just perfect!

Breakdowns, blimps and beer halls

2010-10-07T11:19:00.015+01:00

View August 11th - 21st 2010 in a larger map

We said our goodbyes to David’s parents on 11th August and set off for Lake Constance. We ran out of petrol 10 minutes later! We were mortified! We were on a fairly busy main road and only able to half pull onto the verge, so we were a bit of an obstacle to the lorries that came roaring past. Luckily we’d come prepared, and our little red warning triangle was quickly positioned a few hundred yards back along the main road.

Having called international rescue, a German RAC wagon soon arrived and towed us to the local petrol station. The driver, a rather large and abrupt German chap, gave David a good telling off on the way for driving in the red! Which you’re not supposed to do apparently! Anyway, it turns out we were lucky. The engine started first time once we’d filled up, so we managed to avoid any further work. Phew!

Soon after, we arrived at Lake Constance and headed along the northern banks. Three countries have a border along this lake – Austria, Switzerland and Germany. It’s huge and feels more like the sea, with ferries criss-crossing the lake between the major towns along its shores.

We stopped at Friedrichshafen to visit the Zeppelin museum. Count Zeppelin developed, manufactured and launched his airships from here between 1900 and around 1940. The town became a departure point for international travel with people flying to Rio de Janiero for example, in just 12 days. The best part of the museum is a mock up of a section of the Hindenburg. You climb up the boarding ladder to enter the main lounge and guest rooms which were like those on a cruise ship. Airships fell out of favour after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, but the American navy continued to work on them right into the 1960s after developing the technology during World War 2.

Heading east we reached Bavaria’s most spectacular scenery and home to some of its most popular tourist destinations. We started by rocketing down a hillside on Germany’s longest summer toboggan run at Alpsee! Great fun!

Our next stop was Fussen, and the famous castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. These fairytale castles were built by ‘Mad’ King Ludwig II in the 19th century and are perhaps Bavaria’s most iconic images. Neuschwanstein, with its turrets and stunning mountain setting, provided the inspiration for Disney’s famous Cinderella castle.

To say they were busy would be an understatement. We parked just outside the village and cycled up to the castles past the massive queue for tickets (we’d decided by this point that we wouldn’t go in). Just beyond the castles is Marienbrücke, a footbridge which crosses the gorge above the castles and provides some amazing views. The little bridge was packed so it made for quite a hair-raising experience!

Munich is Germany’s third city and regularly tops surveys about the best place to live on the planet. We spent four days there and loved it. We really enjoyed wandering around the city centre with its fantastic architecture, and sampling the tasty German food sold at the outdoor market. The campsite there was great; close to a Metro station, a 15 minute cycle from the city centre, and surrounded by parkland and canals.

Munich was the home of the Nazi party, so it was completely destroyed during World War 2. The city has since been completely rebuilt and its amazing 19th century buildings returned to their former glory.

The nightlife is renowned so we felt we had to sample a few of the bars. To mark 6 months away we had a night in one of the oldest and most famous beer halls, the Hofbrauhaus. It’s a great experience. You sit at long wooden tables and share them with whoever turns up. The hearty German food is great – not to mention the beer. The problem is that the beer is available in 1 litre glasses and it's very difficult to resist them! It’s a jolly good job we didn’t get drunk before cycling back to the campsite!

We hopped over the border into Austria then to visit Salzburg. Famous for its architecture, Mozart, and The Sound of Music, we came to hunt down Sachertorte! If you’ve never tried it, you must! It’s a rich chocolate cake with apricot jam filling which takes its name from the hotel in Vienna where it was invented. There’s a recipe for it in our guide book - if only we had an oven!!

The best place to stay was just over the border in Germany so for a couple of days we hopped back and forwards over the border. Salzburg is a city with a beautiful historic centre which we really enjoyed investigating for a couple of days.

At this point we started our journey south, heading for Italy. Obersalzburg, a tiny village in the German Alps, was our first stop. One of the most scenic areas of Germany and a popular tourist destination since the 19th century, it’s now infamous as the site of Hitler’s holiday home. In fact, the locals were all driven out so the area could be developed, with holiday homes built for a number of the Nazi elite.

Most of the buildings were destroyed during or after the Second World War. The area was only handed back to Germany by the USA during the 1990s, and a museum now occupies the site which graphically documents the rise of Hitler and the Nazi movement. The final sections of the museum are underground, in some of the surviving bunkers that once ran through the whole hillside.

Buses leave the museum and head up a steep mountain road for the Eagles Nest, a building which only avoided the American dynamite because of the work of the local Mayor. After a stunning ride, you’re dropped at the entrance to a tunnel in the mountainside. This leads to a lift that whisks you up into the building which sits at 1,834 metres on a rocky ridge and has glorious views of the surrounding countryside.

The Eagles Nest was a tea house built by the Nazi party as a gift for Hitler on his 50th birthday. It was rarely used by Hitler himself as he was scared of heights and aerial attack. The building is now a restaurant which left rather a bad taste in our mouths. While the museum at the bottom of the hill was very quiet, the restaurant, which bears few reminders of its history, was full of people laughing and enjoying a meal. It all felt just a bit wrong to us, although there’s no doubt that the setting was amazing.

Another thing that seemed completely wrong to us was the use of Nordic walking poles!! Everyone we saw walking in Germany and Austria seemed to have a set of the bloody things. Why? Mountaineers, we could understand. Fat women in awful leggings on their way down the high street, we couldn’t! And generally speaking, the walking pole bearer has no spacial awareness and will quite happily take an eye or chunk of leg out of anyone who happens to be passing! On the other hand, we did pass a couple of boards displaying walking pole exercises which we found quite amusing!

Our last stop in Germany was the fjord-like Lake Konigsee, one of the most photographed lakes in Germany. We took a boat ride to the far end of the lake and then walked on to Obersee, a small lake beyond it where you can see Germany’s highest waterfall. During the boat trip one of the crew blew his horn at a mountain to demonstrate the amazing echo. Quite impressive!

And so ended a great visit to Germany - we hope to be back next year to explore some more of it. Next time – the Grossglocknerhochalpenstrasse! Try saying that after a couple of beers!

Ellis Week

2010-10-02T15:34:00.010+01:00

The Ellis parents joined us for a week at the beginning of August. We were really looking forward to seeing them, and it had nothing to do with the boot full of English goodies they were bringing with them! Enough PG Tips, Marmite, and Birds Custard to see us through to Christmas!

We stayed in a holiday flat in Riedern in the south of Germany, not far from the Swiss border. The area, which is just on the edge of the Black Forest, is prime farming land full of rolling hills dotted with tiny villages. Not really a prime tourist spot, but nice and quiet.

The flat was lovely, and quite homely... if not a little mid 80s in style and decor! There were paper butterflies everywhere! But who goes to a German for advice on style?! The lady who owned the flat only lived up the road and couldn’t do enough for us – she was only too happy to provide us with a cake tin so we could make a Dr Oetker cake!

Raymond and Linda arrived a couple of hours after us – just long enough for us to get the washing machine cranked up for the first of a dozen loads!

We decided to head to Freiburg for our first trip as the weather didn’t look too good. But it just got worse as the day wore on; and that was after a long traffic jam on the way there! We did enjoy a sausage in the main square, and coffee and cake, but didn’t linger long in the end.

The following day the weather was much more promising so we went to Titisee, a pretty little lake and town with quite an entertaining name! David has taken school groups here several times but thankfully this time came without study packs and coloured pencils! Having walked around the town and stopped to watch a huge cuckoo clock, which was somewhat underwhelming, we took a swanky boat (complete with fridge) out on the lake for an hour.

We enjoyed several meals out in local restaurants over the course of the week but we often forgot the phrase books, so weren’t always sure what was going to turn up! There was a good bet it would be pork based! Although on one occasion, Mum’s salmon turned out to be something Captain Birdseye would have turned his nose up at! We also cooked a roast chicken dinner one evening, complete with crumble for pudding; our first since January and all the better for mum’s stuffing!

We decided that a trip to Lake Constance would be a good idea, although the journey there wasn’t the best! Lady Tom Tom took us over windy roads and through Switzerland – a bit worrying as Dad didn’t have a vignette to travel on Swiss roads - see previous post re road tolls. We got away with it and after a lovely picnic on the banks of the lake, we took a ferry out to the island of Reichenau. A food festival was taking place on the island so the main square was filled with food and beer stalls. Radish with salt is the traditional accompaniment to beer in Germany and we were quite amused to find that someone had adapted an old sewing machine especially to slice the radishes.

We decided that a trip on the cable car at Belchen would be nice, as the guide book said it provided the best views for miles around. Our experience was rather different as the cable car ascended straight into thick cloud and rain. There was a nice cafe at the top though which did, of course, have a great selection of cakes!

The Rothaus brewery was a couple of miles down the road from the flat, and their beers were the only ones served locally. So it was only right that we visited for a tour! Despite it being in German, and David’s rather vague interpreting, it was really informative and showed us the different processes in the factory. The huge bottling room was the most interesting. Crates of used empty bottles come in at one end, they’re sorted, cleaned and refilled before leaving at the other. A large percentage of their beer bottles are recycled. It was quite amazing to see, and hear, thousands of beer bottles rattle along the production lines at high speed.

There’s a famous old German law about beer ingredients called Reinheitsgebot. This means beer can only contain water, barley and hops. This ensures the purity and quality of beer across the board, and apparently less of a hangover. The Rothaus tour ended with a meal and of course, a couple of beers, after which we went home to eat our Dr Oetker and watch one of the DVDs at the flat. Whatever you do, even if you’re in Germany, don’t watch the George Clooney film ‘The Good German’! It’s scheisse!

Our final day was spent in the lovely little town of St. Blasien. The town’s claim to fame is that its church has the third biggest dome in the world. Now, we’ve seen so many towns claiming to have the biggest of this, the longest of that and the deepest of the other that we’re getting rather sceptical! But the church with its stark white interior was admittedly pretty impressive.

Although the weather was mixed, we had a great week in Germany with Mum and Dad and it was a very picturesque and friendly area. After a bit of van cleaning we said our goodbyes and headed for Lake Constance. 10 minutes later we were sat at the side of a busy A-road as lorries roared past our little red warning triangle...

Four lakes, one huge gorge, and some Alps!

2010-09-22T09:57:00.015+01:00

View July 23rd - August 3rd 2010 in a larger map

After a week in the lap of luxury in a proper house, we headed on to somewhere that Alex’s dad had recommended - the Gorges du Verdon. This area of Provence is full of colour at this time of year, with fields of lavender and sunflowers dotting the countryside and making for a stunning drive.

The Gorges du Verdon is sometimes referred to as Europe’s Grand Canyon, and the area is simply breathtaking. The river Verdon has cut a huge tear in the limestone hills which runs for 25km and is some 700m deep in places. You can drive all the way around the rim on some of the best roads we’ve seen. They’re spectacular and a little hairy in places especially if, like Alex, you suffer from vertigo!

At the end of the gorge the river flows into the Lac de Sainte-Croix, another beautiful sight with its striking turquoise-green water. It’s a popular spot, and for good reason. The warm water in the lake is great for swimming and messing about in boats. We loved it and spent a few days in the area. After driving around the gorge and taking a huge number of photos, we hired a canoe on the lake and paddled part of the way up the gorge (along with hoards of other holidaymakers in brightly coloured pedelos, canoes, and motorboats).

From here we started our journey north, heading for a rendez-vous with David’s parents in Germany. Our route skirted the French Alps and some magnificent mountain scenery. We passed through the area last summer and agreed that we had to go back to explore it properly.

The city of Grenoble is situated at the confluence of 2 rivers (the Drac and Isere) and a fortress looks out across the city from the hill above. We’d heard that you could wild camp just next to the fortress so we headed up the very steep and narrow access road. There was a bit of a panic when we thought the van wouldn’t make it up the hill, but we arrived safely and were able to get the cable car down into the city centre.

Grenoble was at the centre of the resistance movement during the Second World War, and today it houses the Museum of Resistance and Deportation. The museum tells the story of the small resistance groups in the region, and the bravery of those who risked their lives to fight the Nazis. It was only towards the end of the war that they began to receive air drops from the allied forces to help them in their missions.

While in Grenoble we made a concerted effort to expand our rather limited menu! We don’t have an oven or a microwave in the van, and we’re on a tight budget so eating out is a rare treat. So far we’ve managed quite well on a menu of light, summery, Mediterranean dishes like leak and potato soup, bangers and mash, and shepherd’s pie! So, having put the word out for new easy recipes, we tried out Simon’s Paella and Mum’s Liver and Bacon. And we still can’t work out why we’re putting on weight!

We headed north from Grenoble and past Lac de Bourget, the largest freshwater lake in France near the spa town of Aix les Bains. From here it was on to a place we visited last summer and fell in love with - the little town of Annecy and the lake with the same name.

Surrounded by mountains, the lake and town are typical picture-postcard alpine scenes, and even the large number of tourists can’t spoil the wonderful atmosphere. We drove around the lake on a hot Saturday and it seemed that anywhere big enough to lie down was good enough for a quick sunbathe, even the pavement!

The town centre is a maze of alleyways, canals and historic buildings, it’s a great place to wander or to sit and watch the world go by. We found a spot to camp next to the lake with a view across to the town. Unfortunately the road we parked next to turned out to be a little busier than we thought, and it was only at 3am we realised we were quite close to the local nightclub as well!

We seemed to leave the good weather behind us as we passed from France into Switzerland. Driving along little country roads, we didn’t even realise we were in Switzerland at first!

We headed straight to Lake Geneva and found a good place to park for the night just outside the city on the banks of the lake. It was Swiss national day so a huge fair was set up in Geneva and we had a great view of the fireworks displays taking place around the lake that evening. The only problem was the weather - it rained constantly! After a very soggy walk into the city the following day, we decided to cut our losses and move on.

If you ever drive to Switzerland it’s worth knowing about the vignette. Rather than road tolls, to drive on the main roads and motorways you have to purchase a sticker and place it in your windscreen. The only issue is that there’s only one year-long pass available costing 30 euros. So if you’re passing through and only in the country for 2 days (as we were) it’s a bit of a bugger!

From Switzerland, it was on to Germany and the lovely city of Laufenburg. A small town in reality, Laufenburg faces a similar city of the same name across the river Rhine in Switzerland. Laufenburg was in fact one city until Napolean divided it and made the Rhine the border in the 1800s. The two cities are connected by a bridge so it does feel like one town, but the national flags remind you exactly which country you’re in.

Next time –Ellis week!

Gîte Week

2010-09-10T11:12:00.017+01:00

On 16th July our friends Neil and Simon flew out to join us for a week in Russan, about 20 minutes from Nimes in southern France.

The house we rented was fantastic and only cost £250 for the week – a bargain considering its location and the standard of the accommodation (click here for further details). ‘La Forge’ is right on the village square and has a balcony perfect for sitting in the evening sun and watching the world go by.

It was great to see our friends again after 6 months on the road, and a fair bit of drinking was done! During the week we actually had to make a couple of trips to the bottle bank to make space in the kitchen and avoid any embarrassment when we left!!

After a day relaxing at the house we set out to see some of the sights in the area. Now, when we say ‘in the area’ we actually mean ‘in France’ as our first trip turned out to be a bit of an epic which showed our route planning skills to be... well... completely useless! 8 hours travelling in the van is a long time! Hats off to our guests for not jumping ship by lunchtime (especially with the hangovers we’d collected from the previous evening!) The map below shows the route we took.

View A rather long day out in a larger map

Our first stop was the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon which is rather famous for its cheese. We visited one of the famous cheese houses and learnt all about how roquefort is made on the free tour. One of the strange facts we discovered is where the blue mould comes from. Each year a special batch of rye bread is made. It’s baked at a high temperature for a short time and then left for mould to develop inside. The bread is then broken open and a tiny amount of this mould, Penicillium roquefort, is used to develop the blue veins in each cheese.

From Roquefort it was a short drive to see the fantastic viaduct at Millau. Designed by the British architect Norman Foster, this bridge is the tallest in the world (343 metres at its highest point) and it carries the main motorway from Paris to Montpellier for 2.5km across the Tarn valley. It’s an amazing sight and has become quite a tourist attraction in its own right.

We then planned to follow the route of the river Tarn along the famous gorges, but after half an hour of bumpy, twisty roads we decided to head for home. Unfortunately home turned out to be 3 and a half hours away! So a very long day, but we were pleased with the things we’d seen in the end.

The next day was spent relaxing by the river Gard at nearby Collias, where we went down the ‘rapids’ on Neil’s company lilo (which has travelled further than we have all told!). The following day we returned to hire canoes for the day. We spent a few hours gently paddling downstream – hardly difficult when the water in the rapids is only a few inches deep! There were some great spots of deeper water for swimming and jumping off the rocks though.

Near the end of the trip we passed under the Pont du Gard, one of France’s most famous landmarks. Built by the Romans in the first century AD, the bridge was part of an aqueduct that carried fresh water for 50km from Uzes to Nimes. To say its 2000 years old, it’s survived rather well.

Our last day in Russan marked the start of the 4 day village fete, which included various events. The most interesting was the Bull Run, still a big tradition in the area around the Carmague in southern France. The route through the village went directly under our balcony so we had great front row seats! It certainly wasn’t what you might expect from a bull run. During the afternoon a number of bulls were escorted along the route by men on horseback.

Nobody risked their lives by running in front of the bulls, although a few of the village lads did try unsuccessfully to jump on the back of a bull and ride it. The bulls didn’t seem stressed or ill treated and the whole thing appeared to be an act, with the animals quite used to the show and knowing what was expected of them.

Once the bull run was over, the party started. A fair had been set up in the village square, along with a stage for the band and dancing which went on until the early hours. It was a lovely day, very interesting, and it was great to see so many people, particularly the young ones, taking part in and supporting the fete in such a small village.

Our week in Russan passed all too quickly and we’d highly recommend the house and area to anyone. We made good use of the facilities– especially the washing machine and wifi – and were ready to face another few weeks on the road when we left. Next time, the Verdon gorges, the Alps, Switzerland and Germany!

Planes, sprains and a carnival

2010-08-01T13:37:00.012+01:00

View July 1st - 16th 2010 in a larger map

The dog’s put her back out chasing sticks! Honestly -kids! One moment she’s bounding about like a mad thing, the next she’s hobbling along like she’s broken her back! And that’s what we were afraid she’d done until the doggie doctor put us straight, right before he robbed us blind of nearly €60 for his diagnosis – murder!

Apparently she’s twisted or sprained something and needs complete rest for 2 weeks. She has to be lifted into and out of the van and is only allowed out for quick toilet breaks. So, as you can imagine, we have one very bored pooch indeed. She’s climbing the walls and dying to tear about outside!

It doesn’t help matters that it’s 36 degrees in the van - quite uncomfortable for her and for us, and making it very difficult for us to leave her and actually do anything. So quite a frustrating fortnight all in all, but we’ve still been on a tour of an aeroplane factory, cycled along part of the Canal du Midi, and seen quite an amusing procession of French floats.

But we start with Andorra, which has been described as a dual carriageway with shopping centres along it. That’s not a bad description actually when you first pass into Andorra from Spain and travel to the capital, Andorra la Vella. But as soon as you leave the main road it’s a different story. The scenery is magnificent. We spent a day walking around a lake near the capital and wild camped in a beautiful deserted valley.

We did stop briefly for a quick booze shop – a little more quality Italian gin than customs would officially allow! A good job we weren’t searched when passing into France.

Our first stop in France was the interesting little town of Ax les Thermes. Famous as a spa town, there are 13 hot springs in the town centre that spurt water out at 70 degrees. There’s a pool in the town square where you can dip your feet in the healing waters and it’s really quite relaxing. You may think twice when you realise it’s called the leper pool, but don’t let that put you off!!

After another night camped in amazing scenery, we drove across the foothills of the Pyrennes - lady Tom Tom taking us the scenic route via miles of single track roads with hairpin bends! We eventually emerged near Foix, where the dog overdid it with sticks! The next day, once the vet had delivered his prognosis and Charlie was sat with all four feet up, we had a wander around Foix. It’s a lovely little town with some great views and a curious castle that has three very different towers.

The next day we were in Toulouse early for a very special visit... a guided tour of the Airbus 380 factory. If you’re ever in this area you must go! It’s a high security area, so we’ve got no photos unfortunately. The tour began in a mock up of the flight control centre used during the planes’ test flights. You’re shown video of the flight and are told all about the plane’s history, development, instruments, and test flights. We were then bussed out to the production line and watched 3 of the planes being built from an observation platform 40 metres above. Each plane already had the logo of the airline buying the plane on the tail fin – Air France, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa. Another 6 were parked outside which were undergoing final checks and test flights.

A couple of facts – The Airbus 380 is a new double decker plane that’s able to carry over 600 people. Pieces of the plane are made in France, Germany, Spain and the UK and then shipped to Toulouse to be assembled. And they have quite a journey! For example, the wings are made in the UK and shipped via Airbus ferry to France where they are unloaded and moved by barge up a river. They’re then transferred to a road convoy which travels through the night to the factory on roads adapted for it. It was good to see that the most important parts - the wings and the Rolls Royce engines - are built in the UK! It was an amazing and awe inspiring visit and great to see a world leading European collaboration – the EU isn’t just about straight bananas you know!

From Toulouse we followed the path of the Canal du Midi towards the Mediterranean. The canal was the brain child of Pierre Paul Riquet. It opened in 1681, tragically 6 months after his death, and links the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The canal is lined with trees on either side at 2 metre intervals to provide shade and thus minimise water evaporation. We found a couple of lovely overnight spots right next to the canal and the shade was very welcome! You may remember seeing Rick Stein cooking his way along the Canal du Midi a few years ago!

Whilst in this area we also visited Carcassone, the largest fortress in Europe. There have been fortifications on the site since the 13thcentury but in the 1800s it was deserted and in ruins. The architect Viollet le Duc fought to restore the site to its former glory, and rebuilt it as it was under Louis IX. It looks like the typical fairytale castle - like the one in Shrek! It’s an amazing place and we really enjoyed wandering around for a couple of days.

Unfortunately, we also had a bit of a bump in Carcassonne when David reversed into a rock and a bit of trim came off! It’s fair to say we were both a little annoyed. We’d only had the front bumper looked at the day before following our knock with the diddy-van in Spain!

After visiting Narbonne and Bezier, both very nice small cities, we arrived in Agde on what turned out to be the day of their summer carnival. The parade was supposed to pass through the town at 9pm so people lined the street excitedly to watch it. A lot of people, and disappointed children, had drifted away when the procession finally arrived... at 11.30pm! Perhaps someone had underestimated its average speed, which was around 0.01 miles per hour!

There were some great floats, each pulled by a little tractor, and some fantastic little brass bands playing. The local farmers’ wives were obviously in competition to win the prize for the best float. Some of them were sat at the front of their creations, not looking proud, wearing fancy dress, or waving or smiling - just sucking furiously on a tab! Obviously an important and nerve wracking occasion!

We spent a couple of hours on the beach near Cap D’Agde, where motorhomes lined the coast road next to the beach for several miles – a popular spot. We then headed inland for a couple of relaxing days by Lac de Salagou before travelling on towards Nimes to meet up with a couple of friends for a week. Next time – Gîte Week!

Barcelona, Big Bangs and a Break In

2010-07-20T06:55:00.008+01:00

View June 20th - 30th 2010 in a larger map

Heading at our leisurely pace towards Barcelona, we stopped for a couple of nights in the Montseny region, about an hour south west of Girona. We camped at Collformic, at the head of a mountain pass, and from there walked up ‘Matagalls’. The cloud came in as we neared the summit so it was not unlike a spring walk in the Lake District! But we managed another outdoor shower when we got back to the van – something I doubt you’d get away with in the Lakes!

We arrived in Barcelona on 23rd June – the night of the St Joan celebrations. The Dia de Sant Joan is a bank holiday in Catalonia and celebrates the summer solstice. It’s celebrated, much like everything in Spain, with LOTS of fireworks and bonfires. We were a little distressed to find that none of the fireworks were stored safely in a biscuit tin! In fact many of the fireworks were purchased and then immediately thrown by fathers at their young children! We can only assume that this was an attempt to test their reflexes, but Spanish 5 year olds can run!!

We parked in a quiet back street during the afternoon where we thought we’d stay the night, but as night fell the noise got louder and louder. We’d like to have investigated further and attended one of the organised events across the city but Charlie is rather a wimp and spent those first few hours cowering in absolute terror. We didn’t think it fair to leave her in what sounded like a war zone and instead headed back to the peace and quiet of Montserrat for the night.

The next day we headed back to Barcelona and started our sightseeing proper. We had a walk around the gothic quarter of the city and the famous Ramblas (the name comes from the Arabic word for river as one used to flow here). We were parked near the seafront to the north of the city centre, so that night we went for a bike ride right along the front. There’s such a great atmosphere there with families and friends out promenading (still a popular evening pastime here), eating and drinking until late.

Barcelona is quite a sprawl so we used the city sightseeing bus to get around and see the sights quickly. Unfortunately when we got back to the van one lunchtime we found that someone had broken in and we’d been burgled! It was quite a shock to find all our belongings pulled out of cupboards and rummaged through. Charlie was in the van at the time so we can only imagine what happened there. She’s hardly guard dog material and probably spent the whole time in her hidey-hole by the footwell! David’s Nintendo and games were the only things taken so we seem to have come out of the whole experience fairly well. It could have been a lot worse.

Despite the natural impulse to get as far away as possible, we decided this wasn’t going to spoil our enjoyment of the city. We found a new place to stop, went clothes shopping to cheer ourselves up, and went out partying until early the next morning. In fact we enjoyed the nightlife so much we went out for 3 nights in a row! Things don’t get going in Spain until late – most people head out at midnight and many of the clubs don’t open until 3am. So we’d just left the dog tucked up in bed at 1am when we received a phone call from Daxa and Bex who’d just got in from the pub!

Our new parking place was the car park of the Catalonia Art Museum, on the hill of Mont Juic. It was very handy for the city centre, with outdoor escalators taking you down to Placa de Espanya. Unbeknown to us beforehand, we were in Barcelona when the annual Pride celebrations were taking place. So we watched the amazing parade and enjoyed the street party afterwards. The acts on the main stage were hardly big names. It seemed as though the runners up of the Spanish X-Factor were being given the chance to perform their ‘straight to bargain-bin’ singles! At one point someone turned to David and in a very camp voice asked ¿Quién está? (Who is this?!). Great fun though, and we only had to catch an escalator home!

The area we stayed in was first developed for the Great Exhibition in 1928. As well as being home to the National Art Museum of Catalonia, there’s the Poble Espanyol (a miniature version of Spain), and the Magic Fountain! Having spent many years in disrepair, the fountains have now been fully restored and crowds gather every evening to see the amazing fountain show which is accompanied by music tracks by Terrence Trent D’Arby and Craig David, amongst others!! Further development of the area took place when the stadium was refurbished for the 1992 Olympic Games. The Olympic sites are quite amazing. The open air diving pools sit on the hillside, giving spectators amazing views across the whole city.

After the excesses of Barcelona it was time to head for the hills! Well, the foothills of the Catalonian Pyrenees to be precise. It was great to reach some cooler temperatures after the stifling heat of Barcelona. We spent 2 nights in the tiny village of Ogassa, where we were able to get fresh water from the mountain springs. We also did a great walk following the route of the old railway line to Sant Joan de les Abadesses, with its medieval centre and monastery.

This was also a time for home improvements. Our first job was the shower. You may remember us saying that we couldn’t use the shower in our van. Well, we can now. It’s cramped to say the least, and the shower curtain does tend to stick to your buttocks! But at least we don’t have to rely on expensive campsites over the summer. We’ve been using the ACSI campsite guide for all our campsite stops. It’s a great bargain. For £12 you get a card that allows you to use the sites for 11, 13 or 15 euros a night out of season. Prices in July and August rocket - we’d expect to pay €30 or more – so being able to use the shower in the van will make a real difference.

Having fixed the shower, we suffered a toilet malfunction! But we’ll spare you the details of that little episode! It wasn’t pretty!

We’re reading the Rough Guide to Spain for advice on where to go and what to see, but it does seem rather obsessed with churches. Wherever you go, it seems determined that you visit every one in the area. Needless to say, we’re not always doing as we’re told by the Rough Guide!

Another frustration is with Tourist Information Offices - and this seems to be the case Europe-wide. Many are very good, but that tends to be the case when they’re quiet. Tourists would have to be queuing out the door, up the road, and into the next town however before they’d allow you to help yourself to a town map! This seems to be because the staff would have little to do if they weren’t able to hand you a map and scribble on it in Bic biro! It always amuses us that they feel they have to circle the big ‘i’ on the map (universal symbol for ‘information’) to show you exactly where you already know you are!

Our last day in Spain was spent travelling on the rack railway from Ribes de Freser up through the mountains to the ‘Sanctuary of Our Lady of Nuria’, and walking back down. Of all the religious relics and traditions we’ve seen so far, Nuria has to take top prize for the most bizarre. To cut a long story short, you’re supposed to kneel and put your head in a cauldron, apparently used by St Giles in the 1st century to cook for the local shepherds, while someone rings a bell above your head. Enough said!

After 9 fantastic weeks in Spain, it was time to head for France and a rendez-vous with friends near Nimes in a couple of weeks time. Next stop – Andorra!

White Week!

2010-07-14T15:49:00.007+01:00

On the 13th July the White clan (Alex’s parents and sister) flew in to Girona airport to join us for a week. We all stayed at a rented villa in L’Escala, which we managed to get for a bargain price. It was our first proper bed for 4 months and had, amongst other things.... A POOL AND SATELLITE TV! Such luxury! It was quite funny to see us all watching the 6 o’clock news together, tutting and criticising things again – nothing changes!

L’Escala is at the southern end of the bay of Roses, not far from the French border. It’s a low key resort that’s popular with the Spanish. The town stretches for a couple of miles along the coast and takes in a number of good beaches, including a couple of small cove beaches with shallow waters that are perfect for snorkelling.

The area was considered the gateway to the Iberian Peninsula by both the Greeks and Romans and the remains of towns left by both sit just north of L’Escala at Empurias. We wandered around the ‘ruinas romanas’ one sunny afternoon but they’re not the most exciting of ruins. It’s hard to imagine what buildings would have looked like when there’s only a small piece of floor left!

Alex’s Dad was determined that he remember when they last bought him here... in 1975... when he was 3 months old! Apparently they also visited Andorra back then, but Alex doesn’t remember that either. Alex’s Mum remembers Andorra for her own reasons - don’t worry Mum; that story about the gin is safe with us!

Girona is a beautiful city that’s often overlooked. Most people head straight for the coast once they’ve landed at the airport here. But the city has a warren of medieval streets and alleyways and a very laid back atmosphere. The enormous cathedral also has the largest gothic nave in Europe fact fans!

As well as a Lidl, most towns we visit seem to have a tourist train with an amusing commentary. The one in Girona was well worth a trip. When passing a pile of old rubble we were informed that this was a tower destroyed by the French back in 1809 and, ‘as you can see, it has not yet been restored’. It didn’t look as though this would be happening any time soon!

Another place that’s definitely worth visiting is the Dali museum at Figueres. Dali was born here in 1904 and spent much of his later life in the area. Dali himself oversaw development of the museum in the town’s former theatre and it was inaugurated in 1974. At the end of his life Dali moved into a tower adjoining the museum and his tomb is now housed in the centre of the building. A museum is probably the last thing you would call the place. The whole building is an exhibit, from the 3D portrait of Mae West to the 1950s Cadillac. Even if you have no interest in modern art it’s definitely one to see, although you need to get there at 9.30 when it opens. As the second most visited museum in Spain (a prize for anyone guessing the first), the crowds soon get overwhelming.

The best thing about being at the villa was spending time in and around the outdoor pool! Charlie managed to fall in a few times and struggled to get out – the homemade dog ramp made of sun loungers not really working in practice! Charlie was lucky enough to have a professional haircut this week after the ‘success’ that was her first home cut – thankfully the dog groomer didn’t laugh when we took her in.

If you’re going out for a meal in Spain and want to try authentic local cuisine rather than the ‘prepared for tourists’ menu, you only need to seek out the restaurant full of locals. We’ve found they provide the best meals by far and at great value. We enjoyed a fantastic three course meal with wine, bread and coffee for just €8.50 each. In fact there was so much food that not a single course was completely finished! Go with the Menu del Dia (set menu of the day) and you can’t go far wrong. It’s worth knowing the Spanish for tripe though and keeping an eye out for it!

One rather dull evening was spent in front of the TV watching England draw against Algeria in the World Cup. The less said about what happened next the better. Thank god we were too busy sight-seeing in Barcelona to watch the Germany game.

On our last day together we enjoyed a trip along the coast in a glass bottomed boat. It was a shame that the only thing we could see through the glass bottom was rather murky water! But the crew did bring along a tray of fish which they threw out to the seagulls. It was amazing to see hundreds of them flying behind the boat and catching the fish in mid-air.

All in all it was a great week and just what we needed before hitting the road again. We were assured that we hadn’t gone strange (or at least any stranger!) after 4 months with just each other and a dog for company! Although whether this will be the case when we return at Christmas remains to be seen. So with everything freshly laundered and the van cleaned inside and out, we deposited the White’s at Girona airport and set out for Barcelona!

Seagulls, Sex and Princess Di

2010-07-11T11:03:00.017+01:00

View May 25th - June 12th in a larger map

Once upon a time, well... 6 months ago, Alex worked with a couple of rather marvellous self proclaimed ‘web witches’! These fountains of all web knowledge said a blog should be updated regularly to be relevant and interesting. Oh dear! We’re falling behind with ours. About 7 weeks behind in fact. But you’ll be pleased to know we’re on the case and should be right up to date in a few days time.

So what happened 7 weeks ago? Well we spent a good week travelling backwards and forwards along the stretch of coast between La Marina and Benidorm so we could see all the sights.

One of our jaunts inland was to the 16th century castle village of Guadalest, perched on a hill top in the mountains an hour from Benidorm. You enter through a tunnel carved out of the rock and look out over a brilliant turquoise-blue reservoir. Having spent a couple of hours wandering around we thought we’d drive around the reservoir and find a nice spot for lunch. Unfortunately the narrow road that wound its way around the reservoir provided no scenic lunch spots. It just ended in the middle of a tiny village square, and a rather embarrassing 27-point turn was needed to get us out again!

On the journey back to the coast we stopped for a while at the Fonts de Algar, which were used as a location in the ITV comedy series, Benidorm. It’s a series of waterfalls and pools where you can swim, relax and escape the heat and craziness of the nearby coast. It’s a lovely spot and the dog was happy as she was allowed in to cool off too.

At this point we headed back down the coast to Alicante for a great night out on the town. One of the bars we visited had a picture of Princess Diana above the bar which lit up, to our great amusement! Needless to say, this classy venue played a lot of trashy Euro-disco (and Spagna - remember her?!). We were parked right next to the beach, 5 minutes from the town centre. So at the end of a great night we sat on Alicante beach watching the sun come up with a couple of brandies – heaven! Waking up at 11am with horrendous hangovers... in a furnace... parked next to a packed beach - well, that was quite the opposite! Alicante really surprised us and, much like Faro in Portugal, was not the nightmare tourist beach resort we were expecting.

Having recovered from Alicante hangover hell, we took a journey south to meet up with June and Granville, David’s aunt and uncle. They have a house near Los Montesinos and it was great to see some friendly faces and catch up on all the news. We had a lovely meal out at a favourite local restaurant (that did a great Tiramisu!) and sat chatting for hours.

Having travelled north again, we stopped at the resort town of Calpe, just around the coast from Benidorm. The coast forms a point here that ends in a rocky outcrop called the Peñon de Ifach. The rock has been declared a nature reserve to keep the developers away, and you can follow a slippery footpath through a tunnel and up the side to the top. It was a good walk... apart from the ‘killer’ seagulls!! The Peñon is the main nesting ground of the local seagull population and in the spring they can get quite aggressive defending their young from predators. We spent quite a bit of the walk being swooped by birds, ducking for cover, and shrieking like middle-aged women!

A couple of days later we stopped at the ancient town of Xativa, halfway between Benidorm and Valencia. This beautiful town has a lot of history and an unspoilt Spanish feel. We arrived on market day and spent a couple of hours wandering around the stalls that are spread through the town’s streets and squares. We’d highly recommend Xativa to anyone holidaying on the Costa Blanca.

Now, there are two very different things on sale at the roadside in Spain – namely oranges and sex! We bought neither! But we couldn’t help noticing the orange vendors (that is, people selling oranges), and the scantily clad ladies sat right at the roadside. Both looked a little wizened and past their best!

Back in 1998 David lived for six months in the beautiful city of Valencia (above Burger King) as part of his degree in European Studies. We spent a few days in and around the city, and wild camped in the business district! As strange as this might sound, it was brilliant! The area was deserted as we visited over a weekend, and we were just 10 minutes from the city centre. So we had another good night on the town – although Princess Diana didn’t put in an appearance!

The city was preparing for the European Grand Prix when we visited. A street circuit was being prepared close to the harbour - the stands were going up and you could make out the starting grid on the road. It’s a strange experience to drive around a formula one track in a campervan!

Valencia suffered terrible flooding back in 1953 and as a result the river Turia was diverted away from the city. The riverbed, which curls around the city centre, has been turned into a fantastic urban park complete with cycle tracks, sports pitches, fountains, adventure playground, concert hall, zoo, and an amazing science park. It’s a fantastic place and we really enjoyed cycling around it for a couple of hours.

A lot of Spain’s coast is backed by mountains and beautiful scenery. We’ve been surprised at how green and fresh it looks as much of this side of the country is little more than desert over the summer months. We witnessed a forest fire raging up a hillside near the town of Aguilas, and helicopters ferrying huge buckets of water to douse the flames- a scary sight

The approach to the medieval fortress town of Morella is stunning. The road winds its way through the hills until the town appears, huddled around a steep hillside and crowned by its castle. Sadly there’s little left of the castle and what remains is little more than rubble. A few rooms have been restored but they’re currently empty – a missed opportunity to explain some of the site’s history. But the views from the courtyard at the top are fantastic, looking out across the hills and down to the town with its little bull ring and substantial defensive walls.

There’s a good motorhome aire at Morella with impressive views of the town and its surroundings. We gave the van a much needed wash here, ignoring the sign telling us we’d be punished by the Mayor if we did!

The mountain of Montserrat sits about an hour inland of Barcelona. The mountain is beautiful and looks quite unusual – sharp fingers of rock pointing skywards like sharp teeth. We found an excellent place to camp here that will almost certainly be amongst our favourites of the whole trip. Have a look at the ‘Where We’ve Been’ map if you want to see exactly where this is.

Montserrat is famous for its monastery and the small black statue that lead to its creation. Saint Peter is said to have hidden ‘La Moreneta’, a carving of the Virgin by Saint Luke, in a mountain cave here 50 years after the birth of Christ. Legend surrounds the sculpture and the area is now a major pilgrimage and tourist centre. The statue sits high above the church altar and a long line of people were waiting to stand before it for a few moments when we visited.

Montserrat is on our highly recommended list as it’s a really magical place with a lot to see, aside from the monastery. The ruins of 13 hermitages lie in the surrounding hills, linked by miles of good footpath; there are two funicular railways, a cable car and a tram! We didn’t know it at the time but we’d be back – due to St Joan and some rather big bangs...

Castles, crusties, and Cannon and Ball!

2010-06-11T10:42:00.016+01:00

View May 11th - 24th 2010 in a larger map

Crikey, it’s been a while since we’ve been in touch hasn’t it?! Fear not; we’ve not been abducted by Aliens, or gone into business selling dodgy Spanish timeshares. We’re simply sitting back, enjoying ourselves, and being incredibly lazy!

So, what have we been up to in the last 4 weeks? Not a great deal is the honest answer. We’ve spent a lot of time on different beaches, visited a lot of castles (well they are so Moorish), and drunk a lot of fine wine (ahem!). We’ve also covered a lot of ground (from Granada in Andalucia to Barcelona) but we’ll only cover half of it in this post.

When we left you we were heading for Granada, which is a beautiful city with an impressive history. The Moors arrived in Spain from North Africa in 710AD and conquered nearly all of the Iberian Peninsula. Granada was the centre of Moorish Spain and the last place to be reconquered by the Christians in 1492.

The main reason for visiting Granada is the Alhambra. Not to be confused with the famous Bradford theatre (it’s unlikely Cannon and Ball will be appearing in Panto here anytime soon) the Alhambra is one of the most stunning monuments in all of Spain. The buildings and gardens here date from a number of different periods in history. You can see a beautiful Moorish palace, the earlier Moorish castle, and the later 16th century palace of King Carlos V. The gardens are amazing and cover a large area. We spent half a day wandering around the many sights, but you really do need at least a full day to really appreciate it all.

Just south of Granada is Spain’s highest mountain range – the Sierra Nevada. We drove up to the ski resort here for just one night but it’s quite a dingy place out of season, although it’s still very cold. We had the heating on for the first time in months! Recently we’ve been enjoying temperatures of 30 degrees during the day and 27 degrees at night, so it was quite a shock to the system to drive for an hour and have icicles hanging off the van!

On the south side of the Sierra Nevada are the great valleys of the Alpujarra region. This was a great area to spend a few days, and to get some proper walking done. The area is dotted with whitewashed little picturesque villages which are high up in the mountains and serve some rather tasty local dishes!

Capileira hangs on the steep edge of a gorge and marks the end of ‘Europe’s highest road’ – the seasonal road across the heart of the Sierra Nevada. The wild camping spot we found near here was perhaps the best so far, with spectacular views up to the snow capped mountains and down into the deep valleys below.

David had his first proper haircut in 5 years in Orjiva, a larger town further down the hillside. Jorge managed to do a decent job whilst giving a full account of his life so far! He also talked about the rather large ‘new age’ population (ie crusty old hippies!) that the area has attracted. You don’t have to go far in Orjiva to notice clapped out vans, dogs on string, or people who look like they last saw a shower sometime in 1987 rummaging through rubbish bins!

Another curious sight in many of the towns and villages we’ve visited is the outdoor gym. Presumably these have been installed by the local council in an effort to get the local residents to do more exercise. But we’ve barely seen anyone trying out the colourfully painted gym equipment. Perhaps people have more sense than to work out in full view of their neighbours using bright yellow equipment that’s positioned right next to a main road?!

We spent our last peaceful night in the Alpujarra by a reservoir, but were rudely awoken the next morning by the council’s grass-cutting team! We moved on fairly quickly – a team of burley men with strimmers and safety cones is a little intimidating. We’d just set off when el Cannon and Ball came careering around the corner in front of us on the wrong side of the road in a little diddy-van! We managed the perfect British emergency stop, but unfortunately Cannon and Ball didn’t appear to have any brakes at all and bounced off our front bumper! Everyone was fine, although a little shaken. The diddy-van came off worst, but the owners didn’t seem to mind and were surprised that we even wanted their insurance details!

We hit the coast again at the Costa del Almeria and began the journey up Spain’s eastern coast. There are some great little cove beaches along this stretch – far away from the development of the more popular costas. The weather was great so we spent quite a while on the beach, throwing the occasional stick so the dog could cool off in the sea!

We stumbled across a campsite here that was more ‘Little Britain’ than Spain. Many of the people were staying long term, and the site seemed to have been developed to ensure they never had to leave the grounds and interact with Spanish people! The little shop stocked everything from Oxo to the Daily Express, the hairdresser parked her ladies outside in the sun while their hair cooked, and there were posters everywhere advertising ‘Line Dancing with Keith’ and the entertainment for the following Saturday night. Our disappointment at not being around for that was helped by hearing the ‘turn’ rehearsing that afternoon by murdering a few Whitney Houston classics! We did however indulge in that evening’s ‘Curry Night’ – it was pretty good!

As we moved along the coast towards the Costa Blanca it was great to still find nice little villages and quiet beaches. At La Marina we were able to camp close to a great beach so we ended up going back a few times - it did have a British butcher called Mr Lamb!( isn’t he in Happy Families!?). We did seem to find ourselves stumbling across nudist beaches though! It’s quite odd walking along a family beach and coming to a man at the water’s edge with his hands on his hips, wearing nothing but a smile!

That’s all for now, but we’ll be in touch again soon!

Boobs, Bond and Gorges!

2010-05-11T15:30:00.021+01:00

View April 27th - May 10th 2010 in a larger map

It’s official. We’ve now been away for over 3 months. We’ve had over 80 nights in our little van, travelled nearly 5000 miles, and we love it more and more.

But what have we learnt from our time on the road? Well, Lidl is everywhere! You can pretty much guarantee that it’s the first thing you see when driving into any town. And they sell exactly the same things, laid out in exactly the same way, in every store – from Knaresborough to Albufeira! So it’s been Mr Choc, Master Crumble and Opti-dog all the way (one for all you Lidl regulars out there!)

It’s also 2 weeks since we started our journey through Spain. We soon decided to avoid the Costa Del Sol altogether. It’s not really an ideal place for campervans and cocker spaniels, and we’ve seen enough fleshy pink Brits in Portugal (and in the mirror if truth be told!). So we headed away from the coast and into the gentle hills of the Sierra Morena, a mountain range that stretches right across Andalucía. We parked up for the night in Aracena, only to discover the next morning that we were in the A&E car park. They weren’t busy!

The caves in Aracena are the biggest and most spectacular in Spain. The leaflet says of one of the caves; ‘on the right wall a group of stalactites will make us laugh because of their erotic nuances: it is the Hall of Naked!'. The funniest thing in the ‘Hall of Naked’ was David’s voice echoing through the network of caverns and tunnels, ‘it’s like boobs!’. Good job most of our tour party were Spanish!

This area is famous for its pork products so it can perhaps be forgiven for having, as exciting as it sounds, a ham museum! But it was a lovely town and well worth the trip, as was the little town of Zufre, where we camped next to another deserted reservoir and had a good swim.

Now, the less said about our trip to Seville the better. It was very frustrating, very hot (about 32 degrees), and very short (about half an hour!). In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have tried to drive in and we probably gave up a little too early. Anyway, it’s one on our list of places we didn’t see and would like to go back to.

Cadiz on the other hand was wonderful. It’s pretty much an island connected to the mainland by a road and a long beach, and it has a great atmosphere. We spent two days exploring the narrow streets, open squares and historic buildings of its unspoilt old town. It’s a great place to wander – although it seemed to confuse a few of the American tourists who’d just arrived on a cruise ship. One we spoke to asked why the streets weren’t laid out on a simple grid like in the US of A.

We spent a couple of days pottering down the Atlantic coast from Cadiz. This included a stop at the beautiful hilltop town of Vejer de la Fronterra and a brief stop at the cape of Trafalgar, where the famous sea battle took place in 1805. And then we arrived in Tarifa, the most southerly point in Spain. The town itself is nothing special, but the views across the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco with the Atlas Mountains beyond, were stunning. Africa is only half an hour away by ferry and we were surprised at just how close it seemed, especially seeing the houses lit up at night in Tangier.

The next day we arrived in Gibraltar, which has been in British hands since 1705. And it really is an odd place. Once you’ve passed through the busy border post you come to the runway, which crosses the main road in front of you. A set of lights stops the traffic, a plane lands, the lights turn green, and buses, cars, mopeds, bikes, and pedestrians all tear across the runway like a scene from Wacky Races!

On day two we left Charlie in the van and cycled up the rock. It was murder on the way up but we stopped every 10 minutes or so to see the famous tail-less monkeys, visit the caves and tunnels, and admire the view. We then ploughed down it at high speed, like Timothy Dalton circa 1989! Next week we’ll be sledging down a mountain in a cello case!

The journey north from Algeciras to Ronda was recommended in the guidebooks and we’re pleased we took their advice. The road winds its way up through mountains that are dotted with brilliantly whitewashed villages – the Pueblos Blancos or White Towns – that cling to the hillside. Every turn seems to bring another stunning view.

And then you reach Ronda itself, perched high on a clifftop, and famous for the huge gorge that divides the town and the impressive 18th century bridge that spans it.

On the journey east towards Granada we stopped for a while at the truly spectacular Garganta del Chorro. This is a narrow crack in a huge limestone mountain which has a number of hydro electric plants, dams and reservoirs nearby. The first plant, opened in the 1920s, saw a narrow concrete walkway fixed to one side of the gorge, 100s of feet above the river below. The walkway is now in disrepair; sections are missing and it looks like something from an Indiana Jones film. But some brave people still take their lives into their own hands and try to walk along it, despite the fences and danger signs. We, on the other hand, did not! The whole area is beautiful – with turquoise green waters for swimming and hills that provide some great walks and amazing views.

And that just about brings us up to date. We’re now on our way to Granada, after which we’ll head over Spain’s highest mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, and reach the coast beyond the Costa Del Sol at Almeria, where we plan to spend a few days on a quiet beach somewhere.

Until the next time!

Adeus Portugal and hola España!

2010-04-30T11:38:00.012+01:00

View April 17th - 26th 2010 in a larger map

It took a few days and she’s not likely to win Crufts anytime soon, but the dog is now showing off her first home haircut!

We’re already taking bookings!

As we continued our meander along the Algarve, we had an interesting trip to a little chapel near Almancil. The interior of the Igreja de Sao Lourenco is covered in tiled depictions of the life of Portugal’s patron saint, St. Lawrence.

We spent two days looking round Faro, the capital of the Algarve. The city is a really nice surprise and not the tourist mecca you might expect. Defensive walls encircle the small old town, and you can climb the cathedral tower for great views of the city and the mud flats and islands beyond.

The Igreja do Carmo is an interesting church which seems fairly straightforward as you enter. But after paying a euro you go outside to a little chapel decorated with the bones of 1245 monks. The remains were put here after part of the graveyard was built on, and at the time it was considered a way of remembering them. It’s quite eerily impressive.

Faro was also where we, unintentionally, had our most expensive meal. A lot of the restaurants in Portugal sell seafood and fish by the kilo which is fine if you have a clue when it comes to weights and measures! Sadly, we don’t. And when the bill arrived it was quite a surprise to find David had eaten £25 worth of Sea Bream!

Whilst in Faro we decided to go back along the Algarve to do some of the things we’d missed because of the poor weather, the main one being a boat trip along the coast from Lagos to see the caves and rock formations. We did this aboard a colourful sailing boat and were transferred into a little motorboat for the exciting part - darting in and out of the caves.

From Lagos we headed to two of our favourite places visited so far, Ferragudo and Tavira, via the impressive Roman ruins at Milreu.

Ferragudo is a lovely traditional fishing village that’s unspoilt by development. It sits just across the estuary from Praia da Rocha, one of the most developed tourist resorts. We found an excellent place to camp that gave us amazing views of both.

While staying in the beautiful town of Tavira we were lucky enough to catch the end of the Feria de Serra, a festival which saw the town’s riverside gardens filled with stalls selling a wide range of local produce.

The coast in this area is fronted by a series of sandspit islands. Little boats and water-taxis ferry people to and fro so we spent a lovely day on the Ilha de Tavira, with its huge sweep of golden sands.

We spent a fantastic final night in Portugal at the Barragem de Beliche, one of the reservoirs away from the coast. We’re unable to use the shower in our van and, as we were in the middle of nowhere with no one around, we stuck the hose out of the window and had an outdoor shower. It was only later that we spotted the small security camera on a nearby fence! Someone got an eyeful, but we’ve not been arrested yet!

On our last day in Portugal we popped into the border town of Castro Marim where David got into an altercation with a rather rude Frenchman, whilst wearing Marrigolds!

From there, it was ‘adeus’ Portugal and ‘hola’ España!

For a brief look at our top ten of the Algarve, click on the map below.

View Our Algarve Top Ten in a larger map

Storms, ticks and haircuts!

2010-04-16T15:22:00.006+01:00

View April 7th - 16th 2010 in a larger map

Having spent a few days soaking up the sun at some of the beautiful cove beaches on the western Algarve (the beach at Figueira being our absolute favourite), we started to move east.

We’ve seen some of the main package tour destinations on the Algarve this week, including Lagos, Praia da Rocha and Albufeira. There are some gorgeous beaches here, backed by huge red cliffs or lined with beach front cafes. But the amount of development is overwhelming, with villas, hotels and apartments crowded into every available space for miles.

There are some very pretty villages that have managed to escape development and keep their Portuguese feel, where narrow cobbled streets are lined with little houses covered in colourful tiles. On the coast highlights were the little towns of Alvor and Ferragudo, while inland the villages of Silves and Alte were particularly nice.

Away from the coast the land is surprisingly beautiful, with green undulating hills and the smell of orange blossom filling the air. We went for a walk along the river Arade near Silves, where two very persistent hounds followed us for about a mile – disappearing every now and again only to reappear and bark at us from a different angle!

You have to feel very sorry for those who’ve come for a short holiday on the Algarve this week as the weather has been awful. We’ve had several stormy days with rumbling thunder and lightning. We’ve been told that Portugal has actually had its worst winter since the 1890s. Everyone seems a little unsure what to do when it’s raining and only the bravest Brit would attempt a swim in the sea. We visited a large shopping centre near Albufeira one day as a way of killing a few hours and found it filled with tourists milling about looking rather miserable!

Earlier in the week, Alex got his haircut in Lagos by a blind Portuguese barber who couldn’t speak a word of English - interesting choice! This lead us to realise that a bit more protection from the sun was needed, so a number of interesting hats have now been purchased – none of which would be worn at home.

We celebrated Alex’s 25th birthday (ahem!) on the 10th April... by washing the dog in a baby change sink at the campsite!! We’re only staying at campsites every 4 or 5 days, so we had a good day making the most of the Wi-Fi connection and swimming pool before enjoying a good Portuguese meal in the evening on the seafront at Luz.

Charlie still seems to be enjoying herself and is doing a lot of swimming and digging. Unfortunately, we found that she’d brought some stowaways onboard this week – ticks! At this time of year they’re everywhere, waiting to jump onto any passing traffic. Luckily we came prepared and were able to treat her straight away. The next job is to give her a haircut - something we’ve never done ourselves. It could be the second interesting hairdo in as many weeks!

All the way to the end of the earth

2010-04-06T13:19:00.012+01:00

View March 23rd - 6th April 2010 in a larger map

Olá, and greetings from Luz on the Algarve!

We’ve spent the last week or so travelling down the west coast of Portugal to the Algarve. The journey has taken in some fantastic looking beaches, but they were a bit too windswept and pounded by the Atlantic to swim or sunbathe. We’ve seen a lot of surfers braving the cold water and huge swells to show off their skills though this week.

One lovely town we visited was Sesimbra which had a great Moorish castle overlooking it. The dog seemed particularly impressed with the Azulejo, the traditional Portuguese tile work in the church, as she went bounding in before we had a chance to stop her! Good job it was empty!

One evening we came to a road-block a mile or so from our overnight stop which meant a very long detour on a higher road through the Serra da Arrabida. This is a hilly area with fantastic views. One thing that keeps cropping up is the lack of tarmac on many roads; after a nice stretch of smooth road you can suddenly plough onto a gravel track, the dog’s water goes flying and things fly out of the fridge!

We crossed the Sado estuary by ferry at Setubal and headed south along a very windswept coastline. We stopped at Lagoa de Santo Andre, a huge lagoon separated from the sea by a large sandbank. At the campsite here we had our first wash day in about 3 weeks – big mistake! As the weather wasn’t great we ended up with damp socks and pants hanging around for days. Lesson learnt – don’t try to dry 3 loads of washing on the line in the back of the van.

At lunchtime on Sunday a huge crowd of people descended on the village. We headed to the beach and saw that a bulldozer was digging a channel between the lagoon and the sea. As we watched, a digger breached the sandbank and water quickly began emptying from the lagoon. We thought we might paddle across it later in the day. Have a look at the photos and you'll see why we couldn't!! The gap got wider throughout the afternoon and evening and that night the tide came in and started to refill the lagoon. We looked this up online and found that it’s an annual thing carried out for centuries to keep the waters of the lagoon fresh. This year was particularly exciting as the lagoon was the highest it had been for several years.

After another couple of nights we headed inland to escape the wild Atlantic wind for the last part of our journey to Sagres, on the western end of the Algarve. After a night high up in the hills near Monchique, where a begger/street artist swore at the dog in perfect English for reasons unknown, we drove up to Foia. This is the highest peak in the area so you get amazing views out across the Algarve and back up the west coast.

The Portuguese used to consider Sagres and Cabo de Sao Vicente to be the far end of the earth. It was here in the fifteenth century that Prince Henry the Navigator set up his school of navigation and great explorers such as Magellan, Pedro Alvares Cabral, and Vasco da Gama all studied here. Ships were launched each year to explore further, open up trade routes and build the Portuguese empire.

We’ve spent the last few days exploring the beautiful coastline from Sagres to Luz, with its stunning sandy beaches and calmer seas. The weather has been the best yet, with temperatures of up to 20 degrees, and we've also found the rest of the Brits – hundreds of them! The supermarkets are filled with very expensive British goodies and full English breakfasts are served at some of the cafes – a sign of things to come in the bigger resorts further east on the Algarve and in Spain!

Loving Lisbon!

2010-03-23T11:10:00.017Z

View March 14th - 22nd 2010 in a larger map

So when we last blogged we were heading for a night out in Lisbon. Well that was good fun, although quite subdued. As some of you will know, people down in these parts don’t go out until late. Most bars don’t get busy until much after midnight, with clubs open till 7am. It was quite different to a night down at Queens or The New Penny – especially ringing doorbells to get in. We think we ended up in the wrong bar when we were confronted by a room full of teenage goths!

The next day, as we were suffering somewhat with a mysterious headache and Charlie had finished her Dick Francis, we decided to head for some of the spots in the surrounding area. Praia do Guincho near Cascais to the west of Lisbon was our first destination where we found a lovely campsite near a small deserted beach. This was our first chance to dig out the shorts, bikes and barbeque. It was perfect; we’re sure the neighbours didn’t mind the smoke billowing in through their front door! It was so nice we stayed for 2 nights (nothing to do with the hangovers!).

Some of the campsites we have stayed on have had wi-fi hotspots, which is great. This meant that on Mothers Day we were able to call home via Skype, and see the whole Ellis tribe crowded round the laptop on the dining room table, which was really lovely.

We spent a couple of days investigating Sintra, a hill-top town near Lisbon influenced by various monarchs trying to stamp their style on it over the years. It’s quite an amazing place. The Castelo dos Mouros is fantastic; perched on a rocky ridge over the town, the castle was built by the Moors during their occupation then taken over by Alfonso Henriques in 1147 with the help of Scandinavian crusaders. The views from the top were stunning, stretching for miles in every direction, as you can see from the photo.

The Quinta de Regaleira, a house and gardens just outside the town, is a fantastic place. The designer was theatrical set designer Luigi Manini. Everywhere you turn there are amazing follies, fairytale grottos and secret passages at the bottom of spiral staircases that go deep underground.

Both of these attractions would have been declared a health and safety nightmare in the UK. This is one of the things we’ve particularly enjoyed in Portugal so far, the laid back attitude to health and safety. If you fall off a castle wall and break your neck, well you clearly weren´t looking where you were going!

After Sintra we spent a couple of nights camped right by beaches famous in Portugal for surfing.

After a quick stop at the Mouth of Hell, where wild Atlantic waves crash into caves in the cliffs, we headed to the south side of the river Tejo. Our first stop was Cristo Rei, a statue of Jesus inspired by the one in the city of Rio and promised to god by the local church if Portugal was spared from the horrors of the second world war. It was, so this monument was built in the 50s and stands just across the river from the city of Lisbon, providing amazing views from the top on a clear day.

Next we visited the favourite beach resort of many Lisbon residents – Caparica. We had hoped to spend another night camped by the beach, but after stumbling across ... well let’s just call it a dodgy beach car park!... we decided to stay in the safety of a local campsite!

The next day we drove back across the amazing ‘25 April’ bridge, which connects Lisbon with the south side of the river. If this looks familiar, it’s because it was designed by the same people who built the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco. When it was opened in the 60s it was named after the dictator of the time – Salazar - but it was quickly renamed to mark the date of the regime’s fall in 1974.

The following three days were spent exploring the centre of Lisbon, a city we have completely fallen in love with and would highly recommend. As we write this (23/3), we’re still unsure if we’re moving on tomorrow as we could happily spend a lot more time here. Rather than bore you with details of every attraction we’ve seen, here are a couple of highlights. If you want more detail, we´ll update the photo album shortly – you should find a link to this further down the page on the right hand-side.

The centre of Lisbon is spread across several hills and valleys but it has an outstanding public transport network that links the different districts. The trams, funicular railways and lifts that work so well have become tourist attractions in themselves. Flying up and down tiny, narrow, winding streets on tram number 28 was definitely one of our highlights. We could have spent the whole day going round on this!

It is a very attractive city with many interesting buildings and sunny squares full of character where people enjoy watching the world go by with a friend and a drink. They certainly have the weather for it; it’s been about 18 degrees, making it the perfect time to visit.

The Rough Guide says ‘it’s hard not to see the city as an urban funfair’. We’d certainly agree and if we do leave tomorrow, we’ll certainly be coming back at some point.

Episode VII, in which not a lot happens... apart from Spain

2010-03-14T18:23:00.007Z

View March 9th - 13th 2010 in a larger map

Greetings reader! Have you still not had that baby? / Don’t you usually have a gin around this time? / Here’s your beef tea Derrick! (please delete as appropriate).

So when we last spoke we’d just arrived in Biarritz, one of France’s many style capitals - cue photo of us looking stylish on the beach in Biarritz...

This was just four days ago and the main thing that’s happened since then is about 1000 kilometres. Oh and Spain! We passed through it so quickly, we barely had time to find a wicker donkey for Dan! (maybe later Dan, sorry!)

On Tuesday (or was it Monday? – it’s amazing how quickly you lose track) we passed into Spain and on Thursday, into Portugal. The first thing that struck us on both occasions was the lack of, well a border really.

Now we’ve not done this sort of European trip before. We suspected we probably wouldn’t have to flash our passports as we were waved across the border. But we at least expected something vaguely resembling a border, with a little hut and barrier manned by a couple of armed policemen perhaps. And to drive passed with that ever so slight feeling of guilt, like you get when going through the ‘nothing to declare’ channel at the airport, even when you genuinely have nothing to declare – half expecting/dreading/hoping to be pulled from the queue and strip searched!

Not a sausage! Not even a sign reading ‘Welcome to Spain’ and telling us that it’s twinned with Wales, or was awarded the Country in Bloom award in 1987. Disappointing.

The second thing that struck us was the language. The only clue to us having changed countries was the shopfronts being in a different language. Now we’re obviously aware that different languages are spoken in different parts of the world, but we felt we were quite well prepared, what with David being an MFL teacher and all (that’s Modern Foreign Languages for those who don’t parlay the teaching lingo!). Sadly David’s MFL’s don’t extend to Portugese, which is quite, quite different to Spanish... we’ve discovered.

This only really presented a problem when the third thing struck us. Unfortunately, this was a stone kicked up by the car in front which shattered our windscreen when we were in the middle of nowhere! We can laugh about it now... nearly. International Rescue was very good. We were soon directed to the nearest autoglass that had the right screen in stock by the lovely Anna who was ‘somewhere in Portugal’. And with David’s other MFLs, we (or rather, he) managed to get it all sorted quite quickly.

So we arrived rather later than planned at our first stopover point in Portugal, a Baragem or reservoir near Nisa. It was dark when we stopped, but we woke the next day to temperatures of 15 degrees and a crackin’ view!!

We’d had snow the day before in Spain, so we decided to stay another night and spent Thursday relaxing (apart from Charlie who spent most of it swimming).

On Friday we drove on to Lisbon, and it’s there that we leave you again dear reader. Our plan is to hit the town tonight (Saturday), apart from Charlie who’s having an early night with a Dick Francis. We’ll then go further south at a more leisurely pace and (hopefully) enjoy some of the warmer weather.

Do keep your messages and comments coming. We love hearing your news and gossip. What news from Corrie? Has the Apprentice started again yet? Who will replace Margaret we wonder!

A couple of quick responses. Juliet wins a prize for knowing that Corsica is France’s largest island. I’m afraid your only prize is the knowledge that the sewing kit you gave us has saved us from certain drafts – in other words, a couple of the safety pins are holding together a troublesome zip on our sleeping bag! Thank you!

Adeus

Au Revoir France!

2010-03-09T16:51:00.009Z

View March 5th - 8th in a larger map

Well, that’s the Bisto put away for the night; a taste of home! We’ve spent the last few days heading further south. We particularly enjoyed the Charente area; Cognac and Angouleme.

We spent a night in luxury at a campsite on the Ile d’Oléron, France’s 2nd largest island (a prize for those who know the biggest!) This area supplies 60% of all the oysters eaten in France. It was great to have the pool to ourselves and relax.

The day spent in Cognac was really interesting, especially seeing a bottle of Cognac on sale for €7000! If ever you find yourself in the area it’s worth knowing that all the museums are free on the first weekend of the month – lucky for us! This meant our trip to the international comic book museum in the beautiful town of Angouleme the next day was also free; all very nicely done in a really cool building which looked very sci-fi. Sadly there wasn’t much in English, so we read a few comics and Alex bought a Tintin book! Then we had a quick stop at the paper museum. This seemed to focus on the production of cigarette papers and how babies and children were shown smoking in adverts for them – all very politically correct!

On the way from Charente to Spain we decided to go to the Dune du Pyla; the biggest sand dune in Europe just next to the biggest forest in Europe – a bizarre sight that very much confused the dog who couldn’t work out where the sea was! Over 100 metres high fact fans, and plonked in the middle of nowhere. We think they had the sand shipped in to create a feature!

Things have all been going great in the van but the cold weather has meant that we’ve decided to head to Portugal, and Lisbon by the end of this week. It’s not just Britain that has balmy weather. We had snow this afternoon, bright blue skies this morning and icicles on the beach!

So, upon leaving France, a few observations:
- France is massive; huge areas with absolutely nothing in them.
- The French, as a rule, don’t believe in indicating!
- Wine’s cheap – and, at times, nasty! But you get what you pay for.
- There are a lot of motorhomes around, but many places close for the winter.

And finally... Monday morning; you were at work, and we were doing this...

...it's not all glamour!

Cognac anyone?

2010-03-06T13:03:00.004Z

We have travelled inland slightly to Cognac today. Think you can guess what we'll be doing tonight!

Hope all's well - bright blue skies here. What's the weather like at home?

Journey South (remember them?!)

2010-03-05T14:32:00.009Z

View February 28th - March 5th in a larger map

Two disasters this week. You may have seen that a severe storm hit the west coast of France in the early hours of Sunday morning. We’ve seen some of the aftermath on our travels this week and it looks just awful.

We left Chris and Helene’s in Normandy on Sunday lunchtime and headed south. The storm clouds cleared just as we approached Mont Saint Michel 2 hours later. We had a wander around the cobbled streets before driving on to our overnight spot.

On Monday we headed to Dinan, a beautiful medieval hilltop town. The river in the valley below was inches from bursting its banks and some of the shops there were already pumping out their cellars. We continued our mission to get to some warmer weather in the south, stopping a night in Nort sur Erdre where we found 3 bottles of Merlot for €4.50... bargain!

On Tuesday we arrived in the area known as Marais Poitevin, or Green Venice. It reminded us of the Norfolk Broads – an area of fens, criss crossed by canals and dykes. Apparently, many of the farmers use punts to get around as their land can’t be reached by road. We had a long healthy walk here – followed by an unhealthy three course lunch with wine! Whoops! Then we saw a beaver in a dyke!!

On Wednesday we arrived in La Rochelle. The towers were closed due to storm damage and some of the shops were being pumped out, but we loved the place and would definitely like to come back at some point. We stayed in a car park close to the town centre! The hospital and the station were quite close by, which made for an interesting night of sirens, trains and platform announcements!

On Thursday we headed on to Rochefort for a quick look at their rope factory (as interesting as it sounds, and also closed due to storm damage!) Finally we arrived at our base for the next day or so – Ile d’Oléron.

Everywhere we’ve been to so far has been so quiet, we have to keep reminding ourselves that it’s only March. There are very few people on the beaches, in the restaurants and campsites that have remained open for the low season. We almost feel we have places to ourselves. This suits us just fine, especially as our last campsite on Ile d’Oléron had a health spa and pool complex attached..... but you had to wear Speedos! Don’t expect any photos of that!

Thanks for your comments. Tom Tom got us around La Rochelle just fine Dad; I’m afraid the jousting outfit only came in kids sizes Mum; and Daxa – keep us posted! It’s time that hairdo was locked up!!

The second disaster? Oh yes, we’ve run out of Hob Nobs!