2008
28th October to 2nd November
After picking up the van from the dealers in Preston, we had an exotic honeymoon in Morecombe and the Lake District!
2009
13th to 22nd February
A great holiday down south which took in Cheddar Gorge, Glastonbury, Minehead, Linton and Lynmouth, Stonehenge, Avebury, and Iron Bridge.
3rd to 13th April
A trip up through the Yorkshire Dales and then down the Northumberland coast which included a walk up Whernside, the Buttertubs, High Force, a walk along Hadrian’s Wall, Holy Island, Bamburgh, Beamish, and Durham.
24th to 31st May
Our first jaunt abroad was to visit family in Normandy, so we focussed on the north coast of France and places such as St Valery en Caux, Etretat, and Honfleur.
28th July to 27th August
This month away was a test run to see if we could handle living in the van for longer periods. We could, and enjoyed a great tour of France which included Paris, Auxerre, Lac-les-Settons, Lake Geneva, Les Gets, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Annecy, Cassis, Arles, Stes-Maries-de-la-Mere, the Pont Du Gard, Vallon-Pont d’Arc, canoeing down the Ardeche, Bourges, and Normandy.
2010
14th February to 16th December
After selling up and leaving our jobs, this was the big trip – 10 months exploring France, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, San Marino, and Belgium. See the blog for more details.
2011
3rd to 14th February
Another trip to France to see family, but we had a good look at Arromaches-les-Bains, Bayeux, Caen, Rouen, and Amiens on the way back.
14th March to 16th April
A month in the sun is what we wanted, so we took the 24hour ferry to Santander in Spain and drove straight down to the Algarve via Evora. From there it was a long drive home via Seville, Carmona, Cordoba, Toledo, Bordeaux, Poitiers, and the Loire valley.
5th May to 1st September
Our last big trip (until the lottery numbers come up at least!) took us north through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway as far as Nordkapp, the most northerly point in Europe.
We then headed south through Finland and after a brief trip to St Petersburg in Russia, we headed for Berlin through Sweden and Denmark. After Berlin we had a couple of weeks in Germany and Prague in the Czech Republic before we had to turn for home.
2012
30th March to 13th April
A two week tour taking in some of the first world war monuments in northern France, Arras, Reims, the Champagne region, Metz, Luxembourg, Vianden, the Moselle Valley in Germany, Cologne, and Amsterdam
The Future
We still have a huge list of places we'd like to explore in Europe; northern Spain and Portugal, Madrid, the French Riviera, Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Croatia, Sardinia, Sicily, the Greek islands and southern Peloponnese... the list goes on and on!
We'd also like to travel a little further afield; Japan, New Zealand and Canada are countries we're particularly keen to see. But perhaps not in our little motorhome!
