Account
of Journey from Peters Green, Hertfordshire through France, Belgium,
Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, France and
home. From Saturday 14th September, 2013 to 26th November 2013. Ann
3998 miles John Woodward 4698 miles
Met up with Mike Heasman, Barbara McCarthy and Brian Robinson all New Companions along the way.
Photos to follow.
Photos to follow.
Written mainly by John Woodward; some comments from Ann, typed by Ann.
Sat 14th September. JW drove to Luton - met me at Roger's Farm.
Sunday
15th. Sorting vans - decided to take both - Evening meal at
Simon and Kate’s - Harpenden.
Monday
16th. (52708) Going down the A1 someone bumped JW's rear just
going on to the M25 at the Potters Bar roundabout. Canterbury park
and Ride for the night. £3. (52829-121 miles)
Tuesday
17th. Dover - Dunkirk DFDS ferry crossing - drive to Falemprise,
Belgium. (N50-11-30 E4-22-41) (52974- 145 miles) Far too long for a
first day, but a pleasant enough spot. John's van leaked, because
the rain got driven into an uncovered spot on his van (since found
out it was a window seal). The seat was all wet. Key episode. I
bent my door key so couldn't enter van. JW had to use winder hook in
order to get ignition keys out of ignition and out through door which
had the wire padlock fitted! Well done JW.
Wed
18th. Morning, walk in rain. Afternoon, JW bike ride round lake
with Mike.
Thurs
19th. Cycle ride. Quite a long way, but worth the effort.
Fri
20th. Redange Attert Nr Luxembourg - Rue De La Piscine.
(53086-112 miles)
N49.76895
E5.89446 free elect and water.
Sat
21st. Redange Attert. Walk in village - John bought new boots.
Others were going into Luxembourg in the morning by bus. JW wasn't
too sure about taking Ollie on bus and being away so long so we went
elsewhere for a couple of days.
Sun
22nd. (53121-35 miles) Vianden, (free carpark) we went up in ski
lift, walked over to castle and then down the main street. Spied a
lovely shop and had crepes! Went on to Echternach.(51319-18 miles)
Aire N49-48-20 E6-24-28.
Mon
23rd. Bad Durkheim Salt Evaporator (Aire N49.46944 E8.16722)
Marvellous concept for treating the air by allowing the hot water
brought up from below to filter over bed of twigs to evaporate into
the atmosphere to help people with their breathing problems.
Tues
24th. Bad Durkheim; cycled to Freinsheim.
Wed
25th. Wertheim Expo. (Hymerring) Beautiful run winding roads
through valley and by river. (N49.77368 E9.58034)
Thur
26th. Rottingen (53413-274 miles) - Free site by river.
Weinbarback
N49-30-25 E 9-58-21 Free elec
Fri
27th. Rottingen - van clean and maintenance, walked the dog.
Communal meal in the evening in 2B's van. Spag Bol supplied by Ann
and John, Wine by Mike and crumble and ice cream from Barbara and
Brian.
Sat
28th. Rottingen - day on my own others went on bike ride.
Sun
29th. Rottingen - cycle ride into Weikersheim.
Mon
30th. Rottingen - Rothenburg. Day in walled city. (53433-20
miles)
Tuesday
1st Oct. Morning in Rothenburg - Nuremburg (53516-83 miles)
Wed
2th. Day in Nuremburg
Thu
3th. Overnight Chiemsee Lake (53700-184 miles)
Fri
4th. Inzell (53728-28 miles) Walked into village to view pole
raising ceremony. Walked up to Ice Skating Rink and watched the speed
skating. Managed to get 2 vans on 1 pitch. Camping Cheques plus
electricity €36!!!!
Sat
5th. Inzell did washing and dried it in Ann's van.
Sun
6th. Inzell - Salzburg by bus with Ollie, short trip not enough
time. Bad Reichenhall salt evaporator.
Mon
7th. Wernberg - restaurant car park - meal spare ribs apple
strudel (53884-156 miles) (N46-37-30 E13-55-44)
Tue
8th. Wernberg - Broke down in Spar supermarket. Low loaded to
garage, downloaded code to enable JW to start van. Others went on to
Lake Bohinj. Meal pork leg. (53903-19 miles)
Wed
9th. Slovenia - Lake Bled - Lake Bohinjska - Met up with others
we had an Italian meal at Don Andro's a short walk away. Weather
awful. Thunderstorms. Ann broke tooth. Ann also slipped on wooden bridge and twisted ankle.
Thu
10th. Lake Bohinj. Dentist (Rain!!!) JW drove Ann to Dentist for
after hours appointment €90 Very good job. (53971-68 miles) Still
thundering/lightening/rain.
Fri
11th. Ljubljana - Took Ollie on bus to old city and castle,
coffee and people watching. (54031-60 miles) Met Barry and Margaret
Williams, Magbaz.com Travel blogs.
Sat
12th. Izolla - shanty town camp site on edge of Med. (54112-81
miles)
Sun
13th. Through border into Croatia - camp sites closed, night on
aire? Not sure what it was (54191-79 miles) just parking place, was
woken by cars honking horns!
Mon
14th. Up early on road by 7am wonderful drive, perfect day for
driving down Dalmatian coast. Dramatic and beautiful. Found lovely
site right on sea edge, lunch and sun bathing. Autocamp Ante Camp
(54345-154 miles)
Tuesday
15th. Rainy day complete contrast to yesterday. Caught up with
few jobs, sorted caravan door lock.
Wed
16th. Couldn't park in Zadar so went straight to Ouza site.
Lovely day great private beaches. (54407-62 miles) Dradge.
Thursday
17th. Dried out van. Lovely day again sun bathing and swimming.
Ann backed into tree, ripped off top hatch to cloakroom.
Fri
18th. Lozorac - Camp Marina, met up with others. Afternoon Krkr
park waterfalls. Meal in site restaurant evening. (54439-32 miles)
Sat
19th. Trogir pitch next to beach good weather, holding. Went
swimming discovered urchins!!!! (54475-36 miles)
Sun
20th. Walked into Trogir old town.
Mon
21st. Cycle ride and afternoon swim (Mike left.)
Tues
22nd. Camping Stobrec nr Split. (54496-21 miles) Managed to get
2 vans on 1 pitch!
Wed
23rd. Bus into split. Booked ferry Ancona - walked round old
town.
Thur
24th. Washing day and lounging walked around Stobrec. (54502)
Fri
25th. 2B's left. Drive into mountains. Picnic by lake. Meal in
campsite rest (Horus) laughed ourselves to sleep. (54611-115 miles)
Sat
26th. Lazy day
Sun
27th. 5 nts at €16 = €80 x 8 = 670 kn. (54619-8 miles) Ferry
to Ancona. First on; Last off, free breakfast. Ollie weed on
carpet, Ann's wing dented by Dog Van!
Monday
28th. Long slow coastal drive through Pescara to Fossicasia.
Camper stop closed, wild camp close by. (54751-132 miles) N42.23787
E14.53524 JW walked up road and got some water from the motorhome
park which looked closed, but you could have opened the gate!
Tues 29th. Good nights sleep ready for long drive to Paestum. Roads, cross country far easier than coast road but hard to find places to stop. Fuel in Italy expensive paid €1.66 made good time but no camperstop where co-ordinates took us. Drove around found one nearby. N40.41876 E15.00903 €10 each. Walked into town bought ice creams. Found info on temples and archaeological site for tomorrow. €11 for me and should be free for Ann. Fee inc. museum. Weather very hot again today.
Thus 31st. Good weather again
drove to Pompeii via Amalfi coast. Got half way and told Motor homes
can go no further so cut across mountains. Amazing views but Italy
dirty. Rubbish strewn along road sides and lay bys everywhere. Also
haze that looks like pollution. Very busy and heavily populated.
Got on campsite only metres from Pompeii entrance. (54950-199 miles)
Friday 1st. Pompeii 7 hours
looking around. (55018-68 miles)
Saturday 2nd. Vesuvius
(55035-17 miles) we couldn't see a thing it was in the clouds. Then
to Cassino. Tolls €2.10, €2.10 then €6.20. Found motorcamp
€13 each.
Sun 3rd. Monte Cassino Abbey
(55124) (€8 car park €5 Museum) then to Rome. Ann banged side
of van on wall in bend of the road - using motorways as N roads too
small and packed. €7.30 toll. Village Camp Rome.
Mon 4th. Rome - wash day 4
loads €16 (55220-185 miles)
Tues 5th. left village camp
too noisy ambulances/police near hospital, no where to walk Ollie.
Camp to Village Flaminio Camping cheques will start to look round
tomorrow. €6 bus/tram ticket per day. (55239-19 miles)
Wed 6th. visited Vatican
museums and Sistine Chapel. St Peters closed Pope doing his thing.
Thurs 7th. long night, sleepy.
Another day of sightseeing. Spanish steps, Trevii Fountain, lunch,
ice cream, Cappucine Crypt, Pantheon, Piazza Novona, St Peters Dome
and Square and Bascillica
Fri 8th. Roman Forum and
Colluseum.
Sat 9th. Ollie on train to
Flamino and park where we saw the woodpecker, black squirrels and
nice views over the city and Spanish Steps.
Sun 10th. Drove to Siena
(55390-151 miles) pissed down with rain, Domoco and Piazza del Campo,
coffee in square. Stayed dry for the walk back. €20 carpark
Mon 11th. Drove to Florence,
(55440-50 miles) no site open at Michaelanglo, or anywhere, except
Villa Camerata, Municipal site €16.50 with CCI card, discount.
Free wifi, not bad, found showers last night (Wednesday) awful,
cold.
Tues 12th. Bus to Florence, did
Bascillica, up the Bell Tower 420 steps, down. lunch 1/2 cooked
Piaza, recooked but took rest home. Round the Baptistry and then up
the Dome 463 steps, hard work, but worth it. Didn't know I (we)
could do it. Went to Museum only to find repairs in progress and
only Michaelangelo's 2nd Pieta and Doors of Paradise on display. Had
enough got bus home. However, walked another 30 minutes to
Supermarket to get food because we'd run out ! Tea, reheated pizza
and sausages in baguette, only to be slightly sick at 1am! (Ann that
is!)
Wed
13th.
Bus to park, however, lady opposite us told us to get off now so we
could get into park earlier. Wrong, no dogs, only walk up certain
places, and only available to Florentine citizens to walk in park
unless you paid, definitely no dogs. So, off we went to Fort
Belvadere to find it closed, several people had died here and they
had closed it, and there were packs of dogs which were a problem. Me
(Ann) got nervous, and then decided it wouldn't be a problem. (Fear
is the mind killer - Dune) (Nothing to fear, except fear itself,
Franklyn D Roosevelt). We eventually got to Michaelangelo's
Piazzala to look over Florence for the umpteenth time. Several
Motorhomes parked in square, why were we moved on? We walked away
down to the river and across the city to the Piazza San Marco to
catch no 11 bus back to campsite. JW went for shower, told me where
it was. I went there to be greeted by full frontal male in the
showers which didn't have a symbol on the front doors. I asked where
the Women’s showers were and he greeted me with open door, full
frontal again and he said "Downstairs, ground floor".
Thank you says me and proceeded to ground floor to be greeted by cold
shower, which I probably needed!
Thurs
14th.
Drove to Pisa, (55500-60 miles) I had a sleep absolutely worn out.
John went on his bike and got some shopping. Played crib, he beat me
again!
Fri
15th.
Went to Carrefour and did some shopping. Walked into Pisa for the
afternoon, watched loads of people shoring up/pushing down on the
leaning tower. Quite comical. Sat and had an inexpensive cup of
coffee in café €3. Got back and had a good meal with some more
inexpensive wine! Made ready to travel onwards to Camping Cheques
campsite I'd found up the coast.
Sat
16th.
Got up reasonably early to go up coast. Found Massa campsite, TT
took us to the wrong side of the road! Big sprawling summer campsite
with very few spaces for touring motorhomes, however, good washing
facilities; quickly got that done, did a bit of shopping, had lunch
and then a nap in the sun. Got cold quite quickly, so now just
catching up with emails etc.
Sun
17th.
Drove north to Levanto so that we could go to the Cinque Terre
villages along the coast. We went by motorway all the way. Parked in
Aire for motorhomes for €18 for 24 hours. I really couldn't walk
much the steps of the previous week had caught up with me.
Monday
18th.Went to Cinque Terre by
train. Left Ollie in van at Aire. Took train to end Rio Maggiore,
weather not too good walked up main street as far as we could and
then round the village. Got on train and went to Monterasso had
snack then back on train. (€8 each) Left before 2pm to go to Monte
Carlo. €29.70 Motorway Toll through Italy, €3.50 and €2.30 on
French motorways. Hit Nice in dark, heavy rain and the rush hour.
Horrendous traffic. Got to Aire and it was full; Ann backed into
brick wall by water tap! Whilst it was pouring with rain the French
lady got a Greek man in Bulgarian reg van to move so we could park
up. Very lovely of her! It appeared that several of the vans were
there permanently and obviously wouldn't be moving! (55760-260
miles)
Tuesday
19th. Drove up through
Province to lower Alps. Very pleasant trip and we ended up in
lovely little town with a good quiet aire near to the railway
station in tree lined avenue. Aspres sur Beusch. (55908-148 miles)
Wednesday
20th. Hint of snow left
about 9am to drive to Valence/found Trevoux free site near to
campsite which was being renovated. Parked and stayed the night.
(56080-172 miles)
Thursday
21st. Woke to pittapatta of
snow flakes and decided to move off towards Dijon at 4am in morning
so as not to get stuck. We stopped at bakers at 6am in small town
and bought baguettes and croissants. Drove through snow, stopped in
Beaune by 9.30am; tried to sleep but it didn't work. Walked around
town in afternoon and then back to van to prepare for early departure
in morning. (56160-80 miles) Free Aire.
Friday
22nd. Stayed in Beaune
overnight left at 9.30 am to drive north again. It was snowing again
and we kept going until Aras Sur Aube where we found some motorhome
parking right by the river. We decided to go out for a meal in what
we thought was an Indian Restaurant and it turned out to be Moroccan.
It was a very delicious meal but a bit expensive. No one moved us
on. (56308-148 miles) Free Aire.
Saturday
23rd. Drove up to Cassell
(56472-164 miles) where Ann had stayed the previous year. Free aire.
Sunday
24th. Stayed another day at
Cassell and looked around the hilltop town. During the walk we found
The Alpine Staircase a cement rockwork architecture. Everybody out
for dinner and we found the museum which was free.
Monday
25th. Drove to Dunkirk to
find the vet and sussed out some Aires to stay. Found we had to
change the crossing to 24 hours after injection for Ollie. We
actually stayed on the DFDS car park, left my van there and went off
in John's to get some wine to take back home. Complete mess up with ferries, cost us a fortune, won't do that again!
Tuesday
26th. Crossed on 2pm ferry,
rushed to Calor Gas in Sittingbourne for John's gas just about 4.55
pm they shut in 5 minutes. We left after securing gas bottles,
getting my bike back on my rack, set off and I lost John straight
away. He went to Jenny, his daughter, and I went home. Strange
ending to a very successful travelling holiday. (56706-234 miles).
Total mileage for Ann 3998 miles; John Woodward, at least another 700 miles to and from Cornwall.
Total mileage for Ann 3998 miles; John Woodward, at least another 700 miles to and from Cornwall.
