tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68133773514019928862024-03-13T14:26:05.204+00:00Charlie Dog Came TooA description of a one year trip around Europe in a campervan and subsequent travels in our van.Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-53684541205485908422016-10-24T14:47:00.000+01:002016-10-24T14:47:03.644+01:00Dawdling in the Dolomites
In
my youth I was never particularly interested in Geography. At the tender age of
twelve I took up the clarinet at school to avoid Geography lessons. Sorry, Mrs
Constable, but there you have it. One thing I can say about this motorhoming
lark is that it has improved my European geographical knowledge. Just take the
Dolomites. Before September 2016 I could definitely have said they were a
Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-80496362642921141712016-09-15T20:51:00.001+01:002016-10-06T12:49:47.030+01:00A Brief Tour of the Italian Lakes
Coming
down from the Italian Alps we began our mini-tour of the lakes at the small
scale Lake Orta, driving along the eastern shore first as it looked the best
bet for campsites. Orta San Giulio was where we planned to stop, but the
campsites there seemed very expensive and very crowded to us, and because we’d
done practically no research for this trip we didn’t know there was a perfectly
nice Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-57078512844329528942016-09-14T19:02:00.000+01:002016-09-15T21:17:46.554+01:00A Brief Tour of the Italian Alps
We loved the Italian Alps.
We started this part of our trip by overnighting at the Great St. Bernard Pass, where someone turns up every day to walk a couple of St. Bernard dogs for photo opportunities. We arrived in mist, but the next day turned out beautiful and spent some time clambering around the Roman ruins behind the hotel.
Great St. Bernard Pass
From the Great St. Bernard Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-86593513122329559352016-09-14T18:34:00.000+01:002016-09-14T18:34:09.538+01:00There’s New Life in the Old Blog Yet
So,
we no longer have Charlie dog, and we haven’t done as much travelling in the
van in the last few years as we’d have liked, mainly due to Rob working away
from home on a series of contracts. The van, however, has been in constant use
as he has lived in it during weekdays. Meanwhile, life goes on and small
changes occur, which, for us, includes the addition of two dogs as our
travelling Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-74335005899669503042012-01-15T20:58:00.001+00:002012-01-15T20:58:38.597+00:00A new use for the van
The van has proved its worth this autumn, even though we
haven’t been travelling at all. In a case of atrocious timing, I (Rob) got an
offer of some work with my old company in Coventry at just about the time we
moved down to Cambridgeshire, and for the last four months of the year the van
was my little mobile bedsit from Monday to Friday, when I would shuttle up and
down the A14 between Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-36123309733813643342011-10-31T19:35:00.003+00:002011-11-01T09:59:11.977+00:00R.I.P. Charlie DogToday is Hallowe’en, 'All Hallows' Eve' or the ‘Day of the Dead’. This time last year we were in Slovakia, walking round a cemetery at dusk, discussing how the hundreds of lit candles made such an evocative sight and how the atmosphere was peaceful and contemplative rather than sad. It seems a fitting day to post about our travelling companion, Charlie, the ‘dog who came too’.
Charlie at Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-73890018840508144712011-10-10T12:01:00.000+01:002011-10-10T12:01:59.269+01:00On the move….to a new houseWe’re on the move again, but it’s not a trip in the van this time. On Friday 26th August we moved house from Narborough near Leicester, to a small village south of Cambridge.
Narborough views
We moved to Leicester in 1986, and soon after to Narborough. I remember us saying at the time that we’d probably stay for a ‘couple of years’, which eventually turned into 25. Narborough was a nice place toLesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-25948166807706388722011-09-11T19:28:00.000+01:002011-09-11T19:28:59.393+01:00Down to DordogneshireIn August 2010, while we were in Norway, my (Lesley’s) family had their annual holiday in Eymet in the Dordogne. They had a great time and decided to book the same gite for 2011 and, with the kind permission of the gîte owners, we arranged to park up the van there and spend two weeks enjoying the sunshine, the pool, the food and the wine.
Not being ones to move anywhere very quickly, we decided Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-88808700429092692572011-07-16T12:42:00.000+01:002011-07-16T12:42:11.567+01:00A Short Trip Around East Anglia.Rob had been champing at the bit, pacing the floor and generally being rather annoying in the way only a bored man can be. Me? I don’t get bored. Rarely have. Besides, I have the novel still ongoing, so there is always something I should be doing. I even did a day’s paid work, so no room for boredom in my world.
Arty Happisburgh snap number 1
We should have headed off in the gloriously sunny daysLesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-21297329477750400762011-06-27T10:53:00.000+01:002011-06-27T10:53:31.035+01:00Back to Life – Back to Reality
True to form for our general rate of travel it took a week for us to get from Dover to Leicester. That’s the trouble with being away for 346 nights – getting back involves a great deal of socialising, which didn’t stop once we reached Leicester on the evening of Tuesday 26th April.
At first it felt very odd to be back in our home. We had read so many horror stories about tenants leaving with Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-7866034203967382352011-06-17T10:25:00.005+01:002011-06-17T18:37:42.154+01:00The big trip 2010-2011 - some facts and figures
We know that some people - us included* - like lists and numbers, so here are some for our big journey from 9th May 2010 to 20th April 2011.
*Actually, make that just Rob, but I'm impressed with all this! - Lesley
The far corners
Our furthest North N 70° 13’ 39”, at Nyvoll (Norway) on 10/8/2010Our furthest South Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-32716660091602728022011-04-30T15:59:00.000+01:002011-04-30T15:59:02.924+01:00Heading Home – Germany’s Black Forest and on to Calais14th to 20th April 2011
So the trip draws to a close - almost a year away in a smallish van. Twenty-one countries have been visited, some for several weeks, one for less than 24 hours and a few twice, and this final leg sees us heading home.
We decided to make the most of driving back by pulling in a few days around the Black Forest in Germany. We crossed the Rhine at Laufenburg, one city but Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-83126043617985010492011-04-16T12:27:00.000+01:002011-04-16T12:27:06.593+01:00Switzerland – Unforgettable Scenery, Unbelievable Prices!
7th to 14th April 2011
A very cursory glance at our passports and a peek through our windows was all the check we had at Swiss customs on Thursday 7th April, then we were in country number twenty-one on this trip and heading downhill into Lugano.
From a distance Lugano looked to be mostly tier upon tier of smart high-rise apartments rising up the hillsides around its Alpine lake. There is an Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-34484765680707870112011-04-13T15:20:00.001+01:002011-04-13T15:22:21.997+01:00Italy 8 – The Italian Lakes31st March to 7th April 2011
Lake Garda is not particularly friendly to motorhomes. This is because every inch of shoreside land that could be used, is used, and with insufficient parking as it is for the hordes that descend every summer from Milan, ubiquitous height barriers and ‘no motorhome’ signs on the carparks ensure that people like us don’t make things any worse.
Manerba and Lake Garda
Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-29184875382080500482011-04-04T15:57:00.051+01:002011-04-04T16:20:46.921+01:00Italy 7 – A Crawl through the Flat Lands – Emilia-Romagna to Lombardy21st to 30th March 2011
We lied when we said we were picking up the pace in our last blog entry, since after leaving San Marino we slowed back down again to a snail-like 30 miles a day as we crept further up the Italian coast and along the flat Po valley - and that only on the days we were moving. We had previously thought that the Adriatic coast above Pescara was highly developed, but that was Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-24060712893399853522011-03-28T14:10:00.000+01:002011-03-28T14:10:24.866+01:00Italy 6 – Northern Marche and San Marino
14th to 21st March 2011
The Marche region has the sort of knobbly green landscape that strikes us as so quintessentially Italian, where little hills jostle for position from the mountains to the sea, and at times every third summit seems to be crowned by an ancient village or abbey, although sometimes they are hard to tell apart.
After our short foray into Umbria we crossed back over the spine Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-65394342411396268142011-03-24T11:44:00.000+00:002011-03-24T11:44:59.325+00:00Italy 5 – Up the East Side, or Another Day another Province
8th to 14th March 2011
We are starting to pick up the pace a bit in our travels - moving faster and taking in more areas, so Molise, Abruzzo, the Marche and a smidgeon of Umbria come thick and fast on each other’s tails in this blog. Though it does have to be said that Molise is very small – blink and you’re through it.
It was into Molise that we headed first on Tuesday 8th March, driving Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-58209157396687759082011-03-12T14:48:00.004+00:002011-03-12T15:43:32.467+00:00Italy 4 – The Gargano Promontory24th February to 8th March
The 24th of February saw us heading back across Italy again, from Naples to Puglia. Not quite to where we’d started from a week before, but only a little further north, towards the Gargano Promontory, which is the knobbly ankle on the Italian heel that juts out into the Adriatic somewhere above Bari.
We did it at our speed. We didn’t really get away from the outer Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-45086677646646222482011-03-02T11:54:00.001+00:002011-03-02T11:59:45.139+00:00Italy 3 – Around the Bay of Naples18th to 24th February
We understand that for some motorhomers a 150 mile drive across Italy would merely count as a relaxing morning, but for those of us who travel in life’s slower lane it felt like one big, mad dash on Friday 18th February. The torrential rain didn’t help and it certainly lessened our appreciation of the landscape we drove through, which was largely rolling hills with massive Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-8261159233380896882011-03-02T11:19:00.001+00:002011-03-02T11:23:50.606+00:00Italy 2 – Ostuni to MateraWe moved off of the Salento peninsula on Saturday 12th February, and towards the end of the day got to Ostuni. It being nearly dark already, we decided to look for another quiet coastal spot for the night, and found some good places around Torre Pozzella, one of the 17th century coastal watchtowers a short way away. Italian youth – we think it is mainly the youth but it was too dark to be sure – Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-47800297602623405062011-02-15T23:03:00.002+00:002011-02-16T09:07:19.782+00:00Italy 1 - The Salento Peninsula
Leaving Greece was a bit crazy in the end and Igoumenítsa port was chaotic to say the least. There was no check at the entry gates to see if you had tickets, but the army and police were ensuring that no-one was accidentally leaving the port with any illegal immigrants on board. There were certainly plenty of would-be stowaways hanging around outside the gates and we surmised that most were Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-81612602948905767782011-02-04T13:56:00.001+00:002011-02-04T13:58:34.365+00:00Greece 6We’ve got gas again. Regular followers will have realised that the hunt for gas suppliers who will refill our Norwegian 5kg bottle or the little Camping Gaz 907s is a recurring theme on our travels. This time it was a gas bottling plant tucked away beside olive groves on the edge of Kalamáta that did the business for us. They were obviously used to foreigners turning up with different shapes and Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-60957326171122430912011-01-21T14:34:00.004+00:002011-01-24T22:27:02.339+00:00Greece 5 – The MániImagine the bottom of the Peloponnese as three fingers pointing south into the sea. The Máni is the middle of these fingers, and in a way it has been sticking that finger up at the rest of the world for centuries. It’s a rugged and austere land, with fairly inaccessible terrain either side of its mountainous spine at the end of the Taíyetos range. The peninsula itself forms the Mésa (Inner) Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-16148685293515955782011-01-14T10:56:00.000+00:002011-01-14T10:56:35.371+00:00Greece 4 – New Year on the Peloponnese31st December 2010 to 10th January 2011
The New Year’s Eve festivities began at around 4 p.m. when everyone started gathering on the beach, the adults carrying chairs and tables from the campsite. Wood had been gathered over the previous two days, and had already been piled up ready for a bonfire by impatient children who were eagerly awaiting darkness. A barbecue pit was dug with much Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813377351401992886.post-10957661153282888772010-12-30T16:04:00.002+00:002011-01-01T16:08:06.012+00:00Greece 3 – The Gulf of Corinth to Yíthio18th to 31st December 2010
“We’re going over the canal!” And there it was, below the road, the ruler-straight length of steep-sided canyon slicing through the bright orange earth, wide enough for one ship only. We hadn’t expected to be on this road. Last time we came this way, on a fly-drive holiday in 2008, we’d gone over an odd little bridge at the Gulf of Corinth end, which submersed to let Lesley Halehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682717188979792073noreply@blogger.com1