From Paris to the South West
I decided to revisit the Camping Sandaya in the town of Maisons-Lafitte on the banks of the Seine to the west of Paris from which a 5-minute walk/cycle to the station will bring you + bike to the Arc de Trimphe station. Everything worked – it’s a lovely campsite offering an out of season.. →
2026 France, Germany, Netherlands
The 2026 trip was officially put into operation a month or so ago with the booking of the ferry to France. The plans were considered in the shadow of the Trump & Netanyahu and their governments’-induced needless loss of hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives from illegal bombings &.. →
Paris à Velo
Cycling the 5km to our Aparthotel Home & Break in the Porte de Choisy, Place d’Italie area south east from our arrival at Notre Dame, was a slightly uphill affair but continued our initial journey on different types of the Paris cycling infrastructure. Our room was on the 6th floor with.. →
Bikepacking – who’d have thought
Almost 2 weeks ago a friend Nicola and I cycled our bikes onto a ferry to the continent for the first time, the actual culmination of July travel musings about bikepacking with my brompton – including camping, wanting to see what Paris had done with its cycling infrastructure, and spend more.. →
Last Stop Cologne
My third stay in Cologne was this time at the Campingplatz Stadt Koln, about 5k from the city centre, in a beautiful setting right on the Rhine river. The only downside was the constant background noise from the bridge adjacent carrying motorway traffic, but this was a minor niggle compared to everything.. →
Salzburg & North to Wurzburg in Germany
Salzburg – long on my list and always reinforced in my annual viewing, usually at Christmas, of The Sound of Music.
Another beautiful city where I spent 2 nights at Camping Aigen. Along with almost all the campsites visited this trip, I would.. →
Austria – Lienz & Mauterndorf
The journey down to Lienz around the Tre Cime’s mountains via Dobbiaco was straightforward, and stunning scenery all around. I didn’t stop but the latter town at just over 1200m with its lake looked definitely worth a visit.
And now I entered Austria for a proper stay for the.. →
Into the Dolomites
I had yet to decide where I would head after Verona for the remainder of the trip making my way back upto Cologne and then to the Hook of Holland to Harwich ferry. The beauty of travelling out of season in a van particularly on the continent is that in most cases booking is not necessary so one can.. →
Impressions of a 2nd First Mate
As a follower of “Life in New Lanes” since its inception, it was an honour and privilege to be invited to join in along these particular lanes in Italy for a week of cycling, walking, swimming, train / station hopping, and the opportunity to visit a long held “tick-box item”. My time as second.. →
Verona – a post of its own
It was great to also have booked the Castel San Pietro campsite just up (steeply) from the river in the centre, having got the last pitch. This was so that we could spend Friday afternoon and evening in Verona before being able to have an easy airport dropoff the next day.
Prompted by some.. →