Blog

Blog

Brief Stays in Ghent & Germany

Whilst not perhaps able to fully endorse the extent of Lonely Planet’s effusive description of Ghent, I can confirm that it is well worth a visit. I thought it was a lovely town, and really accessible with fantastic free motorhome parking including overnight which I took advantage of, walking..

Posted by admin in Belgium, Cities-Towns, Germany, Places

Summer in the UK, & into Autumn

It’s 1 September, blue sky and sun shining on a flat sea, the coast of France once again in sight and I’m starting this post from the ferry taking me as planned across the channel to Calais, from where I will hot foot it into Germany. After an overnight in Ghent, Belgium, I am first of..

Posted by admin in Belgium, Musings, Places

Back to the Future?

Just before returning to the UK for July/August, my mind was turned to ‘what next’ and I really had a sense of going back to my late teens and early twenties :): doing some travelling on my own – I was a children’s summer camp ‘counsellor’ in New York state, worked..

Posted by Jackie in Musings

Western Odyssey – Stats

For 111 days travelling, I’ve spent approximately a maximum of £4000 with breakdown as below. The maxim ‘two can leave as cheaply as one’ does apply, although I found it more favourable towards solo travellers with in most cases charging for the pitch then for each individual rather..

Posted by Jackie in Musings

Western Odyssey Roundup

Here I am back in my temporary base at my Mum’s house in Longridge, Lancashire, just one day after a fantastic drive (the fact that it was from 21:30 hours of course made the roads pretty empty) up from Portsmouth yesterday. I really enjoyed belting music out given that it was dark and only..

Posted by admin in Musings

Honfleur – and then ferry

For my last full day and night of the Western Odyssey I drove the few miles across Normandy countryside to where the Seine flows into the sea between the town of Honfleur and my sailing port of Le Havre. I stayed at the very nice 2-star Camping du Phare, for an extremely reasonable cost without..

Posted by Jackie in Cities-Towns, France, Places

War Grave

The grave of my Mum’s first cousin, Captain Arthur Deakin Eteson

I visited the WWII cemetery at Hottot-Les-Bagues to look for the grave of Captain Arthur Deakin Eteson, only son of my Mum’s aunt and uncle, who died in the Normandy landings aged 27. In looking for his grave, (before..

Posted by Jackie in France, Musings, Places

WWII and the EU

I drove to Caen WWII Memorial Centre and spent 3 hours dedicated to reminding myself about this momentous and horrendous time period in not just Europe but the world’s 20th century history.

In continuing to my overnight stop at the village of Asnelles – the D-Day landing site ‘Gold..

Posted by Jackie in Cities-Towns, France, Musings

Against the clock now – Mont St Michel, Normandy Beaches, Honfleur

Booked the ferry from Le Havre to return to the UK Fri 6 July, and planned the route from Perros-Guirec via Mont Saint Michel, Caen and the Normandy beaches and then Honfleur town visit. Apart from passing through, this is my first visit to Normandy.

The weather continues to be perfect for..

Posted by Jackie in France, Places

Cote de Granit Rose – trip down memory lane

Have very fond memories of one or two holidays taken with extended family when the next generation were children – did that actually happen! – in this part of northern Brittany, when the weather didn’t perform like british Cornwall. I wanted to see whether it was still as beautiful..

Posted by Jackie in France, Places