Each year I have to make the decision to renew the hosting of this blog and domain name, so having spent the money, use must be made and writing therefore continue. Each year I have to make the decision to continue to pay for my campervanning to support the writing, and enable other things. I’m still paying, while life still allows this to happen.
To this end, in February I finally made the decision after a year and a half to end the contract mid-May with the best work of my career. My first week of freedom last week was spent sorting stuff out and preparing, and Saturday saw me set off for the continent and warmth, via Plymouth. I wanted to do some travelling before squaring up at last to nana-hood which is due to begin around the end of July.
It’s alot of money to spend for the high-risk of sea-sickness hell, so much trust was placed in a weather forecast a week out for Plymouth, Bordeaux (Bay of Biscay) and Santander indicating only minor breezes, and drugs. It was 1.5 days of driving in British spring sunshine and an everything to plan departure on the Pont Aven ship yesterday. I was amazed at the number of cars, motorhomes/caravans and motorbikes driving onto it, and someone told me it was supposed to be the largest ferry in the world – holding around 600 or so vehicles. I’m glad I decided to splash out on a cabin, as I ended up going to bed at around 8pm absolutely shattered, and sleeping more or less through until 7 this morning. This is something of a first, as was my decision to join in the offered Tai Chi session. I would thoroughly recommend this ship and its facilities altho’ my bed was narrow and could have done with my own pillow. Best of all, the sea was flat.
Did you know there are around 25 species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises to you) to be found in the Bay of Biscay. I learnt that from a presentation given by a rep of the Orca charity, which partners with Brittany Ferries to monitor this marine life on its routes. I didn’t spend much time on deck today scouring the horizon for these creatures, given the very overcast and low visibility weather, but am told they can be seen regularly.
We arrived into Santander after about 23 hours to grey and rain – not what I had been hoping for 🙂 But never mind – empty roads, beautiful countryside along the N623 to Burgos, where I am now on a campsite for 2 nights. The rain cleared as I travelled the 126km further south and the temperature rose from 10! (- went over 1000m) to 20. Tomorrow I will explore this city, with next stop aiming for Segovia, north east of Madrid.
I’m doing a towns and cities road trip for the next 10-12 days, before heading to the coast around Javea/Denia. Happy days.
It is interesting to me that I was so focussed on reaching Croatia that I had no intention of stopping on the way down in Slovenia nor was I considering it for the way back. This was despite journey account articles ripped out of the likes of Motorhome Monthly Mag (MMM) and brought with me, with titles such as ‘Heavenly Pursuits’, ‘Fall in love with Slovenia’, “Why We Love Slovenia”.
Deciding to pursue roughly the same route back, and Lake Bled being more or less on that route, I followed the accounts and latest review recommendations to book 2 nights at Camping Bled. I have just booked a 3rd night given a ‘little rain'(as in not really, but in the mountains can be variable) forecast.
The location ticks all boxes, altho’ the mountain weather is very influential on this, and the site likewise with the exception of a wifi provision which won’t allow me to stream to my firestick for film watching. My mobile data allowance has refreshed again, and altho’ the signal is not great, in a certain positioning of the phone, I managed to get enough signal to do the streaming. EE is also not applying roaming charges, and I can get a month’s worth of 50Gb if needed for £30 ish.
What are my boxes then, after 12 years of this roaming by campervan, with much of the last 5 years of trips alone? A beautiful location; a ‘happening, non-kiss-me-quick (British culture knowledge needed to get the drift of that phrase) town/city’ nearby so I can cycle/public transport to it easily; with peace and quiet though, a short distance from it; cycle ways, and walking easily accessible; clean, functioning toilet block – doesn’t have to be state of the art/renewed; respectful, considerate campsite culture; sufficient internet connection for streaming; pricing recognising that single people use less electricity, hot water etc than 2.
Having hardly seen a british-plated vehicle outside of France up-to-now, there are significant numbers of british motorhomes here – two groups, one british Adria owners group, and a CaMH group, but they are all together in specific parts of the campsite. I was made aware of this by my cross-the-campsite-road neighbours who I saw had a british van, and in conversation with them found out they were from Grimsargh of all places which is near my home town of Preston, and the house of my mum’s partner’s in Longridge.
Here’s my pitch – using my solar panels, and avoiding elec. charges, whilst I write this post.
This morning I have gone out and about, e-biking 12 miles up and down with glee in this area of Slovenia – its only national park called Triglavski Narodni.
Having taken seriously now those articles, I would love to come back and spend more than just 2.5 days in Slovenia. It even has abit of the Adriatic coast. More photos of the lake to come …
My alternative to travelling half of the distance to my next destination on Friday night, was to aim to set off at 5am this morning, and do the journey all in one go, with the idea that traffic would not have built up. I also decided to take a risk and actually take a cross-country stretch not on the motorway, rather than go out of my way around Zagreb, repeating the outward journey. This would mean that I would do the border crossing on a lesser road so I figured there would be less queues.
I did apologise in advance to my immediate neighbours about the to be sound of the diesel engine and van maneouverings off the pitch the following morning, and I did make an exit by 5:15 in the dark, fingers crossed that nothing was left behind.
The journey up through Croatia was great, and I was again struck by the significant mountains, hills and uplands. Some glimpses of the coastline looked similar to pictures of fyord coasts, with mountains going down to the sea. There are many beautiful national parks with lakes, and rivers to visit as well as the Istrian coast, Dubrovnik further south, and islands up and down the coast, so a repeat visit is definitely needed.
Plaudits must be given to my companion on this trip – the fabulous catalogue of the one and only Stevie Wonder. He and I belted out all the well-known classics, but what about ones like “I ain’t gonna stand for it baby” and “one more time, one more time – For Your Love”. I know my fellow fans will recall these instantly :).
The risks of ending up going on single-track roads with hairpin bends up mountains given my lack of a detailed map didn’t materialise, as I cut a corner off from near Karlovac in Croatia to Slovenia’s Ljubliana. This route confirmed the many reviews I had read about the landscapes of Slovenia. The sun was shining, but notwithstanding it was really beautiful, and I was so glad that I hadn’t stuck to the motorway.
These were the roadsthrough this type of countryside
The roads were great, but it does help when stopping to check two satnavs and the map, to be sure of the road you’re actually on, rather than the one you’d planned and had assumed you were on! I actually took road numbered ‘3’ crossing the border at Vinica rather than the planned ‘6’, which explained my continuing confusion as I failed to understand what was going on. Blame it on tiredness rather than plain inability or ageing. It was only when I arrived that I deduced exactly what had happened; in effect the roads were pretty parallel and similar distances so I don’t think I did unnecessary miles. However, due to the number of times I ended up stopping on the journey for various reasons including these, I didn’t take enough photos of this route.
The plan variation worked thankfully. The long drive was done on pretty empty, stress-free roads, at 58mph for the motorways, and despite knowing that I had just reached the end of my willingness and capability to drive further, my arrival early afternoon nick of time was accompanied by excitement at the new place.
Life in new lanes found me today at a complete parkup on a motorway, still despite my advancing years a rare event, with a helicopter having landed further up so we were there for a duration. I was once again sitting pretty, not quite ‘on’ 😊, but due to the toilet on board, and the fact that the sun was shining, I had a coffee in my mug and was finally heading to where I have wanted to go for a long time. Lots of German, Belgian, Dutch holiday traffic, so everyone was outside of their cars, walking dogs, sharing conversation… Without the sun, it would have been perhaps a different atmosphere.
Given that it’s cost a few hundred pounds to renew my blog site domain name for the next 3 years, and what better could I be doing, I decided to type my first post for almost a year since my last trip over the channel – as I was happily waiting. That was just south of Cologne, heading for this journey’s 3rd stage destination of beyond Stuttgart.
I have had to re-assess my capacity for hours driving, as my original aims were to drive after work on Friday the 5 hours down to Canterbury, board ferry at 6am in Dover, then drive from Dunkirk across Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia arriving in northern Croatia by Monday, including a shortish diversion to meet my son and girlfriend near Cologne on my birthday!!! Notwithstanding the only 2 hours sleep I had after the Stage 1 drive, prior to which I had had to put my trust in the satnav at 11:45pm leading me through dark roads, up what seemed like steep climbs in the middle of nowhere, to arrive at the council-provided official motorhome parking area. To boot, a warning light suddenly appearing and I didn’t want to find my glasses and process it whilst driving until setting off the following morning. Fantastic though Canterbury, and thanks from me, Blue and the 20 or so other vans there for the provision. The following morning, or 4:30am middle of the night, engine ignition revealed the warning to be that Adblue was needed. Thankfully after initially going through the plan to have to buy a 10-litre container of it somewhere in Dunkirk and buy another funnel to get it into the inlet on the van, my brain came up trumps with the memory of the fact that there are Adblue pumps on service stations. Sure enough, the first one I passed on the way to the ferry port had the very thing, easy peezy, stress alleviated, and better still removal off the problem list henceforth.
Notwithstanding also (1st notwithstanding was para 3 and sentence number 2) my determination to be almost the slowest vehicle on the autobahn, cruise-controlling at 58mph, resisting the all nationality and non-lorry vehicles dash to the southern coasts, by constantly reminding myself that I am time-rich and cash-poor. Because it is exciting being part of the throng of like-minded movement, seeking the mirage? of a paradise beach.
The contract I started last December is still continuing and I am delighted to be remote working, doing the most enjoyable and rewarding work of my life, so it’s coming with me on this trip as I give digital nomadery a shot, and join my new tribe – the primarily young, cool, north american vanlife vloggers.
I had originally booked a ferry from Venice to Patras for May, but cancelled this due to the amazing achievement more than 3 months ago of a Ukrainian family actually getting their visas through the shambolic British Homes4Ukraine scheme. They duly arrived to my house 11 May, and continue to establish, as best they can, a life of sorts in the UK given what Putin and his cabal have done to their country and the lives of its you and me equivalents.
Who would have predicted that 2022 would have followed a 2-year pandemic which completely upturned the world (at least my one); bringing a repeat of a Nazi dictatorship, but with the addition of nuclear power plants and the red button, even if it hasn’t gone for another holocaust of ‘others’ as a rallying, unifying, justified and worthwhile cause which recent history shows any population can be sufficiently brainwashed or rendered fearful enough for their own lives to buy into. The threat is there for us all with the slippery slope of the rise of governments appealing to usually right-wing populist simplistic tropes to maintain their ‘world-beating’ position, the gradual, imperceptible watering down, or actual removal of opposition or balancing structures of state, and the re-definition of patriotism as allegiance to the government because it is one and the same as one’s country.
Well, stepping off the soap box again ……, so there I was 2 weeks ago, contemplating going to theTwinwood vintage music festival – see my post about it from last year – when the thought suddenly presented itself that instead of paying for that over the Sat-Mon bank holiday weekend, the money and time could instead go towards crossing the channel and heading for Croatia to finally achieve some of my planned 2019 career break eastern leg.
I am delighted, and aware as ever of my life’s fortunate time, place and, still there just opportunities and days for the seizing, to be driving once again on these roads through beautiful countryside, marvelling at the engineering and infrastructure investment, this time of Germany. The A61 and A8 motorways I’m on are to be recommended – the great viaducts across wide/high vineyard-covered valleys, a volcano-area, lots of forest and just space! And in addition, my 2nd night spent on a motorhome stellplatz (small dedicated motorhome car park) provided by the town/village council – this one for 6 euros at Weilheim an Teck, last night was free. Onwards and will presumably be upwards tomorrow as I aim for a stellplatz behind an inn in Austria south of Salzburg. So that would be day 3, meaning day 4 brings me to northern Croatia to a small town called Duga Resa and a campsite stop for the luxury of two nights, with hopefully a train visit to Zagreb.
I can certainly recommend the radio station SDW giving fantastic driving companionship right up my street with mostly American/British classics from the 60s onwards all day. Belting out the below with a shoulder shimmy for you Dad …….’ interspersed with listening to stuff like an interview (of course in German) with someone who’d just been to the Robbie Williams concert in Munich, and the station playing him singing Angels with the crowd. Loving the exercise my brain at least is getting, and thinking as I drive and sing about the parts of my life spent with things German.
Since finishing work at the end of March ’21 I have enjoyed travels in England including to favourite haunts within 2 hours of here – the Lake District and Silverdale/Arnside – as well as down in June to Salcombe & Brixham in South Devon, onto a few days in the New Forest, and then two days seeing Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon on the way back. The love of all things van travel has not diminished.
Having bided my time since then, and particularly given normal full summer holiday season, not to mention staycation overload, can I assume that I and the van will once again be able to cross into France in less than 2 weeks now?
I am certainly gearing up for it – and the gear encompasses a new satnav into which I can put the dimensions of the van, and thereby hopefully avoid the google-just short of disastrously led-journeying, and a new electric foldable trusty steed with various other related bits and pieces.
This caused me to look back to my post featuring Ans and Piet, when they let me have a go on their e-bike, and mine is a very-similar albeit Taiwanese equivalent:
I have done two 50-mile plus rides in the last week, and additionally achieved a very sore right-arm from practising getting this heavy thing – 22kg before I remembered I could take 2+kgs off by removing the battery first- into the van and my car. But I concur with a common observation on the forums, that it puts a smile on your face sailing turbo-assisted up those hills, especially in this neck of the woods. And round here, just 20 miles with a few hills on a non-assisted bike is enough for this weekend warrior! I do feel somewhat like the guy leading Keirins in the past on a moped-type vehicle, rather than my previous look which was of course more like the guys following. 😂
I am a convert to the confidence such a steed inspires for more enjoyable, greater distances including significant hills, exploration, with the option of getting it easily into a car or train in case I go too far, as well as increased security from storage inside. It doesn’t feel like cheating, as it rolls really well without assistance, but the motor only responds to pedalling, and then upto 15 mph. Despite the bike’s heaviness, yesterday I covered 30 miles of mostly flat terrain using the motor only for a couple of hills. Brilliant.
The trip broad outline envisages a visit to the Poitiers region in the first instance, crossing over to the Alps, then to southern France, but my travels will start with a visit to the Twinwood vintage music festival near Bedford, which has been on my list for a few years. Just hoping that it will stay dry for this, and then calm as I drive onto the ferry at Portsmouth for the subsequent longer crossing to Caen.
Time to record some changes with a post as I sit in my new, used, home on wheels, with its few-days maiden testing voyage to the sunny climes of Norfolk having been successfully achieved.
I have finally downsized, parting with my beloved 7m Monte2 in exchange for a 6m Citroen Relay-based van from british manufacturers ‘Wildax’, most likely to be known as ‘Blue’.
Just as my house building project was coming to an end, I would not have normally wanted to add into the mix the part exchange of my second home, along with making a final decision about whether I was crossing the Channel for a 3-week annual leave road trip as planned from 28/8. But my target vans become available so rarely, added to which this one was being sold from Skipton, just 20 or so miles from Harrogate. It would appear the van had my name on it, as it turned out to be one that I went to view at a Kendal dealer the previous year!
The completion of the transaction and handover did bring a tear to my eye, and with Stephen the broker obviously not able to empathise, we agreed that to him Monte2 was just a commodity – another “tin of beans”. For me it represented lots of memories of good travelling times with family, had been a great home while travelling last year, and a great office during the last few months while my house was being knocked about. Of course I know it’s just an inanimate object but I’m not ashamed to hereby state my affection and gratitude for it, with hope that it will pass to a next owner who will value it as much as I have.
So have the risks I ran in swapping my ultra-reliable, everything-working Monte2 for an unknown potential more trouble than it’s worth , materialised? So far no! Delighted with everything but will acknowledge that shutting the sliding door and putting it into reverse takes some heft. And, always looking for improvement ( or “never satisfied”) I’m already deciding the hacks that need doing to it. But out of all its great features, the best has to be ………. the WINDOWSILL.
As for the other significant accommodation, 6 months on from a lockdown-interrupted realisation of my vision, it has finally been achieved. It’s not a Grand Designs, but still significant for a house described by my brother-in-law as one that someone decided to build to make use of a pile of bricks left over from building the rest of the estate. Similar to making some kind of tart with leftover pastry. Well, I declare myself delighted with the final result – some compromises along the way,- external unwanted but necessary soil stack which can be disguised with some kind of trellis and climbing plant, or quite frankly, just becoming invisible to my eye within a short space of time, and a genuinely unexpected monstrosity of a chip shop flue pipe (log burner) sticking out through the roof, which cannot. The trees in my garden do hide it from my view to a certain extent, but not that of my neighbours’. I was relieved to find that my immediate ones did not see its appearance as a hostility-declaring incident , as they still cut my front lawn for me a few days after installation.
I also discovered just last week that there is proper access from a public path at the back of my garden, which I had been totally unaware of. Given that my modifications had knowlingly closed off access to the garden other than through the building, this was a fantastic completely unexpected bonus.
Annual leave week one covidly-morphed from a drive down to Lake Maggiore to building flat-pack furniture!!! – yes I know it was a difficult choice to make – but also doing more enjoyable home setup stuff such as being able to order sofas, rugs, pictures etc. I do feel I have been extremely fortunate to have the resources to be able to create my home just as I want it to be, and this creative work to be able to engage in, during social distancing. Just as well I now have all this new space, to take the incredible amount of stuff which came out of Monte2, and which I am not intending to try and stuff into Blue.
Since my last post, I will admit to having passed a significant birthday also, which should have been celebrated with a disco, only to go the covid way of all such plans. But moving swiftly on – what more can I say, other than it’s time for me to go to France now via the virtual immersion offered by the Tour de France on TV. Missing greatly my adopted country, and hoping for lots more opportunities for campervan travel across that water in the coming months and years. An Italy ski trip has been booked for February with a great gang – let’s see whether covid or yet another government brexit-induced episode gets in the way.
The above does reflect what small part of the planet in human/societal terms I come from, that I have enjoyed such a good life thus far. The challenge continues to keep anxieties about the bigger picture checked, and to maintain joy instead but I will record them here because they are part of my thought life also. I understand and wish it could be other that my good life has in part been enabled by the inequality in the world, the past and current exploitation of peoples and the environment. I do fear for the planet and all its life, plus that of younger generations because of climate change. I fear the rise of populism, and the decline of those institutions and political systems which although flawed, have on balance been forces for good, in the face of the huge challenges which are already here but undoubtedly going to increase. And all those things are interconnected. I hope and pray that leaders from across the spectrum, with a genuine wish for justice and the flourishing of all people, global as well as local strategic vision, courage, determination and competence, will come to the fore or be further empowered to work together from top down, bottom up, middle across. I hope and pray that I will know and have the courage, if and when it’s necessary, to stand for what’s right, rather than pretending I haven’t seen.
“ For evil to flourish it only requires good men to do nothing.” Simon Wiesenthal.
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