2017

Well? Have you had enough Christmas greetings, enough Happy new years?

Seems to me this year we have had more than an abundance of them, and sadly I was as guilty of posting as the next person.
So let me wish you all the very best for 2017, if I've missed you!

2016 was a very interesting year for us three. I have to include Helga in everything because she is such a big part of our lives, and I make no apologies for that.

I learnt for the second time in as many years, that it's virtually impossible to do a road trip with people you don't know very well. I'm set in my ways, it's a privilege proffered to people with a certain amount of life experiences, and life has taught me not to accept fools gladly.

So, having had my new year rant, I think I owe it to my followers to have a little fore taste of what 2017 has in store for us.

Margaret still has commitments at home, in the form of her mother, and her daughterly duty to take the old girl shopping once a week. I, on the other hand have none, and want to spend more time on the continent, so a compromise has been reached.
I will take Helga over to Amsterdam, on my own, and from there go to Germany, for a lot of days, Poland, for another lot of days, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
When I get to Tallinn, about five or six weeks after Holland, Margaret will fly out to meet me. Seems to me it will be a bit like a scene from an old romantic comedy when we meet up at the airport.

We'll hang around Tallinn for a few more days, if the weather is good, and then slowly make our way back, spending time in Warsaw and Berlin before going to see the Kentish brigade and up through England, to home.

As usual, we'll be meeting up with fabulous new friends on our travels, taking millions of pics, and sampling all life has to offer.

Stay warm in the meantime, and we look forward to filling you in with all the details.

And so to our final country, France.

We changed plans slightly twice on the trip. One was a fourteen hundred miles’ round trip detour to Dubrovnik, and the other was to shorten stays everywhere so that we could wind down in France before coming home. This plan has given us two weeks in France, which will be spent mostly on the Atlantic coast.

But this is France and a fine country it is. The large supermarkets, a dream for overseas foodies, the markets, places to enjoy the real French passion and indulge your senses in the most amazing fresh produce to be seen. The markets are a bit more expensive than the supermarkets, the sights, like chateaux, huge rolling vistas of agriculture, islands with huge bridges like umbilical cords to the mainland, the positive approach to motor homing, with Aires de Service in just about every town, ranging from €0 to around €8 per night. Then there are private Aires, from 10 to 16, and campsites galore from 14 to 38. We did a five star one as a treat, each of the lux pitches had its own private bathroom and fridge and prep area. The weather was good during our two night stay here, and it was seriously quiet.

Driving down the road seeing a town name and just stopping for the night is fabulous. We’ve only had one minor let down and it was because the previous visitors had not been very careful when emptying their cassette!

Tomorrow we go home, no wait, tomorrow we return to Bleary. This is our home, wherever we are at any particular time. But we can’t wait to get into our house, a settee, a king size bed, my gardens, knowing I will not be driving very far for a week or so.

Our trip has been one of snow capped mountains and minus 6° at night to sandy beaches with 32° and blazing sunshine. The poverty of Hungary and to a slightly lesser extent, Croatia, the scenery, omg we’ve O D’d on it! The terrible service offered by restaurants and shops in each country. Then of course the drivers. We’ll not go there.

My favourite place was Ypres in Belgium, because this is where we got our first taste of what was ahead. My favourite country was split between Croatia and Slovenia.

Margaret’s favourite place was Omni near split in Croatia. This is where we met most people including the lovely Sonje and Kevin. Her favourite country was Croatia because the people the scenery the general atmosphere were second to none.

And so dear readers as we breakfast in Fougeres, 105 miles from Cherbourg harbour we can tell you our wonderful trip has been 6775 miles long, 

We have been across eighteen frontiers, three of which twice in totally different places, indeed we were in and out of Germany a dozen times.

France.

And how remiss of me not to be punctual.

Well, I couldn’t be punctual because we’ve been off sites with wife for five days, and such a lot has happened.

Venice. Been there, got the t-shirt, not for us. The city or state is a rip off from the time you get near it. What did my head in was being charged to SIT in their restaurants, being forced to pay a 12% service charge, by law! Even when the service was fekkin atrocious?

We ate in a lovely looking restaurant, and to be, such character, fair the food was fine. But the service? Really woeful.

Walked the legs off ourselves, so much so in fact, that Margaret fell out with me. We walked that far, we got a water bus back to the station and it was thirteen stops.

Wonderful buildings, such character, we didn’t even mind when the sea started coming up through the man holes in St Marks Piazza!

Just stayed one night and headed north west towards Switzerland. We stopped at a country restaurant and asked if we could stay if we ate.

No problem.

The food was a la mama! In fact, I think mama was the cook, but it didn’t take away from the honesty and freshness of our meals. A bottle of wine and four courses, €22!!!!

No chance of getting caught drink driving, we repaid the hospitality with some Limoncellos and were last to leave. Slept really well and woke up to the buzz of small talk. The pub opens at 07:30 for cures and croissants!

Today we would be going into Switzerland, through the amazing 17km tunnel at Gothard.

More to come.

France.

And how remiss of me not to be punctual.

Well, I couldn’t be punctual because we’ve been off sites with wife for five days, and such a lot has happened.

Venice. Been there, got the t-shirt, not for us. The city or state is a rip off from the time you get near it. What did my head in was being charged to SIT in their restaurants, being forced to pay a 12% service charge, by law! Even when the service was fekkin atrocious?

We ate in a lovely looking restaurant, and to be, such character, fair the food was fine. But the service? Really woeful.

Walked the legs off ourselves, so much so in fact, that Margaret fell out with me. We walked that far, we got a water bus back to the station and it was thirteen stops.

Wonderful buildings, such character, we didn’t even mind when the sea started coming up through the man holes in St Marks Piazza!

Just stayed one night and headed north west towards Switzerland. We stopped at a country restaurant and asked if we could stay if we ate.

No problem.

The food was a la mama! In fact, I think mama was the cook, but it didn’t take away from the honesty and freshness of our meals. A bottle of wine and four courses, €22!!!!

No chance of getting caught drink driving, we repaid the hospitality with some Limoncellos and were last to leave. Slept really well and woke up to the buzz of small talk. The pub opens at 07:30 for cures and croissants!

Today we would be going into Switzerland, through the amazing 17km tunnel at Gothard.

More to come.