A last drive in the Joint.

And so we say goodbye to the Joint, our little home and transportation for the last three months. The final drive was from Deeping St James to Hull, but not until Rachel, Bex and Tash had spent the day before emptying, cleaning and fixing her up. Screwing and gluing back on all the bits and pieces that had fallen off during the journey.
Fairly uneventful drive back to Hull followed by a fundamentally uninteresting bus-train-train ride back to Peterborough. Interesting observation, I am convinced that a big reason why there is so much traffic on the roads in England is because the public transport is so expensive. There is a lot of it around and it is generally comfortable and ontime enough, but it is just ludicrously expensive having caught trains too and from London and Peterborough and now down from Hull.
Fortunately the drive to Hull was just long enough to get through to the end of Around the World in 80 Days (he made it, but I guess you all knew that).Even had a chance to listen to the opening of Paradise Lost (which inspired the triology from Philip Pullman - the Northern Lights etc.).

The ferry trip

We chose the ferry over the French motorways for a number of reasons:
1. Cost = the ferry was cheaper when you add in the cost of the French tolls and having to get French diesel)
2. Ivan wanted a break from driving
3. We thought it would be fun, something different
4. Could get some work done.
5. Sleep
Well, we achieved 1, 2 a bit of 3, none of 4 and at odds times 5. The first 20 hours we were going through a huge swell and some of us (name no names) paid a few visits to the porcelain alter. The last 15 hours were lovely and smooth. I think it was worth it in the end though. Tasha learnt a magic trick, we meet an NZ family doing a similar gaunt but on a different route (ideas for the future), did get quite a bit of sleep in the end and made a change.
And so we are now back in the UK. Thanks to Ananth for looking after the car (anybody looking to buy a Scenic with 100k miles but going well) and Lynn and family for again letting us dump our stuff on them (see you next weekend).
Tomorrow I do the last drive back to Hull, hopefully will get to the end of the talking book of 80 days around the world (talking books are great in a campervan, big recommendation), need to find out if Fogg and Paspertoo make it.
We will all have to say something about our experience, suffice it to say we spent much of the last couple of weeks thinking about where else we could go next, so must have been pretty good all around.

Swimming in the Atlantic

I am writing this entry from the train between Brussels and Waterloo – where is the campervan, where are the campsites, cathedrals, historic monuments… fading away but very slowly. The journey is over and the joint goes back to Hull in the morning, but there are still a few events to recount.
After leaving Pau (thanks to Gill, Jane and clan for the lovely hospitality) we headed for Biaritiz, well just south on a recommendation from Jane. We stayed in the first camp site we have encountered with a swimming pool that was open, heated and covered… Bex and Tasha were in seventh heaven. After the evening there we spent the following morning in Biaritz. Quite an interesting town – one can imagine it heaving in summer, but in autumn (well winter really) it is a sleepy place. Highlights of the morning were some fantastic rocks sculptured by the thundering waves and relentless swell of the Atlantic. Out on one of the rocky outcrops was a statue of the virgin Mary and on another a cross. From there we drove about 10k north to the one of the first towns on the stretch of beach that runs from here to Bordeaux (and maybe beyond, not sure about that). And what a fantastic beach, great sand, warm sun and enormous surf. Tasha and Bex would not venture beyond their knees, but I braved a quick dip. It was cold, but the thing that you noticed was the size of the waves and the swell… really BIG!
That evening was our last altogether in the campervan, so we celebrated the evening with spag’ bol’ (nah not really a celebration, more of a staple), but we did have pancakes for breakfast (another of the regulars on our menu). Side note on the menu, Rachel is going to note down our wonderful campervan recipes, from mountain macaroni to various fritters.
The next day was raining, making us all feel a lot better about ending the journey. We still had to get to Bilbao by 9pm and had hoped to stop in San Sebastian (a Guy suggestion) for a bit on the way. But the rain and the difficulty finding a park kept us going but a glimpse at the town (lovely waterfront and beautiful bridges) suggested there is much to explore on later journeys. We drove down the Spanish coast most of the way to Bilbao, although the weather was not great it was brilliant drive with the enormity of the Atlantic, some great rock formations and secluded little bays along the way.
We got to Bilbao by about 6pm and had our last dinner while waiting in the queue for the ferry (a variation on spag bol without the tomatoes and spag’).

With friends near Pau

We are now staying with friends of Rachel’s, Gill, Jane, Shane, Sam, Kerry and Beth. They are living the English dream having got a old farm house with a massive barn in a vilage near Pau, within an hour or so of the Pyrennes (including the ski fields). The views of the Pyrennes are beautiful, with the morning sun reflecting off brilliant cloud formations. It is quite a treat to go into a ‘real’ house with crockery, chairs that move and a proper table – the small luxuries in life.

It’s got to be, if not the best, up in top three

Barcelona, what a fantastic city and boy did we not do it justice. Having spent half a day walking down Las Ramblas, seeing the cathedral and the waterfront (see previous entry), we cam in again today (Thursday) and took the option to do an open top bus tour and jump off at a couple of stops.
Barcelona is really a city that seems to have come alive in the lat 19th century, but of course it has a long history. Way back around 700-800 it was repelling the Arab invaders, and before then it was Roman walled city, a few fragments of which still remain. Over the centuries the city swallowed up the surrounding villages and grew well beyond the original walls. You can still detect clear divisions between the original city and the various villages that were consumed. Learning something about Spanish regionalism one would not be surprised if these out regions still retained a local dialect and cuisine!
But back to the 19th century and the genius of Gaudi… unreal! When you think what the Victorian architects were doing, all very ornate and proper, this guy was going nuts with curves, bulges, bright colours and playing with textures from rough volcanic rock to super smooth ceramic tiles. He could have been designing today and it would still look like something from the future. He has turned much of Barcelona into what feels like a playroom. And more recent architects have either carried on the tradition, or designed modern buildings on different lines, but still beautiful and unique. Amongst these fantastic buildings are a dizzying collection of sculptures from Christopher Columbus to the stylised Olympic rings, giant lobsters, Miro-inspired creations… We did not make it into any of the art of museums, having spent too much time around the many spired church of Gaudi’s and a fantastic park with those curvy mosaiced benches, water features and cave-like arches. In the park were a couple of musicians, one singing with a guitar and the other with a pair of drums and a sax playing classic Spanish tunes, really a great experience.
I will try and get some pic’s up in the next few days, but really I think you just have to come and live here for a while (or at least stay for a few weeks).

Contemplative

We are now nearing the end of our adventure and one starts to get rather contemplative at this stage. The things we have done and seen, the things we would like to do differently / again / missed out, what are we going to do next…
It has certainly been an experience for us all. On the one hand there is the thought about when can one do this again, there is still Spain, Eastern Europe, vast swathes of France, Norway we hear is great in a campervan etc. etc. etc. And then on the other hand there is thinking about how we get back into a ‘normal’ life.
You couldn’t do this forever, and in some ways two months stints would work really quite well, the problem what do you do in the in-between times.
A few things we have learnt. A campervan is very good way to see a lot of Europe, but not all – southern Italy would be better in a car that you didn’t care too much about, preferably narrow and pretty short, with an Italian number plate. Caravans would be a nuisance unless you are going to stay in one place for a long time, that might not be such a bad idea in some places. Cars are so passé. You don’t need much stuff and much space, but you did need slightly more space than we have! When the weather is warm, no problem, but when it is cold and wet, you really want slightly more space for four people. The toilets in France on average are much yuckier than anyway else in Europe, the Swiss win the prize on that score, but on other measures France scores high for tripping – cheap camp sites, the best bread in Europe and pretty good street signs. Germany is the friendliest place we have been through. Italy has way too much stuff – culture, food, wine, coffee, history…

We are on holiday!

Having spent the last 10 weeks or thereabouts travelling around we have decided it is time to take a holiday, so are we now firmly ensconced in Sitges, just south of Barcelona.
Sitges is a vacation town with large hotels, golf course and many well equipped camp sites. As we have learnt from Stephen (Rachel’s Dad), many years ago it was just a small village… but with the lovely beaches, sunshine and so close to Barcelona it is not hard to see why it has grown. There is still an old centre and lovely church, but there is now a promenade that must run for about a kilometre or so all along the beach.


The first (or was that the second) night here we went down to the town on our bikes and we treated to a fantastic sunset through the palm trees that line the promenade. The sunsets around here really are brilliant as I had learnt sailing in September (see previous posts).
Yesterday we ventured into Barcelona, about an hour away on the bus. We arrived around lunch time, so after a bit of a walk down Las Ramblas (the main drag) – great market, lovely balconies and side streets, good street entertainment and some rather interesting pets to buy – we headed for a restaurant to try out the local paella, which was very good. Looking around the posters in the restaurant of various beautiful sites around Europe we realised how much we had seen from the coliseum, to the leaning tower of Pisa, Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Rialto in Venice… OK so the restaurant had a bit of an Italian theme, but was easier to find somewhere that served pizza for Bex and Tash’.


From Los Ramblas we continued down to the port and then took a circuitous route around to the Cathedral. The front of the cathedral was swathed in netting as they are doing some major restoration (a common trend across southern Europe, but still the inside was beautiful and the cloisters were truly special (I think the best we have seen, and we have seen a few) with fountains, waterfalls and palm trees.
Today we are staying put, but tomorrow we will do the open top bus tour thing around Barcelona and really see the place. The day thus far has been spent working, washing, reading, juggling, cross-stitching and other such leisure pursuits.

Made in Spain

We have arrived in Spain. Tasha’s destination of choice of the trip.
Tasha and I navigated our way, trying to avoid too many toll motorways.
Point of interest here, I suspect that when Spain switched over to the
Euro they literally changed from Pesos to Euros without any of the
rounding nonsense they suffered in the Netherlands (and elsewhere no
doubt), evidenced by the bizarre toll costs, amounts like €1.01, €0.69
etc, rather unique.

Our camp site for evening is 30+k south of Barcelona, it is warm and
almost summery… we may spend some time here me thinks.

Carcassonne

By the middle of the afternoon we have reached Carcassonne, a plain modern city, but a beautiful medieval walled town that has been turned into a tourist shopping district. Still a lovely place with some great across the grapevines of the Languedoc. For me, the real highlight of the day was the drive through the vineyards on the way to Carcesonne.


Autumn has arrived on the grapevines and, in the afternoon sunshine the light shines through them, lighting them up like stained glass windows in the most decorated cathedrals. They really are a special treat, but more on that tomorrow. That evening we stayed in a car park camp site right next to Carcassonne, so our view for the evening was the lit up walls of the old city, very special. We paid €10 for the privilege, a small price to pay.
The next morning Tasha and I wandered down the hill while Bex and Rach’
slept and found a boulangeire (spelling) with for fresh croissant and a
warm baguette.



We headed south from Carcassonne into the depth of the Corbiers wine appellation. Being Sunday all the vineyards were shut, but the views were fantastic. With the routing we had set Fiona found us some brilliant roads to take through twisting gorges with rivers that were dried up, except for the occasional pool. Endless rows of grapevines, reaching up the hills, in all shades of late autumn. We drove through
lanes of tree tunnels, again resplendent (getting into that word) in autumn shades.



We stopped and walked around Lagrasse, a lovely old village that the tourist trails had not found. A good stop.
I don’t feel I have done justice to the views in the region before we headed back to the main highway to Spain… you’ll have to see it for yourself.

Quick trip across Italy and the south of France

It has been few days since I have written an update and most of that time has been spent racing across Italy in France. Having decided to change our plans we figured the best thing was to try and get a bit of time in Spain and, thus, the motorway companies of Italy and France have profited well!
First stop from Venice was the closest we could get France in a day, and that proved to be about 50k from the border in a fairly unexciting sea side town. A nice camp site run by a very friendly Dutch couple. In hindsight we should have taken the opportunity for a hot shower as the next two nights were to be spent in car parks (well strictly one of them was just on the side of the road having given up searching).
Most of the drive across Italy was shrouded in fog which eventually turned to some rain. When we got to the coast the weather had cleared considerably.
From Italy we headed along the Cote d’Azur. What a fantastic drive, one of the best of the trip. Through tunnels and across bridges with views of rocky coastlines and dramatic cliffs. Before getting to the French border the Italian side was dominated with terraced gardens. Really a brilliant drive, even thought most of it was motorway. Along the way we took a very brief detour in Monaco, not surprisingly a town/city/nation that did not cater well for campervans, unless they had a Porsche logo on the front! Still we managed a glimpse of the casino and a good look at the amazing boats in the marina, recognising a few from the Viaduct basin in Auckland during the America’s Cup.


From Monaco I spotted a sign for Villefranche Sur Mer and could not resist the opportunity, and besides we needed lunch. Funny how old memories create a warped view of a place. I had been here with my mum about 20+ years ago. Steve, I found the Welcome Hotel, it still looks very flash, and the cliffside walk around to the beach, the marina. All rather strange to return to a place after so long and stranger still to only half remember how things were. We managed to get some very nice pain au chocolate and baguettes, France certainly has one thing over Italy!


After our detour off the highway we returned to the main drag and pointed Fiona for Carseccone, but the French motorway traffic beat us and we stopped en route in Frontignan. Selection of town was based on the Camper Stop booking informing us that free camping could be found at the new marina, and do you think we could find it??? No. So we just pulled to the side of the road by the beach and spent the night anticipating a knock on the door from the local police, but did got through the night. The other attraction of Frontignan mentioned in the book is a Saturday morning market, into which we ventured in the morning. Yummy cheese, fresh fruit and veges, a little something for Laila (on request) and various other olives and knick knacks later and we were back on the road.

The prettiest shopping centre on the planet

Perhaps we have been travelling too long, perhaps we have just seen to many beautiful cities, splendid churches and fantastic art, but Venice really did feel like a shopping centre installed in one of the most prettiest locations possible.

St Marks square and chruch being the exception, and, to be honest, once you got to some areas on the outskirts, or went down the end of the long, dead end, alley ways things became more real.

Still, view after view of beuatiful canals, bridges and houses. The arhced windows and the window boxes dripping flowers into the water... really very magical. Because our camp site is directly across the water we were able to catch a boat to Venice, which is of course the right way to arrive. The city appeared through the misty morning, with the domes of the various chruches reaching out through the clouds.

The shops that really got the attention were the glass shops. They sell glass everywhere, including most of the street merchants, but the specialist galss shops with the multi-coloured chandeliers were a real treat to spend time in. If you had money to burn you could really get carried away. The drinking glasses set, all bent and twisted with different colours dripping down their sides.

Today we head East, only two weeks to go now, we are trying to plot the most efficient routes now. Thinking we will get to Bilbao and then catch a ferry from there to Portsmouth. Not sure where to stop between Barcelona and Bilbao so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Ravenna

5th and 6th century churches resplendent with mosaics from the 6th to the 18th century. Have to wait for the pictures… too much Prosecco to say much more.

Laila, I can see why you love this town.
The mosaics are truly magical, and otherwise if felt a bit like Alphen ann den Rijn. More later…

A change of plans

Tonight we camped on the edge of the Venice lagoon, with the lights of the city of Venice across the water sipping a cheapy, but really quite nice, bottle of Prosecco. ‘How did we get here’, I hear you cry, ‘what happened to Sicily, Croatia, all those plans!’ Plans change and ours have on many occasions. We got as far as Amalfi and then kind of realised how far it was to Sicily and how far it was to get back up and a few of our other must have places and thought we will have to alter plans to get done some of these things, and so we find ourselves on the shores of the lagoon gazing towards Venice.

Stepping back a few places, the last time we posted we had spent a day in Naples, and our next stop was Herculaneum. Herculaneum was a great place, smaller and easier to explore than Pompeii, without the crowds of tourists (there was only one bus load while we were there), you could get views of the houses and streets with no people. Once again a fantastic experience. The mosaics, the frescos, the history. It truly is amazing when you can wander around a complete town, many of the buildings in Herculaneum have still got two levels as they were originally built and were not destroyed due to the nature of the stuff from Vesuvius that was dumped on Herculaneum. You can imagine the locals, walking through the forum, popping into the shops, chilling at the local baths and relaxing in their gardens. Herculaneum was a flash seaside town so there are many nice houses which at one stage would have lovely sea views until a load of mud was dumped in the way. Struggling to get your head around that people lived in these places two thousand years ago, it is so organised, sophisticated. I mean, two thousand years ago there were not even people in New Zealand, the Brit’s were living in mud huts. I am sure there were many other advanced civilizations around the same time and before (Greeks, Egyptians), but still. To see it all laid out before you… brilliant.

If you only have a couple of hours, do Herculaneum and you can avoid Pompeii, but if you going to both is well worth the two days.

From Herculaneum we followed another BJ suggestions the Amalfi coast. Well, we discovered our second campervan-not-so-friendly location, but a bit of fun. We couldn’t find in any of books either camping stops or camp sites around the coast but we still headed along the coast figuring there had to be somewhere. But the drive was simply fantastic. The Amlfi coast line is a rugged, cliff lined coast with very few sandy bays. Terraced orange groves sprawl down the hillsides to the coast interspersed with towns cling for their life to the rugged coast line. Churches and castles built right into the rock, sometimes barely recognisable as man-made buildings dot the coast.

We eventually found a place to pull over after bobbing and weaving around tight curves at side of the orange and lemon seller. While Rachel took some pics I bought a bag of oranges, but the lemons, wow! Massive, almost the size of a rugby ball. The stall also sold limencello, the purpose for the humongous lemons.

The sun was setting as we drove which cast beautiful colours, but created havoc when driving around roads that makes the Coromandel coast road (sorry for the non-NZers) feel like a motorway.

As we approached Amalfi a few quite horn blasts were heard and all of sudden we were confronted with a bus. Not a problem if you are on a road with two lanes and straight bits, but on when there is barely road and hair pin turns, well basically you are buggered. Behind us was a stream of traffic with a little three wheeler first up. Some back and forwards, lots of gesticulating and much angst we managed to squeeze through with nanometres to spare.

We did get to Amalfi and decided that what you really want to do is explore the region in either a very small car or a motor bike. The lady in the information centre practically fell off her chair laughing when I asked if there was somewhere we could stay overnight in a campervan… yeah right! This was a piece of out motivation to head north, but plenty more time and places to see.

We headed back down the twisty road and soon spotted a sign for the Autostrada (A3). We didn’t have Fiona turned on but thought it can’t be too far… yeah right! If you glance at a map there is a small mountain range between Amalfi and Naples on the other side of the peninsula. So it is more hair pin turns, up and up. We reach the top round a corner and start to head down and then… wow! We round a corner and are greeted with a reward that made everyone of the tight turns and difficult roads worth it, a view across Naples and Vesuvius. It was dark by now. Hard to describe the view… the lights of a city and rising out them is Vesuvius, like a giant rising up and towering over the town. You will have to wait for the photos taken on a four second exposure from a perfect make-out parking place.

Having decided to leg it north we kept on going into the night, plan to get as far north as we could before it got too late. The most likely spot was a car park to the south of Rome. Not quite the picturesque camp sites we have had in the past, hardly a lake side location with views of a medieval city… but free and safe never-the-less… the night passed listening to the local youths making out in their cars. The next day was a driving day, from a car park outside Rome to a camp site just south of Ravenna. We needed a camp site after 4 days of car parks we were getting a bit on the whiffy side. The drive was really very good. Crossing through the middle of Italy we went up and down mountains, along valleys and along coasts. Autumn leaves, deep valleys and mountain top towns along the way.