18th September 2009

We took the N1 road out of Paris after first spending about half an hour trying to find a petrol station that would have room for a large van.  It's more difficult than you think, as they won't let you use the truck area, or don't have one, and there are height barriers on all the exits, so you need to be very careful that before you drive in, you can get out again.

It took as about four hours to get to Calais so we arrived at 1:45pm and were able to join the queue of waiting vehicles.  As we had arrived early (we’d originally booked for next Monday) we had to pay an extra €7 which wasn't as bad as we thought it might be.  We made lunch in the van whilst we were on the train, arrived at Folkestone and drove straight to Blackhorse Farm campsite again.

I made a vegetable curry for dinner and I played my DS and went on my laptop.  Paul was ages on the phone to 3 again trying to get the £20 back from the cancelled dongle contract.  I must say it's nice to be in England again, I've had enough of staying on campsites now, and we're both looking forward to part two of our trip next year.  Italy in comfort.

We're off to Luton and Watford to look at two S type Jaguars, hope we can find a decent one.  Then we have to find a suitable property to rent in Tavistock.  Paul has seen a couple but we need to visit the estate agents and register with them before we can arrange a viewing.

I won't be writing in this journal every day, just when interesting events happen like buying the car or finding a house.  I'll start it all again when we commence our trip to Italy next year.

Some Notes on our Final Europe Tour

We’d driven another 2,300 miles, stopped in some really nice campsites, seen a lot of Germany and a bit of Austria and also had to suffer the state of some of the French campsites.
We met a lot of really interesting people.  Of all the nationalities we met, the Dutch came out tops as the most friendly, and the most accepting of us Brits.  The Germans were also nice but as I couldn't speak their language, I felt less comfortable with them.  The Dutch have to speak good English because nobody else in Europe speaks Dutch.  Ha ha!

17th September 2009

We left the campsite and drove for ages trying to find a site that offered the ACSI rate and was still open.  We found one at lunchtime, but it was under a load of trees and we couldn't get a signal so we drove on.  We stopped by the roadside and ate lunch of French bread, cheese ham and tomatoes which was nice, and then headed on to a site on the outskirts of Paris.

Camping Club Parc du Paris

The campsite is the Camping Club du Parc de Paris and I think it's horrible but it's the only one near here and it's now 5pm so we'll have to stay.  We both went for a shower as we didn't have one this morning, and it was disgusting.  They smell of urine, and the gutters for the water to run away, are filled with dead flies, moths and other brown stuff.  The water is either scalding or freezing, nothing in between.  I think everybody should camp in France and see what it's like; it would really open their eyes.  We’re going to leave early tomorrow morning and see if we can make it to Calais in time for a Eurotunnel train.  As it's not the time we booked we will probably have to pay extra, but it will be worth it!  Paul's just gone off to get WiFi which is €4 for one hour, what a rip off!  However, we need to book the tunnel and we're trying to locate a Jaguar for when we get back so we'll just have to pay it.

16th September 2009

We left the campsite quite early, goodbye Germany, see you again soon, and headed into France.  We are in the Alsace region which is quite different.  That's what Paul says is fascinating about France, it can be so different depending on which area you go to. We’re heading for a campsite called Camping Du Lac which as the name indicates is by a lake, so might be nice.  I'm not looking forward to French toilets and showers again though!

Bye Germany - hello France!

We stopped on the way to get some shopping at a Leclerc and had our favourite lunch, pizza followed by chocolate cake with Crème Anglais mmm delicious.  We arrived at the campsite and I did some washing and then checked out the loos, which were gross.

Camping Du Lac in Alsace

I then cooked some dinner.  Ha ha I just said something stupid and it made Paul laugh.  Whenever I put the oven on, it makes Paul's mouse jump about on the screen.  He said, ‘oh that sometimes happens when you get electrical interference.’  ‘But’, I said, ‘the oven is gas!’  He roared and said yes, but the igniter's electric isn't it?  Doh! I'm so blond sometimes.

15th September 2009

Another rainy day and we were stuck in the van all day again.  We've had a long talk and decided to go back home, well to the UK.  We've got to the stage where the weather isn't very good, it's dark early in the evenings now, a lot of the campsites are closing down for the season, and come November we will have to tax and re-insure the van for another year as well as renew our Caravan Club and other memberships, so it's really decision time.

We've had a great time, but all we seem to be doing now is drive to a campsite, sit in the van all day and then move on to another.  It might have been better, with hindsight, for us to have bought a caravan and car as we could have driven off to see places rather than sitting around, but it's the one thing that isn't so easy to do when you have a 27 foot long van to park and manoeuvre everywhere.  I feel a bit sad that our adventure is coming to an end, but we’ve spent nearly six months travelling which is a hell of a lot more than we both thought we’d do.  We've seen some great things and magnificent countryside like the Sierra Nevada, Algarve, Glencoe and the Mosel valley.

The plan is to go back to the UK, buy a car, maybe an S type Jaguar, rent somewhere to live and sell the motorhome (shame) and after the new year, maybe in April, go to Italy by car and stay in hotels and see some of the sites we’d have tried to go to in the van, like the Trevi Fountain, Rome, Florence and so on.  So at least we have something to look forward to, and I have the added bonus of being back near my family as we’ve decided we’ll try and find a property near Tavistock in Devon.

We’ve under spent our budget on this trip and provided we can get a decent price for the van, we could afford to do another trip next year. Paul has sorted out a route home and we'll leave tomorrow and hopefully be back in the UK by next Monday.

We both spent the day online and I did some more editing of my book.

14th September 2009

We didn't do much today as it was still raining so we sat in the van and I played MK and AC and Paul read his book.  I made bacon and eggs for dinner and we watched some TV as Paul has been able to get a good satellite signal over in this part of Germany.

13th September 2009

Today is our tenth wedding anniversary.  We both got up and headed for the showers and when we returned we opened our anniversary cards.  Aww Paul's is one of those really lovely Art Deco ones.  We went down to reception to sign in as we didn't have time last night, and then we sat in the van and went on-line as they have free WiFi hooray!

As they also have what looks like a nice restaurant, we decided to have a celebration lunch so we got ready and walked down to the restaurant.  It was a typical ‘Stube’, rustic wood and loads of flowers in baskets everywhere.

Campsite "Rustic" restaurant our 10th Anniversary

Paul had a venison steak and I had a pork steak which was nice but too big and a little under-cooked for my liking, but it was very good food.  It’s obviously popular with the locals as well, as it was packed.  At one point and elderly lady came and asked Paul if she and two other people could share our table.  Paul explained that we were celebrating our anniversary and would sooner be alone.  She didn't seem too pleased but I don't want to share my table with a bunch of strangers all talking German thank you!

We went back to the van and had a snooze as we’d been drinking Champagne and wine and I'm no good drinking at lunchtimes, it just gives me a headache.

12th September 2009

We've decided to head back into Germany, and to try and find a nice site over near the French border.  I suppose we should have done this yesterday instead of going through all the bloody hassle with the Go-Box. There are no other English people on this site, so nobody to talk to, we can't get a TV signal, it's raining again and I don't want to sit inside the van all day with nothing much to do.  This doesn't matter too much in the summer but it now gets dark about 6pm and you can't sit outside when it's like this. We tried to get our money back for the internet card, but the woman wouldn’t give it to us. Horrible cow.

We obviously wouldn’t get to see Italy or Switzerland as we had originally planned, but could do that maybe next spring when the weather is likely to be a bit better.

So! we won't be going in this direction then?

We drove for about nine hours in all today, a large chunk of it being spent trying to get our money back from the Go-Box.  The first garage didn't sell them, the second, which was about 40 miles inside the German border, did and said we would get a credit for €56 which means our little detour into Austria had cost us €24 or about £20!!  What with the woman at the campsite refusing to give us back the money for the internet access we didn't use, our impression of Austria was not altogether good!!  Now we have to check our bank and see if we do get the money back on the Go-Box.  I won't hold my breath!

We arrived at the new campsite which is situated in the triangle where the borders with Switzerland, Germany and France meet near to Basel and Mulhouse.  It's a nice site although we couldn't see very much of it as it was nearly dark.  If it's as nice as it looks, we'll stay for a week.  Poor Paul is absolutely knackered, I felt sorry for him having to drive all that way as he's still suffering with a cold and needs to have a rest.

Lug Insland Erlebnis camping Bad Bellingen

11th September 2009

Paul complained about the internet this morning as sure enough, the time was running out all night so we didn't even get 2 hours access let alone 24.  They gave us our money back. I can't believe we're the only ones that complain, so why do they charge in this way?

We’re moving on to Austria now but before we enter Austria we have to find someone who issues these ‘Go-Boxes’ which is how they charge for tolls in Austria for vehicles over 3.5 tons.  They’re supposed to be available in all fuel stops on the highway but the first one we stopped at didn't sell them, the second did sell them but their system was down so they couldn't issue them and then we finally found a huge service area that did them.

They told us that they would charge €80 for the unit and Paul nearly choked.  He said but we only want to go through Austria to Switzerland and that's about 160 kilometres (Probably about €20 in tolls) but the man said sorry that's the minimum amount you can load on the unit.  We asked what do you do when you leave Austria and want to get the unused part back.  He said you can stop at any service station and they will credit you back the money.  It all sounded a bit chancy to me so we said we'll think about it and drove to the next service station!

Paul was getting a bit worried as we were already in Austria and we could end up being fined if we were stopped for not having paid the tolls.  This place also didn't sell them but a young guy at the petrol pumps said that the next one along the road did and he very helpfully drove ahead of us and asked the people to give us a unit.  They also said ‘minimum amount €80’ and we almost blew up.  We thanked the young guy and had to pay the money and take the unit, we didn't have any other choice.  Finally, after having paid the money the garage had a power failure and the computer system wouldn't work so he had to give Paul the money back and we drove to the next service area where finally, they gave us the bloody Go-Box, ironic name really, it should be, Stop-Box.  What a palaver.

I think my impression of Austria is already diminishing by the minute although I have to say the countryside is beautiful, mountains and castles all along the highway.

Entering Austria

Austrian Schloss

Camping Seehof at Kramsach Austria

We finally arrived at Camping Seehof near Kramsach around 6pm and we had a really nice welcome.  The campsite owner came out to meet our van and shook hands with Paul and then showed us where to pitch.  This was right beside a pretty Tyrolean house where the showers are located.  Everything is very clean and tidy, just like German campsites.

Paul tried to get a TV signal but could only get German and Italian TV down here which was a shame.  We’d bought internet access, but couldn’t get anything either, so all in all, not a great evening. We had something to eat and then went to bed and read for a while.  It seemed to rain all night and only stopped in the morning. 

10th September 2009

The weather is on the turn so we think we'll leave today and press on towards Austria.  Paul really wants me to see some mountains but I'm not that keen if it means going on little roads with massive drops at the side.  He's told me we'll be going on motorways and we will have to buy a special tag to fix in the front of the van which clocks our mileage and charges us the toll.  Not sure how this all works!

We found a Real supermarket so stopped for provisions and bought a couple of rolls for lunch.  We then drove to a campsite near Fussen.  On the way we saw the wonderful castle Hohenschwangau and took some pictures.

Schloss Hohenschwangau in Bavaria

The campsite is the Via Claudia and overlooks a pretty lake and had a few swarms of midges which worried me.  However, the showers and toilets were, as usual, in very good condition so we decided to stop at least for one night.

Camping Via Claudia

We paid €5 for a 24 hour internet access card but we are suspicious that the 24 hours runs from the moment you log in and continues even if you're not using it.  It's such a con this internet access business, but not as much as in France.


We couldn't watch TV as Paul couldn't get a satellite signal, I fear we are too far south now and won't be able to get a signal anymore with the size of dish we have.

9th September 2009

Another hot day, we can't believe how lucky we are with the weather for September.  I sat in the van and did some editing and after a while I went and sat outside with Paul.  It's almost too hot now, I've had to put a sun hat on and some sun block on my nose and chin.  I'll do sandwiches again for lunch although we are sitting here munching pretzels we bought yesterday.  I'll go back inside in a while and play AC or we might walk up to reception and check emails again.  It's so nice not doing very much and enjoying the good weather although I do get a bit bored and restless after a while doing nothing.  It's a good job I have my laptop and my card making stuff.

I finished reading a book yesterday, ‘Twenties Girl’ by Sophie Kinsella.  It was really good and goes to my favourite books list at number three I think.

8th September 2009

Because we’re staying here, we needed some food and things so we disconnected cables from the van and after asking an elderly German couple behind us if they would guard our cables and satellite dish etc, we drove to a nearby Aldi.  The German couple were very puzzled at our attitude about looking after things, they said, ‘nobody will try and take anything from your pitch so don't worry, it's not like that here in Germany.’  We managed to get most of what we wanted except for water where they only had the little bottles and again and you had to pay a deposit on the bottles.

We got back to the van and cooked ourselves hamburgers and then sat out in the sun all afternoon.  We had sandwiches for our dinner and then watched Eastenders and Holby on TV.

7th September 2009

We're going to stay here for a while as it's a nice campsite and the weather is good, the showers are great and they have internet.  We walked up to reception to use the WiFi and collected our email and after some lunch we sat outside.  I made some cards and Paul read.  I heard the noise of an engine in the sky and when I looked up there was an airship floating along.  Paul said it was a Zeppelin and had come from their factory on the lake at Friedrichshafen.  I was fascinated as I've never seen an airship before.  Apparently you can go up on a flight, but looking at the little passenger compartment underneath, there’s no way you’d get me in that!

Zeppelin airship near Salem

Later, in the evening we got ready and walked up to the restaurant where we met some other English people and we all sat together on a large table and had dinner.  I had a Pork Schnitzel with chips and Paul had the same but with noodles. It took a long time to arrive as I think the woman on reception is also the cook.  But although I didn't like it much, Paul said it was very good.  We were invited back to one of the other couple's caravan for coffee, but we declined, and got back to our van a little tipsy after a good few glasses of wine.

6th September 2009

We got up and ate our breakfast outside and then walked up to the reception area where there’s free Wifi. On the way we spotted a free pitch so we shot back to the van, packed up and took it up to the new pitch.  It was much better there and we were within easy walking distance of the showers and reception, and away from the dog walk path too!

We checked emails and did some other computer stuff.

We went back to the van and I vacuumed inside, Paul tried to set up the satellite dish but we were now a long way south and the signal was interrupted by trees on the hillside.  Paul said it's a good thing we bought the signal meter as it's a bit more precise and easier to set up.  He finally managed to get a reasonable signal, so at least we could watch TV.

It was very hot today so we sat outside although I needed to be careful I didn’t burn.  The showers were great, the best we've had so far, so we had a lovely long shower.  The first I've had for three days and I think it's four days for Paul, ugh smelly tramps ha ha!

Just managed to get a satellite signal

5th September 2009

We just want to find somewhere we can stay for a few days and we're not having much luck so far.  Paul has seen an ACSI site near Lake Titisee so we are packing up this morning and heading there.  Thank God the rain stopped so the van is not bogged down in the mud.  We did have spinning wheels for a bit, but sensibly, Paul had parked facing down hill so we got out okay.

We stopped on the way at a supermarket and bought some bits and pieces including some bottled water.  When we got outside I checked the receipt to find we had been charged an extra €1.50 for something so I went back in and the cashier told us that it's a deposit for the bottled water.  I've never heard of being charged a deposit before so I asked for our money back and returned the water.  The lady cashier showed as a large five litre bottle of water, which we bought instead, no deposit!

We drove into Titisee which is very pretty and is obviously a very popular holiday area.  There were a number of campsites around the lake but none of them seemed very nice.  Probably a case of the resort is the draw so the campsites don't need to do much to attract customers. We noticed a nice looking campsite on the other side of the lake, and tried to drive round to it.  It was impossible, we just kept getting lost, so in the end we gave up and drove to another ACSI site Paul had seen in the guide but was was quite a drive away.

Gern-Campinghof Salem

We arrived at Gern-Campinghof Salem, which is very close to Lake Konstanz.  Across the lake is Switzerland.  The site looked good, there was a restaurant and bar at reception but the only problem was that the only pitches they had left were right at the far end of the site, miles from anything and it was next to the dog-walking path, so we had people and their dogs walking past us all the time.  Hopefully, after the weekend people would leave and then we could find a better pitch, so all was not lost.  The weather was good, sunny and hot so we decided we’d try and stay for as long as the weather held.

We met a nice English couple opposite who had a Spanish registered Hymer Motorhome as they live in Spain.  We shared a bottle of wine with them and soaked up what was left of the sun.  Then we both went and had showers, they were great.

4th September 2009

We were going to stay at the site but Paul didn't like the showers either so we left and drove back towards Heidelberg and then to the Hockenheim Motor Racing circuit as Paul wanted to visit it.  He asked the man at the gate whether we could go inside and drive round and the man said yes so we went in.

Hockenheim Motor Racing Circuit

I took some photos.  It's a shame we couldn't get to the Nurberg ring as well but that wasn't on our route.  Maybe on the way back.

We then drove to the next campsite, Konigskanzel Camping near Freudenstadt in Baden Wurttemberg.  It was raining again and the campsite was on the side of a hill.  They didn't have too many hard standing pitches and the only other thing we could find near reception, was under a bloody great pylon.  Sorry, we're not camping underneath a pylon.

Camping Konigskanzel

Paul drove down further into the campsite and we found a grass pitch under some trees.  He wasn't too happy though, with the rain being quite heavy, he was worried that the van would sink in overnight and we’d have trouble getting out again.  We were also a long way from the showers so I hoped it would stop raining soon!  We should probably have gone on to a different site but I want Paul to have some rest.

We couldn't get an internet signal as we were too far from reception.  Shame as their internet is free.

I cooked a Spagh Bol for dinner and play AC and Paul went to bed.

3rd September 2009

Poor Paul has come down with a cold so we want to find somewhere nice so he can rest for a couple of days to shake it off.  Wolfsmuhle was okay, but they only had a pitch available for one night anyway, so we packed up and moved onto the next site.

We stopped at a Lidl store for food and I needed the loo.  Unfortunately they didn't have one so we drove on and found a small store on an industrial estate which seemed to sell everything.  I bought some clothes pegs, teaspoons and a new dustpan and Paul got a little wheeled trolley for transporting the toilet cassette and water container. It's a real pain lugging them backwards and forwards on a campsite.  The price tag had come off so I told Paul to go back and get another one with a price tag.  He found one marked €1.49!  It should have been at least €5 and we have seen these trolleys for €15 and more, so we got a real bargain.

We found the next campsite right on the Neckar river but it didn't look very nice, not well looked after, so we headed on further down the river and finally found Camping Friedensbrucke.  It's in a nice location, we could get a boat from here into Heidelberg if we wanted, but the showers aren't too good.  They are clean enough, but there are about six individual booths side by side, it's unisex and the cubicles have opaque doors so you can see everything! Also there’s nowhere to leave your clothes and things inside the booth so you have to leave everything outside on the floor and when you get out you are completely on show.  I don’t think so!

Friedensbrucke camping on the River Neckar

Paul bought an internet access card from reception for €2 but we couldn't get any signal on our pitch so the man gave us our money back. We had dinner and watched TV.

2nd September 2009

We left the Prumtal campsite, which we thought was very good generally, and we’d stay there again.  We were searching for a place to do some food shopping.  Our SatNav told us there was a Walmart Supermarket nearby.  We had so much trouble trying to find it that we asked someone and they said, Oh that isn't a Walmart it's called Real, and there it was in front of us.  It was a huge supermarket and it had everything we needed including Snickers bars and some other recognisable chocolate, so we stocked up!

Model Vineyards, miles of them!

We then took a long meandering drive along the Mosel River admiring all the vineyards and the old medieval style villages. Everywhere was notably clean and very pretty.  The vineyards are planted all along the hillsides, miles and miles of them with all the famous names in big signs across the hill.

Quaint Model Villages

They have little monorail trains running up and down the hills so the workers can pick the grapes.  There are also many campsites set by the riverside but they all seemed to be on the other side of the river to us.  The villages have many nice looking restaurants, which all looked busy so they must be good, much better than France & Spain.

We eventually arrived at our chosen campsite about 5pm.  It was okay, right on the Rhine river, but a bit noisy from traffic on the nearby main road.  The rubbish bins were next to the showers, and they smelled dreadful.  We thought we’d stay that night but probably look for something better the next day.  We walked down to the riverside in the evening and I fed a couple of swans who had a baby with them.  They got a bit excited and hissed at me, which scared the life out of me.  Ha ha!

Wolfsmuhle Campsite on the Rhine

1st September 2009

Well, we're into September now.  Can't believe we’ve been travelling for five months already.  It doesn't seem that long at all.

Weather not so good today, so we stayed in the van and played on our computers, well I played Bejewelled and Paul messed around with Autoroute trying to decide where to go next.  It rained quite heavily at times so we couldn't sit outside at all.  When it did stop Paul went out to sort out our table and chairs which he had stowed underneath the van and they had got covered in mud and twigs. He also cleaned off the ground sheet.

We had pasta and sauce for dinner and watched TV, Holby, then went to bed and read.