We are very behind on our blogs because since we left La Marina we have not had wifi for the laptop to upload photos or our diary. But we will update them once we get back to England. However a brief overview of we have done and where we are now is following. We left La Marina and travelled down to Gibraltar where the next day we took a ferry across to Morocco. What an amazing place that is. Although they have a high alert for terrorism at present it feels safer than other countries we visited with the most amazing people. We would go back in a heartbeat. It was vibrant, busy and very real. We were shocked on arriving but once adjusted we loved the atmosphere there. We only were able to stay 4 days upon which time we took the ferry back to Spain, even though most were cancelled due to high seas and winds.
Once back we picked up our van we headed for Portugal. We didnt have enough time to see Portugal very well unfortunately. We spent a couple of nights in the algarve which was amazing and although it was winter there, there were so many campervans around, mainly French and Dutch. We headed up along the west coast of Portugal which again was stunning and had very big seas, which lent itself to feeling at home like it was NZ beaches. Peniche, Vila do Conte and Viana do Costello are place we want to see more of as they were incredible. Portugese were lovely and mostly spoke some English which helped. As we headed into northern Spain the countryside was dramatically different from southern Spain and it was green, snow on hills and spectacular. I think we need another year to see all these places we had to skip by as there is so much to see. We travelled from northern Spain into southern France and stopped in St Jean de Luz. We stayed there 6 years ago and loved it. We still think its amazing. We then travelled on to a place called Port Louis just near Quiberon where we also stayed 6 years ago. What an amazing place too. We are on the coast north of there and and stopped today and saw a lookout and a fort. All the places we have stopped in Portugal, northern Spain and France are free camperstops which are wonderful. Some have water, toilet dump and waste water dump and the odd one has electricity that you pay for. It certainly helps you spend less to see the countryside. We are in Saint Cast le Guildo tonight and tomorrow after stopping off at Saint Mont Michel, an amazing tourist destination, in fact the most popular in France, we then head off to Deauville or Blonville Sur Mer. On the 29th Feb we take the ferry back to England.
Our travels are then over as we have a house sit for a couple of weeks whilst we contemplate whether i go back to work in Aus, or we stay in England or maybe travel some more, although i think we would have to sit Scot on a roundabout in Spain to earn some money to do so (roundabouts in Spain are where the prostitutes sit).
We have loved every minute of our travel and i am sure i am not the only one who wasnt sure we would make it the whole way round (or the van). We have seen 28 amazing countries, travelled almost 34,000kms and gained more friends and experiences than in our entire lifetime. But we need to get off our band wagon or we will go on about it. If there was any of our friends contemplating doing this we would be happy to help them with any questions etc.
So in a week or so’s time we will have more details up about the brief you have just read as we will be back in the very cool temps of England, actually west of London near the Chilterns hopefully in a very warm house with some lovely pets to keep us company whilst we make decisions about our future.
Apologies for the delay in updates. I have been ill for the past week and ended up in a Swiss hospital. Our tablet has also died so we will be back online when things return to normal. Vicki 2 Nov.
We pack up the van and switch the fridge to battery, of which there is little power left, but we hope there is enough to keep the food cool until we get to a campsite to power up again.
We head out of Vilnius city. A lovely place and was absolutely worth visiting.
We head south to a little village called Paneriai which is where the Nazi’s did most of their killing of the Lithuanian jews plus some Russians and others they wanted to exterminate numbers around the 100,000 but no one really knows exactly how many people died. This village is only about 10kms out of the city centre and when you stop here you can understand why they used this place. It is on the train line, far enough from the city, but in the middle of a large wooded area. We had to park at the train station and walk about 1km to the memorial. There are about 5 pits that they used to kill the people and a pit for burning the bodies when eventually they decided they needed to hide the evidence.
We hadn’t realised but the museum here was closed on a Monday, but that was ok as we could walk around the pits without any other tourists there, it was just us and that made it very real. It had that same eerie feeling where you felt like you had to look behind you just in case you were the next one to go into the pit. Sounds weird, but although I want to see these places as they represent what happened and the history that I am interested in learning about, I feel I want to run away from this place when we arrive. In a forest like this you would normally hear birds or other noises, but this place was silent. There were no birds or other animals and there was no beauty. Fear, horror, terror is what I feel here.
As we head south out of Lithuania, I think of all the little things we observed in the Baltic countries that were different. Cows are not enclosed in paddocks they are chained to spikes in the ground like we do to dogs at picnics, quite funny really. Lithuanians are particularly keen gardeners and you see their little gardens often in a community area away from the houses and then you see them on the side of the roads selling their produce to make a few bucks. Cats rule here, they are everywhere and dogs would be scared. The Baltic cities are all amazing and well worth the trip to see them. Lithuania would be my favourite for countryside. Farming is huge in Lithuania and people try to keep their yards looking nice even if their houses are quite run down on the outside. We think the freedom that people feel here since the occupation finished is very palpable and shows in all that they do. In the whole of the Baltic countries we didn’t experience road rage in a huge way nor that many problematic drivers as we had been lead to believe. We would come back here in a heartbeat.
We drive south over the border into Poland and see similar little plots of peoples gardens they are tending to and it looks like a neat country similar to Lithuania. We know we aren’t going to be able to get too far so we stop in a town called Augustow which is on a lake. We pull into the marina and talk to the guy. We didn’t have any Polish zlotys and we had not known what the exchange rate was so the guy wanted to charge us 60zlotys but he said he would take 25euro. What we didn’t know was the exchange rate between the two currencies meant he charged us double euro which we paid as we didn’t have anything else….bastard taking advantage like that.
Anyway as per normal we were the only ones at the marina staying and they had to give us our own key to the handicapped toilet and shower. Although they told us they had wifi it wouldn’t work for us – so what’s new.
In the morning before we took off I had made the decision that we needed to go into the town and find the information centre and buy a sim for Poland so that at least we could find places to stay – freebies preferably and of course some zlotys. So we biked into the town and what a lovely town it was – the small kind that I really like as they are more personal. We found an ATM, got money and then found a T-Mobile. 5 zloty it cost for a sim for the tablet for 1GB – $2aud, so cheap. We had a bit of a look around and then had a coffee at a lovely café recommended by the information place staff. We biked back to the marina and packed up the van and headed out of town. Driving out confirmed what a lovely place it was – the kind you just want to spend a bit more time having a look around but unfortunately we don’t have the time. Whilst we had been parked in the marina we had looked at the front tyres and they didn’t seem to be wearing well and one front tyre was ridged and worn badly so we determined that once we got to Gdansk we would find a tyre place and replace both front tyres. In Belgium they reckoned we would get another 10-15,000 miles out of them and we had already done 8,000 miles – 13,000 kms so it was worth getting them done.
We hit the road – we had about 390kms of highway to drive before we got to Gdansk so it would be a long drive. We arrived in a little settlement out of Gdansk called Stegna which is right on the beach but also surrounded by forest. The forest goes right up to the beach dunes. The campground was lovely and the owner couldn’t have been more helpful to us. We stayed two nights and we did our washing and went to the beach and Scot had a swim – of course (in the Baltic sea). The beach, unlike Scandinavia was very clean and there were lots of birds and shells showing an abundance of sea life. There were a few people around on the beach sun bathing but no one was swimming as the sea was a bit cold. We had a coffee and then biked into the little town of Stegna which was very small. We got some fresh berries and vowed to come back and get some of the farm veges on our way out. We got the lady of the camp to phone the tyre place 45 minutes drive away to see if they could fit us in the following day on our way out which was fine by them. There were a lot of stray cats at this camp which seemed to get their food from the campers who felt sorry for them. They were quite skittish and didn’t want patting but were happy to receive any scraps we had. Washing finished, bed remade, ironing done (yes I bought a travel iron and I iron my pillow slips and hankies) we had tea and an early night.
We got up quite early and had a walk along the beach which was so nice. This is our last seaside walk for a while as we will be inland for a while. We headed off for the tyre place just outside of Gdansk. When we got out of the van when we pulled up our tyres were pointing outward and I saw the inside of one side and metal threads were all sticking out of the inside of the tyre. I nearly died of fright. Here we were travelling at highway speed for 390kms two days ago and had that tyre blown we would not have survived. My god we have some amazing angel looking over us. The other tyre was just as dreadful. They guy in the tyre place was a bit shocked I think, but they had worn where we couldn’t see them and we had done the right thing by making a decision to replace them when we thought they weren’t that bad. Anyway we sat for about 3 hours whilst they put new tyres on, did an alignment and we also got them to change the oil and filter since it was nearly at 10,000 miles.
It was late when we got back on the road so we didn’t make it very far and stopped for the night at Znin. We went to a campground – empty as usual – but it was such a half star place. The kitchen was out of the 60’s and the showers and toilets were unbelievable, but you deal with what they have and it’s only one night. The surrounds were old and quite run down as well.
The next day we decided we would drive over to Germany and find a camper store and see if they had a van hinge to replace our broken one. I had found a store that looked quite good, so we headed over west to Frandfurt an der Oder. It took most of the day as the roads are quite slow. Poland is a very pretty country with lovely treed countryside and cute villages. A little run down in a lot of places but still a lovely country. We found out that the road rules in Poland aren’t followed too well. On roads with a single lane each way and a small side area for pulling over vehicles are expected to drive in the pull over lane so others can pass when cars are coming towards them. And if the car passing can’t fit in their own lane the vehicle coming towards them has to pull right over in their side lane so all 3 vehicles can fit side by side. We watched as huge trucks would overtake someone not caring if cars were coming the other way or not. Hilarious for us watching, but not so when all of a sudden you are confronted with a truck coming toward you and you are expected to pull over as far as you can out of their way, but that is how they drive and you either play the game or lose! On the highways heading out of Poland there were heaps of young girls in skimpy gear standing on the side of the road either near truck stops or in areas that trucks could pull over. We called them the truck roots on the truck routes. There were heaps of them and I guess because there are literally thousands of trucks that pass each day they are bound to make enough money to live on. You can tell that Europe moves most of it’s products by truck rather than train as there are just so many of them.
We arrived at the German camper shop in the late afternoon and asked about hinges. The guy really wasn’t’ interested in helping us, it was late Friday afternoon and he really couldn’t be bothered with us which was a pity as we had travelled a long way, but they had nothing at all. We left feeling very disappointed.
We then had to find somewhere for the night so we travelled down a bit further south in Germany.
We needed to stop at a supermarket and as we drove through this small town I commented to Scot that it looked very ethnic, quite unlike Germany. We saw a supermarket beside a McDonalds so we pulled into the car park and had a look around us. We realised that in the small wooded area beside this shopping centre there was a group of maybe 40 refugees living there. They were sitting and walking all through the car park and were looking very ominous. In amongst the pristine countryside of Germany these refugees had accumulated the most disgusting pile of rubbish strewn everywhere in the wood (There were rubbish bins not being used). I was horrified. Here these people are wanting to be given a new life in a new country and they treat it with such disrespect and contempt. A lot of the guys had phones, were smoking and drinking and obviously were having McDonalds. If they are so hard done by then how come they can afford these things I ask. For me they deserve everything they get if this is how they are going to treat Europe for trying to help them. I would march along with all the others that have around Europe in protest about them coming into Europe. I think they should send them back, the bunch of complete ungrateful assholes!! 28 European states are looking at housing 120,000 refugees yet this is only 20 days worth of immigrants. Funny enough, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and one other don’t want to help because they have no muslim population. They can only see problems. Several of the countries have already put in border controls and Hungary has built a fence. It is not good and as we get nearer the problem areas we aren’t sure what we will be confronted with. There has been rioting etc, so is definitely a concern for us.
We drove straight out of this carpark after locking our doors and drove onto a camp ground. They were closed for the night and the gate was closed so we camped outside in the car park for the night for free.
Saturday 19 September
We were up the next morning and headed out early before anyone in the camp ground woke up. They couldn’t do anything about us anyway as we had arrived late and it wasn’t our fault we had to stay outside for the night. We were undecided where we should go next and initially decided we would drive towards Krakow. We got on this road that took us into Poland but the surface was so dreadful we thought it would shake the van to pieces. There was no other road to travel on and we went probably 60kms on this horrendous road – see pictures below. We stopped about midday at McDonalds McCafe for a coffee and at that point we decided we wouldn’t go to Krakow – we would go into Czech Republic first and then go back up into Poland after doing this country. Poland is so big we can’t do all of it. So we headed slightly back the way we came and down into the Czech Republic.
It is a lot hillier in this country and for the first time we headed up and down windy hills. It is very pretty countryside here. We had to buy a vignette on the way in. This is a sticker for your windscreen which pays for the road tax/tolls for the period of time you are in the country. We bought one for 10 days. The police are very active here in checking for them and if you get caught without one the fines can be quite severe.
We decided to camp at the marina on a little island in the middle of the river near Prague city or Praha as the Czechs call it. We arrived at the camp about 4pm.
The next morning we get up and go for a walk into Lillisand. What a lovely little village. In Southern Norway particularly, they all have white wooden houses with a couple of different colours of rooves. See pictures of some of the buildings. They look so fresh and vibrant and when you add the colourful flowers it just looks amazing. There weren’t many people around and so it was lovely just to walk around the buildings and check it all out.
After breakfast we showered and I had the same problem again only this time thankfully I hadn’t started the shower, but it is a pain to have to get dressed again, go up to the office to explain the shower coin got chewed up and then go back again hoping that it doesn’t happen a second time. We took off and drove through Kristiansand and stopped in a little seaside village called Mandal which is really pretty, as I guess most are on the seafront with a marina and white wooden buildings. We found a little bakery and had a coffee and bread like danishes which were really lovely. We haven’t had many that are so nice you just want to have another one. It was lovely sitting in the sun after quite a few days of rain. The little village was so busy with people. The school holidays finish in Scandinavia in two weeks so hopefully it will all quieten down then. We found a shop that sold electrical stuff and thankfully we found the type of electrical cable we need here in some of the camping grounds so we should be set now with that.
We drove on thinking we would stop earlier today than the last couple so we drove down a road from Rom and thought we may find a nice freedom camping spot around Lyngdal. But it’s funny that you can’t find them when you want one and you always see spectacular ones when you aren’t looking. We ended up driving right to the end of the peninsula but didn’t find a camping spot. We did stop at Farsund and there was a hard stand at the marina there which we checked out as it wasn’t much to stay, but all the spots were taken and we couldn’t really find an appropriate spot to park so we moved on. This looked like a great place to have a look around, but it wasn’t to be. We passed a little place called Vik – which seemed appropriate to stop at, but these places are just off the main road and the access roads to them are more often than not very narrow and difficult to traverse so we are cautious not to drive down them. Scot did have a run down this one to check out the road but it wasn’t the right place to stop. So we continued on to the end which was a lighthouse on a very rugged part of the coat. It was so like Irelands west coast – very rocky rugged and wind blown. We had a look around there and back tracked to the nearest settlement which had a small hardstand marina where there was a couple of campers there already, so as it was late we stopped there for the night. They are cheaper than camp grounds and they still have a toilet and shower to use which is fine, plus free wifi – even better if it’s free.
We were bedding down for the night when Scot went out and turned off the gas. There were some young kids hanging around on their motorbikes so he yelled at them to f*ck off. I was worried all night that they might come back and trash the van or at the least graffiti it, but thankfully they weren’t bad kids so we went unscathed.
The next morning we headed back to the main highway and back around to the west. We drove to Flekkefjord where we had been going to drive the day before but didn’t so we stopped here for our standard morning coffee. A nice town but busy and parking was difficult so we didn’t stay long. At this point we decided to go of the main highway as on the map the road looked like it was ok. This may be the last time we go off the main highway in Norway.
The road went from Flekkefjord through Sogndal, Hauge and up to Egersund. It started out ok, it wasn’t bad, it was a little close passing cars, but it was manageable. We went over the first very high climb which was windy U turn bends climbing up and then back down. I wasn’t worried as I had driven this type of road in the van we hired in NZ – which is why we did that – to make sure it wasn’t a problem. But on the descent the brakes overheated as it was a major decent and they smelt really bad so we stopped at the bottom of the hill and had lunch while we waited for the brakes to cool down. We took off again and then hit the worst climb of all. Had we known what it was going to be like we – or maybe just I – wouldn’t have driven it even though the road surface was good, it was a bit hairy. We climbed up the very windy road that climbed up virtually a rock face, the photos don’t show exactly how scary the road was. In parts we couldn’t have passed a car if one came towards us and there were a few cars on the road thus far. We passed the odd camper and we both had to stop and pass slowly to be sure we could make it. And I was getting the odd car flying towards me around a corner which was meant for only one vehicle and I had to stop suddenly so they could pass – a bit silly of them really. Anyway we got to the major climb and then we got to the highest part of the mountain and it went into one lane with a tunnel through the rock with a sheer fall down the side. As I approached it I saw a car coming out of the tunnel and it just kept coming. In my understanding of the courtesy road rules on a road like this the car coming down waits for those coming up to pass as it is easier to stop going downhill than going up. Anyway she didn’t stop. When she got to us we couldn’t pass and she was looking at us like “ What are YOU doing you stupid people”. She was young and obviously inexperienced so she just stopped her car and sat there looking at us. So I backed back and although thankfully I didn’t have the sheer drop on my side I did have a deep gutter that had I gone into we would not have been going anywhere. I eventually manoeuvred the van so we could pass with an inch to spare. My heart was thumping and I wasn’t impressed.
We continued up through the tunnel where we came to a NZ memorial of all things. There was a NZ flag flying and a plaque explaining about the 4 NZers that were killed in WWII trying to get a German boat that was parked up in the Norwegian fjords illegally as Norway was supposed to be neutral and the Germans used them. But two of the planes crashed and all were killed on board, so the Norwegians have erected this memorial to the men on board. Although the road was a difficult one, the views were really spectacular (for the passenger anyway) and the photos can never do this stunning vista justice. Knowing the road I wouldn’t drive it again, but having done it I am glad we did with what we saw. It reminded me of one particular road we drove on in Ireland – a pass on the west coast. It was horribly steep and in our little car I was shitting myself we would meet another car as we were going up as there was no way even two small cars could pass. In fact on that road you couldn’t have passed a motorbike. This wasn’t that bad but it brought back that memory.
We continued on and I was very aware of trying to not let the brakes overheat again which is hard as the gears just weren’t keeping the van under speed at all, but we were fine. This was the last of the hairy roads and we went back to the highway as we weren’t keen on doing the second half of the road that tracked the coast. It is difficult to know what a road is going to be like until you actually start to drive on them and in most cases you can start to drive but if you change your mind there is never anywhere to turn around so you are committed.
We stopped for the night in a campground in Sandnes as it was getting a little late to get the ferry above Stavenger. Nothing to report about this place, just an ordinary ground obviously favoured by the Germans as there were many of them there which we hadn’t struck since we left the Netherlands.
Lillisand
White wooden houses at Lillisand
Fjord from the bridge
The type of vegetation around the south western area
Mandal
Vik village
Little huts at Borhaug you can stay in
The ruggedness of Borhaug
The mountains of the Fjords in the distance
Terrain that looks just like Irelands west coast
Fjord over a bridge
A lovely little village
Flekkfjord
Going on the coast road – hairpin bend
Very narrow road – the climb
Rocky terrain
We climb up the side of this mountain
You can see how narrow the road is and on the left is where the road travels up
You can see the line of the road up to the left
This is the single lane tunnel in the side of the rock
There will be no more blogs for a week out of respect for my mother who passed away on Tuesday evening 7th July in Dunedin. Such a beautiful soul – she was just a week shy of her 84th birthday. May she rest in peace.
Yesterday we left Wasserbillig and continued on the road to Vianden. Such beautiful scenery but we were disappointed we hadn’t just driven a little further along the road where we would have found several much nicer camping grounds than the one we stayed at in Wasserbillig, but you just don’t know what is around the corner. We don’t have any internet or phone access on the move and are relying on getting wi-fi at camping grounds which gets expensive when you are paying a couple of euro a night, but it means we can’t find anything and have to resort to old methods of roadside signs as we drive.
Vianden is a really lovely little village down in the valley where the huge imposing castle looks over it. We had a coffee down in the village before walking up to the castle and having a look around. Very cheap to get in – only 6euro each which is so reasonable. The castle was started in about 850 but was fully built by about the 12th century. It went into a very bad state of disrepair over the centuries as it was passed from one ruler to another. By the 1900’s there was rooves missing and walls lost, so in about the 1970’s the castle was taken over by the Luxembourg government, who rebuilt it back to what the believed it had been like – from paintings and drawings done over the centuries. An amazing and impressive castle.
As we walked around the castle we witnessed an American fellow proposing to his girlfriend which was so lovely. They were from Oklahoma.
We spied a lovely looking campsite from the castle so stayed there last night and since it is so lovely and peaceful we may stay again to night and what is on the agenda for today…….Nothing but sitting and enjoying the peaceful setting. Although I have to say the little river looks almost deep enough to swim in – so if it gets warm enough we may just do that as swims have been few and far between since leaving Aus.
Internet connectivity has been very intermittent at the camping grounds we have been staying at so posts have not been forthcoming.
Peterborough turned out to be a lovely town and we stayed on the outskirts at Ferry Meadows. What a lovely place, we wanted to stay longer. The walks in the adjacent park and lakes was so peaceful it was a delight to be there. I fed the ducks and swans and watched the hundreds of rabbits everywhere feeding on the lush green grass. We will be back here one day.
Thursday we drove to Hertford. We encountered the worst traffic jam ever on the M1 where there had been a fatal accident. We sat with the engine off quite a bit whilst waiting for it to clear (fortunate to have a toilet on board just in case..we were tempted to hire it out to any desperate souls around us☺). We didn’t get to see very much of Hertford as the next morning we caught the train to London. We arrived in the middle of a France club Toulon vs France club Cleremont rugby final (funny the colours were the same as Otago blue and yellow and Canterbury red and black) at Twickenham, but we had people to meet and places to go (much more important) so we didn’t go to the game which we would really have loved to go to…and there were tickets available too.
Had an awesome time staying with a lovely couple in Twickenham who made us very welcome. Started drinking early joining in with the pre game crowd at Barmy Arms pub, onto The Fox pub, then The Kings Arms and lastly The Sussex pub which is a real ale pub…see photo below. Scot thinks all pubs should be like The Sussex!! Beers change every day along with the ciders so there is a huge variety.
After a bit of an explore around Twickenham we went to The Sussex again to meet up with friends of friends and even met up with a fellow who had come to our wedding…amazing small world! Then off to experience a great London curry house followed by Irish coffees all round and then Brandy coffees all round. Great night…we’ll look forward to experiencing this all again with a great bunch of people when we come back next year.
Monday (bank holiday)…back on the train to Hertford, picked up the van and drove amongst the holiday people down to Canterbury. This is a university town…lots of teenagers around. Castle walls all around the city centre like York but didn’t have time to explore. Tuesday off to Dover to have the front brake pads and discs done (as advised from our service). So very glad we did as they were absolutely F**ked and I have to say it strongly as they were so bad. Hadn’t been touched for years, they were worse than down to the metal. Now we know we are safe. Doesn’t bear thinking about really when I remember the steep roads I drove down from Thirsk to York!
Anyway we think the van is now safe to continue our travels. We stayed in Folkstone last night and tonight and the winds are very high. We are staying in a camping ground over looking the sea…wind whistling all around us and nearly got blown over walking into town today. Unfortunately couldn’t go for a beach walk this morning as the waves were metres high over the sea front walkway so we had to make do with a sleep in instead!
Scots cranky I haven’t once mentioned the delicious food he has been cooking so I will have to start taking some photos to prove they have been delicious. Seafood chowder tomorrow night again and photos will follow.
Ferry tomorrow morning Dover to Callais and we are on our way to Belgium and Luxembourg…..woohoo!!
Blogs will follow once we have an international sim.
Just letting everyone know we have read all your comments which we love to get but just haven’t had the time or connectivity to respond appropriately.
On Monday morning we woke to a frost and where our waste water had been dripping was a wee block of ice on the grass, so temp must have got down to well below zero. Lucky we were nice and snug in the van. Scot braved the cold and frost and went for a run. I still cant believe he got out of bed that early for exercise!! Our action plan on this morning – Chris from Kiwi Leisure arrived early and fitted a new gas valve and piping so he could test the whole gas system which is now all safe and we wont have any issues getting on any ferries. We headed off to Leeds to find an aluminium fabricator to get some aluminium angle and plate….where’s your brother when you need them….Steve???? We found this wonderful guy Richard at RJS Fabricators in Morley who saved our lives and gave us correctly cut and bent aluminium angle and plate and then lent us all the tools we needed to drill through the van wall and secure it to the inside walls. We can’t thank him enough for helping us as we had no tools and we were finding it difficult to get the right materials. He even bought out a cup of tea while we were working! We still need to water proof the new repair but the wall is now secured. That was our whole day. Back out through peak hour Leeds traffic to Harrogate. Left over seafood chowder for tea, that was so delicious.
Yesterday a cold windy wet day in Harrogate … called for a sleep in and then laundry had to be done. Really a nothing day. We went to buy a small printer as there are some documents I need hard copies of and don’t know where to try and print them. Scot thinks its hilarious that we’re in a van and we have a printer but what else does an It person travel with? I have an entire draw with cables and connectors, camera equipment, laptop, tablet, 2 phones, gps equipment and now a printer, I think thats reasonable. Scot has the wine cupboard for his guiness, black sheep ale and assorted other beers and wine etc so we’re about even :-))
Today we have the van in being thoroughly checked mechanically and they are selling us some parts to keep with us in case they’re needed. We are currently in a McDonalds – go figure…but im not eating any thing, just a coffee and warm place in the sun whilst waiting even though just being here goes against my religion! We have a weekend in London planned and then a ferry next Wednesday over to France…fingers crossed.
9pm
We are now in Skegness for the night on the east coast. We drove down this afternoon and went via Grimsby. We stopped in at Bramham which is where my Grandfather was born. Quite a cute little village. I think I found the family house…see pics below.
Funny we pulled into Skegness and drove to the first caravan park – it was 5.05pm but they had closed for the night…damn who does that!! Closes early with no number to contact after hours to get in. Thankfully we found a place to stay. Unfortunately as Scot was backing out of a dead end he drove into by mistake, he backed into a gate. Neither of us realized until we pulled into a supermarket carpark and saw the back corner of the van and suddenly a breathless kid ran up and said you hit the gate back there. I thought we must have damaged the gate and fence but he said it was ok but he wanted to let us know where the damage came from. It wasn’t a big deal just a scrape but I’m glad it was Scot and not me!
Tomorrow we’re off to Petersborough or near there. We’ve been told the brake discs and pads aren’t very good and both need to be replaced so were making an appointment with a company in Dover for just before we head off on the ferry.
Van fixingFixing the van wallBramham – my ancestoryI think this was my family home in Bramham – Bramham Hall ☺Streets of Bramham
