Euro 16

Less than 24 hours to go. Everything is checked and packed except for the last minute things, like Margaret for example. Looking forward hugely to our three-month jaunt around Europe. By the time we come home in very late June or early July we’ll have been in twenty-two European countries. I’ll send ally our locations as often as possible with a review of the site / aire. My blog is here. https://www.google.co.uk/webhp…y.blogspot, or just Google Helgahobby. Plenty of pictures on her Facebook site as well as on the forum, the mare has her own page at https://www.facebook.com/helgahobby/?fref=ts Any questions, please feel free, especially after my several day course on drinking Belgian Beer!
Anyway this is our itinerary, although obviously nowhere is set in concrete. If we meet fellow travellers who recommend a slightly different route, we’ll deviate.

Home 07/04/16

Ireland 08/04

Glenmallure N52.95749, W 6.3534. 

France 9/04/16

Night 1. Mesnieres en Bray N 49°45’57.6” E 1°22’50.736”

Belgium 10/04

Night 2-3 Ypres. Menim Gate 50.8522° N, 2.8917° E
Dinant N 50°15'47",  E 4°55'49" alternative to Namur
Night 4. Mons (Binch) N50 24 829 E 4 10 238
Night 5 Namur (Jambes) N50. 27. 35 E 4 51 9

Luxembourg 13/04

Night 6 Echternach N 49°48'33", E 6°25’46”
Night 7 Dudelange N 49°28'18", E 6°04’42"
Night 8 Remich N 49°32’11.4” E 6°21’35.64”

Germany 16/04

Night 9 -12 Moselle Valley
Traben-Trarbach/Moselle
Bernkastel-Kues/Moselle
Cochem/Moselle
Bingen/Rhine


Night 13 Koblenz N 50 21. 985. E 36 969
Night 14-15 Wurzburg N 49 45 605 E9 58 696
Night 16- 21 Romantic Road
Würzburg

Tauberbischofsheim
Lauda
Bad Mergentheim
Creglingen
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Dinkelsbühl
Nördlingen
Harburg
Donauwörth
Augsburg
Landsberg
Schongau
Pfaffenwinkel
Schwangau
Füssen

Austria 28/04

Night 23-24 Salzburg N 47°49'38",  E 13°03'45"

Night 25-26 Linz N 48° 18’807” E 14° 17’ 336”

Czech Republic 02/05
Night 27- 28 Cesky Krumlov N 48,50,33,259 E14 21.47,405
Night 29- 30
Brno No site.

Austria 10/05

Night 31-34 Vienna 48.136996 16.315814

Slovakia 14/05

Night 35-37 Bratislava N 48°08'10", E 17°06'55"
Night 38 Bratislava 48.00786 17.11086
Night 35-38 Bratislava N 48°08'10", E 17°06'55"

Hungary 21/05

Night 39 Veszprém
Night 40-41 Budapest N47 30 58 E18 58 27
Night 42- 46 Dózsa György utca 334
7094 Koppányszántó Latitude 46.590277 - Longitude 18.103449
Night 47 Letenye,

Croatia 04/06
Night 48-49 Zagreb  

Bosnia 08/05

Night 50-51 Cazin

Croatia 09/06

Night 52-54 Senj
Night 55-56 Rijeka

Slovenia 11/06

Night 57-58 Ljubljana 45°48’09.1″N 15°49’34.4″E
Night 59 Bled N46 21 41 E 14 4 51

Italy 14/06

Night 60-63 Venice
Night 64 Bergamo

Switzerland 19/06

Night 65 Chur 46.51 689 9.50.8

Liechtenstien 20/06

Vaduz
N 47.13725, E 9.51093 

Switzerland 21/06

Sugiez N 46°57'51",  E 7°05'40"
Or
Night 66 Rue du Quai
1844 Villeneuve VD 
Or
N 46°07'39",  E 7°03'39"

France. 22/06

Night 68-69 Oradour-sur-Glane 
Driving from Geneva in 1-2 stops.
Night 70 Maille
Night 71 Flers
Night 73 At Sea 26/06
Night 74 Home. 27/06

Blog 16
Day 1.
Against all statistics and historical information available at the time of writing we left home to start our 2016 trip, on time.
First time for everything I suppose.
An uneventful drive down to and through Dublin brought us to the Wicklow hills. This is an area of harsh beauty, narrow bumpy roads, and fabulous unspoilt scenery, with a few gasp moments thrown in for good measure. On a sunny day it would be nearly unbeatable to do the drive in an open top car, the wind in your hair, if you have any, and the sun on your smiling face.
Our destination was Glenmalure Lodge, a hostelry nestled in the Glenmalure valley. A large welcoming car park, friendly staff indoors and good food and drink. A winner. This is and ideal centre for walkers and ramblers, but beware, it is infested with midgies in July.
We called in for a quick pint when we arrived, and that was our downfall. At around one am after being serenaded by what was originally a four piece, but developed in to a ten-piece band of local musicians, we realized the bar was nearly empty. This oversight was only the result of a fine evening, where the craic never stopped, and the sound of laughter was infectious and warming.
Friday morning nothing much happened, nor could it. Six hangovers meant just an easy stroll along the deserted road. A big hand to Deirdre, Jim, James, Paul, and of course us, for a sensational start to the trip.

Our next port of call was near Rosslare, where the ferry departs from. We were to call in and see the lovely Alfy and Catherine. Originally for a cuppa and catch up, Catherine had made a lovely dinner, which we munched happily now that the hangover was gone. Thanks again you two. Best of luck in your way forward.

And so dear blogites, to the ferry. Our little catch up, left us with minus 15 minutes to catch the ferry, last to arrive, but that was ok because we had left our house on time yesterday!
We had just parked in our lane, when the boarding process started. Margaret had just enough time to pack the overnight bag, until we found ourselves on board and preparing for the seventeen-hour trip. The original plan was to get bladdered and sleep most of the way, but I couldn’t face it, so after three drinks went to bed. Al was well until around two am. The boat was slapping around, those dead of night at sea noises had arrived. Up and down, bang slap, and the then I woke up some hours later to a calm sea and smooth and steady progress. We arrived in Cherbourg. Had just berthed and the Captain announced they had given us the wrong berth, we would have to relocate. Could only happen to us.
But never mind that, we got off and out of Cherbourg, painlessly, and hurtled down the motorway to Caen and then onto Rouen. Arriving at Mesniers en Bray our first location. After getting misplaced twice, once in Caen and once in Rouen, and five hours and two hundred and ten miles later, in the dark, couldn’t find the Aire, so stayed the night at a car park beside Avenue Verte. It is a beautiful place even though we awoke to thick fog.

And so, the holiday part of the trip starts today, so much to look forward too. I can’t promise the following blogs will be as busy as this one, but if I get up early enough and can remember………..
As an after thought, I'm going to put times miles distance etc into an exec doc and post hem weekly. Any questions........

And now in Luxembourg. Can't decide if the Co Pilot app is worth it. Probably is, mind you it tok us down a B road with a 2.6m clearance under a bridge. It looked fine to me but I got Margaret to stand on the seat and watch through the Heiki. We made it ok, but nerves were fraught.
Here, have some more stuff.
Belgium and Ypres.
The drive from Mesnieres into Belgium was again by motorway. We called into a wee shop in the village before we left for a baguette, cheese and melon. That was breakfast sorted. We called into a service area, and feasted on our favourite breakfast in the warm sunshine of NW France. Not a cloud was seen all morning, which was odd because when we woke up there was a dense fog and it was 0°. The bread and melon were all we wished for but the cheese looked and tasted like a young goat cheese. Wasn’t that good but none got wasted.
And so to Ypres, a stunning Belgian city that was wrecked during WW1 and two. After the first war, the Menem Gate, a stunning piece of architecture was erected to thank the people of Ypres for being such an important allied hub during the conflict. There has been a tradition going back until 1920’s to sound the last post at 8pm daily. We got to see this moving tribute to our fallen, in the company of a few hundred others.
Called into a pub, well sat in the sunshine outside and tried a couple of their seventy-three beers on offer! Have to say, Margaret loved hers, and mine, well you don’t need to ask.
Ypres is touristy, but just because people want to see it. It doesn’t shove commerce down your neck at every twist and turn, it’s a working town, and absolutely perfect the way it is.
We stayed for the night at Crack Stadium, a sports and football stadium donated to the young people of the world by the Football Association England. Very handy, only fifteen minutes walk to Menem Gate, and the town centre.

Mons was originally our second Belgian city but we decided instead to go to Binch, cos life’s a Binch. We only drove for 85 miles to get here, and first impressions weren’t to good. We got to the Aire and really needed water and disposal. The Relais point had no water and when I checked the Elsan, wow, recoil in horror. It hadn’t functioned for a long time but still, some twats had tipped their cassettes. Sometimes life puzzles me.
Anyway, we dandered up into the town centre, and it is a pretty town. Cobbled streets, and us being here at the very start of their 1.5-hour lunch break, meant we never saw a lot of it. We sat at a pavement café for a drink and watched the world go by.
It was at this stage I decided to exclude motorways from our route, so that we could pass through a few small towns to se the real Belgium, and that was a clever plot. The villages and towns are all higgly piggly in their layout, with the exception sometimes of the centre. This adds to their charm, and the ones we walked about in were very charming and quaint. In the odd place you will come across a Tank at the side of the road, a solemn reminder of a time when driving around here was not as easy. Jim McCormick would have loved the MOT centre we passed. In its fore grounds were several field guns, and other mobile militaria!

When we passed a sign for Luxembourg, we immediately decided to go there, rather than Namur. This would be our fourth country, but neither of us had realized, after passing a local sign proclaiming Province of Luxembourg, that this was a province of Belgium! So, although we were in Luxembourg, we weren’t.
Anyway, it didn’t matter because the real one was only about sixty miles away.
What did matter was a sign showing the way to the European Space Agency visitor centre. It would have been rude not to call in, so we spent a couple of action packed hours, which included us both doing a simulated space walk. Both on Mars and the Moon! That was hilarious and I’ve got evidence of Margaret actually exerting herself!

But wait. How remiss of me not to tell you of the most beautiful lace we’ve seen so far.
Dinant, a really old large town wit a castle high above on a sheer cliff face. This is where the Saxophone was invented by some guy who had nothing to do one day.
We had seen pictures of vans parked up on the river bank and that is where we headed. Oh no, a building site! They have dug the whole area up, to upgrade the hard landscaping which meant there was no room at the in for us. We searched for a suitable place to park up, and indeed found one. After negotiating a very short but very steep hill, and manoeuvring into the only place available in this place suitable for about four cars, and there was a car and camper van there already, we saw the sign. Private! After a three-hundred-point turn, and frayed nerves we were on the road again. Tried two campsites, both closed, so gave up and parked in another private place. Sod it!
Woke up after a god sleep and headed for Namur which in fact was going to be Luxembourg as you now now!

So after the ESA we were on our way through more pretty villages, forests with excellent roads cut through them, over hills, dales and mountains, across countless rivers, and more than one “Oh look at that”……
So the coordinates for Echternach proved wrong again, going to have to suss this out, so we opted for our first campsite.

Such a pain sorting out the excel doc, I gave up. Try this for the first two weeks, yawn.
Date 07/04/2016 08-Apr 09-Apr 10-Apr 11-Apr 12-Apr 14-Apr 15-Apr 16-Apr 17-Apr 18-Apr 19-Apr 20-Apr
Mpg 33.9 27.8 28.8 30.7 31.9 31.6 27.4 31.6 29.6 31.3 28 35 31 30.61 ave mpg
Mph 33 24 39 41 28 29 21 25 17 26 36 22 28
Time 3.5 2.25 5.1 4.2 5.4 4.2 2.3 2.4 1.2 1.24 1.1 2.15 6.4
Distance miles 130 85 206 176 163 125 54 65 24 38 44 50 186 1346
Diesel & ppl €20@1.16 €30 & 102 €50 @0.96 €80 @ 0.87 €180 = €0.7.47cpm
Gas & PPL €11 @ 0.40
Site fee €34 for 2 nights € 6.50 € 10 € 18
Altitude 518 feet 478 1220 412 396 284 238 686
Temp 11 17 17 16 16 14 15 16 17

It was me, Ally. Cant remember how to add grid lines to an xls file.Its so that the figures come out in wee boxes rather than a continuous row of them.
Anyway, we're near BRNO, pronounced Bernow, having a great trip. Here read this.
Landsberg am Lech.h.


This is our stop for tonight, mainly because we wanted an easy run to Fussen in the morning, and from there to Immenstadt to get Helga to hospital. I say it was our main reason, but there are two others. As usual this is a beautiful place, with lots to see, the architecture just blows me away, and it was snowing. In fact, woke up this morning to snow covered fences and roves, but none on the ground. The temperature is 0°


We can’t say this hasn’t been a varied trip, a wee bit of everything!
So anyway, we were only about sixty miles from where we had to take Helga. During the week it allegedly repairs motorhomes etc., and at the weekend is a STD clinic for BMW drivers as well as those favouring Audis.
As we set off it started to snow, we had to go over a hill that took us up to 2830 feet above sea level. It certainly is a varied trip. We arrived at the repair centre after unknowingly driving past it for about three miles. Thanks to a nice German chap called Villy, we doubled back.
The girl at the reception desk, was just a tad frosty, but when she told me they only fixed caravans I could have choked her, but not as much as when she told me the only nearby place was near Munich, and eighty-five miles away!
Worse still, to get there we had to double back on ourselves and pass last nights’ town. Turned out the people in the Hymer centre had not realized the error of their ways. The place we wanted was only thirty miles away from Landstadt!!!!

So after blizzards and total concentration on those mountain roads, we finally got to the other place.

Two techies were all over her, but Helga was passed fit and well. They thought the problem was the invertor being left on accidentally. This happens so easily because of where the switch is located. I came up with a cunning plan to fix the errant switch, and the techies implemented it. Alles klar.
Now we find ourselves on a campsite, only to get the batteries fully charged, it is between a forest on one side, the beautiful Alps on the other, and a gorgeous lake in the middle. Although it was getting dark, we went to feed the ducks, and saw an otter sneaking about, it is so stunning, and the cost? €14.30 or around 12 quid!