Home: The End

From Bruges, it's an easy drive to the Eurotunnel terminal, a bite to eat and an easy crossing beneath the waves: our much preferred way to cross to and from this island of ours.

Driving up the M20 reminds us of Serbian roads as we bump along. An accident is  causing gridlock at the tunnel so we attempt to stop at Folkstone services......virtually no spaces for caravans...  and they're all full with delivery vans anyway so, with a gnashing of teeth, we carry on to the next services and stop in the caravan slots, almost all being full of vans. The parking spaces are exactly the same width as the van so I have to lever myself out of the car after some deft manoeuvres. Welcome home.

I don't mean to be negative but certainly this part of the UK is absolutely NOT friendly to us caravan users. I blame Jeremy Clarkson. Anyway, after sitting in a jam for another 3.5 miles we're home!

It's been a fascinating adventure, far exceeding our expectations. Wonderful. I'll say why in a brief summary, as usual, with a link from this page - when I get around to it, that is.

In the meantime, after washing, cleaning car and van, putting stuff away etc etc, it's my birthday barbecue weekend! So, it's time to say Goodbye; hope you enjoyed the read.

photo: Alessandra Arnott 

Travel Safely

Geoff & Sue

Breathtaking Bruges: Last Stop of our Adventure

We take around three hours for a steady trip, with a fuel and coffee break, to travel from Maastricht to Bruges, although finding somewhere to stop involves a diversion off the main route as fuel and cafés are like hen's teeth around these parts. The fuel station is all automatic when we find one - incomprehensible instructions that magically turn into English once the credit card is inserted.

The campsite is great... it's fully automated as well; I punch in the reservation number we got off the interweb a couple of days ago and get an allocated pitch and entry card zooming out of the machine. We also get 1 hour internet tokens on demand from another dispenser. Pitch is tightish but perfect for a city visit. I can even get RTL television on the satellite receiver to record the British Grand Prix tomorrow. Oh Bliss!

We take a bus into the city (bus drivers are incredibly helpful around these parts) and walk into the Market Square....
...I defy anyone not to be moved by the magnificence of the architecture: another wow moment... and there have been a lot of those on this trip.

We take it all in as we walk the busy,  busy streets before sampling a magic 'Chocolate Cappuccino' (it's Bruge) overlooking the river. Then we visit the Basilica and a working flour mill just off the street. Just look at the water powered mill.

We'll bus in again tomorrow for a last fling on the adventure. We'll probably take lunch out... moules frites is anything from 22 - 30 Euros though....

..... it's tomorrow now 🤔 and we DO go for the moules frites which go down really well with a glass of sauvignon blanc....well, it's our last day and there is a kilo each...

We also take a boat trip around the canals which is well worth doing indeed, giving a different perspective on the history of the city.

As we wander through the streets we are given a flyer by some girls from the Stephen Perse Foundation schools in Cambridge who are performing a short concert in the Cathedral and we duly attend before we head back to camp... but we are so, so glad that we did this. The quality is extremely high as they perform works from Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach and more. The Ave Maria by Caccini leaves leaves us all verging on tears. A really nice end to our Bruge visit.

We will be back; there is more to see and the campsite is a great stopover, too.

Home tomorrow via Eurotunnel, all being well

Homeward Bound

Sadly, very sadly, we say goodbye to the Balkan countries as we turn around and head out of Slovenia; it's been a revelation... but more of that later.

Unable to get our minds completely into homeward trek mode, we drive for a couple of hours into Austria and stop for two nights at a lakeside campsite near Millstatt on the Millstätter See. Very nice, too...Sue swims in the (warm) lake and we explore Millstatt before we plan the route and likely stops on the way back home. We plan to head through Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France to the UK.

Interesting fact: Millstatt got its name from Emperor Domition who, as an early Christian convert, tossed 1000 heathen statues (Mille Statuae... got it?) into the lake. 
Here he is, looking a bit manic to be honest...

So it's heads down as we as we head for our appointment with Eurotunnel on the afternoon of July 17 ABW.... so it will all be a bit brief from now on - but you never know what we might find on the way....

.........
11/ 07
Near a lake in Germany

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12/07
Near river Lahn, Diez, Germany in a thunderstorm.
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13/07 Rolling along - well, taking a break anyway.



.....
13/07 for two nights.
Valkenburg, Netherlands, near Maastricht; it seems so long since we stopped here on the way down....

Drinks in the square in Valkenburg again then Maastricht by train for day two.

Bikes In Maastricht

Heading for the centre across the river

Nice place indeed: full of history, both ancient and modern

Maastricht from the 'Red Church' tower

We have a good meal here before heading back to the van. Off to Bruges (Brugge) for two nights before the tunnel. That probably deserves a post all by itself don't you think?

Do you want to read this?....

Maastricht has become the symbol of the key EU agreement which cemented the workings of the EU and, at the same time,  initiated the internal strife (war?) within the Conservative Party that destroyed John Major's government as the party divided along pro EU and Eurosceptic lines, thus opening the door for New Labour under Tony Blair. 
(Recommended: 'A Kind of Blue' by Ken Clarke)

Still going on today, except that Labour is no longer pro EU, is it? 

Who represents the 48% who wanted to remain? Tell me that, Mutley...

Lake Bled: Yes, it's like the postcard

Driving through Bled and around the lake to our campsite (we've booked this one for once) really tugs at the heartstrings because it really is just like those postcards: the castle looming above the lake, the church on its island, all to a backdrop of brooding mountains. Phew!

Trying to squeeze our outfit onto the pitch brings us down to earth though - have to use the mover and, even then, its all a bit tight. But this can't dent our enthusiasm for this place...  and, despite the experiences of all the people we've chatted to, the weather is really great - but I've probably jinxed it by saying that*...

Our first full day here is spent walking around the lake - which is around 6km - but we do much more than that as we walk up to the castle on the cliff-face overlooking the lake then look around Bled itself, at the opposite end of the lake to the campsite.

Slovinian style in the Castle church

While in Bled we eat at a nice little restaurant that Google recommends for us, taking the local sausages which means vast quantities of meat.. and that is not the best decision with a few km yet to go; very nice it is, though. We walk back to the campsite and decide that we have time to take a gondola ride out to the church on the island which proves to be well worth it, despite the rumbling thunder.

The Island Church

We take turns to ring the church bell which is a really tourist must-do: oh, the satisfaction! A day well spent, indeed.

The working church tower clock

Back at camp we discover our motorhome neighbours used to live in Chelmsford and one is sister in law to a member of the exec support team at my old college - I knew her very well. Small world.

........


On day two we take a trip put to the nearby Lake Bohinj which, although larger than Lake Bled, is less commercialised; there are countless activities to be done nearby including kayaking and mountain biking, both of which we don't do....
....but we do visit the Church of John the Baptist, at Ribčev Laz which is under restoration but we see the frescoes for which it is noted.

Parking the Treg at Ribčev Laz, we put 6€ (4 hours) into the meter which proves to be a major mistake as we totally underestimate the time we need and end up rushing back to avoid a fine. We take the electric tourist boat to Ukanc at the western end of the lake from where we take a cable car to the nearby Mt Vogel. Because of the boat and cable car connection times we realise that there is no time for a hike. 😠. Still, it's nice up there...

On our way back to camp we deviate to the village of Studor, with its famous toplarji - barns with hay storage at the top and other storage beneath. Some of these are 18th Century. Fascinating, actually.

Have to say, all the towns and villages that we have seen in Slovenia have been extremely well cared for: clean, neat, tidy.

Just as we arrive back at camp, a massive sharp *thunder storm arrives, with strong wind springing up from nowhere, tearing at tents and awnings. I get drenched checking out the pegging of our faithful Fiamma Caravanstore canopy and putting chairs away. The canopy holds out as usual though, assisted by crossed fingers. Some aren't so lucky.

.......

The next day sees us walking along the Vintgar gorge, which is great but full of tourists (like us). The Radovna river swirls and roars below the wooden walkway that criss crosses the gorge, ending at the Šum waterfall.

It's here that we sit down next to a couple from Basildon, not so far from Chelmsford. Small world - again.

BBQ and a glass of wine back at camp, then crash out.

.......

It's our last full day here, so we take the Treg out to the nearby city of Kranj, which is well worth the effort.

The old town is fascinating and the historic church and buildings paint a captivating picture. We drink coffee with the locals, listening to the buzz of conversation from groups of young and old alike. Feels nice. We like this part of travelling - doing our best to 'feel' the heartbeat of the place.

We motor on to Škofja Loka, with its square of historic painted houses and a truly wonderful museum. We take a nice meal here, too (thanks again Google).

Fuel and shopping on the way back, a beer at the campsite restaurant and we're ready for our short short journey tomorrow; we're turning towards home now but making the start of the homeward trip a short hop into Austria.

See you there, ABW.

Ljubljana Love

We're captivated...


But we're out of WiFi so come back later for more...

....meanwhile, try this, taken as we wandered the Ljubljana streets:  Ljubljana Steet Dance. (It's festival time)

We're back...

We're spending a couple of nights here, in the capital city of Slovenia, on the way to Lake Bled but we're extremely glad that we decided to do this.

Old meets new..

The city is  beautiful in so many ways, apart from its fascinating history. The architecture is magnificent and the city setting around the river Sava provides a laid-back feel, with bars and restaurants lining the riverside. This is a university city which, of course, adds to its charm and the tourists, locals and the university population provide a great atmosphere. We love it.

We've noticed the Slovenian sense of humour before...

Sculptures along the riverbank

On the river

It's simple to use the bus from the campsite and the two days have gone all too quickly as we visit the impressive castle with a guided tour (complete with actors in costume), try a river trip, mingle with the crowds and sample the bars and restaurants.... professional tourists as we are.

The Castle complex

It's tempting to linger but we decide to stick to the (recent) plan and carry on to Lake Bled tomorrow.

Just time for a snack before we go...

See you in lake Bled...

Slovenian Seaside

Goodbye Croatia, Hello Slovenia...

A straightforward trip takes us across the border into Slovenia, another EU country. The border crossing takes longer than it might because I take the shorter 'all passports' lane in error and then watch all the EU vehicles steam through their lane at a brisk pace. Still, good practice for what's ahead, I guess...😢

We drive to a largish site on the Slovenian coast at Ankaran, close to the port town of Koper. On arrival we discover that we have just missed a severe storm the previous night; there is devastation on the seafront part of the site, with large trees down and two crushed cars. Thankfully no serious injuries, we think. We set up well away from the slightly holiday camp feel of the front, which looks out onto the Koper docks. A glance at the map shows that Slovenia has a very small amount of coast and, of course, this has to provide for both ports and leisure activities.


We stay for three nights here and use the first day to visit the largest cave system open to the public in Europe, the Postojna Cave. The sheer scale and number and type of stalactites and stalagmites is almost mind blowing as we travel by train, then foot, into the cave system.

On our way back we visit the less visited but utterly captivating Škocjan Caves. There are some stalactites and stalagmites here but the overwhelming spectacle is the massive underground chasm with the Reka river still churning its way hundreds of metres below as it continues to carve out the chasm. Wonderful and utterly unforgettable. No pictures allowed of this UNESCO site, though, so have a look HERE


On our last day here we visit the nearby towns of Koper and Piran. Koper is a thriving working town with a modern, large port which moves thousands of cars. We see stored Skodas (of course), VWs, Toyotas amongst other in the massive parks.
The old town is completely different: the historic Praetorian Palace and the cathedral form two sides of the main square, while we take a coffee in the elegant cafe that was the 1463 Loggia, opposite the Palace. Quite a find.

The Cathedral in the Old Town

View from the Loggia Cafe

Cruise ship in town

We continue to picturesque Piran with its beautiful Venetian Gothic square and architecture. There are more tourists here but it really doesn't take away the relaxed, slightly up market feel of this place. We take a nice Risotto at the Riva restaurant on the front near the old town.

 Fishing boats still work from here

Venetian Style Square

A good day and a very nice farewell to the sea as we are heading north to Ljubljana, tomorrow. Next post from there, all being well, as I always say.