Sail for Cyprus at midnight

Puglia and Brindisi to Greece

So, we left the Wests in Tuscany, to continue their family holiday in peace (!), intending to drive a couple of hundred Km and stop by a lake, as it happened; they both fell asleep, so I kept driving...

Just down the road from Bagni di Lucca is this fantastic old bridge:



We stopped off for an hour or so at Orvieto, a walled city on a hill with tumble-down windy streets and an incongruous cathedral:



Heading for Bari, it got to midnight, so we stopped to sleep at an Autostrade Stopover (services), and continued in the morning.

Eventually we found a place to park for the night, by the sea; a swim before BBQ dinner, and sleep to the sound of waves slopping into the little caves below.




Having found we needed to wait another day to get on the ferry to Igoumenitsa, Greece; we found another overnight stopover place by the sea;


Breakfast with a nice view of the Aegean:

Lucca and Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany.

After the madness of the Italian NW coast, it's so nice to head inland and away from the sardine beaches.
On arrival at Lucca, the strangest thing happened; we were driving around the outer part of the walls, looking for a supermarket, when Atha announced she thought she'd just seen Jeremy's Mum. Now the chances of this were slim, but possible: Jeremy parents were due to arrive for their holiday at Bagni di Lucca that day, but how likely was it?
I pulled over and jumped out of the motorhome then ran back up the road, to find Martin and Jackie in their hire-car. They'd taken a wrong turn, and not having used reverse gear yet, were stuggling to engage it for the first time. After a round of "well what were the chances of that"s, they went on their way, with promises to see them again in a few days, at the farmhouse villa in the hills.

The walled city of Lucca is a great place to wander around; churches, towers, great little shops and gelateria.

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After looking into a few options, ranging from E9.00 to E18.00 per night, we settled for a place in a large, free carpark, with water on-tap. Perfecto. Only a very short walk to the city walls too.

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So, after Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Lucca city, we got a text message from Jeremy on Tuesday morning to say they'd arrived the night before, so via the supermarket, we set off to meet them for ice-creams in Bagni di Lucca, to then go on their accomodation.


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After a winding road to rival the Alps; but narrower, and involing use of a tape-measure (good thinking Jeremy!) we bulldozed the motorhome under the overhanging sweet-chestnut trees to our destination. With less than 100mm of clearance to share between both sides, somehow we passed through the gates at the end of the 'no-turning-around-possible' road to the farmhouse.

It was worth it.



And I'm putting off the journey back through and down, for several reasons!

In the meantime, Harris is having a lovely time playing with Marley, Kato and Eno; and it's great to be amongst friends, around a pool, with amazing views of the Tucan countryside.

Soon, we'll need to make a dash for Brindisi via somewhere; to get the ferry to Greece. Piu Tardi.

Ciao for now.

Happy Birthday dear Mama...

Luzern, Switzerland

(Courtesy of McWiFi -thanks Ronald!)

A warm and sunny today, after the thunderstorms, and the impressive views of the Alps are enticing.

Had a swim in the lake today; not as cold as expected, and great with the swans; and the Alps in the distance.


Yesterday it rained most of the day off and on, but we did the tourist thing, and wondered around the streets of the old city, looking in cuckoo-clock shops along the way.

There must be a lot of accidents here, since almost every building offers first-aid; the flags are everywhere you look!
Perhaps it's the shock of the prices at the restaurants, causing people to feint?

Anyway, it's pasta & sauce for us; chez Motorhome.

Tomorrow the plan is to set off, about an hour to Interlaken; where the REAL scenery is, then up into the snow...

Sorry to anyone regularly checking for news on our progress, we've had no WiFi access, and very rare mobile internet access; roaming data charges are high; so here's a brief summary:

From Calais, we went to Brugge for a night, cycled and walked around the city and bought chocolate, then via Grimberg, Leffe, Westmalle, and stayed a night outside Abbaye de Orval in SE Belgium; this was beautiful, with the finest Trappist ale & cheese. Mmmm.




Onwards into Germany; staying somewhere called Lemberg, before continuing on to Bad Durrheim; on a site for a couple of nights and an afternoon in their (famous!?) salt spa Schwarzwald thing.

Big thunderstorm last night, and again this evening; today we've left Germany behind for Switzerland, and are now parked beside the lake in a small town just east of Luzern.
A few glimpses of Alp have been had, but the cloud is very low and it's 16 deg and wet out there.

Hopefully will clear again tomorrow; we might stay around here, or move along to Interlaken to see the real Alps.
Apparently several of the passes are closed due to snow: didn't think to bring snowchains; looks like they'd be more use than our passports, which we've not needed at all yet -vive EEC!

Somehow Harris has managed to avoid getting bitten by insects, unlike us. Fortunately they have anti-hist. cream & pills here too: Harris is pleased they also have cranes and diggers. It seems much of the German road network is being replaced this year; presumably giving the 'workers' something to do while they're not making cars.

With any luck, we'll get WiFi somewhere soon; maybe McWiFi, and I'll upload some pics.

Quai Edmond Pagniez, 62100 Calais:
Our first night, With about 40 other motorhomes; side by side along the quayside.

Calais

Quai Edmond Pagniez, 62100 Calais:
Our first night, With about 40 other motorhomes; side by side along the quayside.

Chunnel

Waiting in line for the Eurotunnel; how exciting.

We arrived early for tomorrow morning's booking, so rather than sleeping here; they've put us on the next one.

OK, so tomorrow we leave; vehicles to SORN, timed lights to set up in the house, spare bulbs for MH to buy, warning triangle to find, clothes to pack, documents to gather, meter readings to give, fridge to empty...

Why are we doing this?

Getting ready

(Our Lunar Champ A541: home for the trip, taken in Beddgellert in April)

We've been planning our trip for some time now, but it has always seemed a long way off; mainly because it was.

Ferry crossings were booked back in February, because I suddenly had a panic that if we left it too late, we'd find them all fully booked; well, it will be August!

So, through a mixture of impatience and relief at Atha's latest 6-monthly scan being still clear; and hence knowing that we can go away, rather than be doing chemotherapy instead; we decided to alter our travel dates:

We phoned Eurotunnel and changed our outward trip from 4th August to 12th July; and the return trip from 31st September, to 12th October! Assuming we can survive financially, this somewhat extends our trip. The big factor in deciding to do this was that we wanted to be sure of having time to spend relaxing for a week or so here and there; rather than having to drive considerable distances every day.

It seemed it would be costly and complex to change the Brindisi - Igoumenitsa ferries, so Greece and Turkey will remain quite a 'mission'; approximately 2000Km each way in 6-7 days, I think I made that an average of 4 hours driving every day!

However. It'll be damn hot; and with no onboard air-con I reckon we'll just want to get miles behind us; probably a few long overnight drives and snoozing through the day from me. Shame though; the more I google Turkey, the more interesting looking places beg to be visited.

So, now it's just 2 weeks away, our minds are focusing on preparations; we bought a Gaslow refillable propane cylinder today, because of the prospect of having to try and get bottles / adaptors in France / Belgium / Germany / Switzerland / Italy / Greece / Turkey / Cyprus, plus the saving in gas cost will pay for the refillable bottle anyway over 3 months I'm sure.

I'm also waiting for the new Eonon 1015 Radio / LCD screen to arrive from Hong Kong courtesy of eBay. This should solve the monitor problem for the rear-view camera.

Hopefully it'll fit OK, and work of course.

There's also the Status TV arial's power supply; which I returned by post to the manufacturer on Friday, hopefully for replacement under warrantee; they seemed very obliging on the phone, so hopefully it'll be back before we go without any nonsense, or we won't get to watch any dodgy euro telly on the trip (!)

Now, tomorrows job is to fix that leaking kitchen sink tap...