christianandlyndsay

After leaving Niort, we headed out to the Atlantic coast through the Marais Poitevin to visit La Rochelle again. The Marais is a huge area of reclaimed marsh land and with the weather picked up and the sun shining, the Marais’s picturesque canals and villages made for a very interesting stopoff. Having previously unsuccessfully navigated La Rochelle a couple of years ago, this time on approaching the town the driver enquired of the navigator whether or not we would be avoiding the old town. Despite good intentions, we arrived to find the camperstop full and were funnelled into the approach roads into the old town. So for a second time, we ended up driving around the narrow roads trying to find our way out. We eventually found out of town parking and spent a very warm ... read more

Crossing the eastern side of the Pyrenees we dropped down into Spain again, this time to follow the coast all the way round eventually ending up at Portugal. Travelling this route out of season, we’d hoped to be able to wildcamp all the way and armed with plenty of information about suitable beaches for motorhomes to park at, we started down the Costa Brava. Unfortunately we were either not looking in the right places or there just isn’t anywhere for motorhome’s along this stretch of coastline to wildcamp. Parking prohibition signs and a lack of wildcampers at each place we tried, meant that we were soon fed up and after being waved on simply for driving through Lloret de Mar, we ended up reluctantly staying on campsites for our first few of nights in Spain. Despite ... read more

Over the Oresund Bridge and we arrived back in Mainland Europe. We had planned to spend a few days in Copenhagen to finish off our tour of Scandinavia before the autumn weather started to set in. Copenhagen is a relatively compact capital city and we were able to wander around all the major sites in just a couple of days. First stop was the little mermaid - as small and unprepossessing as expected, but the symbol of the city nonetheless, she was mobbed by tourists wanting to be snapped with her. We spent quite a few hours walking around Christiania, the “free state” within Copenhagen, a 1960’s alternative social organisation, ogling some of the more unusual dwellings, including a cut-diamond shaped house suspended over a lake and some spectacular tree-houses. Unfortunately with photography banned in Christiania, ... read more

Catching the ferry from Hirtshals on the northern coast of Jutland, we left a hot and sunny Denmark behind and began the eighteen hour crossing to Bergen in Norway. The vehicle deck was closed off during the crossing so after checking out our pre-booked “sleeperette” seats (similar to airplane seats), we bagged ourselves a sunny position out on deck and tried to while away the hours. The first part of the journey was endless sea views but the scenery started to get exciting as we made the first port of call at Stavanger in Norway. Even here just before midnight, it was still quite light and we could make out the red wooden houses on the shoreline before we headed back out to sea and further north. As the hours rolled slowly past, we failed to ... read more

The torrential rain continued for our first few days back as we left Algeciras for Cadiz on the west coast of Spain. Adjusting back to the European way of life, we spent a week re-acclimatising. It seemed quiet without the call to prayer every few hours and the hustle and bustle of everyday Moroccan life with nobody accosting you to sell you something. To escape the continuing rain, we decided to head for Portugal and arrived to brilliant sunshine and warmth. We first visited Portugal two years ago and wanted to return to spend more time here. We entered the eastern Algarve at Castro Marim and slowly began working our way over to the Sagres on the west coast freecamping all the way. We struck luckily with most our overnight stops and were able to park ... read more