Changing Plans

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Changing Plans
Those of you who knew of our travels, knew that the itinerary was reasonably loose but did include going over to Prague and up to Berlin before we then headed back to the UK for the last three weeks in the van. If you have been reading these blogs then you know that we haven't made it anywhere near the Czech republic and are in fact moving the the other direction. The reason is this; we are pussy's! We discovered in Austria that our GPS does not cover eastern Europe of which Prague is part, and in talking to some fellow travellers, he from Switzerland, she from South Africa, who have extensively visited many places in Europe in their camper van, Prague is definitely worth a visit but you need to know where you are going and how to get there as it can be a dangerous place if you get lost. So, we decided that Prague, Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, and a number of other places will be on the next trip list to Europe. Good excuse to come back and do it all again! As we now have some additional time, we are going to spend the last 4 weeks in the UK, Scotland and get to see more of Ireland. Our next door Irish campers last night have already told us of a good place to stay and a good pub where he just happens to play in the band mostly on Friday and saturday nights. Sounds like a plan! He did tell us to bring some good weather with us as it rains a lot on the west coast. We told him that we will probably bring the sun as it is following us! We have however had two days traveling in the rain. The first one when we left Lindau and travelled in four countries in the space of two hours; Germany , Austria (managed to escape any toll charges again) Liechtenstein and Switzerland ( where there is no escape from toll charges and they charge you a one off cost of 40 Swiss francs). With the rain and the low clouds we didn't get to see much of them! We spent two nights in Luzerne and both nights had long and loud thunderstorms but with only a few drops of heavy rain. We also did a bit of shopping in Luzerne as Dean seemed to pack most of his old clothes for some reason and after 8 weeks is sick of rotating the same two pairs of shorts, the same four shirts and the same two pairs of jeans so he bought himself some fashion new gear (I must also mention that I munted one of his Tshirts in the washing machine in Germany. Lucky it was an old one eh!) We also are both sporting a new Swiss watch on the wrist. During the last few days we have driven up from Switzerland, back into Germany and through the black forest, with another few hours of rain as we toured the city of Freiburg. We spent a night in a camp surrounded by the said black forest and drove through the next day with a stop in Baden Baden. We are now heading back across northern France towards the coast. Now that Kate and Wills have tied the knot, it might be safe to go back there! We knew we were back in France because the standard of the sanitary blocks went from fairly high to OMG in one day. We don't even know the name of that campsite or even exactly where we were when we came across it and decided to park there. It was only 10 euros a night but you do expect hot water at least and maybe at least one toilet that's not a squat! We left early the next morning! We have stayed last night in Verdun, the most highly decorated town in France for holding out the Germans for the duration of the war. Went for a tour through the underground fort where thousands of men lived for months at a time. Lots of war cemeteries around here too for different countries. All up, the Germans and the French lost over half a million men combined in this region alone. So, we continue to head west and will be back in old blighty by the end of the week. We are looking forward to hearing and speaking English, being able to order something off a menu and knowing what you are gonna get and being able to read road signs, maps and camping books without having to spend time deciphering what they could mean. We are both well and even I have bought myself a couple of new tops as well to add to the limited wardrobe. Its a fine sunny Monday morning on the 2nd of May and as this camp has free wifi up at the bar, I will go and get this posted before we move on. We have read reports that the weather hasn't been too great in the Hawkes Bay and that Northland may be in for a bit of a lashing today and tomorrow. Keep safe and hopefully dry everyone. Love to all at home.xxx

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Photos

The Lion Carving
Luzerne