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Published: August 31st 2013
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Travelled to CC CL, Court Lodge near Dover arrived about 6 pm. Good site but accessed by narrow lanes.
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Up early, drive to the ferry for the 9:25 to Calais.
Weather is excellent for drive to Luxembourg city. We wanted to stop and enjoy the weather but surprisingly very few campsites on route so we pressed on.
Arrived at campsite; Bon Accuiel, Alzingen. Excellent site on a cycle path that runs all the way into Luxembourg city, about 10k.
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Easy cycle into Luxembourg. Parked the bikes and took the lift up to the walled city centre. Very exclusive shops. Visited the cathedral and walked back down to the bikes.
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Quiet Saturday morning we had brunch and walked to a supermarket for some essentials.
Jayne went for a 40 minute run and Mike cycled 21 miles around Luxembourg suburbs.
The weather been good but this evening we had a heavy downpour. We enjoyed the rain sitting out under our awning.
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Left the camp site early and headed for Ladenburg, Germany, which is on the road to the start of the
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Heidelberg From The Schloss“Romantic Road”, a famous meandering route that heads south. Stayed at a Stellplatz. A German equivalent of the French Aires. Cycled into the centre of Ladenburg. (resisted temptation to do a Bin joke!), cobbled, narrow streets, half timbered houses and bars and cafés in the square. Very nice. Had an obligatory beer.
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Pressed on for the start of the “Romantic Road” (Romantische Strasse) via Heidelberg, a famous university town with a half ruined, pink stoned, Schloss dominating the old town. Couldn't find anywhere to park the van so headed out of town and cycled back in.
Drove through Wurtzburg which has an amazing medieval walled town on the burg. Mike nearly had a fit as we went under a bridge 3.1 metres high, the van is 3.0 metres high!!
Again couldn't park so headed for our camp site 25k down the river Main. Knaus Campingpark, Frickenhausen. We'll park the van 5k outside Wurtzburg and cycle in tomorrow.
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Cycled into the beautiful town of Wurtzburg. I has an enormous walled castle towering over the city. Tolkein must have been inspired here! Visited the Residenz (Bishops Palace) which is extravagant in the extreme. Made
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Bishops Palace, Wurtzburg. Opulent. us think of Versailles.
Camped at Laudenbach, very nice site just outside Weikersheim.
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Visited Weikersheim. In the afternoon Mike did a 27 mile bike ride and Jayne ran for 50 minutes.
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Travelled down to a camp site just south of Donauwörth, still on the Romantic Road.
Weather is perfect, dozed in the sun.
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We did a circular bike ride today. Visiting: Eggelstetten, Donauwörth, Mertingen, Obersdorf am Lech.
Sat in the sun all afternoon to recover.
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Continued down the Road to Füsson. Parked the van in a Stellplatz administered by the Sports Centre across the road. Very crowded!
Cycled into town and had a look round. Thunder storm in the evening.
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Early start, cycled to Ludwig's castles, queuing for tickets by 7:50 am! Visited the fairly tale castle called Neuschwanstein. Famously used in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Amazing and sad. King Ludwig of Bavaria was truly nuts!
Left Germany for Austria after lunch. Camped at Achensee lake. Lovely campsite but we had a poor
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Neuschwanstein. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. pitch.
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Poured with rain all night. Cold and wet in the morning. Travelled to Berchtesgarten so we can visit The Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus), Hitler's retreat, tomorrow. Lovely campsite, Aktiv Camping, Allweglehen. Fabulous views down the valley and of the surrounding mountains. We can see The Eagle's Nest from the camp site!
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Lovely morning so we decided to walk up to the Eagle's Nest ticket office, took about an hour and 15 minutes, all of it uphill and through beautiful woodland. Buses take you close to the nest and then a lift takes you the last 400 feet. Disappointing, the building is a restaurant and there's nothing to see except the views of course. 6000 feet up and very cold.
Rained heavily in the evening. Forecast for the next couple of days in Austria is cold and unsettled. Salzburg tomorrow and Vienna on Thursday and Friday.
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Travelled by bus into Salzburg and then took a mini-bus guided tour (Sound of Music) of the city.
We baulked at the cost of the funicular railway up to the castle, so we walked, only to
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Did I mention the sudden snowfall? find the funicular was included in the admission to the castle. Doh!
The castle is spectacular and so unusual for us because it is still in tact.
Visited lots of churches and saw where Mozart lived. Caught bus back to camp site.
Rained all night.
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Weather miserable so we drove all the way to Vienna. For the first time this trip we failed to get in our chosen camp site, Donaupark Camping. Our second choice, Camping Neue Donau is nearer the centre of Vienna but close to the motorway so noisier.
Arrived by 2 o'clock and cycled over the Danube into Vienna on a scouting trip. Mike's Initial impression was that Vienna was nothing as he had imagined. He expected narrow cobbled streets and half timbered buildings mixed with Gothic architecture. Instead it has wide boulevards and monumental buildings. As befitting the capital of the Hapsburg empire!
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Weather windy and showery so we took the underground into Vienna this morning.
The cathedral is stunning. Walked miles and saw lots of fine buildings. Had coffee and cake at the Spanish Riding School.
In a shop
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Eagles Nest. Berchtesgaden window a Philip Patek watch had a caption “A complicated watch” and was priced at 74000€! Complicated indeed. Now where's that Christmas list?
We're just an hour from the borders of Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary but temping as they may be we're heading south towards Italy, Lake Garde, tomorrow. It's a long way but hopefully we'll have better weather.
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Long drive yesterday to Italy camped by a lake not long after crossing the border. Weather, still changeable. Moved on to Verona and eventually found an overnight stop in the city.
Amazing Roman ruins, including the amphitheatre where they hold the famous outdoor operas.
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Headed for Florence and camped just outside at Berberino di Mugello. Excellent family run camp site. Dined in the restaurant.
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Thought we'd take the bus into Florence but missed it, even though we set the alarm for 6:30 because the site had an old timetable! So we quickly packed up and headed in atrocious conditions to park/camp in the city. Good old TomTom took us straight to a parking spot.
Great expectations of Florence were dampened somewhat by
the sheer number of tourists and traffic. How dare they visit on our chosen day! With very few pedestrian precincts it was a constant battle.
The Baptistra and Ponte Vechia were memorable though.
Stopped at a lovely Tuscan hillside camp site about an hour from Pisa. Weather has improved.
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One of those days when we caught up with all the maintenance jobs to van, clothes and hair. Fantastic Tuscan hilltop village just a 5 minute bike ride away, Monteccacini Alto. Bizarre really, it appears to be deserted until you climb into the hilly piazza. Restaurants on all sides full of Brits and Dutch eating outside at tables with a 30 degree list. Bizarre in a good way.
One of those balmy evenings, we sat outside 'till late eating and of course drinking.
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Our plans are a mess! Decided to go to Lucca, a walled city that we hear is amazing. It is. How many bricks did it take to build the wall?
We cycled into the town after searching for ages to find somewhere to park the van. Eventually parked in Carrefour supermarket.
After visiting
the sites, the obligatory Duomo and Puccini's birthplace we cycled 4.2 km on the wall around the city, then back to good old Carrefour. Mike navigating with the TomTom in one hand on the bike!
Moved on to a disappointing camp site outside Pisa by a beach, Viareggio. Mosquito central!
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Pisa at warp speed.
After the problems parking in Lucca we were pleased to discover there was a Carrefour in Pisa so we went straight there and parked. Cycled in and saw the main sites, Tower, Baptista, Cathedral and the cemetery.
Rewarded Carrefour by buying a trolley full of essentials and bought some food as well!
Moved on to a campsite at Levanto Sestri called Camping Maremori. It's up in the hills overlooking a bay, heaven.
We've had a busy time site seeing and with the glorious weather, we decided to drop anchor at this lovely campsite.
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Reading, sitting in the sun, swimming in the pool, cycling, eating and drinking. Bliss!
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Ditto.
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Reluctantly we decided to move on and so headed for the
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Florence from our parking spot Italian Alps. Found a super campsite at Peveragn o. Lovely town very close. Towering mountains all around. Beer in the square with the locals, balmy evening.
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Exercise day today. Mike cycled along an alpine valley to Vigna and Jayne jogged into town.
Wandered into the village and bought some provisions. Most of the bars and shops were shut! Local tradition. "Closed on Tuesday afternoons"
We hadn't had an Italian ice cream all holiday so we put that right. Yum!
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Departed for France via the Alps but the main road, D900, closed because of an avalanche so turned back and stopped at Loisirs De L'Ubaye. We were assured the road would open the next day. A large, top quality site in a gorge by a noisy river. 150 pitches but only about a dozen vans there. Beautiful. Reminded us of the Gorge Du Tarn.
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On to Meyrieu les Etangs and another top site. Situated by a lake in a park and again only a handful of us there!
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Early start. Jayne jogged around the lake and Mike cycled into the next village, St. Jean De Bournay.
Headed north and decided to try an Aire, (overnight parking for motor homes), at a town called Langres. It looked like a largish town and we wanted to dine out and especially, to have Foie Gras Chaude. Only once.
As we drove into town Mike said he recognised the Town gateways and Jayne then said she recognised a McD near a roundabout. We had been there two years previously!
Searched all the restaurants and hotels in town and found only one serving FGC. It was fully booked. Arrrgh!
Found another restaurant, it was good but not what we were hoping for. Ho! hum!
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The weather forecasts of the last couple of days have promised a deterioration in the weather. Today it arrived. We awoke to thick, damp, fog.
Decided to run for Calais so we booked a ferry crossing for the following morning. It was a long drive. We camped near the ferry terminal on a harbour wall with about 60 other vans. Walked into Calais and had a glass of wine to bid au revoir to France.
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Five minute drive to the ferry. Quite a swell out in the
channel. It was quite funny watching passengers staggering their way around the ship. We even joined in by going to the Duty Free.
Sunday, mid-morning. The M25 will be quiet? Won't it? Not on your life! No relief until we reach the good old M4.
Got home 4 pm.
Another fabulous tour completed. Looks like Portugal next. Getting exited already.........!
Stats:
Countries visited: France, Belgium (briefly), Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Italy.
Days: 32
3500 miles
90 hours driving
MPG: 25.4
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Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0575s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Annette
non-member comment
Hello
Hope everything is going well - take care!!