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Published: January 19th 2013
Aigue Morte
2009 It was scorching Suzy is parked in the snow on the drive wrapped up against the cold wind and the driving snow. The snow started early this morning with a bit of windy flurry. As the day progressed her silver screen covered in snow insulating her against the cold and her little rubber boots became hidden by the drift that was accumulating up against her. I think she probably wasn't jealous of the fact that I had to go out to work and leave her on the drive. I know where I would prefer to be.
The drive to work had been fairly uneventful in the morning however as the day progressed the snow came down and turned everything into a world of white. Gardens and trees that looked brown yesterday now have a nice white coat. The few daffodils just out are covered in a blanket of white. Nice as it is I was wishing though that it would stop. Schools closed at short notice making it difficult for workers to find short term child care for their children. Good on you teachers - the rest of us have to work through it but you have a different agenda . Only the
Aigue Morte
On the walls kids seem to love the opportunity to get another day off school. Seems like the world was coming to an end.
The roads seemed empty and that was because it was slowly becoming difficult to drive. The journey home was more demanding than the drive in, I struggled slowly up the hills in second gear. The car grinding to a halt as the burger van in front of me stopped unable to negotiate the hill. A prayer was sent up to anyone listening that when I put the car back into first gear I would be able to get going again. Ever so slowly I did move forward without the need to ask some other poor soul to push me. Thank Goodness I was not in Suzy. Bring on the Spring.
Despite the snow the weather is gradually improving and the nights are steadily getting lighter. We are now 95 days away from the first holiday of the year and countdown has begun. We ordered a Silver camping cheque card and this arrived this morning. We plan to add a few cheques for campsites that are not ACSI sites. We probably will use a few of these whilst
in Croatia. By using these we will pay £15 a site rather than the mid thirties.
Day 2 - Suzy has less snow on her today. On the TV last night we were told the temperatures would dip and it would freeze overnight giving us poor driving conditions. Reality the roads were clear as the forecasted cold snap didnt arrive. Shopped and expected to find nothing on the shelves of the supermarket as people had stocked up unnecessarily. Rather pleased that there was bread and milk and all the usual things I wanted to buy. Our second copy of Practical Motorhome arrived and we spent a pleasant hour or two reading up travellers trips to Norway, Sweden, and Holland. Thoughts for future trips. Our journey in April/May is taking shape. A meal at Guines, no worry about french tolls as we have our little SANEF box and into Germany to a stellplatz in Trier. We both are looking forward to staying on the Moselle and seeing the city. From there through Switzerland - vignettes need buying and onto Lake Bled.
We have found a lovely campsite on the lake within walking distance of the town and the plentna
boats that take you over to Bled Island. Some travellers say it takes an hour to circumnavigate the lake whilst others say more like five hours as they keep stopping to take photos of the ever changing view of the Julian Alps, the island with its fairytale church in the middle and the castle high on the hillside. And that is not taking into account taking pictures of flora and fauna along the way. After Lake Bled our first Slovenian city will be Ljubljana with the very colourful Co-operative building in the ARt Deco style and what sounds like an interesting railway museum. From here our journey will lead us to Croatia, Split, Trogir, Zadar to take in the Venetian castles and campaniles, a wonderful silver museum in a convent before heading into the unknown Neum corridor through Bosnia. A first for us and we are looking forward to it. Beyond that back into Croatia and the Pearl of the Adriatic Dobrovnik and the island of Korkula.
After Dubnovnik it will be the slow drive back up through Bosnia again, Slovenia and into Italy. A box for the tolls needs to be purchased and we will get that from
Uzes 2009
Wish I was there the usual company who provide us with such good service. We plan to visit Ravenna with its beautiful mosaics, Chioggia near to Venice, San Marino and Urbino before heading west across the spine of the Appenines to Tuscany. We have pencilled in a trip to La Foce a wonderful garden which should be delightful in May and full of flowers. We are even looking forward to seeing the Valle D'Orcia in a different light. Not the yellow rich tones of umber of September but the bright light of May with the fields luscious green. The countdown begins. 33 days wont be enough.
September plans in the making. 33 days again, train not booked yet waiting for our next batch of Tesco vouchers and then we can book. We probably will use Guines again and then travel south through France via Le Mans and Bordeaux ending eventually in Burgos. I doubt we will have time to see anything of Le Mans nor of Bordeaux as we need to get down to Spain quickly. From Burgos down to Salamanca, Aveira and Coimbra. We are planning a visit to Tomar which is linked with the Knights Templar and looks worthy of a stopover. From Tomar over the border to Portugal a country I last visited in 1966. Much will have changed since then and we plan to visit Lisbon and in particular Belem. It will be interesting to compare my black and white photographs of Belem taken in October 1966 with the new photos we will take. All photos will be put in to Albelli photo albums. Love these and only just tried them out. A fabulous way to keep photographs and memories.
From Lisbon to Sintra, Evora and Caceres. Then a highlight Seville and Granada. I fell in love with Granada as a child when I had an atlas with pictures of the Alhambra and the Court of the Lions. it makes your mouth water thinking about it. From Granada to Cordoba and Toledo. No you cannot bring a sword back - we will get stopped at customs!!! From Toledo we will travel on to Avila the walls used as a backdrop to a film starring Frank Sinatra set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. By now we will be heading homewards - Segovia left before the trip back to our starting point in Spain at Burgos. The journey up north through France at the moment looks as if it will just be the reverse of the way down unless things change. What will we have to miss - Gibraltar - I visited again in 1966 and a trip across to North Africa. Well you can't do everthing can you ? Perhaps next time if we like Spain.
Plans for the rest of this month - not many really the weather has spoilt it so far. The Caravan Club has opened up its bookings for the season so no doubt a lot of caravanners will have block booked the season and there will be nothing free unless we can get a late cancellation. We fancy going down to Ludlow and on the Severn Valley Railway but this is closed until half term holidays in February. There is Blists Hill Victorian Village but we need the weather. Perhaps by Monday it might have improved.
Photographs - memories of previous trips
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Sounds great!
Nothing like dreaming about your next trip to brush the cold winters aside.