taraabit

Friday 14th July 2023

We are only approx an hour from home but a change is as good as a rest and we are in a beautiful spot. It was a rather wet journey here but thankfully it stopped raining shortly after we arrived.

Shortly after we arrived Alison and Peter joined us and a weekend of chatting and catching up on news began aided by a visit to the local pub 800m away.

Saturday 15th July 2023.

The lane outside the campsite is single track and is only used by the local farmer and the residents of a few houses along its length, the lane leads directly to Market Drayton and is approx 1.5 miles long so it was a simple and safe way to walk into town this morning. Market Drayton is close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders on the River Tern and the Shropshire Union Canal skirts it. The town is mentioned in the Domesday book and in 1245 it was granted a charter for a weekly market.In 1651 a great fire destroyed 70% of the town, the Buttercross in the centre of town still has a bell on top for people to ring if there’s ever another fire ( I’m sure phoning 999, would be more efficient) .

It was the town’s carnival day and the streets began to be lined to see the carnival floats go by, sadly we missed it as the weather wasn’t too kind and we were constantly being hit by strong squally showers, as there was little shelter we beat a hasty retreat to The Red Lion Pub and Joules Brewery.

We decided to have lunch in the pub (strongly recommend, very nice meals). We sat in the Mouseroom, This room was installed in 2010 with fantastic panelling, church pews, it has 7 carved mice, a nodding mouse with some furniture from the Mouseman apprentices. If you don’t know about the Mouseman look up Robert “mouseman Thompson of Kilburn.

Meal over and a few pints of Joules beer consumed we headed back via a visit to St Mary’s church in town.

I’m told it is a very pleasant and welcoming church inside however I will sadly have to include it in my “Guide to Cathedrals, Churches and other Stately Buildings “ that Layla and I have sat outside whilst others have explored the interior.

Sunday 16th July 2023.

Another day with sudden short heavy showers of rain. We spent the morning walking along the lane to the Shropshire Union Canal at Tyrley Wharf locks. Here we spent a pleasant hour dodging the showers. and helping the narrow boats through the locks, a learning experience for Michelle.

After walking back to the van we had a quick coffee, changed some damp clothes and then walked back up the lane to the pub where we had an excellent Sunday lunch, finished off with sticky toffee pudding 😊

Later in the afternoon we were joined for an hour or two by our youngest daughter Steph and her husband Will ( they live close by). The day closed off with a few drinks with Alison and Peter and a chat of future journeys in the next few months. We have all agreed that this is a site that suits our needs well and we will use again.

Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th June 2023.

We had a family gathering at the above campsite to celebrate on Saturday the 2nd birthday of our twin grandsons Ben and James and the 40th birthday of son in law Will. Along with our van we had 4 tents dotted around the site but thankfully in easy reach of each other as this is an enormous site.

They say many hands make light work but when people haven’t put their tents up for a while sorting out which pole goes where was quite amusing, Sophie and Zac’s tent came without tent pegs, thankfully there were enough spares from others😊👍

Friday night we sampled the menu from the on site restaurant “Rustic Kitchen” which was far from rustic and the food was good both in taste and portion size.

Of course as tradition demands each morning starts with a range of breakfasts cooked in the van.

Saturday afternoon it was BBQ time and party time for the boys as they unwrapped their presents aided by the adults.

Sunday morning it was pack up time with a few members of the group suffering from sunburn but on the whole no disasters and every one seemed to enjoy themselves.

Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th June 2023

A picturesque drive to Porthmadog had us breathing in at times on some narrow stretches but lovely scenery made up for it. We parked up in Porthmadog on a car par park next to the railway station, you can stay overnight there but I had booked a campsite nearby. We had a slow walk around the town and bought a few items from Edinburgh Nylon Mill and a few items from Tesco. It was then a short drive to the campsite.

I’d pre-booked a two night stay on Black Rock Sands Campsite adjacent to the beach, I’ve known of the beach for decades but had never visited it.The 12 acre site is quite informal with the majority of it sprawled across what may have been a quarry, you can pitch where you like if you don’t need EHU and groups of people had pitched their tents in a circle and were having a pleasant time, it has a modern toilet block and a hut that serves food on some evenings and breakfast in the mornings.

Black Rock Sands aren’t black but some of the rocky outcrops behind the dunes are, the beach is extremely flat and about two miles long you can pay to park on there and there is a designated area to launch jet skis. The southern end is the estuary to Porthmadog whilst to the north is Criccieth.

Friday 16th June 2023

The first part of today was a quick trip to Machynlleth where we parked

It isn’t a large town but interesting and has a long history, we managed to walk around for 45 minutes visiting a few shops including a hardware shop where we bought our purchase of the day, a bottle of dog shampoo.

We then drove onto Dolgoch Waterfalls in the valley below the mountain Cadair Idris, it was a bit of a tight squeeze in places especially when meeting large lorries but we made it in one piece.

Dolgoch Falls is a popular tourist spot with the Talyllyn Railway passing over them, there’s good parking for £2 and no charge to walk up the waterfalls. There hasn’t been much rain for a while so they weren’t as magnificent as I’m sure they are at some times of the year.

After lunch in Homer we drove on to tonight’s stopover at Fairbourne, it’s a small quiet residential village next to a long beach, it was founded by Arthur Mcdougal of Mcdougal Flour fame, there are a few shops, bar chip shop etc but on the whole not too much commercial tat.It has a miniature railway built in 1895 with a 2 mile route to Penrhyn Point where there is a small ferry to Barmouth.

We are staying on a newly created motorhome stopover with all the facilities we need, we have paid £5 but you can pay for electricity, water etc separately, the payment system is automated and too complicated everyone struggles to know what to do, probably evidenced by the “ honesty” box in which you can pay by cash.

Thursday 15th June 2019

Croeso.

We took a leisurely drive to tonights stopover in Borth West Wales, we stopped en route at Newtown Gwynedd where we had a wander around the town and had a picnic lunch in Homer.

We are stopping for the night in the car park at The Railway Inn, it’s completely free but we are indulging in a meal and drink, spoiling ourselves. As the weather is beautiful we enjoyed a long walk along the sea front, sadly you have to walk past all the houses before you get to a stretch of the beach where dogs are allowed. When we did get on the beach Layla had a great time as always until she put her head under water after a pebble, swallowed sea water and promptly threw up, she wouldn’t go back in after that.

On the journey here today the odometer clicked onto 5,000 miles, not bad going as it is almost 5 months to the day we purchased Homer.

Friday 26th May to Monday 29th May 2023.

We are spending a long weekend, four nights, here on Lees Meadow Farm Campsite courtesy of the Derbyshire District Association of the Camping and Caravan Club who have organised a temporary holiday site here for one month at £10 per night. We have a spot with very good views across the fields to High Peak Trail, once a railway track. The neighbours are great too.

Saturday we caught the local bus into Matlock, there wasn’t a great deal to do there but we enjoyed a drink in the cafe in the park before wandering around a small outdoor market where I bought Michelle some ear rings to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. We walked from Matlock to Matlock Bath where we enjoyed a very pleasant meal alongside the river in the Midland pub.

Matlock Bath is a Mecca for motorcyclists on Bank holiday weekends and hundreds were pouring into the town as we walked through, bikes and bikers of all sizes poured into town, a great spectacle and not threatening.

We then walked on down the valley to Cromford where we visited an old mill established by Richard Arkwright he of the Spinning Jenny fame.

Sadly the country bus system then let us down, they were supposed to run every 45 minutes but when there was no sight of one ever turning up we took a taxi back instead . All in all an interesting day out.

Sunday, again we woke to a beautifully sunny day but with a cool wind blowing, we opted for a local walk and did a circular walk across flower filled meadows and through disused quarries which have left a large visual scar on the landscape.

The afternoon was spent relaxing and chatting in the sunshine.

Monday, we again set off on the same route as yesterday but this time with Wirksworth village as our destination. En route we visited the Star Disc an intriguing “ sculpture” high up on a hill.

We had headed to Wirksworth as it was one of the villages that participates in to annual tradition of well dressing which is an ancient custom here in Derbyshire with the earliest recorded account being at Tissington near Ashbourne. Originally wells would have been decorated with ribbons and garlands but this has developed into boards covered in wet clay into which are pressed natural materials to make a picture.

After lunch in a pleasant pub we walked back, all up hill taking in on the way The National Stone Centre a free to enter educational 40 acre site featuring 330 million year old geological formations making it a Site of Special Scientific Interest. From there we walked back to the camp site via the High Peak Trail which was a killer. At one point there was a three quarters of a mile incline that, when it was a railway line was so steep trains couldn’t get up without the aid of a pulley system run by a steam engine that hauled them up the incline. Sadly there was nothing to haul us up and I struggled somewhat with my hay fever asthma breathing to achieve it, thankfully I did but wouldn’t do it again unless I had to.

It’s been a good weekend break, weather has been kind to us albeit with a cool wind, we will return with a suntan and far more knowledge of this region that I had prior to this visit.

April 11th to May 17th 2023

Questions,

Did you have a good time, how far did you travel, was it difficult, where was your favourite place, where would you go again, did you have trouble with the language, just a few of the questions fired at us since our return. To be honest it isn’t easy to answer them , a few are factual, a few subjective I may differ from Michelle in my answers, eg some campsites were wonderful but miles from anywhere whilst others weren’t so good but in a great position. Language wasn’t a problem across most of the countries as usual people we met spoke perfect English and as many of them were Manchester United fans they often talked football, even knowing our local team the Wolves.

Apart from the wintery weather in Norway we were very lucky on our travels we had a few nights with heavy rain and one full day when it rained, the rest of the time it was dry but often cold with a constant cold wind blowing.

Shopping was easy there were supermarkets everywhere, the further north we went vegetables both fresh and frozen were a rarity but always plenty of salad. It’s fun trying to make out what some items are and try a few new things. Prices were not extortionate if you shopped in Aldi/Lidl and their equivalents which perhaps say something about our cost of living, and diesel was cheaper than in the UK. We don’t eat out often when we are travelling so I can’t comment on restaurant prices.

We made quite a few ferry crossings to shorten our route and this figured as a major cost in our budget, some couldn’t be avoided there was no other route and others saved hours and hundreds of miles. Driving on the whole wasn’t too difficult Michelle managed the navigation superbly and in most countries we found the standard of driving superior to here in the UK. Denmark wins hands down for quality of roads, lack of traffic and ease of driving.

Statistics.

We visited 7 countries, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

We spent 37 days away.

Altogether we drove 3,331 miles, I have been asked why didn’t I drive around the neighbourhood for an extra 2 miles😊Fuel for the journey came in at €900.

We stayed for 28 nights on campsites and had 8 free nights, free camping isn’t easy in some countries and we didn’t let it be a major factor in our planning. Altogether that cost us approx €500

As mentioned ferries were a big cost and they cost us €700.

All our other spending, food, souvenirs, drinks, treats, incidentals etc came to a total of €1,400.

This makes a grand total of €3,500, not cheap but just less than €100 euro’s a day for a magical trip, worth every euro. A summer trip heading south would come in much cheaper, looking forward to it😊👍

May 15th 2023

We stopped last night in a small aire along side the canal in Turnhout Belgium where the road bridge has to be raised to allow the boats through. We stayed here last year and as it is free and convenient for our journey we returned again.

This morning we started the day with a trip to the local Decathlon, sadly I wasn’t too impressed with their range of clothes for men and made do buying 2 T shirts. We had all day to get to Gravelines it was beautifully sunny so we decided to drive across Belgium without using the motorways, we allowed the sat nav to guide us without interference and we saw some lovely countryside villages and architecture. However we began to doubt our wisdom when it took us through the centre of Antwerp. It may have worked well if there hadn’t been major road works in the city with main roads being closed, the sat nav alternate route left a little to be desired. We ended up in narrow cobbled back streets just large enough for us to squeeze down, at one point having to mount the footpath to avoid a tram coming the other way and having to ignore it completely when it wanted us to go down a pedestrianised street 😵‍💫😖 With a combination of us ignoring it at times following road signs etc we eventually descended into a tunnel and out of Antwerp.

We settled down again to our trip realising we had forgotten what terrible road surfaces they have, the crashing does rather shatter the nerves. We eventually stopped at a supermarket where I did a little shopping and we had lunch whilst parked in the car park. Again we headed off and the sat nav took us to Brugge, I recognised the road as where we had been a few years ago with Alison and Peter and then when it turned us off the main road and headed south we knew it was time to switch it off, as you can see on the next map we did a complete circle, headed north joined the motorway to get here to Gravelines.

I think this the fourth time we have stayed here at this pretty spot so very little to add, it’s close to Calais and tomorrow sees us return to the UK.

Thursday 11th to Monday 15th May 2023.

Each year we attempt to visit our friends Arzu andWolfgang, along with their daughter Bedia and cat Yufka who all live in Gahlen, we stay at the above stellplatz for 12 euros per night. We timed our visit to coincide with Bedia’s 14th birthday on Friday 12th May. It has been a long weekend of feasting, every time you turned round you were greeted with coffee and cake😊🎂☕️

The Friday afternoon was spent devouring birthday cake and drinking coffee with a lot of translation for muttis sake. Then early evening we headed off to a very nice self service Chinese restaurant that we have visited before.

The XIAO restaurant has a huge selection of food, it’s eat all you can for 22.90 euros each. There are at least 30 woks of stir fry type meals both meat and vegetarian, an area of raw fish and meat than you can select and take it be cooked and it is delivered to your table, there is even sushi. You can finish yourself off with a choice of 20 desserts plus ice cream. Our friends Annette and Neil would think they were in heaven.

Saturday saw us pay a visit to Dorsten to do a little shopping and of course you couldn’t miss out on stopping at an ice cream cafe for a little light refreshment.

Saturday evening in Schermbeck was advertised as a Caribbean evening with a band playing, a man made beach and refreshments ( of course).

A few fries and mayo were consumed and whilst I had a beer the others enjoyed a tropical cocktail. Sadly the band didn’t quite live up to expectation I couldn’t detect any carribean type songs but quite a few modern spanish dance along to numbers.

On Sunday I went with Wolfgang to visit his mother whilst the two ladies put the world to rights on their own, on the way back we called in at an asparagus farm, asparagus is a very popular dish here whilst in season and we had them for our evening meal with buttered potatoes.

Upon our return to Wolfgangs it was decided to go for a long walk to prepare ourselves for the evening meal, well by a mysterious chance the small lanes lead us to a strawberry farm where we just had to have strawberries and cream on a waffle with coffee.

Was the whole weekend devoted to eating, not not quite, we did manage to squeeze in the odd alcoholic drink or two and as always we talked for hours about so many subjects. This morning Wolfgang drove Layla and I to the vets where she had her pet passport validated for the return on the ferry.

It was a sad farewell but I’m sure it won’t be long before we meet up again.

Wed 10th May 2023

We chose tonight’s stopover because it is approx halfway to tomorrows destination, because it was described as being adjacent to a beautiful park and it was free!I asked Michelle to plot a route that avoided motorways, all went well on the first half of the journey to Hurford where we stopped for 10 mins and popped into a supermarket, however for the second half our two sat nav couldn’t agree and we went a little out of our way.

Last night it rained heavily and we have been subject to heavy showers all day, when we pulled up it was dry but looked threatening but we went for a walk nonetheless , we had gone approx 400 m when there was a huge downpour and were instantly soaked from the knees down.

There wasn’t a lot to see in the town on a wet Wednesday afternoon so we headed for the park which surrounded a Schloss.

During this evening the rain has returned quite heavily so it’s nice to be inside in the comfort and warmth. Tomorrow we travel to visit our good friends Arzu, Wolfgang and Bedia, we are staying approx 400m from them and they have promised to spoil us all weekend👍🥂🍷🍺🍴🎂 good hospitality and great company.