Tag: Motorhome life

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11 Months on the Road: Final Figures

Andrew here with a summary of our European Road Trip. When we decided to embark on our European adventure so many people said, “fantastic I/we would love to do that,” or words to that effect. The fact is I would be surprised if any of them ever do and there are many reasons why, like; I have a mortgage, I have kids, I have grandkids, I have a job, or a business, and so on. The fact is though if you want to do it, you can!

Lots of sayings spring to mind like; “life is not a rehearsal” , “you are a long time dead”, “you work to live not live to work” and so on, and all these are correct but if you do want to take a good look at Europe or the world do it whilst you can, don’t wait until you can’t or don’t have the drive or health any more. The world is a different communication place these days with Skype, Messenger, Facetime WhatsApp and so on, so you may be 12,000 miles away, but these devices allow you to feel like you are just down the road. My mum turned 88 the other day and I have skyped her twice a week, so we see each other and talk like we are in the same room. The same with Louise’s Mum and Dad, we talk to them regularly. My daughter Rebecca had her second child a couple of months back and of course we have never met him in person, but we saw him (Ihaia) less than an hour after he was born and many times since, along with her first born Kerenga who is nearly three. Distance is not a reason, nor is having a job. If you are any good you will find another one when you return, or if you’re lucky they’ll hold it for you. Think about it – what have you done in the last year? And what could you be doing in the next year if you gave it a go?

Having said all that you probably don’t have to be 11 months in Europe if that is too long, a steady travelling schedule could see you complete a lot in six months or do a couple of stints over a few years. What we have done doesn’t compare to taking a 4-week holiday in Europe. By mixing it up with some house-sitting we were able to experience day to day life in some small and not so small European villages.

Other questions we have been asked along the way and back here in the UK are; “what was your favourite place”? That’s impossible to answer as every place had its own character – from Spectacular Norway to Reindeer on the Road in Finland, the mountain tops of Austria and Switzerland, the gorgeous areas of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers in Germany, Tuscany Italy, Prague and Gdansk, the French cuisine and so on, but I guess the special package was discovering Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We new nothing about these places and were almost warned off going there but they offered so much. The Lonely Planet has just voted Vilnius in Lithuania as one of the best destinations. Louise agrees, she loved Vilnius. We spent the most time though in Spain, side stepping the cold European winter, and we both agree Spain was one of our favourite areas for a number of reasons. The people were friendly, the scenery and beach areas were breath-taking, the cost of living is ridiculously low, and history is everywhere in this vast country.

We have also been asked about the size of the motorhome and where to go?  Our motorhome was 7.45 meters long and that is on the larger side – there were plenty a lot bigger and likewise a lot smaller. We feel we chose right as it was our home for the best part of a year, but if we were going for 3 – 4 months we would probably go smaller. As for where to go; I covered this in a previous blog but really and truly Louise has been superb in planning the trip, with a little help from me from time to time.

As for driving a big vehicle like this in Europe; all I can say is take your time, don’t panic, don’t rush and if you do go the wrong way its not the end of the world, you can turn around. The same at roundabouts, if you can’t work out which is the right exit just go around again.

Another big question that’s come up is; “how was living in a confined space with your partner for a year?” Answer: Easy – and I mean that. We never argued, never needed to. We only had Netflix which we watched for a maximum of an hour a day, and not every day, so we learnt the art of conversation (often lost these days) and used our computer, tablets and phones to check up on what’s happening in NZ and the rest of the world, as well as reading the odd book or three. It was seriously an easy experience for both of us.

So, what did we actually do? Where did we go? And, I’m sure you’re keen to know, what did it all cost?

We left for Europe on a ferry to Calais on June 3rd, 2017 and returned to Dover on April 29th, 2018.

Countries We Visited: France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Switzerland, Austria, Lichtenstein, Slovenia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Sardinia, Sicily, Vatican City, Monaco, Luxembourg and England.  We did go in and out of some of these countries a few times, and with the likes of France and Germany we made four separate visits.

Accommodation:  330 nights in Europe made up of 255 in the motorhome, 49 house-sitting, 19 with Louise’s Aunt and Uncle in Germany, 5 on overnight ferry crossings and 2 in hotels. In all we spent NZ$10,010 on campsites at an average of NZ$39.25 a night.

Driving: We covered 26,090 kms (16,306 miles), went to 58 service stations and spent NZ$4,970 on diesel. We paid on average NZ$1.90 a litre, with Norway and Sardinia being the most expensive at around NZ$2.60 a litre while Latvia and Denmark were cheapest at around NZ$1.50 -NZ$1.60 a litre.

Cheap and Expensive Countries: Norway and Switzerland were by far the most expensive while Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania proved to be cheap with probably Poland and Czech Republic the cheapest, but Spain would also be one of the cheapest all round based on supermarket buying, fruit and vege, eating out, and wine and beer.

Overall Costs for 47 Weeks (11 months):

Our budget: NZ$150 per day; NZ$1,050 per week; $49,350 for the 47 weeks. BUT…The real cost was: NZ$128 per day; NZ$899 per week; $42,262 for the 47 weeks – YAY!!!!

In summary you could do it a lot cheaper. We chose to stay in campsites every night except about 4 where we stayed in Aires (parking areas with power but no toilets or showers). These Aires can be up to 75% cheaper than campsites. We also chose to eat out regularly, which you don’t have to if you want to save money, and we went to every museum, historic site and places of interest that we wanted to. I think Louise also climbed every tower in Europe to get a view of whichever city we were in. It was never; “no we can’t afford it”. We just did it. And as I said, when we were boarding the ferry at Dunkirk to come back to the UK, we had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for a year ago, but we did all we wanted and more, never hurt ourselves, never crashed the van or had someone crash into us, never got robbed or broken into, it just all went so smoothly. What else can one want.

When you talk about what it cost; how much money did you spend in the last 47 weeks? Considering we all must eat and drink no matter where you are in the world, and day to day living has other costs like rates, mortgage or rent, power, petrol etc. Work it out you might be surprised.

So, with Europe behind us for now, it’s time to explore England, Wales and Scotland. As we’ve now sold the motorhome my part of the blog has become a bit redundant, but I will try and add something each month – an insight or two from “Mr Love’s” perspective.

Some of our many memorable experiences: 

Midnight Sun on the Lofoten Islands, Norway
Reindeer on the road, Finland
Market in Gdansk, Poland
Meiringen, Switzerland
Lake Bled, Slovenia
Christmas Lunch, house-sitting in Periana, Spain
Pinos del Valle, Spain

Statistics by Month: 

Stats_11 Months

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Finished in Europe (For Now)

It was hard to believe there were two weeks left before our campervanning adventure in Europe would be over. Our ferry crossing to the UK was booked and our plans for the UK leg of our tour were falling into place, and they didn’t include the campervan. Being a left-hand drive and quite large we decided a while ago that we would part company with the van on our return to England and continue by car.

We still had a couple of places on our “to-see” list on the continent; the first being Luxembourg and the other, Passchendaele in Belgium where Andrew’s grandfather had fought in WWI, and we wanted to swing back into Germany to see my Aunt and Uncle again as well. So, with mixed emotions we headed into our final two weeks.

Luxembourg

After a lovely afternoon touring the Pommery Champagne house in Reims we left France, driving into Belgium and across to Luxembourg. It was quite exciting as we were adding another country to the list – Luxembourg is the 28th country we have visited on our European tour. We’re counting Sardinia and Sicily as separate countries because they’re across the water from Italy and, particularly in the case of Sardinia, are quite different from the mainland.

Since leaving Paris that morning the weather had improved markedly, and it was a warm clear evening when we arrived. That was the start of a lovely spate of weather that lasted almost the entire two weeks.

Our campsite was in the outlying suburbs of Luxembourg City next to the Alzette River. It was a lovely location and one of the better campsites we’d stayed at.

Luxembourg is great for cycling and the next morning we biked along a picturesque path that followed the river for 10kms into the old part of the city. Runners and cyclists were out in force, making the most of the great weather.

Our first impressions of Luxembourg were of a very clean, green and prosperous place. It’s a small country in area and the population is also small – just under 600,000 people live in the world’s last remaining grand duchy, 110,000 of whom live in the capital. In case you’re wondering, a grand duchy is a where the official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess.

We found a place to leave our bikes and took the elevator up to La Haute Ville, “the upper town”, sitting at the top of the cliff. Luxembourg is a pretty city with picturesque squares, quaint back alleys, buildings that look like they are straight from a storybook, majestic boulevards and beautifully manicured parks. Having been in existence for over a thousand years it is steeped in history with many beautiful historic buildings from across the centuries, but it is very much a thriving modern city; the cars are flashy, the shops are luxurious and the populous are well dressed and ooze affluence. This isn’t surprising given it is home of many EU government institutions including the Court of Justice and the European Investment Bank.

The geography of the city is quite remarkable. It sits on the top of steep gorges cut out by the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers with bridges connecting the town across the ravines. It is this natural protection that proved ideal for building further fortifications – the first built in 963. Over the following centuries these mighty fortifications were fought over and became the stronghold of whichever army occupied the area and was vying for military control over Western Europe. Once stretching over 180 hectares the fortifications were finally demolished in the late 19th century to prevent any further conflict and today only the Bock Casements remain. It is now considered one of the most important fortified sites in Europe and is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can take a tour through the vast complex of underground tunnels below the fortifications, but we opted to stay above ground and walk across the fortress to admire the view back to La Haute Ville.

Not far from the fortifications is Le Chemin de La Ccorniche, a viewing platform often called Europe’s most beautiful balcony. From here you can appreciate the magnificence of the fortifications built in the cliffside and look over the valley to the charming riverside Grund district below, with its picturesque church and quaint medieval houses.

It’s not a big city and is easy to explore on foot. After a full day out, we wandered down the hill, found our bikes and pedalled along the leafy trail back to the campsite.

Back to Germany

The sky was sparkling blue and the countryside a vivid green as we drove from Luxembourg through to Germany and along the Moselle River. This is a beautiful part of Germany. We’d been there seven months earlier when my Aunt took us for day trip to Trier and we drove back along the valley through the wineries, but with the weather the way it was we couldn’t resist stopping and spending some more time there. We ended up staying two nights in the Moselle Valley, camping right beside the river. It is stunningly picturesque, with charming half-timbered German villages dotted along the river and vineyards running up the steep sides of the valley, interspersed with a patchwork of woodland. There are bike paths all along the valley and we cycled from one village to the next, stopping for a few wine tastings at the roadside stalls. It was the first time in a while that we’d had lovely summery weather and no pressure to rush around seeing the tourist sites. We were relaxed and content.

Friday was another glorious day and, feeling sun-kissed and refreshed, we headed through to Wahlrod where my Aunt Margaret and Uncle George live. We’d spent a week here in September when we three months into our tour and we loved it – not only for the generous hospitality and great company of our hosts but also the beautiful countryside and surrounds, which we were very much looking forward to seeing in spring. After a harsh winter nature was in overdrive and Margaret’s garden was no exception. It was stunning; in full bloom with and abundance of white flowers and green foliage. The huge cherry tree in the centre of the lawn was heavy with white blossom, and with the white tulips below, the daphne and white rhododendron, combined for a soft, peaceful, spring feel. Being so warm we were able to spend plenty of time sitting outside under the cherry tree enjoying the garden and the birdsong.

However, relaxing was not our priority when we arrived. Our first task was to list the van on UK Autotrader. This was easier said than done. We found out that you need a UK IP address and a UK credit card to submit an ad. I have no idea why this is, maybe to stop “foreigners” selling vehicles in the UK. We panicked. We had a week before we were back in England and needed the van listed so ideally it would sell quickly after our arrival. A delay of a week would upset our plans. Then Andrew had the bright idea of asking his cousin Mark to help. I set the ad up ready to go and Mark obligingly logged into our account from the UK and pressed submit. Within a few hours we had our first enquiry.

The next week was spent getting the van serviced, cleaning it inside and out, and sorting all the “stuff” we’d accumulated in preparation for downsizing for the next leg of our journey. It wasn’t all work, there was time for other activities to, like getting me a much-needed haircut and colour, going for long walks through the beautiful countryside, playing the odd game of scrabble and rummy, and practising tent pitching on the lawn. We are planning on doing some camping in the UK and had bought a tent in France so tried it out in the garden. It took three of us quite a bit of time to work out the instructions and put it together, but we finally managed to create something that looked quite liveable. We’re not sure how much use it’ll get, that will depend on the fickle English summer.

Almost a week had passed and with only a few days left in Europe we said goodbye and with a lot less in the boot headed off in our sparkling clean van.

Campsite on the Moselle River
Traben-Trarbach on the Moselle
Cycling the Moselle
Practising camping in Margaret & George’s garden

The Last Post

After a full day of driving we arrived in Ypres (Leper as it’s known in Belgium). Ypres is at the heart of an area that saw some of the biggest battles in the First World War and as it is 100 years since the end of the war we wanted to visit and pay our respects to the many commonwealth soldiers that fought and died there.

The campsite was full. This was only the third time this had happened to us in almost a year on the road. Ypres is a popular place to visit. We were directed to a nearby “Aire” specifically for motorhomes. It had electricity, but not any facilities so our intention of staying two nights was quickly amended.

We biked the short distance into the centre of Ypres and wandered around this picturesque town. Ypres was mostly destroyed in the war and was eventually fully rebuilt, including the historic Cloth Hall and Cathedral. Standing in the town it is hard to believe that most buildings are at most 80 or so years old. The tourist shops were full of WWI memorabilia, craft beer and chocolates, and paper poppies on sticks. We bought two poppies for our visit to the war graves the next day.

It was time for one of those famous Belgian beers. We found a nice Belgian beer house that overlooked the square and tried a local brew.

One of the most important sites in Ypres is the Menin Gate, one of the Memorials to the Missing. It lists the names of 54,332 men who fell in the Ypres Salient and who have no known grave. The names represent the fallen of Britain, Ireland, and what were then the Dominions (apart from New Zealand) up until 16th August 1917. Those with no known grave after that date are recorded at Tyne Cot (including all New Zealanders). As well as a place to visit in its own right, every night at 8pm, the Last Post is played, and a small ceremony takes place at the gate. We had heard it was not to be missed and after a quick Thai dinner made our way there. We didn’t expect the crowds to be as large as they were – Andrew estimated there were well over 500 people gathered.  The traffic through the Gate was halted, the crowd was welcomed, there was a moment of silence and then the Last Post was played. It was an incredibly moving experience in a sombre setting and there was not a dry eye around.

The next day we headed to Passchendaele 13 kms away. Our first stop was the museum. Here the story of the war in the Ypres Salient is told with special emphasis on the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. Andrew’s grandfather fought in this battle, in the Canadian Army. He was one of the lucky ones, he was injured and sent home.

The museum is an interactive experience with the exhibits helping you to understand what it was like for those fighting on the Western Front. Inside steps took us down into a 6-metre deep reconstruction of a battlefield dugout, complete with headquarters, accommodation, workshop, communication room and first aid post. It was amazing how complex these areas were. Outside are a network of reconstructed trenches, made to look and feel exactly as they would have during the war. Walking through them it’s impossible not to think of the gunfire, the fear, and the smell. The museum was very well done, not glorifying or embellishing, but instead letting those that were there tell their story. It’s a sad story, but one that needs to be told.

Our next stop was the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing, not far from Passchendaele. This is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war. Here there were lots of unnamed New Zealand graves. Lost sons and brothers lying forever in a foreign land. We left a poppy in remembrance.

We left Belgium and drove on to Dunkirk for our last night on the continent, and the last night sleeping in our campervan. The campsite in Dunkirk was right on the beach. We joined the many others and went for an evening walk along the promenade, past the restaurants and bars and brightly coloured retro changing sheds. All along this lively promenade are information boards telling the story of another war. It was from this beach in late May 1940 that around 338,000 British, French and Belgian soldiers were rescued from the hands of the German army and evacuated across the channel. Hundreds of civilians sailed across from England to help with the rescue. Private yachts, motor launches, lifeboats, paddle steamers and barges joined the effort, all the while under attack from German aircraft. Many lost their lives. But, if those troops weren’t rescued the Allies would not have had the manpower and strength to turn around and face the Germans again, and eventually defeat them, and we may not have been enjoying the warm evening on this calm and peaceful beach

The day had arrived. It was time to catch the ferry to Dover. We were both quiet driving to the port, both reflecting on the 11 months that had passed since we’d been on the ferry going the other way, from Dover to Calais. Back then we didn’t know what to expect – would we even be able to live in such a small area for a month, let alone 11?  We could, we did, and we loved every minute! What an adventure it’s been. We’ve got many more adventures to come before we head home to New Zealand, but we were still feeling a bit sad and a bit sentimental that those adventures will be without our beloved campervan.

The security guard at the ferry terminal got us laughing again. He was a big, handsome, hunk of a Frenchman and after doing the mandatory search of our camper, turned with a beaming smile and declared: “No Taliban in here!”

Ypres
Last Post ceremony, Ypres
Tyne Cot Cemetery
Graves of un-named New Zealand soldiers
Dunkirk Beach

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Paris in Springtime

We arrived in Paris late on Thursday afternoon and settled into our campsite by the River Seine. It was a lovely setting amongst leafy trees with an abundance of birds busying themselves with spring activities. Across the road was a golf course and a large woodland park area and not far away was the famous Longchamp Racecourse. It was hard to believe we were only just over 5 kilometres from central Paris. This was our base for the next four nights as we explored Paris and its surrounds. We have both been to Paris before, Andrew a few times and me only once, and to be honest my impression of Paris from the one visit was not positive so I was hoping this visit would change my mind.

Day 1: Paris on Foot

If you look at a map of Paris the central area is a big circle with a ring road running around the outside separating the inner and outer suburbs. The Metro lines run to the edge of this circle and from there other forms of public transport, trains, buses and trams, take over to service the outer suburbs. Our campsite offered a shuttle bus service to the nearest Metro station at Porte Maillot which we took the next morning. Once we were there we made the snap decision not to take a Metro but instead to walk. Walking is a great way to get your bearings in a city and you see much more than you do popping up at one metro station and then popping up at another.

The Arc de Triomphe was only 1km from Porte Maillot and was therefore the obvious first destination. This magnificent arch was commissioned by Napoleon to honour his victorious army. Unfortunately, the project ran over budget and over time and Napoleon was long dead by time it was completed. It is now an iconic landmark in Paris and very popular with tourists. There was a queue when we arrived, but it moved fast, and it didn’t take long before we were climbing the stairs to the top. The Arc de Triomphe is in the centre of Charles de Gaulle Place, a busy roundabout from which 12 symmetrical avenues radiate outwards from like spokes in a wheel, the most famous being the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. It was mesmerizing watching the cars whizz around below us and the buzz of activity in the avenues beyond. It is a great vantage point to appreciate this city and get the lay of the land.

From the Arc de Triomphe we walked down Champs-Élysées, the trees lining the avenue were just coming out in leaf. Past the Jardins des Champs-Élysées filled with spring bulbs, and through Place de la Concorde with the impressive gold-topped Egyptian Obelisk and the ornately carved Fontaine des Mers and Fontaine des Fleuves. Tuileries Garden was awash with spring colour and filled with people enjoying the sunshine. Chairs were scattered around the ponds and we sat awhile, people and duck watching. A bit further on, just before we got to the Louvre, is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel topped with four bronze horses pulling a chariot. Not to be confused with it’s larger cousin up the road, this one was also commissioned by Napoleon but as it is a lot smaller it was finished on time and while he was still Emperor.

The arch is the gateway to the grounds of impressive Louvre museum with its iconic glass pyramid jutting up from the centre of the grand courtyard, acting as the entranceway to the museum. The Louvre is the biggest museum in the world and with a collection of over 35,000 works spread over 60,000 square metres it is said to take 100 days to see everything, if you looked at each item for 30 seconds, all day without a break. Despite both having visited before, we were lured back in. The last time I was here the queue had stretched well out into the courtyard. This time it was only about 20 deep inside the foyer. Considering 15,000 people visit each day we counted ourselves lucky. Because of the size of this museum it isn’t crowded apart from when you arrive at the most famous painting in the Louvre, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Everyone congregates around this masterpiece, which is surprisingly small for such a big reputation. The other gathering point is in front of the armless Greek sculpture of Venus de Milo. Most of our time was spent in the “paintings section” and with 7,500 artworks in this area alone there was little energy left for many other sections: Eastern Antiquities, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities, Egyptian Antiquities, Prints and Drawings, Decorative Arts, Sculptures, Islamic Art and so on. You can see why it would take 100 days to see it all.

Back out in the sunshine it was time to refuel with a baguette in the park. After lunch we crossed the Seine using the Pont de Arts pedestrian bridge and walked along the left bank where stalls selling vintage French Art Nouveau prints line the footpath – think Chat Noir and Moulin Rouge. The distinctive stone arches of Pont Neuf marked to beginning of Ile de la Cité, the island in the Seine where the Notre Dame Cathedral sits. We crossed Pont Neuf to the island, walked through Place Dauphine, past the city courthouse and state police station, to the Notre Dame. We were admiring the impressive façade of the cathedral and deciding whether to line up to go in when police descended on the square and quickly removed everyone from the area and closed the cathedral. It may have been an exercise, given the cathedral is directly across from the police station and they didn’t seem to be overly concerned, but we weren’t waiting around to find out and quickly crossed over to the Latin Quarter.

The Latin Quarter has been the bohemian area of Paris for centuries and got its name from the students communicating in Latin well before the French Revolution. It is a lively place filled with quirky stores, museums, eateries, bars and galleries, and is the home to France’s oldest University La Sorbonne, among other higher educational institutions. We wandered through the colourful streets soaking up the atmosphere, slowly making our way back towards the Eiffel Tower.

Our feet were starting to remind us we’d covered a lot of ground and by the time we reached the base of the tower we calculated we’d walked close to 15 kilometres. Time to stop for a while, sit on a park bench and laugh at the millennials posing like models for every photo they take.

The last time I was in Paris you could walk underneath the tower and I remembered it as being filled with hawkers and tricksters trying to wrangle money off you. Not anymore. It’s completely closed off so only people with tickets to climb the tower can enter the area through glass doors and after passing through security. But, when we were there no one was entering. The tower was closed. We thought it a bit odd and wondered if the police clearing out the Notre Dame had anything to do with it. I started imagining terrorist plots and was pretty sure I was on to something when Andrew suggested maybe we should ask one of the security guards. It was closed due to strike action.

We crossed the Seine again to the gardens in front of Palais de Chaillot where people were relaxing in the sun enjoying the views back to the tower. Up the stone steps crowds gathered to take photos with that iconic backdrop, the Eiffel Tower. We joined the throngs and asked obliging strangers to take some of us.

By now it was late afternoon and we were still a couple of kilometres from the pick-up point of the campsite shuttle. We briefly contemplated catching a Metro from Victor Hugo Place but decided we’d finish what we started, doing Paris on foot.

Arc de Triomphe
Avenue des Champs-Élysées
Tuileries Garden
Tuileries Garden
Le Louvre, Paris
Eiffel Tower Selfie

Day 2: Versailles

The next day we headed to the outskirts of Paris to visit the Palace of Versailles. The train drivers were on strike again so to get there we took a tram and then a long bus ride. Our bus, and every bus we passed, was packed with people.  The 13.5km journey took nearly an hour and a half. These rolling strikes are incredibly disruptive.

The bus stopped directly across from the Palace and we were taken aback by its grandeur, and by how many tour busses were there. As it was already afternoon and we hadn’t eaten we decided to find somewhere for lunch in the village before joining the crowds in the Palace. I had a hankering for crepes and we found a lovely creperie that served delicious savoury buckwheat crepes, more than satisfying my craving.

We walked back to the palace, through the gilded iron gates and past the heavily armed military police to the ticket office. There was a long queue in front of the ticket office window but in an adjacent room there were lots of automated ticket dispensers and no one using them. We took a look, they seemed straight forward, we purchased our tickets and were ready to go. All the while the “sheeple” in the ticket office queue had only moved one place forward. We couldn’t avoid the queue to get into the palace itself, as there were the obligatory security checks to go through, but it didn’t take long, and we were soon inside.

The Palace of Versailles was built by Louis XIII in 1623 as a hunting lodge and was enlarged into a royal palace by Louis XIV in the 1660s and 1670s. The interior of the Palace is exquisitely opulent. The walls of the Gallery of Battles are lined with impressive paintings of battle scenes depicting nearly 15 centuries of French military action – some explicitly gruesome and violent, and all with the French as victors. The palace is proudly French to the core and all the materials used in building and decorating Versailles were made in France.

The most famous room, and the one I was most looking forward to seeing, is the Hall of Mirrors, containing a total of 357 mirrors. At the time it was built Venice had a monopoly on making mirrors so Venetian artisans were lured to France. The Venetians then ordered the assassination of the mirror makers for giving their secrets away.  A dark side to a room filled with light. The same could be said of the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles that was signed in the Hall of Mirrors. Signed to end the First World War, it was meant to bring lasting peace to Europe.

Behind the Palace are beautifully manicured formal gardens containing over 400 sculptures and 1,400 fountains. You could spend hours, even days here as the actual grounds extend for more than 30,000 hectares.

We had had our fix of French nobility, it was time to return to reality.  There was still plenty of daylight when we got to the campsite, so we went biking through the woodland park to the Roland Garros tennis stadium, home to the French Open, and back past the Longchamp Racecourse, home of one of the world’s most prestigious horse races, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Hall of Mirrors
Gallery of Battles
Palace of Versailles
Versailles Gates
Homage to Napoleon

Day 3: City of Love

Our final day in Paris was our wedding anniversary and Andrew had the idea to find a street artist to do our portrait to mark the occasion. We took the shuttle back to the metro station and caught the underground to the Montmartre district which was once where all the Parisian artists lived. Andrew had seen street artists doing portraits on the hill during a previous visit. On the top of the Montmartre hill is the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur with its distinctive white domes like dollops of whipped cream. We joined the other tourists and walked through the gardens on the hillside and up the wide steps to the church, all the while looking out for a street artist at work. There was no sign of any. Where had all the artists of Montmartre gone? We admired the view across Paris from the hilltop and took a look in the beautiful church, before heading back down the other side of the hill to catch a Metro into the city centre. We had decided to try our luck finding an artist on the left bank of the Seine, near the Latin Quarter. As we’d missed out on seeing the Notre Dame Cathedral because of the police activity we took the opportunity to see it and got off at the station nearest this famous church. Intricately carved, dark, cavernous, and very Gothic – this Cathedral is incredibly impressive. But there was no sign of Quasimodo.

We finally found a portrait artist at work on the left bank of the Seine. He was in the middle of a caricature and told us he’d be at least another half hour and would be around for a couple of hours after that if the rain held off. Perfect, we could have our anniversary lunch. We found a quaint bistro in the Latin Quarter that was serving traditional French country cuisine. The waiter recommended the beef bourguignon which we washed down with a lovely Burgundy. When we emerged, it was starting to rain, and our portrait artist was just about to pack up and go home. He was more than happy to stay, found an umbrella to shelter his easel and got to work. Sitting still for such a long time tested our attention levels but it was amusing to watch the reactions from passers-by as they looked at the easel and then up to us and then back to the easel and smiled, laughed, nodded or gave a thumbs-up. An hour and a half later we had our portrait. We looked a little more serious than we might have liked, and a little cat-like, but all in all we were pleased. Happy Anniversary Mr Love!

Basilica of Sacre-Coeur, Montmartre
Notre Dame Cathedral behind the stalls on the left bank
Anniversary lunch
Sitting still
The portrait!

Day 4: Champagne

It was time to leave Paris, but not quite time to leave France. We had one more place to visit –Champagne.

As we drove out of the campsite we reflected on our time in Paris. I was underwhelmed when I visited 8 years ago, it was dirty and there were a lot of beggars and hawkers about. I wasn’t expecting much to have changed but I was proved wrong. The city was clean and vibrant and although there were still a few beggars about we weren’t hounded, and we felt safe. Paris had redeemed itself.

The city of Reims is about 150kms from Paris and is the unofficial capital of the Champagne wine-growing region, with many of the champagne houses headquartered there. We had booked an early afternoon tour of the champagne caves at Domaine Pommery as our farewell before heading out of France and in to Luxembourg. The champagne houses are very grand, sitting behind tall gates at the end of sweeping driveways, and Pommery is particularly palatial. The light blue Elizabethan-style chateau is reminiscent of a fairy-tale castle. Complete with cone-like spires it reminded me of a children’s birthday cake.

The chateau was built by Louise Pommery in the late 1800’s when she took over running the company after her husband’s death. Under Louise’s guidance the first brut champagne was invented at Pommery – before that is was a sickly-sweet drink and nothing like we know champagne today.

Underneath the chateau lies 18 kilometres of caves. Once Gallo-roman chalk mines, they were converted to champagne cellars where now over 20 million bottles of champagne are stored at a constant temperature of 10 degrees. Our tour took us down the steep steps to 30 metres underground and through the maze caves, past the many racks containing thousands of bottles of champagne fermenting to perfection. Louise Pommery was an art lover and collector and the caves feature art from her era and also contemporary installations and sculptures, making the caves of Pommery quite different to other champagne caves in Reims. The caves are all named after cities – every time a new market was established Louise named a cellar after that city.

Near the end of the tour we were shown a cellar where their premium vintages are kept. Bottles from as far back as 1904 lie in the dark waiting for the call to be brought up into the light and consumed for the small price tag of 50,000 to 120,000 Euros.

We weren’t treated to a such excess but still finished our tour with a very nice glass of Grand Cru 2000 Vintage Champagne – the perfect end to our time in France.

Pommery Champagne House, Reims
Art in the champagne caves
Very old vintage champagne
Cheers to France!
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France: Arles, Le Puy & Bourges

Before leaving Italy we took the plunge and booked our ferry crossing back to the UK. With a date now set we worked backwards to plan our last month in Europe. Paris was a must, so my job was to find a few places to visit enroute, and of course to work out how to avoid as many of those road tolls as possible. We settled on three stopovers, each for two nights. The first of these was Arles, in Provence, a 3-hour drive from our campsite on the Cote d’Azur.

Arles

Arles lies on the Rhone River and is famous for inspiring some of Van Gogh’s most celebrated paintings. He lived in Arles for over a year and painted prolifically while there. Arles is also renowned for its Roman history and its Roman ruins are World Heritage listed. It’s not a big place with a population of just over 50,000. Arles surprised us. It didn’t look like much as we cycled in from the campsite – a flat, ordinary, semi-rural town with lots of car yards, supermarkets and a MacDonald’s. But, in the very centre was a wonderfully well preserved historic town with an incredible 2-tiered Roman amphitheatre as the centrepiece. This impressive theatre is similar in style to the Colosseum in Rome and was built 2,000 years ago, holding more than 20,000 spectators. It is still used for concerts and French bullfighting, which I’m told isn’t as brutal as the Spanish version and doesn’t result in the bull being killed. The medieval town was built around the amphitheatre and the streets and buildings follow its curves, expanding out like ripples.  Next to the amphitheatre is another Roman theatre, this one built a century earlier and in the same style as Greek theatres. It is mostly in ruins and is now an archaeological museum.  A short walk away, near the banks of the Rhône River, are the Thermes de Constantin, or Roman baths dating from the 4th century. And like all Roman cities there was a Forum in Arles, though little of it remains today apart from two Corinthian columns that are now incorporated into the wall of the Hotel du Forum, where a sign saying Place du Forum marks the spot.

Where the Forum was is now a square filled with restaurants including the famous café that features in Van Gogh’s painting “Café Terrace at Night”. It is now aptly called Van Gogh Café, but is still bright yellow as it is in his painting. After taking a photo of the café we walked all through the streets of the old town trying to find the Fondation Vincent van Gogh where exhibitions of his work and of artists influenced by him are displayed. All signs seemed to point to it, but we were sent around in circles and back again. Finally, we found it, and it was closed until April 20th. Never mind, we had visited the Van Gogh gallery in Amsterdam at the start of our trip and wandering through the streets of Arles, seeing buildings and scenes he had painted was enough, and we still had one place to see – Espace Van Gogh. This was the hospital where Van Gogh had his ear stitched back on after he cut it off, and where he was later locked up after suffering a severe mental breakdown. The flower-filled courtyard is the subject of two of his paintings. It’s now an area for working artists and hosts exhibitions and workshops. We wandered around the courtyard and admired the gardens brimming with spring colour.

Van Gogh’s connection to Arles has had a lasting effect and now many artists reside here. All through the old town are galleries and artisan boutiques and browsing through them was a lovely way to spend a warm Saturday afternoon. Taken by the artistic mood of the place Andrew splashed out on a very dapper light blue panama hat.

The famous café that features in Van Gogh’s painting “Café Terrace at Night”
Espace Van Gogh, the former hospital
Remains of two Corinthian columns that are now incorporated into the wall of the Hotel du Forum
Roman amphitheatre
Monsieur Love

Le Puy

Our next stopover was Le Puy-en-Velay. This town was a bit out the way but was well worth the long slow drive through the mountains of the vast Cevennes National Park to get there.

Le Puy-en-Velay lies in a basin at an altitude of 2,000 feet, not far from the Loire River. Despite being high, the pass we drove over to get there was higher and the road into Le Puy was all downhill. As we came down the slope we looked across a wide valley where the new town sprawls and towards the old town sitting on a volcanic mound in the middle with two remarkable rocky pinnacles next to it; one with a chapel perched on the top, the other with an enormous deep-salmon coloured statue of Mary and Jesus.

Our campsite was directly below the 85-metre rock needle where St-Michel d’Aiguilhe chapel is perched and we didn’t delay in climbing to the top to see it. The labour that must have gone into building this incredible chapel is mind-blowing. Bishop of Le-Put was the guy who, back in the 10th century, pointed to the top of that sheer rock and said: “Yes, that’s the ideal place for the new church to celebrate my return from pilgrimage.” I’m sure a few people looked sideways at the suggestion, and he was probably not the most popular among those left to cart the rocks to the top. The 268 steps to get to the chapel are carved into the cliff-face, the steepness of the climb highlighted by the prominently placed defibrillator at the top. The chapel is beautiful, intimate and peaceful, and there are some impressive frescoes and lovely stained-glass windows.

We got to the bottom and the woman in the ticket office told us not to go without seeing the lentil exhibition. Le Puy-en-Velay is also famous for the green lentils grown in the area and driving through the farmland outside the town there were plenty of signs proudly promoting lentils using a carton lentil-man. This carton lentil-man reappeared in the museum to tell us about the process of growing, drying and exporting lentils. I had heard of, and eaten, Le Puy lentils but had never put any thought into where they were from. Now we know.

All through Spain, in Portugal and in southern France we have come across paths marked with the distinct yellow scallop shell, all leading to Santiago de Compostela. There are many ways there and each is an important pilgrimage route. Le Puy is the gateway to the Santiago de Compostela French Way pilgrimage trail. This is where the hardiest of the pilgrims start their journey to Santiago de Compostela – 1600 kilometres away! Le Puy is a very religiously significant place and in the centre of the historic town is the 12th-century Romanesque Notre Dame Cathedral, the starting point for the long pilgrimage path, and each morning there is a blessing for those about to set off on the journey. It’s a lovely cathedral and stands at the top of a long and broad flight of stairs. At the foot of the stairs are cafes and lace shops, another thing Le Puy is famous for.

Looking over the town from atop another rocky volcanic outcrop is that enormous statue of the Virgin Mary. This is the 132-metre high Corneille Rock and the next morning we climbed to the top to see this colossal statue of Notre-Dame-de-France up close. The 16-metre high salmon-pink statue was erected in 1860 and was made using metal obtained from hundreds of cannons that had been seized during the Crimean war. It’s hollow and there are stairs up the middle with a trap door that opens at the top and you can look out over Le Puy from the middle of Mary’s headpiece of gold stars. If you think about it too much you’d call it garish and tacky, but we decided to settle on “odd”, and leave it at that.

On our second and last evening in Le Puy we were in the van, it had finished raining heavily and the sun was trying to push through the dark clouds for one final showing before it set. Suddenly the chapel on the rock above us was bathed in sunlight, like it had been turned upside down and dipped in molten gold. I rushed outside and managed to get the photo I had been hoping for. That night there was a magnificent storm and thunder rolled around the valley non-stop.

View over Le Puy from St-Michel d’Aiguilhe chapel
16-metre statue of statue of Notre-Dame-de-France
St-Michel d’Aiguilhe chapel
St-Michel d’Aiguilhe chapel

Bourges

Our next leg on the way to Paris took us just over 300km further north to Bourges, almost exactly in the centre of France. Bourges is known for its quaint half-timbered houses and grand, Gothic-style cathedral and these were the reasons we had decided to stop here.

We arrived late in the afternoon and walked into town from the campsite. We spent an hour or so wandering around getting our bearings and admiring the exterior of the grand cathedral and the many other lovely historic buildings. Bourges was the capital of France during the time of Charles VII in the 15th century and was a prosperous and busy commercial centre. As a result, many affluent people lived here, and the elegant buildings reflect this, one of the more well-known being ornate Jacques Coeur Palace, home of a 15th-century nobleman.

The next day we visited the cathedral properly and were taken aback by the beauty of the exquisite 13th-century stained-glass windows that line the walls. It is obvious why it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  I decided I couldn’t not climb the tower and left Andrew sitting in the sun in the square below. He’s very choosey on which towers to climb and which ones to leave to me. From above you can see how Bourges finishes abruptly and farmland begins, how flat and vast this part of France is, and the extent of agricultural production.

We wandered back down into the old part of town and admired more of those lovely half-timbered houses that are straight from the pages of a fairy tale, many now the fronts for cafes and chocolate shops.

That evening back at the campsite a Range Rover pulled in towing a very cute retro-style silver caravan. They parked right next to us and Andrew was quick to compliment them on their accommodation. They were quick to compliment Andrew on his black Steinlager T-shirt sporting a silver fern logo as they were Kiwis too, and funnily enough from Mount Maunganui. Wayne and Asa now live in France and they’d come to Bourges to pick up their brand-new caravan that day. Wayne was once the golf professional at the Mount Golf Club and it turns out Andrew and Wayne know many of the same people. We exchanged contact details and promises of a golf game when they’re back in NZ later in the year.

The next morning, we were on our way to Paris.

Half-timbered Houses, Bourges
Jacques Coeur Palace
Bourges Cathedral
Bourges
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10 Months on the Road: Planning Our Trip

Another month passed and it’s that time for me to push Louise aside and have my say on the blog.

Having now be on the road for a little over 10 months I can say that planning your rough route well in advance pays dividends. We made an initial plan back in New Zealand as to where we thought we should head. We have made tactical changes along the way but if you are planning a trip like this you do need a rough plan but also be ready to change.

We made the first stop Scandinavia as we felt we had a 3-month window over summer to enjoy it and we were right. The last thing we wanted to do was be bitterly cold and strike snow on the roads. Fitting chains to the van would not have been much fun.  Even then it was cold at times. We had also intended to head down to Croatia, Albania, Romania and the other Balkan countries around October. That plan changed quickly when we realised how cold it was going to be over December, January and February. Instead we headed to Spain for winter. A much better idea. We will get to the Balkans in August this year but not in the motorhome.

We ran into a NZ couple back in Bern who had given themselves 6 months to see the UK and Europe. When we spoke to them they admitted they hadn’t put in the planning needed. They had spent too long in the UK then once in Europe they realised how much they wanted to see and how big the distances were. There was a motorsport event they badly wanted to see so went back to the UK, then back to Europe and by that time their 6 months was almost up. It was obvious they had not used their time well and they had no plan of where they were going.

It’s impossible to see everything but Louise has been a fantastic planner. Working out ahead where to go basically month by month and making sure we didn’t have to back track and cross over ourselves, or worse still miss any of the not-to-be-missed sights. Some months before getting to Barcelona we came up with a change of plan and decided to catch a ferry to Sardinia then take another one to Sicily before finishing up at the bottom of Italy to then drive to the top. Otherwise we would have to have driven around the top of Italy then to the bottom then backtrack up – a waste of time and this way we got to see Sardinia and Sicily. Cost wise the ferry crossings weren’t much dearer than paying the diesel and road tolls to drive around, and it was much more fun with two 12-hour ferry crossings.

We also thank Google Maps. Whilst we have a large European road atlas, which we use, Google Maps has been great and once again Louise has been a superb navigator. And I mean superb!! Because it can be hard to follow at times and Google Maps doesn’t know how big you are. Whilst we haven’t been totally caught out, we have had some close calls on small roads. When we arrived for are first house-sitting job in a small French village, we realised we were being sent down very small roads that were far too narrow for us and we had to do a quick about-turn and find another way. In one small seaside village in Spain the road seemed to be getting smaller and smaller ahead of us. I stopped, Louise got out and walked ahead on foot. She returned about 10 minutes later to say it would be OK for us, a bit tight but OK. In Italy Google Maps was taking us to our campsite, but the road was closed, and we had to keep driving ahead. Problem was the road was getting narrower and then there was a particularly low bridge with no sign to say the height. We tried to turn around, but the road was too narrow, and we were causing havoc blocking one side of an already narrow road. Thankfully a delivery van came passed, tooted and waved out indicating he was taller than us, so we followed him through. Crisis averted, but seriously we have spoken to people who have had to turn around and either go slowly back up a one-way street or worse still had to reverse all the way back along a one-way street.

Another thing we have tried to do is to get out of the cities and visit the countryside and small villages to get the feeling of the country. Again planning a few weeks ahead as to where you are going is so important to maximise your time and again Louise has been great at that. We have been to all the major places one is expected to go to like, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Venice, Oslo, Helsinki and so on, but we have been to many wonderful small towns that have so much history and culture and have enabled us to experience life outside the big cities. As they say; “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

Sicily
Off the beaten track in Sardinia
Treating ourselves in Sardinia

 

As for the numbers we were ever so slightly over budget this month but still well under after 10 months. The reason? We ate out a lot more this month and the price of diesel in Italy is one of the highest in Europe. We also had a couple of nights in hotels whilst walking the Cinque Terre and travelling down to the Amalfi Coast. Both are places you can not take a motor home and both were on our not-to-be-missed list.

Month 10

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9 Months on the Road: House Sitting

Another month gone and another chance for me to push Louise aside and have my turn on the blog. We passed a couple of milestones this month. Firstly, we notched up our 200th night in the motorhome – the rest of the nights were with family and house sitting. Secondly, we checked in to our 100th campsite, in Sardinia.

Before we left home we investigated the idea of doing some house sitting in Europe. We had used house sitters for our place in Auckland and an ex work colleague had been house sitting in Europe for a couple of years and highly recommended it. After a bit of research we registered on two sites: www.trustedhousesitters.com and www.mindmyhouse.com . I think better names would be Trusted Pet Sitters and Mind My Pets, as essentially that’s what it’s about. It costs around NZ$130 a year for Trusted House Sitters and only NZ$30 for Mind My House. You get email alerts every day with the new assignments or you can just go the website and search what’s available by country and/or date. We thought by doing a few house-sits along the way we could get off the tourist route and experience local life in a different country, as well as take a small break from the motorhome. Plus, we wanted to spend Christmas in a house, so we could cook a nice roast dinner.

To date we have undertaken five house sits in Europe and have one booked for the UK in June. We feel that may be enough, but we may look for another one in the UK in July.

In case some of you are a little confused about ‘house sits’. It’s basically looking after someone else’s house and their animals while they are away on holiday. It saves the owners paying the cost of putting their pets in a kennel or cattery and they get to stay in their own environment, plus someone is looking after the house and garden. It’s a win-win for both parties. The pets are happy, the house is secure and for the house sitters it’s free accommodation, all they need to do is provide their own food.

Here’s a snapshot of the five house-sits we have undertaken to date:

Our first house-sit was for two weeks in late October in a small French village, looking after 2 cats and a dog called Bailey. He was a lovely golden Labrador and we walked him all over the place through the hundreds of acres of vineyards. We cut the hedge and mowed the grass for the owners as well as looking after the animals. It was quite a narrow lane to get the motorhome down, so it stayed parked in the driveway for the duration of our stay and we either biked or walked everywhere. The supermarket was over 5km away and we biked there, filled our backpacks and basket and biked home. A couple of times we bought too much and had plastic bags swinging on the handle bars. Another time Louise worked out a short cut. Did I say short cut? Well, we went down small paths, across vineyards, along bumpy narrow tracks, before eventually finding the way back to the road. When we got to one corner I realised a baguette was missing. All the bumping had broken the paper bag and it had fallen out. Louise backtracked a few hundred meters and found it, unscathed and still edible. We didn’t use that short cut again!!

Our second house-sit was for nine days in early December near San Pedro de Alcantara in southern Spain. Trish had seven adorable dogs who were great fun to look after. Trish was also adorable. She had been living in Spain for many years having worked there in her early life. She had a great sense of humour and made us feel very comfortable and at home. The day we arrived Louise set off with Trish and her friends for a ‘Girls Christmas Lunch’. Most of the 18 lunch guests were Brits who now live in Spain and play golf together just down the road. I wasn’t invited so instead got acquainted with the dogs. Right opposite Trish’s house was a huge paddock, around 20 acres where we would take the dogs for a walk twice a day. The only snag was horses and a donkey that didn’t like dogs lived there. We were forever on the lookout for them and had to make some quickfire moves to avoid them. It was hysterical. Trish left us a vehicle to use so we managed to get around the coastal area and see the sights. At night I would light the fire and Louise would sit on the couch covered in dachshunds all trying to get the best spot close to her.

Pet & House-sitting in France
Pet-sitting in France
Nanny reclining by the pool in Spain
Hugs in front of the fire
4 of the 7 out walking

Our third house-sit was at Periana Spain, 20kms from the coast, in the mountains surrounded by thousands of olive trees. We were there for 2 weeks over Christmas. The drive in was hair raising. It was basically a one lane road of about 3km. We are quite a big vehicle and we had gone only 200 meters when we encountered a large Range Rover towing a trailer filled with olives. Having managed to negotiate our way past, by pulling the side mirrors in, all was good for another 500 meters when a tractor with a trailer load of olives arrived. Another deep breath and we again managed to pass. Then there were the overhanging trees – scratchy pomegranates that made an awful noise on the side of the van. At times we did wonder where we were going, but eventually we arrived at Steve, Midi and son Joe’s quaint Spanish farmhouse. We negotiated a small lane around the back of the house and parked the motorhome, and that’s where it stayed. We again had use of a vehicle. They had a few acres with three horses, a lovely dog called Milo, two rabbits, a cat and some hens. No matter which way we walked from the house it was up hill, so the fitness levels improved a lot while we were there. We had Christmas lunch on the deck in the sun and a lovely Christmas roast dinner that evening. There was only a hand full of houses in this small alcove just out of Periana and the neighbours were all were invited for drinks the day we arrived. It was an excellent idea as it enabled us to get to know everyone. Some of the neighbours kindly invited us to a lovely Boxing Day brunch with around 25 of their friends from around the area, they were ex pat Brits, a Norwegian couple, and a Belgium and Dutch couple, all of whom now call Spain home. Before we left Periana we did a bit of pruning on the roadside while we were out walking Milo and the drive out went without a hitch

Our fourth house-sit was for four days in mid-January at a place called Cehegin in the Spanish region of Murcia. Tony and Shirley moved from the UK 13 years ago. They have a number of olive trees and upon our arrival they gave us a 5-litre container of homegrown olive oil – an absolutely beautiful product. They were out in the country and had 3 dogs. The whole house ran on solar power, so you had to be a bit careful with how many appliances you had going at one time, but it all worked well. It was a nice house with swimming pool, a bit too cold to use at this time of year, and again our walks with the dogs took us through olive groves and past wild deer, much to the delight of the dogs who gave chase on one occasion but came back empty handed. One of the advantages of house sitting is it can take you off the tourist route. Louise found a campsite at a place called Bullas, about 15km from Cehegin, where we stayed the night prior. We walked in to the small town and found a wine museum. We decided to have a look around and it was fascinating. We also purchased some of the product for around NZ$5 a bottle – it would probably sell for NZ$20 plus at home. The day we left Cehegin they had a cold blast and our route took us up through a mountain range. From a distance it looked like more of those plastic green houses, but as we got closer we realised it was snow. Very beautiful.

Our final house-sit was for nine days in late January at a place called Pinos de Valle. On our arrival we realised this was one driveway we could not fit up. Our hosts Laurie and Annie have a gorgeous property in the mountains overlooking a damn, some 50km from Granada. Once we decided we couldn’t fit up the driveway, we decided to leave the motorhome at a parking lot in town about 3km up the road. The locals were told it was ours and while we were a bit nervous about leaving it there, it was as safe as houses. Again, a vehicle was left for us to run around in. The property had olives, oranges and lemons. We squeezed fresh orange juice for breakfast and were invited to take some with us which we happily accepted.  Walking tracks for the two dogs were endless and we hiked all over the place with the two adorable dogs, Lucia and Nuria. They had a beautiful bakery in the small town of four shops and one restaurant/bar. The house was very warm with two fireplaces and under floor heating. We needed it. The Sierra Nevada ski fields weren’t too far away, and a big snow fall occurred during our stay. While it didn’t snow where we were, when we drove to the nearby supermarket, about 10km away, there was snow all along the roadside and surrounding hills and the cars in the carpark were covered in snow.  Laurie is a mad keen rugby fan and they had flown off to Rome to see England play Italy.  England won. Again, a lovely place to be house sitting with great hosts.

Periana, Spain
Cehegin, Spain
Walking with Kayla in Cehegin
Louise & Nuria, Pinos Del Valle
View over Pinos Del Valle

So that was our house sitting in Europe. All different, but all great and memorable experiences. Even if a campervan tour isn’t your thing, definitely keep house-sitting in mind. It is a brilliant way to see places you wouldn’t normally see, meet great people and animals, and all for a low cost.

Now to the stats for February. We finished NZ$1,165 under budget for the month even though our mileage increased on the previous couple of months. We travelled 1,624 km’s (1,015 miles) averaging 58km a day. We spent $339 on diesel with 22 nights in campsites, 5 house-sitting and an overnight on the ferry from Barcelona to Sardinia. We are now NZ$6,811 under our budget after 9 months and feeling pretty chuffed.

Month 9 Stats

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8 Months on the Road: Produce by The Acres

Another month has gone by and it’s my turn again to take the keyboard off Louise again to say a few words and do our monthly “on the road” summary.

Having spent the last couple of months in southern Spain escaping the European winter it didn’t take long to notice that this area has vast amounts of crops growing. On the road to our housesitting job in Periana we passed thousands and thousands of avocado trees, all planted very close together, not like they are in New Zealand, and then it was olive tree after olive tree as far as the eye could see. It was picking time which is very labour intensive. They whack the trees and the olives fall into a blanket underneath. Some use blowers to get them off. All these olives are used for olive oil.

After that, we ventured into the Almeria region and we couldn’t believe what we saw. When Spain joined the EU in 1986 it became tariff-free for exports and they decided this area would be great for growing crops. With 511 million people in the EU to feed you need a lot of food and this area provides a huge amount. The Almeria region is one of the most recognisable areas from space and the reason, it has 100,000 acres of greenhouses, well plastic houses actually. Driving along, it’s just a sea of plastic. Google it, there are some amazing pictures from space. This area alone produces 2.7 million tonnes of produce and for Spain it contributes 1.2 billion Euro to the economy annually.

The low cost of building plastic greenhouses, the climate – average temperature 20 degrees coupled with 3,000 hours of sunshine a year – and subsoil makes this the ideal growing area for salads and vegetables compared to the rest of Europe. The labour costs are also low, one third that of places like Holland, but at the same time that’s a bone of contention as they use a lot of African migrants, pay them little and they must work inside these green houses enduring 40 plus degrees in heat.  Most of the areas are family owned properties of around 4 acres and in the Almeria area they grow mainly tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and peppers. France, Germany and the UK are the biggest purchasers of produce from this area.

At our campsite one night there seemed to be a lot of commotion. People talking and laughing. A few minutes later there was a tap on the side of our van. Outside was a Spanish lady, well into her 70’s, on her bicycle with two large bags of produce. At a guess she may have worked at, or owned, a property and seizes the opportunity to make some cash by selling the non-export quality produce. We bought a kilo of cherry tomatoes, 3 peppers, 3 courgettes, a lettuce and some other tomatoes for about $3 NZ. Our good friend David Stewart who owns The Fresh Market back in Tauranga New Zealand would have probably purchased everything she had and more at these prices. It’s times like this when we realise how expensive NZ is to live in. As for the lady, what a character. I gave her the 2 Euro coin and she dropped it in the dark. She spoke broken English and we got something like, “Jesus, bugger me, shit”, all the time laughing away. After we found it she disappeared into the dark to another van, bicycle and produce in hand.

A bit further up the coast we stayed at a place called Palomares. This seemed to be the lettuce growing area of Spain. Believe me, I have never seen so many lettuces – millions and millions. These are not grown in plastic houses but under shade cloth initially and then when established they are uncovered for the sun. Every row has an intricate watering system. One day we biked 20km to the next village and all the way along the road were lettuces, coupled with a few orange orchards and courgette plantations. It’s mind blowing to see how much produce is grown and unfortunately how much goes to waste. Another time, we were out walking along the beach front and fields full of lettuces had just been picked. The sand stopped, and the lettuces started.  A couple of locals were in the fields helping themselves and it was obvious that once they had been picked the leftovers were free game. It wasn’t until I got closer that I realised around 10 -12% of the crop is discarded and left to rot, later ploughed back into the field. I soon had a couple of free lettuces to take back to the camp site. In the Motril area they have around 320 days of sunshine a year and its very sub-tropical. Our campsite here was surrounded by avocados, mangos, lychees, guavas and cherry tomatoes, so we have never been short of gorgeous fresh produce to purchase at very cheap prices

The only thing missing to complete the picture is water. A lot is channelled down from the north in huge canals, but it is always in short supply. Open culverts run for miles and miles through the fields funnelling water from one place to the next. We were told water is a volatile topic. The olive growers in Periana told us water once set aside for olives was being redirected to avocado plantations at the bottom of the valley, much to the concern of the olive farmers. Water shortage is a very real problem.

Right throughout our travels we have seen produce being grown on a scale so much bigger than we’re used to back home. The wheat fields in northern Spain went on forever. Up in Estonia we drove through fields and fields of peas. In Norway it was acres and acres of cherries. In Latvia, broad beans for miles. And of course, there are the grapes in France and Germany – so, so many. When we stayed with Louise’s aunt and uncle in Wahlrod, Germany, it was apple season, and all along the roads and walkways were beautiful apple trees laden with fruit and you were free to help yourself.

Last week, we stayed in a place called Pinos de Valle near Granada. We were house sitting for 10 days for Laurie and Annie. They had a beautiful property with olive trees, but they also had many orange and lemon trees, which they told us to help ourselves to. All around them were large plantations of lemons and oranges, but unfortunately most seem to just fall off and rot. I was told that they only get about 10 cents a kilo and its not economical to pick and cart them long distances to the juicing factory. Quite a shame. Also, in this area, and around Cehegin where we did another house-sitting stint, there are large almond plantations. Their white and pink blossoms were just coming out and made the countryside look spectacular.

Oranges, Granada
Oranges, Granada
Almonds in blossom, Spain
Growhouses, Almeria
Olives, Andalusia
Wheat fields, northern Spain
Cherry orchards, Norway
Apples in Wahlrod, Germany

Right, time for the stats. Because we continue to escape winter by being in southern Spain we didn’t travel many miles again in January, just 543 miles (869 km), so our diesel bill was again low with just NZ $180 spent on fuel. We stayed 21 nights in campsites and ten nights house-sitting, so we were NZ $1,254 under our budget for the month. Here are the numbers:

8 Months Stats

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7 Months on the Road: Motorhome Life

My turn to take the keyboard off Louise again to say a few words and do our monthly “on the road” summary.

Before we left New Zealand to embark on this adventure we did a lot of research on motorhomes. I had been in one, but had never driven one, stayed in one, cooked in one etc. What became obvious to both of us was there are so many different makes, designs and configurations to choose from. To help us decide we went along to the Ellerslie Motorhome Show last March. I guess we were “tyre kickers” but we paid our admission price and set out to take a long hard look. It was a very worthwhile exercise as it helped us narrow down our options and define a must-have list.

Let’s start with sleeping. You can get motorhomes with beds in almost every position possible – across the back, to one side, upstairs, folded out of the couch etc. One thing was for sure we didn’t want to be making the bed up each night and we didn’t want to be clambering over each other, so we decided we wanted an island bed at the back, permanently made-up and with access from both sides. Then it was the shower and toilet – we wanted a separate shower and toilet (more on that later). Another requirement was a full-length fridge with a freezer compartment. Many are only equipped with half-size fridges which suits if you’re only doing short holidays or weekend breaks, but that was not an option for a year on the road. Length was another consideration. We had done our reading and wanted our motorhome to be no longer than 7.5m, as anything bigger becomes a lot more expensive on toll roads and ferries.

With our list of requirements sorted we set about finding a motorhome in the UK. Buying one in the UK was the only real option, as to buy one on the continent you need to be a resident of the country its registered in and have a permanent address. The only problem with this is that most vans for sale in the UK are right-hand drives. We hadn’t intended to buy before we arrived in the UK, but Louise had been keeping an eye out on the UK Auto Trader website and found just what we were looking for. It was only a year old and had done 3,000 miles. Made in Germany and imported to England it was left hand drive which was perfect. To cut a long story short, my brother’s wife’s family, by coincidence, lived in the same area as the seller, so they were able to go and check it out for us. It looked good and after Skyping the sellers we decided to buy it. They delivered it to London and there it was sitting waiting for us when we arrived.

I must admit that driving from London to Dover to catch the ferry was quite interesting. Being left-hand drive, you realised how much you can’t see in a vehicle this size when the steering wheel is on the kerbside. I was very pleased we would be travelling in Europe with the correct drive for European driving.

Our first stop, Bruges in Belgium, was my first venture onto a campsite for many years. Louise said my face showed “horror” when I realised that I was going to be living in an area near other people day in day out. After a few more campsites I realised it wasn’t that bad and soon came to enjoy camp life. Bruges was the first night we’d slept in the van and we wondered how it would be. The beds in motorhomes aren’t big but there is plenty of room and the motorhome is warm. We were very surprised how comfortable it was and how well we slept. About 3 months in we did buy some foam rubber to go below the mattress and this has made it even more comfortable.

We had intended to do some “free” camping in Scandinavia, which is encouraged, but by the time we reached there it was obvious we liked the campsite facilities and security. To that end we have never used the shower in the motorhome and seldom use the toilet. The shower area has worked well as a wardrobe though.  Another reason we opted out of using the shower is the water heating system operates on gas, and while its all fitted and ready to go every country in Europe has a different gas fitting so you must either have a lot of gas bottles or be prepared to buy a lot of different gas fittings. You can get an external fitting attached and fill with LPG at service stations, but the cost wasn’t worth it for just one year. We have barely used any of our gas as we also bought a two-plate electric cooker. We thought seeing we pay for power, why not use it. This system has worked very well, but occasionally we have blown the odd fuse in the campsite as our amperage has been too much for the outlet. A flick of the fuse switch and turning the fridge off while we are cooking normally does the trick. You learn a lot about electricity owning a motorhome.

The campsites in general have been great. To date we have stayed in 88 different establishments for a total of 190 nights – the rest of the time we have been with family or house-sitting (I will explain more about house-sitting next month). However, campsites do vary quite a bit. In Scandinavia most had cooking facilities, but in the rest of Europe this isn’t the case. Just about all have laundry facilities costing around 4-5 Euros a wash (NZ $8). Ninety per cent have great showers with plenty of pressure and hot water and very clean and serviced regularly. I can count on one hand how many have been a bit dirty or have had warm, not hot, showers.  Pricewise we budgeted on spending around 30 Euros a night (NZ $50) and whilst we averaged just under that for the first couple of months, in the last two months we have been averaging around 20 Euros a night (NZ $33). High season in Europe is mid-June to mid-August. The further North you go the shorter the period is that they open for, many campsites close around mid to late September, which is why we are currently in southern Spain. Not only is it warmer but most campsites are open all year round.

Motorhoming in Europe is huge, and increasing in popularity all the time. There are so many motorhomes on the road. One day in Norway we decided to count the number coming towards us. In an hour, for every three vehicles that passed one would be a motorhome. Germans seem to be the most prolific travellers, “D” number-plates are everywhere.  We have just moved on from a motorhome site right on the beach in Malaga, and while we were there I did a quick walk around. There were 69 motorhomes; 20 were German, 9 British, 8 French, 7 Spanish, 7 Swedish, 6 Belgium, 5 Italian, 4 Netherlands, 1 Austrian, 1 Slovenian and 1 NZ (us). In our 7 months on the road we have only run into 2 NZ couples doing what we are, one in Bern Switzerland and the other in Bled, Slovenia.

We have seen a varied array of motorhomes in our travels, from the more conventional like ours to some that look home-made, converted buses, and ex-army vehicles that look ready to take on the desert. The Germans seem to have the widest variety of motorhomes and the most interesting we’ve seen on the road. Here are some of the different types.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

As for life in a motorhome, we have had no problem adjusting. Spending the day walking round cities and seeing the sights normally tires you out, so by the time we get back, have a beer or glass of wine and cook dinner you wonder where the day went.  We chose not to get satellite TV as a lot of the time you only pick up non-English speaking programmes, so we use Netflix and watch about an hour a day maximum – no news, no junk programmes, no watching for the sake of watching. It’s funny how quickly you can adapt to not having TV, instead we both read and look online for NZ and world news which generates discussion and time flies. Overall adapting to life in a small area has been surprisingly easy. We were both unsure how a year in a motorhome would be. It sounded quite daunting when we were planning it back in New Zealand, but after 7 months I can say it has been a whole lot better and easier than we ever expected.

Because we decided to head to southern Spain to escape winter we didn’t travel many miles in December, just 408 (652 km), so our diesel bill was lower than previous months with just NZ $144 spent on fuel. Also, we only stayed 10 nights in campsites because we have had two house-sitting jobs, which meant we were NZ $1,476 under our budget for the month. Here are the stats:

7 Month Stats

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6 Months on the Road: Fitness & Facts

It’s time for my turn to have my two pennies’ worth on the blog, so move aside Louise here I go. Two weeks ago, on December 3rd, we celebrated 6 months in the campervan in Europe. Yes, 6 months since we caught the boat from Dover to Calais and what an amazing time we have had so far. I must admit, sitting on the cross-channel ferry we were both very excited about what would lie ahead, but there was also a heap of apprehension. Driving on the other side of the road in a vehicle that is over 7-meters long, what would the campsites be like, how and what would we cook, would the budget we set ourselves be adequate, would we be fit enough for what we wanted to do, how would we cope living in a confined space, would we be warm enough, will I like the beer (ha-ha) and so on. The only thing we weren’t worried about was the language barrier as we have both travelled a lot in Europe and we knew we could communicate.

Some years back I was speaking with a friend of mine Don Menzies, who owns the travel company Travelcom at Mount Maunganui. He was telling me how often people went to book their trip of a lifetime with the idea of doing so many things, and he often had break it to them gently that what they wanted to do was out of their physical capabilities. He is right, travelling can be exhausting and to make the most of it you must be physically capable. An ex-colleague of ours Ray Douglas made a comment on Facebook the other day that we looked “travel fit” and he is right. When we first started planning this trip I bought a Fitbit. Louise already had one. Whilst a Fitbit isn’t the be all and end all when it comes to fitness, you can gauge how much exercise you are doing, and I can assure you it helped me no end in the 9 months preparing for this trip as we do a heck of a lot of walking here. If I hadn’t prepared I wouldn’t have been able to complete our 6-hour climb up Kjeragbolten in Norway, one of the highlights of our trip so far. To give you an idea of how far we walk, in the 6 months we have been on the road we have walked nearly 2,500 kilometres which equates to walking the length of New Zealand and then some, and we have cycled double that amount. No wonder I am 6kgs lighter, and I had already lost 5kgs in preparation. In fact, I am the lightest I have been since I can remember.

The climb up Kjeragbolten, Norway – a trip highlight
Another big hike to Pulpit Rock in Norway
Goldeck Mountain in Austria

Without wishing to be rude, we often pass tour buses arriving at various points and see the passengers getting off – they come in all shapes and sizes, young and old – and by looking at them I know for many their lasting memories of Europe will be whatever is within a couple of hundred metres of the bus stop. To explore these magnificent historic towns, you must be prepared to walk, 12 to 15 kilometres some days and with a lot of the terrain being up-hill. Many castles, forts and towers can only be accessed using stairs. If you can’t climb the stairs you miss out on so much.

A great investment we made was our bikes. These are a God-send and so many fellow motorhomers have them. So, if you aren’t that fit make sure you can ride a bike. Europe is very bike-friendly, with dedicated cycleways everywhere. Most campsites are 4-5kms out of town and the majority are linked to the central city by cycleways; even large cities like Berlin, Amsterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen and so on. Bikes have allowed us to use our time well by arriving at a campsite in the early afternoon and cycling into the city straight away to get the lay of the land before exploring further the next day. Of course, now there is a huge range of electric bikes available to make life easier. I recently read that in Auckland there’s debate about shared pedestrian and cycleways not working, however, here in Europe they are everywhere and seem to work perfectly. There’s an obvious pecking order here, with pedestrians at the top, cycles a close second, and cars very much at the bottom.

P1050540

Generally, Europeans are very active and cycling and walking is part of everyday life, even the elderly are out and about walking or on bikes, and many cities have free exercise equipment in parks. As most historic towns are made up of narrow lanes, many of which are pedestrian only, the New Zealand mentality of driving around until you find a park right outside a shop is redundant, you simply must walk.

Exercise equipment in a Jerez street, Spain
The pecking order!

So, leaving the fitness behind, here are our figures for month 6. But, before I leave you for another month you may be interested to know that in the first 6 months we have travelled 11,481 miles or 18,369kms, an average of 100 km’s a day; we have spent NZ $3,784 on diesel; stayed in 80 different campsites for 156 nights, the other 26 were house sitting or with family; and spent $6,521 on campsites, money well spent for having nice facilities.

Monthly Summary_Month 6

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5 Months on the Road: Dollars & Dogs

Andrew here again with my monthly input.

Five months on the road and you really wonder where it’s gone, but I guess when you realise we have travelled just over 15,000 km’s, been to 21 countries, stayed in 66 different campsites, climbed numerous hills and lookouts, been to so many wonderful churches, cathedrals, forts, and all kinds of museums and places of interest, then that’s where it’s gone.

We mentioned early on about the infamous Norwegian road tolls, well I now apologise Norway. We spent 3 weeks in your country, travelled some 4,000 or so kilometres and the road tolls were a smidgeon over $100 NZ; and when you think of the tunnels and viaducts we travelled on and the time and diesel we saved (against taking the back roads if that was an option, and in many cases it was not), then $100 NZ is money well spent. The reason I recap on this is we have faced some very heavy tolls in Italy and France. The other day we left Lausanne in Switzerland and crossed the border to France. To be fair the road then took us through some very scenic areas and over some amazing road structures fixed against the sides of mountains etc., but the 150km from the French border just out of Geneva to Lyon France cost us $49 NZ. Two days later, the 230km drive from Lyon to Avignon cost another $48 NZ in French road tolls, so in two days and 380km we had paid nearly as much as 3 weeks and 4,000 km’s in Norway. On our next trip from Avignon we decided to use the back roads and whilst it took us an hour or so longer it was only a handful of kilometres more, and it was quite nice to be off the motorways, but it is quite testing getting through some of the smaller towns.

I mentioned we have been to 66 campsites and one thing we can’t get over is the number of pets in campsites. It seems if you are European, you own a motorhome and you have a pet, you take it with you on holiday. Every campsite has a charge for pets and they are just an accepted part of everyday life. Of course, dogs are the most popular and we have seen all sizes and shapes, some with more than one, and in Basel a lady arrived in her small motorhome with 3 Labradors. The dogs also go with their owners on a day out. Many of the campsites are 3 -6 km’s from the centre of town, so the dogs go in baskets on the front of bikes, or in trollies towed behind the bikes. I have spoken to quite a few owners and they all tell me the dogs love being towed behind the bike in a cart or sitting in a basket at the front. We even have seen some dogs being pushed around in what looked like “baby’s strollers”. I asked one lady and she told me they were made especially for dogs. Their dog was 14 years old and they loved having him with them, so it was a way of getting him round, as he didn’t walk too far. He seemed more than happy in his “doggie pram”.

It’s not just dogs though. We have seen a couple of cats on leads and others looking out of campervan windows, a rabbit, and birds in cages. Back at Ljubljana in Slovenia we parked next door to a Spanish couple and I noted they had a bird inside the motor home. I wandered over to talk to them and found out the Love Bird’s name was Piri. He has had his wings clipped so can’t fly far, but is free to fly round the inside of the motorhome. Jaume and Susanna come from Olot in the province of Girona in Spain, and Piri the bird always travels away with them in their motorhome, providing plenty of kisses to his owners to show his appreciation.

Travelling in style!
Why walk?
A friendly pooch from the van next door
A visitor came to dinner
Piri the Love Bird

On the financial front we have managed to go under budget for the month by $880 or $28 per day. We continue to go and see everything we can, and never say we can’t afford something. Cooking your own meals in the motorhome is of course a huge saving and going to some of these supermarkets to buy the food is an eye opener. They really are huge and the variety of food they have never fails to amaze us. I have converted Louise to actually enjoy supermarket shopping. I have been a converted supermarket shopper for years as some of you may know. More on that in a later end of the month blog.

We have saved on campsites over the past few days as we have taken on a house-sitting job in Southern France which Louise will enlighten you about in her blog.

So that’s all from me for another month, here are the stats.

Monthly Summary_Month 5

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