1st October Honfluer

We are now in Normandy and our last night on an aire before going to visit Eric's family. So this is the end of my blog, we are getting a ferry on Saturday, Cherbourg to Poole, home on Sunday. This aire in the town has about 60 motorhomes on it, so very different to being in Hungary and often just us. Nobody talks though, English or not but we all wave to each other when we are on the road!!.....weird.

29th Sept. Metz, France

We have spent the past 2 days travelling through Germany, stopping overnight in a small village west of Nuremberg. Our overnight in a car park was very close to the church (photo today), the church bells lost their ap....peal !! after 12pm. We are now en-route to Normandy, our dear friend Eric, a d day veteran died about 10 days ago. We were too far away to attend his funeral but we are able to take part in the memorial service on Friday. 

27th Sept. Austria

We are on a campsite somewhere between Vienna and Linz alongside the river Danube. Unfortunately Ron has a bad back and is in a lot of pain. This would be the perfect place to cycle as there is a path running for miles along the river bank. Even walking is a no no but fortunately driving is okay'ish. Photo today is of our riverside location.

26th Sept. Budapest

We have had a good day in the city, Budapest is a beautiful place. We have had a cruise on the Danube and used the hop on hop off bus system. The photos today are off the parliament buildings and our campsite reception and restaurant which is the old tram station.

25th Sept. Budapest

Before we left Hortabagy this morning we went to a stud farm and watched an excellent display of horsemanship, today's photos. We are now in Budapest, our gps took us right through the centre of the city to get to this campsite, I was certainly glad that Ron was driving. The campsite owner welcomed us with a free drink, that beer was really appreciated! 

23rd Sept. Hortabagy park, Hungary

We arrived in the park yesterday, it is a vast flat wetland area called the puszta. Millions of birds pass through here, migrating from Scandinavia on their way to Africa. Last night we watched thousands of cranes flying in to their night time roost. It was an amazing sight but too difficult to photograph on an iPad, which means you will probably not believe me! Instead we have a sunset photo and a picture of our dinner tonight, butternut squash and goats cheese risotto, yum.

21st Sept. Tiszafured Hungary

We arrived in this area yesterday, according our guide books it is one of the best areas in Hungary for birdwatching. We have cycled for several miles today along the river and around the lakes and seen virtually no birds. A few squacco herons was the most interesting sighting so I remain dissapointed. We are staying on a campsite with it's own thermal pools, they are weirdly brown. The indoor one is 38c and feels like having a bath in tea! 

Photos today are of the pools, Ron is looking very washed out in the second one but maybe the brown water will give him a bit of colour!

19th Sept. Tokaj

I guess the best news today is that we are still a United Kingdom. We in a wine growing area of Hungary, famous for it's sweet wine, we have yet to try some. There are many old castles here and today we visited  typical 13th century example...photo today. 

18th Sept. Hungary

Here we are in Hungary at last, in beautiful weather and yet again another quiet campsite where we are entirely alone. Our drive today was easy and on good roads, only 25miles from the Ukraine border we watched an airliner curve it's flight path to avoid Ukraine, it's jet stream lasting as a visible arc in the sky. Our campsite is next to a huge thermal pool complex so you can guess where we have been this afternoon, admission fees, £1.40 each and water temperature, 30 degrees.

Photo today is taken at our campsite, nobody deserves to see Ron in swimming trunks!

17th Sept. Levoca, Slovakia

We are very briefly in Slovakia on our way to Hungary and have chosen Levoca because it's on our route, beautiful, full of history and a unesco site. People are friendly here but no English is spoken, ordering two beers in town was a nightmare but did only cost us 1.10 euros for both. Our drive today was through quiet, remote areas where a lot of the farm work is done by hand using horses.

Photo today was taken in Levoca.

16th Sept. Niedzica

We are south of Krakow just 2km from Slovakia, high up in the mountains. Our campsite is next to a river and as I type this, several locals are fly fishing, up to their waists in water. When we arrived it was hot and sunny, now as is typical in the mountains the sky is black and thunder is rumbling around. This is a big campsite with excellent facilities and a restaurant. Apart from one small Polish campervan we are the only ones here. It costs us 49 zlotys with electric per night, that is £ 9.30, 2 draught beers cost us 10z, that's £1.90! The Polish people we have met have been very nice, happy and helpful.

15th Sept. Krakow

We have had a day of sightseeing in Krakow, it is definately a city worth visiting. Schindler's Factory was very enlightening, we did not see any German visitors!

The cathedral is very ornate and beautiful, while we were there we lit a candle for our dear friend Bee. She sadly died yesterday and will be missed. 

The photo today is of the cathedral

14th Sept. Wieliczka

We have just visited the salt mines near Krakow, now no longer a working mine it is an underground museum. It is an eerie but richly decorated world of pits and chambers and every single element from chandeliers to alter pieces was hewn by hand from solid salt. The highlight was the chapel, 54m deep full of elaborate religious carvings. While we were visiting a choir were performing, it was a memorable moment. Leaving the mine in a small miners lift from 125m below ground was not so good !

13th Sept. Auschwitz

We are now in Poland and staying in the garden campsite of the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Auschwitz. We have had an emotional afternoon visiting both Auschwitz and Birkenau, a worthwhile if upsetting visit. 

11th Sept. Kutna Hora

  

It should have been an easy 60km journey to this town but we went a bit wrong in Prague city.....again. There is just too much traffic, too many road junctions and too many trams. 

Although Kutna Hora is a unesco town it is much quieter, the campsite is very good. We walked into town and explored the sites, the cathedral definitely rivals Prague. Unfortunately it started to rain at 4pm and it hasn't stopped since.

10th Sept. Prague

We have had a full days sightseeing and we are back in the van making plans to move on tomorrow. Photos today are of the astronomical clock and the John Lennon wall.

9th Sept. Prague

So far the roads are good in the Czech Republic and the people are friendly. Our drive here into Prague was easy apart from taking a wrong turning in the city. Fortunately Ron was very relaxed and we eventually found this little island on the Vltava river where this small friendly campsite is situated. It is perfect for catching the tram into the city. We have visited Prague castle and the famous Charles bridge, everywhere is busy with tourists of every nationality.

8th Sept. Plana, Czech Republic

We are now in the Czech Republic but only just. There are not too many campsites in this area and this one is very rural. We are in a woodland clearing and are sharing the sight with 2 Dutch caravans, 1 Czech motorhome and 50,000 biting bugs. The owner is very friendly if a little crazy. We had planned to stay a couple of days but I think we will be heading to Prague tomorrow. It is only a 2 hour drive from here and the shops are calling me.

7th Sept. Bettingen, Germany

More by luck than judgement we chose to drive through Koln, Bonn and Frankfurt on a Sunday, the day that the lorries have to park up. We are now just east of Frankfurt on a campsite by a river used by commercial barges and cruisers. I am trying to convince Ron to stay in Germany for longer than 1night but I have failed. He has his eyes set on a campsite just into the Czech Republic. Maybe he will slow down when we get there, if not our whole Eastern European tour will be done within the week.

6thSeptember Rekem, Belgium

We have decided to stay another day in Belgium albeit only about 2 miles from the Dutch border. We have found a free aire alongside a canal. After lunch we cycled into Maastricht a distance of only 5 miles on a smooth and level canal path. Maastricht was incredibly busy, it was a family fun day with every Dutch fire engine type, including an old steam one.

Tomorrow Ron has just got to bite the bullet and drive into Germany, he may even like it!

Photo today was taken in Maastricht.

5th September Bruges

Bruges is a very pretty place, well worth a short visit. Don't stay too long because you will be tempted to  eat too many waffles, chocolates and drink too much Belgium beer.

We are parked alongside a canal right near all that beer and chocolate ! Tomorrow we continue on towards Prague through Germany but now it's time for another beer.

3rd September The start of the Eastern European tour

After 5 hours of monotonous main road and motorway driving we have arrived at our overnight stop. We are in the pub car park in a sleepy village 10 minutes from the ferry port. Our adventure begins tomorrow when we board the 8.45 sailing to Calais.