We’d originally thought about doing Croatia in May but that would have been after the original scheduled Brexit date. There were many uncertainties because of the threat of no-deal – insurance, driving license, health care, pets’ passport etc. So we binned that idea and went to the Outer Hebrides instead. Once the Brexit date was changed to end October then we would still be in the EU (good thing, in my opinion) so we could plan Croatia and today, we set off.
Ellie was belted in when we set off at 11:20. It took her until at least 11:21 to get free. She slips her collar within a minite and she’s even quicker at getting out of the harness that we bought for her. Difficult to know what else to try.
Shortly after we’d stopped at Caistor to top up with lpg, the tyre pressure warning light came on. I was fairly confident that there wasn’t a problem because I’d checked the pressure yesterday and the MoHo was handling fine. We ploughed on but I decided to stop at the big layby near Brough. I didn’t get the pressure gauge out but instead used the highly technical method of kicking each tyre. There didn’t look to be anything to worry about.
We stopped for a break at Birchanger Services near Stansted so we’d broken the back of the journey. The planes were taking off over the service station which got Ellie barking at them. She thinks that our space extends upwards so planes, helicopters and even birds that fly over our garden all get her barking.
When we set off after the break, the warning light didn’t come back on and it stayed off for the rest of the journey so looks like there is not a problem.
We got to the site at around 17:30 and are parked up in a “ferry pitch” close to where we’ve been before.
Tea was Tesco hunters chicken.
The alarm was set for 7:30 but we were both awake for 7:00 so we got up then. It was just as well we did get up earlier because the train was for 9:20 and they like you to be there no less than 45 minutes before departure time – which was 8:35. We got there at 8:30 so the later alarm may have made it a bit tight.
There was a change of plan for today. We’d originally planned to get to Luxembourg in 2 days and the route planners were suggesting we go through Belgium so we were planning the first night somewhere around Charleroi. Last night, I spent some time on the various web sites looking for camp sites around there but 1) there weren’t many and 2) what ones there were had mostly bad write ups. So we decided to keep in Northern France and headed for somewhere around Charleville-Mézières.
First off the train as usual and we headed down the A26. We stopped for a late breakfast at the first aire de repos – that’s the Aire de Zutkerque where we’ve stopped previously. I took Ellie for a walk and she picked something up that she started to chew. We got back to the MoHo and she was still chewing but I wasn’t sure it was something that she should be chewing so I went to get it out of her mouth. It’s something I’ve done many times before and she doesn’t like it and gets angry and snaps at me. She did that this time and caught my thumb and it was really painful and is now bruised.
Not a lot to report about the journey. Autoroutes serve a purpose and get you to where you want to be but it’s not most interesting experience.
We stopped around 15:00 and looked at sites in more detail. There were a few Aires de Camping-car that we thought about trying but we found a site in the ACSI book and decided to head there. This time of year, getting a pitch is unlikely to be an issue but I rang them anyway and they had plenty of room.
Most of the day was spent travelling in fairly flat countryside. As we got closer to the site, the landscape became more rolling. The site is in the Ardennes. We’ve been in this area before on the first France trip that we did in the MoHo.
Camping Lac du Vieilles Forges
I was a bit puzzled when the satnav took us to the outskirts of Reims. Looking at the map, that is a long way round. Checking on Google Maps later, the route is quicker than the direct one by about 4 minutes – but it’s around 30 more miles – and they are chargeable autoroute miles. Never mind!
We got to Camping Lac des Vieilles Forges (lake of the old forges) around 17:30. It’s situated next to the lake and is picturesque with the pitches on terraces in woodland. There’s cabins and static caravans as well as lots of touring pitches not many of which are occupied. I would imagine it would be heaving in the height of the season.
Tea was sausage (home made) and rice (Uncle Ben made).
A couple of days in and we are getting used to being in the MoHo again. Routines are being established and you get to know where things are in the kitchen area.
When I first got up, you could see the lake through the trees but slowly the mist descended and the visibility was not great. Ellie and I went for a walk down to the lake and you couldn’t see 20 yards in front of you.
I’d checked out the MoHo servicing facilities and there was a grey waste point with a Flot Bleu service station. We’ve not seen one of these before. It’s free since it’s part of the site. There is fresh water and you can empty your toilet. Problem is the drinking water hose is right above the toilet emptying hole so I bet that lots of people will have used that hose to clean out the toilet. Not for us, thank you.
There are lots of drinking water taps scattered around the site but none of them has a thread to allow a nozzle to be fitted so we filled up using the watering can in 5 ltr steps.
As were in the process of leaving, the mist was clearing so we drove to the lakeside to take in the view. It looks as if the lakeside area was once a campsite or an aire because there are electrical hook up points but the pitches are now blocked with big rocks and there are signs for no overnight parking for MoHo’s.
The drive took us into Belgium. We needed supplies so eventually we saw a Carrefour and so pulled in and stocked up.
We then drove into Luxembourg. We’ve skirted it before but never actually driven into it. I half expected a quiet rural country with one city but it was actually very busy. Strange that both the country and the capital have the same name.
I’d thought when I rang the site earlier that the Luxembourg language must be like Dutch because the site owner had a strong Dutch accent – which he would have because he is Dutch! He said that Luxembourg has its own language but every sign and shop that we saw was in French.
Camping Mamer sells itself as a stopover point and a selling point is that it is close to the motorway. You can see just how close on the photo. Despite the proximity, traffic noise was not an issue and, apart from that viaduct, it’s a pleasant little site.
The weather was warm enough for us to get the chairs outside and sit in the sun for a while. That’s the first time that we’ve done that since France last year.
Tea was battered cod fillets and scallopped potatoes.
Walking Ellie at night was a bit restricted because it’s not a big site and it is directly off a country road with no paths and no lights so you can’t walk anywhere off site.
nice view of the viaduct
We set off at around 09:45 which must be a record for us. We needed an early start because it would be a long drive today. When planning the route, Google Maps had suggested it would be around 260 miles but when I keyed it into the satnav, it said 305. Not sure what happened there. We ended up doing 317 miles.
We soon got onto the motorway in Luxembourg and stayed on motorways for pretty much the whole day. We were surprised at how busy the motorway was in Luxembourg. As mentioned yesterday, I’d always thought it would be a sleepy type of place but it isn’t.
Just before leaving Luxembourg, we passed the town of Schengen. That was where the original agreement was signed that led to the current lack of border checks between countries that are signed up to it.
We crossed into Gerrmany and did a lot of gradual climbing and ended up at over 2,500ft. generally the motorways were still very busy. Also, there were lots of road works. I dont think I’ve ever driven in Germany and there haven’t been road works. That’s repairs and new construction.
We’d picked out a camp site at Illertissen and were following the satnav instuctions. We saw signs for a campsite and assumed it was the one we were heading to. Then, the satnav told us to take a turn that would have taken us down what looked like a footpath. There was no sign pointing down there so we ignored the satnav and carried on following the signs.
Following the signs brought us to Camping Christophorus. That was not the one that we had selected but it looked ok so we checked in there for the one night.
Tea was chicken pasta and was good. We are still using the unusual chicken/pollo stock cubes that we bought in Spain and now only have a few left. The taste is different to Oxo so I will miss them.
This is a big site and has lots of static vans and tourers that have now become statics because they have structures built round them. It’s reminiscent of some of the shanty town sites that we saw in Spain.
I was looking forward to today because Austria would be a new country for me – but not for Dud. We get away around 10:15 so we are getting better at this early departure stuff but most of the drive was awful for a number of reasons.
Firstly the rain was torrrential for a lot of the drive. We started out in overcast but dry conditions. Once it had started, the rain was light and even looked like clearing up at times but then it took a turn for the worse and was torrential for all but the last stretches of the drive.
Secondly, the sheer volume of traffic meant that we could never relax and it lead to frequent slow downs and stops. And this was a Sunday so no HGV’s. Are there too many drivers in Germany?
Thirdly, as just mentioned, HGV’s are not allowed to drive in Germany on a Sunday. But they have to park somewhere and every layby and rest area was packed with trucks which made it difficult when we wanted to stop for a break. At one of the stops we made, cars were double-parked alongside the parked-up trucks. We managed to find a place and some cars even double-parked alongside us blocking us in. I went out to one of them but he realised what he’d done and apologised and moved off.
Fourthly, there were lots of sections of road works. Inevitably, there is a normal width lane and then a narrower lane for cars. That narrow lane is usually maximum 2.2m (we are 2.4 so can’t use them). But that doesn’t stop white van man using them and that means that I was constantly moving as close to the nearside concrete barrier as I dared to avoid traffic in the outside lane.
The satnav took us off the motorway so we entered Austria on a non-motorway road. Germany and Austria are both Schengen so no border checks. The rain was still heavy and the visibility was poor but when we stopped in a layby, part of the clouds cleared and we could see the top of a mountain. We must have missed some good scenery because of the conditions – but you just have to take it on the chin because there’s f*-all you can do about it.
It was still raining when we got to the Sportcamp Woferlgut site. We’d seen good recommendations about it and the facilities looked good. We checked in and the receptionist radioed for someone to guide us to our pitch. When we go there, there was a lot of standing water so we had our own little lake by the MoHo. The ground was so wet that the man put down a pallet outside our door so we were clear of the water and mud.
Tea was pork chops and rice.
The satellite dish locked on but we have lost the Freesat channels. I assumed that we were now outside their region. There are other channels that we can get but the only one of interest is Sky News. But it’s not exactly a riveting evening’s entertainment watching a news channel.
First day of not driving but I still found myself looking at the clock every 2 minutes wondering what time we’d get away.
There’s a bathing lake that is part of the site. It’s across a road from the main site so they have built a tunnel under the road. Ellie and I went through it this morning. I’d seen tweets where people were here in the heat wave in the summer and being able to swim in the lake was a godsend. I’d hoped to be able to do it myself but the air temperature this morning was below 10 deg C so I changed my mind.
I met up with an Austrian women who was walking her 2 dogs. I was speaking in German (or rather, trying to) and then she started to speak perfect English. She lived round here but had spent some time living in Woodstock near Oxford. I mentioned to her that we had not yet seen the tops of any of the mountains because of the low cloud. She said that was a shame because some of them were snow capped.
It was raining on and off for most of the morning but it started to clear and the spells between rain were getting longer so we all went for a walk. You could actually see the tops of some of the mountains and, as the lady had said, they are snow capped. We must have missed a lot of good scenery yesterday.
There are a lot of vintage tractors scattered about the site. Turns out they are there for the vintage tractor world championship – who knew there was such a thing. They are all in excellent condition.
I knew we would have to move the MoHo to drop the grey waste so also drove off site and went to a supermarket in the village. Another new experience – it was a Billa. Very much like a Co-op – which is a good thing.
I’d picked up a couple of Leibnitz chocolate biscuits and when the cashier put them through, she said something that I didn’t catch at all so I said, in German, that I didn’t understand. She said it slower and I realised that she was saying that you buy 2, you get another free. By this time, there must have been 8 people in the queue but I went back down the aisle and got my free biscuits. I got back and a couple more people had joined the queue. I tried to look cool but I felt under pressure and could feel the hate toward the British from those in the queue.
The grey waste service point was a new type for us. There are sensors on the point that rinse the trough when you first pull over it. The sensors then fire up the rinse when you leave. The facilities on this site are really good so I suspect they pay for the best equipment and that would have been expensive. I bet we don’t see many systems like that.
The wifi signal is good here – 3G and 4G both work well. That’s no surprise when there’s a mast just down the row that we are on. I tried ITV Hub, BBC iPlayer and Sky Go via the internet but you can’t get live tv on any of them if you are out of the UK.
Tea was pizza which we’d bought from Billa.
After tea, I played about with the satellite tuning but whatever settings I tried, I couldn’t get the popular channels. There’s only so much Sky News you can listen to so we ended up putting it on the terrestrial Austrian music channel that we’ve been listening to.
Weather for the day was reasonable and, more important, visibility was good so we would get to see some decent scenery on the journey through Austria and into Slovenia.
Breakfast included toast and I used the loaf that I had bought yesterday at the Billa. I hadn’t noticed when I bought it but it’s carrot bread – Karottenbrot. You can see the bits of carrot in it on the picture. The bread was ok but I don’t know what the carrots brought to the party.
Yesterday on our walk, I’d tried to take Dud to see the bathing lake but the access to the tunnel under the road was out of the question for the wheelchair. I did try but it was muddy and steep so we had to give up. On my and Ellie’s walk this morning, I’d had another look around the lake and I found the access road so we went down there in the MoHo before we set off so Dud could see the lake.
The drive a couple of days ago was one of the worst we’ve had but today’s was one of the best. Roads were quiet and in good condition, weather was good and, most of all, some of the scenery was spectacular.
The original intention was to keep off the motorways in Austria. They are tolls but you pay by means of a vignette rather than individual tolls. I’d bought a 10 day one on line before we went. We needed to make up some time so we did actually use the motorways. I have no idea how the vignette system works but I’d put the registration on the form and we did see some overhead cameras at a couple of places so maybe that was the check.
We stopped for a break just before we were due to enter Slovenia and the shop in the service station sold vignettes for Slovenia. On the basis that we may need to use Slovenian motorways, I bought one. That is actually a physical sticker that goes on the windscreen. Options were for a year, a month or a week. We won’t be back in Slovenia for over a week so it had to be the month one at €30.
from the dashcam
In spite of having the vignette, there were a couple of places in Austria where we had to pay additional tolls. These were for tunnels, the second of which was the Karawankentunnel. You cross the actual physical border somewhere in the tunnel. On the approach to the tunnel, there were a couple of what appeared to be check point buildings one of which had some guards. I suspect the first check point – which is where there were guards – is Austrian and second is Slovenian. Austria and Slovenia are both Schengen so we were just waved through. We then paid the toll at an ASFiNAG booth which is Austrian.
When we got into Slovenia, we set the satnav to take us off and then to avoid motorways but the roads were in poor condition so we set it back again and went back on the motorway – so good job that we had bought the vignette.
We got to Camping Bled in reasonable time. It is a big site and is one of which we’d seen good reports. We’d pre-booked it on line the night before and we had booked a premium pitch to give us more room. That turned out to be not much bigger than a standard Caravan and Motorhome Club pitch but it was better than the standard pitches – and we had a water and grey waste point on the pitch.
Tea was a minced beef ragout using mince that we’d bought in Austria. I “beef” it up by adding Bovril so it was delicious as always.
Today was the day that I felt the holiday really started. It was a non-travelling day and the weather was good – sunny for most of the day and low 20’s.
We had breakfast outside – only the 2nd time that we’ve ever done that. The awning was out but the angle of the sun meant that it was not providing any shade so, after breakfast, Dud was getting too warm so she went back into the MoHo.
There were a few clouds after lunch so it cooled slightly but it was still warm so we went for a walk around the lake. I’d done part of the walk a couple of times with Ellie but we went quite a way round this time. It’s a beautiful setting – reminiscent of Lake Como.
There were lots of people swimming in the lake. I thought about it but decided against. When I swam in the fjord in Norway, we were right next to the water. Here, we are in the campsite and the lake is half a mile away so not so convenient (sounds like you are making excuses, Chris).
There were a few slopes on the walk but nothing too onerous so it was really pleasant. At one point, we stopped and sat in the sun and people-watched for half hour or so.
Tea was chicken curry – curry sauce out of a jar.
This is a big site but well set out. On our late night walk, Ellie and I went round lots or areas that we hadn’t seen previously. In spite of the size, it’s reasonably quiet – though I doubt that will be the case in the height of the summer.
Another sunny day.
We’ve been on what the site classes as a Premium Pitch. I’m pleased we booked that because the normal pitches look a bit small and the vans and tents are well packed in. It also means that you have water on tap on the pitch so that makes things easier in terms of service before you set off. Just as well because when we got to the MoHo service point, there were 3 vans already queued behind 1 that was on the point. In fairness, it didn’t take long to work through the queue and we were on our way.
I’d set the satnav to avoid motorways. At first, the roads were ok but then they got narrower with trucks coming the other way and then the surface became really bad. On the basis of “why put up with this stress” we re-set the satnav to include motorways and after a couple of miles, we were back on the A2. Another justification for getting the vignette.
The scenery in northern Slovenia is as spectacular as that in Austria – which, of course, it would be seeing as though it is just a continuation. The site we were heading to was in southern Slovenia and the scenery becomes gentler. There’s still high ground but it’s green and not so mountainous.
When we were on the campsite at Lake Bled, I’d seen a black squirrel. I don’t think Dud believed me and, having checked it out, I started to disbelieve myself because it appears they should only be in North America. Well today, we saw another one. It ran across the road as we were in the vicinity of the site. It will be on dashcam so I will find it to prove that they exist in Slovenia. Ugly looking things.
We got Camping Bela Krajina from the ACSI book and used it because it gives us a good place to head into the area of Croatia that we want to visit. It’s a site with a tourer area, some camping, some cabins and a shanty town but it was relatively peaceful after Lake Bled. We’re on a travel day/rest day cycle now so we booked for 2 nights.
Tea was a prawn risotto – the first time I’ve done a risotto since the disaster in the Outer Hebrides. It restored my faith in my risotto-making ability.
There are a couple of churches in the town of Podzemelj (you see a lot of “j” at the end of town names – I think it’s more like our “y” – so Pod-zer-mel-ya) – you can see one of them on the photo of the pitch. They must be in competition because when one of them starts ringing the bell to announce the start of some kind of service, the other one strikes up soon after. The tone and pitch of each one’s bell is different. I have this image in my head of the vicar on hearing the bell from the other church saying “Right, those b***ards at our rival church are ringing their bells, let’s ring ours to get people here”. Probably just my imagination.
is the border with Croatia
As well as the church bells, there’s a clock that I kept hearing through the night. It had a ding-dong type ring that it does at quarter past the hour; then it does 2 of them at half past; 3 at quarter to the next hour and then 4 at the next hour. Every time I heard it during the day, I would say to Dud “half past”, “quarter to” etc. She got really pissed off with my saying it so I did it all the more!
Sitting outside for breakfast is becoming the norm. We will be a long time in autumn/winter/spring when we’re back home so we need to take advantage because we can.
Ellie and I have been for lots of walks round the site and I’d hoped that we could take Dud with us but the roads are loose gravel. That’s not a problem when you’re walking but it’s a no-no with a wheelchair. So Dud could not get to see the site.
I was planning on getting the drone out to take some photos and the opportunity presented itself when our neighbours went out. I’d had some practice at flying the drone in the paddock behind our house but I’m still generally shit at flying it. Nevertheless, I got some decent footage but was not totally satisfied so I swapped the batteries and got it airborne again and was pleased withe results.
One thing that I had not realised until much later when I was doing the blog was that the River Kolpa is actually the border between Slovenia and Croatia. So the opposite river bank that you see in the drone shot is Croatia.
Tea was scampi, scallops and peas – helped down (for me) by some Slovenian beer.
Croatia would be another new country for us both today.
We set the satnav to avoid motorways. I knew it was only a short drive to the Croatian border and we soon arrived at the town of Metlika – still in Slovenia – and headed into the centre. We needed to find a garage and a supermarket. After a couple of wrong turns, we found both – the supermarket being a Spar which you see a lot of round here.
I felt quite at home in the Spar. Some of the produce was not familiar but “I don’t care” by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber followed by Katie Melua with “Nine million Bicycles” was the piped music and we were confronted in one of the aisles with a life-size poster of Jamie Oliver with some of his cookery hardware.
We needed some bread so I went to the bakery counter. I said to the women in English that I couldn’t speak Slovenian and I could see from her response that she had no English (doesn’t she listen to any of that music that they are playing?) so I decided on one of the loaves and just pointed to it. You can see from the photo that it is not a small one so I probably won’t need to buy bread for another week.
We set off again and soon arrived in a queue of traffic which we took to be the Croatian border. Croatia is not signed up to the Schengen agreement so there are border checks. After a short queue, we got to the control and there are 2 places to hand over your documents – presumably, one is for leaving Schengen/Slovenia, the other is for entering Croatia.
The booth is on the UK passenger side so Dud handed over our passports – including the Pets’ Passport. Neither check questioned it but I suspect showing the Pets’ Passport is not really a requirement.
Why do you always feel guilty at checkpoints like this even though you know full well that you have nothing to fear?
We drove into Croatia, stopped for lunch in one of the first towns that we came to and then carried on to the campsite.
In a couple of places, we built up a queue of traffic behind us even though we were sticking to the speed limits. The driving that we have seen is not of a high quality so I suspect that there is little regard for speed limits. We even had an HGV overtaking us at one point.
We got to the Plitvice Holiday Resort and checked in. We’d booked on-line last night and had booked a premium pitch. We had to drive round the site a couple of times mainly to find out how to get to the premium pitch. There are arrows painted on the road to indicate which way you can drive but we should have ignored those.
We are on a pitch with a tree between us and the Astra satellite so the dish would not lock on. I could have gone to reception to request another pitch – there seem to be plenty available – but could not be arsed.
Tea was Chicken in White Sauce (Tesco – in a tin – but always delicious) with scalloped potatoes.
We’d come to this site because it is close to the Plitvice National Park which has some spectacular waterfalls. The original intention was to go there today and have a look round but the weather was that nice that we decided to have a chill day and not do any driving.
I got the table our for breakfast – we’re getting used to doing that. We even had our tea sat outside – which is a first.
Ellie and I had a couple of lengthy walks around the site. It’s a reasonable size and there is a swimming pool – which I didn’t use at all because there always seemed to be lots of sunbathers around it.
There are usually one or two Concorde motorhomes on these sites. They are big German units and are the size of busses. There was an older one on this site and it had a big mural on the back – as you can see from the photo. That’s given me an idea about having one done for the back of ours. We’ll see what we come up with – but I suspect it will be Airedale-based.
On one of the walks, we were close to the main road outside the site and I could see a policeman directing traffic. That didn’t look normal so being curious (ie nosy) we went to the gate to see what was going on. There had been an accident. Difficult to see what had happened but a car had shunted the side of a car/caravan and there was another car in the middle of the road with the engine and the front end almost missing. No ambulances or dead bodies so it looked like a metal only type accident.
The site looks like it consists of an older grassed area and a newer landscaped and tarmacked area. We found out later on, reading the site literature, that the newer section was EU funded – let’s see if that sort of thing still gets funded after Brexit.
There is a dog playground near us. There is a seesaw and some slalom type poles – the sort of thing that you see on dog agility areas. I tried to get Ellie to use them but she wouldn’t – as you can see in the video.
It was getting warm even under the shade of the awning so I got it fully extended to give as much shade as possible – another first.
One of the neighbours – a Dutch bloke – came over with his dog. Ellie seemed ok with the other dog but it was a bit boisterous so she was not completely comfortable. We had a conversation with the Dutch bloke and with that, another dog came over and joined in.
I won’t go in to too many details but the German lady owner of the dog came over to join in the conversation and the dog proceeded to give a demonstration of expulsion from both orifices. The German lady apologised and said something along the lines that the dog was ill and “es its alles Wasser” (it’s all water). In fairness, the woman did try and dilute it even further. We have been in a similar situation with Ellie when we were in Spain so there but for the grace of God….
Tea (eaten outside) was a chicken frittata.
As I’ve mentioned, we picked this site because it is close to the Plitvice National Park. The plan for today was to go to the park and check whether it would be accessible with Dud’s wheelchair. I’d done some research on various web sites and general concensus was that only a small part of it would be accessible – but I would have settled for that.
When we booked the campsite, as well as the acknowledgement email, we got another email that recommended booking a ticket for the National Park in advance because they limit the numbers that they allow in. To clarify, this is not like, for example, the Peak District National Park which is an area to which you have full access. This is an enclosed area with lakes and, what are supposed to be, spectacular waterfalls so access is chargeable and by ticket only.
We got to the car park and could see immediately that it was going to be a non-starter for Dud. We could also see lots of people and there were notices saying that no more tickets were available until 13:00. We weren’t going to hang around until that time but I’d seen a review that said that one of the main waterfalls was visible from outside the gates so we parked up. That was not an easy task because the parking was amongst trees and there were that many cars already parked that we had to go quite a way into the woods to find a suitable parking spot.
I took Ellie and walked back to the entrance area but it was a dead loss. There was a big hoarding that had been erected next to one of the entrances so, if there ever was a view of the waterfall, there certainly isn’t now. So we walked back to the MoHo and left the park. Complete waste of time, really, but we had to try it.
Plitvice National Park
When we were planning the route before we came, I really wanted to get as far as Dubrovnik. That was used extensively in the filming of Game of Thrones (it was Kings Landing). It’s right in the south of Croatia and that was just too far to comfortably fit in in the time we had available. Also, I suspect that accessibility for the wheelchair would have been an issue. And, something I didn’t learn until after we got back, is that, in order to drive through Croatia to Dubrovnik, you actually have to drive through Bosnia and Herzegovenia – which is not EU and is not liked by many insurance companies. So we scrapped that and, as you can see from the proposed route, our most southerly point was Split so that was the target for today.
However, as we headed south, we decided that driving down to Split and then having to drive back again was actually pointless so we reset the satnav for the Adriatic coast closest to where we then were. If you look at the map of today’s route, that is why we head south and then change direction.
I thought that the satnav was set to avoid toll roads so I was surprised when it took us down a road that was heading straight for the toll booths. We didn’t have any choice then but to go on the motorway and we weren’t too upset because we could then get some miles in.
We pulled in at a rest stop – no facilities, just parking for cars and trucks. There was a big area that I assumed was for trucks so we parked there on our own. As you can see from the photo, there is loads of room. Guess what happened – after a few minutes, a car parked alongside us – and then another and then a third. You couldn’t make it up. In fairness, they didn’t stay long and a couple of them looked as if they were together so we ended up on our own again.
We checked the ACSI book for some specific sites and settled on the Krk Premium Camping Resort. It looked a good bet so we set the satnav for there and set off on the motorway.
I’ve double-checked the route that you see on the map with the tracking on the satnav. It looks as if we are going miles out of our way but I trust the satnav and I think the motorways take us round some mountains so more miles but, hopefully, the quickest route.
There was a bit of a Norway moment when we emerged from one of the tunnels. We went into the tunnel in mountain scenery and came out of it with a great view looking down on to the Adriatic. Hopefully, that’s captured on the dash cam.
We came off the motorway and then had to descend a lot before we headed over the Krčki most (Krk Bridge). Some interesting facts about the bridge here. What was interesting for us was that, as Dud opened the window to pay the man in the toll booth, Ellie popped up on her lap and the man in the booth made a real fuss of her (Ellie – not Dud).
Today was the first day that we’d not pre-booked a site. On previous days, we’ve either booked on-line in advance or have rung the site on the way there. So, just our luck that we got to the Krk Premium Camping site and went into the reception only to be told that they were full. That was a disappointment but we checked the ACSI book again and Camping Bor was the next nearest. We’d actually considered that as the preferred site but it mentioned terraces which is not a good thing for wheelchair access. But it was only a few miles from where we were so we headed there.
After a couple of 180deg turns due to confusing signage, we got to the site. The young lady at reception was friendly and had good English. The system on this site is that you get shown round the site in an electric buggy so that you can select a pitch. I went in the buggy and saw what I thought would be a good pitch but when we came to drive to it in the MoHo, I couldn’t find it at first. We got there eventually.
We were both tired. The drive was a lot longer than we had anticipated. If you do an “as the crow flies” view of the route, it is not that far but we did what appeared to be a round-about route that added to the mileage.
Because she was so tired, Dud didn’t have any tea so I had the left-over frittata from last night.
Like the previous campsite, this site has a noticeable new area as well as the old area. I have no idea if the new area is EU funded but it could be. When we were walking through the old area, there seemed to be quite a few MoHo’s and caravans that had people sat outside who looked to be “regulars”. That gave a friendly feel to the site.
Another chillin’ day. The weather started off a bit overcast but that soon cleared and it ended up a nice, sunny day.
We were on a serviced pitch so there is a fresh water tap and a drain for grey waste. The drain is not of much use to us. We have a pipe that we can connect to our drain tap but it’s usually difficult to get the heights right to allow the water to flow. But the tap comes in handy because we can top the water tank up using the watering can that we carry. That saves having to take the MoHo to a service point and is handy on chillin’ days.
The site has a swimming pool but I didn’t bother with it because it is miniscule. I suspect you wouldn’t get more than a couple of people in it and it looks far too small to get any swimming in.
I got the drone flying again and was quite pleased with the pictures that it took. It meant that I could get a shot with the Adriatic on the background.
in the background
The site is not suitable for wheelchairs. The area that we were in had gravelled roads so that would be the first issue – the chair would get bogged down in the gravel. Also, there are different levels for the pitches so that means there are some inclines – one of which was very steep so would have been very difficult to navigate. So Dud stayed at the MoHo all day.
On one of the walks with Ellie, I could see that she was going to have a shit and we were near some pitches so I took her away from the pitches but still in view of them. As she was doing the business, a German bloke was coming out of his van to sit outside with his wife and he said something to me containing the word “Hund”. At first, I thought he was being friendly but it became apparent that he wasn’t. I could have understood him being annoyed if she’d done it near to his van but we were across a road and against a wall on some grass that it was unlikely that anyone would walk on.
“On the way and yet at home”
After I’d picked it up, I went over to him and, in my best German, asked him what he’d said. He wouldn’t even look at me so I asked him again and told him that I’d picked up so what else could I do. He still wouldn’t look at me and his wife was giving me a conciliatory sort of look and was attempting a smile as if to apologise for him. I’m ashamed to say that I reverted to English and used some very basic Anglo Saxon language. I have no idea if he understood the words but I’m confident that he would have understood the sentiment.
Back in the MoHo and as I was starting to get the tea ready, I switched on the kitchen light and it fused – which meant that all of the 12V lights did not work. We’d had a fuse blow when in Sweden and I didn’t have many spare at that time so I stocked up when we got home from that trip. I worked my way through the fusebox and actually a couple of them had blown. The one that I suspect was causing most of the issues was the control panel fuse. It’s actually 5A and I couldn’t find any 5A fuses so I put in a 10A. That got everything working again but I must replace that fuse with the correct one when we get back.
Slovenian red wine
Tea was some frozen food that I had bought at the Spar in Slovenia. When I bought it, I had no idea what it actually was but it had a Slovenian sounding name so I fancied trying it. It was Zagorski Štrukli which is a Croatian dish. They are like small cheese pasties. Not sure I’d want them every night but unusual and reasonably tasty. So that’s Croatian Zagorski Štrukli, Slovenian beer and Slovenian red wine for tea tonight. I think they have a way to go yet with the red wine!
On our late night walk, Ellie and I went out of the campsite and down into the town. We got as far as a harbour with lots of yachts moored. There were lots of people about. I know that we are in Croatia and this is the Adriatic coast but it had that anonymous feel that it could be any warm European area by the sea catering for lots of tourists. We didn’t got any sense of a unique Croatian identity- just a tourist trap.
Weather was a bit windy and overcast today but that was not an issue since it was a travelling day
You have to pay cash on this site. We knew that from the ACSI book but it’s not a problem if you don’t have cash because there is a cash machine on the site next to the office. I wonder how long that would last in the UK?
leave the island of Krk
On the way out of the town, I wanted to show Dud the harbour area that Ellie and I had seen last night so we headed toward that but we soon came across some narrow roads so I chickened out and we set off out the island of Krk.
We needed a shop and we soon came up to what looked like, and turned out to be, a reasonable supermarket.
Krk is an island off the mainland so we were going back over the route that we had come in on. We then came to the bridge between the island and the mainland that we had come over a couple of days ago. I assumed there would be another toll but you only pay to come on to the island – it’s free to come off.
Once over that viaduct, the satnav took us through Rijeka and then we followed the road alongside the Adriatic and we did a lot of climbing. The road suddenly became a toll road – I’m sure that there were signs telling us that was the case but, if there were, we did not realise what they were saying.
In spite of being a toll road, the road was not even dual carriageway for many miles. We passed a lot of road works where we had to slow down and there was a lot of road widening going on – again, I suspect EU funded development.
We got to Campsite Veštar and I went into reception. The process here is that you pick a pitch and then report back to reception so I looked round and found what I thought would be a good pitch and went back to reception only to be told that the pitch was in the dog-free zone so I would need to find another pitch – which I did and so we go booked in. OK, we have a dog but I realise that not everyone wants them around (especially that German at Camping Bor) so I thought that was a good idea.
the Adriatic through the trees
As we were driving towards the pitch down the main road in the site, some cyclists coming the other way started to wave at us. My first thought was that they were someone who had seen us on Youtube so I was quite pleased. But the woman shouted “die Tür ist auf” (“the door is open”) and, before I had a chance to slow down, we were alongside them and the bloke pushed our door closed as we passed. I have no idea how that happened but we could have swiped someone as it swung open so we were grateful to them. Interesting use of the word “auf” (which means “on”) as opposed to “öffnen” (which is “open”). Anorak!.
Tea was a beef ragout.
I was conscious of the no-dog rule when I took Ellie out – but everyone seemed to be completely ignoring it so I did the same. It was a mainly paved site so taking her to somewhere where she can do what dogs do was a bit tricky. When we got back to the MoHo, I looked at the map of the site and there was a dog area so I took her there and she duly obliged.
This is a big site so we had plenty of areas to explore on the late-night walk.
The day started out a bit dull and it was quite windy. Still reasonably warm but not the sort of day that made you want to sit outside. After breakfast, the sun started to break through and then it did become the sort of day that made you want to site outside – so we did.
We are in our pitch sideways so that the door/awning side will catch the most sun. There is quite a slope on the pitch so we have both nearside wheels on blocks in an attempt to level the van. That means that the step down from the MoHo is higher than it normally is. The end result of that was when I helped Dud out of the van, her foot dragged on the step and she cut it quite badly. It took a couple of plasters to cover the bleeding.
As the day warmed up nicely, we all went for a walk round the site. The site is alongside the Adriatic. The beach is pebbles and, understandably, dogs are not allowed on most of it. There is one section of beach where they are allowed and a few people were swimming with their dogs. I had no idea if Ellie would go in. She loves filthy ditches but has always steered clear of the tide – especially when there is some wave motion but there was none of that here so we went back to the MoHo and I got my trunks on and took Ellie back to the beach.
The first problem I had was that the pebbles were sharp and were hurting my feet. Most people seemed to have some kind of footwear which made sense. Anyway, we got into the sea and she followed on the lead but she wouldn’t go any deeper than her stomach. I tried to cajole her into going deeper but she wasn’t going to have it so I gave up.
I took her back to the MoHo and left her with Dud while I went to the pool on site. First swim of this hols and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was even a separate diving pool. The diving board was around 4 foot high so hardly Tom Daley stuff and I had a few dives. I have to say, I was a bit shaky even at that height – the board may only be 4 foot but the pool depth was 3.5 mtr so it was like being 10 foot off the ground so my poor head for heights came into play.
There is a pizza restaurant on the site close by so we had take away pizza for tea. I ordered and sat and had a beer in the sun whilst waiting. That’s the closest we will come to eating out.
I took Ellie for a walk after tea and the sun was going down over the sea. It looked like it would be a good photo opportunity in 20 minutes or so so I went back to the MoHo to get the camera and we went back and sat on the beach and watched the sun go down. There were lots of other people doing the same thing. Problem was just as the sun was getting to the last bit, it went behind some clouds but I’m still reasonably pleased with the photo.
Effectively, this is the last real day of the holiday. We head back tomorrow through Italy. We’ve planned for one more non-travelling day but we’re developing the mindset that we are heading home.
Today was the day we left Croatia and began the journey back home.
After checking out, we passed some vineyards and a couple of them had stalls on the roadside selling wine. I’ve not been impressed with any of the Croatian and Slovenian wine that I’ve tried but I thought it might be worth stopping to buy some at the actual vineyard. The problem was, once I’d decided to do that, we didn’t pass any more.
cars that we saw
There must have been some kind of vintage car rally nearby because we saw 7 or 8 Ford Model A vintage cars heading in the opposite direction. I didn’t know that they were this model until a few weeks after we got home. I spent ages googling vintage cars from that area (which, presumably, was Yugoslavia when the cars were made) but no luck. Eventually, I posted a picture on Twitter and Eilidh Carr, the owner of the Coralbox gift shop on the Outer Hebrides, recognised it.
We’d decided to do motorways to get some mileage in and we were soon on a motorway that took us north toward Slovenia. We had the satnav set for Trieste so that would take us through Slovenia and into Italy. We came off the motorway and soon joined a queue of traffic that was for the border crossing out of Croatia.
We spent quite a while in the queue but when we got to the border there were no checks for the Croatian side. A guard on the Slovenian side did a quick check of the passports and then waved us through. That meant that we were now back in the Schengen area.
Slovenia has only a narrow strip of land alongside the Adriatic and it didn’t take long to drive through that and then we were in Italy and in a mass of concrete roadways as we drove round Trieste.
Originally, we had planned to head to the Venice area but Venice itself would be a non-starter for accessibility and we now had a “get home” mindset so we reset the satnav for Milan to take us across northern Italy.
We passed a sign for Prosecco. I was surprised that Procecco is a region. With hindsight, I shouldn’t have been – we’ve often been in the Champagne and Cognac regions – amongst others – so naming a wine after the region is not unusual.
We’d picked Camping Aquileia from the ACSI book and checked a couple of reviews and when we got there, I got my chance to use my very rusty Italian. I did ok but we ended up, as ever, using English.
The reviews for the site mentioned a supermarket next to the site so we set off on a walk to do a shop. I don’t know when a small shop becomes a “supermarket” but, personally, I would have described it as a small, self-service shop. Anyway, we got some of the supplies that we needed (mainly beer!).
The campsite is next to an historic ancient Roman location. Evidently, Aquileia was a Roman port and we went into the site that contains some excavated ruins. They were quite impressive, if you like that sort of thing – I’m not sure that we do. We walked a fair way into the ruins before returning to the campsite.
The site has a nice pool and I decided to have my second swim of the hols. Dud came with me and sat reading her Kindle and looking after Ellie while I swam. There was no-one about when I went into the pool but a bloke soon turned up with a t-shirt that said “Salvatore” (one of a number of Italian options for “lifeguard”). I splashed about a bit and thoroughly enjoyed another swim. We saw the salvatore cleaning some leaves later on – I don’t know if he had a different t-shirt but he was obviously multi-tasking.
Tea was the last of the home-made sausages.
As you can see from the photo below, we were parked amongst trees so the satellite dish would not lock on so it was another night without tv.
A new experience in the middle of the night. I got up around 03:00 to use the toilet (too much detail?) and the red light came on which indicates that the cassette is full. At first, I ignored it and went back to bed but couldn’t stop thinking about it so I decided to get up and empty the cassette. I knew where the chemical disposal point was so I got the deed done in around 15 minutes. That was fun at 3 o’clock in the morning. From now on, there would be a new regime of emptying the cassette before going to bed.
When I took Ellie out first thing, we headed in the direction of the basilica (Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta). We saw it from a distance yesterday when we all looked round the ruins but Ellie and I got a bit closer this morning.
Our original plan was for a rest day at one of the stops in Italy but that meant a couple of days of long distances once we were in France. We were starting to think about doing away with that rest day which would allow us to spread the distance out over more days and so smaller daily mileages.
Today would be another autostrada (motorway) day so we headed again in the direction of Milan. We were on the E70 and there were long stretches of narrow lanes due to road works.
On one of the stops, we’d picked a potential site – Butterfly Camping Village on the southern end of Lake Garda – so we reset the satnav for there.
We were getting a bit low on the chemical for the toilet so we were on the lookout for a caravan supplier. We spotted a motor spares Halfords equivalent in the town of Castelnuovo del Garda near to lake Garda. The shop was Bep’s and I thought that would be worth a try. It was closed so I stocked up with supplies at an MD supermarket on the same shopping area. It was a bit of an Aldi type place so not very inspiring.
When I came out of the supermarket, the motor shop was open so I went there as well. Imagine my surprise when all it contained were toys. My bad because I’d gone in to the shop next door! I eventually got into the correct shop and was successful in getting some chemical.
As we got closer to the site, it got busier and busier. The location looked good alongside the lake but there were a lot of people about. We got to the site and a security guard came to us and said they were full. He suggested we try a site just down the road – that was Campeggio del Garda.
We got there and there was a lot of activity in the reception area but a guard came up to us and said that they had room and he directed me in to the camp reception. There must have been a bus load of campers just arrived because it was packed in there and was chaotic.
I’d had enough so went back to the MoHo and we cleared off. We don’t really want crowds so we pulled in after a while and picked another potential site – Camping Tiglio which was a bit further along the southern tip of the lake.
I went in to the reception and they had room (so they said) and they gave me a list of possible pitches to look at. Most of them were awful – there’s a large part of the site that is shanty town and those parts were dark and not very inviting. But one of the potential pitches was ok and had a decent view over the lake so I went back to reception and told them that we’d take that one.
I went back to the MoHo and we drove to the pitch. Unfortunately, by that time, someone else had decided it was a good option and another MoHo had pitched up there. Again, I’d had enough of this place so we drove back to reception and I told them we were going. At first, I tried to tell the woman in Italian but my vocabulary let me down so I reverted to English. She struggled with that so I tried German and that got the message across.
We then picked the Camping Village San Francesco at Desenzano Del Garda and got there within 15 minutes or so. As we were getting close to the site there was what looked a Lamborghini in front of us. It was too far in front to either get a good shot on the dashcam or to hear it – shame. Needless to say, we did not catch it up.
Once at the site, I went into reception and asked, in my best Italian, for a piazzola (pitch). The lady replied to me in Italian and I didn’t understand a word she said so we reverted to English. Another site where you walk round and pick your pitch and then go back to reception to let them know the number. On this occasion, the pitch I chose was still empty when we got the MoHo to it.
Once parked up, I took Ellie for a walk. The section alongside the lake has signs for no dog shitting as per the image. The inference is that it’s ok to take your dog here but don’t let them shit – which is impossible to stop. It would make more sense if they just banned dogs completely from those areas – as I’ve mentioned earlier, I would have no problem with that.
Tea was a couple of the frozen oslić filet (croatian for hake fillet).
On our walk at night, we passed the big restaurant on the site. It was packed even at this time of year. These sites are not really campsites, they are more self-contained resorts – indeed this one is called a camping village. You pay for all the facilities such as swimming pools whether you use them or not. It’s a lot more than you need for a one night stopover so maybe we should have looked for an equivalent to a French aire.
We’re now on the homeward-bound stretch and will be travelling every day so the blogs will start to look the same – ie there will be a morning walk for Ellie and I, then the drive and then a description of where we are staying and another walk. Sorry to be predictable but that’s how the days will pan out from now on.
We initally set the satnav to Milan. Once we got close to Milan (and Monza), we then changed it to Turino (Turin) to get us past Milan. We actually needed to be heading to the Monte Bianco Tunnel so we then set it for Chamonix which is on the French side of the tunnel.
We saw some Italian supercars on the autostrada – a couple of Ferraris and at least 3 Maseratis. At one point, a souped-up BMW 1 Series on a UK plate came past at speed followed closely by an equally fast BMW 5 Series with some stickers on both cars. It looked like a Gumball Rally type scenario.
We saw the 5 series again parked up after one of the toll booths and the occupants were either taking off stickers or adding some more. We need to check the dashcam footage to see if we can make out what was the event.
We were heading north and needed to find a site for the night so we used the ACSI site finder on the satnav. That told us that there was a site at Lake Maggiore which was reasonably close so we reset the satnav and headed there.
After a couple of wrong decisions, we got to the site alongside Lake Maggiore. Dud and I have seen this lake before on our Italian trip some years ago – before Ellie came into our lives. On that visit, we thought that we’d seen the Matterhorn which is Switzerland, but there was little prospect of seeing that today because of the poor visibility.
We pulled in to the site and went to the reception. Another “pick a pitch and come back to us” site so I went and looked round and picked what looked like a good pitch.
When I went back to the reception, we had the usual pattern of me trying out my Italian but then giving up and speaking English. People in the office were very friendly and they asked what part of Britain we were from. I said Lincolnshire which drew the usual blank response so I said it was close to Hull. “Aahh, the Tigers!” chirped up one of the blokes. Unfortunately, he hadn’t heard of the Mariners but that’s the power of the Premiership, I suppose.
The conversation drifted round to Brexit and one of the ladies commented that “We really want you to stay. We’re sad that you are leaving.”. Cynics might say that’s because of our financial contribution but that was not the sentiment I was picking up. That’s not the first time we’ve heard that type of comment.
We got parked up and we all went for a walk and a look at the lake. We were parked against a perimeter fence and there was a gate that we had to go through to get to the lake. The gate is card activated so the security on the site is good.
Once we’d walked along the lakeside, we came back into the site and had a good look round. It’s another village/resort type of place but there didn’t seem to be many of the cabins/tents/pods occupied. There were 15 or so MoHo’s in our area but little sign of life anywhere else. In spite of that, the place had a friendly feel – but, again, would I have said that in the height of the season when it would, inevitably, be rammed?
Tea was breaded pork fillets that I’d bought in Croatia.
Ellie and I kept within the site boundaries on our late night walk – I wasn’t sure whether the pass for the gate was limited to daylight hours. We heard what sounded like a major firework display somewhere over the other side of the lake. I would have liked to see that but when we got back near the lake, it had finished – disappointing.
There was a fair bit of rain overnight and it was dull and overcast as Ellie and I had a last walk alongside Lake Maggiore.
We stopped off at the MoHo service point on the way to checking out. I spotted a dog agility area with various bits of equipment and wished I’d seen it the night before so I could have put our lazy Airedale through her paces.
This site is similar to Camping Bor in Croatia in that they want cash payments but, again like Bor, there is a cash machine on site close to the reception.
We’d set the satnav for Chamonix which we knew would get us through the Monte Bianco tunnel. Once we’d gone through the tunnel, we’d then decide where to head for for the night. After a dull start, the weather started to clear. We’d be passing through the Alps so it would have been disappointing if we couldn’t see the mountains.
We were on a paying section of motorway but that ended as we got closer to the mountains so the approaches to the tunnel were on free roads. We’ve been on this road before when we drove back from an Italian villa holiday with Dud’s brother, John and sister, Mary.
As you get more and more into the mountains, so the houses and surroundings become more and more Alpine – as you’d expect! We’ve been in the Alps now in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy and the houses and towns all look Alpine rather than French, Swiss, Austrian and Italian – if that makes sense..
The scenery was becoming quite spectacular and the weather had mostly cleared so, although there was some cloud, we were getting good views of it. We had a couple of stops in service areas to take pictures.
We eventually got to Monte Bianco (it’s Monte Bianco in Italian, Mont Blanc in French) and paid the €61.40 toll. You can see from the photo that it says Class 2 which is for camper vans. Cars cost around €45. That’s not cheap but I have no idea what you’d do to drive round. Today had cost over £100 in tolls when you add on both Italian and French motorway tolls to the tunnel toll.
We had a couple of stops once through the tunnel and in France and picked an Aire at Nantua which was on the route that needed to take through France. We were on the A40 autoroute and passed signs for Annecy where we spent some time in 2016.
We were going over some fairly high viaducts. When we came off the A40 near to Nantua, I realised that we had been down the road before. Sections of the A40 are known as the Autoroute des Titans (Motorway of the Titans). When you are on the motorway, you are high above the D roads but from the D roads, you see the huge concrete pillars.
We got to the Aire in Nantua and it is in a great location by the Lac de Nantua. We hadn’t set out for this holiday to be a lake fest but it’s certainly turned out that way – Lac du Vieilles Forges, Lake Bled, Lake Garda, Lake Maggiore and Lac de Nantua.
The Aire has around a dozen places. When we originally parked up, the MoHo’s were parking in every alternate pitch to give each other a bit of space but it soon filled up and the gaps were filled and we had MoHo’s quite close to us. That’s always the risk with Aires. I’d prefer space but I accept the risk that if you stay on a French Aire, you may get another MoHo very close to you.
Tea was corned beef hash – and there was plenty left over for another meal.
When we got close to the Aire, we passed what looked like a big fair – lots of stalls and rides. Nothing was going on when we passed and when Ellie and I went out for a walk later on, I’d expected it to be busy and noisy – but still nothing was happening. There was no sign of the rides packing up ready to go so either it was closed on a Monday or it would all start tomorrow.
I was woken fairly early by someone pipping their car horn as they drove past the Aire. I bet they think it is funny to wake up those of us in the MoHo’s. How pathetic and exactly the sort of thing that I would do!
We’re now within the bounds of needing to visit the vet for Ellie’s worming tablet (>24 hr and < 120 hr). That’s something that we always want to get out of the way as soon as we can. We’ve been making some good time so I googled vets in or around Nantua and a couple came up and one of them could fit us in within a couple of hours. We’d lose some travelling time but it gets a necessary job out of the way so worth doing.
The other MoHo’s gradually cleared off as we took our time over breakfast. Weather was not great and it’s starting to become autumnal – a sure sign that we are heading home.
We found the vets and were a bit early so we headed back to a Carrefour that we’d passed on the way there. Close to the Carrefour was a garden centre that looked as if they might have some of those big plant pots that we see in France and that we want to have at home.
I was a bit concerned that doing a shop might be a bit tight before the vets’ appointment so we decided to do it later and headed back to the vets and went in and sat in the queue – which was one other couple and us.
After quite a long wait, it was our turn. The lady vet gave Ellie a good examination including sticking some kind of medical device up her rear end – that’s Ellie’s rear end, not the vets. We were talking in a mixture of French and English and, inevitably, the conversation got round to Brexit. I told her my views and she got almost upset about the fact that we wanted to leave. She said that we (ie Europeans) should be trying to pull together instead of splitting up. I was quite touched with her emotion. I suspect that, having gone through what they did in 2 world wars, the French have a different view of European integration.
After Ellie’s treatment, we went back to the supermarket intending to call in at the garden centre as well. What a shame – the garden centre was closed! We got the shop in at the Carrefour and headed north again.
We got on the autoroute and drove for a while before we stopped for some lunch and to pick out a destination for tonight. My laptop battery is on its last legs and takes an age to charge and then lasts for less than an hour. That’s not much use when you are off-grid as we were last night so we wanted to be on a campsite tonight so that we had electricity. We consulted the ACSI book and decided to head for a campsite at Dole.
A couple of miles before we got to the campsite, we passed what looked like a large Aire. There were a lot of MoHo’s already parked and it looked like one of those setups where it’s a car park during the day and an Aire at night.
The campsite, Camping Du Pasquier was in a pleasant location on the outskirts of Dole. The weather was overcast which affects how a site looks. The same place in brilliant sunshine may have looked great. It did have a feeling of being at the end of the season. We found a reasonable pitch but lots of grassed areas on the site were taped off so that they could recover for next year.
Tea was, for me, remains of last night’s corned beef hash. Dud was tired and so not hungry so she did not have anything.
Ellie and I had great views of the cathedral on our late night walk. It is on a hill overlooking the campsite and is well floodlit at night.
We needed to get some mileage in today to take the pressure off tomorrow – which will be the last day of travelling in France. So we decided it would be an autoroute day.
The sky was clear first thing and Ellie and I walked towards the town centre. I think the French take their leisure very seriously and there is a really good path/cycle track alongside Le Doubs river. We took it in the direction of the cathedral that we saw last night – which is the Collégiale Notre-Dame.
Some good facts on Dole on this page – it’s the birthplace of Louis Pasteur – which we knew because we’d seen that on the brown signs on the autoroute.
the previous one was de Gaulle
We got on to the autoroute and made reasonable progress in the overcast weather and often heavy showers.
I mention the brown signs above and we’ve noticed that a lot of them are in a new format – different shape and different style. That was demonstrated when we passed one that looked like a French soldier but it was very quickly followed by another which pointed out the Charles de Gaulle memorial. The penny then dropped that the previous sign was not just any French soldier but was de Gaulle himself. I don’t recall seeing these before but it seems that de Gaulle has a strong connection to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises which is just off the autoroute that we were on.
We got to the Camping au Bord de l’Aisne site which is in a reasonably pleasant location. It seems quite well equipped with an indoor swimming pool which I didn’t take advantage of. There are a lot of British MoHo’s and tuggers so I suspect it is popular with Brits getting to a certain point on the return journey to Blighty and then finding a site close to the autoroute – which is exactly what we had done.
Tea was chicken pasta.
Tonight, back home, the Mariners were playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup. I’d missed the replay against Macclesfield that we won to get to this stage and I knew I was going to miss this match.
Because I would miss it, I was convinced that we would draw Man Utd who are the league team that we’ve not played for the longest period – since 1948 to be precise. But we didn’t and got Chelsea instead.
I’ve been to Stamford Bridge to see Town play (and lose!) so I was not too bothered to miss this one. But it would have been nice to have been one of the 5,000 Town fans that went. Wearing the team colours in the MoHo made me feel a small part of it.
I started to follow the game via the various web sites but we were soon losing quite badly and ended up losing 7-1 so I was not too bothered that I missed it. I’ve seen Town win at some memorable games (Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle etc) and would have been gutted if I’d missed a Chelsea defeat but it was not to be.
We’d broken the back of the journey yesterday so were in no great rush to be away. That clearly didn’t apply to lots of the other Brits on the site because most of them had gone before had finished breakfast. I suspect most of them would be on ferries or through the tunnel today whereas we have another night in France.
We got back on to the autoroute to start off with but, after a while, we took to the D roads for a change of scenery. We drove around Cambrai and Douai but were not making very good time so we reset the satnav back to allow autoroutes.
I’d expected it to take us back on to the A26 but it decided that heading north on the A21 and then the A1 was a better route – and I’m sure that was the quickest way from where we were – but it was not a lot of fun. It was busy with lots of commercial traffic and we went around Lille which is quite industrial and not the most attractive of places. On the plus side, it was all free!
We got to Gravelines and went to the service point which is a bit away from the Aire. We always empty waste and top up fresh and, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but that’s always a significant moment because it’s the last time that we’ll need to do it.
There weren’t many vans on the Aire. There’s been some changes since we were there last year: they’ve taken down a hedge which means that it’s easier to get level on the pitches that look out over the river; and there’s a new restaurant on land next to the Aire.
The weather wasn’t great so Dud decided not to come with Ellie and I on our walk to the beach. In fact, it started to rain while we were out so it was not really enjoyable. I suspect I’ve mentioned it previously but Gravelines at the end of September has an air of starting to be shut down for the winter.
Dud was tired and not very hungry so tea for her was scrambled egg on toast and I did myself a tuna risotto.
After tea, we heard a lot of activity outside the MoHo and, when I looked out, there were lots of cars parked in the MoHo spots – including in the space between us and the next nearest MoHo. The restaurant was brightly lit and I suspect this was some kind of open evening with selected locals being invited.
Ellie and I had our usual walk around the old town in the evening. As usual, there was virtually no activity. When we got back to the MoHo, most of the parked cars had gone and the restaurant was in darkness again so things were back to normal.
We set off to the Tunnel in reasonable time. There was some heavy rain on the way but no delays so we got to the Pets’ Passport clearance in plenty of time. We went through the (non-existent) French border control straight away but there were queues heading towards UK border control.
As we inched forward, I could see heading towards our lane an impatient Lexus who’d tried to go to a gate that closed. If I’m in the car, I can keep a fraction of an inch gap between my front bumper and the car in front but it’s not as easy in the MoHo and I gave him a gap of a few feet and he pushed in. The temptation is to get out and have an argument but I try and be above all that out of respect to my high blood pressure. Imagine my delight when our lane did not then move for 20 minutes or so while the lane he had left went through without any hindrance.
The delay had meant that we got to the last barriers before the train and there was no other queuing traffic. We sat at the barrier for 10 minutes or so and then it lifted and we were last on as opposed to our usual first.
Back in the UK and there was no rain and it was a bit brighter. We pressed on and our first stop was at the Peterborough Services – which we don’t like because you have to park amongst the HGVs.
We got to Lincoln and had another road rage incident. At the roundabout on the junction of the A46 and the A15, a Mini jumped in front of us from the wrong lane. At this point, we’ve covered a fair distance and have been on the road quite a while so I suspect I was getting tired but I felt a very strong urge to just ram it out of the way. Needless to say, I didn’t do that and just made do with a blast of the horn (which doesn’t actually serve much purpose other than to make you feel a bit better).
As we came out of Lincoln, the rain started to fall and it became torrential for much of the rest of the journey.
The more astute amongst you will have spotted that I have been logging the number of shits that Ellie had. I started that in the early days as a bit of a joke but then wondered how many she would do (and I would clear up) over the whole break. 56 is quite a lot – and the results have been deposited in bins throughout Europe.
Overall verdict: Croatia was a box ticked. The campsites were too big for our liking and, generally, it seemed to us like just another sunny, commercialised destination. Would we go back again? No – but the short time that we spent in Austria meant that I would like to go back there.
| Distance | Average mpg | Average mph | Time | Ellie shits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Sept | 249 | 29.0 | 46 | 5hr 20min | 2 |
| 5 Sept | 257 | 27.1 | 46 | 5hr 30min | 2 |
| 6 Sept | 114 | 29.6 | 43 | 2hr 59min | 2 |
| 7 Sept | 317 | 28.2 | 52 | 6hr 04min | 3 |
| 8 Sept | 200 | 20.6 | 38 | 5hr 12min | 3 |
| 9 Sept | 2 | ||||
| 10 Sept | 151 | 30.5 | 38 | 3hr 57min | 3 |
| 11 Sept | 2 | ||||
| 12 Sept | 114 | 29.9 | 31 | 3hr 35min | 2 |
| 13 Sept | 3 | ||||
| 14 Sept | 76 | 28.2 | 24 | 3hr 05min | 4 |
| 15 Sept | 2 | ||||
| 16 Sept | 181 | 28.5 | 34 | 5hr 19min | 2 |
| 17 Sept | 4 | ||||
| 18 Sept | 94 | 29.6 | 33 | 2hr 47min | 2 |
| 19 Sept | 3 | ||||
| 20 Sept | 108 | 28.5 | 30 | 3hr 34min | 2 |
| 21 Sept | 185 | 28.2 | 33 | 5hr 30min | 2 |
| 22 Sept | 147 | 26.5 | 43 | 3hr 21min | 1 |
| 23 Sept | 227 | 27.1 | 46 | 4hr 56min | 2 |
| 24 Sept | 110 | 28.2 | 39 | 2hr 46min | 3 |
| 25 Sept | 238 | 26.5 | 52 | 4hr 31min | 2 |
| 26 Sept | 175 | 27.4 | 44 | 3hr 58min | 2 |
| 27 Sept | 267 | 30.2 | 40 | 6hr 34min | 1 |
| Total | 3210 | 28.2 | 40 | 79hr 06min | 56 |
| Fuel | Site fees | Shopping | Motorway tolls | Other | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Sept | £22.50 | £2.00 | Tunnel £245.00 Data £25.00 Chemicals £32.00 LPG £6.03 |
£332.53 | ||
| 5 Sept | €12.80/£11.52 | £34.30 | £45.82 | |||
| 6 Sept | €123.30/£110.97 | €17.00/£15.30 | €63.04/£56.74 | £183.01 | ||
| 7 Sept | €20.00/£18.00 | £18.00 | ||||
| 8 Sept | €100.59/£90.53 | €69.14/£62.23 | €9.20/£8.28 | £161.04 | ||
| 9 Sept | €59.46/£56.19 | £56.19 | ||||
| 10 Sept | €89.72/£80.75 | €49.40/£44.46 | £125.21 | |||
| 12 Sept | €57.60/£51.84 | €46.26/£41.63 | Data £25.00 | £118.47 | ||
| 14 Sept | €92.61/£83.35 | HRK623.00/£74.70 | €63.98/£57.58 | £215.63 | ||
| 16 Sept | HRK332.00/£39.81 | HRK170.00/£20.38 | £60.19 | |||
| 18 Sept | HRK424.67/£50.92 | HRK377.46/£45.26 | HRK70.00/£8.39 | £104.57 | ||
| 19 Sept | HRK159.00/£19.06 | £19.06 | ||||
| 20 Sept | €20.80/18.72 | £18.72 | ||||
| 21 Sept | €131.18/£118.06 | €19.30/17.37 | €34.15/£30.74 | Chemicals €10.95/£9.86 | £176.02 | |
| 22 Sept | €17.00/15.30 | €20.10/£18.09 | £33.39 | |||
| 23 Sept | €133.04/£119.74 | £110.63 | £230.37 | |||
| 24 Sept | €17.50/£15.75 | €61.50/£55.35 | £22.90 | Vet €31.00/£27.90 | £121.90 | |
| 25 Sept | €21.32/£19.19 | £50.30 | £69.49 | |||
| 26 Sept | €12675/£114.08 | €0./£8.55 | £22.50 | £145.13 | ||
| 27 Sept | £2.00 | £2.00 | ||||
| Total | £636.72 | £522.44 | £362.55 | £344.24 | £370.79 | £2236.74 |
Dud and Ellie 
Was wondering how long it had been since you posted a video on Youtube and decided to have a look on your blog. Good to see you have been busy traveling! We have been to that corner of Europe as well so I see some familiar sites in this blog.
Somehow I have similar experiences with Germans, although I do not have a dog. Some older Germans still have some sort of arrogance over them. In such cases I use some strong Dutch language to express my feelings. They probably don’t understand but they get the idea from the tone of voice. And ‘idiot’ is quite a universal term (idioot) 🙂
Love your blog, quite a journey. You are quite meticulous in logging all your distances and costs, impressive! I cant be bothered with that. Motorhoming is an expensive hobby and thats all I need to know 🙂
Good to see you are enjoying your retirement. Hope to see new video’s of your travels. Say hello to Dud end Ellie for me.
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Thanks for the comments about the blog. I’m a bit anal (not sure how that will translate!) about recording the costs. Having started doing it, I wanted to keep them up to date.
I’m miles behind with the videos. I haven’t even finished Scandinavia which was last year and now I have all of the Croatia one to do.
I still work occasionally on a consultancy basis but I am on what we call a zero hours contract – I get paid for the hours I work but if I don’t work, i don’t get paid – and that’s a really good arrangement for me – Chris.
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