BLOG PART 5 5th of September 2007
The last overseas anecdotes of the Guerin family's holiday in Europe.
The big event for September will be Camilla's 40th birthday on the 19th.
Only three weeks to go - but no time to panic as there is still enough time for a decent holiday. We are presently in the Netherlands and have really enjoyed it. The kids loved the Batavia replica (you no doubt remember the one that bumped into the Abrolhos Islands off W.A. in 1629 and was involved in quite a decent mutiny and elimination of 125 pax - but never mind, the offenders were flogged, keelhauled and dropped from the yard arm. Needless to say we are being careful to stay within the law here). Went to a folk concert on the lake yesterday and boated around the canal villages today. Could easily settle down here. We stayed in Bruges in Belgium prior to this to load up on chocolates and strong beer. The bikes have been well utilised in these countries as an overpass is reputed to be the highest peak in N.W. Europe.
It was nice to be in England, old fruits, where they spoke the mother tongue so well - wot! Actually we were quite used to having only basic communication with everyone around us, that hearing English (of sorts) being spoken seemed an intrusion - requiring thoughtful responses. Our luck continues as we read of violent storms either side of us but we keep striking fine weather. It rained once of twice in Scotland and this made for dramatic vistas. The laptop performed a spectacular meltdown of most of its bits at some stage, so after trying out the world wide Dell service in a few countries, we gave up until we reached England. I was very surprised to greet the service technician at the campsite in Potter Heigham in the Norfolk Broads; almost as surprised as he when I showed him to the motorhome. We loved The Broads and would settle there if 17 million other people hadn't also thought of this.
Things in the UK changed significantly in the bow end of Tito the Kettle Van (our motorhome). Camilla did all the driving but from the passengers seat: a left hand drive vehicle on the left hand side of the road is pretty exciting for all concerned but at least I can't see how much we miss the oncoming meteors by. All care and no responsibility! In fact sometimes I forgot my role and turned to chat with the kids which got everyone's attention (except perhaps the kids!). As it turns out - half of the motorhomes registered in Europe were up in the Scottish highlands with us so it wouldn't take much for us all to force a wee coup and take the RHS of the road back north of Hadrian's Wall. We experienced the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, what a blast! And looked for the Loch Ness Monster. Camilla loved the highland cattle.
Going back a wee bit, we stayed on the Mediterranean coastal roads westbound from France into Spain and after a different but exciting break on the touristy coast resorts in Catalonia before we crossed the country south of the Pyrenees across to San Sebastian. This reminded us of our honeymoon when we enjoyed a month on the French side of the Pyrenees - taking in the Medoc red wine growing appellations. It was certainly one of the top twenty drives I have experienced. Narrow windy laneways with breathtaking views (not just due to the 13 million piggeries scattered through this area) and it kept us away from the Spanish truck drivers' fervent attempts at squashing motorhomes - speaking of pigs! By the way - a quick revision of some of my top twenty drives: coast road Croatia; North York Moors; Pyrenees - Spanish side; Italian Dolomites -anywhere; Derby -sans contact lenses - driving Ivan to bus; to Watson's Bay hotel with Grant M.; a lift home from work with Chris B in yellow peril; coast road Cairns to Port Douglas; etc.
We have visited dozens of wonderful tourist attractions: the cave paintings in Lascaux France; the megalithic upright stones of Carnac France; castles and chateaus; music festivals; Roman forts and walls; to name some. Would happily settle down in Montignac - again if 50 million others hadn't also had this idea! We watched, no - experienced, the Tour de France race past in Vauvert and stayed in Fontayne le Guerin (Great Uncle Fontayne was pivotal in winning a major war for France in the 18th century; or so it says on his statue). A personal favourite of mine was to see the flamingos swanning around on lakes in the south of France; stunning!
Considering that the years of planning for this adventure culminatedonly in a ticket out of Europe on the 25th of September and little else in the way of an itinerary, then we have been constantly amazed by the number of annual festivals we have happened upon. The classic example is when we decided to leave England just before the bank holiday weekend (when 18 million extra cars hit the road for their annual holiday to a town 29 miles away) and went via Calais to Belgium. Stopping in Bruges, we rode into town to explore and were amazed to see so many tourists lining the streets - was it for us? We had lucked upon the Festival of the Golden Tree - a premier event for the tourist calendar and held only every five years; and what a festival to behold. What a holiday!
This will most probably be our last overseas blog but we will depict the remainder of the holiday after we arrive home. Looking forward to arrived back to a tax return, dentist, work, shift work, school........oh forget it.
Au revior/Dag
David and Camilla
(Please look at the kid's blog for more photos and stories).
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