Återställ sökningen
Fiona FerrarFiona Ferrar
Redigera färdväg
Fiona Ferrar

Fiona Ferrar

reste i 24 länder Läs mer
FöljMeddelandeStatistik
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      London - day 36

      17 maj 2019, England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

      Well it would be fair to say that today was not a fantastic day but we got through it. Got up rather early to get our stuff into bags and clean Nico. That seemed to take a long time and many bags went in the rubbish for odd items of food that we had collected. I think it was nearly 4 hours from getting up until we left. Next stop was a shop to sell our bikes in Brighton. That was a lot of narrow one-way streets, but finally managed it. Next stop was our hotel near Heathrow, by golly I am sick of narrow windy English roads by now. After 2hours of driving we stopped at a petrol station for gas and a steak pie thingey. It took ages as we were on a more main road, and then googlemaps took us off that road onto a smaller road - and that one had 12 mins of traffic holdups. Hmmm, slight road rage might have been building, so I whizzed up a side road, did a you turn in my mini and took off in the other direction. I said to Jody I just didn’t want to be driving up that road. I mean surely there was a main road to Heathrow from the south? We never found it! Also needed the loo as we couldn’t use Nico again as he was all cleaned out. Finally we got to our hotel and there was nowhere to park. So we found an area, and got our bags out. Then a man told us we couldn’t park there. After a few minutes of trying to explain that we just wanted to check in and leave again he then removed some road cones, I drove around the block again and he found us a special bus park. Checking in was easy and then we were off again.

      So driving got easy, and we got on the M1 and thought yes plain sailing to the depot. Hmmm not, thanks googlemaps. More traffic holdup, and at an interchange, googlemaps took us off again. We had intended to drop off around 1pm, and the final time was 4pm. By this stage the bitch said we would be there around 3.30, and we still had to stop and fill up on petrol and LPG. Driving around more country roads I was getting a bit stressed. We had to drop off today as we are flying out at 7am tomorrow. So my mini was doing an awesome job hooning around the corners while my headache got worse! Jody then did a great job of navigating us back on the M1, and we found the nearby petrol station where of course their LPG wouldn’t fill us up. It was the station that I had used with Bob, but with the time ticking we decided just to go. And we arrived at Just Go with minutes to spare. Dropping off all went fine. We checked out another model which looks like a great design for a future trip, and then got a lift to the train – phew!

      We had wanted to check out London a bit, but were pretty tired, had an early flight and had to organise our bags. So we took a train to Picadilly Circus, walked up to Regent St, checked out Uniqlo (I bought a pair of trousers that I am wearing all the time, and want another pair), then went to Wholefoods for dinner. I was disappointed as we visited the M &M shop to visit the toilets, but they were out of order. No other reason to be visiting that shop! Then we got back on the train to go to our motel near Heathrow, and got there around 8.30.

      Oh my golly, then the bag packing began. We could have 23 kgs on our carryon, but they still had to be within the size. My bag expanded so I needed to be careful with that. I think my purchase tally ended up at 23 kgs, but little bags only around 8kgs. We didn’t go to bed until around midnight so it took a while! Alarm was set for 4am – yeeha!      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Dover and Rye - day 35

      16 maj 2019, England ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

      So we got up as planned and were on the road by 6.30. We needed to be in Calais by 9am to check in for our 9.50am ferry, so were leaving extra time. In fact the journey went so well that we were there early and they put us on the 8.40am ferry. The journey went well – beautiful day with a calm crossing. England is an hour behind, so we arrived at the same time that we had left. Then I parked in a loading zone in Dover while Jody had a second approach at sorting out SIM cards – fingers crossed for this time! My 12gb card that I got for 30 days expires tomorrow, and I still have lots of data. Jody has gone through an 8gb and 12gb card – must be something on her phone eating the data. I got a few looks from courier drivers, but ignored them – where else could I park Nico for that long?

      Then we were off to the white cliffs of Dover. Parking was 7 euros cash for the day for a motorhome which we managed to find between us, and was great. We only had time for a shortish walk, but on such a sunny day the view was spectacular. We walked for around 1.5 hours, and took some nice pics. Then it was off in Nico to pick my step sister Morgan up from the train station. Googlemaps failed again, she told us that we were there, but we couldn’t see the station. So then did a you turn, saw some policemen, Jody got out to ask them where it was and we got directions. When we drove back, Morgan was standing on the pavement, so we stopped and she got in the side door. Then a man knocked at the window and had noticed us doing a u turn, talking to the police, and then stopped so asked us if we were lost. We said we were picking someone up, so he started giving us detailed directions to the station. We had to shut him up to say that she was already in Nico, and we were ready to go. Very nice of him to take the effort though. So then we had a 1.5 hour drive to Rye which is a little town in the south of England. Morgan had wanted to visit there, so it sounded good to us.

      We had a very nice lunch at a pub there, and then visited a few shops. What a cute little town this was. Lots of really cute nick nack shops with some interesting things we hadn’t seen before. It was rather surprising, but neither Jody or I bought anything today – maybe we are a bit nervous about packing our bags tomorrow? We walked around the town for several hours and it was lovely to catch up with Morgan who lives in London and I have visited her there in the past. This is the first time I have seen anywhere other than London while I have been in the UK. I had always wanted to drive through some more of the English countryside and I really got my wish today. I decided to drop Morgan off at a train station nearer to London – Royal Tunbridge Wells, and that driving really was an experience. Lots of traffic on fairly narrow roads with some pretty manic drivers. It was a bit hard to adjust to driving on the left hand side of the road, and I caused Jody a bit of panic when I tried to turn into the wrong lane at one stage – it took me a while to respond to her no No NOOOOO and hand waving, but luckily there wasn’t any cars coming, and the correction was fairly easy.

      Once we dropped Morgan off, we thought we would head for Brighton as that is where we can sell our bikes in the morning, and I had been interested in going there. So we kept on driving until about 8pm and finally got to the campground. Jody got out to check in as per normal, and got a very gruff response – have you booked? No. We’re full! So she got back in Nico, we drove around the corner and tried to find somewhere else. We are dropping Nico off tomorrow, so really wanted to empty our water, etc as we need to have Nico clean, and empty of some things, and full of others before he is returned. One place I rang was lovely, the lady thought if we were desperate, then she could have fun negotiating the price. But turns out that they didn’t have full disposal facilities so that wouldn’t work. So then the guy came back to close the gate, so I thought I would ask him again. I said we only wanted to stay until morning and use the facilities, could we stay where we were parked, use the facilities and pay for that. He ended up finding a site for us which was booked, but the people hadn’t arrived and once he had closed the gate they wouldn’t be able to get in anyway. I caused Jody some great hilarity when she asked how I got him to change his mind, and I said I had offered him some special favours – as if!

      So we then had to finish off the wine (full bottle for Jody), and limoncello (just a big glass for me). Then Jody started packing which seems like it is going to take a long time! In the morning we are dropping our bags off at a hotel, then dropping Nico off, then visiting London before getting back to the hotel. My plan is to sort out my bag at that stage rather than tonight. We got up at 5.45am, and it is now 12.15am on Bruges time, so well and truly time to go to bed!

      So it might seem that after we drop Nico off tomorrow that we might be winging our way back to NZ. Well we are catching a flight on Saturday morning, but maybe not that far just yet…      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Bruges - day 34

      15 maj 2019, Belgien ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

      Had a lovely day today. So nice in the morning that I even went to the shower just in my nightie and jandals – has been way too cold for that for the last couple of weeks. We were off on our bikes around 10.30, and in the Orange store for a new SIM for Jody – her phone has been eating data. So we biked into the main square and it was such a change from last night – people everywhere! We locked our bikes up, and then went off walking. There was a main market in the square today, and we had not had breakfast on purpose. So we visited the meat vendor, and tried chicken, bacon, and some chicken sausage wrapped in bacon. I was surprised at the cost of the raspberries for 5 euro, then I realised it was 5 punnets for 3 euro. I really had to restrain myself to only buy 5 punnets, and not to buy any blueberries. I did get half a kg of cherries tho for 4 euro. I also had some small waffle things which came with a chocolate sauce. I put some of my raspberries on them which was much nicer. I tried to convince the shop owner that she was missing out on an opportunity adding fruit when it was so cheap but she w didn't think so. Then we went off to see the shops which were pretty cool – just so many chocolate shops, I bought something at about 5 of them. I also introduced Jody to a Kipling shop – she now has 2 more bags.

      After traipsing around for quite a long time, we decided to do a river cruise. This took 30 minutes, and we took some cool pics, as well as having the opportunity to sit down for a while! During the cruise Jody’s memory card on her camera was full, so we then went in search of another one. This took us to a different part of the city, and we saw a few more different shops – and chocolate shops. There was a really cool shop with lots of different figurines, some porcelain, lots of the 7 dwarves, and some really cool clocks. We also went into a shop that was just for tea, lots of lovely tea pots with unusual themes. We finally bought a tea strainer to try out our Dubai tea (the first one wasn’t very nice!).

      So then we were pretty tired, and had only had a late breakfast. We did want to try and proper big waffle, so went to a café and both had one. Mine had fruit, nuts, and chocolate sauce and was very nice. I did ruin it a bit by having a hot chocolate with creme. The creme was really cool, and I couldn’t cope with that so took it all out – it was still very sweet though and made me feel a bit sick. Then we picked up our bikes, and went for another ride around the city before going back to Nico. We have set alarms for 5.45 tomorrow, but still seem to have issues with going to bed before midnight.      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Bruges - day 33

      14 maj 2019, Belgien ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

      What a lovely day it was to wake up to. Rather cool with a slight frost, but beautiful clear skies. We got up earlish, did our dishes and had wonderful hot showers. The last 2 nights have been a bit grim as the showers have been luke warm which has been surprising as most are pretty good. But this morning it was bliss! We were on the road by 9, but got distracted on the way out by a supermarket. Got a lovely watermelon and more berries. Oh, and the bread here is amazing, so I got a bread roll and Jody had a pastry. We thought the road around Brussels might be a nightmare as we hadn’t heard good things, but it wasn’t too bad. So after about 2 hours we found ourselves in Ghent. This was a place that I had wanted to visit, but there were no campsites in town, so we would have had to park up out of town. So we decided just to drive through the middle. So that went pretty well, by golly there are a lot of wonderful buildings which Jody tried to take pics of while we were driving. There were a lot of tram lines, and it is always confusing as to what the road rules are around trams. We followed one for a while – another car was in front of us so we thought it was fine. Hmmm nek minit we are driving on the grass between the tram tracks, oops this one might only be for trams. That was confirmed by the tram driving towards us with the driver shaking his finger at us. So our options then were limited to reversing a long way, going the wrong way up a busy one way street, trying to get over a couple of kerbs to a road, or going straight ahead on the tram track and hoping we would fit through the 2 bollards at the end. Option 4 was for us, and thankfully we made it through. I really need to be a bit more onto it with my videoing. Yes this is a bit stressful for me as the driver, but I think it stresses Jody out more and her reactions to these situations are just so funny that it just makes me laugh and take it in my stride. We haven’t had a funny Nico story for a few days, I have been missing them!

      So then it was onto Bruge (Brougha). We got there around 2pm on a stunning day though it was still only around 16 degrees. Our washing had been in the garage for 3 days, so it was nice to finally get that dried as well as doing a couple more loads. We won’t be doing anymore for a while so great to have a fine day. We then mucked around for a while just relaxing, and I started organising my packing. Around 7pm we finally got sorted to bike into the City. This is about 3kms away, and was really pretty. There are lots of waterways, and a big river with locks for the boats to go through, and bridges that go up to let boats through as well as turning in a circle to open up with the boats. Quite fascinating to watch. There were many big squares with churches. We ate dinner in one of those – Flemish stew which was wonderful and tender, and came with hot chips – weird! Then we biked back to Nico – it is getting dark just after 9pm which is great. Then another game of 500 – we must replace the cards as they got pretty sticky with limoncello! Tomorrow we will spend the day just cruising around Bruges for our last day on this side of the channel.      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Luxemburg - day 32

      13 maj 2019, Belgien ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

      We headed off around 9.30 without breakfast intending to eat somewhere on the way. We filled up with Diesel for about 1.1 euros – so much cheaper than anywhere else, think the cheapest was 1.4, but it was 1.7 in France. Our Justgo facebook page suggested filling up there, but we didn’t expect it to be that much cheaper. It was really lovely just driving around through countryside, forest and weird little towns which had about 3 buildings in them. We stopped just before 12, and had bacon eggs and tomatoes for breakfast beside the river. While we were there I was wondering what was over the other side of the river – odd little structures in a paddock. When we drove off, we realised it was a really long campground, and the structures were power hookups for motorhomes. There were really lovely campgrounds everywhere. We had bought some bread rolls yesterday but they were a bit disappointing – turns out they were chocolate brioch type of things which weren’t very nice. Then we drove a bit further and found the German border. We drove over a bridge into Germany just because we could, and the back to Luxemburg. We drove a bit further to Echtermach which looked so pretty that we took the bikes off, and went for a spin. Some of the shops were closed because it was Monday which saved us! We biked through the town, then on a path beside the river, and then found a bridge. So once again we went over the bridge to Germany just because we could. We hadn’t found any bakeries or supermarkets open in Luxemburg so we bought some bread and water in Germany. Of course when we went back to Luxemburg we found bakeries and supermarkets – never mind.

      So after biking back to Nico, we were off again. It was around 2pm by that stage and because Anke mentioned it, we headed to Viaden where there was supposed to be a great castle. There was a town every few kms, and every one had a campsite next to the river. Rather tempting to stop, but we didn’t. We got to Viaden and went up a narrow street – what fun, Jody was out again stopping traffic so I could do a you turn. We nearly gave up on the idea of visiting the spectacular looking castle, but then found a 3 hour parking spot for Nico. We walked to a chairlift which we thought would take us to the castle, but nope, it took us quite a bit higher. Jody had been keen to take pics on the way down on the chairlift, but after about 15 mins of walking down a very rocky steep path to get to the castle, we thought we wouldn’t try walking up it again. The castle was very interesting, and the tour round it was easy to follow. I found an art competition at the end really good – focus was on time and death by the looks of it, and many of the pics were quite thought provoking.

      Luxemburg really is a very lovely place. The country has a population of around 600,000. The main city has some great things to see, but the country is a bit like NZ in terms of there not being many people around, lots of farmland and forest and great mountain biking and tramping. Lots of the country roads had paved bike paths alongside them. It would be nice to spend a bit more time here, but Nico needs to be returned.

      After walking down the hill we got to Nico around 5.30, and headed off. We had no idea where were going to stay tonight, but just kept driving. We had no cell phone coverage, but googlemaps was great with the little blue dot, so we knew where we were. At one stage we intended to head for this town, but while travelling noticed the town name had a red line across it on street signs. Finally we got to a detour, so realised we couldn’t get there at all. So it was off to Germany again as that was somewhere we could go. We drove for quite a while on varying quality of roads. Around 7.30 we started looking for somewhere to stay, and have ended up at St Vith in Belgium. We couldn’t work out where the reception was for this campsite, or even where the entrance was. So after 2 u turns, an odd looking man turned up who didn’t speak english. We managed to make our wishes known, and for 16 euros have a pitch spot. We will be off earlyish tomorrow planning to make it to Ghent and maybe Bruges. Not long now until we have to give Nico back which will be a bit sad. What is more sad is the thought of having to pack bags – yikes that will be a mission and a half!      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Metz and Luxembourg - day 31

      12 maj 2019, Luxemburg ⋅ 🌙 6 °C

      Wow, what a fantastic day. I talked Jody into getting up early, so we were on our bikes and off around 8.30am. As it was Sunday, nothing was open and there weren’t many people around. We headed off by the river and ended up seeing the old city walls, and a really cool castle on the river. We took some pics, and were really enjoying the scenery. Well I was, Jody was enjoying falling off her bike again – down a slippery rocky path. Hmm, yep she is ok but a bit bruised, and yep I might have laughed a bit again after checking she was ok. Good that she had her helmet on this time, and I do keep reminding her not to jump up kerbs (bet she is getting sick of that!).

      After riding for a bit, I needed to go to the toilet and couldn’t find one handy so ended up biking back to the camping ground for it – possibly haven’t mentioned how wonderfully close this is to the centre. Then we thought we would see if the information centre was open, but got distracted by a patisserie that was open (of course this had a toilet in it). I hadn’t had breakfast, so had 2 items which were really nice (and decadent). We also had a hot drink each – it was only 4 degrees when we set off. We went inside the cathedral which had a service on. The stained glass windows were pretty incredible. Then the tourism office was very helpful, so we went off on our bikes again and found a really cute part of the town – first a garden with fountains, and then a intersection of several rivers where there was cycleways, areas for walking dogs, and water sports going on. We watched these for a while, but as it was getting close to midday, we then biked back to Nico and checked out.

      Our next stop was the Pompidou-Metz which was a contemporary art museum. Parking was a bit of fun, but we found a place with 3 adjoining parks, so I tried my best to parallel park Nico. It would have been a bit easier without the extra meter of bikes on the back (we finally did some washing, so this was hung up in the garage). The museum was really interesting. The bottom level was a colour exhibition which had some very cool things – a video of a guy fully painting a room he was in, and going out the door. That was red for Monday, then the video showed him painting orange for Tuesday etc. The 2nd floor was of a Korean artist which was very unusual – ie one exhibit was just a medium sized rock in the middle of a room. It cost 7 euro to enter, and we haven’t done many museums (ie 1, the museum of illusions in Vienna) so this was worth the visit. Then we headed off for Luxemburg which was about an hours drive.

      The camp ground in Luxemburg took a while to check in as they had a problem with some of their pitches being wet, but it is a very nice campground. We had a wee rest for an hour or so – Jody has me addicted to a game called Woody, but I finally called an end to our game playing and we were off. Catching the bus was very easy and they have a bus route sort of like train routes in other cities. It took 15 minutes to get into the City, and we found the tourism centre relatively easy and there was a very nice young man there who talked us through a map. We then set off walking and found some amazing sights. The old part is still mainly there, and it is just so much higher than the valley going through the middle. There is a balcony running for quite a long way that you can walk around over the valley below. My pics will tell the story better. So we walked around the balcony, and then back to where we started from where we knew there was a toilet and some food. Jody had a Gyro pita for dinner, and I had potato spiral on a stick and a chocolate dipped raspberry skewer. Then being fortified I said we had to walk down into the valley to check out a garden that I had seen. We walked about halfway down, and it was just lovely with the most incredible trees and views. The bridge was amazing, you could walk or ride over it, and also walk/ride under it on a special path. We spent a while there admiring the views. We also noticed the planes flying over a church in the distance, so started trying to get the best pic of that. Then it was time for a final snack – cream and strawberries on a waffle which we shared – and then on the bus again. The bus was just so easy to catch from the campsite. We left about 5pm, and got back at 9pm when it was still light. Had another game of 500 with a couple of drinkies, and looking forward to a slightly easier day tomorrow cos today seemed fairly full on!

      Oh and the weather started off pretty cool, around 4 degrees and getting up to 10 while we were biking in Metz. But Luxemburg was really nice though maybe only around 15 degrees. It was lovely that it was fine and we didn’t have to take raincoats for a change.      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Metz - day 30

      11 maj 2019, Frankrike ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

      So when we woke up the forecast was still for rain. So we leisurely had breakfast, thought about what we would do, and then decided to head for Luxemburg. By the time we had done the water and toilet emptying it was nearly 11, and by that stage looked like the weather had cleared up. But we still left, though I was mourning leaving France. About 20 mins into our journey Jody said ‘spit it out’ as I was visibly in decline. So I said I felt like turning left ie staying in France. So we stopped and looked at a map, and decided Metz was sort of on our way so that’s where we went. Of course by the time we got close it started to rain again, but we found a campsite and spent a couple of hours reading books again. Once it fined up we biked to a supermarket to stock up as tomorrow is Sunday and everything will be closed again (it has taken us a while to wise up to that one!). Then Jody found a restaurant with really good reviews, so we tried to go there for dinner but they were fully booked. So we dropped off our groceries and went off biking.

      The town is really pretty with several wonderful buildings. We also got some neat pics of the river being totally calm with great reflections. There were a lot of people in the town, and quite a few restaurant choices. It started raining again, so we chose a restaurant by the cathdral. It was funny when we went in as they didn’t speak any english. We thought they were saying that we could come back at 9pm to eat as they had bookings before then, but a few minutes later we realised they were saying we could eat now, but had to be finished by 9 as they had a big booking that. That suited us just fine, and we had a wonderful meal – I had angus beef in a yummy sauce with nice green veges. Jody had chicken with salad, but the salad didn’t arrive. It was great being served so quickly as well. Then we went back to Nico and are planning to get up earlyish tomorrow so we can bike around here and have a good look, and then head for Luxemburg later in the day.

      It is Saturday today, and we have our ferry crossing from Calais to Dover on Thursday, so have 4 nights after tonight. Plan is for 2 in Luxemburg and 2 in Bruges but our plans have changed this whole trip, so it is probably 50 50 as to whether that will actually happen! At least the weather is supposed to be nice and fine everywhere, so choices are not weather dependant.      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Strasbourg - day 29

      10 maj 2019, Frankrike ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      Yay yay yay, today we woke up and it wasn’t raining. Such a better feeling for the day. Though we expected some rain during the day, it only tried a couple of times and mainly was lovely and fine. We had ordered bread from the campsite – chose a ‘pain’ but didn’t know how large it was – it was huge! By the time we decided that it was a lovely day, and that we would go off on our bikes it was pretty late. We biked into Strasbourg old town, and it was just soooo pretty. The cathedral was marvellous from the outside, and like many others, the pictures just don’t do it justice. They are very high, so it is hard to get that perspective with a camera. We locked our bikes up and walked around everywhere. One thing we were really surprised at was the amount of gingerbread men toys, ceramics, etc that there were. We had no idea that it was such a thing in the province of Alsace, but apparently it is particularly in December. The toys were very cute, but I restrained myself – oh it would have been good to do that for the rest of the day!

      Our first real shopping stop was Pylone – we had been to this store in Italy as I was trying to get something for my nephew that I had bought there before, but had no luck. Though we both found some other pretty cool things to buy – the cutest little gumboots for a toothbrush holder was one of them. We walked quite a way, had fun with some wandering policemen who weren’t keen on Jody taking a picture of them. The patisseries have the most amazing food, and I had a lovely raspberry concoction from one of them. The serving lady was lovely, and when I said I wanted to eat there, she quickly put a reserved sign on the only free table before I did my order. Couldn't find the market we had googled, but stumbled on it by mistake. Hmmm, how did another linen jacket find its way into my bag? Also managed to have a lemon and sugar crepe. Then we found our way to Little France which is the old part of town with some stunning buildings near a river. It was really still today so we got to take some lovely pictures. We were both a bit tired by this stage, and wanted something to eat (that a chair came with), but it was 3pm and everything was closed.

      So we made our way back to our bikes, and just beside there found a pub that was open. We had a nice quiche lorraine with salad for a very late lunch. When we both googled where we were, one word flashed up – Uniqlo. This is a store that I love to visit when in London, and where some of my puffer jackets have come from. So yes we used googlemaps to find out way there, and after going in the wrong direction as per usual found the store very near where we had been earlier in the day. We both might have made a few purchases there (I think I won!). We have both been a bit curious as to what KFC tasted like overseas, and there was a store opposite Uniqlo so we gave it a try. The hotwings were like NZ, but the fries were not – no chicken salt on them, and not very nice. Oh well, we have done that now and won’t be doing it again! So then it was time to get back to Nico. We had also been to a supermarket during the day – requirements were tomatoes, and a shower sponge (as mine had disintegrated). We achieved that as well as a few other items (I came back to France really just for the Cote D’or chocolate!). So our bags were quite full and heavy. So on our way back to Nico of course we headed in the wrong direction so it took a while to get back, but it was a lovely evening so it didn’t matter at all. There were a lot of lovely historic buildings on our bike trail which looked to be deserted. So back at Nico in a new pitch site – when we said this morning we wanted to stay another night we had to move. It is a nice campsite here, but not quite as nice as the one in Freiburg. Those damn push button showers again.

      During today I mentioned the chicken thighs in the fridge which we had both forgotten about. Jody cooked them up for dinner – I think I will have to try this slow roasting of them at home some time. And we played some 2 handed 500 which I haven’t done for years which was fun. We would like to stay here for longer as it really is lovely, but it is supposed to be raining again tomorrow, so we will reassess in the morning. If raining we might just start making our way to Luxemburg – I don’t wanna leave France tho!      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Strasbourg - day 28

      9 maj 2019, Frankrike ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

      Well waddeyeknow, when we woke up this morning, guess what? Yes, it was raining. I had a great sleep after the big ride yesterday and didn’t wake until 8am. Then we got packed up and hit the road. It seemed to take a long time to get to Strasbourg which should have been just over an hour away, and we didn’t even get lost! The campsite seemed reasonable, so we parked up, hooked up the electric and watched the rain outside. About this time we realised that we had left out little step at the campground in Frieburg. How handy that there is both a Decathlon (or 3) and an IKEA here. Googlemaps had her fun with us as per usual. It was only after we had driven down a narrow path and encountered a low bridge that Jody wondered if my phone was still set to bike mode, hmmm yes it was – no wonder we had been having issues! After turning around in a rather tight space with a river on one side we set off again through a lot of narrow streets, and finally found Decathlon. This was a bit of fun though – we were dry, seeing the sights, and what else were we going to do for the afternoon? Jody was the winner at Decathlon though a couple of spare pair of tights for 5 euros could be useful for me if it keeps raining. IKEA was fun as well, and we found another step there. The trip back to the campsite took a lot less time!

      Then we had a casual afternoon reading books, had dinner in the campground restaurant – thin pizza and yep it was still raining. Fingers crossed that it will have gone by the morning when we will be doing some biking around this place which is supposed to be stunning. Will be staying here tomorrow night as well.      Läs mer

      Se översättning
    • Fiona FerrarResenärEurope 2019

      Biking from Titisee - day 27

      8 maj 2019, Tyskland ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

      Raining and around 10 degrees

      Last night I told Jody that I had a plan for today as long as it wasn’t raining too much. She was keen at the time though may be a bit wary of my grand schemes in future! Our choices were my plan, reading books in Nico all day, or driving somewhere else in the rain and trying to find another campsite. So the grand plan won out, and I thought we had a pretty fabulous day. I felt really good cos we did a fair bit of exercise. Jeremy left around 9am, and it wasn’t raining much at that stage so Jody agreed to my masterplan for the day. Titisee Lake is supposed to be really nice and is 30kms away. There is a bit of a climb up there though, so my plan was for us to take a train there, and bike back – how hard could that be? The train ride went well though it started raining a bit harder while we were getting there. We arrived around 11.30, and immediately found some really cool shops with clothing, souvenirs, cuckoo clocks etc. We parked the bikes and went shopping. We already were a bit wet at that stage, and found some awesome jackets which are lined with fleece and are really warm and cosy. We both ended up buying one, and putting them on under our rain coats. We also bought some buffs to wear under our helmets. Oh, and small cuckoo clocks with magnets on the back. We also had an awesome lunch of sausage and fried potatoes.

      Then we started biking to the next town – Hinterzarten - which was 4 kms away. We made it there quite easily, though were slightly surprised at the number of hills even on that short leg. Then we tried to find our directions to the next township. Despite asking directions from a lady who spoke great english, and using google maps, and the map that we had taken a photo of from a bike shop, we failed in our quest. By that stage we had walked and biked up some very steep climbs, and then biked back down them again. It rained quite a lot, and we were pretty wet from the waist down. We finally gave up when we were headed up this mountain bike path that got so steep that it was hard for me to walk up without my bike, and I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to bike down it. And there was a drop of many many metres down to the main road which were unkeen to fall down. So we backtracked, found the train station and jumped on. We got off at Kirchzarten as I had convinced Jody that it was a lovely ride from there back to Nico.
      Yes it was lovely the other day, and still quite picturesque today. The driving rain in our faces and the chill in our legs and feet sort of spoiled the moment tho!

      We managed to find the supermarket on the way back – how did more blueberries and raspberries arrive in the trolley? As well as a couple of bottles of wine. When we got back to Nico, we stripped off our wet clothes, and both had a shower for over 10 minutes. We had turned the heater on in Nico, and when we got back from our showers, we finally started to thaw out. So it was supposed to take an hour 37 minutes to bike back, and was around 30kms which I thought was mainly downhill. I have traced our route, and golly knows where we were actually supposed to go, but our total trip was around 17kms. But the number of hills added quite a bit of effort to that though. I had thought we would be back early afternoon, and spend the rest of the afternoon reading books in Nico. We didn’t get back until after 4pm, and the thawing out process took another hour. Then reading books in bed was great. Nico can get lovely and warm with the heater.

      Jody cooked another lovely meal with baked chicken and potatoes. She also got a bit carried away with the spray and wipe so things are looking a bit cleaner. It is still supposed to rain in a lot of Europe tomorrow, but we think we will leave here and head for Strasbourg which is only an hour away, but supposed to be lovely. That is in France, so we will be bonjouring, merci beaucouping, ouing, and noning with the best of them.

      Bon nuit      Läs mer

      Se översättning

    Få din egen reseprofil

    Gratis

    QR code

    FindPenguins för iOSFindPenguins för Android

    • 2025© FindPenguins
    • Hem
    • Om oss
    • Spåra gruppen
    • Press
    • Villkor
    • Integritet & Cookies
    • Hjälpcenter
    • Avtryck