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Harvey10 - Europe-bound
  • Pip Greenwood
  • John Anslow

Harvey10 - Europe-bound

A 91-day adventure by Pip & John Read more
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  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    Walk up a hill

    January 1, 2024 in France ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    Had an early night last night (9pm) favouring warmth over seeing the New Year in. It's overrated anyway. But weirdly, for some reason, I woke up at 23.55. Soon afterwards, the fireworks started.
    We decided to stay another night here and went for a wander, which turned out to become a 4 mile walk up to a castle. Passed only 5 other people walking.
    There was some warmth in the sun today.
    Some trees just sprung their branches out fully horizontally, saying "I've sprung, I'm me!"
    Photo shows the campsite with church by it. We are in the country!
    Thinking about going to Carcassonne tomorrow, John did some research on suitable parking spots for campervans. He found tons of reports of people being broken into, while they were looking around the town. Mainly documents taken. It was almost every review that he read. The few that didn't have the problem said they just worried about it. I couldn't find any park and ride or campsites open that we could take public transport into Carcassonne from. So there we are. Carcassonne is now off our list. No longer appealing to us. The negatives outweigh the benefits. It's a shame.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    A door day

    January 2, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    John did all the emptying and filling at campsite. There was a huge green water cushion affair. We think in case of fire or drought. Not for drinking though.

    Then a short drive today to an Aire in a lovely quiet village due north of Agde, called Montpeyroux. Our chosen route kept saying 'deviation' as the road was closed and inevitably the deviation signs disappeared so it was a longer journey than planned. Had a gentle wander around the place, which was so quiet that we thought it must be an extra bank holiday but it wasn't. We did notice that they had a 3 hr lunch break from 1.30 to 4.30 so maybe that was it.
    A ginger cat decided to follow John and join us on our walk.
    I like doors. We both like doors. Some people like football, some like cars but I like doors. And today there were a lot of appealing doors, we couldn't stop snapping them.
    Once back at the van, some people stopped with a couple of kids, who ran around and bounced off the van. Once was fine, a mistake but then it happened twice, it was when one of them threw a piece of gravel at the van that we decided to open the door. At which point grandma gave them a mouthful, a clip round the ear and apologised. Before they left, she knocked on our door and apologised again.

    I also spent 90 mins on webcam with SMARTY trying to troubleshoot on getting our TPLink MiFi dongle thingy to get the WiFi we've paid for. It eventually worked! Result! Downside is we can only have the roaming for 60 days, not 90 as we'd thought.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    2

    Door day cont.

    January 2, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    More pics.

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    Scenic route

    January 3, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Don't know why I chose the scenic route to here. The straightforward route along a dual carriageway/motorway to just past Bezier was the quickest, and the one which we had started out on. But then I saw a green line mapped, and some viewpoints along an alternative road. Better for John, he loved it. I liked the views but not the ensuing billious sensation I'm currently trying to banish. Not helped by a good deal of strange and bumpy routes towards the end in search of parking spots we'd seen on Park4night app. Had a few frustrating red herrings but eventually found this canalside spot in the nick of time just after sunset (5.15 here, 4.15 in UK). Checking out suitable spaces to stay overnight is no fun at night time, never mind the driving. This camera makes things look a lot brighter than they actually are.

    We saw huge wide expansive landscape from our sunny food stop on the ascent of our corkscrew route. Mountains and plains to the coast.
    Before we left Montpeyroux, we went to the tiny epicerie and bought baguette, cheeses and tomatoes for lunch plus other provisions and then sat in the small square with drinks. A chap with a dog appeared. Ordered wine, coffee, and pastries and spoke to his dog ... in English! The first time we've heard it since 13th Dec, apart from one American in Nice. Got chatting to him (David) and a French woman (Caroleen) who joined him. He moved here in Oct 2023 and had just spent Christmas in Texas and then London, where his wife lives. He had lots of tips about how to move to France telling John it's relatively easy. I told him John wants to live here but I don't. "You should do what I do. Best way to keep a good marriage going." He said.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    Carcassonne we've arrived

    January 4, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    So we came to check out the Carcassonne parking for campers spot. Barrier is now working (we saw online 2 days ago that it was broken), and we got a nice spot with hedges either side. €27.40 for 2 nights. (£23.70). Filled up with fuel €118 (£101.90). Cheapest deisel so far at €1.68 per litre (£1.50), just a few pence more than UK.
    Beautiful blue sky and sunshine. Walked into Carcassonne and smooched around. It was fairly busy but not too much. Quiet compared to summer I'm sure. Lots of cafes, eateries bars and gift shops. We had a beer and did a bit of people watching. Not so warm high up and walled in.
    We noticed a strange radar type effect of radiating circle rings on the buildings. Weird. See pics.
    Have just looked it up and to celebrate 20 years as a World Heretage site, 'Swiss artist Felice Varini created concentric yellow circles, which are made from aluminum and attached to the castle's walls. They will be removed in September and will not cause any lasting damage.' That was in 2018. Must have been quite a geometric feat getting them all in place around buildings!

    There's some VERY posh motorhomes here. The Swiss guy next door got out and played with a PlayStation type control, which it turns out controlled hydraulic legs to make it level. We're already on flat land for goodness sake!    Read more

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    A kingfisher and some rain

    January 5, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Wow! Beautiful uplifting sightings of a kingfisher on our walk by the beck this morning! It made up for the cold and the rain, which set in later on. Walked around Carcassonne Town itself and saw some strange and dull streets plus a really colourful one, some chique designer shops, one of which I LOVED and bought a neat little cool 2024 diary with a satisfying clasp and dinky little pencil. Saw the closest parking I have EVER seen, and some rather sad has-been faded Santas.
    We had lunch, 3 course plat de jour for €41.70 (total), (£36) including drinks. Our choices were Pate and bread, Boiled eggs with dressing, Boeuf bourgogne, Tiramasu, Apple pie and tea or coffee. No photos of food though.
    Two very old school British chaps sat fine-wining and dining. I gleaned that one was/is an academic. The way they spoke was rather stifled and dull in a repressed, British sort of way. I found their conversations entertaining and fascinating. One told the other " there's a thing called nature-nurture you know" and when describing his adult offspring, said his son loved diving and is now a cameraman for natural history films and his daughter just liked towns, and the sort of things girls like. There was talk of Brexit and one said he's still got pizazz, we should just wheel him back in again. Boris presumably.
    ... Oh and John's conversation was interesting too of course 😉. Honest John! 😃
    We had another walk up to and around the ramparts and smooched in a shop or two. Much quieter there today, so more enjoyable but not quite so photogenic, and we were cold and wet by the end of what turned out to be an 8 mile walk.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    A campsite at last! Leucate, the Med.

    January 6, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌬 8 °C

    So we've managed to find and book a campsite open in winter. Hard to do! Been a long time since we showered, did laundry, hooked up to electricity etc.
    We're down on the Med, it's blowing a hooley and it's a pretty icy feeling out there. So we're here inside with the gas blow heater on. The batteries were getting pretty low so it's good to finally get some electric mains charging everything up.
    Stopped for picnic van lunch in the Corbieres. Looks beautiful.
    We had wanted to hot-foot it down to Barcelona but some of the campsite reviews were horrendous, plus it's the 3 Kings festival time, so it would be pretty busy.
    Hopefully it will have eased a bit by the time we get there.    Read more

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    Blowing cold!

    January 7, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌬 6 °C

    There was SOME sun today but cold and VERY windy. An icy-wind feeling. But we needed to stretch our legs so set off for 'la plage', which is mainly a windsurfing, sandsurfing whatever sporty-'fings' there are to do, beach. Huge stretch of sand, and the water seemed miles away. Not an atmospheric feel to it. Turned back from our attempted 20 min walk to the town as it became too much. My scarf nearly went. John lost his hat yesterday. I was togged up with double everything on. The sand was hitting our faces and we were being buffeted about. But it blew a few cobwebs away and we came back to the van refreshed and grateful to be in a shelter.
    A laundry filled day, the machines were out of order so we had to use the staff washing machine facility, delightfully set in a room with lots of urinals. Not everything got dry in the tumble drier. So there's stuff drying festooning our space everywhere. Camper life, eh?!
    I used the gym space to do a few exercises and had it all to myself thankfully. That warmed me up a bit.
    We both have our electric throws on this evening though.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    More pics of site

    January 7, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌬 6 °C

    Cool campsite, showers even colder!
    This site is 'pretty cool man' with B&W. artwork on trampoline discs. The toilet block is modern and posh (but water barely warm). There are lots of chalets. M We think it'll be packed out in summer. Our pitf ch has it's own sauna. Locked of course.Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    Santa Susanna - Espanole!

    January 8, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 4 °C

    So today we left our wind tunnel and found warmth in the sun. Lovely drive down and mountains in view as we soaked up the heat of the sun magnified through the windscreen. And then a warm walk on the quiet beach, where this campsite is. Packed with campers and motorhomes of all shapes and sizes and many nationalities, lots of Germans. First time we've seen UK campers this trip.
    Had a wee stop off at the cafe bar.
    Got to start out all over again now, trying to use and understand different words. Just getting used to French. Neither of us speak Spanish.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    Barcelona

    January 9, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    A day out to Barcelona on the train, took about 1 hr 15 mins each way. We struggled working the ticket machine, and I asked some people who came up if they knew how to work it. They were arrogant, condescending, and just seemed irritated that we were holding them up. Very unfriendly. They were German.
    We eventually sorted it and had an enjoyable (though uncomfortable for John) train ride beside the sea most of the way. After a walk up to Sagrada Familia, we had further ticket purchasing challenges to overcome. Had to scan the QR. code, get the App, pay online, get an email, and download the ticket. Phew! Unfair on people without mobiles or unable to use them.
    Of course, it was amazingly beautiful, a feast for the eyes. A serene space. Photographs didn't do it justice.
    After a tasty sandwich cafe lunch, which pigeons strutted in and out of, without the owners batting an eyelid, we headed past a few more Gaudi buildings to La Rambla. Only 2 mime artists were there, but the market was a feast for the eyes. I immediately started taking photos, and a woman came up offering tastes of candied nuts. I felt awkward cos I'd taken photos. So, I ended up buying a small amount. Bit shocked they cost €12.
    We must have walked about 8 miles in all. Showers were lovely and hot back at the site, and meal at the campsite restaurant was good.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    Distance travelled

    January 10, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We're on low fuel alert having as good as emptied the tank by our journey 288 miles south today. A lot of time spent on the AP7 / E15 motorway. Heavy traffic and some heavy rain at times.
    The route around Barcelona became very complicated and we made as quick an exit as possible when the SatNav told us we were heading for an emissions zone. The road numbers are often different on satnav, printed map, and road signs. It is often different again on my phone Google maps, which all completely confuses us. I'm practising acceptance that they'll often not necessarily correspond.

    Stopped off at a Services to stretch our legs. The amount of plastic and litter is noticeably more in Spain. Mind you, yesterday we saw a railway worker mopping clean the pillared and underside of covered areas on the station. Can't imagine seeing that in the UK.
    We're on a spot by a canal tonight. Just visible in the picture. Not too far north of Alicante. Arrived just after sundown about 5.45. Now 10pm and temperature is 13°. Narberth is 3° and down to zero tonight.    Read more

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    Busot ... beautiful

    January 11, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    We came here because John had spotted some caves to visit nearby and there's a spot to park. After leaving our canalside stopover, we filled up the tank, (cheaper here at €1.50 (£1.29) for diesel, which currently costs around £1.50 in UK) then drove past fields of oranges and persimmons and then took a motorway for a while. After stopping for a food shop, we ascended on a curvy mountain road, and interesting unexpected landscapes appeared. Including a sea bay at one point. We're a tad north of Alicante.
    This village is quite a gem and really well maintained as is the castle. We had an evening walk around the castle and streets. A bit chilly at around 8° but amazing views.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    Busot (extra)

    January 11, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    Spot the van.

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    1

    Cuevas del Canelobre

    January 12, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    We visited the highest cave in Spain today, which was 50 metres, equivalent of 14 storeys. And we took steps right down to the bottom and back up to the top again! I needed a breather or two. Our guide does it many times a day, so she must be very fit! Spent 40 minutes in there with just 4 other people, in summer the group is 40! That would have been too much. It was amazing to see. The main stalegmite is 144 thousand years old! I can't quite get my head around that. It was 17° inside, which remains the same all year. They played a little bit dirty though because on entry, without warning, each party had a photo taken, no permission requested. Then, on our way out, the photographer presented us with a printed out card featuring our photo plus QR codes for us to access lots of pictures of the caves and concerts. Of course there was a charge. It was a bit sneaky as photography was forbidden. Felt that they were trying to make extra money out of us but not being open about it. We declined.
    Once outside, we had a walk up a path, hoping it might lead to the amazing hole in the rock formation, which we'd seen from below. It didn't though. We passed an off-grid dwelling high up, so peaceful. On the way back, a woman passed with four dogs in tow, not on leads. One of them, an alsation type, circled around our legs barking at us and wouldn't stop when she shouted at it. Luckily it did eventually but I didn't like that part of the walk.
    Later on, we returned to our spot in the car park, which we still have to ourselves, and went to the museum of ethnic musical instruments. John was surprised that they had nothing from the UK, such as bagpipes, or an Irish fiddle. There were some interesting and beautiful ones amongst them.
    This is such a lovely area that we decided to stick around and look for a campsite. Made lots of calls to ACSI sites, bugger they're all full! One said for the next 2 months even! They're all on the coast but we did manage to find one inland that had space, so have booked. All a bit daunting and time consuming. Maybe we should book ahead in future.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    El Tranquilo ... Pinoso

    January 13, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    So here we are now inland for three nights on El Tranquilo at €15 a night. An adult only campsite, owned and run by a couple of Brits. Aptly named at times, at others, there's a cacophony of farm dogs baying, plaintive donkeys sounding painful and cajoling farmers bickering, across the plateau, all very loudly.
    However it's a good site with a (far too cold) swimming pool. There's lots of space on each pitch, unusual for Spain.
    On our way here, we were tickled when we passed a shop proudly calling itself 'Wet Dreams' ... selling swimming pools! I didn't manage to get a photo, but got a screenshot from the website.
    I should maybe whisper, but the outlook is looking more promising here than so far elsewhere. Also better than Narberth.
    Van heater is still on this evening though.    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    Warm chill day

    January 14, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Lie in today, chores, showers (bliss), rest, reading and a short walk for an hour or so.
    Past what we think were bare almond trees, along with vines, olives and not sure what else. The 'soil' around many was just stones. Dry stones with no weeds. Low maintenance crops. Feels a slightly strange landscape in this part. Many dwellings dotted about the plain, usually with fences and none too friendly dogs! As per my video.Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound

    A nothing sort of day

    January 15, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    The weather hasn't gone according to plan today. Overcast, windy, and even some passing drops of rain. We tried to sort out our next moves and rang some more coastal campsites. All full for at least a month. Considered trying some on the coast towards Almeria but looked on Find Penguins from 2022 and it reminded us that we'd driven that way and stayed in the area before and our considered opinion was that it's the arse end of Spain. We were also horrified with Almeria itself and all the plastic. So we'll give it a wide berth this year. Have enquired about a campsite for digital nomads, artists, and permaculture. They describe it as a 'project' and invite you to use their creative spaces. All very hip and I think not aimed at our age group but hey, what the hell.
    John has been suffering from a bad back so he rested and read. By the end of the day, I felt a bit cabin-fever, stir crazy-ish, so kicked my heels around the site a bit taking pics (see HUGE trailer camper with pullouts) and went for a walk. Also had a go on the exercise bike and walker thing for all of 5 minutes.
    Later, we had a knockabout game of table tennis and a drink in the bar / office plus a good chat with the owner, who's from Birmingham. Also we learnt that if you have more than 5 dogs here, you get substantial tax relief.
    Explains a lot!    Read more

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    It's an up and over!

    January 16, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    We left Pinoso and headed for a car park stopover at Los Banos, near a place called Mula. Had it in mind that we (well, I) might want to try the thermal baths up there. Had a lovely drive on a good road that ran parallel to the newer dual carriageway. Very peaceful and some weird and wonderful scenery appeared, rather like a huge sandpit!
    The thermal bath places on offer didn't inspire confidence, looked rather seedy, and I wasn't convinced they'd be particularly hygienic. But we had a good little walk, and a stream of water by the roadside was warm. Aqua callientes! That's one I learnt at the foothills of Machu Pichu. It was the town's name.
    John went down to the riverbed, that water was cold. His photo from there looks like Christo and Jeanne-Claude have been at work, wrapping the landscape.
    We didn't really take to the carpark for an overnighter, so went on to Mula itself up a very steep, narrow, windy road to a castle. Big sign said castle was forbidden entry. Paah! We gazed at the vast landscape and noted the sound of barking dogs across the whole vista. We didn't take to that spot either, so we moved on to this lovely spot an hour further on by a sanctuary at Totana. I chose a scenic route, marked green on the map, it looked fairly straight and low altitude. Whoops ... wrong again! It went up and over, twisted round about, and scared the living daylights out of me, especially when people overtake on blind corners! The surfaces were dreadful with deep potholes, and even rare smooth sections were bumpy. For some reason, workmen were at the most remote part resurfacing a fair stretch, and it was a hell of a squeeze to get past each of them. One side, a metal barrier, the other roadwork machine beasts. Boy, was I relieved when we reached lowland orange groves and flat smooth roads again.
    It's a little elevated again here but a smoother ride.
    Temperature got up to 24° today. 😃    Read more

  • Harvey10 - Europe-bound
    2

    A warm and windy walk

    January 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    Lots of sunshine, lots of wind and lots of pics today. Just a short 3 mile walk up to a statue of Jesus preaching, with many statues on route of him carrying the cross. It was mapped as a circular walk but the return leg was a very steep path parting from the road over a metal barrier. I did this section mostly on my bum. Thankfully, the video which John took of the occasion didn't work. We extended it a little and found a great picnic area spot with loads of stones for tables and seats and general fun. No-one else there apart from a camper. But the ladies toilet was open and unvandalised, even had toilet paper. They're very good for that in Spain. There were many long ups and downs so we were ready for a tea and coffee in the grounds of the hotel for the sanctuary. Only €2.50 in total. There were a couple there who spoke to us with English accents to tell us the cafe was open, it had seemed locked. John said something friendly to them about it being rare to come across British people on our travels but they barely answered. So it was pretty clear they didn't want conversation. They were probably trying very hard to avoid Brits.
    There's a range of vehicles staying here from French, Swiss, Dutch, German and Spanish. We've only seen 2 campers from the UK in our whole journey. The lady in the campsite said she used to fill up over winter with Brits, until the 90 rule came in and apparently they now go to Morocco.    Read more

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    From Geode at Pulpi up to the mountains

    January 18, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Further to earlier post today, I was a bit apprehensive about going underground for 90 mins with the need to descend 5 floors on an open spiral staircase. My fear of heights did set in, looking such a long way down gave me the heeby-jeebies and I was shaking. I couldn't face going back up so asked if I could use the lift, along with 3 others but only 2 at a time.
    One chap got as far as the entrance and knew straightaway that he couldn't face it. The guide cajoled him to join, which he did, but not for long. Claustrophobia, I presume.
    Anyway, it was pretty amazing. Well maintained rabbit warren, which used to be a mine. In 1999 a meterological chappie took a wrong turn and found gypsum crystals and then that there was a huge geode. We each got to put our heads inside the geode, it was a WOW moment. The guide was very animated and I'm sure we missed a lot by not understanding her, but we had a prerecorded audioguide between us.
    After that we did a quick shop, well, John stayed outside minding the van as the place didn't have a good feeling about it.
    We're now up in the mountains at a place which welcomes artists and digital nomads. It's double the price that we thought though. Very friendly welcome, the expectation was to join in for wine around the campfire. We did and chatted to Bart, the Polish owner of the place and then Dieter, who's living and travelling in his camper with his wife Christina. He showed us lots of photos of his UK east coast visit last year.
    Dogs everywhere.
    The next join up is coffee in the kitchen for breakfast. It's a co-housing project too. You can make things and there's a chance for everyone to have an open campervan session. Plus I believe games etc. Not our scene really, plus we need toilet emptying facilities, which they don't have.    Read more

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