There's been very little planning involved and in the true wandering spirit booked a cheap DFDS ferry and here I am sitting in a car on a campsite somewhere in Belgium near the Dutch border. I am in the car not because I'm travelling but because the other sleepy heads are still asleep!
The trip down yo Dover was horrendously long and boring but we got there safe and sound and found a lovely CL to stay on. It was very rural yet 4 miles from the ferry port. In fact you could see the channel from it. No facilities other than water,electricity and a chemical point but lovely. I can't understand why people buy caravans with all facilities and don't use them-we certainly do. I'm not into £25-£30 a night at a caravan club site. It's the Caravanners equivalent to the Motorhomes Aires but much nicer. Some are remote which I love. This particular one was a working farm.
So the ferry DFDS was cheap £84 for car and caravan to Dunkirk but it was noisey. Not because of the passengers or kids but it seemed almost constant that the ships tannin was rabbittng on about something! Hey Ho!
A quick an uneventful journey across Northern France and into Belgium. The only memorable thing was the disgusting service areas. Third world. It was Sunday and all the lorries were parked up everywhere. Gangs of eastern European lorry drivers selling knives! I don't think that they were about to do a bit if cooking! Bins overflowing and rubbish everywhere. Talk about first impressions if a Country! Anyhow after not being able to safely stop we headed for a campsite near Hasselt. Lovely. What a difference. Just off the motorway yet in woodland with a lake and a bar! Clean facilities. A bit on the pricey side at €26 a night but there again I am of Scottish /Yorkshire mix!
This place was really quiet. We stated 2 days just chilling. We visited a lovely nearby town and were suprised at how reasonably priced things were. Onwards we must go and into Germany.
Suddenly all the motorway service areas were Spotless. "Ahh for Germany good open roads" We couldn't have been more wrong. Am I back in the UK? We stopped at a lovely site just outside Frankfurt. I nipped out the car to register us at reception and what a lovely suprise I got in 35 degree heat..a beautiful lake with a beach beside it
Somehow Molly made friends again without speaking a word of German or they English! The only downside to this site were dogs in and out of the water uncontrolled and besides children and shaking their coats beside us adults supervising the children oo and the aircraft noise from Frankfurt airport....well you can't have it all can you?!
Onwards again. This stop was near Nuremburg. Very difficult to find but beautiful. A lovely kids playground, a reasonably priced restaurant and bar serving proper German food and wine. I was impressed how they serve red wine
MY Sort of glass!
So here I am again sitting in the car whilst the others sleep and I'm in Austria overlooking the River Danube and the sun continues to shine. I can honestly say that after thousands if not millions of miles of driving around Europe and Africa I have never ever experienced roadworks as bad as A3 in Germany. Sat Navs/Google etc say 2 hours. In reality 6 hours and more! I think it would have been better just to have closed the road. Just DON'T DO IT! One thing is for certain. I'm not going back that way!
This campsite is lovely. Spotlessly clean but a bit on the pricey side at €36. The views are superb though but the noise. Right at the side of a main road with not only traffic noise but boat traffic and a railway line to boot! All we need is an airport nearby and we've cracked it!
So today is Hungary I think. Ahh yes a months vignette for Austria €8.90. I don't have a problem with that I wished the UK did the same to foreigners!
So far the weather has amazed me. It's been soooo hot. Belgium is prettier than I remember. Germany is a pretty country that is not coping. It's not just a UK thing (broken roads/ overcrowding etc) It's really gone down hill. Austria is a quiet forgotten efficient little Country just rumbling along. Maybe I speak too soon-I've yet to get to Hungary! Lol oh and the thing that has really suprised me is the number if spanish I've met! Crazy. Helping to translate in Nuremburg and then again here in Austria. (Not that I speak any German!) Hopefully I speak a little English as long as Yorkshire Counts!
Every campsite so far has had brilliant internet and the wifi is free! Yes camping in the UK is a total rip off. There's a lot to be said for my £84 ferry ticket. Why more people don't do it I will never know but now I have to use it to convert currency. How many florist to the pound /to the euro? Hundreds to a pound-that's all I know! I just hope Hungary is as lovely as I remember it!
Whatever you are doing and wherever you are I hope you have a good day too!
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