Tag Archives: Motorhome Mishaps
Detained, But Not Deported: The Long Road to England Part 2
We’re stuck in a very ill Nettle right outside the border control booths of the ferry port. It’s not quite the worst-case scenario we’d envisioned for this crossing, but… Well, it’s bad enough. I confirm the diagnosis by peeking at Nettle’s innards, and find myself at the frontier police office seeking assistance. In a way, it’s probably the best place … Continue reading
The Long Road to England: Part 1
After much daydreaming about fish and chips, bagels, ubiquitous 3G internet and speaking English again, the time has arrived to jump back on the autoroutes of France and drive back to the UK. This wasn’t part of our original plans, but bureaucracy had its way with us, as it always does: It turns out, unlike the advice we were given … Continue reading
Genk and Hasselt
We’re staying at an aire outside the town of Genk — it’s pretty much a car park, beside an equestrian centre (slash-mini golf course-slash-skiing centre-slash-planetarium), but we’re at the edge of the parking area, surrounded by woods. It’s the one place I could find — Belgium-wide, amazingly — that was pleasant and not an extortionately expensive camping area, and luckily, … Continue reading
Into Belgium (Part 2, Kind Mechanics)
We’re in Belgium, but I jalapeño’d my laptop in the process of getting here! It’s going to cost €1,300 to fix the damn thing. We both feel quite calm — the worst has happened, and now it’s just a matter of logistics. We’ve noticed this phenomenon before — we’ll dread an outcome, but when it comes to pass, we find ourselves … Continue reading
Into Belgium (Part 1, Jalapeños)
It’s been two years from the start of this adventure, and our UK visa is about to expire. We’re not done yet, though — there’s so much still to see! So, we’ve applied for Danish visas, and booked a ferry across into Belgium from Hull. We catch up with Mike (and a very large portion of fish and chips!) one … Continue reading
UK-Bound: Seven Countries in Seven Days; Across Europe
Our next day of driving began with our finally leaving Italy, or at least its official boundary. We drove by the lake near the border, emptied for some works on the drained lake bed and looking rather forlorn compared to the beautiful images Google Earth had shown me the day before while I was searching for potential wild-camps; then we … Continue reading
Arezzo
We left our friends Bruno and Elena in Preggio and headed onwards across the green hills. On the way, we were excited to spot clusters of poppies growing on the side of the road. As we passed alongside one hill-top town, we were waved down a different road by a police officer — the later appearance of some guys in … Continue reading
First days in Tunisia
We awoke outside the docks in La Goulette, Tunis, to the sound of the call to prayer from the nearby mosque. How exciting! We breakfasted, and prepared to head out. The first mission was to obtain some SIM cards so we could gain access to the Internet. We walked down the nearby main street — it was very foreign! Lots … Continue reading
Etnapolis, Randazzo, Mount Etna lowlands, Aci Castello
We met Nuccio again the next day, along with Graziella and Nuccio’s mum, who we took an instant liking to, although she didn’t speak English. She had a friendly, playful demeanour that was very disarming. Our plans for the day this time were to visit Etnapolis, a shopping centre south of Etna — Italy’s largest shopping centre, Nuccio told us … Continue reading
Mount Etna, Mount Zoccolaro and Valle de Bove, Part 1
After exploring the extreme heights of Mount Etna briefly, we wanted to spend some time at slightly lower altitudes and see what else this fascinating area had to offer. Armed with our inscrutable German map, we made a vague plan to spend the next week or so driving around Etna’s flanks, doing some walks along the way. We left the … Continue reading
Sicily: San Vito Lo Capo, Zingaro National Park, Erice, Selinunte
We had just left Scopello after a very enjoyable week spent developing software and painting: We wanted more! But it was also time for a change of scene, so we drove on towards San Vito Lo Capo, another town that sounded quite promising. A short and picturesque drive inland through pretty, rocky mountains, through a rather sad-looking town amusingly called … Continue reading