Europe - Jan-Feb 2019

My European Adventure

One of my reasons for buying Daisy was a fear that I would be made redundant.  I wanted to be able to travel quickly, and not be faced with difficult decisions to spend money when I was not earning.  And I did not want to undertake a trip in an unproven vehicle.

I was fortunate that my redundancy started with gardening leave, so there was no point in looking for jobs which I could not take until I actually became redundant.  In effect I had 3 months on full pay and no work.  Yippee.  But the downside was that camping in Europe will be cold and few sites are open.  However, the Alan Rogers web site has a list of all year camp sites - it is not 100% accurate but it is very useful.  Here is my route.  Most stops are camp sites but the purple ones are hotels.  Usually that's because there was no convenient camp site open at the time.

Start Point - Newcastle to Amsterdam Ferry - 3 Jan 2019

This ferry is not cheap at £230 each way, but the alternative is a drive to Kent which will cost in fuel, food and campsites.  I bought the cheapest cabin in the basement - the hum of the engine and movement of the ship gave me a bad night's sleep.  

First Campsite -  https://www.campingzeeburg.nl/

The location is a 10 minute walk to the metro and half a dozen stops to central station.  Even in winter there were a few other campers and the showers were hot.  

The area around is full of houseboats and has a nice feel to it.  It is bohemian in a good way, quite attractive.  No point in discussing the wonders of Amsterdam - everyone knows it is a great city.

I did make the trip to Utrecht to see the Rietveld-Schroder House.  I have been interested in this for a while.  It's the ultimate open plan living for the extremely tidy, and you can see the connection to Mondrian's paintings.  

Second Stop - https://jutberg.ardoer.com/nl/

After leaving Amsterdam I headed to the war museum at Arnhem.  The allies tried to defeat Germany in 1944 by securing all the bridges between the allied front line and central Netherlands so that they could push into Germany on two fronts.  It was a heroic failure, but the museum is worth a visit. It was a bit cold, I was tired and stayed at this quiet campsite.

Third Stop - http://www.campingrozenhof.nl/

I stopped off in Aachen briefly then had a fine meal at the restaurant of the camp site.  

Forth Stop - Dijon

Actually I wanted to stay at a camp site near Langres - picture below.

I drove out to the camp site and found it closed.  Which gave me a bit of a dilemma.  I could camp wild, but couldn't see anywhere I was comfortable with.  So I decided to push on and stayed in the Hotel Montrachet in Dijon.

Nicely located hotel and Dijon is a magical city.  

Surely no where can be more french?  Food in Gril'Laure near the cathedral was excellent and the Owl Trail through the city is great fun.  Before leaving I followed the Owl Trail around the streets - here are a few photos.

The city has a great range of "stuff" - a superb market, great restaurants, bars and cafes, the shops were really interesting with a lot more variety than I usually see in the UK and a fascinating mix of architecture.  

The time I was there the Christmas market stalls were being dismantled.  I am tempted to go back next Christmas.

Fifth Stop - Beaune  http://campinglesbouleaux.wixsite.com/lesbouleaux

This is a nice enough spot but there is no public transport into the town. It is at the heart of the french wine growing area, so I was a bit disappointed that I could not drink to excess then get back to the camp site.  Here is a photo of the hospital which was still in use in the 1980's.

  

Sixth Stop - Lyon  https://www.camping-lyon.com/

It is very handy that Lyon has a camp site within 50 minutes of the city centre.  The site is clean and tidy, and fairly busy even in January with a number of large motorhomes from Italy and Germany.

Lyon itself is a great place to wonder around.  The basilica is a key landmark and gives a great view over the city.  You can see the ferris wheel in the picture.

After 2 days in Lyon it was time to move on.  My worry was how Daisy would cope with the climb over the alps.  There really was no problem, aside from the £60 toll at the tunnel.

Seventh Stop - Turin  https://grinto.it/

Grinto is a great place to base yourself while visiting north Italy.  OK, the shower block is a prefab and basic, but it is warm and clean with lashings of hot water.  And there is a laundry room, an excellent on-site restaurant and the bus/metro is only 20 mins to the city centre.  

Turin itself is a bit under-rated.  The Egyptian museum is excellent and the automobile museum is within a short walk of the camp site, through the nature reserve along the banks of the river Po.

Turin is a city of grand squares and has a real buzz about it.  I left Daisy at Grinto for a few days while I flew to Naples and Palermo.  The drive down is not that exciting and there were no open camp sites.  Add in the cost of fuel and ferry then a flight makes sense.  After I got back to Turin, my next stop was Venice.

Eighth Stop - Venice  http://www.campingfusina.com/

This is a very well equipped campsite in a great location.  Follow the signs to the ferry port and the road gradually thins out, but sat nav said I was in the right direction.  At the end of the road is a camp site on the river with Venice just a short boat ferry away.  The bit I liked most was that the deep water channel was just a few metres off shore, so the cruise ships and cargo vessels passed very close by.

The only note of caution is that the last ferry is about 6:30pm in winter.  I think you could get back by public transport later than that.  I won't do photos of Venice - the web has lots!

Ninth Stop - Spittal am der Drau  http://www.camping-brunner.at/

When I arrived here, Austria was evacuating holidaymakers trapped by snow.  It was a bit chilly, and all the hotels and restaurants were closed.  

Daisy has 4WD so the snow was not a problem.  This camp site has the best shower and toilet facilities IN THE WORLD - perfectly clean, marble counter-tops and better than my home!  But in January this was always going to be a one-night stop.

I didn't get to Prague in one go, so I stopped in a hotel in Freistadt on the Austrian-Czech border.

Tenth Stop - Prague - http://www.camping.cz/

According to the web there are a few all year camp sites near the zoo.  They were shut. but this place was good.  It is a bus and metro into the city but both are frequent and quick.  Still pretty cold, about -8c.  This was enough to freeze the toilet flush, drinking water and shower.  

As you all know, Prague is very cool and there are lots of pictures on the web.  En route I stopped here at the lovely Cesky Budejovice.  I needed a hat and scarf.

The problem with the freezing water is really that ice crystals get sucked into the pumps and then the pumps stop working.  If I had thought about it earlier I would have added screen antifreeze to the toilet tank. After it had frozen I bought a heater for a fish tank as well.

Stop Eleven - Kyritz

With Daisy frozen I decided to drive until I got tired.  That happened in the lovely town of Kyritz.  There is a lovely German/Iranian restaurant which is worth seeking out.

Stop Twelve - Zierow - https://www.ostsee-camping.de/

When I first thought about where to go I looked at a trip around the Baltic.  But there are very few camp sites open and I decided against it.  But I did want to stay on the Baltic, reading the Riddle of the Sands (Erskine Childers - a 1903 Spy novel about an invasion force hidden in the islands and channels).  This camp site is huge - bar, sauna, view of the sea.  For me it was a bit muddy and the only open toilet block was too far away, but I bet it is great in summer.

Stop Thirteen - Hotel in Copenhagen

There are two ferries to Denmark.  One is from Rostock and the other from Puttgarten.  I chose the latter only because it is more frequent, so I figured there would be less waiting around.  That worked out fine.

Stop Fourteen - Storebaeltsbroen

One thing about Denmark is the motorway signs show you what you are missing.  In Slagelse there is a military museum (closed on the days I was there) and a Viking village.  The indoor part of the museum was closed, but the village remains and reconstruction was open.  An impressive earth rampart enclosed some houses, with still more outside the walls.  The reconstruction looked quite comfortable:

There is a camp site at the east side of the Storebaeltsbroen bridge..but it was shut.  I parked up in a layby and took in the view.  This spot is right on the sea and the bridge makes  a dramatic backdrop.  

Stop Fifeteen - Odense - https://www.dcu.dk/campingplads/dcu-odense-city-camp

I did not stay long enough in Odense to do it justice.  This is Hans Christian Anderson's birthplace, but I skipped that.  

Instead I headed north to the viking museum at Ladby which has a reconstructed longboat and modern tapestry inspired by the Bayeux tapestry.

A little further north is the pretty seaside town of Kirteminde.  I was very impressed by the Johannes Larsen museum.

Stop Sixteen - Hotel in Aarhus

On the way to Aarhus is Jelling, home to a carved stone with both Norse and Christian images and the first use of the word Denmark.  

This is Denmark's second city and I loved it.  Bars and restaurants line the canals, the art gallery with it's rainbow city viewing platform is open late an full of cool stuff and there is a little viking museum too.

Stop Seventeen - Ribe -  http://storkesoen.dk/

On the west coast at the villaeg of Blavand is the remnants of Hitler's North Atlantic Wall - a bunker complex which is now a museum.  I don't haev a photo of the museum, but here is Daisy taken nearby.

There was a lot to see here, so I was quite late getting away and stopped at Ribe because it looked so pretty.

Stop Eighteen - Hotel in Hamburg

There wasn't a campsite open near the city centre so I stayed at the inexpensive but nice Hotel Cockpit, quite close to the airport!  

Stop Nineteen - Bremen - https://www.stellplatz-bremen.de/

Bremen is a lovely city with a Unesco designation for the ornate town hall.

The camp site is really handy, with a foot ferry running every few minutes to the city centre.

Stop Twenty - Assen - https://www.witterzomer.nl/

This place has a bar and restaurant, hot showers...perfect.  I did plan to visit the Dolmen - megolithic tombs - but in the end it was too cold and I needed to get to Amsterdam by 4pm for the ferry.  On route I stopped for lunch in Sneek.

Trip Miles

From	To	Date	Miles Driven	Km
Home	Newcastle Docks	02/01/2019	188	303
Ijmuiden	Amsterdam	03/01/2019	26	42
Amsterdam	Jutberg	05/01/2019	117	188
Jutberg	Aachen	06/01/2019	133	214
Aachen	Dijon	07/01/2019	355	571
Dijon	Beaune	08/01/2019	34	55
Beaune	Lyon	09/01/2019	136	219
Lyon	Turin	10/01/2019	210	338
Turin	Venice	11/01/2019	289	465
Venice	Spittal am der Drau	12/01/2019	204	328
Spittal am der Drau	Freistadt	13/01/2019	243	391
Freistadt	Prague	14/01/2019	176	283
Prague	Kyritz	15/01/2019	287	462
Kyritz	Zierow	16/01/2019	145	233
Zierow	Copenhagen	17/01/2019	202	325
Copenhagen	Nr Slagelse	18/01/2019	88	142
Nr Slagelse	Odense	19/01/2019	82	132
Odense	Aarhus	20/01/2019	115	185
Aarhus	Ribe	21/01/2019	218	351
Ribe	Hanover	22/01/2019	161	259
Hanover	Bremen	23/01/2019	93	150
Bremen	Assen	24/01/2019	136	219
Assen	Ijmiuden	25/01/2019	138	222
Newcastle	Home	26/01/2019	188	303
Total			3964	6379