Europe Adventures 2011

5 April/6 April

Well here we go again. Europe trip two! We have used Lufthansa for our flights to London via Singapore and Frankfurt. We ran into Mike Hyphen on the flight to Singapore, going to India for IPL. Small world!! Not a bad trip except for a 7 hour stop over in Singapore (thank god we still have lounge access) and a very old 747 with no individual screens for the 12 hour Singapore to Frankfurt leg. John and Jackie Sollis met us at Heathrow and took us down to the storage place where our camper (Lefty) has been hibernating. After a check of all facilities on board (all OK) we drove to the nearest post office to renew the road tax. Then on to Val’s cousin’s, Denise and Ian, where we overnighted and caught up on some sleep.

April 7

After a big shop up, we drove down into Dorset where we meet up with John and Jackie again in their caravan at a camp site near Dorchester. After lunch we walked up to a monument dedicated to Hardy (of Napolean “kiss me Hardy” fame). Great views. Later we had a great night of story telling and cards.

April 8

We packed a picnic lunch and drove with John and Jackie to Lulworth Cove (very pretty) and then walked to Durdle Door, a huge arch in the rocks in the sea. This area is called the Jurassic Coast and is very spectacular.

April 9

Another picnic lunch packed and trip to explore Corfe Castle which is a spectacular ruin originally built by William the Conqueror in the 13th century and eventually destroyed by the government in 1650. After lunch highlighted by a great steam train going past, we continued on to Swanage, a lovely seaside town. The weather has been great with temperatures into the low 20s but today there was a cold wind off the sea. There were lots of families on the beach and even some swimming. Crazy poms!!!

April 10

Sadly we left John and Jackie to continue their holiday and headed into Wales with a deadline of Thursday to be in Pembroke to catch the ferry to Ireland. Tonight we are camped near Abergavenny (made famous by the Beatles). Truly a great area and well worth singing about.

April 11

We drove on up the inland valleys of Wales in misty rain which seemed appropriate for this part of Wales. Our lunch time stop was at Aberaeron on the west coast. The stone houses are quite different painted in a variety of pastel colours. Our overnight stop was at Fishguard, an historic fishing village.

12 April

Don spent a large part of the morning sorting out “Lefty’s” drainage. (blocked pipes) before cycling back into the fishing port of Fishguard for a look around. We drove along the coast to Abercastle, another picturesque fishing village, for lunch and continued on to St David’s. This is the smallest city in the UK because it has a cathedral. The sun shone all day but the wind is cold. We will stay another night here and explore the town and the cathedral tomorrow and hopefully post this blog.