No Particular Place To Go

Finally, our trip is coming to an end and as the ferry slowly leaves the Port of Calais I thought I would write about the good, the bad, and I was going to say ugly but ugly didn’t feature this time.

Our first stop  back in March was France and it was just as cold, wet and windy as Kent, and after nearly 18 months our language skills were more than a little rusty but the French patiently accepted our less than stellar attempts, just offering much encouragement, and when our translator pauses and we resort to Speak – loud – and – clear – and – they’ll – understand – English, doesn’t seem to be working either, we would just point.

Heading down through northern Spain on our way south to a warmer climate we discovered that this region of Spain is full of historical architecture and amazing landscapes, with some nice Aires and a few dodgy ones too.

In Portugal, we saw the temperature rise well into the 40s some days but we still enjoyed meeting the lovely people and seeing the inland villages. Like most countries in Europe, they boast picturesque sites, charming villages and out-of-the-ordinary places to stop whether it be for a day, a week or even longer. 

All of these countries have fantastic markets and supermarkets, and I’m sure John thinks I have a bit of an obsession because I’m always wandering around one. All that smelly cheese, fresh fruit, crusty bread, Bonne Maman jam and who can resist a trip to the Boulangerie for a Mille-Feuille?

At times I know there have been days when John thought he could do this trip on his own especially when it comes to my map reading skills, ( I’m slightly geographical challenged ) but then who’s going to make him a ham sandwich and tell him when to turn left, he would be lost without his cabin crew ( aka myself and the sat nav)

Our motor home had a few troubles along the way but that’s hardly surprising having travelled 5320 miles up and down mountains, over all terrain, and if you saw the state of it now you would agree it needs a good clean and well-earned rest. 

The motorhome  wasn’t the only person who needed assistance either, John’s back problem come out of nowhere, it took two trips to the chiropractor, a lot of poking and prodding, a ton of sticky blue tape and a rather odd walk for a few weeks but thankfully it resolved it’s self in the end. 

And let’s not forget the stowaway Drone that found its way under the seats. John tends to purchase things without telling me so I shouldn’t have been surprised really when I spotted the hidden M and S bag, but let’s just say it’s given me a license to shop.

Unfortunately the drone took a turn for the worse when it crashed and drowned when a gust of wind sent it flying into a ditch, only to rise like the Phoenix from the ashes a few days later. 

We feel very privileged at times being in these wild glorious places with amazing views right on our doorstep. However to experience all of these things we have to live in a van with a few pots and pans,( let’s not mention the packing away of the dam things) and at times a host of mosquitoes and flies. Over the years we have adopted certain roles: John is chief navigator, in charge of map reading and snap change of direction making, whilst I cook and ensure that everything is washed, swept and tidied away so that no rattling occurs.

There are some things at home we take for granted but you soon come to value when travelling in a motorhome and water is one of these. Most days we service the van, empty the toilet and grey wastewater and top up with fresh but when water is in short supply for a few days we have to forgo having a shower, however, after a couple of days, you realise that no amount of wet wipes are going to make you feel anything like a clean human being. Once we are showered and no longer resembling ‘Spike’ (Nottinghill) and ‘Daryl Van Horne’ (Witches of East wick), there’s the fun way of trying to get your hair dry by hanging your head out of the window as we move on to the next stop. 

Sometimes it can be stressful when trying to find a place to stay each night, weighing up free but possibly risky riversides or car parks against the security but crazily high prices of campsites, so along with the heat which nearly got the better of us at one stage,  as we have no air conditioning, these are probably the low points, and its sometimes at these points, you ask yourself the question: which runs out quicker? Your sense of adventure or sense of humour? Because it quickly becomes apparent that to maintain a harmonious life in such a confined space you certainly have to have a sense of humour.

However, it’s been great fun, we have  house sat in some amazing places, we have walked along sandy beaches, sat under a moonlight sky, found ourselves edging along unsealed farm tracks where the weeds grow from the middle of the path, or high up in the mountains on a road so remote you daren’t look down, slept in numerous car parks and a few random peoples back gardens. 

Had a German neighbour pull down his window and shout “ Your Prime Minister, Boris, he no more” and shut the window fast”.

We have also been lucky to have met some wonderful people whom we have spent many an evening with, each with their adventure and story to tell.

With the heat of the summer finally dying down, and the leaves now starting to do their magic trick and changing colour we are back to the UK shores, so I like to think we are just saying Au revoir, Adios or Adeus to Europe as I know it’s a place we would like to return to one day. It has been a pleasure to write about our trip and hopefully, I will get to continue it soon. Thank you for taking the time to read it, I hope you enjoyed it too x