Well as promised, we set off from Hastings at 8:20 in the morning on the 1st of May 2008 for our ferry from Dover, and away we were into the great wide world!
The last few weeks have been pretty hectic getting things sorted out with the flat and all our belongings, all of which we have now either sold or given away, side from a van load which we took up to Scotland to put in Rhonas parents loft! Thanks Mam and Dad! It really was a last minute ordeal, I was actually on the phone on the ferry frantically trying to phone all of our utilities to tell them final meter readings before my signal ran out halfway across the channel!
We had our circuit of the UK a week before we left, which was a great success. The van drove wonderfully all the way up to Aberdeen and back without a hitch. We spent our very first (cold) night in the van in the Yorkshire Dales on the way back, although the van was still so far from being livable in. We were so busy with sorting out flat things, and tiying up loose ends for leaving the country that we didn't do anything else on the van and we conceded that we would have to leave with it in a half finished state, having tested next to none of the gear on board and just stuff all of our worldly belongings in with my tools, and we'll sort it out on the way!
I think on hind sight we were a little ambitous for our first day to
try and get through 5 countries from UK to South Germany including the ferry crossing, but we arrived in a campsite in Saarburg in Germany near the Luxemburg border just as night was drawing, and the rain was setting in. I thought it was a little unfair after having driven all that way, to then have to rifle through the huge piles of our things in the back that had no place to be put away yet, and try to 'organise' them! We just kind of moved them around so that we could find some food to eat and get the bed out and go to it!
The next morning was very fine though, we were planing on driving to Czech Republic, but we hung around in the very pretty Saarburg until around 3 o'clock to prioritise sorting the van out before driving a few hours to near Nurnberg in South Eastern Germany for a night in a forest near the motorway so we could get going early in the morning for Prague. Really enjoyed
Saarburg, it was set at the foot of some steep hills and was quite picturesque. when we got up we ventured into town to see if we could find some milk for our Wheatabix. But could we find milk anywhere?! We found nearly everything else including delicious bread (which we ended up having for breakfast!), meat, some pretty old, battered apples and bananas... but the only milk they seemed to have was UHT or sterilised! Germany is definately not a place for fruit and veg lovers, but its great for bread, cheese, and of course all sorts of meat! Most of Europe so far has been fairly similar, very green, lots of forests and little farming towns. We have spent a lot of time on the motorway so far though and not really explored much as was the plan until we hit the Czech Republic. Si I think was a little jelous of the cars managing to whiz past us at prob over 120mph on the German motorway which of course has unlimited speed. We managed to hit 80mph a few times in our little van!!
The last few weeks have been pretty hectic getting things sorted out with the flat and all our belongings, all of which we have now either sold or given away, side from a van load which we took up to Scotland to put in Rhonas parents loft! Thanks Mam and Dad! It really was a last minute ordeal, I was actually on the phone on the ferry frantically trying to phone all of our utilities to tell them final meter readings before my signal ran out halfway across the channel!
We had our circuit of the UK a week before we left, which was a great success. The van drove wonderfully all the way up to Aberdeen and back without a hitch. We spent our very first (cold) night in the van in the Yorkshire Dales on the way back, although the van was still so far from being livable in. We were so busy with sorting out flat things, and tiying up loose ends for leaving the country that we didn't do anything else on the van and we conceded that we would have to leave with it in a half finished state, having tested next to none of the gear on board and just stuff all of our worldly belongings in with my tools, and we'll sort it out on the way!
I think on hind sight we were a little ambitous for our first day to
try and get through 5 countries from UK to South Germany including the ferry crossing, but we arrived in a campsite in Saarburg in Germany near the Luxemburg border just as night was drawing, and the rain was setting in. I thought it was a little unfair after having driven all that way, to then have to rifle through the huge piles of our things in the back that had no place to be put away yet, and try to 'organise' them! We just kind of moved them around so that we could find some food to eat and get the bed out and go to it!The next morning was very fine though, we were planing on driving to Czech Republic, but we hung around in the very pretty Saarburg until around 3 o'clock to prioritise sorting the van out before driving a few hours to near Nurnberg in South Eastern Germany for a night in a forest near the motorway so we could get going early in the morning for Prague. Really enjoyed
Saarburg, it was set at the foot of some steep hills and was quite picturesque. when we got up we ventured into town to see if we could find some milk for our Wheatabix. But could we find milk anywhere?! We found nearly everything else including delicious bread (which we ended up having for breakfast!), meat, some pretty old, battered apples and bananas... but the only milk they seemed to have was UHT or sterilised! Germany is definately not a place for fruit and veg lovers, but its great for bread, cheese, and of course all sorts of meat! Most of Europe so far has been fairly similar, very green, lots of forests and little farming towns. We have spent a lot of time on the motorway so far though and not really explored much as was the plan until we hit the Czech Republic. Si I think was a little jelous of the cars managing to whiz past us at prob over 120mph on the German motorway which of course has unlimited speed. We managed to hit 80mph a few times in our little van!!We are now just finishing this off in Prague whilst having a coffee. Looks like a lovely city in places, but would need a bit more time to explore properly. For now we are going to head a bit further North East into the mountainous area - Cool! We are planing on BBQ'ing some Czech sausages tonight then go for a hill trek in the Krkonose mountains tomorow. Until then See ya later. I've included some trivial info for you muse on. Enjoy!
Mileages:
Day 1: Hastings to Saarberg: 400
Day 2: Saarberg to Nurnberg: 238
Day 3: Nurnberg to Prague: 255
Start mileage: 101228
Saarburg night: 101628
Nurnburg night: 101866
Prague: 102121
UK Diesel: £1.20
France diesel: £1.10
Belgium Diesel: £1.10
Luxembourg Diesel: £1.00
Germany Diesel: £1.20
Czech diesel: £1.00
Highest Temp: 21 (France)
Lowest Temp: 6 (Saarberg)
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