Procrastination is the enemy of the
blogger. Yes, it has been two
weeks.
From San Sebastion Team
Lloyd landed in windy, wet England late Thursday evening courtesy of the Bilbao
to Portsmouth ferry - a week earlier than planned. Although we’d intended to spend a week or so travelling along the west coast
of France, the call of the heart proved too strong. On Friday 23 November Lloydy said his final goodbyes to his
friend of over 30 years.
But wait … there’s more … a week later Lloydy
celebrated England’s win over the All Blacks at Twickenham. It should be noted that Mrs L was and
continues to be, magnanimous in defeat!
Unsurprisingly the River Thames had partially
drenched the Chertsy
Campsite but once again Team Lloyd found the campervan community fantastic.
The staff at the camp proved warm and friendly. We also met and exchanged experiences with older kiwi doing
the big OE. Crossing fingers for Rick
and Kathy plus dog Sky, from Auckland who’ve been touring UK/Europe since
January this year. It’s a bugger
when a country moves the goal posts while you’re away, but we hope Sky returns
to NZ safely next week.
Cally has survived the tour relatively unscathed, so the rest of the month will be spent wintering her over i.e. minor repairs, deep clean inside blah blah; so we're prepared for more adventures in 2013.
Now the dust (frost at the moment) has settled,
what tips can we offer the intrepid campervanner contemplating a tour of
Europe?
Top
Tips:
Like love the person(s) you are
travelling with.
Update
your GPS software – Italy, Portugal and Spain have made significant
improvements to their roads.
MacDonalds
(can’t believe we've written this) is your friend i.e. for free Wi-Fi and for
excellent McCafe expresso.
If
you have a residential permit – make sure you hand it to border control or your
night will be much longer!
Join
a campsite association e.g. ACSI or the Camping and Caravanning Club to take
advantage of discounts.
Get
on with your partner (labouring the point).
Forget
the budget occasionally – get out there and enjoy yourselves.
Photo gallery:
To end this blog here's an album of fun, amusing, unusual things (sic) found on tour:
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| Hunter style Camper Van - Cambridge, UK |
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| Cutesy bike 'glam'd up - UK |
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| Antwerp |
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| Antherp, Belguim - Avonmouth Rugby Supporter |
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| Brugge, Belguim |
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| Lissewege, Belguim - sharing a bath |
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| Lissewege, Belguim Art |
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| Lisseewege, Belguim |
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| Leapfrog - Varberg, Sweden |
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| Gamebly, Sweden |
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| Trelleborg-Rossberg Ferry - Dog Toilet |
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| Love this chap from Berlin, reminds us of a friend |
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| Polish Road sign |
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| Manaco - Kept in the dark |
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| Lloydy's little Pompeii friend, Italy |
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| Found in Rome, Italy - the Bristolians may be confused about their infamous Portuguese Explorer |
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| Lloydy in hunter gatherer mode, Avin, Spain |
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| Found RAT! |
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| Regua, Portugal - colour conflicts |
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| Lad with heads in clouds. Madrid, Spain |
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| Gympy - found in Amsterdam |
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| Royal Mail, Stockholm |
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| Local lad in Gottenborg, Sweden |
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| Kolobrzeg, Poland |
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| Rome, Italy |
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| Queen of Hearts, Carcassone, France |
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| The meat was goat but, Warsaw, Poland |
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| Taking it to the Italians! |
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| This is a WTF? monument outside a church in Caceres, Spain |
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| Vastervik, Sweden - Kiwi's will smile at this one |
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| Lisboa, Portugal |
But wait … there’s more … a week later Lloydy
celebrated England’s win over the All Blacks at Twickenham. It should be noted that Mrs L was and
continues to be, magnanimous in defeat!
