Sorry everyone for not writing over the last couple of days... We've been very busy and haven't been able to find many WiFi providers.
As you may have guessed, we've left the UK and are now in beautiful France. We decided to leave the UK 5 days early and make the trip over the chanel as the weather in the UK was driving us nuts (shocking I know). The UK was very kind to us during our time there. We met some wonderful people who helped make our experience so much better.
France has been all that we expected so far. Our first night was spent in one of our "France Passion" free camps which was a little different as our hosts were no-where to be seen. We ended up camping in their car park, then scooting off early in the morning to avoid any angry or confused people. The second night was much better, we stopped at a great little caravan park near Duclaire which is not far from Roun in Normandy. We went to the local village and stocked up on local produce which included Pate, Camembert (originally created in Normandy), a Baguette and a couple of bottles of Bordeaux red wine. The bakeries here are beyond belief, the French reputation for their baked goods is absolutely deserved and we've been enjoying the produce daily.
We've been to the Bayeux tapestry which is a 70m depiction of the Normandy Invasion which was created around 1066 and is still in amazing condition, Bayeux Cathedral, HonFluer (BEAUTIFUL TOWN), Juno Beach which is one of the DDay beaches near Caen which the Canadians charged. The Museum/German bunkers are well worth the visit and are quite an emotional experience.
Last night we spent the night at another free camp which was at an orchard/cider producer. We parked Callum within the orhard itself, and enjoyed more of the local beer and wine, it was exactly as we had dreamed this part of the trip would be. We sat back and enjoyed some beers, wine and more cheese and bread. Definately one of the highlights of the trip so far. In the morning we were able to sample some of the farm produce which was a beautiful apéritif. It was a little daring to taste just before driving (and before breakfast) but it was worth it. The old lady showing us the farm spoke no english at all so it was quite funny attempting to have a converstaion with her. After our morning on the farm, we've been to visit Le Mt Saint Michel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mont-Saint-Michel) which was a great experience and worth the drive. We arrived just in time to make the English speaking tour with a very intelligent Frenchman that was telling other visitors (and even another tour guide) quite plainly to be quiet while he was speaking (very amusing).
Today we're starting to make our way back up to Belgium to hopefully meet some family, then on to Holland.
Quick update on Callums health... Clutch was driving beautifully in the UK, as soon as we touched French soil, the clutch started slipping... Wonderful news obviously, and our excellent mechanic in Bath has told us to "just pop back in, and we'll have a look."..... Real bloody handy that is... We're heading to Germany for a real mechanic to look at it. :)
More pictures to come as soon as we can...
Love A&J xo
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Brighton
Yesterday we drove from Bath to Brighton and the van drove beautifully, we’re so happy to have our mate back in working order and running better than ever. On the way to Brighton, about 45 minutes out of Bath we stopped in at Stone Henge. It was..... Ordinary.... Don’t get me wrong, the fact that whoever built this thing 5000 years ago dragged those massive rocks all the way from Wales is pretty bloody amazing, but now it’s just a set of fairly big rocks that look as though they’re an oversized put-put golf course. All the same, it’s still on the must see list of the UK, so we saw.
We travelled on to a small town called Littlehampton which we thought would be a nice place to stop in for the night. We drove directly to the middle of town and found the “beach” which we walked along for a while, then decided to head back to the van and make our way to Brighton.
Brighton was described to us by some guy that worked in a deli (and gave me a Pims and lemonaide to try over his counter) as the new culture and fashion capital of England, big call for a guy that serves bratwurst. Either way, so far the city looks brilliant; we’ve driven all the way along the beachside road that’s covered in restaurants, hotels and funky little cafes. We walked into town last night and had dinner at a pub down a side allay which was great.
Today we left our camp site at about 10am and drove down to the city centre were we searched and searched for a pub playing the state of origin. Finally we found an open pub that had the game on, AND free wi-fi. What a gold mine! We watched the game.... Jamie is pretty happy with the whole situation... I think it's a rubbish game and hate everything...
Anyway, theres a good chance we'll be staying at the pub for the rest of the afternoon today as it's an overcast day outside and there's fairly cheap beer here. Good chance we'll be off to France in the next couple of days.
Cheers,
A&J
We travelled on to a small town called Littlehampton which we thought would be a nice place to stop in for the night. We drove directly to the middle of town and found the “beach” which we walked along for a while, then decided to head back to the van and make our way to Brighton.
Brighton was described to us by some guy that worked in a deli (and gave me a Pims and lemonaide to try over his counter) as the new culture and fashion capital of England, big call for a guy that serves bratwurst. Either way, so far the city looks brilliant; we’ve driven all the way along the beachside road that’s covered in restaurants, hotels and funky little cafes. We walked into town last night and had dinner at a pub down a side allay which was great.
Today we left our camp site at about 10am and drove down to the city centre were we searched and searched for a pub playing the state of origin. Finally we found an open pub that had the game on, AND free wi-fi. What a gold mine! We watched the game.... Jamie is pretty happy with the whole situation... I think it's a rubbish game and hate everything...
Anyway, theres a good chance we'll be staying at the pub for the rest of the afternoon today as it's an overcast day outside and there's fairly cheap beer here. Good chance we'll be off to France in the next couple of days.
Cheers,
A&J
Monday, May 24, 2010
Bath - Still
Bath would have to be one of the better places to be stuck waiting for the van to get fixed. We've filled the last few days with doing day trips to Glastonbury and Bristol which were both excellent. Glastonbury is so much like Byron, just without the beach. There are hippies and hemp shops everywhere. Bristol is a shoppers dream town. The shopping centre there would have kept Jamie busy for days if left unattended.
We had our first couple of nights free camping which has been great. We're pulled up next to a canal where there's a house boat mored. The guy that owns it (Jerry) is a top guy and has been very reassuring for Jamie as she was a little nervous the first night. He even gave us a couple of beers that he keeps chilled by throwing them in the canal. They may be cool, but have a bit of a funky smell and require washing prior to enjoying.
Today we're going to the Roman Baths, The Assembly Rooms, lunch in the park with a good book and maybe a canoe down the canal this afternoon if time permits.
Stay tuned for more updates. And please, some more news from home would be great...
A&J
We had our first couple of nights free camping which has been great. We're pulled up next to a canal where there's a house boat mored. The guy that owns it (Jerry) is a top guy and has been very reassuring for Jamie as she was a little nervous the first night. He even gave us a couple of beers that he keeps chilled by throwing them in the canal. They may be cool, but have a bit of a funky smell and require washing prior to enjoying.
We dropped Callum the campervan at the mechanic this morning who assures us he will take good care of him. Andrew was a little disturbed when the mechenic looked under the van and the first thing he said was "oooo I've never seen that before" with reference to the location of the engine. Will provide an update as soon as we know more.
Today we're going to the Roman Baths, The Assembly Rooms, lunch in the park with a good book and maybe a canoe down the canal this afternoon if time permits.
Stay tuned for more updates. And please, some more news from home would be great...
A&J
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Bath - Roman Baths, Dodgy Pubs, Cheap Mechanics...
We arrived at Bath yesterday afternoon, swiftly booked into a caravan park and immediately looked for a mechanic to fix our sick mate Callum. We found a great mechanic who said he could fix our van.... unfortunately it was too tall to fit into the shop. He suggested another guy up the road that "wouldn't rip us off too much" but suggested we adopt a slight English accent and say that we're looking at moving to the area.... we laughed at his "joke" after which he said "no seriously".... So we walked around to the other mechanic and spoke to him briefly in our best English speak regarding our dodgy clutch and he said he could fix it on Monday coming for 480 pounds plus another 100 for a service. We're really happy with this price as we were expecting in excess of 1000 pounds. (The Griffioen family has a habbit of visiting the UK and breaking clutches, fortunately for us we're in an English speaking country).
Today we spent walking around Bath town and jumped on the tourist bus for a look at the most famous sites of the city. The Georgian architecture is similar to that of London but on a smaller scale. They do however have an amazing "Circus" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circus_(Bath) in Bath which is one of the centre pieces of all of the buildings within the city. We had a picnic lunch of banana sandwiches and a pear in the park that we had to pay an entrance fee of 1 pound each! bullshit!
Thats us for the afternoon, we've written this in The Bell pub which is what looks to be a dodgy local but has free WiFi and fairly decent beer which isn't hard when you drink any sort of beer. We're back off to the campervan now to enjoy a few beers in the sun.. Thats right, sunlight till 10:30 at night!!!
A&J
PS - Jamie says a big HI to all of her mates at work who she misses so much! xo
Today we spent walking around Bath town and jumped on the tourist bus for a look at the most famous sites of the city. The Georgian architecture is similar to that of London but on a smaller scale. They do however have an amazing "Circus" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circus_(Bath) in Bath which is one of the centre pieces of all of the buildings within the city. We had a picnic lunch of banana sandwiches and a pear in the park that we had to pay an entrance fee of 1 pound each! bullshit!
Thats us for the afternoon, we've written this in The Bell pub which is what looks to be a dodgy local but has free WiFi and fairly decent beer which isn't hard when you drink any sort of beer. We're back off to the campervan now to enjoy a few beers in the sun.. Thats right, sunlight till 10:30 at night!!!
A&J
PS - Jamie says a big HI to all of her mates at work who she misses so much! xo
Thursday, May 20, 2010
On the road again (JUST)....
We'll start from a couple of days ago when we were in the Lakes District in England..... We stopped off at some of Sam's friends, Ian and Kaths house for a couple of days which was absolutely beautiful. They took us to some amazing places around Egremont. One particullar place was voted as Britains best view of 2010. We also had lunch at a lovely lunch at a restaurant on one of the lakes, this is where Jamie accidently ordered a "Champaigne" (thinking it was sparkling white but it was billecart-salmon brut reserve) which ended being 15pound a glass ($28) . As you could imagine she didn't enjoy it all that much. Andrew has contacted the bank for an overdraft and we've purchased baked beans to enjoy for every meal for the next two weeks...
On our first day alone yesterday we travelled about 4 hours down to northern Wales. During the trip we noticed some "slipping" of the clutch in 5th gear..... SHIT. We've spoken briefly to a mechanic and he's confirmed our worst nightmares and told us our clutch is on the way out..... SHIT. We're thinking we should get it replaced before we head to France, so we're off to Bath for a few days to find a mechanic that won't screw us too much. (Stewie, are you coming to the UK in the next few days?)
Our original plan in Wales was to head south via the Snowden national park which is apparently beautiful, but very mountainous. Due to the condition of Callum, we've decided to stick to the motorways and make our way to Bath ASAP.
Thats the update for now, we'll write again once we've found out whats happening with our wonderful van. :) Thats if we haven't hocked the laptop to pay for it.
A&J
On our first day alone yesterday we travelled about 4 hours down to northern Wales. During the trip we noticed some "slipping" of the clutch in 5th gear..... SHIT. We've spoken briefly to a mechanic and he's confirmed our worst nightmares and told us our clutch is on the way out..... SHIT. We're thinking we should get it replaced before we head to France, so we're off to Bath for a few days to find a mechanic that won't screw us too much. (Stewie, are you coming to the UK in the next few days?)
Our original plan in Wales was to head south via the Snowden national park which is apparently beautiful, but very mountainous. Due to the condition of Callum, we've decided to stick to the motorways and make our way to Bath ASAP.
Thats the update for now, we'll write again once we've found out whats happening with our wonderful van. :) Thats if we haven't hocked the laptop to pay for it.
A&J
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The Highlands and St Andrews
The Highlands of Scotland is one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever seen. This week we stayed in a place called Dunoon in a little cabin with amazing views. On a day trip, we drove to Loch Ness which is obviously famous for the monster that keeps popping up around the Loch (unfortunately not this time) but is definitely NOT famous for the snow flurry that greeted us upon getting out of the car at Urquhart Castle! Loch Ness and the castle are a beautiful site together and well worth the trip up to see it. On the drive we passed through Glenn Coe which is famous for the massacre of the Macdonald clan that took place in the 1600’s.
After getting back from the Highlands, we left for the East coast. This was the first time we took the van out for a decent drive and it's performed like a true thoroughbred. Once we got used to the gears, there was no problem at all. We travel well and truely in the slow lane, but we get there eventually. Our first stop was Stirling where we climbed the Wallace Monument. There's something about the Scots and stairs... This one was 270 odd stairs but felt a lot easier than the Scot monument in Edinburgh.
Next stop was St Andrews (Thats right! The HOME of golf). After getting into town we immediately proceded to The Old Course to check out where the best golfers in the world will be in early July. The course really is something special. To see the famous bridge over the Swilcan Burn and the Old Course Club house was something that I'd hoped to do for a long time. That night we booked a camping site where we were the only campers there. We had 7 acres of perfectly mowed lawn which was looking over St Andrews. We took advantage of this and kicked the soccer ball around for a while. :)
On the way back to Kilwinning from St Andrews we stayed a night in Killin which is a great little villiage in the middle of Scotland. We again stopped in at a camp site and Jamie cooked her first campervan prepared meal which was Fillet of Salmon Carbonara. I must say that she's taken to the somewhat smaller and less equiped kitchen really quite well.
Tomorrow we're off to the Lakes District in England hopefully into a little bit of a warmer part of the country. :)
After getting back from the Highlands, we left for the East coast. This was the first time we took the van out for a decent drive and it's performed like a true thoroughbred. Once we got used to the gears, there was no problem at all. We travel well and truely in the slow lane, but we get there eventually. Our first stop was Stirling where we climbed the Wallace Monument. There's something about the Scots and stairs... This one was 270 odd stairs but felt a lot easier than the Scot monument in Edinburgh.
Next stop was St Andrews (Thats right! The HOME of golf). After getting into town we immediately proceded to The Old Course to check out where the best golfers in the world will be in early July. The course really is something special. To see the famous bridge over the Swilcan Burn and the Old Course Club house was something that I'd hoped to do for a long time. That night we booked a camping site where we were the only campers there. We had 7 acres of perfectly mowed lawn which was looking over St Andrews. We took advantage of this and kicked the soccer ball around for a while. :)
On the way back to Kilwinning from St Andrews we stayed a night in Killin which is a great little villiage in the middle of Scotland. We again stopped in at a camp site and Jamie cooked her first campervan prepared meal which was Fillet of Salmon Carbonara. I must say that she's taken to the somewhat smaller and less equiped kitchen really quite well.
Tomorrow we're off to the Lakes District in England hopefully into a little bit of a warmer part of the country. :)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
A Couple of Days in Edinburgh
The last couple of days have been a blast in the most beautiful city we've been to so far. Edinburgh would be best described as a city with many levels. The current city is built upon foundations of underground caverns which were the homes and work places of Edinburgers hundreds of years ago. The city has managed to maintain a close link to its amazing history while at the same time providing it's inhabitents with a modern city full of cosmopolitan bars and eateries.
The first day we managed to climb the Scott Monuments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Monument) 287 steps to reach to top viewing platform which gave spectacullar views of the city. It was a little tight walking up the last part of the monument and when we reached the very top platform, you couldn't even make your way past people as the platform was too narrow. After the Scott Monument we walked around the city and took in all we could (including a few pints). Just on dusk we went on a "Ghosts and Gouls" tour of the city which explained some of the darker history of the city. We learnt about the effect that the black plague had on the city, the methods they used to eradicate the disease by placing victoms into "quarantine" and the haunting results of these methods. As part of the tour we were able to visit some of the underground vaults which was a great experience. Andrew got a shock when he picked up what he thought was a rock to throw into the corner and scare Jamie, but it ended up being a bone! The tour guide assures us that it wasn't human.
The second day started with Andrew climbing Arthurs Seat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Seat,_Edinburgh) which was a great way to start the morning and see Edinburgh from its best view point. We all headed into the city centre for a big breakfast (AGAIN) before walking up to the castle. We got our tickets and headed in to check it out. 4 hours later we came out for lunch at a shop called "The Whisky Experience" where we had some soup and funnily enough... Whisky... They had over 330 bottles of whisky to choose from behind the bar (all of which were visible). Sam and Andrew had two single malts, a 25 year old Highland Park and a 12 year old Oban.
The next day we caught the train back to Kilwinning and headed to John and Margargets for dinner and drinks. They live in a several hundred year old church that has been converted into a house. They've done an incredible job with the transformation. Photo's to follow.
Over the next couple of days we're off to the highlands at Dunoon which by all reports is a beautiful part of the country. Hoping to catch a few distilleries on the way through. :)
A&J
The first day we managed to climb the Scott Monuments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Monument) 287 steps to reach to top viewing platform which gave spectacullar views of the city. It was a little tight walking up the last part of the monument and when we reached the very top platform, you couldn't even make your way past people as the platform was too narrow. After the Scott Monument we walked around the city and took in all we could (including a few pints). Just on dusk we went on a "Ghosts and Gouls" tour of the city which explained some of the darker history of the city. We learnt about the effect that the black plague had on the city, the methods they used to eradicate the disease by placing victoms into "quarantine" and the haunting results of these methods. As part of the tour we were able to visit some of the underground vaults which was a great experience. Andrew got a shock when he picked up what he thought was a rock to throw into the corner and scare Jamie, but it ended up being a bone! The tour guide assures us that it wasn't human.
The second day started with Andrew climbing Arthurs Seat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Seat,_Edinburgh) which was a great way to start the morning and see Edinburgh from its best view point. We all headed into the city centre for a big breakfast (AGAIN) before walking up to the castle. We got our tickets and headed in to check it out. 4 hours later we came out for lunch at a shop called "The Whisky Experience" where we had some soup and funnily enough... Whisky... They had over 330 bottles of whisky to choose from behind the bar (all of which were visible). Sam and Andrew had two single malts, a 25 year old Highland Park and a 12 year old Oban.
The next day we caught the train back to Kilwinning and headed to John and Margargets for dinner and drinks. They live in a several hundred year old church that has been converted into a house. They've done an incredible job with the transformation. Photo's to follow.
Over the next couple of days we're off to the highlands at Dunoon which by all reports is a beautiful part of the country. Hoping to catch a few distilleries on the way through. :)
A&J
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Scotland - Campervans, Castles and the Cold
So since we've updated we've had a busy few days...
On Saturday Sam, Kathy and Yvonne arrived into Glasgow airport. Once they arrived we started having a few afternoon beers, after which we went to the Kilwinning Bowlo to have some exceptionally cheap pints. We started the night saying that it would be a very early night but after the excitement of bingo, and Andrew winning a bottle of scotch in the raffle, we started on a fairly big night getting home around 2am.
Sunday was fairly quiet as you could imagine.... We went to the local shops and bought some much needed supplies for the campervan (sheets, beers etc...). Sunday night was the second night in the van, and was bloody freezing (-1degree). We survived OK so haven't sold the van yet.
Monday was the big day.... The day we drove the van. Seems to be OK so far, providing you don't need to use 2nd gear which is, shall we say a little challenging to get, and as for reverse... who needs to go backwards anyway????... After fighting with the van, we went for a drive down to Robert "Rabby" Burns' birth place to check it out and ended up finding a beautiful hotel called the "Brigadoon Hotel". After a quick scotch, we were on our way back home for a late dinner but an early night.
Tuesday has been a BIG day. We drove down to Culzean Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culzean) which was beautiful. Who built these places? We've put a few photo's up so check them out. We nearly drove all the way down to Stranraer but were turned around right at the end as there was a bad accident on the highway which had blocked the whole road.
We drove back via Dunoon and checked out another old castle on the way. Tomorrow, we're off to Edinburgh for a couple of days. Update to follow that... :)
A&J
xo
On Saturday Sam, Kathy and Yvonne arrived into Glasgow airport. Once they arrived we started having a few afternoon beers, after which we went to the Kilwinning Bowlo to have some exceptionally cheap pints. We started the night saying that it would be a very early night but after the excitement of bingo, and Andrew winning a bottle of scotch in the raffle, we started on a fairly big night getting home around 2am.
Sunday was fairly quiet as you could imagine.... We went to the local shops and bought some much needed supplies for the campervan (sheets, beers etc...). Sunday night was the second night in the van, and was bloody freezing (-1degree). We survived OK so haven't sold the van yet.
Monday was the big day.... The day we drove the van. Seems to be OK so far, providing you don't need to use 2nd gear which is, shall we say a little challenging to get, and as for reverse... who needs to go backwards anyway????... After fighting with the van, we went for a drive down to Robert "Rabby" Burns' birth place to check it out and ended up finding a beautiful hotel called the "Brigadoon Hotel". After a quick scotch, we were on our way back home for a late dinner but an early night.
Tuesday has been a BIG day. We drove down to Culzean Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culzean) which was beautiful. Who built these places? We've put a few photo's up so check them out. We nearly drove all the way down to Stranraer but were turned around right at the end as there was a bad accident on the highway which had blocked the whole road.
We drove back via Dunoon and checked out another old castle on the way. Tomorrow, we're off to Edinburgh for a couple of days. Update to follow that... :)
A&J
xo
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Arrival in sunny Scotland
Our next stop on the list...Scotland.
We arrived via the train from London (at 0540) to Glasgow which was an excellent way to see the country side. From the train we were able to take in the views of the beautiful lakes district which we'll be visiting in a few weeks. We arrived at Jamie's Uncle Roberts and Dolina's where we met our beautiful van. One word....compact!!!!
Today we had a quiet one and had a chance to give the van a good clean and get to know it a little more. The van is yet to be named so will be called Callum (after the previous owner) until we come up with the final name.
Today Drew had his first Scottish strawberry tart...and his face said it all. Reports say that he's been hanging out around the bakery all afternoon.
Uncle Robert took us for a drive after dinner (the sun doesnt go down until after 9.30pm) to Adrossan town and showed us where Jamies grandparents used to live and the old ruin of Adrossan Castle which was just beautiful.
Tomorrow night is our first night in the campervan... We shall report back with results. :)
We arrived via the train from London (at 0540) to Glasgow which was an excellent way to see the country side. From the train we were able to take in the views of the beautiful lakes district which we'll be visiting in a few weeks. We arrived at Jamie's Uncle Roberts and Dolina's where we met our beautiful van. One word....compact!!!!
Today we had a quiet one and had a chance to give the van a good clean and get to know it a little more. The van is yet to be named so will be called Callum (after the previous owner) until we come up with the final name.
Today Drew had his first Scottish strawberry tart...and his face said it all. Reports say that he's been hanging out around the bakery all afternoon.
Uncle Robert took us for a drive after dinner (the sun doesnt go down until after 9.30pm) to Adrossan town and showed us where Jamies grandparents used to live and the old ruin of Adrossan Castle which was just beautiful.
Tomorrow night is our first night in the campervan... We shall report back with results. :)
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About Us
- Andrew and Jamie Griffioen
- Andrew and Jamie are a married couple from Brisbane, Australia. We have embarked on an overseas adventure for 6 months leaving in April and returning in October. We plan to cover the UK and a lot of Europe. To see more details, check out our posts below.