Author: Del

Start point. Bad Kissingen, Germany.

Finish point. Golden Miele, Remagen, Germany.

Distance. 180 Miles.

Total. 5090 Miles.

The Abenteuer and Allrad show was the reason for me doing this trip so early in the holiday season as I wanted to finish on a bang, as they say. I first did the show last year with my son Regan and was blown away at the diversity of the exhibits. This show is the biggest of its kind in Europe and covers all aspects off off-roading and expedition adventure travel, most marques are covered but with the emphasis on long term travel with the larger trucks.

Of course Land Rover have a presence here as no 4×4 show would be complete without them, but they do tend to get over shadowed by the excellent quality of their Japanese and European competition, such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Steyr, Mercedes and Volkswagen, to name but a few. Even the Russians are getting in on the act with their UAZ trucks, and if one of theirs can survive Siberia then its got to be a tough little truck.

The show lasts for 4 days starting on the Thursday and ending Sunday, so the plan was do the show on the first day, have a day off and the travel home on the Saturday, but as always plans change. So it became a bit of a rush to catch the ferry today (Friday) so I could spend some time with my kids before returning to the treadmill of life.

I apologise for the lateness of the last few posts but its been a rather hectic schedule for the last few days and my internet connection in Germany has been diabolical, the worst yet over the last 4 weeks.

After spending the day ogling all the gorgeous trucks and drooling over all the goodies you could buy for them it was time to depart and head towards the ferry. Last year we stopped at a lovely campsite in the town of Remagen, made famous as the first intact bridge to be taken by the allies in 1945 so they could cross the Rhine river and secure a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine before heading onwards towards Berlin.

On arriving at the rather busy campsite I was surprised to learn it was a public holiday and half of Germany wanted to camp here, but as always they found a small spot for me to camp and once settled in it was time to visit the excellent restaurant on site and enjoy one of their splendid meals, and a pilsner or two. A rather pleasant end to an extraordinary 4 weeks.

Some pics of Remagen from last year.

It was a bit late to get any pics this year and the river was at least 2-3 metres higher due to all the rain they have had in the last few weeks but its a great place to stop over if your passing. The Peace Museum in the western towers is well worth a visit as it gives a very detailed history of the bridge, its construction and use during WWI and then its capture and eventual collapse in the latter part of WWII.

On a lighter note, who says the Germans have no sense of humour????

Start point. Camping Martina, Golling, Austria.

Finish point. Bad Kissengen, Germany.

Distance. 270 Miles.

Total. 4910 Miles.

I woke up once again this morning to fabulous views of mountains all around me, today is my last day in Austria and I know I’ll miss it as soon as I leave. But first off I have to get myself up to The Eagle’s Nest. This little building on top of a mountain was Hitlers little folly, it was used primarily as a meeting place for the Nazi and government leaders for their business and social events.

On arriving at the car parks I wasn’t surprised to see both of them full and people parking on the road side, I managed to get the van up a side track and into a small wooded area along with a few others that had gotten there before me. It was a short walk to the documentation centre where upon purchase of a bus ticket you get to ride up the 6.6km private road that leads to the base of the Eagles Nest, once your dropped off you book you return time for the trip back down the hill and then enter the tunnel that leads to the elevator that propels you straight up 125 metres to the buildings at the top.

If your the sort that likes a challenge you are able to walk all the way to the top as well, either from the base camp or from where the buses drop you off. No thanks, I’ll take the easy route.

I had read some reviews about having to wait for hours for the buses or the elevator but I must have been lucky as it was a case of straight up and enjoy the views and the delights of the restaurant. Even with 6 buses at a time running, approx 300 passengers every 20 minutes. It’s not too pricey considering this is purely a tourist trap and money making exercise, but for the entry price of 16€ the bus ride alone would have been worth it. The views on the way up on the bus would have had me turning my van around and going back down the hill. It was that extreme. Fair play to the drivers for doing that every day.

Once the food was consumed and photo’s taken ’twas time to go back down the little hill to where I’d abandoned the van and head out to tomorrows destination, Bad Kissengen.

More pics to come when I’ve better internet connection.

Start point. Campingplats, Moosewirt, Austria.

Finish point. Camping Martina, Golling, Austria.

Distance. 100 Miles.

Total. 4640 Miles.

With yesterdays choice to take it easy through Austria, today’s trip wasn’t going to break any distance records, and so heading off at 9am I was taking the scenic route towards Saltsburg which takes you through some breathtaking countryside.

This beast of a rock looks all set for falling into the river, it’s the size of a house.

I would have loved to film that falling. !!

It took me nearly 6 hours today to do the 100 miles, what with all the stopping and taking pics and basically just standing there and enjoying the scenery. One thing I did notice is that the small tributaries that run off the mountains during the spring thaw and that are completely dry during the summer months look like they have been painted brilliant white, it wasn’t until I stopped at one of them to take some pics that I saw it’s that colour because all the old rocks and vegetation has been washed away to reveal fresh rocks and stone thats been brought down off the mountain and deposited on the floor of the valley and into the river itself.

This was one of the larger runoffs that I seen.

One disappointment is that wild camping is banned and that includes motorhomes and campervan’s are not allowed to stop overnight in the National park areas unless in designated campsites. Thats a shame because there were some beautiful places to camp, but then if a tree or even half a mountain falls on your head during the night you might get a bit peeved about it.

One difference I have noticed is the lack of lakes compared to the Scandinavian countries and even in the Rhône Alps where there were quite a few bodies of water around. The one lake I did drive around was the “Hallstatter See” and that was massive, being some 6 km long and about 1km wide in places. It made a nice spot to stop for a brew, during which Google came to the rescue again finding me a campsite thats close enough to tomorrows destination that I can get parked up early again and sample the local delights.

Start point. Terrassen Camping, Traisen, Austria.

Finish point. Campingplatz Mooswirt, Mooslandl, Austria.

Distance. 70 Miles.

Total. 4540 Miles.

I woke today with a spring in my step and joy in my heart, I was heading back to the mountains, the first view on opening the curtains this morning was the foothills to the Alps. I couldn’t wait to get out and driving so forego breakfast and headed straight out towards the hills, most of what I’d seen was covered in forest as these aren’t as high as the mountains in the Rhône Alps where once above a certain height you get very few trees growing but snow on the peaks, even in summer.

The roads were nice and quiet and as I headed south I made the decision to venture along a fairly minor road that followed a river along a valley path between two huge great mountains that had nearly vertical sides to them, stunning.

I was able to meander along at a pretty sedate pace, pulling over to let faster drivers get on their way and to let the many bikers have a chance to enjoy the challenging roads, as some of them don’t have straights longer than a hundred metres before your into another series of tight twisting bends, bikers heaven, not so good for a big fat bloated van that wallows about like a drunkard at midnight. The van, honestly I said the van.

But, and this is a BIG but, the views are tremendous, and it was a case of stopping every few miles for photo’s, and now that we’re in proper tourist country theres always somewhere to pull in and get them pics taken, every turn in the road seemed to reveal more stunning scenery, and so it is that in early afternoon passing through the small village of Mooslandl I stopped near a campsite to ponder which way next. It was to turn around, drive for 50m and park up in the campsite, go across to the hotel that runs it and book a spot for the night, its 360 degrees mountains here, theres a lake for swimming in, a bar in the hotel, although the kitchen is closed today theres a couple of restaurants in the village and some shops so I wont starve.

This is the best part of a road trip when your destinations aren’t fixed, I had no plans to come this way but the pull from the mountains is too great, after 12 days and over 1500 miles from leaving Finland I’m back in a place that I’m happiest, the 70 miles I’ve travelled today would have taken just over an hour on the motorway but it has taken 5 hours for me to get where I am through some of the most beautiful scenery possible.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Start point. “At the lake” camping, Goje, Poland.

Finish point. Terrassen Camping, Traisen, Austria.

Distance. 280 Miles.

Total. 4470 Miles.

Today is the day for tramping, ie- getting the miles on the clock, destination Austria. After looking at the map and the time I have left I had decided to blast through the Czech Republic and into Austria, trying to get away from all this flat straight road stuff and back to something a bit more exciting.

Within an hour of leaving the campsite I had left Poland behind and was on the motorway in the Czech Republic, the only way of knowing when you’ve crossed the borders are when your mobile provider sends you a couple of messages, other than that you’d hardly notice the change, more long straight roads, more fields and the occasional wood to drive through.

The old Sat Nav took me mainly down the motorways but for some reason every now and again it would take me off them and on to a quiet backroad for a few miles, this gave me the opportunity to see the village life but unfortunately it was similar to Poland and the Baltic’s, not really for the traveller or tourist.

I was going to head straighten to Salzburg but once I’d crossed into Austria and could see mountains on the horizon I just followed the road straight into them and at the first village I went through I saw a sign for camping so stopped and checked Google for more info and the campsite was literally 500m up a hill.

On arriving at the site it was beautifully layed out on rising terraces overlooking the village and valley below with the hills in the background for added benefit. Once checked in at a reasonable 16€ I found a quiet spot and settled in for a couple of beers and then it was time to head into the village for dinner, the campsite owner had recommended a good restaurant and after half an hour wandering around the village I headed there only to find it closed for the week. Not good, I’d seen a Kebab shop and also a Chinese restaurant and so I thought I’d try the Chinese. The place was quite large but the only customers were four elderly gent that looked like they had just come off the farm, not being too put off I thought I might as try it, you never know.

With absolutely no Austrian or German language to my name, and one of the waitresses very little English I was able to order what turned out to be spring rolls for starters and beef in black bean sauce for main, result, it was excellent and washed down with a few beers for the huge sum of 21€, Im starting to like Austria.

After my dinner it was a slow crawl back up the never ending hill to the campsite and the van, another couple of beers whilst sat out in the evening sun as it set was a pleasant end to the day.

Start point. “At The Lake” Camping, Goje, Poland.

Finish point. “At The Lake” Camping, Goje, Poland.

Distance. 30 Miles.

Total. 4190 Miles.

If you don’t recognise the place by the first few pictures, go ask an older person.

If your having a bad day, just think of how many people passed through those gates.

DAY 19.

Start point. Old Town Vilnius, Lithuania.

Finish point. Kemping Ned Pilica, Warka, Poland.

Distance. 360 Miles.

Total. 3930 Miles.

I was expecting that these two days were going to be a bit of a mile crunching exercise, so that I get time to do a few of the sights down in the south of Poland and near the German / Austrian border, but on leaving Vilnius the scenery took a turn for the better but the roads were still extremely busy, especially with trucks, and the situation didn’t change as I crossed the border into Poland, if anything it just got busier.

I pulled over for a tea break and studied the map, If I turned of the south bound highway at SulwalkiI I could head west towards an area full of lakes and woods, it might make the journey a bit more interesting with not a huge difference in distance.

With the thought of the crazy lorry drivers being left behind I started to relax a bit and enjoy the drive, it was basically all equivalent to our B-class roads and the view would change on a regular basis from woods to lakes to small villages and towns, nice but not exceptional.

I didn’t bother stopping to get photo’s as its a pretty much of a muchness, and needed to get the miles in, but I will say I was rather surprised how much I was starting to like Poland, I had been warned that it was just a huge highway and to get through there as quick as possible, I disagree, with a bit more time I’m sure theres lots of places that would be worth visiting, and not just the cities as is the case in the Balkan’s.

There was one place that on hindsight I should have stopped at but as very few of the Poles I’ve met speak English I passed up on it. That place is Gizycko which is sat between Lake Mamry and Lake Niegocin and looks like a really popular holiday destination for the Poles themselves.

Soon after that it was a turn southwards towards Warsaw where it was time to find a campsite, easier said than done here as they are few and far between, it’s probably to do with the fact the hotels and even motels are a popular choice and very cheap compared to the UK. South of Warsaw is an industrial town called Warka, it has the one campsite and it was deserted, at the closed reception there was a phone number to call, not much chance of that happening, I cant even say hello in Polish, so as I was turning the van around a young lady walked across from the empty looking bar and asked if I needed help, thank you lord, of course I could stay, £5 for the night with electric hook-up, park where you want, everything is open so help yourself. So I got myself parked up, sorted the van out, sat outside until the mozzies got too much then it was shower and bed, by this time it was nearly 11pm so off to the land of nod.

All on my lonesome, nobody to complain when I’ve got the air con running.

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And so onto DAY 20.

Start point. Kemping Ned Pilica, Warka, Poland.

Finish point. “At the Lake” Camping, Goje, Poland.

Distance. 230 Miles.

Total. 4160 Miles.

I think the Europeans have a thing about strimming the grass at silly ‘o’ clock in the morning as today was the third day I’ve woken to the sounds of keen gardeners taking advantage of the cooler mornings. I cant say I blame them, theres no way I would want to work out in that heat all day.

Today was to be a another day of trying to avoid the main highways and to some degree it was a success as I headed down the B-roads towards Krakow I was lucky enough that the road I took ran parallelish to the main highway albeit 30 miles apart.

With getting so much mileage under my belt yesterday it was a bit easier today but knowing it was Friday and that my journey for the day would be ending near a big city I wanted to get down there and find somewhere to camp for the weekend. On arriving near my destination and looking for campsites on google I knew I had done the right thing, there are only a few near Krakow and fewer still near my final destination so I stopped to top up supplies at a Lidl’s, and how cheap is that, really impressed, weekend BBQ food and beer for the equivalent of £20, bargain.

My office for the night as I write this Blog.

On entering the chosen campsite it was surprisingly busy, apparently theres a big party on tonight, and as I write this they certainly plan on enjoying the cheap beer and the huge BBQ that is set up outside reception, I’ve parked far enough away that I can enjoy the music at a reasonable volume. I don’t doubt that I’ll sleep OK as the bar closes about midnight (ish).

Tomorrow is a day of sightseeing albeit on a somber note, and hopefully I’ll get the camera out again and get some pics up.

So just a couple of pics taken on the road.

Chow folks.

Start point. Rundale Camping, Bausha, Latvia.

Finish point. Old town, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Distance. 140 Miles.

Total. 3570. Miles.

Its hard to describe just how bad the driving is over here, I entered my 3rd Baltic state this morning and the quality of the driving is still abysmal, the roads are in no better condition either, you can see where all the millions from the European Union have been spent and its not on the infrastructure of these States, but you do see lots of high class cars driving around, usually at 100MPH as they overtake you on the inside as your sat at the 80KPH speed limit. Rant over.

Last nights campsite.

After another good nights sleep on a really peaceful campsite it was time to depart and head for Vilnius, the tourist guides really rate the Old Town for it’s architecture and so that was my choice for today, once again I got fed up of the cr*p driving and followed a side road for about 40km but as that deteriated into a gravel track and only led back to the motorway anyway I bit the bullet and just headed straight in Vilnius.

Taujenai Village and Manor, Lithuania.

Entering the city centre was easier than expected as at points the road was 7 lanes wide, with the traffic flowing steadily I was soon there and once into the centre the car park I was heading for was right next to the Old Town itself, at 9€ for 24 hrs it was a bargain, theres no facilities here but its a 2 minute walk into the town so no complaints here.

Vilnius is a rather large city, much bigger than I expected and the walk around the old town was ok except I made the usual error of walking up to the top of the only hill here to view the Gediminas Castle Tower, and as has been my luck all along this journey a lot of it was closed for maintenance, bugger, but the actual tower was open and for 5€ you get to view the museum and climb the tower itself, the view from the top is amazing, you can see virtually the whole of Vilnius

Had my Dinner at this little Italian restaurant in the Piazza.

Its natural to try and compare Vilnius with Tallin, both have a huge amount of history but I think Tallin has grasped the tourist angle better and as such displays the history of the place better but Vilnius is still a great place to see and is also cheaper in every respect.

One for you dog lovers, best way for them to be.

Some more random photo’s, these planes were in the grounds of a Motel.????

Thats all folks…

Start point. Karlova Sadam Camping, Tartu, Estonia.

Finish point. Rundale Camping, Bausha, Latvia.

Distance. 200 Miles.

Total. 3430 Miles.

I was up with the Larks this morning, if the Larks had a lie in till 9am, the Estonian National museum that was so handily closed yesterday doesn’t open until 10am so there was no rush to leave the campsite as it’s only a 10 minute drive back through the town.

I still managed to arrive 10 minutes early but that gave me time to tidy the van a little as it all seems to get cluttered up as soon as you leave in the mornings, the doors opened and as you head to the reception desk you really start to appreciate the size of the building, it is huge, everything from the main entrance, to the lobby and on into the main exhibition hall, it’s all on a grand scale. The shape of the building corresponds with the size of the runway it is built on and is like a giant wedge or for those that remember the aircraft carriers that had the Harrier Jump Jets on, it resemble a ski jump.

Once at reception you pay your exuberant 14€ and they give you a guide pamphlet and a ticket, not just any ordinary ticket, this is a special ticket, virtually all the displays have mini E-readers either in the display or outside it, you place the ticket on the corresponding point and the E-reader displays all the information in English, It’s magic you know.

There are larger displays that are also touch screen, you put your ticket next to the spot and then every time you touch the screen its all in English, and the theres pointers all over the screen so as you touch one the information for that area comes up, excellent fun.

There are permanent exhibitions there and also an area is reserved for temporary exhibits so its possible that if you visited a second time there would be something different there. It took me a good 4 hours to wander around and read a lot of the history of Estonia, it would be possible to spend all day there as theres a cafe and a restaurant . They’ve done a really good job of organising the different areas, with different styles of display, even down to the mundane like the furniture theme over the last century.

One of the themes was School Uniforms. Unusual but very bright.

Another was the “Echo of the Urals”, also very colourful.

One small display that was quite strange was of a young student, Ann Vihalem.

After the museum I took a walk across the road to the Upside Down house, its very much a kids theme but I couldn’t help but wonder how well they had done the inside. Well, I was really impressed, they had made a cracking job of it, and with the sloping floor to put you at a disadvantage I’d did feel weird. Like I said kids would love it and this kid got a few selfies whilst in there.

It was time to hit the road again and head towards Riga, Ive had my fill of towns at the minute so decided to pass it by and start heading south, I got to a place called Bausha, inside the Latvian border, I had to endure the craziest driver I’ve seen on this trip yet, cars, vans, buses and lorries overtaking towards oncoming traffic I’m surprised there wasn’t at least one accident, and it was like that until I pulled into Bausha, CRAZY…..

I’m hoping that tomorrow’s traffic is a bit calmer..see you then.

Start point, Hestia Hotel Susi, Tallin, Estonia.

Finish point. Karlova Sadam Camping, Tartu, Estonia.

Distance. 180 Miles. In a roundabout way.

Total. 3230 Miles.

My intention for today was to visit the Estonian National Museum in Tartu, but upon researching it on the net last night it turns out it’s closed on Mondays, Bugger with a capital B, and so to plan B, I would take the Baltic coast road towards Russia up to Narva and then head south along the edge of Lake Peipus, which is the largest trans boundary lake in Europe, lying on the border between Russia and Estonia.

The first 70 miles or so are on a pretty bland twin lane highway heading directly east, its pleasing enough as theres green fields and forests to pass the time, you only get the odd glimpse of the Baltic Sea here and there if your lucky enough to be paying attention, Its a fairly busy route but its easy enough to stay on the inside lane at a steady pace passing the lorries as and when you need to, it’s nothing extraordinary but nice enough, and then its time to turn south towards Tartu itself and you start to head along the now single track road and most of the traffic has died down so its possible to go along at a snails pace and enjoy the ride.

As your driving along you get glimpses of the old soviet influences, the farm houses are pretty enough but when it comes to the outbuildings its a different kettle of fish all together, in most of Europe the farms and their buildings are built in a similar style and so look quite in keeping with everything else around them, not here, the amount of concrete and block work used for these large square blots on the landscape has to be seen to be believed, and when you pass any industrial complex its 10 times worse.

When I’m looking to photograph something it tends to be a case of oops I’ve passed a good pic there and so I turn around and stop, get out and take a pic, no problem in most of the places I’ve visited, but I got the feeling that even after 30 years of freedom theres still a distrust of anyone photographing anything here and as I drove off the main road a few times and went through tiny villages it was even more apparent that these people had been brought up with Stranger Danger being a matter of life or gulag.

So not many pics today, I don’t think I even went up a hill, let alone cross any bridges or through any tunnels, shame, I’m missing that a bit, but when I did get to Tartu and the campsite its a nice spot by the mariner, quite a few motorhomes in here but the campsites are few and far between over here, I had a pleasant enough meal and lounge about watching the boats go by so all in all a nice day but not a lot to write home about.

This is where I was heading for before I realised I didn’t have the time to get there, hows that for fate, I wouldn’t have got any where near the Northcape in that weather.