A little bit of Serbia

Every day now seems to start of with misty mornings & hopefully through the day the sun manages to get through at some time. We drove through Arbanasi which meant we only really saw the views overlooking Veliko Tarnovo & not stopping to see the other buildings as we had many other places to get to today. 

We drove up the Shipka Pass in sunshine through golden late autumn forests & no sign of snow. We then headed East making good progress along well surfaced roads with little traffic. It was getting later in the day & we were enjoying the sunset when suddenly we seemed to approach a wall of cloud & the sunlight vanished. Quickly we were in fog & driving was becoming dangerous. We had to stop earlier than intended & found a small road off the highway where there were a few safe places off the road with not too much passing traffic. It was as place where a lot of trade type waste is dumped, probably including this old kiosk, but we feel no one will be bothered or probably know we are here.

In the morning the fog was a little clearer as it was now daylight, but it kept coming back in patches. It was all worth it though reaching one of the highlights of our trip at Belogradchik with it fortresses & a sea of rocks in todays mists. 

On another day I am sure it would look quite different but still stunning, but with the low winter sun & the mist in the valley it was one of the finest views we have encountered in our worldwide travels. Even better, looking at our photo's so many of them seem to have come out really well, now we just need an enormous panoramic screen to view them.

We were running out of Bulgaria now having driven West to East & had a choice to get back to Romania, either the Ferry over the Danube or a small diversion through Serbia. Of course we went for the Serbia option as it's another new country for us. There are more complications as Serbia is not an EC country, so different border formalities & currency & vehicle insurance though they only checked our vehicle reg. Document. Despite there only being about 6 vehicles in front of us it took over an hour waiting in the rubbish strewn queue (what a lovely introduction to your country) to get through all the border formalities. I think some big-wig type was visiting & everything stopped, we could tell this wasn't normal as all the local Bulgarian & Serbian drivers were getting agitated.

We only had about 40 miles to drive & no local currency so we didn't get much chance to see the country. First impressions were the houses were much larger & more modern & everywhere seemed 'richer' than Bulgaria. It may be because a lot of our route was following the Danube so many place had nice river front settings & 'beaches' There is a road bridge across the border to Romania which we crossed over in the failing light & found a small side road to park up on close to the river with the now almost obligatory railway line that seems to pass all the places we end up sleeping for the night.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Our vehicle documents were checked as we left the Romanian border, then a drive through some water I guess to cleanse our wheels then we were in Bulgaria with just a small office open to sell us yet anther vignette this time cost about 5 Euros for 7 days. Immediately we could see that they were putting this money to good use as there was a brand new road awaiting us & the one other car on the road for the first few miles. Our first stop was worth a visit, an unspoilt headland before getting to the tourist development further down the coast. Kaliakra Cape is mostly a nature reserve, important for migrating birds & there are the ruins of old fortresses. It was sunny at last so we had an hour pottering around alone as it was only 9am but the entry kiosk & museum were open so we happily paid our fee of just over a pound each.

Our first town, in search of an ATM was quite a different experience to the other countries we had just travelled through, mainly due to the Cyrillic writing, it's not easily decipherable like most Latin based languages. A bit like when we were in Taiwan, is it a sign for the bakers or the bookies? Most road signs have a translation but not all & my Garmin GPS Bulgaria map from openstreetmaps just shows ??????? for most town & street names. At least the ATM gave me a choice of English so we ended up with a handful of shiny new banknotes. Diesel seems to be about the same price as Romania but many service stations look quite old & you wonder if they have credit card technology. There seem to be many old industrial buildings & more square blocks of flats all covered in clothes washing & satellite dishes. Also a lot more older cars on the road, even Lada's! but not as much traffic as we have encountered in the previous countries.

We headed inland from Varna on a Motorway but were forced to divert off due to maintenance. It was noticeable that many of the roads bypass the villages so at least you get on at a reasonable speed & the small places are spared busy traffic passing through them. Madara Reserve sounded interesting & we arrived at dusk just as the site was closing. We stopped in the parking space in front and had a quiet night & were ready for the 8am opening. 

It is a sheer rock cliff face famous for an 8^th century carved horseman that is depicted on all the Bulgarian coins. There is a fortress up at the top, a 120m very steep climb with uneven steps but a secure handrails & superb views. At the base are some caves & a small chapel with many small religious icons.

We had contacted the owners of the highly recommended http://www.campingvelikotarnovo.com which was closed but they were happy for us to stay & park & had use of a toilet, electric, water, waste & WiFi all of which were a nice change from a car park area. It looks a lovely site, well laid out, good views & excellent facilities.

The owners were away but their caretaker Bev made us welcome & gave us lots of helpful advice & guides of local places to visit. Beautiful blue skies in the morning after another night when the temperature dropped below zero. We spent all day looking around Veliko Tarnovo , a very nice town set on hillsides divided by 2 rivers and with an enormous fortress. 

There is an interesting artisans area with potters, wood carvers & painters & above average interesting dust collectors to take home. We should have had an early warning about portion size after the cakes we had at morning coffee. Eating later at the recommended Ego Pizza & Grill we totally over ordered as the portions were so large & we even had to make up a small doggy bag to take away. All the food was superb & only cost 31 lev (about £13) for 5 dishes & 2 drinks.

Parking in the centre is by the hour for 1 lev, paid to one of the many ticket issuers. We wanted to park for 5 hours & were issued with 5 large tickets which we had to display on our windscreen. 

We could easily have spent more days here wandering around the town & the surrounding area but it is getting time to start the long route back towards home after now having driven just under 3000 miles.  

The Black Sea

Heading South trying to follow the coast or the inland lakes was very nice, had coffee overlooking a reed beds & out to the lake with lots of Cormorants, in Summer this area also has many Pelicans but they have now all gone. 

Eventually though all this natural environment disappears as you get closer to Constanta which has spread along the coast & is full of continual tourist development though at this time of year without the tourists. 

In Constanta itself suddenly there was a mass of traffic on wide highways & we quickly fled hoping to find some nicer coastline again. Below Constanta most places on the coast are on roads that only go down to the coast and do not link up along the coast with each other very much. There was the very strange area of Neptun-Olimp, pre-revolution elite Communist party resorts which at this time of year were completely deserted apart from a few loose dogs & the odd security guard. If you ever want to make deserted tourist complex, after an apocalpse, movie this is the place if you come in November. Luckily just further South Mangalia is more of a working town, there is a bit of beach not built on and a new smart marina. There was a large marked out parking area at one end of the beach where there was the only Motorhome we have seen anywhere for more than 2 weeks, but no sign of anyone in it & no other vehicles. 

As we drove in a security guard popped out of a small cabin and we asked/gestured if it was ok to park/sleep the night. He seemed ok about it & we also had 5 dogs to protect us as well! The whole area was floodlight all night but we couldn't work out what he was guarding. Even better we had good internet access from some local hotel which we couldn't even see. The change of shift guard in the morning seemed to want us to leave quickly in the morning so we moved further down on the firm sand closer to the beach for our breakfast. Soon after we were at the eerily empty Bulgarian border & our 5^th new country on this trip.

Castles in the fog

Another morning with patches of freezing fog as we started on the frosty up hill ascent to Sinaia, in the Carpathian mountains. Peles Castle is set in alpine clad forested hillside and today was mostly in fog. 

It's more like a Palace with tiered statued terraces & ornamental wooden balconies. It was closed for tours today though we were allowed to visit a Klimt exhibition in the museum gallery where the best exhibit was a Tiffany lampshade that was usually on show in the Castle. Just up the hill is the Art Nouveau Pelisor Palace which was open and was very interesting but a shame we couldn't have compared the two. This was home to Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Mary, lived in the summer having married the Romanian heir and future king. Lots of superb oak panelling, stained glass windows and interesting furniture & an interesting tour, in English, of many of the family rooms. As our guide said when Dracula was mentioned, at Bran Castle they have the Legend but here we have the History (of Romania)

Leaving Sinaia suddenly we dropped back down to the very flat plains but sadly the sun had been left behind over the mountains. Now it was flat fields & long straight roads where a bend became quite an excitement. About every 20km would be a small village with the road passing through the centre and a 50km speed limit sign which must only seem to apply to foreign drivers. Often there would be a 'concealed' Polizia car but you are always warned by the other drivers who flash their lights when approaching you from the other direction. Apart from small lay-bys close to the road there was nowhere to pull off & stop for the night & we eventually found a quiet side street in Lanca, a small town where we just parked & had an undisturbed night.

Now we are almost a sea level it was 8C warmer last night but it still feels cold as a wind from the North has picked up & there is no sun.

Finally found a car wash where for 20 Lei we removed the dirt & salt of the last 2000 miles & managed to get a water container filled up as we never know where we will end up camped for the night especially at this time of year.

We were now out on the Danube Delta with the worlds largest area of reed beds (not many roads then!) There are many small lakes and waterways with some great looking wild camping spots. Not such a good day for navigating though as these maps seem to get harder to read as we age. Outside Braila we unexpectedly had to take a small ferry to cross where there surely should have been a bridge. We just fitted on!

In the next town Tulcea we tried leaving towards Murighiol, on 3 different roads where we had been following the signpost suddenly there were no further signs just a choice of roads & we somehow always chose the wrong one.

It was hillier than we expected after all it's a delta, but it does allow good views down over all those reeds.

We were also very close to the border with Ukraine, another unexplored country for us, but for another time. We don't need much from a campsite, somewhere safe to park, fresh water & toilet facilities & sometimes a shower and we don't need all of these every day. The gates at Camping du Lac were open so we drove in & conversing with the Romanian owner, in our only common language, of French explained our basic needs as they were busy renovating the facilities & would have sent us away had we required hot showers etc. We could have potable water, a toilet & somewhere to empty our Porta Potti & a space to park, all we needed, which cost us 10 Euro. From reviews I have read it always seems popular & the new facilities they are installing look very nice. We walked about a mile along a track on the side of the lake but you can't see much through all the tall reeds. The main attraction is boat tours & bird spotting on the Delta but obviously there's not much of either at this time of year.

Transylvania area

19/20 November

In and out of freezing fog all morning mostly on small country roads with little traffic. We spotted more bird life, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Herons, Pheasants & all the time buzzards perched on telegraph poles. Following the signs to various Saxon villages with fortified castles & churches sometimes led us up some quite rough tracks which often ended in a dead end unless you have a horse & cart. 

Our destination was Sighisoara, especially the old town with it's medieval guild towers perched on the hill & the birth place of Vlad Tepes (the Impaler) apparently the inspiration for Bram Stokers Dracula. 

A great place to wander around the small cobbled streets looking at the colourful painted buildings & to try out some cafes. 

Also we were lucky there is a very central open all year camping which was very easy to find as it was well signposted & you are very close to town so ideal for a meal out for the evening. 

Camping Aquarius seems to be a big swimming pool site for the summer & everything was shut except the Pension reception. A wizened old lady, possibly from the time of count Dracula, seemed to be the only person in charge but she competently photocopied our passports & conveyed that we needed to pay 40 lei for the night. It was fine for us, we were put in a gated parking space but with a key for our own toilets & hot showers. 

Their business card was promoting Free Wireless Access Areas but when I asked her about this she replies quite forcefully No! Getting back in the van & trying the laptop gave me full strength signal Camping Aquarius unprotected network! I guess the internet may have passed her by or she considers it an instrument of the Devil!

We had interesting dining in a hostel restaurant which offered vegetarian meals but when coming to order only one of the dishes was available, also no White wine was available and they only had one glass of Red wine left. Each dish & course came out separately, maybe they only had one ring to cook on & in the middle of it all some electricians arrived to sort out a problem which to us seemed to be that everytime they tried to play an Elton John track a fuse kept blowing, should have tried some better music I felt! At one point the whole place was left in darkness apart from the one T-light candle on our table (there were no other diners) Anyway it was quite entertaining & made a change from van dining.

Next day we headed for Dracula territory but Bran castle didn't sound appealing, so drove out through the ski resort area in the forested hills between Rasnov & Brasov. It was around 800m altitude as evening was approaching the roads were getting quite a frosty look to them. We decided wild camping here would be pretty cold & didn't fancy dodgy roads in the morning. We knew there was Camping Darste on the edge of Brasov but thought it would be shut and we would have to park up somewhere in the dark. When we came across it we saw it had a Motel & Restaurant attached which were open & after declining their offer of a Motel room we asked if we could just stop in one of the parking spaces outside the camping gates. The receptionist looked a bit nonplussed, but shrugged and agreed, probably not realising that even small motorhomes can be totally self contained for a few nights without campsite facilities.

Sibiu Romania

Moving on the fog kept coming & going, I guess that's the price we are paying for the wonderful weather we are having at the moment. Blue skies & sunny but only for a few hours of the day as the sun is so low in the sky, I'm glad we are mostly heading South Eastwards. I think we have been spoilt seeing the countryside in such beautiful light & with the end of the Autumn colours. We haven't found the roads too bad so far, maybe that's having had the last 5 winters on Moroccan roads. The main highways here are full of trucks and sometimes the road surface has been sunken by their wheel tracks. Off the main roads we have found good surfaces until we come to a small village where the nice new tarmac seems to disappear until we head out of town on the other side where it magically re-appears.

 Every side road though seems to be an unsealed track & we would be dubious about venturing down many of them at this time of year. Our van is filthy after 2000 miles but there's not much incentive to clean it as every day's journey invariably throws up more road dirt. We were stuck behind a truck full of soil with water dripping out the back for miles which didn't help, but we will need to find a car wash soon.

Reaching Sibiu our main destination was the Museum of traditional folk civilisation which was more interesting than it's name. It is set in a large forested park with a central lake & many traditional buildings & structures from all over Romania have been re-established here in quite traditional settings. There are wooden churches, windmills, weavers homes, farmers dwellings and all sorts of representations of rural Romanian life which have been brought here since 1963 to preserve them.

It also seems to be a very popular park with the locals for a day out and was very good value at 10leu (less than £2.00) We thought about stopping the night in the car park but the thought of hot showers was appealing. I had posted some info about our blog on motorhomefacts.com & quickly got loads of useful advice & links from other members. Sophie & Adam's site europebycamper.com has frequently provided me with so much useful information so I was very grateful to get some useful links from Adam when he saw my post. One of his links was to a list of Romanian camp sites and we contacted one of the few that are open at this time of year and this led us to http://www.campingdeoudewilg.nl/ in Carta. What a surprise there was no one else there, we haven't seen another motor home since Prague! A very nice site behind the house backing on to fields. Loads of useful information about the area & it's in a small village so you see lots of local life going on. Even though it's not high season everything was operational, a campers kitchen even with electric kettle & hair dryer. Lots of homely quirky ornaments around the site, it must be beautiful in summer with all the plants & vines.

We've been up in the Fagaras mountains today, we'll at least as far a we were allowed to go before the pass was closed at 1246 metres. Some bends that never get sun at this time were still icy on the edges but they had been gritted. Our coldest night so far -2.1C but warm enough in the van & a good excuse to cook warming meals in the oven.

Romania first impressions

Very peaceful night considering we were in a truck stop & we awoke to a heavy frost & blue skies. 

The clocks have moved on an hour so are are back to slightly later evenings. Sunny days just give everywhere a cheerier feel, everywhere looks more rustic, stacked up hay bales & chopped wood piles, horses pulling old wooden carts & people pushing hand carts. Many people trying to flag down traffic for a lift to the next town, there are many abandoned decaying industrial buildings & railway tracks that we're never sure if they still function. Mostly though its agricultural but with much smaller fields than Hungary & a lot of small roadside stalls of people selling their own produce. 

The road was not too bad though only single lane & with many trucks or speeding & overtaking drivers. I seemed to be the only one driving within the speed limits in towns & villages & would invariably end up with a queue behind me until I pulled over. We eventually ended up going for about 30 miles on a very empty but good stretch of Motorway though we were starting to get worried as there were no exits for such a long way. We decided to explore a bit and go cross country on what looked like small sealed roads which they were but as we got more remote the tarmac seemed to be more covered in mud, I guess from vehicles & carts from the fields. There was little traffic on the road but it was slow with many bends & we weren't progressing very far. Finding ourselves on a quiet road we found a place to pull off for coffee & decided to stop the night a couple of hundred metres down a firm track hopefully without passing traffic. 

The temperature quickly dropped to around 2C as the sun was setting without a cloud in the sky & showing a sliver of a new moon. 

We have been so glad of the Webasto Diesel heating, it saves all the problems of carrying enough gas & has always been very economical & it's great being able to turn it on whilst still in bed in the morning. Both our 5 year old leisure batteries continue to give us the electrical power we need though the solar panel doesn't get much charge now the sun is so low, but as we are driving most days it's not a problem. Most of the electric power still seems to go to run the fridge though I sometimes wonder if it's actually warmer in the fridge than in the van through the night.

Not a sound in the night but -1.6c our coldest so far & we woke up in thick fog & this view out of the window

Into Romania

Thursday 16th November

Took a while to get out of Budapest, they don't seem to go in for many road signs & also it's hard to find turns against the traffic as the main routes are often a few lanes wide. We had to drive almost back into the centre to get out again. The rest of the route was very flat, across vast fields of Black soil being ploughed by tractors. It was a very good road the No.40 or E60 with lots of stretches of dual carriageway with many Romanian trucks. Spent the final Hungarian money in a Lidl, we miss the ease of being able to use Euro's in so many countries.

Romania

There was a long line of trucks approaching the border but no queue for us. We had to show our passports & were pulled over for some sort of inspection, they seemed to look at our lovely new winter tyres, then waved us on. You have to buy a Vignette to use Romanian roads and we opted for a month one as it's little more than the weekly one. Of course as there's no ATM at the border & we don't have the 31.76 RON we had to pay in Euro's at the vendors exorbitant commission rate, so what should have cost about 7 Euros cost us 10. It's now all done electronically so we have since found out we could have done it on line here http://www.roviniete.ro/en

Diesel is just over £1.00 litre the cheapest so far & we soon found an ATM outside a hypermarket. It was one of the sneaky ones though that tries to convert your withdrawal into Sterling, much better for us to choose the withdrawal in local currency & let our bank convert. Heading East it was getting dark & no chance of a camp site  We looked at Truck Stops & happened to drop in on a very modern one with no charge for overnight stops, just a small fee for toilets or showers & free WiFi. No obligation to eat in the restaurant but we went in to check it out. Very good filling selection with friendly service & a beer was only 50p. Gills smoked bean soup was a surprise as it was served inside a whole round loaf of crusty bread. 

Hungary

November 12th & 13th

Bumpy road surface but with light traffic all the way down to the Hungarian border near Sahy where you just slip over the border without realising you are in another country. Then we saw the Diesel prices 441 per litre, but it wasn't really a worry as £1.00 = 350Hf. Planning to take about £100 from the first ATM we saw I asked for 4000 then when I got back to the van I realised I'd missed a zero and it was only just over £10 and I get charged £1.00 for every ATM withdrawal! Next, on to Tesco that well known Hungarian supermarket, they even have Clubcards but I didn't think they would accept our UK one! I wish the Wine & Beer prices at home were the same as here though. Getting to Arena Camping in Budapest should have been easy except once we were on the ring road we couldn't see any roads marked going off and we had to guess which junction we wanted to leave on which we missed and then spent about 30 minutes trying to get back to the correct road. The GPS map I had downloaded for Hungary didn't work, eventually we sorted out where we were from the Autoroute map on the laptop & found we were only about 500m from the camping but on the wrong side of the dual carriageway.

It was dark & raining when we got there but at least it was open. Only one other plot occupied by a caravan and building work was going on so we had to squeeze through a small gap to get to the pitch. Peaceful night apart from the planes & trains but we are in a city. So far this is the most expensive site on our trip costing 5800Hf per night, almost £20, double what we paid in Prague. The price includes electric hookup which we don't need for a few days stop but there is no choice to go anywhere as close to the city that is open at this time of year. WiFi is free but quite a weak signal into the camping area though we are getting a slow connection now with our signal booster.

Our first day we spent looking around the more modern side of the city in Pest, full of parks & wide streets with large grand buildings many of which seemed to be embassies. 

Michael Jackson tree?

The size of St Stephen's Basilica was vast and it was surprising to find it was only completed in the very early 1900's. 

The enormous dome was very impressive & of course it also has a great 'relic' St.Stephens mummified right hand on show in a special display case. 

After this and visiting the Ossuary in Czech Rep. We are thinking cremation is looking a better option, people can't put random bits of you on display when you're gone! Getting around was very easy with the 24 hour travel pass & everyone we spoke to was friendly & helpful & had some basic English, unlike Czech Republic & Slovakia where it was usually only German. People weren't as stylishly dressed as folk in Prague but it's hard to tell when they're bundled up in winter coats.

Buda, across the river Danube, has the castle & older buildings with the advantage of great views over the city. 

Despite being November there are still many large groups of tourists being led around by their guides. Overall we enjoyed our visit but after 2 days tramping the streets we are keen to move on again so we are heading for Romania tomorrow.

Here's today's tasty mid morning snack, shared rather messily between us

In to Slovakia

10^th & 11^th November

This time of year the days are short so its up around 6.30am to make the most of daylight hours. As we approached Slovakia we could see bigger hills and the border was right at the summit at 740m. You wouldn’t know it was the border though, no obvious country signs & no border formalities. Places looked the same though with a lot more alpine type houses with steep roofs, we are in skiing land. 

We are now back with the Euro but Diesel prices seem the same as Czech Republic about 1.46 per litre. Negotiating Zilina we missed a turning & came back round to where we had just entered the town but then found the correct road towards Martin. Near here was hopefully an open all year site but on arrival it looked closed. However there was a bell & quickly someone came to the gate. They were still open but of course there were no other campers. Autocamping Turiec is a very good site with spotless facilities for 12.90 Euros. Hot showers, an indoor camp kitchen & TV room, loads of good guide books and free WiFi which we easily picked up in the van. What timing, we just arrived at 4pm and listened on Seagulls Player to all the live commentary of the exciting Brighton v Wolves match (3-3). There are nice wooden chalet rooms and great views to the mountains with a dusting of snow on top.

Next day we set out early to drive around a mountain range in the Mala Fatra National Park and were rewarded with a beautiful and mild day. Strangely in the middle of it all was a Lidl which seemed to be doing a busy trade from exiting chuchgoers at 10am. All the churchyards we have passed are a riot of flowers on almost every grave stone, floristry must be a very profitable business here. Leaving the van at Chata Vratna we found a waymarked trail heading up into the hills with picture sign of a restaurant in 45 minutes walk. 

It was open and already busy, luckily the menu also had a German translation & we managed to explain no meat and ended up with Lentil soup, Fried cheese (Gill's dream food) with potatoes & tartare sauce & a fried pasta dish, excellent and a stunning setting.

Czech Republic camping in November

A very quiet night in the Motel like place by 6.30am everyone seemed to have disappeared. The boss lady appeared and we somehow got through the registration & payment with a bit of German, our Eastern European phrase book, some sign language & a bit of humour. Telc sounded like it was worth a visit and was nearby and we were parked up & in the centre before most places opened at 10 am (thoughthe tourist office said it opened at 7.30!) It was a very nice small town, surrounded by lakes/ponds with a very old unspoilt town centre with painted buildings.

It seems to be famous for its folklore and outdoor music events but obviously not in November, and its fountains which were being boarded up presumably to protect them from the frosts. We found a very good cafe with an enticing selection of pastries, and for less than £4.00 had two of the most expensive cakes and good coffees. Needless to say we had to leave with a selection of other cakes to keep our stock levels up.

We then trundled along some of the quieter roads instead of the Motorways seeing much more agricultural fields & villages not unlike many of the areas of France we usually pass through on the way to Spain & Morocco. The altitude got a bit higher around 450m and houses were a bit more alpine chalet like and there were snow poles along the side of the fields. For us though the weather had improved, dry and partially sunny which highlighted the last of the autumn colours.

We thought we had found a good camping place to stay at ATC Olsovec, an enormous site by a lake within walking distance to the town and open all year. We got to the closed reception, a closed barrier & walking around all the facilities locked and no other campers there. There was a phone number on a sign but it just did not appeal as it was so deserted so we decided to try the other option we had whilst also looking out for possible wild camping spots. There are many blocks of forest with small tracks leading off but we were wary of the ground conditions as everywhere is a bit soggy underfoot. Approaching Camping Baldovec we were beginning to think it did not exist, we drove along small roads, passed through a few houses and up a side road, then through the middle of small quarry, then a sealed forest track to come out an a large outdoor activity park which appeared to be open just for us.

Everything was very tidy, lovely & warm, a helpful reception free site wide wifi & even an open restaurant & bar even though there didn't seem to be any other guests. They have lots of wooden chalet type accommodation and camp spaces. Obviously they don't get campers this time of year so all water taps, toilet 7 shower blocks were shut but they offered us facilities in the main buildings and we found a firm flat space to park.

The helpful English speaking man in reception also mentioned a good pub about 5km walk along the riverside track which tempted us to stay another night. The next day was sunny so we set of for the village of Holstein and the promised pub was open & busy even though it was only 12.30. Luckily they had English translations on the menu so we could avoid the meat dishes. It was all extremely cheap and very good, everything at least a third of the price we would pay at home. Broccoli creamed soup, 5 potato pancakes & veg, fish with cheese sauce & chips & 2 excellent foamy beers for about £8.

It was now Friday evening and the camping suddenly came to life, lots of families started arriving and filling up the chalets. Its a beautiful spot with some lovely walks and rides through the forests.

Czech Republic into the countryside

There was no obvious route for leaving Prague to our destination of Kutna Hora except to head East and avoid tram lines on the way out of the city. We managed ok apart from heading the wrong way once we got to a major road. Our route was across country on smaller roads which seemed to have frequent road works and diversions. Driving standards seemed ok and we are getting used to having to switch on our headlights all the time.

The Ossuary at Kutna Hora was a most peculiar place, a crypt below a chapel which was full of thousands of human skulls & bones made into sculptures. There was a whole chandelier made of bones and even a coat of arms, it didn't seem creepy though.

We then drove through rolling hills and forested areas in a much more agricultural part of the country than we had seen before. There were many places that looked like summer cabins and weekend retreats though most were shut up. We had aimed for a horse riding ranch but when we found it the whole place looked like it had been closed for a while, but then many places look like that in November.

Headed back to busier roads to one of the camp places listed in the tourist guide that is open all year. They seemed very surprised to have tourists, it seemed to be attached to a serious drinking bar and no one spoke English. One of the customers seemed to have some idea who to contact by phone and with a bit of sign language and odd German words we were parked in the car park of what is a bit like a Motel. We have got our own shower & toilet room close to the van and in the morning someone who (may) speak English will come to reception.

Prague

Prague 5th & 6th November

Conveniently the camping is close to a tram line going into the city centre in about 15 minutes. A single ticket valid for 30 minutes cost only 24Kc which we managed to buy from the helpful camp site office. We immediately spotted a Patisserie with a great selection of cakes and coffee. There was a constant stream of customers which was a good sign. We decided just to amble around the main shopping area and get a feel of the city. There were many cobbled streets and tall buildings almost all beautifully restored. We came across small street stalls selling local snack delicacies and colourful painted souvenirs.

Even though it's November there were many tourists, it must be really packed in the summer. It's now a very trendy city with the usual range of top international brands. Gill even ended up buying some nice clothes in Marks & Spencer which seemed to have a much more interesting range than at home. The highlight of the day was finding the rather misnamed Municipal House. This is an enormous Art Nouveau building containing many function rooms full of superbly restored furniture &decorations. We were taken on a one hour guided tour through a selection of rooms and ended up with a drink in the Amerikany Bar. Everything was tiled, marbled, plastered. and lit with crystal glass lamps Many of the rooms are used for concerts and hired out for functions.

The next day we got on the tourist trail firstly over the Charles Bridge admiring the dark statues and then up the hill to the enormous Prague Castle site. It was a clear day to start with but a bitterly cold wind kept us on the move. The Baroque St. Nicholas church was actually very nice, not as over the top as many other Baroque buildings can be.

The castle seemed too modern to us and we didn't fancy the tour which possibly may have been more interesting. Cities generally don't appeal to us, we would rather be out in the countryside and seeing a bit of Prague over a couple of days was enough for now.

Arriving in Prague

Sunday 4th November

We reached the Czech border by lunchtime. Suddenly things looked different, older and more basic, not quite like the smart Motorway services we are used to in Europe. The biggest change though was that we are now out of Euro land and have to calculate prices. It's east to compare say the fuel price from Belgium to Germany (more expensive in Germany) as the currency is the same. Now we have to get used to approximately 30 Czech to a pound sterling.

We had to buy a vignette to allow us to drive on the Motorways, this will cover us for 10 days and we had to pay 16 euros as we had no Czech currency yet. It probably would have been better to pay on Credit card charged to the local currency. We soon diverted off the Motorway and got to a small local town which had a much poorer feel to it. The buildings looked run down and the shops & restaurants had cheap looking signs. Also it was hard to read much as Czech language is written quite differently to Western European languages, though brand names are still the same. Prices are cheaper than at home and the range of products was good even though half the shop seemed to be full of flavoured bottled water. We bought what we thought was a natural sparkling water but even this was flavoured.

Luckily we arrived in Prague on a Sunday, there was little traffic which was fortunate as the main road we drove down was full of roadworks and it was a bit disconcerting being sent along tram lines in some sections. We had to skirt the centre of the city and get across a major bridge, fortunately we knew where we were heading was close to the zoo which was well signposted. The area we are staying in called Trojska is quite suburban, it's along a street where many of the large houses have converted their gardens into camping areas. Being November only 3 were still open but we found a reasonable basic place Camp Sokol Troja for 310 Kc (£10) per night without electric hookup.

Belgium Holland and Germany

Friday 2^nd November 

Belgium

We hardly have any plans (and don't really like to make them) but we have already had to make a change as we had a text saying our Dover Calais DFDS ferry was cancelled and would now be two hours later. We got to Dover at the original time & asked if we could go instead to Dunkirk as there was an earlier sailing. With the hour time difference we didn't get to France until 7pm and of course it had started raining so we decided to only drive on for 30 miles to the nice small town of Veurne in Belgium where we have stayed a few times next to the small Marina. As usual there were another half dozen campervans there, and now we were out of France it had even stopped raining. We could still pick up BBC Radio 5 Live on medium wave so managed to keep up with the Brighton v Leeds match which finally ended in a 2-2 draw. We have brought an inflateable seagull with us which we found at the end of the Blackpool v Brighton match last Saturday, it's now our substitute pet, and will no doubt appear in some photo's soon (if Gill doesn't stab it!).

Saturday 3^rd November 

Belgium Holland and Germany in one day.

Planned a long day today driving, and driving it has certainly been, mostly heavy rain, all day for virtually all of the 389 miles today. Most fields in Belgium were semi flooded with lots of bedraggled cattle and horses standing around. We very briefly passed through Holland and then the rains really started to come down. German Motorways are scary even in the driest weather due to the speeds that many cars go at, they just appear in your rear view mirror from nowhere. Even the terrible conditions don't seem to deter them, I am surprised there aren't more pile-ups.

We abandoned driving soon after dark as there was no way we would reach our planned destination which was another 250kms. We have found a very busy free Stellplatz at Bettingen close to the motorway where we will spend the night in the company of at least 30 other motorhomes. It's very quiet though apart from the rain on the roof, so far we haven't set foot outside the van.