Alemania , Brace yourself we are coming…

 

Late on the evening of the 28th of August we arrived at the camping area for the Dusseldorf Motorhome and caravan show.

We went last year and its a great place to see all the latest bits of kit the we needed to put into “ Cloud 9” which is the motorhome we are building.

We managed to buy a few things including a water heater and a bed.

This event is huge and you are literally dropping on your feet by the end of the day , but pat’s new knee held up well.

After Dusseldorf we drove to a place called Bad Kreuznach to attend a big Truck and travel festival called Willy’s Treffen.

This event is fantastic,  its full of hundreds of trucks that range in value from between 100’s of euros to in excess of half a million euros. Its a great social occasion and we met up with our German club friends Ellen and Perry, Sandie and Karsten, Inge and Jorgen and Werner and Sylvie and many others.

 

We all drank and ate too much and spent the weekend looking at other peoples truck and putting the world to rights.

We got to know Werner and Sylvie, who own the orange truck in the photos, and arranged to meet up with them on our journey to Ormocar.

Back to “Good” Old Blighty.

 

Okay here we go. The usual excuses for not doing this earlier apply, but you wouldn't believe that being a gypsy could be so busy .

Our last entry left us in Germany having just bought the truck “ Cloud Nine” and had left it Ormocar to convert into our new home. From here we headed straight back to the UK and arranged to return to see the completed vehicle after 7 weeks .

Since I retired life has been quite layed back and we have a saying as we go to bed “ Don't get up early,  tomorrows Sunday”.  Unfortunately, from the day we got back into the UK  this changed to “ everyday was Monday “

We basically had one month to cram in what we used to do in a year such as Car repairs and MOT’s. Doctors, Dentists, Banking etc. We did manage to get a few weekends away

Chris managed to acquire some tickets for the Olympics ( which we had become addicted to on the TV ) So Chris, Jonathan and myself set of the the Army barracks at North Woolwich to see the women's pistol shooting event. Sadly our girl came 37th out of 38 people. At the halfway point the only way she could turn the tables was by shooting at least 35 other competitors.

It was still a brilliant day and we managed to have our photo taken with the Olympic Torch

We also managed to get a few days away in Suffolk with Steph, Rachael and Jonathan.

We went to Felixstowe  and had a crabbing contest . Jonathan won of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this we managed to catch up with our EEDA friends at Battlesbridge and then later at Clacton.

Our plan was to get back to Germany by the 28th of August as we wanted to go to the Dusseldorf Motorhome Show .

Knowing that our timing and schedule was really tight, Pat arranged for us to join our friends Andy and Lorraine at the Twinwood Festival in Bedfordshire the weekend before. We went to this event last year and had a great time. It celebrates the fashion and music of the Second World ware era. Everyone dresses up and the dancing in the large halls is a fantastic spectacle . It was also good to meet up with our friends Jock and Rita.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Twinwood we raced back to Steph,s house and re packed the Motorhome with all my tools as we were heading for the tunnel  then onto Germany the next morning.

Moving North, Where did all this rain come from ?

 

Well my promise to keep on top of this Blog has obviously failed . I would like to suggest that when your on the move , getting internet access is hard, Blah, Blah, Blah.

The truth is we have had internet access most of the time but have been pre- disposed on other things and I have put the Blog on the back burner.

Anyway the big news is that we have bought a truck and the body goes on in a few weeks so Its exciting times for us. We have lived, dreamed and cried over this project for the last three years and now it almost there. More about the truck later .

So where have we been since the last instalment ?

After Calpe we headed north as we wanted to go to Barcelona. We have tried to get there before on other journeys and have always failed, so we were determined to see it this time.

We stayed at a Town just south of Barcelona called Sitges. A fantastic seaside town that was colourful and vibrant. I think its one of the most desirable towns to live in in that area. It is also the Gay capital of Northern Spain so there were lots of great Moustaches and Toy Dogs everywhere.

Barcelona was a great day out , we saw all the sights from the top deck of he tour bus and had lunch in the “Ramblers”  which is full of street theatre and people who make a living doing nothing all day. The Gaudi cathedral was a bit disappointing as it was covered in scaffolding .

From Barcelona we decided to go and see our Old ( well older than us ) friends “Rose and Richard” who are living there dream having just bought a beautiful house in the Dordogne region of France. We had a great few days catching and gave their washing machine the thrashing of its life.

They haven't changed one bit , they still always work as a team !!!!!!!

Our next destination was Germany. so we headed there via the Lorraine and Alsace regions of France. Wow, put those areas in the book as place to visit.

We stayed on the banks of the Mosel River at Bernkastel-Kues were we bumped into our friends Sue and Gilbert ( Sonesta )

The purpose of coming to Germany was to find a suitable base vehicle for our “Overland Camper” project  but nobody told me that Germany was so big.

We set up our Base camp with friends Sandy and Karsten in Wettenberg , which happens to be right in the centre of Germany . They are about 1 year ahead of us and were just finishing their fantastic truck.  We had a wonderful weekend .

Our main source of trucks was via a government Auction site called VEBEG that sells off surplus army trucks by the hundred.  We identified an up and coming auction and headed to a small military town called Messstetten ( yes it has three s’s in it ) Here we were joined by our dear German friends Ellen and Perry who own one of these trucks and Perry is a mechanic. Well there must have been 50 trucks up for sale and Perry spent a couple of hours going over them trying to identify the best one. At the end of his examination he stated “ there all good “  Marvellous, that helped.

Anyway, to cut a long story short we ended up bidding on 12 of them between us. The night before the auction we started to get nervous thinking what on earth would we do with 12 trucks. Well we didn't win any. They were all sold to the same person who bought all 50, probably for the African market.

By this stage we were getting a bit despondent as it was proving very difficult to source a truck . To raise our spirits we went to a Hanomag truck Rally with Ellen and Perry in the Saarland area. The Hanomag truck is a very old German truck that is fantastic for travelling around the world at 30mph. We met some great people who have become our friends and it was a great weekend . I have to say that some Hanomag owner were a bit odd and would probably been great Banjo players. Never the less they were all friendly and we survived.

Ellen and Pat went on spending spree and came back with two matching hats We met new friends Inge and Jurgen .   The best bit was that Perry had now made it his life's goal to find us a truck so he spent the whole weekend putting his feelers out and talking to everyone.

 

 

Well  he only located a truck which we have now bought.

 

 

We arranged for the truck to be stripped naked and be prepared for its new role in life and then headed to the Black forest area to meet up with our great friend's Andy and Lorraine , who had kindly done a three month shop at Tescos for us on the way out. 

Lorraine had just got an electric bike for her birthday and didn't we all know it. We all cycled into the nearby town at 25mph. We managed to set up camp next to this beautiful river and thanks to Andy’s poaching ability we had BBQ Trout on the menu

Our next destination was an Overland truck Festival at “Bad Kissingen “. We went there last year and had a great time.  We arrived on the Wednesday and spent two days guarding our plot ready for our friends to arrive. It rained non stop and the mud was about 1 foot deep in places. It was a good weekend and we managed to see loads of trucks and steal their ideas. It rained a lot that weekend and we did wonder if a foot of mud was too much for our poor old camper but we managed .

Knowing we had time kill whilst the truck was prepared we headed for lake Constance               ( Bodensee ) to a town called Uberlingen.

This is a fantastic place, the lake and towns are beautiful .   I would compare it to Lake Garda.

At a neighbouring town called Meersburg on the lake, they had an interesting statue of a local woman who had died from un controllable haemorrhoids .    Sad and painful I bet

Those of you who know Pat well will know that when it comes to packing she caters for all eventualities . ( ie totally over packs )

Before we left home I can distinctly remember having a slightly animated discussion regarding this habit .

I remember saying

“ The only thing you haven't packed is the bloody kitchen sink “

Well guess what I caught her getting out of the boot yesterday .

 

Today we went back to see our truck that is now Naked and ready to be taken to have it’s new body put on next week.

 

We are currently near Strasbourg and hope to go into the town to see the Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow.

My intention is to start  separate blog regarding the building of the truck so I will let you know when that happens

Well that's it for now, sorry it’s been a while .

 

 

 

Life after Marjal, Almeria, Altea Denia and Calpe.

We finally admitted defeat on the 2nd of April and waved good bye to the last few remaining die hard Funsters at Marjal.

With a toss of a coin and a little well meant advice we headed south to the region of Almeria. Pat had spent some time on Google and had  come up with a "Quiet Adults Only" site in the small town of Los Gallardos near Vera. She spoke to the site owner " Geoff " who confirmed that it sounded like the perfect tranquil location we needed after Marjal.

We drove up and down the main road in Los Gallardos several times and couldn't locate the site. I was convinced that it had to be on the north side of the road as they were building a motorway on the south side. You guessed it, the site was in fact adjacent to the building site of the motorway and as we pulled on we couldn't hear ourselves think above the sound of the diggers and lorries which were about 10 meters away.

Anyway, Geoff comes out to great us, which was a bit awkward as we had already decided to "Get the F*** out of Dodge" Geoff was  a strange character with thick glasses. He instantly reminded me of "Louis Dega" who was the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1973 film Pappilon . To add to this Geoff had loads of bright red blood like hand prints on his T shirt and I knew that he has probably been torturing small animals for the fun of it. Pat politely asked if the noise from the lorries and diggers ever stopped. The reply was "Never, all day and all night "  Bye Bye Geoff.........

As luck would have it it we stumbled into a a Crap site near Villaricos and had a great couple of weeks . Although the site was sad and neglected, the location was fantastic . It was right on the coast and the cycle tracks were superb. We had not been to this area before but were quietly impressed with it's great beaches and rugged coastline. Right outside the site gate you could pick up a cycle route and go for miles ( on the flat, obviously ) A brand new track along a river bed became a daily ride for us and Pat got up to about 12 km on her new Knee. We went fishing in the sea and caught nothing, participated in the local speciality dish called "Chinese" that appears to be the national meal of Spain now.  Pat learnt how to cook Mussells and they were superb.

The wild life was brilliant and  we saw  Hoopoe ,  Serins,  Black Winged Stilts, and Woodchat Shrike . We even heard that if you go onto the beach at night you might get a glimpse of the Common Poof  that frequents the wooded areas looking for a mate.


On the 13th of April we headed back north to the bay of Altea , which is situated on the east coast of Spain just north of Benidorm. Despite its proximity to the mother ship of mobility scooters , Altea was beautiful and we stayed at " Camping cap Blanch" which was right on the sea front.


We only stayed a few days then joined a Motorhome Facts / Roamers Rally further up the coast at Denia ( 12 km North of Denia to be precise )  The site was an Aire and was packed to the door with Rally goers. We met some great people and had several great trips out on our Scooter to nearby towns and villages. 


A week later the whole Rally moved lock stock and barrel to another small Aire ( Camper ground ) in Calpe. This was a much better location for us and we were only about 1km  from the promenade and the famous rock of Calpe. This area proved to be a great place for the Rally and it was great to meet old friends ( I mean old ) and knew friends. A big thanks to Ken and Jenny who made it happen.

I mentioned the rock at Calpe. Well its a bit bigger than the average rock you would find on the beach, being 332 mtrs tall. It is it's own National park and is home to loads of sea birds.

 you can actually climb up to the top and myself and a younger rally member did just that. It only took 2 hours to the top.  I was able to speak to pat on the site with the Walkie Talkies. I have got to say that this climb is not for the faint hearted and was a bit treacherous and  hard under foot. Luckily, when traversing the narrow paths with shear drop at the side the Spanish had kindly put a bit of rope on place top  try and grab as you plummeted into the sea.

For the full slideshow experience click here  Almeria  Denia and Calpe


Well the rally has now finished and tomorrow we head for Barcelona.........

Life at Marjal

We are led to believe that Spain is on the edge of economic crisis.  Well someone found 22 million euros stuffed down the back of their couch and decided to build “ Marjal Costa Blanca , Eco Resort” camp site.
This site is brand new and probably one of the biggest I have seen, with approximately 2000 pitches. Luckily for us it was only running at about 20 % when we arrived. Its facilities were second to none with plush  toilet blocks with acres of marble and under floor heating. It even had an separate marbled area for washing your dog . ( that's not a euphemism )  The brand knew Spa and Gym were fantastic and included in the price. Pat went to the gym every day ( chasing young Spaniards around ) The Spa had water jets that blasted places that should be blasted . ( I didn’t like the one I named the sac slapper )
The pitches were spacious, but unfortunately had been constructed entirely from apple crumble. Although they looked solid and crunchy on the surface, when it rained it all turned liquid and a few vans had to be towed to new plots. I think constructing camping areas from classical puddings was a grave mistake on the part of the “Marjal “ group.
Although the site is currently quite un attractive ( because its barren and new ) it will eventually develop into something quite special when all the trees and shrubs have matured. It’s location is quite remote and not an an area that I would call “Pretty Spain” but it was only 20 mins from the coast and had a mountain backdrop that was impressive.
Anyway, we didn’t go there for its prettiness, we went to join the Motorhome Fun rally that was taking place . About 27 vans were in attendance and it was great fun meeting up with old friends and making new acquaintances.
The rally went well and included several gatherings that appeared to revolve around food.
Every Saturday saw a mass exodus to the local market for our veg and coffee in the square. We also discovered a local restaurant called Harry’s and became regulars
Several of us attended Spanish lessons with the beautiful Anita but it soon became clear that she had her class favourites
The rally itself seemed to fly by and the 3 weeks went in a flash. It was all too soon that people were leaving and all of a sudden only the die hards with nowhere else better to go were left.
Right from the outset the staff at Marjal told us that they were expecting a large ( 1000 units ) Spanish Rally on the 30th March that would last for about 10 days. No problem we thought as they were going to occupy the far end of the site.
Well about a week before they started the forward party arrived and constructed a marquee which was a similar size to Alaska. I have never seen a tent so big.  Our friends Gerald and Annie ,who had sunk when the crust on their apple crumble gave way, decided to move to a new plot that was even closer to the mothership. Bless them I think they intended to make the most of soaking up the Spanish festivities and culture that we believed would take place.
Well the Spanish rally kicked off and we soon discovered that the newly constructed mothership was in fact a cloaking device for the biggest speaker in the world and  the bass dial was turned to full. Every night ( until the small hours ) our vans shook and nobody slept. I lay in bed listening to the booming bass wandering what it would have been the Aztec King Montezuma who also had a bit of a Spaniard problem.   Poor Gerald and Annie lasted less than 24 hours before they had lost all their mental abilities and had to leave. We followed a few hours later.
On reflection though, the whole stay at Marjal was fantastic, We met some great people and Pat celebrated her 25th Birthday for the second time.

We have now headed south. Updates will follow soon I am sure …………………………………