Buongiorno tutte! We drove all the way to Lake Maggiore, arriving about 8pm. 300 miles in one day: quite a tiring trek, really. It was starting to get dark, so we stopped at the first campsite we found. It was right by the lake, but we couldn´t see a lot in the dusk. In the morning light we found that the site wasn´t that great, and Kathy was suffering with an allergic reaction to mozzie bites, so we left post haste. Read more...

Got up and packed the van in a hurry, got the 9am bus back into Venice and visited the church Santa Maria della Salute and the church Santa Maria Gloria dei Frari which was really impressive. There were lots of large paintings (it was like a gallery) and 2 huge tombs, one that of Titian (he’s a painter, if you don’t know). Checked out of the campsite at noon and headed towards more Alps! Read more...

After heading into Bologna for some last minute essential purchases — sun-dried tomatoes, parmigiano, porcini and fresh figs (yummy) — we set off for Venice. Arrived at the campsite at about 2:30pm (it took a bit of finding); we settled down, visited the supermarket and then chilled out in the sunshine. Had a bit of a lie-in before catching the campsite’s private bus at 12:30pm. Arrived in Venice at 1pm and wandered around the bus station for a while a bit unsure as to where we were supposed to go. Read more...

Managed to get up at 7:30am and Tim did the mountain of washing up. We stopped in Nevers for petrol, it was 23°C by 10am, a cloudless sky. It was a lovely drive to Lyon with some beautiful views. We arrived at the Camping International site, 9 km from lyon centre, at about 2pm. Chose a pitch near to the amenities — toilets, showers, games room (table tennis, table football), washing machine — and set up camp. Read more...

We enjoyed Paris but were glad to get away from the big city and into the country. The weather was wonderful and we were driving on lovely, long straight roads with not much traffic and frequently tree-lined: lovely! We entered the Loire valley and drove through some lovely towns and villages, took opportunities to cross over the river and the nearby canal and enjoy the views from the bridges. We stopped in Gien; it was so beautiful. Read more...

Hi folks! We’ve taken loads of photos! Unfortunately the internet café in Lyon had no means (as far as I could tell) of resizing those that we transferred to the PC. I miss iPhoto! Anyway, we’ve uploaded ten choice images to our photo gallery Flickr

…with the sound of music! No we weren’t in Austria but we were travelling through the Alps. We left Lyon at 10am and struggled to escape, French signposts are pretty awful. Looking forward to the Alps we began to see them as hazy outlines against the horizon. Difficult to put into words the beauty and awesomeness of the landscape, we took lots of photos and exhausted the battery in the video camera. Read more...

We are now in Paris! On our first day we went to the Eiffel Tower, only to the first floor as this was all Kathy’s knees could take. The view was great and the tower was impressive to say the least. We have been enjoying french bread with nearly every meal and also some french beer with dinner! Kathy’s teddy bear from nursery has been enjoying the sights as well, look out for pictures. Read more...

We’ve arrived! / Nous sommes arrivees! The ferry was top notch; we had a welcome meal of fish and chips and that took up most of the journey. The campsite in Calais was a bit of a dump: lots of loud English peeps and not much privacy. The ladies’ loos were locked! Gorgeous weather though: went for a brief walk on the beach. Fairly good night’s sleep and then croissants and baguette fresh from the boulangerie for breakfast. Read more...

A number of people have asked us about our planned route around Europe. It’s still a little bit up in the air, but at the time of writing the plan is as follows: France: Calais — Paris — Loire Valley — Lyon Switzerland: Lake Maggiore Italy: Lake Como — Bologna — Venice Austria: Salzburg or Graz — Vienna Slovakia: Bratislava Czech Republic: Prague Germany: Dresden — Osnabrück — Bonn Belgium: Bruges