5 WEEKS. Where would you go?

[chris]

OK everyone. Back from this years hols in France and North Spain. Have to travel end July and all of August so starting to plan for next summer now.

 

My request to all you seasoned travellers is where would you go if just 2 adults and you had 5 weeks to travel. We never book when in France and love to move on every 2-3 days and do plenty of cycling. Need some sun too as avoided the horrible summers in UK for last 2 years very succesfully.

France is our usual destination for the last few years but we did get to Prague 3 years ago and didnt book anywhere in advance then either.

 

Was wondering about Hook of Holland crossing for a change (tesco vouchers there) and return another route. Where would you go if you took that crossing?

 

We are reluctant to book ahead as love to get up and go if the weather deteriorates so need to keep this in mind but will book if necessary.

 

Goodness knows what the euro will be this time next year either?

 

Thanks

Chris

 

 

[cronkle]

Five weeks would give you time to do Slovenia and/or Croatia taking in a bit of northern Italy, Switzerland or Austria along the way.

 

Never done the Hook of Holland so can't help with that one.

[malc d]

For something very different to your normal holiday you could cross to Hook of Holland, travel up through Holland, northern Germany, and into Denmark and return from Esbjerg.

All nice and flat for cycling !

 

Could be a bit 'busy' in Holland at that time of year though - someone who has been recently may know.

 

:-|

[Guest Tracker]

Norway up to The Nordkapp, back down through Finland and Sweden's Baltic Coast.

 

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

cronkle - 2008-09-03 7:59 AM

 

Five weeks would give you time to do Slovenia and/or Croatia taking in a bit of northern Italy, Switzerland or Austria along the way.

 

Never done the Hook of Holland so can't help with that one.

 

I agree with this idea from Cronkle

 

Or Greece via a ferry from northern Italy, and spend a month touring the Peloponnese :-D

[maggyd]

Well weve just done 6 weeks travelling through Holland, the Mosel Valley which is great if you have your bikes (we didnt) The Black Forest, Lake Constance the Loire Valley and through France.

 

Oh I forgot the Romantic Strasse in Germany.

[Tony Jones]

We'll have our first ever chance to do 5 weeks next summer, and we're heading East.

We've never seen Berlin, Warsaw, Prague or Vienna, so they're on the list. Not sure yet whether we then go further East (Kiev? Black Sea?) or as others have suggested down to Slovenia/Croatia. Probably can't do both in 5 weeks since we want some "quality time" in each place.

I was surprised to find that Stena are already taking bookings for Harwich/Hook for next summer - got ours (o'night, Jul/Aug, with cabin) for £256!! ( http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry )

The ferry is the one thing we always book ahead, as it's cheaper, but we always have to wait until Christmas for Seafrance etc.

 

See you over there!

Tony

[chris]

Some food for thought from some of your suggestions. We booked ferry really early last year and are considering that again.

 

Wonder if any of the ferry companies will go bust like airlines are?

 

Never thought of going to Greece. Norway, Finland Sweden looks a good "loop" as a travel route too. Slovenia and croatia too but as we are over 3.5ton we would avoid Austria. Plenty of ideas here to ponder over.

Tony...we did Prague in summer and did not book so you should be ok.

 

Will look into these and let you know what we decide.

Thanks all

Chris

[chris]

maggyd, did you book anywhere on your trip or just turned up?

Chris

[Tony Jones]

chris - 2008-09-03 8:21 PM

 

Wonder if any of the ferry companies will go bust like airlines are?

 

 

No chance. They'll be picking up all the trade from people who can't afford to fly anymore!

[maggyd]

chris - 2008-09-03 8:23 PM

 

maggyd, did you book anywhere on your trip or just turned up?

Chris

 

No Chris we didnt book and it was our first time abroad with the M.H. my O.H. planned our route on computer and we used the Camping Card book alongside his Tom Tom which he had installed Stalplatz and Aires we also had the Aires book. But I was pleasantly supprised that you can head for a place and easily find Camp sites, Stalplatz etc; and not once did we find we couldnt get on a site, its much easier abroad than here.

[Curly]

For the summer period I would try Norway we did it last year and the weather was great, nothing like what we had in the U.K. we could not believe what we were seeing on the weather map. The wild camp spots are hard to be beat and the large picnic areas for stopping the night are perfect. We went to Nordkapp and it was stunning, it is a country like no other and the people are really pleased to see tourists travelling that far north. Be prepared for very narrow roads off the beaten track and a must see is the Atlantic road and the wildlife is something else, as my grandsons T shirt says "Just do it" and enjoy.

We crossed from Hirtshalls, Denmark to Larvic, Norway for 100 Euros return and with the ability to change sailing times and dates without any further charge.

 

(lol) :-> (lol) :->

[cheetahdavie]

I like to make it 6 weeks,this gives me time to slowly motor up the coast from Brisbane to Cairns.The Whitsundays ,walking on the sea bed on the Great Barrier Reef, 2 and sometimes more hours on the "motorway" never seeing another soul.Every turn off leads to golden beaches.no one on them.Ice cold beer! They drive on the right side of the road,speak a"similar" language.Vehicles stop to let pedestrians cross.Take the Kuranda rail journey up over the mountains and the "cable car" down..gordon bennet..scary!I have done Spain,Portugal,France..even been south of Watford [under protest]..but Aus is another world,,honest.

Fly there ,,ok,,but pick up a "Van" or "Swop"when you get there.

I think "Van" swopping could become like house swopping..I advertise mine in the local Aussie papers.

This time met a guy I served with in the Andrew,last saw him in 1957.Good night had by all?

[AnnPaul]

:-| :-| :-|

 

Just returned from Coatia, now very expensive, geared for the Germans. No wild camping allowed average cost of 3/4* camp sites £22 to £25 per night.

[AnnPaul]

:-| :-| :-|

[ROON]

Chris, If you look in Motorhome Matters under a thread entitled Wintering Away by Don Madge, I think you might find it interesting.

 

You will see that Don is a brilliant contact for advice on where and how to travel long distance for lengthened periods of time.

 

I am sure if he sees your post he will come up with something really good. Why not pm him and point him to this thread.

 

Wherever you go, hope you have a wonderful time. Joy

[chris]

ANNPAUL, we too thought that Croatia was limited to campsites and not cheap and you have confirmed that. Also seems that we would have to book up in advance.

Roon, just read Dons entry and fair play that man deserves a medal for his travelling exploits and he has always been willing to help everyone including myself in previous posts.

 

All these ideas are great and we really now must sit down and decide on the ferry crossings and then move on from there. Our motto has been follow the sun so very often we change our plans totally to avoid the rain that seems to plague many UK and even French areas for the last 2 summers. It is surprising when you get a European map out to look at all these recomendations that you realise that there is a lot to be seen and many countries that you really weren't aware of where they were in relation to UK. gOING NORTH CAN SOMETIMES BE FURTHER THAN DRIVING TO sOUTH OF sPAIN TOO.

Thanks everyone

 

Chris

 

[mom]

5 weeks?  Absolutely, definitely The Baltic Countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  Via Northern Poland.

 

We did it 2 summers ago and had the best motorhoming experience of our lives!

 

[starvin marvin]

To the Black Sea. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania. Constanta is on the Black Sea coast. Did it about 8 years ago brilliant, a bit of everything. you could come back through Bulgaria which we didn't but maybe next time.

[malc d]

mom - 2008-09-08 9:00 PM5 weeks?  Absolutely, definitely The Baltic Countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  Via Northern Poland.

 

We did it 2 summers ago and had the best motorhoming experience of our lives!

That's an area that I've been considering but I was put off by reports of bad roads. What was your experience of the roads like ? :-|

[mom]

Some of the roads were variable, but those between major and most minor centres, were just fine.

 

(In the following, by "good road" I mean sealed, no potholes, regular kind of road we find everywhere else, though with a few eastern peculiarities!!!...)

 

We travelled the following route, loosely...

Calais - Warnitz (42 miles north Berlin).  Good roads (obviously!!).

Warnitz - Gdansk (Polish Baltic Coast).  Apart from a patch of East German road (where it was a shuddering bump every 100 yards and heavily rutted, max safe motorhome speed 20 mph!) the main roads were good.  Especially in northern Poland.

Gdansk - Kaunas (Lithuania).  Good roads. 

Kaunas - Vilnius.  Good roads.

Exploring eastern Lithuania.  Good roads.

To Riga. Good roads.

Island of Saaramaar.  Good roads.

To Tallinn.  Good roads.

 

(Up to this point, in the Baltic Countries, we have effectively followed the Via Baltica, an international highway forming the spine of the Baltics, and apart from several sets of roadworks which were potholey in places, everything was fine, including most of the smaller roads we took to this place and that.)

 

Explore north eastern Estonia.  Good roads, except for a couple of unsealed ones here and there.  Lightly ribbed, nothing fell off the van!!!

Down into eastern Latvia.  Good roads.

Across the centre of Latvia from east to west, to Jurmala.  Good roads.  Multilane motorway in one part.

Around the coast, up to Cape Kolka.  Roads ok.  Getting narrow and bumpy.

Cape Kolka down to Ventspils.  Road very very bad.  Unsealed, badly ribbed and rutted.  We arrived back in civilization in a cloud of pale yellow dust!!  Several screws fell out!  But nothing severe.  Would we do this road again?  Yes, just to see Cape Kolka.  Well, maybe.  Possibly not!

Explore western Latvia and then western Lithuania.  Good roads.

Neringa peninsula.  Good roads.

 

We then caught a ferry from Klaipeda in Lithuania to Kiel in Germany, and motored home via Champagne.  Good roads, as you'd expect.

 

So, in summary, most of the roads we travelled were sealed, modern and in very good condition.  Essentially, rule of thumb, any road between two towns of tourist-level interest is just fine.  There are occasional patches of roadworks, that can be pretty rough. I travelled at a low speed most of the time (max speed 55 mph anyway), so at no time did I fear for the van.

 

Had dozens of wonderful experiences, and stayed at some wonderful campsites.  The people are "very" firendly.  We went with high levels of apprehension and spent all the days after the first in a state of complete relaxation.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[malc d]

Thanks a lot for taking the time for such a detailed report 'mom', -- great.

 

May well consider that area now.

 

:-|

[mom]

No worries!  Just to whet your appetite further!... some memories which I recorded for friends back in Australia, and cut and paste here (out of laziness!!)...

 

-- Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The most picturesque and majestic construction site on the planet! Almost every building was clad with scaffolding, and almost every road and path was fenced for re-paving. But behind the fences and scaffolding lay the most magnicicent buildings I could imagine! All being cleaned and renovated and polished up. Many of the city houses were the size and grandeur of a small theatre. In two years time, it could be one of the most sort after destinations in Europe. Impressive.

 

-- Camping by a lake near Vilnius. Surrounded by German, Dutch and Italian mega-campers!, we spent 2 fantastic nights updating our journals and sipping red wine by candelight till midnight. Everyone did the same, and the dark campsite became a wonderous scene, a blackened field lit by dozens of candles and the moon and stars above. Please. I want to go back.

 

-- The Curonian Spit. A world heritage area, a peninsular in fact, jutting out from the Lithanian coast into the Baltic Sea. Protected sand dunes, wildflowers of all colours, the sea and the forest. We camped at Nida and drank Cremant de Loire with some new German friends till all hours of the night.

 

-- Riga, the capital of Latvia. I loved Riga. Although now the destination of British stag-party-goers due to cheap flights, Riga still maintains it's oldy-worldy charm. We sat in the old city square on a hot sunny morning and drank beer. Just then, behind us at the far end of the square, the entertainment began. For about an hour, chamber music from a live orchestra poured from the stage into the square and flowed into the surrounding streets. The music was smooth and mellow, and I was quite taken by the moment, and that single hour clinched Riga as my favourite of the three capital cities.

 

-- Saremaar. An island to the west of Estonia. We camped on the beach, explored an ancient village, visited a meteor crater and built a rock cairn on a beach of rock cairns. We could have spent a week on that island. Alas, only 2 days.

 

-- Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Originally a medieval town, it has been "overdone" for the tourists. The town square has lost all its traditional businesses to become a square of restaurants, where almost no Estonian is spoken, giving way to German and Polish. We had to work hard to enjoy this place, though the partying youth seemed to be having a good time! A little disappointing.

However it was here that I heard the most moving story. We hired a guide to show us the parts of Tallinn not normally visited by tourists. He told us of the days of gaining their independance. He was seven at the time and Estonia, after decades of occupation, had rejected the communists and told Russia to leave. Initially Russia agreed, but changed their minds and came back even stronger. Seeing revolt amongst the Estonians, Russia moved its tanks into the forest surrounding Tallinn. Our guide's father was amongst hundreds of men who grabbed whatever implements they could, hammers, shovels, sticks, and headed into the forest to resist the tanks. They would of course have no chance against the Soviet machinery. He remembers his father coming into the house and saying goodbye; saying that this could be the last time they ever saw him. As the defiant but helpless townsmen walked into the woods, the women and children all headed to the north beach where Soviet gunships had gathered just offshore. Once at the beach they assembled into a large group and stood, facing the ships and their threatening guns, and attacked them with the only weapon they had. Song. They sang. For hours they sang. And a short time later, without firing a gun or spilling a drop of blood, the Russians left Estonia never to return. The human spirit.

 

-- The Russian nuclear misile bunker. A real bunker of 4 silos, unchanged for decades except that the misiles have been removed! We got to walk through the underground tunnels linking the silos, and to stand in a silo. It made me nervous, I must admit. And it was armed not long ago!

 

-- Camping by a river in Latvia. It was idylic. Even though we were surrounded again by gigantic German spaceships, the river was beautiful and we sat, supped and sipped, and watched the sun go down for two nights. This site was our favourite. Interestingly, on my morning walk to the shower and toilet block, all the Germans kept calling me Morgan. At least I think that is what they were saying?! Confusing, though, because the Italians kept calling me Sarah on my evening strolls to the same building!

 

-- So much more! The Hill of Crosses, the Estonian National Park, bargaining for a good price on amber, the Australians we met in a camper just like ours in Riga, the British tourists in Gdansk who, on noticing our British number plate, raced over and pleaded with us to say something to them in English!!!; they had been touring Eastern Europe for quite some time, and the 2nd language in those parts is German, not English; camping in the forest, by the beach, a river, a lake, a basketball court, a car park.

 

-- Everything!!!!