Travels with d'Hobby

Update from Brittany
It’s a rainy Sunday in Concarneau, Brittany, and we’re having a day off.  Passing showers are apparently left-over from a tropical storm which the USA enjoyed a week or so ago, but it has also definitely cooled down considerably (btw – what defines ‘tropical’? – brrr).

We have enjoyed making our way up the west coast of France in the past week or so.  Bordeaux is a beautiful city, astride the River Garonne, with a long promenade of stately buildings, and gardens and tree-lined boulevards running off it.  We had a very warm, sunny day to explore, and one of the highlights was the Mirror Lake on the promenade in front of La Bourse, which cycles through 3 stages: it starts with a misty spray at knee height, then it floods the surface to about 2cm deep to make the mirror, then drains away again completely after about 10 minutes.  Amazing how much fun you can have with a bit of water and a flat surface.  The kids loved it of course, splashing around everywhere, and the adults also got to mess around without getting seriously wet.  It does require some patience to get a photo of reflections though – until everyone has stopped splashing!

Then it was on to La Rochelle, the yachting capital of the Atlantic coast, with a nice waterfront lined with cafes (of course), and note the lighthouse stuck in between the buildings.  There are also huge marinas outside the old port, and a very interesting aquarium on the wharf, exhibiting environments and sea creatures from all the oceans of the world, and good captions in both French and English.

Next stop was Vannes, now in Brittany proper.  Vannes is one of the most attractive medieval towns we’ve explored so far (amongst many), set at the head of a huge bay, which is virtually an enclosed sea, and filled with hundreds of islands, many inhabited but only accessible by boat.  The old town is surrounded by high walls, and has many narrow, cobbled streets and lanes with timber frame buildings leaning in all directions.  We had a very pleasant lunch in a bistro on the ramparts, overlooking the chateau gardens (which can be seen in the photo with a green awning and umbrellas).

Going north from Nantes on the Loire, the houses suddenly change from the Mediterranean look of stucco or sandstone & terracotta tile roofs, to white stone or whitewashed walls and grey slate roofs with high pitches.  This look, and the countryside, villages and towns are very similar to Cornwall and Wales, probably because the Bretons have a shared Celtic ancestry with the Cornish and the Welsh.

They even have a different language (Breton) which is seems to originate from Gaelic, and many road signs are in both French and Breton languages, and designs on many arts & crafts are very Celtic.

On the way north from Vannes we stopped off to see the pre-historic megaliths and menhirs near Carnac & Quiberon on the coast.  These have been here for some 4,000 years, and, like Stonehenge in England, are steeped in mystery.  Thousands of them are lined up in the fields for no apparent reason – possibly religious or astronomical.  There are also some with stones laid on top which are assumed to be burial chambers for individuals, plus large stone mounds (tumulus) which are definitely burial chambers for ‘nobility’.
Brittany is also home to the fictional tribe of Asterix the Gaul (the cartoon character) whose immensely strong sidekick Obelix is often depicted delivering a ‘menhir’ on his back.

We are now in Concarneau, not far south of Brest:

Concarneau is an historical fishing port, with their traditional main catch being sardines.  It is also another main yachting centre on this coast (picture of hire yachts lined up included to keep JB happy).  What is also unusual is the old medieval walled town is actually an island in the middle of the harbour, only accessible by a bridge at the north end, and a small ferry for pedestrians at the south end.  We had lunch in the old town yesterday, which is a pure tourist trap of course, but still quaint and great seafood (and wine).

We are booked on a ferry from Roscoff, on the north coast of Brittany, to Plymouth in Devon next Wednesday, 26th September, so we will be making our way there over the next few days.  We don’t know if the ferry will actually be running as we heard yesterday they had cancelled all ferries until further notice, due to French wharfies staging random wildcat strikes, and totally disrupting schedules.  Hopefully it will be resolved by the time we go, but we may just end up spending further time in Brittany.  We had planned to visit Cornwall and Devon for 2 weeks before we are due back in London for doctor’s appointments for blood tests, check-ups etc. in mid-October.  We’ll see how it goes.

à tout à l’heure !

From South West France – Armagnac country

Since we last reported three weeks ago, we have spent a few days in Switzerland, followed by more than two weeks in the south of France.  After d’Hobby’s brakes were fixed in Austria it was westward-ho into Switzerland, and a long weekend in Bern (the capital) which is one of our favourite cities from past visits, camped by the river, and a pleasant walk into the old city centre.

After we left Bern and headed south we had a blow-out on a rear tyre on the autoroute near Geneva.  Because we were right on the carriageway we called out the local automobile club on an SOS phone to change the wheel for us (too dangerous with your own inadequate tools as traffic zips past 1 metre away at 130kph !).

Anyway, this got us to a tyre dealer in Geneva where we bought two new tyres – the spare was bald, so the remaining rear tyre became the new spare.  Good news is the dealer in UK who sold us the motorhome has offered to pay for the two new (Pirelli) tyres.

Annecy in the French Alps was the next stop – a truly beautiful setting on the lake and a quaint old town to complete the picture – full on market through the town on the day we visited.  (Pity about the killing of the English/Iraqi family that happened there a few days after we left.  Local opinion is firmly on a professional assassination rather than random mayhem).

Then, after Annecy, we drove south on the Route Napoleon, climbing and descending through the French Alps towards Nice, before arriving in Fayence to stay with Mark & Lorna (Jan’s brother & sister-in-law) at their Provencal farmhouse ‘Mas de Cabrie’.  We stayed in their self-contained guesthouse complete with the pool etc., and house sat the property, including two of their older dogs, while they went off in a camper van for a week’s break to the Dolomites (in Italy) with their younger dogs.

We had a really relaxing time, and a lovely 10 day break from travel – walking the dogs twice a day – swimming in the pool on fine days, and exploring some of the surrounding hill towns and villages with their markets, cafés, bistros and boulangeries.
Reluctantly leaving Fayence (they had new paying guests arriving), our next stop was Aix-en-Provence, again one of our favourite towns in the South of France.

Then on to Carcassonne in the deep south, and Rugby country.  There is an ancient citadel ‘La Cité’ on the south bank of the river, with all the towers and ramparts intact, and the medieval town is still within the walls – a full-on tourist trap of course.  On the north bank of the river is the ‘new’ old town which dates (only) from the 16th / 17th century, and this is in turn bordered by the Canal du Midi, which stretches from Bordeaux on the west coast all the way through to Marseilles on the Mediterranean.  We cycled along a stretch of the canal one day – about 12km each way, and it is very pretty, with large plane trees along most of the banks, and picturesque locks every couple of km.

We are currently staying at a campsite next to the River Baise in Condom (no jokes please), heading north-west towards Bordeaux.  This is the centre of the Armagnac growing/producing area, and we did a tasting (degustation) at the local Cooperative/Distillery this afternoon.  We bought one bottle of 10-15 years old Armagnac blend after tasting a range of 4 vintages – blends of 5yrs and 10-15 yrs; plus single grape vintages of 1985 and 1966.  The older ones were fantastic, but so were their prices!  Also bought some local wines to stock up the cellar a little.   Condom is also the home town of Alexander Dumas and his fictional character D’Artagnan, plus The Three Musketeers, with statues of them all in the town square.

From here we plan to make our way north via Bordeaux, with a re-visit to St Emilion, and then up the west coast to Brittany, eventually arriving back in the UK in first week of October.  Mike is due to have his 6 monthly blood tests, check-up and prescriptions, and we have organised to visit the Motorhome Show in Birmingham on 18th October.  It will also be an opportunity to get the van serviced – we’ve done 10,000km in the last 3 months, and hopefully renegotiate the insurance for the next 12 months.  After that we will probably head south again to Spain for winter (but our plans are as flexible as ever).

Czech Republic to the Austrian Tirol

Well, we wanted some summer, and we’ve found it! Temperatures around 30oC each day, with clear sunny skies then, when the humidity has built up enough around the mountains, we cop the thunderstorms with torrential rain, and a blast of wind.  Example in the photo of Mike rescuing the awning which had blown half shut and filled with water.  We were having dinner at the campsite in Hall in Tirol when the sky exploded, and we had a mad rush to clear the decks.

Another interesting campsite was at Cesky Krumlov, with d’Hobby parked in the shade of one of the solar panel arrays which cover the site.

No lack of electricity available there, as sometimes we only get 6 amps, which isn’t enough to boil the jug or run the toaster.  Most sites are 10A or 16A, which gives plenty of power for appliances.  Luckily we have our own solar panels on the roof, which re-charge the batteries pretty much all day.

Cesky Krumlov was a delightful little medieval town set on the bend on the river, overlooked by the massive castle.  A very nice day spent wandering the streets and cafes there, and also visiting the Egon Schiele art gallery & museum, which as a bonus featured an exhibition of ‘humour in art’, including many works by Gerald Scarfe, the UK political cartoonist.

Our first stop in Austria was St Johann in Tirol, where we had a spectacular view of the mountains from our breakfast table.            

It is also nice to be back into a countryside where everything is so neat and tidy, after the scruffy scenery of the Baltic & Eastern European countries.

We spent the day in Innsbruck yesterday – another hot and sunny day, spent wandering the streets and cafes.  Street & business signs are an endless fascination in Europe – some ancient examples, then suddenly ultra-modern intrudes.  Also, couldn’t resist the photo of the expression on the face of the (flat) fox in the taxidermist’s window – the caption says it all for those that know the Toyota TV advert.

We have decided on another change of direction.  It is too hot to go to the Croatian coast yet, so we are heading west into Switzerland, then south into Provence to visit with Mark & Lorna (Jan’s brother & sister-in-law) for a week or so, then go across Italy to Croatia in September when it cools down a bit.

We are sitting in McDonalds in Innsbruck writing this while d’Hobby has his front brakes attended to.  The old problem didn’t go away completely, and the Fiat dealer has now declared full replacements required, which will set us back some € 920.  I guess the fun will also now start with negotiating with the breakdown warranty people in the UK to cover the cost.

This weekend we plan to be in Lichenstein, then onwards through Lucerne & Bern.

Auf weidersien !

Update from Prague, Czech Republic.

It’s been two weeks since our last update, and many miles/kilometres under the wheels since then.  1,900 km coming south from Helsinki, and 8,000 km since we left the UK at the end of June.

Highlights from Helsinki (Finland), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech republic:
Helsinki – lovely city, spread out and clean & tidy.  Great inner city and waterfront (daily markets) and very lively.  We also took a day trip by 100 year old steamer to the old town of Porvoo along the coast – very quaint but touristy.

Tallin, Estonia – a really lovely old town on a hill, surrounded by the old walls, and the newer city spread out around it.  Probably the nicest old town we’ve seen since Ribe in Denmark.

Riga in Latvia also had very nice old town, but the rest of the city was pretty dilapidated – in need of a coat of paint at least, and much renovation required to upgrade all the old communist era buildings.

Kaunas in Lithuania was very similar to Riga.  Capitalism has taken hold very strongly, evidenced by Starbucks, McDonalds & Burger King outlets proliferating, but so much shabbiness still evident.

Warsaw in Poland was an eye-opener.  The old town was 90% destroyed by the Germans in WWII, and it has all been restored to its 17th and 18th century splendour.  We probably enjoyed this city as much as Tallinn.

Wroclaw in south west Poland was very similar to Warsaw, but on a smaller scale. We had a fun time hunting down little statues of dwarfs scattered around the city and photographing them.  There are around 80 to be found in the greater city area, and we found 18 of them in the central old town, although some are very hard to spot and others we couldn’t find, even though they were marked on a map.

Prague, Czech Republic this last 2 days has been hot and crowded.  We were more impressed by Warsaw old town, but the buildings in the city centre of Prague are outstanding nonetheless, with many decorated in art nouveau style of the era when they were built or restored.  Many palaces, churches and large buildings crowd the streets and alleys, most with terracotta tile roofs, so a panorama view of the city from the Castle on the hill is quite spectacular.

We were surprised to see Marks & Spencer and Debenhams department stores in the main shopping area, together with C&A, H&M and more brand stores than can be listed.  Poland and the Czech Republic are certainly more westernised (i.e. integrated into the EU) than the Baltic States we have travelled though recently, and the countryside villages and towns are also looking more neat and prosperous.

The exception to this last comment is the endless graffiti we saw in the outskirts of Prague, as we came in on the train.  Obviously a disaffected youth culture prevails still.  The government must find it really difficult to spend so much money on restoring the old buildings and to have to deal with a graffiti plague as well.

Notes – all these old towns have very good tram systems, which run in conjunction with the buses and trains.  NZ & UK could learn much from this, especially those towns that short-sightedly ripped out the tram tracks in the 50s and 60s.

We’ve had enough now of old, crowded capital cities, and we’re heading south into Austria, Slovenia and Croatia, avoiding cities and visiting smaller towns instead (perhaps with the exception of Salzburg and Ljubljana, but they are on a much smaller scale).  It is also getting much warmer as we head south – 25oC today, and forecast 29oC thru to 32oC next week.

Next stop is Cesky Krumlov – a small, old, medieval town in the south of Bohemia.

We’ve just arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, this afternoon by ferry from Helsinki.
It was a 2 hour crossing, very pleasantly spent treating ourselves to a splendid lunch in their top restaurant, with a view of the islands, yachts and shipping cruising by.
We shared Escargots in garlic cream sauce, and shrimp & avocado salad for entrees, then pork fillet for Jan and fillet of beef for Mike as a main.
Washed down with a Luxemburg champagne for Jan, and a very nice Shiraz/Merlot from Sicily for Mike.
Hey – it’s a tough life, but someone has to do it!  (And it is very infrequent so far this trip).

Anyway, highlights from the last week, apropos the enclosed photos:
• Driving in Finland
• Santa’s Village in Lapland
• Huskypoint
• Jamsankoski campsite

Driving in Finland is beautiful but eventually very boring – miles and miles of forest (pine, spruce and silver birch), interspersed with lakes and farms,
the only excitement being the reindeer and elk wandering the roadsides.
We saw quite a few reindeer, but didn’t spot an elk (moose for those of an American persuasion). The only other challenge to the brain is trying to pronounce the place names on the road signs.

Our first stop in Finland was Rovaniemi, in Lapland on the Arctic Circle – but going south this time.  We visited Santa’s Village, which is on the circle line (just east of Baker Street ;-), and made point of visiting Santa in his office, and telling him how good all our children, grandchildren and friends have been this year (so far).  He said he knew NZ and Australia quite well, having come through there briefly last year (Dec 24th), and looking forward to another visit.  He mentioned that the elves were flat out, and everything is on schedule for this year.  We also visited Santa’s Post Office and saw the little helpers franking all the cards and letters by hand that people were sending off.  We confess to sending some cards & letters too.

Our next stop was Huskypoint, where they breed huskies for dog sled racing.  They have 215 Alaskan husky dogs and puppies at present at two sites 200km apart.  Their main activity time is winter, of course, and they usually have 3 teams of 14 dogs entered in the big races in Norway each March – 500km and 1,000km races over 2-3 and 5 days respectively.  Plus they do guided treks for tourists.
We got to pet many of the dogs – they love attention and are all over you, then we got to cuddle the puppies too – just 6 weeks old.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to sneak one out under a jacket, and they don’t sell them either.

We were then taken on a 1km dog sled ride, with the team pulling a buggy through the forest – and wow! – the speed they go is amazing.
The lead dogs are the older, smart ones – they know the commands left, right, slow, fast, stop, etc.  The dogs further back are the ‘grunts’ – the young, strong ones.
Apparently they run for 2+ hours at a time in the winter races, with only ½ hour breaks, for a whole day.  They then rest for 8 to 10 hours before heading off again.  It was a great experience.

The campsite we found at Jamsankoski was by accident.  The site we had chosen at Jyvaskyla was almost full and they wanted to charge €50 per night because the Finland Motor Rally was in their area, so we kept going and found this delightful site 40km further south (For only €21 per night)
Our pitch was right on the lakeside under pine trees, stepping out onto a wooden deck by the water – fabulous view (and sunset, and idyllic surroundings).  It was just a pity we could only stay one night as we needed to reach Helsinki the following day (Friday), to organise possible side-trips to Porvoo and St Petersburg, plus a ferry to Estonia.

Next week: Helsinki, Porvoo and Tallinn.

We’re now in Sweden.  Arrived from Denmark on the 12th via the Orundsen bridge from Copenhagen to Malmo; stopped for a long lunch with Bengt & Kristina Fahlander in Svedala (friends we met in Havelock North) – a very pleasant afternoon before going on to Ystad on the south coast, where we are currently staying 3 nights.

Ystad is famous for the Kurt Wallander detective stories (by Henning Mankell), and is a very pretty town to go with it.

Enclosed are some photos of the places we visited in Denmark, starting with the oldest town RIBE (pronounced Ribby), est 1300 years ago.

The pole in the photo marks the flood lines for different years over the centuries – the highest in 1364 would have completely drowned all the current buildings with the exception of the Cathedral.

We then drove to Arhus on the east coast of Jutland, via Silkeborg, where we saw the mummified remains of the Tollund Man (350BC).

Then on to Kerteminde, a small fishing town on the NE coast of island of Funen, which has an excellent museum and gallery of Johannes Larsen’s art.

Next step was on to Roskilde to visit the Viking ship museum.  

A lovely surprise in Roskilde was being visited at the campsite by Heather & Clive and family from Napier.

We took a train into Copenhagen the next day and made good use of a day pass to tour by boat and foot, and had a very nice dinner at the Tivoli Gardens before catching a late train home to Roskilde.

Our final stop in Denmark was in Helsingor for the “Elsinor Castle” of Hamlet fame (really Kronborg Castle) – very interesting Renaissance castle and fortifications, also housing a Maritime Museum.  One of the photos shows the stunning ballroom which was the largest in Scandinavia at the time.

Tomorrow we start our journey north through Sweden and Norway to the Arctic Circle.

Hi from the high latitudes of Scandinavia (Lapland, Sweden),

We left Oslo last Monday after the brakes had been checked out.
It was just the pads sticking, and the Fiat workshop fixed that, and we were on the road again in under 2 hours.
An overnight stop in Lillehammer by the lake, then on to Trondheim for 2 nights.
Trondheim is the ancient capital of Norway (now usurped by Oslo, of course), with a nice old town and river, and a vast cathedral where all the Norwegian monarchs have been crowned over the centuries.

It then took us another 3 days to reach Narvik – 900+ Km, where we stayed on Saturday night, with stops at Mosjoen (Mersh-ewon) and Fauske.

On the way we crossed the Arctic Circle at 66o 33’ N, where we had lunch at the Arctic Circle centre and took some photos to prove it.
The centre is on a bleak, wind-swept plateau at 600m elevation, with high peaks and patches of snow around, even in mid-summer.

The Arctic Circle marks the southern extent of the midnight sun, i.e. it stays in the sky for 24 hours a day for 2 months in mid-summer.
Apparently we have missed seeing this by one week – it ended on 21 July.
Even so, the sun doesn’t set until 10.30pm where we are, and it stays light as ‘twilight’ until it rises again at 1.30am, so it doesn’t actually get dark at all.

We pushed on northwards, with stunning views of the high mountain peaks & fjords, high altitude lakes and rushing rivers and waterfalls.
Many of the mountain tops are so steep they are bare rock, with lots of forest on the lower slopes, and scattered villages and farms along the fjords.
It is a lot like driving around the South Island of NZ through the Lewis and Arthurs Passes, Westland & Fjordland, all rolled into one, but endless – going for thousands of kilometres.

Anyway, the weather has been lousy, with the odd fine day amongst many wet and cold ones, so in Narvik we decided to abandon any further progress north.
We had planned to go as far as Tromso – another 225 km, but the forecast was still not good, so we have headed south again on the E10 back over the mountains into Sweden and plan to then go into Finland, through Lapland.

The roads have been excellent so far right through Sweden and Norway, until today that is, when we struck 26 km of road-works in one stretch – rough as guts with mud, potholes, and no traffic management, so we ended up driving over heaps of shingle and rocks as they carried on working with diggers, graders and trucks etc.
Poor old d’Hobby pulled through but we were worried the suspension wasn’t going to make it at times.
We are now in Pajala (pronounced Pie-ella) in Lapland, Sweden, in the start of mosquito country we think.
We are right by a very big river, and it has been raining again, with mild temperatures, so we’ve shut everything up tight with the fly screens, and hope for the best.
Onwards into Finland tomorrow.

It is Sunday in Oslo, and it’s our 4th day here today. We’re using it as a day off to catch up with photos, emails etc., and Jan went off to the nearby supermarket to do some grocery shopping but found everything closed.  We decided to stay over in Oslo for some extra days as we have a problem with one of d’Hobby’s front wheels on the driver’s side.
The wheel and rim were too hot to touch when we arrived in Oslo, and we are getting it looked at by the local Fiat dealer tomorrow (Monday).

We arrived on Wednesday last week from Sweden, having come north from Ystad on the south coast through the lake district.

It was lovely countryside along the way as we came north, with lots of forests and lakes, and our last campsite at Amals was right on the edge of Lake Vanern – a beautiful overnight stop, and sunny when we arrived but heavy rain in the early hours again. The weather is still very variable – lots of rain, interspersed by fine days, although still quite cool.

For example we got caught in a huge thunderstorm on Friday in the middle of Oslo, with rain and hail, although it was sunny and 22oC just before it hit.

We had an all-day bus/tram ticket and we had just got off a tram, so we hopped on the next tram that came along and took a ride out to the suburban end of the line while the storm passed over. By the time we got back into town it had fined up again so we carried on exploring – it’s a very nice city with both old and new parts to see, and lovely parks.

Yesterday was spent at the nearby museums – Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki / Ra II museum with both craft preserved from their epic voyages – very interesting.
Then the “Fram” museum with Roald Amundsen’s ship completely enclosed in the A-frame building, with displays of his North and South Pole expeditions all in English, together with a similar display of Capt. Scott’s Antarctic expeditions – providing at least a fair and balanced view of two very different outcomes.  The obvious conclusion is that the Norwegians were very much more organised and prepared for the conditions than were Scott’s expeditions.  Also they were expert skiers, with lots of huskies, whereas the English relied mainly on horses and man-hauling sledges on foot.

We are parked in Oslo right by the water and boat moorings at a marina on the outskirts of the city – a 10 minute bike ride into the centre on good bike tracks, and close by shops, buses, etc. It’s not a proper campsite, but has power and water points, plus a toilet/shower block.

It is NKR 200 per night to stay here (£20 = NZ$40), but this is still cheaper than regular campsites.
We had been warned that Norway is expensive but WOW !
Some examples:
Corona beer 62 Kr per bottle (£6 = NZ$12)
33ml draught beer 48 Kr (£5 = NZ$10)
Nachos, single serve 100 Kr, plus chicken 55 Kr = 155 Kr (£15.50 = NZ$32)
McDonalds Big Mac Meal 83 Kr (£8.30 = NZ$17)
Wine in supermarket:
Jacob’s Creek Cabernet/Shiraz 115 Kr (£11.50 = NZ$23 (usually under NZ$10 in NZ)).
Cloudy Bay Sauv. Blanc 429 Kr (£43 = NZ$86)
French Cotes du Rhone, normally < £5 in UK, are around £15 to £20 here 150 – 200 Kr.

That’s about it for now.
We will be heading north to Trondheim and Tromso when the wheel has been checked out, hopefully on Monday/Tuesday.

Well, we took the plunge yesterday and put a deposit on a motor-home after a test drive and close inspection. It is a 2001 Hobby 650 FSe, 2.8 tdi, lovely condition and drives very nicely. Fixed bed in the rear and separate bathroom/shower. 6.9m long, 2.3m wide, 2.85m high. Satellite TV, bike rack, solar panel etc. We will pick it up in two weeks time after it has been serviced and checked over, with new registration & MOT (WOF). Next job is to fit it out with crockery, cutlery, kitchen small appliances, pots & pans, bedding, etc.

We’re aiming to head off to Europe mid-June, so the timing should be about right.

Just a  quick update from Utrecht  (Netherlands).

On Friday we caught the ferry from Dover to Calais, then drove on up to Gent in Belgium, arriving mid-afternoon.  It was a really big camp-site, very busy and noisy on Friday and Sat night with about 5,000 teenagers on-site because of a Six-a-side soccer tournament  with about 486 teams (and most of them trying to check in at the same time as us – chaos).  They were staying in tents at the end of this huge camping ground, there is a large sporting complex along the road and around us.
These kids partied until 3.00am Friday and Saturday nights – hence not much sleep was had by the rest of the campers.

On Friday evening Jean-Paul and Martine invited us to their place for J-P’s 63rd birthday BBQ with friends and family.
They have a lovely apartment on the 5th floor, in a building opposite the old cathedral in the centre of town.
Jan nearly ended her trip there when she fell down the stairs between floors of the apartment, but miraculously escaped injury (someone up there is looking out for her).
We then spent Saturday exploring Gent with Jean-Paul as guide, ably assisted by his friend Frank (the ex mayor) who gave us a guided tour of the old Town Hall which dates back to the 13th century – a very interesting. Dinner out on Saturday night by one of the canals.
Sunday we toured the markets in the rain, but they were not well patronised on a day like that. The rain cleared in the afternoon, and Monday was fine for further wandering the streets and shops.

Today we drove from Gent to Vleuten near Utrecht – first really fine, warm day for weeks.  We are currently staying with our friend Ria, and we rode bikes into the village here this afternoon, and bought 2 second-hand bikes at the local bike shop to take on the rack on the back of the camper.  The dealers will renovate them with everything necessary, plus servicing, for us to pick them up on Thursday.

Pictures in and around Utrecht: