Category: Uncategorized
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Moody Mountains and Pirates’ Coves – Waterford’s Dunmore East to the Ring of Kerry
Waterford’s Dunmore East offers up classic seaside holidays. Think, pirate coves ringing with people splashing and swimming until 11 pm. The Strand Inn packed to the rafters inside and out. The cliffside park studded with scarlet montbretia and the sounds of the kittiwakes squawking. As if that’s not enough, there’s fresh hake and Dublin Bay…
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Amboise – A Renaissance Jewel, built for Lingering on the banks of the Loire
Amboise’s white tufa stone lends the town a fairy-tale quality with a suggestion of princesses in towers, or hopefully for contemporary princesses, abseiling from the odd turret. The castle on the south bank dominates the river. The Camping Carpark spot is on L’Île D’Or, opposite the château which soars from the cliffs above the river.…
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Hiking from Zarautz to Getaria – Mountains, Atlantic Islets, and the Discovery of Seafaring Heroes and Fashion Icons
We take the train from Orio to Zarautz for a must-do hike, from Zarautz, up the mountain, to the old fishing port of Getaria with its own island. But first a detour is required along Zarautz’s sculptures on the promenade. Huge bronze sculptures represent conches, the movement of water, surfers capturing the perfect wave, but…
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Walking the Camino de Santiago from Basque Coast Orio
A quick dash from the Catalan to the Basque coast offers up parched mountains, rocky teeth, the Pyrenees covered in snow, Medieval towns clustered on hilltops, cypress lined driveways, the Ebro Valley covered in vines, the lacy blossom on thousands of fruit trees and wildflowers romping away in the fields. Basque Orio is a working…
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Climbing, Sliding and Losing the Trail on Mount Montgrí in Torroella
We park up in Torroella de Montgrí carpark, which happens to sit among olive groves. Croissants never tasted better. The winding path is rugged, make no mistake. Up we wind, until the sounds of the school yard and traffic below fade, and we’re surrounded by ochre and russet rocks, mica shining in the sun. The…
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Catalonian Capmany to an old favourite L’Estartit – Mountains and the Mediterranean
Camping Alberes in Capmany boasts of being the first campsite over the border with France in Spanish Catalonia. After parking up in the cork forest, with the russet toothed mountains on the horizon, we walk the 500 metres into the fortified village. Old stone houses, arched doors big enough to fit your horse and carriage…
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The Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean Sea at Collioure – home of the Fauvists and the iconic Hôtel des Templiers
From the minute we hit the D81, the sinuous coastal road to Collioure, memories assail us. We had many happy holidays here with our teenage children and a collection of various friends. But there’s more to celebrate here than memories, the Pyrenees undulate down to the postcard blue sea, the vines cling to the hillsides.…
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Border hopping between France and Spanish Catalonia
As we’ve said before, sticking to an itinerary is not our style, so it is that our art tour of Languedoc Roussillon takes us into Spain, where the temperature is five degrees higher than its French Pyrenean neighbour. From here we plan to border-hop back into the artists’ haven of Céret. Soon we’re winding up…
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We get distracted in Arles – City of Art and Philosophy
Even the ring-road round the centre is graceful in Arles, wrought iron balconies on creamy limestone, where we park up before passing the Medieval and Roman town walls. The park by the walls hosts a striking WWI memorial fountain. The agonised face of a woman defending her children stops us in our tracks. Not far…
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In Van Gogh’s Footsteps in Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer
Before we check out Van Gogh’s series of works painted in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, we trundle around the vast marsh and lagoons which border the sea beside Camping La Brise de Camargue. It is big sky country here, the sun breaking through white clouds, strings of riders out on horseback threading through the marsh’s paths. An egret…
Campervan Therapy 