Category: Uncategorized
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The English Channel to the Mediterranean in One Overnight
The day dawns sunny and a balmy 17 C , the sea is a tender jade colour, so, of course, we don’t set off south from Dieppe at 9 a.m., as was my ever-optimistic plan. We finally get going at 1.30 p.m. Our campervan tour is meant to be an art one of the Languedoc…
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Dieppe Again and the Start of Our February Campervan Therapy We fail to dodge the pelting rain at home as we pack the van up. But the Channel from Newhaven to Dieppe is calm today, providing just a gentle rock to my dozing. Notre-Dame de Bonsecours stands sentinel on the chalk cliff, guarding Dieppe’s port,…
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Stunning Stamford – From the Pestilence and Bathhouses to Bold Boudicca – Celtic Warrior Queen
The Danelaw walking trail across the fields from Lincolnshire’s Ryhall to Stamford conjures up the image of Vikings in bear skins and horned helmets. But this pair of ramshackle ramblers soon lose the trail only to find ourselves stumbling around amidst a field of celeriac as big as footballs. Eventually we manage to circumnavigate the…
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Handsome Helpston – A Lincolnshire Jewel
We arrive at Top Farm Campsite in the dark of an October evening only to be blinded by a huge lamp shining ominously into the van from across the field. However, far from fierce, it’s only the kindly warden making sure we follow the tyre tracks of the previous van so we don’t get mired…
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Campervans and Canal Barges – Travelling in the Slow Lane
It’s what I love about campervanning: even the most prosaic task can become an unexpected adventure. So, when Fran the Van needs some minor medical operations and we have to take her back home to Brownhills, the dealer in Newark-on-Trent, we’re going to be on the road north. That’s when our friends, Mary and Martin,…
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Lamas de Mouro in Portugal’s Penedes-Geres National Park
The Mouro being a tributary of the Minho, we think Lamas de Mouro qualifies for our tracing the Minho odyssey. But a wrong turn at a tricky roundabout on the N202 from Paderne sends us up a vertiginous road to Cousso, a mountain hamlet and a dead end, nothing in front of us but the…
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Tracing Portugal’s Minho River and its Tributaries from Covas to Lamas de Mouro
We’re sad to say goodbye to Covas, so the night before we leave we treat ourselves to a local bust-a-gut meal at Flôr Fontela, 500 metres from Parque Campismo de Covas. The area is rightly known for the quality of its chargrilled steak, along with mountain cheese, succulent olives and the freshest salad. We both…
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Caminha – The Border Town where Portugal’s River Minho Meets the Atlantic Ocean
We drive 21 kilometres along the sinuous N301, from Covas to Caminha, a small seaside border town between northern Portugal and Spain. Finally crossing out of the defensive ring of mountains which surround Covas, we’re assaulted by busier roads than we’ve seen for a week. The bustle of Caminha is also a shock as we’ve…
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Panning for Gold from the Romans to 21st Century in Portugal’s Covas
We follow the signs from Covas Village, cross the ancient bridge and follow the walking signs along the road that runs above the Couro’s dramatic gorge. There’s times I can’t make out the river snaking so far below. A sudden cooling on a bend in the sun-drenched road and a tributary tumbles down into the…
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Portugal’s Industrial Heritage Meets the Rural Idyll of Covas in the Minho Region
So, we follow the red and yellow signed circular trail around Covas. We walk under huge ancient oak trees, cork oak and Portuguese laurel. Willows and poplars line the Coura River. Eventually we cross the bridge and take the forestry track across the hillside to the old dam’s ruins. The sandstone track weaves through shrubs…
