Tag: europe
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Sur Le Pont D’Avignon
I’ve wanted to go to the Palais des Papes in Avignon since I read Charles Dickens’ travelogue about visiting it on a cold winter’s day, with his wife and children, before repacking them all into carriage and horses to continue to Genoa. We tried once ages ago, our teenage children with us, in blistering August…
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Following in Napoleon’s Footsteps on Elba
Seán does love an App and this one, the Avenza Map App, proves essential when we decide to climb Monte Barbatoia in Lacona to descend to Napoleon’s Villa in San Martino as the walking signs play hide and seek with us. We climb up the boulder strewn path from Lacona, which runs like a rust…
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Elba – A Jewel Venus Scattered into the Tyrrhenian Sea
As the ferry sails towards Elba, I cannot detach Seán from his App that tells him the names of the romantic, volcanic islands. Excited as a boy, he points out what he thinks is Pianosa, which we later discover is called the island of silence; then Capraia, island of goats; Montecristo, setting of Dumas’ tale…
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Dieppe to Elba – Proof that the journey is sometimes as good as the destination
I don’t expect our journey to Elba to be anything special, apart from the visit to my old school pal, Pina, in the Aosta Valley, which is always wonderful, as we’re setting off on 1st October’s low season. But our very first stop at Camping Châlons-en-Champagne is a musical surprise. We spend a little time…
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Gascony’s Aire-sur-L’Adour to Charente Maritime’s Fouras-les-Bains
Weaving down through the Pyrenees from the Somport Tunnel is stunning, under cliffs and through gorges, vultures swooping above and the rushing River Gave d’Aspe. When the mountains give way to rolling hills and fertile fields, the vineyards appear. We stop in Aire-sur-L’Adour’s Camping Les Ombrage de L’Adour, beside the lazy, green river, the ancient…
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Arbitzu – Basque Country on the Spanish Side of the Border
It’s as if there’s a festival in the carpark of the EkoCanpina at Arbitzu, in the Pyrenean foot hills. Large groups are partying while they wait. But far from being turned away as I suspect we will be, they find us a place in the field, right on top of the outdoor gym equipment. We’ve…
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Waterford’s Ardmore to Wexford’s New Ross
Ardmore on the Waterford coast proves to be a treat. Ardmore Campsite sits beside the sea. Grey wagtails dip and dive for insects around the van and goldcrests feast on the hedgerow. We walk along the beach for the 5 minutes to the village. We start the evening in Keevers Pub, a quintessential Irish pub,…
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Esponellà – Catalonia’s Hidden Gem
Our friends Mary and Martin recommend Catalonia’s Camping Esponellà near Figueres. We wind up into the Pyrenean foothills leaving the bustle of city far behind. Our first sigh of Esponellà is the pinkish rocks of the River Fluvia’s Gorge, our next, the honey stone village on the summit of the hill, the church tower…
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Street Art, Street Food, An Independent Bookshop and the Driverless Ghost trains of the Postal Museum at Mount Pleasant
We double back on ourselves today so we’re whisked into Whitechapel again from Abbey Wood to hunt down Hanbury Street, which crosses Brick Lane, to trace the street art. Huge outdoor murals have us darting from one to the other. The most gripping for me being the close-up of a man’s sad face, lines like…
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Mayfair Meanders and on to Little Venice
Off we trot from the Elizabeth Line’s Bond Street station through Mayfair to the Halcyon Gallery on New Bond Street. I must admit that the easy-going attitude of the Whitechapel Gallery is more my style. Halcyon’s walkie-talkie clad, black suited doormen are perfectly well-mannered, but the formality makes me feel like an intruder. It’s worth…
Campervan Therapy 