Tag: travel
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When Wild Winds Send Hidden Treasures our Way in Alicante’s Elche
When the van is rocked by a banshee of a wind in Fonts de l’Algar, we decide to hotfoot it out of the Alicante mountains. But, with southern Spain having been hit by seven storms in six weeks, the whole of the campervanning fraternity seems to be heading to Alicante. We manage to snatch the…
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Farewell to Catalonia and Hello to the Province of Alicante
We cycle along a circular route from the promenade in L’Ampolla through the hinterland, following the olive grove route. The road is a rollercoaster. Sun shines on mountains terraced with dry-stone walls. I’m amazed at the skill and strength it must take to balance them, so that they nestle together and hold tight. The walls’…
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Languorous L’Ampolla – the town on the borders of the Ebro Delta offers up cliffside walks, saltmarsh and lagoons
Our dash from San Sebastian to the Mediterranean town of L’Ampolla involves battering rain in Zaragoza’s only campsite open for miles. The drive from Zaragoza to Lleida is forbidding, with its bleached fields and mountains mined away to resemble a row of bad teeth. But my heart lifts as we turn off at Lleida to…
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Set Loose Alone in Stunning San Sebastian
Our first morning in San Sebastían arrives with sun shining on our campsite up on Monte Igeldo. Green fields run down to a muted blue sea. The waves smashing against russet cliffs add to the drama, sea spray leaping up into the air. Today, I’m going to be set loose on San Sebastian alone as…
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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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Gracious Genoa Proves to be a Mediterranean Gem
Slaloming round Genoa’s spaghetti looped motorways always brings out the startle reflex in me. But Seán, insouciant as ever, just rolls with it. When we leave the motorway at Pegli, a suburb just north of Genoa’s centre, I hold my breath as he squeezes the van between mopeds, motorbikes, cars, pedestrians out for their evening…
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We go open-cast mining in Rio Marina, Elba
There are over 250 minerals in Elba’s mountains. The island has been mined from the Etruscans to the Tuscans and we’re heading to the mineral park in Rio Marina to learn about the practicalities of extracting them. But this must wait as we wind our way around the main road, because we’ve just got to…
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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…
Campervan Therapy 