Category: Countries

  • Verona and Venice

    Continuing our travels North, we visited the beautiful but very different Cities of Verona and Venice.

    Verona is where the play Romeo and Juliet is based, you may of heard of it, it was written by a guy called William Shakespeare. We visited Juliet’s House (probably not original) with the famous balcony (definitely not original) and a non original replica statue of her outside, apparently the original was removed because of wear from too many boob grabs. The shop however was selling original souvenirs made in China.

    In the evening we went to my first opera. It was in the old (original) Roman arena, so in the open. About half way, the rain started, they paused the show so the musicians could save their instruments. 10 minutes later the rain had stopped, they were back and the show restarted… for about 10 minutes. A few spots if rain…. the show stopped again… then they came back and restarted…. rain and stop again… we gave up and caught the last bus back to the van.

    Next was Venice… now we had low expectations of this, we thought it would be very touristy, smelly and dirty. It wasn’t, it was touristy for sure but the way the city runs with boats and hand carts instead of cars and vans was fascinating. Even DPD and DHL have their our boats. It was also very clean, something Patty especially liked.

    We are now on the Southern edge of the Alps at a beautiful area alongside a river. We will stay a few days before moving on to Slovenia and possibly Croatia.

  • Tivoli – Villa D’Este

    Today we visited Villa D’Este in Tivoli which is a large Renaissance villa from the 16th century famous for its gardens full of fountains and water features. It inspired the Tivoli gardens in Copenhagen .

    Tomorrow Patty’s son arrives with his partner and we will spend a few days in Rome with them.

  • What happened in Wales?

    Last October we stopped sailing in Lady Cindy with the intention of moving to West Wales to complete a three year work contract. Six months later, and we are travelling in a camper van around Europe, and eventually further afield. So what changed?

    Mainly, the job was not as described. I was expecting to be given responsibility, trusted to manage my time, given responsibility for a small budget to get projects started etc. This was not the case and eventually, after being denied an opportunity to discuss issues with the trustees, I resigned.

    While in Wales, Patty and I bought a Renault Master based camper van. Soon after buying it, it developed an engine problem, that is a long story but the bottom line is that we have had a new engine installed as well as new injectors, turbo, clutch etc. We have also done various improvements including a new bed, new water tank etc.

    Our plan is to tour Europe this year, starting where we left off in Lady Cindy, Fiumicino, Rome. At the end of the year, we intend shipping the van to South America where we intend to tour next year. There is more planned that we will reveal nearer the time.

  • Day 82: Home

    My first sight of the UK was the Isle of Wight in the distance. I am from Southampton so I know the area well. It was a real homecoming feel to sailing around the island and into Portsmouth Harbour.

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  • Day 81: Ferry Home

    Day 81: Ferry Home

    I am on the ferry from Santander in Spain to Portsmouth in the UK. The boat seems to be full of bikers who have been riding the Pyranees. You can tell they are bikers because they are all over the aged of 50, have beards and black t-shirts. Strangely many have Yorkshire accents.

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  • Day 80: Not around the world.

    Day 80: Not around the world.

    Philius Fogg went around the world in 80 days, I went to Ghana and back. I am happy with that,  I met far more people. Ôÿ║
    I was not expecting much on the ride yesterday morning.  I had a message from am old Scouting friend who lives near Santander but unfortunately it was all a bit late for me to detour and meet him. I did not have a paper map of Spain so was not expecting the mountainous terrain to continue,  I was expecting a levelling out near the coast.

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  • Day 79: Western Spain

    Day 79: Western Spain

    Although I have been riding on motorways all day,  it has been through some spectator scenery.  This part of the country is well worth visiting in it’s own right.  The only thing is that it has been cold and windy.

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  • Day 78: Au Revoir Africa

    Day 78: Au Revoir Africa

    I went straight to Tangier med, the ferry port, this morning; only stopping for fuel and to buy a ticket at one of the service station sales booths.
    I arrived may after 12 and checked in for the 2pm sailing with FRS to Algeciras in Spain.

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  • Day 59a: What I did not blog

    I did not blog this next story at the time because I did not want to worry you good folks.  Especially those that were already overly stressed over my health and well being (hi mum). Now I am safely back in Europe I can tell you what happened in Guinea.
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  • Day 77: Nursing the bike

    The rear tyre is down to about 2mm of tread at it’s centre which is close to the UK legal minimum of 1mm. Also the steering head bearing has got worse.
    I decided to go to Agadir in the morning because I found two motorcycle companies on the Internet that may be able to help.

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