24 May move to Dublin
Looking at the weather forecast, we decided that the big city is called for, until the sun returns to entice us back to the countryside.
Convenient campsite in Dublin, with a bus just outside the gates.
23 May Ross Castle
Today is our 44th anniversary and still going strong.
Nine year old artist from upstairs in Berlin.
22 May Tomies Wood
Today we drove around the lake, Lough Leane, to try the Tomies Wood walk.
Kim horsing around, completely free from allergies.
Gerhild and her favourite flower – foxglove!
Kim, looking stumped?
O’Sullivan’s Cascade
Our picnic spot below the cascade.
Plenty of comfy, moss-covered, warm stones to sit on today.
Gerhild full of beans after our picnic.
Our campsite is down there somewhere.
21 May Dungarvan to Killarney
This morning we woke up in Dungarvan, looking out over the Colligan River as it enters the sea.
We drove to Killarney, to the Killarney Flesk Camping about one half hour’s walk along a busy road away from Killarney.
20 May cross over to Ireland
Today, before catching the ferry, we went for a walk enveloped by the scent of cow parsley around the Goodwick Nature Reserve
and heard a reed warbler sing in the sunshine. Like this –
The ferry to Ireland was an hour late setting off due to a plumbing problem. It’s hard to find a plumber in the UK these days.
19 May Fishguard
Welcome to Goodwick.
This is Fishguard, after a very pleasant “Marine Walk” from where we are parked in the neighbouring village, Goodwick. The Fishguard and Goodwick Art Trails are quite entertaining.
Plenty of places to stay.
A very fishy wind vane.
And a fabulously fishy seahorse.
The Last Invasion of Britain began on the 22nd February 1797. Four French vessels anchored off the rocky headland of Carreg Wastad, to the west of Fishguard, and ferried ashore about 1400 men and weapons. The invaders occupied most of Pencaer, from Strumble Head to Llanwnda, but the invasion was short lived. French troops soon became drunk, on stolen alcohol, and local people banded together to resist them. Most notable was Jemima Nicholas who, armed only with a pitchfork, reputedly rounded up 12 Frenchmen.
The French surrendered to local soldiers at Goodwick Sands on 24th February 1797.
18 May picnic on Carreg Goch
Up the mountain path from the campsite.
A sun-hat is important today.
The other side of the valley.
Plenty of green!
Mountain goat approaches.
Looks like a grand picnic spot.
It is a grand picnic spot.
On the way down.
17 May off to the Brecon Beacons
Craig~y-nos country house
Nice campsite
16 Forest of Dean sculpture trail
Today we scampered through the Forest of Dean sculpture trail
An amazing „maiden“ Beech tree.
Dr. Beeching ripped them up and an artist put them back again, slightly modified.
Interesting idea.
An invisible tree-hugger.
Giant bugs.
In the afternoon we drove to Newent to see some old friends.
Newent lake.
Newent girls.
15 May Walk in the Forest of Dean
Chestnut tree dressed for a spring morning
Pine cones – old and brand new
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Time for a short break
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Back to the camper for another delicious lunch
14 May drive to Forest of Dean
Very smart campsite ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on the grounds of an old manor house/ forestry training location. Trees and birds galore!
Lots of wildlife (apart from Kim)
13 May Thursley National Nature Reserve
Thursley NNR is a great place for a stroll across the heath, surrounded by dragonflies and damselflies.
We were lucky enough to see a black-winged damselfly just like this one.
Moat Pond
Sunny morning for a stroll along the boardwalk
Dragonflies everywhere
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Just in case the real ones whizz about too quickly to see.
12 May Sculpture Park, Surrey
The Sculpture Park shows a LOT of sculpture in luscious green surroundings.
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Delicious kedgeree cooked by our camper chef for our evening meal!
11 May AutomataFest last day
Waiting for the bus
Kim hard at work
A golden oldie
New work by Paul Spooner
10 May Kim’s presentation at AutomataFest
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Q & A
In between, we enjoyed a short show by a world yo-yo master.
9 May AutomataFest & flea circus
Hastings old town
Old friends
Hastings shop window
Michael & Maria Start’s Flea Circus
8 May setup in vault 3
This way to the vaults of the old Hastings & St. Leonard Observer building.
How did they survive the journey?
A bit of glue for one tail and everything is hunky-dory.
Nice bit of sun and a chocolate flake ice cream!
The path to walk to Hastings from the campsite.
Old friends.
7 May Hastings
Wed 7 May – Drive to Shear Barn camp site, Hastings
This way to the bus into town.
Hastings pier
Hastings
Nice welcome
Groovy entrance
6 May another walk next to Bewl Water
We have the campsite to ourselves today
Ancient forest & new lake
Top tree top
5 May walk next to Bewl Water
Aren‘t bluebells great?
So many trunks to hug.
Kim trying forest yoga
Bewl Water
Great bit of forest
An oak tree paddling in the reservoir
Even more bluebells
4 May to UK & Bewl Water
Today we took the DFDS ferry across the channel to Dover, lost a wing mirror in a narrow Kent road, shopped at Sainsbury’s in Ashford and drove to Bewl Water camp site 1 h 15 m.
Bluebells!
3 May Walk around Grammene & Calais
The view out of our window this morning
The start of the walk
Desirable residence for ducks?
The river bank
Kim tries nesting in a tree
This coot‘s nest looks more professional
Once Belgium’s smallest microbrewery Saint Canarus, just under the church tower.
In the afternoon we drove to Calais, to the free parking, next to a small lake, where the seagulls enjoy free parking too.
2 May Middleheim Sculpture Park Antwerp
Fri 2 May – we drove 1.5 h via yet another traffic jam to Middleheim Sculpture Park in Antwerp. After we drove another 1 h to Deinze park4night, free and right next to a very pleasant river.
An interactive sculpture
Erwin Wurm‘s sailing boat
Looks like a weapon for a medieval giant, but it’s sculpture
She‘s really got tied up in this!
Quite cool
Henry Moore‘s King & Queen
1 May Wetland campsite, Holland
Thu 1 May – drive to Wetland 3.5 hours.
27 degrees in the shade. Relaxation is the order of the day.
Kim‘s got a new sun-hat!
Colour-coordinated vintage campers.
30 Apr Steinhude
Drive from Berlin to Steinhude. Several traffic jams made for slow going. We parked on the street as the camper parking with 170 spaces was full by the time we got there. (Wohnmobilstellplatz Steinhude Bruchdamm)
A horse chestnut enjoying the beautiful spring day.
The Steinhuder Meer being carefully checked out by „Der Hafenmeister“.
Undines Traum.
10 Nov Giant flea-market
We woke up to see a foggy Sunday morning and a ginormous flea-market in fields that were empty as we went to bed!
Pumpkin fountain
Pumpkin pile
The pumpkin exhibition…
9 Nov Spargelhof Klaistow
Spargelhof Klaistow (where’s that?)
The pumpkin festival ends today.
8 Nov drive to Kassel
As we drove through Liège, we saw this amazing piece of urban art.
Pleasant place to park near Messe Kassel. No services, but a nice view and it’s free. (Where’s that?)
7 Nov drive to Liège
Steep drive down, but excellent parking spot for the night. (Where‘s that)
6 Nov drive to Rouen
A long, foggy drive today.
5 Nov mechanical animals
Today Gerhild learned the French word for fog. Autumn has arrived!
As we spotted these trees marching along the wall, several women cyclists stopped and charmingly competed to see who could name the trees. (Lime trees)
In the tram we had a another delightful chat with a French pensioner. This lot weren’t very chatty.
Not chatty, but colourful.
Nice, non-mechanical octupus.
Classy mechanical chameleon who can eat a fly with a super-long tongue, but can‘t change colour.
Humming bird
Our old pal. Time to head for home.
4 Nov washing & Île de Nantes
Today we washed and dried &dried & dried some clothes.
And then set off to visit the island in the middle of the Loire.
Great rotating addition to a streetlight outside LU
The old LU biscuit factory, now a cultural centre.
An animation installed in Nantes central railway station.
Wonderful references to all sorts of things in Nantes.
Artworks which are also supposed to work as barbecues.
Some new Nantes architecture.
Clever, perforated facade.
A giant tape-measure.
„In a silent way“
3 Nov Marché de Talensac
Some light relief on the way to the tram (free all weekend!)
The market on Sunday. Loads of customers. All sorts of food.
Roast chicken was popular too.
There were several fishmongers selling all sorts of seafood.
Wine, of course.
There’s nowhere to sit in the market, so some folk took their fresh oysters to the nearest cafe to eat with a glass of wine.
As it was a bit chilly, we nipped into Nantes Musée d‘Art to see an exhibition on the age of the great Atlantic liners. Free on the first Sunday of the month, our luck‘s in today.
At the time they felt everything was so big.
Le Corbusier was said to have been inspired by the way the passengers lived for the 12 day crossing to America.
Life on board one of the great transatlantic cruise ships.
A utopian vision of future life prior to the war. That’s a Zeppelin at the top…
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We then followed the famous green line to the Jardin des Plantes.
One cool cat.
One cold and wet statue.
Another cold and wet sculpture, time to head for home.
2 Nov drive to Nantes
First we fetched some bread from the Boulangerie in Coulon village
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Then we drove for a couple of hours to a great campsite in Nantes (website)
You‘ve never seen a friperie like this. Recycling parts from a ski lift, you take your place on the stairs and watch as the clothes waft their way past you. At least that’s the plan when the safety approval is granted. Love it! Their name is brilliant too – Dernière Main (last hand)
How do you like the Nantes streetlights?
1 Nov drive to Coulon
A leafy start to „All saints day“
La Sèvre Niortaise
A rather large dragonfly next to the river
We are in what was originally a marshy area, dried out by monks to create agricultural land. Close to Niort, which we visited a looong time ago.
Where are we? Coulon, on the way to Nantes.
31 Oct la Cité du Vin
Today we went to see La Cité du Vin
The entrance to the locks connecting the old submarine pens to the river Garonne
This looks like the place. It’s meant to suggest a decanter.
This steampunk apparatus lets you smell a variety of fragrances (some not so fragrant).
Two glasses of Bordeaux wine to round off our visit.
This ferocious fellow guards the entrance to the maritime museum.
Gerhild is just about one mouthful
Once we got past the shark we found these costumes ready for a parade, each based on a famous painting.
See if you can identify Magritte, Ernst, De Chirico, Léger, Munch, Arp, Brauner, Malévitch…
Don‘t ask why these are in the maritime museum – I haven‘t a clue. Website.
Everything is possible but we just can‘t imagine it.
Time to head for home
30 Oct Darwin
Today we, eventually, went to Darwin, a sort or alternative setup on Bordeaux‘s rive droite.
Street scene in Bordeaux
Brilliant piece of street art in Bordeaux (rive gauche)
What a difference a tree makes
Lion
„The French“ Swiss slang…
The entrance to the old barracks
We had a nice snack here
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My favourite picture today
An incredible piece of art à la Robert Crumb
Abandoned tram next to the skate park for the local kids
Outside the skate park
29 Oct Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte
Today went to visit la forêt des sens, next to the Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte vineyard, as visited by King Charles!
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Barry Flanagan‘s fantastic Hospitality Hare is the symbol for La Forêt des Sens.
Seems a bit small for the amount of wine they make here.
A wooden hare
Every vineyard should have a Bacchus.
Kim is listening to the stream flowing under the bridge.
It’s a beautiful autumn day today.
Funky fellow on the side of the pharmacy for the vines (only natural products).
Hit the gong, say ommmmmmmm, and think grapes.
A great walk through the forest, after fetching the key to the gate from reception.
Half a bottle of red at €69 was a bit too much for a souvenir, sigh. Website
28 Oct haircut for Gefhild
Today we walked into the village for Gerhild to visit a hairdresser and for Kim to visit a boulangerie.
27 Oct walk to beach
Big pine trees on our campsite
We walked for about 30 minutes to reach the beach
Looking down from the top of a dune onto the beach, the waves and the surfers.
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Gerhild is full of beans
Kim‘s Hawaian girl