RED DWARF TRAVELS TO EUROPE
Have you ever thought that
your old camper was not suitable for a European tour? Well
here's an account of our two week tour in our 1977 Commer
(Dodge) CI Motorhome.
Day 1 – Saturday 7th
August 1999
We set off from our Romford
home at 2 p.m. to find the M25 solid from the A127, so travelled
on via the B128 and backtracked along the A13, over the QE2
Bridge and found the M2 ‘chocker’ at the Bluewater turnoff.
Luckily after this the roads are pretty clear all the way to
Folkestone, where we arrived at 4.30. We had a lovely fish &
chip dinner here, then on to visit the Russian Sub, only to find
it is now closed to the public and the owner having gone
bankrupt. We headed off towards Dover, where we intended to stay
in a car park overnight, as there are several other campers and
caravans in the same spot. We parked next to a portacabin in a
quite secluded space and headed off for a walk around for about
1½ hours. Only to find on our return that the portacabin was
the soup kitchen for the local ‘down & outs’. We moved the
camper to the swimming pool car park, so that Malcolm could look
at the front nearside wheel. It was running hot and causing
Malcolm some concern. He decided to change the wheel bearing to
be on the safe side. After putting everything back together, we
headed off to Dover seafront, where we had seen 15 – 20 other
campers (of all different shapes & sizes, but mainly bigger than
us) earlier and decided to join them for the night. We were
treated to a fabulous fire works display, put on for the benefit
of the passengers of the cruise ship Norwegian Sky, which was
off on its maiden voyage the following day. Malcolm opened the
skylight and snapped the catch, but luckily found a washer to
repair it temporarily. Malcolm made up the bed (thinking of
Hymer owners pulling their over cab beds down no doubt) and we
slept like logs – must have been the bottle of wine we consumed
while watching the fireworks.
Sunday 8th
We woke to the sound of
pouring rain. Had a good breakfast got ready and set off for a
walk, as the rain had eased off. We visited the White Cliffs
Experience, well worth a visit. We came back out into glorious
sunshine. We then drove up to Dover Castle at a snails pace. I
would not recommend walking up from the town. There are several
attractions here and all are well worth visiting. As soon as you
arrive it is a good idea to book the WW2 tunnel tour, as the
queues can be very long during the summer. We left the castle at
5.50 to catch the 6.15 ferry, but were told that if we could get
to Bay 131 in 5 mins, we could catch the 5.50 ferry, which we
did – just). Once on board we headed straight for the ‘posh’
restaurant (definitely the best place to be on the 1¼ hour
crossing). The two-course meal was £15.00 per head. It was
quite expensive, but it was our way of celebrating the start of
our first European tour. The food was excellent. (We justified
the expense by figuring that if we were wild camping a few times
during our trip, then we had only spent the equivalent of a
couple of nights on a campsite). We arrived at Calais at 8.15
French time and headed toward Etaples near Le Touquet along the
941. On arrival we parked by the harbour with several other
campers and spent our first night on French soil.
Monday
9th
We woke at around 8am after a
good nights sleep and walked into town to buy croissants for
breakfast and various other bits & pieces. After breakfast
Malcolm took the front wheel off again, as it was still running
hot, he checked everything and all appeared OK, so he could not
understand what was causing the problem, and finally put it all
back together. We had a “conversation” with a French couple, who
were very friendly and interested in our old camper. Afterwards
we packed up and headed south for Chantilly. We made a couple
of stops on route for Malcolm to check the worrying problem of
the hot wheel hub and it was still running red hot. One of our
stops was for petrol at Picquigny and Malcolm decided to take
the wheel off for the third time. He came to the conclusion
that a deep score in the brake drum was causing the new brake
shoes that he had fitted a few weeks earlier to bind to the
drum. He took the whole brake assembly apart and filed off the
ridge on the brake shoes, turned them 180° and reassembled them.
Bingo! It worked, no more hot hub. We arrived at St.Leu and
endeavoured to find our chosen sight as recommended in the Alan
Rogers site guide – Camping Campix. Unfortunately the
signposting is either poor, or non- existent. We eventually
found it and it is a good site, very informal. It had once been
a quarry, which has now been landscaped, so there were many
levels on which you could choose your pitch. We were surrounded
by the ‘Nato alliance’ a very friend group of people.
Tuesday
10th
We woke to drizzle this
morning, but it soon brightened up. The site is now getting
very full, mainly with Dutch and Belgian families. We walked
into town at about 12.30 (after breakfast!) St.Leu d’esserent
closes from 12 to 2 every day, so we had to stall our proposed
shopping trip. It also seemed that most of the shopkeepers take
their annual holiday at this time, as there were numerous shops
closed for two weeks (at least that's what we think the notices
said). We had a pleasant walk along the river to the lakes and
acquired a ‘chien’ en route; it eventually wandered off after
about 1km. We got back to the camper at about 3.30 (lunchtime)
and whiled away the rest of the afternoon in the sunshine.
Later that day we took
another stroll into town along a different route, through fields
of wheat, horses etc and found the local ‘Shopi’ supermarket
open (just) and replenished our provisions. As we walked back
to the campsite along the long entrance road, a steady stream of
cars, caravans and campers passed us. We found the site is much
fuller that when we left and watch the stream continue until
nightfall by which time you can’t get a fag-paper between us and
its much noisier now.
People from GB, Belgium,
Holland, Germany, Spain, Portugal (and even a few French!), plus
a man and his son from the Isle of Man in a very nice Autoquest
270. Last to arrive are an English family in an A Reg. Clubman,
which just about squeezed in by a tree, but they have to brake a
branch off of it to open the side door. It was fascinating
watching everyone.
Wednesday 11th
ECLIPSE DAY
The sky is slightly cloudy
this morning. Would we see the ‘eclipse totale’ or not, we
thought. We were now beginning to wish we had bought some
eclipse viewers, but had decided we were not going to look
directly at it after all the adverse publicity. As the time
approached a friendly Dutch family lent us theirs and what an
amazing sight it was. There was such a strange light as the sun
gradually faded and it was surprising how quick it started to
get cold. Suddenly darkness was upon us. Malcolm videoed the
campsite at it was plunged into darkness.
Once it was over, it was as
though everybody had decided to move on, including us. There
was a mass exodus from the park. On the road out, we picked up
a couple of hitchhikers who needed a lift into town. They were
from Ireland and were heading back to Paris, where they were
staying with friends. They had hitched their way up to St.Leu
the previous day, just to see the eclipse. We stopped at
St.Soupplets at the local ‘supermarche’ for food and petrol then
continued the journey through Meaux and onto Euro Disney,
travelling on our first bit of ‘peage’ motorway. A charge of
20ff for just a few km to Disneyland and more than the 17ff
charge for a car with a caravan, which we thought was a bit
steep considering we are only 15ft long. (Cars on their own are
10ff) We arrived at Disneyland and paid for two-night stopover
(about £20). We did not really realise at the time that there
were no actual camping facilities, apart from the public loo.
You just line up at the front of the car park. We found out
later that we could use the coach water filling and emptying
facilities (once you find them). (We found out later that there
is a proper campsite a short distance away).
We spent the evening at Billy
Bobs in Disney Village – line dancing of course. We met a group
of line dancers from Paris and had a great time together.
Wednesday 12th
We spent the whole day in
Disneyland, what a great place it is. I had never had any great
desire to visit there, but thought we might as well go, on
passing. I am so glad we did not miss it. We did not go on
many rides, but enjoyed watching everyone else. There is so
much to look at. (and do, of course). We decided on dinner at
Buffalo Bills Wild West Show, this included a meal, complete
with tin plates and bowls, and as much beer or coke as you could
manage. The show was spectacular, with real horses, steer,
buffalo and chickens, plus cowboys and Indians, Annie Oakley
etc. A really fantastic experience. Afterwards it was back to
Billy Bobs for more line dancing with the Parisians, of
course. Then back into Disneyland to see the electric parade and
firework display – another spectacular experience.
Friday 13th
We left Disneyland after
breakfast and travelled to St.Dizier in the Champagne/Dijon
region. We visited a motorhome dealer here and it was
interesting to see the differences from the British campers. We
then headed for the 'supermarche' for further supplies. We found
the tourist information centre for information on local
campsites and decided on one at Lac Du Der, south west of
St.Dizier. The facilities here were excellent. I did the
washing and drying, which cost a total of 40FF. The site is
beside a beautiful lake. We had a lovely walk across the bridge
and back as the sun set - if only we had taken the camera with
us on our walk. It was a very picturesque spot. We had our best
nights sleep yet in this peaceful site.
Saturday 14th
After a good breakfast, we
set off at 12 noon travelling through Bar-sur-Aube, Chaumont and
Foulain. There are some very pretty villages on this route with
flowers and window boxes everywhere. We passed under a massive
viaduct at Chaumont, and stopped outside Foulain for lunch at
2pm. It started to rain as we travelled on, through Langres and
on to Vesoul. We stopped just before here at Port-sir-Soane,
where it was festival week. There were loud speakers everywhere
playing incessant music. We had a walk around this pretty
little town set on a hill with three rivers running through. We
stopped to watch the wedding of "Sophie & Emille" and visited
the Boulangerie. We then sat and ate our Pain-au-raisins with a
glass of fresh orange before heading onwards to Belfort. We got
a bit lost here and ended up on the wrong road, though it still
headed in the direction of our destination - Bazel, Switzerland.
As the time was getting on we decided to look for a campsite and
eventually found a very quiet small site just outside Delle,
right on the Swiss/French border. We ate our dinner, and as it
was quite late we did not go for our usual walk this evening.
Sunday 15th
After a lovely shower we went
into the village for more supplies, then set off towards Bazel.
We passed through the border checkpoint into Switzerland and had
a good journey. The roads are very good, and there's not much
traffic. There is wonderful scenery on this route - straight out
of "The Sound of Music". So I had ear-shattering renditions of
"The Hills are Alive" and "High on a Hill there's a Lonely
Goatherd" from Malc - complete with yodelling! On arrival a
Bazel we found a good spot to park by the Rhine and walked into
town. We had a delicious cup of hot chocolate at a pavement
café and a good look around the town. It’s a very interesting
place, with lots to see. We originally intended to stay
overnight in Bazel, but as the day were passing by so quickly,
we decided after lunch, to carry on towards Mullheim and
Freiburg, passing through the Swiss/German border and North
towards Offenburg. By now it was about 7.30pm and we thought it
was time to look for a campsite. We found a small one at
Emmendingen, which was marked on an old map we had. There were
only about 4 groups of people actually camping here. The rest
seemed to be "static" touring caravans that appear to have been
here for years and look as though they are occupied mainly by
very elderly people. We had dinner and went for our usual walk.
We came across some interesting new houses in all shapes sizes
and colours, but in traditional German style. One thing that
intrigued me was that there were cigarette machines on walls and
posts wherever we went in Germany. Not only in shopping areas
but also in the middle of residential areas, actually outside
people's garden hedges, rather like the cable TV boxes you see
here. These had a variety of about 12 - 15 different brands, in
rows of thirty packs. I couldn't imagine these remaining full
for very long in England, I am sure vandals would relieve them
of their contents in no time. The strange thing is that despite
cigarettes being so freely available, during the whole of our
visit to Germany I only saw one young person smoking - makes you
think, doesn't it.
Monday 16th
It rained quite heavily
overnight, but cleared by the morning. Malcolm gave the camper
a good check over while I prepared breakfast. We set off towards
Offenburg and it started to rain again. We stopped at Lahr to
get some cash. It’s a really pretty town, which is very well
kept. It is a shame that there is so much traffic thundering
through.We travelled on past Offenburg and on towards Baden
Baden. We got a bit lost here, but it gave us the opportunity
to travel through a very picturesque village in the hills before
finding the right road and continuing our journey towards Speyer. We
wanted to visit Speyer because it is the twin town for Spalding,
Lincolnshire, where we spend a lot of time. Speyer is a very
interesting town - lots of beautiful Bavarian architecture and
good shops, plus the centre is traffic free, and there are
plenty of car parks within walking distance. We walked along the
Rhine and watched a cruiser berth for the night. It was a lovely
evening. We found an ideal spot to wild camp about 50m from the
edge of the Rhine, where we joined a German couple already
parked there. We made friends with the German couple - Inga &
Toni and have been corresponding with them since. Inga & Toni
write to me in German, which I type onto the computer and put
through the translator, I then reply to them by typing my letter
on the computer in English and translating it to German to send
to them, it works a treat! In last letter we received they
told us that they were on their way to the Algarve just after
Christmas and returning at Easter. We spent the evening watching
people disembark from ferries and listening to large raindrops
falling from the trees and hitting the roof.
Tuesday 17th
We woke up to dry weather and
after breakfast set off towards Ludwigshafen. We decided to
stay at an Alan Rogers recommended site at Bad Durkheim, and
went there first to book in before going into Ludwigshafen.
This is the most expensive site we have stayed at so far, but
worth every Deutchmark, The facilities are first class. As its
such a nice place, we decided to stay there that day and walk
into the town of Bad Durkheim about 1 mile away. What a
beautiful place is it, right in the middle of the Pfalz wine
growing area, and every surrounding hillside is covered with row
upon row of grapevines. We spent about 4 hours walking around
Bad Durkheim, as it's such an interesting place. We then headed
back to the campsite. One thing we did notice about Germany &
Switzerland is that they a very 'cyclist friendly' - there are
safe cycle routes everywhere. We had our dinner and then took a
walk around the site. There are numerous static touring
caravans here as well, complete with permanent awnings with
proper Perspex windows, UPVC doors and gutters, plus the whole
of the caravan & awning is covered in an all weather type of
waterproof roof on a steel frame. Each caravan has its own
plot, complete with a garden, most of which were well kept. The
central road through the campsite is covered in an archway of
grapevines and each section has a description of the vine
growing on it and the type of wine it is used for. We then
walked along the edge of a large lake, finally returning to the
camper, where we sat outside and watched the sun go down whilst
consuming a bottle of wine - local of course.
Wednesday 18th
After a shower and hair wash
in the superb facilities here, we had breakfast and then set off
for Ludwigshafen, which is twinned with Havering - where we
live. We drove the 10 miles or so to Ludwigshafen and found a
place to park about 10 minutes walk to the town centre.
Carefully memorising the route we took. It was just like
walking into Romford Town centre, built around the 60's and
70's, complete with Woolworths. C & A and Burger King, and a
market - and every bit as '(un)interesting'. Seriously though,
beyond the centre there is some beautiful architecture and we
enjoyed a hot chocolate and cheese pretzel at a very nice
pavement café, of which there are plenty to choose. (We actually
though we had ordered 2 chocolate milk shakes - must brush up on
our German!) At this point the weather was looking ominous, so
we headed back to the camper. We just got back in time
and on our way when the heavens opened. Luckily it stopped
raining by the time we returned to Bad Durkheim for a last look
around this beautiful town. They were in the throes of setting
up large marquees for the wine harvest celebrations that take
place there each year. It's a pity we had to move on before it
all happened. We set off towards Luxembourg via Kaiserslautern &
Trier, once again we had heavy rain - followed by gale force
winds - followed by hail stones, with intermittent bursts of
sunshine that were so hot they burnt our arms through the glass.
(They say that the English weather is unpredictable!). We
arrived late at our chosen campsite, Auf Kengert - another Alan
Rogers recommendation at Larochette, Luxembourg. A very
friendly family, who speak good English plus many other
languages, runs it. This place had a very homely atmosphere and
would take any denomination of money you happen to have. The
facilities are good and we met our first English family since
leaving Chantilly.
Thursday 19th
Had a wonderful nights sleep
and never woke up until 8.45am. We set off towards Luxembourg
City late morning and found a good parking spot just outside the
centre. We walked around the main streets, but did not have time
to explore further, as time was now pressing on and its Thursday
already!!, but its quite an impressive place and well worth a
longer visit. We travelled towards Brussels taking the main road
from Luxembourg but decided to turn off towards Bastogne at
Arlon because of heavy traffic, which turned out to be a good
choice, as it was much more scenic, with very little traffic. We
passed the border between Luxembourg and Belgium and were amused
at the number of petrol stations on the border; there must have
been more than a dozen, one after the other along this stretch
of road. It was a peculiar sight. As we travelled into the
centre of Bastogne we saw two Sherman tanks and Malcolm decided
he would like to stop and have a look around the area, as it was
the last turning point in the Battle of the Bulge during WW2.
We visited the tourist information centre and found a municipal
campsite nearby, not much to comment about this site, but
adequate with clean if basic facilities. We walked back to town
from the campsite and I took some photos, including one of
Malcolm standing by the Sherman tank in the town centre. It was
too late to visit any of the museums today, so that's on the
agenda for tomorrow. Got caught in yet another rainstorm on the
way back to the campsite.
Friday 20th
We made any early start and
drove back into the town centre of Bastogne, where we visited
the United States Memorial & Museum. It was extremely good. We
then visited Bastogne History Museum, which was also very
interesting. We must now make tracks toward Calais and home. We
took the motorway towards Brussels, where we got caught in an
almighty traffic jam, then on towards Ostend. We had decided to
take the coast road from Ostend to Calais with the hope of wild
camping, but all the parking areas are 'camping cars verboten',
so we decided to head over the border into France. As luck would
have it, just outside Nieupoort I spotted a sign showing a
camper with 'P Gratuit' next to it, so we headed there and found
an ideal spot next to the yacht basin. We were lined up with a
wonderful selection of Hymers, Laikas, Pilotes and every type of
'Eurocamper' imaginable. Our little camper was certainly
'dwarfed' by the rest and looked quite comical sitting amongst
them. There are hundreds of yachts moored here and we spent a
long time walking around the harbour, followed by a walk around
the town. The main road is unexceptional, just a through route,
but there are some really pretty areas beyond.
Saturday 21st
The sun was bright when we
awoke, but it didn't last. We had time for a chat with our
neighbours who were Belgians that live about 40km from where we
were camped and had brought their three grandchildren away for a
weekend visit to a childrens' farm nearby. It's amazing how
much information you can pass between different nationalities
with the very basics of each other's language (unless you want a
chocolate milk shake of course). We then set off for Calais,
where we stopped for our last supply of real French bread and
cheese before boarding the ferry and heading back to England and
home. We had another meal on board, to celebrate the success of
the trip this time, and to set us up for the journey from Dover.
--oOo--
On reflection - I was not
keen on the idea of a European trip. I have never had any great
desire to leave British shores, but Malcolm was so excited at
the prospect that I went along with it. I suppose I was a bit
concerned about the age of the camper and its ability to endure
the journey, but other than the wheel hub problems at the
beginning of the journey, we had no other problems whatsoever.
We read a lot about safety abroad, but never felt threatened in
any way and found all the nationalities we came across very
friendly and sociable. We found that it was best to buy all our
petrol on our debit card, and that money is easily obtainable
from cash points in every country we visited, although we had
taken currency for all the countries we visited, with us. I am
really glad we did it now, it was a wonderful and fascinating
experience and this account really only covers a very basic part
of our travels.
Janet & Malcolm Bath
Members No.237
and 'Red Dwarf' of course
------------------------------------------ooooo---------------------------------------
Touring The
Emerald Isle
By Colin
Fleming
After many
months renovating a Bedford Dormobile Landcruiser, Karin and I
spent the summer touring around England going to various events
including many organized by the Classic Camper Club. Many thanks
to all those who put so much hard work in to put on such shows
for everybody else's enjoyment. Now it is the time to venture
further afield.
For many a
year now one of the places I have fantasised about touring has
been Southern Ireland. Planning started during the cold winter
month huddled around a welcoming fire dreaming of hot sunny days
and wonderful scenery. Holyhead to Dublin was picked for the
ferry crossing being an easy drive from Grimsby of motorway and
duel carriage way without the risk of holding up any other
traffic.
We arrived
at the campsite at Rhoscolyn 4 miles short of Holyhead for
teatime allowing us an evening's walk along the campsites
private beach. The weather was Idyllic, sunny, and warm, with a
flat calm sea.
The next
day was spent getting into the holiday mood with long walks
meeting up with my sister and her husband who live near by. A
lazy sunny afternoon was spent in their garden with good food,
good wine, and good company. Panic set in the next morning, as
we needed to get to the ferry by 8.00am. Having arranged for the
campsite to open the barrier to let us out an hour earlier, the
man with the key overslept. Only after furious knocking on the
windows a sleepy man turned up at 7.55 to let us out to make a
mad dash for the ferry. The poor old camper arrived gasping for
air with it's tongue hanging out! We were the last vehicle to
get on the ferry!
We had
read that no foodstuffs were permitted from either country to
either country so we arrived without any provisions at all. As
it turned out we didn't see any customs and could have had a
herd of cattle in the back for all they knew!! After an hour and
ten minutes on a relaxing flat calm crossing we were in Dublin.
The lack of signs for the way out was less of a problem than we
thought, as most roads seem to head out of the docks. The
journey south was very pleasant and uneventful with the
exception of a young lady dressed in only a blouse and skirt in
torrential rain. She was standing in the middle of the road
threatening any traffic that came near her with her umbrella.
All traffic had to drive onto the other side of the road to get
passed her. We named her the Dolly with the Brolly. The
overnight stop was south of Waterford right on the coast, we sat
outside the camper, drink in hand until 11.00pm just winding
down, watching the sun go down into a very calm sea. Wonderful.
After a
brief visit to the Crystal works it was off to Cork for lunch,
an afternoon visit to Skibbereen where all the houses are
painted a different colour. The locals say that this is so that
the visitors of the local taverns can find their way back to the
right house of the evening! The night was spent on a long finger
of land sticking out into Bantry Bay with some of the most
staggering scenery you could hope to wake up to in the morning.
Shellfish was fresh and cheap as it was only dragged out of the
bay an hour before hand.
Beara
peninsular was fantastic with wonder views of lakes and forests
all the way to Killarney, a delightful town. It was about this
time we cottoned on to one of the great ideas with the Irish
main roads. They have a hard shoulder that can be used to park
on, making it the longest lay-bys in Europe. If however, they
are clear, any slow moving vehicles that are holding up faster
traffic can pull onto the hard shoulder. The faster traffic
passes and the slower moving vehicle then returns to the road
thus relieving any traffic congestion. The faster vehicles then
flash their hazard lights three times to say 'thank you', you
then flash your headlights once, and everybody's happy. A
simple, but effective idea.
We learnt
that the trouble free way to see the Ring of Kerry is to go
anticlockwise as all the coaches travel that way so you don't
keep meeting up with all the traffic on the narrow mountain
roads. This is very much Camper country as most cars and
caravans have trouble getting into the passing places, whereas
campers fit in them a treat. We could have spent the whole of
the holiday just soaking up the atmosphere and admiring the
fantastic view.
We spent
the night at Caherdaniel on the south west point taking two days
to do the 110 mile journey so that we could stop as many times
as we wanted. The campsites in Ireland are fantastic, the one at
Caherdaniel even more so. It was here that we found that every
shop, garage, and campsite were selling freshly baked hot bread,
which we lived on every day. A drop of Irish butter, and some
cheese melting inside, it was heavenly to eat. The pitches were
like a giant flight of stairs going down to the sea finishing up
with a causeway leading out to a small island. Even on the
island there were electric hook up points as well as water
point, rubbish point, and drainage etc. Even the TV lounge was a
thatched, stone built cottage with a peat fire at one end. TV in
Ireland is transmitted in UHF and VHF so a TV set that can pick
up both is ideal but not necessary to pick up the four channels
transmitted. Next stop was Tralee to meet up with my
brother-in-law (Martin) and his girlfriend (Kate) and some her
family. Kate comes from Limerick and therefore was very handy as
a local guide. The Irish are a very laid back people who live at
a slower pace than the English which makes for very relaxing
driving so allow for a much shorter distances to travel per day.
Just take it easy on the roads and enjoy the driving. We found
that the smaller the village, the better the pubs. They had so
much more atmosphere and impromptu music with very friendly
people. Limerick is a wonderful town with so much to explore. We
took in a hurling match, a cross between hockey and rugby. Kate,
normally a demure young lady, suddenly started to give one side
some verbal abuse using language I haven't even heard after
working for eight years on the docks. My Irish vocabulary
increased quite a lot that day! They take this Hurling very
seriously over there.
We spent a
few spare days back at Caherdaniel just chilling out watching
the sun melt the clouds looking out over the sea to the
mountains of the Beara Peninsular, or a stroll down to the beach
bar for lunch and someliquid refreshment. Ain't life a struggle!
There isn't enough money in the world to pay for the views
there. Alas, as all holidays it was time to head to towards
Dublin. We allowed two days to look around the city and went on
the tour bus first and then picked the places more interesting
to us. The campsite we stayed at was just outside Dublin but the
tour bus called in there every morning and evening and took us
to O'Connell St. the main street of Dublin. This was very handy
as it solved all parking problems. We saw the two statues
nicknamed 'The Floozie With the Jacuzzi,'(the Spirit of the
River Shannon) and 'the Tart With the Cart' (Mollie Malone) to
add to the 'Dolly with the Brolly' we met at the beginning of
our trip. We hope the poor girl didn't catch her death of cold.
We learnt that with the ferries that all large vehicles (i.e.
Campers) are loaded last and therefore get off first. We gave a
long distance wave to Karen and Mark towards the direction of
Amlwch on our way along the A5 and onto our way home bound. We
were already talking of our next visit to the Emerald Isle.
Colin
Fleming
