A new adventure to Africa

[Helen Ariel]

Hi all. The journey to a new continent starts here at a stormy Newhaven port. We've only taken the ferry once before last July so not sure what to expect re sea sickness with the strong winds today

As we always had Beech with us on our previous adventures we always chose the tunnel for her convenience. Sadly we had to say goodbye to her in October 2022. Though we actually did do one last adventure 'of sorts' with her last July as we took her ashes with on our short summer holiday to France.

After much debate about which of the special locations to scatter her ashes from the many she had visited with us on our previous 2 excursions, we settled on a place close to the Col du petite san Bernard in the Alps.

2 years earlier we had a very memorable stay there for several days and did some wonderful hikes into the mountains, summiting Lance Branlette just shy of 3000m altitude and playing in mountain streams surrounded by beautiful Alpine flowers.

This time we set out early on a beautiful July morning with her ashes stowed in the pack and made our way up across a desserted meadow. Well desserted of people but I had to stop every few minutes to photograph all the gorgeous flowers (as a gardener by trade it's amazing to see plants I would buy from the garden centre growing wild up there)

We found the same stream high on the mountain that was the most memorable from last time and we said goodbye to her properly.

Here's a few of pics from that day.

So on to the next adventure we are heading down to Morocco over the next week or so.

Bombing south for the weather as quickly as possible with an aim to visit Seville as we had a short stop there previously but having the dog we couldn't explore the city in depth.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Enjoy your trip.

 

[Littlewheels]

Please keep posting your travels,stay safe.

 

[Mikey RV]

Safe travels. Looking forward to your photos and write up.

 

[Shrimp]

Sorry to hear about Beech, must have missed the post.
A really lovely spot for Beech, we took our JRT ashes to a beach in France that she loved, I’m sure her spirit is still exploring the beach.

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[dryad]

Hi all. The journey to a new continent starts here at a stormy Newhaven port. We've only taken the ferry once before last July so not sure what to expect re sea sickness with the strong winds today

As we always had Beech with us on our previous adventures we always chose the tunnel for her convenience. Sadly we had to say goodbye to her in October 2022. Though we actually did do one last adventure 'of sorts' with her last July as we took her ashes with on our short summer holiday to France.

After much debate about which of the special locations to scatter her ashes from the many she had visited with us on our previous 2 excursions, we settled on a place close to the Col du petite san Bernard in the Alps.

2 years earlier we had a very memorable stay there for several days and did some wonderful hikes into the mountains, summiting Lance Branlette just shy of 3000m altitude and playing in mountain streams surrounded by beautiful Alpine flowers.

This time we set out early on a beautiful July morning with her ashes stowed in the pack and made our way up across a desserted meadow. Well desserted of people but I had to stop every few minutes to photograph all the gorgeous flowers (as a gardener by trade it's amazing to see plants I would buy from the garden centre growing wild up there)

We found the same stream high on the mountain that was the most memorable from last time and we said goodbye to her properly.

Here's a few of pics from that day.View attachment 849553
View attachment 849554View attachment 849555View attachment 849556View attachment 849557View attachment 849558

So on to the next adventure we are heading down to Morocco over the next week or so.

Bombing south for the weather as quickly as possible with an aim to visit Seville as we had a short stop there previously but having the dog we couldn't explore the city in depth.

what glorious views there, stunning place to leave beech to run free as it were, sadly missed no doubt but wonderful memories of a much loved companion..

.

 

[scousebird]

Have a great trip, I hope the ferry crossing's ok.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Ferry crossing is pretty rough! Poor Helen is not having an enjoyable trip across La Manche…

Paul

 

[Lenny HB]

Have a great trip.

 

[paddymcc]

Have a great trip, sorry to hear about Beech and the stormy Channel

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[Helen Ariel]

Lovely to see lots of familiar names liking and commenting from previous years travels. Thank you for following. Crossing was horrendous and I think I spent a least an hour on the floor of the disabled toilet. Honestly thought Paul was going to have to carry me to the van but it calmed down nearer France and as quickly as it came on I was back to normal.

 

[Podney]

Have a great trip. Seville is brill. Oooh that rhymes,sort of

 

[Stonemags76]

Sorry to hear about Beach, & I’m looking forward to following your travels again!

 

[bellabee]

Have great trip.
So sorry to hear about Beech.
Your trip will certainly be different without a dog. I'm not sure that I'd like to take a dog to Morocco, particularly as the Spanish authorities are insisting that titre tests are carried out in an EU country.
I'll be following your travels.

 

[cliffanger]

Lovely to see lots of familiar names liking and commenting from previous years travels. Thank you for following. Crossing was horrendous and I think I spent a least an hour on the floor of the disabled toilet. Honestly thought Paul was going to have to carry me to the van but it calmed down nearer France and as quickly as it came on I was back to normal.

Looking forward to following your trip.

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[WESTY66]

Have great trip.
So sorry to hear about Beech.
Your trip will certainly be different without a dog. I'm not sure that I'd like to take a dog to Morocco, particularly as the Spanish authorities are insisting that titre tests are carried out in an EU country.
I'll be following your travels.

Yes that new rule has caught a few out in the last few weeks

 

[jumar]

Happy and Safe travels....

 

[3DOM]

Looking forward to you trip,
safe journey.

 

[Just smiffy]

Watching with interest, I wonder if you’ll come back with another dog…. Tam Northernraider could have had a van full…

 

[Helen Ariel]

Just parked up in a little town between Tours & Poitiers where we hoped to grab some food but everything is closed so noodles and spring rolls for tea tonight, although I was very tempted by the pizza vending machine…
A firm no from Helen soon put paid to that!

Early to bed and an early start tomorrow so we can get over the border into Spain.

Have a great Hogmanay everyone!

Paul

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[cliffanger]

Just parked up in a little town between Tours & Poitiers where we hoped to grab some food but everything is closed so noodles and spring rolls for tea tonight, although I was very tempted by the pizza vending machine…
A firm no from Helen soon put paid to that!

View attachment 849785

Early to bed and an early start tomorrow so we can get over the border into Spain.

Have a great Hogmanay everyone!

Paul

Sunday and Monday in France are very often too quiet for me! yodeli Frankie told me years ago that French labour laws are such that shop and service employees are to have two consecutive days off - hence shops and cafes also being closed on a Monday!

We never seem to get used to it and are caught out most trips!

 

[Cliff D]

Have a great trip - I'm looking forward to following your adventures

 

[Countrylad]

Just parked up in a little town between Tours & Poitiers where we hoped to grab some food but everything is closed so noodles and spring rolls for tea tonight, although I was very tempted by the pizza vending machine…
A firm no from Helen soon put paid to that!

Early to bed and an early start tomorrow so we can get over the border into Spain.

Have a great Hogmanay everyone!

Paul

Good to hear you are embracing the fabulous French cuisine

Xx for 2024 - an African Odyssey

Jonathon

 

[Helen Ariel]

Another big days travelling sees us parked up over looking a nudist beach just outside Vitoria-Gasteiz. Started off grey and showery in France but once we got south of Bordeaux the skies cleared to azure blue and the temperature went up to 15c. Nice to feel the warmth of the sun again!
Driving through the Basque region reminded us how claustrophobic it feels; we’ll be glad to leave it tomorrow. It may have an amazing coastline but it’s not our favourite part of Spain. The architecture, industrial landscape and strange spellings on road signs have a strangely Eastern European vibe.
We only have a 3G signal so might have to add pics tomorrow as they’re taking forever to upload.

 

[MitchandJenny]

Hi all. The journey to a new continent starts here at a stormy Newhaven port. We've only taken the ferry once before last July so not sure what to expect re sea sickness with the strong winds today

As we always had Beech with us on our previous adventures we always chose the tunnel for her convenience. Sadly we had to say goodbye to her in October 2022. Though we actually did do one last adventure 'of sorts' with her last July as we took her ashes with on our short summer holiday to France.

After much debate about which of the special locations to scatter her ashes from the many she had visited with us on our previous 2 excursions, we settled on a place close to the Col du petite san Bernard in the Alps.

2 years earlier we had a very memorable stay there for several days and did some wonderful hikes into the mountains, summiting Lance Branlette just shy of 3000m altitude and playing in mountain streams surrounded by beautiful Alpine flowers.

This time we set out early on a beautiful July morning with her ashes stowed in the pack and made our way up across a desserted meadow. Well desserted of people but I had to stop every few minutes to photograph all the gorgeous flowers (as a gardener by trade it's amazing to see plants I would buy from the garden centre growing wild up there)

We found the same stream high on the mountain that was the most memorable from last time and we said goodbye to her properly.

Here's a few of pics from that day.View attachment 849553
View attachment 849554View attachment 849555View attachment 849556View attachment 849557View attachment 849558

So on to the next adventure we are heading down to Morocco over the next week or so.

Bombing south for the weather as quickly as possible with an aim to visit Seville as we had a short stop there previously but having the dog we couldn't explore the city in depth.

See you down here then.
Got to Morocco for our 2nd visit yesterday.
Going slowly down the coast.
Mitch

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[Orion]

Looking forward to this thread as I found your previous ones very engaging with lots of really useful information to glean. We’re off to southern Portugal and adjacent Spain in late February and will be in the Seville area for the Easter Week fiestas, so relating your experience of the city will be welcome.

Sorry to hear about Beech but you gave a her a fitting final send off - well done.

 

[Stonemags76]

Another big days travelling sees us parked up over looking a nudist beach just outside Vitoria-Gasteiz. Started off grey and showery in France but once we got south of Bordeaux the skies cleared to azure blue and the temperature went up to 15c. Nice to feel the warmth of the sun again!
Driving through the Basque region reminded us how claustrophobic it feels; we’ll be glad to leave it tomorrow. It may have an amazing coastline but it’s not our favourite part of Spain. The architecture, industrial landscape and strange spellings on road signs have a strangely Eastern European vibe.
We only have a 3G signal so might have to add pics tomorrow as they’re taking forever to upload.

I also find the basque region claustrophobic! I thought I was the only one, as everyone seems to think it’s beautiful! It doesn’t help that we are usually passing through in winter, & drizzle!

 

[Helen Ariel]

I also find the basque region claustrophobic! I thought I was the only one, as everyone seems to think it’s beautiful! It doesn’t help that we are usually passing through in winter, & drizzle!

We've been here in summer too. It is beautiful in parts particularly the beaches but it's not motorhome friendly and I find the building style really menacing!

 

[Orion]

…… and I find the building style really menacing!

Barcelona can be a bit like that as well!

 

[Helen Ariel]

A few pics now I've got 5 g.
Happy to see some blue sky yesterday over the Pyrenees and beautiful calm waters where we spent a really peaceful night's sleep.

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