Lenny's long trek south

[Lenny HB]

Saturday 17th arrived back to a chilly Italy (22 deg), by the time we arrive at Carpi for our night stop it was down to 17, donned jumpers and coats for a stroll down to the town in search of a nice Italian meal after the dire Greek food. No such luck all the restaurants bar one (which was full with a private party) closed, all the bars were shutting up shop at 8pm just like France 25 years ago.
Sunday onward through the Brenner & Fernpass to Germany 4 pm in the Fernpass clocked 4.5 deg, me not liking northern Europe, but the snow was pretty on the mountains.
Monday morning at Bad Waldsee woke up to 6 deg & peeing down.

Not very impressed with Hymer’s response on the batteries, they would change them but I would have to pay, they would return the batteries to their supplier and if confirmed faulty they would refund me, cost €700 HOW MUCH!!!, €190 for each batteries plus labour, they must have very slow workers. Decided to leave batteries until we get home as we were getting by.

Had a good look at the new models in the showroom, very impressed, like Carthago these were obviously the vans that had been at Dusseldorf as various bits had been nicked off them.
Big difference was very little evidence of any damage, unlike Carthago’s we looked at, also shower trays all nice and solid and Hymer are capable of designing a usable shower compartment.
Came to conclusion that Hymer build quality is much better than Carthago and if we do change vans it will be another Hymer.
Liked the B704 PL but a bit long for our drive so the B678 PL is favourite.

 

[Lenny HB]

Visited the Erwin Hymer museum, the place is quite impressive and they have spent a lot of dosh on it, mainly old caravans and cars, reasonably interesting but expensive for what you see (€9.50 entry). The cheese soup in the cafe was nice.

One of the very first Hymermobiles, only 3 built then Borgward the base vehicle manufacturer went bump, it was 10 years before they made another Hymermobile.

 

[Judge Mental]

Welcome back...you will get over the shock eventually. I fear for @Robert Clark through, has taken his return badly. Poor boy may need a rest in a sanitarium!

The Hymer B's in a different class to the exsis. Wider, more expensive and heavier though!

 

[Lenny HB]

On the final leg of our journey home we visited a few of the fortified churches in Picardy, on arriving at one I thought that looks familiar, it was one we spent our first night of the trip outside.
In one of the churchyards they were a set of 4 graves of an RAF crew, one assumes a bomber came down close by.

Final managed to get a decent meal in a restaurant in Dieppe.
Back home in freezing cold England now.

 

[Lenny HB]

A couple of dashcam videos 1st one interesting section of road on the way to Mystras.
2nd one of storm damaged road on the Gulf of Corinth.

Don't take any notice of date stamps on videos, dashcam battery doesn't always hold it's charge and it resets & then some old fool often puts the wrong date in.

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[Judge Mental]

@lennyhb when I click on videos they come up as private..probably have to do something in settings.

 

[DBK]

One of those killed was just 17. http://www.inmemories.com/Cemeteries/marlygomont.htm

 

[Lenny HB]

@lennyhb when I click on videos they come up as private..probably have to do something in settings.

Should work now, I forgot to publish them.

 

[Lenny HB]

One of those killed was just 17. http://www.inmemories.com/Cemeteries/marlygomont.htm

We noticed that when looking at them and a Sargent at 17.

 

[Robert Clark]

What was the headroom of the tunnel?

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[Lenny HB]

What was the headroom of the tunnel?

Over 4m but didn't look like it, I ducked.

 

[Judge Mental]

Over 4m but didn't look like it, I ducked.

did look a bit tight!..its the camera lens wide angle format

 

[Robert Clark]

Over 4m but didn't look like it, I ducked.

Where are the tunnels please? I'm just planning our trip to Greece and would like to include them
Also, when wilding in Greece, how easy was it to find drinking water, and to empty cassette ?
Thanks

 

[Lenny HB]

On the 82 the road from Kalamatas to Spartis 37.08446, 22.314456, good road and very nice drive.

Water very easy to find harbors have loads of taps, beach showers often have taps on the post & beaches always have showers, villages have public taps, all good clean chlorinated water. Only filled up once with water we weren't 100% certain of, it was at a Taverna in the mountains and the water was warm, think it came from a big black plastic storage tank, we avoided drinking that tank full. I think water is free or very low charge so no one minds you filling up.

Emptying the cassette can be challenging, I wouldn't recommend going without a spare cassette, very few public toilets, there are a few camper stops we got desperate once and paid €3 at one. The motorways in central & northern Greece had small toilets at rest areas very convenient, but on the Peloponnese they only had porta loos. We have a bench loo which has 19Lt capacity and we carry a spare so can survive 8 days with everything going in it.

Roads in Central Greece & Macedonia are fairly good, motorways very good (new, built with EU money) tolls a bit erratic you can pay €4.50 for 5km of €2.40 for 50km, depending who is in the toll booth you get charged car rate €2.40 or high vehicle €6.00, cost us €8.40 to do about 150km, quite a few sections are free.
On the Peloponnese surfaces on most roads are diabolical, makes Belgium roads look smooth, again Motorways good, auto toll booth so get charged the higher rate.

LPG plentiful, garages that sell it put signs ups miles beforehand, uses the Dish adaptor same as France & Italy.

 

[Robert Clark]

On the 82 the road from Kalamatas to Spartis 37.08446, 22.314456, good road and very nice drive.

Water very easy to find harbors have loads of taps, beach showers often have taps on the post & beaches always have showers, villages have public taps, all good clean chlorinated water. Only filled up once with water we weren't 100% certain of, it was at a Taverna in the mountains and the water was warm, think it came from a big black plastic storage tank, we avoided drinking that tank full. I think water is free or very low charge so no one minds you filling up.

Emptying the cassette can be challenging, I wouldn't recommend going without a spare cassette, very few public toilets, there are a few camper stops we got desperate once and paid €3 at one. The motorways in central & northern Greece had small toilets at rest areas very convenient, but on the Peloponnese they only had porta loos. We have a bench loo which has 19Lt capacity and we carry a spare so can survive 8 days with everything going in it.

Roads in Central Greece & Macedonia are fairly good, motorways very good (new, built with EU money) tolls a bit erratic you can pay €4.50 for 5km of €2.40 for 50km, depending who is in the toll booth you get charged car rate €2.40 or high vehicle €6.00, cost us €8.40 to do about 150km, quite a few sections are free.
On the Peloponnese surfaces on most roads are diabolical, makes Belgium roads look smooth, again Motorways good, auto toll booth so get charged the higher rate.

LPG plentiful, garages that sell it put signs ups miles beforehand, uses the Dish adaptor same as France & Italy.

Thanks very much - appreciate your detailed reply!

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[Lenny HB]

One thing I forgot to mention, western spelling of Greek towns can have up to 3 or more variations, even spelling on road signs can vary from one to the next, when using satnav best to enter co-ordinates or find on the map. Most of the time satnav won't reconise the spelling or take you to a totally different place.

 

[DandP]

Hi, the most interesting thread and information on Greece I have seen. We are planning an 8 month trip in 2017 spending at least 2 of these in Greece. Doing Greec on our motorbike in 2016. Cheers. Dave

 

[Northernraider]

I didn't think I'd seen this thread but I must have looked before as I've liked loads of the posts

 

[DBK]

I didn't think I'd seen this thread but I must have looked before as I've liked loads of the posts

It was five years ago.

 

[Northernraider]

Aye but I wasnt on here five years ago

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[Hymerbell]

On the 82 the road from Kalamatas to Spartis 37.08446, 22.314456, good road and very nice drive.

Water very easy to find harbors have loads of taps, beach showers often have taps on the post & beaches always have showers, villages have public taps, all good clean chlorinated water. Only filled up once with water we weren't 100% certain of, it was at a Taverna in the mountains and the water was warm, think it came from a big black plastic storage tank, we avoided drinking that tank full. I think water is free or very low charge so no one minds you filling up.

Emptying the cassette can be challenging, I wouldn't recommend going without a spare cassette, very few public toilets, there are a few camper stops we got desperate once and paid €3 at one. The motorways in central & northern Greece had small toilets at rest areas very convenient, but on the Peloponnese they only had porta loos. We have a bench loo which has 19Lt capacity and we carry a spare so can survive 8 days with everything going in it.

Roads in Central Greece & Macedonia are fairly good, motorways very good (new, built with EU money) tolls a bit erratic you can pay €4.50 for 5km of €2.40 for 50km, depending who is in the toll booth you get charged car rate €2.40 or high vehicle €6.00, cost us €8.40 to do about 150km, quite a few sections are free.
On the Peloponnese surfaces on most roads are diabolical, makes Belgium roads look smooth, again Motorways good, auto toll booth so get charged the higher rate.

LPG plentiful, garages that sell it put signs ups miles beforehand, uses the Dish adaptor same as France & Italy.

Yes Motorways are very good....not needed though...went 30 mins once and counted 2 cars...EU love splashing money. Anyway they are a bit boring...I prefer non motorway and just renewing all the broken glasses and plates on arrival...