Our Retirement plan was born with the purchase of our motor caravan, Bixie, in 2010. Until I retired in December 2012 we could only travel in it for short periods, mostly weekends. Our ability to travel far was therefore very limited.
The dream of being able to take off for weeks at a time, travelling anywhere we wanted, following the sun, experiencing the sights and sounds of different places was realised when we began to prepare for our first adventure in Europe. The photographic log begins with the 'Our European Itinerary' below. This page provides some narrative.
I hope you enjoy it, and that it might inspire some to try this fabulous way of life.
Homer
Our first stop on the great adventure. The most obvious landmark to visit would be York Minster but before we even reached the campsite our TomTom took us down a narrow road which led to a dead end!
Picture the scene. This road once led into a housing estate but now there was a barrier, and only a little room to manoeuvre. A 180˚ turn is required but the Bixie train is 12 metres long! My first real chance to practice my manoeuvring skills, I guess. Actually we had to unhitch the trailer, car still attached. With the help of a local taxi driver we were able to position it such that we could then turn the motorhome around, get in front, then hitch up again and escape.
Our sat/nav got us into trouble quite often. The problem really was that it could not be configured to the vehicle length, width, height. A word of advice to others, make sure you have a device that knows you are a motorhome, with trailer etc..
York Minster is spectacular and well worth a visit. You'll need much more time than we allocated to give it full justice. The ancient streets of York are picturesque, beautiful.
Cambridge .. a City for all seasons.
We stayed at the Cambridge Cherry Hinton Caravan Club site in Lime Kiln Road. This is located in an ancient quarry and within an area of special scientific interest. Fortunately, they had removed all the old plant and equipment; it has been very nicely landscaped 😉
This is The Jerwood Library, part of Cambridge University.
We photographed this building and its plaque from the boat as we enjoyed a punt on the river Cam. Rather a modern building compared to the rest of the University.
This was an interesting experience as our boatman, being a student of the University, was able to tell us a great deal about Cambridge, its Colleges and of the buildings along the route of the Cam.
We had not appreciated that Cambridge is the only University that requires students to apply to a particular College, rather than to the University as a whole.
Behind us in the picture below is the Bridge of Sighs.
In a caravan or motorhome there is limited space for storing provisions so the frequency of trips to the supermarket is greater than might be the case at home.
We spent many a happy hour searching for supermarkets, as we began to first realise during our stay in Cambridge 😭.
Cambridge is a beautiful city, full of historical buildings. Their Park & Ride services are ideal for tourists and are to be recommended as taking your car into the centre is not ideal, and can be expensive.
We crossed the English Channel to Calais on Friday 19th April on Eurotunnel but spent three nights first of all at Black Horse Farm Caravan Club Site in Densole. This is an excellent campsite, large, well maintained with large pitches, some of which are fully serviced. An ideal stopover for those heading for the continent by Ferry or Eurotunnel.
We found this wonderful fish restaurant - The Crab and Winkle - in Whitstable, near Herne Bay, and enjoyed a fabulous lunch.
Our priority was otherwise to find a beach to let the Yorkies release their pent up energy. Heading towards Dymchurch and St Mary's Bay we found plenty of stoney beaches but little sand. However, we managed to tire them out; and ourselves for that matter!
The Eurotunnel crossing was so easy; and we were in Calais in 35 minutes!