Trip to Umberleigh

Left about 11 and headed for Umberleigh. We had heard that the Portsmouth Arms allowed camper vans to stay on their car park.

Stopped just before Sowton on the moor and cooked a brunch. Lovely spot to sit, relax and watch the world go round. One day we will walk up the hill.

We continued on our journey and arrived at Portsmouth arms about 2pm but it was deserted and the car park looked a bit too small and close to the road for our liking,

Luckily we had the camping and caravan club big site book with us so we went to look at a club site in Umberleigh.

We were looking at the site and deciding what we wanted to do when the warden approached us. I asked him if we were to stay was there was somewhere to eat on site and was told no but he did say there was a pub in walking distance but it was down a steep hill.

We decided to stay at the site and then made our way to Torrington where we took the Tarka Cycle track to Bideford.

We cycled from Torrington to Bideford (5.5 miles each way) where we stopped for a coffee outside a pub and then cycled back to Torrington and then on to the campsite

After a rest we got ourselves ready and walked to the pub, which was ok going down the hill although it was a very narrow path.  We had a lovely meal and enjoyed the evening, it wasn't until we went outside we remembered the hill back up to the site.  By now it was pitch black and we could not see anything, our  stomachs were very full and we puffed our way up the 1 in 4 hill in the dark.
We slept well that night!

Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast before heading off to Atlantic Village to do some shopping.  It was very disappointing after Street outlet visit.
We then decided to try the Portsmouth arms again, this time it was still deserted but then it was nearing the end of service.  We decided to stay for a drink and ended up tucking into a roast dinner before returning home in the camper.

11th September - Calais to Dover

Ferry was booked for 10:45 this morning but we thought we would head off early to get an earlier ferry.

We arrived at the port at 8:30 to find that the 8:30 ferry was closed and the next ferry was in fact the one we were booked on at 10:45.
We drove down to the queue where we were the second in the queue.

We decided to put the kettle on and have breakfast whilst we were waiting.

Once on the boat we parked up the van and headed off for our duty frees.

10th September - Saarburg to Eperlecques

Woke up early, the bakers van arrived at 8:45 so queued for fresh bread and pastries for breakfast.

Left about 9:30 but then realised the camera had run out of battery so unable to take photos of campsite, but managed to take a quick photo with the phone camera.

We then went on our way setting the inverter up to charge as we were going along.

We ate on the hoof, stopping for fuel. Then as we got close to Eperlecques we found a Carrefour, so we stopped for a bit of shopping, but they did not have J P Chenet! We then continued to the site and found a Carrefour just across the road from the site.  Once we booked in we decided to try the Carrefour over the road and was able to fill up on J  Chenet.

We booked a table at the campsite restaurant for the evening and had a lovely meal sat in the conservatory.  St Jacques Coquille, Steak and Frites and Ice cream with a bottle of wine for 50 euros.
We also saw Brits for the first time on our trip as well as Germans/Dutch etc.  

Dutch couple below- man with glasses took our photo above

 

9th September - Lake Plansee to Saarburg

It rained all night but we woke up to a bit of sunshine and realised what a lovely setting we were in, so we took some photos of the lake.

We then headed off to Bretenwaing, the closest town to Lake Plansee, for breakfast and picked up some rolls for lunch too.  Both Bretenwang and Lake Plansee are worth a visit of a couple of days again.

We then headed off on our long trip to Saarburg.  It was autobahn all the way so not a lot of scenery to see, although we did see the sun a couple of times. We stopped and ate our rolls half way along the journey and arrived at Saarburg at about 6pm.   The restaurant was closed but we were able to order a home baked  pizza and then we found the campsite had a fritura, so we had to succumb on our last night but Billy was disappointed with his curry bratwurst, as it turned out to be a bratwurst with tomato sauce and curry powder on top.

8th September - Camping Serenella to Lake Plansee, Austria

Left Serenella 11:00 and headed for Lake Plansee, said goodbye to our new German family, they were off to Gardaland for the day.

We could not decide which road to take to Austria after the trouble we had in Monza, so we spoke to the receptionist again about the toll charge for the Brennar pass.  They did not say anything about the Brennar Pass but said it would be 8 euro to cross the Europa Bridge and we would have to pay for the Vignette at the first gasoline station in Austria.  We decided to use the auto stradde and brennar pass after all as it would half our journey.

We made a last stop in Italy at a service station where we bought rolls and took them back to the van to eat . We saw our very first British travellers here,we stopped for a chat, they were off to Innsbruck after spending time in the Venetia region.

We continued on our way wondering when we would be crossing the Brennar pass or Europa Bridge and enter Austria.  It seemed as if the writing on signs were not in Italian anymore so we stopped and found that we had been in Austria for some time, not sure what happened to the Brennar Pass although the scenery was very good.

We stopped at another service station and bought a vignette - 7.90 euros and then continued on our way thinking that was it but then we were stopped and asked for another toll fee of 8 euro, the man said this was to get through Innsbruck, we did go over a bridge, so guess this must have been the Europa Bridge.

 

It was then on to the Fern Pass but it was raining so the views were not as good as they could have been.

When we eventually arrived at Lake Plansee it was still raining so although the lake was a fantastic colour, the views were not as good as if the sun had been shining.

We were looking for 2 campsites on the lake that belonged to the same people but we did not have an address for either.  We eventually found one of the campsites (Seesplitz) and by then we were starving but the site looked quite empty and almost closed up except for one man in the reception area.  He said the shop was closed and that there was nowhere to eat but we could gett a pizza from him if we wanted to stay.
He did say that the sister site was 5 km up the road where there was a restaurant nearby.
We drove to Sennalpe (5 km) but when we arrived there was no one around to speak to, even when we rang the bell for attention.
In the end we returned to seesplitz (and the pizza) but on returning the guy had gone and there was no-one there either. We decided to park up and see what would happen.
I then decided to cook Paella with bits and pieces that were in the fridge from our shopping trip to Salo, we opened a bottle of wine and sat listening to the rain but no-one came to see us.

7th September - Another night at Camping Serenella

Rained overnight and we pondered about moving onto Austria but after speaking to German neighbours about the weather, they told us that they had looked on the internet and the weather was not good for the next couple of days.  They were heading off South West where the weather was better.

They said Austria was the same as where we were so we decided to stay for another night as planned.  We knew there was a camping shop in Pescheria so we asked the receptionist where this was and then drove to the camping shop and filled up with some bits and pieces from the supermarket.

It did not rain whilst we were out so we when we got back we decided to cycle to Bardonilo. 
We stopped for yet another Pizza and drink

We then walked around the shops before cycling back. It had started to rain again but did not come to much more than a few spots.

Once back at the site we had new neighbours, another German family, it started to rain again so we decided to stay and have Dinner in the campsite restaurant again.

6th September - Limone to Garda

Decided to move off and try the other side of the lake.  We drove to Malcesine to find a campsite but they all looked as it they were aimed at windsurfers.
We continued to Garda and found Camping Serenella between Garda and Bardolino.

We found a pitch and then cycled into Garda where we had lunch beside the lake.

Afterwards we walked around Garda and found shops that we had not seen when we visited in 2003. Last time we were in Garda it was market day so we did not notice the shops as the market stalls were in the way.

Billy likes his ice cream!

We decided to stay at the campsite for a couple of nights and had dinner in the campsite restaurant in the evening

5th September - Manerba to Limone

Left Manerba for Limone in the North of Lake Garda, we stopped off at Carrefour in Salo for shopping and then drove to Limone.

We were looking for Camping Nanzel but drove straight past it, we were looking to turn round and go back but came across Campsite Garda, so decided to stay at this campsite, next to the lake.

We thought we would be able to work into Limone along the lake but found that we would have to walk alongside the road as the walk along the lake involved crossing a private beach.

We decided to see how far we could walk before we hit the private beach.  We ended up walking into Limone as no-one stopped us.  

Once in Limone we decided to return in the evening as we had stayed in Limone in 2003 and enjoyed the atmosphere in the evenings.  We booked a meal at hotel Le Palme, the same hotel we had stayed at, where we knew the food was good.  We stopped for an ice cream and then walked back to the campsite, this time alongside the road so that we knew what the walk would be like in the evening.
On the way out of Limone we saw a poster for a firework display and realised that the display was going to be that evening.

When we got back to the campsite Billy found that the bike rack was nearly falling off the campervan, so he decided to fix it, forgetting that it was siesta time!

We decided to walk to Limone along the beach again in the evening.

When we arrived at Le Palme hotel we had the best seat in Limone for the firework display.  The food was to die for in a wonderful setting overlooking the lake.

Before the fireworks started an old sailing ship sailed by with dignatries on board.  

Then the fireworks began





4th September - Bike ride to Montinelle

Very English Breakfast with breathtaking views of the lake before heading out for the day.

Bikes out again today and off to find the Montinelle pizza that our German friends told us about.

We did not know if it was the name of the restaurant or a place but headed off hoping for signs.

Not far from the campsite we found a sign to Montinelle and headed off in that direction, it wasn't long before we realised it was going to be uphill all the way.

Once at the top we stopped for a refreshing cold drink.   I left Billy ordering me an iced lemon tea (nestea) whilst I went in the shop opposite.   When I came back we had hot lemon tea, there was some confusion in the translation!



Worn out - after cycle uphill



Whilst drinking our tea we watched other cyclists disappear down a lane and did not see them come back so we decided to explore further..  We found ourselves cycling up another steep hill then we saw that people had chained their bikes up so we did the same and climbed up to the top.  When we arrived at the top it was well worth the climb.  We found the Archaeological Natural Park of the Rocca-Sasso .

  





San Baggio Island in front and Garda Island in background



After taking photos we walked back down the hill to where our bikes were and stopped for an ice cream before returning to Mantanelli for a meal.  We think we found the pizza restaurant that we had been told about but it was closed, so we ended up in a typical italian restaurant.  We then freewheeled down the hill back to our campsite.