Mike and Cathy Travels

Amazing thing - you go away for 7 weeks at the end of the summer and guess what? The weather changes. Suddenly the earlier evenings and later dawn are becoming very apparent. Frost on the windows in Austria (alt 900m) Trees - lots of trees Cathy doing her 'incognito celeb' look Still sunny and we are able to get out and about to enjoy the views. Great sweeping views of the valley and dappled sunlight in the trees - but still with pockets of frost in the darker places. Hard not to burst out into - 'The Hills are alive...' A 360 panorama from the top of the hill (+1,000 ft from our site)  However, the weather was going off so we headed out for the last few days across Germany towards Calais. Brew house in Duren, in Germany near border with Belgium Across Germany we had the usual problems of trying to dodge the worst of the traffic / road building. Looks like all EU is much like UK in terms of how badly they organise road repairs - perhaps e...

Well, our last post had us traveling across Austria to Hungary, on a Sunday morning. This was great because most of Austria is closed and they ban lorries from traveling (with some exceptions) on a Sunday, which makes the motorways and roads much quieter.   Back to what now seems as 'Good old Moson'. A sunny Sunday after noon in mid October with the temperature in the mid 20s. We 'bobbed' about in the spa and caught up with our domestic chores. Having saved our washing for over two weeks we were a bit 'put out' when we discovered the site washing machine in bits. The solution was a lot of hand washing and the great 'wishy washy' line of Hungary. Cathy had yet another round of teeth bashing on Monday, Wednesday with a final flourish on Friday. So you might think that this would be a bit boring - sat in the same place for a week - but we had been traveling long distances with few breaks. The time taken for teeth meant less time for getting around ...

In the last post we had a marvelous time in the Tivoli gardens but had enough of sleeping in town car parks. So that afternoon we moved to a hill top in Lazio which gave free water, emptying and electricity. So it was an afternoon of domestic activity, cleaning the van and ourselves (showers). Next day we continued the theme, not traveling far but winding over the hilly countryside to Castiglioni de Orcia - in the Tuscan hills on the Franciscan pilgrims route to Rome. The drive had been slow and we continued to experience the frustration of a road surface so poor that even when the speed limit was higher than 40miles an hour it was hard to drive beyond that speed. How ever, the trip was worth it for the views and charming small village. It had a bit of a mix between tourist and locals but with two castles and on a pilgrim route also had some nice places. These included a wine bar with a selection of many wines and some unusual beers. We decided we deserved a mid-afternoon drink ...

Here we are in Sunny Lecce, in our favorite cafe Alvinos, on the square overlooking some of the amazing baroque architecture. Here we are seen enjoying a coffee and something sweet with Enrico and Maria. We have parked up for a few days and are staying in Enrico's lovely house on the outskirts of Lecce.  Enrico and I in yet another coffee bar - even more Sicilian than the Alvinos (even Enrico says that Sicily makes the best cakes, since he comes from the undisputed 'top place' in the world for everything - Naples, that is saying something). That Friday night Cathy was feeling tired and 'toothy' so Enrico and I went to see his Universities open evening which was crowded with students and people from the town - lots of interesting research projects. Saturday was a lazy day wondering around Lecce, having a bite and taking it easy. On Sunday we set off, with typical alacrity after coffee and something sweet to the Seaside in Otranto. Both Cathy a...