2020 New or Old outside the UK
Comments
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I’ve only taken the ‘van abroad once before. We caught the ferry to Cherbourg,and following an overnight stay just outside, travelled down to Royan, and stayed for a week. We then spent a week in the Dordogne before another overnight stay in the Loire, and another overnight stay just outside the port (Cherbourg). Next year I’ll be ‘over there’ for a month (mid May-mid June). At present, the plan is to catch the ferry (booked) and travel to (following an overnight stay...somewhere) and stay Here for a week, maybe. The last week I thought I’d stay somewhere in Brittany (could be more than one site) for a week. The middle two weeks? Not a clue at present. I do like the idea of just moving on as I please, but I wouldn’t want to miss out on great locations. No sites booked as yet, so am open to suggestions.
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New in the spring when we are trying some of your recommendations i.e.Monfrague National Park in Spain then the south coast of Portugal and then heading north through Portugal.
Our daughter and her family are taking our caravan to Brittany for their holiday in August and then we are going to pick it up and probably visit the Loire for about the fourth or fifth time. Or, if I get my way, we might head south to the Languedoc again.
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If we go to the Pyrenees in May the majority of sites will be new although if we travel back through the Brenne National Park we will stay at the same site as this year. We will also stay at the same site outside Cherbourgbefore getting the ferry.
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Some old, some new, some "haven't a clue". Old will hopefully be spending some time near either L'Estartit or Rosas. New will be 2 weeks return through France, although I am tempted by changing the ferry to come back from Spain and visit the area around Lleida for some rare birds and then heading into the mountains looking for Wallcreepers.
Oneputt, if you want info on birding in Pyrenees then let me know. We've spent some time near Cauterets and Luz St Saveur, near the Col du Tourmalet.
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Ferry booked for Dover crossing rather our usual overnight Plymouth - Roscoff. We’ve got 2 options but not yet decided which to go for. I fancy a change from crossing France which we’ve done to death over many years. Plan 1 is to travel thru Belgium (Luxembourg), Germany, Austria, Slovenia into Croatia continuing beyond Bosnia. We did north Croatia and Plitvice Lakes a couple of years back and really enjoyed it. Plan 2 is to follow a similar route from Dunkirk and drop into Italy, then ferry to Greece. Trip will be about 10 weeks returning in time to be besieged in Cornwall over the high season. September will see us on the road again, possibly Scotland. As usual I’ll mostly use ACSI sites which will form (not exclusively) the basis of our route planning.
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Mid April to Mid June we will be in Spain and coming home via France (Caen)
In Spain the majority of the sites will be new to us, a few will be one's we've used before but most not.
France, again a bit of mix really, depends on which way we decide to travel back to Caen.
September to December, again hoping for Spain, depending on which way we travel over depends on the route down so could be more new sites with a few favourites thrown in.
Hoping to decide if we might like to over winter there or not.
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All plans are now out of the window. My wife has been put on the waiting list for a replacement knee so everything is now on hold. If the op is early 2020 and convalescence is good then we may got to France in September.
Fingers crossed
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How much time do we have left for re-visiting places; is it now time to go to those places we vaguely planned to visit at some distant, dewy eyed, future point?
Absolutely right, tomorrow is just a concept.
I also subscribe to the ‘don’t want to be the richest man in the graveyard’ approach.
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".......and I shall follow the instructions I receive."
Hi David, Had to smile at the comment from DD as I recently posted on another forum, in response to I believe a fellow CT poster, that when planning our usual thing is to get to the furthest point ASAP and then do any one offs on the way back and, that if I ever considered the get off the ferry and turn right or left approach to be a good idea, I would soon be put right!
We have in the past made our ferry booking in September for the following year but in 2018 it was only 5 weeks before we went, not intentional we had no choice, and for many years we book around now having decided on where we want to go.
This year we are still undecided due to time restraints and not going with our MH buddies.
Having visited Italy many times we have now not been back, with the van, since 2015 so that is a distinct possibility but not sure what site. Do we stick with our favourite Bella Italia or try somewhere else.
We would like to visit Lago Trasimeno, as you have, bit just don't have enough time for that.
Considering Como but going via St Moritz, which appeals, may take too much of the limited time so may be looking at paying for Vignettes and heading for the Maggiore area..........lots to consider and planning to enjoy!
In September may do a trip to seen friends in Holland and stay at Camping Coldenhove in Eerbeek where they live.
Wherever you and others go have a great time!!
P.S.-Re ACSI, still unable to see any 2020 availability just now.
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We have a busy 2020 mapped out and I am finding it difficult to find a long enough spell to make it worthwhile crossing the channel. If we do opt for a crossing it will only be a short trip perhaps to the Paris area and Paris itself. That is something we have never done before.
We do have a Baltic cruise booked but most if not all of our trips in the motorhome will be off the cuff in the UK in 2020 probably with a mix of visits to old and new sites.
peedee
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Harry
I wish her well with her knee operation. I think knees take a bit longer than say hips to recover from. Mind you a bit of sunshine always works wonders!
David
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after an autumn of being 'a hotel' for our daughter/family (who sold their house with nowhere to go and had a baby the week before they moved to new house) followed by some serious babysitting/nursery runs and a fair stint of decorating etc we had been limited somewhat to shortish trips in the UK...nice, but not meaty enough for us...
so we are shrugging off the shackles now and crossing to cherbourg early January and heading for a Spanish 'put your feet up' spot for a fortnight, to meet old friends and chill out.
we are away till Easter so have plenty of time to head south at our usual slow pace, exploring plenty of new places down the Eastern coast, some for a day or two, some for a week or even more.
as mentioned above, we also want to get to l'Estartit as it was recommended to us on one of our first euro trips and havent made it yet, so we will be easing back home via the north eastern corner of Spain and will take a bit of time to explore that area.
the return sees us 'back in the saddle' as daughter returns to teaching (two days a week) after maternity leave ends where we will be helping again for the summer term and trips revert to shorter uk ones.
as GD moves into school in September we will be off again and another destination calls....Italy. we will also combine a fortnight or so with pals in SE France but yet to think too much about this one...
so, a busy year, as ever but one we are really looking forward to.
safe travels all.
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secret is to get yourself very fit before the op, i cycled 20K per day for almost 3 months prior to op, and was up on my bike 4 weeks after the op starting at 5k per day, i have had both knees replaced. i was on list for 3 months, have been told it is much longer now, if you have £12k go private, had my hands done privately 2 weeks from initial appointment and i was in having the op, carried out by same consultant as i was seeing via NHS.
Portsmouth - Caen 14th April returning sometime in June, will spend most of time in Southern Spain, my knees still need lots of sunshine
anybody got a recommendation for a good site near Caen will probably return that way and will need to stay a couple of days to get the dog sorted, we went via Cherbourg last year, thought we would give Caen a shot this time as we only live 30 minutes from Portsmouth ferry.
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Same countries mostly new areas and sites. For about 9 weeks from end of April to beginning of July we head via Belgium and Germany through to Austria, Slovenia and Northern Italy. As to direction and where to first whilst in Germany is dictated by the weather, no bookings and make good use of the ACSI card.
We tend to tour rather than long stay and usually max out at about 5 days in one place, unless its exceptional in what we look for in our touring.
Last year we put our feet into Hungary so may well look into that a little further, but Slovenia remains our favourite all time touring destination.
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Harry. OH had a knee replacement last Feb and did not feel up to a longish caravan holiday until end of Aug when we went to France for 5 weeks. She has just had the other knee replaced and we are hoping that she will be fit to go on a caravan holiday by the end of June. Absolutely right to get yourself as fit as possible before the op and be diligent with doing the exercises after the op.
Back to the OP, we tend to go to new areas each holiday but like many are follow the sun folk. We make a plan (sort off) but rarely stick to it. Don't know where we will go next year, thinking about the Black Forest, Jura and Alsace areas but who knows; if the forecast is poor we could go SE to Croatia (we want to visit recently widowed sister in law near Frankfurt en route to wherever).
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Going to revisit a site for the first time in 5 years of caravanning over the new year.
Europe, really struggling to find something inspiring at the moment, Alps possibly.
The rest will be new places in the UK that we have not done yet.
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I'll put something together over the next few days and drop you an email. It was very rewarding but hard work as the area is not that easy to get around as you have to keep going down different valleys. Estaing is a pretty good area for raptors and you aren't that far from Garvanie for the Lammergeiers. Will work on it.
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Harry, my wife has had too many hip ops to remember, but its in double figures, with the biggies being a double total replacement-initial surgery in the January, then in cast till June, first one done than second two weeks later during a 6+weeks stay in hospital-in 1992 followed by revision surgery on the LH side in 2008 and on the RH side in October 2018.
Took a breath then it was RH total knee replacement 5 weeks ago. Initially she said it was more painful than the hip but her recovery has been fantastic and she ditched crutches after a couple of weeks and her walking stick soon after.
She has been for physio and has an appointment next week for more so fingers crossed your wife will do as well so give her our best wishes........and have a great Christmas.
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Hi BB,
reading your last post am I right thinking that the baby arrived in the autumn and....."as GD moves into school in September " she will be about 12 months old????
That's amazing!-do you have a Uni in mind yet?!!!
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Firstly, thanks for the advice and good wishes.
This is uncanny re my original post. 13 hrs after posting we had a phone call offering my wife a cancellation which she accepted. Operation is now scheduled for this coming Tuesday.
Sorry for hijacking the post AD
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Ha, theyre a bright bunch, lol....
new arrival is a boy, GD will be just four in September.
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+1👍🏻, use it to our advantage. It’ll not be long before the bickering starts again, then👎🏻☹️
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So nice not to have to think about booking “over there”. We will head for the Italian lakes this year but as usual like many others the itinerary will be determined by the weather and our inclination at the time. So it will be a fixed tunnel crossing out and return but with the likelihood of changing the return date once we decide how long we want to stay. Cheaper to do that than book singles.
Never get currency beforehand, just use our Halifax Clarity card at an ATM as the exchange rate is far better than anything you can get at money changers. Avoid changing money at ferry terminals at all costs as the rates are a disgrace.
Just back from nearly a month in Australia, Cambodia and Vietnam so we are actually looking forward to being able to take our “home” with us rather than living out of suitcases and hopping on and off of airplanes.
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