A speedy motorway drive eastward from the Italian Riviera brought us to one of our favourite 2014 campgrounds just a short water-bus ride away from St. Marks square in Venice. Lucky for us the streets of Venice were seasonably above water and when you see the massively impressive water control system that’s being constructed (over many years) it should soon remain that way permanently. We could not believe how crowded with tourists Venice was considering it was only the middle of May. Unfortunately a few important venues and campgrounds throughout this trip were, in our opinion, relatively overcrowded for this early time of year. The reason for this could have something to do with school holidays. It seems as if somehow we unknowingly coordinated our travel calendar perfectly with many school districts spring breaks from mid March to the end of May. It all started in southern England where the schools let out in extra early spring and as we drove north hoping to outrun the junior invasion we just kept pace with the more northern districts later dismissal bells. We mistakenly thought that we could escape all this by returning to Europe but instead we ran into a similar situation as we drove southward. It seems that many districts in Europe stagger their semester school terms and therefore we were extremely surprised to discover so many enthusiastic camping families on the road. In addition to the school spring holidays some areas of Europe seem to enjoy a large number of holiday weekends as well and therefore we found ourselves in retirement travel stress mode at times. It’s interesting that we didn’t run into this phenomena in 2014, I guess location and timing is everything. Despite these somewhat busy conditions we continued to enjoy our motorhoming lifestyle and really had very few negative issues of any kind.
Driving north through the Italian Alps we were surprised at how much the area resembled Bavaria in looks, atmosphere and the personality of the local people. There truly is a striking difference between northern and southern Italy even though the distance separating them is not that great. The Black Forest in Germany is one of our favourite places and driving through this majestic region is like stepping into the pages of a fairy tale book. I’ve decided that my “bucket list” now includes a motorcycle ride through the Black Forest. We continued our drive north along the “Romantic Road” which passes through some amazingly beautiful German towns like Nordlingen, Dinkelsbuhl and Rothenburg (our favourite). We had a nice stop in Heidelberg before striking out along the mighty Rhine river passed all those castles and vineyards on our way to another favourite camping spot just outside of Cologne. In 2014 we regrettably missed seeing Gent in Belgium and so this time around we made sure to save time for a good visit to this often overlooked little gem of a city. As expected it did not disappoint us with its historic and bustling old town centre. Gent’s nice mixture of canals, castles and cathedrals made for a very interesting strolling experience but with the addition of a few open markets and well-appointed chocolate shops, we had a really good day.
Back in Holland we were once again treated like royalty by our new Dutch relatives. Thank you to Anneke, Els, Aad, Hedy, Kees, Jen and Nynke for such a wonderful time and visit. We’re already looking forward to the day that we can reciprocate your kindness in Canada.
As we pack our bags and ready ourselves for our flight home we can hardly believe that four months has passed by since we started this eleven thousand kilometre trek across Britain and Europe. We have had a fantastic time exploring many new lands in our comfortable little motorhome, we’ve seen countless amazing sights and met numerous wonderful people. But I must say that we’re now really looking forward to returning home and spending some quality time with our two magnificent new grandsons, Everett and Benson.