Realising the Dream
Travelog of RVW members Maggie Birchmore and Di Chawner
e-mail: di.mags@virgin.net

Hello from Europe - continued Having spent a few days in Toulouse, France visiting family we carried on south to the old town of Carcassonne. For anyone who has not heard of this place it is a beautiful walled Medieval town which is in near perfect condition and so very impressive. We were very lucky to get a campground which was walking distance from the town. This meant that we were able to see it in its beauty in both daylight and dusk. A grand sight. Our next destination was the world’s highest suspension bridge at Millau. Its roadway is 270 meters (886 ft) above the River Tarn and nearly 2 ½ Km (1 ½ miles) long. It was really spectacular and I hope you will agree seeing this picture. To our credit the architect was British! From one of the world’s newest bridges to one of the world’s oldest, Pont du Gard. This is a viaduct comprising 3 levels, the top one of which is a water channel. It was built by the Romans and no mortar was used in its construction. Technology of nearly 2000 years ago is really impressive. We made a brief visit to St Tropez were we had to buy 2 new tires for our bikes then it was onto Cannes and then Nice. Nice is very nice! The Mediterranean sea was a turquoise blue and looked so inviting but although June it is still cold. (Too cold for us delicate mortals!!) The coastline here is very rugged meaning of course that the road following the coastline has spectacular and hair raising bends and drop offs. Nice itself is in a bay with long sandy beaches and plenty of seafront hotels. The coast road continues and soon we find ourselves crossing the border into Italy. The only thing is, there is no border crossing no immigration or customs, just a sign and of course now everything written in Italian. So out came our Italian phrase book and bonjour became bonjourno. In Italy we made our way to Pisa and there, still leaning, is its tower. From Pisa to Florence, another lovely Italian city and then on to Venice. Here we found a campground next to the sea and only a short ferry ride from St Marks square. What a lovely city this is. It’s not dirty or smelly as a lot of people think. Instead it is full of character and a uniqueness which makes it rate as one of the best cities in Europe. We walked through the narrow traffic free streets, gazed along the many canals and finally took a boat/bus along the Grand Canal. So easy to see and get around. It could do with a few more supermarkets as we walked for miles to find one and then when we did carrying our half a dozen plastic carrier bags we got lost and ended up in St Marks Square. We did get some funny looks as we stood there with our weeks shop, amongst tourist from all around the world who were there admiring the architecture! It was soon time to move on again and this time we were heading up into the Dolomite Mountains and to Austria. Our reasons to move were two fold, heat 30+ degrees C and mosquitoes at our campground, who had decided that we tasted nice and kept coming back for more!! The mountains gave us a well received rest from the heat. Cool, refreshing and reminding us so much of the Rockies. We found it really amazing how many road tunnels are dug through the mountains especially in Italy. Our longest tunnel to date was 8 km about 5 ½ miles. Such feats of engineering and so many of them. From lovely picturesque Austria where we wished we could have stayed for longer we continued our journey north through Germany to the Rhine. The Rhine is like an enormous artery of a river wide and fast flowing through Germany allowing barges full of cargo, which would have been on the roads, to travel with ease and speed. The road follows the banks of the Rhine and although we didn’t have time to stop there we passed plenty of campgrounds right next to the water. The Castles that overlook the river add to the interest that this area has and also brings in the visitors. Every town has a ferry which allows you a good view upand down the river. We stopped at Koblenz at a campground on the banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Mosel River. Both these rivers have so much traffic that you can easily spend hours just watching the comings and goings of all the boats, barges and birds! We left Koblenz and the last part of our trip, a drive through Belgium to France and finally the ferry back to Dover. We have driven some 3000 miles and although in the USA or Canada that sort of mileage is not a great deal it certainly is on the smaller winding roads of Europe. It has been a great experience, different from the US with us having to manage French, German and Italian languages of which we speak very little. But I would say to anyone, don’t let languages put you off, it’s a challenge and a wonderful feeling of success when you can communicate with very few words. On that note we sign off at the end of a long and enjoyable trip. Di & Maggie

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Last modified: Feb. 2, 2008