Trains at Treignes

Trains at Treignes

It was a lovely sunny day as we left Strepy Thieu with a clear blue sky. Today we are mainly on minor roads through small towns and villages as we drive less than 60 miles south east to the Ardennes where we plan to spend several days exploring as we make our way east toward Luxembourg. Our destination today is the railway museum at Treignes (perfect location for a train museum!) which combines a free aire (official motorhome parking place)

One night in France

One night in France

There is a narrow finger of France that protrudes north in Belgium along the valley of the River Meuse. At Treignes we were only a few miles from the French border and that is the direction we went. We wanted to join the River Meuse and follow it a few miles south to the town of Revin where we had located a nice Aire right beside the river. We would then cross this little spit of France and cross back

Brugges and a big lift!

Brugges and a big lift!

It was really scary driving Bertie off the ferry and on to the Belgian roads. I had not driven abroad for ages (2008 I think) and never driven left hand drive Bertie on his “proper” side of the road before. The driving felt fine but trying to work out what other drivers were up to and were expecting me to do was slightly more challenging. However we had set our sights very low today and all we were doing is

Cragside and last UK stopover

Cragside and last UK stopover

After our monster breakfast at the cafe we were under way before 11am. The highlight of today is a visit to Cragside a huge National Trust property near Rothbury in the Northumbria. This was the home of William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, founder of the Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm and was built by in several stages starting in 1869 and incorporates all the technical advances of the day. It was the first house in the world to be lit by hydro-electric power. We

Snow in the Cheviots

Snow in the Cheviots

We left Prestonpans at 10:15 under a glowering sky with a strong wind buffetted Bertie. The plan to day is to visit various border castles with a stopover at a cafe near Lindisfarne in Northumbria. First stop was at Hailes Castle beside the River Tyne (not The Tyne as in Newcastle but another, Scottish River Tyne!). We had seen the sign for this castle several times as we drove along the A1 over the years. This time we wanted to

Heading South on a Big Adventure

Heading South on a Big Adventure

When we bought Bertie in September 2015 we had wanted to use him for long overseas trips. I had been reading the blogs of adventurous souls who had spent months travelling abroad in their motorhomes. We chose a left-hand drive van for this reason but circumstances had conspired to keep use in the UK. We have moved from Suffolk to NE Scotland in that period, we have gained one grandchild and another one will be along this summer. We closed