Its been a while... and we couldn't bring ourselves to post this final entry - an admission that the trip was actually over! But we begin a new adventure soon :), so here is that much delayed final leg of the journey...
DAY 188
DAY 188
And so from Dresden, we set off for Berlin. Our journey took us through countryside and then into more and more urban areas...
We found the campsite (well, carpark) in Berlin we'd discovered online. It looked pretty busy but we were in luck and
grabbed one of the final two available spaces!
Van sorted we decided against the underground and walked into the city centre past a variety of street art and graffiti.
It was a bit further than anticipated, especially as we ended up walking all the way across from our car park spot near Wedding metro stration to Oranienburger Strasse. However, Oranienburger was a really cool area and we stopped in one of its many bars for a (much needed) thirst quencher.
After our beer we went in search of food and walked across to a recommended pizza place by the river.
When we arrived we just managed to squeeze in - it was absolutely packed and for good reason - the food was reasonably priced and very very tasty!
We strolled along the river passing crowds sitting down on the bridges sharing conversation and drinks.
After another drink ourselves in a harbour place by the river we headed back and this time we did take advantage of the underground!
DAY 189
Today was a day to see the sights we were up early and on the underground over to the Reichstach.
Followed shortly by the Gyspy memorial and the Brandenburg Gate.
Fighting our way away from the crowds we strolled through XX Park - past a composers' monument - and on to the Bauhaus museum to get Bex her Bauhaus fix!
Fully Bauhaused-out, we walked on towards the Holocaust memorial, on the way passing an interesting looking building. We couldn't help but pop in to see what was inside and it turned out to be the Ottobock science museum.
Over three floors the museum takes you through the science of prosthetics - with a range of really interesting exhibits and interactive games.
We reached the Holocaust memorial and spent an hour or so wandering thoughfully with a few other tourists through the endless columns of stone.
We both found the memorial really affecting. We slowly wound our way away from it in search of a bite to eat - caught up in all the sights it had reached late afternoon and we were starving! After a box of noodles at an Underground station we headed over to Auguststrasse, a street filled with art galleries. After a quick beer on the way we headed to the galleries but they were all beginning to shut for the day.
We decided to save them for another time and made our way across to Neue Heimat, an area a bit like Camden with a range of bars set alongside an old disused railway track. We sat outside in a big courtyard belonging to an art centre/ bar/ club/ martial arts/ workshop space! There was plenty going on with an art fair inside and a live DJ and live graffiti artists in the courtyard itself.
We stayed in the courtyard for quite a while, savouring a few drinks and watching and chatting with the graffiti artists. Then we moved on through Neue Heimet... to another ruin space – a jazz club up the road housed in a huge graffitied building with only half a roof!
After a while in there we realised the time and headed for home, but not before a food stop on route!
DAY 190
A late night made for a slightly late rise this morning, and we headed over to the East Side Gallery - that mile or so of Berlin wall, feauring murals from over 100 artists.
Despite the additional graffiti, or maybe because of it, the East Side is a pretty incredible sight - as testified by the tourists who'd all flocked there like us to see it! It feels like a real paean to freedom - freedom from tyranny and freedom of speech.
From the wall we walked up to the communist style boulevard of Karl Marx Allee and to the Computerspiel museum which is based there - a museum tracing the history and social impact of computer games!
We followed that with a trip to another weird and wonderful gallery "Me Gallery" which had a special exhibition of cabinets of curiosity…
We popped in for a quick beer at a place we'd found yesterday but after last night's very late one we were both feeling our age and headed back for a reasonably early night.
DAY 191
Today was a bit of a disaster day – not much went right! It started well enough browsing Berlin's early morning flea
markets.
Then we headed on for a series of disappointments: the science museum (shut down), a really interesting gallery of "stuff on the edge of reality" (exhibition closed) and the Bebelplatz memorial to the Nazi book burning which took place in the square - the famous empty underground library (which because of the weather and the dirt on top, it was almost impossible to see)!!
We did (eventually) make it to one gallery that was open, featuring a range of art, some cool... some not, but with a really great video art installation – a day in the life of Berlin with poetic narration "the morning traces of the night leaking out from the early morning windows..." Encouraged we tried to get to another gallery "Open Gallery" but in keeping with the theme of the day... it had shut.
Deciding to give up on more galleries we headed for a few drinks – beginning with an excellent glass of wine in a bar on the corner by a building with a great triangular mural, then on to to a punk bar which featured skulls, an interesting sign about camping and a bloke who was asleep at his table for the entire time we spent there!
We continued on around the corner to a final place where we chatted to the barmaid and a local skater who drank there.
Then we headed on for a series of disappointments: the science museum (shut down), a really interesting gallery of "stuff on the edge of reality" (exhibition closed) and the Bebelplatz memorial to the Nazi book burning which took place in the square - the famous empty underground library (which because of the weather and the dirt on top, it was almost impossible to see)!!
We did (eventually) make it to one gallery that was open, featuring a range of art, some cool... some not, but with a really great video art installation – a day in the life of Berlin with poetic narration "the morning traces of the night leaking out from the early morning windows..." Encouraged we tried to get to another gallery "Open Gallery" but in keeping with the theme of the day... it had shut.
We continued on around the corner to a final place where we chatted to the barmaid and a local skater who drank there.
Our night had got much better, but it ended as it had begun when we turned up at the underground, only to find we'd misjudged the time and it had closed for the night. Stranded on the wrong side of town we ended up spending too much on a taxi to get us back to the van!
DAY 192
Last night's late finish made for a late morning, and we got a variety of transport out past the Wedding underground "ringroad" to go in search of Spree Park - an abandoned funfair. We were scuppered in our hopes of getting too close by the patrolling security guards but managed to get a few photos from the perimeter fence.
It took a while to get to Spree and back, so we arrived back in town just in time for a burger dinner and headed back to plan tomorrow!
It took a while to get to Spree and back, so we arrived back in town just in time for a burger dinner and headed back to plan tomorrow!
DAY 193
With plans to head across Germany in the next two days to
meet friends in France we set off the next morning away from Berlin to pay a visit to Leipzig for lunch only to be foiled by a traffic jam! The first of our trip!!
After an hour or so delay, we decided to cut our losses. Leipzig would have to wait for another day! Turning around we drove West across Germany.
Continuing West we drove on… and on, eventually reaching the Dutch border...
It was getting late and after trying a campsite which tured out to be closed we stopped at a really lovely site in Holland by an area of natural beauty. The campsite pool wasn’t bad either!!
After an hour or so delay, we decided to cut our losses. Leipzig would have to wait for another day! Turning around we drove West across Germany.
Continuing West we drove on… and on, eventually reaching the Dutch border...
It was getting late and after trying a campsite which tured out to be closed we stopped at a really lovely site in Holland by an area of natural beauty. The campsite pool wasn’t bad either!!
DAY 194
After a swim this morning we headed across Holland, Belgium (country no. 20!)
and into France to meet our friends Kidson and Fi.
We met them at a beach car park on the North French coast and headed down to the beach to watch the kite surfers and catch up,
When it started to cool we moved on to a site in Ambleteuse for more catching up and a few beers and food which we helped with as the cooker in Porkchop, Kidson & Fi's new camper had broken en route!
The next morning Kidson and I had a drive in Porkchop to go in search of a few supplies (and a new cooker) aided by my sketchy French! We managed to find a cooker, and provisions after a while and returned back to meet Bex and Fi. Moving on, we headed on to a site near Wimereux and spent the afternoon on the LONG LONG beach!
Returning to the site we saw a strange sight, the sun had turned red just before it was about to set, and hung quietly in the grey sky.
We met them at a beach car park on the North French coast and headed down to the beach to watch the kite surfers and catch up,
When it started to cool we moved on to a site in Ambleteuse for more catching up and a few beers and food which we helped with as the cooker in Porkchop, Kidson & Fi's new camper had broken en route!
DAY 195
The next morning Kidson and I had a drive in Porkchop to go in search of a few supplies (and a new cooker) aided by my sketchy French! We managed to find a cooker, and provisions after a while and returned back to meet Bex and Fi. Moving on, we headed on to a site near Wimereux and spent the afternoon on the LONG LONG beach!
Returning to the site we saw a strange sight, the sun had turned red just before it was about to set, and hung quietly in the grey sky.
DAY 196-201
We spent the following morning around the site before Kidson and Fi had to head for home. We just beat the closing times of reception, collecting our passports and checking out just in time - unlike the carload following us who were stranded passport-less until late afternoon when the reception reopened!
Perhaps as an act of rebellion from the trip ending instead of joining Kidson and Fi in heading back North towards Calais we headed South again to a site in a forest near Berck - L'Oree du Bois.
We spent a lovely week there, swimming a couple of times a day, eating good food and catching up a bit with the blog. Oh, and having a very exclusive party one night!
We also used our bikes to get about on the big forest campsite, and took a day trip on them to the seafront in Berck, where we sampled the French version of Churros. Not as nice as they look!
On our final night, we went into Licques for a final drink in the tiny bar in town and up by the abbey found that a Carnival was in town!
Over a few beers, and a few games of chess we watched the locals party at the Carnival over the road
We checked on to the ferry without seeing much of the illegal immigrants we'd been warned were trying to hang on to the underside of vehicles to get across the channel!
Once on board we both raced up to top deck to wave goodbye to Calais and the continent. It was a beautiful day - warm enough to stay up on deck for quite a while during the crossing.
Compared with our mammoth 26 hour crossing to Santander in February, the 45 minute journey back was a doddle and before long those white cliffs of Dover were visible from deck.
Our journey was at an end - you can see how happy we were!
Back on British shores, the road signs and left hand driving seemed very strange - more odd than the opposite when we'd arrived in Spain 7 months before. Perhaps it was the fact that we were expecting it to be odd when we arrived!
So, like littlest hobos we carried on down the road. 20 countries, 12,000 miles, one patched up exhaust, a fixed battery and 7 months of adventure! Who knows where our next one will take us...
Perhaps as an act of rebellion from the trip ending instead of joining Kidson and Fi in heading back North towards Calais we headed South again to a site in a forest near Berck - L'Oree du Bois.
We spent a lovely week there, swimming a couple of times a day, eating good food and catching up a bit with the blog. Oh, and having a very exclusive party one night!
We also used our bikes to get about on the big forest campsite, and took a day trip on them to the seafront in Berck, where we sampled the French version of Churros. Not as nice as they look!
Riding our bikes a bit further down the front we joined a crowd of people watching as a herd of seals came into the shallow waters, sunbathing on a spit of land just off the coast. Oh, and one fellow cyclist had a pretty unusual travelling companion!
DAY 202-206
Eventually giving in to the fact we were nearing the end of our trip, we drove North from Berck towards Calais and a tiny town called Licques.
We stayed there for almost a week again, with occasional swims and bike rides through the beautful French farmland, dotted with red poppies.
We stayed there for almost a week again, with occasional swims and bike rides through the beautful French farmland, dotted with red poppies.
On our final night, we went into Licques for a final drink in the tiny bar in town and up by the abbey found that a Carnival was in town!
Over a few beers, and a few games of chess we watched the locals party at the Carnival over the road
DAY 207
Today was the final day of our adventure and we set off for Calais for the ferry back to UK shores! Stopping off on the way at a big Carrefour of course!
We checked on to the ferry without seeing much of the illegal immigrants we'd been warned were trying to hang on to the underside of vehicles to get across the channel!
Once on board we both raced up to top deck to wave goodbye to Calais and the continent. It was a beautiful day - warm enough to stay up on deck for quite a while during the crossing.
Compared with our mammoth 26 hour crossing to Santander in February, the 45 minute journey back was a doddle and before long those white cliffs of Dover were visible from deck.
Our journey was at an end - you can see how happy we were!
Back on British shores, the road signs and left hand driving seemed very strange - more odd than the opposite when we'd arrived in Spain 7 months before. Perhaps it was the fact that we were expecting it to be odd when we arrived!
So, like littlest hobos we carried on down the road. 20 countries, 12,000 miles, one patched up exhaust, a fixed battery and 7 months of adventure! Who knows where our next one will take us...
