POCOCKS
TRAVELS from TURKEY to IRELAND
Audrey and Graham Pocock July
2012
Continued from: Pococks
Travels in Turkey Part One and Pococks Travels in Turkey Part Two
We met Audrey and Graham in January 2012 at Camping Finikes
near Finikounda in the Greek Peloponnese. A retired Australian couple,
touring Europe and Turkey in their motorhome (Bruce) bought in the UK, they
left Finikes at the beginning of February. Audrey sent us two accounts of
their travels in Turkey and
now continues the story with an account of their return to the UK and on to
the Republic of Ireland.
Greece
We left Turkey and drove back to Greece for
some provisions in Alexandroupolis, namely pork, bacon and salami, which we
were looking forward to after 2 months' deprivation.
Bulgaria
A quick shop and off
to Bulgaria to the Sakar Hills campsite of Shirley
and Martin, run by their son Matt, whom we didn't get to see. We spent a lovely
couple of days there being hosted around by S and M and meeting their
exuberant friend from the local constabulary. Also did some 4 wheel driving,
something we had not expected to do in Bulgaria - at least we hadn't been told
the roads were THAT bad! Just joking! We actually went to some historical site
near to them, which definitely necessitated a 4 x 4. We were also introduced
to some lovely Bulgarian Merlot, which we hadn't expected to be as good as it
was. Martin and Shirley proved to be wonderful company and
we hope to meet up with them somewhere again, maybe
Australia!
From there we left on the
wobbly roads to the Black Sea coast, staying at Sozopol and Old Nesebar, both
of which were lovely with plenty of character, if a tad touristy.
We were there on the first day that 2 skeletons were unearthed in a dig
in Sozopol. That was a little bit different.
Then it was up the coast to Varna where we turned
inland for Veliko Tarnovo, the former capital of Bulgaria. There we stayed at
Camping
Veliko Tarnovo run by a couple of English people, Nick and Nicky, for a
couple of days. Beautiful though the town of VT is, what took our fancy the
most was a church in the neighbouring town of Arbanassi. It was Orthodox with
paintings everywhere on the walls and ceilings. We gasped at its beauty. To
maintain it they have had to support its infrastructure on the outside,
otherwise the paintings would have become damaged. One of the most elaborately
decorated churches I've ever seen in my life.
Romania
And then it was
goodbye to Bulgaria and on into Romania. We had been told about the roads in
both countries and we had to laugh driving round the ring road of Bucuresti
(the capital, Bucharest). It was completely warped and had taken on the shape
of the trucks being driven on it. Quite strange. Actually the rest of the
roads we drove on were surprisingly good and I guess with time this is what
is happening with Eastern Europe having come out of its Communist
sleep.
Most of our time was spent in Transylvania, which I
loved. The towns are splendid, built of wood with white/beige being predominant
in the architecture of most of the beautiful old turreted buildings, reminding
me a bit of the wooden bridge in Luzerne and places in Bavaria too. The rest
of the buildings in pastel colours. Towns like Brasov, Sinaia, Sighisoara,
Sibiu.
Everything seems to have a clean coat of
paint on it and is trying hard to catch the tourist dollar (good for them). We
stayed in a beautiful campsite called
Oude Wilg
(= Old Willow) in Carta near the Carpathian Mountains. This
campsite was to die for. We parked at the top of it with views
over the mountains, beside a river complete with bridge and railway, next door
to gypsies (is that the correct political terms nowadays)? with horses – it was
almost like a film setting, so beautiful it was! I thought I was in Paradise.
The Dutch seem to have embraced Romania, as we went to
another campsite in Blajel run by another Hollander and he even invited us
for a drink as soon as we drove in. Danke
Weil!
We were very impressed by
Romania, a big change from the first time over 30 years ago, when we drove in
and were confronted with queues at 5 in the morning for bread and about 4 items
along the shelves to pick from. I remember running out of
the shop and back to the car crying and feeling so sad about the people who
had to put up with this on a day to day basis.
Hungary
From Romania we drove into Hungary and on
into Budapest, stopping for a few days there in a most beautiful city. We had
been before from Vienna in Communist times and it was lovely even then, I have
to say. This time it was much busier. It was hot by now, really hot and hard to
sightsee, seeking the sanctuary of churches for the coolness they
brought.
Austria
We crossed into
Austria and only 20 kilometres off the motorway we decided to visit Burgenland
again. We had so many memories of it. We used to drive there from our days in
Vienna and stay the weekend, to visit one of the Pusztas in Illmitz with a
thatched barn and drink the local wine. However the little Aire that we
stayed in was owned by an ever watchful Burgenlander and as soon as he spied
us, he ushered us in to do a spot of wine tasting, after showing off the
nesting stork on his roof – he had a miniature camera mounted next to the
nest. This in the middle of the afternoon! We managed to escape after a few
glasses tasted in his cavernous cellar, thank goodness, buying some of his
wine of course.
Illmitz is one of the towns famous for the nesting
of storks and the locals usually put up a few cart wheels to help them build
their nests. I managed to find a few of them nesting with
their young. They also have a Wildlife Centre but of course in the usual
Austrian (we are the centre of the Universe) fashion, with not one word in
English. Some things never change!
Germany
From there we drove
on through Austria and into Germany, where we had been invited to spend a few
days with some lovely people we had met in the campsite through the Winter in
Greece (Camping Finikes), namely
Erica and Hans, a truly lovely couple. They live in Landsberg, a part of the
Romantische Rheinstrasse. We had visited this area
before, at the more famous Rothenburg. The town of Landsberg is quite
beautiful I must say and our friends went to great trouble to show us round
about the area as well as the town.
They drove us into the
mountains to a lovely little village, Kochel am See, which housed a famous art
gallery called Franz Marc. They had a few German Impressionists in the
collection, Marc being the most famous. Erica and Hans have a lovely house with
their daughter and partner living next door. We stayed in our camper but used
all their facilities. Erica cooked lovely food for us, it was really enjoyable
to be there. They always spend 7 months of the year in the campsite in Greece,
enjoying the warmer weather through winter and the other 5 months back at their
home in Bavaria.
Luxembourg - France
When we had said our
goodbyes, we drove madly through Germany stopping at Luxembourg and into France
to arrive at Dunkirk docks, where we slept through the night until we crossed
early in the morning to Dover. It's wonderful to be able to sleep at the docks
when waiting to cross, something Dover has still to dream up. The difference
when you arrive in England to see these poor trucks squashed into laybys to
sleep for the night, compared with anywhere in Europe - be it in Turkey or
Hungary. Well, what can I say!
England (for a flight to
Lithuania)
Having one day
before I left for Eastern Europe, we drove more or less straight up to Stansted
where I left Graham while I flew to visit Vilnius, Warsaw and Krakow for 10
days. Graham in the meantime MOT'd the motorhome (passed, phew!) and spent some
valuable time with his now widowed mother and his sister, which was great for
all of them.
Lithuania
I flew to Vilnius and spent a couple of days
there in a small hotel in the old town. I had missed it last year, when we had
to drive back quickly to London to fly to Australia to be with our son. I had a
couple of days sightseeing this lovely town before catching the bus to Warsaw.
The bus fare cost 3 Euros! I thought they had made a mistake but apparently it
was the first 500 tickets that were going cheap, as it was a new
company. How good was that?
Poland
We drove to Warsaw
and I was met at the station by a still handsome man that I remembered from
living in Vienna all those years ago. This had been orchestrated by another
handsome man in England, who had emailed the said man in Warsaw to “Take care
of Audrey”. Off I was whisked in some beautiful car to the suburbs, where I
was wined and dined by his wife and himself, then driven the next day into
Warsaw, where I enjoyed the sights of the old town. I enjoyed tasting some
beef steak tartar again, which I haven't tasted for years.
Next day back into Warsaw
and to the wonderful Museum of the Warsaw Uprising. This is a thoroughly modern
museum and is absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend
enough time there and would like to revisit it sometime. It is a highlight of
Warsaw and one needs a few hours to get round it properly. Incidentally,
Warsaw has a good Aire, which we had stopped at with the motorhome
while driving through on our way to London last year. A very friendly one, I
seem to remember.
After saying my goodbyes, it was off to Krakow (this
just before the European Cup, being held in Poland and Ukraine). I stayed in
the old town and did the usual sights. However, I could not bring myself to go
to Auschwitz and opted for a Salt Mine instead, which was really interesting.
Krakow is a lovely town, with the Market Square one of the most seductive in
Europe.
England
Next day I flew back
to UK and met Graham. We travelled up to see friends of ours in Norwich for a
few days over the Queen's Jubilee Weekend. The host and hostess were having
afternoon tea for all their neighbours and the hostess had done a wonderful
spread with lots of cakes, cream and, to top it all off, a beautiful Union Jack
Cake. I think everyone enjoyed it very much.
While in Norwich, we were
taken up to the bracing north Norfolk coast where we had British Fish and Chips
and went on a Seal Sightseeing trip. On another day I, having never ever seen
a 'Broad' before, was shown four beautiful ones. To finish our few days we
had a wonderful guide to take us through Norwich, which I have to say is a
very lovely city and certainly has lots going for it.
After that it was round the coast to visit friends
in Essex, Hampshire and Southampton, where friends of ours are preparing to
sail back to Australia on a 57 footer. Good luck guys! Then on into Somerset,
to the final lot of friends there. It was lovely seeing everybody after being
by ourselves for so long, but then it was time to head off to Devon and
Cornwall trying out our new Brit Stops book.
This is the second year of
Brit Stops and it has proved to be a valuable friend. We have used it on
countless occasions now. The book features Pub stops, Farm stops, Wine and Beer
Breweries, Cheese making etc, etc. The idea is a bit like the French Passion
book, in that you stay at one of these stops overnight and visit their shop,
pub etc. Graham, being a real ale aficionado, was more than happy to try out
each local beer and I was more than happy shopping in the farm store or buying
some cheese. This is a great way to motorhome and see Britain and we hope it
continues to gain popularity. The web site is: www.britstops.com. (see also Margaret's article on this
website).
This was the first time I
had ever visited Devon and Cornwall and I did enjoy it between showers – rain
showers naturally! Anybody having been in the UK in the month of June this year
(2012) will know what I'm talking about. However, we did get some nice days in
between, where we managed to see some lovely little Cornish villages and
splendid Devon countryside.
Some of the roads were hairy to say the least, with a
few where both wing mirrors of the motorhome were touching
the sides - quite scary and I don't know how other vehicles wider than ours
would fare. I imagine they just don't travel on them.
Wales
From the south-west of England we drove to
the south-east of Wales and along the south coast, via the Gower Peninsula and
St David's and up to Snowdonia (that we missed as it was completely hidden by
mist, so we will just have to see it another time). We drove up to the north
coast and along it, visiting Llandudno, a very well preserved Victorian seaside
resort complete with pier. I got the feeling this town was
for older people who didn't like travelling overseas.
England again
From Wales we drove
back into England and down to London, to stay with more friends for a few days
of relaxation before depositing the motorhome in Barnet and taking London
Transport to Wimbledon. We had bought a little tent in Athens to stay overnight
in but sadly it had perished, being in the shop too long probably, and so in
the middle of a wet night we had to pack up and retire to the ladies' toilet
demountable to dry out and wait until morning.
BUT… we managed to get
tickets for the quarter finals on No 1 Court and saw Djokovic and Tsonga
playing with their various opponents – YES! This was a dream come true for me.
We had the best seats, right behind the service line in the second front seat.
Wow!
After a long, tiring but fabulous day we had to
travel back to North London exhausted. Trouble is, I would like to do it again.
Spoiled now!
Scotland
From London it was back on the road again and
up north to Scotland and Stranraer, to cross over to Larne in Northern
Ireland.
Northern
Ireland
Crossing over at 4 in the morning meant that
we were absolutely shattered and decided to spend 2 days outside of Larne in a
place called Carrickfergus, where we slept and watched the Ladies' and Men's
Finals at Wimbledon on the TV at the local pub. This Aire in
Carrickfergus is a real Aire just like in France, down on the harbour
with shops nearby, in fact everything. Very handy.
After that we
were ready to continue with our tour. We drove back through Larne and along the
beautiful coast of Antrim, stopping overnight in a forest where the gatekeeper
locked us up for the night and where we saw 2 beautiful red squirrels. We had
the park all to ourselves and left the next morning, once the gate had been
opened, to continue up along the coast of Antrim, stopping at all the lovely
little villages. Graham visited the Bushmills Brewery for the medicinal purpose
of comparing the benefits of Scottish whisky and Irish whiskey! He would
definitely like to continue this research and indeed a trip to Islay in
Scotland is probably in the pipeline.
Next day we
went to the Unesco World Heritage Giant's Causeway. This is amazing and a
must-see in Northern Ireland. There is a fantastic new Visitor's Centre with
the coastline etched out to view. You are given audio equipment to take with
you while you walk down to the Causeway, explaining everything as you go. Very
well done and certainly worth the money (only £7 for oldies like us if you
take the park and ride bus, leaving your vehicle in the car park in
Bushmills).
Next day we drove on through Londonderry, finding
ourselves in the Bogside quite by accident. Whoops! We never did find the
centre of town.
Eire (Republic of Ireland)
From there it was on into Eire. The trouble
with Eire is that nobody knows where you are talking about. 'Eire' I said to
the hairdresser doing my hair in Bushmills. 'Oh you mean down south?' she
said. (Is Donegal down south? Looks like due west to me!) So it appears that
one says down south, or south of the Border, or The Free State or the
Republic - but not Eire. Weird!
Donegal was spectacular.
The Ros Guill Peninsula, which is the 14 kilometre drive called the Atlantic
Road, is amazing. We got to stay on the Peninsula and watch the lovely sunset
with all the locals out with their cameras. The roads there were once again
like being back in Cornwall and we could not believe our eyes when in front of
us we saw a truck complete with HOUSE on top coming along toward us! YOU HAVE
GOT TO BE JOKING! With a car behind us and the truck driver intent on getting
past us, it was touch and go. We were pressed up against the fence, as was the
truck, and the only thing that got him through was the fact that the house was
of a height that cleared the fence on his side. Shock, horror and then relief.
Would not like to go through THAT again!
So here we are in beautiful
Donegal, although I have to say the weather has not been beautiful. In fact the
worst since we started our trip, excluding January in
Greece. Continued
at: Pococks
Travels in Ireland and Scotland
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