LOOKING OUT 2016!

Occasional Comments on the Passing Scene in 2016

Barry and Margaret Williamson

See also: Looking Out 2018,  Looking Out 2017,  Looking Out 2013, 
                    Looking Out 2012,  Looking Out 2011

December 2016 (England, France)

Bulgarian Village. Thank you for the invitation to Jerusalimovo, the village we remember for its wooden cross by the road.

Freedom of Movement. As Europeans, we remain very sad and very angry at the horribly-named proposed 'Brexit' and hope that whole nonsense soon collapses under the weight of its own contradictions. The free movement of people is one of Europe's greatest achievements in its long and tortured history and not something to be thrown away on nationalistic and deluded patriotic whims. Let the 'Leavers' tour the battlefields and cemeteries of the First World War, all along the now non-existent border between France and Belgium!

Gourmet Defined. Many thanks for your Magnum Solstice Opus straight from the keyboard of a Gourmet, a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment, especially good food and drink (1820, from French gourmet, from Middle French gourmet, from Old French groumet (“wine broker, valet in charge of wines, servant”) from Old French grommes (“manservant”), of Germanic origin, akin to Middle English grom, grome (“boy, valet, servant”), of unknown origin, perhaps from Old English grōma (“male child, boy, youth”) from Old English grōwan (“to grow”).
 
The Lolly for Real Men. Your final crowning with the title of Gourmet comes with your discovery of an Irn Bru Ice Lolly. This is the ultimate touch that leans towards culinary genius - and all this on a remote Sicilian Beach, far from the madding crowd.
 
Not Yet Gourmets. We have not yet gained that accolade, although we do have in the cheese larder the following: creamy Lancashire, extra mature Cheddar, Emmental, Bleu d'Auvergne and Vache Qui Rit Cheese Triangles. Today, we have added two Lidl Chocolate Father Christmases to add that little touch of Je Ne Sais Quoi. Cheese and Chocolate – now there are two words each beginning with Ch. They should go well together.
 
Inland from Biarritz. The weather here is amazingly good – calm, dry with temperatures in the mid-teens. This area, not too far inland from Biarritz, has what they call a 'micro climate' which goes well with the height of the average Basque (not including the beret). The local crop is red chilli peppers and we are camped next to a large field of them.

Film Choices. This month we have also enjoyed 'Escape Plan', 'Bernie', 'Leon the Professional', 'Rush', 'The Best Offer', 'Her'. Currently we are watching series 7, 8 and 9 of Foyles Law as a Christmas Treat. Which is more than can be said of French TV, although we did try Johnny Hallyday for a very short time.

Crossing the Pyrenees. As for us, we are now on the southern edge of the French Pyrenees poised to cross into northern Spain. From there we aim to head southwest into central Portugal. After that, the crystal ball and the Delphi Oracle fade.

Marking the Solstice. The first of our celebrations will be the Winter Solstice when the sun hesitates for a moment, turns and begins its 6-month-long journey back from its southern to its northern Tropic. Beyond that, Christmas will take a more muted form in this country, much less influenced by the Germanic version of Yuletide, with its overwhelming modern emphasis on the purchase, distribution and consumption of commodities. We send and receive neither cards nor presents, since we have neither letter box nor a postal address, but the miracle of email will provide an essential link to good friends throughout the New Year.

Appreciation of a Fellow Traveller. This is an extremely overdue thank you for the many new posts that you've shared with us on your way across Europe to Greece. We very much appreciate the blend of excellent and informative writing and wonderful photographs on your burgeoning website. Not least, we are impressed with your regular use of the internet and wonder where you find WiFi while on the road. We tend to use the provision on campsites when available.
 
The Mani. Your comparison of the Mani today with that explored by Patrick Leigh Fermour is particularly effective and interesting. We know the peninsula well.
 
Punctuation. Your Irish story reminds us of Margaret's favourite punctuation puzzle:
 
'The panda eats shoots and leaves'
 'The panda eats, shoots and leaves'
 
What a difference one comma makes.

Fouras-les-Bains. Fouras-les-Bains is on a peninsula on France's Atlantic coast and specialises in the catching and sale of oysters and mussels. One of its two indoor markets is just for fish and shell fish; the other for meat and vegetables. Both are open every day. Being on a narrow peninsula, there is a beach on two sides of the town, one dominated by a medieval castle which is now owned by the municipality. Entry is free and there is a museum in the donjon, the central fortified tower.
 
Subjects vs Citizens. How civilised is France, a country functioning for all its citizens. We agree with a recent Guardian article that England is returning to feudal times, with vastly wealthy lords still in their castles, taxing and sweating their zero-hour contracted vassals, peasants, serfs – all now just known as 'subjects'.

Towards the Spanish Border. How the days and the miles roll on. Today we aim to get just beyond Bordeaux, after which another day should bring us within reach of the Spanish border. This feeling of slowly making our way around the slight curvature of the earth never fails to give us a sense of delight and wonder. Already, England with its frets and worries has sunk well below the horizon and our line of sight.
 
Brexit. Reading Ed Milliband's piece in the Guardian this morning, it seems to me that we can achieve all he wants (and we want) by just staying in the EU and influencing change from within that organisation. Change that benefits all 28 members, not just the selfish demands of one. Inter-dependence should be the key word.

On the Road. During 2016 we will have stayed in over 100 different places, from the southeast corner of mainland Greece to the far Arctic north of Sweden and Norway. People and places are at the heart of travel but for us the interest, the attraction, is in what lies in between. The road and, where necessary, the stretches of water that have to be crossed. This places an emphasis on the physical rather than the social world, with people met only briefly along the way. Literally, en passant.
 
The Meaning of 'Pilgrim'. It's also interesting (at least to us), that the word 'pilgrim' derives from the Middle English (early 13th C) 'pilegrim', from the Old French 'pelegrin', from the Latin 'peregrinus' or 'foreigner'. This gives the same root as the word that might describe ourselves: 'peregrinators' or 'ones who travel about'. This word derives from the Latin 'peregrinatus' – 'having travelled abroad'. So perhaps, after all, we and religious pilgrims are different branches from the same tree.
 
Escape to the South. When the cold struck in England, we headed for Portsmouth and the ferry to Ouistreham/Caen in Normandy. Now, two days later, we are happily ensconced in France, far enough south already to begin to feel the warmth of the sun. Yesterday's 176 miles from Caen were accomplished in cruise control at about 90 kph, on splendid and nearly empty dual carriageways. How spacious the Continent is and what a sharp contrast with the jostling crowds of our little British Island. How far away already are the lies and deceit of the Brexiteers and how petty their concerns. If only a majority in England could share this feeling. But they don't and probably never will.
 
When the Road Divides. As to where we are actually going, we'll see how it goes but it will be democratically agreed by a system in which Margaret has two votes to my one. One of us wants Portugal; the other, Greece. At some point, the road will divide and then we will know if the choice is for the road most travelled!

Memories of Skye. Interesting news that you plan to fully experience winter on Skye. How magnificent that will be in the snow. Barry has very happy memories of climbing in the Cuillins on several occasions in his student days, camping on the then-empty beach at the end of Glen Brittle. In those days, the Sligachan was a just a lonely Inn where the road to Dunvegan split off from the road to Portree.
 
Landings in Norway. We have visited the Normandy Landing Sites on previous visits, including one where we left the car in Portsmouth and took the ferry to Cherbourg with our bicycles. Over several days we then cycled along the Normandy Coast to Caen and the ferry back to Portsmouth. This took us past all the landing zones which stretch between those two cities: the Americans on Utah and Omaha beaches, the British and Canadians on Sword, Juno and Gold. Most of the American dead were taken back to the USA but many are buried in Normandy in a single cemetery, whilst the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries are placed where groups of soldiers died.
 
Normandy Remembered. Highlights of visits included the steeple at St Mere Eglise from which an American paratrooper dangled throughout the 'longest day' (and survived), Arromanches where the Mulberry harbour was built, of which remnants remain to this day and, of course, Bayeux where the tapestry reminds us that Norman French once invaded us with effects that last to this day! Just about every town around has a museum dedicated to the landings. Some towns even have a museum to the French Resistance – but we haven't paid to see so few exhibits!
 
November 2016 (England)

Tweets for Twits. Sadly, we don't tweet and certainly not on a weekly basis. Indeed, we had assumed that tweets were for the birds and for twits, as defined below.

In the Club. Back in dear old sad Blighty, and being members of the elite Brownhill's Club, we are enjoying many a free night on their palatial park. With free hot showers, swimming pool, jacuzzi, good WiFi, washing machine, dryer, TV lounge, washing-up kitchen and hook-up, not to mention free machine-dispensed coffee, tea, hot chocolate, soup or orange juice as often as you like. Along with 10% off in the accessory shop and bistro – the latter doing a roast dinner on Sundays. Our bus pass even gets us into the ancient town of Newark-on-the-Trent for free. What's not to like apart from the free newspapers being the Mail, Express and Sun along with Jeremy Kyle on the TV.
 
Joining the Club. Now anyone can enjoy all this – all you have to do is buy a Brownhills motorhome.
 
Knowing Where we Belong. Our 7-metre German-built Ford Transit-based Carado is started to feel a bit inadequate among Browhills sleek Fiat-based British-made models. So we moved for a free stay with a hook up at Dick Lane Motors in Bradford: they focus on just providing excellent service.
 
Aussie Travels. We have been to Australia three times: two of the journeys started from Perth (including cycling from there to Brisbane via Broken Hill), while a third passed through Perth on a 6-month 16,000-mile complete circuit of the continent in a roughly converted Toyota Hi-Ace pop-top camper van, bought and sold in Brisbane. What a great country for the traveller!
 
Offer to Translate. Thanks for your offer to translate the AA Atlas co-ordinates into lat/lon and OS Landranger grids. We know of no-one who has done this considerable task and we would very much welcome your additions. The 'Free Camping in the UK' article is one of the most popular on the website and is clearly finding a great deal of use.
 
Free Camping in the UK. England and Wales are the most restrictive of all the countries we know on all matters to do with spending a night outside a campsite. This negative attitude, enshrined in legislation, is made worse by the majority of legal campsites being in the hands of the two 'clubs', each requiring a hefty annual membership fee. The club is a peculiarly British institution, designed only to control and exclude! And yet motorhomes are sold to a gullible public with the idea that you gain the 'freedom of the open road'.

October 2016 (England, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden)

Growing the Netherlands. About a quarter of the Netherlands is actually below sea level and overall half of it is below one metre above sea level. They are still reclaiming land, particularly where the Zuider Zee used to be. It is now divided into two: the Ijsselmeer with a barrier against the Wadden Sea and the Markermeer with a barrier against the Ijsselmeer. It's in the Markermeer that land is being drained, filled, pumped, etc.

Overland from Sweden. For the first time we have made an overland journey from Sweden into mainland Europe using the Oresund Link to Denmark (the longest road/rail bridge/tunnel in Europe at about 8 km) and the Great Belt Bridge within Denmark (at 14 km). Now we are only about 8 km from the German border.

The Meaning of Travel. People who simply drive a motorhome from here to there in safe countries, stopping now and again to take a photograph of themselves to show off to their friends, are delusional in their concept of 'travel'. All they can do is stare across the abyss between their own pathetic self-serving lives and those of the few who have made the leap into the unknown. And what inept and inadequate language is used to obscure and cloak that failure!

Escape. Perhaps we are doing no more than escaping, albeit into a rich and varied life, but nevertheless escaping. Since we sailed from Harwich 4 months and 4,000 miles ago, we have met native English speakers on only two occasions and not even seen any others. We could lose any idea of where we come from and begin to float in a space of our own, communicating only with people of often very different cultures.
 
Looking Back – and Down. Motorhoming used to be for travellers; now it has been taken over by the Thatcherite generation, full of their own egos and engorged with their material success. If we are not of a different generation with different life experiences, then that is a lot of our years wasted! Years in a Yorkshire Polytechnic and stints in India, Iraq and Malawi open ones eyes a little to the meaningless cavortings of Little Englanders.
 
To a Friend Arrived in Sicily. Congratulations to you on arriving safe and sound in your favourite corner on your favourite coast. We can see you there, now. You know where you belong, and so do we. For us, it's on the road.
 
To a Friend. Here is a warm response from your long-standing (although sometimes reclining) friends, still in chilly Sweden but soon to take intrepid steps above and under the sea into Denmark. Aka the Oresund Link.
 
Comment after the Funeral. We are both relieved and happy that the Birtley ceremony went well for you and the majority of the family. Who knows what is really happening inside the hearts and heads of people who have trapped themselves into a fixed external attitude. What is on the front of the face is often a poor clue to what is happening on the inside – this differentiation is learned in very early childhood. No doubt it had evolutionary advantages (don't show the woolly mammoth that you are afraid), but in contemporary society we need more integration at every level. Differentiation, Integration – sounds vaguely familiar.

Meeting in the Norwegian Graveyard. We are now 4,118 miles since Harwich into our summer Scandinavian journey. In this four months we have met native English Speakers on only two occasions. Andy and Ellen with their adult children, Kerry and Liam, were visiting the grave of Andy's father Wilf Reed who was killed on 2 May 1940 in the failed attempt to stop the Germans occupying Narvik in the far north of Norway. This was the first time they had been to Norway and the first time anyone from the family had visited the cemetery. It was lovely the way they included us in their true pilgrimage. They had with them a wreath of poppies donated by the Royal Welsh Regiment.
 
http://www.magbazpictures.com/the-battle-for-narvik.html
 
Meeting on the Swedish Campsite. James and Julie with their two 9/10 year old children, are running a campsite in mid-Sweden near the small town of Hammerdal. She was a teacher in the UK, he a truck-driver (among much else). Tired of the stress of living and working in England, somewhere in Kent, they sold their house for enough to buy the campsite and move to a country they had never visited before. James has all the skills needed to transform the site and its many cabins and other buildings – and to bring my new but dead blue HP laptop, from Huddersfield PC World, back to life!
 
http://www.magbazpictures.com/hammerdal-camping.html
 
Northern Lights on the Arctic Circle. Having just crossed the open border from Norway into Sweden, we spent the night on the Arctic Circle itself. Although some mean spirits, perhaps more in touch with what they call reality, tried to spoil the occasion by hinting that the earth's wobble has moved the Circle about one kilometre to the north. A very unlikely story. To continue: we spent the night camped on the Arctic Circle (it said so on a large sign), and at midnight the sky filled with wave after wave of green light. The Northern Lights. The Aurora Borealis. Those same mean spirits muttered something about ions from the sun drawn in by the strong polar magnetic fields, interacting with oxygen atoms in the outer atmosphere. They said that it would have been red if Nitrogen atoms has been involved. What's wrong with magic? Why couldn't it have been the god Thor showing his envy for the lives that we motorhomers are living?
 
http://www.magbazpictures.com/on-the-arctic-circle1.html
 
Battles Won. We've just won our case against the solicitors who handled Margaret's purchase of her brother's half of their jointly inherited flat near Blackpool. The Legal Ombudsman got us a substantial cheque from the solicitors and a written apology for their poor (atrocious) service. The LO also agree that we can report the solicitors to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for their unprofessional conduct in handling the complaint (a complaint about a complaint?). This follows our earlier success with the Property Ombudsman against an Estate Agent who was once mishandling the renting of Margaret's flat. We also get a thrill in taking on these pompous self-righteous people – and winning - while living in the back of a Ford Transit van in the corner of a series of remote foreign fields! If only there was a Campsite Ombudsman, we could make a living out of this.
 
Autumn in the Far North. Temperatures here are falling below zero overnight and snow is reported where we have been further north in Sweden. This is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom friend of the maturing sun. We didn't write that (some young man called John Keats did it first); what we can write is that we find Jack Frost lying on the grass and filming the windscreen in the sleepy hours after dawn.
 
Continental Brexit Blues. Already the euro in our pocket is worth about 20% less than it did on the day before the referendum and we can feel the many and varied frontiers of mainland Europe slowly closing against us. If we were on friendly terms with Thor, we know what he would now be doing with his hammer on our behalf.
 
Seeing is Believing. Our Glaswegian friend Dan says: 'If I don't see you through the week, I'll see you through the window' – or, in his case, through the windscreen.

Up and Downs of Cycling. When overtaking cyclists riding the Alpine cols, don't feel sorry for them, just give them space. We have cycled all the Tour de France cols in our time and at our own pace, and there is no greater exhilaration or satisfaction than the lung-bursting climb followed by the thrilling descent. Once, when cycling from Bourg d'Oisons up the hairpins of the Alpe d'Huez, we were overtaken by a walking race! The marshal smilingly handed us bottles of water and chocolate bars as we passed. But we beat them down!
 
Reindeer are Safer than Elk. The elk-hunting season is just under way and we're invited to a moose-roast tomorrow. Thankfully, we haven't witnessed the hunt. Should be interesting – the reindeer we've eaten further north was delicious. They are not hunted, of course, but semi-domesticated and allowed to roam until the annual round-up, like Pennine sheep.
 
Following the Sun. The autumn colours in the never-ending forest are superb but the nights are now long and frosty (minus 8°C recently), so we take a ferry to Denmark on Monday to start migrating south before the snow comes.

Relatively Safe. If only the lunatics hadn't taken over the parliamentary asylum, all would be well in our world. They should have left it in the relatively safe hands of the neurotic and the simply delusional.

Heading South in Sweden. So far we have succeeded in finding a route south between the E45 and the E4 coast road. The route has brought us some 300 miles through Ange, Ljusdal and so to Rattvik. Each of these towns has its own campsite still open at this time of year, although we have continued to enjoy more or less sole occupancy.
 
Sailing to Denmark. We have just booked the Stena ferry from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn on Denmark's north-eastern coast, ready for a continued drive south. The weather has been splendid with clear skies and a consequent touch of frost on the grass in the morning. It would be fascinating for to experience the slow onset of winter as the days shrink, the temperatures fall (and fall) and the first silent overnight snows arrive. What a transformation that would: but we prefer to follow the sun.
 
Learning from Swedish TV. There are 3 or 4 free channels, including one carrying excellent documentaries (travel, history, nature) and another just for children. Sometimes in English with Swedish subtitles, the TV would is a good additional help in learning the language. Not least, it's interesting watching the Swedish language struggling to give a meaning to the many linguistic extravagances of film and TV English/American! Yesterday evening we watched an episode of the BBC police series 'Happy Valley' set in Calderdale around Halifax, with Swedish subtitles to the language of Yorkshire.

September 2016 (Sweden)

Summer in the North. We have thoroughly enjoyed this summer in Sweden and Norway, going as far north as Tromso and finding new places (eg Senja Island in Norway) and meeting new people, like the super English family who took over Hammerdal Camping, our present site, last spring.
 
Sweden's Wilderness Road. We drove round the Wilderness Road, which is 500 km (315 miles) long and rises to nearly 900 metres along the Norwegian border. It weaves its way around countless lakes (the total in Sweden in 98,000), passing through endless pine forest with intrusions of silver birch now turning an autumnal gold. The tree line is at about 700 m (2,300 ft), above which is open tundra with roaming herds of reindeer. Wonderful country, particularly at this time of year when the road is for long periods empty of other traffic.

Greek Motorhome Dealer. The only motorhome dealer we have used in Greece is on the Thessaloniki bypass. We don't know if he fits solar panels, or indeed if he is still in business given the parlous state of the Greek economy. Details are at:
 
http://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1608/30
 
Successful Free Camping. In order to free camp extensively, you need to have a gas fridge, gas heating and gas cooking. To go with this, you need refillable gas tanks – we have two 11-kg tanks refillable at any location selling LPG (everywhere except Finland). We also have 120-watt photo-voltaic panels on the roof and two large-capacity auxiliary batteries along with a regulator and a 600 Watt inverter.
 
On Paul and Sheila Berker. This retired couple spend 3 or 4 months making very thoroughly researched and reported journeys through a different European country each year. Indeed, theirs are the most detailed of any travel logs that we have ever read and provide the ultimate travel guide for the intelligent motorhomer. Their reviews of the many campsites they use within each country visited is the most thorough on the web!
  
Migrants Flowing North. Things have changed a lot with the imposition of restrictions on migrant flows, particularly from Greece along our route through Macedonia and into Croatia. But we guess that it helps to keep the normal traffic flowing. We haven't used the Szeged crossing (Serbia/Hungary) recently, but the crossing between Sofia and Nis (Bulgaria/Serbia) is much shorter and gets you onto the motorway that goes straight through Belgrade and on to Croatia.
 
Assurance on the Border. Our experience has been that the old days of hassle on the borders have gone and we have many fewer problems. The standard UK motor insurance policy now includes Serbia along with the EU, Norway, Switzerland, etc. Although a lot of that might change if the lunatics who have taken over the parliamentary asylum get their way!

August 2016 (Norway, Swrden)

On Meeting Relatives in a Norwegian CWGC Cemetery. It really does go without saying that we are deeply affected by meeting you yesterday and experiencing something of what you are feeling. We have visited many war cemeteries and battle sites in Europe and beyond, but you really made personal what it means to die fighting, leaving behind deep memories and sense of loss in the bereaved family. Even after 76 years!

Remembering the War in Norway. The Norwegians themselves remember and mark those days of struggle and particularly the role played by the UK (Britain and Northern Ireland!) This includes the support we gave to their resistance in the 5 years of occupation that followed the Narvik battle. Norway has its own memorial sites and museums as well as TV programmes showing the horrors of German National Socialism. The other evening, for example, we watched a lengthy and detailed film about Hitler and his entourage in their last days in the Berlin Bunker in April 1945.

Within the Circle. We are about 200 miles in a straight line, or 350 miles by road, above or within the Arctic Circle. At 69.6492° N, we are still a little way from Nordkapp at 71.17250° N (about 69 miles per degree of latitude). It's getting autumnal already and a bit nippy at night, but the days are still long with the sun only reluctantly sliding almost sideways below the horizon before reappearing a bit further east. It's a long time since we have seen any stars and we never seem to catch the Northern Lights which do need more darkness than we get.
 
Changes over 26 Years. The first time we were above the Arctic Circle was at the end of a 35-day, 2,000-mile cycle ride in the summer holidays of 1990. That ride took us through newly-opened Berlin with people still chipping away at the Wall, across the river into Poland at Frankfurt an der Oder and on to Gdansk for a ferry to Helsinki and a visit to Leningrad (as was). Some of that route we followed now, in 2016, finding dramatic changes in Poland with the open country we once knew now almost buried under cars, trucks, new motorways and sprawling urban development.
 
Remembering the Romanian Orphanages. Sponsorship for the 1990 cycle ride to Tromso helped us return with aid for Romanian orphanages in October for the third time in that year, crossing the Carpathian Mountains into the remote region of Moldavia. Those were the days, my friend. Now we travel through memories, the past seen through the windscreen of the motorhome, rapidly taking its proper place behind us glimpsed in the monitor of the newly-installed rear-view camera.
 
Brexit and Anti Climax. We are relieved that Brexit has fallen into a state of anti-climax after all the excitement immediately following the referendum. May's move of putting Johnson, Fox and Davis in charge of actually negotiating the dreaded deed was interesting and a hopeful sign that it will fail. Perhaps more rational people within the establishment are working quietly but forcefully behind the scenes to put the whole thing comfortably back into bed. Then we can return to normal. Open borders are fundamental to the whole post-WW2 project in mainland Europe, and they will never give that up.
 
The German/Polish Border on the River Oder. Things have changed since a million Russians massed on the Oder in January 1945 before crossing it on the ice and advancing 40 miles to take Berlin and bring WW2 to an end by the 9^th of May. In the following 45 cold-war years, you could risk being shot trying to cross the Oder; even on our 1990 cycle journey we were not allowed to ride over the Oder bridge, but had to take a train for two stops into Poland (it was the Paris-Warsaw-Moscow express and we were a little anxious where we would end up!) Now a magnificent motorway bridge flies over the river, a border which the speeding traffic barely notices. This history is what 'freedom of movement of people' really means to Europeans.
 
Poland Today. We passed through Poland recently, driving from the German border at Frankfurt an der Oder to Gdansk on the Baltic. We spent a couple of nights in Sopot before catching the ferry from Gdynia across to Karlskrona in Sweden. Poland is very very much busier and amazingly more affluent than on our first visit, cycling across the country in 1989!

Margaret Remembers Leonard Cohen. His songs take me straight back to Durham University Folk Club, circa 1967, when they were sung by bearded students with guitars and a pint of real ale. Yeah, that's the way it was in those days! When my Mum gave me a record player for my 21st birthday, the first two LPs I bought with the record tokens I got were by Leonard Cohen and Elvis Presley! I had the privilege of watching Leonard perform at Sheffield City Hall in the 1970s, dressed in black and brilliant

On Senja. Well above the Polar Circle, we are camped by a splendid fjord on Senja, Norway's second largest island and barely populated. We've had some glorious cycling days but now the season is over, the weather gradually cooling, and soon we will head south past Narvik and across into Sweden.
 
Camping in Tromso. Our route proceeded up the Inlandsvägen to Karesuando and on to Norway via Kilpisjarvi. The weather was ideal for cycling while based at the delightful campsite on Ramfjord, before moving on to Tromso. Though we had heeded a warning about Tromso Camping, recent reviews spoke of a complete refurbishment with new facilities so we gave it a try, for one night only, in order to cycle into the city and back over the splendid bridge. Yes, the site has been renovated, complete with plastic grass between each pitch, but the new unisex block is totally inadequate, the kitchen had been taken over by a group of noisy Italian students - and all for a mere 360 NOK per day!
 
Once there was a King. The town of Dorotea is named after Fredrika Dorotea Vilhelmina, wife of Swedish King Gustav IV Adolf (reigned 1792 – 1809). Her other two names are used for a parish and another small town here in Lapland, the last vestiges of an almost defunct monarchy which once ruled over Norway, Finland and parts of Russia.
 
Nostalgia. We'll save any further badinage (and some goodinage) until we meet again, something that will make up for any misgivings that we might have of returning to the Disunited Queendom of Not-Quite-So-Great Britain and Disassociated Territories. Or are we just being nostalgic?
 
The Inland Route. Only two roads run north-south the length of Sweden: the coast road in the east along the Gulf of Bothnia and our road, the Inlandsvagen, which as the name suggests runs right up the middle of the country for a thousand miles or more. Its average height is above 300 m (1,000 ft), undulating as it crosses river valleys or swings around lakes.
 
Moving through Languages. We have already moved through 4 language zones: Dutch, German, Polish and now Swedish. Three of those have much in common being Germanic in nature: Polish is a Slavic tongue, familiar to us from countries such as Bulgaria and Slovenia, but with virtually nothing in common with any Indo-European language. Keeps us on our toes, although as ever English is increasingly used between countries as well as with us native English people.
 
Ancient Sites for a Modern Motor. (Advice to a friend planning a Balkan tour). Your rate of progress, albeit in a sleek Mercedes motor, is such that you may miss out on some great archaeological sites. For example, Heraclea Lyncestis just south of Bitola in Macedonia (aka FYROM!), and Buthrotum a splendid mix of Greek, Roman and Byzantine remains south of Saranda, on the Albanian coast down near the Greek border.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclea_Lyncestis
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buthrotum
 
The former you will go near, the latter is a bit off your route but it does have a simple hotel by the site where we stayed in 2010 and the coast road from Saranda up to Vlora and Durres is new, good and amazing, including the Llogaraja Pass at 1027 m (3,390 ft).
 
http://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1012/80/
 
Travel in the Balkans. 3rd party insurance papers can be bought (probably not worth more than the paper) at the Macedonian, Albanian, Bosnian and Montenegran borders (if the kiosk is open for business). Crossing from Greece into Macedonia near Bitola in 2015, we were charged €55 for 15 days insurance, for which the Macedonians profusely apologised. It was just for Great Britain, they said, but soon it would no longer exist (probably Great Britain as well as the insurance charge)
 
Legacy. If ever we do indeed somehow leave 'Europe', our language, along with our Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries, will be a lasting legacy.
 
On a Visit to Cospeda in Austria. There were two battles on the same day (14 October 1806) at Jena and Auerstedt near the river Saale in Eastern Germany. Napoleon won, Frederick William III of Prussia lost.
 
A Visit to Colditz Castle. This is Margaret's account of that visit October 2014. The castle had been painted white and most of it is now given over to a youth hostel! There are guided tours to the little that remains open to the public.
 
“The grim bulk of Schloss Colditz (incongruously painted white) towered above the town but we saw no direction signs to it. After lunching on fresh rolls and croissants from Lidl, we had to ask the driver of a parked bus how to get up to the castle. Leaving the motorhome on Lidl car park, we followed his directions on foot, hoping to find a road to drive up and maybe park overnight. We walked across the road, up a narrow cobbled lane to the market place, then climbed a flight of steps signed Schlosstreppe to arrive at the castle, now partly a Youth Hostel. The small sloping car park, accessed by a circuitous back road, was strictly for YH guests only. The only entry gate was labelled for the Youth Hostel, with no indication of a visitor entrance, yet we'd checked details online ('open daily 10 am-5 pm, or 4 pm from November through March')! Walking all round the castle perimeter, we found a courtyard where the workmen ignored us, inside which we eventually spotted a tiny sign and arrow to the small souvenir shop/ticket office. It seemed almost as difficult to get in as it once was to escape!

Entry was €4 for the small museum only, or €8.50 for a 45-minute tour, or €15 for the full-length 90-minute tour, depending on timing and if there was an English-speaking guide available. We were lucky that a Dutch couple were about to be taken on the short tour in English, so we joined them rather than wait until 3 pm for the next long tour.

Our guide, Aleksis, was just as interesting as what we saw! Half-Polish, half-Slovenian, he was brought up in Bradford (complete with Yorkshire accent) and is now married to a local German whose mother was a nurse at Colditz when it was a psychiatric hospital after WW2. His father had escaped Poland and joined the Allies against Germany and he had many stories to tell of the inmates of Colditz (including Douglas Bader and Airey Neave) and their escapades.”

Our pictures of Colditz are at: http://www.magbazpictures.com/visit-to-colditz.html

Five Websites. Here's a summary we have recently written of our six websites, in chronological order:

http://www.magbaztravels.com/
Originally developed by Bec and Kev in Australia in 2005. It is for and by long-term, long distance travellers by motorhome and/or bicycle.
 
http://hollybank.magbaztravels.com/
Developed by Barry for Peter Frankland who has never added a single word! We once 'unpublished' it but he pleaded for it to be returned. But all the work in it remains ours.
 
http://www.murdochmackenzieofargyll.com/
Developed by us for Rev Murdoch Mackenzie to contain much of his writing and some photographs. I met him and worked with him in Madras in the 1970's when he was Minister at St Andrew's Kirk in that city. The website became a memorial to him and his life when he died in Edinburgh in February of last year. He was a great man. We keep in touch with his wife, Anne (a medical doctor) and his eldest daughter, Ruth, both of whom now live in Edinburgh.
 
http://www.macdonaldsisters.com/
This is an amazing and extensive range of art and design by the MacDonald Sisters, who were related to Murdoch. He put the collection together after their deaths and arranged the photography. The collection itself is now in the Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre in Portree on the Isle of Skye, Murdoch's ancestral home.
 
http://www.magbazpictures.com/
Using the same software as the above two websites, this is a repository for hundreds of our photographs, particularly of earlier journeys, including some while still working at Holly Bank. It's a much easier format than MagBazTravels.
 
Pointless Prosperity. We are now in Sweden, having taken the 10-hour ferry from Gdynia/Gdansk to Karlskrona last Sunday. We are hurrying north in the perhaps forlorn hope that we will soon leave behind the surrounding hordes of unnecessarily enormous Swedish motorhomes. How pointlessly affluent the Scandinavians have become since our first journeys here in the early 1990's. Then it was just us and a few Germans in Hymers.
 
Leaving Europe. How sad it is that even the BBC calls the mainland of Europe simply as 'Europe', as if Britain were no longer any part of it. Voting to leave Europe? What nonsense. 'Europe', 'Mainland Europe', the Countries of the European Union' and 'The EU' are all different concepts and places and need to be differentiated to stay rational.

July 2016 (Sweden, Poland, Germany, Netherlands)

How Long is a Cycle Path? The cycling is excellent in the Netherlands and now here in Germany. The former has 15,000 km (9,300 miles) of dedicated cycle paths, the latter 40,000 km (25,000 miles).

East Germany. East Germany looks a lot better than it did in the Iron Curtain days (1945-90), but still not on a level with West Germany. Karl Zeiss is still here in Jena with their amazing lenses and we are in the area of Weimar (with Buchenwald Concentration Camp nearby), Dresden and Leipzig. Lots of history with the Czech and Polish borders on the road east. Perhaps we will pass Colditz Castle en route.

Reflection on Camping Sakar Hills in Southeast Bulgaria. Staying at Sakar Hills in the summer of 2008, following our 3-month, 3,700-mile (6000 km) complete circuit of Turkey, it immediately became one of our oases. A base in which to settle for a while, to refresh, to get to know the area and some of its people, to become part of the local scene. We have been regular visitors ever since, most recently in October of last year on our way into Greece after a journey through the far east of Europe. We almost wish we were ready to settle down!

Entering Germany Just Like the Old Days. We move on today, a bit further towards the German border. We have our new Brexit visa ready, along with a few Deutschmarks since we seem to be going back at least half a century. How's things behind the Iron Curtain?

Social Democracy in England? Yes, we are still in Holland. It is very much like England could be if it had a social democratic government, proportional representation, a much reduced monarchy and people who are citizens rather than subjects. And lots of cycle paths, the ideal expression of a government working for the people and the public good, rather than for private profit.

On Being English in the Netherlands. We are still in a state of shock and disbelief after the referendum, a state echoed by Dutch people we talk to. Indeed, as soon as we are recognised as being English (a GB plate and GB sticker, a Union Jack, a yellow rear number plate, a right-hand drive vehicle, our language, etc), there is only one subject they want to talk about. Summarised in one word: Why?
 
Why?. We think of the words of 'Some Enchanted Evening' from the musical 'South Pacific'

Who can explain it?
Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons,
Wise men never try.

More like 'Some Disenchanted Future'.

Responses from Friends to the Referendum and its Consequences. We have welcomed our recent exchange of emails with friends in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, USA, Australia and Indonesia, all expressing disgust at the nature of the referendum, the manipulated result and consequent paralysis and collapse of our self-styled democratic system. If this is 'taking back control', we'll go for anarchy.

Subjects of Her Majesty! The new prime minister could invoke Section 50 of the Lisbon Treaty using the Royal Prerogative, thus bypassing parliament:
 
“A distinguishing feature of the British constitution is the extent to which the government continues to exercise a number of powers which were not granted to it by a written constitution, nor by Parliament, but are rather ancient prerogatives of the Crown. These powers derive from arrangements which preceded the 1689 Declaration of Rights and have been accumulated by the government without Parliament or the people having a say.”

There's a Welcome in Ireland. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/01/europeans-invite-brits-to-relocate-promising-pubs-marmite-and-social-awkwardness
 
This article ironically invites the English to come and live in Ireland, reversing centuries of Irish re-settlement. Margaret is a quarter Irish (on her mother's side), and is seriously considering a change of nationality. I already have the independence of being born in Yorkshire

June 2016 (Netherlands, England)

Early Migrants into Britain. The original inhabitants, who began the re-population of the empty British Isles after the Ice Age some 15,000 years ago, came from an enclave in Northwest Spain which was sheltered from the ice. They walked along the edge of the Continent of Europe and into the British Isles while the sea was much lower and frozen. They are still the biggest single contributor to our DNA. Later migrants came in relatively small numbers and only made a small contribution to our DNA. For example, the Normans mainly provided us with a ruling class who are still present, but they didn't mingle much with the peasants. Still true today!

On Being Read. As for our stuff being read: we find it hard to imagine that happening while we are writing something. Writing is a private matter and it's almost bizarre to imagine some complete stranger reading the words and forming some sort of opinion. Or not, as the case may be. So we just write and put it into an email or on a website and then leave it at that. In other words, it's hard to know how best to express something to be read by unknown persons, so it's comforting to know that it does sometimes strike a chord.

Dutch Cycle Paths. As for us, we are keeping well and enjoying the freedom given by the vast network of cycle paths here. We can literally ride between any two places in the Netherlands, near or far, on a dedicated path free of traffic. Some cycle paths parallel main roads, others make their own way through woods, across fields and along dykes. If only the government in the UK really governed (ie provided for the real needs of the people) rather than endlessly playing their own London-based games.

The Referendum in Dutch Pictures. Attracted by their comprehensive and well-illustrated coverage of 'Brexit', we bought three newspapers yesterday (24 June 2016) from a small shop in the village of Otterlo, in the forest about 20 miles north-west of Arnhem. We copied about 27 pictures, translating caption where necessary. The newspapers, along with Dutch TV are really struggling to understand the vote for Brexit, using humour, anecdote, history, serious comment and images. In microcosm, the photographs give a fascinating glimpse of mainland Europe's reaction to the referendum.
 
Remembering the War. The Dutch village of Otterlo has a memorial to the 17 Canadian and 6 British soldiers who died there in April 1945, liberating the area from what the memorial calls 'five years of the horror of Nazi occupation, bringing once again the light and joy of freedom'. In scrambling and competing for merely material advantage, have the people of England and Wales forgotten that there were and still are other values worth fighting for?

Reaction to the Falling Pound on the Night of 23/24 June. In a few short hours during almost the shortest night of the year we have just watched our income steadily fall off a cliff. It plummeted against the euro by 8% in 5 hours! It continued to fall until it was 18% lower. And this is called 'taking back control!'
 
Who is in Control?. It was with some relief that we learned that control was being taken back elsewhere: that Thomas Cook was running out of euros for holiday makers, that UK ATMs had been stuffed with money in case there was a run on the banks and that the Bank of England had 250 billion pounds in hand ready to prop up banks if needed. Scotland and Northern Ireland are already thinking of leaving the UK, Gibraltar is under threat again, the EU can't wait to act while the Tory party sorts out its leadership, and Cameron's deal with the EU to limit benefits for migrants has now been cancelled. Add to that the prospect of 150,000 members of the Tory party electing Johnson or Gove as the next prime minister, leading a party in power with less than 25% of eligible votes. Our democracy taking back control?
 
Who are the Exiteers? What explains the catastrophic referendum result? Obviously it's the nature of the electorate that voted to leave: largely older, white, working class people with little education beyond the age of 16 and living in areas of the Midlands and Northern England devastated by Thatcherite de-industrialisation. Perhaps even they may be surprised by the devastation they are causing worldwide – and it's just the first day! Greece's neofascist party, Golden Dawn, sends its congratulations and wishes it could do as well.
 
http://www.ekathimerini.com/209867/article/ekathimerini/news/golden-dawn-welcomes-brave-decision-of-british-people
 
T-Shirt Needed. After 50 years of feeling at home throughout the Continent of Europe, we are already feeling a little out of place among our fellow-Europeans. We need a T-shirt with the words 'It wasn't us' in several languages! What other excuse can we give?

Dutch Address and Language Lesson

    Kamping de Koornmolen   (Camping Corn Mill)
    Tweemanspolder              (Two Men's Meadow)
    Zevenhuizen                    (Seven Houses)
    Near Gouda                     (Good for Cheese)
    Zuid Holland                    (South Holland)
    The Netherlands               (The Lowlands)
 
Dutch Cycle Paths and Cheese. We are just enjoying being in a place where cycle paths radiate in every possible direction. Well mapped (we have bought an atlas showing every single one in the whole of the Netherlands) and thoroughly signposted, the paths can take you wherever you want to go – from long-distance rides, to making your way round towns and villages. The centre of towns are often large squares, accessible only by pedestrians and cyclists. Yesterday, for example, we cycled into Gouda (25 miles return) entirely on dedicated cycle paths, and had a welcome coffee, toasted sandwich and apple cake, sitting in the big square by the 15^th C Town Hall, opposite what is now the Cheese Museum. What a civilised country!

Everyone, but Everyone Rides a Bike. We moved on today about 60 miles further into the Netherlands and we are now on the edge of a large National Park (De Hoge Veluwe) just north of Arnhem on the Rhine. Yesterday we cycled about 40 km in and out of Gouda: if anything there are too many cycle paths here, making it a good idea to have the satnav to hand as well as a good map. What remains amazing is the sheer number of people of every age, shape and size who ride bikes. Apart from the usual young men in lycra and on racers, few people have any special clothing or gear or, indeed, anything but a basic standard bicycle. Very young children ride in trailers or attached somehow to the front or the back of mother's bike. Then they advance to their own little bike. Something never seen in the UK are teenagers and pensioners alike, riding their bikes quite naturally as if to the manner born.

Happy to be Beyond the Borders. We were happy to get out of the UK with all the lies and nonsense around the EU referendum dominating the media. Did Cameron ever make a bigger mistake? Translating a never-ending war in the ranks of the Tory party into an opportunity for the great British public to get 50 years of resentment off their collective chests. It was too much to expect a wide-ranging debate on the complexities of EU membership; it was bound to settle into something most people could handle (helped by the gutter press and the 'social media') - immigration. Mix that up with nationalism, patriotism, football (what bad timing that is), xenophobia and ignorance and you have a deadly cocktail.

How to Kill a Trojan. Many thanks for the patience of Rebecca, I got into safe mode in Windows 10 via msconfig (and out of it again). After trying Malwarebytes, Junkyard, Kaspersky and RKill, all to no avail, I ran Hitman Pro which picked up two Malwares (one in my documents) and 248 tracking cookies. After I signed up for a 30-day free trial, it removed the malwares and things seem back to normal. Let's hope it stays that way!

Response to an Email from a UKIP Sympathiser. What a lot of nonsense this is. Pure propaganda worthy of the early days of the Third Reich. You, Malcolm, have travelled in a sufficient number of EU countries to know that each and every one of them is very much in control of its own laws, culture, economy, language, religion, cuisine, postage stamps, public transport, energy, education system, armed forces, health service, roads, tolls, etc, etc. Often, as travellers, we wish that they had more in common! If your thesis were correct, every European country by now would have become identical, but they vary in every way possible. How do you compare Sicily with Finland, or Ireland with Croatia?
 
EU Laws and Regulations. There is a major difference between EU laws and EU regulations. EU laws have to be agreed by ministers, prime ministers, presidents elected by each of the 28 countries. Sometimes requiring a majority vote, sometimes unanimity. Often they have to be endorsed by each country's parliament. There is also the European parliament, elected by every voter throughout the EU. There is also public opinion and the media which wield considerable influence on policy.
 
On the other hand, agreed common regulations and standards that govern commodities and trade are essential and will remain so, whatever our future relationship with the EU.
 
Free to Travel in Europe. It is a fantasy to think that the UK could have access to the EU's free market for the movement of goods, services and capital, without also agreeing to the continued free movement of people. With that gone, would you like to travel in mainland Europe with a 3-month Schengen Visa in your pocket, not able to return within another 3 months?
 
Anti-Democratic Forces in Europe. There is a lack of democracy throughout the EU: it is the power wielded by the massive trans-global capitalist organisations and the influence of hyper-rich gamblers in the stock-exchanges and tax-avoiding havens around the world. Can you not draw some conclusions from the recent dreadful end of BHS where the workers' pension funded was stolen to buy super-yachts and private jets? Where is the democracy in that?
 
We make people like that into noble lords or knights! The only body capable of bearing down on these robber barons is the EU. It would be very sad to see the British (and Northern Irish) people retreat onto their islands, with 'control taken back' by the likes of Johnson, Gove, Smith and Farage (the latter person stood for parliament 7 times and failed each time). Your future safe in their greedy hands?
 
How Democratic is Britain? Where is the democracy in the UK? In the 2-sided parliament? In the once in 5 years election system where most people's votes are wasted? In the House of Lords? In the 60-strong Royal Family (is this what you mean by 'sovereign')? In the unelected Public School Boys dominating the political, religious, legal and military life of the country? In the privatisation of health, education, prisons and probation services? In selling off all the great public utilities to foreign governments and their agents? Tell us, is this democracy? Did the EU force us to do all this?
 
We Should Remember Them. We cycled 45 km today in the Arnhem area with many memories (museums and Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries) of those days in 1944/45 when we and our allies, working together, were very much involved in Europe - and what a difference we made!

Happy Memories of Greek Gorges and Islands. It's a long time since we were on Crete with the motorhome (in fact we were there when we heard that one Tony Blair had won a Labour Victory!) We enjoyed the Samaria Gorge walk, which we did both ways. We left our little Greek motorbike at the top, walked down with the crowd (on their way to a boat out from the bottom), then stayed the night at the foot of the gorge in a small B&B before walking back uphill next day, a climb of about 4,000 ft (1210 m). That was much more fun, with the world to ourselves until we crossed paths with the next troop coming down. We also visited Santorini which is typically Greek – and infuriating - to close ancient sites/museums etc just when people might want to visit, like after 3 pm or at Easter! Most museums do close on Mondays, though, throughout Europe.

England En Passant. After Ionion Beach in the Greek Peloponnese, we returned to England via Sicily, Italy, France and Southern Ireland – a good way to enter the UK on the ferry to Scotland or Wales, thus avoiding The South. Sorry but we do come from Lancashire and Yorkshire, God's Own Counties! Then a busy month or so of shopping, visits, MOT and motorhome service, etc. We now have a rear-view camera fixed at the back and wonder how we ever managed without it. So we have been on the move and staying in places with crummy or no WiFi until we arrived on the Stena Line ferry from Harwich into the Hook of Holland earlier this week. That is a splendid daytime crossing on the world's largest passenger ferry, no less, and booking through the Camping & Caravanning Club got us a 10% discount, free upgrade to flexi-fare and a free daytime cabin!

Early Dutch Reaction to the Quality of the Referendum Debate. The absurdities of the debate are portrayed here on the TV, albeit at a distance, in Dutch and with an air of disbelief. The English/American language and culture are very popular here: they feel very close to us but puzzled. A bit like the family when Dad begins to show the early signs of dementia. They hope for the best but fear the worst. With little optimism, we are busy collecting euros before the value of the pound falls right through the floor.

Attacked on the Beach by Trojans. As soon as we landed at the Hook of Holland and used the WiFi on a nearby campsite, my new HP laptop (with Windows 10) picked up what I think is called a Browser Hijacker, in both Internet Explorer and Chrome. On some occasions a desired url (eg saving a piece in Mambo) is replaced by another, which is an advert for gambling or pornography or things of that ilk. In the worst case it replaces my url and I lose the link I wanted (ie my work is not saved). Sometimes another window opens which I can then delete. The worst instances are with Mambo, Weebly and opening the English-language Greek newspaper Ekathimerini.

The Distractions of Suburban Life. The ordinary 'suburban' way of life encourages the filling up of time with the routine, the safe, the repetitive, the familiar, etc. What amazing forms those distractions take, including adding to the degradation of ancient sites by hordes of tourists on foot (or by horse!). It needs almost a constant effort to resist those seductive forces to show off, to compete, to bolster the failing ego.
 
Why should they be resisted? Because life itself, being alive, should be an adventure based on openness to learning, to new experience. Being conscious and aware are wonderful gifts and need to be guarded and developed, at least by those who are capable.
 
A Sense of Direction. Whatever they are called – aims, objectives, outcomes, goals – it's good to have some idea of what might be achieved in the future. States C, D, E, etc after the transition from A to B! Or even a sense of direction, starting with John Lennon's 'How can I go forward when I don't know which way I'm facing?' The metaphor of the journey is a good one: start with a general sense of the overall direction and some of the things to be achieved along the way. Concentrate on the process, the journey itself, rather than on getting to a particular place. For example, enjoy the cycling rather than thinking only of reaching the end!

Oases. Travellers need an oasis, a watering hole, somewhere with a palm tree, a few camels, a tent flapping in the afternoon heat with belly dancing in the evening.

Dick Lane Motors. Dick Lane in Bradford did some excellent work on our motorhome and we now have a twin-lens reversing/rear-view camera (what did we do without it?), a 120-watt solar panel on the roof, a working alarm, a working compressor for the rear suspension, an MOT, a directional TV aerial and a wall-mounted TV bracket. The rear view camera monitor fits over the rear-view mirror in the motorhome cab (which was of no use, with no rear window), and two views are automatically selected: View 1 (looking down, for reversing) or View 2 (watching behind while driving). It is made by Vision Plus - see www.visionplus.co.uk/shop/rear-view-systems/.

May 2016 (England, Ireland)

Food from the Heart' by Margaret McLean. Margaret wrote the following to Margaret McLean. “Dan surprised me with a gift of your book (a signed copy, even), which I will treasure. Not just the recipes, delicious as they are, but your writing and photographs are a lovely collection, recording your lifelong love of good home cooking. The photos and reminiscences evoke times and places so well that Barry (a good home eater) really shared my interest in your delightful book. There are some familiar tales of growing up in the 1950s and 60s, and recipes for both old favourites and new treats that I can't wait to try, back in our motorhome next week. We did like the piece about the Wee Hurrie at Troon, which Dan introduced us to last year - and we still wonder what the name means.”

Email from Greek Restauranteur Mike Stergiopoulos. “Dear friends, You are fantastic, every time we talk feel very happy. Also do not forget to tell you how much help me with your overall kindness. I wish you chronia polla (many years) and to have good health and see you for many more years. I will wait for you forever. Your friend Mike.”
 
Counting the Miles. Yesterday for me (Barry) was yet another birthday on this long journey through life. I checked the other day that the earth is still proceeding round the sun at about 18 miles per second or 66,000 miles per hour. A journey of about 580 million miles (930 million kilometres) every year. This means that my next birthday, marked by revisiting the current position of the earth in its orbit, is rushing towards me (and all of us) at breakneck speed. The challenge is to slow life down and live it to the full.

Coincidence is the Basis for the Traveller's Life. 'Coincidence' could be defined as: accident, chance, serendipity, fate, a twist of fate, destiny, fortuity, fortune, providence, freak, hazard; a piece of good fortune, a bit of luck, a bit of good luck, a fluke, a happy chance, happenstance, co-occurrence, coexistence, conjunction, simultaneity, simultaneousness, contemporaneity, contemporaneousness, concomitance, synchronicity, synchrony, clash, conflict, correspondence, agreement, accord, concurrence, match, fit, consistency, conformity, harmony, compatibility, dovetailing, correlation, parallelism, similarity, likeness.

Everyone has Their Own Party?. The Irish general election took place on 26 February with no clear winner and 2 months of negotiations haven't succeeded in forming a coalition among the 4 major parties. Like Scotland, Ireland is likely to have a single-party minority government. We find it fascinating that politics has changed so dramatically from the alternating 2-party system that has existed in the UK since parliament began. Perhaps digital technology will allow people to vote directly, issue by issue, rather than working through delegates who are elected only once every 5 years. Direct democracy would produce some very different results!

Getting Inside the Brain. Just finished watching Episode 5 of the Brain (a 6-part BBC2 series by David Eagleman). It really is thought-provoking and potentially life-changing when put together with what else is known of our nature and origins. I think that we can safely forget/reject anything written or 'known' about the human condition before the middle of the nineteenth century – before Darwin and Marx and then add in Einstein at the beginning of the twentieth. Ever since then the detail has begun to be filled in with knowledge of evolutionary processes, the workings of the brain, etc. Eventually there will be a full understanding of the human condition – although perhaps too late for us. Meanwhile, we must understand what we can!

Gone West. Where we have been in County Cork is further west (about W 10.2°) than the westernmost point of mainland Europe at Cabo da Roca (around W 9.5°), just west of Lisbon It doesn't get snow or frost hereabouts in this corner of Ireland, being too far south and west and it catches the warm Gulf Stream face on. Looking west, the Irish say: 'Next stop America', which was very true for many of them.
 
May Day and Easter Sunday All in One. In Greece yesterday it was the Orthodox Easter Sunday, the highpoint of the year, when families gather to roast a lamb (or a goat-that-shall-be-called-lamb) over an open fire. By coincidence, it was also May Day when they gather wild flowers and make a wreath to hang on their front door (a Greek friend once hung one on our motorhome door). So yesterday they would be combining two traditional festivals and we wish we were there. But, we also very much like being here in Ireland and these are the dilemmas of the traveller.

April 2016 (Ireland. France, Italy)

The United States of Europe. Along with most people in mainland Europe, and Ireland, we don't even know why there is to be a referendum on EU membership. We don't like being forced to take sides in a squabble between public school boys within the Tory party. We don't want to appear to support either Cameron or Johnson. We think that the EU is one of Europe's greatest achievements, albeit a work still in progress. It's a half-way house between the Europe that spent hundreds of years fighting among its many countries and a peaceful fully United States of Europe. What better model than the USA? They were big enough to intervene in Europe several times in the 20th century to sort out the madness of war – with Germany, then the USSR and then in the fragmenting Balkans.
 
We also enjoy the freedom we and many millions of others have to wander within 28 countries, crossing borders and staying where we will.

Memories of Ian Hibell. Cycling used to be excellent at providing contact and rich experiences but these days we are somewhat loath to trust the kindness and skill of every driver who comes up behind us on narrow and ever-busier roads. It only takes one idiot behind the wheel, as World Traveller and Consummate Cyclist Ian Hibell amply demonstrated when killed in Athens on 27 August 2008. He is never to be forgotten.
 
The Friendliness of the Irish, the Land of Apostrophes. We couldn't settle here in Ireland, but it's a country where we would if we had to. Beautiful country of mountains, peninsulas, coves, rolling hills, green fields and market towns seemingly untouched by the passage of time and the cancer of capitalism. The shops (of great variety) are still those of the individual owner, with their name (with apostrophes) over the window. Sometimes there are two apostrophes as in O'Donnell's. There is even a Barry's, albeit as a surname. Barry's Tea is a strong popular brand. And there are few signs of the multinationals that have taken over British towns and cities. The people here are so friendly it's not possible to pass someone without an acknowledgement, a wave, a greeting. And they are full of talk and good humour. That is, there is happiness here.

Iceland in 1972 Recalled by the Barkers. Their photographs of travels in Iceland from 1972 are splendid of both them and the country. They really look as though they belonged to that time and to that amazing setting. We wish them the very minimum of disappointment on their next visit at the changes that must have been wrought, if only to the nature and extent of tourism. This in turn will be outweighed by the unchanging splendour of those landscapes, the fauna and flora and the very presence of Nature in its most creative mood.

A Cate by Any Other Name. Ruminating around the name 'Cate', it is obviously a variation on 'Kate' and a diminutive of Catherine or Katherine. It has origins in the Greek name for an early female Christian Saint, now known in English as Catherine of Alexandria. In Greek, the name is Aikaterina which links to the Greek word katharos meaning clean or pure. This is the origin of the modern English word catharsis, meaning the release of pent up emotions, a cleansing, a purification.

Memories of Cycling in the Hebrides in 1989. At Spring Bank, we were both able to get away for 9 days to ride 360 miles through the Western Isles of Scotland. We started from Oban, taking the ferry to Barra and then Lochboisdale in South Uist. We rode up through South Uist and Benbecula to Newton Ferry in North Uist. A small passenger (-cum-bicycle) ferry took us across a stormy sound to Leverburgh in South Harris via Berneray Island. We then rode up to Callanish in Lewis where we stayed two nights in a crofter's cottage next to the stone circle, visiting Stornoway. Riding back to Tarbert, we took the ferry to Uig in north-west Skye and rode down through Portree to Armadale where we took a ferry to Mallaig on the mainland. Another 80 miles, through beautiful highland and sea loch valleys, and two more ferries got us back to Oban via Mull. Our memories of the islands are mainly of the crofters, still following their old ways, in a remarkably bleak, wet, beautiful, storm-swept landscape. So bleak that we often had difficulty finding somewhere to prop the bikes when we stopped!

Migrants in Greece. We travelled overland from Scandinavia via Eastern Europe last autumn, arriving in Greece in October 2015, with no difficulties at all. Of course, the number of migrants has escalated since then but they are concentrated in a few 'hot spots' where the media go for their photographs and stories: on 4 or 5 of the Greek islands just off the Turkish coast in the eastern Aegean, in and around Victoria Square in Athens, at the Port of Piraeus south of Athens, and many thousands still clustered around the closed border gate with Macedonia at Idomeni. We would say that there are no problems, except perhaps extra security checks at borders. We've certainly had no negative reports from any other travellers.

Migrants in Patras. We haven't seen any migrants ourselves during a winter in the Greek Peloponnese, except a few climbing over the wire fence to get into the port in Patras as we left the country. From there ferries go to Italy (Brindisi, Bari, Ancona, Venice or Trieste) and the migrants were hoping to hide in or on a truck. Each of them was young, fit, well dressed, male and carrying no luggage of any kind. The two officers in a parked police car occasionally chased them back to the fence without even getting out.

Greece Overland. Our last 3 journeys to/from Greece have been overland, using a variety of routes, such as Greece-Macedonia-Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia-Austria etc and Slovakia-Hungary-Romania-Bulgaria-Greece. We have also travelled to-from Greece via Montenegro and Albania

A Gap in the Wall. There is the old (probably Buddhist) story of the man who grew up in a city within walls, completely absorbed in the social world, the day-to-day minutiae of events and problems. One day, he found a gap in the wall and walked outside for some distance, climbing something of a hill. Only in looking back, having gained some height, did he realise how insignificant all those little worries and games were, in the greater scheme of things. The city was only one small isolated place in a great landscape. There was so much more life on the outside. Problem was, when he went back into the city to tell the people of his experience, they didn't understand what he was talking about! None would dare breach the wall.

Italian Road Builders. We are now in southern France, heading west. It's noticeably cooler and the Alps look splendid with their toppings of snow. The road engineering where the Alps meet the Mediterranean coasts of the Italian and French Rivieras is beyond the imagining of the UK's authorities. Countless tunnels of varying lengths are linked by viaducts soaring above the gorges. Turning inland to Turin, the climb we took culminated at 4,300 ft (nearly the height of Ben Nevis) before entering the 8-mile long subalpine Frejus Tunnel linking Italy to France.

The Dis-ease of Patriotism. As for the UK referendum, we share the puzzlement of most mainland Europeans. Why have it? What is the problem? The EU is just about the greatest European achievement in its collective history. Various powers in the past have tried to enforce a union, from the Romans through the Turks to Napoléon, Hitler and Stalin. Now 28 nations have voluntarily agreed to work, play and live together, with other countries queuing up to join. Why want to leave that? Nationalism and jingoism lead to patriotism, which according to Samuel Johnson is 'the last refuge of the scoundrel'. And there are plenty of those in the Tory and UKIP parties.

March 2016 (Italy, Greece)

Greece in Long-term Crisis. Greece is a splendid country with very honest and welcoming people and it is ideal for motorhoming. The never-ending economic crisis has bitten deep, but that has somehow made the Greeks more open in talking about their lives and their problems. The migrants are clustered in a limited number of places – in the islands of the far eastern Aegean, in and around Athens and the port of Piraeus and along the northern borders with Macedonia. We haven't seen any migrants in the Peloponnese; you would have to go out of your way to find them should you want to help.
 
We very rarely see any police here which itself is a sign of a trouble-free society. The Greeks go about living their lives in their own way, feeling safe within their families.

Moving On. You are leaving A and are now moving to B. However much A may have changed, however much B will be more appropriate, there is still a sense of loss in leaving A. It's almost a bereavement and it needs a period of mourning, a period of adjustment. Many people do indeed miss A and some return, be it a place, a country, a relationship, a habit, a job. What is to be avoided, we think, is hovering between A and B. Not able to let go of A, not able to reach or fully adjust to B.
 
As travellers, we constantly pass from A's to B's. Right now we are reluctant to leave Greece, which we love dearly, and not sure about moving to Italy. We can't hover in between – that would be the middle of the Adriatic! But we have got used to the processes of change and we just call it travelling and this month marks 21 years on the road. Transitions are made easy because we don't have to move our worldly possessions, we just take them with us, even when we only go shopping. But the temptation to 'settle down' is always there – the ultimate B. Although the final B is death itself from which there is no return to A!

Touching on Reality. Talking of realism: the whole migrant thing has at last made some sort of contact with reality. It really had got out of hand and Greece is now left to pick up the pieces. We once collected food, clothing, toys, medicines and toiletries on a large scale and rushed off to give it all to people in real need. We did this three times in one year – it was the year (1990) when Romania threw out its dictatorship and the terrible conditions in the orphanages were discovered. But then those conditions exist throughout the world. India still has at least 700 million people living permanently well below the poverty level (a dollar or two a day) – much worse than any migrant in Europe. Who can cope with that? Where is the rush to help there?

Memories of War-time Internal Displacement. None of the migrants have ventured down into the Peloponnese; they have a single aim of getting out of Greece by any means, going north and west towards Germany.
 
As an evacuee (internally displaced) from the bombing in Hull in WW2, I have little sympathy for them. At least half are economic migrants, jumping on the bandwagon; many are young men who should be helping to sort out the problems in their own country – fighting, rebuilding, whatever. Children should be found a safe place if they really are in danger (much of Syria and Iraq are still safe). Carrying them across Turkey, across a stretch of water only made unsafe because of the poor equipment, and then right across Europe, choosing which country they prefer, is certainly not safe. Many children have been abandoned and are travelling on their own. Let us be realistic about what kind of people we are dealing with here!
 
Civil War? We see that the Greek tractor blocks have been removed and we hope that traffic is now flowing freely on the main road to Sofia. It's Macedonia's turn now, getting blocked up with migrants. And the UK may well leave the UK on a whim whilst one side of the Tory party fights against the other. When will normality return?

On Leaving Greece. We are still here, finding it as hard as ever to leave this beautiful land. Not because of the tractor blockades, not because of borders blocked by and against migrants, not because of random strikes by dockworkers and ships' crews: it is just because this is where we belong. However, we do have a Minoan Line ferry booked from Patras to Italy on 10 March and thence we aim for Sicily – though, given the informality of Greek ferries, a brief telephone chat to a young woman in Patras could soon change the date once again!
 
February 2016 (Greece)

Travellers Blogs. The Murdoch Family logs of their great overland journey from Delhi to Edinburgh are examples of the best of travel writing. They have the vibrancy that comes from the reality of the accounts. They present the journey just as it was with all the artefacts of travel. Too many people moving about in motorhomes (we wouldn't necessarily call them 'travellers') write 'blogs' that are far too self-centred. These are the written equivalent of the 'selfie' photographs we are now plagued with. We call them 'ego trips'. In contrast, the Murdoch family accounts are refreshing and inspiring. They made real contact with the people and places along their route. We and others thank you for sharing those experiences.

Jeff's Wheelchair Walks. Our dear old friend (and once Barry's student) developed the website Wheelchair Walks. Jeff was paralysed from the neck down following a cycling accident in 1989; living life to the full until his death in 2017.  It was really impressive how his website steadily expanded with more and more entries, photographs and videos. We watched the '5 Weirs Walk' with amazement and wonder how many Sheffield people know about it. It is also good to see the Blackpool to Fleetwood route along the sea front, which we have cycled. It goes through Cleveleys, where Margaret was born and grew up. Mum ran a boarding house on Beach Road, Dad was a tram driver. Mind you, the so-called improvements to the promenade have erased all the landmarks of childhood (free playground, open-air theatre for the Punch & Judy man, site of travelling circus and fair, etc) and replaced them with paying attractions. The new trams are very good, though, and a nice idea for covering the return route for wheelchairs.

A Family Divided Against Itself. Life at Ionion Beach Camping in the Greek Peloponnese has become even more interesting. George and Theo, the two sons of the original owner and originator of the campsite, have fallen out and finally agreed to split the campsite into two parts: Theo gets the apartments, the existing swimming pool and beach bar, while George gets the campsite and is now building his own swimming pool and some bungalows-to-let. Each side now has its own Reception office and WiFi system (ours is very good) but things like the central restaurant, shop and laundry with washing machines remain in dispute: Theo is currently building his own Breakfast Bar! There is a wall between the two halves (the Austro-German residents call it Berlin) but the beach and the sea remain undivided (so far!).

Who are the Motorhomers? There is an idealised world of motorhomers, all travellers sharing and empathising, in tune with each other and with the world they live in. Sadly, we meet many others who are no more than holiday-makers with loungers to lie on, glasses of wine to sip and cheap novels to read. And many more who have spent their children's inheritance on a German luxury model, wanting only to show off their latest gadgets: they no sooner stop than their satellite dishes search the sky for familiar and comforting programmes There are the cheapskates, forever free camping in their worn-out Kombis. And the moaners, complaining about how 'Europe' is so different from where they live in the UK (which presumable isn't in Europe). And the members of UKIP, unhappy at how 'their' money is being wasted throughout the EU. How good it is to meet a real traveller, someone just simply on the road as a way of life, open to whatever experience brings.

Still Crazy After All These Years. Now entering our third decade on the road, we still agree with how we felt soon after setting out:

“Long-term travel is associated with retirement, and for us ageing gives urgency and poignancy to the whole process . . . we may never pass this way again! We have no regrets about our choice of this rich way of life and remember vividly the moment we finally closed the front door of our house, started the engine and set off for the Channel ferry! We hadn't owned a motorhome or caravan before, all our travel had been with bicycles and a tent, but we quickly realised that a motorhome was the only way we could afford to travel for long periods of time, comfortably, freely and carrying all the things we need for a full life (including the bicycles and a tent!)
 
The rewards of travel are enormous and it doesn't lose its freshness and its challenge. Subjects that were dry as chalk dust at school – Geography and History - take on colour and vitality, joining others as a natural part of everyday life: Ornithology, Geology, Languages, Economics, Politics, Religions, Art and Architecture, Photography. Our own qualifications in the Sciences, Business, Education, Archaeology, Modern Languages, Computing, Secretarial Skills, take on new meaning and usefulness. The radio again becomes the miracle it once was; books and maps become travelling companions; and travellers met for an evening become friends for life.
 
Motorhomers need only do what they are doing – no more and no less. Life can be lived more intensely in the present moment, replacing habit and routine with the ever-fresh stimulus of journeys on Robert Frost's 'road less travelled'. This is the way to slow the ever-accelerating rush of time.”

When a Chum is also a Friend. Cheers mate, where 'Mate' is Australian for Chum. In the Nederlands it is 'Kameraad' which isn't quite so friendly. Don't think there is a Yorkshire word for Chum, they are too circumspect. Lancashire has 'Pal', the Germans use 'Krumpel'. Geordie is 'Marrer'. We don't have any French friends (or Amis).

What a nice word 'chum' is. It's somehow more friendly than 'friend'. It also has a special Scottish usage, as well as referring to a large Pacific Salmon (not the Scottish MP, although he may be somebody's chump). More worryingly, the word derives from 'chamber-fellow', or so it said. And then there is (or was) the dog food, enriched with nourishing marrow bone jelly.

Tractors Block Tyres. We got 4 new tyres fitted last week, which took a long time to be delivered from Athens due to the tractor 'Blocka'. We've also had the motorhome serviced at the excellent Ford garage in Pirgos (which had a small earthquake on Sunday), so at least the motorhome is ready for the road, if not us.

Cleaning up Quotes. Starting a little spring cleaning around the website and tidying in little visited corners, we came across the following quotations about bicycles and bicyclists. We can identify with all of them: http://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1654/29/

Greece under the Heel of Enforced 'Austerity'. Now all the work is done in the olive groves, it's time to go on strike and take the tractors out to block main roads, motorway junctions and border crossings, to protest about pensions or subsidies or hospitals or Germans or the price they are paid for the crop. The Greek word is 'Blocka'. Sadly, the popular protests are rising in intensity and the economy is back in peril, with almost continuous talks going on with the European Central Bank, the IMF and Eurozone ministers, negotiating the next tranche of the loan.
 
How sad it is to see the effect of all this enforced 'austerity' on ordinary people and the many simple small businesses that have had to close. Meanwhile 840,000 migrants passed through Greece in 2015, while it got no support from the EU and relied on volunteers on the Aegean islands. Now Greece fears that borders to the north will close, and it will become one giant refugee camp, something it can ill afford, not to mention the effect on tourist numbers to the Aegean islands of Kos, Lesbos, etc.

Where have All the Motorhomes Gone? We've been here for over 2 weeks now on the best campsite we know in Greece, and apart from the 3 long-term couples who George calls the Winter People (Hans & Inger, Kurt & Heidi, Walter & Monika), there are no other campers at all. A French van came for 2 nights, a Dutch van for one night, and that is it! German motorhomers are simply afraid to come to Greece. We walked through the next campsite along the beach the other day, and they are also empty – just one Austrian van and everything very overgrown.
 
Labourers in the Olive Groves There's nothing but olives for many miles around here and the orchardists have been busy for weeks now, stripping olives off the trees by hand to fall into nets stretched on the ground. Then bagging them. Then taking the bags on overloaded ancient pickups to one of many olive mills (there's one in every village). What would they do without undocumented illegal immigrant labour? It used to be Albanians and Bulgarians, now it is people from Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. Syrians seem to get fast-tracked towards Germany.

January 2016 (Greece)

Old Harmanli. “Harmanli ('Threshing mills') is our favourite town, 10 km from Biser in southeast Bulgaria, founded by the Turks in the 16thC around a caravanserai for travellers on the road to Constantinople. It has a wide range of places to eat and drink, post office, banks, shops and a bazaar, with a busy Saturday market for local produce. The only historic sights are a stretch of wall from the Ottoman caravanserai, near the tall Hebros Hotel, and the old hump-backed Gurbav Bridge built in 1585. It now spans a dry diverted river bed, behind the police station, near the tennis club/restaurant.

Reading on a Wet Afternoon Indoors. (Margaret writing to author Joe McNally). “I've just been reading the draft chapter of the next Eddie Malloy story on your Pitmac books website. It has brightened up an unusually cold rainy afternoon indoors and I'm looking forward to the finished book. There seem to be some old favourite characters, as well as new ones to get to know.”

A Reflective Irishman. Patrick O'Gorman first contacted us when he was travelling in Portugal in his campervan. His was probably the most reflective indeed introspective travel account we have ever had (other than our own, of course). He has now settled back into life in Ireland and he is now encouraging both Literature and the Arts: http://www.patrickogorman.co.uk/Iconclast/Welcome.html

The Contemplative Reindeer. Especially liked the photo of reindeer outside the meat factory (not to be shown to the under-sevens)!

Chance Meeting. We met David Wallis over the toaster in a Penang hotel, one of those moments that take on a significance only with hindsight. David lived near the beach in Indonesia's Aceh Province, managing a cement factory. He was there on 26^th December 2004 when the tsunami struck and stayed to help with rescue, caring and rebuilding. In the aftermath he produced two fully-illustrated diaries (here and here) and become critical of the inevitable failings of major charity organisations who took over the best hotels and restaurants. It was a privilege to play a small part in the work he did, stemming from that chance meeting at breakfast.

Where has All the Writing Gone? We notice that we are receiving fewer serious long pieces of writing. The end of year letter has been replaced with daily semi-literate tweets and endless online phone-photographs, Facebook etc.

Bec and Kev's Morning Chronicle Project and the Cotton Mills of Manchester. As soon as we saw the photograph of the Morning Chronicle page, we realised what an enormous change there had been in the media, the way information is presented and in the sheer quality (one could say beauty) of the language. A wall of words when now people want videos where the image changes every 3 seconds! The content of the articles is also fascinating. The detail in the Chronicle article about working conditions and the different specialisms of the mills is all new to us. We were aware that Manchester was the home of liberal thought and practice, led by mill owners who had a good reputation for looking after their workers – eg keeping to the agreed length of the working day. The Guardian, once the mouthpiece for the Liberal Party, was of course founded as the Manchester Guardian.

Margaret's Family History and the Cotton Mills of Manchester. Margaret's granddad Herbert was a foreman in a cotton mill in Manchester, where he clocked up 50 years' service. Grandma Annie worked at the loom in the mill until she married granddad and produced Margaret's mother Ethel and Uncle Harold. I came to know and admire Harold; he served in the army in Italy, was involved in the landings at Anzio and the taking of Rome. Fascinating to listen to him. Herbert's mill closed in 1939 and he looked after it through the war years, keeping the machinery oiled etc. Ironically, when the war ended, the mill never re-opened.

Engels, Marx and the Cotton Mills of Manchester. Although born German like Marx, Engels lived and worked in Manchester for about 2 years between 1842 and 1844 and for 20 years from 1850 to 1870, during which time he was employed in his father's cotton mill. He helped to support Marx financially and worked with him in his writing, publishing and political activity. Engels' own writing included 'The Condition of the Working Class in England' published in 1844. 1848 was the year of revolutions throughout Europe, it was also the year of publication of the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels. But somehow, England remained untouched. Indeed, capitalism continues to reign supreme, its ideological apparatus evermore effective.

How Travellers Make Contact. We are motorhomers and cyclists and are very aware of the way in which a motorhome on its own can insulate you from real contact with people and places. On the other hand, in a motorhome you can carry all you need, have a great sense of freedom and are never at a loss for somewhere to sleep, eat and pee. More recently we have made journeys using a van or a car and finding rooms and places to eat, including some time in Tunisia and Bosnia. This was a good compromise for us – we feel past the strenuous days when we could back-pack and use public transport. There is no ideal way to travel, although our many long-distance bicycle journeys came the nearest!

Climbers' Songs. For some reason not to be understood by mere mortals, in my student days a song about Rothesay was included in the repertoire sung in the bus returning the East Yorkshire Mountaineering Club (almost an oxymoron in itself) to Hull from a day or a weekend of rock-climbing in the Pennines, North Wales or the Lake District. So much so that many of the words are still imbued in my brain, along with much else which is taking up space that might be better employed. http://www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_rothesayo.htm

The Puzzle of the German Umweltplakette. We had a 6-ton Fleetwood Flair RV until about 3 years ago, with a V8 petrol engine, but somehow we managed to avoid Go Boxes in that time. Nor did we enter German towns that require an Umweltplakette, so we have no personal experience. We can find no mention of emission categories for petrol-engined vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5 tons. It's clear for vehicles below 3.5 tons (cars and light vans) and above 7.5 tons (HGV's). But not in between. You do need to have a category to enter into the Go Box, so perhaps you either make one up or ask at the place where you get the box.
 
The Greek Peloponnese versus Portugal. Unlike Portugal, there are virtually no motorhomes in the Peloponnese in the winter. Most campsites are closed, the few that are open are either literally empty or with just a very few die-hards in place. Even the usual free camping spots are empty, although there are no fears of fines here and locals extend a warm welcome to any visitors. Indeed, the police are also missing, perhaps they are all in Athens and elsewhere keeping the lid on potential unrest, or 'encouraging' hundreds of thousands of migrants to get on their way north to Macedonia. However, beneath all that, the Greece we love goes on, albeit rather more slowly.
 
Banning Free Camping in Portugal and the Nature of Evidence. Thank you for your piece about free camping in Portugal which we will feature on our website with full attribution to you. You mention only two specific stories, which may be based on local factors; it will be interesting to see if this clamp down is more widespread, if it is part of a national policy. We fully agree with you that people who have spent tens of thousands on a motorhome ought to be able to spare a few euros for an Aire, helping the local economy in a small way. In Corsica, the locals call visiting motorhomers (largely French) the 'tomato-eaters', because that is all they buy. They free camp and bring everything else with them!

Greeks Bearing or Selling Gifts? Was it Homer who warned to beware of Greeks bearing gifts? Seems there is no problem with Greeks selling gifts, except ice cream. The local supermarket had an Xmas tree on top of the ice cream freezer so we had to ask if we could see what they had. It's empty, we were told. They'll get some more next April.

Changing Places. The young woman who works in the car hire office in Pylos has the ambition only to work in London (she speaks good English). We laughingly suggested that we should change places, she smiled but it isn't really very funny.

Information for Motorhomers. This an interesting query, concerning the moral values of advertisers, dealers and magazines in the motorhoming world! Anything that is commercial is inevitably run on capitalist lines - which is why our website is entirely free of adverts and there is no membership or subscription. You will find plenty of unbiased free advice there.

The Greek Tragicomedy. The Norman Atlantic story is part of what we call the Greek Tragicomedy. There have been many tragedies in recent years at this end of the Balkans, but there is also an air of comedy in the way in which they arise and are handled (or not, as the case may be). In the case of the ferry, the tragicomedy also extends to Italy.
 
http://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1276/30/

The point of tragicomedy is that it should never have happened, there is much there for those willing to learn and sometimes it's better to laugh than to cry. Greece now is full of black humour (if it's still OK to say that), their only realistic response to what is happening to them and their country as things continue to run out of control. Better that than riots. Reminds us of cycling in Iron Curtain countries in the 1980's as their economies were collapsing and people told Communist Jokes.

Special Days? Christmas and New Year are just yet more days for us. There is nothing different about those days in any noticeable way except what a false ideology imposes on them. Although the ideologies themselves are interesting – pagan, Christian and now 99% capitalist. Fascinating to see whole societies programmed into what they are supposed to do on these days. Acting out roles by the million! Even the Greeks are starting to put up fairy lights, although they probably don't know why.