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WHAT IS NEW in 2008

Here, in chronological order, is a summary of what is new in MagBazTravels in 2008. You can get straight to the article or photographs by clicking on the link, or you can find the piece through the normal menu system.

DATE 

ARTICLE

CLICK HERE

  What was New in Previous Years: Links to the articles that were new in the period June 2005 to December 2007. 

 What Was New in 2005-7

23 Jul In Bulgaria Summer 2008: Here we begin to give some account of our time in Southeast Bulgaria in the heat of high summer. Surrounded by borders with Greece and Turkey, we get to know the ancient Rhodope mountains and life in post-EU rural Bulgaria. 

 In Bulgaria Summer 2008

23 Jul Paul and Sheila Barker's Great Travel Collection: We have added links to the Barker's superb accounts of motorhome travels in Hungary, Denmark, Sicily, Alsace, Greece, Slovenia, the Pyrenees and, most recently, Croatia. See all the original writing, maps and photographs on their own well-crafted website.  

 Travels with the Barkers

10 Jul In Turkey June 2008: Our 3-month, 3,700-mile (5,920 km) Tour of Turkey ended as we crossed the Bosphorus to re-enter Europe. After a return visit to the magnificent border city of Edirne, the question is: Greece or Bulgaria?  In Turkey: June 2008
8 Jul In Turkey May 2008: At the end of May, having followed the Mediterranean coast from beginning to end, we visited Antioch, the Syrian border and crossed the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, reaching the Black Sea Coast at its eastern end - the border with Georgia.

 In Turkey: May 2008

8 Jul In Turkey April 2008: 1 month into a 3-month tour, the April log is complete, fully illustrated and linked. It has taken us from the Greek/Turkish border to Sedre, east of Alanya, in 1,000-miles of fascinating and colourful travel.

 In Turkey: April 2008

20 Jun Travel Notes for Turkey: An updated version of the Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) notes, broadened to be of use to motorhomers and other travellers.

 Turkey: Travel Notes

20 Jun 46 Campsites in Turkey: As we progressed through Turkey, we updated our list of campsites suitable for motorhomes. We cover the region from Istanbul, along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts to the Syrian border, inland across eastern Anatolia and along the Black Sea Coast to Edirne on the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. 

 

46 Turkish Campsites

20 Jun Margaret's Guide to Turkish: Here is the definitive list of words and phrases that will enable the traveller to get by in a language that has no common roots with English, German, Latin, Greek - or anything European. 

 Useful Turkish Words and Phrases

20 Jun Turkish Tour Place Names: Here, in chronological order, are all the places we passed through on our current 3-month, 3,500-mile Tour of Turkey. Places where we stayed for at least one night are highlighted.

 Turkish Place Names

20 Jun Cycling in New Zealand:  At last, we have begun to write up a detailed account (with maps and images) of our 4,625-mile (7,400-km) ride from the top to the bottom of both Islands - and back again, as part of a 12,000-mile (19,200-km) round-the-world ride in 2000/1.   Riding Among the Kiwis
20 Jun Crete, the Ultimate Guide: Ray Berry once drove a VW campervan to Afghanistan, but was turned back at the Pakistan border. Returning, he settled in Greece and now lives in Crete, an island he knows and loves well. It is a pleasure to share that love and knowledge. 

 Ultimate Guide to Crete

20 Jun New Motorhomers Guide to France: Alan Russell's valuable resource for British motorhomers visiting France. Growing all the time, it describes 824 Aires and 186 Campsites, with travel articles, motorhome tours, tourist information, news, letters, adverts, a forum, 3,000 images and much more!  

 Motorhomers Guide to France

21 May Images of the Mount Nemrut Gods:  A photographer's technicolour dream and greatest challenge: Nemrut's stone gods on their pyramid, the Roman bridges, forts, pillars and caves on the challenging approach road - and the panoramic view over eastern Anatolia and the massive Euphrates River Dam project.

 The Stone Gods of Mount Nemrut

21 May The Don Madge Collection: There are now 14 articles in this unique collection. From his great experience, Don has added articles on the German Stellplatz, downsizing to a Timberland Freedom motorhome, free parking in Portugal, Wintering Away and the Iberian Peninsula. 

 The 14-piece Don Madge Collection

21 May Readers' Comments: We have now received  240 Readers' Comments with only one hinting at a negative - and that from one of Margaret's nearest and dearest! 

240 Readers' Comments 

21 May Fellow Travellers: 36 long-term, long-distance travellers by motorhome and/or bicycle have now contributed articles and images to this website. Here is the complete list, with links to their work. 

 Our Fellow Travellers

18 May Cyprus: Four articles for motorhomers planning to visit Northern Cyprus by ferry from the Turkish port of Tasucu, covering the tricky business of crossing into and back from Southern Cyprus with or without the motorhome and with or without a hire car instead!  

 Travels on a Troubled Island

7 May The Webbs in the Granite Island: Following their Tour of Sardinia, Cindy describes a journey through the beautiful island of Corsica, from arrival in Bonifacio in the south to departure for Nice from the northern port of Bastia.

 Corsica by the World-Wide-Webbs

4 May Images of Motorhome and Bicycles: Campground WiFi and time have enabled us to add to the number of images of our cycling, of our Paul Hewitt touring bicycles, and of our Fleetwood Flair motorhome. 

Worldwide Cycling

Paul Hewitt Tourers

Fleetwood Flair

30 Apr Campsites of the Turkish Camping and Caravanning Club: Meeting the Club's President, Koray Tezcan, at Sedre Club Camping, gave us this updated and annotated list of Turkey's campsites. The original list can be found on the club's website, along with much more information, albeit in Turkish.

TKKD Campsite List

30 Apr Autumn Festival at Sedre Camping, Antalya, Turkey: This will be the second Mediterranean Festival of Culture and Caravanning, hosted by Sedre Camping. You will be welcome.

Autumn Camping Festival in Turkey

30 Apr Sedre Camping Brochure and Local Guide: Making good progress along Turkey's eastern Mediterranean coast, we pause at this excellent campsite to plan motorhome travels in Cyprus.  

On the Shores of the Mediterranean

22 Apr Images of Turkey: Even a 1 GB digital photo card can hardly cope when we are motorhoming and cycling in one of the world's most picturesque countries.

 Images of Turkey

22 Apr

Spring in Sardinia: Cindy Webb has already contributed articles to this website on motorhome travel in the USA, in Iceland and in Turkey. Here she describes a tour of Sardinia, even as she and partner Martin are making it!

A Motorhome Tour of Sardinia

22 Apr Ferries to Morocco: Paul Jessup uses his motorhome to commute between Tenerife and France, traversing the length of Morocco on his route!

 Morocco by the Back Door

21 Apr Jersey: Hymer owners, James and Carol Rowley, live in Jersey and provided some useful and surprising information on visiting their island with a motorhome. 

 Motorhoming in Jersey

16 Apr Cycling in the Welsh Borders: Last summer (2007) we rode several hundred miles exploring the border areas in and around the Ceiriog Valley. Here are 15 detailed accounts of day rides among mountains and valleys, with a separate list of places to eat, drink, rest or stay. 

 15 Rides in the Welsh Borders

Places In and Around the Ceiriog Valley

16 Apr Free Motorhome Camping in the UK: Starting with a warning about the repressive nature of the law, this a list of places to spend a free night in the UK, Ireland and Isle of Man. Contact Us with amendments and additions. 

 Free Camping in the UK

9 Apr From Greece into Turkey: After 3 months in our favourite winter corner of the Greek Peloponnese, we have motorhomed 800 miles (1,280 km) to the Turkish border. On the way, we cycled 80 miles round the Mani Peninsula. 

 From Greece into Turkey

Cycling the Mani Peninsula

29 Mar

Greater Freedom to Roam: Bakers of Cheltenham (our motorhome insurance agents) have changed their policy to give greater freedom to roam the boundaries of Europe - but only if you want to - and at an extra premium. More details in our survey of 35 agents.

 Give More Bread to Bakers

29 Mar Gas Attacks, Buying Secondhand & Base Vehicle Types: Here is a clutch of topical and relevent articles from the MMM. A sceptical view is taken of gas attacks at night; motorhomes are best bought from dealers and a very wide-ranging review is made of base vehicle availability and suitability. 

 Gas Attacks

Buying Secondhand

Base Vehicle Types

27 Mar Fishing for Tourists: John Foster considers the possible future(s) for Finikounda, a small Greek fishing village, slowly changing into a holiday resort. Nearby are two excellent campsites, open all year for motorhomers.

 Finikounda: Evolution or Ruin?

14 Mar Cycling the Mountains of Messinia: With maps, profiles and photographs, this is an acocunt of our 200-mile (320 km) cycle ride through the mountains of the southern Peloponnese. The profiles account for 16,300 ft (4,939 m) of climbing through this rugged land 

 Cycling in Messinia

2 Mar   A to Z Update: The most popular item in the website, the 16,000 word 'A to Z of Long-term Motorhoming', twice published by the MMM, is being extended and updated. This is the result of the first phase of improvement. 

 A to Z Update

2 Mar  Earthquake Country: Greek TV has been full of stories of 'Richters' and 'Seismos' down here in the southern Peloponnese. Here's our story. 

 Quaking on the Beach

2 Mar  Tenby Ace Cycling Club: With a forum, photo gallery, club runs, history, links, contact details and a coach's corner with training advice, this website is an excellent example for other clubs to follow.

 Tenby Ace Cycling Club

22 Feb Current Travel Log Update: Earthquakes, snow, living with goat herders, strikes, an eclipse of the moon - all part of a quiet winter stay in the southern Peloponnese of Greece. 

 Winter Quarters

22 Feb 30,000 miles in the USA: Cindy and Martin Webb shipped their Pilote Atlantis motorhome to the USA for a year-long, 30,000-mile (48,000-km) tour from Alaska to Florida. Here, capturing the excitement, is a 12,000-word account.  

 Atlantis over the Atlantic

Images of the Journey

22 Feb Travels in New Zealand: Using our winter break in Greece, we have finally processed some images from our travels in New Zealand: by bicycle in 2000 and by bicycle and motorhome in 2002.

 New Zealand 2000

New Zealand 2002

22 Feb Travelling Books: We carry nearly 100 books on our current journey as well as a few on loan from the extensive library of expatriate friends, John and Lis. Here are the details, plus a few from Keith Durham.

 Travelling Books for Travellers

22 Feb BBB Pull the Plug: Finally, after slowly reducing the service over the years, the BBC has ended all short-wave broadcasts to Europe, claiming 'lack of demand'. What are the radio alternatives? 

 Death of the Short Wave

22 Feb Googling all the Way to Greece: Ian Shires plans to drive his lwb Defender Land Rover from Budapest to Greece. Unhappy with old-fashioned maps, he finds a way to connect a Garmin SatNav to Google satellite maps via his Mac and comes up with one hundred campsites! 

The 3D Way to Greece

12 Feb Beating the Bounds of Europe: Here are 17 places that mark the edges of the motorhomer's Europe. From Cape Gkreko in Cyprus to Slea Head in Eire; from Norway's Nordkapp to Spain's Punta de Tarifa, what's your tally? 

 The Four Corners of Europe

12 Feb Security Advice for Truckers: If this advice is good enough for truckers with large vehicles and valuable loads, sleeping in service areas and laybys, it's good enough for the motorhomer. Included is a link to a free 91-page downloadable guide to truck stops throughout Europe.  

 Security Advice for Truck Drivers

12 Feb Getting Gas on the Continent: From the website of the Caravan Club with some additions from us, here's good information on obtaining gas when across the Channel. There is also a link to other Caravan Club free download guides.  

 LPG in Mainland Europe

12 Feb Four Mobile Phone Tips: From the keyboard of Cindy Webb's daughter in Dubai, here are 4 mobile phone tips that will surpise you and perhaps help in an emergency. 

 Mobile Phone Tips

12 Feb Legal Requirements Around Europe: Here, to save you a fine or worse, are details of 12 legal requirements for a vehicle in 32 European countries. Spare bulbs? Reflective Jacket? Warning Triangle? Tow Rope? Daytime Lights?You will be surprised. 

 Legal Requirements in Europe

12 Feb Dr Henn Exposed: Klaus Gruner gives the true story of Max Henn and the myths that grew up around the man and his hotel in Bangkok; myths repeated in the article, Tour of Thailand 2007, on this website.

 End of a Thai Myth

12 Feb Idyllic Camping in Croatia: Caravan Club Overseas Site Inspectors, Graham and Verica Peacock, highly recommend Camping Prapratno on the Adriatic near Ston and 30 miles north of Dubrovnik.  

 Camping in Croatia

6 Feb Five New Recommended Websites: Making a total of 18 websites by long-term, long-distance travellers and recommended by long-distance, long-term travellers. These are people out there on the road, finding time to share their experiences. 

 Sites By Travellers for Travellers

6 Feb Camping in Lithuania: Motorhomer Malcolm Hill recommends Camping Harmonie in Rudiskes, near Vilnius the capital of Lithuania. A full description and 8 images do justice to this very well designed and run Dutch-managed site. 

 Camping in Lithuania

6 Feb Palestine: In 2007, Mike Vere spent 3 months teaching Palestinian children in the village of Ibillin near the Sea of Galilee. This is his fascinating account of that work and his plans for further involvement. We met Mike and Christine in 2006, in their Hobby motorhome in the far northeast of Norway, near the Russian border!

 Mike Vere in Galilee

30 Jan New Flair Motorhome: Here are full (and we do mean 'full') details of our new (to us) 26 ft Fleetwood Flair Motorhome, specially imported from the USA by Motorhome Medics of Cheltenham. 

A Flair for Detail

Motorhome Medics

30 Jan New Paul Hewitt Touring Bicycles: We've now ridden 2,000 km (1,250 miles) on our specially-built Hewitt touring cycles. Here is their full specification, details of Paul's excellent service in Leyland and a general discussion of touring bicycle design. 

 Paul Hewitt Tourers

16 Jan New Front Page: The Front Page has been rewritten to give a guide to the website as whole. There is a new page which is simply About Us. 

 New Front Page

New 'About Us'

16 Jan Images of Rod Out West: Fellow motorhomer, Rod Heely, met in Greece, collected some great images of his March 2007 visit to the West of England in his Swift Sundance motorhome.

 Images of the Sundance Kid out West

16 Jan Images of an Autumn Journey to Greece: This collection of images was taken on our Autumn 2007 motorhome journey through Provence, across Italy to Ancona, on the ferry to Patras, down the west coast of the Peloponnese and settled at the foot of the Messinian peninsula.

 In Provence

Provence to Ancona

Patras to Messinia

In Messinia

14 Jan

Winter in Greece 2007/8: This is the illustrated travel log of our winter in the Messinian Peninsula in the southwest corner of the Peloponnese. The account includes motorhoming life, as well as cycling and walking in the remote mountains and meetings with expatriates and fellow-travellers.

 A Winter in Greece

14 Jan A Motorhome Journey to Greece: This is our illustrated daily travel log of a 1,453-mile (2,325-km) Autumn 2007 motorhome journey through France and Italy from Cherbourg to Ancona and a Superfast ferry to Patras and into the Greek Peloponnese. 

 By Motorhome to Greece

14 Jan Campgrounds Open All Year in Greece: We have updated and added to our guide to campgrounds which remain open all year in Greece. The sites are mainly in the Peloponnese where almost all your needs can be met for as little as €8 (£5.50) per night.

 Open-All-Year Camping in Greece 

14 Jan Free Camping in the Greek Peloponnese: Based on our own experience, here is a guide to free camping (aka 'overnight parking') in the Greek Peloponnese, all the way round the coast starting in Patras. 

 Free Camping in the Greek Peloponnese

14 Jan Kalavryta Massacre 1943: Taken from the weekly English Language newspaper, the Athens News, this is a detailed account of the German Army's massacre of 696 innocent Greek villagers in the beautiful mountain town of Kalavryta and a number of surrounding villages and monasteries.

 The Slaughter of Innocents

14 Jan

Greece Behind the Headlines: Taken from just 2 editions of the weekly English Language newspaper, the Athens News, here is a glimpse of the real Greece in which the unimaginable becomes the commonplace!

The Realities of Modern Greece