Welcome to Belgium!

Belgium is not a new country for us, but it is country number 7 for Cameron.

3 countries in 3 days. Kind of reminds us of that old 1969 movie "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" where a group of American tourists do a 9 country European tour in 18 days.

We had to get up at silly o'clock!

Welcome to France! Of course France is not a new country for us, but it is country number 6 for Cameron.

He has already been to Canada, US, Mexico, Morocco, and England. And he'll be adding three more countries during this trip. Belgium today, then Netherlands and Germany.

We had to get up yesterday morning at 3:30am. Silly o'clock!

Max is sold!

Yesterday, we got up at 5:30am, and less than half an hour later we were on the maze of highways around London's Heathrow Airport to make our way on the southern ring road avoiding most of the city.

But we were all amazed by the amount of traffic at that hour. What are all these people doing already on the highway at 6:00am? We purposely did that to avoid the heavy traffic. I suppose we did though, because it would have been much worse later on.

So much to see in London

The big cities of the world require much more than two days to properly see the sights. In fact, we've often said that you need to spend a full month in places like New York City and Mexico City. And of course London.

But, when all you've got is two days, then you just make the best of it!

We did a quick tour, then got the heck out of there!

Ruth and I have been to London many times, but of course this is the first time for our grandson Cameron (age 12). So it made sense to take in some of the more popular tourist attractions and sights even though Ruth and I have seen them before. 

We left Max at the pub parking lot near Heathrow airport and walked the 20 minutes or so to the Elizabeth line tube station that should have taken us to Tottenham Court Road. But there was some kind of problem on the line.

Grandson Cameron has arrived!

We had overnighted in a small village near Stonehenge so we had about a two hour drive from there to London's Heathrow Airport where we were picking up grandson Cameron.

We took our time though, and didn't leave until after 10:00am. Then we stopped at a highway rest stop for lunch, then again at a grocery store.

Our visit to Stonehenge

We said goodbye to Julie and the pups at around 10:00am. First stop was at a computer service and repair shop just as we were leaving the town of Wellington.

Last year when we bought new laptops in Norway, we kept our old ones. Mine was still working fine, except that the battery was done. And the casing on Ruth's was falling apart, although it still worked as well.

We're headed for Stonehenge

Another mostly cloudy day with a few raindrops but nothing too wet. We took the dogs out for a good run before lunch.

It's amazing how much a dog can run. We did almost 5 kms, but I'm sure they did 50 kms or more, and most of it at full speed. Their little hearts must just be beating like crazy!

We have a plan...

I spent several hours yesterday working on our plan to get to Paris. 

Travel during July and August is expensive no matter how you do it, but I was surprised that the train was going to cost so much. From Dulmen, Germany to Paris was almost €200 ($295 CAD, $220 USD) per person for the one way trip, and with two connections and not very suitable running times.

Meet our companions for the weekend...

First up though, a travel planning update.

Our life is a logistical nightmare sometimes. But, it's part of the life we chose, so we simply deal with it. And ultimately, this most recent issue will work itself out, although always at a cost!

We finally had a day of summer!

Well, a few hours really, but we'll take it! 

With a forecast high of 21C (70F) and sunny breaks, we took the short ferry ride across the bay at Dartmouth and made our way to the popular Goodrington Beach tourist area.

A good day in Dartmouth, Devon

Again, we drove first thing in the morning, and good thing. While Dartmouth itself has more modern roads, the roads getting to Dartmouth are narrow, and big trucks use them as well.

There aren't a lot of decent motorhome options in Dartmouth. But someone told us about a popular parking app here in the UK called "Your Parking Space". It lists a variety of paid parking spots ranging from private driveways to grocery stores... at a variety of prices, some really cheap. We ended up choosing a 24 hour one in a Sainsbury grocery store parking lot for £4.60 ($7.85 CAD, $5.85 USD).

Devon and Cornwall are not very easy for a motorhome

Yesterday morning, we once again departed as soon as we woke up. It was about a one hour drive to Restormel Castle, just outside the village of Lostwithiel.

The castle is fairly remote, even though it's only a mile or so outside the village. We got there, and the gate was closed!

So many sea caves to explore!

Once again we were on the road before 7:00am making our way through the narrow country roads to the coastal village of Tintagel. We arrived at a large, totally empty parking lot with a "pay by app" sign listing prices. I had already done the research in advance and so I knew that motorhomes are allowed to stay overnight and that the cost was £8 ($13.75 CAD, $10.25 USD). 

There are several other places in the village where motorhomes can park overnight, but they all work out to approximately the same cost. This one is furthest away from the attractions, and while it was busy during the day, it was empty and very quiet overnight.

Seems everybody in this area does their grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon!

We've learned that you don't get anywhere fast in this part of England. There are no motorways, not that we would normally use them anyhow, but even the main roads in this area are narrow and curvy, and at this time of year there is a lot of traffic.

We've taken to getting up and doing our driving very early, as soon as we wake up, because it's just easier with less vehicles on the road.