20th week Meteora Monasteries, Igoumenitsa, Albanian Border, Venice

Monday 12^th September 2011 However woke feeling very depleted, it was very warm, decided I would save the other monasteries for a cooler climate next spring. I headed through the mountains and tunnels towards Igoumenitsa and the Albanian border. There were more tunnels than scenery along this route and none of the toll booths were open, I think they were on strike, or had never even been opened. What a waste of revenue. Good for me, not good for Greece. Filled up in Igoumenitsa with diesel and proceeded to the border, and guess what, the Customs officials were on strike for 2 days. Met some Austrians who were also caught up in the strike, Ricky and Bill, had a drink together and then proceeded to the nearest beach until Wednesday morning when hopefully the strike would end. Whilst sitting and talking about their Hungarian Electric Scooter for €500 from Tesco's near to where they went in winter to a thermal baths, looked good, but the battery was very heavy and I couldn't possibly take it out of the bike, however there was a charge up point in the frame which was handy. They gave me a brochure on Butrint, Albania, from the Rothchild Foundation, London. They thought this place was much better even than Olympus in SW Greece. They were a bit worried that I was thinking of driving through Albanian as they had tried it themselves and felt the roads were horrendous. They were going back to Igoumenitsa and up to Venice €500 return trip for 2, early September/late October. So here I am sitting on the deserted beach typing up my notes, getting a hot head and thinking that sometime today I had better start my van as the battery was not holding it's charge from the long drive on Saturday and Sunday.

Camping on the beach

Goats waking us up the next morning

Come the evening, a German couple parked beside me. I casually asked if they were going through to Albania. He said 'No' and wouldn't even try it, very bad roads. So that's 2 motorhomers now saying that. A third very large off road German vehicle turned up too, and Ricky said I ought to ask them about Albanian roads! That was it. I just couldn't face any more bad roads, my mind was made up, I would go and book the ferry to Venice in the morning and just drive back to UK by the ferry from Dunkirk which I had booked last December, for 8am on 20^th September 2011. At least it didn't involve any further expense and the tank of diesel I already had plus another would get me back home in five days. TT reckons 830 miles from Venice to Dunkirk. Fine by me. Did want to go up that Adriatic coast, perhaps another time, very much depending on whether Albania can get their roads sorted! Perhaps I can back pack sometime! Ha ha!

Wednesday, 14th September 2011 I left a note for Ricky and Bill, because I knew they wouldn't surface until much later and as I was getting whiffs of cigarette smoke in the van, it was time to leave. It was about 9am, there was quite a lot of traffic about and I drifted into Igoumenitsa drove along the sea front past the old harbour and on to the new harbour to look for Linos travel, recommended by the neighbourly German. He said even if Minoan Lines said they had no spaces, Linos always managed to get one. We had worked out that the fare would be about €220 what we forgot was the government tax, which brought it up to €247, which after all that, didn't think it was too bad it was saving me 800 miles travelling, tolls and various other taxes through each country, and best of all, no more bumpy roads.

Going back to Igoumenitsa

The owner of Linos Travel asked me how old I was when calculating the fare! So I replied “67”. “You don't look that old” he said and “Why is there no husband.” Well, did he need to ask! He invited me to sit down “and be the owner” while he went round the corner to get the ticket and ask for a discount! He didn't manage to get one, never mind. The gentleman gave me a very flowery farewell and then presented me with some red worry beads advertising his Agency and Igoumenitsa! It said “from Igoumenitsa with love” phone 2665023493, and Linos Travel on the other side.

Another beach campsite before the ferry still about 36C

My new gentleman friend told me where to find a beach with other travellers which was the turning left, before the football stadium and just to follow the road. Nea Selefkeia N39°30;53” E20°12'46”. I spent the day on the beach; signs which said “No Camping” but the signs were very old and absolutely no one paid any attention to them. Again it was hot too, and I didn't want to go in the sea, it was very shallow; there were no showers on the beach and I didn't have enough water to last the next few days; so I just carried on with various jobs in the van and read my Michael Connelly book “The Poet”. It was the second time of reading and just as exciting as the first; the plot probably clearer this time round.

My second visit to Venice after 17 years

Thursday 15th September, 2011 Making sure I would wake up at 7am in order to get to the port by 8am, I set 2 alarms. The port was already very full and I wondered whether I would get on. When eventually it was my turn, I stopped on the ramp, yuk! Very gingerly allowing myself to crawl up the slope without spinning the wheels. Good job it wasn't wet! By the time we had all parked, and had been **given our hook-ups from the electric reels above in the metal ceiling, I settled down for the voyage. It was so smooth, I hadn't realised we'd left and missed pictures. The boat was full to the brim, the last man on with a boat in tow was half way down the ramp!

I ventured upstairs, had a coffee and muffin; went out on deck until we were turfed off by the cleaners wanting to clean the deck. I tried to get comfortable in a lounge but it didn't work, so eventually went downstairs, opened up the windows and had a nap. Then lunch; I wandered off to see if there were any other Brits on board. Met a couple Ann and Tony who lived on Crete and were going back to UK with their little dachshund dog. There was one other UK couple on board but I didn't find them. Nearly finished my book, napped and it was time for an evening meal. There was a glorious sunset, you could see the rays of light against the sky, hopefully it will come out in the picture. The sea was getting a bit rough, but it really wasn't a problem. I suddenly realised that the 9am arrival at Venice was probably one hour less than now. So I had better be ready on time too, because I wanted to see Venice in the morning light if I could. I was feeling the movement of the sea and just hoped that my inner ear was going to behave itself over the next 12 hours. Perhaps I should have taken a pill, but when it was so calm, there didn't seem much point.

getting off the ferry with the liner behind

Friday 16th September 2011 Coming off the ferry was very simple, decided to go to an Aire at Treviso in order to empty loo and get some water. Absolutely no problem. Warm sunny day, so decided to head for Jachenau and an aire there. The journey was good, some tolls, and when I got to the Brenner Pass I had to pay €8 toll and €7.90 vignette for the Austrian toll roads, on which I only travelled 20 kms at the most. The mountainous country was marvellous, the air seemed so much cleaner here too. I hit an aire about 5.30pm, decided I couldn't go further, so pulled up promptly, ate, then slept. Lovely quiet location although I was near the entrance, close to the ticket machine €5 per day, 3 days maximum. I learnt later that my cousin's wife was instrumental in setting up this aire. However, only problem, was there was no toilet emptying facilities, although there were at least four portaloos in the area.

Through Italy to Austria

Saturday, 17th September, 2011 I woke earlyish but didn't hurry. Kate's cousin's village was only about 12 kms away, and wasn't sure whether he was there anyway. I decided to go around the lake on the toll road which was €5. It was very pleasant. Lots of parking spaces, beautiful views, but you could only enter the park from 8am till 10pm, and there were notices up everywhere. This was because lots of Austrians used to come up and camp out here, and it got too much so they have to put a stop to it, hence the toll road. When I first saw the village of Jachenau it looked very special to me, very well laid out, buildings pristine. I managed to find my cousin's house, although I didn't have the right number. He explained later that the emergency services and courier services complained that the numbers were incorrect and they couldn't find the right address, particularly in an emergency. It was a bit of a shock to find them there, and I was somewhat embarrassed to ring the doorbell without having announced myself, except for a very garbled message on the phone yesterday! Hanni opened the door, she recognised me and immediately said we are leaving in 30 minutes to go on holiday. More embarrassment, however, they didn't actually leave until 3 pm to go to a 60th birthday party in Munich. David certainly didn't recognise me, when last he saw me I was in fancy dress as the Green Hulk! They had had a bad morning. A lot of paper had been taken to the recycling unit and the wrong papers had been thrown into the bin. They had spent the entire morning looking for the lost documents to no avail. And, then I turned up.

Collecting the mown grass from the Spellplatz near Jachenau

They went on their way and I decided to follow through Munich and onwards probably towards Hymerring, the Eurocamp (GPS in earlier section) facility where there were lots of parking spaces and electricity if you required it. The drive to Hymerring was quite uneventful, traffic fast as usual! Lots of lorries, but got to my destination swiftly and safely. The weather had turned very dull with intermittent rain.

Sunday, 18th September, 2011 Texted my daughter-in-law Kate who reminded me that the 20th September was in fact Tuesday, and not Wednesday as I had texted. Oops, that meant I was a day out in my calculations for driving to Dunkirk. Glad someone was on the ball. I said I'd be arriving after lunch on Tuesday and many thanks for putting me right on the date; I might have missed the ferry which had been booked for 9 months! They were not going to tell the girls (my three granddaughters), but apparently Simon told Sophia the oldest one. So it wasn't such a big surprise to her. Rosanna and Margot apparently didn't get to be told the secret!

The journey today was again along the autobahn, no tolls, lovely road. Unfortunately, at 199 kms into the journey there was a huge traffic jam. It was just at the intersection of the A66 which I took and instructed TT to take me by the shortest route to Eupen, the aire just inside the Belgian border. It had started to rain and was very dull. The route went up and down hills, forests, beautiful villages where they were celebrating harvest by placing creatively designed scarecrows at the entry and exit points of the villages. Some were also having a beer festivals with lots of people dressed in their local costumes. The journey was quite eventful and certainly more interesting than the autobahn. Eupen, of course, hadn't changed since last time. When I arrived, there were no other motorhomes, however by the time I left the next morning there were about 7 of us. It rained heavily during the night but didn't interfere with my sleeping too much.