Grown-up Gap Yah

Full confession, the next two stops aren’t technically directly on our route to Istanbul, but I’ve hankered after exploring the ‘Romantic Road’ since my lovely German pen-friend Martina gave me a photo book ‘Romantik in Deutschland’ at the age of thirteen. It was full of magical images of gingerbread houses and fairytale castles, literally and metaphorically miles away from South Wales! So, forty-ahem-something years later I couldn’t resist a slight detour.

It lived up to its name. The Romantische Strasse wound its way through rolling hills and valleys, many iced with snow. We stopped in a fantastic campsite nestling in the valley below the town of Rothenburg. Eagle eyed readers will have spotted the flaw in that, and indeed it was a challenging yomp up the hill in the snow, but worth every step.

The town is like a film set- and there’s a reason for that- it’s been the location or inspiration for films like Pinocchio, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. When going around one corner I fully expected the child catcher to snatch me!

Quick campsite comment:

We stayed at Tauberromantik campsite in Detwang, a mile below Rothenburg.

The good bits: Fabulous campsite- the best yet. Beautiful location, great shop, top laundry area and AMAZING showers and vanity units with hairdryers. Absolute luxury!

The bad bits: It is a steep twenty-minute walk up to Rothenburg, but worth it when you get there.

Our first night was in Bruges and the weather was biblical, we had sleet, hail and gales, fortunately we are still travel-fresh, enthusiastic and hardened by living in Yorkshire! I wasn’t sure my super-light down Uniqlo jacket (picked because it packs down into a tiny bag) was going to hack it. I had visions of channeling Joey from Friends and wearing all my layers at the same time- but we fired up the Webasto heater and it totally did the job. We were warm as toast watching ‘In Bruges’ to get in the zone. Sadly Colin Farrell was nowhere to be seen in Bruges, so Mr G filled in!

Today was a classic Gilbert-style whistle-stop yomp around beautiful Bruges: Climb the tower, tick, Belgian waffle, tick, Canals and bridges, tick, Belgian beer tick. The good news is that we made it safely up the narrow winding stairs to the top of the tower and no one pushed anyone off!

We couldn’t resist the lure of the Torture Museum, a truly gory celebration of torture techniques from the macabre and Medieval to devices that were still being used in the late twentieth century. I don’t know if Mr G was looking for inspiration- but I think he knows that there’s no more effective torture than putting something in the wrong place in the van and letting me hunt out the rattle.

Finally a quick campsite comment:

We stayed at Camping Memling

Veltemweg 109
8310 Brugge
België

The good bits: It was in a quiet location about 3k from Bruges. We walked it in 40 minutes- and we were pootling and looking in shops en route. The showers were warm, clean and the water was plentiful- one of the best we’ve stayed in. Laundry and washing-up facilities were also excellent and there’s a communal lounge with a coffee machine which is a bonus. Bus stop, supermarket and lovely delis all within 500 metres. We’d really recommend this spot.

The bad bits: Not much to be fair, it was 30 Euro a night, which is on the higher end but brilliantly run and very much worth the extra.

The van’s packed, the fridge is full and we’re off. Ten weeks, 5,000 miles, 40 stops and a gazillion packing cubes – Istanbul here we come!

Just three days until we head off on our odyssey across Europe. With Covid, Putin and rocketing fuel prices it looked like we wouldn’t make it to the starting line (and of course, there’s still time for something to go wrong <touches wood and salutes at a magpie>) but hopefully in 80 odd hours we’ll leave rainy Yorkshire and head through the tunnel to start our journey.

Of course, all that means I can’t put off the packing process any more. The problem is, my list is loooooong and the van is small. It’s going to be #vanlife jenga getting everything in. We’re in the chilly north of Europe in April and the balmy south in June, which means we need to plan for snow, rain, heatwaves and everything in between. That’s a lot of layers, and shoe options, many many shoe options.

To make packing easier I’ve invested in cubes- in fact I’ve got so many packing solutions that Mr G says there won’t be room in the van for us. We’re going hard-core with no roof box or trailer, so ruthless streamlining is needed. And if everything doesn’t fit, Mr G is going to have to sacrifice a limb or two.

We’ve stolen our trip name from the classic war film ‘Ice Cold in Alex’. John Mills, Sylvia Syms et al survived a long, hot and challenging journey to Alexandria, with only the thought of a cold beer at the end keeping them going. At the end of our, hopefully rather less arduous drive, we’ll have an #IceColdinIstanbul to celebrate.