Tag Archives: Great walks

Europe 2017, Netherlands

The City of Bikes

And it is Amsterdam. Dianne found a great camping ground just on the edge of town surrounded by Canals. The campground sold 3 day tickets where you could swipe on or off the tram as much as you liked. This worked really well.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

Ralph and Harry in Amsterdam

The first night we went in to have a bit of look around and ended up having tea in the town and checking out the red light area.

Fiona, Gary and Dianne trying to find somewhere to eat

Day two we got up early and headed in so Fiona could check out the Art in Rijksmuseum.

A Famous walk bridge
One of the oldest foot bridges over a canal
Bike mayhem
The car accident on the bridge
A Dethleffs in the campground 🙂
Lots of young people in tents in our campground.
Gary, Fiona and Dianne at a cafe
On the way there was a car accident on one of the bridges so that was as far as the Tram could go. One of the downsides of Trams of course is they can’t go  around the obstruction so we walked the rest of the way.

We stopped at a pub on the first night by the Cathedral for a beer
One of the larger canals where the accident was.

While Fiona was at the Art Museum, Gary, Dianne and I got on a Hop on Hop off round and Round open roof ferry. For 19 Euros, we could go right around the city by Canal with an audio commentary which was fantastic. Not great for taking piccies as you could only shoot out of the sides.

During the Hop on Hop off trip

One of comments which came across was that the canals are 3 metres deep. One metre of Water, One Metre of Mud and another Metre of bicycles 🙂

Madame Tussauds in the Dam square

On our third day there, Fiona and Dianne were keen to check out a Diamond Factory. I didn’t think I’d like it but I found it quite interesting. It was quite tourist tatty and the free coffee was awful but great to see.

Fiona with a big sample Diamond

One of the curious things I found with Amsterdam is Bikes have right of way over EVERYTHING!

One of the oldest foot bridges over a canal

The Bike lanes are everywhere and they go like the clappers and they simply ring the bell if you get in their  way. It is quite intimidating. Also in the bike lanes are scooters and small cars and they go even faster. Often there is only a few inches between the edge of the footpath and a scooter doing 30-40kph! .. Its not uncommon to see people speeding along on bikes on their cell phone with a child strapped on somewhere.

Bikes rule !

So much history.. most of the buildings are centuries old and some have a lean either forward or sideways 🙂

Next to the campground.

Amsterdam is a really interesting city. Next were moving on to Germany.

Europe 2017, UK

Shakespeare Country

While had the rental car we found that we weren’t really that far from Stratford on Avon so we’d do a trip up there for a look around.

Shops at Moreton on Marsh

On the way we stopped at a neat wee town called Moreton on Marsh and also had a walk around there.

Moreton  on marsh Hotel

We noticed one of the pubs there was doing specials around the Sky showing of the Lions V the All Blacks so we asked if we could watch the Americas Cup as a back up plan and they were very welcoming. We managed to get our Sky Go app and internet issues sorted so it wasn’t necessary but very kind of them.

Stratford on Avon was an amazing town. It was chocker with people having fun everywhere and again some more of those lovely old buildings. These looked even older but more Thatched roofs and from basic building practices.

The Canal was busy with a couple of Narrow boats set up as Ice cream shops doing a great trade. There were canal boats parked on the river and moving in all directions along with tour boats and a larger restaurant barge left while we were there.

We had a good wander up through the shopping streets to look at some of the old buildings.

The Oldest House

There is one house there that is said to the oldest house still lived in. Part of it has been turned into a museum. It is just great seeing all these towns and they’re all different.

Europe 2017, UK

Buns on the Bridge

With the Covid Germ still out there still and it stifling our travel plans, I thought it would be a good time to revisit our month in  Europe in a  Motorhome  following friends Gary and Dianne a few years ago…  about 15 odd posts!

Enjoy

————————————————————————————-

The temperature had dropped from the 30’s down to a nice 20C so we set out for a walk with Fiona’s school friend from Exmouth, Hilary.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

Hilary and Fiona in Bath

Fiona and  Hilary’s dads  were both in the NZ and British Army in Terendak Military Camp in Malaya when they were both about 8 years old.
This was the first time they had seen each other since then so it was a real occasion for them both.

Escape route for seagulls under the bridge
The shops on the bridge

We were heading towards the  Bath Bridge for a look and maybe have lunch around that way. It is amazing with shops and cafes all built on the bridge over a weir and a canal so the boats can pass on the Avon river below. Stunning place.

Fiona and Hilary enjoying lunch on the bridge. A refection of a cyclist riding by in the window.
Shops on the bridge
A Tour boat on the Avon by the weir
Looking down the river
A canal boat cruising down the Avon
The Bath Bridge
People enjoying their afternoon

 

Back to the Abbey Hotel where we’re staying.

On the way back to the Hotel it was really nice to see people in deck chairs and just soaking up the views and the sun.

Europe 2017, UK

A Heatwave in Bath

With the Covid Germ still out there still and it stifling our travel plans, I thought it would be a good time to revisit our month in  Europe in a  Motorhome  following friends Gary and Dianne a few years ago…  about 15 odd posts!

Enjoy

————————————————————————————-

32 degrees C and I thought they only have snow here. Its Hot!!

Click on the images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

We were up early to leave our London digs and to get to Paddington where the Bath train left from, we had to catch two Tube Trains. They are amazingly efficient and once you get your head around them, theyre fantastic. We were at Paddington with time left over for a thickshake and some free Wifi at McDonalds 🙂

The Bath Abbey

After an hour or so we arrived in Bath.  We caught a Taxi to the Hotel which has to go round the back of Bath due to the one way streets to get to our Hotel, and then later in the day during our walk, discovered that the Station is only just around the corner.  Oh well .. it was hot and we had a fair bit of luggage to drag around  😉

Just outside London. You don’t see these anymore but this is a full working Gasometer!
The Bath Abbey
One of the quirky shops
The Main shopping street
Main Street

We dropped off our bags and went for a wander around to check out the town. This is one very old town which I think was built by the Romans and like the other towns has the same stunning old buildings. Some of these though are really old.

The Roman Baths arch over the street

We spent the afternoon sitting out the heat under an umbrella with some cold drinks watching all the tourists board their buses outside the hotel.

Fiona in the Umbrella Street. I’m not sure what this was all about but it is a bit different 🙂

A lovely town with more to do with the rental car over the next few days.

Europe 2017, UK

Round and Round

With the Covid Germ still out there still and it stifling our travel plans, I thought it would be a good time to revisit our month in  Europe in a  Motorhome  following friends Gary and Dianne a few years ago…  about 15 odd posts!

Enjoy

————————————————————————————-

We arrived in London about midday and from the train station headed straight to our Hotel by the British Museum.

The Morgan, where we stayed in London

It was really handy to everything and only a block or so away from two of the Tube stations from significant lines.

The British Museum just around the corner

The next morning, we headed up the road to a bus stop for the Hop on Hop off bus or as many call it, “The round and round bus”. Armed with our London pass, we headed off down into the London traffic on an open top Double Decker bus and it was great.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

St Pauls from the traffic !

Down to Trafalgar Square and then we went left along the Strand and then to Fleet St. Here we hit the traffic and didn’t move for about 20 minutes!! It eventually let us past St Pauls and not long after that, we ended up at The Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

From the Tower Bridge

Once we got across the Tower Bridge we hit the traffic again. It was almost gridlock and I think it took about an hour to get through to Southhampton bridge which is near where the London eye is.

Nice apartments opposite the Museum
The Shaftsbury Theatre
Cleaning with a view
Fleet Street
Crossing the Tower Bridge
The Tower Bridge
Big Ben
The Shard behind the Tower of London

There is a lot of construction going on down there with several new apartments blocks going up.

House of Parliament

We got across to Westminster where we got off the bus and headed for the Cathedral.

Fiona outside Westminster Abbey

What an amazing building and it just oozes history.

The audio tour is great and a must do but both Fiona and I struggled to understand what we were looking at as the Audio tour didn’t really line up with the map very well. We got there in the end and it was time to find a pub for lunch.

Just around the corner in Parliament St was the Red Lion pub which had an upstairs dining room. I had the biggest Cod and chips with mushy peas I’ve ever seen in my life with an English beer.
The fish was fantastic, the beer was fine.. it was called Londons Pride but not being a big beer drinker I was really just interested in a taste. I think I prefer Heinekin as far as beer goes.
Great service, resonable prices and nice food.. This was the first time I’ve had mushy peas and I loved them. Fiona had a chicken salad and that was great too. .. washed down with a quality English cider which neither of us can remember the name of.

The Household cavalry Museum

We left here looking for the Churchill War room but the queue was so long and in the heatwave sun, we decided to flag it and while Fiona headed for the Household Cavalry Museum, I headed towards the Marble Arch and got some images of Buckingham Palace and the arch itself.

Marble Arch

The Household Cavalry has a close association with the Coldstream Guards. Fiona’s dad served in Malaya with the Coldstream Guards under the then CO Sir Ralph (pronounced Rafe) Anstruther who Rafe is named after.

Buckingham Palace down the Mall

Fiona caught up with me at the Charing Cross tube station and we both headed back to the Hotel. It was hot. They were talking 30C! so we were pleased to get back to the air conditioning.

A good day and the bus is definitely the best way to see London.

Coromandel 2021, Great Beaches

Long Bay – Great walks and right beside the water.

This can only be Long Bay about 3 k’s north of Coromandel town and an easy walk.

Click on an Image to Enlarge

It is also part of the Camp Saver scheme and although I’ve been here before on my own, it was Fiona’s first time here.

After checking in with Leanne, the camp manager, she advised us that as they had huge amounts of rain, they still had some sites we could use but most of it was roped off due to mud and slush. This is normally a magnificent part of Coromandel and to see it like this was a real shame for them… its only water and will dry out but with the Covid thing and everything else, they needed that like a hole in the head.

I was given the option of two waterfront dryish sites to park on and we easily got in without skidding but the mud was out there 🙂

Click on the Gallery below for a slideshow

At Long Bay
Tucks Bay
Tucks Bay from the headland
Once we’d plugged in and settled Rafe, we set off for a walk around the headland towards Tucks Bay. You can also camp around there as well. Its an easy 15 minute walk each way and is well worth doing. There is also the Kauri grove as well up behind the camp which is well worth checking out too but we didn’t get to do that this time.

The track back to Long Bay from Tucks Bay
Tucks Bay

With the clouds blowing away later in the day, it was just amazing sitting on the side of the beach doing absolutely nothing but taking it all in.

Great sunset

A great destination with plenty to see and do… stick this one on your to do list.!

Rafe’s Tracker map to Long Bay – Armada GPS
Coromandel 2021

Breaking the cabin fever – Coromandel

We’ve had a month or so of being housebound mostly due to Rafe’s Bumper project and also a full annual service. Getting it back meant we could escape !

Click on an Image to enlarge

Rafe in the park with newly painted bumper!

Coromandel is somewhere we both thought would be great for a few days before Fiona had to return to work. We only had 4 days so we figured somewhere not too far and where we haven’t been for a while!

NZMCA park

The Thames Coromandel District Council are making some great improvements on the coast rd from Thames. Every time I come up here its different. This time they’ve widened the road north of Waiomu.. there are still plenty of narrow bits but I saw they’re dealing with some of those too.

Star and Garter pub

We arrived in Coromandel early in the afternoon on a Sunday so many of the shops were shut. The important ones like the bars and one of our favorite ones, the Star and Garter was open and they had a special on Gourmet pizza’s $10.. that was us for a late lunch!

After a walk around the town, we returned back to Rafe in the NZMCA park.

Click on the Gallery below for a slideshow

Home of the first National Bank
Where i was introduced to my first Husband Waiting chair 🙂
Neat buildings
The local butcher shop

You never get sick of Coromandel, the charm of the shops, even though most were shut as it was a Sunday, there were people wandering around and all of them very friendly. It has a great atmosphere with all the old buildings and everyone seems happy to have a bit of a natter.

We called in to an Metal Art shop which backed on to the NZMCA park and bought an amazing sculpture of leaves made using recycled parts of copper hot water cylinders. Clever use of old materials.

Where i was introduced to my first Husband Waiting chair 🙂

Later, it time to go down to get Fish and Chips for tea and we headed back to Rafe for the night.

A great Day in Coromandel town,  it never disappoints !

Rafe’s Tracker map to the NZMCA park – Armada GPS
Hawkes Bay, Road Trip 2021

Small town camping

2 Comments

One of the nice things I find about getting out is finding all the little out of the way places you can stay for not a lot…. in other words very good value. They may not be perfectly flat or lacking in something but they make up for it in spades with their charm and beauty.

Click on an Image to Enlarge

Ekatahuna is one of those camping grounds. Great showers, toilets and with power and a well equipped kitchen for those who want them, it is surrounded on three sides by river and is just a stunner.

There is a Heritage walk to the town which is only 5 minutes away.

We arrived in the mid afternoon and checked in and we simply just parked in the middle of the grass. Fiona and I settled opened up some vent, plugged in and we were off to check out the walk around the camp by the river.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Left ove Suspension supports
The walk to the River
Amazing Trees
The Ablutions block
Out on the Grass
The Park
The Council cuilding

The remains of one of the end supports of an old swing bridge that went across the river as a short cut to town is buried in the trees and can still be seen.

The River surrounding the park

There is a cabin there too which you can stay at and its all very casual and relaxed.

A great place to stop over and quiet too.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Ekatahuna Campground – Armada GPS
Hawkes Bay, Road Trip 2021

Sun and Wine at Te Awanga

One of our favourite spots in the Hawkes Bay has to be Clifton Reserve. With Toilets and Rubbish recycling and right on the most amazing beach, it can’t be beaten and its a gold coin donation.

Click on an Image to Enlarge

Looking towards Napier

We’ve stayed here quite a few times and it is always fabulous. This time we were here so we could bike along to the Te Awanga Vineyard which was a few K’s down the road to have lunch. A perfect way to start a great day.

Great view

After settling down Rafe and getting the bikes down, we were off and heading down some great bike tracks towards the vineyard. Their driveway would probably be nearly a k long through the vineyards but its very easy and a lovely ride.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Solitary Guitar
Great view at Te Awhanga
Fiona with her new Cider
Nice evening
Sundown

Parking in a bike rack not far from where we would eat, we were given a table which looked out over the vineyard towards Cape Kidnappers which was great.

Great spot

We must have spent several hours here eating pizza, drinking Chardonnay and Cider before we headed back to Rafe at Clifton. A fantastic spot and very reasonably priced. There are two other vineyards there too which we’ve been to as well. Clearwater and Elephant Hill. All are very good with different levels of food and pricing.

Sheltered

Arriving back at Clifton, it was starting to fill up but there was plenty of room for all.

Nice evening
Sundown

A great day in Paradise.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Clifton – Armada GPS
Rotorua

Lunch in the carpark

Our friends from Christchurch, Rory and Henny were in town for the NZMCA AGM Rally with their friends from New Plymouth so it was a must for me to catch up with them as they had seen Fiona during a shopping trip, but I had missed them.

Click on an Image to Enlarge

Downtown Rotorua!

Rory and Henny and I met years ago when I was away on a blog hunting expedition on my own and we bumped into each other in Coromandel of all places. It turns out that Rory used to buy ice creams from my Grandfathers General Store in Diamond Harbour when he was a small boy.  Later we worked out that he also knows some of my other cousins in Christchurch too.. small world 🙂

The UCC on the left and Rory and Henny’s new Burstner on the right

While parked down by the waterfront in a carpark, I thought I saw Rory and Henny roaring round the corner next to me and when I rang a few minutes later, it turned out it was them. They were heading for the supermarket and we arranged to meet after that.

Rory decided that we’d head over the a bigger carpark where we could comfortably fit three Motorhomes in while we had lunch without upsetting the car parkers.

Nice view

Rory had a plan and setup his near new Burstner Lyseo with  Tony and Sheri from New Plymouth, with an area in between where could put out chairs and tables out for a bit a knees up for lunch.

It was really nice seeing them both again and also meeting their friends Tony and Sheri and their UCC Mercedes based Motorhome.

Lunch with a great view and there were lots of Motorhomes there, possibly having a break from the rally.

Rafe’s Tracker map to the Carpark – Armada GPS