Tag: Road Trip

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Dolomites Hiking, D5

On Friday 27th of May we had a kind of an advantage, actually more of them. First, we pick up a track and made up a plan upon the recommendations from friends. Second, we did not need to drive any long distance. Third, we could fill in some of the sources and clean up the waste.  Moreover we were full of energy and eager for new adventures.

From Passo Falzarego where we left our camper, straight under the gondolas passing by we headed towards Lago di Limides.

https://www.bergfex.com/sommer/venetien/touren/wanderung/3703629,passo-falzarego–rifugio-averau–torre-grande–rifugio-col-gallina

On the crossroad under Averau 2648, we decided to turn north towards Sentiero dele Trice, because of another exposed and very narrow path. Later we reached Rifugio Scoiattoli for a delicious late lunch. From here it was just a stone throw to the wonderful Cinque Torre excursion. For us the walk around the towers was even more special as at that time (between 4 to 5 pm) there were no other tourists except of few guys climbing the rocks.

This track took us 5,48h, 13km 699eg

Considering all the hiking aspects, does was arguable the best track to accomplish the Dolomites adventure.

In the evening we needed to make a final transfer to a parking called Panoramico Tre Cime where we overslept before leaving the Dolomites on Saturday morning.

On Saturday we managed to return the camper on time in Graz, although we had to clean it additionally. At the end we got also the full deposit back as the broken sun blind was covered with the Full Insurance coverage for which I opted just at the check in day.

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Dolomites Break, D4

For Thursday 26th we agreed to visit our friends, who were staying in a camp but we also did not plan any track as we just needed to rest.

So we made a booking for a night in Camping Sas Dlacia, btw the highest campground in Dolomites and I think it was me, who then came up with a plan.

I found a place with a big lake called Alleghe, just under Monte Civeta with 3220m, being the 6th highest peak of Dolomites. The plan was accepted so we enjoyed the camping times at our lovely place before leaving it in peace.

Upon our arrival to Alleghe, we still considered an uphill cable car ride and a down hill hike. But as it was already afternoon and weather was not ideal, we decided to walk around the lake instead. From its banks we had various great views on Monte Civeta and the settlement around the lake.

https://www.bergfex.com/sommer/venetien/touren/wanderung/3904774,piani-di-pezze–restaurant-bar–terrasse–chiesa-di-san-biagio-in-alleghe–alleghe

Later back in the village we managed only a sweet break as all the kitchens were closed. On our way to the camp we stop by medieval castle ruins of Castello di Andraz.

In the evening we then enjoyed lovely company of our friends and the cosy atmosphere of the  Sas Dlacia cap, even though it was raining.

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Dolomites Hiking, D3

We enjoyed our new spot below the Passo Pordoi so much that we managed to get ready for the hike only at 11:00.

For Wednesday 25th of May we have chosen the Passo Pordoi Loop.

https://www.bergfex.it/sommer/venetien/touren/wanderung/486470,passo-pordoi-loop

 The track starts at the main parking place and goes uphill towards south east. It first reaches Rifugio Sass Bece. We wanted to change it little bit and started to ascent on the ridge towards Sass Ciapel 2557 m. It turned out to be a bad idea, as the path was very narrow and exposed on both ridge sides. We had to go back to the original track and took a rest in the next Rifugio Viel del Pan 2432. The route then continued towards east, always overlooking Marmolada. Suddenly the path was again narrow and under the last steep part towards Rifugio Luigi Gorza we hesitated if we will manage to proceed. At the end we have done it, with some pain, but still. From Porta Vescovo (Rifugio Luigi Gorza) it was then a long descending track back towards Passo Pordoi but now overlooking Piz Boe.    

This track took us 6h, 15,17km 750eg

I clearly remember how thirsty hungry and wasted I was when we finaly reached our camper at the Parking space. We only prayed for our great spot from last night to be free. And luckily it was! This time we got a bath in the fresh spring and enjoyed the camping time even more.

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Dolomites Hiking, D2

The dedicated caravan parking by Rifugio Carlo Valentini was a great choice and we had a memorable evening with a romantic dinner having the whole Sasso Lungo within the reach and only for ourselves.

In the morning we hesitated though and after some parking dilemma, parked luckily on the road, just next to the pass point (Passo).

Our track for Tuesday was the Sasso Lungo runde.

https://www.bergfex.it/sommer/suedtirol/touren/wanderung/4533228,plattkofel-umrundung

We started the track with a ride on an very old fashioned cable car, cabin for 2 persons only (Forcella del Sassolungo Telecabine). In fact this was the only case we used a cable car for hiking, but what an special ride. In some 20 minutes we arrive to Rifugio Toni Demetz 2685m. From there we were descending to Rifugio Vicenza 2180 m and further towards the bottom crossroad where we turned to left. Next we made a break by Rifugio Zallinger and then continued passing by Rifugio Sasso Piatto, Rifugio Sandro Pertini back towards the Sella Pass.   

The track took us 6,5h, 16,1km 620 eg

As it was already quite late we decided to move on to the next based swiftly. It was a short but beautiful curvy drive to Passo Pordoi. Few minutes down the Pass, we noticed a small turn off the main road and we drove back to explore it. It led to a house – Casa Cantoniera with a small lake and a fresh spring else surrounded by a forest. A perfect spot for our camper.

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Dolomites Hiking, D1

Our hiking adventures in Dolomites started on Monday, 23rd June at the Pampeago parking space, 1750m, where we overslept for the first time in our camper. This huge parking space dedicated to the ski slopes around was completely empty. We parked on its edge, closer to forest and just next to a lively spring. I personally slept like a baby.

The track we have chosen as a starter was supposed to start with a short cable car. That one was off, so we added some meters to the route before starting it.

https://www.bergfex.it/sommer/trentino/touren/wanderung/59647,torre-di-pisa-huette

Leaving our camper, we firstly reached Zichgalm then passing by lift station at Seggiovia Residenza we continued towards Rifugio Torre di Pisa 2671 m and to the main target Torre di Pisa.

Descenting we headed towards Oberholz, passed Malga Mayrl and rejterjoch and crossing one of the slope reached over camper just before the rain started.

The track took us 5h, 14,3km, 958 eg

We took a short break and get ready for transfer to our next hiking stage. Driving down the Pampeago pass, I had an idea to save some petrol and roll down without a gear. Suddenly some bad smell and a smoke was appeared by the wheels. Luckily there was a place to stop where we watched the brakes burning.

It might have been in the nick of time, we stopped the car and could still continue in the journey.

In one hour we arrived to Sella Pass 2218m and the caravan parking by Rifugio Carlo Valentini.

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Wedding

Sea – Wedding – Hiking

It was a well deserved sleep until the breakfast on Saturday 21st of June a day D for our friends Miska and Tomas who invited us to their wonderful Tuscany wedding.

From the night driving before, there is at least 1 thing to remember. That’s when we saw a porcupine on the road, the first one in a wild life, yes in Tuscany as well as the second one minutes later.

As usually we needed to hurry also for the wedding ceremony. Getting off the parking shelter I managed to damage our sun blind, but got into the church on time for the ceremony.

The wedding celebration took place in the mentioned Castello di Meleto and its surrounding terraces. With great music, super tasty food and nice weather, this was a perfect outdoor wedding.

A live music band, applied also in the church was changed by a DJ from time to time to ignite even more people for dancing. A group of about 20 Macedonian guys were dancing nonstop.

The dinner also served on a terrace outside by the castle which was nicely illuminated, created even more of the Italian wedding atmosphere. The highlight of the celebration came after the dinner, with very popular Slovak music band = Para performing full half unplugged concert connecting all the guests for another entertainment.  

We did not last until the very end, but enjoyed the whole wedding day as much as we could.

Next day on Sunday, we decided to rest at the villa premises bit longer before leaving the Tuscany for next adventure. In the late afternoon we headed towards Dolomites, Latemar and specifically Pampeago.

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Sea

Sea – Wedding – Hiking

Before our June adventure could even start, a bit of a research had to been done. As we knew we wanted to try a trip with a camper a firstly we reviewed some of the caravan renting companies. Very easily we decided for roadsurfer and booked our camper for 10 days from 18th of June until 28th in advance. We studied all the camper functionality, gathered the needed equipment and were looking forward.

My ECMS project was successfully deployed to PROD on 15th of June, so on Wednesday, 18th roughly at 16:30 were already ready to pick up our camper. There were some technical difficulties at the office some at the end we lost almost 1,5 hours prior to departure from Graz. As usually, I need to hurry on the highway, this time driving a camper. Yes, we were very lucky to arrive to Garden Paradiso camp in Cavallino, IT some 10 minutes before 23:00 – a checking deadline. It took us some time to find our spot, which turned out to be one of the best places overall, but we managed.

During Thursday we rested well and enjoyed the great campsite as well as its beach.  Cavallino, or Cavallino – Treporti is a sea side resort of Veneto district just by the Laguna Veneta with several campsites and actually only few hotels.

On Friday we received some more sunbathing treatment as well as relax on the beach beds. Recharged all of our sources we got ready for Cavallino departure. Goal of our evening journey was more 350km away, a place called Castello di Meleto in Chianti, in Tuscany.

We arrived very late, approximately at 01:00 and needed to wake up a staff member in a villa to guide us to another villa where we had our room.

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SW England Day 6

From Exeter back to Gatwick

Friday, the last day of our fully packed South West England trip started in Exeter, after that night disturbed by the fire alarm. A long way from Devon trough Somerset and Wiltshire to Hampshire and Surrey. More than 180 miles mainly on the highways. Although we did a couple of breaks, at first in Somerset at the Nation Trust landmark, Barrington Court.

This is an old, charming Tudor manor house completed in the late 1550 surrounded by formal gardens, located in stunning Somerset countryside. The whole estate, over 70 acres includes farm buildings, cottages, tennis court and large park side. The Strode house which is open to visitors drags you back to the past times and invites you to spent some time with Colonel Lyle’s family who restored the house in 1920s.

Few hours later we swiftly continued on the highway and several B-roads due to heavy Friday traffic. Occasionally we drove some funny narrow (just one line) paths connecting the other roads.

The highlight of our road trip, kept in a secret until the last day, was in front of us.

We soon arrive to a huge parking space, got our tickets and were sitting in a shuttle bus. Getting of it, we could finally see, one of the most iconic historical sites across the world, the Stonehenge.

This must-see Stone Circle monument with its unforgettable atmosphere dating back to 4000 years ago is a powerful statement of human ingenuity and creativity. What a landmark to finish our wonderful SW England road trip!

Reaching Gatwick airport in the late evening, we concluded more than 800 driven miles, in those 6 demanding but beautiful English days, full of unforgettable memories and breath-taking sceneries.

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SW England Day 5

From Newquay to Exeter

Unfortunately there was a Thursday, a turning point in our journey guiding us back to east. We had to leave the wonderful Lewinninck Lodge behind and focus on the places ahead. And there were some.

Our first stop, was nothing less extraordinary than the Eden Project. Featuring also the world’s biggest rain forest, the whole environmental attraction is build in reclaimed kaolin clay pit. It has 2 huge (half golf ball shaped) biodomes; topical and mediterranean one. A family would typically spend here the whole day full of excitement, but we could not afford it. We’re a couple on the round trip which needs to continue.

However, the second place we visited wasn’t less popular either. Honestly it was not on a plan and meant a long way round but was absolutely worth of it. The Tintagel Castle. Home of the King Arthur. Well, according to legend at least, but once you cross the bridge and reach the castle’s ruins, it’s all so obviously alive. And below the castle’s rock there is a beach with Merlyn’s cave, The actual place, where King Arthur was born. Luckily as we were on time for one of the last admissions, we could then spent enough time in the Tintagel island area.

Getting a bit hungry, Miska found this traditional pub cuisine place called Ye Olde Malthouse Inn. The food there was excellent. Afterwards we visited the fameous “Camelot” hotel, just overlooking Arthur’s Camelot for a very specially served coffee.

As it was already late, we need to move on squeeze our Juke for another portion of miles.   Arriving to Marriot hotel in Exeter, we got a really nice upper floor room.  I personally was overexcited and not tiered and maybe that’s the reason I did not panic when the hotel’s alarm started to yell at approximately 3:30 am. Yes the funny part about it is, that I again forgot to take my shoes on.

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SW England Day 4

From Newquay back to Newquay

What a lovely day this was! As a starter, we had some delicious breakfast at our Lewinnick Lodge. They we really good. I’d say as good as those in Portsmouth were.

Straight after that tasty joy, we decided to book our room for another night, so that we could explore the far west of Cornwall, without the hassle of searching for a room.

Our first stop on Wednesday was the great Hayle Beach located on the north coast of Cornwall, which is known for its miles of golden sands and clear waters. Here we spent some time walking around and having a small refreshment at Cove Coffee.

The next stop which meant to be the highlight of our trip was St Michael’s Mount on the south coast by the Marazion Beach near Penzance. This is a tidal island which is connected to the mainland by a causeway and it is a counterpart to very similar island in Normandy Mont-Saint Michel. On the rocky island there is a beautiful medieval castle with well designed gardens, a church and few old houses for domestic staff. Even though we bought the tickets only for the outer part of the castle, we somehow managed to brush past the ticket lady and were able to see the the whole castle from inside too. There was a very pleasant gentleman keeping eye on the queen’s and king’s room who told us pretty much of castle’s story.

Amazed by the picturesque place, we missed on tide time and had to return in a boat.

Afterwards, searching for some food, Miska found this well rated fish and chips stop in Lizard which stop us for about 30 minutes. But then we got a huge portion of fish to eat at the Lizard End. Heading back to north we swiftly turned to west for the Kynance Cove parking spot. This is another beautiful coast – cove scenery, very harsh wild and so much charming.

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SW England Day 3

Plymouth to Truro and Newquay

The weather on Tuesday 27th of May was not very different comparing to day before. We left Plymouth in peace after finishing our breakfast.  First stop we did is called Lantic Bay. On it’s dedicated car park, there was only one more car, except of our Juke. It was still rainy, so we put the raincoats on and begun the walk. In some 30 minutes we reached the bay. What a beautifully rough feeling from the first moment! There was absolutely no one else, only us, massive black somewhat smooth stone, untouched sands periodically waved.

For me, this is perhaps the strongest memory of the whole road trip.

After this natural expedition we continued further and later stopped by a place called Lost Gardens of Heligan. There we sat down in its canteen for some delicious food and then explored the beautiful gardens. As it was still little bit rainy the place was not that busy and the fresh air suited to the wild botanical garden very well.

Our plan for the day was to oversleep in Falmouth, but as there was no hotel to book, we took a break in Truro = the capital of Cornwall to search for a shelter nearby.  The options were suddenly very limited, so after an hour or so of searching I came cross to a place called Lewinnick Lodge in Newquay almost at the end of Penrite Head. Once we found out how to properly pronounce Newquay, we also read that it’s a town with biggest criminality in the whole Cornwall. Never mind the bollocks this Lewinnick Lodge is a fantastic accommodation for affordable price.

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SW England Day 2

Weymouth to Plymouth

We headed towards west, straight after the Breakfast in Weymouth. Our first stop was a popular Dorset beach. Hive beach is a key gateway to Jurassic Coast. It’s famous for the sandstone cliffs, where some follis can be easily found. And we found ones too.

The next stop we did, was Powderham castle – located already in Devon. Unfortunately the castle was closed for tourists, so we only saw the outside area and step into a Devon specialities shop instead.

Tens of miles later we arrived to Bigburry and its beach. This beach is special as it is connected with opposite Burgh Island only when the tide is low. Here we were also not lucky as the tide was pretty high and so the connection to the island was underwater.

As Miska reminded, the Burgh island and it’s hotel also made into an episode of detective Hercule Poirot, who found a small empty bottle below the hotel as one of the key criminal evidence.

Not far away from Bigburry lies another beautifully bay called Wemburry. But yes, I forgot to mention that it was bit rainy the whole day and by the time we came to Wemburry also bit windy. That was the reason, we did not spent that much time there and drowe to our destination for the night – Plymouth.

The Ocean city is for us known as Drake’s town and as a coincidence the Drake’s Island was the first thing we saw here. Walking from the Hoe promenade we passed the Royal citadel and soon reached the harbour. Somewhere by the harbour there is a place called Navy Inn, where we set down for a couple of tasty pints of Guinness.

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SW England Day 1

Portsmouth to Weymouth

On Sunday, 25th of May we woke up in an upper – floor Travelodge room in the centre of Portsmouth with a wide view. Taking a 30 minutes’ walk down towards the harbour, we got to the Flanking Battery and the place called The Canteen. It is serving the most delicious breakfast in the town. After that we took a closer look to Spinnaker tower and went on to see some other town’s landmarks .

The decision between the 2 routes for the day was taken and soon we were trying to board on a ferry to Isle of Weight. However, on this attempt we booked tickets for a day after and therefore had to call, exchange the tickets and get boarded again 😊

In some 50 minutes this several storey ferry took as to a slightly different country. Isle of Weight is really beautiful and one could spend the whole summer there. Our first IoW stop was the Carrisbroke Castle. Then we continued towards south and stopped by the House of Pearl for an original souvenir for Miska.

Later we took a coffee break at the Freshwater Bay and continued to see the iconic IoW highlight – The Needles. Although we missed the attractions opening times, at least came as close as possible to see those sharp white rocks and the lighthouse. For the way back, Miska got us on a guided double decker bus to save some energy and get more info about the area 😉

Back to JUKE we were in a little hurry to catch our ferry from Yarmouth to Lymington. On the mainland we first stop by the Highcliffe Castle. Took a look from outside, made some pictures and walk around the castle.

Somewhere outside of Bournemouth we did a Thai food break, of course as a take way to our last stop of the day. Reaching Durdle Door just before 9 PM we were not allowed to drive to its parking. But crossing the campsite, we soon found ourselves sitting on bench overlooking sea and enjoying our dinner. The Durdle Door is really a spectacular art of nature, affirmed by many, carrying a simple tent, eager to see it during the late evening or night. Our shelter for that night was the hotel Rex in Weymouth. Classical Victorian house, which of course served us some tasty pints of beer before the midnight.