2023 Motorhome Adventure #roadtripideas #europe #roadtrip #switzerland #ireland #Brittany #scotland
Our motorhome (FiFi), was stored over winter in Præstø Denmark, so we flew in from Australia to Copenhagen in early May to pick up the van. After the previous two European trips spending June and July in Mediterranean countries like Italy and Spain, where the heat was unbearable, we decided to head to stay north of the alps. (If you’d like to see video from this or our previous adventures go to @adventurebeforedementia9699 )
For the rest of May we made our way through Northern Germany visiting Bremen and Munster, to tour the Netherlands. Skipped back into Germany to Cologne to revisit Papa Joes Jazz Bar and the Haxenhaus. On through Maastricht to tour Belgium. Then on through Luxembourg to the Black Forest and entered Switzerland at the beginning of June.
Switzerland was magnificent! The highlights were Bernese Oberland, Grindelwald, Zermatt and the Ticino region. Did some fantastic hikes in the mountains saw magnificent scenery on par with Norway. We could have stayed longer but not being EU citizens, we only had 90 days. 60 days were already gone.
We headed across France to the Loir Valley, which was beautiful but not a bit oversold. On we moved to Brittany and thoroughly enjoyed it. We arrived during Fest Noz cultural festival and witnessed folk dancing and celtic music.
Caught a ferry from Roscoff to Plymouth and toured Dartmoor, where it rained every day. Then a few days in the north of Devon, where the sun shone. Crazy UK weather.
This is where the cunning plan to stay north of Alps in summer because it was cooler worked much better than we expected. From Devon all the way to Holyhead (to catch a ferry to Dublin), it rained all the way.
Same in Dublin, it rained every day for all of our stay in Ireland (half of July and all of August). Meanwhile friends of ours in Greece, Italy and Spain were frying in the heat. Think we had the better deal but still, could not believe how it rained at least once a day every day. None-the-less had a brilliant time in Ireland and saw pretty much everything there was to see. The people were amazing; very friendly and generous. Awesome country.
Arrived in Scotland from Ireland in early September to a heat wave. Well heat wave for them. 20 to 30°C is just normal summer for us. Fantastic. Went to the beach almost every day for the first week.
Arrived in Glencoe on a day of 30°C. Previous time we were there is was much colder and misty. It was weird looking at the hills in harsh bright sunlight. It was ok though because normal scottish weather returned the next day and lasted for the next month while we there.
The previous time we were in Scotland rain and strong ind prevented us from doing some of the Scottish walks. This time the weather was much kinder and we did Ben Nevis and also the Old Man of Stor on Sky. Drove to Applecross on the Bealac Na Ba and did the NC500 in the reverse direction to the 2019 trip.
By this time it was early October and time to head back home to Aus, so we parked up in a storage place near Northwich that we’ve used before and looking forward to renewing our adventures again in 2024!