Our Journey Route

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Route Map


 
This map we’ve put together shows all of the places we have stayed so far, complete with GPS co-ordinates and information such as parking prices and water availability. Each point has a link to the blog post in which we’ve discussed the spot, so you can read a bit more information about each place.  We’ll try to keep it as updated as often as possible, depending on time and WiFi availability.  If you’re a friend/relative we hope you find it interesting, and if you’re a motorhomer we hope it’s of use to you!

Click here to open the above fully in Google Maps.


Journey Summary


After finishing work in autumn 2014, we finally left the UK in December 2014.  We left the country with the knowledge that we would have to return to the UK fairly soon, as Matt was waiting on the list of final amendments he would have to make to his PhD thesis before he could officially graduate.  With that in mind, we decided we would work our way down south-western France and from there make a beeline down to Portugal for the winter, being out of the country for 31 days total, as that was the longest we could take on our pre-existing travel insurance policies (and didn’t want to buy our new travel insurance until we left longer term).  We found ourselves quite taken with the Algarve thanks to the great free-overnighting opportunities, and ended up spending three weeks down there before we had to head back for our ferry.

From here we had to spend three months in the UK whilst Matt completed the final work on his PhD as well as taking care of other jobs back home before we could set off on our way again.  Having the month away was a good warm-up run for our trip, as it gave us time to get used to our van (prior to this point the longest we’d been away in this particular van was 5 days), as well as figure out what things we could leave behind to spare some weight, or what things we hadn’t packed that we knew we’d miss.

After Matt finished his work, we got a fresh MOT on the van (as this would otherwise have been due a few months later in August) as well as a long term travel insurance policy, and set off again on our way in April 2015.  We wanted to cover Greece before the peak of summer hit, so we cut across Germany and Austria into Italy, taking a month exploring the main cities and sights such as Venice and Rome on the way to southern Italy.  We caught a ferry from Brindisi to Patras in the Peloponnese.  The potential for places to stay in Greece proved to be fantastic and we loved it there, so ended up staying all the way through the hot temperatures of July because we were in no rush to leave the country.

We made our way back north via passage of Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.  Our insurance policy (as with most UK insurers) doesn’t cover us for many non-EU countries, so for now we will be leaving the countries to the west of the Balkans (Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia) for potential future trips. From Hungary we travelled south through Croatia and back up into Slovenia. Our route from there was dependant on the time it took us to get this far as we wanted to be heading south before the winter weather arrives.

We had originally hoped to cover Austria and Switzerland next but due to slowing down and taking our time to enjoy the places more since Greece it was time to start heading south. We cut across northern Italy and southern France, taking longer than anticipated due to surprisingly nice sunny and warm weather with temperatures into the 20’s (°C) through October and into November. From here we have started to tour around Spain and Portugal for the winter, with a trip back to the UK in December for Matt’s graduation. We’ll potentially be spending some time in Morocco depending on how things go and the situation in the country at the time.

We have to be back in the UK in April 2016 for our MOT, so this is our intended cut-off point for finishing our journey and getting into full-time work.  However if we manage to stay under budget and have enough money left over to do so, we may come back out for a while and spend some time exploring northern Europe.  It’s been a great few months travelling so far, and we’re excited about the period that lies ahead.

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Blog Posts


If you’re interested about reading about our experiences in any one specific place, we’ve put together the following table with links to all of our posts in chronological order to help you find what you’re looking for.  Alternatively, all of the pinpoints on the map above feature links to the relevant blog posts.


Location Blog Post Time Span
001 England, NE – France, SW Journey Beginnings 20th – 24th Dec 2014
002 France, SW Christmas at Mimizan 25th – 27th Dec 2014
003 Spain Central, Portugal S Entering Portugal: The Sunny Algarve 27th – 30th Dec 2014
004 Portugal, SW Exploring the Southwest Coast of Portugal 31st Dec 2014 – 2nd Jan 2015
005 Portugal, S Raposeira Beaches and into Albufeira 3rd – 6th Jan 2015
006 Portugal, S/SW Salema, Sagres and an adventure in Laundry 7th – 11th Jan 2015
007 Portugal, S Hunting WiFi and an Alvor Mini-Break 12th – 14th Jan 2015
008 Portugal, Spain, France The Journey Back: Algarve to East Midlands 15th – 20th Jan 2015
009 England Time at Home Jan – Apr 2015
009a England, Lake District A Detour to the Lakes 12th – 14th Apr 2015
010 France, Belgium, Germany Nürburgring and Eura Mobil: Travelling South through Germany 25th- 27th Apr 2015
011 Germany, Austria, Italy The Reschen Pass and the stupidity of a Traveller: Navigating Austria 28th – 30th Apr 2015
012 Italy, Venice Amongst the Canals and Backstreets: Exploring Venice 1st – 4th May 2015
013 Italy, N In Fair Verona: Shakespearean Cities and The Lakes 5th – 8th May 2015
014 Italy, Central Bologna and Lago le Tamerici 9th – 12th May 2015
015 Italy, Central Traversing Tuscany: Pisa and Florence 13th – 15th May 2015
016 Italy & Rep. of San Marino San Marino and Travelling South towards Rome 16th – 19th May 2015
017 Italy, Rome When in Rome 20th – 23rd May 2015
018 Italy, S Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and Southern Italy 24th – 26th May 2015
019 Greece SW (Peloponnese) A Grim time with Grimaldi Lines: The Ferry to Greece 26th – 28th May 2015
020 Greece SW (Peloponnese) Killinis Beach and Olympia 29th May – 1st Jun 2015
021 Greece SW (Peloponnese) Tholo Beach and Methoni 2nd – 5th Jun 2015
022 Greece S (Peloponnese) The end of the Messinian Peninsula: Koroni and Petalidi 6th – 10th Jun 2015
023 Greece S (Peloponnese) Mystra and the Outer Mani 11th – 15th Jun 2015
024 Greece S (Peloponnese) The Inner Mani – Porto Kagio and Kamares 16th – 18th Jun 2015
025 Greece S (Peloponnese) The Dimitrios Shipwreck and our first venture into Urban Exploration 19th – 23rd Jun 2015
026 Greece S (Peloponnese) Monemvasia 24th – 26th Jun 2015
027 Greece S (Peloponnese) Touring the Argolid: More Beaches and a little more Urban Exploration 27th Jun – 2nd Jul 2015
028 Greece S (Peloponnese) The End of the Peloponnese: Exploring Epidavros and Corinth 3rd – 7th Jul 2015
029 Greece Central Central Greece South Coast: Delphi and Nafpaktos 8th – 12th Jul 2015
030 Greece, Lefkada A Weeks’ Windsurfing Holiday in Vassiliki 13th – 20th Jul 2015
031 Greece, N The Monasteries of Meteora 21st – 25th Jul 2015
032 Greece, NE Halkidiki – Our Last Week in Greece 25th Jul – 2nd Aug 2015
033 Greece, Bulgaria Monasteries and Mountains: Our Induction into Bulgaria 3rd – 5th Aug 2015
034 Bulgaria Walking, Sightseeing and Camping in Bulgaria 6th – 10th Aug 2015
035 Bulgaria, Romania The Black Sea to Bucharest: Roaming Romania 11th – 13th Aug 2015
036 Romania Bucharest and Several Transylvanian Castles 14th – 17th Aug 2015
037 Romania Vidraru Dam and Transfagarasan Pass 18th – 20th Aug 2015
038 Romania Sighisoara and Northern Romania 21st – 23rd Aug 2015
039 Romania, Hungary First Days in Hungary 24th – 26th Aug 2015
040 Hungary Miles from Budapest 27th – 30th Aug 2015
041 Hungary, Croatia Goodbye Hungary, Hello Croatia 31st Aug – 6th Sep 2015
042 Croatia Krka National Park and Southern Croatia 6th – 10th Sep 2015
043 Croatia Plitvice National Park and Heading North 11th – 14th Sep 2015
044 Croatia Into Istria: Pula, Rovinj and the Kamenjak Peninsula 15th – 18th Sep 2015
045 Slovenia, Italy The Skocjan Caves and the Slovenian Coast 19th – 21st Sep 2015
046 Slovenia Ljubljana and Northern Slovenia 21st – 24th Sep 2015
047 Slovenia Lake Bled and the Vintgar Gorge 25th – 28th Sep 2015
048 Slovenia Lake Bohinj and Mount Vogel 29th Sep – 2nd Oct 2015
049 Italy From Venzone to Vicenza 2nd – 5th Oct 2015
050 Italy Italian Lakes: Como, Maggiore and More 6th – 10th Oct 2015
051 Italy Turin and the Piedmont Region 11th – 15th Oct 2015
052 Italy, France Piedmont to the Côte d'Azur 16th – 19th Oct 2015
053 South France More Time along the Côte d'Azur: St. Paul-de-Vence to St. Tropez 20th – 23rd Oct 2015
054 South France A Weekend Walking in the Verdon Gorge 24th – 25th Oct 2015
055 South France The Verdon Gorge: Too Good to Leave 26th – 30th Oct 2015
056 South France Aix-en-Provence, The Calanques and around 30th  Oct – 3rd Nov 2015
057 South France The Camargue 4th – 7th Nov 2015
058 South France Last days in France 7th – 11th Nov 2015
059 Andorra, Spain Meeting Fellow Travellers in Northern Spain 12th – 14th Nov 2015
060 Spain Pamplona and San Sebastian 15th – 18th Nov 2015
061 Spain Elephant Hunting in Cabárceno 19th – 22nd Nov 2015
062 Spain The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on Us 22nd – 26th Nov 2015
063 Spain In and Around A Coruña 27th – 30th Nov 2015
064 Spain, France Back to the UK 1st – 5th Dec 2015
065 UK Back in Blighty 6th – 21st Dec 2015
066 France Another Christmas in South-West France, Why Not? 22nd – 29th Dec 2015
067 France, Spain, Portugal Into Portugal, Joined by the Rain 29th Dec 2015– 4th Jan 2016
068 Portugal Waiting Out the Weather in Estremadura, Portugal 4th – 10th Jan 2016
069 Portugal The Sun Reappears in Sintra and Cascais 11th – 14th Jan 2016
070 Portugal A Britfest, A Barragem and a Chapel of Bones: Sesimbra to Evora 15th – 19th Jan 2016
071 Portugal Sitting on Top of the World at Monsaraz 19th – 23rd Jan 2016
072 Portugal Santiago do Cacém and the Alentejo Coast 24th – 31st Jan 2016
073 Portugal Retreading Old Steps along the South West Coast 1st – 5th Feb 2016
074 Portugal Into the Heart of the Algarve 6th – 11th Feb 2016
075 Portugal Portimao, Lagos and Silves 11th – 14th Feb 2016
076 Portugal Ferragudo, Monchique and Alvor 15th – 20th Feb 2016
077 Portugal Eastern Algarve: Faro, Loulé and Estói 20th – 23rd Feb 2016
078 Portugal The Final Stretch of the Algarve and Mina de São Domingos 24th – 28th Feb 2016
079 Portugal, Spain Adios Piri-Piri, Hola Tapas! Seville and El Rócio 29th Feb – 4th Mar 2016
080 Spain Looking out at Africa from Tarifa, Andalucia 4th – 13th Mar 2016
081 Spain From British Fish 'n' Chips to Moorish White Towns: Gibraltar to Ronda 14th – 18th Mar 2016
082 Spain Exploring Inland Andalucía: El Torcal, Antequera and Sierra Nevada 18th – 23rd Mar 2016
083 Spain Back to the Coast: Cabo de Gata and the Costa Calida 24th – 28th Mar 2016
084 Spain The Golfo de Mazarrón 29th Mar – 1st Apr 2016
085 Spain Puerto de Mazarrón, Cartagena and onto the Costa Blanca 2nd – 5th Apr 2016
086 Spain Alicante to Javea via Benidorm! 6th – 10th Apr 2016
087 Spain Paella of the Past and Buildings of the Future: Valencia 11th – 14th Apr 2016
088 Spain Morella and the Delta de l'Ebre 15th – 19th Apr 2016
089 Spain Barcelona and Dia de Sant Jordi 20th – 23rd Apr 2016
090 Spain, France Costa Brava 24th – 27th Apr 2016
091 France Blown Away by the Winds (and Sights) in the Luberon, Provence 28th  Apr – 1st May 2016
092 France Roman remains and a 3800% increase in the wine budget, Arles to l'Ardèche 2nd – 5th May 2016
093 France From One Brilliant View to Another, Into the Northern French Alps Ski Resorts 6th – 10th May 2016
094 France and Switzerland Snow Capped Mountains in Switzerland 11th – 15th May 2016
095 Switzerland Samping the Fantastic Scenery and Walking in the Pennine Alps 16th – 19th May 2016
096 Switzerland Torrent Neuf and Interlaken 20th – 23rd May 2016
097 Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy Switzerland and an Unplanned Italian Detour 24th – 29th May 2016
098 Switzerland and Germany Isny and Lindau, Germany 30th May – 3rd Jun 2016
099 Austria Into Austria, in and around Innsbruck 3rd – 6th Jun 2016
100 Austria Ambling across Austria: Zell am See to Graz 7th – 12th Jun 2016
101 Austria Down the Danube: Melk and the Wachau Valley 13th – 16th Jun 2016
102 Austria Coffee, Cake and Currywurst, Thanks Vienna 17th – 19th Jun 2016
103 Czech Republic Beer and Bones: Exploring the Czech Republic 20th – 24th Jun 2016
104 Czech Republic Prague 24th – 26th Jun 2016
105 Czech Republic and Germany Pilsen to Karlovy Vary, and onwards into Germany 27th – 30th Jun 2016
106 Germany Moseying along the Mosel 1st – 5th Jul 2016

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