Hot on the heels of our last post about Belgium is this story about our next stop in The Netherlands. Although only there for a few days, and really originally meant to break up our transition from France to our first main walking destination in Germany, The Netherlands turned out to be a little gem for us. We took in […]
Category: European Travel
Chocolates, Waffles, Canals and one last Battlefield
Our first stop after leaving France was in Belgium, famous for many things, including its world-renowned chocolates and Belgian waffles. Based in a small city just outside Brussels, and near the site of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, we managed to use the great train system here do day trips to three cities, Brussels, Antwerp and Bruges. We also […]
Pilgrims, Beaches and Battlefields
This post is about travels after reaching the west coast of France following our adventures travelling from the south, doing the Gavarnie walk and exploring Bordeaux. The current story begins with a visit to Mont St Michel, a picturesque tidal island that has been a pilgrim destination for centuries because of its early monasteries and later its magnificent Abbey. Today’s […]
Pilgrims, a walk, a long drive and wine country
We are beginning to realise that France is a big country. The drive from Paris to Carcassone took two days, and now we have only a few days to get to the northern border to cross into Belgium. There is a lot to see on the way, and it’s not possible to do more than skim the surface as we […]
Carcassone
We are back on the road after a week relaxing in the south of France, at Karma Château de Samary. There is so much to see around this district, pinned between a myriad of small hilltop villages that date back centuries and the Pyrenees. Carcassone itself is the site of one of the biggest and best preserved medieval citadels in […]
Five days in Paris
This post is a little delayed. We left Paris a few days ago, but it was so full-on there that we got a couple of days behind with photos and writing the Sway. Then the drive to the next destination took two days, with a stopover that didn’t have great Wi-Fi. Better late than never, though. We had a fabulous […]
Our first UK visit is almost over
After leaving Wales a week ago, we have just spent a week at Salford Hall, one of our Karma Resorts. After a whirlwind start to the trip, this was a good opportunity to have a couple of rest days, and a couple more driving to some beautiful little towns in the Costwolds and West Midlands. We now head back to […]
The Journey Begins
After a very long planning and gestation phase, our grand adventure through Europe, UK, North Africa and Turkey has begun! We left Australia on Friday 1 July on a flight to London, where we saw Jan’s daughter Natalie and her partner Dom for the first time since 2018. Nat and Dom live and work in London, and we spent the […]
Europe – Here we come!
The Grand Tour of Europe is about to begin! After putting international travel on hold for a couple of years, and substituting our land-based adventure from Melbourne to Cairns last year, we have at last activated the big trip to Europe and beyond. The tickets are booked for 1 July, and nothing will stop us now. Well, unless another plague […]
More South America
You would have thought that with all the enforced time we have during the lockdowns we would have managed to publish a few more of our past travel stories in the last couple of months. It’s amazing how busy it seems when there really isn’t anything to do. Well, we have produced three more stories from our trip to Peru […]
COVID19 Update
Hello everyone. We were due to fly to London on 21 April. 2020 to begin a 3-month adventure through Europe. But, like many thousands of others, we’ve had to cancel everything. Fortunately, we’ve been able to get refunds or credits for almost all our bookings. Now our thinking turns towards what will replace it when travel begins again. The new […]