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A life less complicated

Featured / freedombird / 13 Comments

Having completed a large chunk of the British coastline and visited 1467 beaches on the way, ventured into the unknown, crossing the English Channel for the first time and seeing what the coastline of France has to offer and adding a further 459 beaches to our tally, we are off again. This time, as a complete change we are on the pursuit of stunning scenery and again crossing the channel and meandering down the core of Western Europe to see what we can see…

If you would like to see our earlier journeys around the UK, they have loosely been grouped together by location and you can find the links below.

NB some of the links below are not yet working properly as it is a work in progress….

Beach Guides:

To catch up with our earlier adventures in:

  1. North coast of Cornwall from 5th October 2017 to 11th February 2018 –   Freedombird in Cornwall
  2. Back in Cornwall at various times to complete the coastline – Freedombird back in Cornwall
  3. North coast of Devon from 11th February to 19th March 2018 – Freedombird in North Devon
  4. Somerset from 19th March to 29th April 2018 – Freedombird in Somerset
  5. South Wales coast from 29th April to 14th August 2018 – Freedombird in South Wales
  6. West and North Wales coast from 14th August to 21st October 2018 – Freedombird in West and North Wales
  7. North West England from 21st October to 26th November 2018 and 27th January to 4th February 2019 – Freedombird in North West England
  8. Cumbria from 27th January to 5th April 2019 – Freedombird in Cumbria
  9. South Coast of Scotland from 5th April to 25th May 2019 – Freedombird on the South Coast of Scotland
  10. West Coast of Southern Scotland from 26th May to 17th July 2019 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Southern Scotland
  11. Edinburgh and surrounding area from 18th July to 30th July 2019 – Freedombird in Edinburgh and surrounding beaches
  12. East Coast of Southern Scotland from 28th July to 15th September 2019 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Southern Scotland
  13. North East England from 12th September to 20th November 2019 – Freedombird in the North East of England
  14. Yorkshire from 14th January to 22nd February 2020 – Fredombird in Yorkshire
  15. Lincolnshire from 23rd February to 13th March 2020 – Freedombird in Lincolnshire
  16. Norfolk and Suffolk from 15th to 24th March 2020 and 28th June to 18th July 2025 – Freedombird in Norfolk and Suffolk
  17. Inland England on various dates travelling through – Freedombird in inland England
  18. West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1 from 11th September to 14th October 2024 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1
  19. North Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys from 15th to 27th October 2024 – Freedombird on the North Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys
  20. East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1 from 28th October to 15th November 2024 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1
  21. In the Highlands of Scotland from 15th to 26th November 2024 and 10th to 21st June 2025 – Freedombird in the Highlands
  22. West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2 from 8th to 17th April and 31st May to 5th June 2025 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2
  23. Outer Hebrides Part 1 from 22nd April to 12th May 2025 – Freedombird in the Outer Hebrides Part 1
  24. Outer Hebrides Part 2 from 10th May to 30th May 2025 – Freedombird in the Outer Hebrides Part 2
  25. East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2 from 15th to 18th June 2025 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2
  26. North and West Coast of France from 11th September to 7th December 2025 – Freedombird on the North and West Coast of France

Tuesday 24th March 2026 – Langenbrand to Schonach….

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Another mostly sunny day, as we continued our journey south through the seemingly endless Black Forest….

Pulling off the road for a break and a walk, we discovered the hillside village of Langenbrand – to live here you would need a healthy set of lungs as no property appeared to be on the same level…

On our way further south we pulled in to have a look at the World’s largest Cuckoo Clock and were just in time to hear it cuckoo 3pm, though not early enough to get close enough for a proper photo with the cuckoo out!….

We also had a wonder around the gift shop at the amazing array of clocks – this one standing out in particular – the craftmanship….

From here is was a short haul to our Aire for the night, high up in the hillside village of Schonach – right next to the ski slope!!

Quite fittingly we have been given a severe weather warning for snow fall tomorrow night – now tempting as it is, this location is pretty remote and I’m not sure I fancy being stuck here with no power and potentially water for a few days, so we shall be moving on tomorrow.

Thoughts of the day:

  • I am having a rethink about my plans (again), as much as I have enjoyed the scenery and stopping off at random villages or places of interest, I am missing the sea and the sense of purpose of visiting different beaches. It is also a little early to venture into the mountains of Switzerland and Austria as per my original plans as though I have winter tyres, I am not willing to risk getting cut off or caught out on the higher mountain roads that these countries do so well, whilst the weather is still so unpredictable – so we are heading south to the coast for awhile…
  • I was always a bit uncertain as to how I would take to an inland road trip and now know the answer!

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 78
  • Miles walked – 3.5
  • Food – £14.54
  • O/N – £10.38 (no EHU)

Monday 23rd March 2026 – From Viandan in Luxemburg to Bad Herrenalb in Germany…

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As per, a cold night followed by a beautiful sunshiny day. We have a fair few miles to cover today, so we got an earlyish start to our first destination of the day, the nearby village of Viandan. This is our last stop in Luxemburg and well worth a stop to view this amazing hilltop castle, sitting above the historic village of Viandan. We didn’t stop in the village itself as the streets were narrow and cobbled and in fact the best views were from the road down into the village….

On our way up the road on the other side of the village was a sign welcoming us to Germany and we then enjoyed a pleasant drive through the German countryside and countless small neat and tidy villages until we hit the motorway network for a large section of our journey. As you would expect the motorways were a little busy around the major towns but otherwise free of traffic and a little boring though a necessary evil.

By mid afternoon we had reached our destination a small Stellplatz on the outskirts of the pretty village of Bad Herrenalb and more importantly on the edge of the Black Forest…

We immediately set out to enjoy the last of the days sunshine and take a walk around the village nestled in a valley….

The houses were large and what I would call Bavarian style, in the main it was quiet but there were a few folk out enjoying the sun, street cafes and open parkland.

We spotted an Heron wading in the stream – I had to watch it for a while to check it was real!…

Past the ruins of the original church and rather randomly a vending machine selling cured meats?…

A successful mostly driving day, followed by a lovely, lazy walk, what more do we need in our life?

Thoughts of the day:

  • Gone are the cycle lanes and seemingly unlimited pathways of France and Belgium – clearly the roads of Germany are for driving on!
  • Away from the cities, Germany is a lot more rural than I imagined.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 213
  • Miles walked – 3.5
  • Fuel – £65.68
  • O/N – £12.11 inc EHU

Sunday 22nd March 2026 – Into Luxemburg – Clervaux and Diekirch…

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Another beautiful day for us as we leave Belgium behind for a while and head down into Luxemburg. If I am brutally honest it was a bit of a disappointing day today as we struggled to find much to inspire us.

It was a longish drive into Luxemburg, though quite rural, it was rather bland and once arriving in Luxemburg the roads were very bendy which came as rather a shock after Belgiums largely straight roads. Our first stop was Clervaux, a small, largely residential (modern) village with a small old part containing a very attractive castle and abbey….

Otherwise the village was pretty deserted and we wandered back to the van to resume our journey. From here we headed to Wiltz, where we intended to park up for the night and wander the mile or so into the old town to see the castle. However, the park up was just 3 spaces next to a busy children’s play area and skate park and I was just not feeling it and so we moved on and after 2 more attempts to get onto very small Aires in other villages we ended up on the outskirts of Diekirch, where we took the last spot in yet another small Aire (just 6 spaces).

We headed straight out to enjoy the last of the days sunshine, with a walk along the river Sauer and a wander back through the older part of town….

Don’t get me wrong Luxemburg is clean and we drove through some lovely areas of arable land and woodland but the older more characterful parts of the towns and villages were just a bit illusive today. We have one more on our list to try tomorrow, before we cross over the border into Germany.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 100
  • Miles walked – 5
  • O/N – £6.08 no E

Saturday 21st March 2026 – Neufchateau, La Roche en Ardenne, Durbuy and Esneux…

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After another frosty night we are again rewarded with a lovely sunny day and after a short walk along one of the many trails at Herbeumont we wend our way through the Meuse Valley to our first stop for today at Neufchateau.

After wandering up the hill to view the castle, only to be disappointed to find out that it is purely a model of the castle that once stood and a few bits of remaining wall. The town itself being nothing special we took the slow path around the lake to enjoy the sunshine instead….

From here we headed north (there is a reason for heading north again, as I want to drive down through Luxembourg), with a much more successful visit to La Roche en Ardenne a pretty riverside town with the remains of the castle overlooking the town…

Further north again to the ‘smallest city in the world’ (historically) being Durbuy. It was very busy, though there was plenty of parking on the outskirts and certainly did not disappoint….

This was our last planned stop as we headed on to our Aire for the night at Esneux, another pretty riverside town and enjoyed a stroll in the late afternoon sun….

The Aire was a small semi circle of 10 spaces looking onto the river at the far end of the above street but I forgot to take a photo! From here on in it is southwards we go.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 94
  • Miles walked – 7
  • O/N – £10.50

Friday 20th March 2026 – an admin day in Herbeumont….

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Frosty again last night and very cold in the van as the heating on electric is not very powerful, though I will up the setting to 1800w tonight to see if that makes a difference. However the clear skies of the cold night soon gave way to another gloriously sunny day, which confirmed our plans to stay here another night and get a few bits and bobs done around the van ie laundry etc.

We took a couple of walks out from the Aire checking out the nearby Viaduct by following a trail over the top of it looking to the west and the east…

And then by finding the correct pathway to give us views of the Viaduct itself…

The Viaduct is now part of the hiking and cycling network, having been disused by the railway network for many years….

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 0
  • Miles walked – 5
  • O/N – £13.24