castle

Saturday 25th April 2026 – a walk along Spotorno to Noli….

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An overcast day today for a change and actually a welcome one as it meant that we could do the longish walk I had planned during the middle of the day, instead of worrying about the heat – it was still warm but ideal.

The village and roads are much busier today but there is promenade all the way into the old village along the sea front with Bergeggi Island looking stunning across the aqua marine sea – the Ligurian Sea…

The long beach running down the resort is mostly sandy with areas of fine shingle, as per, some of it sectioned off into private beaches but much mostly it is accessible beach – Spiaggias – di Spotorno, Pluto, Molo Sirio, Aurora and Libera Serra…

A quick dip into the old town and it’s beautifully decorated interior…

Followed by a stunning walk over to the next village – Noli. The walk between the two villages is probalby only about half a mile and though roadside is quite safe with stunning views up to Castello di Monte Ursino and out to sea….

We continued our walk along the promenade noting that the beaches are slightly more shingly here – Bagni Hilton (private), Spiaggia dei Pescatori – lined with small fishing boats, Bagni Ondino Noli (private). Spiaggia de Noli and at the far end Spiaggia Caponoli…

Noli is an unspoilt medieval fishing village and well worth a visit though we opted out of the long climb up to the castle, opting instead for a mooch around the streets….

What a find – we enjoyed a well earned drink and relax on the beach before walking back to the van…

Today’s stats:

  • Miles walked – 8
  • Beaches – 10
  • O/N – £13.87

Sunday 12th April 2026 – A wander up to and around Montauroux….

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Overcast for most of the day, still warm but in fact a bit of a relief for the walk we have planned today.

After a slight detour to take a look at Chateau del Colle Noire – famously redesigned and owned by Christian Dior from 1950 and still owned by Parfums Christian Dior it wasn’t easy to get a look but….

We then started the 3 mile climb up to the old town of Montauroux, which sits at about 1300m above sea level, using a network of quiet residential lanes and footpaths to wend our way to this historic old town with it’s narrow cobbled streets…

Some of the streets were barely 2m wide, with others (closed to vehicles) not even that – I’m so glad I left the van down on the Aire. It was quite quiet on this Sunday afternoon, though a few people sat outside the cafes or pottering around the table top sale in the main square…

After a little mooch, we wandered along the deserted streets to find the ruins of Chapelle St Bathelemy….

And to admire the views from either side of the town….

Before we had had our fill and it was time to start to make our way back down, this time sticking to the quite lanes as the footpaths had been rather sketchy on the way up….

Today’s stats:

  • Miles walked – 7.5
  • O/N – £13.13

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