travel

Tuesday 26th May 2026 – at last we make it to the beach at Brighton Les Pins….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

Fortunately not a long drive today as it is still incredibly hot and even with a stop for food and fuel we are at our Aire in the small mostly second home resort of Brighton Les Pins by midday.

Finding a pitch under the partial shade of a tree, we open all the windows but chose to linger outside under the shade of the tree where a tiny whisper of slightly cooler air is oh so welcome.

Even at half five the temperature really hasn’t dropped very much but we are getting hungry so decide to hug the shade of the trees as we walk the short distance down to the beach.

The beach stretching into the distance in either direction is at high tide just a wide bank if rounded pebbles, but at low tide, as it is now, a huge expanse of wet sands lead down to the sea….

The sea, though not the crystal clear waters we have become accustomed to is a rather sandy brown but actually pleasantly warm and I enjoy the refreshing paddle along the edge whilst Tilly scampers along just out of the seas reach….

Though I do manage to get her to scamper through the puddles and get a little damp and more importantly cool down a bit, that way….

Time to call it a day and head back to eat and sit in our shady spot until it cools down enough for us to sleep.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 46
  • Miles walked- 4
  • Food – £39.63
  • Ad Blue – £10
  • Fuel – £103.88 (ouch)
  • O/N – £13.54

Sunday and Monday 24th & 25th May 2026 – two more very hot days spent travelling through chunks of the day to get to the coast….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

As this current heatwave continues, so does our journey north and then westwards. We are trying to get reasonably early starts to avoid driving in the worst of the afternoon sun and still we are benefitting slightly from the sun being behind us instead of full on the windscreen.

By early Sunday afternoon we have made it as far north and West to O-de-Selle, a small sleepy hollow village a little south of Amiens and well on our way to the Normandy coast. Here we found a lovely shaded pitch backing onto a stream, giving us the chance to sit out and cool down whilst watching the ducks lazily making their way up and down stream….

Later, we did venture down into the village and for a wander along the river, though not another sole stirred on this warm Sunday evening….

Away early in the morning we were soon arriving at the coast, however we quickly realised that it is also a Bank Holiday in France and being such a fine day, everybody was heading to the coast as well! Our planned stops at firstly St Jouin-Bruneval and then Etretat were so not going to happen, both resorts being absolutely overflowing with parked cars and certainly the beach at St Jouin-Bruneval was jam packed with no opportunity to even hop out to take a photo.

Time to find somewhere quiet and preferably shady to stop and come up with a Plan B. Fortunately I hadn’t booked anywhere for an overnight stop and the chances of getting onto the ones that I had earmarked near the sea are slim to nonexistent so a real Plan B was to head further north and inland to Luneray, where I was able to book a space on an Aire for the night.

Arriving much later and much hotter than we planned, we waited until early evening before venturing out for a brief cooling walk along the handy, leafy cycle path and called it a night.

Tomorrow is a another day….

Sunday’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 192
  • Miles walked – 3
  • O/N – £12.50

Monday’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 179
  • Miles walked – 3
  • O/N – £13.70

Saturday 16th May 2026 – a lovely walk up the Rosengarten Trail from Imst….

/ freedombird / 3 Comments

A bit damp overnight and into the morning as we gathered ourselves together to move on a little further through the Alps. This time though the journey was mostly Autobahn and along the valley floor and by the time we had arrived at our campsite for the night in Imst the sun had joined us.

Not to waste the sun we set straight off, through the village to the start of the Rosengarten Trail (not sure why it is called this as we didn’t see any roses) as recommended by the campsite owner….

Well I would say that the word trail is a little bit on the soft side for what actually followed as we instantly started to climb up some rough hewn steps and a long various hanging plank walkways, following the course of Schinderbach Waterfall….

It was a pretty strenuous climb and though she never complains or visibly seems to tire, poor little Tilly’s legs must have felt it – I know mine did….

As we neared the top, spectacular mountain views could be glimpsed down the gorge and over the trees….

Still we pressed on, no choice really as I think it would be a much trickier hike back down the way we had come….

Beyond this first hill there is the opportunity to continue upwards to the small village perched high above Imst but we have had enough and chose to return to the site via the steep but much less perilous footpath away from the gorge.

A challenging but beautiful walk and the views well worth it….

Back on site (Camping Acktiv Imst) the views are non too shabby either….

This is our last day of our incredible journey through Austria and I realise that we have hardly scratched the surface – but I believe it is always good to leave something worth returning for.

Todays stats:

  • Miles driven – 82
  • Miles walked – 6 (vertical!)
  • Fuel – £80.63
  • AdBlue – £14.02
  • O/N – £19.63

Wenesday 13th May 2026 – driving the Grossglockner High Alpine Road Part 2…

/ freedombird / 4 Comments

Making the most of this wonderful afternoon up here high in the sky we work our way up and over the Hochter Pass – the highest point of this road being 2504m taking the opportunity to pull in just after the road tunnel at the top and capture the stunning scene in front of us and looking down on the road that we have climbed to get here….

Here the snow is banked up at the side of the road where the snow ploughs have kept the road clear and where they have started to pass through and clear fallen or collapsing snow banks – I have set myself a time limit of 5pm to start to make the return trip to ensure that I don’t get caught up in any freeze and I think the park closes around 6 anyway – since 4pm there has been an increase in the arrival of sports cars (the price goes down slightly at 4pm) and we played tag for awhile with these to soft top metallic Golfs….

A little further on, it wouldn’t be a proper road trip without at least one ‘Room with a View’….

By now we are three quarters of the way along this spectacular drive and it is now 5pm, I make the executive decision to turn around and start to make our way back because if we get caught at closing time at the far end the alternative route home is a massive detour….

Having found a nice wide parking area to turn in, we take a last wander and marvel at the sheer beauty of this snowy landscape and how amazing it is to be admiring all the 3000m + from such close quarters. One of my bucket list items is seeing a frozen waterfall now I know that this is not the trip for such a sight but I was still pretty impressed with these icicles clinging onto the rock face….

Of course there were a few more stops on the way down and just look at that road ahead….

What an amazing experience and day, I’m not sure what Tilly makes of the views or even appreciates them at all but she had plenty of opportunity to walk, have a little play in the snow and of course sniff out a couple of Marmots so a good day all round.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 85
  • Miles walked – 5
  • Entrance ticket – £40.46
  • O/N – £26.11

Wednesday 13th May 2026 – driving the Grossglockner High Alpine Road Part 1….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

As a fine sunny day dawned we suffered a little indecision, I am quite keen to drive the Grossglockner High Alpine Road but after a long driving day yesterday had planned an easy day just wandering locally, however the weather forecast for the next few days is not good with snow likely on the higher ground which will inevitably mean that the Grossglocken road will be closed – so let’s go for it….

We drove the 20 or so miles from Lienz up to Heiligenblut and paid our entrance fee to drive the High Alpine Road to Grossglockner – starting with amazing views down the lush green valley before heading above the snow line…

The driving was challenging with multiple switchbacks constantly either climbing or dipping back down into the valleys but the road itself was good and plenty wide enough for two way traffic so not too daunting and fortunately plenty of lay-bys to pull off and really enjoy the views…

As we crept up higher and higher – reaching 2500m above sea level on several occasions – that is 2 and a half times the height of Snowdon! And still the 3000m + peaks soared above us. It certainly got colder, hovering around 1 or 2 degrees and the views more stunning as the snow deepened, with glimpses of frozen lakes….

At the top of Kaiser Franz Josefs Hohe (2369m) with views across to Grossglockner Peak only just visible – Austria’s highest mountain at 3798m and down onto the mostly frozen Sandersee.

Here we also spotted, well to be fair Tilly sniffed our their presence though she couldn’t see them, a couple of Marmots going about their business – I last saw these in the wild up in the mountains in Canada…

This section of the road ends here and we made our way back down to the main roadway and then continued our trip heading further north and higher still….

To be continued tomorrow….