On the Road Again?
Barry and Margaret Williamson
On the Isle of Skye
September 2020
Since we can't travel to Greece by motorhome at the moment (or indeed for many a foreseeable moment), we can at least reminisce about the many times over the last 33 years we took that enormous privilege for granted! One result is the lament called The Greece Beyond Reach, which is to be found on this website (inevitably rather neglected of late).
Christmas Day 2019 at Ionion Beach Camping in the Greek Peloponnese. In the background, the Island of Zakynthos lies 10 miles offshore
The photograph epitomises the Greece we left behind: the sun, the light, the colour, the sea, the sky, the motorhome, the bicycles fresh from a hill climb, the offshore island (one of many hundreds), the trees and, not in the picture but all around, the people.
On the Isle of Skye
September 2020
Since we can't travel to Greece by motorhome at the moment (or indeed for many a foreseeable moment), we can at least reminisce about the many times over the last 33 years we took that enormous privilege for granted! One result is the lament called The Greece Beyond Reach, which is to be found on this website (inevitably rather neglected of late).
Christmas Day 2019 at Ionion Beach Camping in the Greek Peloponnese. In the background, the Island of Zakynthos lies 10 miles offshore
The photograph epitomises the Greece we left behind: the sun, the light, the colour, the sea, the sky, the motorhome, the bicycles fresh from a hill climb, the offshore island (one of many hundreds), the trees and, not in the picture but all around, the people.
For everybody there has been no choice but to match activities and moods to the waxing and waning of the Virus, albeit in different ways at different stages. Locked in, locked down, nearly locked up (blame our neighbours), we completely furnished and refurbished the inside and the outside of the flat in the Fylde which Margaret inherited from her mother. Intended purely as a base and as proof of UK residence, for a time it turned into a bastion, its walls covered in Mementos to Journeys Past.
Let out on licence from 4th July onwards, we returned to the road in our Ford Transit-based 7-metre 3.5 ton T337 Carado, with two bicycles in its garage and hope in our hearts. Passenger ferries were sailing to four mainland countries (Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain) and we thought of resuming foreign travel before it was restricted again by Brexit and the Schengen Rules at the end of the year. But the re-awakening of the Virus woke us from this dream, and now it's a Rubik's cube of a task to work out which land border between which of 30 or more mainland countries is open or closed at any time in either direction, in or out?
Let out on licence from 4th July onwards, we returned to the road in our Ford Transit-based 7-metre 3.5 ton T337 Carado, with two bicycles in its garage and hope in our hearts. Passenger ferries were sailing to four mainland countries (Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain) and we thought of resuming foreign travel before it was restricted again by Brexit and the Schengen Rules at the end of the year. But the re-awakening of the Virus woke us from this dream, and now it's a Rubik's cube of a task to work out which land border between which of 30 or more mainland countries is open or closed at any time in either direction, in or out?
Standing Stones on the Northern Edge of the North York Moors, a stiff climb above the village of Carlton
So we stayed in the UK, camping and cycling on the familiar Yorkshire Moors and Wolds (not to forget the Howardian Hills), as well as enjoying nostalgic rides in North Wales based in the Ceiriog Valley. In August, a chance sight of a newer but near identical Fiat-based 7-metre, 3.5 ton T66 Dethleffs Sunlight on the Brownhills website had us heading for Newark. The two motorhomes were built 5 years apart in the same factory near Dresden in the far southeast of Germany. As with the Carado in 2014, we welcomed the well-oiled (indeed greasy, one could even say slick) services of the Brownhills Sales Executives for the exchange itself. Our mates at Dick Lane Motors in Bradford added the finishing touches, including extra power points, a TV aerial and security locks on all four doors. The process was complete by the end of August when Autogas Leisure near Thirsk transferred the two refillable 11-kg LPG bottles from the Carado into the Sunlight.
The Sunlight Motorhome on its first journey: from West Yorkshire for a clockwise tour of Northern Scotland including the Isle of Skye.
So we stayed in the UK, camping and cycling on the familiar Yorkshire Moors and Wolds (not to forget the Howardian Hills), as well as enjoying nostalgic rides in North Wales based in the Ceiriog Valley. In August, a chance sight of a newer but near identical Fiat-based 7-metre, 3.5 ton T66 Dethleffs Sunlight on the Brownhills website had us heading for Newark. The two motorhomes were built 5 years apart in the same factory near Dresden in the far southeast of Germany. As with the Carado in 2014, we welcomed the well-oiled (indeed greasy, one could even say slick) services of the Brownhills Sales Executives for the exchange itself. Our mates at Dick Lane Motors in Bradford added the finishing touches, including extra power points, a TV aerial and security locks on all four doors. The process was complete by the end of August when Autogas Leisure near Thirsk transferred the two refillable 11-kg LPG bottles from the Carado into the Sunlight.
The Sunlight Motorhome on its first journey: from West Yorkshire for a clockwise tour of Northern Scotland including the Isle of Skye.
For cycling in the UK, we favour our traditional touring bicycles (27 gears, 5 bags, 3 bottles) built for us in 2005 by master craftsman Paul Hewitt in his workshop in Leyland (the town where once upon a time they built buses). We are saving the Volt electric bikes that Paul prepared for us in December 2018, their batteries fully charged, for the mountains of Greece where they have already helped us ride some seven thousand kilometres. May they not wait in vain!
Easter 2019 in the Taygetos Mountains of the Peloponnese: Margaret taking a break on the climb from Sparta to the mountain village of Anavriti (Gushing Springs) at 850m or 2,800 ft.
Easter 2019 in the Taygetos Mountains of the Peloponnese: Margaret taking a break on the climb from Sparta to the mountain village of Anavriti (Gushing Springs) at 850m or 2,800 ft.
While reluctantly unsettled in England, surrounded by crowded roads and tight parking, initially on familiar first-name terms with Enterprise Car Rentals, we bought a lively 2-seat Smart car (a ForTwo Coupé) with only 8,000 slow miles (2.7 miles/day) on its clock. We haven't added many more but have enjoyed every moment of driving it, the antithesis of motorhoming!
There have never been so many wheels (16!) potentially beneath us, all waiting and wanting to turn at a time when there are so few roads open to spin along!
There have never been so many wheels (16!) potentially beneath us, all waiting and wanting to turn at a time when there are so few roads open to spin along!