2851miles... Home Sweet Home

Sigh...

...a gruelling six hour ferry trip was one thing - we arrived back in the country at 2000hrs, but weren't allowed off until 2045...

...we then had a four hour drive from Harwich back up here to contend with, giving an ETA of 00:45... as we headed up the A1 we were diverted (without a diversion route to follow) as it was completely closed because of accidents... just what we needed!

Anyway, we're home now - Metro is, of course, still in one piece - he didn't miss a beat on the journey up here. It's great to be back on British roads, driving on the left again feels so much better (although Keith did have one slip up on the way home on one of our A1 diversions driving up an unlit, unused country lane on the right hand side - oops!). It's amazing as well how comforting British roadsigns are, you don't take any notice of them when you drive, yet when you have been suffering the Europe's badly designed signs for so long, you really do appreciate it...

Metro probably feels much better as well - we saw four other Metro's on the way back up here and now he's home... After unpacking in the morning, weather dependent, he will get a good wash, hoover and polish...

Off to bed now... Absolutely knackered - considering we left the campsite in Amsterdam at 10am their time, now is after 2am... Where could we have flown in sixteen hours?!

2616miles... Hoek van Holland

Having left the campsite and made our way to the port through streams and streams of traffic (on badly designed Dutch roads), we now have time to reflect on our stay in Amsterdam.

The campsite, whilst clean and friendly was very untrusting - they had to watch us leave with our luggage (in case we sneakily tried to stay an extra night for free?) and they had blue lights in the showers and toilets to stop us from seeing our veins... Can you imagine the clientele we were camping with?

Amsterdam itself was a huge let down and we see absolutely no reason for anybody to ever visit...

• If you want a boozy weekend, go to Eastern Europe. Amsterdam was charging anything up to £4 a pint
  
• If you want a sex shop, go online
  
• If you want drugs, talk to that 'dodgy friend' - everybody has one!

Other than that it was just like Blackpool but without the tower... Retrospective clairvoyancey is a wonderful tool...

We're currently sat waiting to check-in onto the boat and should be on our way homeward at 1445...

Sex, wax and conical bras...

Today's weather started pretty much the same as yesterday, thunderstorms. However, once we got into the city it had all calmed down again and we headed to Madame Tussauds.

What a waste of time and money. It started with a tour of Amsterdam in the 1300s with poorly animated speaking models trying to make out that the place has an interesting story. We were then moved to Pirates of the Carribean which consisted of second rate actors trying to scare you whilst taking you round a badly kitted out dungeon - none of which resembled any of the three films. Finally we were left to look around celebrities' models. However, as this is only Amsterdam, all the models were London's cast offs so they didnt look like what you see in Heat - Madonna had cones, Kylie had long hair and Tina Turner looked in her teens!

In an attempt to make the day more interesting, we visited the Sex Museum. We found that it was just an excuse for the two dirty old men that ran it to get their dirty photos out - hardly a museum.

Tommorrow we will leave Amsterdam - neither of us can wait...

Still in Amsterdam...

The British weather we seem to have escaped from for these past two weeks has finally caught up with us - or is it just that we're getting closer to Britain?

It's done nothing but rain here today so we began heading to the Van Gogh Museum to stay indoors. Having walked around in circles for an hour, we gave up and remembered that neither of us even like art!

We hit a bar and had a pint instead. En route, we caught the eye of more "ladies" scantily clad in windows... This is before midday!

After drink, still raining like mad, we went shopping. For a major city, it was grim. Apart from junkie "Amsterdam" shops selling t-shirts and mugs, we visited C&A which made us totally give up! Lastly we headed to a supermarket for ingredients to make "special beans on toast"...

Amsterdam...

Having been offered both cocaine and "sleaze and filth" last night (all amongst dancing Jabbas at windows in bikinis), we decided to be more cultured today and hit the museums.

We tried Anne Frank's house, but she wasn't in. So we headed on down to "Amsterdams Historisch Museum". At the beginning we were told how the city was built then there was an exhibit or two to explain why they have never accomplished anything as a nation before a brief explanation on how they handed control to the Nazis in 1940 before we got to a final justification of why the city is full of sex and drugs.

From there we visited the Heineken Experience. What an experience that was! The journey through explains all about the brand and the brewing methods and then onto a couple of free lagers (from which we kept two glasses - rude not to) and a complementary bottle opener.

Without further trekking to more museums, there doesn't seem anything else left to see. The red light district is very Blackpool and there doesn't seem to be any charm like you get in the likes of Prague... Suppose that's what the drugs are for...

2548 miles... Amsterdam

James did all of todays driving, the last continental stretch from The Montana to Amsterdam. After some traffic, we arrived at a campsite at just before 3.

The campsite is very professional and clean and is a 15minute walk from a free ferry that takes you into the city centre.

After pitching, we headed into the centre to check it out and grab our first meal of the day. Finally found somewhere worth eating in, although we didnt find anything but beer and burgers!

We had a good trek around the centre, and set to maxing out the credit cards in the sex shops. Haha! Afterwards, we settled for a coffee and a slice of cake!

2321 miles...Diemelstadt

Guten tag from the Diemelstadt service station alongside Autobahn 44.

We're disappointed with Germany - it's far too big, all seems to be flat and theres nothing to look at. The Autobahn's aren't all their cracked up to be - you don't go any faster than what you do at home. Although, it has to be said that Metro did a ton today - albeit downhill and with the wind behind him!

We left the Autobahn about 50miles ago into a German 'National Park' in search for a campsite. The 'Park' consisted of a few trees, couple of villages and endless road works. Considering the last experience in a German campsite (between Innsbruck and Salzburg) we decided to head for a hotel and catch up on some washing.

So here we are, The Montana Hotel - small, clean room covered in underwear, socks and shirts drying!

Next stop, Amsterdam. Looking at around a 3-4 hour drive from here so, all being well, we should be sat in a nice cafe bar this time tommorrow... having a muffin!

Sbohem Praha & Cêská Republika

As we write we are headed north westerly away from Prague towards the German border. We've decided that Berlin is far too big a city for us to fully appreciate in the time we have left so will be concentrating on getting through Germany and as close to the Netherlands as possible so that we can spend as many days in Amsterdam as we can.

Prague has been great over the last day or two. As we have both been here before, nothing was new, but it was refreshing to see the city at the height of summer rather than the depths of Winter. That said, we both agree that it is a much nicer city in winter - much more picturesque, far fewer tourists (the place was full of Americans with their annoying accent and Japanese with their uniform cameras).

Metro has enjoyed a couple of days rest at the campsite whilst we revisited the city. When he was on the road, he was unique next to the multitude of Skodas around.

We should arrive at an unknown German destination at some point this afternoon...

Last day in Prague...

We started the day in a nice spangly new tent that we bought yesterdays from Tesco (half the price of the same one in Batley - bargain).

We met a couple from mid-Wales on the campsite who are on week ten of fourteen of a trans-European expedition on a tandem. They have covered a similar route to us, only adding Croatia and Hungary in between Austria and Czech. They expect to be home in four weeks - we have less than a week left!

After breakfast, we had a bimble up to the castle and halfway up stopped for Irish Coffee and Panacotta with hot strawberries... Mmmm! We went to the same place last time we were here as it has views of the whole city - its a much nicer view in the winter as everything snow capped.

For a rest, as the heat started to get to us, we went back to the campsite for a beer and a game of chess that we bought in an Austrian Aldi at the weekend. Mid-game it started to rain so we headed for the tent only to find that it was wetter inside than out! Not amused! We ripped it down, put the old one back up, and hiked back to Tesco to get a refund.

Just had a Czech meal featuring dumplings galore! Now completely stuffed and washing it down with tankards of Pilsner Urquell.

We're going to be setting off westwards tommorrow in pursuit of Amsterdam... Only downside will be another overnighter in Germany - lets hope its better than the last one...

Still in Prague...

Things are much the same as last time we came, none of the sights have changed - only difference is the lack of snow and the 25+ temperatures (even if we had just had a huge rain downpour!).

We have spent this morning going around the main city, seeing a bit of the shops and the main strip. Just going to head off to the Jewish quarter on the opposite side of the river to have a mooch around there and then head up to see Prague Castle.

The campsite we're on is very simple, but nice - the showers for example are communal and the toilets are very sixties - but clean all the same! It's a lot better than some that we've been to, such as Germany where we were camped on gravel (same as Paris) and had to have cold showers!!

Nothing much else to report... We'll be having another day here tomorrow before we set off westwards en route to Amsterdam... Metro hasn't moved today - think he is probably enjoying the break after his jaunt so far!

1974 miles... Praha

Having exhausted Salzburg for sightseeing yesterday, we set off for the only destination we planned to visit - Prague.

After a five hour drive (with Metro producing a stellar 52mpg) we arrived and set up camp. The journey was uneventful though importantly dry and sunny. The mountainous backdrop we were used to from both Austria and Switzerland was quickly replaced with a more British rolling countryside.

After pitching up on an island in the middle of the river at the heart of Prague we ventured into the city using a perfect public transport system that only Communism could build - so far, the only benefit of Democracy is that you have to pay for it.

The last time we visited, the city was covered in snow at -11 degrees. Today was entirely different with Prague enjoying a high-twenties summer. Naturally, we went off in search of a pint of Staropramen - setting us back only 70p each!

Tommorrow we will be sight seeing, so will have some photos to upload. Metro will be enjoying a well-deserved rest at the campsite til we go west on Friday..

1727miles... Salzburg

After yesterdays brilliant sunshine, we were surprised that Germany was so dank and miserable this morning (just like the people). With it just being a halfway point in between Innsbruck and Salzburg, we left sharpish and got back on track for Austria.

We arrived in Salzburg at around lunchtime and pitched up on a campsite on the outskirts of the city, at the foot of the Gaisberg Mountain. Once we had become settled we headed into Salzburg for an Austrian lunch (Deer Stew & Beef Goulash).

Sightseeing is limited in Salzburg and it has the same shops on its high street as anywhere else. However there are a couple of scenes that you might recognise from The Sound of Music, but we didn't see any girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes or singing nuns for that matter!

We'll be back on the road in the morning en route to Praha. Metro has had a nice easy city day today - think we've seen the last of the big hills...

1663 miles... Herrenchiemsee

We left Italy this morning in sight of Austria. Passo Rombo was bad, it was clear why it closed at 8 - no streetlights, no barriers to stop you falling 2.5 thousand metres.

Metro was distinctly better today - he's probably getting used to the hills - we only had to stop to let him cool down once on the way up and on the way down, the mountain air was enough to cool him.

The scenery on the way over was immense and reminded us of Switzerland. All of the roads were zig zag up and zig zag down - on the way down, a fat German couple that we drove past fell off their motorbike around the 320 degree turn - hahaha!

We got intro Austria and headed for Innsbruck. The city itself is very picturesque, set between mountains. However, as it was Sunday, everything seemed to be shut so walking around produced nothing.

We then headed off on motorways towards Salzburg (which, because of the mountains between the cities, involves us going through Germany). As the drive to Salzburg was going to be too much, we have stopped in a German camp at Herrenchiemsee til the morning until we make our way to Salzburg...

Timmelsjoch - Passo Rombo

Following our Italian misfortune, we headed for the Austrian border in the hope that things would take on a more Swiss feel, allowing us to forget the experience of Italy.

On Saturday morning, we woke up completely unaware as to where we were due to the circumstances that got us there. We headed towards Lecco and then northwards to escape. However, things did not go as planned due to the state of the Italian roads and the inclines that Metro was having to deal with.

We got to Merano at around about 4 yesterday afternoon and decided that rather than slum it there, we would push on to the border as there are a number of campsites just as you get into Austria.

The road we were on was to take us over the mountains using Passo Rombo. It was only as we left Merano that we found out that the pass shuts at 2000hrs. Quickly after finding that out, we camped in a German-centric village - Keith had poorly made Italian food for dinner and James had a German pork dish (he has had the same dish 3 times in the last week and each time it has been called something different on the menu!)

The campsite was typical of the climate - hot and humid. It was, therefore, riddled with ants the size of your hand and flies bigger than that.

You won't be surprised to learn that we were looking forward to getting to Austria today...