Central Europe

We left the bells and cuckoos behind and hit the road towards Austria. The Landy drives nicely on the motorway and so far has just required a little top-up of engine oil. I'm not sure why it's using oil but it seems ok. There's a biggish puff of black smoke on startup. I think black = diesel and oil would be blue. I'll have to check. There's absolutely no coolant loss so that's all good. (Reference to W1A there.)

Middle Germany is a lovely area. All the houses look cared for and it's easy to see how they used up the solar feed-in tariff so quickly (they introduced the idea before we in the UK did). Many many roofs have solar panels but there are also acres and acres ( hectares?) of commercial solar panel farms.

Pushing on into Austria, we picked a campsite for an overnight halt right next to the Danube. By now it was cold and damp but we used the tent sunshade as an awning.

Then it was into the restaurant next door. We were actually at an embarkation point for the Danube boat trips ( have you seen the adverts for Viking River Cruises)?  So a Wiener Schnitzel and a beer later, we were ready for the first night in Landy the Motorhome.

The next morning it was really wet and it's a practised art getting off the sleeping platform with everything pack away and clothes on when it's persisting down outside. Once we were on the motorway the weather got serious. It was about 12C, with spray and fog. Horrid driving but the objective is sun and warmth of course.

Into Hungary and then the rain stops and sun shines. Heaven. We even did some shopping.

Dawn's research took us to a campsite at a thermal spa which also has a 50m swimming pool that was hosting some international children's competition. We couldn't actually get the gate to the camp opened using the intercom. My English frightened-off the receptionist.

Fortunately a car came out and the power gate opened so in we went.

Once on the site, we were greeted by a German couple. It's a typical situation. They have been there since March in their Motorhome complete with car on a trailer. They decamp there each year.

That night was a second night in the Landy motorhome and was much easier as the weather was dry. I will post photos of the sleeping arrangements at some point (in the remote chance that someone is interested!). However the bespoke privacy panels are fitted like this as the designer/manufacturer demonstrates):

So it's Sunday morning and we are on the way to Serbia. It wasn't too long before we got to the border. Passport and vehicle V5 were a formality; as was insurance. Then we continued on the motorway, through Belgrade and into central Serbia. There's not a lot to see in northern and central Serbia. We tried to make huge fields look interesting.

The monotony was broken by "spot the number plate" but we soon got sick of the M for Munich or W for Wien cars hammering past us at 90mph plus.

It began to feel a little far from home:

Belgrade was missable

The Danube gets bigger and bigger - it's quite scarily fast flowing.

Pressing south through Saturday 24th the surroundings got more interesting with much smaller fields and plenty of people working them - with the odd car parked alongside and a few tractors. In the north there had been no signs at all of where the agricultural buildings are. There was hardly anything except fields. Bizarre.

Finally we arrived at a campsite in the far south, very near to Kosovo and to a warm welcome from Marko. This was the result of great forward planning by Dawn (yet again). You don't simply drive past these places. They can be way off the main drag and you have to know where to aim for.

So third night in the Landy and this one started with a continental style thunderstorm which lasted half the night. The rain then started again at 7am. Not very convenient.

I'll sign off this post with a reference to an old friend - our (actually Jo's) Thomas the Tank Engine towel. This is a towel that refuses to die. It's currently being pressed into service as a general useful mop-up towel, for use in, out and on the Landy!