The Ninteenth Week

Sunday 10-7-16

So the forecast today was for 37 degrees. It wasn't wrong. My solution was to spend most of the day in the shade of the van, write up last weeks blog and upload it. The wifi on the site was fast and free. I also backed up and recovered photos after our wine in the keyboard issues with two previous laptops. This was all aided by our recent big blowy fan purchase. The evening had been mapped out too. We were eating out at a grill restaurant, part of my ongoing search for grilled lamb chops, then cocktails in a noisy beach bar and then the Euro final. Liz being French having a keen interest in the result. We showered then wandered to the restaurant. Bingo, yes they had lamb chops. To say we were happy is an understatement.

They were great and we got eight each for 10 euro. Then it was part two of the mission, noisy beach bar. We found one playing AC/DC, old Rock n Roll and Santana, right up my street music wise. Liz had her cocktail and I crammed three ice cold Alpha beers in before kick off.

We saw the first drunk Greeks of our trip, they were happily knocking shots back and being nice and loud. Great stuff. Then it was back to the van and the dongle plugged in the laptop did it's stuff again. Shame the game was so boring and the French lost. But we'd had a good night whatever.

Camping Poseidon, Platamonas, Greece. N40.01329 E022.59299

Monday 11-7-16.

After a very steady pack up, last nights festivities had dulled my enthusiasm a bit, we paid up and left the camping. They tried to charge us 56 euro for two nights but Liz waved the ACSI book at them and they reduced it to 34 euro, the last date of the discount rate was today so we'd just got there in time.

We bought spinach pie and bread at the baker then jumped on the motorway to Thessaloniki. 55Km up the motorway we jumped off it and found a camping. Small, quiet and a lot cooler than yesterdays.

We walked around the site and found a cracking old Land rover with a very unstable camping box thing stuck on it. It was abandoned in a corner of the site and the last tax disc in the window was 2005. I liked it even though it looked like it'd handle like a pig on a pushbike.

We had coffees by the pool and then did some jobs. I put straps on the foil backed beach mats so they'd attach to the windows to act as sun shades and sorted the fan out with a strap to hang it over the bed. We also spent an hour putting a months worth of facts and figures in the trip log spreadsheet, another victim of the wine keyboard interface.

Camping Methoni, Greece. N40.42766 E022.60406

Tuesday 12-7-16

So we dropped back onto the motorway, paid our tolls and headed up to Thessaloniki. Luckily it has a ring road. Looking at it from the ring road which was above the town it looked like a hot busy mess of apartments, shops and businesses. We then headed south down the coast and into the part of Greece known as Halkidiki. We stopped to buy cigarettes in one of the seaside towns. I double parked as is the custom and a guy on the other side of the road double parked. All quite acceptable here.

The towns were busy and the beaches full of parasols. It was looking like yet another campsite night until we wandered into Paralia Trigias. By an old harbour building we found a quiet spot to park up next to some well looked after grass.

At the end of the road was a beach taverna. We had coffees then lunch back at the van. About four we wandered back for ice creams and two old Greek blokes started talking to us. We sat with them and they shared their retsina wine with us. One was a communist called Tito with Che Guevara tattooed on his arm the other was a capitalist called Georgos who loved money. This they told us in a mixture of Greek, German and English. But they were best friends non the less. The capitalist was off to Germany to work at the beer festivals making pizzas, he went by the name of Pizza George. The communist said he'd stay in Greece and drink wine. They called Liz Her Majesty when the found out her name. They were both very drunk. We left them after an hour and Pizza George drove his friend home. We sat outside the van in the shade and drank beer and read.

Wild camping at Paralia Trilias Beach, Greece. N40.26917 E023.18122

Wednesday 13-7-16

We looked at the map and I declared my total disinterest at seeing any more random Greek beaches. So Halkidiki was crossed off the itinerary. Seeing as where we were gave us a great opportunity to head north to Bulgaria that's what we decided to do. We backtracked up the dual carriageway to Thessaloniki then hung a right for a place on the coast called Stavros. The road was new and smooth and paid for by the EU. When we hit the coast we decided that as tomorrow would be a border crossing day we should find a campsite with Wi-Fi . We needed to find out what we needed, we didn't even know what the currency was in Bulgaria. And in Asprovota we found what we wanted. And it was probably our strangest Greek campsite yet.

We found a nice spot in the shade and then ambled around the place. It was huge, hundreds of pitches, but only maybe 10% occupied. You could see it had once been very busy and well maintained. But now it was struggling. We had become used to seeing Greek caravans left on the sites and people using them as weekend cottages, with little fences and paved areas they'd installed themselves, but here they took things even further. They were planting veggie plots outside their caravans.

The seafront was a bit bleak, but some of the residents had been watering the bit of grass in front of their plots to keep it green.

The Supermarket on site had seen better days too, we were glad we went to Lidl before getting here.

But it was quiet, the toilets were clean with hot water in the showers and the wifi was fast and free. In Lidl today we'd done a bit of shopping and found mozzi nets on offer. We bought some and I spent some time cutting them up to replace the tatty nets on the van door screen. Liz also made a small one to fit over the drivers door using the magnets they came with so we can have that open while we're parked up.

On the free wifi we sussed out Bulgaria border requirements, found out they spend Levs in the shops, learnt how to say hello and thank you in Bulgarian and found a campsite to head to just over the border for tomorrow night. So we were all set, I do like a plan.

Camping Asprovolta, Greece. N40.73553 E023.71797

Thursday 14-7-16

Bulgaria bound we headed north for the border, we waved bye bye to the sea as the next time we'd see it would be in France in two months time. On our way north we passed this fine fellow. No idea what it was but it looked old.

We reached the border after an hour and a half. We'd dug out our insurance docs, V5 and driving licences as we'd read we'd need them to enter Bulgaria. After a short queue two policemen, one Greek and one Bulgarian asked to see our passports. The Greek then asked us what we thought of Brexit. We told him and he gave us a long lecture about why it was good and what would happen next. He kept us talking for 5 minutes even though there was a queue of cars behind us. Eventually he waved us through and that was it. None of the other docs needed. About a mile up the road we pulled in for fuel, it was cheaper here so we'd waited till over the border to fill up. A nice chap filled us up and then gave our window a wash. Liz went and paid and also bought a carnet for 15 euro to allow us to drive in Bulgaria for a month.

We found the campsite I'd spotted on Google maps yesterday. It was run by an English couple called John and Sarah. It was small and tidy. The showers and loos were brand new and we had use of a kitchen in the house if we needed it.

They invited us for drinks and a game of darts after dinner. They also had two Spanish lads stopping there doing work for them in exchange for room and board, these two lads from Bilbao were referred to as the Spaniels and they'd learnt to play darts that week. They beat us all.

Sometime in the early hours we made it back to the van, Bulgarian rakia had made me sleepy.

Kamping Kromidovo, Bulgaria.  N41.45472 E023.36283

Friday 15-7-16

I woke up at 10am. We went to see John and another Brit called Ian with our map and they helped us with suggestions for places to go. This done we packed up very steadily as we had fuzzy heads and it was 41 degrees. We waved bye and headed for a big supermarket Sarah had recommended. We found it and it had an ATM which was handy as we had no Levs, we'd had to pay for the camping with Euros. It was a big place and we found everything we needed. The advertising poster outside caught my eye, the lady on it seemed to have far too many teeth.

After this we headed east and into the mountains with an idea that it would be cooler higher up. Just before the town of Predel at 1100m above sea level we spotted a sign for Camping. We followed down a dirt track through a forest and came across a completely empty campsite. A very happy man ran out the house and shouted “hello you want camp?” at us. We said yes and he said anywhere, which was obvious really as the field was empty apart from a lot of small wooden camping chalets. I asked how much and rubbed my fingers together in the internationally recognised way to mean money and he held up 10 fingers. 10 Euro, bargain, we pitched up and he plugged us in to the only electric point on the site.

It was sunny but a lot cooler than at the bottom of the mountains in the valley. Mission accomplished for the day.

Camping Predel, Bulgaria.  N41.89648 E023.33054

Saturday 16-7-16

We paid the happy campsite fellow and headed for Lake Batak. There was a camping on the lake that we'd got a discount card for. I took a photo of our personal campsite as we passed it on the dirt road.

The way to the lake took us through the mountains. There were people turning hay over with pitch forks in the fields and we passed lots of farmers with horse and carts. In one town we spotted a Lidl so did a small shop, really we just wanted to compare it with the Greek ones. More cooked meats and less Feta cheese was the answer. We were met at the gate of the camping by a young lady called Jana. She showed us a pitch and apologised for it being busy, it was Saturday and all the Bulgarians would go home tomorrow after their weekend away. We had a nice view of the lake and the cloud was clearing. Another night sorted.

Camping Lake Batak, Bulgaria.  N41.95861 E024.15475

I've managed to rescue my facts and figures spreadsheet and updated it. Below are the numbers so far for 130 days away.

Cheers, the Van Brian Crew.

The Eighteenth Week

Monday 4-7-16, Tuesday 5-7-16 and Wednesday 6-7-16

This morning we packed up our stuff and paid the nice campsite lady 17 euro a night for our pitch. The night before we'd watched France beat the Icelanders and go through to the Euro semi finals. I'd also eaten a wonderful braised beef dish in the taverna, two meals out on the trot, we must be millionaires. To make up for all this excess we needed some free camping. After 40 km of tortuously twisty roads that's just what we found at Patistika Beach.

It was a beach side car park where we found a great spot under the pines for shade. There was a beach bar across the road and a taverna just up the hill. We were the only motorhome there all day until a Dutch van turned up in the evening. We had a chat with them, they'd been here three years ago and said it was a good spot for camping.

The beach was nice, according to Liz.

The beach bar was quite smart too and was run by an excitable Greek chap who lived in Munich in the winter and here in the summer. He spoke Greek, German, Italian, French and English. He also had a thing for Italian opera. So we sat with our coffees listening to Pavarotti and talking to him about the Greek economy and Brexit. Everyone we meet asks us about Brexit.

It doesn't take much to entertain us any more. So the sight of a praying mantis sat on a cicada on our wiper blade caused quite a stir in the Van Brian camp.

In the end we stayed three nights, only the fact we'd run out of essentials like beer and wine forced us to move. The Dutch couple, Harry and Erine offered me their moped to go to town to get shopping, which was nice of them, but it was a long way to the shops so I said no thanks. We went for a drink with them and an Austrian who'd turned up in a van. We bought the barman a drink and he also sat chatting with us. It was all a bit multinational. The Austrian said he'd been here twenty years ago and the field we were parked in was a proper campsite then, he'd paid to pitch his tent on it. It was a pleasant evening with a nice view.

Wild camping at Potistika Beach, Greece. N39.26392 E023.29099

Thursday 7-7-16

We left the beach in the morning after saying our goodbyes to the Dutch and the Austrians. We found a town where we could stock up the fridge and also a garage for diesel then headed north. There was a beach Liz had seen photos off that looked good. And it was. It was small, sandy and in a rocky cove.

There was a taverna on the steps down to it and we sat having a coffee watching the lady preparing the food for lunch. The stuffed courgette flowers looked great.

A Bulgarian was camping on the beach. I talked to him about where to go in Bulgaria, as that's our next country, and he gave me some tips. At six the beach emptied and there was just us there. We found ourselves a corner of the parking area and made ourselves at home.

An Italian van turned up and they walked down to the beach. I was impressed with it, only 5m long and not a make I'd seen before. They came back after a swim and left. No idea where as there wasn't anywhere else around here that we could see as a possible overnight stop.

Wild camping at Lambinou Beach, Greece. N39.36027 E023.21325

Friday 8-7-16

So today we needed to make our way north, there was one wild camping spot 80km away we knew of and then it was another 60km to a camp site. The drive north took us high up and inland for a while, we drove along a huge flat plain. It had a man made lake covering part of it and lots of farms with cows and cereal crops, something we'd not seen for a long while.

Eventually we saw the sea again and dropped 380m in 5km down yet another hairpin riddled road. Just along the coast we found the beach we'd been looking for. We pitched up with a few Greek caravans, tents and also a group of gypsies living in tents. It was a busy little spot.

I spoke to one of the Greeks in a caravan. He introduced himself as Stavros, like that bloke off Harry Enfield. This threw me a bit. He explained that he'd lived in Derby for three years and had been the manager of the deep pan pizza take away there. He'd met an English girl in Corfu and had come to England to live with her. When they split up he bought an old Bedford motorhome and drove it back to Greece where a friend of his stole it from him and he's never seen either again. He also said tomorrow the beach car park would be packed with cars as it was Saturday. We were moving on in the morning but it was a shame as there was a great breeze coming off the sea and the place was very laid back, we liked it.

Wild camping at Kato Polydenri Beach, Greece. N39.65585 E022.89340

Saturday 9-7-16

During the evening more caravans and tents had turned up and in the morning the parking was filling up with cars. We packed up and left before we got blocked in. I set the sat nav to take us to a campsite. The route took us along the coast and for a long while all we passed was beaches full of parasols and beach tavernas. Seems this is a popular tourist area for the Greeks. We didn't stop to look around but a family of storks on a power pole warranted a photo.

We rolled into Camping Poseidon at lunchtime. A chap called Yorgos showed us a shady pitch by the sea and we were sorted again. The washing machines took a beating and my smalls got strung up for everyone to see.

We walked down the road and nosed about in the mini markets and shops. We bought some foil backed beach mats to attach to the side windows to act as sun shades. We also bought a nice big fan. The forecast for Sunday was 37 degrees so a bit of forward planning was required.

On our walk around we also realised we were the only tourers on the site, the rest was full of Greek caravans that are pitched here permanently. The services on site were good but they gave you an electronic key that allowed you only one hot shower a day. This seemed a bit stingy to me but their wifi was fast and free so that made up for it. The beach was packed and still busy at 9pm and the place had a proper buzz to it in the evening, like a small town. Most unlike all the other sites we've stopped on in Greece. It made a pleasant change.

And that's our eighteenth week, next week we head for Halkidiki where we plan on spending a few weeks and then its north to Bulgaria.

Camping Poseidon, Platamonas, Greece. N40.01329 E022.59299

Cheers, the Van Brian Crew.

The Seventeenth Week

Saturday 25-6-16, Sunday 26-6-16, Monday 27-6-16, Tuesday 28-6-16 and Wednesday 29-6-16

So we planed to be at the camp site for the weekend then move on to some wild campsites on beaches on the north of the island. But not everything goes to plan in the world of Van Brian. We had a nice pitch with a great view of the sea.

On Saturday night we had a treat, Mexicorn. It doesn't take much to entertain us.

Then I remembered a TV dongle gizmo I'd bought for watching digital TV on our laptop. I plugged it in and it found us lots of Greek TV stations. So we got to watch the Germany Slovakia game on Sunday night. Just after the game we had a bit of a mishap and managed to fry my laptop by pouring a glass of white wine into the keyboard. We still had Lizzie's laptop so all was not lost.

On Monday we had a walk into Eritria. It was a bit of an odd place, reminded me of Skegness. But we had a pleasant coffee in a cafe and picked up some bits of shopping.

We decided to stop another night then move on on Tuesday. It was seriously hot, mid 30's and we felt like a bit of a rest from driving. Then something strange happened. It rained. It was brilliant, there was lightening and thunder too.

That evening we had a bit of a mishap and managed to fry Lizzie s laptop by pouring a glass of white wine into the keyboard. I could have cried. We really could have done without this, we use the laptops for watching films and TV at night, storing our photos and writing this blog. So on Wednesday we packed up the van and headed for the capital of Evia, Halkida. We hoped to find a shop to buy a new laptop. Halkida was seriously busy and we had to abandon the van on a street with no parking signs. We wandered around, found a small shop selling computers, he didn't have any laptops but pointed us in the direction of Public. Public seems to be the Greek equivalent of PC World.

We got served by a lady called Maria, who spoke really good English. We found a 17” laptop the same as the one we'd fried. It was cheaper than I'd paid for ours last December in the UK. Only problem was it was setup with Greek as the default language. Just changing the settings wouldn't get it to default to English. Maria spoke to the HP help-desk and they told here to reinstall Windows. We went for a coffee while she did this, when we got back she was still working on it. It looked like it would take an hour or so more. As we were parked in a bad place and the temperature in the town was in the high 30's we decided to retreat and come back tomorrow. So it was back to Camping Milos for yet another night. We drove back to the same pitch and it felt like we'd never left. I put some Bob Marley on the iPod and we chilled, the big town had worn us out

Camping Milos, Eratria, Evia, Greece. N38.39082 E023.77501

Thursday 30-6-16

So we packed up yet again and headed for Public. I parked in the same dodgy place as yesterday and we found Maria. She was very apologetic, it hadn't worked and she'd been on the phone to someone else this morning, They'd told her to do a full install again and then download some updates that would include the English language pack that was missing. It would take a couple of hours. I gave her my phone number and asked her to call when it was done. We had a coffee and hatched a plan.

We drove out of town, over the small bridge to the mainland, found a spot under a tree for shade and waited/snoozed for a call from Maria.

Maria rang at lunchtime it was back to town again. We picked up the English speaking laptop, gave Maria a box of chocolates and got out of town as fast as we could. We headed north and after a couple of hours reached a beach. And there we stopped.

Wild Camping at Psarapoli Beach, Evia, Greece. N38.96778 E023,37853

Friday 1-7-16 and Saturday 2-7-16

We were close to a port that had ferries going over to the mainland. So we drove to Agiokambos and bought a ticket for 22 euros and watched the ferry sail up to the beach. They loaded us in minutes and then we were off.

The crossing took half an hour, just enough time for icy coffees.

The sea was ridiculously smooth.

Then before we knew it we were offloaded and back on mainland Greece. Looking at the map the only real option now was some motorway driving. So we paid a 6 euro toll and rattled of 70 miles on a lovely smooth motorway with very little traffic. At Kato Gatzea we found a campsite and decided to call it a day.

I roasted a couple of chicken legs for tea which went down a treat.

On Saturday we explored. The small harbour was nice and Greek.

We found a pharmacy to stock up on anti-histamine tablets for our mozzi bite itchiness. We also looked at all the restaurants, intending to pick one for a meal out that night. In the end we decided that the one on the beach by our campsite looked the best. It also had a big screen tele showing the German Italian game which may have swayed my decision a bit. So that evening we ordered the fresh fish of the day, baby cod. The Greek version of battered cod and chips, they tasted a lot better than they looked. The best fish I'd eaten in Greece so far.

And then we got to watch an incredibly boring game of football. The only high point being when Liz shouted come on Italy and the whole bar shut up and looked at her. It was full of Germans it seemed.

We also finally got to see one of the noisy buggers that we've been constantly listening to for the last four months. A cicada. A Greek girl saw us looking at it, walked over and picked it up then put it in a tree.

And that's it for this week. It's been an odd one with a few setbacks but it was interesting. I've got no updated facts and figures as they were on my laptop that fried. 

 And one last thing, Liz tried turning on her laptop today before we stuck it away under the bed. It worked.

Camping Sikia, Greece. N39.30814 E023.10946

Cheers, the Van Brian Crew.