The First Part Of Our Europe Road Trip - Spain-France-Belguim-Netherland-Germany
After we have already published some posts about the road trip we did in July/August this year on our Instagram account LENNYTHEOVERLANDER, now I also would like to write about that first part of the trip but in more detail. That means, in this article you will find some more stories and informations about it.
I hope you will have some fun with it!
At the beginning of our Europe trip we didn't take so many pictures, because we wanted to get to Germany as fast as possible. Our plan was to drive with Lenny the Overlander from Gran Canaria to Germany. There we wanted to visit our families and to complete the eagerly awaited conversion of Lenny’s interior after almost 2 years of planning.
The first part of the trip was of course by ferry, which was quite easy for us. The passage from Las Palmas to Cadiz across the Atlantic ocean was very calm. There were fortunately no high waves. So luckily I didn't have to deal with any seasickness. Lenny was able to relax on the upper deck, that we can visit him every time. We have spent the two days with various Skibbo games, watching a few downloaded series and the 3 meals in the Restaurant of the ferry. Since we wasn’t able to book a cabin on the way to Cadiz, the sun deck was the place where we hang out most of the time. Because we could enjoy the sun beds. We boarded on the ferry on Saturday at noon in Las Palmas, spent two nights on the ferry sleeping on the floor with camping mats and sleeping bags, which was actually not so uncomfortable. Many passengers did this too. On Monday at 07:00 in the morning we arrived Cadiz and at 08:00 we could get off the ferry without being checked by the Guardia Civil.
Filled with anticipation and since we knew that southern Spain can get in Julie/August very hot, we used the early morning hours to hit the road and to get as far as possible to north of Spain. We crossed Spain via Seville, Salamanca, Valladolid towards Burgos. It was hot, but also very interesting to drive through the interior of Spain which was very scenic and beautiful to watch. As we couldn’t slept so well the last two days on the ferry, we got quite tired in the evening, but although we were pretty tired we still wanted to make it to Burgos. According to our navigation system we should arrive Burgos at 21:00. Therefore, while Dani was driving, I have booked in the meantime by phone a pitch on a campground, which I have found close to Burgos. It turned out as a good idea, because the reception of the camping ground would close at 21:00. Finally after 815km we arrived a little bit later than 21:00 our first overnight place. The reason why we decided to stay at a campsite was that we didn't take a shower for the last three days. So a long shower, was needed after a hot day.
Once we have taken the refreshing shower, we just prepared some sandwiches to have a quick dinner.
Too tired we didn't make it to set up our roof tent, but we made ourselves comfortable in our preliminary builded bed and we slept very well the first night in the inside of Lenny.
Well recovered we have left the camping ground a little bit later than we wanted. Because Dani discovered that some cooling water was leaking while checking the engine that morning. Luckily he had already determined the cause by remote analysis with his mechanic from Gran Canaria. They found out that the radiator cap was broken, so we headed to the nearest Toyota workshop to get a new one.
When we arrived at the Toyota workshop, Lenny was examined quite fast and they confirmed the cause. It was the radiator cap. But unfortunately, they didn’t have this model in stock. They normally needed to order it, which would take a whole day or two.
Wow, big shock for use and our mood went abruptly down. But the young mechanic took pity on us and he said something about that right now they have the same land cruiser in the garage for some services and he left. After 10 minutes he came back with the matching lid, which he screwed from the land cruiser standing in the workshop. He said that the car would anyway stay 2-3 days more to complete the service, so they have still some time to order a new radiator cap and we could get the one from that car. We only had to pay the amount for the new ordered lid, which were 35€. Relieved and glad to get a quick solution, we went to pay the amount and we continued driving in direction of San Sebastian.
After we arrived in San Sebastian we had only 20km left to the French border. Since it was already luch time, I had the idea having a quiche or croissant and a good coffee in France.
In the after-work traffic jam we passed Bordeaux, which took us a little longer than expected to drive around Berdeaux. But we were still well in time. Since we had planned for the second day only 500km. After leaving the big traffic jams of Bordeaux behind us, we arrived a beautiful campsite after exactly 592km a little north of Angoulême next to the little village Balzac. It was located above a river with a wonderful view of the valley and the sunset. That day we had reached a little earlier in the evening, that’s why we still had some time to cook a quick pasta dish and to enjoy the sunset.
The next day we left at 07:00, which was apparently for Lenny still too early, because after we drove out of the campsite we had to drive uphill and on that road Lenny just went off. We looked frightened at each other and Dani tried to start the engine again. It didn’t work. But we were able to let him roll back down the road, so that Dani was able to start again while rolling. Luckily it happens only once on that tour.
Since we had not taken breakfast yet we went to the nearest Boulangerie in a little old french village where we got some fresh delicious croissants and coffee. On this day we were going to do our leg until shortly before the French-Belgian border.
We headed north-east towards Limoges, Troyes to Reims. This time we didn’t use the highway because we wanted to avoid Paris. On one hand using national and rural roads was not so boring, because we drove through cute sleepy French villages with castles, churches and abbeys but it was also much more time consuming.
After 682km across France we arrived late in the afternoon our spot at the Lac des Vieilles Forges. For the road with many big holes to the lake we needed 15 minutes. I would say normally 4x4 is no needed but if it’s raining could be. We just parked in a little pitch directly at the shore of the lake, which was a little parking bay in the bush. Very quiet and perfekt for a swim or a SUP session. We still had some time to inflate our SUP for a loop on the lake. It was just the right thing to end a long day sitting the whole time in the car.
Next day very early in the morning, we had a marvelous view to the lake covered in mist. It looked creepy and romantic at the same time. Just awesome!
On our third day on the road our goal was to drive to northern Germany where we were eagerly awaited from my sister. After just 15min on the road we were already in Belgium, then we crossed the Netherlands to enter Germany at the Ruhrpott.
First we visited my sister and her family next to Hamburg, and the parents of Daniell next to Berlin, where we enjoyed such a nice family time, after we all have not seen each other for 1.5 years due to the Corona crisis.
The following week we visited "Die Bootsmanufaktur" in Kiel where we finally could start with the conversion of Lenny. It took us only 1 week of intensive work and Lenny was ready. With the experience and professional implementation of @diebootsmanufaktur , the conversion was even better than we had imagined. This picture, you can see below, was taken in the middle of the conversion process. You will be informed in any case more in depth about this work, because soon I’ll share with you a detailed article with many pics of the steps.
