Mid November 2023, only about 6 weeks since we returned from France and our last motorhome trek through the Alsace and across France. We are drinking the wine that we purchased and looking at photos, adding pages to the website and planning what to do next.

Looking ahead to warmer weather there are some long tours that we would like to plan, as always it’s a case of deciding which is going to happen. Here’s a flavour of our thoughts . . .

• Finland to experience the midnight sun
• Overland to Greece, possibly via Italy
• Herculanium and Pompeii
• Wine tasting through the Spanish areas of Rioja and Priorat
• North through Sweden and Norway

Obviously there’s too much there for one year, so how are we going to decide?

One of the major factors thinking about Spain is that Brittany Ferries have replaced their ships with so-called ‘greener’ ferries. That’s all very nice and signals lots of virtue, but the journey time has almost doubled which means you spend 2 nights aboard the ferry between Portsmouth and Santander or Bilbao. We tried it and did not like it. Our ferry sailed late evening so we had all the next day at sea, sailing at what felt like a slow speed. A whole day that felt like confinement, nowhere to go except walking around the vessel and not a lot to do. Poor internet access at a price. After our second night aboard we were so glad to get off the ferry and drive out of Santander.

Since then I have been looking at alternatives, for our September 2023 motorhome tour we planned to go to Spain, travelling via Eurotunnel then intended to take the Peage where necessary through France so that we avoided Brittany Ferries. When we arrived in France the weather was much hotter than expected so we had a change of plan and stayed in Northern France. We had a good tour, but really missed Spain, so Spain is high on the agenda for 2024.

I’ll add more as our thoughts solidify and we decide where we will go next.