Our drive back from Italy, calling in at Nancy in France, and Ghent in Belgium, have made us realise why we love campervanning, and why maybe we need a bit of a rest from it.
In Nancy, we met up with friends and the weather was glorious. The town is a beautiful one that we'd probably never have visited if we weren't in a campervan, and the open spaces of the campsite were great for mucking around with their children and for having a lovely couple of alfresco nights eating outside the van.
Then, as we began to pack up the heavens opened, and we got soaked. On the drive up to Ghent, the roads were heavy with traffic, and the campsite was sodden. After 6 weeks with fantastic weather, not much moving around and only a couple of days of rain, the temperatures, the grey skies and the driving rain of northern Europe were threatening to drive us into a depression.
Actually, after much consideration, we've decided to spend our next few summers a little differently. We hope to sell our beloved campervan, and instead of roaming around, we'll settle on two or three different places each summer to rent an apartment in for a month or two. We loved spending that month in Izola, and after 10 years of being on the move, maybe we've got a little weary of constantly packing up every few days.
So, if all goes to plan, next year we're thinking about stops in Palma de Majorca, somewhere in Northern Spain, and Siracusa in Sicily. Nothing is set in stone, so we'll see what happens. Let me know if you can think of somewhere perfect in Europe for us to spend a month in – all suggestions welcome! Maybe we'll find somewhere to put down roots?
We've had some great adventures along the way, but it's time to do something different.