Many questions for you seasoned travelers (1 Viewer)

[hogan]

I will try and keep this short
We are planning a 2/3 month tour from our home in Valencia to the UK via Poland then back to Valencia
Leg one…..Spain to France (no problem with that leg)

Leg two Across France from Spain along the n9 to Perpignan , Montpellier, Lyon, Besancon, to mullhouse
Q1 Is their any must visit or must avoids along this route-?

Leg three across Germany Lake Titisee, Stuttgart, Munich, Chemitz, Dresden, Gorlitz.
Q1 Is their any must visit or must avoids along this route-?

Leg four Across Poland via Leginca, Wroclaw. then down to Auschwitch.
Q1 Is their any must visit or must avoids along this route-?
Q2 Can anyone tell me what this road E40 is like ?
Q3 Is it possible to get to an ATM along this road to get polish money ?
Q4 We are planning to stay at the centre for prayer Auschwitch camp has any one stayed here ( will be there early December.)?

Leg five back across Poland to Forst in Germany.
Q1 Is their any must visit or must avoids along this route- E49 then E36 ?

Leg six across Germany Forst, Berlin, Hannover, Dortmund, Eindhoven
Q1 Is their any must visit or must avoids along this route-?
Q2 I read somewhere that there is a street in Dortmund known as the motorhome mile apparently they have lots of motorhome dealers can someone tell me the address ?

Leg seven across Belgium to Calais Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend, Calais
Q1 Is their any must visit or must avoids along this route-?

A visit to my old home in Devon Then Christmas in Gosport with daughter.

Leg eight Across France Calais, Reims. Orleans, Limoges, Lannemezan.
1 Is their any must visit or must avoids along this route-?
2 We are hopping to stay on the aires in Reims at Au Centre International de Séjour for new years eve has anyone stayed there?

Leg nine across Spain to home Monzon, llieda, Valencia

I have spent weeks searching forums etc but just wanted to make sure I haven’t missed out anything.We are also trying to do the whole trip using only aires or stellplatz apart from the UK .We are taking our dog so trips into cities by train or bus are out. . Sorry for the long winded posting.

 

[hogan]

So I take it there are no long distance Travelers here

 

[haganap]

So I take it there are no long distance Travelers here

Im sure there are Hogan, perhaps they are doing just that at present

Sounds like a right trip though. Have travelled through Germany, Swiss, France belgium, Holland to name a few. Always facied Poland and I believe the former concentration camps that are now museums are worth a sobering visit.
On leg 6 a trip in to Berlin itself is a must, use the park and ride. Easy to get round and the gates worth a look.
Eindhoven is a ok but I must admit, not one of my favourite Dutch cities. However the small towns that surround it are really nice. Not sure if its on your route but Zwolle is a lovely town in the summer but not sure about wintertime.
On Leg 7 I would deffinately reccomend a visit in to Luxembourg which is a fantastic city, if not one of my favourites. And not to far from your route.

Hope you get what your looking for and enjoy your trip

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[staging lady]

Sounds a fabulous trip. As for suggestions Leg 7 I don't know if you have visited the WW1 battlefields when crossing Belgium. If not I can recommend going to Talbot House in Poperinge to see the wonderful home from home,garden and exhibition in the house Tubby Clayton set up for the soldiers. Onto Ieper for the great exhibition about WW1 in the Cloth Hall and Last Post ceremony at 8pm at the Menin Gate ( the 18 Eu menu at the Old Tom hotel is good).
Very interesting also are the Essex Field cemetery, the German cemetery at Langemark, Tyne Cot British cemetery and finally you can walk through the trenches that have been preserved at Sanctuary Wood Museum. On a lighter note Brugges is beautiful and you can bike in. If you take a car into Bruges, park at the Centrum station, go to the bus kiosk with your parking ticket and you can get one of several buses FREE into Brugges centre and back .
If you are looking to stock up there is a very good and big Auchan just off the motorway A16 exit 57 (28) at la Grande Synthe, a suburb of Dunkerque, which is not full of tourists (like me!)
Best of luck with your trip

 

[Don Madge]

So I take it there are no long distance Travelers here

Hi Hogan,

I missed your original post:Blush:

This will help with Poland.

Prices where quoted are for 2006

CASH.
We used the plastic at the ATM without any problems, about PLN 5.5 to the £ sterling. ATM's readily available.

ROADS.
Roads are well signed. The speed limits in the built up areas can be confusing at times. If the background of the sign bearing the towns name is white you must reduce your speed to 50km/h (60 between 2300hrs and 0500 hrs), if the background is green there is no need to reduce speed unless road signs indicate otherwise. We also noticed that some place names have a green background and a built up area sign immediately below it. If in doubt stick to 50. On the main through routes many of roads have deep grooves made by the trucks, this makes life difficult at times. On many single carriageway main roads it is custom and practice to move onto the hard shoulder to let other vehicles pass. The practice is not so rigorously used as in Greece. Extra care is needed at roundabouts as the priority is not always as you would expect.

FUEL.
Diesel (some times signed as "ON") at 72 pence per litre and LPG at 36 pence per litre are readily available.

SUPERMARKETS.
We have come across the follow supermarkets, Tescos, Carrefour, Auchan, Geant, Leclerc and Intermarche most are situated in out of town shopping complexes. The smaller local supermarkets still prevail in the town and city centres.

KRAKOW.
Krakow is one of Poland's oldest, best preserved cities, dating back to the 7th century. You need two/three days to do the place justice.

No visit to Krakow is complete without a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine (www.kopalnia.pl). The two hour two kilometre underground English guided tour cost PLN 60 (about £11).

We stayed at Camping Korona (www.camping-korona.com.pl) which is about 10kms south of the city. An excellent family run site who are very friendly and helpful. Bus to Krakow stops just outside the site. Only one downside, the site is situated on road 7 which is a very fast dual carriageway. It was very exciting crossing the carriageway to enter the site.

AUSCHWITZ.
I paid a very brief visit to Auschwitz on the way from Krakow to Warsaw. There is a camping site there if one wants a longer stay and/or an overnight stop.

JASNA GORA MONASTERY.
The monastery is situated in the town of Czestochowa. If you are interested in very ornate churches it's well worth a visit. Try to avoid a Sunday visit. Camping Olenka which has very good facilities is next door to the parking area for the monastery.

WARSAW.
We stayed three nights at Camping Astur (PLN 60 per night), facilities are well worn but clean.
Bus within 500 metres to city centre. Buy tickets before boarding bus, PLN 2.40 for a single journey in the city and PLN 4.80 for a single trip outside the city. The tickets are valid on the buses, trams and metro.

After the devastation of WW11 we had been looking forward to visiting the old town of Warsaw, We were not disappointed. They had rebuilt the bomb sites of 1945 to there former beauty. For us it was one of the highlights of the trip. In the city centre on many main road junctions apparently impromptu markets are set up. A very colourful scene. On many of the city centre pedestrian underpasses there are many small shops and fast food outlets which looked of good quality and reasonably priced.

WRACKOW.
We stayed two nights at Stadium Camping (PLN 50.30 per night) facilities are very old but clean. Trams from outside the site run to the city centre, tickets and maps available from the very helpful reception.

Unfortunately during our visit part of the city centre looked like war torn Beirut due to the pedestrianisation and road works in many areas. This made visiting many sites very difficult. There was also quite a bit of restoration work going on.

You mention your stay is in December be prepared for some cold weather, it might not happen but be prepared.

Safe travelling.

Don