How do you choose where to go?

Next Stop

Next Stop

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I don't mean country, but actual place, town, village, with so many places to choose from what makes you gravitate to a particular area?
 
Next Stop said:
I don't mean country, but actual place, town, village, with so many places to choose from what makes you gravitate to a particular area?
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It just happens we don't do planning. :LOL:

Sometimes we find places in guide books but a lot of the little interesting places are often not in the guide books.

I often look at the way we are traveling and look up a few towns/villages online and head for the interesting ones.

What you don't do is go straight to your destination you need to be prepared to meander about and double back if necessary. If you decide you want to be at X by tomorrow night and head off with that in mind you will miss all the gems you could have of seen.
 
Lenny HB said:
It just happens we don't do planning. :LOL:

Sometimes we find places in guide books but a lot of the little interesting places are often not in the guide books.

I often look at the way we are traveling and look up a few towns/villages online and head for the interesting ones.

What you don't do is go straight to your destination you need to be prepared to meander about and double back if necessary. If you decide you want to be at X by tomorrow night and head off with that in mind you will miss all the gems you could have of seen.
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But how do you find the gems on the way? This is the bit I don't get. What makes you deviate from your route?

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We only plan to reach an area with a very loose idea of how to get there and how to get back (this year it was the Extremadura), All other stops are on a very random selection basis and sometimes only selected an hour before arriving and like this year we even changed the return journey because of weather. Plus sometimes you hear of a nice place to explore and head there even if it means going back on yourself (well we have)!
 
Sorry HKF, was typing when you question came through. Do you have any particular interests? this will often draw your attention to and area, just a road sign or a comment from someone you talk to on site or aire.
 
During the past ten years I've compiled a list with more than 200 Europewide places from Bergen to Cadiz covering recommended aires, sites, off-grid parking and places I want to visit that have come to my attention from informative TV progs (documentary, historic, wildlife, industrial heritage etc.), plus from posts on here and from reading material.
Here's just a bit of my 'Oop North' list from 12 pages of A4........
I don't plan trips but take in places as and when I happen to be near them, but life's too short to do them all.

1701602684952.png


and a bit of my 'Over there' places list...........

1701603142474.png
 
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HKF said:
But how do you find the gems on the way? This is the bit I don't get. What makes you deviate from your route?
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Don't have a set route, even in the winter when traveling down to Spain if something in France looks interesting we will divert to it as long as it's not 100 miles out of out way, don't mind 50 miles.

As I said take note of the Towns the way we are going and look them up on Google. Sometimes we go to one that looks interesting and it's crap.
Sometimes when looking on CC for a stop for the night and the village gets some good reviews and we head there.

On our last trip we headed for a Sellaplatz in a town because it was near where we wanted to be the next day the town was a gem. The next day we could have stopped the night at the museum we were at but headed back to the town and had another look.
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Lenny's off again Germany, then wherever

How come it’s not yellow🤔🤔😁😁😁 Photos always come out a bit off with the lighting in the van.
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Lenny HB said:
Don't have a set route
, even in the winter when traveling down to Spain if something in France looks interesting we will divert to it as long as it's not 100 miles out of out way, don't mind 50 miles.

...
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This is the bit I don't get. So, I set off from my home to go to, let's say, Madrid. I know the route. At what point do I go down a road that I don't need to be on? I'm really sorry but I just don't get it. I can't imagine driving aimlessly, not knowing where on earth I'm going or where I might end up. It's not that I'm against it, I just can't imagine how I would do that :unsure:

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HKF said:
This is the bit I don't get. So, I set off from my home to go to, let's say, Madrid. I know the route. At what point do I go down a road that I don't need to be on? I'm really sorry but I just don't get it. I can't imagine driving aimlessly, not knowing where on earth I'm going or where I might end up. It's not that I'm against it, I just can't imagine how I would do that :unsure:
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Think of it as going shopping: You have a rough idea what you want, shoes and a bird feeder maybe, but you do end up browsing in the lingerie and bedding dep'ts.
 
Even if not 'making plans' you need to know a bit about what's en route to where ever your going, we like medieval towns with interesting architecture or nice gardens (the garden bit is for Mrs W)... we also like stopping near lakes or rivers suitable for cycling around/alongside.

In the Normandy area WW2 stuff is everywhere if you're interested in that sort of thing, (we are) same with Belgium and WW1..

Guide books or the internet are worth looking at.
 
We don't plan, just go through the tunnel, check the weather forecast, and go. After almost 40 years we are still discovering new places, some of them gems, on our travels. Of course we revisit many places we have grown to love like Il de Re and Paris. Problem with making plans is that you never stick to them, so why have them. We may broadly say mountains or beach but that's about it. One of our best experiences was talking to a fellow traveller, he inquired where we were heading to next then recommended a fantastic place not too far away. We would never have known about it otherwise.
 
WillH said:
One of our best experiences was talking to a fellow traveller, he inquired where we were heading to next then recommended a fantastic place not too far away. We would never have known about it otherwise.
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That can be a bit hit & miss as we have found out other people's idea of heaven can be your idea of hell.
 
HKF said:
This is the bit I don't get. So, I set off from my home to go to, let's say, Madrid. I know the route. At what point do I go down a road that I don't need to be on? I'm really sorry but I just don't get it. I can't imagine driving aimlessly, not knowing where on earth I'm going or where I might end up. It's not that I'm against it, I just can't imagine how I would do that :unsure:
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Like I said you look for interesting places not too far off an approximate route.
Doesn't matter if it takes a week or two to get there.

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HKF said:
This is the bit I don't get. So, I set off from my home to go to, let's say, Madrid. I know the route. At what point do I go down a road that I don't need to be on? I'm really sorry but I just don't get it. I can't imagine driving aimlessly, not knowing where on earth I'm going or where I might end up. It's not that I'm against it, I just can't imagine how I would do that :unsure:
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That’s me you’re describing🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤯

when I retire uncle Lenny is taking me on a tour to show me how it’s done👍
He doesn’t know it yet tho😁😁😁
 
When I was a bit younger, and used to wander, I would stock up with 2days of provisions and take off. (ALWAYS HAVE 2 DAYS, porridge & water if nothing else!)
I would have a destination (but this might change) and plenty (and I mean plenty) of time to get there.
If my destination was South, and the sun was shining, as long as it kept in the correct, rough, area of my windscreen, that was fine.
Exactly the same going North.

After a few weeks, look at the paper map, (always have a paper Michelin map& guide, something to read and plan next day with) see how far my destination was and IF I had time to get there?
IF not, start homewards..slowly! Simples! 😄

PS. I now have lots of maps and Michelin guides. I really must sell them this year! 😄
 
My interest is bike riding so I look on the WWW for trail/rides at random and choice one I fancy then look it up on the OS map book (or Michelin guides if on'tother side) and point in that direction.
P.S. I got a satnav in the summer and was putting in the destination but I've found I end up at the destination but have seen nothing in between the last stop and the new stop.

I would say previously I only managed 50% of the aimed route as I get distracted and shoot off somewhere else to ride. So, When the new motorhome arrives I'm going back to (just heading). I can use the satnav to get home.
 
HKF said:
But how do you find the gems on the way? This is the bit I don't get. What makes you deviate from your route?
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Another useful resource is a Michelin map. We use the big A3 France one. Scenic roads have a green line by them and there is a system of *** by the names of interesting towns and villages.
Often interesting places are found by accident though, and are as a result of looking on the map for a river or canal to stop for a lunch break which turns into having a good look around or stopping for the night.
In France there are nearly aways car parks by rivers.
 
Some good ideas there, I usually choose a destination and then do a google map satnav route and see if there is anything that looks interesting along the line.
Rick Steves on YouTube is also a good source of information for interesting places.
As for choosing sites, my wife usually picks those as she likes places with nice clean showers as we don't have one on board.

<M>

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