Preparation

Several weeks have been spent in preparing for our tour now there are so many restrictions to our freedom brought about by our traitorous leaders. You can read more about these here: Getting_Out.pdf (drivethrutours.com). Taking a car, caravan and our lovely dog abroad is not for the faint of heart. Having an old car means finding routes that avoid low emission zones - another restriction as it limits places we could easily visit in our car. Luckily, Tom-Tom maps - Plan.TomTom.com - have a setting that avoids such areas as well as being able to plot a route that avoids toll roads. I've already booked a site near to the ferry for our return journey

as well as an appointment with a nearby vet to administer the required medication Mia (our dog) has to take in order that she can return to the UK.

Having to return to the UK at all is something I'd like to avoid but, sadly, it's a necessity.

To be on the safe side, I've bought new wheels (rims) as well as tyres for our twin axle caravan. Two new tyres have also been fitted to my car (the other two were purchased quite recently). The caravan has also been serviced. These are jobs that are fairly routine expenses rather than holiday specific. Other tasks have been to buy motorway vignettes for Switzerland (one each for the car and caravan – total CHF 80 as well as a Crit'Air sticker that covers France and includes Geneva, the only low emission zone in Switzerland at present (a city we'll avoid).

Planning this tour has involved considerable project management skills – action lists that change almost every day included. We also have a very comprehensive inventory of items that we need to take with us, including everything needed for the car and caravan. Meticulous planning and attention to detail is the only way to make a trip like this a success.

Our route will take us from our home to Harwich, where we'll cross the water to the Hook of Holland. We'll stay nearby where we used to live overnight, before setting out on the long trip to Switzerland. I've booked a caravan site roughly half-way, in Germany, for two nights to give me a rest from driving.

The next long drive will take us to our favourite camp site in Switzerland, where I've already booked 8 nights (we've extended our stay by two nights) at Camping Breithorn in the Jungfrau area near Lauterbrunnen. We stayed there for a week during our last tour in 2019. We haven't decided where to go from there – or maybe stay at the site for longer if they aren't fully booked.

As we get into the last few days before we start our tour, I feel it's been more like preparing for an expedition than a holiday – and still we have many more things to do. Grace has been a wonderful help during the weekend and bank holiday prior to leaving. I know I couldn't have achieved as much on my own – certainly not a case of too many Cooks spoiling the broth on this occasion! It's going to be a time of ticking-off the items on the caravan inventory very soon, so let's hope all goes well with that operation. Taking a caravan out for the first time in years means everything has to be cleaned and loaded. Everything from teaspoons to clothes to cleaning materials and practical items such as tools – even blocks of wood!

The Journey to Switzerland

Wednesday 28 May 2025

After being kept busy all day, I had a lie down for 1.5 hours – not sleeping, unfortunately. By 2300 hrs we'd completed loading the caravan and were just about ready to leave the caravan storage place. I happened to say to Grace that it was a lovely night for a drive as there was no rain or wind and the roads were almost empty. Little did I know! We'd just joined the M6 when the rain started and it continued throughout the whole journey. We made good progress énroute to Harwich until we got to J13 of the A14 which closed that road all the way through to J18. The diversion took us almost to Peterborough which was many miles out of our way in the wrong direction before we were able to get back on a sensible route again. Madness. We stopped for a 1.5 hour break near Stansted Airport before heading once again towards Harwich. We just got to Harwich in time to embark on the 0900 hrs sailing to the Hook of Holland aboard the Stena Hollandica where we enjoyed a well-earned rest in a very pleasant cabin.

Thursday 29 May 2025

On arrival in The Netherlands we had some time to spend in the queue to get through Customs and Immigration – having our passports stamped for entering the EU was something of a novelty thanks to our traitorous, evil leaders preventing us having freedom of movement and restricting our time in the Schengen Zone to 90 days in any 180-day rolling period. As Grace suggested, this is probably the punishment for the British people who chose to leave the EU against our politicians wishes – they are making us pay for our vote against them by restricting our freedom. We were astonished at how many UK registered vehicles failed to have a UK sticker on them. Maybe the owners of these vehicles are ashamed to be from our failed state just like we are and don't like to broadcast where they are from. At least everyone we've spoken to has been too polite to actually laugh at us when they've discovered we're from the UK (not GB these days!). Driving along the well-maintained roads in The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland brought it home to us just how much our successive governments have failed in taking care of their country – despite robbing the motorists of every penny they can. Having previously lived in The Netherlands for some time we know just how decrepit the UK has become – as it continues in its backward slide into the third world where only illegal immigrants and Islamists are made to feel welcome.

However, once free (albeit temporarily), we headed for Monster, where we used to live, and then on to Restaurant De Haagsche Beek on Machiel Vrijenhoeklaan, in Kijkduin, Den Haag, which we used to frequent. This time, only Grace went inside and asked for a takeway. This was unhelpfully refused, so she went on her way. I'd parked the car/caravan in a car park which proved to be a meeting place for unsavoury characters so we moved out, with great difficulty and possible damage to the caravan as there was a big 'step' to pull the caravan over on the exit. We drove on to Fishmonger Ockenburgh, on Ockenburghstraat, where we bought the best fish and chips you've ever tasted. Wonderful. We sat in the car and really enjoyed our visit there as it's a place where I sometimes took JP as it's on the corner of the road to his old school – the International School of the Hague on Wijndaelerweg.

We then decided to head for Germany. After getting severely tangled up with the roads around Rotterdam and the Havens of Europoort, we eventually managed to put 113 miles on the clock – albeit not all of which were in the right direction.
We stayed in a very 'shady' car park for several hours during the night so we could get some shut-eye. Grace insisted on sleeping in the car, protected by Mia, whilst I had the comfort of being in the caravan.

Friday 30 May 2025

I slept well until 0520 hrs and we were on the road at 0640 hrs after I'd woken Grace who said she'd been sure there were drug dealers going about their business during the night. Now 421 miles from leaving home.
We pressed on and after a couple of stops arrived at Camping Aumühle in Stromburg at about 1115 hrs.

The video shows the route we took with our caravan through Stromburg:

The reception was closed so one of the other guests suggested we put our caravan on a pitch and wait for the office to open. We eventually got sorted out and moved to pitch 22 which was as far as one could be from the toilet / shower facilities. Not to worry – we only stayed two nights. Now 600 miles from home. We went shopping and as soon as we got underway the DPF alarm light lit on the dashboard.

Saturday 31 May 2015

The first job was to have a chat with our mechanic about the DPF alarm. The car was a little down on power but it continued to tow the caravan so no problem.

We visited Stromburg where our first stop was the ice cream shop where we sat at a table under a parasol and thoroughly enjoyed our ice creams.

It was a lovely warm day and we enjoyed the sunshine after the misery of the weather in the UK. It wasn't to last long.
Late in the evening we experienced the most horrendous storm with torrential rain, thunder and lightning followed by hail stones as big as marbles. I was expecting a lot of damage but by some miracle the caravan (as far as I can see) has escaped having a dimpled roof! The rain was so severe it was pouring into the caravan through the door and doorframe to the extent that we had to place towels around the floor to stop being flooded. The rain came down in torrents again at 0300 hrs for about another 15 minutes or so. The rain must have followed us! We were just fortunate that we had chosen not to erect our caravan awning as it would have been destroyed by the savage weather.

Sunday 1 June 2025

On our way at 0730 hrs. More than 300 miles to tow the caravan today. Passing a truck at a goodly speed after 120 miles, the engine management alarm light came on too. No worries. Carry on regardless.

We only had one short toilet stop and one quick fuel stop so I left the car engine running continuously rather than risk it not starting again.
We arrived at Camping Breithorn, Sandbach 255, 3824 Stechelberg, Switzerland at 1500 hrs and it was like arriving home. We were made very welcome. We stayed here in the summer of 2019 and thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Great to be back! The weather was hot and sunny but, of course, that changed soon after our arrival to more rain!

The video below shows the journey from the outskirts of Lauterbrunnen, through the village, and the journey from there to Camping Breithorn.

We'd driven more than 900 miles, as well as quite a long sea crossing, to reach here since Wednesday at 2300 hrs so we were all very tired – even Mia who's been off her food and out of her normal routine. We're all thankful to have arrived safely. Again, we were too tired to erect the awning.