two nans in a van

well family and friends this is the first chance to be get an internet connection and we have been away a while me and sheila that is, so heres the load down......
it was quite funny leaving the ferry in Dieppe as we had some strange, pužžled and smiley looks from the workers we assumed it was because all the other van drivers were in the smart bedsit vans or RVs and ours was Elys lovely old van.
We stayed with my daughter and family near Chateaubriant in France for 5 days relaxing before setting off
So we left on the 27th and after a couple of hours we were LOST!!!! missed the turning....but as I always say you always see something you werent gonna see so it was no problem and it just took us a couple of hours longer getting to a place to kip down.
The first night we went off the main road - and found this dream of a place called SARŽAY. It was a bit off the track but soooooo worth it the village was a bar church cemetary which we slept next to, and an amžing chateau which looked more like an old castle. shame i cant put any pics up but i dont have leads or the knowledge!
in the morning we sat outside in the sun at the bar having coffee and croissants, very contimental.
We were planning to drive and sleep in CLERRMONT FERRAND but all wedid there was go in the cathedral which looked and felt like THE HOME OF THE DEVIL it was a huge town and busybusy busy so decided to leave and seek quieter places.
going baack to the van water was pouring out of the radiator so my training as a nurse came in handy so i was able to plug her up with a bandage and stick it with plaster and we made it to a garage where the KING OF MECHANICS made a part for it, it took him a couple of hours and cost us 180 euro. money well spent. by then we had to find a place to stay which we did at the bottom of a volcano and left early am for PUY-DE-VALAY, a truely wonderful place with volcanic pillars clibing out of the ground with bleeding churches and god stuff on top. The cathedral in town was very beautiful but gawd sake ....................anyway look it up on google you will be amažed.

When we started off Sheila was the navigator but she was right shit at it first but i was a right meany just to make her do it and i knew she would be able to and how right i was I think she said she might start orienteering courses when she gets back to Ireland!!

Any way back to Le Puy-De-Valey we spotted a cemetary, I do love em but this one.....It was old, ghoulish(wrong spelling i know) depressing, dark,eerie, pompous and obviously full of dead people not nice at all so yuou can imagine me and sheila seeing the huge iron gates closed as it shut at 7 and it was 7.15 but luckily the scarey grave keeper left it unlocked for us, yuou should have seen sheilas face - a picture of fear and horror hahahahahaha

Will miss out the other stops and brng you up to the next exciting bit for us
CROSSING THE ALPS from Briancon. it was bloody high snow everywhere except on the roads, we took it real slow out of respec for the van not that it could go fast as its 15 years old but we made most of it in 2nd gear and stopped a few times to let the can rest, have a cup of tea and a piss. The mountains are so so high at one stage i think i remember seeing we were 10000m up or was i seeing thing but anyway fuckin high. and tight u bends no thats plumbing talk ..hairpin bends.

stayed the night in another car park opposite an iceream shop LOVELY and a couple from Morocco chatted to us and she had a look in and they went off laughing! friendly tho!
the next night we slept in a town called I AM A NAME NOT A NUMBER in fact the name of the place has been erased from my memory, souless, rich, everyone so perfect looking in their dress and the place so clean i was tempted to do me toilet in the street that morning but sheila talked me out of it. She was probably right!

VENICE! bloody marvellous as anyone who has been there will know but for gawds sake the shops the shops the shops money money money. building glorious and Sheila loved loved it.

As i sid at the beginning the good thing about getting lost is that you see things you wouldnt normally see WELL the negative thin about getting lost is that we accidently drove onto the autobahn entering SLOVENIA and got stopped and fined 150euro for not getting a pass!! We didnt know we needed one, der the policeman took me off to do the business with papers etc while Sheila remained in the van, she said she thought i may be being roughed up,
mind you she stayed in the van!!! the copper was very apologetic but said the LAW WAS THE LAW i think that must be an international saying. still i wasnt gonna let it spoil our day!
Drove to Postojama to be near the caves. You arent allowed to park overnight anywhere so ended up in a concrete "camp site" with one other van and running water for 15euro not the best place we have stayed.
We were at the caves at 9am on the first tour. The caves are realy magnificent, i had visited them nearly 27 years ago and they have been opened up even more, they are huge. we sat on the little train with loads of school kids screaming it was right exciting it really was an underground world opening up, and once again its a shame ive got no pics to show you but dont fear i will bore you with them on my return.

LJUBLJANA is where we are now and what a wonderful beautiful city it is, and so green and friendly with a river running thru it and glorious building .

SLOVENIA is so green half of it is forest and its small and everywhere green its glorious, we have found a great site and travel into the city by bus, today we are gonna find"Metelkova Town" which is a 'free living commune' which is an area in the city that was taken over by squatters after independance, sounds like east berlin lets hope it dont come too trendy and taken over by the rich.
The Slovenians are such educated people nearly everywhere you go people speak english, bus drivers, shop workers, people on the street where would you find that in the uk.

Food cooked some great meals rissottos, pasta dishes, saltfish and acki, yumyum smack me bum. we planning our next dinner while we are eating.

Tis great being away with Sheila and she loves the shops !!

ALL IS GOOD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX