Scottish Winter road trip and beyond to Europe! (Title edit Feb 24)

[mcdonaldneal.]

On the surface the ferry does cost a bit though. But, with an overnight crossing you’re getting a nights accommodation and you’re fresh and ready to go from Amsterdam in the morning. We cleared customs today in 10/15mins and now (before 5pm) we are past Köln and on schedule for Heidlberg for a free nights camping near the castle, thanks to Park4night.

 

[Mansfieldman750]

On the surface the ferry does cost a bit though. But, with an overnight crossing you’re getting a nights accommodation and you’re fresh and ready to go from Amsterdam in the morning. We cleared customs today in 10/15mins and now (before 5pm) we are past Köln and on schedule for Heidlberg for a free nights camping near the castle, thanks to Park4night.

If we book in Feb ( 20% discount ) to go in March it’s £303 return. Bargain. From Hull is £494.
A sail across the North Sea in March might not be everyone‘s cup of tea but what the hell, we’ll give it a go.
Enjoy your holiday !

 

[bvddobb]

After a spell of terrible weather at home, with storm after storm keeping the Cali on the driveway, we have set off on another adventure!…
This time across the North Sea to Europe.

Nice! Perhaps better to open a new thread? Rather than have it all under your ‘Scottish Winter Road Trip’ thread?

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Nice! Perhaps better to open a new thread? Rather than have it all under your ‘Scottish Winter Road Trip’ thread?

You’re right of course, but it suits me to have the thread as a continuing travel journal, so I’ve edited the title instead!
Hopefully won’t confuse anyone!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

We’ve had a longish travelling day today, 10:30-19:00 with a few stops, one pic from a short post lunch walk by the Rhine at Leverkusen and we’ve arrived at the castle car park in Heidelberg. You pay during the day, but 7pm-8am it is free, Yay! You can see from the pic how we’re overlooking the castle and the river.
We were ready for a quick dinner in the van, Veg chilli that we had brought from home.
The Dutch and German Autobahns are a pleasure to travel on. Well maintained and quick (we tend to go 110-120kmh-I’ve changed the speedo) but the occasional queues (‘stau’) are painful. I reckon we had one bad one today and lost about 25min. Never mind!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Well, this is a great spot! The car park is super quiet and we were able to walk down to the old town through the castle gardens. Coffee at the bottom and a (curiously!) much longer walk back up!

 

[Blink982]

Thoroughly enjoying reading about your adventures and picked up some tips along the way including the mud flaps.

 

[Gliderbee California 6.1]

We promised a link, and we are in Scotland now, so here you are:
https://www.polarsteps.com/Bartvand...i-2024?s=467C9BF3-E40C-4F12-A64E-AD8C69EAEB28

We write our blog in Dutch, but Google is your friend!

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I see you have a top cover, open on the top to use solar panels. What brand it that ?

Stefan.

 

[AscotGreyCali]

Enjoy your trip, used that Ferry a few times for European car trips and it seems a bit surreal sometimes to be in Aberdeen one morning and in Baden-Baden less than 48 hours later.

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

I see you have a top cover, open on the top to use solar panels. What brand it that ?

Stefan.

Hi Stefan. The brand is Comfortz. It’s not insulated and doesn’t have a hole in the top (we don’t have solar) but it does have three windows. I actually got it on eBay but really brand new. The forecast is 1-2deg overnight tonight so I have put it on, it took about 5min start to finish. I’ll find a pic.
Pop top cover and the thermal screen make a real difference inside!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

We were up bright and early this morning (mainly because the parking restrictions came on at 8am!) and we moved to a very sloping car park to make coffee. Medo helped.
Coffee disaster though is that the Bialetti is failing to produce coffee after replacing the seal before the trip. Steam just seems to come straight from the bottom chamber up the spout inside. Weird. We ended up putting two coffee bags in a flask and that is fine once you leave it a couple of hours!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

It was a fairly short drive to the Swiss border and Basel. The police check you have a vignette as you go through, but it’s all virtual now.
It was bright and lovely in Basel, just right for a long circular walk through the Grosser and Kleiner Old towns. Very pretty.
We got a free park by the river for three hours, you just have to show a parking disc on the dash.

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

We don’t have a rigid itinerary but we are thinking to loop past Lausanne and Montreux tomorrow, so we headed in the general direction from Basel to find a small, good value, campsite half an hour or so away. Toilets, showers, waste disposal and super quiet. What more could we wish for?
Just enough time for a walk to a local viewpoint and around the nearby old town before dinner-(Christmas) turkey curry from home-delicious!!

 

[bvddobb]

I see you have a top cover, open on the top to use solar panels. What brand it that ?

Stefan.

Both Comfortz (UK) and Calicap (DE) make them.

Our current one is from Calicap. We had one from Comfortz before, but we like the German one better. Better design, more sturdy.

 

[Perfectos]

Bialetti is failing to produce coffee

hope this helps

https://bialetti.co.za/troubleshooting-faqs/#:~:text=Coffee%20does%20not%20come%20up,or%20worn%20around%20the%20edges.

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

hope this helps

https://bialetti.co.za/troubleshooting-faqs/#:~:text=Coffee%20does%20not%20come%20up,or%20worn%20around%20the%20edges.

Aha! Thanks. I kept meaning to look it up! Sadly, I am none the wiser. It’s probably the coarseness of the grind (although it’s worked perfectly up until now). I’ll keep trying, I managed to get about 2/3 of a pot this evening and we have coffee bags in reserve.

 

[wildslammer22]

hope this helps

https://bialetti.co.za/troubleshooting-faqs/#:~:text=Coffee%20does%20not%20come%20up,or%20worn%20around%20the%20edges.

By the time you’ve followed all of this guidance you end up with a Bialetti version of Triggers broom!


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[Perfectos]

Try putting less grinds in the Filter area.

 

[AcapulcoLoco]

We were up bright and early this morning (mainly because the parking restrictions came on at 8am!) and we moved to a very sloping car park to make coffee. Medo helped.
Coffee disaster though is that the Bialetti is failing to produce coffee after replacing the seal before the trip. Steam just seems to come straight from the bottom chamber up the spout inside. Weird. We ended up putting two coffee bags in a flask and that is fine once you leave it a couple of hours!

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Disaster! Probably have to cancel the trip now if the mokka pot isn't working! In all seriousness though, it's probably one of 3 things, either the seal is the wrong size, it should go right to the edge, the seal isn't sitting flush to the filter plate, or the filter plate has lifted because something has got under it. Hope you get it sorted

 

[chockswahay]

Don’t go too fine either…… hehe, is this turning into a Moka pot thread?

 

[Cali Phillip]

We were up bright and early this morning (mainly because the parking restrictions came on at 8am!) and we moved to a very sloping car park to make coffee. Medo helped.
Coffee disaster though is that the Bialetti is failing to produce coffee after replacing the seal before the trip. Steam just seems to come straight from the bottom chamber up the spout inside. Weird. We ended up putting two coffee bags in a flask and that is fine once you leave it a couple of hours!

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I saw the first picture and had concern about the proximity for the flame to the cats tail

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Don’t go too fine either…… hehe, is this turning into a Moka pot thread?

Don’t go too fine either…… hehe, is this turning into a Moka pot thread?

No problem

Don’t go too fine either…… hehe, is this turning into a Moka pot thread?

No problem! I think we have the coffee situation kind of sorted, given I can’t change the kind of coffee we have in the van. It is working with about a 3/4 full funnel in the pot, which is ok!

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Today was particularly interesting for me. We were passing close to the village in French Switzerland where my great-great grandparents lived in the mid 1800’s when their son emigrated to Britain. It is a pretty, well preserved place on the shores of Lac Neuchatel called Boudry. The old centre seems like it would have changed very little since they were there. Quite poignant.

 

[mcdonaldneal.]

Then on, past Lausanne, to Montreux, where Lac Leman was shrouded in light mist and we had a very atmospheric walk along the shore! We were really coming to the mountains now and drove up as far as Gstaad, which is even more eyewateringly expensive than the rest of Switzerland, so we are saving money camped in a car park next to the tiny railway station.
It was already below zero when we parked, so the van is all wrapped up again!

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

Then on, past Lausanne, to Montreux, where Lac Leman was shrouded in light mist and we had a very atmospheric walk along the shore! We were really coming to the mountains now and drove up as far as Gstaad, which is even more eyewateringly expensive than the rest of Switzerland, so we are saving money camped in a car park next to the tiny railway station.
It was already below zero when we parked, so the van is all wrapped up again!

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If you are near Geneva I highly recommend going across the border to Annecy in France. Really nice village and in the old town feels a bit like a little Venice with streams instead of streets and nice cafes and restaurants along the streams and walkways.


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