Beer, beer more beer and a bit of sausage

We're now on day four of the trip, and already we have into country three since leaving England.  We all met in Victoria, and then headed to Dover for the ferry crossing to Calais.

Ready for the off in Dover

We then drove straight through France, only stopping to re-fuel, then onto Tournai and our first night camping in Belgium.

The first thing to do once we reached Tournai was to learn about our truck, Calypso and where everything lives within.  It's amazing to think so much kit can be stored on her, she really is a tardis.

Then it was up with the tents, large two man dome tents, and the best thing about them is that no pegs are needed! Great for me as I always bend and break them!

Preparing our first dinner by the truck

A room with a view, my new home

Then it was a lovely dinner of Spag Bol, with everyone mucking in to help, and overseen by our crew, CJ and Jim.

After dinner and a couple of cold beers, the only thing we that was on our minds was to taste a belgium beer here in Tournai, so a group of us went off in search of a drinking establishment......................one hour later we realised we had done a massive loop of tournai and ended up back at the end of the road to campsite, thirstier than ever.  It was deserted, a ghost town with only car show rooms, petrol stations and a rat diving down a drain as a reminder of the road into town.  Defeated, we returned to camp, and prepared for our first night under canvas.

I have always been open to trying new foods, and on this trip I hope to try lots of weird and wonderful things. I didn't think my first breakfast was going to be the first new food that would be tried, but Emily who's from the US made me a peanut butter and jello sandwich, which I have always been pretty sceptical about, however it was fantastic, and not what I expected!  I had better not have too many of them as I hope to loose weight not gain on this trip!!

After leaving Belgium, the truck headed to Koln in Germany, and we reached the campsite at lunchtime.  After setting up the tents, we all walked the 5km along the river into town, then headed for the Dom Cathedral.  Some of us then decided it would be a good idea to climb the belfry spiral stairs to the top of the spire, all 500 plus of them.  It was gruelling, but worth it in the end for the views of Koln.

Dom Cathedral, Koln

View from the top

A beer was needed after so much exercise and we headed for the nearest bar, and boy the beer tastes good in Germany!  Then the whole group headed out for dinner and Emily, Ben, Melissa and I decided to share a metre long sausage.  It was amazing, and came with cabbage and fried potato, oh and lots of beer.

Day three saw us arrive in Bamburg for a couple of nights for more beer and sausage.........well, we are still in Germany!

The sun is shining, the group's getting on famously, and I still can't quite believe I'm actually here!!

A trucking we shall go

So it's five days to go 'till the off, and three wonderful weeks since I last went to work.  My shoulders feel like they've had a huge weight lifted off them and I swear my brow has less lines than a month ago, (and no, I haven't succumbed to the botox.) The downside is my waist band is expanding due to lunching/coffee/dinners I've had whilst catching up and saying my goodbyes to family and friends.  My liver is consequently screaming "gimme a break!"

This is the route plan and the countries I'll be visiting with my fellow trucking travellers over the coming months........there'll also be some trains, planes and boats involved to help us along the way, but the majority of the journey, which covers 25 countries and takes us half way around the world, will be on a customised overland truck, and her name is Calypso.

The countries we'll be visiting on our odyssey are France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia (I always forget Slovakia when I am reeling off the names of the countries. sorry Slovakia, I'm sure you're very nice), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan (with a short visit to Kazakhstan en route,) Kyrgyzstan, China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. 27000kms, crikey! 

Got some more packing to do and I believe my backpack has shrunk since I last used it, it was never that small before!  I take more away in a overnight bag, so this is going to be very interesting!