Story so far... viva Polski!

As you will have all gathered by now - we have left the u.k - and actually managed to leave the house pretty much on schedule for our journey to Dover...

Got on the Sea France ferry and we bid a cheery farewell to the white cliffs - joyous at last to be off on our adventure.

That first day was pretty epic - as Adam drove the whole day, from Bishops Tawton to Dover, then through France, Belgium and into the Netherlands. I have never seen so many haulage lorries on the roads, it was bizarre but then i guess thats how Europe stays so well connected. Our first night was in a lay by at some services alongside some of these huge lorries we had seen. Pleasant facilities if a little noisy with their commings and goings.
The next day we pushed on again, this time through Germany and into Poland. I managed to do my first stint at driving, which was pretty scary but i quickly managed to pick up the way in which the car responded & the stlye of the other drivers. I drove through most of the aftrenoon & early evening & it was quite exciting as i was the one who got to our first proper border crossing - Germany - Poland.
After this Adam took over again until we reached our overnight spot at another lorry park. It was around this time that we came to the realisation that there was a part we needed for the Landy - an engine temperature sender unit - or some such device - as ours was not functioning correctly. In basic terms it tells you how hot the engine is and for us, considering how heavy she is and how much potentialy rough terrain, hills etc we may encounter, we simply can't do without it.
Dad to the rescue - he has arranged for the part to be shipped out to us via DHL here in Krakow. Amazing & we can't thank him enough for this - <3

So that has left us with some unexpected free time to explore Kracow and the surrounding areas. And i'm so glad it has worked out that way - we were both pretty tired after pushing so hard to get out here (one day covering over 1090k) and needed the rest. We are staying in a great campsite "Camping Smok" which i belive means Dragon - and up until today the weather had been gorgeous.

We have been able to spend a day at Auchwitz & Birkenau - something we both were interested to do. And it was a tough day - we watched a documentary showing a brief history of what had happened - and then went to look around the buildings and evidence that had been left by the fleeing nazis. Some of the things don't really come across too well in a trivial blog such as this & adam has taken a few pictures which better convey the feeling of the place. Suffice to say, the scale was vast and the suffering - horrific.

On a lighter note we were able to witness a Constitution day parade the next day at the Wawel Castle, with serving soldiers and war vets, and a strange group of oversized boys scouts on parade too :oS.

Yesterday we went to Wawiel Mine which was an awesome day - deep down undergound where the miners had made carvings from the salt, including chapels and a massive depiction of the last supper.



When the part arrives for the car we will head off agin, on to L'viv in Ukraine, then east to Russia and into Kazakhstan. Due to having to wait here for 5 days, we now have some mega long driving days ahead of us to stay on track and meet our visa deadlines But so far we are having an fantastic time & i for one can't wait to see what the next chapter brings!!