With Deja Vu back in Sukosan, she was lifted out onto her cradle whilst we took a week out to make the journey home to collect the car. Four days of gardening convinced us it was time to set off again and our plan was to take the car across Europe to Sukosan with a load of gear that we needed to deliver. Crossing the channel from Dover we drove for 2 to 3 hours to Namur in Belgium which was to be our first stop. We stayed in a hotel right next to the casino, which on a Monday night was not much of a disturbance! There was a cold northerly wind blowing so our walking tour of Namur old town turned into a bit of a scurry for a cosy bar! It was however an attractive town with old fortifications around a castle and houses, slightly reminiscent of the Tower of London. The river Meuse sliced the town in two and more modern riverside apartment blocks stood reasonably sympathetically alongside the older houses.
Nigel had never been to Luxembourg and as he has visited every other European country we could not pass up the opportunity to deviate from our more direct route to visit this tiny Duchy to complete Nigel’s European country visits. We parked up in the city in spite of the optimistic car park signposts petering out at the last and most vital moment. The city sits astride a huge natural ravine with fine bridges and aqueducts spanning a very green parkland area.
There were plenty of cobbled pedestrian streets, grand buildings and a lovely catherdral. Sadly we were rather underdressed for the lunchtime cocktail party being hosted in the grounds of the British Embassy and we had to pass by and decline the champagne on offer! However we did take a picture of one of the guests who bore a striking resemblance to General de Gaulle!
Our onward journey to Stuttgart took us through some magnificent countryside. We drove off the motorway into the Northern Alsace area and the Vosges mountains. Timber framed houses festooned with lots of geraniums was very typical.
Our next overnight stop was in a small hotel just to the south of the city of Stuttgart so we would be well placed to take some faster routes the next day to take us past Munich to Salzburg.
Fiona, our in-car sat nav took us on the main German autoroutes and we made great progress until about 100km from Munich Fiona advised us of ‘blockages ahead’. The motorway was at a standstill so we took to the country routes once again. It was slower going but such a treat. The sun was shining brightly and we both enjoyed the wide expanse of beautiful undulating German countryside and seeing some very local rural agriculture. We stopped for a picnic!
We stayed just outside Salzburg but took a walk up through the forest from the village we were staying in to a magfincent view point, St Mary Plain, from where Salzburg stretched out at our feet. It was breathtaking and The Sound of Music seemed very much alive! St Mary Plain, with its adjacent monastery was quite a sight too, inside and out! Inside there were potted trees set amongst the very opulent catholic adornments.
Thursday 19th June and the day to visit the boat builders, Sunbeam, at Matsee, just 30km from where we stayed near Salzburg. This was our second visit to Matsee and we were reminded just what a magnificent ‘chocolate box’ Austrian mountain town it was! Even though it was a national holiday in Austria we were given an interesting tour of the factory to see the new Deja Vu in her infancy but we were sorry not to meet with the production team.
From Salzburg we travelled through the Alps via the pretty town of Werfen, into Slovenia and then onto the Croatian motorways to Sukosan.
We had travelled 2000km in 4 days of driving. Deja Vu II was just as we had left her 10 days earlier and on Saturday 21st June she was re-launched for the next sailing experiences.
Deja Vu 
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