CAMPERVAN CAPERS 2 – Launch Celebration!

AFTER the recent launch of Campervan Capers, I’m happy to be able to announce the release of a free sequel, CAMPERVAN CAPERS 2.

As many of you will know by now, the book is an adaptation of the Campervan Capers blog entries from 2011, which I wanted to publish for free in a handy eBook format.

Now, I know the word ‘eBook’ will send shivers down the spine of a few folk who still haven’t got an eReader (ironically, you can count me in!), so it might come as a surprise to know that my publisher, Smashwords, offers all my work in formats not only for eReaders – like the Kindle & iPad – but also in formats for home printing – eg PDF – and reading on your computer screen.

Why release the Campervan Capers blog entries in book format? you may be wondering.  Well, although the blog is free to read for anyone with a computer or other internet-enabled device, publishing as an eBook will open our travel stories up to a-whole-nother audience.  In fact, since the publication date, only a few days ago, I’m amazed to see that the new book has already been downloaded 32 times!

For those who are new to this blog, it’s worth mentioning here that there’s also an original Campervan Capers book and, as with the blog/sequel, the stories follow me & my partner, Steve, as we embark on various mini adventures in our campervan.  My aim is to write in a style which is both light-hearted and practical, so as to entertain as well as pass on tips we’ve picked up along the way.

Now, I hope you’ll all forgive me for publishing Campervan Capers 2 slightly later than anticipated – my excuse being that I’ve been putting together more photos of our travels on Flickr and short videos for the Campervan Capers books on my new YouTube channel.

WHAT TO DO NEXT?

Well, why not visit my Smashwords Author page direct, where all my published works are listed.  Some, like Campervan Capers 2 and The Welsh Leek Conspiracy (adapted from the original Campervan Capers book), are free.  And you can sample 20-30% of the rest for free, too.

Alternatively, you can go to my Foley’s Forum website, where there’s information on all my books as well as a whole load of other free-to-view stuff such as short stories, articles, poetry & photography.

SUMMER SALE!

Did you read the recent blog about the Smashwords Summer Sale?  If not, just click the link to find out how to get discounts on all my books for the entire month of July!

COMING UP (SOON?)…

Steve’s still doing a fair bit of cycle training at this time of year, but I haven’t given up hope of pinning him down at some point to write something for the next Steve’s Cycle Shorts.  Once I do that, you can rest assured you’ll be reading about our latest trip up north in ‘Old Bessie’ (as Steve calls our campervan)…

In the meantime, if you missed the last Tour of Flanders blog, along with a ‘words & pictures’ video treat, then why not click the link to check it out?

As ever, I remind readers that, if you’d like to be kept informed of the latest news & offers, why not subscribe to the blog to automatically receive an email whenever new posts appear – thus saving you the hassle of checking for updates?

Hope you enjoy reading!

Steve’s Cycle Shorts 7 – Tour of Flanders

Well, it’s been a while  since we went Bimblin’ Round Belgium in our campervan, and after writing the last post about our visit to the national cycling museum in Roeselare, Alannah has had trouble pinning me down to make my contribution towards another post.  Such is the Cycling Widow’s lot in the height of the cycling season!

In any case, this will be a long-awaited blog for many, and this time we’re checking out the Tour of Flanders cycle race, known in Dutch as the Ronde van Vlaanderen and in French as the Tour de Flandres.  (We hope it’ll be worth the wait, as there’s a little treat for readers a bit further on…)

SPEEDY SPORT SPOTTING

The Tour begins in Bruges and ends in Oudenaarde.  We heard that one of the Flemish ‘hobbies’ is to see how many times you can see the Tour riders along the route…  Hence, many pick a spot from which to watch the race, then once they’ve seen the riders go by, they speed off in their cars to another spot and do it all over again.

Whilst this might be fun for ‘youngsters’, the older folk amongst us might consider this a bit hazardous.  So it’s possible that this has influenced the new & controversial decision to change the course this year.  Now Tour riders  do the same loop three times at the end of the race, which means spectators are more likely to stay in the same spot.  These loops also include some of the most gruelling, steep & bumpy cobbled streets (called pavés).

IN THE WRONG LANE

Thinking Oudenaarde would be the best and most exciting spot to view the Sunday race, we headed there on the Friday.   After all, if we got there a few days early, surely we could recce the course before things got too busy and find a decent spot to camp out, right?  How wrong could we be!?

Turning up on the outskirts of Oudenaarde, we were amazed to see how many cyclists were already out on their bikes, eagerly pedalling along the route that would soon be covered by their cycling heroes.  Motorhomes had already begun to take up spots on the side of the fast-moving main road…  And as we turned into a side street, hoping to make our way to the Kwaremont – one of the famous pavés – our plans were scuppered as cyclists gradually swamped our campervan, and cars began coming along the narrow lane in the opposite direction.

TWILIGHT ZONE PARKING

Eventually we managed to reverse through the mire of cyclists and followed a sign for parking down another side street.  Now, most municipal parking signs point to car parks that are only a stone’s throw away.  Not here!  We ended up driving for a good few miles down what turned into a bumpy dirt track.  Had we entered the Twilight Zone of Belgium???

An hour or so later, our suspension was thankfully still intact, but we’d had enough and decided the ‘vibe’ at Oudenaarde was a bit too frenetic anyway.  We stayed overnight in an ‘aire’ (municipal parking place with facilities) in Harelbeke hoping to get some rest, and only managed to do so once our ‘noisy neighbours’ had quietened down.  Unfortunately, the aire was situated right next to the local football ground and they had a night-time game scheduled, with loud music & floodlights to boot.

WHEEL HEROES

The next day, we drove to Roeselare.  This is not only the home of the Wielermuseum (the topic of the last Steve’s Cycle Shorts) but one of the towns through which the Tour passes.  From our visit to the museum, it was clear just how important cycling has been to the Belgian culture.  The first Tour was held in 1913, and in the last ten years, 7 in 10 winners have been Belgian.

One of the staff members at the museum told us about the old French term Flandrien, used to describe riders (Flemish or not!) who are able to put up with all manner of hardship on the bike.  So, are you a Flandrien?

After checking out the museum, we recced the town with a view to finding a decent vantage point from which to watch the race the following day, plus parking place close by.

Now, for the rest of the story, we’ve got a little treat for you… a Tour of Flanders video which we’ve put on YouTube – with words, pictures & music.  So click on the link and enjoy!

PHOTO FINISH

As the barriers were being cleared away after the race, a photographer from the local newspaper, Het Nieuwsblad, came round taking photos of the spectators…  These are viewable online on their website, so if you like, click to view ours.

In conclusion, I thought the whole event was well organised & efficiently run.  At the end of the Tour, we understand there are beer-fuelled celebrations in the enormous marquees we saw in Oudenaarde, but somehow, we didn’t feel like we’d missed out on anything by watching the race in the lovely little town of Roeselare.

We hope you enjoyed the above video presentation, and there are a couple of other Campervan Capers videos on Alannah’s new Foley’s Forum Videos YouTube channel for you to check out if you haven’t already seen them.

COMING SOON…

At some point when Alannah can pin me down again, we’ll be putting together another  Steve’s Cycle Shorts story based in Cirencester, where I recently did a 100-mile time trial.  So stay tuned or subscribe to the blog if you don’t want to miss my two-wheeled escapades.

Campervan Capers 2 is also in the process of being formatted ready for publication and will be available shortly as a handy, free eBook in various formats – for eReaders or to print.

As always, all info about Alannah’s writing & photography is on the Foley’s Forum website, where there’s plenty of stuff that’s free to view.

And if you’d like us to keep you posted about more news & offers, or to hear when new blogs come out, feel free to sign up to the blog (in the panel on the right).

Steve’s Cycle Shorts 6 – A Day at the Museum

Back in March, you’ll remember that we went Bimblin’ Round Belgium in our campervan for a few weeks.  After visiting the French-speaking south of the country, we ventured on up to the Flemish-speaking north to check out the Tour of Flanders – and, of course, a trip to the national cycling museum in Roeselare was a must.

THE CYCLE OF TIME

The Wielermuseum‘s displays opened with the evolution of the bike, so we started off feeling as though we were walking through time, seeing the amazing changes in cycle innovations which have come & gone – and all within the short space of only about a century.  Most of the information was displayed in English as well as French & Flemish (in essence, Dutch) and everything was set out in a professional yet delightfully-simple way.

The first bicycle, the Loopfiets (aka ‘hobby horse’ or ‘running machine’) had rock solid wheels, as did all the earlier bikes.  These might not have been quite as hard as the kind you’d find on The Flintstones, but I’m sure riders must have breathed a sigh of relief when the rubber and pneumatic tyres finally came in.

DESIGN FEET

The Macmillan had a treadle-type setup to power you along.  Whilst it looked good, the design wasn’t the best, since your pedalling feet were likely to get caught in the front wheel when it was turned.  To me, the highlights were the four-seater ‘tandem’, the bike with a shaft-drive, and a two-seater contraption where riders sat side by side.  Try keeping your balance on that!

The Macmillan – Nice design but you could easily ‘put your foot in it’!

PHOTO FINISH

Still, you can’t beat actually experiencing what it must have been like riding one of these old bikes, so hopping onto the museum’s fixed Penny Farthing (no safety harness provided!) was a treat.  Press a button and your photo is taken as you pedal, then it’s posted online for you to view later (click here to see mine if you want a laugh).

At the back of the building was an impressive bicycle workshop, the contents of which were donated to the museum by the Hallaert family, famous for Belgian frame- and saddle-building.

CYCLING DOWN MEMORY LANE

Moving along, there were many inspiring exhibits of past Belgian cycling champions – including, of course, Eddy Merckx.  There was old footage of famous rides, cycling magazines, trophies; and many champions had also donated their winners’ jerseys and old bikes (probably would’ve ended up in landfill otherwise anyway).

Jean-Pierre Monséré (affectionately nicknamed Jempi), the famous Belgian rider who died in a head-on collision with a car, had a whole section dedicated to his life, and bits of his shattered bike were even on display.

BIKE TUNING

The finale of the tour was a jukebox with music linked to cycling (eg Tour de France by Kraftwerk).  We discovered that several of the past Belgian cyclists have clubbed together to release their own brand of cycling songs.  And as we went to have lunch back at the camper, parked only a stone’s throw from the museum, we were regaled with more Flemish cycling tunes booming from a speaker at the museum.  They reminded us a bit of bloky British football songs.  I’m sure they were meant to be inspiring, but if you ask me, I reckon the guys would be better off sticking to their cycling – ‘cos they sure ain’t gonna win any medals at singing!

WHEELY GOOD VALUE

My trusty Cycling Widow, Alannah, accompanied me around the exhibits and was surprised that the three hours we spent there had gone so quickly.  She hadn’t got bored once (at least that’s what she told me) – so it just goes to prove you don’t have to be a complete cycling nut to appreciate what’s on offer.  The staff at the Wielermuseum were most helpful (and spoke better English than we did Dutch) and, at a mere five euros, we thought the entrance fee was excellent value.

The following day was the Tour of Flanders race, and you can look forward to my next blog where I tell you all about our escapades there…  So tune in next time, or sign up to the blog to receive it automatically via email.

And there’s more…

If you’ve been following Steve’s Cycle Shorts for a while, you’ll probably already know that Alannah has written a book called Cycling Widows, but did you know she’s now released her Campervan Capers book?  It’s a light-hearted yet practical travel tale about our first year in the campervan.

Why not check it out and sample 20% of the book for free on Smashwords?  Or you can download The Welsh Leek Conspiracy, a short travel tale adapted from the book, also for free.

All downloads are in a wide range of formats – for eReaders, screen reading or home printing.

COMING SOON…

Campervan Capers 2 will shortly be on its way to the publication mill, too.  This will be an adaptation of the Campervan Capers blog entries in 2011 and will be available as a handy, free eBook, also in various formats.  So whether you have an eReader or prefer to print stuff off to read, there’ll be a format for you!

As always, all info about Alannah’s writing & photography are on the Foley’s Forum website, where there’s plenty of stuff that’s free to view.

And if you’d like us to keep you posted about more news & offers, or to hear when new blogs come out, feel free to sign up to the blog (in the panel on the right).

Photos – New Section on Blog

Are you one of those folk who’ve enjoyed the photos on the Campervan Capers blog?

Since starting the blog last year, I’ve had several comments from readers saying they’ve enjoyed the photos that accompany our stories…

So I’ve decided to put together a brand new section with a selection of our travel photos, presented as collages.  Click the link to see the new Photo Tab on the blog.

If the collages leave you wanting more, then you can always check out the Campervan Capers photos on Flickr.  These illustrate the stories in the Campervan Capers blog as well as my recently-published Campervan Capers book, and more will be added as time goes on.

If you missed out on the blog about the Campervan Capers book, why not click on the link and check it out.  You can currently read 20% of the book for free on Smashwords.

In addition, I’ve released The Welsh Leek Conspiracy, a light-hearted travel tale adapted from the book, as a free download.

All my work is available on Smashwords in a variety of digital formats – for eReaders, home printing or computer screen reading.  For more info, visit my Smashwords Author Page or the Foley’s Forum website.

HOPE YOU ENJOY THE PHOTOS!

CAMPERVAN CAPERS – Launch Celebration!

AFTER MONTHS of writing, rewriting, editing & formatting, I’m pleased to finally announce the publication of CAMPERVAN CAPERS!

I had hoped to publish earlier, but what with us Bimblin’ Round Belgium, it’s had to be delayed by several weeks.  Never mind – my aim of a spring release has still hit a bull’s-eye!

If you’re new to Campervan Capers, the book is a light-hearted yet practical travel book and follows me & my partner, Steve, in our first year of owning a campervan.  And it will no doubt appeal to anyone with a campervan or motorhome, or to those of you who enjoy travel and may have had the occasional dream of owning a camper.

Campervan Capers has now been released with Smashwords in a variety of formats, making it easy to download for eReaders, home printing, or reading on a computer screen.

Why not click on the link to visit the Smashwords website, where you can currently read the first 20% of the book for FREE?  While you’re there, you can also download another freebie extracted from the book, The Welsh Leek Conspiracy.

Not only do I hope readers will enjoy our mini adventures (to places like Wales, Derbyshire, Cornwall & many more), but I’ve also included several sections at the end of the book which I hope will be useful: 30 Top Tips for the Novice, Useful Weblinks, and Considerations when Buying a Motorhome or Caravan.

In addition, don’t forget to check out my infamous (and totally spurious) Faux Reviews by Pseudo-Celebrities from the book, which are free to read on my website, as are my Campervan Capers photos on Flickr and the new travel photo collages just added to my Foley’s Forum website.

COMING SOON…

 

Campervan Capers 2 will be out shortly, too.  This sequel gathers together the 2011 entries from the Campervan Capers blog and adapts them into a free, handy eBook, also to download in a variety of formats.

 

So if you want to find out the latest news & offers, and haven’t already subscribed to the blog, then why not pop your email address into the subscription box (in the panel on the right)?  You’ll automatically get sent an email whenever new posts appear, saving you the hassle of checking for updates.

Hope you enjoy the new offerings!

Campervan Capers on Flickr

CAMPERVAN CAPERS fans will by now know that the long-awaited Campervan Capers book is on its way to being released within the next few weeks…  It is, of course, a light-hearted yet practical travel tale which follows me & my partner, Steve, on our first year exploring the world of campervanning.

Due to us Bimblin’ Round Belgium recently, of course, there has been a slight delay in getting the book out, but I do like to keep our readers happy.  So in the meantime, I’ve not only published The Welsh Leek Conspiracy - an extract from the book – but have now put together a whole bunch of photos on Flickr, taken whilst on our mini adventures.

Click on the link to check out the photos on Flickr, and if you missed The Welsh Leek Conspiracy, then just log onto Smashwords.  It’s a free light-hearted travel tale downloadable in various formats – for eReaders or home printing.

As soon as I’ve finished putting the final touches to Campervan Capers, I’ll let you know.  In the meantime, enjoy the photos!

Around the World in Eighty Years – Travel Photography

Hi folks!

Just thought I’d pass on a link to some lovely travel photography that I came across by James O’Donnell…

Unfortunately, couldn’t see any shots of campervans.  Nevertheless, there’s bound to be something in here to please the eye.  This link shows landscape photography and there’s a drop-down menu for other types of photos.

http://www.aroundtheworldineightyyears.com/galleries/landscapes/

Love the title of James’ site: Around the World in Eighty Years!

I’ll be in touch soon with more info about the Campervan Capers book and links to some photography of my own taken during the time in which the book was written.

Happy travels!

Alannah