After a few teething problems here is my first blog!

Saturday 7th April, 6am... we met the truck, huge big orange 40 seater beast with only 22 passengers (19 to begin with) there should be plenty space for everyone. It's custom built with 8 lockers underneath to hold all baggage, camping gear, tools, food and kitchen equipment and a big 600L water tank. On top there're bus seats and an area for charging electrical items. There's no heating, no air-conditioning and no toilet, but there is a buzzer to communicate with the drivers cab. 1 buzz means 'toilet stop', 2 buzzes means 'photo stop', a solid buzzzzzz means 'emergency stop' while incessant short buzzes means 'toilet emergency!!!!'

First night we camped in Belgium in a farmers field we shared with horses. The friendly farmer gave us a couple of bottles of whisky to keep us warm, it was a very cold night camping. Next night we camped in a forest in Germany, somewhere around Erfurt.

From there we travelled to the Czech Republic to a campsite outside Prague for 2 nights with a full day in the city. The highlight was on the way out of CR when we visited the macabre Church of Bones in Kutna Hora which is extravagantly decorated with the remains of what's thought to be around 40,000 bodies. When soil from Jerusalem was deposited there hundreds of years ago people from miles around had their remains buried in the church grounds believing it to be holier than their own land. As thousands of bodies continued to arrive a blind monk started building bones into pyramids. 200 years ago the church was renovated and an artist commissioned to use the bones to decorate the church, the result is something of eerie magnificence. Huge goblets, an impressive chandelier and a coat of arms are among the pieces on display, along with 4 of the remaining pyramids first built by the monk. Skulls and bones cross-cross the ceiling in bands of decoration. Some of the skulls are those of fallen soldiers with holes in the bone where they've been struck down. A most interesting use of human remains, I was amazed by the artwork, well worth a visit.

Onwards then to Vienna for 2 nights with a full day to explore the city. Lots of impressive architecture and tasty food available, the most worthwhile for me being the huge cathedral in the centre of town, free to enter it is pleasant though busy to wander around, beautiful high stain glassed windows an high ceilings as expected. We also had the chance to meet an Austrian couple who will join us later.

So far we have travelled a lot, covering the expensive European countries en route to cheaper eastern countries. A travelling day typically starts at 5.30am when we rise and pack our gear away, breakfast is at 6am and we're on the road before 7am. We've split into groups of 3 for cooking duties and truck cleaning and cook group can sleep on the truck as they don't have time to pitch their tents, this is not always a bonus as the truck is cold and less comfortable but the option is there. It's a great mix of people, ages ranging from 20 years up to 69 years, there are 10 males and 9 females and 3 couples among those. Most are English though there are 2 Scottish girls, a Canadian girl and an Australian boy. We have an Irish boy joining us in Istanbul and an Austrian couple joining us in India. So far so good!!