hottest ( july )day since records began

(Lloyd)
Luckily sun chasing not the be all and end all of our travels these days as if it was you don't need to leave your house. In fact leaving your house could be a bit of an effort today, as we found as the packing, Tour de France highlights and general lethargy encouraged by hot weather meant our actual holiday only began at 4pm today. Drove up to the Crowne Plaza in Heathrow where our car is comfortably esconced for the next 16 days.

A grassy knoll for our Audis hols

So what is this trip all about, let's elaborate on the blog description, running, active exploring and constant movement will be the backdrop to a bit of European exploration

Munich for starters, a parkrun and revisit to the executive lounge at the Sheraton Chrissi and I visited last November. Am sure an obligatory stein shot will emerge.

Collect car and head to the Austrian Alps for a few days that will include my birthday, a mountain trail running festival and perhaps a bit of cycling or hiking.

Drop down for a couple of days at Lake Garda, perhaps a bit of water related fun will be the order of the day.

The skirt northern Italy to Treviso, allowing us a day at Venice and setting up our second parkrun of the tour :)

From there perhaps a little bit of relaxation with a few days on the Solvenian coast, beach and all that.

Inland, a stop at some Slovenian vineyards, then a bit of a drive up through Austria into the heart of the Czech republic, and a couple of days in Brno, where have arranged a running tour for Chrissis birthday.

Keep heading north for a final parkrun and night just inside the Polish border, then a day at Prague before heading home.

Accommodation a mixture of air bnbs, planning a mixture of the above and flying by the seat of our pants. Let's see how much of that works out at the end of the trip and what unexpected bonuses we also unearth. That's me being glass half full which is always the way at this stage of the holiday.

how the magic happens

Carys -

A hectic day, well from 3:30pm at least. I spent the morning of our travels to Heathrow finishing off any packing I needed to do - or so I thought - and eating slices of the cheesecake I made yesterday. The parents arrived home at about mid afternoon and that's when we started to realise we'd packed, but we hadn't really finished.

There was a bit of a to-do but we got it sorted, and even manage to squish all four caases in the boot rather than having to squeeze one between Bryn and I in the back seat, and we set off at around 5pm. Lunch had consisted of toast and fresh things I scavenged from the fridge, like a slice of edam and, you guessed it - more cheesecake. 

Despite traffic, the journey didn't take too long, 3 hours at most. We had a quick  pit-stop where we picked up some Greggs and snacks and soon we'd arrived at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. It's the same to how I remember it last time, except this holiday I'm not able to go in the pool  as we have arrived later and the pool closes to children at 8pm. 

Bryn however has passed as being 16, and has gone to the gym for a 'weights session' whilst the rest of us went to the bar for a drink. 

We'll try to get an early nice because of the early start, but gosh, am I grateful for how short our flight is this holiday.

Happy Holidays Everyone!