November Newsletter
- Bob and Wendy
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
Welcome to the November edition of the newsletter with a particular welcome to everyone who signed up at the show last month.
Our main feature this month is our (slightly delayed) tour report on the Croatia & Slovenia Tour. The trip came back at the end of September and we didn't have room for it after a busy end to the season. We have a full tour report in this month's edition. The picture is Lake Bled in Slovenia.
We have also had a hectic week at the NEC Motorhome Show. Wendy has been in the green room again with some shameless selfies to follow.
As usual we have another “cut out and keep” cockle-warming recipe and this month’s motorhome tips are about the new rules for entering the EU.
NEC Motorhome Show Review
Thanks to everyone who came to see us at the show over the six days. We say this every year, but we did seem to have the busiest year ever. We ran out of brochures, which has never happened before.
It is always lovely to see our existing customers. In fact, we often end up with mini-reunions at the show. We think we saw almost all of our Lake Garda group this year. It is also a great opportunity to meet new people and folks who have just started motorhoming.
Crossings' Cookies proved very popular for those lucky enough to get one on the Tuesday and Wednesday. They were all gone by Wednesday evening, which was nothing to do with me.
One of the perks of doing our talks at The Inspiration Theatre is that we are allowed to go into the green room and meet the stars (minor celebs)! This year we had the very funny Susan Calman and the very handsome Ben Fogle. He is quite handsome and has wonderful thighs apparently. We quite like it when you meet famous people and they turn out to be horrible. However, this was categorically NOT the case with either of these two who were both lovely. Here's the selfies as promised.
Away from our stand, it seemed to be a busy show. Prices for new motorhome seem to be holding their own. Some of the brands were discounting, but some clearly were not. You really need to shop around if you are changing vans as trade-in values can be quite low depending on what you are buying. If you are new into the market (or not trading in), there still seems to be lots of nearly new stuff on the forecourts, which you can get really good deals on.
As always, we will be at the next NEC Motorhome Show in February. Full details of the show can be found here: https://ccmshow.co.uk/?utm_source=ccms26&utm_medium=nec_web
2026 and 2027 Bookings
Folks do tend to book very early in the world of escorted motorhome touring. So much so, that we do now have the 2027 Schedule ready to go. We will be previewing the schedule in next month's newsletter and will officially open the bookings for the 2027 season via the newsletter in January 2026.
If you are looking for a 2026 tour, please contact us before booking. Although we do get full, we do get cancellations from time to time and operate reserve lists to offer these spaces, often at short notice.
Tour Report - Croatia & Slovenia September 2025
Our ever-popular Croatia & Slovenia Tour went out again this year, with Rebecca and Andy at the helm. They really have become our experts in this part of Europe!
Rather than do a blow-by-blow account of the whole tour, we have picked out the highlights of the tour starting with the two capitals...
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia (and a great pub quiz answer as no-one seems to know where it is)! With a population of less than 300,000 it feels more like a large town. Nestled around the river it has a bit of an Italian vibe to it and they are very good at ice cream. On top of the hill is the wonderful 11th Century Castle accessed by a modern glass funicular. It is highly recommended to go up and watch the sunset before heading down into the old town for a meal and the local wine (which is quite hard to get outside of Slovenia).
For a very different city experience, there is Croatia's capital Zagreb. It does have several touristy sites such as the cathedral and the highly photogenic St Mark's Church with its colourful tiled roof. However, away from the hotspots, Zagreb remains a working capital city with a massive, lively market and bustling restaurants and cafes. We love it for its authenticity.
This tour spends a week on the coast. All of this is in Croatia with a few nights close to Pula and few nights on Krk Island. Pula is an historic city, which was once a key location in the Roman Empire. It still boasts a complete amphitheatre and several other remains. It also (obviously) has miles of coastline onto the warm Adriatic Sea. A highlight here is to take a boat trip with Igor and his captain (a Croatian Captain Birdseye) who took the group on a sunset trip around the islands. Tito once had his holiday home out here and it is easy to see why. The group were treated to the wonderful sight of schools of dolphins racing the boat.
Krk Island is a popular seaside spot. It is packed with unspoilt old towns and villages, flat pebbly beaches and low-key resorts lined with restaurants. Seafood is obviously the speciality in these parts and there also boat trip to the smaller islands and even across to Venice!
Heading inland there are various attractions too. The group spent a few days around the world-famous Lake Bled. It is simply stunning with the Alpine waters of the lake surrounding the tiny church island in the centre with the mighty Julian Alps as a backdrop. The little town itself is also very pretty and as you might expect, it is packed with local restaurants and bars. If you are going, try the local speciality - Bled Cake - made with a butter crust and lots of cream (and one of your five a day).
Being slightly mountainous in these parts, there is no shortage of gorges and caves. The best known of these is probably the Postojna Caves, which span just over 15 miles. This has become a major tourist attraction with visits available by land-train and on foot. The stalagtites and mites are almost unbelievable. The place looks like a movie set.
Talking of movie sets, just up the road is another slightly unbelievable location, which is Predjama Castle (which has been used in films). The castle is literally built half way up a rockface into the mouth of a network of caves. The location was originally chosen for its natural defences but in later years was been used by various dodgy folks for nefarious activities. These days, it makes for a great half-day visit in combination with a visit to Postojna.
While you are in this area you can visit various gorges, the pick of which is the Vintgar Gorge. At just a mile long, you can easily walk the dramatic gorge with the canyon walls rising to over 100m. The National Park have made the gorge as accessible as possible with wooden walkways and bridges getting you close to the river and waterfalls.
Further inland and closer to the Bosnian border in Croatia you get into swathes of forest and subsistence farms. This is an area where there was a lot of trouble back in the early 90s and you can still see the scars to some extent. It is now thankfully a very peaceful rural area. In amongst all of this lie the amazing Plitvice Lakes, a 300 square km forest reserve known for its turquoise lakes and dramatic waterfalls. Folks come from all over the world to visit taking to electric boats or walking the boardwalks that criss-cross the lakes. If it has been raining, the lakes and waterfalls are at their most dramatic. It is one of those times when you are holiday, where you don't really mind if it a rains a bit!
So here endeth our quick run down of the best bits of our last tour of the season. The tour is running again next September but is already fully booked. We will be running it again in 2027. Please contact us for details. The tour itinerary is on the website here: https://www.crossingsmotorhometours.com/croatia-slovenia-2026
Coq au Van (the amusingly titled recipe feature)
Chicken and Chorizo Stew
Ingredients
1 tbsp of olive oil
400 g of skinless, boneless chicken breast, chopped into chunks
200 g of cooking chorizo, roughly chopped
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed or grated
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
0.5 tsp of caster sugar
300 ml of chicken stock
3 sprig of rosemary, to garnish.
1 tbsp of parsley, finely chopped
4 slices of crusty bread, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. When shimmering, season the chicken with salt then fry for 1-2 mins on each side, until browned all over. Remove to a plate and set aside. Reduce the heat to med
Add the chorizo to the pan and cook, stirring often, for 4-5 mins, until it has released its fat and become golden and crisp. Remove to the chicken plate using a slotted spoon and leaving the fat in the pan, then reduce the heat to medium.
Fry the onions in the fat for 5-6 mins, stirring often, until softened but not coloured. Add the garlic and fry for another 2-3 mins, then add the chickpeas, tomatoes, sugar, chicken stock and rosemary and bring everything to a simmer.
Stir the chicken and chorizo back through with some seasoning, then transfer to an ovenproof dish and bake in the oven for 20-25 mins, until bubbling and darker on top.
Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 5 mins before serving, scattered with parsley and with crusty bread on the side for mopping everything up.
Motorhoming Tips
You may be aware from the news that there is a new system coming into place when travelling to the EU. There are in fact two things you need to be aware of. This effects almost everyone who is travelling from the UK to the EU.
The Entry Exit System (EES) requires you to have biometric data (fingerprints/photo) taken the next time you enter the EU. This system went live this October, with a phased introduction that will run through to Spring 2026. This will add a bit of extra time on your next visit, however it means that whenever you enter the EU from then on, it will be quicker. If you enter the EU on a plane, you register at special booths when you arrive. If you are going in your motorhome you will be processed in the UK at the port. Extra capacity has been put in in Dover to cope with this. You do NOT need to do anything before you travel and there is no cost. Full details here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-entryexit-system
The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is a screening programme that requires you to enter certain details into the official website before you travel. This will cost 20 euros and last for three years. This will come into force in the last quarter of 2026. Full details here: https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias With this one, please be aware of dodgy websites and only use the official one. It is a simple process and you do not need to pay anyone to do it for you.
Keep in touch
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Please feel free to contact us at any time. When we are away, calls will bounce to our mobiles at no expense to yourself.
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