Well this is the last blog of our journey and I hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures as much as we have enjoyed them, or most of them should I say.

In Belgium the rain was so bad that poor Blossom got stuck in the mud in the campsite and we had about 20 people pushing her to get her out. The one thing that has spoiled this latter part of our trip has been the constant rain.  We travelled along the border of Belgium and then dipped into France beside Dunkirk and spent the night at an aire in Bergues.  When we left the aire the next day we headed for the motorway to get to the ferry port and ended up in going in the wrong direction, typical us!! Just as well we had given ourselves plenty time to get there. Anyway once we got back on the motorway and heading the right direction we finally got to the ferry port. There was a sign that said “if you have a reservation or sailing in the next 2 hours use this lane if not wait in the car park” Ok so we did have a reservation but we were not sailing until 6pm and it was 3.30pm. When we got to the little window we were told that we should have gone to the car park until the ferry at 4pm had left. They gave us directions of how to get back to the car park. We passed through border control and were given further directions but somehow we ended up where the queues were to get on the ferry!! Only we could manage to get it wrong. Off I went to the office to see about getting our tickets and I explained our situation about where we had ended up and the staff in the office were a bit puzzled about how we managed to get there but told us to move to the side until that ferry had gone and come back and get our ticket then. Nothing else to do but put the kettle on and have a cup of tea.

The crossing was quite rough and the ferry was late in leaving so we didn’t get back to Dover until nearer 8pm and arrived to more rain and fog. We stopped at a CL (Caravan Club Certified Location) just outside Folkstone.

Next day we headed off to meet up with Wendy and Mick who we first met up with near Barcelona, seems like a lifetime ago already. They stay in a small village near Bicester, the countryside and villages round about there are really pretty.  We had decided to buy another motorbike to take back with us to Benidorm, one which we could both ride, so as Wendy and Mick were both at work we ended up going bike shopping. We got a fantastic bargain of a month old Suzuki Gladius in a bike shop in Peterborough, bit of impulse buying as we hadn’t meant to spend so much. The plan was to pick up the bike on the way back to Benidorm but you know what our plans end up like… NO PLANS. 

We now needed to get a bike trailer and a towbar fitted to Blossom. All this was going to take time and we were happy to wait. On Saturday Wendy and Mick took us into Oxford for the day and we had a look around the Ashmoleun museum and then had a wander about the streets around the University where we came across filming of the series Lewis and both Kevin Whatley and Lawrence Fox were there.

Now we had some time on our hands and that left us with too much time to think about how to get the bike back to Aberdeen rather than leave it in Peterborough. So we have run around middle Englandshire looking at trailers and finding out about towbars and you will have guessed by now we have got the bike on the trailer behind the van. In-between getting the trailer, towbar and bike we have collect the 70kgs of stuff sent back to our friend John’s address in Nottingham and met up with my brother at Meriden which is at the centre of England and we have now travelled back to Scotland and have stayed with my brother Ian and his wife Ann for a couple of nights and will be home tonight in Aberdeen so feel free to give us a call and we can bore you to death with our photo’s. 

TTFN for the last time……

17 July 2012

On Tuesday 10^th July we set off from Oberwsel with our newly repaired again tomtom.  We didn’t really know where we were going as our cheap campsite card is finished for the summer. We headed for the Mosel and had a lovely drive towards Zell then south along the Mosel to Bernkastel – Kues where we had hoped to spend the night as the wine museum has around 150 local wines which you can taste. Unfortunately they must have had advanced warning of our arrival and the motorhome parking was for during the day only, no overnight stops. So off we went further along the river to Piesport. Stopped at a nice little stellplatz, right on the riverbank. It was actually a nice day with no rain, for a change, so we got the bikes off the van and went for a cycle. Not too much around this area to see, well there is the Mosel and loads of grape vines,  so we opted for a stop at a hotel for a drink, had to try the local wine for future reference. Anyway the hotel was locked up but there was a pub in a garden across the road which was open so over we went.  The pub was run by the 2 ugly sisters and I reckon poor cinders was locked in the hotel. They were the weirdest people I have met on this trip, there was absolutely no expression on either of their faces except the one where there is nobody in. No matter how many times we smiled at them there was no response and they seemed fascinated by our attire, shorts t-shirts crocks and flipflops, they just kept looking us up and down, weird.

Wednesday we went further south towards Trier, which is supposed to be really nice, but when we got to the stellplatz we didn’t like the look of it and decided to head into Luxemburg instead.  We had only travelled about 10 minutes and we were in Luxemburg but we had thought it was a lot further away.  More rain again I think we are getting the same weather as you are, the rain is so heavy that we can’t even go out and about to see what there is at the places we are at. The Luxemburg countryside is very much like Scotland with weather to match. We stopped for the night at Medenach which is just north of Larochette. The campsite was really expensive at 37€ a night, so we only stayed one night. Next day we headed to Ingledorf which was only about 20k away but the site is cheaper and has free wifi. Just as well we had wifi as we were stuck in again because of the rain. The rain continued all through the night and we didn’t get much sleep as it was so heavy. Still raining next day and we have decided to go back into Germany but first we went and drove by radio Luxemburg which brought back memories of having my trannie under the pillow at night and listening to Radio Luxemburg. For all of you who are too young to remember those days a trannie is not a transvestite but a transistor radio.

Now I know you don’t believe we had a plan but our plan was to head north in Germany and then west into Holland then into Belgium then France so we went east from Luxemburg to Gerolstien and again it is raining heavily so no sightseeing here. On Saturday we drove to Andernach on the Rhine, another stellplatz right on the riverbank. More rain!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway our plan has now changed, see best not to plan ahead.

We have a new tenant moving into the house for a six month lease ending on 1^st February and following a call to my mum on Saturday she informed us that she didn’t want us staying with her until February but we could stay for a short period. With nowhere else to go we made the decision to return to Benidorm for part of the winter as we can live there as cheaply as at home. So this is where our plan now changes we are no longer going to Holland but we will head through Belgium and then home as we have a few things to sort out before we go back to Benidorm. So you will all be glad to hear we should be back in Aberdeen soon so check your social diaries and see if you can fit us in for a visit as we will be away again mid October. We stayed 2 nights at Andernach and then we headed to Belgium to a site at Ottepe, just south east of Brussels. 

We have booked our ferry back to the UK yesterday and we will arrive at Dover on Wednesday 18^th July at 7pm.

TTFN

8 July 2012

Friday 29^th June and we are back at Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  We spent some time exploring the towers on the town walls and walking along the ramparts.  There is a music festival on in the town and we stopped to listen to an American brass band playing, in the square, and then into one of the churches to listen to the choir. Later on we went in search of the summer beir festival, which of course turned out to be a big disappointment, they only had about 3 different beers to try.

On Saturday we continued along the Romantic Road to Kitzingen and stayed on a stellplatze by the river. It was so hot in the afternoon around 34 degrees which inevitably led to another thunderstorm during the night.  Sunday we drove to Beitigheim Bissingen to a small stellplatz near a car park. We went for a walk around and on returning to the stellplatz noticed a dodgy looking character looking at the van. He went back to a car where there were another 3 dirty dodgy lookers who all seemed to be living in the car. Kev wanted to go to watch the final of the football in the pub along the road but we didn’t want to leave poor Blossom on her own in case they were waiting for us to go out again. I did offer to stay behind but we just watched the footie on our telly.

Because we were near to Stuttgart our plans were to go to the Porsche and Mercedes Museums but they are both closed on Mondays and it was still raining so we decided we can do that on another trip. We were going to go down to the Black Forrest and then into Switzerland but at the last minute changed our minds and headed north. One of the deciding factors was that the b….y sat nav is f….d again and we have to stop somewhere to contact tomtom and send the device back again, same fault as last time. We have chosen to stay on a site right on the Rhine at Oberwesel. The views are fantastic.  Anyway, the tomtom was picked up on Tuesday and should be back tomorrow, Monday, so we will have to decide where to go next, think we are heading for Paris.

TTFN

Rothenburg, we bought a cuckoo clock but not this one

Munich

Schloss Hohenschwangau, next to Neuschwanstein

28th June 2012

Thursday 21 June and we have travelled to the end of the Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road) in Germany. We are at the end because we are going from the end at Fussen in the south to the start at Wurzburg in the north. We have stopped for the night at Hopfensee just outside Fussen at an all singing all dancing campsite which cost 38€ a night. This is the only campsite in the area and we had to use a washing machine for the wet clothes and carpets etc. 

Friday we visited the fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein and in true Griswald style the turrets are covered in scaffolding so sorry no pictures of the beautiful castle. We took the tour of the castle after walking a mile uphill to get there. The castle is actually only around 140 years old and only four rooms were ever completed.  The building work started in 1869 and King Ludwig 11 moved into his completed rooms in 1884 and only lived in the castle for 172 days when he was declared to be mad and sent to a mental hospital where he died two days later. The building works stopped the day he died so the castle was never completed. We stopped for the night at a stellplatz (freebie) in Friedburg.

Saturday we headed for Munich and on the way we went to Dachau Concentration Camp. Don’t know what to say here as I still can’t get my head around it all. This was the first camp built and was an SS training ground. The camp was built and in use from 1933 until 1945 and there were 27 Britons held at the camp. In total the records show that more than 200,000 people were held here but there were many more which were not recorded and the total of deaths is unkown.  We had an excellent guide who was born in the town of Dachau and has met many camp survivors and was able to relay their terrible experiences to us. The sheer horror of what went on here is felt throughout the camp as you walk amongst the buildings and the crematoriums. The purpose built killing place is hard to describe and is hard to believe that somebody thought up all these punishments and means of killing people. I am still quite upset writing this and still can’t believe what I had seen. We carried on to Munich city to the campsite and I managed to programme the sat nav twice to the wrong place but got it right the third time. Couldn’t think straight.

Sunday we headed for the city. When we arrived at the centre there was a fun run on so a lot of the streets were closed off. We watched the Glockenspiel clock strike at 12 noon on the carillion tower in Marionplatz then we went to a Greek/Austrian festival and then passing a few more sights we ended up at the Hofbrauhaus beer hall where pork knuckles and dumplings were ordered along with some black beer, yummy. More sightseeing and on to the English Gardens. There is a river runs through the gardens and as it passes through a bridge the speed of the water is so great that there are people surfing on the wave caused by the turbulance. More beer at the Chinesisscher Turm beer garden whilst listening to the brass band playing, then the day is over all too quickly and we head back to the campsite.

Monday we stopped at a stellplatz at Sulzemoos which was right next to a huge motor home dealership. We spent the afternoon looking round brand new Concord Motorhomes, which cost around 200,000 €. Pity we haven’t won the lottery. Tuesday we head off to Donauworth and again stop on a stellplatz and have a wonder around the town. This was described as having the most beautiful road along the Romantischstrasse, still looking for it! Wednesday we have arrived in Rothenburg ob der Tauber now this is a place worth visiting, it is really pretty. The buildings here are so oldie worldy and the whole town is enclosed within medieval walls and ramparts which you can still access.  Today we have only gone 13km to Geslau to a campsite to do the washing and have a proper shower and tomorrow we are going back to Rothenburg to a folk and beer festival.

TTFN