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