Bad Mergentheim 2

In true Bank Holiday Monday style it was raining today! (Thanks Chris and Anne for your Horsham weather report - sounds better than here.) It had rained most of the night so took our time getting up and decided to take things slowly, hoping it would stop before lunch-time. It did, so off came the bikes from the back of the van and we cycled the 2 miles into Bad Mergentheim. More beautiful buildings - palace, castle, towers, fountains etc. and as it started to rain again, an ancient half-timbered building that now houses an Italian restaurant!


Sun came out for a while after the pizzas, so a good time for finding 2 geos - one on a signpost by a fountain that was too high for even John to reach, so a photo will have to suffice and one very cleverly hidden behind the shield of a statue in the castle wall (hint was 'well protected').


Failed to find one in the Kurpark, but we wanted to go there anyway. Beautiful parkland and gardens around the spa hotel - there was a charge to go in, but Herr Campingplatz had given us tickets to show wherever we went in the town and it worked - we were welcomed in free! There were boutique shops, aconcert hall, very posh cafe and outdoor theatre with fountains (see photo). We arrived at the latter just after 3 and a notice said that the fountains would play to music at 15.15 each day, so we sat down and waited for the orchestra to appear (their music stands and microphones were already set up) but on the dot, there was a click and recorded Beethoven's 5th burst forth and the fountains 'danced' to the music. A beautiful 5 minutes! Then a walk through the rose garden and back to the Cafe Amadeus for gruner tee and cappuccino in palacial surroundings with soft classical music playing in the background.



Unfortunately there was no glass coach to whisk us back to our campsite - the rain was now really set in again, so we were pretty wet by the time we'd walked back to our bikes on the edge of town and even wetter still after the bike ride. The brollies and bikes are now drying off in one of the wood-store barns close to our pitch, while it continues to rain into the evening .....

Camping Willinger Tal, Bad Mergentheim

Yesterday, Saturday 28th August
Up early to help the family get packed - my job was showering the children and getting breakfast. But no breakfast for us as we were invited back to the Westhaus haus! It was hard saying good bye to PHEA but we've had a lovely time together. After breakfast, Tilman took us to the local Aldi so we could stock up on our food supplies before we were taken into Wiesbaden to see Barbara's office.

A very special place as she is now working at Literaturhaus Villa Clementine (the house of literature). Barbara was able to show us all over the building - the beautifully decorated room where authors give their presentations (fantastic chandelier), the reading room and coffee shop - we enjoyed our drinks in the sunshine on the balcony overlooking Wilhelmstrasse. Back home to Idstein to collect the van and our clean washing - yes, that was included in our visit too!











Then set off for the start of the Romantische Strasse, which we plan to follow through Bavaria. However we didn't actually start at Wurzburg, but we spent the night at Bestenheid on the outskirts of Wertheim on the banks of the River Main. More huge barges passing by during the evening.

Today, Sunday 29th August
Then this morning followed the River Tauber to Tauberbischofsheim. Everything was closed being Sunday, but we had a walk around the market place, visited the church and got a feel for the place. It has the most famous fencing club in the world - it's the training base for Olympic competitors. At the Tourist Info Centre we found just what we were looking for - a guide book covering all the towns and villages along the Romantic Road (in English). So other bits of useless information like the above, may appear from time to time!
On to Lauda-Konigshofen, two villages with geocaches that we decided to look for. Pleased to say we found them both - our first in Germany this holiday.

Now settled in this charming little campsite just outside Bad Mergentheim. There isn't any wifi for campers here but 'Herr Campingplatz' very kindly said that if we stay fairly close to his office we can use his office router (for free!). Although it has stayed dry today, it has been a bit chillier. And this evening it is raining. We hope to cycle into Bad M in the morning, so hope it will be fine again.

Taunus camp 3

Friday 27th August
We've had some April weather today, starting off with rain. We had all been invited to go for tea with the Westhaus', but as Peter and Hannah have never been to Idstein before, we decided to spend some time there today showing them the beautiful old buildings (and looking for a geocache that we hadn't found on previous visits). It could have been a good idea to go in our van, because one of the advantages this new one has is 4 seat-belted passenger seats. But the road up through the campsite is very rough at the best of times, let alone after all the rain we've had since last night, plus the problem with turning round here at the top - so Peter drove HEA and me into Idstein (14k)and then came back for John. The sun came out, we had lunch at the Brauhaus then found the information we needed for the treasure hunt from a couple of historical plaques. This took us into the Tourist Information office where the children enjoyed building a model house like the ones in the town. We walked along the cobbled streets and through the gates of the castle to the 'witches tower' (in the distance in the photo) - shame it closed yesterday for a month, and shame that the geocache wasn't in the hole in the wall, but we all had a great time anyway ... until the next shower came!



We dashed for the car while John walked quickly to Barbara and Tilman's house. This was about 4 pm. Then followed the Westhaus hospitality par excellance! (Don't know how to say that in German!) Kuchen and keks followed by a walk back to the town in beautiful sunshine for a guided tour (Barbara reading the book in English) which included an impromptu visit into the Union Church. It was closed to the public as it was being prepared for a confirmation service, but we happened to bump into a friend of Tilman's who had the keys in his pocket. The ceiling paintings were particularly impressive, and it was interesting to hear about this Church's history from a man who was obviously a devoted member here. Rain stopped play yet again, so back home with 8 brollies drying in the hall, we enjoyed Barbara's very tasty lasagne and salad. The children had a wonderful time, especially with Claudia, and apart from some water spilt on an
armchair and Adam running through the 'open' door to the lounge and finding it wasn't actually open - it is plain glass and he received a nasty bump on the forehead!, they were kids to be proud of. PHEA leave first thing tomorrow morning for Calais and home - we shall miss them a lot, but our adventure continues ....

Taunuscamp 2

Thursday 26th August
Took it easy today, with just a bike ride on the stony track to Eppstein and back (7.5km). One advantage of camping here at the top of the hill, is that just a few yards behind us there's a junction of the local cycle network. The disadvantage is that Eppstein is in the valley, so coming back was a lot slower! Very attatractive town with a ruined castle on a rock in it's centre. Later in the afternoon, Peter & Hannah, Emilie and Adam (PHEA) arrived, having travelled today from near Saltzberg. They have had a brilliant holiday in Austria, camping in their new (easy to put up) tent beside beautiful Lake Faaker Nr. Villach. They'd just got the tent up, and guess what - the thunder storm began! It rattled around for the rest of the evening, but we enjoyed dinner in the spacious tent. Only one disaster - I came out of the tent in the dark, brolly in hand, and promptly fell over the guy rope and landed half in the brolly and part on the soggy wet grass!
Really lovely to be with the family again - having great fun with our grandchildren.

Taunuscamp Nr. Eppstein

Wednesday 25th August
We left Enkirch and continued north following the Mosel-Weinstrasse through picture-postcard villages nestling between the river and the almost vertical vineyards. Some of the hillsides have rocky outcrops,but even the tiniest patch of land between the rocks has a few vines growing on it. We are about a month too early for the much advertised Weinfests. We parked up at Ediger-Eller and got the bikes off the back of the van because following the river is a cycle/walking track and we thought it was time for some exercise! A large proportion of the cyclists are Dutch people equipped with huge panniers and suitcases on the back(!) but we travelled light just enjoying the lovely views on a flat track. Needed to move on after lunch as we had to get to Taunuscamp today. Stayed with the river through Cochem (stunningly beautiful) to get onto the motorway just before Koblenz, onto the A3 to ederjosbach, west of Frankfurt.
We'd booked this campsite in advance as meeting Peter and Hannah and children on Thursday (they en route from Austria to home). Quite an unusual site in that it's built into a very steep hillside with lots of terraces. Most of them have permanent caravans on them, but the tourers are sent to the very top!
Turning our rather long van round so as to be able to fit on the pitch and be able to get back down again some time, proved quite tricky, but we are now here to stay till Saturday!
Our main reason for coming here is to see our Lions friends Tilman and Barbara and their (fast-growing) children Claudia and Adrian. Tilman came to pick us up on his way home from work, then we enjoyed a meal in a Brauhaus restaurant (fire station now converted into a micro-brewery) with all their family. Young Adrian has recently passed his test, so he drove us back (with his Dad beside him as an experienced driver has to be with youngsters until they are 18).

Enkirch - Germany

Tuesday 24th August
After a wander around the small town of Theux to find a bank, we set off on another of Belgium's bumpy roads - they don't seem to do many repairs but one small business must be doing well - the one that makes "Route Degradee" signs - they are everywhere!
The motorway south (A27) is one of the most scenic we have travelled on - beautiful views of the green pastures, forests, little hamlets, swooping up and down the hills and over huge viaducts. Just before we crossed the border into Germany, our new van (2 months old today!) clocked up its first 1000 miles. The scenery continued until we reached the valley of the Mosel. Huge wow factor as we turned left to follow the river downstream, going north. Stopped at the next village of Urzig where there was designated motorhome parking and over lunch, watched the interesting river traffic - trip boats, an enormous barge carrying heaps and heaps of coal (with a house and 2 cars at the stern) and a beautiful hotel cruiser that seemed to go on for ever. Behind us were steep hillsides covered in vines that were lapping up the hot sunshine, as we were.
Then moved on to Enkirch and decided this was where we'd like to spend the rest of the day and night. Motorhomers are so well looked after here - a huge grassy area by the river with a few trees and some electric hookups. A chap later came and collected our 7.50€ (for up to 24 hrs. stay). We hadn't meant to, but we had parked up fairly close to 2 other Brit vans. Glad we did though, as they serenaded all the nearby campers for an hour or so - on accordion, fiddle and guitar with folk tunes. Evening walk up the steep hillside through the delightful village with its colourful ancient buildings.

Polleur

Stopped off in Canterbury before getting to Dover - thanks for our lovely dinner Jan and Graham – it was good to spend a couple of hours with you. Had a calm evening crossing to Calais and spent the night in the large parking area at the port. Quite busy there, so our spot (finding it at almost midnight French time) was quite close to the access road, but the comings and goings of others didn’t spoil our sleep very much. Big holdups on the A25 with major roadworks between Dunkerque and Lille, so slow progress this morning. Camping tonight south east of Liege, still in Belgium, but not far from the German border. Site owned by Dutch with half of Holland’s population here! Fine for a night halt though, especially as low season has already started here, so could use our ACSI card and pay half price. A very nasty incident on the motorway just before Liege airport. There was an almighty bang and Ann instinctively looked left out of the passenger window, so witnessed a car on the other carriageway still moving towards the central reservation (2 concrete walls a meter high) and glass showering up – a momentary glance, as we were then beyond it, but one which will be imprinted in my memory. Please join our prayers for the people involved.
Very interesting countryside around this part of Belgium – we are in a very deep wooded valley with a small fast-flowing river beside the site, just beyond the village of Polleur. We came through the village by mistake as we missed a campsite sign, but it meant that we drove through more of the valley and under an extremely high viaduct with the motorway on top – how did they build that?!
Into Germany tomorrow .....

We're off again tomorrow!

Getting ready for our next adventure - this time to Germany. Not quite such a long trip as usual - just 3½ weeks, but we are looking forward to exploring Bavaria in particular and seeing the Passion Play in Oberammergau.