Germany 15 - Koblenz/the two mighty rivers Rhine and Moselle meet at the German corner/44 euros for a river view/my South African friend and a rather inconsiderate German dumping

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"Whatever comes , let it come, what stays let stay and what goes let go" Papaji



This holiday seems to be one of taken whatever comes into our stride. It has never quite turned out to be what we planned but the unplanned seems to be coming together. This part of Germany has been interesting to say the least. Not what we expected and the weather is poor. Hat , coats and gloves weather. But at least there is something to see and write home about. Many years ago someone sent me a card from Ostende, one from the Swiss mountains and told me about Koblenz. He loved it and raved about it for years after. I never quite worked out why. It had never been on the radar. I knew it was the place where the Moselle meets up with the mighty Rhine and there was a statue on a corner where the rivers meet . Apart from that well it didnt feature highly on the bucket list .

We drove from our last nights stop along the archetypal German roads. Some narrow and winding with the dark green pines reaching right down to the road. Villages with speed limits so slow we felt as if we were almost stopping. Houses with neat woodpiles ready for winter, window boxes still full of cherry read geraniums. Motorways with no speed limits and cars appearing from nowhere. Just as Glenn decided to pull out and overtake something appeared out of the blue at speeds you can only imagine. Foot flat down to the floor and right on the edge of the limiter. They disappeared as quickly as they appeared. We did see one accident . A plume of smoke, an air ambulance , a couple of ambulances and the heavy removal trucks . It looked bad and probably was bad.

Reaching Koblenz was interesting. Initially a clear run with the sat nag giving us good instructions . Then the problems started . The roads looked like knitting wool that had become thoroughily knotted. Spaghetti junction with a vengence . We took the wrong road and backtracked to the roundabout . Over the bridge again . Got it right this time but then wrong at the next junction Back to the roundabout again. We must have gone round that roundabout four times in all and knew the road backwards before we found our way out of the tangle of roads and found the campsite .

We were staying at campsite handy for walking into Koblenz . When we arrived it was busy with motorhomes stacking up. It was hard to tell whether to move the van up each time someone moved or head to the office and leave Gabby behind. In the end I chose the latter and joined the queue in the office . There was only one young lady serving and in front of me was a South African lady looking for a place to stay the night. She was told to go and find a plot, come back with the number and pay. Rather than wait I left behind her to do the same. Mistake - but then you don't realise at the time. We found Plot 22 , grass standing not good in the wet weather . Glenn parked up plugged into the electric and I set off to pay. Arriving back at the office I trotted off the number only to be glared at . She said stonily faced "That will be 44 euros for a river view " Too much I thought . Before I could say anything she took great delight in telling me 22 was a reserved pitch . Great I thought . Why didnt you tell me that before I left the building . She pointed out she had told my friend . Meaning the south African lady I had barely spoken to. My new friend told me to go on the front , in the stellplatz 19 euros with electricity thrown in. We picked another plot , plugged in and paid our 19 euros plus 3 euros 70 for showers . I guess we could have sneaked in for a shower without paying . Ah well you learn and next time I am here I wont be parting with the shower money. The stellplatz spots were better as they were hard standing and still had a view of the river and the city. Facilities were good and the showers to be fair were clean tidy and hot.

After a quiet night of watching Mary Queen of Scots shot at Hardwick Hall we woke to more rain and more cold weather . It is October after all. We set off for the city. We could almost touch the statue on the German Corner and at certain times there was a ferry. Today though we had half an hour walk into town. Koblenz was deserted. For a MOnday we found the shops closed and the church firmly shut. The city was too modern for our taste and the service in the cafe rather curt. No espressos, No cappacinos just a plain black coffee , milk over there. I resisted buying a cake due to the attitude I received . The only saving grace the coffee was hot and the cafe warm. A welcome break out of the awful weather.



We ended up by the statue and what a statue it is . Before that a little bit of background - During the second world war it was the location of the command of German ARmy Group B and like many German cities suffered bombing . The rebuilding is why there is little left of the medieval city and everything is plain and modern. Where we stood was called Deutsches Eck or the German corner , a headland where the Mosel joins the Rhine . Both rivers were well used with both cruise ships carrying passengers along the river and barges . The headland was named after something to do with the Teutonic Order of Knights and on the end was a monumental equestrian statue of William I the first German Emperor. It was flattened during the bombardment but since has been restored as memorial to German reunification . Joining the bus loads of tourists we stood beneath it and were amazed at its height. The monument is 37 metres high of which 14 is the statue of Kaiser Bill . Across the water we could see our girl Gabby waiting for us to return. We walked back slowly and then packed up

. We took Gabby to enter her tanks and thereby hangs a tale . The toilet cassette emptying area was behind the toilets accessible on foot. We emptied her and then drove her round to empty her grey water tanks and fill her fresh water tanks . We joined the queue patiently as you do. In front of us was one van owner who had blocked the exit whilst he filled his van with water . Not a problem as there was room for the guy in his motorhome to drive over the grey water tank and empty while we whiled away the time talking about the Father Rhine as it is known and the Mother Moselle. We were heading next for the Moselle . The water filler moved and the guy behind opened his tanks . The water gushed out. He finished and did nothing . We waited and waited and eventually his wife arrived. It looked as if she had been for a shower or a wash or something else . She opened the habitation door and still nothing happened . He went and sat in the driving seat . By this time 10 minutes had passed by . It seemed like an eternity. Still nothing . We wondered what they were doing. I tried walking to the side of his van and noted that he had disappeared . I walked to the front - no sign of him or his wife . He had no intention of moving . 15 minutes went by . We began to think how inconsiderate he was, I walked again with a determined look on my face . Stood outside his side windows and gestured to him to move . Nicely I might add . I stood in front of the windscreen and pointed to us behind gesturing move up . He ignored me . He sat there with his wife putting things in cupboards sternly refusing to move out of what was just a dumping spot . Eventually we got to empty when he did move . He then stopped us going out by parking by the water filling devices . Motorhomers generally are pretty good people but this German counts as the most obstinate , selfish man I have ever had the misfortune to meet on my travels . A little care and thought for other people would not have gone amiss . He seemed oblivious to the problems he was causing .

With the minor drama of World War 3 breaking out we left Koblenz easier than we got in. Before long we were following Mother Moselle along her vine clad hills route .

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