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Published: June 30th 2013
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On Tuesday 4 June we caught the train back under the Channel to France – this is such a slick operation - we don’t even have to show any documents to check in as the checkpoint has number plate recognition these days! You might pay a bit more than for the ferry but it is much smoother and faster than any ferry. Spent a bit of time restocking the wine and cider supply then motored down the coast a short way for an overnight stop at Ferme le Hombre which is just a mowed section of a field where you can park for 5 euro a night, allthough the last 2 times we have stopped there, no one has been around to collect the money.
By Wednesday pm we were in Belgium and the sun was shining. We stopped at an aire overlooking a lake and forest. There were several other vans parked up, quite a lot of young families and a big resort just down the road. As it is still low season it was tolerably quiet but we moved on the next day to the Ardennes region with winding roads, rivers, green, green countryside, forest covered hills and
neat villages. During a stop in the riverside village of Vireux Wallerand, Kathryn took a tumble off the footpath obtaining a badly grazed knee which needed a bit of cleaning up at the local TI office and which has taken a couple of weeks to heal.
On Saturday we moved on to Poupehan and camping Ille de Faignal which was a lovely spot on an island in the river. We managed to get all the washing and drying done in the afternoon which was just as well, as the next day it rained most of the day. The site had excellent free wifi so we spent much of the day on skype chatting to friends and family, and doing lots of research for walks later in the trip.
By Monday morning the rain had cleared so we took a scenic route to the Moselle town of Remergen where we spent 2 nights parked next to the river in the motorhome aire. We thought it was incredibly quiet with no boats going by until someone told us the locks are closed for a couple of days maintenance, so lucky us, no throbbing engines going by during the night. Brian
came down with yet another head cold so we took it easy, only doing a 10km hike around the wetlands and vine covered hills to find 5 geocaches. Late Tuesday evening we were entertained by the local rowing club “beginners” night which attracted a large mixed group of people wanting to have a go. It was organised chaos but only one person managed to land in the river!
On Wednesday 12 June we headed south east into Germany and the Pfalzerwald area. Lots of rolling, rural green hills, with tidy but unexceptional villages. We stayed the night at the parkplatz in Heltersburg next to the forest and the swimming pool which looked lovely but a bit too chilly for a dip. On Thursday we drove to Elmstein where we did a very pleasant 12km hike through the forest and hills. We stopped to shop at a Wasgau supermarket which is a bit like a Waitrose. Much warmer today so by the time we got to the parking at the Consulat de Weins in St Martin we were ready for some shade and a drink. We got plenty to drink after paying our 2 euro “guest tax” for the parking
we proceeded to help ourselves to as much of the wines as we wanted, all for free. We noticed lots of people just sitting outside and coming in to help themselves – of course many also wheeled out trolley loads of wine afterwards. After a couple of hours of this we went for a walk around the village which had lovely old and large timber framed houses – typical of this region. But we could not get a bier, the one place advertising bier had run out! By Friday afternoon we found ourselves parked up on the hill at Weingut Hitzinger overlooking Bad Bergzabern. This was after doing a lovely 16km, 450mt ascent hike to the ruined Schloss Grafenstein and trying to stay at the aire at Lemergen which was taken over by some sort of town gathering.
On Saturday we decided to stay in Bad Bergzabern so took a gentle walk around the town then BR got the fridge fan wired up whilst I took a peaceful walk amongst the hillside vineyards. Later we tasted wines and bought some then walked back into town to eat.
The weather really hotted up today (Sunday) as we first went back into France and used wifi at Maccas then drove to Cleebourg for a browse around a floh market. Next we found a nice parking spot at Climbach where we did a 10km hike to the Col de Pigionnaire picking up a couple of geocaches along the way. We stayed the night in this spot and it was idyllic.
Monday 17 June was hot! We drove to the ruins of Chateau Flickenstein and took a walk up to a lookout. Did not do a long walk as it was too warm. Next stop, Wissembourg but most things were closed on Monday so after a quick walk around to admire the buildings we went looking for a shady place for lunch. Took a while to find something and then took another long while to find a shady place to camp. Ended up doing a circle of about 30km to come back to the parkplatz in Betchersdorf which was not ideal but at least had some shade.
24 hours later we were in the shade of a tree by a cooling creek deep in the Black Forest near the village of Hunsbach. We had a very peaceful night. The only thing to mar the day was getting a stone from a passing truck which has cracked our windscreen! One repair place said no, we needed a new windscreen. On Wednesday we got up early and did a lovely 15km hike up to Churmsee before the day got too hot. Then we drove to Freudenstadt to get a quote at a Ford dealer for the windscreen. The quote was for 725 Euro and we booked to do the repair on Friday then drove to Dornstetten, 5km away to a campground. No shade so we sweltered all afternoon eventually going for a dip in the pool at 7pm. On Wednesday afternoon, BR rang our insurer who said they have a deal with Car Glass in Germany and we have to arrange to do the repair with them. So we cancelled Friday and waited for the call. We were called on Thursday morning and booked in for the following Tuesday at Freibourg. It was a bit cooler so we enjoyed a drive through the scenic countryside (via getting fuel, LPG and groceries) to Ippichen up a lovely valley from the Kinzingtal. We were joined by 2 other vans for a quiet night at Bauernhoff Bartleshoff. On Friday we did a lovely 18.5km, 700mt ascent walk to Langenbach. We met Larry and Annika from Belgium back at the site and had dinner with them in the Vesperstube run by the farm owners. Saturday we went to Schiltach to the flohmarkt before trundling through more impossibly green fields and forested hillsides to finish up at a parking spot on a hillside amidst farm fields where we spent a fairly quiet night.
By Tuesday morning we were on our way to Freibourg for our windscreen appointment and funnily enough they were charging exactly the same as the Ford dealer quoted us in Freundenstadt so we can only think the insurer gets some kind of back hander out of it all. We spent a couple of days in Freibourg which is a pleasant town with some nice shops where Kathryn had a bit of retail therapy time alone whilst Brian went back to camp to do more internet stuff. The next few days we pootled around more of the Black Forest, sometimes it was rainy sometimes it was fine then on Saturday came some heavier rain which drove us back across the border into France for a few days - also a good excuse to restock the wine, fuel and LPG supplies (all much cheaper in France).
By the time you get the next update we should be well on our way through the Swiss Alps, yodellayehay!
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