Germany 3 - why does it always rain on me?

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Suzy the motorhome is sitting on camping Treveris stellplatz in the rain in Trier. When will it ever stop? It has rained cats and dogs all day and the temperature has dropped from a lovely 28 degrees last night to about 18. To the right of us we can see the Konrad Adenaur Bridge one of three over the Moselle. The stellplatz lies just to the side of it. To our left if it stopped raining we might just about see Trier. To the front of us trees and behind those the Moselle.

What a busy place Trier is particularly arriving in the rain. We could see the town in the distance in the rain as we drove downhill approaching the first of three bridges which traverse the Moselle. The rain had not let up since we set out this morning and showed no sign of mercy. We negotiated our way in and drove along the Moselle river and the rain continued to pour down. On our way we could see what looked like two windmills on the river bank. They in fact turned out to be 15^th and 17^thcentury cranes. We earmarked a visit to them for tomorrow when we walk back from the city centre which apparently is a walk away of about 30 mins. Lovely when fine but not so sure about it in the rain .

We planned to camp at Camping Teveris a specially designed aire/stellplatz just outside of the city. The traffic was horrendous but we found the site quite easily. In fact it could be seen across the river and we thought at first it was full. Upon arrival at the barriered gate it was not quite as full as we thought. We took a ticket and found a parking space on hard standing. We had read up the local information on what to do which saved us a lot of hassle. The rate per day between 6pm at night and 10 in the morning is 6 euros. As a day stopover it cost 10 cents per hour which makes it a good car parking option for Trier for motor homes even if they don’t want to stay overnight. Electricity cost 60 cents per kwH and there was water available for 10 cents for 10ltrs. Showers were available in two little huts at the top of the parking area costing 1 euro for 3mins. We loaded our card up with 5 euros at the machine and hooked up to electricity. And then headed for the showers. Up to now we have spent 2 euros 20 for electricity and 2 euros 70 for the showers. We pay for parking when we leave. There is a small office which is open in the morning between 8- 9 and again in the afternoon between 5 and 6.30 where you can order bread. No WiFi though. Probably the only thing missing in what was an excellent site. It put madames last night to shame. We tried out the showers and they worked perfectly providing plenty of hot water and even heating which was needed as the weather had turned colder and still it rained . Quite heavily now .

During the afternoon the site filled up as motor homers turning up to stay the night. many could not work out the machine so I did my good deed for the day and showed them how to get in.

We had two plans. Plan A The first to walk into Trier which was 30 mins away by foot straight away. We could also catch a bus to the centre of the city off the Konrad Adenaur Bridge which was just above us. This went rather awry as the rain continued to fall. Instead we put off our trip to the city and put the TV on and settled in for the night. Plan B was put in to place .

The site was relatively quiet despite the traffic on the bridge above us and the noise of some arrivals at 11.30 I sleep the sleep of the dead so heard nothing. The rain rattled the roof all night. We tried our new heater out and our electricity lasted all night running the oil filled heater and our fridge until we got up in the morning . Foolishly I put another 1 euro in the meter thinking that we would need to run the fridge all day whilst we were out. But upon looking at the weather it was still grey as a bag, wet and rather cool. We had plan B which was to walk in again this morning but this meant we probably would get soaked through. Or we could walk across the bridge to Matthiastrasse and catch the bus. In the end plan C came into being , pack up and get the hell out of Trier, hit the road and try to catch the sun further south in our next stop of Augsburg in Bavaria.

I was saddened not to see Trier.Twice we had thought about it and once we have tried. It seems destined to be one of those places you want to see but never quite make it to.

As we left Trier we hit the first of what would be many roadworks on the way to Augsburg our stop for the night. There would be nothing at Augsberg it was going to be just a stop off on our way South to Slovenia where our real holiday woudl begin. It took quite a while to find our way out of Trier. Our planned route was barred due to guess what roadworks again so we had to double back along spaghetti junctions and impossibly complicated street systems. Even with Snoopy Sat Nav we took ages to find the Moselle again and head out of town. The road to Karlsruhe was uphill all the way and it was pretty boring. Mile after mile of straight German motorway. Mile after mile of roadworks and mile after mile of coniferous forest. Dark and gloomy. Punctuated only by small villages with red roofed houses. Prettily painted houses in pastel coloured hues. It looked as if Germany dictated that all houses should be painted regularly and look pristine for visitors. Pretty red and white onion domed churches that legacy twinned with Austria.We were averaging 27.6 in Suzy which was excellent as it is 2 mpg more than we were averaging before she had her first service.

More roadworks, signs saying they went on for 8 kms. A sign showing a sad face. Halfway along another sign. This time the face wasn’t quite so sad. And at the end a smiley face and a Danke for being so patient. And the rain still followed us running like a river down the sides of the windscreen.

We stopped for diesel. This time the price as 1 . 46.9 cents. 67.12 litres cost 98.60. We passed by spa villages by the dozen, stopped for lunch on a German equivalent of an aire. Not quite so nice. This one was frequented by lorry drivers and boasted a small café/shop. Others along the way were small laybyes with a few trees between themselves and the road. No toilet facilities just a bench and chairs for picnicking. Lunch passed and still it poured down and still the motorways were being repaired. We sat in queues at times with nowhere to go, the aires closed too. We saw field after field of solar panels .Not much chance of any electric being generated today. Fields of vines growing that lovely German wine and the odd castle punctuating the landscape. Wind farms by the dozen. Spring has blossomed in this part of Bavaria, apple and pear trees full of white blossom. The villages in the distance looked white as there were so many fruit trees coming into flower.

We passed Dutch three wheeled tricycles pulling small caravans. And by this time had decided that we never wanted to travel these roads again. If we had not wanted to visit Trier we could have bitten the bullet and used the French roads with their tolls to go to Reims and then across to Munich. We had only got level with Strasburg so this route was a real pain. Our photographs poor. it is impossible to take them through a rain splattered windscreen with wipers smearing across them. We are hoping for better at our next port of call.

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Photos

Trier
The city as we drove in - in the pouring rain

Trier
The Moselle in the pouring rain

Germany
A pothole hit at the wrong moment and the camera went up in the air

Trier
Camping ticket for Camping Treveris

Trier
Suzy on the stellplatz

On the way to Trier
For my friend Woolly who will know all about this one