Blaichach, Germany, Monday 13th July 2015

Stunning setting at Blaichach Stellplatz and camping

For once we stuck with our plan and did cross into Germany on Saturday 11^th, our first stop being Haslach. The aire or Stellplatz here is free and flat in a car park by a pretty church and gardens and we parked under the shade of a tree, arriving in time to witness a wedding celebration, as the guests were enjoying some drinks outside in the gardens by church. We felt it was very quaint and felt very happy for witnessing this special occasion.

Stellplatz at pretty Haslach

Park and Gardens by Stellplatz at Haslach

Haslach itself, like all the German towns we’ve visited so far, is a very attractive location, made all the more special with the bunting and flags hanging all over town for the summer celebrations . It was very hot and, after strolling around enjoying the sights and photographing the picturesque fountains and buildings, we sat down at one of the bars near the Rathaus (Town Hall) to cool down with a couple of beers.

Attractive Haslach

Ready for summer celebrations

Enjoying the sights

Interesting and original fountains in Hahlach

Humourous sculpture and fountain

I just love this outside Rathaus

On Sunday, we left for another Stellplatz at Kißlegg, mainly because there was swimming available and the weather was rather hot. This is a very good Stellplatz for €7.50 a day, situated by an excellent leisure area by the lake with amenities and entertainment for all the family, including some very cool floating apparatus I had never seen before, shaped like a planet surrounded by a ring, a bit like Saturn. I loved watching various families riding on them and seeing the Dads having as much fun as the kids. I felt tempted, but I thought it best to leave it to the ‘other’ kids (I am kind that way, and of course,  and not because I was terrified of making a fool of myself at all). The toilets and shower facilities were spotless and everything was very well organised, as you would expect in Germany. We really liked it there and would have stayed another night had the weather stayed hot, but it clouded over on Monday morning with a little rain and we decided to move on.

Lake at Kißlegg with lots of activities for all the family

Water rides for kids of all ages!

And a swimming pool too

We continued our way south east towards Austria and found this delightful Stellplatz/campsite just north of the border and west of Immenstadt in Blaichach. It’s cost us €15.10, but it has lovely and clean facilities with stunning views of the Alps and with an easy walk to the lake, suitable for swimming and, by the looks of it, for fishing too, as there were a couple of set up swims for that purpose. However, the day’s been overcast and not too hot (25ºC in the van) and we didn’t feel the need to cool down with a swim. This site stays open all year and a fellow camper showed us pictures of what it looks like in winter and we felt like we might like to visit then.

Blaichach lake

We are crossing into Austria tomorrow, with the intention of stopping at a campsite in Obermoss, south of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and north west of Innsbruck. Will we make it, though?

Day 5 of 5-Day Challenge

Schloss Neuschwanstein, the stuff fantasy is made of

For the last day of this challenge, I’ve chosen a childhood fantasy: Schloss Neuschwanstein, near Fussen, Germany.

Like many people my age, I was fascinated and enchanted by the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: I think I went to the cinema about 8 times to see it with different people as I just couldn’t get enough of it. This castle, of course, features in it as the home of the Baron and I knew one day I would get to visit it. Well, that dream came true 3 years ago, in the summer of 2012, when DH and I finally made it to Bavaria, a stunning region whose beauty cannot be described in words and to which we’re returning this year.

I would now like to nominate Pedmar10 from http://paris1972-versailles2003.com/ for this challenge. Pedmar is a keen traveller based in the Morbihan, Brittany, France, with many a story to tell and photographs to share.

The challenge is: Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.

Bremm, Mosel Valley, Friday 12th August 2011

We followed the Rhine north towards Koblenz and then crossed west just north of Rhens towards Waldesch and Dieblich.  We then carried on down the east side of the Mosel to Treis-Karden on the B49, where we crossed the bridge and carried on south passing Klotten, Cochem and Eller before arriving at Bremm.

 

This is another first class aire, with electricity and a toilet and shower block.  It was sunny when we left Bacharach this morning, but we’ve had a couple of showers this afternoon.  Still, I took Bramble for a long walk through the pretty village with immaculate front gardens and down the Mosel.  I didn’t even mind the rain, although it stopped soon after we started our walk

 

 

 

Both Adonis and I had a shower at €1 each and then connected to the internet.  I’ve been on Facebook and Twitter and managed to post some pictures of the last few days.

Some interesting pole somewhere on the road

On the road to the Mosel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather’s going to turn for the worst, so we might move back to France earlier than expected, but are thinking about staying here tomorrow for the wine festival!

I spoke to Pepo on Skype earlier: he’s happy and well and busy cooking.  It can only be good for him and I am very proud.

 

 

 

 

 

Bacharach, Thursday 11th August 2011

The Rhine

 

It’s been an easy drive following the road north along the Rhine, so we arrived here for mid-morning coffee and cake and are parked on the Stellplatz facility right by the river: an excellent position.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bacharach is the most beautiful little town I have ever seen with loads of timbered houses of different colours and styles, the likes of which I have never seen before.  It is just like a fairy tale, very well looked after and pristine clean.  There are surprisingly few tourists here, but there’s about 20 vans on the aire, which cost €7 a night, as we didn’t bother with electric hook-up.  Still a bargain when you consider the position we are in and there is a campsite just a few meters down the road.

Bacharach's timbered houses

It is nice to watch the pleasure boats going up and down the river and it reminds me a bit of the river Seine, but it’s bigger.  I suspect this is one of the best spots to stay on the Rhine and I am glad we found it.  Tomorrow we’ll move on to our first stop on the Mosel river.

Bacharach's fairy-tale-like houses

The Youth Hostel at Bacharach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been souvenir hunting, but came back empty-handed as they were either too tacky or too expensive, but I went round the ruined priory and followed the walk up the steep hill to the amazing Youth Hostel, with marvellous views of Bacharach from above, as well as the river.  Shame I didn’t take camera (as I wasn’t expecting to do this at all, for I found walk by accident), so I couldn’t take pictures of rooftops, etc.

One of Bacharach's old gates

An old bridge at Bacharach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The journey down was a bit precarious and I was worried I might twist my ankle yet again, but I made it back in one piece!

Bacharach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bacharach

Cooking chili con carne tonight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just love this sign

 

 

 

Bad Sobernheim, Wednesday 10th August 2011

Stellplatz at Bad Sobernheim

 

Getting closer to the Rhine valley, where we’re hoping to arrive tomorrow.  This is another first class site, for €7 a night and loads of space.  We  laughed earlier on having lunch when we were asked to move pitch by an old lady whose house border the Stellplatz, as the one we were occupying didn’t allow dogs, so after lunch we moved bit by bit tables, chairs and dog to about 20 meters away from the offending spot.  Apart from that, it’s been another lovelysunny and warm day.

 

 

 

 

We left just before 9 am this morning after paying for bread we’d ordered the night before and followed motorway north to Alzey and then the E41 to Bad Dreuznach and to Bad Sobernheim.  We arrived at 10.30, had coffee and went for walk past the crazy golf area and then back to the town: it’s more modern than the ones we’ve visited before, but very clean, neat and tidy.

Wooden sculptures by Stellplatz and cafe

Wooden sculptures by Stellplatz and cafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve just lounged around for most of the afternoon, reading and sunbathing.  I cooked spaghetti carbonara with some local ham and left-over salmon from last night: absolutely delicious.  We’re going to have an early night and try to make it to Bacharach or beyond tomorrow according to how we feel.

 

Wooden sculptures by Stellplatz and cafe

Wooden sculptures by Stellplatz and cafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I simply love this bench

St Martin, Tuesday 9th August 2011

St Martin's Stellplatz

 

We are at a charming little Stellplatz amongst vineyards and roses, overlooking the Pfälzerwald Forest and the village itself.

We spent 4 days in Oedheim and enjoyed several swims in the lake, good dog walks and fishing for Adon.  We also had Currywurst in the site’s restaurant, where we met a couple of young Dutch students touring France and Germany on their bikes on their way to Vienna.  They turned out to be very friendly and funny and good company for the evening.  Their English was also very good, which helped matters.

 

 

The weather was mostly hot, but we had a couple of storms and the last day was a bit too windy for my liking.  Adonis didn’t catch any fish at all, so that spoilt it slightly for him and, apparently, there is not as much fish in the lake as there used to be, according to one of the German fishermen who spoke to Adonis.

St Martin

 

 

It was nevertheless a very welcome break from the road and I had a chance to finish sewing ‘teddy mouse’ – whom I’ve christened Herr Mouse – and my German book, which is good and bad in a way, as I was enjoying all the new vocabulary and grammar practice exercises.

We left this morning at about 9.15 and headed for supermarket in nearby town of Friedichshall.  We discovered that next to Lidl there was another supermarket called Handerlshof, which seemed by far the best supermarket we’ve been to so far in Germany, except there was no fresh fish counter.

 

 

 

 

We followed the TomTom on the A6 and A5 and then we took the risk of following my advice to get off at junction 64 at Speyer and follow the N9 west towards Neustadt and then the unnumbered roads to Kirrweiler, Maikammer and finally here.  It all proved quite straight forward and made it here for 12 noon.  We walked to the village and stopped at one of the wine cellars to try some local Gewurztraminer and Grauer Burgunder and ended up buying 3 bottles altogether.

St Martin

St Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Martin

 

We had lunch and siesta, Adonis took Bramble for his walk and we’re now having a coffee.  We might go out again afterwards, as the sun is shining (it was raining when we got here) and I’d like to have a look inside St Martin’s church if it’s open: it just looks different to what we are used to.

Don’t know yet what we’re doing tomorrow!

St Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Martin's Church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Martin

St Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Martin

 

 

St Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sperrfechter Freizeitpark, Oedheim, Friday 5th August 2011

Sperrfechter Freizeitpark

 

Another magnificent campsite, just north of Stuttgart on the Hirschfeldsee Lake.  It’s very hot and we’ve got a very large pitch for the motorhome.  I’ve just been swimming in the lake and Adon is fishing at the moment.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pepo’s just sent me a text saying it’s hot in England too and he was thinking about going swimming in the lake behind our house, although I think that might be out of bounds due to the new housing development.

Sunset at Sperrfechter Freizeitpark

 

We left the aire at Bad Buchau at around 8.45 this morning and stopped briefly at the Stellplatz round the corner to

Sperrfechter Freizeitpark

empty the toilet and grey water.  We then went to Aldi for some quick shopping and to stock up with beer and wine and then followed the motorway A8 and A83 past Stuttgart, with very heavy traffic, and Heilbronn and got here just before 1 o’clock, but the office was closed and had to come back at 3, so we had lunch in the big car park, a quick siesta and returned at said time.

I took Bramble for a walk round fishing lake (20 minutes) and Adonis set up camp, so it’s nice to sit down for a bit and do nothing at all but read and write in the sun.

 

 

 

 

Sperrfechter Freizeitpark

 

 

We bought some burgers for tonight, so I won’t need to spend too long cooking.

We’ve booked for 3 days, but if it stays this hot and sunny, I’d like to stay longer.  Time for a beer!

 

 

 

 

 

Sperrfechter Freizeitpark

Sperrfechter Freizeitpark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sperrfechter Freizeitpark, Oedheim

 

Bad Buchau, Thursday 4th August 2011

Federsee Nature Reserve

 

 

Today’s been a perfect day!  After breakfast and Bramble’s walk, we tried to fill up the water tank at Stellplatz, but the station had a funny tap for our watering can to fit in and we had to use the 1.5 litre water bottle and, as we only had 3 minutes to fill up, we only managed about 10 litres.

 

 

 

 

After that, we walked into Wangen to buy some tobacco for Adonis and to do the tour of the celebrated fountains (see

The Boardwalk over Federsee Nature Reserve

yesterday’s blog ‘The Figure Fountains of Wangen”) and Ithink we managed all but two, although I think we saw them yesterday when we first walked through the town.  I took pictures of them to have them as a separate album on our laptop.

We returned to the van and followed TomTom’s directions to Bad Buchau stellplatz, which is absolutely marvalleous, right by the entrance to a most stunning Nature Reserve with a boardwalk to Federsee Lake.

The Boardwalk over Federsee Nature Reserve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived early, so had time for a beer before lunch and to phone my sister Mari Carmen to wish her a happy birthday.  It’s also my nephew Guillermo’s birthday today, but I didn’t have his mobile and had to send a message to my sister Nieves instead, who only lives above his flat.  I hope he got my birthday greetings.

 

 

After lunch, I walked to the Tourist Information Office to get ticket for overnight stay and got to practice my German again with the assistant, although she spoke perfect Spanish and was keen to use it!  Still, she told me I spoke good German, but I think she was just being kind and polite and perhaps wanted to encourage me to carry on learning, which I intend to to.

Bird watching at Federsee Nature Reserve

We managed to fill up the water tank at adjacent aire, so after coffee, we both had a very welcome hot shower and went for a walk to the Federsee Lake, entry to which was complimentary with the overnight stay fee.

Bird watching at Federsee Nature Reserve

 

It really is an amazing spot and we managed to see 3 birds we’d never seen before: a Marshland Harrier, a Blue Throat and a Sirl Bunting, which made us both very happy.  Needless to say I went a bit mad taking pictures to create yet another album…

Bird watching at Federsee Nature Reserve

 

 

 

 

 

I cooked some gorgeous sausages I bought on Tuesday at Idesa and served them with chips and fried eggs.

 

We had an hour long panic thinking we’d lost our new stellplatz sites map, but it’s just turned out under my bag!  What a relief!

Federsee Nature Reserve

 

 

A new place tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather is hot and stormy!

Brewing up a storm at Federsee

The setting sun at Federsee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of the boardwalk at Federsee

Federsee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Federsee

 

The Figure Fountains of Wangen, Thursday 4th August 2011

I just wanted to dedicate a blog to these beautiful fountains, as they are a big part of the town and they feature in the tourist information leaflet we were given at the Stellplatz.  The information given here is copied from the leaflet itself. I hope you enjoy them.

The Repressed Allgauers

The Repressed Allgauers

 

This fountain spits at you when you are not expecting it, which makes all passers-by laugh!

Created by Joseph Michael Neustifter from Eggenfelden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Seeker after Truth

 

 

The aim of this fountain is to encourage all passers-by and library users to keep extending their knowledge and so come closer to the truth.

Fountain created by Frau Gisela Steimle of Bad Urach-Sirchingen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Donkey Fountain

 

This Fountain is based on one of Aesop’s fables in which a peasant and his son take turns riding the donkey and are criticized by other people.  It was created by Bonifatius Stirnberg of Aachen.

 

The Donkey Fountain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bath-house or Head-Washing fountain

 

 

This fountain is by Frau Gisela Steimle of Bad Urach-Sirchingen.  It is located in front of the former bath-house building.  It depicts the light-hearted scuffle between a woman and her husband as she resolutely sets about washing his head despite his objections.

The Bath-house or Head-Washing Fountain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Duck Fountain

 

Cast Iron Fountain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Anthony's Fountain

 

 

This fountain is named after the Patron Saint of domestic animals and is situated on the Saumarkt where,, for hundreds of years the weekly pig market was held.

Created by Werner Gurtner and his wife Elsa.

 

Wangen, Wednesday 3rd August 2011

Wangen

 

 

We are at the Stellplatz (motorhome aire) of this charming medieval town of Wangen.  I’ve never seen so many interesting and beautiful buildings so close together in such a small place.  We went for a walk in the town before lunch today and were very pleasantly surprised to find the market in full swing, packed with sellers and customers in a very happy atmosphere.  Shame I’d gone to the supermarket in Friedichshafen before we left early this morning, otherwise I’d have bought some of the local products on offer.

 

 

 

 

 

Timbered building in Wangen

 

Timbered building in Wangen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The warden at the Stellplatz gave Adonis a map and guide of the town this evening and we’ve enjoyed reading about this remarkable little town, with his multiple fountains, churches and colourful buildings and streets.  We’ll try to have another look before we leave tomorrow and find all the fountains in the guide which we didn’t see this morning.

The Shepherd, one of the many fountains in Wangen

 

 

 

We’ve just come back from a delicious meal in one of the guesthouses in town.  I had the spicy venison with salad and local bread and Adonis had a beef steak with chips!  It was a delightful little tavern with just one waitress serving and we did our best with our German, which is getting more confident by the day.

 

The Market in Wangen

 

 

We might be going further up north tomorrow, hopefully to Bad Buchau.  I wonder what surprises it will bring…

Wangen