Germany 2007, France and Belgium

Nice easy drive to Hull for the 21:00 ferry to Rotterdam, stopped off for a couple of hours to visit Dot's brother and family in Leven, just outside Beverly. We had been having bother with the GPS on the laptop but had made adjustments and all appeared to be ok on the trip down. Arrived at the terminal about 18:00 and got straight on, we had an outside cabin we had splashed out as the tickets were free. Some people still do not know that you can exchange your Tesco points vouchers for travel vouchers and then ferry tickets at four times their face value, we had £100 of vouchers and got ferry tickets worth £400 (it did cost £5.00 to post the travel vouchers to P&O special delivery), hence the outside cabins.

We headed off to the show bar, the bands are usually quite good but not this time, P&O must have really cut down on what they pay for entertainment. It was also incredibly smoky in there, so we went up to the piano lounge, the pianist was ok and it was a lot less smoky but it was a little cold in there.

Even though the boat doesn't dock until about 08:00, they like to get you up at 06:00 for breakfast with a rather noisy announcement, although we were already awake as my phone had just announced a text, advising me what network to use in Holland (I have the guitar bit from Cream's Badge as my text alert and it was a bit loud).

On the car deck I got the laptop on and AutoRoute with the GPS working, after a short queue for passport control we are on our way. We had plenty of diesel so get straight on the A15 motorway and off we go for Koblenz in Germany, we had enough fuel so we did not have to stop at the first petrol station, a mistake we made in 2003.

Not long after we get on the A15 the lady in the laptop announces that we should take the ramp right, at this point the laptop freezes and we are off the road we should be on and lost. We park up in an industrial estate and try to get the GPS back on, eventually I reboot the laptop and find our position but then it freezes again. We are using a laptop that I have set up just for using as a GPS but have another laptop with us for other uses (DVD/CD player, TV, etc,), so I set this one up and the same thing happens. We have become so dependent on the GPS and although the route has been planed meticulously, it has not been memorised or written down, we did not even know what road numbers we should be on or even what towns we should be heading for. So now we first have to re-plan the route and then find our way back on the A15. Later study of the map sowed that this is a particularly complicated junction linking the A15 and A16 but if the GPS had been working or if we had had instructions we would have been ok. Note, this is a clinical version of the events that took place when the GPS packed up, omitting the bad temper, bad language and pointless banging about.

I apologise for the route on being as accurate as for other rips but sometimes we just can not remember (or even knew) what road we were on. Anyway we got back on the A15 heading for the A73 via a short stretch of the A50, we do stop in Holland to fill up with diesel as we have been warned that credit/debit cards are not as widely accepted in Germany as in most European states. From the A73 onto the A61 to the A48 then off onto the B9 into Koblenz. At rest stops we had got the GPS working intermittently, so every now and then the lady in the laptop would announce that we were "Off Route" or "Back on Route" or to "Bear Right" etc, but not much use at all. So in Koblenz we are in approximately the area we want and just ask passers by for directions to the site (the locals are very helpful indeed).

The site is right on the river Rhine with the river Mosel entering from the side, we drive round the site but there are no pitches on the river so we settle for a place one row back. After the stress of the drive, we just connect the electrics and head over to the sites bier garden for a couple of hefe weissbiers (cloudy wheat beer), very reasonable price but we had to pay a deposit on the bottle and on the glass.

Later, after we sorted the van, we had a walk by the river, until we were bombarded by large insects like ginger bees so we went back to the bier garden, only to find it shut at 21:30 not 22:00 as on the sign outside. So it was back to the van and inside as the bugs are now all over and not just by the river.

As usual when we are away, England have am important football match, so I spend ages getting the satellite set up. I have been using a freeview receiver as a sat finder to good affect before connecting the proper sky receiver but the remote control for it is missing, it has never been out of the van so where is it (when we get home it is in the house???)? So it takes longer than it should but I get it working in the end, then a motorhome that was on the river leaves and Dot suggests we move, even though I have just got the sat working, I agree, we are here for the views not the TV. Luckily the man with the key for the electrics is passing and I ask if he can change them over, he tells us to hurry, instructing Dot to move our chairs into the space, as another van is checking in and we don't have long. Within minutes we are in a new position next to the river and I am setting up the satellite again.

On the afternoon we walked into Koblenz centre, it was a lot bigger than we thought it was, it was also quite a long walk, when we gat all the way round to opposite the site we found a ferry the crosses to the site and back for only 0.80€ each. I should have read their website better, the ferry goes whenever there are any passengers, from 08:00 to 20:00 each day. After a walk around town and climb up the monument at the confluence for some photos, we head of to find out how much the river trips are for tomorrow. We do not fancy the short one hour trip but a longer one, only I have to be back in time to have food in town and get back to the site before the football at 21:00. One trip is 24€ with breakfast but is too late back the other shorter is trip that gets back in time is 19.50€ but we can not make up our minds, so have a beer to help clear our minds. After the beer and still undecided Dot spots the city tour land train thing so we hop on for a guided tour. We then look for where we will eat tomorrow and then head back to the site but using the ferry this time.

Back at the site having a beer and chips with mayo, we notice that you can get boat trip tickets from reception and the 19.50€ trip is only 16€ from there, so that's the one we go on. By the way, the site doesn't accept debit cards so I have to nip back to the van for more money. Later back at the van we are unable to sit out for long as the bugs are back.

Up early and down for the ferry to cross over the Mosel for the Rhine trip, the ferry was on the wrong side of the river but we had plenty of time before the sailing. The trip we had chosen was by paddle steamer and we where informed when we got the tickets that it was an extra 1.50€ each for the Goethe, collectable onboard (it was in the brochure as well) but no one ever mentioned it. I got a nice seat over the port paddle but Dot wanted to sit in the bow, so we moved, it was not a bad seat but there was young Englishman sat next to Dot, with questionable hygiene and opinions, so we moved back.

Back on our original seats we had we had some breakfast bars we had brought with us as we hadn't have time for a proper breakfast before we set of. The boat was bigger than than it looked but there where several larger tour boats travelling in the same direction, one floating hotel seemed to be in such a hurry to pass, it almost took our bow off as it swung back in front of us.

Our boat was a daily scheduled service with stops all along the Rhine from Koblenz to Rudesheim but to fit in with our needs we were only going as far as Bacharach. This was a four and a half hour cruise to Bacharach, with one hour forty five to look around and have something to eat and then a two hour fifty five cruise back. Its quicker going back as that's the way the river flows and it flow really fast.

The scenery was amazing and there were too many castles and villages to put all of the photos on this site but I will give you a flavour of what can be seen. There were also many campsites and motorhome parking places right on the river banks.

Bacharach is a very pretty village, we had a walk around and had a look at the Stellplatz by the river (it was very crowded but as I have said before these places do not appeal to me anyway), before looking for something to eat. Thought about a pizza from a takeaway but settled on a sort of bier garden in a courtyard, we weren't very hungry so only ordered a couple of starters, sort of dip things with bread and pretzels and a couple of beers. They only brought us one meal which was lucky as there was far too much for one person and you could have as much bread as you liked.

As soon as we finished it was straight back to the ferry landing as by this time it was getting close to the ferry arrival. A few people were milling about waiting for the boat and it wasn't long before it arrived, on time.

The ferry MS Jeverland, was a lot smaller and a lot newer than the one we had arrived on, it was also very crowded and seemed to be full of Japanese tourists. We were very lucky and got a seat together, we were even luckier to get that seat on the same side of the boat as we came on and therefore got to see the other side of the river on the way back. A couple of drop-offs later, all of the Japanese party disembarked and once more we had plenty of room to relax and enjoy the journey back to Koblenz.

Back in Koblenz we got food at a place near the big monument, it was sort of open-air self-service restaurant with excellent meet dishes, we both got pork with chips, caramelised onions and sauce (a very nice gravy). Drinks had to bee ordered separately from a bar around the corner form the serving counter and then all paid for at the till, with the deposit for the bottle and glass. Must say the food was wonderful (could be because we hadn't had much to eat all day) and the views were good as well, it was a great place for a very cheap and enjoyable meal. Then, after getting our deposit back from the bar (actually you get a chit from the bar to cash in at the till), we headed for the ferry back to the campsite.

We got back in time to see England win (for a change) and then made plans for travelling the next day. We did have provisional plans for sites and route but as we had been in Koblenz for a day longer than we had planed and as we had already had a Rhine cruise (something we were going to do as the next stop), we made the decision to miss out the next stop and go straight to the third place on the list, Bad Liebenzell, in the Black Forest.

All ready to go nice and early, went to reception to pay and ask for the electrics to be disconnected only to be informed that I can not pay until after the electrics are done and the meter read. So that is when I discovered that you pay for the electricity separately. Next it was over to the Motorhome Service Point and had to wait ages for a caravan to fill his water tank it took him forever but Dot used the time to pay at reception, 45.00€ total 15.00€ per night. On the good side the GPS appeared to be working, we had worked out a route anyway, it was written down and stuck on the windscreen, we had also walked the way to the main road to get over the bridge on our second day.

Well as soon as we set off the GPS froze and we set off the wrong way along the dual carriageway but that was no problem, we just turned off and got back on the right way. The intention is to follow the B9 along the west bank of the Rhine to Bingen then join the A61, so all we have to do is gross the Mosel from the site find the Rhine turn right and drive south. We cross the Mosel ok, this takes you into the middle of Koblenz where the road signs are useless (to me anyway) and we are soon crossing the Mosel again heading back towards the site (on another bridge though). We pull over and recheck the route, we can either do a U turn and get back on the right road, or carry on, along the road we are on and join the B9 outside the town, so that what we do, go straight on.

The above does not happen, we do not get to the B9 but see the signs for the A61 and just head for it, we had seen the Rhine the day before and without GPS we decide just to get where we are going.

So its the A61 to the A5 then A8 to exit 43 onto the B10, here there are signposts for Bad Liebenzell, we should now get onto the B463, the road the site is on. But as we are now in a big town the road signs stop, and we get (did you guess it) lost, the GPS in a brief moment out of its coma suggests we head down a dirt track and then goes back to sleep. We by sheer luck, get on the road we want and even though it is rather narrow in places we eventually get the the campsite

Reception ask us to wander round the site and to pick out two or three pitches while they complete the paperwork, the site is fuller than I though it would be but there are still plenty of large marked pitches to choose from, we choose one with a view of the castle. Back at reception I ask for ACSI discount and that's ok, it isn't always, then drive to the pitch and wait for the electrics to be connected.

Its now that I notice the the new leisure battery isn't fully charged and make a mental note to check the connections with the charger. Electrics connected, I decide to check the leisure battery connections, I unplug the charger and plug it back it and it starts charging ok. So then I think (or don't think and this is where the mental bit come in), I will splay the connection ends to get better contact. So I get a knife and force the first one open slightly, then do the same for the second one, on to the third and suddenly the knife is flying through the air and my hair is stood on end. My left arm is also in a lot pain and on top of this I have to walk back to reception to get the electric reset. They ask if I know why it tripped and I had to admit with a red face (and smoking hair), it was my fault.

Note, with electrical connectors, the male side is usually not live whereas the female side usually is, so do not poke pointy bits of metal into electrical connections, it hurts and can cause embarrassment, not to mention death. By the way the charger is now working as it should.

We were given a pass for the pool complex next door, which you have to produce for entry at the connecting gate behind reception, this pass also entitles you to free transport on the local trains and buses. We also got a key to the back gate, which makes it a shorter walk into town and there is also a Lidl just outside this gate, open 08:00 to 20:00, very handy indeed.

It's early evening by the time we are sorted, we leave the site by the back gate for a walk into town and a quick look in Lidl but even though it is not long after 19:00 the Lidl is closed, not so handy after all. In town most places are also closed but we can smell chips and as we haven't eaten we set of in hot pursuit. In the distance, there is a queue on the opposite side of the road, outside a small kiosk, must be chips we think and make a beeline for it. Imagine our disappointment to fide it selling ice-cream, so our search continued back over the road. Down in a small dark arcade, Dot spots a kebab shop and we go to have a look, it is in fact a small cafe, and when we walk through it opens out into a modern town square. We sit outside and order a margarita pizza, two portions of chips and two hefe weissbiers. The place is quite full and children are playing in the water of the rill that runs the length the square, all very pleasant.

Back at the van, even though it doesn't look possible to get reception, I have a go at setting up the satellite anyway but to no avail, I can only pickup the wrong satellite. Eventually I give-up and we settle down for a couple of drinks by the van, the big bugs are here but do not bother us much this time, we do have the citronella candles on though.

Early morning we pop over to Lidl and today it is open, we get the usual provisions, bread, beer a lasagne you know the stuff, the beer is in 500ml plastic (PET) bottles so we just get a couple to try it out, it is a weissbier after all.

Then over to the pool for the day, it was very full, the slide is fun and the thing referred to as the rapids is even more fun, if a bit small. The Adult Pool was full of adults swimming lengths, the Family Pool is much more fun and there are also two more pools for toddlers.

On our return to the van we have new neighbours over the hedge, two Dutch vans and they are arguing about satellite reception, part of the augment is the direction that my dish is pointing, I eventual have to point out, yes my dish is pointing in that direction but that I am not getting anything either. To cut a long story short, between us we manage to get all of our satellites working (albeit with one of the Dutch dishes on our pitch), the panic for them had been one of the wives could not miss the tennis from the French open. I can not however get any of the BBC or ITV channels.

The beer from Lidl is very good, so I take my backpack and set off back for more with a request from Dot for a bottle of Vodka (something we do not usually drink but the Smirnoff was on special offer) and some citrus flavoured beer by the same people as the weissbier.

On my return and checking the bill it seem to be a lot more than it should have been and I begin to think I have been ripped off. To cut another long story short, after checking back at Lidl its the deposit on the PET bottles, and you get it back via an automated system, you stick the empty bottles in a hole in the wall and get a chit back for redemption a the till.

On a map of the campsite Dot notices a side gate from the site to the river Nagold and to the river side path, so I tell her I will check it out, as it is just at the end of our row. Anyway, I manage to get myself locked out (its a one way turnstile) I do not have the key fro the back gate so have to walk the long way round to the front entrance, it took ages but I am sure that Dot didn't even notice I was missing.

Sat out on the night, good beer (not the ones I got for Dot though it as just like lime and lemon) and listened to VH1 on the sat.

This is a note on church bells in Germany, if you don't like church bells do not come, it seems that for any reason someone will start ringing and then the others seem to join in, not just here but everywhere we went in Germany.

We walked into town via the back gate and riverside path, much quicker than by the road, had a look in the tourist info but got sick of being ignored and left with no info. Walked through the park and back to town on the other side of the river, looked into the thermal baths but didn't try them, then went off to see where the train station was. The sky started to turn black and we headed into the town centre, we know what rain can be like on the continent. We made it to the bakers just as the heavens opened, but I wasn't getting stuck at a bakers in a rain storm again, see Dijon France 2003 so we continued on to an ice-cream shop/cafe where we could get a couple of beers while we sat out the storm.

As soon as the rain stopped we headed straight back to the van, later in the afternoon when it brightened up, we walked the other way along the river and got some fantastic looking beef stakes and pork chops from Netto. Did I mention there's a Netto on the other side of the campsite to the Lidl, there's supposed to be a shop on site but what's the point, although on the Eco Camping website it states "Daily sale of fresh fruit and vegetables during season" so maybe the shop opens in high season. As this site is an Eco campsite, you can be asked to leave if you do not recycle properly and they take it very seriously there are separate bins for every thing. On the way back to the van, we stopped off at reception to got our passes renewed, we had only booked two days for definite but with the option of staying for a week (all to do with some pitches being prebooked).

On the evening we had a walk to town then up the hill a way towards the castle very pretty houses and a lake up there, we then stopped off at a nice restaurant for drinks, we also found an Indian restaurant but it was closed.

Walked over to have a word with the reps from Eurocamp, just to get it straight on just what we could do with the free transport pass we had, there was a map with the pass and apparently we can go by public transport anywhere within the boundary on the map. I also asked if he knew why Lidl had closed early on Thursday, he informed me it had not even opened as it was a religious holiday that even they had had no knowledge of, not even the German rep as it was a regional thing. He also informed me that it had been school holidays this week, now I would never dream of going on holiday in the UK during the school holidays (noting to do with kids but more to do with overcrowding), so imagine my surprise to find I have chosen to be in Germany during a weeks school holidays. I thought I had done my research well for Germany but this was something that hadn't even occurred to me but in future, I will use the following website to check before going to Germany again http://www.holidays-info.com/.

Just as we were about to go out for the train the rain started again, I used the time in-between showers to adjust the sat to get ITV working better for the F1GP that night.

As soon as the rain had gone we headed for the train station and got there 30seconds too late, that's one problem with public transport running on time and as its Sunday the next train is in one hour (not 20mins as during the week). We walk back to the cafe we used the first night and had a pizza and drink to pass the time until the next train is due.

The train arrived spot on time, it was new, well designed and spotlessly clean. We were heading for Nagold according to the timetable, this was as far a you could go, without changing to a bus. The line follows the river along the valley floor and passes through several picture book towns and villages, some we note that we can come back and visit another day. As the train pulls into Nagold an announcement tells us, that because of track work all passengers must change to the bus to go around the works to a station further down the line but this doesn't concern us as we are getting off there anyway.

At that moment the sky turns back again and we start to think it could be a good idea just to stop on the train and go straight back to Bad Liebenzell. So when everyone gets off and heads for the bus we stop on, another young German gets on and sits, so ask if the train goes straight back to Bad Liebenzell, "no" he replies "this train goes to Horb", "no it doesn't" I tell him, "that bus over there, the one that's about to pull away does", I say pointing to the bus, I think he may have been related to Linford Christy, he couldn't half move fast. We get off and I knock on the drivers window and ask him if this train is going back to Bad Liebenzell, the answer is yes but in half an hour. The weather is too unpredictable to walk into Nagold so we have a drink in the station bar and get the same train back.

Spent the whole day at the pool, what a difference with the kids back at school, not a sole in the family pool and just a few in the adult pool. We had food and drinks from the pool cafe, we read our books, we sat in the sun, we went down the slid numerous times, we put on suntan lotion when it was too late, we got sunburnt.

About 15:00, about the time the kids were arriving at the pool from school, the rapid started working for 15mis ever hour on the hour, as I said before loads of fun.

That night we had the steak we got in Netto, did it in the George Formby grill (we got it in Wigan, no we didn't), it was like leather, one inch thick very tough leather but the pork we got and ate yesterday was not half bad, go figure.

Back on the train, this time to Calw, one of the towns we had passed the day before, thought we may be able to pick up an older copy of AutoRoute in a small PC shop, as we walk around sightseeing. A very helpful lady in an art supply shop drew me directions on a map of how to find a computer shop. Calw in another very pretty town, had a good walk around the shops until we found the large department store where the PC shop was.

They only had one routing program, very reasonable price but it didn't have a GPS feature, so not what I was looking for. By now we are a bit peckish and the smell of food from from the department store restaurant is just too much for us and we have to get something, After being served we sit outside to have our meal in the sun but it is far too hot, but we just put up with it as we can not be bothered to move.

We were a bit short of cash (its in the safe in the van) but there is a bank with exchange rates in the window so we pop it to get the £40.00 in my wallet changed. "Have you got your passport with you" asks the cashier, "sorry no" I say (its in the safe in the van), "we need a passport don't we" the cashier asks another assistant, "no" replies the other assistant, "you don't need a passport" the cashier tell me, "that's good" I reply. It was good, a good exchange rate and no commission.

It was only 16:00 when we got back to the site, so it was off to the pool for a couple of hours, before heading into town for something to eat on the night.

Time to move on or we could end up in Bad Liebenzell for the rest of the holiday, we did only plan three days but ended up staying six, 112.80€ total, 18.80€ per night should have been 14.00€ with the ACSI card but the electricity was extra although that did include free transport. The plan was to move further south in the Black Forest for three nights but we are now going to skip that and head straight for Strasbourg or we will have no time left for a visit to Trier and Bruges. The other change to the plan is to stay in Germany, on the opposite side of the Rhine from Strasbourg in Khel, we had had some bad reports on the campsite in Strasbourg and this site looked ok and only a little further from Strasbourg centre.

After getting the van setup for travel, the first stop was for diesel (petrol station opposite the site) and then Lidl for beer to take home. The price of diesel had risen steeply since we arrived in Bad Liebenzell it was 1.07€ but was now 1.14€, and it had actually come down from the previous day. In Lidl, the amount of deposit we got back form the hole in the wall, paid for another crate of plastic bottles of weissbier.

The easiest way out of the black forest from Bad Liebenzell is to follow the B463 back to the A8 the same way we came in and then to head for Strasbourg along the A5. From exit 54 we just followed the E52/B28 to Kehl and then the camping signs to the campsite right on the Rhine.

Reception was closed when we arrived at 13:45 and would not be open until 15:00, the restaurant was open so we asked if we can park up and have a boor while we wait. The answer is yes, park in the car park but the bar closes in ten minuets, I parked up very quickly.

After refreshments and with 50 mins to kill before reception is open, we wander over to have a look at the river, in the distance we can see the bridge we must cross over with the scooter to get to France and Strasbourg. We set off in that direction with the intention of walking away from the site for 25 mins and then turning back to check in. We reach the first bridge in less than 20 mins, its a new foot/cycle bridge, obviously a Millennium Bridge like the many many others around the world. This is a rather large, fine example of a Millennium Bridge, bit like the one in York but much bigger and with two spans, one for pedestrian / cycles and one just for pedestrian. Anyway I just want to turn around and head back but Dot reasons that as we are there, we may as well, at least walk part of the way over the bridge. The two spans join up in the middle with a seating area and after a short sit, we end up walking all the way over into France. The bridge enters France on an island at Le Jardin des Deux Rives, where there are a lot of workmen dismantling numerous marquees. It looked like their version of the Chelsea Flower Show had just finished, we walk round the gardens and the are nice enough anyway and the fountains are very good (we didn't have the camera with us as we didn't intend to go anywhere we only went to look at the river, we missed many opportunities for good pictures). Forgot to mention we passed a flying saucer on our walk parked up by the river.

The site owner didn't speak any English but made up for it by waving his arms about a lot and pointing at bits of paper, he gave us a bus timetable with bus No21 circled, along with a map of how to get to the bus stop in Kehl centre and a map of where to get the bus back from Strasbourg centre, all without asking for one. He then takes us to a hard standing pitch, between an older German couple with a larger motorhome (who were rather noisy, had the TV on fairly loud) and a Scottish couple with a camper. On the other side of the Scottish couples camper is a couple with a large motorhome with trailer, attached to the trailer is a 30ft aerial, I never saw them outside, they seemed to spend all of their time talking on the radio, not my first choice for a holiday pass time.

That evening after another short walk we go to the bar but it is very full and there are no seats outside so we have to sit inside the restaurant, we had missed the last seats outside by seconds to an American couple in lycra shorts, I assume they are on bikes. They where and with a tiny tent, how do they manage, sometimes I think the motorhome isn't big enough but mainly only during periods of poor weather.

After seeing just how busy the roads were the previous day and having all the instructions we need for the bus, we decide that going into Strasbourg by bus is the better option. Its about a one mile walk to the bus stop but its not a bad walk along the river. It is just starting to rain as we arrive in the town centre and the No21 bus just getting ready to leave, we hop on and pay 2.50€ each return, there is plenty of room until we get to the train station, then the bus is full until we get to the centre of Strasbourg.

We had no water with us, we were supposed to get some from Kehl centre but as the bus was ready to leave when we arrived, that didn't happen, so the first thing we needed was a shop. The first one we found by the cathedral wanted 4.00€ for one bottle of water, I would rather die of thirst than pay that much for water, so on we went. There was a land train ready to do a tour of the centre, Dot wanted to get on but I wanted to get water fist, so we let it go, eventually down a side street we got a large bottle for 0.80€, quit a difference.

We headed down the side street to the river/canal that rings the old centre of the city, to sit and have a drink of water, fortuitously for us, this was where the tour boats were leaving from and we got tickets and hopped on one that was about to depart.

Its usually a good idea, if you are new to a town or city, to go on a scheduled tour if possible, be it open top bus, boat or land train, you can get useful info, orientation and can save visiting places that are not worth it. The boat trip does a complete circuit of the old city, via cannel, river and a couple of locks and we did find out the parts we wanted to visit on foot. The barge for our boat trip

Off the boat we headed for the Petite France district, the old pretty part of the city, we walked along the cannel retracing the route of the boat tour. As we were tacking photos of a lock full of children in canoes the skies turned black and there was a clap of thunder, we turned and headed for cover, which just happened to be a bar. We made it just as the heavens opened, we got sat down and ordered two beers, the waiter said he would bring two large glasses of the local beer. As there are many breweries in the area, I though we might get something special, we did but it wasn't the beer, that was very ordinary, it was the price about 11€, I had forgotten that drinking beer out in France was expensive but this was something else. The really sad thing is, we paid that much for the beer and can not even remember what it was called also it was very ordinary.

Within minutes the sun was back out and we made a swift exit from the bar, to continue our exploration of the old town. Much later after a long look round, we head for the shops and in a large shopping mall and look again for routing software, still no joy.

We eventually walk all the way round the old town and end up back where we started, as the weather is looking dodgy again and as its tea time we hop on the bus back.

It rained all the time we are on the bus back but luckily stopped as soon as we got off. We were going to have a look around Kehl and have a drink but as the rain was holding off we made tracks for the site. Made it back dry but after a long day walking I couldn't be bothered with cooking, so we get something in the site restaurant, had a few drinks as well. Later we where going to sit outside the van but it started to drizzle so we moved inside but not before I had talked to the Scottish couple next to use who highly recommended Luxembourg, claming that on top of all other reasons to visit, was that fuel there was only 0.60€. So again we changed our plans, out would go Trier and in would be our first ever stopover in Luxembourg, we planned the route on paper accordingly.

Was in no rush to leave but our electrics were unplugged by the owner, I think he wanted us to go. Went over to pay, 38.26€ total, 19.13€ per night, this was supposedly with a 10% discount from my CCI card. On the way back from paying I had a word with two English women who had had their electrics unplugged as well. They were touring Germany as they no longer go to France, since their van was broken into there while, the were sleeping.