5 countries, 5 nights – and disaster strikes!

We are in currently in Austria, in the ski resort of Altenmarkt im Pongau (N47.37043 E13.42903).  It's our first paying Aire, €12 a night plus €3 if you want electric.  It has all the facilities, including a toilet block and washing/drying facilities.  Plus a heated ski and boot rack.  Weather in Austria – raining and cold, 14°C with snow forecast on the tops tonight brrrr!  We might be using that heated boot rack!  It's a lovely setting though, surrounded by the mountains, although as you can see from the photo below the rain clouds today are very low. We had planned to stop off in Saltzburg, a place we last visited in 1987 and have fond memories but it was rain, rain and more rain as we approached so we just kept going.

Sonny, nestled below the mountains

It's our 5^th day and 5^th country - France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and now Austria!  So far, we have travelled a distance of 1,106 miles (1769.6 Kms) and averaged a whopping 32 mpg.  It’s surprising how economical Sonny, the motorhome is when we travel long distances, and tootle along between 90/95 kms p/hour.  We have had a couple of disasters though, but I will get to that later!  We are skipping our way through most of Europe and using motorways, something we would not normally do but we have planned to be in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria by 8 September and Greece by 28/29 September to meet up with friends on both occasions.

We left the UK on Tuesday 21 August 2018 and took the Ferry to France.  We had booked on the DFDS ferry Dover to Dunkirk, or so we thought!  We knew this crossing was a bit longer (2 hours) but we would be closer to crossing into Belgium, our chosen route out of France.  It wasn’t until the ferry announcement of ‘Welcome to the Port of Calais’ that we realised we had booked on the wrong ferry!  The trouble with the DFDS website is that when you search ferries Dover to Dunkirk it brings in all the crossings they do on your chosen day (Dunkirk and Calais) and we had just clicked on the time we wanted without noticing it was to Calais and not Dunkirk!!  It didn’t matter too much though, as it's only a driving distance of about 30 kms between the 2 ports. 

As we had been up since 6am, we were feeling tired when we got off the boat, which was now 10am French time - so it was a quick fill up with fuel, some fresh bread bought and a short journey into Belgium.  We found a quiet, free Aire at Bellem, by the side of a canal (N51.09883 E3.49463), a few kms off the A10, between Bruges and Gent. There are no facilities here, it’s just a stopover place for motorhomes.  We parked up alongside 4 other Belgium motorhomes and were later joined by a German one.  This area is very popular with cyclists, but we were content to just sit and watch the boats go up and down the canal.

Aire at Bellem, with the barges going up and down the canal.

The roads around this part of Belgium are very narrow, road markings non-existent and plenty of corn growing in the fields.  We lived in Belgium for 2 years 1986-1988 and remember how bad the roads were having to dodge the potholes, but they have improved a lot, although the bumpy motorways are still a bit like a fairground ride in places!

Day 2, leaving Bellem we did a long motorway drive through Belgium (around Gent and Brussels), into Holland (at Maastricht), across into Germany (at Aachen) on the A4/A3 to another free Aire at Villmar, on the River Lahn, a couple of kms from the A3 not far from Frankfurt (N50.39077 E8.18532). We had travelled a distance of 264.4 miles, averaging 33.3 mpg - good old Sonny!  It was only a short walk from the Aire into the little town, where we enjoyed a meal at a German/Greek restaurant, but we played safe with Pilsner and Jaeger schnitzels, frites and salad.  Well, when in Germany….!

The old gate into the town, Mel looks like he's about to fall over and this is before he has had a drink!

Day 3 was another long stretch (177kms) to Cadolzburg, just outside Nürnburg.

The traffic on the German roads and motorways are so busy – worse than the UK.  Lorries and trucks seem to take up all of lane one of the motorway.  For a lot of the time they aren’t allowed to overtake, so must stay in this lane.  Meaning that cars tend to stay in lane 2 and 3 most of the time as there isn’t a gap to pull in on lane 1 due to the number of lorries. And, in Germany cars can go as fast as they like!

Temperatures were reaching a scorching 33°C when we pulled up to the Aire (N49.46111 E10.85196).  A free Aire with all the facilities, and €1 for water.  We were joined for the night by 6 Spanish motorhomes and 3 Germans.

Up by the castle

The castle was destroyed by fire in 1945 and such was the lengthy task of restoring, relying on a lot of donations, it that is was only finished last year.

Giant Maypole in the centre of town

Old tower, which Mel climbed to the top for the view.  My vertigo got the better of me so gave it a miss!

View from the top of the tower

Day 4 - leaving Cadolzburg we got back on the motorway and headed towards Munich, not really knowing how far we would travel or where we would stop for the night. The only trouble was the stupid Satnav took us through the centre of Munich, which wouldn’t have been a problem for Mel if he had been driving but unfortunately I was in the driving seat.  The traffic was manic as we worked our way through the large city and although, my blood pressure rose a bit I managed to stay calm until we got back on the motorway again, phew! And it wasn't long before the Austrian Alps come into view.

We stopped off on another free Aire at Neubeuern (N47.77573 E12.14298).  There are no facilities here but it is popular stop for motorhomes, before crossing the border.

The little Bavarian town of Neubeuern, with the castle on the hill.

So, disaster strikes! Last night we had a bit of a meltdown, the rain started to come down heavily and Sonny started to take on water – our first major disaster! For those who follow my blog know that we had an accident in our motorhome last September in Croatia in September, causing quite a bit of damage to the awning at the rear.  We are still waiting on parts to come from Adria – that’s another story!  So, it would appear that where the awning is damaged next to our shower room, water is managing to seep in.  Mel did what he could to stop it but we are going to have to try and get some sealant in the hope that it won’t get worse until we get back to the UK in January and have repairs done.

Day 5 - Leaving Germany heading for Austria this morning disaster number 2 struck!  Our oil warning light came on indicating that we needed an oil change.  We last had one in December and Mel had checked all the oil and filled up before we left so we were a bit baffled.  We stopped at the next service station and checked the oil which seemed fine. Mel went in to buy some oil just in case but walked straight back out again when he saw the price was €40 for one litre – wow, Austria you are one expensive country!  Hopefully, we will find somewhere in Slovenia (our next country) to get it done and for a lot less!

Before crossing the border in Austria we bought a vignette - €9 for 10 days, you have to have one of these to travel on the motorways in Austria.  It’s a hefty fine if you use the motorways and don’t have one, so it’s not worth taking the risk.  We also bought one for Slovenia, as the same applies only the cost for that one is €15 for only 7 days.

So, from here we head into Slovenia and to Lake Bled, fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong.  We're staying positive though, as on Monday it will be our 30th wedding anniversary - woo-hoo!

Sally x

Into the Netherlands we go, country #20 – our last on this tour!

We are in the Netherlands – our 20^th country in the past 11 months and our last before getting the ferry back to UK.  After all this time we still can't get used to not going through border control checks of countries in the schengen.  You just come across a sign that lets you know you are in a different country or province (Gelderland, a province of the Netherlands) and the 'rules of the road' and you just keep going!

Sonny (the motorhome) is enjoying living it up on a campsite at Winterswijk (N51.95201 W6.73674).  We were last on a campsite in Prague,16 days ago.  So, a new country means it is time to put another sticker on the back of Sonny - the last this tour.

We’ve not seen many motorhomes over the last month and no Brits since leaving Croatia (1½ months ago), so we were surprised to find 14 motorhomes parked up on the Bad Suzachen Aire – all German. Talking to one of the German motorhomers, we found out that they all come to use the thermal salt baths in the town.  Looking around, we noticed that nearly all the plots had reserved stickers on for December – apparently the baths are very good and popular.  We had a flash back moment to when we were in Lenti (Hungary), when we used the fantastic thermal baths there.  The sun was shining that day and it was very hot as well – it seems so long ago, although it was only just over a month ago!  Bad Suzachen is a great Aire and we think one of the quietest we have been on.  As you come on to the Aire there is a barrier (which was up) and a sign detailing the cost of the Aire as €7.50 and €2.90 per person tourist tax.  However, there was nowhere to pay and nobody came to collect our money so we enjoyed a lovely freebie – thank you Germany!

The Aire at Bad Suzachen

Leaving Bad Suzachen we headed for Warendorf and parked up last night on an Aire at the side of a river (N51.95447 E0799904).  Last time we were this easterly was on a Sosta in San Remo, Italy and the last time this far north was in the UK 11 months ago!  All facilities were free, with metered electric.  It was a warm night and we had plenty of gas, so we didn’t bother with electric and that meant another freebie for us!   

The town of Warendorf is renowned for its horse breeding and training and they proudly have plaques on the bridge leading into the town showing what medals they won in the Olympics - from 1996 to London 2012.

And metal/plastic horses all around the town and outside shops.  All a bit weird - Neigh I hear you say!

Mel's favourite  was the O2 horse- not that we are horsey people!

Town square and cathedral

Usually, if we enjoy a free night in a town we like to put something back but It turned out that nothing opens on a Wednesday in this town, so we just had a quick stroll around and a walk down the river.

Loved this piece of graffiti (or maybe it's art) of a cat in space down at the river

Looking across the river to where we are parked up - Sonny is hiding behind the trees across there somewhere!

It has been a strange couple of days.  Usually we know where we are going, what we want to see, etc etc.  However, since leaving East Germany and heading over the Hartz Mountains into the west of Germany we have just been finding stop over places to get to the Netherlands.  We catch the night ferry from Amsterdam back to the UK on 21 November but have planned to meet up with some Dutch friends we met whilst traveling around Sicily before then.

We have been doing a lot of reminiscing over the last couple of days of countries visited, amazing sights and places we have seen and visited and how many places we have stopped on – 152 to date!!  Also, for a bit of fun we did a comparison rating of countries based on:  scenery, architecture, motorhome facilities, friendliness, cleanliness, value for money, safety, road conditions, food, wild camping, campsites.

10 being high and 1 being low.

Top country was Morocco, followed by Slovenia, Austria, Greece and France.  Sadly, Italy was at the bottom – let down by its roads, cleanliness and safety.  As we have just come into the Netherlands, it isn’t fair that we rate them yet!

Travelling from Warendorf, there was another trip down ‘memory lane’ for Mel, as we stopped of at Coerde  (near Münster) – Mel’s first posting in the Army.  He was with a transport regiment that transported the Lance Nuclear Warheads for the Americans.  Portsmouth Barracks Münster is now a housing estate for the Germans – a very built up area of flats

Portsmouth Barracks - then and now

So, we are looking forward to spending the next 4 days with our Dutch friends Richard and Carla.  Last time we were both in the Netherlands (Holland) was in 1986!

Sally x

Magdeburg to Goslar and into the Harz Mountains – out of the east and in to the west

We are currently parked up at Bad Salzuflen (N52.09868 E08.74569).  It has all the usual facilities for motorhomes plus metered electric, so all is good.  We are just using it as a stop over point as we make our way closer to Holland - our 20th country in 11 months and our last before heading back to good old blighty!  It was a drive of nearly 100 miles today – a long but pretty drive through a lot of countryside and villages.  We were surprised to see a lot of these signs along all of the roads we travelled today.

Weight limits for military vehicles going across bridges

Mel has been feeling a little emotional these last few days, reminiscing back to his time spent working in the former East Germany in the 1980’s – Potsdam, East Berlin, Dresden, etc.  I have known him for 31 years and over the last couple of days he has been telling me stories of his time spent in East Germany that he has never told me before!

Leaving Potsdam, we took the motorway nearly all the way to Magdeburg, in the Saxony-Anhalt region.  Often described as Berlin in miniature, four-fifths of the city was destroyed by bombs in WWII.

Reconstruction of the old centre began in 1951 and commemorated by this stone on the Bärbogen Gate

That said, there are still a lot of historic medieval buildings, lovely baroque facades and plenty of churches going back some 1200 years.  We parked up on a lovely camper stop next to a marina on the River Elbe, which runs through the city (N52.12509 E11.64866). 

Sonny(our motorhome) enjoying a lovely view across the old city. of Magdeburg

The city was made great by Emperor Otto I, who chose it as his main residence making it a significant political and cultural centre in medieval times and giving it Germany’s oldest cathedral.

Mel loitering under Magdeburg’s only remaining preserved medieval city gate and half-timbered building in the old city

Otto-von-Guericke, famous for his physics experiments (inventor of the vacuum pump) and one of the most important natural scientist of the 17th century

It's that time of year again - getting ready for the Christmas Market in front of the old town hall

Two Baroque patrician houses still stand on the street that was one of the most magnificent Baroque boulevards in Germany.

Modern architecture has found it's way into the city in the form of The Green Citadel of Magdeburg – a very pink, curvy and zany form of architecture by Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  It is a mix of apartments, shops, offices and a hotel.

Who would live in a house like this?!

You can’t come to Germany and not have a piece of Black-Forrest Gateaux, although I opted for one laced with Baileys… hic!

Magdeburg lies at the intersection of the Northern and Southern route of the Romanesque Road and leaving the city we continued to travel along this route.  You can stop off along the ‘tourist trail’ and take in more 10^th century churches, cathedrals, monasteries and castles, we chose not to stop (we had seen way too many churches and cathedrals over the last few months!) and just took in the sights as we passed through the towns/villages.  The countryside reminded us very much of Slovakia and the Czech Republic.  We crossed from the former East Germany into West Germany and stopped off at Goslar, in the foothills of the Harz mountains.

Goslar is a little treasure of a town, with its Romanesque architecture and an old town of medieval timber-framed beauties. It is one of those towns that you can get lost in wandering up and down the cobbled streets.

The market square - 15 the century Rathaus and 12th century fountain topped with the symbol of Goslar - an eagle and 15th century guildhall decorated with strange looking baroque wooden sculptures

Mel's impersonation of Goslar Nail Head!  They were used as a form of propaganda in WWI

The carillon bells and figures chime 4 times a day on top of the old treasury building.  A funny parade spinning from the Glockenspiel, commemorating 1,000 years of mining. It lasted about 7 minutes and had children engrossed and us grinning from ear to ear.  We were the only adults without children watching I hasten to add!

The making of the town came in the 10^th century with the discovery of silver and transformed it into one of norther Europe’s leading medieval towns and there are some lovely former miners houses along the cobbled streets.

The Baroque Siemenshaus was the mid 19th century home of the Siemens family who founded what became today's global corporation.

The Romanesque Imperial Palace

Leaving Goslar, we parked up for the night, nestled in the Harz Mountains at a place called Lautenthal (N51.87020 E10.28729).  It’s free to park you just pay €1 for water and the same for your chemical waste, and electric hook-up is metered. 

The northern Germans refer to the Harz mountains as their mini-Black Forest.  They are not high peaks but more thickly wooded hills covering an area of about 100km long by 30km wide.  Mel came skiing here back in the mid 80s, when he lived in Potsdam – we didn’t see any snow but it was cold.  At 5pm the outside temperature was only 1.8°C brrrrr!  We had put a few euros in the meter, so our electric heater was ramped up to the full!   Fingers crossed for a warmer night tonight!

Sally x

Potsdam – Palaces, Parks and Prussians and the 'Bridge of Spies'

We are parked up on a free motorhome Aire in Potsdam, next to a park (N52.41956 E13.04853) so Mel can visit his old ‘stomping ground’ from the 80's.  Potsdam was the residence of the Prussian kings, princes and German emperors and has the largest collection of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Germany!  They created a fairy-tale landscape of palaces, gardens, churches and parks.

Heading out of Berlin to Potsdam we stopped off at the Allied Museum, housed in a former US Outpost Theatre and Nicholson Memorial Library.  Through exhibits, film and video footage, it tells the story of the Western powers in Berlin with the occupation of Germany by American, British and French troops after their victory over the Third Reich in WWII.   For almost 50 years during the Cold War era, the western military presence shaped the city’s daily life and culture into what it is today.

In front of the museum is a sculpture ‘The Day The Wall Came Down’ by American Veryl Goodnight, and was dedicated by George Bush in July 1998 (former US President) as a gift from the American people to the people of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Sculpture: 'The Day The Wall Came Down’

The 4 occupational Zones drawn up around Berlin after WWII

Germany was to be treated as an administrative and economic unit and the 4 ‘Ds’ - Denazification, demilitarization, democratization and decentralization - were the guiding principal of the occupation policy, with the transfer of the German population from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary to be done in a humane manner.

However, the Soviets chose to reorganise their zone of occupation along Communist lines and refused to make a positive contribution towards the democratic reconstruction of Germany, which led to the western powers consolidating their zones and led to the Soviet Zone becoming the socialist state of the GDR.

Up to 500,000 soldiers in East Berlin stood opposite 13,000 military soldiers in West Berlin.  Military reconnaissance activities therefore became significant and military liaison missions of western forces in Potsdam were able to engage in on-site observation of military activities in the Eastern side and to recognise any potential military plans.

Below shows part of a 450-metre long Berlin Spy Tunnel, dug by the Americans and British running under the border of Berlin’s American and Soviet sector.  It was dug so they could tap phone lines in East Berlin. 

Part of a Berlin Spy Tunnel, dug by the American and British military

The Tri-Mission Display 

Map detailing Permanent Restricted Areas (PRAs)

Below, Mel is stood in front of the Hastings TG 503, one of many aircraft that transported food and coal during the Berlin Airlift, ensuring that West Berlin survived when the Soviets (their former war ally) blocked the western part of the city in 1948/49. In the background a French Military railcar and the last guardhouse from Checkpoint Charlie – which gained international notoriety for the 1961 confrontation between American and Soviet tanks.

In front of segments of the Berlin Wall and watchtower, proudly wearing a poppy that the British legion were selling in the museum

This exhibit made us chuckle, as it reminded us of our time in 1987 when we ran the Berlin 25km around the west of the city and into the Olympic Stadium.  The medals we received (and still have!) are exactly the same.

This plaque sums it up nicely.

The next day we were up and out early so Mel could try and find the old Potsdam Mission House, where he lived and worked from 1983-1986.  We are not sure what it is used for now but there were lots of security cameras and lights surrounding it, and this is about as close as we could get.

Former Potsdam Mission House

Back of the Mission House from across Lake Heiliger - almost like Mel was back in his 'spying days' zooming in on this!

Looking cross Glienicke Bridge East to West –  where the US and Soviet Forces swapped espionage agents and became known as the ‘bridge of spies’

Mel stood in the middle of Glienicke Bridge with one foot in the former East Germany and one in West Berlin, although looking closely he has more of his body in he west!!  You can still distinguish two different  shades of green paints separating the bridge - east and west

Babelsberg Palace

A mark of where the Berlin Wall once stood coming up to the Glienicke Bridge, and memorial to another innocent citizen who was shot down in cold blood

The Cecilienhof Palace, built in the style of an English Manor house for Prince Wilhelm and Princess Cecilie  (1913 -1917).  The palace became famous when for 2 weeks in July/August 1945 Churchill, Truman and Stalin shaped the future of Germany, Europe and the world after WWII at the Potsdam Conference.  The palace is currently being refurbished but we managed to get a guided tour around it.

The conference room, with its preserved round table. Who wouldn’t of wanted to be a ‘fly on the wall’ in 1945 during those conversations between Churchill, Truman and Stalin!

Signed Potsdam Agreement

 The star in the courtyard that had red flowers around it and blue in the circle for the conference

Sanssouci Park and Palace, home of Frederick the Great, Prussia’s most beloved King.

It has been a great week reminiscing and visiting old and new places around former East Germany and West Berlin.  Tomorrow we move on to Magdeburg.

Sally x