Day 1 – On our way to Würzberg (stage 1)
Today we left home and started our journey to the south coast and Folkestone. With no real plan on where we were spending the night, other than as close to the Chunnel terminal as possible.
When we stopped for lunch we consulted the BritStops book and decided on the Tickled Trout.
When we arrived at the pub the entrance was really narrow but opened up as we entered the carpark, due to the size of the carpark we went right to the far end and parked before going in to check that we were good to stay the night (which we were, and were asked to park as close to the end as possible, which as the evening went on was good advice, as most of the customers were unable to park their posh cars and just dumped them in an area). After setting up we went into the pub for dinner, the ham, egg and chips and the steak and ale pie we can recommend as they were fabulous, the egg yolk was still runny, the drinks were also well kept and at the time they had a local ale on which went down well (The Wife of Bath, from Canterbury Ales).
Day 2 – On our way to Würzberg (stage 2)
This morning we were up bright and early thanks in part to having an early crossing and the trains sounding their horns as they approached the level crossing/station.
After Breakfast we packed up and made our way to the Chunnel, but not before being able to see the manned level crossing in action, (the train went through and then the gates were opened by hand). As we left we followed the train most of the way to the tunnel.
As we got a good start we arrived too early for the train we were booked, but we were lucky enough to be put onto the train before at 9:50, so we made up an hour on the journey before leaving the UK.
Once in France we headed straight towards Germany, via Maastricht and the camperplatz Maastricht. On arrival we managed to pick a spot that was meant for longer motorhomes so we had to move to another spot (luckily it was still relatively quiet so there were plenty to choose from).
Once set up we chilled by the motorhome for a while before deciding to cycle to town for dinner and a drink. The cycle route was lovely and flat so it only took about 10 minutes to get to the cinema, where we locked the bikes up and walked the rest of the way into town an the market square. After a quick walk round the square we decided to try the Oak 34, which was a good choice as while we were sat drinking and having a plate of chicken wings a sweet potato fries some students started to arrive to have drinks and food. After eating we walked slowly back to the bikes and cycled back to the aire, and enjoyed the last of the light and warmth of the day, before heading inside to avoid the midgies.
Day 3 – Arriving in Würzberg
This morning after a late start, we had some breakfast before hitting the road down to Würzberg.
We arrived just after 4pm and found that all the motorhome spaces were gone so we had to park in the main car park for the night.
Once level and set we decided to head into town for dinner. We decided to head towards the old bridge, as I knew from my research that there was a wine bar on there and was curious to see it. After walking across we decided to have an ice cream instead, as we were unable to see the bakery that is also supposed to be there, and stood by the fountain to eat it. After a stroll round the entrance to the church we wandered back towards the market square to try and find the tourist information office, which was supposed to be open till 6pm but when we got there at 5:30pm it was all closed with just the outer section open and some leaflets and brochures to take and look at. We then headed to the main square to find somewhere to grab some food, once in the market square we discovered that the wine festival was on and as a result most of the square was barred for the festival goers, as we walked back round towards the other end of the town we came across Hans im Glück where we were able to get a drink and some more sweet potato fries between us.
Once finished we continued down the road to the tram bridge and back towards the aire, as we were crossing the last bit we saw that another van had pulled up right next to us, meaning we had a small gap between us that was only just wide enough to open the window, and getting anything from the garage was a challenge. When we tried to turn the alarm off we found that it would not work until we went round the drivers side and away from the Italian motorhome next to us.
Day 4 – Exploring Würzberg
This morning we were up early to get a space in the motorhome section so we had somewhere to sit and electric to run the fridge. We then set up again and had some breakfast.
After breakfast we got ready and walked up to the tram stop to catch it into town as the temperature was even higher than the day before. As such we decided to wait for the tram rather than work up a sweat walking all the way to the residenz, so we paid €10 for a day ticket which covered 2 adults and 2 children, but that worked out cheaper than 2 individual tickets. Once in town we walked the shorter distance up to the residenz and annoyingly because the tram was running late we missed the train we were hoping to catch by minutes as we saw it pull away just as we were approaching the stop, so instead we went into the beer garden area sat in the shade and had a soft drink and watched the world go by while we waited for the train to return. I discovered bionade, which after research online we found was the first ever health drink.
When the train arrived we wandered out to find that the German trailers were already pretty full, and an Italian family were in front trying to decide wether to do it or not as it was €9 each (which we found out included headphones to use in the sound system so we could listen to the tour in English). The tour itself took in a lot more of the town than I thought it would and gave some really interesting information about the town buildings as well as the local region as a whole.
After the tour we took a leisurely wander down into the town (staying in the shade as much as possible), once we were in the main town again I decided to try a local wine, so I asked the server which would be the closest to a rosè, and was told that it would be the Bacchus wine, he was right it was lovely, but it did go right to my head as we had not eaten yet, so we decided to try the steak restaurant we had seen on the first night, Beef 800, which was really nice and sat in the shade we enjoyed a burger and filet steak, both were lovely and were just the right amount in the heat of the day. We managed to time it just right to catch the tram from the stop just up from the restaurant. As we had paid for the day ticket we decided to stay on passed our stop to see where it went, which was worth doing as it turns out that not all of the city is as pretty as the centre and we saw what looked like the barracks at the end of the route, before completing the loop back to the aire.
On returning to the van we found that not only did we have new neighbours but that they had decided to set up their chairs in front of our van, so I made a comment loud enough for them to hear, that I was not happy, and on getting out of the van to get the chairs they asked if we would like ‘more room’ in front of OUR van. As we were sat there a load Italians turned up and started fishing and generally making noise in front of us, we suspect, trying to get us to move, as we kept getting dirty looks from the women, when we laughed at the antics the kids got up to. We spent the rest of the night just relaxing and reading until it got too dark and late.
After going in I decided to test the shower and try and have a full wash with as little water as possible. I was surprised at how well it worked, washing my hair used the most water as I need to soak it to get the shampoo to work.
Day 5 – Heading to Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Today started off interestingly as the car that had been next to us overnight went and an Italian motorhome decided to take her place and parked as close to us as possible meaning that we were unable to open our side window without them hitting their heads on it. However as they were trying to level up they couldn’t get up on the blocks enough and at one point made everyone laugh as the woman was directing and he ended up driving backwards off the ramps and I suspect damaged the van in the process. After that we finished breakfast and headed off on the route.
The first stop was Tauberbischofsheim, where we got lucky and bagged the last of the motorhome spaces in the town before wandering into the market square to see the old buildings and bought a baguette to have for lunch later on.
We then drove on to Lauda which although had plenty of beautiful buildings sadly had no real provision for us to park and wander round.
The next town Königshofen was literally not worth stopping as the main road went straight through and there was as far as we could see no reason to stop.
So on to Bad Mergentheim again although we would have liked to have stopped there was no clear area available for us to park up and wander round, so we continued to follow the route to the next town in the hope we could park there and get something to eat but Weikersheim and Röttingen were also simply drive through villages with interesting architecture.
Our hopes were now on Creglingen, where I was hoping to go to the thimble museum, I found out as we arrived that it was open every day except Monday which was today, sadly food was not an option here either as the most popular and only proper restaurant was an Italian which used a lot of garlic as we could smell it as we approached, the only other cafe was an ice cream parlour, and sold no real food.
So we continued to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and managed to find a lay by on the hill into town to make and eat lunch, before heading for the aire on the car park (P2)opposite the main gate into the town. Once on the aire we found a space and I parked in such a way that meant no one could go behind or in front of us. Then we got th chairs out and sat outside for about 1/2 an hour before a thunder storm hit and forced us inside for the next hour, after which we returned straight back out in to the heat. Unfortunately the carpark was right on the main road so there was a lot of road noise until late on the night. Tonight was the first cooked meal in the van which was nice as it was finally cool enough to cook in the van but warm enough to sit and eat outside.
Day 6 – Investigate Rothenburg Ob Dee Tauber then next stop Dinkelsbühl
This morning we woke early to wander round the town before it got too hot and busy with tourist coaches.
Luckily we were up early enough to do just that, walking into the town before the heat got too much and had a quick wander round the town before heading back to the market square via the bear shop and Christmas shops and museum. The museum was well worth the €4 each to walk round, unusually we had it all to ourselves and it went right back to the origins of Christmas decorations and traditions associated with them. We spent quite a bit on buying decorations and bits and bobs that I’ve never seen anywhere else (even at the Christmas markets at home). We also bought some Steiff bears from the bear shop, as well as a plush Charlie bear.
After leaving the Christmas shop we walked over to the cafes opposite the town hall, and had a sprite and I had my first apfel strudel with ice cream and chantilly cream, which was sublime. While we were sat there the clock above the tourist office went off and everyone wandering round stopped to look and watch I managed to get some photos but they did not do justice to the spectacle.
After leaving the town we tried to follow the route out of town in the correct direction but the Satnav sent us wrong and we ended up going north instead of south. When we eventually went in the right direction we headed for Dinkelsbühl, going via Schillingsfürst and making a quick stop in
Feuchtwangen to get a photo of the baroque fountain, before heading onto the aire at Dinkelsbühl, where we got lucky and bagged the last descent space, by the service area. Then found out that we were in the company of about 3 other English vans, one of which turned out to be on the same Facebook group I had been posting on. Once we had paid the parking we set up and got the awning out then sat outside and relaxed, before finding out about the supermarket opposite from one of the other vans, so we wandered over there to have a look and came back with some ice creams and chocolate bars and more importantly found some frozen stir fry veg, to go with the chicken from Lidl and sauce from home. As we were eating we continued to watch the fun and games as people continued to turn up even after if it was dark. After the lights came on we decided to pack down the awning and chairs and came inside, ready for an early night.
Day 7 – First German market
After making an early start we went in to experience what we were expecting to be a traditional German farmers market but was actually only about 5/6 stalls, naturally we were disappointed as online it made it sound a lot grander than it was promising bread stalls etc. in reality it was 2 veg stalls a flower stall a cheese van and a condiment van.
So after a quick look we went to the tourist information office to find out about the horse drawn carriage tour we had seen as we were entering the town, and were told that it went from further along the Weinmarkt Strasse and the next tour was at 10:45 so we went and located the area of the pick up and went for a drink, the first shop we entered was the bakery on the corner and as there were about 40 wasps all over the food we walked out again. The next one we tried was round the corner and was much nicer but we were unable to have any food there so just had a sprite to stay hydrated while we waited for the clock to tick round.
Once it got close to the time we walked round to where the sandwich board was and stood and waited for them to turn up. They eventually turned up at 11am. Once we were sat in the carriage we waited another 10-15 mins while the driver went into and out of the cafe opposite and adjusted the harnesses of the horses. Eventually we left with the barking dog, after finding out that the whole tour was going to be in German and the driver had no intention of trying to translate what he was saying to English, so we could get more out of the tour than just staring at the buildings and towers and hoping we caught the odd word he said to the others in German.
After the tour we walked back to the van via the supermarket to get some bread and dinner (as well as some ice creams).
Having managed to get some bread for sandwiches we decided to stay and relax for the rest of the afternoon so wound out the awning again to create some shade then tried to cool down for the rest of the day.
Day 8 – Nordlingen
This morning we had a relatively early start to get on the road and down to Nordlingen before the coach parties arrived. (We needn’t have worried, as no coaches appeared). When we arrived we were lucky and there were a couple of spaces left next to the grass, so we filled up with water as we were unable to do that in Dinkelsbühl due to having the wrong fitting for the tap.
Once parked up we headed to town to explore, however we ended up getting side tracked by the walk round the wall and ended up doing the whole town rather than just one section of it. When we got 3/4 of the way round we got to a cafe so we stopped and had a nice cold drink before doing the mini golf.
After the mini golf (which I won) we finished walking the wall and headed to town to try and get some food, but most places were shut and the town was a bit of a mess as they were clearly getting ready for an event. We ended up instead having a McDonald’s, before going to the supermarket for some beer and bread and wandered back to the van to relax for the rest of the night
Once we were set up and relaxed our neighbour decided he wanted to go out, but as his step wasn’t working so he asked if we could put it for him, which did and he then drove off. Only to come back about 2hrs later.
Day 9 – Schongau via Augsburg and Landsberg am Lech
This morning after breakfast we headed south towards Augsburg to see the Fuggerei. When we got to Augsburg we got caught up in the roadworks through the town and had to go passed our exit then back on ourselves. When we finally got to the stellplatz we made the decision that we were glad that we were not spending the night there. Once parked up we decided to use the bikes to get to the Fuggerei, as the maps said it was a 29 min walk but a 12 min bike ride, luckily we could see that it was all going to be on cycle track, so we were safe from the main traffic flow.
Once at the Fuggerei we had a wander round the social housing and were amazed how quiet it was considering we were in the middle of a modern city, we then had a drink before tackling the hill back up to the stellplatz. Ironically the route back was different to the route out and was much quicker. Once back at the van we loaded the bikes and headed for Landsberg am Lech.
Once we had negotiated our way out of Augsburg through the crazy road works we headed for the Stellplatz in Landsberg am Lech, which was part of the main car park on the outskirts of the city. After making it though the pedestrian part of the city, which tested are rattle limitation packing (we had no noise at all as we drove over the cobbles) we made it to the carpark, collected the ticket parked up and wandered into town, where we got lucky and sat in the town square and had lunch, before getting some bread and doing a circular route via the weir and along the river back to the van.
After leaving Landberg am Lech we headed down to Schongau where we popped into the Lidl before heading to the stellplatz, and were surprised to see another English van in the carpark as we were returning to ours, on arriving at the carpark we were just finishing off setting up, I managed to break the wind up window handle for the front window, when the English van turned up and parked next to us. After a brief conversation they showed us the book they had for the German stellplatz and campsites, which was much more useful than search for sites as there were many more places in their than on the website.
During the evening there were some strange activities in the neighbouring car park as someone arrived with a trailer and spoke German to us (despite saying we didn’t understand what she was saying she then unhitched the trailer and drove off), then another couple of motorhomes turned up and parked over the other side of the fence in the carpark, which we also thought was a bit odd.
Day 9 – strange sights, a theme park and Füssen
This morning we woke up to a lot of noise in the car park around us at 6am, so we looked out and saw people setting up for a car boot sale, and the woman with the trailer was also there with another trailer and it turned out that both were full of clothes and handbags to sell.
At about 9am we decided to get up and check out the car boot sale that by now was in full swing, lucky we did as we found an Allan key set that we were able to use to fix the handle on the van, which we bought for €7 (we should probably have haggled but we couldn’t be bothered).
After leaving the car boot sale we headed for the fairy land theme park just down the road. We were parked up away from the cars in a corner of the car park , so we were able to get out easily.
We then walked over to the entrance where we paid our money and were given a guide in English. As we were walking round all the dioramas were in German, which was a bit of a shame, but as most of them were fairy tales that we knew it was easy to work out roughly what was being said. We also had a go on the mini railway where there was a another diorama with the 7 dwarfs.
After walking round the whole park, we decided to have a drink and some lunch, the restaurant was interesting as the majority of the tables were set as 6+ chairs. Once sat the waiter came over and after finding out we were English brought us the English menu. I had a salad but Pete tried the currywurst, with chips, I was surprised that the salad took longer to come out than the currywurst, but it was worth the wait is it was massive, under the leaves there was sauerkraut, sliced carrots, pickled cucumbers coleslaw and pickled potatoes (which were really tasty).
After lunch we bought the few souvenirs we wanted and headed back to the van and onto Füssen.
As we drove into Füssen we soon realised that we should have booked as all the sites in the area were booked, we ended up heading out to Roßhaupten and Camping Warsitzka, where we got lucky and managed to book a space for 2 nights. What I didn’t check was the cost and how to pay.
Day 10 campsite day
Day 11 shopping and hiding from the rain stayed at Wank
Day 12 Zugspitz, alpine coaster stayed at Füssen stellplatz
Day 13 Füssen head North to Perl
Day 14 continue north to Bruges
Day 15 look round Bruges
Day 16 head for Calais area
Day 17 home via eurotunnel
Felicia’s Travels 