The show must go on

Yes we have been at the Motorhome show in Dusseldorf, and no we did not buy
anything, well except some powdered soup.
Before hitting the show we spent a very nice 5 days at a site on the edge of
the middle-Rhine valley near the village of Hausbay, about 30km south of
Koblenz. The site was huge and very busy but we managed to find a nice spot
to park. Due to the location of the site it is very convenient as a night
stop for people heading north to south and visa versa through Germany
especially by Dutch travellers. The site has 4 large 'one night only' areas
that were almost full every night we were there.
An excellent cycle path runs right past the site for 38km along the path of
a disused railway line from Emmelshausen to Simmern. We used it to cycle to
Emmelshausen to go food shopping and I also got very wet cycling the other
way half of the way to Simmern and back. The weather continued to frustrate
with some sunshine but plenty of heavy downpours and grey skies. On Friday
we took Noddy shopping in Emmelshausen to stock up for another week and as
the sun was almost shinning we decided to visit St Goar on the Rhine as it
was supposed to be quite pretty. What can I say, tacky tourist shops. We did
buy two cakes from the bakery to have with our coffee, but apart from that
it was very disappointing. This is meant to be the prettiest part of the
Rhine, and we were thinking of coming back this way after the show, but St
Goar put us off that for the moment, but I am sure that there are some much
nicer villages to be seen.
We departed Hausbay very early on Sunday morning and drove to Dusseldorf
aiming to get there and into the show grounds camper parking first thing so
that we would have a whole day at the show on Sunday as well as Monday.
Thankfully the roads were quiet but quite wet at one point thanks to a
cloudburst, we even aquaplaned for a few seconds, which was interesting for
Noddy! On arrival at the parking we were a bit confused with where to go but
after a few circuits of the area and then some assistance from two very
helpful stewards we found ourselves parked and ready to go. The camper
parking has capacity for 2000 motorhomes and caravans, and it was quite a
sight, we have never seen so many parked in one place before. Anyway, we
made use of the free shuttle busses to the show and got stuck in. Wow,
lovely shiny motorhomes, everywhere. I wont bore with the details but we did
find a few vans that might suit us for our extended travelling someday. It
was quite a tiring two days, with 8 hours each day of wandering and up and
down into motorhomes of all shapes and sizes. It is no surprise that we now
have a stack of brochures to ogle over, and fall over.
This morning we departed from the show campsite and made the short trip down
to Cologne. We are based south of the city in a pleasant site on the banks
of the Rhine, and we have a nice pitch overlooking the river. If the weather
is good tomorrow, showers today, we will head into the city, possibly by
bike on the cycle path along the river. If the weather is poor then we will
have to decide whether to stay and hope for better weather or head off west
into Belgium or Holland.
Cheers
M&S

Another day another country

We had a great time in Hall Tuesday evening. There was a 2-day festival
Monday and Tuesday and the main event each evening was 'Teatro Nucleo', a
travelling group of entertainers. I think they are originally Argentinean
but are now based in Italy. On Tuesday they put on an open-air play of Don
Quixote that was brilliant. Despite the speech being in Spanish and German
we were thoroughly entertained. Thankfully the weather held out and the hour
and half passed without any rain, well apart from that included in the play,
both water and wine!
After a day of shopping on Wednesday, we left Hall early Thursday morning
for our next destination Freiburg in southwest Germany. It was quite a long
drive but the sun was out and the route was very scenic. The site in
Freiburg, we eventually found it after going the wrong way initially, was
very wet and boggy. Ten or so days of rain had made a mess of most of the
grass but the site was quite pleasant despite this and the owners very
friendly. After settling in we made the most of the sunshine and strolled
into town. The old town is very pretty and they still have the old open
'sewer' system in the roads. Well it is actually a network of large gutters
that still flow with water. They were originally used to water the livestock
that passed through the town, and now they are just a water hazard for
unobservant cyclists and pedestrians!
We only stayed for the one night due to all the mud and on Friday headed
further north up to Heidelberg. We are actually staying a few miles east of
the city at the town of Hirschhorn. Again the site was quite wet on arrival
but thankfully we have some paving slabs on our pitch to park on. The site
could be much nicer than it is. They have a lot of static caravans here, but
where people have removed their caravans the pitches have just been left a
mess. I don't think the owners are really keeping on top of things and there
are a lot of defunct electric hook up and water points. Apart from that the
site is quite nice and handy for Heidelberg.
As yesterday was dry and sunny we cycled into Hirschhorn and got a train to
Heidelberg. The city is very nice, the old part that is. After grabbing a
tram from outside the train station that took us to where we needed to be,
we had a nice stroll around, past all the shops, and through the old town.
The cathedral looked recently rejuvenated and we were lucky to be treated to
an impromptu organ recital. There was a concert later in the evening and the
organist was brushing up on his programme, so we got to hear most of it, and
for free too. Afterwards, we paid our 1€ each to go up the tower of the
cathedral, and after all the steps enjoyed the great view from the top. By
this time we were getting a bit peckish and so first headed for a nice
couple of large German beers, hic, before grabbing a snack, or two, to eat.
Thankfully after our nice sunny day out we made it back to camp in the
oncoming drizzle before the heavy rain dropped.
Today has been a cleaning day. I gave Noddy a bit of a wash down outside as
he was slowly losing his nice white shiny finish under a layer of muck and
grime, and Sue got to work inside. The weather has stayed good today with
plenty of sunny periods and the odd spot or two of rain. If the sun is still
around we will go into Hirschhorn tomorrow for a look around.
When we leave here we will continue our northward journey heading towards
Dusseldorf for the start of next week. The biggest motorhome show in Europe
is on in the city for the duration of that week, and as we are here we
thought we would go and have a nose at all the nice expensive motorhomes on
show, and do a bit of dreaming, or future planning!
Cheers
M&S

You can call me Michael Fish

Not that I predict sunny weather when a hurricane is around the corner, but
I do get it wrong occasionally. Sunday night we had very heavy rain
non-stop. We awoke to see the river from Noddy and we had never seen it from
our pitch before. It was up 2 metres or so and not far from reaching the
tents and caravans on the pitches along the waters edge. It had already
flooded over the footpath on the bank the other side. The water was moving
at quite a pace and was carrying all sorts of debris including quite large
chunks of wood that just seemed to bob like little wine corks. It continued
to rain most of the day, but lighter, and Robert the site owner was always
around to keep any eye on the water level, as were many people with their
cameras and videos. I think it was pretty close to becoming a site
evacuation but luckily with only light rain for the rest of the day the
water level eased just a little bit. Some people who had just arrived
decided to leave and look for better conditions, although I am not sure
where as I think most of Europe is under a big black cloud at the moment.
Anyway, over the next few days the rain stayed light with the odd glimpse of
the sun and by the end of the week the river was back to normal again. Big
sighs of relief all round, except of course for Robert as all the bad
weather had obviously put many people off going camping and the site was
quite empty by Saturday. It has probably hit him and other tourist
accommodation quite badly this year as the 4-6 weeks peak season has been
mostly washed out.
We still managed to do some cycling, and I headed off for a 35 mile round
trip on Thursday. It was sunny on the way but I got rather soaked on the way
back as the heavens opened. It was nice to have a warm and dry Noddy waiting
for me on my return.
Yesterday as the sun was out we decided to move on and head west towards
Innsbruck. It was a nice drive with the sun out and shining. We stopped off
at Kitzbuhel on the way. It is a nice pretty town and full of wealthy sorts
with plenty of nice shiny Mercedes and Porsches lining the streets. It would
be quite a nice place to be in the winter with snow all around and all the
après ski to get stuck into, although I am not sure if we are posh enough!
Our new site is in the town of Hall-in-Tirol a few miles east of Innsbruck.
It is quite a nice old medieval town and hopefully we will get into to see
it if the weather permits. Today we took a bus into Innsbruck. It was a bit
gloomy early on but the sun made a good long appearance for the middle of
the day. The city is fairly nice especially the old parts that are quite
colourful, but the rest is pretty drab and much like any other city. We had
a good wander around and popped into a few shops here and there. We had
coffee and cake in a Vienna style coffeehouse. The cake was very nice but
the place itself was very smoky. Austria does not seem to have a non-smoking
policy in bars and restaurants unlike Italy where it is banned. For lunch we
had some nice traditional Tyrolean food. Pizza. Well they eat a mix of
Austrian and Italian food in the Tyrol. Sue had a good day in the shops. She
is now the proud owner of a nice new pair of Adidas sandals. She has been
looking for some new shoes for 6 months! (Sue -yep I've been wearing my
multi coloured flip-flops that I bought for shower shoes for £1.50 last
July).
Anyway, it is raining again now, surprise.
Cheers
M&S

The Rain in Spain - Is mainly exported to Austria

My mistake. I said in the last blog entry that the weather was warming up
again after a few days of rain. What I should have said was that we were
expecting a very cold and wet week, as that is exactly what we have had. The
sun has popped out for the briefest of appearances and it has mostly been
around 12C during the day and pretty wet. Not that this is a great problem
for us as we can just sit tight and do some indoor things like reading or
listening to the radio, or even the odd spot of cleaning. The scrabble and
cards have made several outings also. We feel sorry for the poor people who
are only here for a week or two on their annual holiday as they have a very
cold and wet time of it especially if they are pitched on the grassy areas
of the site. We are on a nice gravel hardstanding so no mud at our door. The
site emptied out a bit over the last few days with people going home early
probably hoping for some sun back at base camp.
We have been here for just over two weeks now and will stay on for a bit
longer as despite the rain it is a very nice site and the surrounding area
is great. The bikes have made the odd trip out when the weather has been at
its best, but I must admit we don't feel too keen in the mornings when it is
pouring down despite having some nice new cycling waterproof jackets we
purchased the other day. This morning we were going to cycle up one of the
nearby hills at St Martin that has 7 or so churches / chapels on the 2km
route, not far but it does climb up 250m on the way.
The river next to the site has been gushing away with all the rain. We have
been assured by the site owner, a friendly chap called Robert, that the
prospect of it flooding is not likely as it is too cold to melt any of the
high level snow that may have fallen in the last week or so on the
surrounding mountains that feed the river. Not sure if that means it will
flood if we get a heat wave and more rain though!
Tomorrow if it is still wet we will head over to Salzburg as there is a big
shopping retail park there. Nothing like a bit of retail therapy, or window
shopping in our case, to wash away the wet weather blues. If the rain does
ease off we will probably do some trips out to places like Kitzbuhel, and
also Berchtesgaden over the border in Germany.

Anyway, despite the wet weather we are still very much enjoying ourselves
and planning all of our future options.

Cheers for now

M&S