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