Another good night’s sleep and had a bit of a sleep in. Hubby and the Pupster had already been for a walk up to the village and back before I had even started to move.
We had ordered croissants and rolls when we checked in yesterday and went to collect them for breakfast this morning and ate them together with a cuppa, sitting outside in the sunshine. This was glorious. Pupster had a paddle in the river and had celebratory zoomies afterwards.
The road was a bit busier with more lorries passing, but it was okay. We chilled and finally packed up and started to head west. This beautiful valley seemed endless, carrying on for miles, still thickly wooded and the odd rocky outcrop peeking out of the trees. It was stunning and we realised why it was called Franconian Switzerland – it resembled an Alpine valley. There was a little bit of it noticeable tourism – a few hoardings advertising canoeing and kayaking by the towns, but nothing like Wisla in Poland. Just miles of gorgeous scenery.
The valley finally petered out and we went cross country on single carriageways until we picked up the autobahn, the quickest way to get to Bernkastel-kues today – our next stop. We thought the autobahn would be quite boring, but the countryside was fabulous – woodlands and forests as far as the eye could see with village roofs poking through the greenery and small fields with plenty of hills and rolling countryside. It changed slightly to more agricultural and then we started to skirt round towns and cities – Frankfurt and Mainz – and it was getting quite built up, which was a bit of a shock after so much countryside. Eventually we came off the autobahn and joined dual carriageways instead as we made our way to our destination.
We had a thought whilst driving – we had been on the road for nearly two weeks living very simply when it dawned on us that we had a house full of stuff back home and we weren’t really missing any of it. Sort of made us think of what we accumulate in our lives as humans and was it all necessary.
We pulled into a sort of rest area with a large square building plonked in the middle of acres of parking, as we needed the loo and a quick breather. It was 28 degrees. The loos were as utilitarian as you can possibly get – all steel and echoing – with some ventilation system on at full blast, making an incredible noise. (Felt like a scene out of one of those tense film thrillers where everybody creeps around). It was quite grim, to be honest and we didn’t linger, but feeling more comfortable we hit the road again – we didn’t have far to go.
We gradually downgraded to single carriageway roads and with some 7 km to go, turned off and plunged down a valley, with several sharp hairpin bends to negotiate to add to the fun. It was very beautiful. On the final hairpin, there were a cluster of houses and as we rounded the corner, came across the mouth of a tunnel! This road was certainly full of surprises! We entered the tunnel which burrowed its way through a hillside for some 0.5km and then burped us out by the banks of the river Mosel and in the town of Bernkastel-kues. Wow! We had arrived!
We drove along the bank of the river and into town, across a bridge spanning the river and headed to our first possible campsite (not booked again) – it was out of town a bit so we turned around to check another campsite at the other end of Bernkastel. This was on the edge of town too, but seemed closer to the centre and it appeared to be on an island. We preferred this one and checked in – we could go and choose our pitch again like last night, which we did, choosing a spot on the end of a grassy patch which gave us a clear view of the hills and the river. As usual, we went through our little ritual of going backwards, forwards and sideways, undecided on what angle to park the Van, until we finally came to an unanimous decision and turned the engine off. We then went to plug in the electric and found our very lengthy lead was a tad too short – the electricity box was quite a way past two further pitches. Oh for goodness sake! Our Dutch neighbours very kindly let us shuffle our Van even closer to theirs, our lead meandering through their sitting area and finally we were there. They were such a sweet couple.
The wine and nibbles came out almost immediately after our little trauma. We had primarily chose this spot, not only for its spaciousness, but it was under a huge tree and very shady especially with this heat. Pupster laid full length on the yellow grass, trying to keep cool while we relaxed and took in our surroundings. I took Pupster to the river’s edge, literally a few metres away from our pitch, hoping she could have a cooling dip, but the Mosel was quite green and looked like there was algae in it too. We just admired it instead.
Just after 5, we fed the Pupster, had showers and walked into town. We found a lovely restaurant up a side street with a terrace where we had a very nice dinner. The Pupster worked on her adoring public, getting fuss from a Dutch couple and then giving the little girl next door to us a quick lick. We got chatting which was lovely. Pupster is a great ice breaker.
We wandered into the town centre looking for an ATM to get some Euros. We had been wiped out by one of the Polish campsites who preferred euros to zlotys for some reason, hadn’t really needed them while we were in Poland or Czech and thought we could use our card for Germany. Yesterday someone wanted a cash payment and we realised we had lots of loose change, but nothing substantial. After we had remedied that problem, we dropped back down onto the banks of the Mosel and came across a little bar. Nabbing two seats overlooking the river, we ordered two drinks and watched the world go by. A huge river cruise ship, the Viking Hild was docked, all 443 foot of it and as we sat there, it sailed off up the river.
There was a castle up on top of the hill, the Burg Landshut, with huge floor to ceiling windows overlooking the town. Apparently it was the restaurant. You could either walk up there through the vineyards or be lazy and take the car. It looked very intriguing.
This was definitely wine country with vineyards on most of the hillsides, plunging down at extraordinary angles – how they harvested the grapes, goodness knows.
Finishing our drinks, we walked back to the campsite, it was definitely cooler with a slight breeze, but would still be warm in the camper. We sat inside lazing on the bed , with the door open, Pupster crashing out. Hubby slept upstairs while Pupster and I laid on top of the bedding. It would be 34 degrees tomorrow.
apathtosomewhere 