Blog 2.1 - The Tour - Spring 2023!

Tuesday 28th March 2023

Well, here we go again.

This time it's the Netherlands, and Belgium (a bit 'just passing through' those two, but we could be back before too long, depending on whether France decides to completely implode) and Germany, and possibly Czechia, Austria, and elsewhere.

Who knows? Not I. Yet.

Last year's sojourn through France, Andorra, Spain, and France again, was undertaken during the waning part of the year, and consequently somewhat degrading temperatures, and weather conditions in general.

However, as I scribble this initial blog of Tour 2023, I'd probably swap the weather.

At the moment it's raining. Again.

And it's blowing a bit too. Not hurricane-type stuff, but enough to be felt through the van's suspension sure enough.

The plan was to come out here relatively early in the year this time, spinning the theory to myself that the weather would only improve as we got deeper into Spring and early Summer.

The plan doesn’t feel like it's working at the mo though, but no doubt things will pick up a bit before long.

At least the crossing was very, very calm, so there is that!

We had driven down to Harwich rather early on Tuesday the 28th with the intention of parking up somewhere and relaxing, or getting a meal, or something, but that was all scuppered by a jack-knifed lorry and associated fuel spillage just 17 miles short of our destination, which meant our 'relaxing' was done on the eastbound carriageway of a dual-carriageway somewhere in Essex

Google Maps pointed to a loooong red line ahead of us, so we knew we were in for a heck of a wait, along with hundreds of other vehicles, including many HGVs heading for The Hook of Holland, like us.

After clearing (some two or more hours later?) we still managed to be fifth in the queue at the Stena boarding yard.

At this point it began to sink in that my optimism at being so early was going to be misplaced, as when the gates were opened line after line of cars were allowed on board as we were searched (huh?) and then kept in a side queue with about six other vehicles before finally being allowed to board.

Every. Bloody. Time.

It really doesn't seem to matter if we're there by the skin of our teeth, or ridiculously early. We always end up at the back of the boat, and subsequently last away from passport control at the other end of the crossing.

Wednesday Morning, 29th March 2023.

OK, I exaggerate. This time we were second-last to be allowed onto the mean streets of Rotterdam (but we genuinely were last out of the Portsmouth ferry terminal last November). Bah.

In some ways it's a good thing though, as the roads tend to be clear of the worst traffic if they've all been waved off before you, and this was the case - at least until we caught the endless snake of wagons on the motorway heading away from den Hoek and Rotterdam.

As before, we had no plans as to where to settle for the night, so after clearing the seemingly endless sprawl of the city we convened a planning meeting (well, we stopped for a coffee at a rest area) and started prodding Park for Night and Search for Sites for suitable suggestions.

And there it was, quite quickly, a marina (or jachthaven) in the small village of Strijensas on the banks of Hollands Diep, a huge east-west water body splitting this part of South Holland.

The camper park area of the marina proved to be perfect. Quiet, with all facilities, right by the water, and with an excellent restaurant on site. It just happened to be the day they do pancakes as a special.

Don't mind if I do.

If you haven't tried Dutch pancakes, done properly, you don't know what you're missing.

Truly delicious.

A walk down to the water and across several causeways and bridges and over multiple islands had really worked up an appetite, which was just as well, as they are very filling.

Overall a very pretty place, and somewhere I'd definitely visit again.

Thursday. And Friday

I'd had it in mind to perhaps spend a couple or three nights in Holland, or elsewhere in the Netherlands, but we found ourselves south of Antwerp and well into Belgium on Thursday afternoon before we knew it.

Belgium tends to get a slightly bum rap as a place to visit, but I like it (I used to like it even more when I drank beer, but that's another story). The people tend to be welcoming and friendly, and the countryside, while not spectacular, is pleasant. It also does chocolate and boulangerie rather well.

We found an Aire, again online, at a little place east of Liége, called Blegny. Or Blegny-Mine to be accurate. This is now the National Mining Museum, just outside the village.

Again, it has all the motorhoming facilities you could reasonably want, and all for free. The underground tours were tempting too, but a little pricey, so sadly we gave it a miss. The hot chocolate in the brasserie made up for it somewhat, though, as did being able to blag a second night (it's normally limited to a 24 hour stay, but playing ze daft Eengleesh seemed to work with the lovely ladies in the office there!).

Another place I'd use again, and would recommend.

Friday Night, Saturday Morning...

Yech. Still horrible weather. Blowing a gale most of the night, and still blustery and very wet come sun-up.

So, tea, croissants, tidy up, dump the grey water and take on fresh, and we hit the road in a generally south-easterly direction. Initially it's a mix of minor roads, and then a long stretch of toll-free two-lane motorway, with zero hold-ups. Belgium passed behind us in a cloud of spray, with the Spa-Francorchamps circuit just to our right, before passing the unprepossessing German border sign.

It's a route of forests, and tall bridges over deep valleys, and somehow managed to be rather attractive despite the rain.

We made a pit-stop for a coffee and biccies some 20 miles north of the Mosel city of Trier, to take stock and finally make a decision as to where we'd aim for. Initially I'd fancied a return visit to the campsite, Sonnenberg, above Leiwen, where we'd stayed with the girls and Mandi's sister Lyn and brother-in-Law John many years ago (approaching 30?). It's a Fancy-Dan sort of place though, with water park and probably hundreds of screaming kids, while also being about 4km from the river and up on the valley side. This, then, was quickly overturned in favour of one by the yacht  marina (making a habit of that?) at Bernkastel-Kues.

However, having made our way there and parked outside the barrier, Admin was totally defeated by a) the lack of bodies in reception, and b) a non-connecting phone number.

This quickly became tiresome, and 15 minutes later we'd decided to cross the river and try our luck at Sun Park motorhomes, at Graach, just outside BK.

Good move, that.

Settling into our Mosel-view pitch was dead easy, and aided by the superb staff who could not have been more helpful. And it's cheaper than the other place as a bonus.

This could well be a two or three night stay.

The only slight downside is that it's a 30 minute, flat riverside walk into BK, but so what?

We have the bikes too if the weather cooperates, so that's an option.

Sunday

Yep. Still grey out there, and quite cool, but at least the winds have abated, and it's not actually raining, so we'll have some food, taking our time about things, and then tab off to Bernkastel. Or Kues. Or both.

Walking then. Into Bernkastel initially to ogle the architecture (we've seen it all before, but it's  a good many years ago now so good to see it again) and to partake of hot chocolate and käsekuchen in one of the many cafés. We also strolled across the Mosel Brücke for a quick look at Kues, but the most entertaining thing was a poor bugger completely off his face on something. We'll return tomorrow, but only to stock up at Aldi...

Surprisingly, on checking, it was over five miles covered today.

Weather - still grim.

Monday

Still very cool, but at least the sun seems to be making an effort, and it was pleasant enough to sit outside for coffee and cakes this time. We'd earned it too. My rucksack was by this time fully laden with milk, beer, butter, various pieces of grazing animalia, toms (yes, lots of toms here), spuds, and Lord knows what else. Rather weighty!

A bit of gift and souvenir shopping completed, and it was the long trudge back 'home' along the river (still threatening to burst its banks) side path.

One of those Bitburgers, zero alcohol, natch, went down very easily.

The Beeb's app was threatening minus temperatures overnight so we stoked up the fire - well, turned the heater up to max, risking tripping the 6A feed but getting away with it - and turned in relatively early.

Warm as toast, all night.

Tuesday

It's time we shook ourselves and moved on. The weather is lovely today. Not particularly warm, but lots of sun, so the Mosel is as pretty as a picture as we head off downstream towards the Rhein.

I was in no mood to fight the traffic through Koblenz. As much as it's a beautiful city we'll save it for our trip back up the western fringes of Germany in a couple of months. For now I just want to get a bit further south on the Rhein before starting to strike east via the Heidelberg area tomorrow.

We dropped into the valley at Boppard on the road that we'd traversed 30 years earlier on a trip to Heidelberg in a brand new 1100cc Citroën AX, five-up with a week's luggage.

Were we mad? This road is steep, narrow, and very hairpin-twisty. I have memories of the brakes on the poor little AX overheating badly and fading to virtually nothing. A real buttock-clenching spell during which I had to somehow avoid showing just how much I was panicking inside.

I really never want to experience that again, so it was quite gratifying that the 3 tonne plus Fiat’s brakes shrugged it all off as if it were all on the level. Thank f...

Settling into a steady roll down the Rhein's west bank we passed through towns we'd forgotten, and past the Lorely Rock on the opposite bank.

It really does have some breathtaking scenery, and an awful lot of water - bearing a massive tonnage of freight on huge barge after huge barge. Couple that with the seemingly endless freight trains plying the lines which we were paralleling and you begin to wonder where it's all coming from and going to.

Our search for somewhere cheap and cheerful for the night ended with us finding a completely free (with free services to boot) park-up in the rather innocuous, yet far from unpleasant town of Ingelheim am Rhein, on the Rheingau west of Weisbaden.

There are two other vans here, which is a little different from the previous three nights on the relatively busy Sun Park 

Quite happy with that to be honest.

It's set to be another cool night, although not as cold as last night, so we'll see how we go without electric heating (there is a hook-up, payable, but we're being tight to make up for a few recent excesses. If it gets too cold we can always fire up the gas heating, but I reckon it could just be hot water bottles and jim-jams.

We've tent camped in worse!

Mileage so far: 565.