Bingen to St Goar (and back).

27th-28th June

The Plan: cycle to the local Bingen rail station, ride the 30km scenic rail route up the Rhine Gorge, get off at St. Goar, mosey around the town, and finally cycle back as far as we could. Suzy agreed to this in principle (that is: a 30km bike ride) without any fuss! Still shocked; I got the bikes ready, packed the panniers and we set off.

No trains for at least 45mins… and 11€ for 2 singles, so being the skinflints we are [well, I am] we thought we’d ditch the train idea, at least for now, bike on for a bit towards St. Goar and see how it goes, the Sun was out after all. We thought it was a little busy for a Sunday, with what seemed like more bikes around than normal (but then again; what is normal is Germany?) however the mystery was soon solved after we stumbled across a roadblock and the beginning for some sort of big cycle event between Bingen to Koblenz, where everyone and their mum was riding bikes or roller blades.

With some moral support (and slight fear of embarrassment) from the other participating kids and grannies all biking at considerable speed we headed onwards, no cars and some great views of the gorge. We managed the 30km to St. Goar, roughly half way to Koblenz, with a few stops along the way, some signs of tiredness and the odd steep slope or two, but we made it all the same. Then after a beer reward and some kind of mutant pretzel in St. Goar I somehow managed to convince Suzy that biking back again, that same 30km distance, but this time on the other side of the gorge was a good idea, better than train at least. She agreed, so without hesitation and time to change one’s mind we queued for one of the many crowded ferries dotted down the river, which we’d been watching travel back and forth over the fast flowing waters. This thing had it’s own DJ on board, so the 5 minute crossing went, swiftly aided by Queens’ Ride my Bicycle. The second 30km was tougher and it seemed much hotter by now, but we kept going and finally arrived opposite Bingen for the return crossing back towards the Van.

The result: Suzy cycled 60km without any fuss (relatively speaking), and for that she had a much deserved ‘applewine’ and I had some greasy chips back at the open air bar near the camper park.

Unfortunately I’m winning 3-0 at scrabble, so there’s still room for improvement.

Sinzig

26th June

We left the Heimbach stellplatz and headed deeper into the Eifel National Park intending to visit the Uft Dam and then a former Nazi training barracks.

Unfortunately, we had some electrical problems we needed to sort so we made it to the outskirts of the car park! We put out the warning triangle and discovered we only need to replace the indicator bulb.

We then stopped outside the town of Morsbech after climbing and descending some pretty hefty hills to take a picture – the hills were so steep that the brake disks were smoking at which point I was really unsure whether the van was going to catch fire or whether I was being over dramatic – it was the latter and the fire extinguisher was relocated.

The Vogelsang barracks were quite new as a visitor attraction and we needed to have organised a trip before hand in English rather than German. It was a large site but too hot and most doors were locked unless you were part of a tour which was very disappointing.

We set out to drive to Bingen am Rhine but it was far too hot, nearly 34 degrees and extremely muggy, so we shortened the route aiming to arrive at Sinzig within about an hour. After dinner at making friends with the neighbours by offering them shade with the location of our van the heavens opened for a massive thunderstorm. Paul beat me again at Scrabble!

Heimbach, Eifel National Park, Germany

24th-25th June

After the night in Xanten we had planned to head for a Stellplatz at a place called Monchengladbach – we arrived under a side road that crept under the motorway (not a good site) and found the empty parking place. We thought it not wise to stay so strolled around the grounds finding lots of lakes and a stables.

We re-programmed our route with Sat Nav’s help and found a stellplatz in the Eifel National Park.

We had to buy our ticket for the night in the local garage and parked up next to about ten other vans in heat that was in excess of 30 degrees we thought the right thing to do was sack dinner off and go for a beer.

After exploring the town Paul found a Biergarten tucked away at the back of a restaurant and we sampled several Weisbier – with dinner being a bit of a blur!

As we had arrived late we didn’t need to be back at the van until 5pm so we got up early and took the train to Nideggen using a printed map from the Tourist office we then proceeded to walk back along the river a route of about 14km to Heimbach.

It was beautiful – tree lined gorges, steep banks and hills to climb, riverside trails and so many wildflowers the scents were overwhelming. Eventually, we found our way home, stopping at a small café for refreshments and opting to stay a second night as we were so tired from walking.

Xanten, Germany

23rd June We went for breakfast in Goch, sampling pastries in a local bakery and German coffee – which had quite a kick and then visited the garage and got the leisure battery installed. Next door to the garage was a giant Drink Shop – so we naturally stocked up and got on the road to Xanten by about 3pm. We arrived at a stellplatz where the attendant spoke no English and barely a word of German that was comprehensible. He directed us to a spot and then stood pulling all sorts of moves like we had done something wrong – we still don’t know what though! We opted to have a late lunch and then cycle into Xanten, it was so hot that we didn’t go far. There was a large Gothic style cathedral and a windmill for the tourists and in the main square was a large fountain which all the locals were congregating around eating ice cream. We cycled back home uphill to the site and basked in the hot sunshine planning the next few days again.

Mook, Germany

The mug says it all...

20th-21st June We discovered a problem with our leisure battery so needed to find a replacement. The farmer’s wife and landlady gave us directions to a town called Groesbeek – the caravan centre couldn’t help us so we explored the town instead – buying cheese in the local shop after much free tasting. We headed through a town called Mook, that had formed part of the Liberation Route of Europe during the Second World War, as a means to finding somewhere to stay – the first site we found was expensive and not particularly nice so we drove on and circled a large lake finding a campsite on the far side adjacent to the marina. We booked in for the weekend, cycling to the lake and around it in pretty bad weather, so spent Sunday preparing the next leg of the route – Germany.

Goch ( Arrival in Germany)

22nd June

We aimed for a Stellplatz to keep us on budget for the month and save a few pennies, arriving in Goch to a roadblock and had to travel down loads of back streets. Eventually we found a field with about 30 motor-homes in which was pleasant enough and suitable to stay overnight.

We read an advertisement for a camping shop and as it was early decided to drive to that first, then make camp for the night having visited a garage to secure a new leisure battery.

Millingen, Holland

19th June We set about finding a camping platz (free space) in a town called Millingen which is on the border with Holland and Germany. It’s near to the river but in a car park and without a view. We decided to go for a look, sampled the local coffee and a small lookout and then got our bikes to cycle into town. En route we discovered we were right next to a nature reserve you could cycle around so took up the challenge. It was very windy but spectacular, right next to the River Rhine where it converges with the River Wass. The reserve seemed deserted until Paul discovered a hidden tea room – where you paid about €5 to get in but a hot drink served in fine china was included in that price, and we got to explore the secret garden. We set back to the van and thought it best not to stay in the empty car park, instead driving through the village and finding a farm to stay for the night.

Arnhem

17th-18th June

On route to Arnhem and after an early morning swim we stopped at a camping platz to cycle into the little town of Widje. We visited a bike shop and got some stands fitted so we could park our bikes outside shops. This had proven difficult given that off road tyres did not fit any street storage place.

We visited the main shop for food supplies, realising that on Wednesday everything closes for the afternoon and set off to Arnhem again along the beautiful river.

The road eventually took us back through the National Forrest and sat Nav managed to find us a site right in the middle of nowhere down a road that was being dug up. Over the reception desk was the head of a gigantic wild boar and the site was pretty much abandoned – we weren’t sure but stayed anyway and didn’t have to pay until the next morning. We opted to put down roots for two nights.

We got up early to glorious sunshine and decided to cycle into the town of Arhem – despite being advised the route was very hilly we went regardless thinking – it’s Holland how steep can it be?

Well - we both had to walk up one of the hills and the locals all had dynamo’s for the hills. Arnhem was very pretty with a Mansion House adjacent to the History of Water Museum. We stopped for lunch, fed Skippy the Duck and found ourselves caught up in the cycle network of Arhem, venturing around the town and then mentally preparing ourselves for the journey back after another pit stop at the river.

Hattem, Holland

16th June We set off to a town Paul had found called Hattem located well into the National Park and only 30 minutes drive away. We stopped at a small tree lined parking area to investigate a menacing looking sign that we were unsure of being that we don’t speak or understand Dutch. What we discovered two minutes into our walk in the woodland was that we were adjacent to a Dutch Military Bombing Range - as two rather massive whooshes and explosions gave us a clue! We spent the afternoon pitching on a woodland site away from the Bombing range and about 4km cycle ride from the little village of Hattem.

Nunspeet

15th June

We found a campsite called Groot Grobbenhorst on the outskirts of a town called Nunspeet. A picturesque town located outside the Veluwe National Forest with unbelievable houses worthy of picture-postcards.

We found the road system a complete nightmare for drivers, as everything is arranged for the cyclist. So we aimed for the campsite with a view that we could cycle to do our shopping and find the local beach. We got a little lost – ate our lunch in a church car park, eventually found a supermarket and then managed to navigate home without a map and relying on the direction of the sun!

Arrival in Rotterdam

13th-14th June

We were woken at 6am English time, 7am Dutch time by a very loud PA system for the buffet breakfast. We begrudgingly got dressed and made our way to a rammed self serviced café that was so well organised they knew we were arriving before we had even woken up.

At Rotterdam two hours later we went through customs and set about getting to our first destination East of Utrecht – a small town called Zeist.
The first campsite was fully booked with “elderly people” doing the same thing as us! We went a little further down the road to a site we found by chance and booked in for two nights.

The weather was very hot – nearly 25 degrees so we decided to have a quick lunch followed by a siesta and then a cycle around the campsite. We were slightly confused as we saw many people in bathing suits with inflatables but could not find a pool on site and were miles from the sea.

We ventured out of the site and found the most amazing oasis – a pool used during the Napoleonic times that was located in a pine forest.
It was heaving, full of Dutch families having BBQ’s, swimming and even playing beach volleyball – it was so surreal. We decided to return on Sunday however the following day it rained so hard that we had to stay in and play scrabble! Paul won (1-0, so far…).

On Monday morning we returned for a stroll before breakfast and it was not only completely deserted but totally spotless like nobody had ever found it.
We packed up our camper and drove on to Nunspeet.

Hull Campsite prior to departure

12th June

We stayed at beautifully peaceful campsite outside of Hull, located on a pitch right next to the water, with views across two lakes and over to the manor house of Burton Constable.

The campsite was well located in a small village called Sproatley – with a quaint post office and an enormous driveway. There were many anglers busy fighting with the gaggle of Canadian geese who set up roost outside our camper.

They joined us for breakfast the following morning following a short hike around the grounds.

We set off for the Docks and got on the ferry about two hours early leaving plenty of time to explore, find our rooms for the night and make friends with the barman.

We are in Holland! Struggling with lack of internet.

Have loads to upload but no way to do it yet - off to Germany tomorrow.

Suzy and Paul

Nearly didn't get off the ramp

The van is packed, Paul is on the road to York and I am supposed to be cleaning the house up and packing boxes. But instead I am reflecting on my first week off and thinking - what are we letting ourselves in for?

We have already had a mini adventure and we haven't even got off the driveway.

The events as they unfolded:

1) The garage tried to put the van on the ramps to get a look at the suspension and it got stuck going through the doors. So we had to take off the roof box and look away as our expert mechanics edged our unstable and temperamental old van onto the grid.

2) We had arranged for suspension springs to be fabricated specifically for our van - this process has been booked a week in advance, would take three days for manufacture and was scheduled for two sets of springs to leave Birmingham on Wednesday night and be at the garage on Thursday morning.
As our luck often goes -and with the van sat on the ramp ready and waiting the parts arrived well into Thursday afternoon. OK - half a day lost - we could cope. However, what happened next we couldn't have considered.

3) Paul got a call from our trusty mechanic to say they had taken off one of the existing springs for the suspension and on opening the received parts discovered they had got two different springs, and were unsure which ones they should use. There were two bolts missing and the springs were designed for two separate or different vehicles. Unfortunately, the manufacturer was not available until Friday.

4) Friday morning - after much discussion Paul returned to the garage. He spoke with the manufacturer, he and our mechanic inspected the parts and Paul confirmed the problem - the manufacturer was baffled and could not work out what had happened.
After much too-ing and fro-ing the springs manufacturer agreed to fabricate some more... all very well ... but we were looking at a week's delay.
The van that was incapacitated on a ramp and holding our very patient mechanic up and we were set for Paul and a fully packed van to leave on Saturday.

5)With this in mind - Paul and I were re-modelling our planned departure, researching alternative train times, what the cost of cancellation of the ferry would be and who our insurance company would need to contact when Paul received a call from the fabricator to say that our part had turned up - it had been muddled with an order that had been sent to St Albans - that's not too far we though - we could drive and swap them.

6) No this was too simple - an hour later and it turns out that they meant somewhere in Dartmoor! The couriers were arranged with no-one quite sure who had messed up and the awol spring was due to arrive at the garage on Friday by express delivery at 4pm and be swapped with ours. Instead our spare part was taken at four - all very well but we had paid £150 for it and were now van-less, spring-less and even more stressed.

7) The garage was desperately trying to accommodate us - offering to open up specially on Saturday to fit the springs. By 5.30pm our nerves were completely shot - we decided to go to the garage and speak face to face - beg them if we had to to stay open late to receive the part from the courier and worried that if they missed it, it would be returned to the depot.

8) At 5.40pm a white van arrived at the industrial estate - we all could not beleive it and no-one wanted to speak. The courier had a part but did not know what is was or who it was for - great! So it was opened, in fact pounced upon by our mechanic -he took one look to check it and before any paper work had been produced he and his son set to work like robots to install it - by 6.30pm they had completed the job and our van was set for the open road.

Finally we got the van back home late last night - much to our relief. We had a glass or two of wine to celebrate, Dad provided us with a fantastic meal and we began packing.
We now haven't a clue what we are taking, or where we threw it all but the van sits much higher on her brand new springs with all our stuff inside - so it can only be a good thing.

The moral is don't rely on the postal system and if you need something urgently don't tell anyone as it will only cause confusion and delay!