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.