Where's Bertie? He's at the Stellplatz in the town of Tuttingen (exact location: 47.98549, 8.81490).
Weather: Mainly sunny. Warm again.
Good news: Mick is back running again! It was his second tentative outing, on his return from injury, this morning and whilst he reports being troubled by paranoia about his calf (it's a repeat problem that has been going on for years), so far it has held out. I ran at the same time, but not with him, as I was too fast. It's not often that I can say that!
Dripping sweat over Bertie (it was not a shaded route, as we ran along the open plain alongside the Danube), we then stuck around at last night's parking spot only long enough to have a quick wash and put everything away, before making tracks a whole 14km along the road to our next stop.
After weeks of having our movements dictated by being in towns for key World Cup matches*, today was the final time that we were to move with that sole purpose. Knowing that the Stellplatz here is popular, and with it being a Saturday (the busiest day at any town Stellplatz) we maximised our chances of getting a spot by arriving at the time that the previous night's occupants usually start to leave (between 9 &10am).
We arrived to find the Stellplatz to be missing, because the area had been commandeered for an outside screen, showing World Cup matches. Happily the adjacent car park is huge so we wouldn't have struggled to park anyway, but upon looking around we found that a section of car slots had been specifically signed as the temporary motorhome area. It was unfortunate that, of all the places they could have chosen for the relocation, they selected slots under low trees. A small bit of pruning was required.
Whilst the presence of the Big Screen just along the car park was a comfort (it's a nerve-wracking thing, arriving in a town with no knowledge as to whether any establishment will be showing the matches, particularly with Germany long-since eliminated), I didn't much fancy the backless benches (or standing), with no shade from the sun. So, we went on a recce to find somewhere indoors, in the process seeing what the town was like. The most striking thing is that we are parked within 50m of the Danube, and along its bank lies some manicured parkland, through which runs the Danube cycle path, and a footpath. The town isn't unattractive either, although it did strike us that the two main businesses on the pedestrianised main street are bakeries-cum-cafes and mobile phone shops.
Our quest for a football-showing bar was only achieved when we resorted to a search for 'Irish Pub' on Google Maps. We returned there in time for kick-off this afternoon and it was so busy that we could have taken a different seat for every minute of the match (it was a big place!) and not have bothered a soul. We were the only people in there. I imagine it will be a bit busier tomorrow when we return for the Final.
We're around 10km downstream from where the Danube runs underground and, as you can see, it's a big river. As for the inverted pyramid of pigs: I have no idea!
(*We do have a TV in Bertie. What we're lacking is an effective aerial. This isn't usually a problem, as we generally only use it for watching DVDs, but we are going to have to come up with a solution to the lack of TV signal, as unmissable sporting events come around every couple of years.)
Weather: Mainly sunny. Warm again.
Good news: Mick is back running again! It was his second tentative outing, on his return from injury, this morning and whilst he reports being troubled by paranoia about his calf (it's a repeat problem that has been going on for years), so far it has held out. I ran at the same time, but not with him, as I was too fast. It's not often that I can say that!
Dripping sweat over Bertie (it was not a shaded route, as we ran along the open plain alongside the Danube), we then stuck around at last night's parking spot only long enough to have a quick wash and put everything away, before making tracks a whole 14km along the road to our next stop.
After weeks of having our movements dictated by being in towns for key World Cup matches*, today was the final time that we were to move with that sole purpose. Knowing that the Stellplatz here is popular, and with it being a Saturday (the busiest day at any town Stellplatz) we maximised our chances of getting a spot by arriving at the time that the previous night's occupants usually start to leave (between 9 &10am).
We arrived to find the Stellplatz to be missing, because the area had been commandeered for an outside screen, showing World Cup matches. Happily the adjacent car park is huge so we wouldn't have struggled to park anyway, but upon looking around we found that a section of car slots had been specifically signed as the temporary motorhome area. It was unfortunate that, of all the places they could have chosen for the relocation, they selected slots under low trees. A small bit of pruning was required.
Whilst the presence of the Big Screen just along the car park was a comfort (it's a nerve-wracking thing, arriving in a town with no knowledge as to whether any establishment will be showing the matches, particularly with Germany long-since eliminated), I didn't much fancy the backless benches (or standing), with no shade from the sun. So, we went on a recce to find somewhere indoors, in the process seeing what the town was like. The most striking thing is that we are parked within 50m of the Danube, and along its bank lies some manicured parkland, through which runs the Danube cycle path, and a footpath. The town isn't unattractive either, although it did strike us that the two main businesses on the pedestrianised main street are bakeries-cum-cafes and mobile phone shops.
Our quest for a football-showing bar was only achieved when we resorted to a search for 'Irish Pub' on Google Maps. We returned there in time for kick-off this afternoon and it was so busy that we could have taken a different seat for every minute of the match (it was a big place!) and not have bothered a soul. We were the only people in there. I imagine it will be a bit busier tomorrow when we return for the Final.
We're around 10km downstream from where the Danube runs underground and, as you can see, it's a big river. As for the inverted pyramid of pigs: I have no idea!
(*We do have a TV in Bertie. What we're lacking is an effective aerial. This isn't usually a problem, as we generally only use it for watching DVDs, but we are going to have to come up with a solution to the lack of TV signal, as unmissable sporting events come around every couple of years.)
No comments:
Post a Comment