Where's Bertie? He's at a Stellplatz in the town of Sigmaringen. It costs €8 per 24 hrs to stay here, and electricity and water are available at extra cost (waste is free). Exact location: 48.08546, 9.20965.
Weather: Rainy start, brightening up, then a rainy afternoon (some remarkably heavy).
Arriving back from our run this morning, a bread van was found to be parked in front of Bertie. No horn had been heard to signal its arrival, making us wonder if it comes around every day and we had missed it, or whether it's a once- or twice-a-week thing. Our need for bread was less than it had been yesterday, by virtue of a supermarket being on the agenda this morning, but in the interests of supporting a local business providing a valuable service to the community, we bought a loaf and some rolls.
It was mid-morning by the time we had organised ourselves to move on, and after half an hour or so of driving down an interesting road (one section abutting the towering limestone cliffs was narrow and involved a few tunnels bored through outcrops) we arrived at Lidl in Sigmaringen.
Exiting the shop with a loaded trolley, I wondered if it would all fit, but it did so easily - the cupboards and fridge were about as bare as they get. There was then just one other call to make before we left town: a quick visit to a service point.
With tanks filled and emptied, I programmed our next stop into the SatNav and found it was an hour away. Not a problem, except that it was already 1pm, and we'd not had elevenses yet, never mind lunch. Should we stay here instead? A chap we'd just met recommended that the town was worth a look around, but the argument against was that we have an increasingly urgent need for a laundrette and if we stop everywhere that's nice we'll never get there*. But, hey, one more day wouldn't make that much difference would it?
So, we stayed.
We couldn't have known at the time, but with hindsight it wasn't the right decision. As we parked up and set about preparing and devouring lunch, the sun was beating down. By the time we finished eating, rain was positively pouring, to the extent that Bertie had gained a moat:
There was no way we were going out in rain that heavy and if we had known that we were just going to sit around in Bertie, then we would have chosen to do it somewhere free.
Thus, when the rain eased just before 5pm, we donned shorts and sandals (i.e. sensible rain gear if you want to minimise the amount of clothing that needs drying, and if you have to wade through a moat to go out) and went for a quick look around the town. The main feature is the castle...
Call us unobservant, but we hadn't noticed the castle until, whilst loading the groceries, Mick saw someone taking a photo across the supermarket car park. Wondering what their subject was, he looked around and there it was.
...but there are other attractive buildings too...
...albeit the whole experience was marred and rushed by virtue of the weather.
Our return to Bertie was along the river, gatecrashing a wedding as we went (the guests were all gathering on the cycle path outside of a restaurant for a speech and photos, and we had to walk straight through them).
It was after tea, with our moat (and the rain) still persisting, that it occurred to me that rather than wading through it every time we wanted to go outside for something, we could just move Bertie to any of the other empty spots. That we did, and the view out of our right side is now of the castle. It's just a pity about the rain streaked windows in between!
(*The obvious solution to the laundry issue, other than going to a city in order to find a laundrette, would be to go to a campsite. There's one right next to tonight's Stellplatz. However, when we don't need any other campsite facilities, we can't bring ourselves to pay €22 (which is the cheapest, non-electric, pitch next door) just so that we can pay even more to do laundry. Plus, campsite laundries often use the 'Speedqueen' style of machines, which, in my experience, don't get your clothes particularly clean. Laundrettes tend to have better, bigger capacity, machines at lower prices.)
Weather: Rainy start, brightening up, then a rainy afternoon (some remarkably heavy).
Arriving back from our run this morning, a bread van was found to be parked in front of Bertie. No horn had been heard to signal its arrival, making us wonder if it comes around every day and we had missed it, or whether it's a once- or twice-a-week thing. Our need for bread was less than it had been yesterday, by virtue of a supermarket being on the agenda this morning, but in the interests of supporting a local business providing a valuable service to the community, we bought a loaf and some rolls.
It was mid-morning by the time we had organised ourselves to move on, and after half an hour or so of driving down an interesting road (one section abutting the towering limestone cliffs was narrow and involved a few tunnels bored through outcrops) we arrived at Lidl in Sigmaringen.
Exiting the shop with a loaded trolley, I wondered if it would all fit, but it did so easily - the cupboards and fridge were about as bare as they get. There was then just one other call to make before we left town: a quick visit to a service point.
With tanks filled and emptied, I programmed our next stop into the SatNav and found it was an hour away. Not a problem, except that it was already 1pm, and we'd not had elevenses yet, never mind lunch. Should we stay here instead? A chap we'd just met recommended that the town was worth a look around, but the argument against was that we have an increasingly urgent need for a laundrette and if we stop everywhere that's nice we'll never get there*. But, hey, one more day wouldn't make that much difference would it?
So, we stayed.
We couldn't have known at the time, but with hindsight it wasn't the right decision. As we parked up and set about preparing and devouring lunch, the sun was beating down. By the time we finished eating, rain was positively pouring, to the extent that Bertie had gained a moat:
There was no way we were going out in rain that heavy and if we had known that we were just going to sit around in Bertie, then we would have chosen to do it somewhere free.
Thus, when the rain eased just before 5pm, we donned shorts and sandals (i.e. sensible rain gear if you want to minimise the amount of clothing that needs drying, and if you have to wade through a moat to go out) and went for a quick look around the town. The main feature is the castle...
Call us unobservant, but we hadn't noticed the castle until, whilst loading the groceries, Mick saw someone taking a photo across the supermarket car park. Wondering what their subject was, he looked around and there it was.
...but there are other attractive buildings too...
...albeit the whole experience was marred and rushed by virtue of the weather.
Our return to Bertie was along the river, gatecrashing a wedding as we went (the guests were all gathering on the cycle path outside of a restaurant for a speech and photos, and we had to walk straight through them).
It was after tea, with our moat (and the rain) still persisting, that it occurred to me that rather than wading through it every time we wanted to go outside for something, we could just move Bertie to any of the other empty spots. That we did, and the view out of our right side is now of the castle. It's just a pity about the rain streaked windows in between!
(*The obvious solution to the laundry issue, other than going to a city in order to find a laundrette, would be to go to a campsite. There's one right next to tonight's Stellplatz. However, when we don't need any other campsite facilities, we can't bring ourselves to pay €22 (which is the cheapest, non-electric, pitch next door) just so that we can pay even more to do laundry. Plus, campsite laundries often use the 'Speedqueen' style of machines, which, in my experience, don't get your clothes particularly clean. Laundrettes tend to have better, bigger capacity, machines at lower prices.)
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