Where's Bertie? He's at a Stellplatz, on the River Neckar, just outside of the town of Lauffen. (Exact location: 49.06967, 9.16292)
Weather: Rainy from around 1030 until 1430, with a bit of blue sky appearing later. Still pleasantly warm.
Having tootled 22km down river this morning, we arrived to find four vehicles already within the Stellplatz, and two parked outside of it. There was, however, a free space within the marked area, so we slotted Bertie in, only then to find that there is a 4-vehicle limit here (same as the last place). We weren't worried. How can it possibly be policed without knowing who was here first?
Soon after our arrival, one of the other vans left anyway, leaving just four of us within the official area for most of the day. As I type there are five within, and three without. I wouldn't be surprised if more turn up later. (Incidentally, the Stellplatz is a corner of an absolutely massive - and otherwise completely empty - car park next to the outdoor swimming pool complex. I would guess that said complex has had a very busy summer, and given how many fine weather days there have been, it's unsurprising that no-one has chosen to visit on a rainy day like today.)
A five-minute stroll along the river was managed upon arrival, but as the first spots of rain hit us we declared it to be coffee time and paused only to say hello to a very friendly cat as we scurried back to Bertie.
At 1400, with the rain still continuing, albeit lightly, we decided that getting wet was preferable to being cooped up, so into the town we went. Our starting point was the old fortified town, sitting above the east side of the river (the opposite side to the Stellplatz). It's all cobbles and olde worlde, set within the remains of the town walls.
Narrow, bulging old buildings featured, as captured in the first two of these three snaps. On the right is one of the town gates.
This sign had us all excited - the first English language sign we've seen, if not all trip, then for a long time. Although there were plenty of other information signs, this was the only one with a translation.
The new(er) town, on the west side of the river was less interesting, and quiet too, even in the commercial centre, with many of the businesses currently closed for two weeks for their summer holidays. It didn't hold our attention for long.
Brief consideration was given to having a swim after 1730 (when the entry fee reduces from €4.20 to €2.50), although the main attraction was the thought of a mains-water shower afterwards - something we've not had for 9 weeks now. But we'll be home within two weeks (yikes, where did all that time go?!), where showers consisting of more than 5-litres* of hot water will soon cease to be a novelty! (*Bertie's hot water tank capacity is 10 litres. We can both get a shower from one tank, with some left over for dishes or laundry.)
(An aside, only slightly related to today: A couple of years ago I bought a wifi booster. It wasn't a cheap bit of kit, and in buying it I knew that if it ever paid for itself (compared with using mobile data) then it would take a *very* long time to do so. However, it is convenient, especially in Scotland where so many houses host a BT Wifi hotspot. It's proved even more useful in Germany, as the FON hotspots here (which can be used with a BT log-in) limit you to one device at a time. The booster is one device, but via its own router, ten devices can be connected to it. Today it has proved its worth by giving us access to the free wifi at the swimming pool, which is incredibly fast - probably helped by there being no customers using it at the pool today. I downloaded three newspapers today in five minutes, versus two in an hour in Stuttgart.)
Weather: Rainy from around 1030 until 1430, with a bit of blue sky appearing later. Still pleasantly warm.
Having tootled 22km down river this morning, we arrived to find four vehicles already within the Stellplatz, and two parked outside of it. There was, however, a free space within the marked area, so we slotted Bertie in, only then to find that there is a 4-vehicle limit here (same as the last place). We weren't worried. How can it possibly be policed without knowing who was here first?
Soon after our arrival, one of the other vans left anyway, leaving just four of us within the official area for most of the day. As I type there are five within, and three without. I wouldn't be surprised if more turn up later. (Incidentally, the Stellplatz is a corner of an absolutely massive - and otherwise completely empty - car park next to the outdoor swimming pool complex. I would guess that said complex has had a very busy summer, and given how many fine weather days there have been, it's unsurprising that no-one has chosen to visit on a rainy day like today.)
A five-minute stroll along the river was managed upon arrival, but as the first spots of rain hit us we declared it to be coffee time and paused only to say hello to a very friendly cat as we scurried back to Bertie.
At 1400, with the rain still continuing, albeit lightly, we decided that getting wet was preferable to being cooped up, so into the town we went. Our starting point was the old fortified town, sitting above the east side of the river (the opposite side to the Stellplatz). It's all cobbles and olde worlde, set within the remains of the town walls.
Narrow, bulging old buildings featured, as captured in the first two of these three snaps. On the right is one of the town gates.
This sign had us all excited - the first English language sign we've seen, if not all trip, then for a long time. Although there were plenty of other information signs, this was the only one with a translation.
The new(er) town, on the west side of the river was less interesting, and quiet too, even in the commercial centre, with many of the businesses currently closed for two weeks for their summer holidays. It didn't hold our attention for long.
Brief consideration was given to having a swim after 1730 (when the entry fee reduces from €4.20 to €2.50), although the main attraction was the thought of a mains-water shower afterwards - something we've not had for 9 weeks now. But we'll be home within two weeks (yikes, where did all that time go?!), where showers consisting of more than 5-litres* of hot water will soon cease to be a novelty! (*Bertie's hot water tank capacity is 10 litres. We can both get a shower from one tank, with some left over for dishes or laundry.)
(An aside, only slightly related to today: A couple of years ago I bought a wifi booster. It wasn't a cheap bit of kit, and in buying it I knew that if it ever paid for itself (compared with using mobile data) then it would take a *very* long time to do so. However, it is convenient, especially in Scotland where so many houses host a BT Wifi hotspot. It's proved even more useful in Germany, as the FON hotspots here (which can be used with a BT log-in) limit you to one device at a time. The booster is one device, but via its own router, ten devices can be connected to it. Today it has proved its worth by giving us access to the free wifi at the swimming pool, which is incredibly fast - probably helped by there being no customers using it at the pool today. I downloaded three newspapers today in five minutes, versus two in an hour in Stuttgart.)
Still following you! Still loving it all! Yum Yum!!
ReplyDeleteOnly another week to go, then you'll deserve a medal for making it through all my witterings!
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