Where's Bertie? He's in a 4-vehicle Stellplatz on the edge of the small settlement of Altenglan. It costs €5 per night to stay here (honesty box). Electricity and water are available at extra cost. Exact location: 49.54977, 7.46435.
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot.
Over 33,000 people currently serve in the RAF and within moments of Mick chatting to one of them (a chap also called Mick, but who I'll call Michael) at this morning's parkrun they had established that Michael's current colleague at Ramstein previously served with Mick on CXX Squadron at Kinloss. By lunchtime Mick had received a message from that ex-colleague and we're due to meet on Tuesday. Small world, eh?
Photos taken from Seewoog parkrun's Facebook page. I'd love to know what I'd just said to Mick when the first one was taken and what he'd said to me before the second one
As for the parkrun, it was good! Whilst it may not quite be the hilliest course in Germany (I think I said a couple of days ago: per my measurements, Kräherwald just pips it), I couldn't dispute today's slightly different assertion: that it is the hardest. I finished seconds ahead of Mick, who beat me convincingly on age grading. (Meanwhile, the other Michael set a new course age-grading record, and I took my hat off to the woman who finished in a speedy time whilst pushing a double buggy - she didn't just have hills to contend with, but soft and uneven gravel on some of the tracks.)
It was nearly noon by the time we left, by which time, in spite of cake brought by one of the runners, I was hungry enough to feel a raid on the fridge was in order. However, I was also aware that it's a sunny Saturday and that our chosen destination for today was a Stellplatz with only 4 spaces. To maximise the chances of there being a space free (and I wasn't optimistic), we paused neither to wash nor to eat, but came straight here.
We arrived to find just two other vans*. The lack of busyness was explained a couple of hours later when we went for a look around and found that there is nothing nearby to attract the masses. We discovered three supermarkets, one restaurant (currently closed for the owner's holiday) and plenty of residential streets.
We'd read before arrival that the railway line that runs alongside the Stellplatz is disused.
What the Stellplatz does have, however, is nice surroundings, with views of lumpy terrain, meadows and woodland. Oh, and a passing riverside cycle route, which is what drew us here, for running purposes.
The railway line isn't quite disused, but its pedal-powered carriages are good fun to watch as they pass!
It didn't take me long to knock up the second sock of this (not quite matching) pair, but I'm now going to rip back the first one, made earlier in the summer, because it's a bit on the snug side.
(*We left the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg (where school holidays will continue until 11 September) and entered Rhineland-Palatinate last week and I think the school holidays have already finished here. However, I'm not convinced that makes a significant difference to the number of motorhomes in the sorts of Stellplatz we usually frequent. Our neighbours are usually retirees, not families. Of the two other vans here, one was parked by us in Bad Dürkheim - it was their dog we recognised first. They recognised us, probably because British vans are a rarity - I don't think we've seen many more than half a dozen other GB-plated vans in our 11 weeks to date. I don't understand why Germany isn't more popular amongst our countryfolk.)
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot.
Over 33,000 people currently serve in the RAF and within moments of Mick chatting to one of them (a chap also called Mick, but who I'll call Michael) at this morning's parkrun they had established that Michael's current colleague at Ramstein previously served with Mick on CXX Squadron at Kinloss. By lunchtime Mick had received a message from that ex-colleague and we're due to meet on Tuesday. Small world, eh?
As for the parkrun, it was good! Whilst it may not quite be the hilliest course in Germany (I think I said a couple of days ago: per my measurements, Kräherwald just pips it), I couldn't dispute today's slightly different assertion: that it is the hardest. I finished seconds ahead of Mick, who beat me convincingly on age grading. (Meanwhile, the other Michael set a new course age-grading record, and I took my hat off to the woman who finished in a speedy time whilst pushing a double buggy - she didn't just have hills to contend with, but soft and uneven gravel on some of the tracks.)
It was nearly noon by the time we left, by which time, in spite of cake brought by one of the runners, I was hungry enough to feel a raid on the fridge was in order. However, I was also aware that it's a sunny Saturday and that our chosen destination for today was a Stellplatz with only 4 spaces. To maximise the chances of there being a space free (and I wasn't optimistic), we paused neither to wash nor to eat, but came straight here.
We arrived to find just two other vans*. The lack of busyness was explained a couple of hours later when we went for a look around and found that there is nothing nearby to attract the masses. We discovered three supermarkets, one restaurant (currently closed for the owner's holiday) and plenty of residential streets.
What the Stellplatz does have, however, is nice surroundings, with views of lumpy terrain, meadows and woodland. Oh, and a passing riverside cycle route, which is what drew us here, for running purposes.
It didn't take me long to knock up the second sock of this (not quite matching) pair, but I'm now going to rip back the first one, made earlier in the summer, because it's a bit on the snug side.
(*We left the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg (where school holidays will continue until 11 September) and entered Rhineland-Palatinate last week and I think the school holidays have already finished here. However, I'm not convinced that makes a significant difference to the number of motorhomes in the sorts of Stellplatz we usually frequent. Our neighbours are usually retirees, not families. Of the two other vans here, one was parked by us in Bad Dürkheim - it was their dog we recognised first. They recognised us, probably because British vans are a rarity - I don't think we've seen many more than half a dozen other GB-plated vans in our 11 weeks to date. I don't understand why Germany isn't more popular amongst our countryfolk.)
I may be wrong but I think language may be a contributor to popularity for visits. Because I can get along with French it has influenced me to go to France, and much to my loss not visiting Spain more often. More people in the UIK will be able to manage with French language rather than German I reckon. But, from what I've seen of your trip Germany obviously has a lot to offer.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how much language has a bearing as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece seem to be popular destinations with the British. Thinking along those lines, perhaps what Germany is lacking is 'package holiday' type resorts (particularly beach ones) and thus most people don't consider it as a destination. Germany does have a lot to offer, and it's such an easy, good value place to tour by motorhome.
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