Where's Bertie? He's in a free (but no-facilities) Stellplatz just outside the perimeter fence of Ramstein US Air Force base. Exact location: 49.44629, 7.57129.
Weather: Gloriously sunny and warm.
Bertie started this morning. A big 'Yay!' for Bertie!
That was a good start to the day. Things then went downhill when, after getting away early, specifically so that I could do laundry, we had a laundrette failure. The first such establishment lay only about 20 metres off our route and we didn't find anywhere obvious to park nearby. I'm sure that a small amount of effort would have yielded somewhere, but as there were two other laundrettes near our route, we continued onwards. It turned out that both of the others (both listed on Google Maps, both with reviews, none of which mentioned this one key feature) were sited inside of US Air Force bases.
We're not desperate for anything (in fact it's possible we could get home without doing more than the odd rinse of running gear*) so after a bit of dithering we continued onwards to Seewoog, a small lake just to the north of Ramstein.
My purpose there was a running recce of the parkrun course, having been told last weekend, by a chap involved in setting up the course, that it's the hilliest in the whole of Germany. I dispute that claim - I did 310' of ascent today, versus 330' at Kräherwald in Stuttgart. The difference here is that all of the ascent comes in the first half of the course.
Mick, nursing his thigh niggle, walked the course** whilst I ran it and once I was done I walked back to meet him, rather than just sitting around waiting.
The start is on the side of the lake...
...goes across arable land...
...but mainly runs through woods.
We had hoped to be able to spend a couple of nights at Seewoog, but it wasn't clear what area was covered by a nearby 'no stopping 2230 - 0800' sign, so we opted to move the short distance to this official motorhome Stellplatz by Ramstein.
Not representative of the norm for German motorhome parking places!
It has to be the most inexplicable German Stellplatz we've come across to date. It's a medium-sized car park (it would probably fit 50 vehicles) with woodland on three sides. So far, so good. The oddness comes in its wasteland appearance (normal in Spain and Portugal, not in Germany) and the fact that other than a swimming pool complex across the road, there doesn't appear to be anything to see or do in the immediate vicinity, other than to walk around the perimeter of the air force base. I suppose Ramstein-Miesenbach is within walking distance, so maybe we should have ventured there to confirm our assessment, although nothing on the map suggests its worth a visit. It's no surprise that we are the only vehicle here.
Perimeter fence of the US Air Force base on the right, woods on the left. Not the most inspiring walking, although made more interesting in places by a *huge* building project going on and glimpses of action on the American Football pitch at the on-base High School.
(*It's a bit like running out of food. When our supplies are low, it's never a case that we're about to starve, it's just that without a visit to a shop subsequent meals would involve non-standard food combinations. Without doing laundry we're not about to run out of clothes, nor be forced to wear things that are dirtier than usual - we just won't have available to us the items that we choose to wear the most.
**Since last week's lost-in-the-woods incident Mick has installed ViewRanger on his phone. I marked out the parkrun route for him AND he took his reading glasses with him, so he knew where he was at all times.)
Weather: Gloriously sunny and warm.
Bertie started this morning. A big 'Yay!' for Bertie!
That was a good start to the day. Things then went downhill when, after getting away early, specifically so that I could do laundry, we had a laundrette failure. The first such establishment lay only about 20 metres off our route and we didn't find anywhere obvious to park nearby. I'm sure that a small amount of effort would have yielded somewhere, but as there were two other laundrettes near our route, we continued onwards. It turned out that both of the others (both listed on Google Maps, both with reviews, none of which mentioned this one key feature) were sited inside of US Air Force bases.
We're not desperate for anything (in fact it's possible we could get home without doing more than the odd rinse of running gear*) so after a bit of dithering we continued onwards to Seewoog, a small lake just to the north of Ramstein.
My purpose there was a running recce of the parkrun course, having been told last weekend, by a chap involved in setting up the course, that it's the hilliest in the whole of Germany. I dispute that claim - I did 310' of ascent today, versus 330' at Kräherwald in Stuttgart. The difference here is that all of the ascent comes in the first half of the course.
Mick, nursing his thigh niggle, walked the course** whilst I ran it and once I was done I walked back to meet him, rather than just sitting around waiting.
We had hoped to be able to spend a couple of nights at Seewoog, but it wasn't clear what area was covered by a nearby 'no stopping 2230 - 0800' sign, so we opted to move the short distance to this official motorhome Stellplatz by Ramstein.
It has to be the most inexplicable German Stellplatz we've come across to date. It's a medium-sized car park (it would probably fit 50 vehicles) with woodland on three sides. So far, so good. The oddness comes in its wasteland appearance (normal in Spain and Portugal, not in Germany) and the fact that other than a swimming pool complex across the road, there doesn't appear to be anything to see or do in the immediate vicinity, other than to walk around the perimeter of the air force base. I suppose Ramstein-Miesenbach is within walking distance, so maybe we should have ventured there to confirm our assessment, although nothing on the map suggests its worth a visit. It's no surprise that we are the only vehicle here.
(*It's a bit like running out of food. When our supplies are low, it's never a case that we're about to starve, it's just that without a visit to a shop subsequent meals would involve non-standard food combinations. Without doing laundry we're not about to run out of clothes, nor be forced to wear things that are dirtier than usual - we just won't have available to us the items that we choose to wear the most.
**Since last week's lost-in-the-woods incident Mick has installed ViewRanger on his phone. I marked out the parkrun route for him AND he took his reading glasses with him, so he knew where he was at all times.)
Did you ever find any laundrettes during TGO Challenges?
ReplyDeleteThe only occasion we ever vaguely tried to look for one was many years ago when passing through Aviemore. We didn't find one and, now I think about it, I can't recall when I last used a laundrette in the UK.
DeleteIn the UK, whether backpacking or walking, we take advantage of campsite their laundry facilities.
The difference with motorhome touring in Europe is that we don't need to stay at campsites (due to the availability of motorhome parking areas and service points) and whilst it would be a solution to our laundry needs, I don't like to pay €20+ for a campsite we don't need to then pay prices higher than a laundrette to use machines that are usually inferior. The only real advantage to doing laundry on a campsite is that it's acceptable to get the rotary airer out, so can air-dry (weather permitting!) rather than tumbling.
(Hmmm, went off at a bit of tangent there, but relevant to the post, I think!)
I was only leg-pulling. By the way I have recently taken to hanging out on the line after years of exclusively tumbling. The results are better - I love those crispy towels - and I actually find the whole process therapeutic. I think it satisfies my ingrained objection to wasting anything from being born during the war and remembering my mother mixing margarine (not butter) with water to make it go further and all that business of rationing - a bit before your time.
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