Where was Bertie? He was still at the Stellplatz in Merzig.
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot.
I'm three days behind myself, so time for a mini-glut of blog posts to catch up, starting with Friday, when not much happened, so I should be able to cover it in relatively few words*.
The morning saw us do a recce of the first third (the complicated-looking portion) of the parkrun course. Thanks to the council having installed permanent parkrun waymarker signs, it was easy to follow. We did, however, arrive back in the main section of the park, having gone alongside a main road and taken a wiggly route around a tiny animal park (including another bit of road-side pavement), wondering why they'd made such a convoluted course rather than just doing an out-and-back along the river tow-path (which is where the other two-thirds of the course runs). It was what it was, though, so suitably reassured that we knew where we would be going the following morning, off we went to a nearby shopping centre.
Permanent waymarkers for the parkrun course - never seen such before.
Just before the animal park came a pond...
...then a zig-zagging route between the animal enclosures...
...before taking to the riverside.
Our purpose at the shopping centre was simply to buy some stamps, but we got side-tracked by a 'wok' fast food outlet and opted for an early lunch in lieu of elevenses (the bakery/coffee shop outlet next door would perhaps have won our custom if their tables hadn't all been occupied).
Back at Bertie by early in the afternoon, we set about sitting outside, melting gently in the heat. A while later a British motorhome** pulled up and its driver, Jeff, came to ask us how to gain access to the Stellplatz.
Jeff came back for a chat once he'd checked in*** and as he left he invited us over later in the evening. So, after tea we nipped over. Mick was insistent that we would only be gone five or ten minutes and thus we didn't need to shut the windows or lock up properly. It turned out that my prediction ("We'll be chatting for hours!") was the accurate one. Not only was Jeff ex-RAF, but both he and Mrs. Jeff (if she told us her name, we instantly forgot it) used to work for the same company as I did back in the 1990s. A good hour after darkness had fallen I suggested that maybe it was time to return to Bertie.
It was a late night (we'd not done the dishes or tidied away before we nipped out so chores were waiting on our return), with an alarm set for an early morning and we went to bed with the sound of music emanating from the venue behind Bertie.
(*Ha! Who am I kidding?!
**I said a few days back that we had only seen half a dozen or so British registered vans during our three months in Germany. With Merzig being a funnel point for those travelling back to Channel ports via Luxembourg we saw four other Brit vans during our two day stay. So, perhaps there are significant number of Brits touring Germany after all, it's just a big country with lots of places to stay.
***Until we met Jeff, the €7.50/night fee for the Stellplatz didn't feel unreasonable. Then he was allocated a space in a separate no-electric area. What we weren't told on check-in that there was a no-electric option at just €2.50 per night (we asked how much electric cost and was told it was included in the €7.50). I would never choose to pay €5 per night for electric! We usually only get through around 0.5kWh per day.)
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot.
I'm three days behind myself, so time for a mini-glut of blog posts to catch up, starting with Friday, when not much happened, so I should be able to cover it in relatively few words*.
The morning saw us do a recce of the first third (the complicated-looking portion) of the parkrun course. Thanks to the council having installed permanent parkrun waymarker signs, it was easy to follow. We did, however, arrive back in the main section of the park, having gone alongside a main road and taken a wiggly route around a tiny animal park (including another bit of road-side pavement), wondering why they'd made such a convoluted course rather than just doing an out-and-back along the river tow-path (which is where the other two-thirds of the course runs). It was what it was, though, so suitably reassured that we knew where we would be going the following morning, off we went to a nearby shopping centre.
Our purpose at the shopping centre was simply to buy some stamps, but we got side-tracked by a 'wok' fast food outlet and opted for an early lunch in lieu of elevenses (the bakery/coffee shop outlet next door would perhaps have won our custom if their tables hadn't all been occupied).
Back at Bertie by early in the afternoon, we set about sitting outside, melting gently in the heat. A while later a British motorhome** pulled up and its driver, Jeff, came to ask us how to gain access to the Stellplatz.
Jeff came back for a chat once he'd checked in*** and as he left he invited us over later in the evening. So, after tea we nipped over. Mick was insistent that we would only be gone five or ten minutes and thus we didn't need to shut the windows or lock up properly. It turned out that my prediction ("We'll be chatting for hours!") was the accurate one. Not only was Jeff ex-RAF, but both he and Mrs. Jeff (if she told us her name, we instantly forgot it) used to work for the same company as I did back in the 1990s. A good hour after darkness had fallen I suggested that maybe it was time to return to Bertie.
It was a late night (we'd not done the dishes or tidied away before we nipped out so chores were waiting on our return), with an alarm set for an early morning and we went to bed with the sound of music emanating from the venue behind Bertie.
(*Ha! Who am I kidding?!
**I said a few days back that we had only seen half a dozen or so British registered vans during our three months in Germany. With Merzig being a funnel point for those travelling back to Channel ports via Luxembourg we saw four other Brit vans during our two day stay. So, perhaps there are significant number of Brits touring Germany after all, it's just a big country with lots of places to stay.
***Until we met Jeff, the €7.50/night fee for the Stellplatz didn't feel unreasonable. Then he was allocated a space in a separate no-electric area. What we weren't told on check-in that there was a no-electric option at just €2.50 per night (we asked how much electric cost and was told it was included in the €7.50). I would never choose to pay €5 per night for electric! We usually only get through around 0.5kWh per day.)
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