Where's Bertie? He's in a car park next to Schloss Bückeburg, where it costs €7 for 24 hours. Water and electricity are available for a small extra fee.
Weather: Overcast with some rain mid-morning. Cool at just 22 degrees.
As I suggested we might, we nipped back into Werne after tea and chores last night, where we did a tour of the four street entertainers who were on at 8pm. It's a tricky thing, seeing a taster of four different acts in such a short period, as it's far too easy to get drawn in and forget to move on.
Weather: Overcast with some rain mid-morning. Cool at just 22 degrees.
As I suggested we might, we nipped back into Werne after tea and chores last night, where we did a tour of the four street entertainers who were on at 8pm. It's a tricky thing, seeing a taster of four different acts in such a short period, as it's far too easy to get drawn in and forget to move on.
Wandering back to Bertie (at the back of a truly huge car park that had been completely full for most of the afternoon), we had to conclude that the distrubance at Waltrop that had led us to do the quick late-night flit to Werne had turned into a positive, leading us to stumble upon a festival that otherwise wouldn't have been on our radar.
It was a 6am alarm this morning - an antisocial time to be moving around - causing us to creep about being as quiet as possible whilst we performed the necessary pre-departure chores (unplugging from someone's leftover electricity and emptying the toilet, so not things we could do last night). On the road just before 0630, we arrived at Obersee in Bielefeld on schedule at 0800, with relief to find that our no-recce gamble had paid off: parking was no problem at all and having now seen the place* we have confidence we could have spent the night there. Useful knowledge, if we ever happen to be in that neck of the woods again.
The parkrun passed off nicely. It's a good course and I ran my fastest time since last October, finishing as first female (there was only a field of 12, of whom 5 were women). There was no cafe visit post-parkrun, but a couple of people had brought supplies, in the shape of a bottle of wine and cake balls. I don't think many people partook in the former, but the cake balls were excellent.
We chatted a good long while, mainly with Anne, whose English was so good as to sound like a native (thanks to having spent the best part of 20 years with a chap from Middlesborough, who speaks perfectly good German, but their language at home is English). Eventually a light rain started, which gradually became heavier, and people began to drift away. The walk back to Bertie was in the company of Anne and an expat called Shaun, and once there we all stood around for another while before parting ways. The rain really came down at that point and my fingers were turning purple by the time we got into the dry. What a contrast to last week!
Surveying again the options as to where to go today, this time with the assistance of a road atlas, I opted for the most expensive and most out-of-our-way, at Bückeburg, as it looked interesting enough to justify the few extra miles and modest expenditure (there were three other possibilities in this area, all of which offer free parking, but with the obligation to pay €3.80 in tourist tax).
Whilst we don't know what we're missing elsewhere, I think this was a good choice. We've walked up to the front of the Schloss, wandered through its grounds to the main focal point therein, the mausaleum, and walked through the town. Given more time and if there hadn't been an obligation to wear a mask, we might have visited the helicopter museum. An unlikely attraction in a little historic place such as this (indeed, part of the museum is housed in a half-timbered building).
Schloss Bückeburg and its main entance archway
From the back. It's a huge place.
Mausoleum
Rathaus
Fountain of the day
Sculptures of the day
The parkrun passed off nicely. It's a good course and I ran my fastest time since last October, finishing as first female (there was only a field of 12, of whom 5 were women). There was no cafe visit post-parkrun, but a couple of people had brought supplies, in the shape of a bottle of wine and cake balls. I don't think many people partook in the former, but the cake balls were excellent.
We chatted a good long while, mainly with Anne, whose English was so good as to sound like a native (thanks to having spent the best part of 20 years with a chap from Middlesborough, who speaks perfectly good German, but their language at home is English). Eventually a light rain started, which gradually became heavier, and people began to drift away. The walk back to Bertie was in the company of Anne and an expat called Shaun, and once there we all stood around for another while before parting ways. The rain really came down at that point and my fingers were turning purple by the time we got into the dry. What a contrast to last week!
Surveying again the options as to where to go today, this time with the assistance of a road atlas, I opted for the most expensive and most out-of-our-way, at Bückeburg, as it looked interesting enough to justify the few extra miles and modest expenditure (there were three other possibilities in this area, all of which offer free parking, but with the obligation to pay €3.80 in tourist tax).
Whilst we don't know what we're missing elsewhere, I think this was a good choice. We've walked up to the front of the Schloss, wandered through its grounds to the main focal point therein, the mausaleum, and walked through the town. Given more time and if there hadn't been an obligation to wear a mask, we might have visited the helicopter museum. An unlikely attraction in a little historic place such as this (indeed, part of the museum is housed in a half-timbered building).
*Due to privacy laws, StreetView is almost non-existent in Germany, limiting the opportunity to view destinations online first. Fortunately, height barriers are, in our experience, rare here, although there is still the possibility of being surprised by other obstacles or parking restrictions.
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