Where's Bertie? He's in a car park on the edge of the Rhein just outside of Baerl. (Exact Location: 51.48563, 6.67925)
Weather: Sunny, hot and humid (low thirties)
There was a disturbance in the night. A mosquito. The worst nights we've ever had in Bertie have all involved mosquitoes. Fortunately, during the first lockdown in 2020, one of the things I did to occupy myself was to make a mosquito-net-tent for Bertie's bed, so when Mick turned the light on again to try to find the little blighter (that had already bitten him repeatedly) at 5am, I got up and retrieved said net from its storage place.
Unfortunately, the last time I deployed that net was the day I made it and with my eyes barely open at 5am, I couldn't work out which end was which (nor indeed what was an end and what a side). Fortunately, whilst faffing trying to work it out, the mosquito landed right in front of me and almost immediately died. Once I'd got back out of bed to get a wet cloth to wipe Mick's mosquito-ingested blood off Bertie's fabric ceiling, the light went back out and I left the fathoming of the net until this morning.
A quick flick back to my photos from 2020...
...told me everything I needed to know and in future we should have more success with an emergency nighttime deployment.
After that it was a struggle to get out of bed at 0730, but I knew that if I delayed getting out for a run any longer, I would suffer in the heat. Thanks to the warm weather in the UK during July and August, the temperature whilst I was out was perfectly tolerable. What wasn't tolerable was my mapping situation. The App I thought would do the job (the only one on which I can get OCM for free) has its shortcomings and I'm almost resigned to having to throw money (far more than I would like - $40 per year) at the issue. Given how much I use OCM when abroad (and sometimes at home too) it's probably a worthwhile expenditure.
View from this morning's run, which featured far too much navigational faffing and one wrong turn
The bit of the route that looked, on the map, like the highlight - a cycle path alongside a lake. What the map didn't tell me was that I would be on a road (albeit dedicated to bicycles and residents), unable to see the lake for the fence and trees. Hey ho. Can't win them all.
Breakfast, showers and use of the service point, and we were away, to drive half an hour along the road to this place. We followed another motorhome into the car park (as it's turned out, the only other motorhome we've seen all day), who parked in the only remaining shaded spot. A few minutes later we got all excited as he decided not to stay, but before we could even get a key into Bertie's ignition, a car nabbed the space. Disappointing for a few moments, until we realised quite how big is the tree under which Bertie is parked. Whilst it's given us less shade at any one time, it's given us partial shade for almost all of the day.
Even so, the coolest place to be today has been on a bench under an avenue of trees lining the cycle path alongside the Rhein, also giving the benefit of a front row view of the constant stream of commercial barges moving goods up and down the waterway. I'm not sure why I enjoy watching the barges so much; I'd never consider sitting alongside a motorway and commenting on the passing lorries to be a good way to while away an afternoon.
At 'rush hour' there was a constant stream of vessels coming from the left, with at least six in view at any one time.
Weather: Sunny, hot and humid (low thirties)
There was a disturbance in the night. A mosquito. The worst nights we've ever had in Bertie have all involved mosquitoes. Fortunately, during the first lockdown in 2020, one of the things I did to occupy myself was to make a mosquito-net-tent for Bertie's bed, so when Mick turned the light on again to try to find the little blighter (that had already bitten him repeatedly) at 5am, I got up and retrieved said net from its storage place.
Unfortunately, the last time I deployed that net was the day I made it and with my eyes barely open at 5am, I couldn't work out which end was which (nor indeed what was an end and what a side). Fortunately, whilst faffing trying to work it out, the mosquito landed right in front of me and almost immediately died. Once I'd got back out of bed to get a wet cloth to wipe Mick's mosquito-ingested blood off Bertie's fabric ceiling, the light went back out and I left the fathoming of the net until this morning.
A quick flick back to my photos from 2020...
...told me everything I needed to know and in future we should have more success with an emergency nighttime deployment.
After that it was a struggle to get out of bed at 0730, but I knew that if I delayed getting out for a run any longer, I would suffer in the heat. Thanks to the warm weather in the UK during July and August, the temperature whilst I was out was perfectly tolerable. What wasn't tolerable was my mapping situation. The App I thought would do the job (the only one on which I can get OCM for free) has its shortcomings and I'm almost resigned to having to throw money (far more than I would like - $40 per year) at the issue. Given how much I use OCM when abroad (and sometimes at home too) it's probably a worthwhile expenditure.
Breakfast, showers and use of the service point, and we were away, to drive half an hour along the road to this place. We followed another motorhome into the car park (as it's turned out, the only other motorhome we've seen all day), who parked in the only remaining shaded spot. A few minutes later we got all excited as he decided not to stay, but before we could even get a key into Bertie's ignition, a car nabbed the space. Disappointing for a few moments, until we realised quite how big is the tree under which Bertie is parked. Whilst it's given us less shade at any one time, it's given us partial shade for almost all of the day.
Even so, the coolest place to be today has been on a bench under an avenue of trees lining the cycle path alongside the Rhein, also giving the benefit of a front row view of the constant stream of commercial barges moving goods up and down the waterway. I'm not sure why I enjoy watching the barges so much; I'd never consider sitting alongside a motorway and commenting on the passing lorries to be a good way to while away an afternoon.
I didn't get a snap of the one with containers stacked three high, but this one gives the gist of quite how massive these vessels are.
Our afternoon was rounded off with the appearance of an ice cream van on the river bank, just outside the car park. A waffle cone with one scoop of incredibly rich ice cream for €1.50. Bargain!
Our afternoon was rounded off with the appearance of an ice cream van on the river bank, just outside the car park. A waffle cone with one scoop of incredibly rich ice cream for €1.50. Bargain!
You could start an on-line business marketing your net having it made up in Taiwan or wherever. Set somebody up to process the orders whilst you continue with your wanderlust.
ReplyDeleteNow you say that, I reckon there would be a market. The only issue I can see is that the attachment points would vary based on model of motorhome, so a bit of extra design work to create flexible options.
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