Where's Bertie? He's in a free Stellplatz in the village of Diesdorf. Electricity and water are available for small fees. Exact location: 52.75122, 10.87765
Weather: Once the mizzly cloud had burned off mid-morning, sunny intervals, getting up to around 21 degrees.
Our day started with a run around the Allersee and out-and-back along the Mittellandkanal under a mizzling grey sky:
It was only when we'd finished and were walking back to the campsite that I stopped to look at a map of the Allerpark and saw an obvious route that would have been more interesting than what we'd just done, taking in a water-skiing water park and the schloss. Pity I didn't look at that sign at any of the other times we'd passed it in the last couple of days, or when we'd been parked near it on Friday night.
Back at Bertie it was time to use the only campsite facility, other than the laundry, that was of use to us: a nice hot, mains water shower. This went far better for me than for Mick. He'd got undressed in his shower cubicle and turned on the shower, but only cold water was coming out. At that point he realised he hadn't put his 50c in the meter. That realisation was swiftly followed by two more: he'd left his 50c on the side in Bertie, and he hadn't picked up his towel either. So, after a very quick cold shower, he dried off on his t-shirt - not quite the shower experience he'd been looking forward to. Meanwhile, in the ladies I enjoyed a steaming hot shower, and dried off on my towel...
Having by then been on the campsite for 24 hours, and in the absence of an advertised departure time, we felt we should probably leave. Bertie was quickly packed away, he availed himself of the service point, then he removed himself all the way back to the other side of the fence. Leaving properly at that point would have been possible, but a bit tricky as we were at the end of a dead-end road, and this was our exit route:
The route of the Wolfsburg half and full marathon. The sign means 'no entry'.
So, we stood and clapped, clapped and clapped some more, probably the only people so doing at this point who didn't know anyone in the race.
Another chunk of time was spent in Bertie over coffee and snacks until the marathon course quietened down enough for us to leave, and by then we'd identified our next stopping point.
Surprisingly (or maybe not based on last week's performance), we didn't move west. Nope, Bertie's back in the old East Germany (the state of Saxony Anhalt), although because of the shape of the border that involved far more northerly movement than easterly.
Some of the roads were a bit small, but both the SatNav and Google agreed it was the best route
Even though Diesdorf is a tiny place, we only looked at part of it today, as we probably want to stay here for two nights. Today's wanderings took us past a building...
...from the 1300s that was originally the bake and brewhouse of the former monastery, then in 1861 became an oast house for pine seed production (via heating of the pine cones). We were just standing outside, wondering whether to Google Translate the sign in front of us, when a lady came over and started talking to us. Explaining that we were English and didn't speak German, she asked us, in German, to come with her. That we did and she took us inside and explained to us (still in German, but in terms simple enough that we could understand) how the oast had worked and for what purpose. Interesting!
Next was the church of the old monastery, which claims to be the oldest vaulted church of pure Romanesque construction in the region. We do love these niche 'oldest' claims that we've seen all over Germany.
Not sure about all that painted-on brickwork
We didn't explore the rest of the village (which will undoubtedly not take long), saving that until the morrow. Why stay in such a small place for an extra day? Because there's an open air museum just down the road (claiming to be the oldest of its kind in Germany) that I'd like to visit (museum visits have been lacking on this trip, but surely masks won't be required an at open air site?*) and, in common with museums across Europe, it won't be open tomorrow, with it being Monday.
Weather: Once the mizzly cloud had burned off mid-morning, sunny intervals, getting up to around 21 degrees.
Our day started with a run around the Allersee and out-and-back along the Mittellandkanal under a mizzling grey sky:
It was only when we'd finished and were walking back to the campsite that I stopped to look at a map of the Allerpark and saw an obvious route that would have been more interesting than what we'd just done, taking in a water-skiing water park and the schloss. Pity I didn't look at that sign at any of the other times we'd passed it in the last couple of days, or when we'd been parked near it on Friday night.
Back at Bertie it was time to use the only campsite facility, other than the laundry, that was of use to us: a nice hot, mains water shower. This went far better for me than for Mick. He'd got undressed in his shower cubicle and turned on the shower, but only cold water was coming out. At that point he realised he hadn't put his 50c in the meter. That realisation was swiftly followed by two more: he'd left his 50c on the side in Bertie, and he hadn't picked up his towel either. So, after a very quick cold shower, he dried off on his t-shirt - not quite the shower experience he'd been looking forward to. Meanwhile, in the ladies I enjoyed a steaming hot shower, and dried off on my towel...
Having by then been on the campsite for 24 hours, and in the absence of an advertised departure time, we felt we should probably leave. Bertie was quickly packed away, he availed himself of the service point, then he removed himself all the way back to the other side of the fence. Leaving properly at that point would have been possible, but a bit tricky as we were at the end of a dead-end road, and this was our exit route:
So, we stood and clapped, clapped and clapped some more, probably the only people so doing at this point who didn't know anyone in the race.
Another chunk of time was spent in Bertie over coffee and snacks until the marathon course quietened down enough for us to leave, and by then we'd identified our next stopping point.
Surprisingly (or maybe not based on last week's performance), we didn't move west. Nope, Bertie's back in the old East Germany (the state of Saxony Anhalt), although because of the shape of the border that involved far more northerly movement than easterly.
Even though Diesdorf is a tiny place, we only looked at part of it today, as we probably want to stay here for two nights. Today's wanderings took us past a building...
...from the 1300s that was originally the bake and brewhouse of the former monastery, then in 1861 became an oast house for pine seed production (via heating of the pine cones). We were just standing outside, wondering whether to Google Translate the sign in front of us, when a lady came over and started talking to us. Explaining that we were English and didn't speak German, she asked us, in German, to come with her. That we did and she took us inside and explained to us (still in German, but in terms simple enough that we could understand) how the oast had worked and for what purpose. Interesting!
Next was the church of the old monastery, which claims to be the oldest vaulted church of pure Romanesque construction in the region. We do love these niche 'oldest' claims that we've seen all over Germany.
We didn't explore the rest of the village (which will undoubtedly not take long), saving that until the morrow. Why stay in such a small place for an extra day? Because there's an open air museum just down the road (claiming to be the oldest of its kind in Germany) that I'd like to visit (museum visits have been lacking on this trip, but surely masks won't be required an at open air site?*) and, in common with museums across Europe, it won't be open tomorrow, with it being Monday.
Some of the buildings are a bit more Soviet in appearance.
(*Legally, masks are not required in museums, but most that we have looked at visiting have either required or requested them - and even if it is only a request, we don't want to be the people who appear rude for not abiding by the norm. Moreover, the general requirement in Germany has been for medical (FFP2) grade masks, and that's what we're witnessing people wearing in shops and the streets, and if we're going to visit a museum, I don't want to spend the time wearing a medical grade mask. Nor do I much want to be indoors for any great period of time with other people, although in our experience, museums are never crowded and often empty.
And just an aside: in the 181 nights we've spent in Germany over the course of four trips, last night was the first spent at a campsite. Just goes to show how good their Stellplatz network is.)
(*Legally, masks are not required in museums, but most that we have looked at visiting have either required or requested them - and even if it is only a request, we don't want to be the people who appear rude for not abiding by the norm. Moreover, the general requirement in Germany has been for medical (FFP2) grade masks, and that's what we're witnessing people wearing in shops and the streets, and if we're going to visit a museum, I don't want to spend the time wearing a medical grade mask. Nor do I much want to be indoors for any great period of time with other people, although in our experience, museums are never crowded and often empty.
And just an aside: in the 181 nights we've spent in Germany over the course of four trips, last night was the first spent at a campsite. Just goes to show how good their Stellplatz network is.)
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