Tuesday 20 August 2024

Tuesday 20 August - Minheim

Where's Bertie? He's at a rather nice commercial Stellplatz right on the Mosel at Minheim, where it costs 8.50 per night. Electricity and water are available for reasonable extra fees. Exact location: 49.865035, 6.941688
Weather: Sunny morning, clouding over a bit this afternoon. 27 degrees and humid.

We had a quiet night in the car park last night, with the exception of a three minute interlude just before 2am when a gaggle of women, who were finding everything Very Amusing Indeed, passed by. An excess of wine, or some special giggle water? Given the wine festival, it was likely the former.

A gorgeous sunny morning, in a very attractive area. What else to do but to take a run/walk through the vineyards, almost to the top of a local hill (from what I could glean, there was no path to the very top, so I had to skirt it on one side or the other). It was rather lovely!

Vineyards everywhere


A picnic bench, a bin, a chapel...


...and the other side of the chapel another bench and some oversized sunloungers. A picnic lunch, dispose of rubbish, a quick prayer then an afternoon of sunbathing. Every requirement is covered!


Nearby, the usual array of signposts, making the outdoors as accessible as can be. And another bench.

Superb views down to the river


Mick thought something had gone wrong with my outing when I got back as I had been so quick. In reality, I'd been only a little faster than predicted; it was Mick who had been so engrossed in what he was doing that he'd lost track of time.

Everywhere had been closed when I'd walked through Leiwen yesterday, but that's often the case in the afternoon. Everywhere was still closed this morning. Not that there seemed to be a lot of businesses, aside from the wineries every few paces, and maybe those that do exist are closed this week, with the wine festival going on?

So, no coffee and cake in a bakery. Instead pastries and a few supplies from the supermarket.

Back at Bertie the 'Where are we going next?' considerations happened afresh. We're heading towards a parkrun, but it has come to my attention that it often cancels the day before. So, I contemplated the most efficient route to get to Alsace instead (you remember, the region we said we were going to tour on this trip, before we blew off course), during which we veered from taking the most direct route (i.e. heading due south from Leiwen) to 'Hey, let's travel a bit further North East, away from our objective!'.

Why Minheim? Because of all the many commercial Stellplatz along the Mosel, this was the cheapest in the direction we are headed, and basic is fine by us.

We were pleasantly surprised upon arrival. The Stellplatz looks like a Caravan Club site, albeit one without a toilet block, with hardstanding pitches separated by grass. It's all well kept, and there are plenty of electric hook up points (not that we've hooked up, as for the moment we're managing fine with Bertie's solar).

We took a walk into the village this afternoon, finding it also to be well presented, with a happy mix of oldy-worldy looking buildings and newer architecture.

They've also covered the commercial gap in the market for those people desperate for wine when the wine emporiums are closed:



The second vending machine has a more comprehensive offering, in that it also stocks wine glasses, so that you don't need to drink your emergency wine purchase straight from the bottle. 


1 comment:

  1. Looks like another good trip. Here many hours spent on IT troubles, but we are on our way to being sorted. I think we were near where you are on our recent trip. Enjoy! And don't overdo it, Mick.

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