WEEK 6: Lorelei, Germany to Home, UK – 594 miles
Saturday 14th July 2018 Lorelei – Day 2
The band and crew have finally arrived, late. The bus bringing them here had a few problems along the way. They were supposed to be here before we arrived more than 12 hours ago, but they had fan belt and AC issues, so when they did arrive they were not in the best of moods.
Plus it was so hot that instead of using the normal AC generator, which was also broken, the engine had to be used to power the AC which meant the engine had to be all day and night, and the back of the bus was right next to us… Great. All we can hear all day and all night is the band bus engine…
Some of the crew come and admire Jess, taking turns to come on board to look at how we live, poke their noses into the toilet and shower, and bounce up and down trying out the seating arrangements. They are all very complementary so we set off in search of some lunch and a break from the bus engine.
After lunch and beer, we sit and watch the afternoon music but it’s far too hot. We find another toboggan run a small one. It’s ok but again nowhere near as good as the 3km one in Todtnau.
It’s late afternoon and Camel are not on stage until 10:30 tonight, so we go back to the van and try to relax, but the engine noise is driving us mad. Sometimes it goes off once the AC has reached temperature, but it soon starts up again. The back of the bus’s engine bay is also open to help with the cooling. It’s so loud.
Time for dinner. The day seems so long, it seems hours away yet before the band are on. We have a great dinner at the side of the van with the trees next to us.
It’s nice with a glass of red wine in the shade and the Volvo diesel engine from the bus next door!
Del goes back to work to do some more focusing in-between bands. Finally, Camel are on stage for a long 2-hour set. It goes down very well. The audience love them. The band are now in better spirits after such a bad journey here.
We help them pack up and get back to the bus and say goodbye. It seems to take forever for them to attach the trailer to the bus but finally they are done and they leave. Finally, peace at last. Bliss… We get 8 hours of Peace and quiet before it’s our turn to leave.
Sunday 15th July 2018 Lorelei, Germany – Landgraaf, Holland. 129 miles
Today is the day that we have to turn around and start to make our way back home. We have been away for 5 weeks and we have a week to get back home, de-prep Jess and put her back into storage until the next time. We love Jess. She has performed well on her first trip out, exceeded expectations, and given us no problems or issues at all. We are very pleased with our purchase.
Our return journey will take us up north to Holland and to the town of Landgraaf which used to be a large coal mining town. It’s not only the UK that’s had pit closures. It will also be a long journey today, we haven’t done a long drive for a while, 2 and a bit hours. We get packed up and do a full van service and a diesel and LPG top-up. We are ready for our last week. It’s been a nice couple of days, noisy, but nice.
Our stop in Holland is a campsite on a farm but when we arrive there is only one space left and it’s not in the best position, right by the gate, some old caravans and piles of bricks, so instead we head for an aire.
It’s a nice clean place, barriered entrance and nice pitches that we can choose from, but we are plagued with flies, loads of them. It’s hot, very hot, and we are still a bit tired from our noisy nights in Lorelei so we have bit of lay down. It’s too hot.
We watch the World Cup final. France wins… Well deserved we feel. Dinner was another one of Hayley’s paellas. It was absolutely delicious. Feeling a bit more revived and cooler, we take a walk into town. There is another festival on making a right racket. It’s the Neverland Festival. A bit more of a dance festival than prog rock.
Back at the van, where it’s now a little cooler, we find that we are plagued with flies in the van, 7 of them buzzing around. Oh well that’s camping for you.
Monday 16th July 2018 Langsraaf, Holland – Felleries, France. 123 miles
Del can’t stand the flies any longer and is up early. It’s hot already. We have a fabulous full breakfast before setting off. Today we are crossing another border into France and to the town of Felleries. Another 2-hour drive of mainly motorways to a lovely municipal campsite with lovely friendly French welcome from the staff.
Once we are installed and comfortable in our fly-free pitch we head off into town. It’s a Monday today and as is the way in France, most of it is closed. There is a nice old water mill here so we have a look around it. We are spotted by the curator and he very kindly invites us in for a personal tour of the mill. He starts up the mill and gives us a demonstration of the equipment, especially the foot operated lathe, which Hayley likes. It’s all very interesting and very nice of the guy to take the time and show us around. What a nice man.
There is a cycle track here that runs where there was once a train line. We thought that we would give it a go but it starts to rain.
We have a nice simple dinner and then back into the town. There is a jazz festival on and tonight it’s a 5-piece swing band.
It’s all very charming with festoon lights and small stalls selling crepes. Lovely.
Tuesday 17th July 2018 Felleries – Herlies. 81 miles
We have a nice long sleep in this morning. After breakfast, we are in search of a van wash. Jess hasn’t been cleaned for three weeks, she is filthy and covered in bugs. After a bit of internet searching and driving around we finally find one. Its a strange arrangement though. It look new, the wash itself is on a hill, and to get to it, and to be inside the wash area properly, the drive into it is a steep, almost 30 degree hill. It was a bit scary as Jess is side-on to go up and round into the wash area. Gulp! She’s in and washed. She looks lovely when she has had a bath.
We are running out of food so we need to find a good supermarket to stock up. We end up down a wrong street and faced with a hight restricted bridge of 2.7m, fortunately we find a side street to go down to avoid that. Very lucky. We could have been unpopular if we had to reverse all the way back up the street. Finally an Auchan supermarket. That’s a no go also as there is a height restriction there. Not doing well, until finally we find a huge Lidl with lots of space and everything that we need..
We arrive at the campsite in Herlies which is ok. Lots of static full-time caravans, some look like they have not been used for ages. The pitches are ok and private with high hedges surrounding your pitch. Too many noisy kids here, so noisy we move to another pitch.
We finally get settled in and go for a walk around the very nice town, which is open!
Wednesday 18th July 2018 Herlies, France – Poperinge, Belgium. 37 miles
It’s a lovely morning this morning. Peaceful as well, glad we moved. We have a smashing breakfast outside in the morning sun. We pack up and set off along the French/Belgian border and dive into Belgium and into Poperinge, the place where our first European adventure in our van started.
We do like it here. There are only a couple of other vans here so it’s nice and quiet. There are lots of forest walks around here so we set off. We stumble into a relic from the war, a V1 rocket launch site.
50-odd meters of angled ramp was pointed towards London which is only 250 km from where we are standing. It’s all very interesting as it is buried deep in the forest, and this one is not the only one.
We have a lovely dinner back at Jess with a few beers and walk along the road where we watch a fantastic sunset through the cornfields.
A lovely last night for our first European tour. Most enjoyable and most memorable. That’s what it’s all about after all!
Thursday 19th July Poperinge, Belgium – Home, UK 230 miles
Up early today, at 7 am. Today we are going home, but first, we have to stop at a wine warehouse to pick up our order, an order that Hayley placed a few days ago. We are picking up 10 boxes of wine, 6 in each box… That’s a lot of wine.
We are at the shop by 9 am, we have to pick up the order and then get to the Calais ferry port for check-in. The order is ready and waiting for us, so we get loaded up and get to the Port of Calais with plenty of time to spare, enough time to have coffee and croissants.
Other people have the same idea as one family has set up a full table and chairs outside their van and sit down to a full breakfast. Well why not?
The crossing was uneventful, calmer than our outbound journey 6 weeks ago. We are soon on the rough roads of the UK’s M25, and it is rough, very rough. A couple of hours later we are in Portsmouth for the final ferry to the Isle of Wight and home.
Jess is unloaded, and there is so much stuff in the van, when Hayley drives Jess back to the storage place she notices the difference, she feels lighter and easier to drive. Not surprised with all our stuff and an extra 60 bottles of wine!
Finally, at the storage park, we de-prep the last bits and pieces, drag her cover on and secure her safe from the elements.
We enjoyed our first European van trip in Europe. We saw a lot and learnt a lot. We look forward to our next trip. Whenever and wherever that might be…
Thanks Jess…
Visited 28 places in 6 Countries.
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