Thursday 10th September 2020

Now that Hayley’s pulse rate has calmed down after yesterday, and Dels’ shoulder has stopped aching from carrying the bag all day it’s time to move on. We are nearing the end of our first week in Germany’s Black Forest, next week the Mosel Valley. A quick breakfast in our free overnighter stop in Botzingen and we are off. Today we are going to a town called Waldkirch. Waldkirch is famous for Organs, who’d have thought. They are famous for the old mechanical street organs that you crank by hand as well as the big fairground ones that used to be all the rage from the late 1800s through to the early 1900s. However, the town is also famous because it is the home of MACK rides who own Europa Park and build fairground rides for the international market. Very crafty Hayley. Very crafty.

In less than an hour, we are in Waldkirch and in a very nice shaded spot in a free “parkplatz” which is a couple of minutes walk from the town and right next to a very nice lake with a cafe and restaurant right on the shore side. Very nice here, lots of vans with some English.

Once settled we have a drink in the warm sunshine by the lake, it’s a lovely day, clear skies, and warm temperatures.

It’s the last week of holidays for the people in Baden Wuttenberg so everyone is out taking advantage of the weather before the weekend.

It may sound sad but we are off in hunt of the organ museum. This town is world-famous for them, the funfair type, from the small street, hand-cracked versions to the huge machines that sat in the middle of carousels. This town is all about that. In fact, they have the world’s biggest organ cylinders as you come into the town. So while we are here we should have a look.

The museum was excellent. Fascinating, with demos of the different types from the small to the large. We latched onto the end of a guided tour, the lady was very kind to us and helped us out along the way. We got a demo of the fully automated machines, the type with the book of punched holes in the pages, fully automated, amazing to watch. The first computerised music?

Time to get some provisions so it’s off to the nearest Lidl. What’s this? Quite by chance, MACK Rides the roller coster maker has their factory in the street at the back of the Lidl so Hayley diverts us to see if she can see anything remotely interesting. Nothing.

Oh well too bad. Back to the van, drop off the shopping, and time for a walk in the town of Waldkirch.

A very nice, clean, and tidy town, very pretty and busy but with a nice safe feel unlike Lahr a couple of days ago. It’s 5 pm and we can’t help but notice that this is the time when the Germans all sit outside in the sun and partake in a nice cold beer. Well, when in Rome…

After a small beer, it’s back to base for a light simple dinner and bed. We have decided to stop another day as there is still more to see here and the weather is holding until after the weekend so why not.

Wednesday 9th September 2020

At 6 am the alarm goes off. We are in Lahr and it’s still dark, an ungodly hour to be getting up really but we have to. We want to be at the Europa Park car park for the opening time at 7 am and in place for the park opening at 9 am.

Today is the big day out, we are going to spend the whole day at Europa Park. This place won the award for best theme park in the world 2019 and with good reason. Hayley loves roller coasters, extreme rides, and all that while Del just tags along to carry her bag. We arrive at the campsite at Europa Park bang on 7, get parked up, and have breakfast. It’s quite nice here really, lots of space and all the facilities that you need. Overnight is expensive so we will only be paying for the day which works out cheap enough.

Hayley is like a child at Christmas and we are at the main gate just before 9, armed with masks and hand sanitiser we are among the first in and we are hot-footing it to the first ride of the day called “Wodan”, an old fashioned wooden coaster built in 2012 that can achieve a speed of 100kph. By 9:30 Hayley is being thrown around the “Wodan” coster. Not bad straight after breakfast.

The rest of the day is spent going from coaster to coaster, she loves them, Del has a go on some of the lighter rides but the day is Hayley’s.

It is an impressive place, massive in size with some very impressive rides and immaculately clean and tidy.

The park is divided up into individual European countries and themed as such. There is something for everyone here including a restaurant that delivers your food by a rollercoaster. You order on a monitor at your table and withing minutes it is being delivered at high speed on a metal track, even looping the loop. Amazing.

By 6 pm we are beaten and end the day on a strapped in simulator ride which is the best we have ever seen. Thankfully it’s a short walk back to the van, once there we use the camp facilities by having a shower, and by 7:30 pm we are off and on the road to Botzingen, a place we stayed on Sunday. Never heard of the place until this week and now we are here for a second night. We are worn out but it has been a great day and worth it in every way.

Tomorrow we are off to Waldkirch, the world capital of organs! More on that tomorrow.

Tuesday 8th September 2020

A beautiful day today, clear blue skies, cool, but we will get mid-20s later today. We have had a massive breakfast this morning after a good night’s sleep. This morning Hayley is working out her tactics for the trip to Europa Park tomorrow and today is a day of faff deciding and looking where to park and overnight. After some discussion and angst, we decided to overnight in a place called Lahr. We have been there before, 6 euros to overnight and it is just outside of the town or is it a city, we are not sure.

It’s a lovely to drive to Lahr, fantastic countryside. We stop at a supermarket and do a large shop, we are running low on a lot of stuff but thankfully because of the two nights on a free overnight we have lots of spare pennies in our budget to go mad!

For 6 euros you can park overnight in a nice spot, very well tended to, peaceful and quiet, we have been here before and did a long bike ride but this afternoon it’s too hot. Del does the weekly van clean out which involves pulling stuff apart and getting a clean cloth in all the “nooks and crannies”. A good job is done. The weather is fabulous, not a cloud in the sky and it’s warm, very warm…

We decided to go for a shorter bike ride into the town (or city) of Lahr, last time we cycled in the opposite direction into the countryside which was wonderful, so this time we thought we would try the town. Bad idea. We didn’t like it at all. Far too busy, too many cars, too many people, and very poor social distancing. We are not afraid of the virus, yes it is very infections, etc. but if you follow simple rules and watch yourself you should be ok. Life has to carry on, but for some reason, we didn’t feel comfortable, That’s a cue. That’s a cue to leave which we did, sharpish.

Once back at the calmness and peacefulness of the van we have a small Ricard before dinner (not very German we know, wrong country and all that), Hayley is being sad and binge-watching YouTube videos about rollercoasters and such while Del justs… Well, Del just stares off into the distance…

Fantastic dinner outside tonight, early bed, up early tomorrow at 06:00.

Monday 7th September 2020

We really enjoyed our stop last night in the place we have never heard of, Botzingen. Nice walk, great cycling, smashing stop & dinner. We will remember it well.

Today we are making for a town called Schiltach which has a very picturesque town. It also boasts a saw museum. Might give that a miss although we might be a bit cut up later and regret not going…! The drive is just over an hour, again the countryside is stunning as we go back up into the Black Forest, weave about a bit, and descend into the town. We are still zig-zagging our way up ‘t north through Germany. Hayley has found another free overnight stop. When we arrive it is busy, very busy but she bags the last space right in the corner of the car-park, nice and safe and nice and private.

What a beautiful town, the buildings are so so old but well-taken care of over the years, and they are just stunning. We have a good walk around this interesting but small town, stopping for a quick coffee and cake.

We head back for a sit in the park next to the van with a tea and a game of marbles. Yes, marbles. We’ve not done that since we were kids.

This week Hayley (as part of a midlife crisis, roller coaster thing) wants to go to Europa Park so she spends the afternoon researching stops, prices, and watching YouTube videos of the rides. Keeps her quiet.

Another amazing dinner on board and a walk around this lovely town to see it at night before bed.

Another free night…

Sunday 6th September 2020

This morning we have woken up to an unobstructed view of the lake as some people have already started to leave the campsite here at Titisee. It’s a lovely still morning, a bit cloudy and cool but you can still wear your shorts. As breakfast goes on we see more and more people leaving. There is only one service point here for the whole campsite (of 220 pitches) so we are expecting it to have a few vehicles waiting to get on it before going onto their next destination. Del is dispatched to have a look. Sure enough, there is one van on the service point and two in line, it’s a very narrow public road which is busy with Sunday walkers and cyclists. Oh well, let’s have another coffee and wait it out.

Today we are are going to a place called Botzingen. A very small town that has a free place for overnight and promises good cycling. Never heard of it. That’s one of the many good things about a van, you can go to a planned destination and if you don’t like it you just move on. We are currently zig-zagging our way up north through the black forest for the first week and our last week will be in the Mosel Valley towards a town on the German/French border for the non-stop run to Calais. Anyway, that’s a while off yet. No need to be thinking about that.

We set off and get on the service point, we get rid of the greywater and fill up with fresh and we are off. Ther German countryside is very picturesque and the sunny weather just adds to the beauty of the place. The fields are green but very green, they look like finely manicured lawns.

After an hour or so we arrive in Botzingen. The parking spot is just outside of the town, it very quiet and very peaceful so we should have a good night here. Once settled we are off for a walk into the town, being a Sunday, of course, most places are closed but we do find a nice little guesthouse that has a restaurant and terrace bar so we can’t resist a tall german beer. Smashing.

Today we intend to do a good bike ride. This place is supposed to be the place to be for cycling. Our stop is on one of the many routes and yes being a Sunday it’s busy with cyclists buzzing along the cycle paths. Soon we are joining them. What a great bike ride. We did 14 miles of excellent cycling on our old bikes.

They have seen many miles our old bikes, mainly strapped to the back of the van. They are old, Del’s bike is about 20 yours old and Hayley’s cost about 20 quid but they do the job and we cycle to a small town called Riegel where we have a coffee and of course some cake. You can’t go to a German town and not have Caffe & Kuchen.

Tonight dinner was a traditional German dinner, schnitzel, spaetzle, and sauerkraut. It was amazing. A good night indoors eating and drinking to some traditional german bierkeller music. Brilliant.

Saturday 5th September 2020

A nice cool fresh morning this morning in Todtnau, blue skies, excellent. Today we are going to another place that we have visited, Titisee which has a fantastic terraced campsite, wherever they put you there is a good view of the lake and a nice walk to the spa town of Titisee which is famous for cuckoo clock shops, so it could get noisy.

The drive, like a lot of the Black Forest, is hilly and twisty but safe and easy going. It’s a short drive, 45 minutes so we also do a shopping trip on the way to replenish essentials.

We arrive at the Sandbanks Campsite which is busy, very busy, too busy really and it takes such a long time to check-in. For the first time since starting the trip, Del is a little anxious as social distancing and mask-wearing seem a secondary thought here. We keep ours on at all appropriate times and continue to wash our hands. We remain vigilant. It takes ages to get checked in, the line to get seen to is long and they make you do it twice, once to say you want space then again to fill out a stupid track and trace form, then you pay and go to your pitch.

Our pitch is a good one, a good view of the lake so we get settled in. Hayley does all the prep on her own as Del is queueing up for the second time and getting frustrated with the stupidity of it all… Hayley has the van tucked in safe, up on ramps for leveling, with the awning and chairs out. Good job.

If you have ever been to a music festival like Reading or Glastonbury then this is what it is like here. Vans are pitched bumper to bumper, side to side, tents are pitched on any piece of free grass going. The only thing missing is a stage and some music. (Ah the memories of a bygone time!).

Exercise is what is needed but before that, we sample a small cold beer at the local bar, which looks a little safer, before setting off on the 45-minute walk to the town of Titisee.

Here too it’s busy, mad busy, we are not keen on it here this time it’s not really for us. Last time we were here it was very pleasant, it was October, cool and grey with not many people about.

Enough of this so after a pretzel we decide to get back to the van away from the crowds.

We have a fabulous dinner and decide that we want to get away from here. Nice views but too many people, too busy and chaotic.

Tomorrow we will find a nice quiet town, with a river and a cycle way. Hopefully…

Friday 4th September 2020

We wake up to a bright warm sunny day, blue skies, beautiful, a lovely day indeed. We plan on doing a bit of a walk today seen as the weather is so good, there is some shopping to be done and we have to find the time for a coffee and to have a generous helping of the best Black Forest Gateaux. It really is the very best, heavily soaked, as it should be, in kirsch (cherry) alcohol. This cake is the business…

Back at the van after some research of future overnight stops, we find we are missing an emissions badge for some places. We now notice that most of the cars have one. In fact, some cars in Europe have that many emissions badges and vignettes for toll roads on their windscreens that it’s hard to see where they are going! Eventually, we work out how to get one and now we are certified to go in environmental green zones. What a difference a little sticker makes, (at 7 euros a go!).

Can we be bothered with a walk today? Hmm, we are not so sure or keen. It’s a nice day so we get some chairs out and just chill out and read next to the van in the shade and dappled sunlight. Smashing.

Cake time… The cafe is the Cafe am Rathaus, Cafe by the Townhall. Tea and coffee are ordered along with two hearty lumps of Black Forest Gateaux. It is just how we remembered it the last time. We eat in silence. Nice.

Back at base, Del is off helping to get some power going for a neighbour so he can watch his telly tonight. A nice elderly German gent who shows his gratitude with a bottle of fizz. It looks a bit dubious but it is certainly the kind thought that counts. It’ll either get drunk or the engine will be cleaned with it, we will decide on the first taste.

Dinner outside tonight and a BBQ. Very nice. Two great days here in sunny Todtnau and the good weather is to extend over the weekend. It is the official last weekend of the holiday season for the Germans so it could get quite busy, it certainly is where we are, it is packed, and more keep coming and turning away.

Thursday 3rd September 2020

It has been a lovely stay at the “scrapyard”, the view this morning over coffee was amazing, the weather is clean and fresh with a clear blue sky, so far our first day in Germany has been excellent, let’s hope that day two and beyond are just as good.

Hayley’s turn at the wheel today. We are going to a place that we have visited on several occasions, a small ski town called Todtnau, deep in the Black Forest. The attraction there is that they have a great place to overnight, the best Black Forest gateaux ever and the longest dry toboggan run in Germany covering 3km. A must on all accounts.

We set off for the 60 minute drive in glorious sunshine, it’s a beautiful day and the drive is excellent with lovely scenery and the cutest and cleanest towns you have ever seen, everything is so well looked after and smart.

The last time we were in Todtnau it rained, in fact it always rains in Todtnau, we have never been to Todtnau when it has been dry. We did once and after an hour of our arrival it rained, but today it is perfect. We are surprised how busy it is but equally surprised that the only spot remaining is the spot that we have always had every time we come here, right in the corner, very private, very nice. We think that this spot is left vacant not because they knew that we were coming but because the European camper likes to get their satellite dish up and going as soon as they arrive but with all the trees in the corner they can’t get a signal.

Del is not doing the dry toboggan run today and has opted to stay at the van, clean up and just take it easy with a coffee in the dappled sunlight. Hayley is off as soon as the wheels of the van have stopped and making her way to the ticket office and up on the chairlift for her 3km rush of adrenaline.

After a couple of hours have passed she returns to a nice clean van and a freshly shaved Del, at last.

We set off into the town for a walk and find our usual coffee shop that sells what can only be described as the best Black Forest Gateaux ever! But we are not having it today as tonight we are saving ourselves for a dinner out at a local place for a Schnitzel and portions are large in these places! Simple pleasures but that is what keeps us going these days! So a simple cappuccino and green tea and a slow walk back to sit in the sunlight and the privacy of our nice spot in the corner for a small cold beer before the short walk back to town later for dinner.

On our last visit we dined well at a small bar/restaurant called “Willies” (titter ye not!) and had a fantastic feed of the house Schnitzel, fries, a house salad. The experience was finished with a couple of Jagermisters, which when served chilled is a real treat to end any dinner. Tonight was no exception as we repeated the whole experience and it didn’t disappoint.

Tomorrow is a hiking day as the weather promises to be even warmer. We can’t wait to walk off all that cake and Schnitzel!

Wednesday 2nd September 2020

This campsite here in Cromary is without a doubt the best campsite we have ever been to, what a place, the best yet. We will be back. Today we are leaving France and making for Germany, a two and bit hour drive with Del at the wheel.

We leave at around ten in the morning and expect to be in Germany around 1 pm at a place called the “Kreiterhof”, an unusual place located in the small village of Egerton. It is unusual because it has a collection of old scrap agricultural equipment; tractors, cars, all manner of mechanical stuff from washing machines to car parts. Might be interesting. It also boasts an excellent restaurant with space for 7 vans for 7 euros a night.

Our first stop of the day is a supermarket. We are getting short on essentials so it’s time for a bit of a stock up. Off we go again. Next stop we need a spot of lunch so we find a nice little place for that after which we swap over driving, it didn’t last for long. Hayley has been complaining of a bad knee for a few days and the clutch action is giving her jip so within two minutes we have to swap back.

The French countryside is just amazing to drive through, we love it. France also does this whole camping thing better than anywhere else. They just do it right, the food, the drink, and everything is just made for camping life whether it’s in a van or a tent.

France. We will be back!

We cross the border from France into Germany at Huningue near Mulhouse and, without any problem at all, we drive over the Rhine, no checks, no forms no “where have you been” questions, we just carry on straight through. After about half an hour the German countryside is equally beautiful, different from France but still a feast for the eyes.

Finally six hours later, not three, but six we arrive at Kreiterhof. Yes, it is odd, very odd, there are old tractors, cars, trucks old Russsian army trucks, washing machines.

At first sight, and probably by the way it’s being described here, makes it look like a scrapyard of old junk, which is what it really is, but it is interesting and just laid out in such a fashion that you can’t help but walk around and marvel at all the stuff that is here.

Our spot is tucked away in a corner surrounded by trees and a couple of tractors. It’s brilliant, we have a great spot. One of the great things about having a 6m van, you can get in almost anywhere

We take a walk to the restaurant where you pay for the stay and enjoy a coffee and some local rose wine. Here to we are surrounded by huge amounts of ornamental tractors and diggers.

The restaurant is just as fascinating and the staff are friendly and accomodating. After pondering the menu and the reviews we decide to have dinner tonight here.

A walk around this fascinating village doesn’t take long as it is just a single road going through it but it has a nice peaceful feel to it and has a fantastic view of the rolling fields against a blue sky.

Dinner tonight is a local affair, a chanterelle mushroom sauce, pork, and rosti potatoes, all helped along with a generous glass of red wine and to finally finish it all off, a lump of Black Forest gateaux.

All in all, an excellent start to our arrival into Germany.

Tuesday 1st September 2020

It’s our second day in this lovely Belgian run campsite and our last full day in France. Tomorrow we set off north for a two-hour drive to Germany. We have woken up to a proper autumnal day, it’s cold and foggy, despite that it is rather beautiful as the sun struggles to push through the fog. We are promised the sunshine today at some point and it is warming up and back at 30 degrees by Friday. So they say.

We plan on a bike ride today as there are some nice routes around here so after breakfast they are released from the back of the van and checked over and deemed fit for purpose. The route we have chosen is a 16km circuit so off we go.

We managed to do the full circuit in about an hour and a half, it was uphill and down dale but nothing too tasking, and the countryside was lovely, most importantly the weather held up and we had good sunshine for the whole thing.

Hayley still has the taste for exercise and decides to keep it up with a kayak in the river, for 8 euros she can get a full hour. She loves a kayak and gets one whenever the opportunity arises.

Del looks after the shop reading and generally faffing about and does wonder what would happen if she got caught out on a weir or stuck on a rock. She didn’t take her phone which has probably prompted the thought in the first place. The river is not deep but has some fast-moving bits along the way. Ah, she’ll be ok…

After about an hour Hayley is seen struggling against the flow of the river and sure enough, she did get caught on a weir and on some rocks and had quite a scare trying to get free and get back which involved grazing her ankle and breaking her flip flops (yes, totally unsuitable footwear).

After getting her out of the water and back on dry land and into fresh clothes the adventurer had soon recovered to recant the full episode over a cold Belgian beer. Well deserved.

Our last night will be dinner in the fading evening sunshine in front of Jess, a huge pile of homemade quesadillas and some fries from the visiting food wagon. Simple but brilliant.

Vive la France!