Germany 2

Rothenburg to Marktoberdorf,  Sunday 9th October 

It's about three degrees outside and even we have to put the heating on for a few minutes to encourage us to get out of bed.  

While we get showers we mull over our next stop.  We finally have wifi back.

Although we have blue sky this morning it's staying largely grey and very cold.   When you pack for 4 months of travelling you have to cover every eventuality.   So while we have some warm clothes we don't have loads.  Nothing is drying and so life feels a bit more of a struggle.  We decide to head South a little faster than originally planned in order to get a bit warmer, which makes everything easier for us.

Lisa nips to the loo and a woman is rinsing her chemical toilet around the tap in the women's loo, Disgusting!!!!!   When we go to get water there is a sign saying it's out of order which explains but didn't justify the toilet rinsing.

October is obviously the month to repair the Romantic Road, within 15 minutes we have to take a diversion which adds 20 minutes onto our journey.  Eventually we get back on the right road then hit another diversion. 

We arrive in Nordlingen, the sun is out and it's about 10 degrees. We put towels in the window to dry.   We don't need much heat to dry things.

In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this is the town we look down on from the Great Glass Elevator.

Again it's a walled city with a wooden walkway, under red roof tiles, that completely encloses the city.  The town is no longer filled with wood framed ancient houses.  We speed round it in under an hour and head back to H. for lunch.

After eating we get back on the road, share the driving.  This is the furthest we've driven in one day for ages.  We need to find warmer weather.  About 4:30pm we arrive at Marktoberdorf, a little town with a big church, high on a bluff overlooking the small provincial town.   Parking for a few motorhomes is free and we choose to buy 50p of electricity because Alastair's laptop died on us last night.

Plugged in we set off to explore we only need one coat instead of the two we have been hiding under for the last couple of days.  Heading South has been a wee bit worth it.

The church on the top of the hill by us is huge and inside it is amazing: all gold statues, ancient paintings and frescoes on the walls and ceilings.  The alter piece is a 3D effect with a painting of two guys on the cross and a statue of Jesus in front.   There are confessionals all around the room but we have read that these are sometimes found in Protestant churches as well.   There are two tiers of balcony at one end of the church.  For such a wee town the church is something else.

We walk into town but there really isn't much else to see.  Knackered by the long day we climb the steps back to Hamish to plan the next couple of days.

Rothenburg 2, Saturday 8th October 

We wake early so decide to go for a walk in the town while it's quiet.   There are Interminable grey skies and it's cold but it's lovely and very quiet. The tourists are still having breakfast or packing their bags.  


The street lights are still on and they give a romantic light to the ancient houses and cobbled streets.  The home bakeries are just opening with one or two early customers grabbing coffee and pastries. We are back to the towns with more than five bakeries.

Probably the most famous street view in Germany.

Lisa's favourite window shopping- when the shops are shut!

After breakfast we make an executive decision about the recycling.  We are carrying a lot of it around with us but only ever see recycling opportunities for glass.  Here we can recycle cans aswell so we do what we can and have to put the rest in the rubbish.  Lisa is gutted, Germany is the home of the Greens and they were way ahead of us on recycling.  

We begin to explore the areas of the town we haven't yet visited.  We are able to climb the steps inside one of the tower gates.  We find churches we haven't seen and notice the detail on the houses, tumble down red tiled roofs and copper flashing.

There is a market in the town square and Alastair buys some cheese that actually has some taste which is more than he has managed thus far. Marvellous. We feel able to stroll and take everything in.

We walk back to Hamish for lunch past the wine shop which seems to have very reasonably priced wines.  The woman stands very close to us as we are choosing and points out the Dry and Semi Dry shelves.  Alastair asks if they are from her vineyards, 'yes'.  Alastair asks about the variety, we have the Dry and Semi Dry shelves pointed out again.  So instead of choosing a lovely wine we are so intimidated by her presence we just choose the cheapest bottle, Dry, and leave the shop.  We just feel a bit intimidated and therefore uncomfortable which is a shame because we so want to enjoy this beautiful town.

After lunch we are so cold we have to get into bed to warm up.  We do have heating but like at home we won't put it on until we have ice inside the windows.  

Eventually we brave the cold and head back into town.  The grey has finally broken up and their are glimpses of blue sky.

We nip to the little supermarket for a couple of veg for tea tomorrow.  We are in need of a supermarket but they don't open here on Sunday so we need to shop to survive until Monday.

Amazingly there is a vegan shop in town and Alastair suggests we get some pesto.  The guy in the shop offers Alastair a different flavour of garlic pesto.  Lisa declines.  Alastair says 'it's lovely', but we stick to Basil pesto.  Then we are offered some biscuit.  Lisa can see where this is going and graciously declines.  Alastair says: "Oh yes please".  We end up buying the pesto and some orange cookies which cost us nearly £14!!!!

We wander around the world famous, all the year round, Christmas shop which is ridiculously huge.  Rothenburg must be everyone's Christmas fantasy town.   The Germans invented Christmas, so fair enough.  

We walk down through the gardens to the view overlooking the Trauber River.  Lisa reflects that she has had enough of tourists and is looking forward to moving on now.

Back in the centre of town it's coming up to 5pm and we wait for the figures to appear from the huge clock.  In reality two windows open to reveal two rather small mannequins.   

Just about see the two mannequins in the open windows.

It's a pretty uninspiring sight, especially considering the number of cuckoo clocks in shops all around us.   When we turn around over a 100 Chinese tourists have appeared in the square.  Most holding a phone or camera in front of their faces, or backs turned for a selfie.

We have looked all day for another bar to visit but finding nothing we revisit last nights bar and look forward to tasting a few beers.

There is a woman serving and a guy she is chatting to at the bar then in the corner is a guy who we eventually realise has taken one drug too many.  He makes random comments, some directed too other people all with an underlying aggressive tone.

Lisa is enjoying her Weiss beer and Alastair his Keller beer when this guy turns to engage us in conversation.  He has more English than anyone we have met, with a Canadian accent.  He tells us a joke that starts with a guy called Adolf Hitler and includes Eva Braun.  Thankfully he slips into German while we wait for the punchline, the barmaid is looking at us in sympathy.  

The punchline comes, a woman turned to a guy and said 'see I told you no one cares about the Jews'.  We just stared at him.  He mutters about having got the joke from a Canadian biker.   Then he turns back to us, with another joke: 'there were 2 homosexuals'.  Lisa has had enough and puts her hand up and says:  'No!'.   He turns his back on us mumbling and muttering to himself, slamming things down and talking to no one.  Then he asks the barmaid for a fly swat.  Alastair is mulling over how he is going to hide behind Lisa.   The guy's glass is empty and we are hoping he will leave but he orders another one.  We drink up and escape back to Hamish.  Final german beer out spoiled by  a person off his face.  Shame.

Bamburg to Rothenburg, Friday 7th October 

After sleeping until 8:30am we get a bit of a scurry on with breakfast and showers and after getting water are on the road by 10:30.

We are driving to meet the Romantic Road which heads South to the Alps.  We are joining it at its most popular point, Rothenburg.

We arrive just before 1pm.  There is plenty of space in the car park and there is a toilet that at you don't have to pay 50c for every piss.  It costs €10 to stay here for 24 hours and we can pay with our card.

We get a salad sandwich and walk across the ring road to be confronted by curiously bulging fortress walls topped with red tiles.  Rothenburg is a walled town from the Middle Ages and is breathtakingly picturesque.  Think Rapunzel towers, timbered buildings in pastel shades, cobbled streets, stone walls with timbered walkways running inside the walls.  We walk across a wooden, covered bridge over the moat and through the walls.

Incongruously there is a Scottish shop and while Alastair trys on the bonnets and admires himself in the shop window Lisa realises that within the walls this town has free wifi.  How civilised.

At one point as we walk along the street Lisa looks back and recognises the view.  It is the front cover of our Germany Lonely Planet book.

The speciality here are snowballs, ribbons of dough shaped into balls, deep fried then coated in icing sugar, chocolate and other flavours.   They are huge but Alastair tries two little ones: interesting is the verdict.

We head to tourist information first:  for a map, the location of a supermarket and details about the Romantic Road.    The woman who serves us is frankly abrupt to the point of  rudeness.  Many of the leaflets are kept behind the large barrier of a counter, so we have to ask the pointedly unhelpful lady for them.  So we don't spend long in there.  Alastair reflects on a comment made by a lady in Lubeck which was: "Don't judge all of us by the Bavarians".  So perhaps folk are just abrupt down here?

Wifi doesn't stretch into the Tourist info.  Well, there's a surprise!  So back in the square we sit in the cold and publish the blog. 

We find an Edeka supermarket just outside the city walls but its shelves are weirdly bare.   We buy bananas.   We return through the city gateway and climb the stone steps to the covered wooden walkway that goes around the walls.  We walk a bit.

Then back down to the  town to find a tiny supermarket that is a absolutely stuffed with stuff but has virtually the same things as the Edeka, with the addition of hundreds of toy dinky cars.    We get basics that will feed us till Monday.  No dinky cars unfortunately.

Alastair is tired from the driving of the last few days so we decide to stay here for another day to rest and explore this incredibly beautiful place. 

We find a little wine shop and buy a bottle of Muller-Thurgau, a grape we had tried and loved in Meissen.

We drop the shopping back at Hamish and walk back into town to find a brewery beer or two.  It's dusk but the streets are still busy with Chinese and American tourists.  A lot of the hotels have menus in Mandarin outside.

As we go through a stone arch there is a bar set into the wall.  We walk in and, apart from a little girl, it is empty.  We take a seat and several minutes later a woman appears to serve us and within 10 minutes several other customers had arrived.

Alastair has a Rot (red) version of the Landwehrbrau, Lisa has a Helles, lovely but not our best.  We go back into town to find another pub.  Every place we drop into is a restaurant packed with tourists eating so eventually we gave up and go back to Hamish to enjoy our Muller-Turgeau.

Meissen to Bamberg, Thursday 6th October 

It is still pouring down while we eat breakfast.  There are ducks on the car park!

We get going and on the autobahn get stuck behind 2 wide load vehicles and their escort.  We plod along behind them for miles then the road widens.   The cars in front dash through the gap but a lorry bullies his way in between them.  We get past but another lorry comes behind us and the gap is closed again.   So for the rest of our journey Hamish has the autobahn to himself.

Just before 12 we arrived in Bamberg.  The stop over costs 12€ and the machine only accepts German credit cards so we scrape together enough cash.  Later in the day we go to a bank for change.  Many banks are just machines; no staff.  The first bank we find with staff doesn't have any cash!!!!! The second is great and changed a 20€ note for us. 

The stellplatz is packed with motorhomes.  We snuggle Hamish in, have a quick salad sandwich, then walk into town.

Bamberg is a UNESCO world heritage site and has a large and ancient old town which is absolutely stunningly beautiful.

We head to Tourist Information first.  They did have wifi but the booklet that had to be filled in on line first meant that only Alastair could get access.  Without the leaflets and town maps, available for free from TouristInfo, our tour would not have been nearly as successful.  As we do not afford mobile roaming we cannot get google maps or other internet guidance whilst wandering around, so rely upon these wonderful freebees.  Free wifi with somewhere to sit for 30 mins in is also a godsend.  Staff who exude an aura of helpfulness, even if their English is minuscule, is wonderful, especially for folk who arrive knackered and unsure of exactly what they are looking for.  When any of these aspects are lacking it colours our opinion of the town, as casual and time limited visitors.  Hamburg Touristinfo is pretty good, but complicated wifi login for a casual visitor is unnecessary.

Stefan, a German living in Glasgow, who of course we know through Springbank whisky, Facebooked with suggestions of pubs to visit as he used to live here.   So while Alastair checks our bank accounts Lisa gets a list of the brewery pubs in the town.

We check our pennies have a quick house meeting.  We can stay in budget but only by not drinking any beer.  Alastair has always wanted to come to Bavaria for the beer.  We may never come back, especially as Teresa Mays comments about hard Brexit has just reduced the value of a pound to one Euro.  We have been so good it seems ridiculous to deprive ourselves of the opportunity.  So the vote is unanimous, for the time being we extend our budget from £200 to £250.  We are driving a distance every day now so we need the pennies for petrol aswell. 

We set off for Stefan's recommendation: Schlenkerla.  It's an ancient brewpub that brews Rauchbier, a dark smoked beer, served from a wooden barrel on the bar.  We get two glasses and sit in the corridor as all of the tables are reserved for meals.   We sit at black wooden benches in a corridor with a wooden roof and green glass in the walls.

Before we head to another pub we feel obliged to explore and we climb to the Schloss which is beautiful.   

Lisa has been fighting a cold for a few days and today she has a sore throat and feels rough.    The temperature for us has dropped from 19+degrees to about 8 which isn't helping.  

We go to our second brew pub, Ambrosarium, to warm up and it has wifi, hooray, hooray.

Alastair gets a small plate of 3 beers, the Helles (golden), dunkel (dark)and Weiss. (Wheat).  Lisa has a small Weiss beer and very unusually she hates it.  It tastes of fish.  Now German beers are famous for using only 4 ingredients so vegan and contains abs no fish, it must be the cold.  Alastair loved it and couldn't pick up the fish so we swapped.

From there we walk across the river to find the Mars brew pub.  This is fantastic, another ancient pub.  A snug bar with the oldies drinking, we have to go into the dining room to sit on one of the long tables.  

We both have a stein of U beer, unpasteurised and unique to this pub; delicious.  It is only 5pm but everyone around us is eating.  It is very tempting to stay but it is after 6 and we walk back to H in time to cook tea.

We snuggle up and wrap up against the chill.  We still resist putting the heating on.

Lisa sleeps for almost 12 hours.  Great beer.

Meissen to Bayreuth, Wednesday 5th October 

Sadly it's time to leave our lovely spot and head South.  We are so lucky it stayed dry yesterday but the forecast is for a rainy week.

We drive for about an hour and half to Zwickau, home of the Trabant.

Our planned overnight stop has been invaded by a fair and while we can still park we don't fancy spending the night next to a fair with its noise.

We sit in the car park with the rain bouncing off H and have a house meeting.  We feel we have done the East proud and we want a change of scenery so we take advantage of the bad weather and get back on the motorway. 

Eventually after driving through torrential rain we see a sign and we are back into the West.   The motorways and bridges are all newly built in 2000, reunification was in 1991.   The sign tells us we are in The Free state of Bavaria, home of Breweries!  Hooray!!!

We find our stop in medieval Bayreuth, home of the Wagner Festival, in a car park that costs €4 for 24 hours and head into town.  It is very beautiful though rather dark on this cloudy afternoon, with many large grey stone buildings. Impressive but slightly dour.  On the way in we find some beautiful toilets.  There is a special urban greening project going on in contrast to the dour buildings our first green hippyish atmosphere since Denmark.

We find a Mann brewery pub. Inside it's packed, early doors on Wednesday, our kind of pub.  It is all very dark wood panelling, with no bar just a serving counter.  Some are eating, but many are here just to drink beer.  It is rather like an English pub from the 50s.  We have two small beers, a blond and a brown, both are delicious.   A man walks in and proceeds to knock on every table in the pub and have a chat with or say hello to the drinkers, including us.

It is time to head home but en route we find another brewery pub so had another couple of halves.   We are liking Bavaria.

As we walk back it starts to rain again and there is a beautiful rainbow.  Then a double rainbow.

It is too late to cook a meal so we eat veggie sausage sandwiches.  In our excitement at arriving we parked under the trees: beautiful, but a schoolboy error.  It absolutely chucks it down all night and the rain thunders onto the roof with extra noisy big drops from the oak tree above.

Meissen, Tuesday 4th October 

Happy Birthday to Lisa!!

  

We woke to rain which clears as the morning wears on leaving a cloudy, windy day.

Lisa switches on the Huwaei to pick up her birthday messages, nothing happens.  We work out that by publishing the blog with photos last night Alastair used the last of our wifi so there is now nothing left.

Having no cards and no presents is bearable because we are living the dream.   Not being able to communicate with friends and family is too much for Lisa and puts a dampener on what is otherwise a lovely day.

As a birthday treat Lisa is allowed to turn on data roaming on her phone a couple of times during the day to get messages but that is hardly the same.  We have nothing special for breakfast because all food shops were closed for the unification celebrations.  Also we are running out of our usual breakfast of muesli and bananas.   Altogether an inauspicious start to our special day.  So with determination, after a cuppa, we unlock the gates to our little site and drive to a supermarket.  What a birthday treat!  We get return for a late breakfast of avocado on almost toast.  

After showers we cycle into town.  It's a beautiful little town with an imposing white Schloss and two dark towers of the cathedral high above the Elba River overlooking the town. 

First stop is tourist information for wi fi but of course this is old East Germany, so they have none. We stand inside Deutsche Bank for a couple of minutes, the only place with free wifi.  Resigned now to not being able to contact people we begin to explore the town.

Schloss.

We climb the many steps to the Dom where we also find the Domkellar.   

Domkeller.

inside the Domkeller

As the sun is well over the yard arm we have a cheeky half.  We walk back down into town and after wandering around the town we head to one of the wine tasting shops.

The woman speaks English and is very proud of her family's vines from the Schu Winery.  She gives us 2 small glasses of 2 different whites followed by 2 small reds.  A delicious treat.

Schuh wine shop.

By now it's after three so we head back up the steps to a restaurant that stays open in the afternoon and can meet our dietary requirements.  The dining room has an amazing view over the town.   It was used by GDR soldiers then closed for 10 years after reunification.  We have a small carafe of wine, one of the grapes we tasted earlier but nowhere near as good.  We both had a meal, finally!!!  Delicious spaghetti in oil, garlic and chilli.

Red post Box!

After the meal we cycle home, enjoy an evening of more wine, '24' on DVD and Alastair cracks the Springbank 1996, what a treat!!!!

Potsdam to Meissen, Monday 3rd October 

We have a brilliant nights sleep and wake just before 7am.  

In Germany, or certainly in this part, you have to pay 50 cents to use the loo, even in service stations.  Resenting paying 50c every time we need a piss we rely more heavily on using our loo.   We have survived for two nights without access to services despite having planned to use howff services with them.  This means that it's virtually full and we desperately need services.  (And an early morning wee).

We check out of the car park.  The pay station claims to take notes, hooray.  It cost us €10 to stay, services not included.   The machine spits our tenner back at us.  Lisa tries it every which way but it's not having it.  So we have to turn to our already dwindled coin stash and scrape together the ten.  It's a Bank Holiday today so we can't get change, let's hope we don't need any.  

In the hope we can stay in Potsdam we try to be cheeky and drive to one of those huge, oval silver loos that is next to a road where we can empty the loo.  We pay our 50c, it's rejected, we try our other one, same thing.  Obviously the hundreds of people here yesterday and using it has rendered it unusable for us.  No services and no WC is a wee bit of an issue for us. Pun intended.

Feeling we haven't done Potsdam justice but having little choice we get on the road South.  Hopefully we can find a motorway services not too far away.

After about an hour we find a service station and pull in to get a cuppa and breakfast where we can pay to use the loo.

We have previously spotted, at a distance, Cranes (no not those sort, the huge grey bird on migration from Egypt) which is a first for us but haven't had the opportunity to get the binoculars out as we are whizzing past.  As we pull into the service station there is a group of cranes ahead of us in a field and then we spot to their right three deer.

We get back on the autobahn and drive further than we have driven in ages to cross into Saxony.

We can tell by the huge acres of agricultural land that we are still in 'the East'.  Then not one but two Trabants are driven past us, being used as peoples' proper cars.   Lisa claps with delight.

Our destination is Meissen, of the pottery fame.   Our app tells us there is an aire with all the services by a swimming pool.  At the second attempt we find the swimming pool but it doesn't look very camper friendly, what could we be paying for?

Confused we wander into the swimming pool. Optimistically we ask if they speak English, of course not.  They produce a sheet with an English explanation and then with Lisa's handful of German words we get it. 

Meissen Schloss- wrapped.

We drive around the corner and with our little key we open the old iron gates and find ourselves in a beautiful little field with gorgeous trees and all the services; for €9. 

Wonderful!! The only thing we are lacking is wifi so Lisa can't pick up her birthday messages.  We are also lacking supplies because it's a Bank Holiday.

Meissen.

Relieved by our find we get showers and plan to cycle into town.   It starts to rain so we decide to drive then it absolutely throws down stair rods and we decide it's not worth moving until it stops.

River Elbe, Meissen.

About 4pm it eases and we head into town.  We find a parking spot that would be a possible Howff for tomorrow enabling us to stagger back to H but it costs a fiver, with no services.  We drive back over the bridge and decide that if its dry tomorrow we'll pay for another night at the pool, cycle into town, go to tourist info in the hope of wifi so Lisa can pick up birthday messages then hit the bars and we will get a meal out tomorrow;  even if it's a late lunch.

Across the Elbe in the rain.

Back at our campsite we have company: 4 other vans have joined us.   

The night before A's birthday we bought special beer.  Lisa misses her wine cellar and we bought several bottles with us, most of which we drank in the first week but we saved four.  Three are from our Loire trip when Hamish proudly arrived home with 70 bottles from the chateau's we had visited.   So tonight Lisa corks the Chateau de Tracey, a Pouilly-Fume from the prettiest Chateau we visited.

Our Cellar Wine from Pouilly Fume and a 10 Euro bargain from Coop.

Berlin to Potsdam, Sunday 2nd October 

We are woken up around 1:30am.  A car pulls up and two guys are taking loudly to each other.  One starts singing 'kumbaya my lord'.  We didn't expect that in Germany!  Alastair is consumed by thoughts of being mugged by German mafia types.

Just drifting off to sleep and an hour later another car pulled up.  (Have they brought their mates?) again there are two men's voices.  Doors are opened and banged.  There is a sound like a length of gaffa tape being pulled.  Eventually they leave.   Alastair gets up to check they have really had gone and are not quietly taking Uzis out of the boot.  By now the adrenaline is flowing.

About an hour later another car arrives.  This time: van doors are slid open, something made of wood is dragged across the floor, more gaffa tape is used. Disturbing sounds for a wee spot away from anywhere.  It would be quieter in a motorway aire.  We worried what nefarious activities are going on around us.  Alastair is out of bed again.  It is now around 4.30am and we have had precious little sleep.

We drift off after Herr Wood Trabant leaves but within 2 hours we are awake again.  This time when we look into the gloaming there are about 30 people and in the darkness, a stage has been built, a marquee has been erected and men are sweeping  leaves from the little naturist beach.   We presume that the German Mafia have spent the night making preparations for their reunification celebrations tonight. (Bet they needed Uzis though!)

It was about 6:30am.  We give up, get dressed and leave;  relieved that the activity around us was legal.

We drive to the nearest service station for a cuppa and breakfast.   As we drive the sun is rising,  the sky is blue and mist hangs heavily in the trees.

We get changed and with blood shot eyes drive to central Berlin.   

Our planned stopping place is in the North West corner of Berlin.  As we are so early it's reasonably quiet but it's still driving in a city so not the easiest.

We drive past the sat nav spot where our stop should be.  No sign.  We pull in find a spot to turn round, which isn't easy, and cross back across the dual carriageway to try again. Nothing.  

We park up in a spot and set off on foot.  We find no sign of a whonmobilestellplatz.   Now we are struggling.   Obviously we are completely knackered and thought an overnight spot would be pricey but necessary and easy, giving us some relief from the efforts required to overnight for free.  We work out that a puppet fair is now where our howff should be.  It is obviously more profitable for them out of season, although you wouldn't know from the bereft mobile homes parked all around the area.

We get back on the dual carriageway and return to the car park where we managed to turn around to park next to another motor home.   We are surrounded by flats, cars and, behind us, a military helicopter landing place.  We need sleep tonight so we can't stay here.  We know all other stop overs are many Kms away, so they are no good for us either.

Adapting our plan dramatically we pack water, humous and bread and cycle the three km to the centre.

Brandenburg Gate.

We start at the Reichstag and then try to cycle to the Brandenburg Gate.  Lisa is very excited about Alastair seeing it and for her to return after so many years.  It's unification day and the whole area around the Tor is surrounded by barriers and police security.   We are not allowed in with our bikes.

We tie up our bikes and try again.  Lisa whispers to Alastair that she has her Swiss Army knife in her bag, it often comes in useful.   (Alastair wishes he'd known about it earlier this morning when it could have come in useful against the German Mafia).  We decide to brazen it out and go back to the security checks.    Our bags are searched thoroughly, but by feel, so Lisa's chap can't distinguish her knife from her wee hip flask.    But then they find the bread and humous in the rucksack,  which is an issue (perhaps we might be poisoning the pigeons?).  The security guard calls to his boss.   There is some discussion and eventually we are allowed in.  

Unification Day Celebration infront of the Brandenburg Gates.

The security is completely understandable in light of recent attacks in Germany.  Lisa feels bad sneaking a knife in but the last time we used it was to mend the cap bottling machine at Springbank.

The road leading into the West from the Tor is lined with bratwurst, coffee and other food stuff stalls.  In the middle is a stage and a beer tent.  We can't get anywhere so decide to walk back through the security checks....with our bread and humous and pick up the bikes.

Other side of the Gates free from the celebrations.

Next stop is the memorial to the victims of the holocaust.  Huge grey chunks of granite that are set in a floor that undulates and tips.  It is powerful but kids chasing each other screaming and laughing sort of ruined the atmosphere.   There is a museum underneath but having visited concentration camps (Lisa Auschwitz and Birkenau, Alastair Mauthausen) we decided against it.

Holocaust Memorial

Next stop is Potsdamer place, absolutely decimated after the separation of Berlin and now thriving again.  There are several sections of the wall with narrative and photos which is very powerful, it included photos of the absolute slaughter of Russian soldiers.

remains of the Wall.

Modern Potsdam.

It outlines how, having initially destroyed everything Germany is now retaining and remembering this period of history.  It cannot be forgotten.   Germany is now establishing a walk and cycle route along what was the wall delineated by two rows of cobbles.  We spent last night on a section.

We set of along the road, slip through an alley by the Dali museum to come out next to the only remaining GDR watchtower.  A woman showed us a photo from 1982, the year before Lisa saw the wall.  It shows: the wall, the death strip, the sand that was raked to show any footprints, the 'lawn' that was huge metal spikes things, this watchtower with the Brandenburg gate in the distance and virtually nothing else.  So much has been rebuilt since 1989.

Back on our bikes we pass Trabant heaven.   You can hire them and four drove out of the gate spewing black smoke and an unholy stench.  Lisa was very excited.  Alastair wonders if Berlin used to stink of Trabant fumes.

in reality they are tiny

Checkpoint Charlie next and we read the information boards which explain the memorials to people who had died trying to escape.  

Checkpoint Charlie

By now Alastair had seen enough.  For Lisa all of this has huge resonance but Alastair has seen the films, read the books and this part of Germany is difficult to look at.  We emerge onto a square with some beautiful ancient buildings Franzisdom and the Koncerthalle.   Saved.  We eat our lunch watching bubbles being blown across the square and clarinet music in the distance.  Behind us a green cast iron 'pissoir'.

Iconic DDR

We cycle back towards the Reichstag along the river, a much prettier journey, past the Sunday art market and flea market.

Back at the bridge that led towards H we had a quick house meeting and decided to head back.  

From Berlin we head to Potsdam.  We drive to the first planned howff.   The car park is absolutely heaving, cars drive in, around and back out.  A fair is on the next field and clearly everyone has turned out to celebrate unification.  We manage to squeeze back out along the road made smaller with cars wedged in along the banks and head to the next  possible stop. 

This is a dedicated motor home car park, no services, but peaceful as it's a couple of miles out of the city.

We get our bikes off which is when Alastair realises he has left his bike basket, that he ordered from Germany, in Berlin behind where Hamish was parked.  Everyone reading this who knows Alastair will know he always leaves something behind but he has been very good so far and with three hours sleep it really isn't surprising.

We cycle off but the maps on boards aren't brilliant and we soon realise we just don't have the resources left to do this.   We cycle back to H and sleep for 45 minutes.

Then we are back up and off cycling into town.   Potsdam is striking with its beautiful Schloss encircled by a double pillared walkway, follies all over the place including a leaning tower of Pizza and a scaled down Brandenburg gate.  It is packed with tourists, strolling in the late afternoon golden sun, and looks expensive.

If it is Dali-esque it is cos it is just the dream of some intensly rich German King

We know the town is surrounded by lakes but without a decent map we can't get to them.   We cycle back to H.   It's about 6pm.  We have 'done' Berlin, got to Potsdam and haven't spent a penny all day.

We spend the evening trying to work out next moves.  We had planned to be here for Lisa's birthday but events have overtaken us and we need services tomorrow.   We had thought we would have got water etc in Berlin but that obviously didn't happen.   There are no services here and there seem to be a lack of stopovers in anywhere that looks appealing.   

Despondent we give up and go to bed early, hopefully without local Mafia.

That Fountain is about 1km away and 30 foot high!

Henningsdorf, Saturday 1st October 

Best laid plans and all that...is starts raining about 9am, the first rain we have had since Norway.  The campsite is sandy underfoot so acres of forest get walked into Hamish every time we have to nip out.

We head South keeping an open mind about our plans.  About 11:30am we pull over and check weather forecasts.  It's going to be miserable all day and certainly not sightseeing weather.  We decide to delay Berlin for a day.

Near to where we have stopped is a free car park in Henningsdorf.    We check it out and it seems fine; no nasty signs.   We drive to a nearby supermarket (new budget).

We are about half an hour from Berlin and as we drive into town we recognise the GDR architecture we have come to know and love; well recognise anyway.  Street after street of flats in unforgiving and uniform blocks.  We don't see a single house.  To cheer them up someone has done some new pastel shades of painting that completely fail to disguise them, sadly.

We buy supplies, from a very crowded supermarket, and drive back to the little car park overlooking Havel lake.  We read for a couple of hours and then it stops raining so we go for a little walk. 

Havel Lake where it joins the canal.

We cross the Havel canal which was built in GDR times to trade goods by avoiding West Berlin.  The bridge is a rusty, bailey bridge that reminds Alastair of those in WWII films.

WWII Bridge

Just after the bridge, Lisa spots a sign that explains where the Berlin Wall was.  Hamish is parked on it!!!!  The aerial photograph that is displayed starkly shows the contrast that still exists today between the leafy suburbs of the West, with houses built on the banks of the river featuring boathouses and big river cruisers with the bleaker, blockier, stark East with houses nowhere near the water because once there were fortifications to stop them escaping.

The Berlin Wall Way!

We walk back with renewed interest.   We can see that  trees and paths that have been created to hide the scars: beside the lake there used to be fortifications and they've been removed and replaced with cycle paths and new planting.

Now the rain has stopped people are coming out and our little car park is getting busy but on our walk we had spotted another car park.   It overlooks the islands where the East had their fortifications.

We move and immediately two young people start setting off bangers.  A man is distracted from searching the bins by us and comes to talk to us about us being British.  Thankfully he uses German and we are able to look completely blank!   Later a car stops to examine us.  They don't get many of us around here.   Only 30 minutes from central (zentrum) Berlin and we are still an oddity!

Thankfully the rain returns to discourage spectators and amateur arsonists.

Kagal, Friday 30th September 

A quiet and free night and a good nights sleep in the Wohlmobilestellplatz!!

Before heading to Berlin we need to do some washing.   It's been almost 2 weeks since we visited a campsite, apart from the unplanned one that we arrived at too late to wash anything.

We drive again through forests of ridiculously tall, straight trees and tiny villages.  The forest is mixed woodland and very attractive with sunlight dappling through the canopy because the trees are not too close together.  You can walk through this forest and see far enough to enjoy the experience.

 Our  route takes us through a village that is still completely cobbled, poor Hamish.  It also has street lamps straight out of Narnia.  It seems that while the GDR built awful houses it's lack of investment in E Germany means that lots of original features remain.

Hamish the Laundry.

After a false alarm we arrived at our campsite.

The other distinguishing feature about this part of Germany is that very little English is spoken.   The woman who greeted us called upon a man who ascertained that we only wanted one night.  Hamish followed the woman in to our site and there then followed difficult attempts to try to explain to us how much the washing machine and dryer cost.  Lisa understood eventually.  Loads more cash required.  The woman realising we were short disappeared and came back with 4 50cents.   So 2 loads of washing and 2 dryers used 12 x 50 cents and 6 x 1 euro, that's our cash stocks depleted again.

As always we prove a sight of curiosity.    One man can speak a little English.   He tells us we are from Britain and confirms that they never get anyone here from the U.K.  The site appears empty but we realise it is just very quiet and that it is mostly a kind of camp village where people have used a caravan as a base for building more permanent structures: secondary roofing over the caravan, wee chimnies, hedges surrounding a camp spot, sheds in their gardens, lots of flower baskets and even sculptures and large bird baths.  A bit like static homes without the uniform regimentation, decking and statics.

Hedges!

Caravan surrounded by added structures and flowers.

Mirow, Thursday 29th September 

We both had an awful night and were awake for hours so we plan to take it steady today.

After breakfast and having done our research we go back to the whisky shop to buy a 1996 Vintage Springbank, on line the cheapest we could find was £120, so a bargain.  Thankfully we had enough cash as they wouldn't accept a card.  This part of Germany is very cash based so we are trying hard to save every bit of change we are given.

Next door is an ice cream shop advertising ice cream made from an original recipe of the DDR (GDR to us).  Hmmm, that will be A sticking to Ben & Jerry's then.

Eventually we leave Neustrelitz and drive back towards Mirow.  We stop for lunch at Gastrov, a tiny village with a large car park.  

Lisa spots a Trabant and this one is fully functioning; very exciting.

Having whiled away a couple of hours wandering around aimlessly discovering the complete lack of sights, we head back to Mirow.  This area is littered with lakes and waterways but with little access and views completely hidden by trees.  You are not supposed to park in the motor home place until 6pm or pay parking charges so we park in a supermarket car park for an hour.

We walk down to the Schloss.  We explore the Beer Keller which is scary.  It's set in a brick cellar with lots of weird stuff.  You can hold a private party there...if you are desperate!!! 

Between the two Schloss buildings is a path to Lovers island.   It was built to commentate the death of Someone who killed himself at the age of 36.  "Not much of a lover then", was Alastair's judgement. 

Lover's grave in background.

Walking back to H we pass a small cemetery that contains about 40 graves, each marked with a red star.  These Russian soldiers were all killed in July 1947.  Strangely this was not advertised in the local tourist office.

Schloss Gate House

Faded Elegance.

We spend the evening planning our trip to Berlin.  Based on our experiences we decide to arrive on Sunday when everyone is hopefully leaving.   Lisa's research identifies that Monday October 3rd is reunification day and a public holiday in Germany.  The day we originally identified for our tour as it would be quiet.  So much for Plan A.  So we decide to just go for it on Saturday, if we can get in.

We reflect on what (excluding friends and family) we are missing about home.  For Alastair it's his HiFi and the opportunity to play music loudly.  For Lisa it's her woodburner and the ability to buy lovely food at the supermarket and cook it.  We are limited in H.  However we are missing surprisingly few things.  Not even TV or early doors in the pub.

We also reflect on highlights of the last seven months since Lisa finished work.  Papay was a common highlight.   Then the Malts Festival in Campbeltown and north west Sweden for Alastair.  Lisa loved our Glen Afric experience and arriving in Kristiansand, Norway.

Neustrelitz, Wednesday 28th September 

For some reason in the early hours Lisa was awake and at 3am there was something that sounded like a modern, cleaner sounding air raid siren that went off several times. She waited for sirens.  Something.  There was nothing.  Alastair slept through it all.

When we properly wake up after an eventful night it is grey and windy, a complete novelty.  We haven't got a ticket so 2 days free parking, it just takes time to work out how each region works.  Today we need services though so have to move on.   

We need a pit stop at a Sky (part of the coop) first which has become our favourite supermarket. 

A small selection of the beer on offer.

 We try Lidl but just can't get the stuff we need; like the half crate of beer which we buy today, Weiss beer from Paulaner.  How civilised is Germany.

Half a crate (literally!)  at about 75p per 0.5litre bottle.

We are planning to enjoy the weather and head North today before heading South East .  As we sit in the car park the geese are flying over us in huge numbers as if today they finally realise Autumn has arrived.  We decide to go East, realising that time is beginning to run out.

H drives along straight roads lined with avenues of trees with acres upon acres of huge flat green and brown agricultural fields on either side.  Then the trees become thicker and he drives through forests of tall pines with tall vertical red trunks.   The leaves are turning and in the wind they fly across the road.  It's the first time since Sweden it has felt Autumnal, our favourite season.   Lisa is missing the copious amounts of pumpkin soup she starts making around now.  Alastair is relieved that he doesn't have to eat it.

Mirow

H is driving through the Muritz national park and is passing Mirow ( the area of Schloss, palaces and eagles fishing over the lakes)  where we plan to return tomorrow.   H stops to check it out.

Mirow has a free mobile stop over which we find and it looks fine but you can't arrive until 6pm and have to leave within 12 hours.  Although will anyone check this time of year?

Schloss.

We nip to tourist information which is part of a Schloss.  The other part and a church is all in the same pedestrian area.   Sophie Charlotte was born here who married George 3, the only German to become an English Queen.   We wonder what put them off??!!

The Harbour

We drive on to our overnight stop: Neustrelitz harbour which will cost €8 but has services.   We then find out we need 2 tokens to empty the loo so 1€, 1 token for water, 50c.   Amazingly when we buy 2 tokens someone has kindly left one so we get water for free.

Boat Sheds!

We are about to wander into town when Alastair spots he has had about 9 emails about wifi which don't appear anywhere that we can easily get to and we now no longer have wifi to check out what is happening.  Panic.

So loaded down with laptop and tablet we head off to find tourist information.  

 The town seems like it is still undergoing the renovation that other towns round here have already enjoyed.  A number of the huge Georgian? houses have been restored.  

Restoring traditional house, which become flats.

Many others are showing their bare brick and timber.  As elsewhere we see EU symbols next to roads and bridges that are being rebuilt.  Clearly a lot of money has been invested to regenerate this area.

The unusual circular Markt

Sidetracked by a whisky shop with an amazing array of Springbank, Kilkerran, Longrow and Hazelburn we eventually get into TI.  Of course they have no wifi but direct us back to the harbour and H.  We had already checked and there was nothing so we have to relent, buy 2 small beers and visit cafe 'Live' to get 'free' wifi.

Our wifi allowance ran out 3 days ago and in the interim we have racked up £28 worth of cost, ouch.  Alastair increases our allowance to 20GB per month, costing £30.

Zelitz See

Back in H Alastair publishes the photo of the Springbank whisky choices on his Springbank FB page.  Advice about which whisky we absolutely should buy floods in.  This is because much of this whisky sold out ages ago in most places around the world.

Ropel, Tuesday 27th September 

Our car park spot proved quiet and free, hooray!!!

Eventually we head off and drive for about 20 minutes to the next town, Ropel, further south on the side of the same lake.  Once out of town there is only acres of agricultural land, no animals.

Again we drive a couple of km out of Ropel to find a free car park, our ploy works for the second time.   This slower pace of life is making us feel dozy and we get a coffee before we can be bothered to explore.  Alastair researches stopping places for us over the next few nights that mean we aren't driving too far, 

When we set off we cycle past some large suburban houses, obviously built in the last 27 years with the odd concrete bunker house in between which were obviously not.

Across the marina and down the Main Street to tourist information which has a free museum upstairs with various items of historical interest.  

Then onto the old town with half timbered buildings mostly built in the early 1800's including a synagogue.   The streets here remain cobbled, beautiful but not cycle friendly.   Cycling back  towards H we pass a well preserved windmill and the marina again.  Cycling onto the next marina we find it packed with motor homes, all German.

Dropping the remains of our lunch at H we pick up books and cycle the other way to find a spot, unfortunately all of the best places along the lake have been taken.  

Boathouse beside the Lake.

So we wander back along the lovely cycle path beside the lake towards Ropel again, stopping on the occasional bench to read or watch boating related activities.  

Typical Local Ferry across the lake.

This area has many paved cycle paths wending their way amongst the hundreds of lakes AND they are all pretty flat, so specialist bikes are unnecessary.  An old boneshaker, like Penelope, is perfect for ambling along admiring the scenery.

While cooking tea in Hamish a hare wanders around in front of H, magical.

Hare!

About an hour after going to sleep Lisa sits up, leans over towards Alastair with a weird look in her eye.  He says: 'before you say anything do you want to know where you are?'.  She lay down again.  So Lisa is having a Reagan (Exorcist) moment now: sitting up, spinning her head, having strange eyes, bloody scary.   If she starts levitating Alastair is moving out.

Ropel Windmill.

Malchow, Monday 26th September 

Having recognised that our overnight options are much more limited in this area we set off and head to the first aire marked on our map.

Within an hour we pull in to a spot by the marina. It looks lovely and is €12 a night.  We are resigned to having to pay but for now head on with the option of coming back.

2km further on is the city of Malchow.  We find a car park about a mile out of town with no restrictions that we can see.   It's another hot day (it's nearly October) which has been brilliant allowing us to keep up with our washing.

We walk into town to find all the hotspots: tourist info, the small marina and the road that swivels round to allow boats to pass through; well boats and caravans on boats.  You can take your caravan on a boating holiday!  Brilliant!

We wander back to H via the impressive church to get our books and spent the rest of the afternoon on a bench chilling.

Alastair wants to spend time bumbling around this area, not driving far, before our assault on Berlin.  So we can choose to spend time reading and enjoying the sun.

Around 8pm the car park is host to young people: cars and their music.  However they considerately keep the volume down and don't keep us awake.

Dobbertin Campsite, Sunday 25th September

We would probably have stayed in our peaceful spot if it had been Monday but by 9am the first coach is pulling up and cars are arriving.  It is a scorching hot Sunday so the car park will soon be packed.  We decide to head on.  

H at the end of 12 motorhomes and Lisa!

Schwerin Schloss- lots of gold

We drive to Schwerin and find a car park that costs €8 for a day.   Hamish is motorhome number 12 in a line of motor homes so we decide to just visit the City and move on.

People see the GB on Hamish and are not subtle about staring at H and us.  They just stand and gawp.   One man even pulled his car up to stop in front of H so he could have a good look.  We are obviously a rare creature in these parts.

Bridge by Schloss, with ferries waiting to set off scross the lake.

Schwerin Markt Square

Schwerin is set amongst seven lakes (or sees) and has an impressive Schloss with gold capped towers.  We cycle: across a bridge, past the Schloss, across another bridge with statues, through  the first square where some kind of market was set up, down Pushkin Strasse to the town square and eventually tourist information.  

waterpump in the Markt

 Amazingly the square has an hour of free wifi.   So we are able to publish the words of our blog, download a weeks worth of Independent newspaper and even get a couple of photos on before our time runs out.

We sit in the peaceful square and eat some sunflower seed brown bread and humous for lunch.  Then Wander around on foot to explore the place a little more and then cycle back to Hamish.  We see a woman on her tiptoes nosing through H's window.   We should sell tickets.

On our app there is a place about half an hour from here which we have to pay a fiver for.  We set off with the plan that we may find somewhere sooner and cheaper.

The landscape changes hugely:  large areas of agricultural farmland, areas of forest with no picnic areas and tiny villages.   We stop at a sign that says we are in a national park and to use designated car parks, not that we have seen any.

Then Lisa spots a Trabant in someone's back garden and it finally dawns on us that we are in what was East Germany until 1989.   Much has changed but it is still feels very different here from other areas of Germany we have visited.  Lisa saw the wall when she was 13 and visited Berlin 3 years after it came down, what had been East Berlin was already a building site then.

Houses that were built a hundred years ago are as grand as others we have seen and there are new, modern buildings.  The building that happened during the GDR period is very different.   Houses in rural areas are one storey, often in a row of 4 or 5.  There are blocks of flats three storeys high and about 20 windows across and all have been guided by function rather than form, very plain buildings.

Dobbertin See

see surprise below!

As we approach the overnight stop we hit a cobbled road.   Hamish does not do cobbles and it is a feature that remains quite often here.  So we weren't very impressed.  Then we saw the howff: basically someone had put a chain link fence around their garden and that was it.  Hamish took one look and drove straight past.

H heads to the next possibility and en route we actually see a potential wild camping spot by the lake, the first possibility, but it is full of cars.  The overnight stop is a lovely field so we pull up to look around.  There is a portaloo so we take a look: Harry Potter Portaloo.  It is completely crisscrossed with cobwebs.  There is supposed to be a chemical loo disposal and we think we spot it but Alastair is going nowhere near it.  We got back on the road.  We suppose it might be a bargain at 5euros.

Eventually we find a tiny campsite which turned out to be an ACSI site.   It is 4pm by now and we had no other choice: €15.

Boathouses by the Lake

We checked in and drive to our spot.  The owner must have forgotten to tell us something and arrives at H as we pull up by, which time we had already got the beers out, record time.

Walking through the woods

Refreshed we decide to explore; vaguely heading for the twin church towers we can see in the distance both of which are crowned with gold crosses.

The campsite is set on a lake and a path runs along the West of the lake through the woods.  We emerge into an area which has 3 large red brick residential buildings, a cafe and the church.

One of the 'Community' Houses

Lisa's surprise

A young man is in front of the cafe shouting, waving his arms and generally making a performance.  He clearly has mental health issues so obviously we walk past not looking at him to avoid causing any difficulties; such sensitive souls.   Lisa immediately kicks over a small metal pot on the floor and picks it up returning it to the other side of the path.  As we walk on we see a man standing with his legs apart rocking from side to side and we finally realise that the 3 buildings are converted into flats for men with mental health issues and or learning disabilities.  As we walk back past the guy in front of the cafe Lisa is horrified to realise that he really is performing to the cafe audience and the tin she kicked was his collection tin which now has a couple of euros in.  Shamefaced we return to H.

Sclosspark Wiligrad,   Saturday 24th September 

Lisa thinks up jobs for us to do to give time for the alcohol to work through Alastair's system.  So bedding is changed, Hamish is given a clean, we get showers and are ready for the off just before 11am.   Alastair checks LPG, we are nearly out.

It's another stunningly beautiful day which cannot be normal for September.

Garage in background

We drive back to the supermarket for supplies, use the services then we need to get LPG.    Alastair secures our adapter, plugs in the nozzle and presses go.  The LPG dramatically flies out of every part of the hose and clearly not into H. 

Alastair try's to stop the gas and in desperation hits the emergency button.  As far as the machine is concerned we have used some gas so we have to pay for it before trying again.  Alastair goes to pay and the assistant comes out to check it out.  She unscrews our adaptor and screws it back in, not sue why.  She goes back in the shop then comes out again rattling the nozzle.  She goes back in and comes out again.  Clearly she is mightily pissed off with us and she doesn't hide it.  Eventually she realises Alastair has pushed the emergency stop button, well that finishes her, she is very cross and tells us that hat the machine now can't be used until she phones someone.  We pay for the gas we haven't had and drive off.

Sclosspark Wiligrad

We don't want to go far today as we are knackered so we drive to a roadside to get lunch in the shade (it is fearsomely hot again) then on the motorway spot an LPG sign.    Let's see if we can wreck this one too.   The nozzle is much more modern and all in one piece and everything goes without a hitch. 

We don't have far to our overnight pitch.  It's a car park in the grounds of a small Schloss.   The Germans have lots of Schloss, most of them are more like palaces, this is a large house on the edge of a lake. 

Note the coat of arms on the left!

Around the castle are some beautiful old, slightly crumbling houses.  The cellar and first floor are made of brick then the second floor is wooden, some windows are missing, others have little curtains.  It seems that a bit of a hippy group are living in the houses.  There is also a cafe that is packed and an outdoor ed section, a group of adults were making monkey sounds and wandering around the forest with torches.

We are shattered and are in bed by 8:30 and sleep for 11 hours in our peaceful little spot.

Lubeck, Friday 23rd September 

Happy Birthday to Alastair!!

Waking up in a supermarket car park has its advantages.  Firstly Alastair had saved or overlooked some beer last night so he started with that.   Then we go to the shop for bread and avocado and come back with a bottle of rum and some cake.

Alastair gets his alternative toaster out so we can have avocado on toast for breakfast.

After showers we drive the 10 minutes into Lubeck and pay €10, all in coins, to park Hamish in the docks for 24 hours.

We set off for the first pub which inevitably is the other side of town.  En route Alastair buys himself some cigars and gauloise.  An ex smoker this is a birthday treat.

We arrive at Im Alten Zollen, a beautiful old pub, and are encouraged to sit outside which is a shame but Al can have a cigar with our dark beer that is brewed exclusively for the pub.

We walk back along the river enjoying some more buildings in this beautiful city.  Not far from H Alastair had spotted a proper drinkers pub where smoking was allowed, the old days!

Inside it's got yellow walls, a drinker at the bar who never speaks, two men and a woman who have been drinking bottles of export since we saw them first thing and the landlady puffing away.  There is a games machine that takes notes and while we were there one of the export drinkers put in €60.

We arrived back at H for lunch with Alastair feeling a bit sick and regretting the indulgence, an ex smoker?  He sleeps for half an hour and is worried that his birthday is going to be a bit of a flop.

We head out just after 4pm and end up wandering around  just waiting for the Brau Burger to open at 5pm.  

It's a beautiful old pub on 3 floors with copper beer making kettles in the middle of the pub.  Most of the tables are already reserved so we sit near the bar admiring the frame and pulley used to get the barrels onto the bar.  There are just two barrels and all the beer is poured directly from them.   It's happy hour fortuitously and we have a second.

Brau Berger- the serving barrels with pulley system

When Alastair pays there is some confusion with the euros and while the bar maid helps Alastair out a guy at the bar comments on us leaving the EU.   Alastair explains he's a Scot and there is recognition that we voted remain and people relax.  Alastair is chuntering as we walk along, our usual Brexit rant.  

real candles

We are taking a photo of a cathedral when a German woman stops us and tells us that if we start near the cathedral and walk back it unveils itself in magnificent fashion.   Cheered up we do it and it is amazing, as you walk away the illusion of the Xx appearing makes it look like a giant spaceship.

Our second bar is the tiny Tibia Tick.  We had peaked through the window yesterday and added it to our list.   It is all dark wood and candles in a space just some 10' X 6'.  The barman plays vinyl (Holly Golightly and Jeffrey Lee Pierce, from the Gun Club) and we chat to him about music.   He gives Alastair a fairly inedible chocolate thing on a stick for his birthday.   Seduced we have two in there as well.   When we pay the barman says thanks for the tip and put our change to one side.   We would have given him a tip but not that much!!

Tibia Tick

Next stop was again something we had spotted yesterday: jazz in the rose garden.  Down one of the many alleys this city is famous for is a pretty garden between the backs of two rows of houses.   A Swedish band are playing trad jazz.   We chuck a fiver in the pot and have a very clement hour with a bottle of beer each.  There was food as well but we didn't risk it.  

By now we really should have been getting a meal but Alastair is feeling fully recovered so instead we return to yesterday's pub.    It's much busier and we fall into conversation with two women one of who worked near Leicester for a couple of years.  Alastair nips to the loo and they ask me about bloody Brexit!!!    We have 2 drinks in there and Alastair cadges a fag.  So much for earlier.

It's time to head back but we get a little lost, probably because Alastair is too slaughtered and Lisa's sense of direction is hopeless.  We are rescued by two young guys, one of whom Alastair gets into some kind of bromance hug with.

We get Alastair safely back in H where he is railing about H wanting to sit outside with music but someone already has our place.   Thank goodness for that.  Starving we raid chocolates, crisps and nuts while Alastair enjoys the drams that Jesper had kindly shared with us and then opens another beer.   Eventually Lisa manages to get him into bed.  A thoroughly lovely birthday evening.

Ploner to  Lubeck Supermarket car park, Thursday 22nd September 

Lisa is woken by light streaming in from the skylight, a bad sign, surely not again.  But when Alastair wakes he confirms there were not one but two incidents of 'Alastair where am I, where am I?'  For some reason opening the blind on the window seems to pacify her.  We blame the mirror maze at Legoland.

When we arrived yesterday there were no envelopes to place the €5 to pay for parking and the box where the money is posted was open and unlocked.  So after checking with a a Germany guy we held onto our pennies.   Overnight nothing has changed so we got a freebie!!

 We drive to a recycling place we found when we were cycling around yesterday and fill it up, Hamish feels much lighter now.

Holstein Gate

We have just an hours drive to a supermarket car park which has services.   We get on our bikes and set off for Lubeck.  About 30 minutes later we cycle over Lubeck's answer to Charles Bridge (Prague) with a view towards the stunning, medieval gatehouse to the city.  It looks as if it has sunk in the middle and so entranced Andy Warhol he made a lithograph of this Holstein Gate.

We tie up our bikes and set off on foot and spend an hour wandering past the amazing town hall and various churches.  We find a bench for the bread and hummus we bought with us and realise we both need a wee.   

Wee medieval houses behind the more modern communities.

The first WC marked on the map no longer exists, the second is now boarded up so in desperation we set off for the third.    It does exist and it is open but it costs 50cents to get in and we only have one 50c, the turnstile stops us sharing one loo so tail between our legs (to stop any accidents) we try to find a bank to get change.   Several streets later we haven't found a bank but we do find a McDonalds, pissing on or in a McDonalds gives us some small satisfaction.

Relieved and calm we easily find a bank and get a pocketful of change.

We walked back to the opposite side of the city to find street upon street of charmingly beautiful, historic houses.   We spot a couple of beautiful old bars ready for tomorrow although they don't open until 6pm.

Then we come across a bar that is open.  We were parched so it seemed rude not too.   It's small with dark wood tables, stunning.  We snuggle round a table with a half of Jever for Lisa and something dark and strong for Alastair.   The barman, a travelling musician by trade chats to us.

We set off back towards our bikes.  The walk across the city and the journey home is a little too long so we find a different loo and share 50c before finding our bikes and cycling home.

As a pre birthday treat we nip to the supermarket for beers and Alastair's chosen tea?  Bangers, beans and mash.

Shattered by all the walking and cycling Alastair is asleep by 8:30.  At some point he is vaguely aware of Lisa sitting bolt upright but is too tired to wake up and help.

Kappeln to Ploner, Wednesday 21st September 

Hooray we survived without getting a parking ticket.  However the big blue grass cutting tractor machine is hard at work cutting circles in the grass around Hamish.  He doesn't appreciate such noise at 6.30am.  So we move to a car park that is for coaches  nearby.  Only to be surrounded by smaller, but noisier, orange strimming and leaf blowing (your mum's a leaf blower?) men.  H gives up and we stay.

After breakfast and showers we go back to the overnight stop to pay for water, a 0.5 Euro machine.   There is a Lidl just round the corner so we try to recycle Lisa's plastic bottles.   Danish Lidl doesn't count and the bottles are spat back at us.   

We set of for Ploner, an overnight stop that costs €5.   We park up and amazingly there is some recycling so we get rid of the Danish plastic bottles.  Only 3 bags of cardboard left to junk now.

Ploner See

Ploner is in the middle of an area of lakes and this area has sea eagles, fingers crossed. 

Penelope.

It's been a while since we have had decent wifi so we feel a duty to update the blog.  We load our bikes with laptops and cycle to Tourist Information.   Lisa asks about the wifi.  They don't have it here but apparently we can get it at the bakers????   We cycle back to H having to settle for our 2G. Germany has so far been awful in the wifi department.  We had planned to use the large tourist information office in Ploner to upload photos from Denmark and download newspapers and podcasts.  Even Facebook won't upload photos?  We feel rather cut off in our communication with the world.  Even worse we cannot use our tablet to find free overnight stops (howffs), so planning our stays is difficult.  We are reduced to using the POIs we downloaded to TomTom satnav in the UK.

Relieved of the burden of blog/wifi jobs we set off to explore Ploner.   We cycle through the woods to the furthest point of a peninsula that juts into the lake and watch the tourist boat cruise past.    Then we cycle up to the big brilliant white Schloss on the hill and eventually back to H.

Ploner Schloss.

Alastair inspects the map at our car park.  We we will be paying a fiver to stop in a car park beside a busy main road and he is checking out if we can do better.

There is a car park the other side of town so rather than risk moving H for nothing and as it's only 4pm we get back on our bikes to check it out.  Lots of exercise today.

We cycle between the railway track and the lake.   The parking is in a leafy lane even closer to the main road.  We decide to settle for our spot and cycle back.

 Exercised out we have a chilled evening in H.  

Kappeln, Tuesday 20th September 

We reluctantly leave our little spot in Hejls but we want to get back to Germany today.  

We decide to bumble along the coast road to find a supermarket.  We stop at the first town we find, Hederslev, and have a walk around but can't find a supermarket.  We get back in H and find one about 10 metres along the road.   We manage to spend the last of our Danish krona on some bread and two pots of vegan pesto which is very hard to find here.

Back on the road and within an hour we cross the border, not that we notice, as there are distracting roadworks and the blue sign indicating we had crossed into Germany was hidden in the bushes. 

The first town is Flensberg.  We fill up with petrol, so that blows the budget.  Slightly further on we spot a Sky supermarket.   Alastair digs in the garage through the bags of recycling that Lisa insists we keep to recycle, despite seeing nowhere to recycle since Sweden, to uncover the crate of beer that has accompanied us through Denmark (twice), Norway and Sweden.  

Despite the 1.50 euro we get back from the bottles we overspend again.  It's just exciting to see things we can eat.

Our planned overnight spot is by the marina in Flensburg.  It is busy and noisy.  After paying a euro to enjoy an hour and eating our delicious humous and beetroot sandwiches, yes beetroot for the first time in ages, we decide to move on.

Our next overnight attempt is a car park near the sea but when we arrive there is a sign saying ' no overnight stay in motor home', we have to move on.  It's slightly frustrating but we just have to re acquaint ourselves with Germany.  

Kappeln Bridge

We head for Kappeln as there is an overnight stop for €5 but when we arrive it's on a garage forecourt next to a drive in McDonalds and we think we can do better. 

View from a Bridge.

We drive back towards the bridge that leads to the town to find a car park on a field that has no signs saying no overnight stays, we decide to risk it.

We get our bikes off and cycle into town which has some cobbled streets.  Not very exciting.

While we are cooking tea another motor home spots us and pulls up.    I hope they don't think we know what we are doing!!!!