2015/4 The Rhine to the UK.

It seems amazing that with the whole of Europe available, our two lots of friends were only 50 kms away from each other in Germany. After leaving the Glennys on the Rhine we headed on down the river and through the Rhine gorge where the river runs at quite a pace.

The big barges race downstream and chug upstream. Roads and trains on both banks remind one what a highway this is.  After passing the Lorelei statue of the maiden who lured boats onto the rocks, we travelled on to Koblenz, where we turned left into the Mosel river to find Kiwi Rose with Max & Lucy, to join them yet again for a river/canal cruise. The Mosel is much more beautiful than the industrial Rhine - the very green banks and “wall to wall” vineyards up steep banks to the hills – wondered how on earth people could access them until we discovered the little machines which run on a toothed pipe – must make it all an expensive wine – but we did enjoy finding some wine much drier than we are usually used to with Mosel wine.  With Max & Lucy we set off in Stan to visit the rather exotic castle of Berg Eltz, set in the countryside rather than on defensive rocky promontories.

 

 

Moving slowly upstream through the locks and marvelling as to how the big barges a 100m long, 11m wide and  over 2,000t can steer round bends etc and one or even add a pusher barge 70m long on the front – wide berth advised! Managed some cycling along the river banks to visit beautiful small towns and crumbling castles. At Cochem we stopped for a few days in this very beautiful but touristy town with a walk up to the castle on the hill. Lots of lazing in the sun,  castle visits sampling of wine, David then caught the train back to pick up Stan.

We drove on up the Mosel to Trier then up the Saar for a while, back across to the Mosel in France so Joanna’s phone would work again and into Luxembourg for the start of out European Union visits.  First Schengen, where the open border agreement was signed more than 30 years ago, enabling us all to travel without visas etc. Then Luxembourg city where we found a good street park for Stan and walked around the centre with a great valley cutting through the middle of the town.  Next North to Brussels to again find a good park close to the centre; first a ‘hop on hop off’ bus tour then a visit to the European Parliament building for a high tech electronic history of modern Europe.  All quite interesting with lots of screens etc.  Couldn’t miss the huge EU office buildings of course. Good to see Brussels, but not the most exotic of cities. However les frites (hot chips) were brilliant.

Onwards North to Calais for the shopping  (next to the Channel Tunnel entrance which was constantly in the news concerning refugees but we saw none), then to town for our traditional ‘moules frites ‘ and Serge Blanco sale price shirts for David. It was a fine weekend and big and happy crowds on the beaches.  To get both a cheaper crossing and stay away from the seamen’s random strikes at Calais, we caught the ferry from Dunkirk following a look at their huge sandy beaches (famous for the evacuation following the disastrous start to the second world war). A quick stop at Dungeness on our way back to Hastings. What an amazing place – huge, ugly power station, quaint looking cottages (that actually look quite trendy and probably cost a fortune), a cute little train, pubs, lighthouses and hoards of people. Not what we were expecting at all.

England was beautiful and sunny. David’s family laid on a great dinner in Tunbridge Wells for David’s birthday.  This year, something different we went walking in the villages near Bidborough, David’s birth place – an excellent visit to Hever castle (home of Anne Boleyn (wife no 2 of Henry VIII) and a 10 mile walk to/from Penshurst.  We marvelled at the super OS 1/25,000 maps giving all the details of paths etc and of the excellent signposting the footpaths that England is so good at.  Next time we will buy the maps as we were lucky enough to borrow one from the owner of the field where we parked Stan.

 

Stan got it’s usual clean and polish both inside and outside at Maureen’s house in Hastings with a day out at the Hastings carnival.

So 8,000 plus km, from the windy, cold and sometimes wet of Scotland to the searing heat wave of France (learnt a new French word ,’canicule’ and some info on local definitions), visited Paris and the Alps with Joanna’s younger sister, met Alison and Malcolm, our Macpherson St neighbours on the Rhine and some canal boating with Auckland friends. Leaving Stan for Malcolm and Alison to continue their holiday in Europe starting in a few weeks.

Tomorrow it’s back to NZ – Auckland for 3 days, then Wanaka for 2 weeks. Plenty of snow down there we hear! But the temperature!!!

2015/3 Onto Germany

What is it about us and cameras? Three gone in 2 years. Number 1 in a glass of beer, number 2 in a lake in Lithuania, number 3 just died. So a smartphone only now.

Finally got the wheel bearings fixed. It meant a few days in Sassenage but the plus side of it was we were able to explore the area with walks in the hills and cycle rides along the Isere River. Bearings all done, funny noise gone - David can relax. However during this time the temperatures soared, day and night – a heatwave – up to 40 during the day and well over 20 at night. An inversion cloud formed over Grenoble. Time to move onwards and upwards to cooler climes.

We headed up into the Vercors plateau. Much cooler and clearer. Walked up to the start of the rock climb on the strikingly shaped Mont Aiguille. (David climbed the whole thing years ago, but couldn’t even remember how to get to it.) Was a great walk with plenty of shade en route, however the next walk to the Cirque d’Archiane was a big mistake. headed off in the heat of the day, no shade – stunning scenery but hard to appreciate when you are are slowly expiring from heat exhaustion.

This inspired us to head head even higher into the Vercors for a couple of days past cross country ski training grounds and stunningly located villages. Some hair-raising drives along precipitous roads overhanging cliff edges, and scary tunnels. Descended to lower levels past a distillery to buy more walnut aperatif which  friends in Grenoble had given us – great stuff. Thence Lake Paladrau for an overnight lakeside stop and a  quick swim. On to some more walks in the mountains east from Annecy, both up to a refuge for a food/drink reward and both excellent with fantastic views of the Mont Blanc range from the Col des Aravis and a charming lunch with the host family at the Refuge Lindion.

 

 

And so on North passing close to the Swiss border and the Jura mountains, heading to the Rhine to meet up with Auckland friends and neighbours, Alison and Malcolm Glenny in Offenburg, over the river into Germany.  They were having a week there reliving their past times on a teaching exchange, 30 years ago. One of our highlights there was a trip into Strasbourg to enjoy the Bastille Day celebrations. A city walk, the cathedral, dinner out, fireworks and all finished off with a spectacular Son et lumiere on the walls of the cathedral. All this got rather late and we were next seen flying through the streets of Strasbourg, at 1 in the morning on our bicycles. Several kilometres involved out to where we had parked the van.  Home for the next few  days was on the street outside their apartment, about 10 metres from the railway, with most frequent, most noisy goods trains we have ever heard, but drugged with a good dose of the local vino, soundly we slept.

 

 

 

With Malcolm’s excellent research and travel planning, plus fluency in German, we headed  off into the Alsace wine region and a brief foray up into the hill roads of the Vosges Mountains. A night in Munster, of the smelly cheese fame, and lots of storks. The Glennys were travelling in a flash Mercedes, while we trundled along in in Stan. However once at the campground, we had the van while they had a tent! On into Germany – Saverne, Speyer, Worms. All pretty stuff, with magnificent cathedrals and old towns. Finally on up to meet the Rhine again and into the Gorge – full of vineyards, castles, pretty villages with half-timbered houses, LOTS of trains and enormous barges on the river. A great campsite right on the river’s edge. Farewell to the Glennys as they head off towards Berlin and we head about 50Kms north to meet Max and Lucy Thompson.