Owning
a Campervan in the UK. Copyright not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission of the author.
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Owning
a Campervan in the UK. “ Tantuii: religio potuit suadere malorum" - 'To such heights of evil are men driven by religion.' - I cast the prophets of all religions into the pit of willful ignorance, to be immolated on a pyre of burning Rabbis, the epitome of evil priests.
3rd July 2007, Tuesday.
Fjeistead Denmark. We turn around on the spot and head south. We are tired of wet day after wet day, and find the Danish countryside, it is uninspiring, so we are cutting our losses and leaving before we waste even more money on the bridge toll to Copenhagen which is DK250 each way for a car or small camper. That makes it DK500 or £50 (A$120) return, just to cross a bridge, albeit a long one. As we weren't really enjoying Denmark the thought of another rip off, and the prospect of everything being overpriced just completely turned us off the place. So we are voting with our wheels and heading back to Germany, thence to France, campervan heaven. Covering over 500km today, but still the weather does not improve, rain on an off all the way south into Germany, past Hamburg, and Hanover.
The German Autobahns have numerous rest areas, some are deeper than others, some have sound barriers, either massive solid fences or earthen mounds, so they would vary a lot as SONP's from the perspective of road noise. WC's are common, but many of the newer ones have automatic hand sprays instead of basins, which makes it impossible to get water. Some of the older ones have basin taps where you can get water.
We may end up in Morocco before the weather improves at the present rate. I suppose the locals are so used to wet windy weather that they find a couple of hours of sun to be almost an erotic experience, but we have never had it as bad on any previous tour of Europe in 2000, 2004, 2005, or 2006 when we have been here in both Autumn and Spring. Summer we expected to be at least as good, but this just goes to show what can happen with climates changing.
We find a parking area at Coppenbrugge SW of Hanover, a pleasant little town that has set aside a rough parking on the outskirts for campervans. The waypoint from an internet listing is wrong, as is often the case, but we find it through perseverance and deduction from the German language description and the town map board. Unimpressive and unappealing, yes, but at least it should be quiet at night with no early morning traffic to wake us up at 4AM, as will happen if you stop along any German main road, they are ALL busy.
It's a cute town too, with a mix of charming old buildings, not a tourist town, a real town, the sort of place I like to come across. Real, not contrived to milk tourists of their money, but a place where life goes on normally, and the occasional tourist is just a welcome passer by, not a potential victim.
The only problem is the parking isn't free, but they don't explain that very clearly. The sign for the camper stellplatz has only a small sign in German only under it which apparently says to report to the warden of a nearby camping park. About 8.30 PM a person appears and seems to want something but speaks no English at all, when I explain I don't speak enough German to understand him, he keeps repeating the same thing and getting quite annoyed. Apparently asking for money. But who is he? I tell him call the Police, I don't understand you. He stalks off and is back in fifteen minutes with another who speaks English and explains we must pay €3.50 for parking the night. This time there is a receipt card offered, and we can also use the dumpsite and get water at the nearby camping park. I suggest that it would be useful as the "warden" does not speak anything but German if he had a brief identification and explanation in English and French.
Being late I reluctantly paid the fee, (first time this tour even including England) I couldn't be bothered moving to the town square and parking for free, although normally I will not pay for parking. I have marked the waypoint red and indicated the fee. I shan't be returning to Coppenbrugge and will move on tomorrow whereas we might have stayed a couple of nights. There are plenty of places and other villages to stop free.
Next morning the police arrive at 8.30 to tell me I have to pay!! The camp park warden called last night saying I wouldn't pay, but then neglected to advise them that the matter had been resolved. I told the cop the town needed to improve the way they handled the matter, showed him the receipt and obtained an apology.
4th July, 2007, Wednesday.
We connected to the internet and the weather forecasts for all of Europe are still for rain over the foreseeable future, the only place having fine weather was Marseilles on the Mediterranean coast of France and Spain south of the Pyrenees. So we decide to keep heading south.
5th July, 2007, Thursday.
A quaint little town with a large 13th century tower on the walls. A fee parking area just outside the town wall. Fritzlar is actually one of the most attractive towns I have come across in Germany. Almost completely preserved old town with typical half timbered houses colorfully painted and well maintained. While tourists come here it isn't just a tourist town.
Still it rains and so we were unable to go cycling so walked around town with our umbrellas and bought bread and a cheese and sausage roll from the bakery. After lunch it is still raining so we decide to head south on the autobahns again heading for Strasbourg in France where we intend to start our canal exploring which proved so successful last year.
I have located several well commended free aires de services in villages along the Marne au Rhin canal where we can stay after Strasbourg, and hopefully do some cycling along the canal. We decide to stay on the autobahn system once we reach the first one south of Fritzlar to travel south as quickly as possible. The German autobahns are free, but once we reach France we will use the ordinary road system, as most French motorways charge very high tolls. Usually we prefer the more leisurely pace anyway, but this year the awful weather has been the influencing factor in travelling all through Germany from Denmark in just three days.
6th July, 2007, Friday.
Sollingen Germany.
We stopped for the night just off the autobahn near Baden Baden intending to stay but there was so much noisy traffic coming off the autobahn that we decided to move on at 9.30 PM and found a small remote parking area beside the Rhine river near Sollingen.
We could have reached Strasbourg but decided not to arrive late in the day in case the parking was full. More rain during the night, the entire country is sodden to the point where wheat crops will be rotting in the fields.
We stopped at the free aire de services in the park beside the Rhine. After reaching Strasbourg the afternoon was bright and sunny and we were able to cycle along the German side of the Rhine.
Cycle paths on the French side of the river do not extend far.
Back to Belgium to Denmark
