Lockdown Lifted, 16 July

As might have been expected, I didn't sleep too well, but when I got up to use the facilities at about 6:00 am, I was disconcerted to find that not only would the loo not flush, but I could get no water to do it manually, either.  Investigation proved that the leisure batteries were flat, and we had to run the engine for awhile to charge them up again!

It was inevitable, I suppose - the machine has been off the road for the best part of six months, with only one excursion just before lockdown and then we turned the engine over once during lockdown, so the battery is evidently past its best.  So we will have to be careful with it, but no big deal.  If we don't charge our devices overnight, we should be okay.  I haven't planned us to go to many places with an electricity supply, but that could change. 

It might have helped had it been sunny, as the solar panels would have charged more than they did, but it was cloudy and a bit wet.  I was, as I rather expected to be, exhausted, so have done almost nothing except visit a supermarket.  Almost everybody wears masks here, which is brilliant.  I gather that, as in England, it becomes compulsory in enclosed public spaces from next week. 

Since we knew the aire here is very small, we drove straight here - I slept most of the way - and just as well, as it is now overflowing and someone asked me, sadly, whether we intended to spend the night here!  Yes, actually.... 

The Swan Whisperer has put up the television, but we are not sure how successfully, and we can't run it when not on mains power - well, we can, but it wouldn't be wise. He then went out for a walk and is just back.  I had another nap and have been crocheting and reading.  I have bought a ready-meal (couscous) for supper, so I shan't have to cook.  

Chamery, as seen from the bedroom window!

Lockdown Lifted, 15 July 2020

Watten, France

It has been a very, very long time.  The motor home was SORNed for several months.  Our Viking River Cruise was cancelled.  The ISU adult competition at Oberstdorf was cancelled.  For many weeks, our only outings were the Swan Whisperer regular runs and trips to Lidl, all of 100 metres away.  

We did go to my mother for a socially-distanced lunch in her garden and to my daughter for a birthday lunch in hers, but that was all. 

And then they announced that we could travel again! So, quickly, before they could change their minds, we booked.  I didn't really believe it would happen, but the motor home got loaded up - still rather a slow process as we don't yet automatically know where things live - and we set off.  And now we are parked up in Watten, on our way to the French Alps.  I can barely believe it!

Moselle Valley, 20-21 February

I didn't post yesterday, as there was really nothing to post about!  The gas cylinder finally ran out while we were getting breakfast, a good week after the Swan Whisperer was convinced it was about to run out Any Minute Now!  So that's all right; we will be going to Germany in May with almost a full load of gas.

We drove from the outskirts of Charleroi (a nice aire - I'd recommend it) to Gravelines with singular lack of incident.  I slept most of the way - you know me, guaranteed to sleep in a moving vehicle at any time!  However, just as we had parked up, the heavens opened and for the next two hours there was a most spectacular storm!  No thunder and lighting, but very heavy rain and wind.  And then it eased, and the sun came out in time to set, but by then neither of us felt like going out again.

Then this morning we got up punctually, and after breakfast drove over to the Super U we could see from our parking - it was further away than it looked - and I did a huge Last Shopping, and then we drove to Cité Europe where we used the services, and so to Eurotunnel, where we were offered a crossing half an hour early (yes please!), but in fact got on an extra one 45 minutes ahead of schedule.  Mind you, there was a huge traffic jam on the South Circular, so that accounted for it!  Home by 14:30 UK time, and the steady work of unpacking and putting away, and generally sorting things out.  But the orchid that the Daughter and Son-in-Law gave us after their wedding, nearly 13 years ago, has flowered again!

We definitely love our new van now we are used to it.  The loo smells more than the old one did - this may be the chemical we were using, as it was what they gave us at the caravan centre, not what we normally use - and the lighting just doesn't shine in quite the right place when one is sitting in the swivelled-round seat (this is also awkward to do).  The table is smaller than in the old machine, and awkward to move, but one can live with that.  But that is the only downside, really.  

Moselle Valley, 19 February

I should have had my act together this morning, got up betimes and headed into Koblenz, but singularly failed to get out of bed until the Swan Whisperer had got back from his "run". Poor man - it had, apparently, looked a lovely place for a run on the map, but when he got there it was far too steep and slippery for any but the most cautious of walks!

We started homewards after breakfast, agreeing that we will definitely come back both to Koblenz and to Lahnstein one of these days. But for now, we drove to Kerten, near Duren, where I did a Last Shop in Germany, and we got diesel, and then - while I slept - to this aire on the outskirts of Charleroi.

And the gas, which the Swan Whisperer was convinced was going to run out at the weekend, is still going strong, like the Widow's Cruse.... 

Moselle Valley, 18 February

So today was All About Koblenz. After breakfast, we used the services (very necessary!) and then caught a bus into the town centre. This was a few minutes walk from the Altstadt and the Moselle, so we walked along the Moselle

up to the Rhine, passing a memorial to the Roma and Sinti people who had been deported from Koblenz and murdered in the death camps. 

We went past the Castor church,

with a lovely bed of pansies outside,

and then arrived at the Rhine

 where there was a cable car across the river

but, sadly, out of use and in fact being maintained before the new season starts in March.

So we walked on, and back into the Altstadt, the heart of which was the Jesuit square and church.

We would have gone into the church

, but Mass was about to start, and although we could have gone to the service, we thought that in German we might have trouble knowing what was going on. So we went back to a restaurant called the Einstein, a few steps away, where we had the lunch special, which was lentil stew with sausages and (unnecessary, I thought) Spätzle, followed by a small ice cream, and we drank beer and coffee.

By which time I had had enough, so we went back to the bus stop and caught the bus back to the camp site, the Swan Whisperer cleverly realising that one stop further on was almost definitely nearer than the stop I'd found. As, indeed, it proved to be.

So I flaked out and the Swan Whisperer did some shopping for me and went for a walk on his own behalf. We had debated moving on but it is very nice here, so we didn't. 

Moselle Valley, 17 February

We were wakened by church bells at 7:00 am, so the Swan Whisperer went for a run, slightly further, I think, than he meant, but then, we were parked up in the car park at the start of a rambling area! So I got breakfast, and managed to burn myself on the grill pan, which hurt, but lavender oil has sorted it, although you can see the place.

After breakfast, our first port of call was a supermarket in Kobern-Gondorf. We had originally planned to spend the night there, not in the supermarket, I don't mean, but in an aire, but decided to push on to Koblenz, which is not very far away. The place we had hoped to spend the night was just where the Moselle and the Rhine intersect,

but when we got there it was €19, which said it included electricity and services, but the only thing that looked like an electric socket was full of water, and no sign of anything else. So we came away and have found a really nice aire where the Lahn and the Rhein intersect, instead.

Only €11, and although electricity is extra, we found a socket with 4 Kwh left! Water is extra, but only €1 for 100 litres, which is fine. We haven't used the services yet, but will need to tomorrow.

So we had lunch and then I dozed off for a bit. The SW went to explore and when I came awake, I did, too, walking up to the nearest DM, about a mile away, and finding out that there is a half-hourly bus service into Koblenz from near our campsite, also half-hourly train from a little further away. In fact, I almost got on a bus into Koblenz, but only had a €50 note, so didn't. Instead I walked to the DM and bought what I wanted from there, and then walked back to the campsite. It didn't seem worth taking a bus for just one stop, which was all that I could see how to take between there and here. But tomorrow we will go into Koblenz, and may stay here another night as we are ahead of ourselves. 

Moselle Valley, 16 February

I don't think we're going to run out of gas, after all! It might have been a bit closer had the big cylinder finished last night, when the Swan Whisperer said it was about to, but it is still going strong, and we have an untouched 5 kg cylindrr, so plenty. Especially as we haven't needed the heating today, it has been so mild.

I have been very sleepy all day so have done very little, but thoroughly enjoyed the drive along the river - it really is wonderful, but arguably not in the summer! 

We had hoped to spend the night in Cochem, but it was a bust, as the only parking we could find for motorhomes was only until 7:00 pm, so we drive on and found this lovely little car park with dedicated bays for motor homes, although no services or electricity. Village called Brodenbach, apparently. I will take a photo in the morning, but meantime here is one taken a bit further upstream.