Beer and Castles Route, 31 May

We have been in four countries today. We started off in Germany, where they were having yet another public holiday, but we found a petrol station with attached bakery to get both diesel and rolls for lunch. Then we set off on the long, long trail back to Calais, across Holland and Belgium, with endless road works and delays. We ended up in Ostende, where we stopped for a cup of tea and to stretch our legs, and then asked the Sat-nav to take us the rest of the way not on the motorway. It was a delightful drive alongside one of the many canals, and then through Dunkerque, a town where we've been many times before but we couldn't recognise anywhere, for some reason. Neither of us could, it wasn't just me being feeble.

Then we stopped at the big Auchan outside Dunkerque where we ate supper in. Flunch (not too gruesome!) and did a bit of shopping before heading back to the motorway for the final, quick and easy, run to Calais.

Beer and Castles Route, 30 May

Today was All About Wuppertal. And there is one thing which defines Wuppertal and that is the Schwebebahn, or suspended railway, which runs about 25 km through the town and serves the function of a metro or tram.

Citymapper works here, which is always a plus,and we discovered we could buy a day ticket that covered all the public transport in the area for €10.30 for both of us. They were available from the bus driver, too, so we didn't have the boring thing of having to pay for a single ticket to the station!

We found the right bus stop which was not far from the aire, and the bus came in about 5 minutes. It dropped us off at the Oberbarmen station which is one end of the line.

 

It really is an amazing feat of engineering, but what we didn't expect was that the cars would sway about - most disconcerting, and slightly sick-making. On subsequent rides we learnt that sitting as near the front of the train as possible minimised this.

We went to the far end of the line and, after stretching our legs round Woolworths and DM, came back to what we thought was the main town hall but it wasn't, so we got a bus to the central station and then the Schwebebahn again to the station called Alter Markt, where there was a brewery and a town hall, and a cafe where I used the loo and we ordered lunch, which was a big mistake as it took over an hour to arrive and was nothing special when it did. How long does it take to put salad and chicken on a flatbread?

Anyway, it came at last, and we decided to get a bus back to the aire that went a different way and that stopped just outside it. This was very pleasant, but we felt we had done Wuppertal by then, so after a cup of tea and using the services we headed on. First port of call was a supermarket as tomorrow is yet another bank holiday in this part of Germany (how many holidays in one month do you need?), so we had to get the last German things plus milk and yoghurt and so on. And then a rather slow drive to Düren and the aire we have stayed at twice before. We are definitely homeward bound.

Beer and Castles Route, 29 May

Today started off hot, and I decided to walk to the bakery to get rolls for lunch, and after using the services, we set sail for Wuppertal. The SW wanted to go across country through one or two marked scenic routes although, as he said, everywhere is scenic at this time of year. So we put various way points into the Sat-nav and eventually ended up at Stockum, on the Möhnesee, for lunch. There was a kiosk so we went to buy sausages, only to find that this was all they were, just on a plate by themselves, so we were glad of our rolls!

It was a long drive in the afternoon, too, and by the time we arrived at the camp site it was pouring with rain, so we haven't been out. Tomorrow will probably be nice, though.

Beer and Castles Route, 28 May

It was going to be a hot morning, so when the Swan Whisperer went for his run, I walked up to the Netto supermarket to do the day's shopping before breakfast. Of course he got back before I did and didn't have a key, so texted to find out where I was and then arrived to demand to borrow my key just as I was trying to pack and pay. So I made him walk back with me to cool down.

We had breakfast outside, and then headed on, only to find that the car wash place where you were supposed to pay and there were services had closed down, so we got our night for free.

We made a wrong turning, not believing the Sat-nav when it said that this very minor road was the B85, but we backtracked when we realised we were wrong and followed it around some serious hairpin bends until it ended at a town called Berka. And so we have travelled most of it (barring the odd detour) all the way from Passau!

So now along the A38 to Göttingen. We had originally planned to go to Fritzlar, but changed our minds. We are parked in an aire in the car park of a spa complex, with services, etc. The SW went in to see the town but said it wasn't very pretty.

It is very hot, and I think it will storm soon. We ate supper outside, but I don't think we'll leave the chairs and picnic table out tonight, nor have the skylights open!

Beer and Castles Route, 27 May

It was a hot, hot morning. We had vaguely thought of going swimming, but I wasn't feeling  quite 100% so we didn't. The Swan Whisperer did go for a walk round the town, mainly to get rolls for lunch, but once that had happened we set off.

The German summer seems to be very like the British one - three fine days and then a thunderstorm, and the thunderstorm caught up with us when we stopped for lunch at Bad Blankenburg so I really didn't want to go and look at the castle. So we drove on, out of the rain, via the Goethebrunnen at Bad Berka (which we couldn't see as there was nowhere to park), and then via the outskirts of Weimar, dominated by the Buchenwald memorial, to her at Bad Frankenhausen, the end of the route. We still have the inside of a week left, though, and a couple of adventures planned, so watch this space....

Beer and Castles Route, 26 May

Today's drive was mostly through deep valleys with hills covered with pine trees. Our day started with a trip to the supermarket, and then we headed towards B85 again. Our first port of call was a Border museum at Heinersdorf, but, sadly it was closed - I think you need to ring up and book in advance to see it. However, we saw a fraction of the old wall, and the notice that explains that this was where Germany, and Europe, were divided until 1989.

It wasn't quite lunch time, so we drove on for another 20 minutes or so, rejoining the B85 at Pressig, and stopping at a random lay-by for lunch. It has been a hot day and we were glad of the picnic tables provided.

After lunch, our first port of call was Ludwigsstadt, where there is a rather spectacular railway bridge, but its wasn't very easy to see. However, it turned out that back in the day, Ludwigsstadt had been the last (or first) railway station in West Germany. And, indeed, before that, on the border between Bavaria and Thuringia. The next town along, Probstzella, had been the first in East Germany and the old station building is now used as a museum of that time.

Fortunately for us it was open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (the first time I have ever seen Sonnabend used instead of Samstag for Saturday), and although the man on the desk had such a strong regional accent we couldn't understand a word he said, we got in all right and spent a very happy hour seeing all the hoops people had had to jump through to visit their relatives, even from West to East.

When we finished there, we drove up to a village called Leutenberg where there was a castle that is now a hospital. The SW went to see it, but I was too sleepy.

And so we went on to Saalfeld, passing another couple of castles on the way, and are parked up here for the night. A free car park, but no services here; however, as we used them this morning, we don't need them today, and I believe there are some at the local garage in an emergency.

Beer and Castles Route, 25 May

The Swan Whisperer went for rather a longer run than he meant this morning as he thought he was heading up the hill to the Plassenburg castle, but missed his path. Oh well, no harm done this time....

After breakfast we walked up to the museum. It was in fact three museums in one - a museum of brewing, one of baking and one of herbs and spices. The woman on the ticket desk said she wouldn't recommend we did all three in one morning, so we just bought tickets for the bakery and the herbs and spices one. The brewing museum was said to be as big as the other two put together, so I'm glad we didn't try to tackle it.

One of the disadvantages of being officially old is that you already know an awful lot of the stuff in museums, and there wasn't much about milling flour and baking bread that we hadn't already come across before. An interesting history's section, though, going from the Egyptians to the Romans, then to the middle ages and early modern period, with some interesting information on the legislation in the various city-states that comprised Germany until very recently.

Then on into the herb and spice museum which began with a trip along the Silk Road, bringing exotic spices to Europe, and where they went by sea (and the kinds of vessels their were transported in), and a but about the land route north of Venice. Then some descriptions of the various herbs and spices in everyday use and a history of their use in cookery and medicine. All very interesting, but I was tired. Our entry fee entitled us to some bread to eat on the spot and a sachet of herbs, rather nice. I believe if you'd been to the brewing museum you got a small glass of beer.

We walked back to the motor home and then on to a local bakery to see if they did the sausage in bread that this area is famous for, which they didn't and we felt bad for disturbing her lunch, but she told us where we could find them in the town, which we duly did and ate them (and very delicious they were, too). Then we bought a few bottles of the local brews, and it was time to say farewell to Kulmbach.

Our afternoon drive first went up to Weißenbrunn, where we saw a famous fountain,  the Jungfergettl Brunnen, which is a fertility figure with water pouring out of her boobs. Then to Kronach, where we caught a glimpse of the Festung Rosenberger, and so to Mitwitz, where we would have liked to have seen the Wasserschloss, but when we got to the car park an officious official told us we couldn't park there - although why not just for half an hour - and insisted we move on, despite our pretending not to understand.

Then we decided to leave the route for a détour to Coburg, where we saw the castle that Queen Victoria called her second home, and I think a glimpse of the one where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German. But again, parking was difficult, and I was incredulity thirsty, for some reason, so we drove on a little way to Neustadt bei Coburg, where there is a very nice aire, like the ones we have spent the past few nights at - free, but you pay for electricity and water if you want them.