Oberstdorf 2023, Tuesday 23 May

 I have never really liked the aire at Sangatte, as it is in the middle of nowhere and too far to get to a bakery before breakfast!  However, the one in Calais does not have this defect, so we had pains aux raisins for breakfast as well as a lovely fresh demi-baguette.  The pains aux raisins were definitely edible, but not, it has to be said, as nice as the ones you can get in Lidl!

Anyway, we left the aire at about 09:35 and made our way to the Shuttle, where we were given our booked crossing.  This gave us half an hour or so before we were called to the boarding area, so the Swan Whisperer had coffee and we finished the packing up in the bedroom and the clothes - the kitchen stuff had to wait until we arrived as it would have rattled and there isn't really room for the crates on the floor.  The crossing was on time, and then it was an easy run to No 6.  In fact, as my mother and sister were going to be out and it was lunchtime, we parked up by Patching Pond

to eat our lunch before going round to the house and packing up the rest of the stuff - groceries, etc.  My mother and sister came home briefly to let the dog out, and then went out again; we finished up everything except the fridge (that came last of all), and then made ourselves a cup of tea.  While we were drinking it, they returned, and we chatted for awhile before heading back to London.  

That was an easy run until we got to Mitcham, when we were held in a massive traffic jam at Figges Marsh, and we didn't get home until about 18:45.  Then we had to unload the car, unpack, and put on the first load of washing - but it is done, now, supper has been eaten, and we are home for the next two weeks!  

Oberstdorf 2023, Monday 22 May

I could have sworn, when I planned this trip, that our drive for today was to have been around 4 hours - quite long enough when you have to sit there, doing nothing except perhaps a bit of knitting! I can't really read in a moving car, and get both bored and tired.  And the Swan Whisperer swears that the route he took was a direct one - but it was nearly 7 hours travelling time!

First thing, he went for a run, and I walked up to the nearby bakery and got bread and croissants for breakfast (actually one croissant and one pain au chocolat). We set off about 09:30, and stopped at a Casino in Sedan for lunch and shopping, which I later regretted as it seemed far more expensive than Carrefour and didn't have such nice things.

Then it was a long, long, long drive to Cité Europe, as there were a couple of things I hadn't been able to get in Casino, including a ready meal for supper, and we needed diesel, which is cheaper here than in the UK. Supper was a frozen dish of potato, fish and scallops, and very good it was too.

However, when we got to Sangatte, where we had planned to spend the night, we found that the car park no longer accepts motor homes, so we came here to the one in Calais. Nothing wrong with it, except it isn't free, and services are extra. Not that we need them, having used them this morning in Dieue-sur-Meuse.

Oh, and apparently Oberstdorf was a super-spreader event, and an awful lot of people have now gone down with, or tested positive for Covid. Well, if I didn't get it again after spending a whole afternoon with my mother when she had it in March, I probably won't get it now. Hope not, anyway.

Haven't taken any photos today, so here is one from yesterday, some random poultry. 

Oberstdorf 2023, Sunday 21 May

Dieue-sur-Meuse, France

Today was a long, slow drive through Germany and into France. The Swan Whisperer went for a quick leg-stretch before breakfast, and said that Kircheim-unter-Teck was a very pretty little town, but unfortunately there was not enough time for me to confirm this. He also found a bakery!

As I said, it was a long, weary drive. The SW said that when we go past Pforzheim it either rains or there are road works. Today, it was the latter. 

We stopped in a random layby to watch our church service livestream, although it was not very easy to hear, and then have lunch, and then it was on and on, and we finally arrived in this little town, just south of Verdun, at about 4:00 pm. We had a quick cup of tea, and then I discovered there was a planned walking tour around the town with historical sites, so we went for a very pleasant, if rather hot, walk, basically down to the Meuse and back. We are parked up alongside a canal, which is rather lovely.

More photos on Facebook.

Then back to the WoMo to have supper and our monthly Zoom Bible study, and tomorrow we will be back in Calais, I hope, and ready to cross on Tuesday morning. 

Oberstdorf 2023, Saturday 20.May

Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany

Today was the final day of competition, and, as always on the last day, lots of great skating to watch.

After breakfast, we used the services and got the WoMo back into travelling condition, everything tidied up and put away. We returned our Kurkarte and filled drinking water containers and so on, and then headed to the rink for the final day. The weather, now that it is time to go home, was lovely, and even got positively hot later in the day! 

But we had to come away before the last few classes, as we need to get home fairly fast - no extended holiday for us this year - and we had two hours' driving ahead. Which we accomplished quickly and easily, calling in at ReWe en route to do a Last Shop in Germany, and are now parked up somewhere and eating supper. And I couldn't leave Bavaria without one of these, could I? 

Oberstdorf 2023, Friday 19 May

Started out today feeling much better, and was up at the rink in good time to cheer on friends in the two Bronze Women III classes. And chat to lots of other friends, too. Sadly, one told me she is hanging up her skates now, as her body is no longer coping well.

Then I went for a walk in town, basically out by one road and back by another,

and was back at the WoMo in time to get lunch. After which, it began clear to me that I was still rather running on empty, so I spent a quiet afternoon dozing and reading. Didn't want very much supper, although it was delicious - Bavarian liver dumplings in a vegetable stew/soup with rice. Not sure I got the seasoning quite right, though. 

Oberstdorf 2023, Thursday 18 May

I woke up at dawn to see this wonderful sunrise out of my bedroom window!

But it was a premature awakening - I fell asleep again and when I woke, realised that I was exhausted! So stayed in bed most of the morning while the Swan Whisperer went for a hike (up a mountain on Ascension Day!) - we had been going to go on what he promised me was a flat hike, but I couldn't do it, and spent most of the afternoon lying down too.

We had an early supper and then went to the rink in time to watch the pattern dances, which ranged from dire to excellent, and then back home for a cup of tea before bed! 

Oberstdorf 2023, Wednesday 17 May

There was nothing I really wanted to watch until late afternoon today, so after a lazy start (I was lazy; the SW went for a run!) , I set out for a walk. This time, I decided to walk down to the Oberstdorf Haus

and the various parks in that area, and very nice too, and then had a peep inside the Protestant church,

which I had not seen before. Unfortunately, I then turned the wrong way and ended up at the ReWe supermarket just at the edge of town! Naturally, I did a bit of shopping, and was delighted to find that the Tony Chocolonely chocolate that my family gave me for Easter was about half the price it is in Sainsbury's!

However, I was getting tired by then and was delighted to find a bus was due which took me as far as the station. Of course I passed the Swan Whisperer on his way down to ReWe (I'd texted him what had happened)! So I rang him up and said I'd just gone roaring past in the bus!  I had a bit of time to wait for the Ortsbus up to the Wohnmobilstellplatz, but it was worth it, although I was getting cold again - my ice dance sweatshirt, lovely though it is, must be 20 years old now and is not as warm as it once was, and my coat is only mid-season weight. The weather forecast had been unduly pessimistic and, although it was far from sunny, it didn't rain today. But it was very cold, and is scheduled to drop to freezing as the skies clear overnight. 

Anyway, I was very idle and took the bus right over past the rink to the shop just past Norma, which is actually no nearer than the lower stop unless you want to get rolls in the bakery, which I did, cheaper than the ReWe. So then lunch, and  then I fell asleep for a couple of hours and had to have a quick cup of tea when I woke up, before going to the rink just in time to see the one skater I really wanted to see.

L had to have her foot completely rebuilt last year, artificial tendons, heel resited, and goodness knows what else. It's been a long, hard and painful struggle for her, and there are moments when I know she despaired. Her doctors had said she might not even walk again, never mind skate. But she was determined and entered the artistic category for her level and age group - and rocked it! I am sure I was not the only one in tears when she finished. Clever choreography focused on what she can do, not what is no longer possible, and she looked fantastic - and is taking home a well-deserved Bronze medal!

After that, there were plenty of other skaters to watch and cheer for, and when the last of the Masters men had made us laugh with his interpretation of Hernando's Hideaway, we treated ourselves to dinner in Zoran's, the restaurant above the rink. I had an Apérol spritz, and Zanderfilet with vegetables, and the SW had beer and tagliatelle with salmon. And so back to the WoMo, and straight to bed!