October holiday, 31 October

Blégny-Mine, Belgium.

If you count Vatican City and San Marino as separate countries, which we most definitely do, this is the 7th new country this holiday!

The day started with the Swan Whisperer going for a run. It was a bitterly cold morning, and we were glad I had a pair of knitted gloves with me that he could borrow. After breakfast I went for a walk down to the Rhine,

rather glad I'd tucked a woolly hat into my bag. How many holidays do you need both a sunhat and a woolly hat?

It was a simply glorious morning for a walk, though. I was interested to read the plaques about Lord Byron - apparently the romantic poetry he wrote after visiting the area made Rhine tourism a thing and they pulled down the city walls and built hotels instead!

Sadly the local folk museum was only open in the afternoons, or I'd have visited it.

I wanted to do a Last Shop in Germany, as tomorrow is All Saints Day so the shops will be shut everywhere. Its just possible the Carrefour at Cité Europe will be open, but I'm not relying on it.

So we drove down to Niederdollendorf, the next commune along, and I went to Kik (knitting cotton), ReWe (groceries) and DM (drugstore) in that order.

By then it was lunch time, so we crossed the Rhine on the nearest ferry and then stopped for lunch before driving to Blégny for the penultimate night of the holiday. 

October holiday, 30 October

Königswinter, Germany.

A long drive today; too long, really, as we won't have so far to go tomorrow, but Germany, even from the motorways, is so lovely at this time of year. The autumn colours are spectacular, but I keep never managing to take photos of them, so today's only photo is from my bed.

We've been to this site in Königswinter a couple of times before, but this time, to our surprise, it is full of British cars and caravans!  Don't know who whey are or what they are doing here, but it is rare to see other British tourists in Germany!

It is bitterly cold - only last week it was blissful in Southern Italy, and now there is a frost! 

October holiday, 29 October

Ochsenfurt, Germany

The Swan Whisperer went for a run this morning, and then after breakfast we both went for a walk round Ingoldstadt,

calling in at a DM and an Edeka, and then on our way back there was a wool shop so I sent the SW back to the van to get his coffee while I investigated. There was nothing I wanted in the actual wool shop, except possibly some cotton, but I found some acrylic in the colours I wanted in the shop next door. So a win.  The SW said these flowers, in the main square, looked more like cabbages than flowers! I have to agree! 

After coffee and the services, we headed off towards Würzburg, this aire being on the Main a few kilometres short of it. Smooth journey, except we almost didn't find somewhere to stop for lunch and had to come off the road into some random village! Don't know where, but it was near Emskirchen. 

October holiday, 28 October

Ingolstadt, Germany

I should really know better than to say "Haven't  we been lucky with the weather?", which I said to the SW last night, because of course it promptly started raining - I fear to close the skylights when I got up in the night, and today has been very cold, as well as wet. From "just a t-shirt" yesterday, I've gone  into thick cardigan, scarf and wrap! We knew this would happen as we came north, of course, but you do feel it! 

I spent most of the morning wrestling with my bank (successfully) and PayPal (unsuccessfully), very frustrating, and was glad to walk into Kufstein to shop and work off excess adrenaline while I was at it. These Alpine towns are so scenic

that a modern shopping centre comes as a shock,

but just as well.

Then a cold, wet drive to here at Ingolstadt, stopping for lunch on the way. Got the last place in the aire, which is lovely and has electricity, and the SW went for a walk while I bought yet more rail tickets. I think it will be a warming drink this evening - whisky or sloe gin - rather than beer or wine! Last night we had pre-made Apérol Spritz, and all I can say is, don't bother, it's revolting with a horrible artificial aftertaste!

October holiday, 27 October

Kufstein, Austria

The Swan Whisperer's idea of enjoying an extra hour in bed was to get up early and go for a run! Me, I enjoyed the extra hour in bed!

After breakfast, I had a lovely time pottering round a very large hypermarket while the SW used services (Italian shops are open on Sundays). In Bozen, everything is in two languages and although my German isn't very good, it's a lot better than my Italian! Still some things I had no idea what they were, though - I think cheese, but could have been pastry.

Then a splash of petrol (it is much cheaper here, so it enough to get us to Kufstein) and we were off along the motorway to Austria,

(I think this is a glacier) stopping at the border to have lunch and buy a vignette for the motorway, which didn't stop us having to pay for the Europabrücke, alas. 

And then on in, past Innsbrück, with me trying frantically to get some decent photos of scenery

which was more breathtaking round every corner,

and finally we arrived here at Kufstein

in a very nice, although crowded, aire, which would be nicer in the person next to us wasn't taking up two spaces! 

October holiday, 26 October

Bolzano/Bozen, South Tyrol

Today has not been a good day. It started off very well, with a leisurely breakfast and sorting things out to get ready to go to Bolzano, including using the services, etc. But just as we set off, the satnav went off and we couldn't restart it.  It did recover later, thankfully, but too late to do any good today. 

Fortunately, we both have smartphones, so could use Google, but unless we kept a very sharp eye on it, it insisted on defaulting to the motorway, which we didn't want to use, because, scenery.  And there was such a lot I should have liked to have photographed, but didn't dare. The lake was so lovely today - the wind had got up in the night, creating perfect conditions for Saturday morning sailing and paragliding schools

and the lake was dotted with sails and a flock of coot!

We did stop briefly so I could shop, although in a rather expensive convenience store. There is a big Spar near where we are parked, so I hope to do a Last Shop in Italy in the morning before we tackle the Brenner Pass. 

October holiday, 25 October

Malcesine, Italy

We were out of the van by 09:00 this morning and on our way to catch a bus into the centre of Bologna. City mapper does not work there, but Google Maps does a great job of filling the gap, telling us which bus(es) to catch and when to get off, etc.

The centre of Bologna is well worth seeing. It had once been a walled city and some of the walls are still there,

but inside it is a mixture of grand arcades full of posh shops and little side streets with provision stalls.

And the huge central square is something else again!

After coffee in one of the many cafes, we went back to the car park and headed on to Malcesine, which might have been a mistake as it is at the far end of Lake Garda from the motorway where we really want to be. Only chose it because of the Battle of the Villa Fiorita (Rumer Godden), but the lake is very lovely!  As is the view from my bed.

And the sun came out again, which means it is a bit cold now.