The Last Trip!

On Friday 23rd November we went across the water (Thames!) to Essex. First off was a stop at Ikea to have a browse and pick up a few bits, then on to Mersea Island for the weekend. It was mainly a nice sunny day, but on arrival at the Waldegraves Holiday Park we found almost a lake. The pitches were very soggy and muddy and we had to be extra careful where we parked up.  Luckily, as our van is quite small, we managed to get on the edge of our pitch without too much trouble, but a few of the larger vans after us had to be either pushed out of the mud or call the tractor.  In the evening the organisers had set up barbecues under a roofed washing-up area and a lot of the motorhomers provided food to cook as well as mulled wine.  As we were newbies at this we had not realised this was going to happen so had taken our dinner and eaten it at the normal time. We socialised with the mulled wine until about 10.00pm and then took ourselves back in to the warmth of our van.
Saturday morning was fairly nice in the beginning so we went for a brief walk down to the beach and sussed out the path along the shore for a later walk when we had our boots on. Then the weather set in - it rained, it blew, it was cold and certainly not walking weather.  Once the barbecue was lit in the afternnon we went and cooked some hot-dogs and joined a few hardy souls who were out and about.  We were invited to go to the clubhouse in the evening, apparently there was some entertainment, but as 500 people were expected to turn up and drinking expensive drinks is not quite our cup of tea, we decided to stay put in the van and play cards and read our books instead.
Sunday, we got up late and had a leisurely breakfast then watched the various units struggling to get off their pitches.  The tractor came in to play a lot.  We packed ourselves up and just before lunch we gingerly pulled off our pitch and drove slowly round to the car park which was gravelled and where about 7 motorhomes had stayed over the weekend rather than trying to pitch up.  We had got Sunday lunch reserved for 35 of us, so bowled over to the restaurant and had a rather nice roast dinner.  There was birthday cake to follow as there had been 2 birthdays over the weekend.  We eventually left about 2.30 and got home just after 4.00pm.
This was our first rally with Motorhome Fun and although their website has been really useful and most of the people helpful and friendly we are not sure that we will repeat the exercise.  We are not ones to sit around drinking most of the day, we would rather be out and about seeing and doing something.  Also if we are going to drive 80 miles we would prefer to make a longer stay of it.  We shall see what is on offer next year in our area.

We have now unloaded most of the stuff from the van and brought it indoors to keep warm and dry until the spring and emptied our water and waste tanks  As we use the van for our everyday vehicle we would rather not drive around with everything on board getting cold, damp or frozen.

We have not yet got any ideas for next year, or first priority is to get our house sorted out and back in to shape before we go travelling off anywhere.  We'll keep you posted. In the meantime we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

November -getting colder

On Thursday 8th November we set off on a lovely sunny day to drive 148 miles to South Cerney in Gloucestershire.  We were going to the Jager's Country & Western Festival for the first time. We arrived around 2.00pm and were soon pitched up and shown our table in the hall ready for the evening.  This was one of Hobourne Leisure Parks and had hard-standings, hot showers and warm restaurant and bar areas....just what we needed for a damp cold November.

We spent 4 days in the company of new friends, lots of music and a little bit of dancing on the very small dance floor.  We were quite surprised to see the number of crinolines and indian outfits around. Most people seemed to take it all quite seriously and must have spent hundreds of pounds on their outfits.

We returned home on the Monday evening, weary but having had a good time.

Now we just have to get ready for a camping rally weekend in a couple of weeks time! Another first, with Motorhome Fun this time.  We'll let you know how we get on later. 

September and October

After a couple of "normal" weeks at home catching up on the washing and ironing, we got itchy feet again so mid-September saw us heading off to Shepton Mallet for a visit to the Shepton Mallet Motorhome Show.  We didn't stay on the showground itself, but found a small CL behind a pub near Ilchester.  It was not one of our better moves as the site was very unlevel with long grass and right next to the main road with it's traffic noise day & night. We only spent 4 nights there and vowed not to go back.  We had a complete day out at the Show, looking around all the stalls there, buying a few bits and bobs like a table, some skillet lids, gas ring diffusers but mainly getting our upholstery sorted.  When we bought the van nearly 2 years ago the dealer had recovered the seats for us, but appeared to use the existing foam.  As it is now 10 years old it was getting very thin and squashy especially for sleeping on.  Anyway there was a very nice man who came and had a look and measure up and the upshot was that we ordered new firm foam to be fitted once we had got the van back home.

On the Tuesday we spent a very pleasant day at Lyte's Cary which is a National Trust House & Garden near by including having our lunch there before driving to Wincanton Racecourse Club site.  This is a lovely level site overlooking the race track but very windy. We had a local wander around the first day there, but on the Thursday drove to Stourhead Estate, again a National Trust property which has been used in a number of films and tv dramas.  We met our friend Sandra who has moved from Kent down to Dorset and after coffee and scones set off for a walk around the grounds. It was a beautiful day and the setting couldn;t have been more perfect we could hae stayed there for ever. The House itself was closed, so we have saved that for another visit.

From Wincanton we meandered across country down to Verwood and checked in at the Club site there.  We would normally have stayed at West Farm where we used to store our folding camper, but they were full up, but it is only just down the road. Our friend Chris, who I worked with, and her husband were there with their caravan so on the Sunday we went out for lunch with them as well as Sandra and her husband. Chris, Sandra & I had quite a lot of catching up to do, but the men are all friends as well so we spent over 3 hours eating, drinking and gossiping. then it was back to their caravan for more of the same until it was time for Sandra & Perri to go home and us to head back to our van. A couple more days of woodland walks and drinking tea with Chris & Trevor followed then it was time to leave. We had hoped to stay at Chichester on the way home for a few days, but they were full up.  It is really surprising how many caravanners are out and about at this time of year.

Once home we duly sent off our mattresses to Bristol to be sorted and settle down to some time at home.They were back within 2 weeks and of course we just had to try them out. I managed to find availability at Chichester for a week starting 14th October, so booked it quickly.

We drove down on a sunny Sunday, taking our hot-water bottles and thick duvet with us as well as wet-coats and boots, taking no chances. We actually had 6 dry days although the same could not be said for overnight! We walked around the harbour and marina at Emsworth, caught the bus in to Chichester for a tourist trail and Western lunch there. Another day saw us in the D-Day museum at Southsea and then walking back along the esplanade to Portsmouth.  The one wet day we spent in the indoor shopping area of Havant. Bus passes and top decks are a great way to get around plus it saves me having to put everything away to move the campervan.

Now we have a couple of weeks back at home before going to another festival at Cirencester.  This is one we have not been to before and we are just going on our own this time, so could be quite interesting.  We do find having the campervan gives us so much more flexibility to go away at the drop of a hat and we don't necessarily have to find an all-singing all-dancing campsite as we are fully self- sufficient.

I am sorry there are no photos for this part of our travels.  We do not always take the camera with us especially if it is somewhere we have been before.

July and August

Although we did not go overseas again, we were quite busy during July and August with music festivals and holidaying with friends back at home.

We started off  towards the end of July driving up to Norwich to the Norfolk Country Music Festival. Our friends Dave & Margaret came as well and stayed in the Premier Inn opposite the Norfolk Showground where we were camped.  We met up with lots of other friends from all over the country there and enjoyed 4 days of music and dancing. Mostly the weather was good although we did get wet a couple of times. At the end we headed over to Lowestoft and spent a week on the Caravan Club site at Kessingland.  It was not something we would normally do during August and school holidays, but we figured it was not worth driving all the way home just for a few days. We walked the beach, caught the bus to Southwold and Beccles, wandered around the shops in Lowestoft and generally chilled out.  Sadly, the festival in Essex which would have followed was cancelled at the last minute, so we found ourselves a small CL Frogs Hall Camping at Eye in Suffolk. It was a beautiful quiet back garden of a site, with no facilities but just the birds and wildlife for company.

 The weather was gorgeous for a few days and we spent our time either sitting under the awning or going for walks across the fields to the nearest pub. We also spent one whole morning with the town trail guide of Eye in our hands just wandering around and looking at all the lovely old houses.

From Lowestoft we drove to Houghton Mill and spent a few days on National Trust property there.  It was quite interesting to go round the mill itself which is one of the few remaining working mills in the country.  The site itself was pretty, but packed and constantly very busy.  Lorna & Mike were now down from Scotland and pitched up not too far away at St. Neots, so they drove over and spent a day with us. It was fascinating standing on the bridge over the lock watching all the boats passing through.

The Quickdraw Festival near Northampton was our next port of call, so the 4 of us pitched up at Earl's Barton for 5 days and together with more musical friends gathered in the marquee morning, noon and night listening to the 14 bands and doing a bit of dancing.
Unfortunately on the Saturday Brian had collected some bites on his foot and by Sunday morning had a swollen rashy foot and felt most unwell.  We decided to pull the plug on our next leg which would have been Blenheim and left Lorna & Mike to go there on their own whilst we made our way home in the hopes of getting a doctor's appointment on Monday morning. Luckily the doctor had seen quite a few bites this year and was able to prescribe anti-biotics to get rid of the infection.  So Brian spent a few days lounging on the settee in his flip flops whilst the swelling gradually went down.
The end of August Bank Holiday we had got a festival booked at Burghclere with Lorna & Mike, so although he struggled to get a shoe on and was certainly not going to be dancing,  we drove there from home on the Friday and once more had a good musical weekend. We travelled back home on Bank Holiday Monday after having been away 5 weeks.

Still May - now the homeward journey

^{Wednesday 13th}

Having paid our dues – all 99 euros ! - must be the dearest site we have ever stayed at, we left around 10.00am to start our return journey.  We had originally thought of going further on down to Leipzig and Dresden but decided it was too far and one city probably looks much like another, and we were by now a bit all-citied out.  We had found a campsite in the Camping Card book at a small place called Uetze ( not far from Hannover and Celle) that looked to be just the place for a quiet couple of nights.  It was 149 miles to Irenensee Camping and we got there around 3.00pm after having stopped in the town itself to do some food shopping at a small Edeka supermarket, then discovered 2 minutes down the road an ALDI and LIDL on the other side! Always the way, a bit like buses they all come along at once.

Thursday ….this is a beautiful spot, by the lake, with swans, geese and other wading birds to watch.  We got up late, collected our rolls and after breakfast as well as a few chores went for a wander right around the lake and through the woods on the other side. We wished we had bikes even though we are not sure we could still ride one, there are so many cycle paths and everybody keeps going past us saying ‘Guten Morgen’ or ‘Buenos Dios’ or ‘Gut Tag’, but still no more English people.

Friday 15^th

A dull start to the day and turned to rain later on.  We drove 133 miles to Rheda-Weinbruck and found a stellplatz (free) that looked good in the book.  It turned out to be one side of a large car park, that also took lorries and buses.  As it was by now bucketing down we decided to stay put. After a bite of lunch we took a wander in to the town and found a schloss (castle) but it was closed, so after diving in and out of shops for an hour or so getting wetter by the minute, we gave up and headed back in to our dry little home. By tea time the sun had come out so we walked through the park behind us and along the river for a while. Once back we discovered that the building behind us through the hedge was a sort of clubhouse for the football team, which then went on to host a disco until 1.30 am, then at 5.45 am the lorries started up and set off for the day…needless to say we did not get much sleep!

Saturday 16^th

Although we had originally thought of staying a Rheda-Weinbruck for 2 nights as it looked to be an interesting place, after the previous night we decided to move on. 111miles driving in rainy, cloudy conditions we found Rheincamping Meerbusch luckily about 12.40, as the closed for lunch hour was 1.00-3.00. It is a long site all along the banks of the Rhine at Dusseldorf, in the middle of nowhere, a very pretty spot albeit wet and muddy. We got sorted and rested and eventually the sun came out so went exploring. We found a ferry just outside the site going across the river to Kaiser-Werth, also a café/restaurant/beergarden just up the road.  So maybe a day or two here could be in order.

Sunday

What a difference a god night’s sleep makes!  We awoke later to sunshine! and as it was Sunday had ordered croissants as a treat for breakfast. We do like the custom of continental campsites whereby you can order your bread/rolls/croissants the night before and lo and behold come 8.00 am they are ready and waiting. We are still only on our first box of Crunchy Nut since we left home as a result.

After the ablutions and chores we donned our boots as it was still quite muddy underfoot, not helped by the long grass, and walked for a couple or hours along the footpath by the river and back across the field along bridleways. The boats going up and down are really interesting, huge barges like oil tankers or ones with containers on, followed by a river cruise boat or a motor boat and then some rowers or jetskis.  They zoom down the river at a great rate of knots, but coming up are thudding along barely moving as the current is so strong. 

The fields behind are criss-crossed with paths and bridleways so there are always riders or cyclists going by. We stopped and sat on a seat at the jetty for the ferry and watched loads of cyclists and other folk chug over to the other side of the river. It actually looks quite interesting with an old fort–like looking thing and a long promenade, so we think we may head over there tomorrow ourselves and explore the eastern side of the river.

We think we are happy to stay put here until Tuesday when we are due to go to Venlo in Holland and meet up with Lorna & Mike for a week.

Monday

Today dawned lovely and sunny, then just as we were getting up an horrendous thunderstorm arrived! So, ablutions were late, rolls were late, not a good start to the day. By about 10.00am it was dry again so we set off with our jackets and brolly for the short ferry ride over to the other side of the river.  It cost us 1.20euro each and took all of 5 mins against the current.

We walked along the footpath and discovered that the fort-like building was actually The Imperial Castle of Kaiser-Werth, built in 1050 on the grounds of a monastery which had been there since 700ad. At some stage it had been partly demolished and the stone used for buildings in the town and we were looking at the remains.

On up the road in to the town of Kaiser-Werth itself, lots of old buildings brought us to a market square with a few shops and an outdoor café. As the sun had now come out and we are on holiday after all, we bought an ice-cream and sat in the sun people-watching.

After an hour or so we wandered back down through some more little streets to the church of St. Suitburg (who we have never heard of) and had a mosey around in there for a bit. Then back to the ferry once more (all to ourselves) and over to our side of the river. What a difference from yesterday when we were watching all the cyclists and bikers going over.

We sat in the sun in the afternoon, relaxing and catching up on photos etc. Unfortunately no wi-fi here so updating the blog will have to wait until another day.

We have promised ourselves a meal in the restaurant along the road tonight, so hope it is good.

Tuesday 19th

Last night’s meal was very good and only cost us 28 euros. It was a bit dismal when we got up, so did not rush around. We left Meerbusch about 10.30 and called in to a shopping centre on the way to the motorway to get some more food stocks in. Also tanked up with LPG and motored slowly the 49 miles to Camping Californie near Venlo. Lorna and Mike had arrived about 5 minutes before us, all of us having got lost coming off the motorway, the junction is so convoluted with all the new roads and accesses for Floriade.

We got sorted out and then sat and caught up on what we had all been doing over the last 3 weeks.

Wednesday

 First I opened my birthday cards – thanks to everyone. We all left the campsite around 9.30am and walked across the field to the Floriade car park to catch the shuttle bus in to the grounds itself. It took us about 15 mins. Arriving at Floriade we were not sure what to see first so decided a cable-car ride across the whole grounds would be a good idea. that way we could get an idea of which way to go. We then spent the next 5 hours wandering around the gardens and exhibitions. Floriade is only on every 10 years and is a combination of flower show, trade fair, entertainment shows – very large, very busy and very,very interesting.  We knew we would not see everything all in one day so had bought 2-day passes and intend to go back again on Friday to see the other half. There were some amazing sights both technical and artistic.

Back at base, first we nursed our sore feet, then cooked my birthday dinner and  sat back and relaxed for the evening.

Thursday

As we were shattered from yesterday we settled for a down day, just doing a bit of washing, then went shopping, and sorting out photos. It is a very muggy oppressive day so would not be surprised if we don’t get a storm tonight.

Friday

As predicted, we had a most spectacular storm whilst eating dinner last night, so today it is a bit cooler and cloudier.

We set off on our trek across the field to Floriade's car park for our second day. On arrival we were met by a group of stilt-walkers who were so clever keeping time to the music.
 

 After watching them for a while we headed straight for an earth-walk that we had noticed previously on the assumption that it might be quieter there at 10.00am than if we left it to the afternoon. It was most amazng standing on what appeared to be a glass floor watching flowers being harvested and then transported all over the world, from outer space.  There was another  exhibition in a dome which was completely 360 degrees around us, again flower orientated but truly spectacular. Another path took us to a pavilion where we sat and watched a flower ballet - all models of tulips etc. that changed colours and danced. And so the day went on....by 4.00pm we were again worn out so after purchasing tomatoes and peppers along with a few souvenirs we headed back to our vans. It had been an amazing few days and we are so glad that we opted to buy tickets for 2 days even though at 40 euros each it seemed a lot at the time, it was certainly worth every cent.

Saturday

We have now discovered that there is not much else to do or see in this area so have decided to leave earlier than planned so will be heading off to Belgium tomorrow. We spent the rest of the day doing a bit of washing and tidying up and then sitting in the sun.

Sunday 24th

157 miles today - in wind and rain, luckily not too many lorries as it was Sunday. It was a most unpleasant journey and we were glad to reach Jabbeke safely about 1.00pm only to find Klein Strand shut for lunch, again! So once more it was sandwiches in the car park. We managed eventually to find 2 pitches next to each other albeit quite muddy and squelchy. About 6.00pm we all wandered over to the main part of the site and had a really nice meal in the Chinese restaurant as the main restaurant was not opening for another week.

Monday

A quieter day, with shopping and a walk in to Jabbeke to find out the bus times, with one of Lorna's lovely stir frys to round off the day.

Tuesday

We set off from the camp site around 9.30 to catch the bus in to Bruges, all in jackets as the day did not look very promising. It took about 30 minutes on the bus going through a lot of little villages on the way. Once in Bruges, after a coffee stop, the sun came out and we got steadily hotter and hotter. We had a look around the main squares at some of the most beautiful buildings; then we had a boat ride along the canals; then we had a very expensive but most delicious lunch and gradually made our way back through the town to the bus station and the ride back to Jabbeke.

My turn to cook, so we managed to use the salmon fillets that I had bought a while back.  It is quite interesting trying to cook a full meal for 4 in our little camper van - tin foil and the steamer gets used a lot. After dinner we sat outside with our coffees and compared red faces, we hadn't realised how much sun we had caught during the day!

Wednesday

We left the site a little earlier to catch the bus to Ostend, they are only 1 each hour, and it took an hour to get there, but again very pretty villages on the way and still only 3 euros each so really good value. On our wander to the promenade at Ostend we found a lovely cathedral so went in to explore and sit to listen to the organ playing. It was quite restful and calming. Outside virtually every road was dug up in one way or another and the station is being completely rebuilt at a cost of 6.7 million euro...now we know why we keep giving money to Brussels! They are evidently keen to spend it all before the euro's downfall.A lot of the promenade was also under construction so we actually were quite disappointed. We remembered it from years ago being a long sandy beach that the children could play on and a lovely promenade. Anyway as we were holidaymakers we bought baguettes from a stall and sat on a bench in the sun to eat them. We wandered back to the bus station only to find that we would have 2 hours to wait, so all decided a taxi between us would be a better idea. We cooked and ate separately so that we could use up all the leftover bits and pieces we had got, then just had coffee on the terrace together afterwards.

Thursday

Our last day! The sun shone! It was hot! We got up late, had a leisurely breakfast and did some tidying up and emptying of waste tanks etc. Then got the sunshade out and just sat until dinner time. We had promised ourselves another Chinese meal as the last was so nice and we were not disappointed.

Friday 29th

A windy morning and we were all up and about fairly early although our booked ferry was not until 2.00pm, so after a bit of discussion headed off to Dunkirk earlier than planned in the hope of getting on the 12.00 ferry. Which indeed we managed to do and drove off at Dover around 1.30; followed by a good run home arriving by 2.35pm.

MAY - off to Holland and Germany

Tuesday 29^th May

We left home about 5.00pm to drive 86miles to Harwich in order to catch the overnight ferry to Hook of Holland.  We made good time and even stopped at Tesco’s to tank up with our 5p off a litre voucher.  We sat and ate our rolls on the dock whilst waiting to board.  All went very smoothly and after a reasonable night’s sleep in our cabin we were woken at 6.30am ready to disembark at 7.45am.  We drove for about 1 hour and then stopped to have some breakfast. We arrived at Enschede (149 miles) at 12.15, only to find that the lunch hour was from 12.00 – 1.00 ! So we sat in the car park and waited until they re-opened.  de Twentse Es  campsite was quite suitable with showers, electric and a wash-up area.  As the weather was nice we sat outside for our evening meal.

The next morning we caught the bus in to the town and spent a few hours wandering around looking at all the sights. Back at the site we now had a couple of neighbours to chat to with hand signals and later on went in to the restaurant for a meal which was very nice and cost us 34 euros inc. drinks.  We had the restaurant completely to ourselves all the time…obviously not the peak season!

Friday 1^st June

We left about 10.00 to drive to Celle (184 miles) and after a couple of pitstops and lunch, and a complete circuit of the town in the wrong direction down the narrowest of one-way streets finally found the Stellplatz Schutzenplatz  at 2.30pm. It was basically a large patch of rough ground alongside a bit of river, but had a public toilet and water/waste  point. Very popular as there were at least 30 other vans there, probably as it was free of charge.

Celle Stellplatz

Next day we ambled in to the town and found a market, so bought some fruit and rolls and lovely ham for our lunch.  We investigated the church and the museum and walked around the outside of the Ducal Palace (couldn’t go inside) It rained a bit on and off but we did not get too wet. After dinner we went back in to town as there was a jazz band parade taking place that evening. We listenened to about 6 different bands from Belgium, Holland and Germany, marching along behind them as they went!  There were hordes of people about all drinking, singing and generally having fun – rather like New Orleans.

High Street in Celle

Sunday 3^rd June

What a rubbish day! We only had 97 miles to drive to Magdeburg, but all of it was in the pouring rain.  We found the Stellplatz Petriforder  fairly easily, but had to drive over cobbles and along tram lines. It was on the promenade along side the River Elbe, but unbeknown to us was used by the market on a Sunday and closed to motor homes until 6.00pm.  So….we sat in the car and waited, waited, waited, watching the rain chuck down thinking to ourselves ‘what are we doing?’  Anyway, by the time the gate was opened we had collected about 12 vans and we all played follow-my-leader down on to the quayside. Needless to say, dinner was late as I did not start cooking until after 7.00pm, then the whisky and brandy came out! Cost for our 2 nights was 5 euros.

On the quay at Magdeburg

Monday was at least dry, but still very overcast.  We walked up in to the town and found the Magdeburger Dom which is the main cathedral and very beautiful.  On the way we passed some really old buildings and right next to them some very modern quirky ones.  There is a lot of building work going on around the city  and one day it will probably be like any other western city.  We came back all along the promenade which runs for miles by the River Elbe.

River Elbe at Magdeburg

Quirky new apartment block at Magdeburg

Tuesday 5^th June

After a very wet night, we awoke to sunshine at last, so set off around 10.00 to drive 86 miles to Berlin, arriving in time for lunch.  We had found Marina Lanke on the internet before leaving home and it sounded a good spot for visiting Berlin. We would however not class it as a campsite, but more of a stellplatz and later found that it was in the stellplatz book.  It is a very busy boat marina, with yachts and motor boats moored up. The motorhome bit is just a fenced–off part of the car park, but does have electric hook-up points.  You would have to either be very brave or foolish to try to get a caravan in the spaces, even though they do accept them. They also have a new shower/toilet building and there is a lot more work going on

Wednesday…our first of 3 travelcard days in Berlin.  We caught a bus to Spandau (10 mins) then got on the S-bahn in to the city. That is a sort of above-ground underground and took about 35 minutes. Our Berlin Pass allowed us free entry to quite a few of the touristy places and after a fruitless task trying to find the ticket office for the city bus tour we went to the Berliner Dom, which is their equivalent of St. Paul’s Cathedral and luckily not too badly damaged during the war. It again was very ornate and  well restored.

Berliner Dom

 We walked down the Unter-den-Linden,  a lime tree-lined avenue to the Brandenburg Gate. It is such a shame that now a lot of the trees have been removed to make way for a better traffic system. At the moment most of it is road-works and we were somewhat disappointed.  By now we had sore feet, so spent the next 1hour or so sitting on a boat taking a trip around the city on the River Spree. After that we reversed our S-bahn and bus journey back to the marina, completely worn-out.

Thursday…was nice and sunny and then later very hot.  We decided to take a different route in to city by bus and U-bahn (that is underground). It still took us roughly 1 hour in total.  We went to Checkpoint Charlie and the Mauermuseum (WallMuseum) and saw where a lot of people had escaped from East Germany in varying strange ways. One was in a hot-air balloon, quite a few were curled up in the boots of cars, 2 went by micro-light.  It was quite an experience and the pictures of the wall and houses either side were quite grim.

We also had a look around the Humboldt Box Forum, which is an exhibition of the way in which they demolished the old Palace and are going to rebuild it on the same site.  From the 5^th top floor there are marvellous views across the whole city. 

We went back to the Marina the same way as we had travelled in the morning, again cream-crackered, but after a cuppa and a shower felt a lot better, so ate in the Bistro. Schnitzels with salad and drinks set us back 35euros.

Friday…again a hot sunny day.  We finally managed to track down the booth to collect our tickets for the city-tour bus, it was in the middle of all the road-works, but not where the buses stopped.  We spent a very enjoyable 1 and half  hours on the top deck, in the sun getting burnt going around and seeing a lot of places we would not have found ourselves.  After a picnic lunch on the grass in front of the Berliner Dom we caught the S-bahn out to the Olympic Stadium. I (Sue) lived in Olympische Strasse as a child and could see the old stadium from the windows of our flat. We also used to play around in it as children.  Now it has all been modernised and is quite different, even the street did not look the same. Then we caught the S-bahn and bus back to the Marina for the last time. 

We had bought the 3-day Berlin Pass via the internet before we left home and although it seemed quite expensive at the time, we worked out that we have had our money’s worth with all the travel around the city and entrance to all the places we went to, so could recommend it to anyone else thinking of doing anything similar.

Saturday…was a rest day.  We did some washing, both clothes and hair, tidied up and sat outside watching all the boats sailing around .

Sunday 10^th June

Dawned bright and sunny again. After waiting for our rolls to arrive at 9.00am and a leisurely breakfast we packed up and drove 16 miles via the scenic route to Potsdam.  We found Campingpark Sanssouci relatively easily after negotiating the tram lines once more. This is a very expensive all-singing, all-dancing campsite on the banks of the Havel (lake/sea) with it’s own beach. However we decided to stop for 3 nights so that we could visit both Potsdam itself as well as the Sansoucci Park and all it’s palaces. We had a wander around the site and found the bicycle route R1, which runs from Boulogne to St. Petersburg, goes right through the campsite. Needless to say we saw a great number of cyclists passing by. As well as yachts/boats/wind surfers/canoeists out on the water. It is a very pretty spot, but rather heavily covered with trees, so a bit on the dark side and very sandy underfoot.

Monday…we used the shuttle bus to take us to the nearest tram stop (No. 91 straight in to the centre of Potsdam) and spent all day having a look around the different shops, churches, markets, harbours. The newer buildings are very colourful, but the further away from the tourist spots you get everywhere is very dingy and run-down. We got back to the campsite around 6.00pm and had showers and then dinner outside. It is quite full here, with Germans, French, Dutch, Polish people, but we seem to be the only GB’s 

As I have been able to get on to the internet briefly here I am spending some time typing up the blog, but will put the photos on at a later date, as well as doing the links to the various sites.
 

We had intended to visit the palaces in Sanssouci park on Tuesday, but apart from the fact that it was p….ing down and the shuttle bus only left in the morning and earliest to come back was 5.30, our feet and legs were so sore and tired, that we opted to stay on site.

MAY

At last! the time has nearly come to set off on our trip across Holland to Germany and then back to Holland to meet up with Mike & Lorna and visit the Floriade.  Our ferries are booked, euros obtained, google maps printed, Garmin primed with campsites and LPG fuel staions....we just have to load the van with clothes and food.

We have spent the last few weeks studying maps and the Stellplatz guide to get an idea of where we would like to stop, but are very much going to play it by ear.  We have reserved 5 days at a site in Berlin, and also a week in Venlo, so that is our only restiriction 

We will try to keep the blog updated as we go along, but as we don't have a dongle it very much depends on when and where we can get a wi-fi connection.

We wish all our friends "Happy Holidays " whatever they are doing and we will catch up on our return at the end of June.