Our Overnight Stops

We have five planned overnight stops before we reach our destination at Alpen Camping in Southern Bavaria.

The first stop is an old favourite of ours,La Bien Assise, just 7 miles outside Calais, then on to Camping Val de Vesle, 12 miles South East of Reims, champagne country, for the next night. .Just off the A4, it's not too much of a diversion from our route. We stayed at Épernay many years ago and loved the area.  Our site then was alongside the River Marne. Next we head to Metz, on the banks of the Mosselle, where we've stayed many times over the years, before we cross into Germany for a nights stay at Campingplatz Albgau. Our final one night stopover is at Lech Camping, near Augsburg. We stayed on this site some years ago when we came to explore Munich and its surrounds.

It's Friday now as I write this, and we should arrive at Alpenpark Tennsee, near Mittenwald tomorrow.

Monday 4th September 2017

We reached Bien Assise, 7 miles south of Calais, by2.30pm after a four hour journey from home and an earlier, 1.15pm, tunnel crossing, tired but pleased to be away.

Click on any of the pictures for larger pic.

Mrs W at what used to be a beautiful pond, now dried up and overgrown.

Tuesday 5th September 2017

We're now at Val de Vesle, a few miles south of Reims.  A Municipal site and quite up together. It was 24˚  when we arrived and sunny. 181 miles from Calais and our longest journey for overnight stops.

Wednesday 6th September 2017

Left Val de Vesle at 9.50am, 18 degrees and sunny.  Arrived in Metz after a fairly uneventful journey at 12.30pm.  113 miles and again, 18 degrees and sunny on our arrival. We took a short walk along the banks of the Moselle then sat and watched the ducks feeding on seed we had put out for them.

It stayed warm and so we had salad for dinner and I made a delicious mushroom omelette.

   

Thursday 7th September 2017

Cloudy and just 16 degrees when we left Metz at 10.30am. 144 miles today to Camping Albau, on the outskirts of Karlsruhe. Our first stopover in Germany.

When I booked the site they said they had had a fire last year and the site was still being restored.  They didn't say the site was occupied by what we can only describe as cabin dwellers.  These cabins consisted of an old, usually very old, caravan over and around which wooden walls and roofs had been attached. A diverse mixture of young and old and many different nationalities.

there's a caravan somewhere underneath this!

Friday 8th September 2017

Up at 7.15, we were welcomed by a weak sun and just 12 degrees.  The temporary showers turned out to be the best we've had all week, and at that time of the day, all to ourselves.

Where Win is standing in the picture above is where they are rebuilding the shower and toilet block, burnt down last year.

143 miles today brought us to Lec Camping, close to Augsburg.  We stayed here for a couple of weeks in July 2010 and were pleasantly surprised to be shown around by the same lady today as then.
We recognised her straight away. We were there by 3pm with blue skies and a pleasant 20 degrees. After a stroll around the sight, we sat in the sun and read our books.

So far, from home, we have driven 790 miles, spent €69.60 or £63.46 on tolls and filled up with diesel twice.  First fill up was on the auto-route in France and cost €1.344 or £1.23 per litre whereas the second fill was here in Germany and cost €1.109 or £1.01 per litre.

Tomorrow we set off for Mittenwald, home for us for a couple of weeks and in the mountains we so love.

Saturday 9th September 2017

We left Augsburg just after 10.30 and joined the A8 towards Munich.  Thank goodness for sat nav, as the route around Munich to the A95 for Garmish was a succession of, to us, complicated exits to A99, A96 and finally A95. The journey though was only 101 miles and we arrived, accompanied by a fine drizzle, at 1.35pm.  Like many continental sites, they close for 2 hours for lunch and there was still one hour before they opened so we sat in the caravan and enjoyed a sandwich made from French bread, butter and cheese.

By 3pm we were settled on our pitch, a service pitch as were they all.

For the un-caravaners, a service pitch is where you connect the caravan to the drinking water, electricity and waste water drain. Oddly enough, everything worked first time and, had the sun been shining, we would have been sat out for the afternoon. It didn't and in fact the drizzle, which had eased during our setup, began to increase in volume to a gentle rain.  It continued in this fashion throughout the night and the temperature dropped to 10 degrees.

(Note the brolly)

Sunday 10th September 2017

The site is enormous but not so busy where we've ended up although we have gained a couple of neighbours since I took this picture.

The rain did stop by early morning and the birds sang and the squirrels chased the birds.

We've seen red squirrels in France and Austria before but they're usually red.  These little critters though were anything but red. Below is a short video of a little one who seems to have adopted us and regularly sits on the caravan step.

Apologies to Marian for this.



Just to show you how different they can be.

The rain stopped around lunch time and by 3pm the sky had cleared and the still strong sun warmed us all.  We went walkabout.

Close to here is the Hotel Barmsee, the Barmsee being a lake nearby, at an elevation of 885 metres, or 2,900 feet above sea level.

Although we are situated in the far south of Bavaria, the area is called Oberbayern, or Upper Bavaria because the land is higher above sea level than the rest of Bavaria.






We enjoyed our walk and our gradual wind down following the long journey here.  Tomorrow it's topping up the provisions and generally getting our bearings.

Monday 11th September 2017

Woke to a clear blue sky but chilly.  We had forgotten the chill that can be felt in the mountains, plus we are close on 3,000 feet above sea level. After an early breakfast we set off on the B2 towards Innsbruck, looking for a supermarket.  We soon found Lidl, right next door to Aldi. A little shopping in both but neither had all the items we wanted so we journeyed on until we came to a Rewe Supermarkt, a mini supermarket that had just about everything we wanted. Prices were slightly better than the two big supermarkets we visited earlier.

The forecast for today was for rain but up to now there was no sign of it so we decided to take one of the many switchback roads that run between the mountains. After a delightful drive we unwittingly dropped downhill into Mittenwald, a town we visited many years ago and promised ourselves this year we would return to.

If you saw the video of Mittenwald at the beginning of this blog you will see just how Bavarian it is, with its colourful painted houses, ornate window surrounds and the beautiful church with its amazing colourful frescoes. Although dull now and rather chilly we walked for a couple of hours reliving old memories and discovering new places.

We had lunch in the Post Hotel when we were last here, just a beer and a coffee this time.

Notice anything remarkable about the picture above?

We've moved.  Not far, just across the road, to the sunny side of the street.  Where we were was shaded by trees so we asked, they said yes, and we moved. We also put the awning up and made a decision to move from the mountains and Germany into central France, on Sunday, as the weather forecast here isn't good for the next 10 days or so.

Tuesday 12th September 2017

It started to rain yesterday afternoon, continued throughout the night and now, at 10.30am it's still raining, so we've decided to take a trip out to Fussen.  Some 45 miles from here, we spent a wonderful two weeks close by many years ago and promised ourselves we would return.

9 degrees when we set off and of course, still raining.  The weather improved as we journeyed towards Fussen, the road snaking between the mountains, with the snow melt blue river on one side of the road and the railway line on the other.















Fussen was busy despite the time of year and the weather not being of its best but we strolled round the streets, some of which we remembered and again, found many new.

As so often, we had great fun parking in their multi storey car parks.  They are just SO narrow, both on the approach and the spaces themselves, to a point where, when parked, you can only exit the car from one side! I've nearly lost my wing mirrors twice now.

We stayed all those years ago at a place called Brunnen, a few miles outside Fussen so when we had had enough of people and the crowds, we set off for the countryside.  Within minutes our memories were stirred when we came upon Neuschwanstein, the Church of St. Column and Hohenschwangau , all nestling against the mountains and the grass before them so green.




The fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle, built by Ludwig II.  Construction began in 1869 and the castle was completed in 1886.





Beautiful church of St Column




It had actually started raining as we revisited these beautiful places so we pulled off road to a parking area where we sat and eat our lunch.  We usually take sandwiches, cake and a flask of coffee whenever we venture out.  It gives us total flexibility to eat when and where we wish, plus there is not a great deal of vegetarian choice about and what there is always seems to involve cheese of some sort.

Wednesday 13th September 2017

We decided today would be good to re visit Innsbruck as the forecast was for some sun but feeling cooler.  We came here when we stayed at Brunnen and loved the city.

Not much to tell here really, we just played tourist for the day, visiting some of the beautiful stores, a couple of extravagantly decorated churches, wandering along the river path and sharing our sandwiches with the sparrows of Innsbruck.

Thursday 14th September 2017

Woke once again to a perfect day, warm, 13 degrees, a light wind and a clear blue sky.  Rain was forecast for later in the day so after an early shower and breakfast we set off into the hills.  It stayed warm despite the wind increasing in strength.

Here's a little piece of video taken whilst on the walk this morning.  Apologies for the wind noise but it did become very windy.

The campsite is situated beside and around the Tennsee lake and our walk began from the site, around the lake

We were back by midday, still sunny, and sat out and read for a while but gradually the cloud increased and by a little after 1 pm it was rain steadily.  It carried on like this for the afternoon and we decided to drive out to our local supermarket, Rewe, and replenish our grocery stock.

Home by 3.30 and sat in and read before an early tea as we are having dinner at the restaurant tonight, entertained, if my translation of the poster is correct, by a Bavarian band.

We shared a table with a German couple who took this picture

A Bavarian band of two it turned out to be, but a great evening, entertained by this duo.  Him on accordion and her on guitar.  They even sang some English songs. We sang along.

Food was good.  We had vegetable strudle and a salad, really nice.

Below is a little surreptitious piece of video I took from our table.