Lauenhagen

 Sunday 16/06/24

We arrived at our house-sit on Friday afternoon and had a lovely evening with our hosts before they flew to Canada, as a start to their five week US tour.

Our host restores antique juke-boxes.  They are amazing!

We're looking after Molly, an introverted Romanian rescue 'brakkie', Filou, a very loud cat, 9 or so chickens,  and also about a million bees, who luckily carry on without any input from us.  

W also have some sheep with lambs on the property but there is a shepherd who comes to take care of them, so they just follow me around to see what has dropped on the compost heap.  The chickens are currently delivering around six eggs a day,  so we are going to have to find neighbours to help us with the consumption!           

Filou and Molly playing hard-to-get on day 1

Luckily they soon warmed to us.

Molly - once she decided to join us on our walks. 😆

Molly hit a serious depression for the first day and a half, refusing to go for walks or even eat.  She was definitely missing her owners but has luckily now accepted us and is back to her normal routine.  Filou accepted us immediately, like most cats do once they realise we provide the food, and then did the next thing most cats do when we look after them - she disappeared for a day!  Toni and I had been searching the property and the massive house for hours when she casually strolled down from upstairs somewhere - knowing full well that she isn't allowed upstairs!

This nearby historic farmhouse was relocated from it's original site a few years ago
(in one piece) and is now used as a cultural centre.

It's a really interesting property filled with antiques of all description; the house itself being more than 120 years old.  The weather hasn't been kind so far so we've tested the masonry stove (as opposed to a conventional fireplace) and are very impressed.  You light a fast fire of logs and then let the fire burn down, closing the flue to circulate the hot gasses through the benches and shelves around the fireplace.  This absorbs the heat and releases it slowly into the house over the next day or so - amazing output for a very small amount of wood. 

The masonry stove is a massive structure although the fire itself is quite small.
The black mark is from smoke if you don't get it to pull properly when starting. 

We're starting to settle in here and are looking forward to getting to know this area better. 

Bonus pic:-

This is why we love house-sitting! 

Rinteln

 Wednesday 12/06/24

When we came through the town yesterday we weren't overly impressed, as we passed through an industrial agricultural area at the outskirts and then a relatively modern commercial area before heading back out to the campsite.  

This morning, between rain showers, we popped back into the village for a walk.  The old village on this side of the river is completely different - lovely!

Not a straight line in sight.

We made it back to the campsite just as the next shower passed overhead.

Once again, we find ourselves all on our own in this area of the campsite

Doktorsee, Rinteln

 Tuesday 11/06/24

We left Hirschhorn on Monday morning and headed north to get closer to our house-sit.  We broke the journey into two day's travel and spent last night in a camp outside Hünfeld, hitting the road again early this morning.  

Although the traffic on our side was heavy, at least it was moving, unlike the other side!

It's a relief to get away from the hustle and bustle of the motorway.

The landscape has changed from the very hilly, wooded South.

We're finding the German roads very busy, especially as our allowable speed is restricted so we spend most of our time in the trucking lane.  There also seem to be an extraordinary amount of road works, so a lot of narrowing lanes and slow moving traffic.  We didn't cover a huge distance, but broke the journeys into smaller chunks with long breaks - the advantage of having your bed and kitchen behind your car.

Our lovely view of Doktorsee

We're now staying in a holiday park based around a series of lakes, and, although quiet at the moment, it looks like it must be hugely popular in the summer holidays.  There are loads of static caravans of all shapes and sizes as well as touring sites, glamping pods and bungalows on site.  

I like to book ahead the day before just to make sure we get into the site we have chosen, but clearly needn't have bothered here.  We were the only campers when we arrived, and so far only three cyclists with tents and one other motorhome have joined us for the night.

Me, realising I probably didn't need to book ahead...

We should have a quiet night. 😄

There are hundreds of caravans, most will never see a road again.

We'll spend two nights here and then head off to meet our house-sit hosts on Thursday, when we get to be in a house again for 5 weeks or so.

Bonus pic:-

Our happy place - walking in the woods.

Heidelberg visit

 Saturday 08/06/24

We've settled into the gentle rhythm of camp-life very easily and it has been really nice to spend a longer time in one place, something we rarely did in Bokkie.  Although we find ourselves constantly comparing Orthos to Bokkie, it's a completely different type of travel for us and better suited for our current needs. 

Walking in the woods above Hirschorn

Hirschorn castle

As a birthday treat for me,  we took the train into Heidelberg yesterday. A 20 minute walk to the station and half an hour on the train saw us deposited near the Altstadt section of this beautiful town.  Although we arrived fairly early, the town was already bustling with tourists.

Heidelberg castle providing a dramatic backdrop to the town.

Beer time!

We spent a lovely day walking around marvelling at the wonderful architecture and, of course, stopping to sample the local beer and have some lunch.  A lovely day out.

This unusual church caught our eye, quite different to the usual stone façade, this one was pink on the outside and white on the inside.

This rather strange life size model was above the entrance

Today we're getting our washing done because it is a beautiful, sunny day - and also doing some general camping jobs - it's not holiday every day! 😉

Germany at last - in Hirschorn

 Wednesday 05/06/24

Happily set up in Odenwald campsite

We had made a booking for a campsite on the Neckar river, so when we became aware of the flooding in Southern Germany I sent them an e-mail to find out the status but never got a reply.  Undaunted, we headed out of France and into Germany, the roads getting busier as we progressed.  

Our planned route took us through Heidelberg, but as soon as we got into the centre of town our route was blocked because the roads along the river had flooded.  The re-routed traffic caused a massive jam back through the old town - it was a bit stressful trying to tow the caravan through the chaos.  We managed to get through eventually but were then met with another blockage when trying to get to the campsite.

Hirschorn

Workmen clearing up after the flood.  Luckily these houses are high enough to escape damage but 
not everyone was so lucky. 

Our calls to the campsite went unanswered, so we needed to make another plan. Murphy's Law, however dictated that mobile signal was very weak in the area we were stuck in, but eventually we managed to find  a campsite on Google Maps  away from the river (most others were along the bank and we were concerned with the flood situation at this stage).  

We phoned but were disappointed to find the lady answering did not speak any English, however Toni suddenly jumped in with fluent school German and arranged for us to go this new location - we were saved by Frau Schmidt, Toni's high school German teacher of long ago!

The campsite is huge, it must have been quite something in it's heyday.

We can imagine this meadow filed with tents in the summer.

We managed to negotiate further road closures and are now happily camping in a wooded area in a valley near Hirschorn.  We took a walk into town this afternoon and, although the worst of the flooding has passed (for now) the clean-up operation shows just how serious it was.  We're happy to be on higher ground.

Toni always manages to make a feline friend.

Hirschorn Castle looming over the town

We'll spend some time here until it's time for us to head north for our next house-sit.

Video of the Neckar

In Bulgnéville

 Monday 03/06/24

After a week of looking after Jasper and Lily and preparing Orthos, our caravan, for a trip, we set off on Saturday.  We're heading to Germany where we have a house-sit near Hanover later this month and then want to explore more of the country.  It's a trip we've been planning for a few years now but other priorities kept scuppering our plans so we're very pleased to finally be on our way.

The weather has been grim over Europe for a few weeks now and our travels so far have been blighted by rain, low cloud and wind.  We found the wind made a massive difference to our fuel consumption and we had to fill Dassie up before our first destination, making barely 400km on a tank of diesel.

Orthos and Dassie resting after two day's travel across France

It was raining when we arrived at our first stop, Jargeau, on the banks of the Loire and we were grateful for Dassie's 4-wheel drive when pulling Orthos across the sodden grass area.  It's not much fun camping in the rain and we were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves until we spotted a cyclist sitting next to his tiny tent in the rain, seemingly unfussed.  It made the luxury of our caravan seem very decadent - it's all about perspective!

We were going to stay there two nights and explore nearby Orléans but with the rain continuing, we decided to push on and are now another step closer to Germany.

Bulgnéville

We are in a packed campsite in France, but are the only French vehicles here.  This is apparently the ideal stop-over for Dutch, Belgian and German campers on their way to the South of France and Spain so it swells every afternoon and empties again in the morning as travellers hit the road.  We'll stay another night so that we can stretch our legs a bit and get some shopping done before heading onward.

We were marvelling at the roses growing in town and spotted this beauty!

We were amazed again last night how, in a packed campsite with more than 120 stands, there isn't a peep after 9pm; we slept like babies. Onwards to Germany!