Good News & Bad News!

Saturday, 29th August, 2015.
Somerset, England.

Last Saturday, 22nd August was not the best day we've ever had!!  The good news is that we are both well...the bad news is that Boris is not! 

While driving on the Picardy coast from St Valery-sur-Somme to le Crotoy in the morning, and for no reason apparent to us, we came upon three or four cars stopped in a haphazard fashion on the road ahead with no warning, brake or hazard lights visible and to avoid colliding with them, which would have caused damage to the vehicles and certain injuries or worse to their occupants, we swerved and thankfully, narrowly missed them all.   Unfortunately, we rolled down an embankment and slowly and gently came to rest on the passenger side of the vehicle.  The windscreen smashed and popped out and this was our escape route...a couple of young men immediately appeared, helped us out of the vehicle and having ascertained that we were both okay and not in need of medical assistance, phoned the police.  Two policemen arrived shortly after, took details and waited while Mike phoned "Boris's" insurers (a lengthy process), a tow truck was called and duly arrived, Boris was pulled to an upright position and then towed onto the back of the truck while the policemen held up the traffic and we then rode in the truck to a lock up garage where he is now resting, pending further investigation by the insurers...he is now in their hands.  It could have been so much worse, thankfully no-one was hurt...we both suffered from delayed shock and found sleep elusive for several nights, but are now beginning to catch up and are otherwise fit and well.

Since the 'mishap', we have been absolutely overwhelmed by the kindness shown to us by total strangers...our 'rescuers', our policemen who once again stopped the traffic (during their afternoon patrol through the town) to ask if we were okay, the tow truck driver, the many cyclists, French and English, who stopped to ask if we were okay and offered assistance, Orlane in le Crotoy tourist office who helped us so willingly with enquiries, Madame in the B&B where we stayed on Saturday and Sunday, 

Lily, a fellow guest on holiday from Belgium with her husband Luke, who became our interpreter when our "holiday" French which normally gets us by proved insufficient and who even offered to drive us and all our goods and chattels to England!, and the very lovely Severene, housemaid at the B&B who drove us to the station to catch the Calais train and looked after some of our belongings until we returned from Dover, where we hired a transit van to transport everything to Somerset and ultimately, home. 

It has been a long week with a train ride on Monday afternoon to Calais to catch the channel ferry to Dover, stopping overnight there, collecting a hire van early on Tuesday,  catching a morning ferry back to Calais then driving to le Crotoy, loading the van with all our possessions and driving back to Calais to ferry back to Dover for a second overnight stop.  On Wednesday morning, after hot showers and a full English breakfast expertly cooked by B&B owner George, we set off for the five hour drive to Somerset, getting caught up in a seven mile long traffic jam on the M25 followed by at times heavy rain for much of the way.  Needless to say, by the time we arrived here we both, but particularly Mike who has done all the driving, were absolutely exhausted. 

In the last few days we have been extremely well looked after by wonderful friends Mike and Marion.  We have now sorted through all our 'stuff', some of which has gone to charities, some will go home with us.  We've talked to Boris's insurers and our travel insurers and tried to change our flights home but are unable to do so as the fares we bought were an 'Earlybird' special which won't allow any changes at all.  We can book and pay for other flights but they would cost a lot of money which we probably would not be able to recoup so we will stick with our original departure date.  For the next couple of weeks we will go out and about by hire car or public transport, destinations as yet undecided...at the moment we are feeling very relaxed though incredibly sad that our 2015 European adventure ended sooner than expected...the plus is that it all happened towards the end of the trip rather than at the beginning....the minus is that Boris is now resting forlornly in a garage in France, waiting for the insurance assessors to determine his fate.  He has given us three wonderful holidays and deserved a better ending...if it is to be an ending!

Pierrefonds

Wednesday afternoon, 19th August, 2015.

After our visit to the Armistice Clearing it was a brief drive to the attractive and busy town of Pierrefonds where le Chateau de Pierrefonds dominates the skyline and overlooks the town.  Louis of Orleans, Charles V's second son, had the fortified residence built in 1393.  In 1616, Louis XIII laid a fatal siege to the castle, taking it then dismantling it.  It was forgotten until bought by Napoleon I in 1810.  His nephew Napoleon III initiated restoration work in 1857.  For €7,50 each we toured several rooms of the castle where there is currently an exhibition of costumes from the opera and ballet.  It was a visit well worth the detour.

War Memorial

Wednesday morning, 19th August.

New Zealanders Anna and Paul had told us of the castle at Pierrefonds, suggesting that it was well worth a visit so we consulted the map, decided that although it was not on the route we were planning to travel it wasn't too far out of our way so set off on the drive from Le Nouvion south to Pierrefonds, near Compiegne.  A little way past Compiegne, we stopped at Clairiere de l'Armistice, the exact spot where the Armistice which ended WWII was signed on the 11th November, 1918.  The clearing did not exist at that time and the fully grown trees in the forest made aerial observation impossible.  It is a very impressive site.

Bonjour!

Tuesday, 18th August, 2015.

At midday on Sunday, we crossed the Belgian/French border making France our fourth country in one day. 

Only a few kms inside the border is the Citadelle de Montmedy, the guardian of the gates to Lorraine which is situated on a more than 100 metre high rocky promontory.  This privileged location has determined its illustrious past, and the town has seen its fortunes closely tied to those of the nations of Europe and to their shifting borders.  We stopped for a while, roamed around the small village within the fortress walls and then did a circuit of the walls.

  

It was just a short drive from Montmedy to Stenay on the River Meuse where we stayed overnight. 
Monday morning was sunny with blue skies, although chilly and we looked forward to a rain free day but by the time we'd done our washing at the laundrette, walked around the town and had lunch, the skies were no longer blue and there were grey rain clouds hanging about.  Happily, we were able to skype our granddaughter Harriet on her birthday which brightened our day.

We then drove about 100kms from Stenay to Montherme, also on the River Meuse, with a stop on the way at a huge Carrefour supermarket on the outskirts of Charleville-Mezieres. 
The view from the aire on the riverbank was lovely even through the drizzling rain.  As we'd noticed a New Zealand flag and a silver fern flag hanging on the mast of one of the boats moored in front of us, we went over to investigate and met Anna and Paul who had bought the boat in Holland and are now enjoying cruising the rivers and canals of Europe. 

 
This morning when the rain had stopped, we rode 5kms along the river path to Bogny-sur-Meuse and back...a lovely, gentle ride requiring no effort at all and on our return to Montherme, we packed and left for the drive to le Nouvion-en-Thierache.  We encountered some heavy rain on the way but shortly after we arrived here at 4pm, the sun came out!   It's hard to believe that just a few days ago we were wishing for cooler weather...well, we got our wish though we were thinking maybe 10 or so degrees cooler not 20!  

Auf Wiedersehen

Sunday, 16th August.

There's been a big change in the weather in the last couple of days...the storm predicted for Thursday night arrived at about 10pm, resulting in a significant drop in the temperature and so it was quite cool when we left Mehring on the Mosel on Friday morning for Saarburg on the Saar, 42kms away via Scwheich, Trier and the confluence of the two rivers. 
A short ride to the town of Serrig and a shorter one to the nearby Aldi shop were all the exercise we managed on Friday afternoon before more rain fell, continuing through the night and for most of Saturday morning before easing enough for a ride into the town.   We took a cable car ride to the top of the hill behind Saarburg, thinking we would have coffee and f.a.c.c.s there but the cakes on offer looked as though they'd been in the cabinet for longer than they should have been so we gave them a wide berth and went down into the town.  

Once we'd parked and locked up the bikes we strolled around the town in search of a cafe away from the crowds in the main square and found one with some of the best cakes we'd seen and eaten, so good we were tempted to have seconds but resisted the temptation!  We'd had to take shelter from the rain during our wander and rode back to camp in a light drizzle. 

  

Less than an hour after leaving Saarburg this morning, we  once again crossed the Mosel River 

which forms part of the border between Germany and Luxembourg, for the drive through Luxembourg to Belgium, stopping only for fuel at Petange. 

The only stop we made in Belgium was at a boulangerie for a couple of bread rolls for our lunch.

Along the Moselle 2

Wednesday 12th and Thusday 13th August.

We left Neumagen for the short drive to our next camp at Mehring. Another camp right alongside the river but the weather has not been kind with temperatures in the mid thirties and not cooling off til quite late in the evening. So a quiet day was had trying to keep cool in the shade.
On Thursday we left reasonably early for a very nice ride along the cycle path via Riol to Schweich and back. About 18kms in all. The weather is even hotter, so another quiet afternoon was had at camp waiting out the 36 degrees until the evening. A change is forcast with maybe thunderstorms this evening with decidedly cooler days ahead.

Along the Moselle

Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th of August

After leaving Bad Emms we drove via Koblenz and the autobahn to Neumagen Drohn, aplace we have visited twice before.
The last part of the drive was amazing as we decended the hill to the river via a road with many hairpins and fabulous scenery.

The canp at Neumagen is a very nice camperstop with lovely toilets and showers. They also had wi fi for €2 for 24 hours.

On Tuesday Jan did some washing which proved a bit of a trial trying to work out the instructions for use. In the end the washing was in the machine for two hours!. After hanging it out we rode our bikes into Bernkastel-Kues 

a ride of about 25 kms and after the necessary facc and coffee 

and a walk around we caught the ferry back for the return journey which went through one lock and took about 90 minutes.
After dinner we went to Herr Bollig's winery (also previously visited) for some more of his fab wine that we had last year with Les & Shirley. Unfortunately he was not there but a subsequent visit the next day ended happily with us buying some wine which he kindly delivered to us in Boris.

Rhineland

Sunday, 9th August.

On Friday morning we left Albertshofen relatively early for the drive to Lauda Konigshofen to visit Helga and Karl, and spent a very pleasant few hours chatting in the cool of their home.  It is not air conditioned but is of the age when houses were built with thick stone walls, acting as insulation against the heat in summer and the cold in winter so we were reluctant to go back out in the heat for the drive to Klingenberg, on the Main River.  We managed to score a site with some shade so could cool down a little with the aid of cool showers, as unfortunately the river wasn't accessible there, but poor old Boris  took hours to cool as he'd been in the direct sun all day. 

We left early in the cool of the morning on Saturday and drove via the autobahn to the Rhine, 

travelling along the eastern side of the river and stopped for coffee at Kaub before continuing on, enjoying the slightly cooler weather and the surprisingly quiet road.  Unfortunately, the campsites on the riverfront were chokkers so we ventured inland from Lahnstein, 11kms along the River Lahn, to the yacht harbour at Bad Ems where we stayed last night and will stay again tonight.

Our 5 minute bike ride into town revealed a lovely town with many beautiful old buildings, gardens and a promenade along the river bank, with the bonus of a funicular which for €3 each took us up the hill which overlooks the town and river, and back down again!  While there we visited the restaurant and enjoyed a cold beer each along with the fabulous view. 

  

We will go into town shortly as there is apparently internet available at one of the cafes so we will no doubt partake of some of the goodies on offer!

Albertshofen - 2

Friday, 7th July :  9.00a.m.

It was pleasant riding yesterday (Thursday) morning to Dettelbach, just 4 kms away and along the river most of the way.  We first had to take the 2 minute ferry ride across to Mainsockheim and then on to the good cycle path...Dettelbach is another charming old picture postcard town, quiet when we arrived but by the time we'd had a look around, shops, banks and cafes had begun to open up for the day's trade so we we were able to have our obligatory f.a.c.c. and coffee (we feel it is our duty to sample as many different f.a.c.c.s as possible).  

By the time we returned to Albertshofen via the ferry, the temperature had climbed and so the afternoon and evening were spent chasing the shade in between cooling dips in the river.  There is a small beach about 30 metres from where I sit which is popular with local people and the motorhomers who are camped here and it became quite crowded...I expect it will be again today as it's going to be hotter today than yesterday but we won't be here.  We'll be leaving very soon to visit friends of friends in Lauda Konigshofen, about 50kms from here, and then we'll be travelling westish where it is alleged to be slightly cooler.