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Steph CraneSteph Crane
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traveled in 18 countries Read more England, United Kingdom
  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 41

    Netherlands

    October 3, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Last day in Germany before we truck further onwards. Squeezed in a run in the countryside whilst Gary worked. He put €2 in the electric meter the evening before, get everything charged up, by the time we left that morning there was still €1.93 left, hehe. You live and learn. Germany are celebrating their German unity day. A public holiday celebrating their unity between east and west in 1990, a year after the wall came down.
    Drove over another border into the Netherlands and to our first stop in Vaals, three countries point where Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands meet. Quick photo at the point then around their labyrinth just for fun. Made sure I kept my eyes glued to Gary all the way around. We made it to the middle, whoop. Gary did exclaim at one point “we’re gonna be in here for ages” but we made it through in not bad timing in the end.
    Rained a bit on and off through the morning but started to clear as we approached our next stop in Valkenburg. A nice little town with a castle on the hill. We had a short wander but we’re keen to move on to Maastricht, a short drive again. Arrived at our campsite, a 30 minute walk from the town so headed in. Again, had a little wander around, quick look for a van sticker (a flag from each country we’ve visited) and some sightseeing then pizza. Very cold and windy sitting out. Found the oldest pub so went there too, Café In den Ouden Vogelstruys, dating back to the 1400s. Ye olde inside though slightly marred by euro trash music playing! Took a slow wander back to the van. Trying to make some strategic travel plans for the last couple of days plus factoring in a certain birthday.    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 40

    Köln

    October 2, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    We made it through the night without any more sirens going off! Never did find out why. Gary began working but quickly ran out of laptop charge so we had to pack up sharpish and head out to somewhere where he could plug in. Those Monday morning emails won’t write them selves! Found a close by service station to charge/brekkie/coffee/loo so he could crack on and I just hung out.
    Once work was done, driving via Leverkusen (twinned with Bracknell), we headed over to a park and ride outside Cologne (ULEZ so no getting close in a stinky diesel van). Just a swift short train ride into the city centre. The cathedral is just outside the station and is very impressive. It’s huge, imposing and so intricate. Third tallest church in the world taking over 600 years to complete! Inside is just as impressive and detailed as outside. We climbed the 533 steps up the bell tower which was a good workout around a narrow winding staircase. Great views from the top.
    Had a little wander around the city, had a pitstop then got the (delayed) train back to the van.
    After a bit of food shopping later, we arrived at our next stopover in Jülich, our last night in Germany. A nice camping pitch next to a sizeable park/lake/animal enclosures. May have to check these out. Gary swears he heard wolves howling in the distance! So warm last night, not dropping below 21 degrees though I believe there is a storm coming?
    Gary enjoyed his bratwurst dinner then we went for a walk at the perimeter of the park (fenced off, you have to pay). All lit up with colourful lighting. Looks lovely.
    Played cards in the evening referencing Kalooki on a number of occasions ;0) (ask Gary).    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 39

    A personal pilgrimage

    October 1, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Got up nice and early, went for walk around the countryside and back for a full English at the van, yum.
    Off on our travels again, first point as we’re passing through anyway was Hamelin, as in the pied piper of - the town where the rats (and subsequent children) disappeared. Apparently based on fact? Must read Grimm fairy tales… Very pretty city but we didn’t stop. Onwards to the first stop, my birth town. Found the building that used to be BMH (British medical hospital) Rinteln, closed in 1997 then converted to a care home for elderly and special needs schooling. We walked around the back path still with old fencing and barbed wire, quite military looking then drove to the entrance. Nicely modernised but still with elements of military, looks a little like a prison! Interesting opportunity to see where it all began nearly 50 years earlier.
    Then on towards Cologne but, again, stopping along the way to Iserlohn, my maternal grandmother‘s home town. Again, a lovely looking old town but we headed to the cemetery as Grandma had mentioned that the family were buried there. Sadly, the only name I have is her maiden name, Schwarz. She keeps everything close to her chest! We had a wander. A massive, beautifully maintained grounds. We didn’t find any Schwartz however not surprising as in Germany, you only rent the burial spot usually up to around 30-50 years. After that point if you don’t want to continue paying, the grave is cleared and reused for the next burial! A German friend of ours went and reclaimed his father‘s headstone. It’s now in his garden! Apparently you’re not allowed to scatter ashes either, they have to be buried in a cemetery too?
    We paid our respects anyway and drove to our stopover by the river Lenne in a town called Altena. Another lovely looking town with a castle on the hill. More walking, dinner then whilst we were gaming, we thought it was our music first but heard a loud siren, opened the door and there was definitely a siren from out side, very loud. V scary. The same as an air raid siren. It sounded for 3 rounds then stopped. Few minutes later we heard lots of vehicle sirens go past. Apparently a few towns in Germany still have a warning system which was tested recently (similar to our mobile phone alert we had but theirs was sirens too). The alert we heard was for the fire brigade calling to warn them of an incident so not an alert for the public. There are different alerts that we should listen out for, though.    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 38

    More driving

    September 30, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Bit wet when we woke up, quite unusual recently. Found somewhere local in Nuremberg for our Saturday morning breakfast and headed over. Got us our table, translated the menu, ordered and paid all in the lingo. Getting more confident.
    Headed on our merry way. Today’s job being to travel north and make headway to our next goal, my birth town. We drove half each aiming for a camp site I had earmarked though sadly, they were full. Another family with a caravan were hoping to stay too, on the off chance. Bit of a gamble when you’re towing a massive caravan. Maybe that’s the norm here? Did a bit of shopping and headed on a little further to a lovely old town called Trendleburg in the Kassel district. A municipality park up in the countryside, very lovely. Phoned to book in my very best deutsch again though she did actually speak English. I tried. I rescued a little dog trapped in the bushes on an extendable lead. It had gone through the bushes then gone back another way, owner couldn’t it back. I unhooked the dog and sent it back through, owner very grateful. I noticed after that I had something in my eye which I could just not shift. Took quite a few hours to dissipate, thought I’d scratched my eyeball. All clear this morning though. Bloody dogs!
    Gary managed to stream the footy then we walked in to the town to look for a cash point. Lovely stroll. Made dinner whilst chatting to Alex and Lucas then watched a bit of catch up tv.    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 37

    Dachau

    September 29, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After leaving Munich, we traveled only a few miles up the road to Dachau concentration camp. The flagship camp for all of the others. Set up in 1933 eventually seeing 200,000 prisoners from all over Europe imprisoned here and in the numerous subsidary camps. At least 41,500 were murdered. On April 29 1945, American troops liberated the survivors. A fascinating and somber memorial. We hired audio guides and it took a good couple of hours to get around. We then drove northwards, coincidentally, to Nuremberg. Went for wander in to the town and treated ourselves to a curry. It was so warm over night that we had to have the fan going. Not needed it since southern Spain.
    Crazy to think we only have a week left before we return home. Mixed emotions about that. Definitely been an adventure.    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 36

    Oktoberfest

    September 28, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We left Austria and headed in to Germany with Alex and Matt on facetime joining us. Again, a little underwhelming but another country border ticked. We arrived at the north part of Munich, our overnight stopover being the Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich football club. Nice parking area and facilities, better than some campsites we’ve stayed on! Great view of the arena too. Took the underground to the city and walked around for a bit of sightseeing before we headed to the bier festival. Lovely hot day too. Security wouldn’t let us take our bags in, had to be smaller than a bum bag or something similar sized so had to put them in the cloakroom area. Saved carrying stuff around, admittedly. It was quite busy and lots of people wearing traditional clothing, lederhosen, skirts, hats, braces etc. looked really good. We had a look around the funfair section then went to one of the Bierhallen. Decorated lovely inside but so loud. The band playing Bavarian music and everyone talking to be heard. Very busy. We got seated and ordered the litre sized glasses each (one alcohol free), they’re all a standard price €14.50 per litre. The waitresses can carry an immense amount of those glasses, so heavy. Such a workout! We shared a huge pretzel each. Got chatting to the people on our table, an American couple celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and a group of Australian lads out on a bender. Great fun to watch the shenanigans. We moved on after finishing our drinks. Sat outdoors next, bit quieter. We did the ferris wheel (Riesenrad) and I had a gingerbread heart (Lebkuchenhertz), Gary had the bratwurst. We had a great time there, brilliant experience but so very expensive. We left there early evening and found a pizza place to eat then on to a rock bar which was great but I was feeling a bit stuffed and bloated by then. Got the underground back to the van/stadium. Went to bed full and merry.Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 35

    Three countries, one day

    September 27, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Getting packed up to leave and we noticed some hot air balloons flying over. On further inspection there were half a dozen arcing over the site coming from beyond the mountains coming in to land just behind us. What a beautiful view they must have had. One landed particularly close to our site - I’m assuming they’re a bit tricky to control? Great to watch though. Something calming about it.
    We headed off on our trek to Austria passing through Liechtenstein on the way just to cross off another country.
    Alex and Lucas called so they crossed the first border of Liechtenstein with us, quite exciting but turned out to be underwhelming. Barely a sign, just a couple of flags. We entered to the south at Balzers, stopped to shop at the Spar in Triesen then exited Liechtenstein border over the Rhine back in to Switzerland covering probably a quarter of the country in less than half an hour! We traveled a little further up then entered Austria and on to our campsite. There’s still a few mountains visible but getting to the end of the alps now. We stopped in Bregenz town, the very west of Austria. Just traveled over 3000 miles now! Quite a big campsite with donkeys and goats. Bit of down time today for a change so managed to get some washing done and catch some rays. Farmers bird scarer going off regularly. Thought we were being shot at at first! Went for a quick sunset walk to the local lake - a 63km natural Lake Constance (Bodensee) that is surrounded by Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein. Of course, where there’s water, there’s mosquitos so we didn’t hang about. We’ve not been able to sit out much in the evenings sadly as it’s either been too cold but mostly because of mosquitos. We already have a plan for the next day so nice to not having to be sorting that. To Bavaria!    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 34

    Furka Pass

    September 26, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    This journey was all about the Furka Pass, 37km of winding, weaving roads through the Swiss Alps. An elevation of around 2 1/2 km at its peaks traveling up and down. It was terrifying, breathtaking, butt clenching and beautiful all at the same time. We both took turns driving the stretch stopping regularly along the way to enjoy the scenery, gives the brakes cooling time and let the many sports cars pass. It’s those kind of roads where when you’re turning corners on the edge and there’s only concrete posts or not even that to guide you, narrow roads, steep hills and blind corners. Fair to say I were shitting meself on more than one occasion! The roads are well maintained and not as bad as some of the mountains in Spain but mucho concentration needed. It meant that although it was only a few km, it took pretty much all day as you can’t do much more then 20-30 mph. We stopped at the Rhône glacier that is huge at 7km in length, but has sadly reduced in size due to global warming. The primary source of Lake Geneva. There was also an ice ‚grotto‘ that you can go through. Made ourselves a van brew and chatted to a bunch of New Zealand lads in a UK van. There must’ve been about 10 of them crammed in. They’d flown from NZ to UK, bought a cheap van off a woman and were driving down to Lyon, France to watch the All Blacks play rugby. The van was apparently a wreck causing them trouble most days. Much joking about swapping vans for size etc then we were on our way. A little lower down the mountain we stopped at an infamous stop in James Bond, Goldfinger to get some shots. There were some cows by the side of the road so snapped them too. All cows here have bells so the farmers know where they are so everywhere, you can hear faint tinkles. Think Gary needs one so I don’t lose him!
    A Brit plate Overlander van rocked up so chatted to them for a bit too. They are our age and sold up everything to go traveling. They’ve been all over, some great stories. I follow them now on Facebook. Again, said our goodbyes and carried on downwards. We stopped at a town at the end of the pass called Aldermatt as we spotted a cable car and felt the need to do one. When in Switzerland… not cheap but great views. Not as scary as the one we did at Alton towers years ago. It didn’t travel across a gorge or anything, just up the mountain. Had a swift lemonade and back down again. Wandered around the town, very Swiss and probably completely different in the winter what with it being a skiing town. Avoided the friendly police road stop when we left, they’d parked next to us, probably already checked out the van. They just said hello and off we went. On to our over night stop in Surcuolm. A campsite for a change (toilets/showers). More mountain driving but not too far. More beautiful views and so warm in the sun then a little chilly when the sun went down. Did a quick chat with die Tochter dann die Eltern though connection patchy later on.    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 33

    Switzerland

    September 25, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Up early for a run and shower whilst Gary worked again. A bit of food shopping and fuel refill once we’d started our journey again, I’d read that Switzerland can be a bit pricey, Gary drove the first half and over the border hoping to be able to buy their equivalent of the toll fee by way of a sticker called a vignette. Apparently you can buy it at the border allowing you to use their motorways. A much simpler (and cheaper) way to pay for toll than the French toll points every few metres, it feels like. My toll charge in France is going to be huge I reckon. It was £60 coming down the first part when we first got here compared to Spain around £30 and we were there for much longer and more traveling. We seem to go through toll after toll after toll this last French section.
    Anyway, as we approached the border, no new country signs or welcome. Just weaved in and out of a few cones and some unmarked buildings then we were through. Back on to the motorway. Very underwhelming. So, we panicked a little thinking we hadn’t got this vignette. I know their fine for not having one is a bit costly so we pulled over and found a petrol station outside Geneva to purchase one. Easy. 40 franks lasts the year (£36). Crisis averted, Gary drove a little further around Lake Geneva then we switched over and I drove to the stopover. As we approached the snow tipped Alps it was an amazing sight knowing we would be heading that way eventually. Our stopover is near Interlaken, next to lake Brienz (Brienzee). The approach was breathtaking. Such a turquoise looking water especially with the sun shining. We found it spot for the night and went for a walk in the area finding a very high, though not very wide, waterfall. Hiked up the woody mountain a little to see some more beautiful views before heading back for dinner. Gary attempted to fly the drone but we’re near an airport so restrictions meant he wasn’t confident. We walked down to the picturesque village as the sun went down and sat on a bench watching the sun set. Surprisingly quite busy there with Korean tourists. There’s a pier that was used in a Korean Netflix show recently. Bit of an attraction. Back at our stopover, just a large carpark, a couple other vans also turned up for the night. One, respectfully leaving a gap but another shoehorned himself right into our corner. There’s loads of room here, why do people do that? I could probably take a leap from my doorstep and land on his. Eyeroll.
    Gary’s looking forward to driving the Furka pass next. A long, winding, scenic stretch through the Alps made famous by the Goldfinger movie. Move over Lewis Hamilton.    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean road trip
    Day 32

    Driving

    September 24, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Had a nice easy early morning before we head off on a very long drive through the best part of France towards Switzerland. We didn’t really factor in any visits as we wanted to make a bit of headway. We had to avoid Montpelier which was close to where we were. They have ULEZ charge so we couldn’t pass near. Gary had prebooked our campsite for that night which was around 5 hours away and wanted to be there for the 3pm footy kick off. That didn’t happen! I did the first section, just over 2 hours. We swapped. I managed to finish my rattle jacket for my oil bottle The town we drove through had lots of road closures so we got trapped, couldn’t get out. Exactly the same as last Sunday- must be a ’thing‘? There was us and lots of other cars just driving around in circles. The diversion signs weren’t helping either. Finally found out way out but this must’ve taken half an hour or so. A lot of time wasted. Cracked on but only for a bit as we had to swap again because the football was about to start. So I amused myself with the sights of the approaching alps and singing whilst Gary streamed the football to his phone. Not the most exciting of days but good to get quite a big hike of a drive (and France) out of the way. Arrived at our campsite for the night in La Ravoire conveniently just as the football finished. Made some dinner and went for a walk to the foot of the mountains to burn off some energy.
    Bit more planning for the next few days crossing through Switzerland and the alps, a little bit of Liechtenstein plus Austria in to Germany by mid week hopefully.    Read more

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