Travel Log: In the Netherlands and Germany Autumn 2014

The First Journey in our Carado T337 Motorhome

Margaret Williamson

Click: Complete Travel Log of the 5,000 miles Overland Journey from the UK to Greece via the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria

Click: The map, table of distances and photographs of the route and an account comparing this journey through Eastern Europe with parallel bicycle journeys made in the days of the iron Curtain

Introduction 

After a wasted month of July in England, wrestling with the phenomenon of Marquis Malpractice, August passed pleasantly in the purchase, equipping and testing of an excellent Carado T337 motorhome from the rejuvenated Brownhills Motorhomes of Newark. By September we were riding the long-distance river cycle paths of Germany, and October saw us motorhoming through the Eastern European countries of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Our aim - to reach the warm shelter of Greece before winter strikes! 

LATE AUGUST – DFDS FERRY FROM NEWCASTLE TO THE NETHERLANDS

Ijmuiden Port to Camping De Wapenberg, Ugchelen, Nr Apeldoorn, Gelderland – 70 miles

Open 28 March-1 Nov. www.dewapenberg.nl. ACSI Card rate €15 inc local tax, 6 amp elec and showers. Excellent WiFi €2 per day or €7.50 per week (with a second machine half price!)  N 52°10'19”  E 5°54'45”

It had been a smooth overnight crossing on the 'Sea Princess', leaving the DFDS terminal at North Shields, near Newcastle, at 5 pm and docking in Ijmuiden, near Amsterdam, at 9.30 am. The first time we've used this route, booked through the Camping & Caravanning Club, with a 2-bunk sea-view cabin. The boat was full - mostly British, a couple of Dutch and German motorhomes and a small group of Dutch cyclists who had miraculously survived the English traffic. The 3 restaurants on board were expensive (eg £30 per person for a breakfast buffet!) but the 'Lighthouse Cafι' served more reasonable fare with large helpings of cod & chips or chilli con carne. We had our own muffins, chocolate and lemonade (sounds like Enid Blyton) to complete the meal.

It took almost an hour to unload the ferry at Ijmuiden, where the SatNav led us past the fish market and onto the motorway system, skirting Amsterdam on the busy South Ring round to the A1. Stopping at the first services to make a late breakfast, we consulted our maps and campsite guides. The ACSI Card scheme, being a Dutch organisation, lists plenty of sites in the Netherlands.

From A1 exit 19, just south of Apeldoorn, it was only 2 miles south on N304 to the well-signed De Wapenberg campsite, tucked in the forest on the northern edge of the Hooge Veluwe National Park. A very pleasant quiet site, with more rabbits than campers, though it became busier at the weekend. The rabbits (including a Lucky Black) even ate the bread we put out for the birds! We saw blackbird, thrush, robin, chaffinch, nuthatch, treecreeper and bluetits.

From friendly Dutch campers we learnt that this area was once a royal hunting ground, there are still deer in the forest, which are fed, and the nearby Het Loo Palace (of the House of Orange) is open to visitors.

At Camping de Wapenberg, Ugchelen

The WiFi worked well, enabling us to catch up on emails and listen to Radio 4, enjoying the serial 'Dark Fire', one of C J Sansom's Tudor murder mysteries.

Shopping was easy by bicycle, riding the Fietspads (cycle paths) that included a dedicated bike path on either side of the busy Europaweg leading to the motorway and Apeldoorn. The local shops included Halfords and a Deka supermarket, which had tasty free samples at every counter. We did buy a roast chicken.

Cycling to Otterlo & back (47 km): The cycle path that passed the campsite's rear entrance led us through the woods to the village of Hoenderloo, where there is one of several official entrances to the Hooge Veluwe National Park. Shocked to discover that the entrance fee was €8.50 per person, even for walkers or cyclists, while motorists paid an extra €3 per car to park! This did include entrance to a museum and loan of a White Bicycle but there was no reduction for simple entry to the park, not even for seniors. Revising our high opinion of the Netherlands, we left and worked out our own route around the perimeter of the private park! We rode on excellent free bike paths alongside both major and minor roads to the small tourist town of Otterlo. Here we ate our chicken sandwiches in the park, looked round the street market and enjoyed coffee and apple cake outside a cafι in the sunshine. Interesting to find a memorial to the Canadians, British and civilians killed here in April 1945 in the last battle for the liberation of the Netherlands, following Operation Market Garden in September 1944.  Returning to the campsite at Ugchelen by a longer route, we completed a wonderful 30-mile ride: warm, light wind, no rain, gentle hills – this is cycling heaven!

Ugchelen to Camping de Wije Werelt, Otterlo, Gelderland – 50 miles

Open 28 March-31 Dec. www.wijewerelt.nl. ACSI Card rate €16 plus local tax, inc 10 amp elec and showers. Reductions for long stay (2 weeks plus). WiFi €3.50 per day or €9 for 3 days (less for 5 days, etc). N 52.08657  E5.76934

From Ugchelen we drove into Arnhem to the electrical 'Platte TV' store in a shopping mall with free parking (thanks to a Google search and the SatNav). Here we bought a 19” TV (made by Salora, a Finnish firm) which also has a CD/DVD slot and computer connection. An excellent buy. Also shopped in the supermarket and ate lunch in the car park while a sudden thunderstorm raged.

Checked out 2 ACSI-Card camps at Schaarsbergen on the NW side of Arnhem but both were huge regimented busy sites, so continued to Otterlo and stopped at the first of the 3 sites there. It's a large camp but we found a hedged pitch in a corner of the quietest field (the one furthest from the excellent facilities). The WiFi works well, there is a restaurant/bar with takeaway, an outdoor pool we didn't use and a laundry that we did. There are even Red Squirrels.

The new TV worked well, not for television (we have no aerial) but for watching films straight off our back-up hard drive. After dinner we watched the incomparable Marlene Dietrich in 'A Foreign Affair', filmed in Berlin shortly after the end of WW2. It was shocking to see the extent of the demolition of the city.

At Camping de Wije Werelt, Otterlo

We discovered what happens if you fill the motorhome water tank without putting the large screw cap back on – at least the floors are now clean!

Otterlo proved a good centre for cycling, with Fietspads past our campsite in every direction.

Cycling to Kootwijk & back (35 km): Rode into Otterlo (2.5 km) past 2 other campsites. At the obliging hardware shop we bought a few things, leaving them to collect on our way back. The Spar mini-market opposite had free coffee for shoppers! Then rode the cycle path on to Harskamp. Here we turned off on a track through the sandy woods to the eerie 'Kathedral Radio Kootwijk', a huge 1920s concrete building, rising high above the open heathland. It was used initially for short wave radio transmission to Dutch colonies in the Far East (Dutch East Indies) and later used as a signal station during WW2. It's currently having a facelift, with scaffolding and men who don't suffer vertigo. Returning via Kootwijk village and an ice cream in Harskamp, we reached Otterlo with 3 minutes to spare before the hardware store closed at 6 pm.

Back at the camp we tried a selection of deep-fried snacks from the takeaway with chips, mayo and dipping sauces. Very welcome, cheap and tasty – though none of your 5-a-day there! Then we began watching 'Happy Valley', a gritty 5-part British police series set in Halifax, that we'd bought on DVD.

Cycling to Hoenderloo & back (45 km): Going anticlockwise round the perimeter of the private Hooge Veluwe National Park, we rode SE to Schaarsbergen, N to Hoenderloo (with coffee and apple cake in the bakery cafι), then W back to Otterlo. All on good sealed cycle paths or a bike lane at the edge of a very quiet road. MAGIC!

Cycling to Lunteren & back (33 km): Rode some new paths, SE through woodland and across the Ederheide heath, purple with heather, to Ede. Turned NW to Lunteren, where we found a bank machine and had coffee and cakes at a lovely old pub, complete with carpet-clad tables. Returned east to Otterlo on a route suggested by a helpful Dutch couple, using the 'cycling by numbers' method following signposts.

SEPTEMBER 2014 – INTO GERMANY

Otterlo to Womo Park Xanten, Xanten, Lower Rhine – 98 miles

Open all year. www.womopark-xanten.de.  €10 for 24 hrs parking inc water and dump. Optional €3 for 16-amp elec. Optional €1.50 per person per day for entry code to luxury toilet/shower room. (Realised too late that no need to pay this, as campers let each other in!) WiFi €3 per day (but out of order). N 51°39'15”  E 6°27'55”

Drove on motorways past Arnhem, then on to Winterswijk (not far from the border). On the edge of town there is ample free parking (but no overnighting) at the huge 2-storey Obelink shop, a vast warehouse of a store selling clothing, equipment and accessories for every kind of camping and leisure activity, from caravans to bicycle bells. We bought a couple of small items, had lunch in the self-service cafι and continued into Winterswijk to shop at Lidl.

Turning south and across the border into Germany, we checked out Camping Gravinsel on an island in the Rhine near Wesel. The enormous site looked full and the bullet-headed man in Reception was less than helpful, despite being addressed in Margaret's fluent and polite German.

We crossed to the west side of the Rhine and made our way to Xanten and the motorhome park there. It was almost full and had upgraded its facilities (and prices) since our last visit. Xanten is listed in both the books we use for camperstops, available from Amazon or from Vicarious Books at www.vicarious-shop.com. Namely 'Camperstop Europe' (in English) and the 2-volume 'Bordatlas' (in German with more entries, more countries and far more detail). Like French Aires, many a German Stellplatz now charges a daily fee, though usually less than a fully fledged campsite.

Having paid extra for the key-code to the admittedly excellent ablutions, we quickly realised our mistake. Other motorhomers (German and Dutch) were letting each other in as a protest against the charge. Besides, how can you slam the door in the face of the old man in the queue behind you?

At Womo Park, Xanten

Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/xanten.html

Next day we cycled into Xanten (2 km), an area Margaret knew well as a student. She worked one summer long on the archaeological excavations of the Roman city and river port of Colonia Ulpia Traiana, now known as APX (Archaeologischer Park Xanten). This site and its museum are very well worth a visit (even at €9 per person) but, of course, we have already returned there (twice) so we left the complex to the tour buses.

The medieval walled town is now very much a tourist destination, with guided walks, a toy train and the Kriemhilde Muehle windmill cafι open beneath its circling sails. We browsed the shops, sent postcards and bought an ADAC Compact Atlas of Germany.

Cycling round Xanten's lakes (25 km): After lunch we rode round the two linked lakes (Sudsee and Nordsee), passing the Strandbad (open-air bathing place with entry fee) and pausing for coffee at the marina. It was a level ride on gravel paths and side roads, though badly signed if at all. An information board showed a wooden Roman barge, sunk upside down in the Sudsee, found recently while dredging for gravel. The two lakes were once an arm of the Rhine and the barge was carrying building material. A prehistoric settlement has also been evidenced on the site of the Roman colony.

Xanten to Camping Wolfsmuehle, Lahnstein, Rhineland-Pfalz – 137 miles

Open 15 March-31 Dec. www.campingwolfsmuehle.de. ACSI Card rate €17 inc local tax, 8 amp elec and showers. May be extra for riverside pitch when busy. WiFi €2.50 for a day, €5 for 3 days, or €10  for an unlimited stay. N 50°18'54”  E 7°38'1”

From Xanten we headed for motorway A57. Junction 8 being closed, we were diverted to Junction 7 near Rheinberg. Then south on A57, especially busy past Dusseldorf and the Ruhr with roadworks.  Joined A1 round the west side of Cologne, then took A61 south.

Paused for lunch on a service station where trucks were already parked up (next day being Sunday when they are not allowed on German motorways). Polish and Lithuanian drivers crouched by their vehicles cooking on camping gas stoves and we pitied their long wait.

Near Koblenz we turned east onto A48, to cross the Rhine and exit at Vallendar. Finally, south on B42, exit at Oberlahnstein and follow signs from the roundabout to the campsite on the south bank of the River Lahn (a tributary of the Rhine).

A sign at the entrance declared that it was full but we'd phoned ahead and were shown to the only vacant pitch, tucked between Dutch neighbours who were fishing, right by the waterside. Once settled, it was a joy to sit in warm sunshine by the river, with a large family of swans to feed, private and public boats on their way to or from Bad Ems, and cyclists to watch riding the Lahnradweg along the opposite bank.

At Camping Wolfsmuehle, Lahnstein

The campsite and its position were so good that we stayed for 10 days, with several cycle rides along both Lahn and Rhine. We sampled the excellent campsite restaurant  (pork Schnitzel or chicken with chips and a salad buffet), as well as the takeaway pizza. The nearest shops (Globus, Lidl, Aldi) are in Lahnstein, a short cycle ride or a €1.60 bus-ride away. There was time for laundry and internet, with some evenings spent watching 'Game of Thrones' Series 3 - fascinating, though the gratuitous violence is increasing.

Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/cycling-the-rhine1.html

Cycling Lahnstein to Koblenz & back (25 km): Camp Reception supplied a free sketch map of a route to Koblenz on an intermittently signed Radweg (cycle path). It suggested crossing the Lahn to the north bank on a footbridge, which involves carrying bicycles up and down a very steep staircase. Then it's 3 km into Lahnstein, where the river meets the Rhine. Turn north and follow the cycle path up the east bank of the Rhine to Pfaffendorf and cross the road bridge to Koblenz (total 10 km). Then cycle along the traffic-free Rhine promenade (Rheinufer) north to the Deutsches Eck, the confluence of Rhine and Mosel, with its imposing equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm (replaced after the Americans destroyed it in the last war). Riding this on a sunny Sunday afternoon, with everyone and their dogs out in force, we joined the crowds for an ice cream, then returned to Lahnstein. This time we crossed the Lahn on the town bridge and cycled back to camp on quiet roads, rather than the river path with its difficult bridge.

We cycled into Koblenz twice more - on a week day when we found the paths much quieter, and on a Saturday when the Koblenz promenade was thronged with the biggest flea market we've ever seen. The railway station cafι had good coffee, as well as sausages served with bread and potato salad. After some searching, we found a good cycle shop Fahrrad XXL near the Eck, with 2 floors of clothing and accessories. When we asked for maps they directed us to Thalia bookshop in the basement of a shopping mall opposite, where we bought maps of both the Lahn and the Mosel cycle routes.  

Cycling Lahnstein to Bingen (64 km): With a room booked at the Kempter Eck guesthouse in Bingen, we left the motorhome on the campsite (they didn't even charge for the hookup that night) and took a 2-day ride up and down the Rhine. We didn't have a map for this but you can hardly miss the river! There is a continuous cycle path along the west bank, while the path on the east side is unfinished, with gaps forcing cyclists onto a busy road. There are no bridges south of Koblenz until Bingen but six separate ferries(for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles up to 8 tons) regularly link towns along the way. We assume the lack of bridges is because this stretch of the Mittelrheintal (the romantic Rhine valley and gorge, complete with castles and the Loreley rock) is a UNESCO heritage site, free of industry and modern buildings – and the Allies had helpfully cleared the old bridges over the Rhine, ending with Remagen.

We cycled into Lahnstein, then followed the cycle path south, on the east side of the Rhine, to Filsen (18 km), the first chance to cross to the west bank on the ferry to Boppard. The one-way fare for cycle + rider was €2.30 (same on all the ferries). A return ticket saved a little but was only valid for the same day. In Boppard we sat in the sun with coffees, watching the various day-trip boats depart: upstream as far as the Loreley, or downstream to Koblenz or even on to the Mosel. There were also long river cruisers on their way to Switzerland, as well as working barges laden low with coal, stone, scrap iron or fuel.

Just before St Goar we had lunch at a picnic table outside Das Boot, a small hotel that was closed up and for sale (30 km). A German family offered us a bag of sweets! On we rode, always on a dedicated cycle path, past the St Goar-St Goarshausen ferry and the Loreley Rock rising above the opposite bank. Leaving Oberwesel we bought chocolate and biscuits at Lidl. We passed two more ferries at Bacharach-Kaub and Niederheimbach-Lorch before reaching the larger town of Bingen-am-Rhein (62 km).

Continuing past the Bingen-Rudesheim ferry we reached the Hindenburgbruecke Camping and turned right through a short tunnel under the railway to Kempter Eck, and one of two hotels listed in Bett und Bike (the German 'Bed & Bike' website). It was a good choice, with an excellent room and biscuits, grapes and sweets left out for hungry cyclists - but no restaurant. Our kind hostess recommended the food at the Hindenburgbruecke campsite, to which we returned for plates of pig & chips, followed by cakes from the nearby bakery.

All that remains of the Hindenburg railway bridge is a pair of massive stone pillars in the river. Originally built by Russian prisoners of war in 1914, it was destroyed by German Pioneers in early 1945 to prevent Allied forces from crossing.

Cycling Bingen to Lahnstein (65 km): The day began with a generous breakfast buffet – a selection of home-made jams, fruit juice and fruit yogurt from the family orchards, as well as the usual cheeses, hams, omelette, rolls and coffee - served by Rosa and Toni, who have run the hotel for 30 years. It began life as a 16th C hostelry, much restored after part-destruction by an Allied bomb. The port at Kempter Eck was where the draft horses were changed in the days when wooden barges, usually carrying barrels of wine, were towed upstream by a team of 3 horses led by a lad.

To vary the return route to Lahnstein, we cycled 2 km back to the Bingen ferry, crossed to Rudesheim and set out northwards up the east bank of the Rhine. Quickly realising our mistake (there was no cycle path on this side, just signs of building one here and there), we struggled along the B42 into a head wind to the next ferry (Lorch to Niederheimbach) at 15 km. It was a relief to rejoin the path up the west side, to reverse yesterday's ride. After a coffee break in Bacharach at 19 km we pushed on, with more shelter from trees than on the eastern side. Lunch was again a picnic outside Das Boot hotel after St Goar.

In Boppard at 46 km the Rhine promenade was celebrating its Weinfest – yes, it's wine harvest time. We took our third ferry of the day, across to Filsen, then cycled back to Lahnstein for the final 3 km along roads to the campsite.

 Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/cycling-the-lahn.html

Cycling Lahnstein to Laurenburg & back (70 km): Crossed the footbridge (with steep steps) to the north bank of the Lahn, then rode upstream on the Lahntalradweg (Lahn Valley Cycle Path), for which we'd bought a cycle-touring guide published by Bikeline. It was a good path on pleasant cool Sunday. In the spa town of Bad Ems (10 km) we crossed the bridge to the south bank and passed the railway station, where a couple of cyclists waited for the regular service that will carry bikes up the Lahn Valley. The bridge and remains of a tower here mark the point where the Limes (the frontier of the Roman Empire) crossed the Lahn and there is a museum in the town.  On to Nassau (at 20 km), where we ate our sandwiches by the river and bought coffee at a pizzeria across the bridge.

The next stretch through the woods of the Naturpark Nassau was much more strenuous, with a steep (1 in 6) climb up to the Arnstein Kloster (pilgrimage church and hostel) overlooking the valley, then an equally steep descent before Obernhof. Here we recrossed the Lahn to the north bank for an easy level ride to Laurenburg (35 km). A surprise rewarded our efforts as the village Backfest  (baking festival) was in full swing, with drinks, cakes and pastries on sale to support the community centre. Only too glad to oblige, we enjoyed coffee and Apfelkuchen, as well as apricot slices to carry back! Retracing the route to the campsite, we walked the long ascent to Arnstein Kloster. It commemorates a Belgian missionary who died of leprosy in the Hawaian Islands.

Note: The Lahntalradweg actually ends at Laurenburg, with a gap beyond until Geilnau. Cyclists must ride the very steep and busy road K25, involving a 2-km climb to Holzappel, or take the train from Laurenburg to the next station at Balduinstein. Our guidebook claims that bikes are carried free on this short section of railway, which follows the river, while the road does not! Perhaps this gap will be remedied in the future.

Lahnstein to Wohnmobil Station, Weilburg, Hessen – 51 miles

Open all year (may be closed for special events in July/August). www.weilburg.de.  €6 per day parking. Optional €2 a day for key to 16-amp elec, water and dump point. Free WC at Fire Station opposite. No showers or WiFi. N 50°29'0”  E 8°15'29”

We drove into Lahnstein to shop at Aldi (4 miles) and continued NE on rd 49 to Montabaur to join A3 (Frankfurt direction). A lunch break at the Heiligenroth services, then exit 42 at Limburg to rejoin rd 49 to the medieval town of Weilburg, again on the River Lahn.

On the way in we checked the campsite at Odersburg (on the river 3km SW of Weilburg) but were not impressed by the small muddy pitch indicated by the off-hand Receptionist, nor by the metered electricity and showers costing €1.10. Continuing into Weilburg, we much preferred the enormous level Stellplatz opposite the fire station. About 20 motorhomes stood there already, with plenty of space for more.

A warden from the Tourist Office drives round twice daily (about 9 am and 7 pm) to collect fees and hand out/collect optional keys (€15 deposit), or you can walk up into the town to do this during Tourist Office hours (8.30 am-6 pm Mon-Fri). Why close at weekends?

We parked and climbed the steep lane to explore the Old Town, found the Tourist Office inside the walls on Mauerstrasse and paid for 2 nights – or actually only one night, with a two-for-one coupon from our 'Bordatlas' which is beginning to pay for itself.

At Wohnmobil Station, Weilburg

The Stellplatz proved to be very peaceful, with the added attraction of a baker's van calling at about 9 am each morning with fresh rolls, excellent croissants and pastries! The specific reason for coming was to cycle more of the Lahntalradweg which ran past the gates in either direction, giving us two good rides.

Cycling Weilburg to Wetzlar & back (63 km): Rode upstream for 31 km to Wetzlar. The cycle path was well signed, as it needed to be. We lost count of how many times we crossed and re-crossed bridges over the Lahn, the railway and the highways. It's a ride along the valley, not always within sight of the river, and occasionally deviating onto a short stretch of busy road. The first opportunity for coffee along the way was at a simple grill kiosk in Solms (20 km), as this is not a tourist route.

Reaching Wetzlar we crossed the old Lahn bridge, ate our sardine sandwiches in the riverside park and looked round the historic Old Town and cathedral, unusually shared by Catholics and Protestants. Its architecture is a hotch-potch of asymmetry, as it was altered over the centuries and never completely finished. Over the main entrance, below a statue of the Madonna & Child, a devil can be seen clutching a Jew and a nearby notice has a homily about Jews being abused down the ages throughout Europe – not a little chilling!

Wetzlar is better known for its links with the poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who came from Frankfurt to work as a young lawyer in its famous courts. Here he met Charlotte Buff and Karl Jerusalem, who appear as Lotte and Jerusalem in Goethe's autobiographical novel of 1774: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The sufferings of young Werther).

Finally Wetzlar is home to the Leica camera, still made there. Ernst Leitz's firm that made microscopes produced the world's first small camera in 1925. After absorbing all this we returned to Weilburg by the same route, with another coffee break in Solms, arriving back around 5 pm.

Cycling Weilburg to Steeden (near Limburg) & back (61 km): Rode downstream on the well-signed Lahntalradweg, mainly along the river which it crossed 3 times each way. The only problem was two stretches of gravel and dirt path between Fuerfurt and Villmar that were too narrow to pass another cyclist. Luckily it wasn't very busy, on a cooler showery day after rain in the night.

In Villmar (21 km) we climbed up into the village. The cafι at the Marble Museum was closed but we found coffee and food at the bakery (always a good option in Germany). Back on the river path, we crossed the lovely marble bridge over the Lahn and continued along the right bank into Runkel. Here we recrossed the river on an old stone bridge leading to the Burg, a twee castle, rode on through the Old Town, then back across the river on a modern road bridge.

Continued towards Limburg, turning back 5 km before the city, between Steeden and Dehrn, as we'd reached the industrial outskirts of  Limburg with a view of a cement factory and the threat of rain. We returned the same way, with an ice cream break in Runkel to avoid a short shower.

Weilburg to Camping Erden, Erden an der Mosel, Rhineland-Pfalz – 119 miles

Open 1 April-31 Oct. www.camping-erden.de. ACSI Card rate €16 inc 4 kWh of 16-amp elec (extra usage is metered) and showers. Beware: Riverside pitches cost €22! Also a cheaper motorhome park on an adjacent sloping field, with use of campsite facilities. Free WiFi in reception/restaurant only. N 49°58'48”  E 7°1'13”

Farewell to the lovely baker's van (after stocking up with croissants, rolls, currant teacakes and chocolate cake!) and to the helpful warden from the Tourist Office. This is the perfect time to be cycling Germany's river paths, with the weather still good, and we now have the Moselradweg in our sights.

Drove back to Limburg on rd 49, took A3 motorway NW to exit 34, then A48 SW across the Rhine, past Koblenz and along to exit 4 for Cochem. The SatNav took us along a minor road (9-ton limit, no trucks or buses) past the Maria Martental Kloster, zigzagging down and up again, until it joined rd 259 SE down to Cochem on the Mosel. There was probably an easier route but at least we avoided the congested centre of this river's premier tourist spot – the Pearl of the Mosel – with its fairytale castle.

We followed rd 49 along the west bank, twisting with the serpentine river, through Ernst (where we spent a night after cycling from Koblenz 2 years ago). In the Wine Village (what else?) of Bremm we parked for lunch below the towering Calmont vineyards – Europe's steepest, in the foothills of the Eifel Mountains. The terraces of vines are supported by dry stone walls and reached by single-track miniature rack railways. Blame the Romans, who introduced viticulture here 2000 years ago.

On to the village of Alf and over the bridge to the east bank and Baeren-Camp at Bullay, near Zell – an ACSI Card site that we'd phoned 2 days earlier to reserve a place ('No Problem'). Arriving at 1.45 pm, we found Reception closed until 2 pm, with a barrier in front of us and another British motorhome behind. Margaret found the boss in the camp restaurant and asked politely in German if the barrier could be opened, as we were all blocking the entrance. He rudely told her to wait until 2 pm so, as we could see no vacant pitches in any case, we reported this to the other motorhome, which reversed out of our way – and we all left. It is time campsites realised that campers are paying customers!

We drove on past Zell and took rd 53 through Traben-Trarbach to Erden, with a campsite and Stellplatz on the river and directly on the Mosel Cycle Path. It wasn't full and had a complicated 3-price structure that we eventually unscrambled. The cheaper Stellplatz was on a crowded sloping field, so we took an ACSI Card place on the level riverside meadow. Pitches along the front row by the water cost €6 extra and were all empty, so we had a river view anyway!

At Camping Erden, Erden an der Mosel

Again we had two good cycle rides, following the Moselradweg in each direction, and spent a third day catching up with laundry, and working on-line in the camp restaurant. We ate there one evening (a reasonable pork schnitzel, chips and salad, along with a glass of Federweisser, the new young sparkly Mosel wine that is on offer at every bar along the river). For entertainment, we watched an Australian comedy film 'The Castle' that was excellent in a 'Kath & Kim' (Australian TV series) kind of way.

Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/cycling-the-moselle1.html

Cycling Erden to Niederemmel (nr Piesport) & back (60 km): Rode upstream (Trier direction) along the Moselradweg. It is well signed but we found the cycle-touring map published by Kompass (www.kompass.de) useful for detail. The weather was very warm with a light wind, mostly against us but variable, as the river snakes through a high-sided valley. The path was busy with a variety of cyclists, old and young, especially through Bernkastel with its boat tours and cycle hire depot.

In Muelheim (17 km), a village set back from the cycle path, we had a good lunch sitting in the bakery - coffees, large slices of warm Zwiebelkuchen (onion flan, a local speciality), plum tart and cheesecake! Then on through many a village Wine Festival (all serving Federweisser and Zwiebelkuchen), past countless guesthouses and wineries, until we reached Niederemmel at the bridge to Piesport. (The cycle route doesn't cross the Mosel here, continuing on the same side until Schweich, near Trier.)

We climbed up to the church in Emmel before turning back to retrace our route, stopping only for an ice cream in Bernkastel. It was very hot and sticky when we got back (30 deg C inside the motorhome), with thunder rumbling and rain overnight.

Cycling Erden to Zell & back (66 km): On a cooler morning (trousers, not shorts) we rode on good cycle paths downstream (Koblenz direction). The wine village of Wolf (9 km) was busy clearing the streets up after the weekend's Weinfest. Continuing round the bend in the river to Enkirch, we turned off into the village (17 km) for very welcome coffees and pastries at the bakery cafι. On through Burg-am-Mosel and Puenderlich, then a less pleasant section of gravel and mud on a narrow path into Zell (33 km). Here we crossed the pedestrian bridge to the other bank and ate our sandwiches in a riverside shelter.

Our map showed a cycle route on this side, back towards Trier, so we took it. It was gravel and mud through the vineyards for a stretch, then a better path to Puenderlich, where the small ferry we might have taken had just left. So we continued, riding below the railway viaduct and crossing the river by bridge to Enkirch. The slopes on both sides of the Mosel were densely clothed in vines, with workers still picking both green and black grapes. Two well-known wine labels appeared on the signs above the vineyards near Zell: Schwartzer Katze (Black Cat) and Nacktarsch (Naked Arse)!

From Enkirch we cycled back, passing the huge and incongruous Buddah Museum. Heavy rain followed a sudden squall as we rode through Wolf but by the time we reached camp the sun was out and we hung all our gear under the awning to dry! After a pot of tea and hot showers, we were 'right as rain'

Erden/Mosel to Camping Zum Faehrturm, Schweich, Rhineland-Pfalz – 25 miles

Open 5 April-20 Oct. www.kreusch.de. €11 plus metered elec (€0.60 per kWh) plus a one-off €1 connection fee. Free shower tokens. WiFi very expensive. Also adjacent 'Quickstop' motorhome parking area with no facilities for €5.50. N 49°48'52”  E 6°45'1”

From Erden we crossed the Mosel on the bridge at Zeltingen and drove almost into Wittlich, to shop at a large Lidl with easy parking on the right of the main road. There was also an Aldi on the left. Then back a short way to join the A1 at junction 125, and SW to exit 129 for Schweich. Then the main road south through Schweich to the river, where there is a huge campsite by the yacht marina just before a bridge crosses to the south bank. This was the site of the old ferry, where the ferry tower (Faehrturm) still stands.

After queuing to check in at the busy and expensive restaurant (serving both marina and campsite), it was difficult to find a place within reach of the electricity boxes, of which there were far too few. Then a groundsman had to be fetched to unlock the box and read the meter. It was an unfriendly place with uncaring staff, a very long walk to the one grim facility block and tokens that dispensed one short tepid shower per person per day. We only stayed briefly in order to ride another section of the Mosel Cycle Path. Didn't use the campsite WiFi at €3 for 30 minutes or €4.40 an hour!

In the afternoon we cycled to the 'Fritz Berger' camping and caravan accessory shop, one of a national chain, in Kenn, 2.5 miles away over the bridge. We bought spare light bulbs and two stronger outside door clips, which Barry fitted to the garage and habitation doors.

Cycling Schweich to Niederemmel (nr Piesport) & back (67 km): Rode over the bridge to the south bank and followed the Moselradweg downstream as far as Niederemmel (opposite Piesport), the point we'd reached riding from Erden 4 days previously. The route was mainly along the river with a couple of detours through villages. Shared the cycle path with a selection of other riders - laden cycle-tourists, day riders and local shoppers of all ages – as well as the occasional tractor harvesting grapes.

First stop at Detzem (13 km), for excellent coffee and cakes at the Cafι Moselufer. On through Thoernich and Koewerich (the home of Beethoven's mother), round a bend in the river opposite Trittenheim and into Dhron-Neumagen, Germany's oldest wine village, producing since Roman times. Outside the gothic church of St Peter here we saw a copy of the famous gravestone depicting a Neumagen wine-boat. The original - one of over 1,000 archaeological finds from this area - is in Trier Museum).

Reaching Niederemmel, we ate our sandwiches in the park by the Tourist Office, where a Roman milestone still stands on the old Roman road from Mainz to Trier. The inscription records a date in the 3rd century AD and its position, 18 Roman miles from the important city of Trier (1 Roman mile = 2.222 km). We returned to Schweich by the same route, recrossing the bridge to the busy impersonal international campsite.

 INTO LUXEMBOURG

Schweich to Municipal Camping La Route du Vin, Grevenmacher – 21 miles

Open 1 April-30 Sept. www.grevenmacher.lu. €15.30 inc 6-amp elec and showers. Free WiFi. N 49.68302  E 6.44891

Decided against another cycle ride from this miserable campsite and left, after a long delay caused by the need to find someone to unlock and read the electricity meter, report back to Reception and queue to pay.

It was an easy drive SW on rd 52, which became the A64 to Luxembourg. At the border there were services at Wasserbillig (16 miles), with fuel certainly cheaper than Germany, and no toll charges except for trucks. We continued on the motorway, now called A1, to the next exit (14) for Grevenmacher and descended to the small town on the west bank of the Mosel. The river is the border, the opposite side being Germany.

The pleasant little municipal campsite is on the way into the town centre, next to a large open-air pool complex (with entrance fee) that separates it from the river. The site is mainly statics and cabins, with a small area for tourers that we had to ourselves. What a lovely contrast with the site at Schweich! We stayed for 5 days until it closed on 1st October. A bonus was the baker's van calling each morning with an array of baguettes, croissants and patisserie.

At Camping La Route du Vin, Grevenmacher

The area is French-speaking, though German is understood and we heard the local people using a strange dialect that sounded Flemish! The architecture and culture feels more French, as is the cuisine. La Belle Pierre restaurant in the town offered a 3-course set menu at lunchtime, Tuesday to Friday, for €9 with waiter service. When we walked in to sample it, we had soup (excellent), grilled steak (too rare) with chips & veg, followed by ice cream chantilly. The tough steak we smuggled out wasn't wasted as M sliced it into a well cooked beef stroganoff the next day! The alternative main course - moules - was a huge bowl of spaghetti topped with mussels in their shells.

With good free WiFi working in the motorhome we caught up on correspondence, laundry and other domestic chores, like kettle descaling and fridge defrosting. Also continued watching 'Game of Thrones' Series 4. Will Tyrian the Imp be executed for Joffrey's murder?  Probably not, he's everyone's favourite character!

Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/cycling-the-moselle1.html

Cycling Grevenmacher to Schengen & back (65 km): A 3-country ride, in Germany, Luxembourg and France! Rode over the bridge to the German bank of the Mosel, being the best side for cycling parallel with the Mosel Weinstrasse, then upstream past the villages of Wellen and Nittel, each with a railway halt. Noted that passing trains carried bicycles, as so often on the Deutsche Bahn. At Wehr we climbed up into the village in search of coffee but found only wine on sale! Luckily it is still sunny and warm for the grape harvest (while friends email that it's cold and wet in Hamelin and Dresden). After Palzem we had coffee and cake in the cafι at Camping Dreilaendereck (= three countries corner), near Nennig (20 km). The friendly old lady gave us a gift of sweet grapes from the vine that was planted by a Russian prisoner of war. Over the bridge in Luxembourg lay the town of Remich but we continued on the German bank (a good sealed path the whole way) to the end of the Moselradweg - and the last page of our sturdy waterproof map published by Kompass - at Perl (30 km).

Perl is at the actual Dreilaendereck: straight on for the French border at Apach or across the Mosel to Schengen in Luxembourg. We crossed the bridge to Schengen, sat outside a French-style cafι/bar with coffees and croques (cheese & ham toasties), then returned to Perl and cycled a mile to enter France. The iron model of the Eifel tower reminded us of Filiatra in the Greek Peloponnese, which boasts a similar model alongside a globe. Returned by our outward route along the German cycle path until the bridge over to Grevenmacher.

Cycling Grevenmacher to Trier & back (48 km): Again we rode over the bridge to the German side, then downstream to Trier. An easy ride apart from one short steep climb to bridge the River Saar at its confluence with the Mosel. Approaching Trier, the river and city were busy with Sunday tourists.

We entered Trier through the massive Porta Nigra, still the entrance to the old city. There was a bicycle garage at the gate (€1.50 for up to 4 hours) but we wheeled them into and around the cobbled pedestrian centre. The Porta Nigra is the best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps, and also the largest that remains (north or south of the Alps), at 30 m high. Built in 180 AD under Emperor Aurelius, it was the northern gate on the 6.5 km long city walls. Trier also has a massive 20,000-seat Roman amphitheatre (built c 100 AD), ancient baths and a Roman bridge that still crosses the Mosel, all of which we'd seen on a previous visit.

We walked round the medieval centre, the Hauptmarkt, with its fine gothic houses, ornate fountain (1595) and town hall, and exclusive restaurants. Luckily there was also McDonalds. We literally couldn't miss the massive cathedral or Dom, a World Heritage site just off the Hauptmarkt, which also dates back to Roman times. The story is that Helena (mother of Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine) donated her house in Trier to the Bishop in the 3rd C AD for conversion into a church that grew over the centuries into the cathedral. It still houses a relic, the Holy Robe, supposedly Christ's tunic that Helena brought back from the Holy Land. Kept in the Holy Robe Chapel in an air-conditioned glass shrine, it can no longer be seen. It was first open to view for pilgrims in 1512 but the last pilgrimage was in 1996.  

Before cycling back to camp we made our own pilgrimage, to Karl Marx's birth-house and museum on Brueckstrasse (not well signed!).

OCTOBER 2014 – BACK TO GERMANY

Grevenmacher, Luxembourg to Camping Lahnaue, Marburg an der Lahn, Hessen – 172 miles

Open all year. www.lahnaue.de.  €20 inc 10-amp elec and showers (Winter rate Nov-March, €12.) Free WiFi. N 50.80000  E 8.76861

Sorry to leave the campsite (closing today!) we decided to return to the River Lahn and cycle more of its Lahntalradweg while the autumn weather remained so good. We filled with diesel (€1.16 a litre) and returned to the A1 (northbound) to cross back into Germany at Wasserbillig. On via A64 and A48, crossing the Mosel twice. High in the Vulkaneifel, above cloud level, it was very misty. Past Koblenz, across the Rhine, NE to meet the A3 then SE to Limburg, with a lunch break at Heiligenroth services near Montabaur.

From exit 42 (Limburg) it was NE on rd 49, mostly double carriageway, passing the turn for Weilburg and on past Wetzlar to Giessen. North on the Giessen Ring, then briefly on A480, exiting onto rd 3 north to the exit for Marburg Centre. It's a busy university town on the River Lahn, with a splendid castle above.

The campsite is a mile south of the centre, past the youth hostel and a small paying Stellplatz that was full, then along Trojedamm, a short track (signed) from the sports centre/swimming pool. It's directly on the Lahn Valley Cycle Way!

We settled on a grassy pitch by the river, next to a German Carado identical to ours, had a pot of tea, then walked along the riverside path into Marburg. The old town, over the bridge and uphill, had the usual medieval town hall and half-timbered houses. Deterred by the queue at Lidl, we got bread and croissants at a baker's and M also bought a pair of warm slippers (winter is coming – as they keep saying in 'Game of Thrones').

At Camping Lahnaue, Marburg

The next 2 days were beautifully sunny, ideal for packing lunch for riverside cycle rides in each direction.

Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/cycling-the-lahn.html

Cycling Marburg to Biedenkopf & back (76 km): Rode the Lahntalradweg past Marburg, north through Coelbe, then turned west with the river. The route was very varied, sometimes a dedicated cycle path, sometimes a quiet back road with light traffic and occasionally a track made by tractors across fields. In Caldern (20 km) was the only bakery/cafι we passed: the Muehlenbaeckerei in an old water mill. Very welcome for coffee and pastries!  One short section after Caldern was a steep dirt track up and down through woods.

We were never far from the railway line, with regular trains carrying bikes. Cycling on through the small villages of Buchenau, Friedensdorf and Eckelhausen, we lost count of the level crossings and footbridges that criss-crossed the railway and the river. On a seat after Eckelhausen we ate our lunch before riding uphill (one arrow) and down again (two arrows) into Biedenkopf. Deciding against another climb to the castle overlooking the town, we turned back and retraced our route, with another coffee stop at Caldern.

It was a most enjoyable ride, with a variety of scenery and hardly any other cyclists, compared with the busy Mosel we had just left. Returning to the campsite we passed a Bierfest opening up at the stadium. Plenty of Beer and Bavarian fare but (sadly) no takeaways!

Cycling Marburg to Giessen & back (68 km): We rode the Lahn valley cycle route southwards via Staufenberg into Giessen. It's Friday 3rd October, with all shops closed for a public holiday, the Tag der deutschen Einheit, celebrating the official date of reunification of east and west Germany. Being a very warm holiday weekend, the path was busier today with cyclists young and old, fast and slow, some with a trailer or heavy-laden, others teaching their children to ride – not to mention in-line skaters, dog walkers, push chairs, wheel chairs and the odd scooter. Crossing flat agricultural land, with no hills and no cafes, we diverted into Odenhausen and found coffee at a petrol station machine. The only bakery/cafι there was also closed.

The last section followed the river (not always the case) and we crossed a bridge into the centre of Giessen on the east bank. Ate our lunch by the waterside and looked round the stalls in the Marktplatz. The church here was just a much-restored tower, the rest being bombed inWW2. Excavations were underway to uncover the foundations. Returned by the same route, with an ice cream break in Lollar, just south of Staufenberg.

Back at camp, our motorhome water pump stopped working, delivering no water to taps or toilet. Barry dismantled it and checked for blocked pipes, to no avail.

Marburg/Lahn to Camping Fulda-Freizeitzentrum, Knickhagen im Fuldatal, Hessen – 121 miles

Open all year. www.campingplatz-knickhagen.de. ACSI Card rate €16 inc 16 amp elec and showers. Free WiFi. N 51.400204  E 9.550531

We phoned the nearest caravan and motorhome dealer, Kunze Caravan und Sport 20 miles away in Giessen, checked it was open this morning (Saturday), then drove south down rd 3 to Giessen to find Kunze on Gottlieb Daimler Strasse, just off the Giessen Ring to the west of the city: http://www.kunze-freizeit.de. It proved to be an excellent place, a registered Hymer/Carado service centre with a large accessory shop. An English-speaking assistant, summoned for advice, actually came out to the motorhome to look at the pump, diagnose the problem and sell us the correct replacement for Barry to fit, since their workshop was closed until Monday. Also bought a tie-down kit for the awning.

Impressed with the service at Kunze, we then headed back to the motorway and drove NE on A480 and A5, with a lunch at the Burger King on Rimberg services. Continued via A7, north past Kassel to exit 77 (Kassel-Nord), then rd 3 towards Hannoversch Muenden. In Ihringshausen we passed 2 small motorhome dealers, as well as Aldi and Lidl, and managed to park at Aldi to shop. Then rd 3 met the Fulda River, following the bends of the west bank as it curved along, with the Fuldaradweg cycle path visible between road and water. We had ridden its 200 km length from source to Hann Muenden in the summer of 2013.

About 5 miles before Hann Muenden we turned left and climbed a mile or so uphill through Knickhagen village, above the river. There is a quiet casual kind of campsite, mostly statics, on the edge of woods. It has an open-air pool and a popular bar/restaurant, open daily from 5 pm except Mondays. Checking in, we found we'd missed the last Friday BBQ of the season yesterday evening!

At Camping Fulda-Freizeitzentrum, Knickhagen

Barry's first job was to fit the new water pump, which worked brilliantly. We also caught up on laundry, domestic jobs, emails (including the illustrated circular 'Life after Marquis'), forward planning, etc.

In the evenings we watched 'Foyle's War', a detective series set in Hastings during WW2. Well researched real-life war stories blend with the crimes. We also tried the camp restaurant, dining well on turkey breast with curry sauce (B) and pork medallions with mushroom sauce and green beans wrapped in bacon (M), with a self-service salad bar and a glass of the sparkly new wine Federweisser.  

It was turning autumnal, with cooler nights and morning mist, clearing to sunshine in the afternoon. On a 2-hour walk in the surrounding forest we found the site of the medieval Burg (fort) of Knickhagen, now a cemetery on a wooded hilltop. Part of the ditch and wall that surrounded it is still visible on the east side.

When the cold damp weather turned to heavy rain we decided against revisiting the Fulda Cycle Path. It was time to head east.

Knickhagen im Fuldatal to Schaffer-Mobil Stellplatz, Schaffer-Mobil Motorhome Dealers, Dresden, Saxony – 211 miles

Open all year. www.schaffer-mobil.de.  €16 per day. Metered elec (€0.50 per 0.7 kWh). Water €1 for 40 litres. Dump point €1. Showers €0.50. WC free. Washing machine out of order. WiFi €4 for 1 day, €5 for 2 days, €8 for 1 week. Beware: Crowded parking lot of a greedy dealer. Even the morning rolls cost more – and were smaller - than usual! N 51°5'9”  E 13°40'59”

Away down the hill to the Fulda River, then along rd 3 to Hann Muenden (6.5 miles). We crossed the Pioneer Bridge, filled with diesel opposite Lidl, then turned east on rd 80 to join motorway A7 briefly towards Hannover, then onto A38 at junction 76. Continuing east we soon crossed the former border of the DDR, entering Lower Saxony through the Tunnel der deutschen Einheit at 17 miles.

It was cloudy but dry, with a watery sun, as we drove along the southern edge of the Harz Mountains, in the Biosphere Reserve and Karst landscape of the Suedharz. Listening to a series about Germany on Radio 4 yesterday, we learnt that forest covers one third of the total area and, crossing this large country, we believe it.

Motorways in the former East Germany are all 2-lane with very few full service stations, though there are regular parking places. After a lunch break at Rohnetal services at 94 miles, we passed Leipzig in the rain and took exit 33 onto the A14 for Dresden. The traffic was much heavier between these two cities. After joining the A4, we took exit 79 (Radebeul and Dresden Neustadt) and followed the SatNav for a busy mile to the large Schaffer motorhome business on the left of Koetzschenbroder Str.

The Stellplatz is a parking lot at the back with hookups and, like all those listed in our books under Dresden, is not cheap. So be it, but charging €1 extra to empty the chemical toilet is going too far! We had chosen the place as being 'on the Elbe cycle path' but, had it not been late in the day and pouring down, we would have left.

 At Schaffer-Mobil Stellplatz, Dresden

Next morning was windy and dry, so we stayed for just one day to cycle along the Elbe to and beyond Dresden. We remained disgusted with the facilities at the Stellplatz and its uncaring staff.

Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/visit-to-dresden.html

Cycling through Dresden to Schillergarten & back (30 km): A muddy track from the back gate of our parking lot led 0.5 km to join the Elberadweg. We could then turn right to cycle to Meissen (13 km) or left for Dresden (5 km). As Meissen meant a head wind back, we chose Dresden direction, preferring a tail wind home.

About 2 km along the cycle path (which was on the pavement next to a busy road) we met a local cyclist waiting to cross a junction: retired protestant pastor, Peter Muetze, who kindly joined us for the ride into Dresden. Keen to practise his English, Peter led us along the Radweg as it followed the north bank of the River Elbe (which now has beavers) into the old city centre. He was rightly proud of this royal city's history, pointing out the amazing panorama of domes and spires, the dates of the bridges, and the old harbour where his grandparents had lived a century ago.

On reaching the Augustus Bridge, Peter told us more of his story. Just 12 years old when Dresden was bombed in February 1945, he lost his mother and 2 small sisters in the fires, narrowly escaping with his father and brothers. He remained in Dresden through the 'socialist' years, when food was scarce, working quietly as a Pastor to the detriment of his children who were not allowed to go to High School. He was one of the thousands who carried candles at the peaceful protest at Dresden railway station that began the 'bloodless revolution' on 8 Oct 1989 - 25 years ago yesterday! And now this gentle and forgiving man works as one of the voluntary guides at the fully rebuilt Frauenkirche, the Protestant Cathedral with the largest dome north of the Alps, standing next to the Catholic Cathedral at the heart of the old city on the opposite bank. It was a privilege to meet Peter and we were sorry that he could not spend longer with us, as he had an appointment.

We rode across the Augustus Bridge, admired the Frauenkirche and Altstadt and searched out a reasonable option for lunch, sitting in the sun at a steakhouse. Then we took Peter's advice and continued cycling along this south bank of the river as far as the iron bridge at Blaues Wunder. The head wind gathered strength and we turned up a cobbled road into Schillergarten, where there was a busy street market. Then we turned to enjoy a back wind home, crossing the Elbe on the Carola Bridge.

Dresden to Colditz, then to Natur & Abenteuer Camping, Bautzen, Saxony – 130 miles

Open 1 April-31 Oct. www.camping-bautzen.de. ACSI Card rate €18 inc 16 amp elec and excellent showers. NoWiFi (free use of one computer in Reception). N 51.20194  E 14.46083

Next day, unwilling to spend another night on the Schaffer Stellplatz and join the German campers trying to share the €1 timeslot for cassette emptying (!), we decided to visit Colditz Castle before heading further east. Retracing our outward route, we drove back on A4 and A14 to exit 34 (Doebbeln Nord), then cross-country via Hartha to Colditz (40 miles). The campsite had closed at the end of September and the only place we found to park was at Lidl.

Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/visit-to-colditz.html

The grim bulk of Schloss Colditz (incongruously painted white) towered above the town but we saw no direction signs to it. After lunching on fresh rolls and croissants from Lidl, we had to ask the driver of a parked bus how to get up to the castle. Leaving the motorhome on Lidl car park, we followed his directions on foot, hoping to find a road to drive up and maybe park overnight. We walked across the road, up a narrow cobbled lane to the market place, then climbed a flight of steps signed Schlosstreppe to arrive at the castle, now partly a Youth Hostel. The small sloping car park, accessed by a circuitous back road, was strictly for YH guests only. The only entry gate was labelled for the Youth Hostel, with no indication of a visitor entrance, yet we'd checked details on-line ('open daily 10 am-5 pm, or 4 pm from November through March')! Walking all round the castle perimeter, we found a courtyard where the workmen ignored us, inside which we eventually spotted a tiny sign and arrow to the small souvenir shop/ticket office. It seemed almost as difficult to get in as it once was to escape!

Entry was €4 for the small museum only, or €8.50 for a 45-minute tour, or €15 for the full-length 90-minute tour, depending on timing and if there was an English-speaking guide available. We were lucky that a Dutch couple were about to be taken on the short tour in English, so we joined them rather than wait until 3 pm for the next long tour.

Our guide, Aleksis, was just as interesting as what we saw! Half-Polish, half-Slovenian, he was brought up in Bradford (complete with Yorkshire accent) and is now married to a local German whose mother was a nurse at Colditz when it was a psychiatric hospital after WW2. His father had escaped Poland and joined the Allies against Germany and he had many stories to tell of the inmates of Colditz (including Douglas Bader and Airey Neave) and their escapades. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Castle

After the visit we drove back the way we had come, past Dresden on the A4 to exit 90 (Bautzen Ost). Just 2 miles from the motorway, and about 50 miles from Dresden, we settled on the campsite at the south-east corner of a lake/reservoir.

At Natur & Abenteuer Camping, Bautzen

This excellent campsite has ultra-modern facilities, a very friendly Warden who loans local maps for walking and cycling, free windfall apples and a variety of herbs for the picking. And it lies on no less than 3 long-distance cycle routes, including one along the River Spree to Berlin! It's a very good stopover on the way to/from the Polish border. The only negative was the lack of WiFi. We used the computer in Reception to check exchange rates for the countries of Eastern Europe that now lie ahead and to see the weather forecast but it would not access Hotmail.

We caught up with laundry etc and, of course, could not resist the cycle paths running past the gate.

Click: http://www.magbazpictures.com/cycling-the-spree.html

Cycling round the Talsperre Lake into Bautzen & back (22 km): A short ride on a still Sunday morning, the autumn leaves turning colour in the woods with hips and haws scarlet on the bushes. Rain threatened, after a wet night, but it remained dry. We rode anticlockwise round the dammed lake (an 18 km circuit from the campsite), extending it by exploring the medieval centre of Bautzen.

Up the east side of the lake, past the bathing beach area with boat hire, minigolf and cafι (all closed), we cycled a short section of the Spreeradweg (marked with signs of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate). It soon turned off north-east, while we continued riding to the north end of the lake, hardly visible behind the dam walls. Then we turned south on quiet lanes, gently rolling through tiny villages – Dahlowitz, Neumalsitz and Technitz – all of which had alternative Polish names. We're only about 30 miles from the Polish border, which has moved more than once. Under the motorway, then into the historical Old Town, passing a Stellplatz which was full (very few dedicated places).

The walled Altstadt has corner towers, a cathedral under restoration and a medieval town hall and corn market in the centre. The cobbled streets were quiet, with just one Polish tour group being led round to admire the Baroque facades - some renovated, some decaying. We liked the absence of tourists compared with Dresden and enjoyed coffee and cakes at non-inflated prices, sitting outside the bakery on Reichenstrase near the cathedral. Returned more directly to the campsite, back under the motorway and along through Burk on quiet roads.

Cycling from Bautzen to Uhyst & back (63 km): Followed the Spreeradweg north from the campsite on a fine breezy morning. The route through a Teichlandschaft (pond landscape) was a real mixture of paths, quiet lanes, gravel, cobbles and field tracks. We saw and heard hundreds of migrating geese forming V-shaped squadrons that appeared to by flying north, then east (strange?). Also empty stork nests and many swans on the myriad lakes and ponds.

Rode via Malschwitz (its only cafι closed, Mondays) and on to Guttau (16 km) where we did find coffee sitting outside the restaurant Zur Guten Laune (= Good Mood!). On along the cycle route, looking out for Brandenburg Gate symbols and occasionally crossing the Spree River. The tiny villages – Halbendorf, Neudorf, Lieske - in the former DDR and so near to Poland, were devoid of shops, cafes, businesses, petrol stations or even people. Uhyst, a larger village after 30 km, did have a railway station, butcher, florist, baker (closed) and finally an Eiscafe that supplied us with ice cream and cakes.

We rode on, pausing at a dilapidated Schloss (an abandoned stately home). The coats of arms on the neglected faηade were defaced, the park overgrown and the fountains crumbling. As we photographed it, a couple who were in the Eiscafe cycled along with their little granddaughter, proud to be riding without stabilisers for the first time. They told us the place was recently bought by a Dutchman, though we found it hard to believe. We all continued another km to the Baerwaelder See, a dammed lake with a power station exhaling clouds on the far side. Our companions said they often cycled round it (a 16 km circuit).

Returning by the same route, we paused for a chocolate break at a new wooden shelter in the hamlet of Salga, between Guttau and Malschwitz. An 86-year-old woman struggled across the road from her cottage to interrogate us, sent by her 93-year-old husband to see who we were! Margaret struggled with the local dialect but understood that they'd lived here all their lives, though their children had all left. What changes they had seen.

(to be continued)