While I was tucked up warm in Basil writing my blog yesterday evening Sarah was out exploring Kelheim. She telephoned me to say that it was yet another beautiful little town and suggested we sit in the town square for a beer and a sausage or two (not for veggy Sarah obviously). I didn’t need a second invitation and off I went, without a second thought for my readership! Sorry.
Kelheim was indeed pretty. To get into the town proper I had to walk through a gate dating from the 13th century. Again all the buildings “looked” very old, but on closer inspection I am not sure that the all were. My suspicion is that these German oldtowns have very strict planning rules, so if you want to build a new property within a conservation zone it has to fit very strict criteria and so all the properties in Kelheim look architecturally similar.
We grabbed a table in the town square, layered up in our fleeces, given the current temperatures. We managed a couple of beers and I had some Munich White Sausage and very nice it was too. More importantly we discussed the rest of the trip and it didn’t take long for us to decide we need a holiday to finish it off! I know. You all think this trip has been one long holiday and in a way it has, but since leaving Greece we don’t think we have spent more than 3 nights in one place. But more importantly the weather forecast for Southern Germany for the next 10 days is not good. Wet and cold would sum it nicely.
Before we return to winter in the UK we would like to have a couple of weeks properly relaxing and the South of France still looks as if the weather is beautiful.
So today we set off for France. It helped our decision that as we drove, although today was supposed to be the best out of the next ten, it was windy, wet and the temperature varied between 12 and 14 degrees.
The first part of the journey, on single carriageway, was pleasant enough. We even went through a large area where they specialised in growing hops, some of which still had not been harvested. Once we hit the motorway however, it became a slog to be quite honest. The weight of traffic and plethora of roadworks in this part of Germany is every bit as bad as the South East England.
We spent, what seemed like, hours in traffic jams or in heavy traffic and although we had hoped to cross the border into France we are still one hundred miles short. We have found a free Stellplatz (48.935932, 8.417125) with services in Ettlingen, but we cannot tell you anything about the town because since we arrived the rain has been as heavy and consistent as anything we have come across on the whole trip.
Tomorrow we hope to reach somewhere between Dijon and Lyon but it will depend entirely on road conditions.