Total Miles: 852
The end of another really long and fascinating day, ended again by not
being able to connect with this MiFi thing; stupid 3 I am really unimpressed
with them. Sell a "roaming" sim card which doesn't actually roam!
So back to the beginning of the day; I had a disturbed night sleep because
of Sassy, and other noises, but did get a fair lenght of sleep if not much
quality. The alarm went off at 6am and I was up 10 mins later and out doing a
round of the vehicles; checking oil and tyre pressures etc. Everything looked
OK and then I decided to be helpful and turn Thomas and the trailer around to
be pointing back out the way we came. I did this like an expert and, when my
parents got down, we started driving along the feeder road until we can to a
dirty great big "NO ENTRY" sign and had to swing down into a loading
bay and I was put into play again doing another three point turn with a
trailer. It wasn't quite as easy this time but we managed it with no drama and
then were back on the road.
Unfortunately the satnav had taken us onto the R0 ring around Brussels and
so we were subjected to our first traffic jam of the entire journey. The day
had dawned dull and cold and cloudy, similar to the day before, and we spent
about 40 mins crawling along through traffic before it suddenly cleared and we
were bouncing along again at 50mph.
A full orange juicing machine |
We were on with our usual routine of drive for about an hour and then do a
driver change and every other stop, have to get to a fuelling point to take
Julian from half empty already (Thomas got to 1/4 left of the tank we put in in
England, today, and so had some more added!). We did get to see some
interesting things at these stops which I shall drop pictures of as and when
they come. Like this juicing machine my dad saw.
There were other small holdups along the way today, but pretty soon we left
Belgium and entered The Netherlands, a very short visit as about 10 minutes
after my phone welcomed me to the country, we had once again crossed a border
and were in Germany.
By this time the weather was starting to break and when we stopped for
lunch I took the chance of the nice warm sun to have a little doze in my deck
chair, just tucked behind Julian out of the way. My mum was nice enough to do
the prep on lunch and my dad brought it round to me sat there; what stars!
I declared that this lunch break was to be a short one as we wanted to stop
earlier today (fat chance, really, huh) so we were back on the road again soon
and saw some fantastic examples of German engineering on the way. The country
was becoming much more hilly and this was reflected in the roads as one minute
I was heading down hill very fast (up to 60mph at one point) and the next I was
struggling to regain altitude with the speedometer plummeting to 25 or 30mph
and trucks queuing up behind.
At a number of points I felt very Kris Kristofferson and I must admit to
having called over the walkie talkies that I was Rubber Ducky and I think I
seemed to be having a Convoy.
Yes, well... anyway...
A bit further down the road we stopped at Medenbach Rest Area which was
distinguished by having an “Autobahnkirche” (motorway church). It wasn’t that
much to look at but it did at least give me an excuse to stretch my legs more
than the normal quick turn around both vehicles checking straps, tyre pressures
and temperatures, and anything else that could be untoward. There as a certain
peace to the area but I didn’t stop long enough to really enjoy it.
Later on at another rest stop I spotted an interesting looking vehicle
strapped to the back of a low loader. After a thumbs up from the driver I took
a few pictures and later, when he over took us I noticed that it had US repeal
the ban on alcohol stickers on the back. I didn’t see these when I was taking
pictures, which was a shame. It still looks awesome though.
By this time we were well and truly into Germany, having driven past
Frankfurt (and seen a plane taking off over the road, but no camera ready to
capture this) and then out into the hills again. We went through a long period
of road works where all the trucks were stuck in the right (slow) lane and we
were with them (it being illegal for a truck to overtake on that bit of the
road; typical regimented Germans) and then down the other side and into a more
pastoral, idyllic scene. We spotted a number of typical little German hamlets;
cookie cutter houses clustered around their own little church. What a hellish
life that must be!
My target for this day had always been Wurzburg and, with only a small
“oooh could we make Nuremburg after all?!” moment we decided that we would stop
at the closest rest stop to there. This is where the day took a bit of a
downturn as I missed the sign my Dad spotted for the rest stop and, when
another didn’t become immediately apparent and we decided to head for the
SatNav “nearest hotel” we ended up about 10 mins from the motorway and with no
hotel in sight, and definitely no parking for Thomas and the Trailer.
So to my chagrin we turned round and headed back the way we had come to the
rest stop my Dad had spotted. I HATE going back and I really hate wasting time
and energy and this whole rigmarole took about an hour in total and added to
already frazzled nerves from all the driving we had done on the bad nights
sleep.
We did find the place eventually and pulled up in what looked like a truck
stop. My parents went to the motel and checked in and in the ten mins I was sat
in Julian about 10 trucks went past, all of them rocking Julian on his
suspension. I made the decision there and then that I would be in the Motel
that night and I got my Dad to book me in.
All of us were starving so we went into an American Diner next to where I
had parked and had the biggest “regular” burger I have ever seen; my Dad had a
small and it was massive. They tasted great and the beer I ordered to chase it
down with has done a lot to calm my irritation.
As we popped past the vehicles to get my bags and stuff for the Motel a
jobsworth on a little tractor thing came up and said “Hey! Englander!” and in
very short order informed us that if we were going to leave the vehicles there,
we would have to pay. So now Julian and Thomas are both in the carpark of the
Motel (I am sat in my room with the window wide open looking at them) and I am
debating whether to sleep in here, or to just use my room for a shower and go
and sleep in Julian with Sassy (as I feel tight for having not really given her
much running around time today).
My other thought is to get up half an hour earlier tomorrow for my morning
checks and ensure she has a good run around then; looking at the bed, this is
tempting; I’ve paid for it after all.
Anyway I am gonna go and post this blog now using their free wireless which
is so awesome you have to go and sit in reception to use it.... Good thing it
is there though, or you wouldn’t be getting to read this...
smuggle the rabbit into the motel room - problem solved!
ReplyDeleteKarm down, la', karm down! It's all good.
ReplyDelete