Day ten

Day 10 Friday 9th April

Crisp and cold and a cloudless sky. Into our ski togs and off to the mountains for
some of the best skiing we have ever had. Snow crisp and icy in the mornings but the pistes are beautifully prepared and hardly anyone on the slopes. Very slippery and fast under the skis. Exiting and totally exhilarating. Kept mostly to the flattering easy pistes of Pralongia to get our legs in, yummy lunch, snow softer in the afternoon so back to the wang for madams afternoon trot.
She spent most of her time bothering the wildlife round the site. Lots of fluffy white bunnies and black sinister looking squirrels all heading for the hills at great speed.

Day eight and nine

Day 8 Wednesday 7th April.

The sun is out, the sky is blue and was feeling a lot more cheerful today.
Headed into town and, be still my beating heart, everything is open. Are we the only people in the world to come to Germany and find it closed?
Tourist info had Internet access so we could reply to few emails, found a smoky internet café with wi-fi and posted the blog. We feel connected again.
Had an indifferent lunch at an amazing hotel perched high above the Rhine, see picture, while looking down on Eagles and Crows dive-bombing each other.
The obligatory trip to the garage where our spirits soared when we saw our car on the forecourt, at least it had moved. Only to be utterly crushed when they announced MAYBE FRIDAY.
That was too much for me. Throwing my hands into the air (the international signal for exasperation) and through gritted teeth reminded them we have been waiting for five days! (suddenly they understood English)
What an amazing reaction, they rushed to our car, poked, prodded, took it for a test drive, presented us with a bill for Euro 300 and said ”Auf Wiedersehen” pet.
Two very happy bunnies drove back to the camp to prepare for an early departure the next day.
We had been unable to find a new spare tyre for the wang. Our very sweet camp commandant was not at all happy, saying it was bad for his heart for us to drive such a long way without a spare, so he gave us his, from his own van, what a star.

Day 9 Thursday8th April

8am departure, were off, yippee. God, driving a carawang is so boring; life at 50mph is not for me. Made good, if slow progress across Germany and into Austria, scenery immediately more dramatic and beautiful. Slow chug up the Brenner Pass, an amazing feat of engineering then into la Bella Italia. We could see the mountains and smell the snow.
Off the motorway and onto the mountain roads. So scary. Narrow roads, hairpins bends, very steep plus bonkers Italian drivers. Thank god for Tena for men.
At one point we had the most amazing view down miles of mountain road chocked full of cars crawling along, wondered if there had been and accident and realized with a sudden chill the hold up was us.!So exited to be in the mountains at last. Arrived at 8pm and set up the wang in a lovely spot under the pine trees and fell into a deep sleep.

Day Seven

Day 7 Tuesday 6th April.

Well all our illusions about German efficiency are well and truly vaporised.
Spent the morning buried in a book. Afternoon visit to the garage was greeted with shrugging shoulders; no eye contact and a very surly “come back tomorrow”
We reached our lowest ebb today. Feels like we have given up our lives, our friends and our home to lanquish, indefinitely, in some bloody field, in the rain, in the middle of nowhere.

Day five abd six.

D a y F I v e.
Molly’s homeland.

Molly is thoroughly at home in the Fatherland. She is, after all, half German shepherd.
Loves all the fields, forests and fast flowing streams, slightly worried about the Rhine, goes a bit fast for any water she’s seen before so a quick dip to get the ball is out of the question.
Took her to Koblenz for the day. What she hates is the cities.
She was not impressed by the spectacular drive along the Rhine. Positively hated the ferry crossing, all that vibrating steel cannot be safe for man nor beast. Had a wander around the old part of town, where the Rhine and Mosel meet. (What’s left of it after you know who flattened most of it, you know when?) She hated it and was thoroughly miserable for the whole day. No more Cities for our girl. She will be much more settled sleeping in the wang while her boys pound the rotten hard streets in future.

D a y S I x.
Exercise V pleasure.

Easter Monday, a lovely sunny start and one more day before the verdict on the car.
Headed up the Autobahn to Maria Laach, a beautiful house and garden on the shores of the Laacher See. A more or less circular Lake.
Unfortunately so did half of Germany and we couldn’t get near the House and Garden for the crowds. Parked up and took Molls for a trot round the lake.
Even that was swarming with energetic folks in knickerbockers and knee socks striding purposefully along in a way that spoke more of exercise than relaxation. We felt almost slovenly enjoying our relaxing stroll in the spring sunshine.
The woods were alive with Dormice; Moll had a great time leaping from one pile of rustling Beech leaves to another. Threw herself headlong into the freezing water and generally had a rare old time soaking striding Germans.
We did meet an English couple that tipped us off about an hour free WI fi access (we have failed to find any since we were stranded) at Mc Cafes. Headed to the nearest one on the Autobahn but our crap computer battery (thank you Dell, why even supply at battery that wont hold a charge of more than 20mins?) went flat as soon as we downloaded our emails.
Back at the wang the sun was shining so we had a go at putting up the awning.
More zips and poles than is entirely reasonable. Fiendishly complicated and no instructions. Andy had a fabulous temper tantrum in view of the whole campsite.
Could be a whole new Olympic discipline. You have to franticly grab at anything within arms reach, toss throw or hurl it as far as you can. (Combining the skills of javelin, discus and caber tossing) while going purple in the face and bellowing every expletive known, really loud, causing an earth trembling echo and wide scale panic. Molly and I locked ourselves in the wang for safety and now we are not speaking. Ah the joys of camping.

Day three and four

D a y t h r e e.
Slowing down.

Well this may not be where we wanted to be, but the middle Rhine, (between Koblenz and Bingen) was awarded World Cultural Heritage status by UNESCO.
Not a bad place to be stranded then.
The three of us headed up the side of the steep, wooded, valley and were rewarded (apart from thumping hearts and pink faces) by great views of a ruined old pile and the mighty Rhine,
Sankt Goar is a very pretty, small village with a Rhine crossing just like the Gosport ferry, only with cars. Tourist shops with embroidered waistcoats, stuffed bears and highly decorated beer steins. A whole shop filled with cuckoo clocks and lots of restaurants.
We found one that let dogs in and Molly settled demurely at our feet while we tucked into a delicious late lunch.
Then a somewhat slower meander back to camp followed by an early night.

D a y f o u r.
The wisdom of the biscuit tin.

Decided against the planned boat trip up the Rhine. 2 hours afloat each way would be no fun for our girl.
Andy was determined to sort out the inside of our new home from home. He was thoroughly fed up of it looking like we had been the victims of a very messy burglary. Off he went like a demented windmill, cushions flying left and right, food, clothes and crockery flying from one tiny cupboard to another like a demented Mary Poppins.
Molly and I dived under the duvet for cover and wondered how we ever got here in the first place.
I was saved from terminal decline by the sudden vivid memory of my mams old biscuit tin. A big square old thing decorated with embroidered words of wisdom on each side.
“ Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep”.
“ I oft have herd defended, least said is soonest mended”.
“ Patience is a virtue, find it where you can, seldom in a woman, never in a man”and so on, you get the gist. I’m not sure if “ more haste less speed” was on there but it should have been. If we had taken a more leisurely pace on our journey we would all (car, carawang and us) be in much better condition than we are at the moment. Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

Day Two.
The efficiency of strangers.

A very snug first night. Keen to be on our way but first we had to get a spare tyre for the wang.
Had a very hot shower in a freezing shower block. Such extremes of temperature cant be good for you.
Hopped into the car with Molly duly settled on the back seat and N O T H I N G .
Not a flicker from our trusty automobile. All the storms and towing the wang at high speed (60mph most of the way) had done her in and she was having none of it.
Another call to the RAC and they had the same mechanic (now becoming a familiar face) from the day before, with us within 45 minuets. After tinkering with the old girl for a while and even hitting the battery with a hammer (OMG why do they always do that?) We managed to grasp a few words of German. The most relevant and ominous being “ Kaput”
We were hitched up and towed to a Citroen dealership 12 miles distant where the cheeriest owner told us they could not even look at the car till the next day.
Well, the next day was Good Friday, so he meant the following Tuesday.
Catastrophe, all those Italian classes and we didn’t speak a word of German.
Meanwhile all the other parties, garage, mechanic and breakdown service were talking about us behind our backs. The upshot being a shiny new hire car was delivered to the garage for our use over the next few days, this is after all Germany.
Took our sorry backsides to the supermarket and stocked up on supplies.
Feeling totally shell shocked back at the camp and when I noticed Andy sitting woefully with his head in his hands, a la Munch’s Scream, I new it was time for a nice cup of tea.
Heated up some Goats cheese tarts rescued after thee months in our freezer.
Topped with oven baked onion and shredded bacon, A little mixed salad followed by journey bruised soft fruit medley, sautéed in a little butter with a few cubes of melted Cadburys caramel bar, Delish.
We now await the verdict on the old girl on Tuesday and hope her injuries aren’t fatal.
Ended the day with a welcome bottle of bubbly presented by Ann just before we left, and a heartfelt toast, to the efficiency of strangers.

Day One

Day One
High drama on the highway.


We finally managed to get everything in the house finished by midnight and fell into bed.
Up at 3am to get to the Chunnel by 5.20am. Bid a fond farewell to our house, “Goodbye house”, and hoped the roof would not cave in, the windows wouldn’t fall out and we wont be returning to a smouldering ruin filled with the charred remains of holidaymakers. (Well you can’t help worrying can you)!
Our aim was to get a good run at the first days driving. An overnight in Frankfurt, and arrive in The Dolomites on day two.
Our lovely neighbour Ann (hello Ann) was on the drive in her PJs to wave us off.
Headed down to Stokes bay for a last glance of our favourite view and were immediately hit with torrential rain, high winds and crashing waves all over our Wang and us. Enough to make you turn around and dive back under the Duvet.
Momentum got the better of us and we pressed ahead anyway.
A bit of trial a by fire for my first go at towing a carawang but the roads were blissfully quiet and we made it to the Chunnel by the skin of our teeth without any casualties. Despite the wind and rain swaying us like a drunken conga line all the way there.

The tunnel is a marvel and the three of us couldn’t be more exited if we were shot into space.
Quick as a flash and smooth as a knife through hot butter were heading through France, into Belgium and on our way to Germany. Tooling along while Kraftworks Trans Europe express boomed from our fab new in car music system from the modern marvel that is the ipod, what joy.
Thanks to the miracle (still new to us) of satnav we never had to look at the map once. A very bossy tart voices her but she kept us straight, no mean feat.
Stopped for our fist taste of continental grub in Belgium and filled our boots with a Full English breakfast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Made it to within 1.8 kilometres (read it and weep that’s only one mile) of our first overnight when
B A N G
The nearside tyre on the Wang shredded to black dust.
If we had still been on the Autobarn I cant imaging what would have happened.
As it was we were going very slowly down a steep hill on a narrow road. Safe??
Called the RAC who would be with us in 45 mins. Meanwhile lots of lovely Germans stopped to ask if they could help. Including two very rosy farm boys.
Every cloud has a silver lining.Finally got here (a lovely wooded site in a ravine by the Rhine) an hour later 5.30 pm and set up the Wang for the fist time. Had a lovely piece of Swinefliche mit salad and a well deserved early night. We would not have slept so well had we known what day two had in store.