Downsize-me

So…….now Tuesday, we are in Uberlingen, at Lake Konstanz (or Bodensee) in Southern Germany. Things have improved a bit in terms of our communication issues; maybe because we can’t communicate with anyone else, having barely any German between us and it’s nice to have someone to talk to when you’re far from home (as I write we have moved on to Germany)

It’s hot, and we aren’t really well equipped for heat. Neither of us likes heat very much, so I hope we will acclimatise before we get into southern Italy. But we are enjoying the trip. After Sedan we made our way towards the Rhinelands, toward a winery near Kandel that showed up on the Park for a Night app. The parking was literally in the winery yard behind the hostelry. It was quite charming and we had a lovely meal - a cheese dish for me and some cheesy noodles for Gareth. Delicious! Gareth had beer and I had their own Reisling which is apparently served diluted with water. Walking around the village next day I was struck by the lack of evidence of any children and wondered if we were in Hamelin, home of the Pied Piper who had maybe come back again to take away the children. Germany is, I know, suffering from being an ageing population and therefore very open to immigration and ‘new blood’. We noted a few storks nests perched atop barn roofs, and there were definitely stork chicks in them. Whether or not the storks are on strike as regards their role in generating new Germans, I can’t say. At any rate, the country seems to be well set up for the older generation and their motorhomes, which is an advantage for us, of course.

Next day (Monday) we set off for the Black Forest area (or Schwarzwald). Gareth decided he didn’t need my navigation ‘skills’ so fell for the charms of our lady satnav and asked her to take us to Baden-Baden. Not wishing to interfere I was impressed that Gareth seemed now confident about heading into another large town and I sat back to enjoy the ride. I should have shut up, though, when we got there, instead of rubbing in the fact that he’d messed up. It seems he’d imagined Baden-Baden to be a nice little town of wooden houses and cuckoo clocks. If he’d asked me I would have pointed out that the map showed it was a large town.

Anyway, we eventually stopped alongside a park, had a snack and tried to converse with an elderly man who seemed to think that if he talked to us long enough we’d eventually understand. I think he did try telling us how to get to a place we thought might have free overnight camping, but we ignored the instruction and headed instead for a place I identified on the map. After spending some time with his other pal, Google, Gareth could see that my plan was a good one. I didn’t gloat.

After a fabulous drive up into the Black Forest on the high route, Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, we found a delightful spot in a town called Schiltach. It had its own resident motorhomer ‘Mr Helpful’ whose wife disowned him every time he started up a very loud rambling conversation (in good English, however) but Schiltach is a gorgeous little town and the aire is very central and next to a river that the dogs had enormous fun splashing about in and keeping their beady spaniel eyes on the ducks. There is a down side, inevitably. A church, its spire prominent over the timber framed town and with a green hilly forest background, seems to think that everyone within hearing distance of its bells needs to be up and on their knees in the chapel, praying at 6.00 am!!! I’m a heathen in respect of church going so it didn’t go down too well, especially as the heat had meant we hadn’t slept until it was cool enough in the early hours.

Chatting in the morning to Eric (Mr Helpful) we learned that tourism in the Black Forest is not what it was. We saw some small ski slopes on the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse but we also saw numerous hotels, faded, closed and crumbling. Eric seemed most concerned that we partake of the joys of Schiltach and wondered whether he was on a commission from the local businesses. In the 60’s my grandparents travelled regularly through Europe, camping and later, caravanning. The Black Forest region was one of their favourites, but it seems everywhere has its day. The most poignant thing for me about the high road tour was it’s similarity with British Columbia and it felt just like the drive up to my son William’s place in Sun Peaks. I felt a real pang, missing him. It made me think fondly, too, of my sister and her family who also live in BC. I also worried about my grandson Reuben’s worries that he won’t remember me when I get home, so we took some photos at the top and will be sending them as post cards for the grandchildren.

So tonight we are in a large aire in Uberlingen. It’s nothing like as picturesque as Schiltach and isn’t the idyll of motorhoming sold in motorhome brochures. It’s another Park and Ride in fact. All services are provided very cheaply plus a free bus ticket. We are impressed by the motorhoming etiquette that exists. Everyone here is most respectful of each others’ space (a bay large enough for even the biggest motorhomes and for an awning. It’s a cheap, convenient and popular stop over and  tomorrow we head towards Austria, still dreaming of that camping idyll.

Post script: it’s now Wednesday evening (I think). We eventually managed to get lakeside in the cool of the morning. Unusually for us we were up by 6.30 and ready to find somewhere watery for the dogs and a pleasant green spot to have breakfast. It does seem, in this area at least, that motorhomes are pushed away from cluttering up the lakeside. We parked neatly where we could dunk the dogs in the water and take a short walk before it got too hot, but were then told, very nicely, by some council workmen that motorhomes in that area are “Verboten”. So off we went again. Stopping by a camping shop for some essential items like chairs and a table to go under the awning outside, we then set off determinedly to make some distance towards Naples. We travelled through Austria (inevitably now that we have outside furniture, it was raining!) through spectacular scenery and are now this evening camped in San Valentin in the Italian Alps. Thankfully it is cool so we might get a good nights sleep, once I’ve posted this of course.