Nude Shocker, Flagrant Francophilia, and Dish Disaster.

What is it with men and their love of leaving doors open?

Can you imagine the shock on the face of those in the van next to us when I opened our bathroom door (directly opposite our back door) after a lovely warm shower only to find Mr Fluffy had left our back door wide open to display my nudity to the great unwashed. My face showed equal mortification but, determined to get Mr F back for his faux pas, I opened the toilet hatch so that he could be swathed in the aromas of the SOG unit as he ferreted in the satellite drawer. Ha! 

Le Meuse at Montherme

After recovering from my 'naturist accidentalis' experience we left Luxembourg and the pouring rain and headed off to the Ardennes. Mr Fluffy's face was a picture, no not at the memories of my nudity, but at the excitement of French bread and jars of magnifique Blanquettes de some sort of viande, cassoulets, and of course ........the fromage! His little eyes lit up and his cheeks flushed as we entered the Le Clerc supermarche. Several bottles of wine and lumps of stinky cheese later we have ended up at our current location by the Meuse River at Montherme. 

font face

How gorge is this? We are by the marina with several lovely boats moored up. A 22km cycle along the river started the day off nicely then back to Dickie, and excitement followed as Mr F managed to get the BBC on the satellite for the first time in weeks. As I thrilled to Tim Wonacott and his familiar Bargain Hunt delivery, I concentrated on making a rowan and red thread charm. But alas, our televisual euphoria was shortlived as a gust of wind blew the satellite dish over and snapped the wires.

success

Mr F now has his tongue firmly positioned in the correct oral area for major concentration and is hoping to fix the dish so that we have a hope in hell of watching British tv tonight. Speaking of hell we are just up the road from a town called Deville. Quite amusing.

wooden window treatment

There are a couple of interesting churches in the village, one with a particularly ancient font,  and I have been looking up property prices as it is such a beautiful place. Mr F's pile envy has reached new heights (that's wood pile not haemorrhoids) as we even saw wood filling empty window spaces. 

Further along the Ardennes tomorrow.

"May I suggest prawns for desert?"

view from the casements

We had just finished a superb meal at Le Jardin Gourmand in Luxembourg when the waiter enthusiastically recommended the Pain Perdue with prawns. Our faces must have registered extreme shock as the very posh waiter went on to describe the round berries contained within the aforementioned sweet. Eventually it turned out he meant prunes so we happily agreed to his recommendation. What turned up was covered in mirabelles, those little orange round things with leaves that no one ever knows the name of. Not exactly prunes but delicious all the same. If you are in Luxembourg we heartily recommend a meal here if you get the chance.

fuzzy tunnel action

Today was spent lying in as it was pouring with rain until late. Mr Fluffy had left one of our hatches open as it was a little warm, despite the massive rainfall, so my shoes were full of water. The camp site is a little out of town so I got the bus while Mr F walked the hour into the centre. It's a public holiday today, Friday, so most of the shops were closed - annoyingly.

Black Madonna of Luxembourg City

Luxembourg has a series of ancient tunnels called Casements which we walked through on our way to the old town and the St John's church which houses a beautiful 14th century Black Madonna. She is rather fabulous! After a disappointing panini at Scott's Pub by the river we continued our walk around the city and are now back in Dickie awaiting the next downpour.

disappointing panini but nice view

France tomorrow.

Wine country

Wherever we look there are vineyards covering the steep mountainsides.

loving the flowers

The Mosel Wine Route is particularly stunning with pretty villages and wine tasting outlets everywhere. The road follows the wide and winding river through the countryside and into these small old towns that are all about wine. We follow ancient tractors towing trailers with various wine growing  paraphernalia but apart from the agricultural vehicles the roads are fairly quiet unlike the towns which are heaving with tourists (like us). It’s a mystery how they all get there without crowding the roads.

Mosel Valley rush hour

Germany, like most European countries, caters for motorhomes very well with well signed, dedicated parking places and ‘stellplatz’ for overnight stays.  These are usually free of charge or cost less than £5 per 24 hours. The Mosel Valley is a bit more expensive due to its popularity – we actually paid 8 euros (£6) last night.  If only the UK would learn from Europe…….

I must say the UK does do ‘better restaurant’ than Germany. As we can now afford to eat here, unlike Scandinavia where we couldn’t afford to dine out, we have had a few meals out but if I see another schnitzel or stroganoff with noodles and little else I will scream. The food is ok but extremely dull. I’m looking forward to France and a crepe or two.

Graham doesn’t drink white wine so I have been doing the sampling……not a massive fan of German wines but I have had one or two trocken (dry) Rieslings which aren't too bad.  Heading to Trier and hopefully some wee fee tomorrow.

.......

Mr Soggy at the Ponta Nigra

Ugggh! We are now in Trier and it is totally pouring! I don't know if it is the weather but we're not loving it here. It is very interesting as it is in ancient Roman town with some very intriguing churches and maybe if the rain stopped it would be nicer. The woman in the Tourist office was 'lovely' - on asking her a question she replied with 'WHAT?' 

The stellplatz has the most confusing instructions in the world - the minuscule info on how to enter and pay for the site is around 100 metres from the entrance where it would, perhaps, have been more useful. 

Luxemburg tomorrow.

Brocken to Wernigerode Narrow Gauge Railway

Couldn't resist a quick video of the train for rail enthusiasts click here

pootling along in the fog

for number enthusiasts

Up the Brocken

After huffily accusing Mr Fluffy of taking the wrong path I had to eventually concede that I was wrong and we had, indeed, entered the walkway to the Brocken mountain. Having been given the choice of either an easy walk beside the track for the railway or a steep rocky ascent, guess which one Graham chose? Harumph!

heading off

We drove to Shierke this morning and he managed to persuade me to join him in the 2 hour (ish) hike up the mysterious and witchy mountain.

spooky forest

The initial confusion on the trek was due to a distinct lack of proper signage but after some help from the tourist information centre we trudged up the Brocken through ancient forests, hearing the occasional distant whistle from the steam trains reminding us of that easier alternative route. As we neared the top, just 1 km from the summit, there was a lovely clearing and the sight of a flat-ish road to continue our upward journey. At the exact moment we entered the clearing the clouds burst forth and totally peed it down. ‘Get the waterproofs out of the rucksack - quickly’!

is that a witch I see flying there?

Too late – it hit us before we could get the jackets out or run to the trees for cover – the sunny morning instantly turned into a freezing winter scene. Drenched and cold we carried on to the popular summit to fight with 100s of other tourists for shelter.

stone on the Brocken

We eventually managed to get a bowl of hot goulash and a rather dubious bratwurst based noodle dish in an extremely busy café full of soggy steamy people. This managed to warm the cockles as we took amusing witchy based photos and watched dense fog encircle the famous viewpoint.

inappropriate outfit to climb a mountain 

We decided to take the narrow gauge railway back to Shierke and as the train left the station the sun started to shine again. Typical! It’s a bit of a train aficionado’s delight with people coming from all over the world to ride on them.

A bit bedraggled

Mr F loved the powerful steam engines, the noise, the smell, the vibration, everything about them – it’s a boy thing. I just liked not having to walk. 

Wernigerode Antics

amusing pottery pussy from the schloss

The town of Wernigerode is overshadowed by a gigantic schloss which we decided to visit yesterday. It's an imposing castle with a close association with Kaiser Wilhelm. The many portraits of him on the walls were a far cry from our depiction of him as a voodoo style pin cushion in the Museum of Witchcraft. Mr Fluffy was thrilled (not) to arrive just as the Hexenuhr was happening - a gigantic witch popped out of a cuckoo style clock to cackle the midday hour. I think he is getting all witched out.

The Hexenuhr

We walked through the forest around the schloss and came across a small zoo which we could freely walk around. The cutest were the little tiny wild boar children who came out as a blur on my camera as they were whizzing around the yard merrily. Second cutest were the deer and racoons. We noticed at the end that this was next to a schusenhaus (hunting house) so we are hoping they were not being bred for a spot of schusen (although we did eat 'meat of a stag' for dinner last night at Ins kleine Paradis).

what's up dick?

loving the foot draped over the edge

Off to The Brocken today.

Witches, Witches and More Witches

‘Zis is MY Karte!!’ The high pitched words of the panic stricken tourist information attendant screeched through the visitor’s centre as I circled the points of interest he’d mentioned on a map (which I presumed was a freebie) with a pen that was conveniently located within my reach. ‘Don’t panic I will buy the karte.’ Five euros later I noticed the information was all conveniently in German (which I don’t speak) but he seemed so distressed I felt the need to allay his stress before he had a heart attack.

a hint of witchy overload

Our night in Quedlinburg was filled with half timbered medieval houses, schlosses, and shops selling infinite varieties of witch puppets. Some of the houses are carved with protection symbols like pentacles and six pointed stars, daisy wheels and other familiar symbols. We visited St Wipiti’s church this morning, more for its amusing name than anything else, and discovered a real treasure despite the fact the 10^th century church had been restored in the 1950s. The standing stones in the grounds suggested a much more ancient history.

St Wipiti

We are in the Harz mountains, a place famed for witchy goings on, Faust, and Walpugisnacht celebrations. A drive up to Hexentanzplatz outside Thale proved amusing as we discovered an almost witch-theme park location with shops selling endless witch puppets and a Hexenmuseum which was a little bit more like a cross dressing enthusiast’s plaything. I will let the photos speak for themselves. We wonder if some German visitors are reluctant to enter the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft as they may have been here and were somewhat put off.

crushed velvet clad wiccan priestess in medieval wisewoman's tableau

a divination scene

The mountains themselves are rather lovely and very atmospheric despite the tacky commercial surroundings.

Our stop tonight is Wernigerode which is a very attractive medieval town with a very large schoss (castle) and a very small house (the only two things the tourist office said was of interest.

a novel use for a washing line

We may get the steam train up to the Brocken tomorrow.