Sunday 21 July 2013

Alfsee - Naumburg - Bad Kissengen - Donauworth

Headed East across the border to Germany and another Leading campings site http://alfsee.de/  and enjoyed the scenery and sunshine along the way. No dramas on this route and my special home cooked chicken breast sandwiches and fresh doughnuts went down a treat with Mr H and SJ. The site was large with good access and our pitch had all services including internet. We settled into a routine of cycling, food shopping and eating mostly! SJ’s hire bike at this site even had brakes and a lock! Luxury. A daily report system emerged between SJ and Mr H regarding the best shower cubicle with the most powerful shower, the recommended cubicle number was discussed between them following every morning and evening shower ritual. This site has a large lake with a small man-made beach and the main activity was water-skiing utilising overhead towing cables. 



We found some surprising things while out and about exploring on our bikes, a field of ostriches (hope they can’t read as ostrich steaks were for sale at the farm house next door!) a perfectly manicured topiary whale and monster wild mushrooms to name but a few.





We headed south and our next stop was a pleasant surprise as we were given a whole top field to ourselves which I christened the fairy ring.  http://www.camping-naumburg.de/ The view was lovely with a star-filled clear sky at night. SJ and Mr H claimed their own football and frisbee pitch and I had the luxury of room for a full washing line of bedding! 





Internet, privacy and a good supermarket only metres away from the site entrance pleased us all. The shower grading system continued and as the showers displayed your remaining credit (using a pre-paid SEP key system) SJ strived to beat Mr H to the quickest and cheapest shower. As it was rather hilly I avoided cycling but the lads went out and about for some exercise while I cooked and did girly things.

We stayed overnight at http://www.campingpark-badkissingen.de/home.html Now Bad Kissengen is a beautiful spa town but the site was not signposted clearly. The sat-nav told us we had reached our destination whilst on a bridge over a river!! After negotiating some alarmingly narrow streets, a confusing one way system and a U-turn at the railway station (yes we had to take the trailer off for this manoeuvre) we found ourselves down a dead end street outside a large posh hotel. I left SJ and Mr H with the RV and headed on foot to the tourist information office armed with the site name, address and a smile. In the scorching heat I strolled passed an open air orchestral event, large sparkling water features and marble fronted buildings. Tourist information came up trumps once again and marked on a map where we needed to be, we thank you all. Mr H and SJ had once again taken the trailer off and managed to turn the RV around so we set off armed with our map. Even with this the site seemed inaccessible until we backtracked over the bridge and negotiated some major road works that had hidden the site entrance. The workmen looked up in surprise as we became the first vehicle to try out their new road system :). The narrow entrance to the site didn’t bode well and we got into trouble for parking just over the stop line outside reception. We were escorted to our pitch by the camp commander on a bike and told to line up to his mark whilst the resident caravanners greeted us with frosty stares. Electric hook up was available but no water supply on the pitch meant that we had to fill our tanks from a distant stand pipe that had the only size fitting that we didn't have (thought we had every size both metric and imperial). This necessitated SJ holding a universal fitting in place and getting an early bath. To cap it all there was no wi-fi available so we decided we would be leaving early the next day. 

On the positive side, SJ and Mr H walked into town and said it was a beautiful place alongside a river, through a park with impressive spa buildings. The chef on site had made us really welcome when we were queuing to enter the site so we went for a meal cooked by her and treat SJ to his first Weiner schnitzel. Oh and the showers were really good.

Then on to Donauworth where we had a weekend stay at
http://www.donau-lech-camping.de/index.php?chsprache=en&seite=homeThis was a very busy rural site and our assigned pitch was relatively small and totally surrounded by caravans and tents. It took Mr H a while and a bit of shunting to get on it without taking out a few of our neighbours! We had the luxury of water and electricity though. To say the site is dated is being kind, it really requires a major update of all facilities but the owners were very pleasant and welcoming. They have a swimming lake on site that was very popular and full until nightfall but after a brief paddle SJ and I decided not to risk a swim in it. SJ used my bike whilst we were here and went on a number of long cycle treks with grandad. They thought that this part of Germany was wonderful cycling country. 

As the weekend passed people began to leave making our diagonally parked RV look a little out of place. The day before our departure I was outside enjoying an early morning cuppa when a car approached with a man shouting abuse out of his window. It took me a while to realise he was shouting at me and that he was angry that we were parked next to his caravan and our trailer was blocking his view of the lake! His wife provided a stereo effect of his ranting as she got out of the car. Mr H leaped to my defence and tried to explain about us arriving to a full site and not having any option and that we were leaving the following day. Mr and Mrs Angry didn’t speak any English but were very skilled in giving us dirty looks and I was pleased to leave the next day. Whilst we have met lots of friendly folk on our travels I’m not sure if it’s us, the RV or Brits in general that many people seem to be taking exception to.

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