Germany - Day 32

We docked on time at about 9am, but took about 90 minutes to get off the ferry, mainly because of the post-Brexit passport checks.

We took Oscar for a walk in Northumberland Park in Tynemouth, then tried to find a bacon roll for breakfast. This proved to be more difficult than it should have been, but we were eventually satisfied by a café in Cullercoats.

We went for a short stroll at the seafront.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and we got home in the early afternoon.

Below is a map of all the places we stayed on the trip.

Germany - Day 31

We headed for the ferry today. After a slow start we drove north and parked near a park just a few miles from the terminal at Ijmuiden. We had our lunch there and a short walk.

We then headed to check in for the ferry. Although we were quite early the queue of vehicles was already pretty long.

However we got on board without incident, and settled in to our cabin.

The facilities were very similar to the way out, there was a deck at the back for exercising dogs.

We went for dinner at the international buffet again, then had a bottle of wine in the cabin.

Germany - Day 30

We left the site and drove further north. We went shopping at Aldi then stopped for lunch and a stroll at Wittsee lake, but it was very hot, 37 degrees, so we didn't go far.

We drove on to our overnight stop in the Netherlands, Camperplaats Jachthaven 't Leuken. This is near a very active water sports centre. Given the heat we didn't do much, other than have a short stroll and get ice lollies. Scott and Oscar went for a swim.

For dinner we had salad with sliced roast pork and new potatoes.

In the cooler evening we went for a walk round the lake.

Germany - Day 29

We need to get Oscar's Animal Health Certificate stamped after getting tapeworm treatment before going back, so we phoned round a few vets. We eventually got one in Bingen which would do it. So we paid for another night at the stellplatz, then caught the train south to Bingen.

We found that the trains were running late today, a bit of a surprise for Germany. Maybe it's the heat!

We completed the vet's visit successfully, then caught a northbound train past Bacharach and on to Boppard, one of the main Rhine tourist towns. It was very hot so we first had a drink at a bar, then had a wander round town.

Despite the heat we decided to walk up to the viewpoint over the Rhine. There's a chairlift, but that's no good with Oscar.

It was very hot, Oscar had a swim in the Rhine both before and after the climb.

We had a drink at a bar in the main square, then caught the train back to Bacharach.

We had dinner at the campsite restaurant, it was very good. Scott had schnitzel with camembert, Shirley had schnitzel rusticana, with ham, mushrooms and tomatoes.

Germany - Day 28

We had decided to buy some wine to take home but, being a Sunday, had to wait till after 10 to buy it. We went for a walk round the vineyard first.

There seemed to be a circus camped next to the winery, with the animals housed there.

We purchased six bottles of wine, then headed off. We stopped at Bingen on the Rhine for a walk, along the promenade then up to its tower.

We drove on to a stellplatz at Bacharach and booked in for a night. You get to use the facilities on the adjacent campsite.

We went for a walk into town, went up to the castle and round the old city walls.

On the way back we stopped for a drink outside near the campsite.

Later, after showers, we had raclette for dinner.

Germany - Day 27

We left the site, and drove to the city of Baden Baden. This is a historic spa town and one of the main tourist locations in the Black Forest. We had a bit of trouble finding anywhere to park in the centre, but luckily found a free parking spot that was only a short walk away.

We walked into the city and had a wander round a bit.

We washed our faces in the hot spring water for rejuvenation!

We got down to Lichtentaler Allee, a long green park that follows the river Oos, and we walked along it till we'd almost left town.

We decided to circle round and walk to the bottom of the funicular that goes up Baden Baden's "mountain", Merkur. We took it up to the top, it's very steep

At the top we sat at the café and had some cake to keep us going till lunchtime. We then walked to the viewing tower and the peak of the mountain, then set off down again.

This turned out to be steeper and longer than we had anticipated, by the time we got back down to the city we were very hungry. We had fish and chips at an outside café.

We then walked round more of the sights in the city.

We headed back to the van and commenced our journey north towards our ferry in a few days time.

We planned to stay in a basic stellplatz on the Rhine in the town of Worms. However when we found it, it was right next to a park where there was a rock concert. Needless to say, the stellplatz was completely full, the first time in the whole trip we haven't been able to stay where we wanted.

We identified another one about 20 minutes further on, and headed there. It turned out to be located on a winery, Schauf Wines. On booking in, the son of the owner asked if we wanted a wine tasting. We did, of course, and over the next hour or so tried as much as we wanted of nine white, rose and red wines. They were all pretty good.

Once we'd had enough, we made a barbecue of chicken, courgette and tomato for dinner.