Windmills and cheapskates

In addition to France, we had heard that Germany is ideally set up for motorhome travel and so far we haven’t been disappointed.  On the weekend of 21 Mar, we headed to Gifhorn and a free stellplatz outside the Allerwelle swimming pool complex.  As is usually (but not always) the case, there was water and electricity available at additional cost, but grey and black could be emptied free of charge; we love free weekends!

Some may read this and think we’re being miserly; I suppose on some level, we are.  As we’re going to be travelling on a tight budget, we figured we would be as well to start as we mean to carry on.  To that end, we’re trying to stop at as many free places as possible to help save the pennies.  We have a solar panel, which saves us from having to hook up; even a euro a night soon adds up. Our intent is to keep moving so we’re unlikely to stay in one spot for more than a couple of days while we’re away, which also reduces the likelihood of us needing to hook up. Ultimately, the more money we can save on stopovers and power, the more we can allocate to entry fees, meals out, or other little treats along the way.  We think Powell will be a good preventative measure for spending too as if he can’t go in, then neither can we!

Anyway, having digressed from the original topic; Gifhorn.  It’s an attractive enough town, although Nienburg old town wins the prettiness stakes so far.  The real pull for Gifhorn is the International Windmill Museum.  We were originally going to foot the €10 entry fee (each) to go and have a good look around, but on going for a wander with Powell, we discovered that we could walk around the lake and see quite a few of the buildings for free!  Of course, if you pay the entry fee, you actually get to see inside them, but to be honest, although Powell was allowed in the museum grounds, dogs aren’t allowed in the buildings, so it would have meant either leaving him outside a lot, or taking it in turns to go and look around; for us, that kind of defeats the whole object of a day out together.  In hindsight, we probably should have paid the money to get a proper look at everything and learn some more about the ideas behind the museum, but we saved some money and still had a lovely walk.  We also managed to get some fairly decent pictures of a few of the windmills, a beautiful Russian Orthodox church, the bell palace and the European Liberty Bell (a memorial to the fall of the iron curtain and the reunification of Germany).