Family Reunited

It’s a week since we arrived back in the UK and now just 3 weeks until the start of our adventures.  From day to day, certainly during the week, although relaxing, life has been fairly uninspiring. Fortunately, as we’re only back in the UK for a short time, we've made arrangements to catch up with various family members each weekend, so we’ll get a change of scenery Friday to Sunday.  The first catch up weekend was with my side of the family.

Aufwiedersehen Deutschland, a beautiful day in Bruges and a rude awakening

I’m typing this whilst sitting in Dora on a campsite 3 miles from Leek, Staffordshire.  We arrived yesterday afternoon after a steady 3 day pootle down from Fallingbostel to Calais.

It already feels like an age since we left Fallingbostel but it’s only actually been 5 days.

Nearly there...

Unfortunately we've had internet issues which have prevented regular blog updates. Add this to the fact that I'm not the best blogger in the world and you'll find that my entries aren't as regular as I'd like. Still trying harder...

The wonders of modern technology

To enable us to keep in touch with the world, our banks and our blog, we decided that having some form of mobile internet access wasn’t a bad call. Although we want to be off grid in one sense (not having to hook up everywhere we go), in this day and age, going completely off grid and without internet access, is a bit less realistic; at least for us right now.

Long overdue update

So it's been almost 2 months since our last update;no excuses, I'm just not very good at keeping things up to date right now. Since the last update, some significant progress has been made towards our great escape. The most recent development being that we have sold our car! The only motorised mode of transport we now own is Dora. With just over 2 months until we leave Germany, we were keen to sell the car to give us one less thing to worry about, so it's a huge weight off our minds. We've also managed to sell a good amount of furniture and other bits and pieces, but we still have a few weeks and a lot of stuff left until the cull is complete.

Reality

The enormity of what's ahead has just hit me.  I'm super happy about going away, but also a little sad that another chapter is coming to an end.

We've had a change of plan as far as storage goes, which has lead to us having to rethink about what we can do with our stuff.  As storage is quite expensive and our trip length is pretty much indefinite, the most cost effective solution is to sell as much as possible and then to give away anything we can't make money on.  It's a big job and a little heart wrenching knowing that there's so little we can keep hold of.  We had always planned a cull, but a complete clear out wasn't the intention.  I just have to keep telling myself it's just stuff and we'll always have the memories.

The First Big Break - Pt 4, Sachsische Schweiz

Day 6 – Weds

Wednesday 16 April marked the halfway point for our getaway and the 9 year point for our marriage!  We left Dresden and headed southwest to the next stopover, Koenigstein, in Sachsische Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland).  Unfortunately due to Sat Nav wobble, we missed the turn off for the stellplatz and ended up on the other side of the river; fate had obviously intervened as we ended up at a much nicer location, here.  We couldn’t have chosen a lovelier place to celebrate our anniversary.  And after the grey day we had yesterday, the sun came out!

The First Big Break - Pt 3, Dresden

Day 5 - Tue

Following our enlightening trip to Colditz, we made our way to the next overnight stop in Dresden.  At 14 euros, it wasn’t the cheapest, but being Dresden, we had expected the price to sneak up.

The First Big Break - Pt 2, Colditz

Day 4 - Monday

After umming and ahhing about the next stop, we decided we’d take a look at Colditz Castle en route to Dresden.

The First Big Break (well, 10 days) - Pt 1

Again, I'm starting to lag behind on the updates.  Must try harder.

So we're back from our first 'bigger than ever before but not that big really' break away in Dora and it was great.  It's just confirmed what we already knew and we're now really, really looking forward to the big off.

Stadhagen

Well, it’s Monday and another motorhome weekend has been and gone.
Stadthagen, another town on the Deutsche Fachwerk Strasse, was the destination this time.  After a couple of hours taking the scenic route from our house, we arrived early on Friday evening at the stellplatz at Tropicana.  Parking and tank emptying was free, with electric hook up and water available for a small fee.

Hitzacker

If you look really closely, you can just about see where we parked...

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!

Nienburg

So, I've already started to lag behind on the blogging front.  I must admit, this is the first blog I've ever written and it does take a lot of inspiration to keep it up to date.  Unfortunately, as we're only away for a couple of days at a time before the weekly grind starts again, I've been lacking the enthusiasm required to create anything vaguely worth reading.  However, I am pressing on regardless in the hope that more regular updates reinvigorate my creative side!

Oberhaverbeck

Next up, on 28 Feb,  Oberhaverbeck.  Again, with it being out of season, we had the place to ourselves and, it was free!

Amelinghausen

It’s just over 6 weeks since the Dora adventure began and we’ve averaged around 100 miles each weekend, which is bang on target for the kind of mileage we’ll want to be doing when we set off on our travels (around 50 or 60 miles a day).  Any more than that and we’d just end up missing too much and spending too much on fuel.  It also takes a lot longer to get anywhere in a motorhome so slow and steady is the way we roll!

New Beginnings

After a 7 month wait and an extremely long and uneventful road trip back to the UK, the day finally arrived for us to collect our new motorhome. I don’t think we’ll ever top this years' Valentine’s gift!

Good things come to those who wait

8 days until we pick up our new home on wheels!