The First 12 days - to Luxembourg and the Mosel

POSTED INITIALLY WITHOUT PHOTOS - THESE WILL FOLLOW LATER!

Sunday 2 May 2010: The long journey to Kent.

This long drive of nearly 400 miles was uneventful and surprisingly free of traffic delays. The weather was cold, grey and increasingly wet as we moved South.

We used the A50 to get from the M6 to the M1 to avoid the outrageous toll for motorhomes and towing vehicles on the M6 Toll section. In Kent the weather was diabolical; as we arrived at the Caravan Club’s Black Horse Farm campsite at Densole the rain was bucketing down and the temperature more appropriate for February than May. Our pitch in the special one-night-only area was quite difficult to access with our outfit and we had to drive the Smart off its trailer before lots of manoeuvring, pushing and shoving to get everything in place.

A light meal on the motorhome and an early night rounded off a very tiring day.


Monday 3 May 2010: Crossing the channel – France and Belgium.

We called at Sainsbury’s on the way from Densole to Dover and filled with diesel having used £83.57 worth in 370 miles! We checked in at the ferry terminal just before 11am for the 12 noon Norfolk Line sailing to Dunkerque. Boarding and departure was spot on time.

We were as impressed with Norfolk Line as we were last year. Service was excellent and the cost represents superb value. The return fare for two of us with a 7-metre motorhome and a 4-metre trailer bearing our Smart car was just £59. An upgrade to use the “VIP” lounge cost just £19.20 for both of us in both directions! We enjoyed a very good two course lunch for £26.50 for two; a glass of wine each and unlimited coffee was complimentary.

The drive from Dunkerque to Maubeuge on the France-Belgium border near Mons was boring and also uncomfortable because of the terrible state of many of the roads. It seems that in these parts roads are being left to decline towards third-world standard with many potholes and poor surfaces. They are a good test of the habitation fixings in a motorhome! Apart from that the journey was fine and we checked in at Camping Municipal du Clair de Lune just after 6pm Central European Time. This campsite is fairly basic but pleasant and quiet – the facilities are clean and the welcome friendly. Pitches are on mesh-supported grass with hedge boundaries and we paid a little over 14 euros for a night which is reasonable value. Just 129 miles from Dunkerque, this site is a good stopover for anyone heading towards the Ardennes or Luxembourg.


Tuesday 4 May 2010: To Luxembourg.

Today we headed for Camping Bon Accueil at Alzingen, a suburb of Luxembourg City. This turned out to be a 140 mile journey and South of Maubeuge the scenery steadily improved as we passed through the Western fringes of the Ardennes.

Scenically Northern Belgium has little to recommend it being dull, drab and flat for the most part but the Ardennes looked very attractive even under a grey overcast sky. Our SatNav detected an apparently closed road (it has a live traffic service throughout Europe) and re-routed us to avoid it. Although it didn’t specify the location of the detected closure we suspect it was the reason the device diverted off a perfectly good motorway on to back roads only to re-join the same motorway after a short distance! Traffic on the motorway was still flowing freely in both directions and there was obviously no closure, so this is presumably a case of out-of-date data – more of a “dead” traffic service in fact! To compound its sins the TomTom 740 GO (not a cheap SatNav) then tried to access the Alzingen campsite via a footpath across a field; fortunately we were able to recover from this without having to unhitch the trailer and car. Not one of TomTom’s finer days!

We arrived at Bon Accueil just after its opening time of 2pm for arrivals, and our welcome there lived up to the site’s name. There is a frequent bus service to and from the city but we decided to recover fully from our long journey from home and leave exploring until tomorrow. Bon Accueil does not offer net access so we will need to look for a local facility for this. We “ate in” again tonight. The weather here is still cold and cloudy but at least the rain has stopped for the time being. After supper we enjoyed a short walk through the park bordering the campsite, returning through the town of Alzingen which looks to be a neat and pleasant place.


Wednesday 5 May 2010: At Bon Accueil (Day 1 of 3)

The weather has improved to the extent that the sun is shining weakly and occasionally from a mainly cloudy sky and it is still cold. We had a lazy start to the day and then walked all the way to Luxembourg City (10 Km) via a pleasant path beside the River Alzette. This path runs all the way from Alzingen into the Grund area of the city, quite close to the centre, the old city and the upper city. It is most pleasant as it follows the steep-sided valley carved out by the river; the valley sides are wooded with impressive rocky outcrops. You come upon the city quite suddenly.

From Grund we climbed to the upper city and strolled around this area and the adjacent old city, passing many fine buildings including the splendid Grand Ducal Palace and the adjoining Chamber of the Deputies. At the latter some form of reception of dignitaries was taking place, with film crews and photographers in attendance.

We enjoyed a rather late lunch at the Café Wiltgen that was good value for money. We also bought a guidebook to the city and found ourselves unable to pass the Leonidas Chocolate Shop without buying an assortment of these best-value Belgian chocolates to enjoy over the next few days.

Then we walked all the way back to the campsite using the same riverside route and having completed 16 miles of walking today. Tired, we had a relaxing evening in the motorhome and just soup and a roll for supper.

Thursday 6 May 2010: At Bon Accueil (Day 2 of 3)

The weather having taken a definite turn for the worse, we decided to use the bus to get to and from Luxembourg City for our second day. The worst aspect of the weather was the temperature which peaked at 8C from an overnight low of 2C. With rainfall alternating between downpours and thick drizzle, it didn’t seem very spring-like!

In spite of this we enjoyed our second day in Luxembourg City. We visited the Cathedral, the church of St. Michael and the ancient fortifications on the rocky outcrop known as the Bock Montée. We bought some excellent lamb and pork at a proper butcher right in the city centre. Passing a very attractive cake shop (Oberweis) we noticed a sign for its first-floor tearoom and gave in to the temptation, enjoying tea, hot chocolate and cakes chosen in the shop – magnificent and good value!

Back at the MH we enjoyed a good supper of crown roast of lamb (from the Luxembourg butcher) and cheese with a decent bottle of red wine. Then we did our best to ruin the evening by watching some of the TV coverage of the farcical election at home, staying up too late but mercifully giving in at midnight (11pm at home).


Friday 7 May 2010: At Bon Accueil (Day 3 of 3)

The weather had improved slightly this morning although it was still very cold. We decided to walk into the city using the direct road route taken by the bus which at about 7 Km each way is much shorter than the pretty path by the river. We lunched again at the Wiltgen Café as we had enjoyed it so much on Wednesday – today it was even better! After lunch we visited the Museum of Luxembourg History which tells the story of the establishment of the city between the 10th and 13th centuries, its development as a Duchy and the evolution of the territory which today forms the small nation state of Luxembourg. This museum is not merely interesting but fascinating – we learned about the industrialisation of the 19th century and the many times that Luxembourg has been threatened and invaded – these incursions include invasion by the French after the revolution and by the Germans in both 20th century world wars. We had not realised the extremity of the deprivations suffered by the Luxembourg people during the Second World War including mass deportation of around 17000 people many of whom never returned. The post-war history told us much about Luxembourg’s key role in motivating and supporting European integration and unity – hardly surprising given their previous experiences.

After another session of tea and cake at the Oberweis we walked off some of the calories by exploring the Petrusse Valley, a long and winding green park cutting through the midst of the city and then following the river past St John’s Church and the buildings of the Neumunster Monastery (now used as offices and a conference centre), as far as the Wenceslas Wall. We climbed to the Upper City for the last time and walked back via the road to the campsite. Lunch and tea had provided more than enough sustenance for today, even with the walk, so supper was skipped!



Saturday 8 May 2010: Into Germany – to Trier in the Mosel Valley

We awoke to vastly improved weather – sunshine and temperatures that could almost be described as warm (12 – 15C). We packed everything up and were off the campsite by the requested 10.30 am. After popping into nearby Hesperange to refill with diesel at a convenient and easily accessed Total station (diesel 1.035 euros per litre) we followed TomTom’s instructions for our journey to Trier, initially on the motorway and then on good roads bordering the Moselle River, the scenery getting prettier as we headed East. In spite of doubting TomTom at one point, we were directed unerringly to Camping Treviris on the South bank of the river opposite Trier, arriving at 12 noon.

Reception was welcoming and changed the pitch initially allocated for us to a larger one when they saw we were towing the Smart. After the usual settling in (we are here for 3 nights), establishing the satellite TV and eating a light lunch, we walked into Trier – the site is very convenient for the city – about 3 miles or so for the round trip. We spent a couple of hours strolling round the town, visiting the impressive Cathedral and eating yet another afternoon tea with cakes in one of Trier’s many answers to Luxembourg’s Oberweis Cafe!

In fact there are so many attractive cafes and tea-shops in Trier you really are spoilt for choice! We ate at Café 1900. Trier is a lovely old town and it is most relaxing just to stroll around admiring the buildings and soaking up the atmosphere – many other people were doing exactly that, giving the place a real “buzz”. We like Trier very much indeed and look forward to more exploration before we have to move on.

Yet again we had eaten too much during the day to contemplate any supper in the evening!


Sunday 9 May 2010: At Camping Treviris, Trier (Day 1 of 2)

After a relaxing morning at the campsite we walked into Trier again and completed our exploration of this lovely old city, visiting several other churches and the old Roman gate – the Porta Nigra. The weather started dull, misty and cold but improved steadily through the day. The sun even put in an appearance in the afternoon and when we returned to the campsite we were able to sit outside to enjoy aperitifs before eating a good supper of pork steaks in the motorhome. The butcher in Luxembourg where we bought this meat assured us it was from Spanish wild black pigs (and so ruinously expensive!). This may have been a sales pitch but we had to agree that it did taste very good indeed.

Talking of expense we are finding things very expensive so far on this holiday – almost everything costs significantly more than in England whether essential (e.g. food) or not.


Monday 10 May 2010: At Camping Treviris, Trier (Day 2 of 2)

We awoke to a very misty morning and listened to and watched on TV the unfolding story of the British election aftermath. We’re pleased to be away from it! During the morning the sun started to come out through the mist and very gradually burn some of it off, though it stayed hazy and remained cold. After a light lunch we set out in the Smart along the Mosel towards Bernkastel-Kues and continued all the way to Zell-Mosel, enjoying the stunning scenery of the vineyard-clad Mosel Valley. Some of the vines are planted on incredibly steep, indeed precipitous, slopes. We located the campsite we intend to visit next (Camping Park Zell-Mosel), actually located on the bank of the river opposite to the main town of Zell though within easy reach of it thanks to a footbridge spanning the whole river. We spoke to a lady at Reception (who spoke some English) and agreed that there is so much room here there is no need to book and that we would just turn up tomorrow.

For the return journey to Trier we headed into the hills forming the Western fringes of the Hunsruck plateau and explored some of the neat, pretty villages of this region, getting quite lost on several occasions on tiny back roads not shown on our map. Eventually we found our way to the Dhron Valley and followed it down to the Mosel again, quickly returning along the same riverside road to Trier.

Back at the campsite we ate a chicken stir-fry supper accompanied appropriately by a Mosel Riesling.


Tuesday 11 May 2010: From Trier to Zell-Mosel.

Yesterday’s sunshine had vanished and the weather had returned to its more usual states of dull, cloudy and cold. Having packed up and hitched up in the usual way we had an uneventful drive to the campsite near Zell, locating it without difficulty after yesterday’s reconnaissance. We did not use the riverside route for the whole journey but took advantage of the motorway for some of it, also using good main roads through delightful scenery away from the main river valley. We arrived at Camping Park Zell-Mosel just before it shut for lunch at 12 noon; this gave us unexpected extra time here today.

Later we walked into Zell using the impressively long footbridge across the river. We got the timing of this outing badly wrong as we had no sooner reached the town on the opposite bank but the heavens opened! We had no umbrellas – we think we were the only people walking in Zell without them – but fortunately we were wearing our Paramo waterproof jackets. All the same, with no over-trousers or brollies our jeans got soaked as we scuttled back across the bridge to the campsite! The cold, bucketing rain continued all evening, its drumming on the roof sometimes almost drowning out the TV as we received the news of Britain’s imminent coalition government.

We consoled ourselves (you can interpret that however you want!) with large glasses of Pineau de Charentes accompanied by nuts and olives before a light meal of eggs and prawns and a very early night.


Wednesday 12 May 2010: At Camping Park Zell-Mosel (Day 1 of 3)

Camping Park Zell-Mosel is a delightful site on the West Bank of the Mosel River, opposite the main town of Zell with its picturesque waterfront, cobbled main street and interesting buildings. The campsite is less than a quarter full. We have a pitch right by the river with superb views. The facilities are excellent and the price reasonable (22 euros per night including electricity and wi-fi). The only disadvantage we have found here is a language problem and this has been difficult only because of an apparent rule relating to our trailer which we don't understand and don't have enough German to sort out. The lady who we met on Monday and who greeted us when we arrived yesterday speaks enough English for us to get by, but only works here in the mornings as far as we can see. In the afternoons no-one here speaks any English and the other lady at reception seems less than friendly though this may be no more than our perception because of the language barrier. We will come to the problem as we go through the activities of our first full day here.

In the morning we took advantage of a drier day to repeat our walk to Zell and an exploration of the town in much nicer conditions. We bought a souvenir "Black Cat" wine bottle containing 500ml of local Riesling and two souvenir "Black Cat" wine glasses. The black cat is the symbol of Zell-Mosel. The 500ml bottle has the form of a cat and is opaque black glass - we will use it as a 500ml carafe at home. We had a very "unhealthy" but enjoyable "lunch" in a cafe-restaurant in Zell - more tea and highly calorific cakes! We walked back by a more round-about route exploring the smaller settlement on the opposite bank of the river (the side where we are camping) - this is part of Zell but not the main town.

Back at the campsite we prepared to go out in the Smart to find the retail park we understood to be at the top of the hill behind the campsite at a place called Zell-Barl, as we needed to do some food shopping and also re-fuel the Smart. Just as we were leaving the "afternoon" lady came out of the campsite reception and stopped us. From her manner we gathered there was some sort of problem but couldn't understand a word she said except that R caught the word "anhanger" and he knows that means trailer. Eventually, with the help of sign language, we decided she was telling us we had to move our (unladen) trailer from its position on the grass next to our motorhome to the parking area outside the site gates. M made it very clear we would do no such thing as it would be completely insecure there. Without the benefit of any common language it was difficult to resolve this but somehow we managed to agree that we would move it to one of the many empty hardstanding pitches. The lady seemed to be warning us that this might be difficult if the site filled up at the weekend and we just shrugged! We can only assume that there is some rule about trailers on the grass areas - this is bizarre as all the users of towed caravans had parked their cars (mostly large 4x4s weighing over 2 tonnes) on these grass areas which were clearly there for that purpose. Our Smart was small enough to go on the hardstanding next to the motorhome. Unladen our small trailer weighs about 500Kg - that's less than a quarter of the weight of the typical caravan-towing 4x4. So it would cause far less damage to grass than any of the caravanners' cars which were apparently absolutely fine on the grass! But we had no German to explain any of that. Anyway we think it was a case of "the rules are the rules" (especially in Germany and especially in the view of this particuar lady!). So we pushed the trailer on to a nearby empty hard-standing and drove off to Zell-Barl.

There were only two supermarkets on the retail park - Aldi and Lidl (wow - spoilt for choice indeed!) and no smaller food shops. We chose Aldi which was OK and very cheap, though a quick walk round Lidl afterwards suggested it had much better choice. We filled the Smart with unleaded petrol at an eye-watering 1.44 euros a litre.

Tell you what - we'll never complain about "rip-off Britain" again - maybe not even after the VAT goes up!

Back to the campsite for another eat-in supper - guess what - pork again (90% of the non-frozen meat in Aldi was pork) and watched the Cameron-Clegg "love-in" on TV before bedtime.


Thursday 13 May 2010: At Camping Park Zell-Mosel (Day 2 of 3)

Today we used the Smart to explore the Mosel valley downstream of Zell towards Koblenz. The scenery is stunning in spite of the weather which continues to be cold, grey and misty with regular rain showers. There seems to be a distinct pattern of heavier rain each late afternoon and evening. Temperatures are very low for mid-May with daytime highs of between 8C (really!) and 10C. We stopped at Cochem, a beautiful riverside town with an impressive hilltop castle. We managed to park the Smart without paying (not easy) and spent a couple of hours exploring the town on foot and climbing to the castle which affords good views over the valley. We were pleasantly surprised that we could see so much of the castle without having to pay an entry fee.

We drove further along the river in the downstream direction and then back using roads on both banks. On the way back to Zell we stopped at the smaller but very pretty town of Ediger-Eller where we just strolled around some more before returning to the campsite. We "ate-in" again this evening - this is becoming a habit but saving us money as restaurant meals are very expensive here.