mjltigger
Free Member
We got back the early hours this morning.
Van performed wonderfully except the odometer quit before we got to the ferry.
We left home Thursday night after work and took PandO from Dover to Calais. Headed towards Germany and stopped somewhere in Belgium at a service station for a sleep.
In the morning after coffee and breakfast and not having opened a van door since the ferry we headed for Berkastel Kues. What a beautiful journey over the mountains. We had to stop and take pictures of the snowy trees and I couldn't resist popping out to throw a snowball. Once we got there it took us no time at all to find the well signposted stellplatz and work out that it was well situated for the town. It took us a little longer to track down the Christmas markets but then we settled in by the Mosel, paid our few Euro through the machine to park until 10am on Saturday and walked over the bridge to enjoy the beautiful town and plenty Gluwein, rot mit amaretto.
A lovely nights sleep and we used the automatische thingy to empty wastes and fill fresh water and headed for Trier. We found the stellplatz very quickly again but it was some distance from the town so we tried to find parking. Having failed for some time to find anywhere to park do more than an hour we found signs for a park and ride and headed that way.. imagine out surprise when we realised the stellplatz and the P&R were in the same place.. doh!! Anyway, Trier was a beautiful city and the Christmas market as well as other shopping was brilliant. The free bus service for park and ride was very convenient but the long winding journey to the city showed how much better off we were using the bus! We headed back on the last bus nearly just before 8pm and settled in for the night. Had a great nights sleep and on Sunday morning having only visited 2 of the 4 markets on our list headed for Luxembourg.
Luxembourg was very very foggy. By the ti.e we got to the car park I had identified as being campervan friendly we really hadn't seen a lot. Unfortunately we couldn't find any information about the Christmas market and couldn't actually find it... tip for next time is internet access... so we had an in vehicle explore, took some lovely pictures of the misty city and headed to Metz.
Metz was lovely although seemed to be having issues with their drains (eww smelly) and again, having found good parking we set off on foot to explore. Just before we locked the van I put Calais in the Sat nav (at least I thought I did) and realised we were apparently much further from the ferry than I'd thought we would be. Setting a deadline of 4pm for exploring we set off to find the Christmas market... and failed. We found odd bits here and there and I bought a very nice hat from an ordinary Sunday market but nope. No Christmas market.. so stupidly (or not) we got back in the van and headed off early, giving up a prime parking space which was instantly snapped up and driving past the real Christmas market on the way out of town. Doh again!!
About 50 miles later I began to get suspicious about the Sat navs intentions as it stubbornly decided to head us towards Paris instead of Rouen and Lille... even going contradictory against a sign for Calais.. I gave up on the Sat nav then and started using good old road signs and realised we would be in Calais by 7pm...let's see if there's a Christmas market there. Well there was but it was closing as we arrived. The Christmas decorations were amazing though and we had a lovely walk round taking piccies, even being allowed by the night watchman into the grotto outside the Hotel de Ville which was very special.
Finally we picked up hotdogs and frites and headed for the sea front for a feast. Tanking up for a full tank of not as cheap as you think French Diesel we headed for the port. On arrival the kind PandO chap put I'd on the earlier boat and we boarded very soon. A smooth if Rocky crossing and then a long drive home.
Because the odo stopped working I can only officially claim to have driven 279 miles but estimates before we set off were about 1500 in total. The van performed brilliantly and is out on the road waiting to be unloaded and prepped for winter with over half a tank of the 3 tanks of fuel total she was given. We didn't need to swap to the backup leisure battery and had pumped water, lights and charged phones and tablets all weekend. We were welcomed everywhere we went and had great food and great sights and sounds. Perfect long weekend and we now feel incredibly Christmas y..
Thank you for reading and bon noel, guten weihnachten
Van performed wonderfully except the odometer quit before we got to the ferry.
We left home Thursday night after work and took PandO from Dover to Calais. Headed towards Germany and stopped somewhere in Belgium at a service station for a sleep.
In the morning after coffee and breakfast and not having opened a van door since the ferry we headed for Berkastel Kues. What a beautiful journey over the mountains. We had to stop and take pictures of the snowy trees and I couldn't resist popping out to throw a snowball. Once we got there it took us no time at all to find the well signposted stellplatz and work out that it was well situated for the town. It took us a little longer to track down the Christmas markets but then we settled in by the Mosel, paid our few Euro through the machine to park until 10am on Saturday and walked over the bridge to enjoy the beautiful town and plenty Gluwein, rot mit amaretto.
A lovely nights sleep and we used the automatische thingy to empty wastes and fill fresh water and headed for Trier. We found the stellplatz very quickly again but it was some distance from the town so we tried to find parking. Having failed for some time to find anywhere to park do more than an hour we found signs for a park and ride and headed that way.. imagine out surprise when we realised the stellplatz and the P&R were in the same place.. doh!! Anyway, Trier was a beautiful city and the Christmas market as well as other shopping was brilliant. The free bus service for park and ride was very convenient but the long winding journey to the city showed how much better off we were using the bus! We headed back on the last bus nearly just before 8pm and settled in for the night. Had a great nights sleep and on Sunday morning having only visited 2 of the 4 markets on our list headed for Luxembourg.
Luxembourg was very very foggy. By the ti.e we got to the car park I had identified as being campervan friendly we really hadn't seen a lot. Unfortunately we couldn't find any information about the Christmas market and couldn't actually find it... tip for next time is internet access... so we had an in vehicle explore, took some lovely pictures of the misty city and headed to Metz.
Metz was lovely although seemed to be having issues with their drains (eww smelly) and again, having found good parking we set off on foot to explore. Just before we locked the van I put Calais in the Sat nav (at least I thought I did) and realised we were apparently much further from the ferry than I'd thought we would be. Setting a deadline of 4pm for exploring we set off to find the Christmas market... and failed. We found odd bits here and there and I bought a very nice hat from an ordinary Sunday market but nope. No Christmas market.. so stupidly (or not) we got back in the van and headed off early, giving up a prime parking space which was instantly snapped up and driving past the real Christmas market on the way out of town. Doh again!!
About 50 miles later I began to get suspicious about the Sat navs intentions as it stubbornly decided to head us towards Paris instead of Rouen and Lille... even going contradictory against a sign for Calais.. I gave up on the Sat nav then and started using good old road signs and realised we would be in Calais by 7pm...let's see if there's a Christmas market there. Well there was but it was closing as we arrived. The Christmas decorations were amazing though and we had a lovely walk round taking piccies, even being allowed by the night watchman into the grotto outside the Hotel de Ville which was very special.
Finally we picked up hotdogs and frites and headed for the sea front for a feast. Tanking up for a full tank of not as cheap as you think French Diesel we headed for the port. On arrival the kind PandO chap put I'd on the earlier boat and we boarded very soon. A smooth if Rocky crossing and then a long drive home.
Because the odo stopped working I can only officially claim to have driven 279 miles but estimates before we set off were about 1500 in total. The van performed brilliantly and is out on the road waiting to be unloaded and prepped for winter with over half a tank of the 3 tanks of fuel total she was given. We didn't need to swap to the backup leisure battery and had pumped water, lights and charged phones and tablets all weekend. We were welcomed everywhere we went and had great food and great sights and sounds. Perfect long weekend and we now feel incredibly Christmas y..
Thank you for reading and bon noel, guten weihnachten
