The Heat is On

6 - 9 June

After having booked into the previous site, we realised that there is actually a Stellplatz with 45 pitches just one mile down the road, which offers showers, toilets and electricity. So we opted to move to it today. In fact, as it is Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend here, the site is fully booked so we would not have been able to stay there longer anyway. We were lucky enough to grab one of the last pitches available at the Stellplatz, next to two other British motorhomes. This Stellplatz is, in fact, also operated by the camp site, but pretty much runs itself. You enter via a barrier and a ticket is dispensed, stating your date and time of arrival. On departure you pay the appropriate amount (Euros 10 per 24 hours) at a machine which validates your ticket, enabling you to exit. The motorhome service point provides all the usual facilities (with free water), there is no extra charge for the electricity and the two toilets and showers, which are accessed by a code printed on your ticket, were very clean.

It's a very pleasant 15 to 20 minute walk beside the river into Traben-Trabach. The volume of heavily laden barges moving up and down the Mosel makes you realise what an important freight artery the river is.

We didn't spend much time on the Traben side but there is a large Edeka-Neukauf supermarket near the station, which stays open late and has a separate bakery. Adjacent there is also an Aldi. We explored the Trabach side more thoroughly, a cluster of narrow streets, which lie behind the impressive gate at the end of the bridge, and where various museums are located. Once again we succumbed to the temptation of Kaffee and Kuchen!

We left Traben-Trabach early the next morning to make our way along the Mosel as far as Cochem. Snoopy SatNav had directed us to the north side of the river, but we missed the turn (busy waving at another British motorhome!) and stayed on the south side. This was probably a slower route, as most of the settlements seemed to be on that side, but it was very scenic, twisting and turning in harmony with the river beneath the endless vineyards. At Cochem we crossed the river (as instructed!) and headed off on the spider's web of motorways to visit friends, Julie and Norbert, in Duelmen. It is all very well having no upper speed limit for cars on the German motorways, but it does make pulling out to overtake that much more of a challenge.

We spent a lovely weekend in Duelmen, catching up with our friends and meeting their children and grandchild for the first time. The weather was great for most of the time, enabling us to spend a lot of the time on the patio, eating and drinking under the protection of the sunshade. We were caught out by a thunderstorm while out cycling on Sunday morning, but it soon passed and we quickly dried out in a strategically placed Gasthof. A second storm rumbled around for a long time during Sunday night.

Sunny skies reappeared on Monday morning, with air freshened by the storm and after a final breakfast on the patio, we left Duelmen to resume our travels.