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Our second trip abroad for 2009 this is our first year of retirement so we are travelling as much as we can. (and stopping) Just a word about ACSI cards if no one knows about them ACSI cards are a low season camping discount £11.50 for a very good European camp site guide that comes with a discount card 11,13,or 15 euro's a night depending on camp site, this is a Dutch book available in Britain from Vicarious books. See
Left home 11th August drove to Dover no problems, caught Sea France ferry to Calais stopped night as previously at the dog check in compound for the channel tunnel. Huge truck conversion at the dog pound. How many dogs can you get in here?
Really nice camp site on the banks of the Rhine with beaches etc temperatures in the forties we did not expect this in Germany. Site has biergarden and restaurant, and something I had not seen before free gas cooking rings in the wash up area. The views along the Rhine were great. Cologne centre was not far by scooter, but like London is an emission control zone with on street parking very limited so no vans in city area.
end of the day
Spent hours in the Cathedral its magnificent
Dedicated to the saints Peter and Mary, Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. Cologne Cathedral is the greatest Gothic cathedral in Germany and has been Cologne's most famous landmark for centuries. Once the tallest building in the world, Cologne Cathedral still boasts the world's largest church façade.
Centre of Cologne is pedestrianised with a large variety of shops and well worth a visit, most German cities are emission zones, and also do not have on street parking only underground or multi story car parks so no where to park anything larger than a car, we use our motor scooter to get around, but public transport is cheap and frequent.
Auf viedersein pet
Left Cologne after 3 days and set off for Heidelburg on the Autobahn, we dont normally use motorways, but it is the only way to get around in Germany. We discovered that Germany has motorway churches in service areas for use of travellers we visited one and signed the book. There had been visitors from all over the world.
motorway church
Although there are no speed limits on the Autobahns the traffic was extremely well behaved and we saw no evidence of excessive speed.
driving along the Rhine valley
Arrived at the campsite close to Heidelberg Camping Friendensbrucke (PEACE BRIDGE) site is right on the banks of the Rhine and you can have waterside pitches if you want. The site was flat spacious, and the views were good, but the sanitary facilities could have been better, also one of my pet hates token operated showers.
Falltorstr. 4 69151 Neckargemünd Germany +49 (0)6223-2178
GPS: N 49.39638° E 8.7945°
wonderful reception office converted from old wooden caravan
reception and bar
Us on campsite on the banks of the Rhine
The Heidelberg Castle . The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demolition in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is located 80 metres (260 ft) up the northern part of the Konigstuhl hillside, and thereby dominates the view of the old downtown. The earliest castle structure was built before AD 1214 and later expanded into 2 castles circa 1294; however, in 1537, a lightning-bolt destroyed the upper castle. The present structures had been expanded by 1650, before damage by later wars and fires. In 1764, another lightning-bolt destroyed some rebuilt sections.
it is considered lucky to have storks nesting on roof so some buildings have a platform on roof to encourage this.
