T4rdis2 Tour - 2 Day 82 - 86 Germany

Day 82
Tuesday 20th September 2016 - Another fine day with some sunshine but much cooler.

This morning we left our Stellplatze at Worlitz and headed for Heidecamp at Schlaitz where we knew there were more flooded opencast mine lakes to ride around.  And really, other than a pleasant drive, I've got nothing much to say about our day.  So, like all good British people, I'll talk about the weather!  It has dramatically changed, and we seem to have gone from high summer to autumn all in the matter of a couple of days.  The leaves are rapidly changing from green to gold and as they drift down from on high the ground is starting to become covered in a crunchy carpet.  The nights are also drawing in, and it is  now more or less dark by 8pm, and depressingly, John says the days will soon be shorter than the nights!  Having said that, there is no rain in the weather forecast for the next week so we will definitely be making hay while the sun shines and getting out and about as much as we can.


Day 83
Wednesday 21st September 2016 - a bit cloudy but warm and with some sunny spells

This morning our picnic was quickly packed and our bikes released from their dark cavern in the back of T4rdis2 - and then we were off, but at first we thought our ride was going to be a bit of a damp squib!  The cycle track was highlighted on our map so we knew we were on the right road, but to start with, it was really only  a  rough old forest track that was unimpressive and didn't have any views.

Added to this there were a couple of diversions that made finding our way quite challenging, resulting in us having to backtrack, and I think we were nearly at giving up point, when all of a sudden the track improved and with the aid of a viewing tower the vistas became much more interesting.







And it was here that we paused for lunch, but when I perched up on the surrounding sill John became a little concerned, because knowing how clumsy I can be and seeing a 20 foot drop behind me....... needless to say I sat very still as I munched my cob!






Then, once we resumed our ride, it became better and better, and the 53 kilometres that we covered just slipped by without much effort - especially, as we were soon parked up again overlooking our second lake of the day, Grosser Goitzschesee  on the See promenade at Bitterfeld, eating cake and sipping coffee.



After that we were homeward bound, but on the way through the village of Schlaitz, we found numerous,  humorous wood sculptures - and one was of 5 monkeys!



Day 84
Thursday 22nd September 2016 - another very pleasant day with plenty of sunshine

This morning we left Heidecamp and headed for a parking area that we had found on the 'Camper Contact web site' at Thale in the Harz Mountains.  The drive took us though many miles of countryside, some of which was quite industrialised, some showing the mining heritage of a bygone era, and much where more signs of Autumn were blatantly obvious with the ever changing colours of the trees and the numerous tractors gathering their harvests.

Is that me and John on a bad day?

When we arrived in the town we both wondered if we had made a bad choice because initial impressions were that it was a bit run down, and when we arrived at our expected parking spot we found a massive building site had taken over so there was no way we could stop there.  However, we decided we still wanted to give the area a go, so nipped to the town's only campsite - Kloster Camping - which is set on an old monastery complex and is accessed via a little cobbled lane that has some renovated  old cloister buildings along it's way and these two at it's main gate!







Once we'd settled in and had our necessary cuppa we went for a walk around the old town, and very quickly revised our impression of the area.  It is stepped in legends about witches and devils, and almost around every corner we found  sculptures that told fairy tales that may or may not be believed. Additionally, Thale is set at the head of a strikingly beautiful river gorge and there are is a lovely gondola chair lift that sweeps you up to the hillside to the Hexentanzplatz - a place from where witches are said to fly to Sabbath celebrations on Walpurgis Night!  So tomorrow we will be putting our walking boots on and investigating further!

A giant buried in the 'sand'

Day 85
Friday 23rd September 2016 - Mr Sun has got his hat - perfect weather for walking.

Our planned walk for today was from the campsite to the Gondola site - then via the easy route up to the Hexentanzplatz, and from there we would walk through  the forest until we came to a track that would lead us back down the cliff side, and eventually spit us  out part way along the gorge.  Then, depending on how much energy we'd got left, we would either head back to Thale or walk deeper into the gorge along a path that closely tracks the River Bode

And all went according to plan, resulting in a walk of about 10 miles, however the main attraction - the Hexentanzplatz - was hugely commercialised and a bit like Land's End, so not quite our cup of tea!  Having said that, the rest of it was spectacular from start to finish so it was more than worth every bit of effort that we made.


To start with our gondola, which had a glass floor, whisked us up to the top of the mountain, and although it wasn't quite as good as if we'd flown up on a broomstick, we were afforded magnificent views from over a 100 feet high of the river, that over the millennia, has carved out a gorge  that continues for about 12 kilometres



When we arrived at the top we found ourselves on a huge natural platform with viewpoints that allowed you to view the many mysterious rock formations, as well as more of the gorge far below.  It was here that we also saw the Witches Rock and learnt more about the festival of Walpurgisnacht which is celebrated each year on the 30th April.  It originates from an English missionary - Saint Walburga - it is said that she could defend the faithful against witch-craft and offer protection against plague, famine and the bites of rabid dogs!

There was also an open air theatre cut into the side of the mountain where productions such as Robin Hood took place, but as the summer season has finished, it was all closed up and out of bounds so we didn't linger long before continuing onto the Hexentanzplatz itself.

Here we found a few interesting statues of devils and witches that elicited a few lewd comments from John, but I made him behave himself, and then it was just a case of scurrying past the numerous touristy tat shops before we continued with the much more scenic part of our walk!




Now, it isn't often that you can walk in the woods and see wolfs prowling - we could have paid to go in the little zoo, but being as tight fisted as we are, we just peered through the fence and saw several patrolling the perimeter!  Apparently, the zoo is also famed for it's raccoons - the story goes that these creatures are not native to Germany but a colony of them escaped during the war and now they have made themselves at home in the forests, and although we haven't seen one so far, we are ever hopeful!

After the wolves, lunch was the next important thing on our agenda, and a little further down the track we found a view point with a bench - again we could see into the valley, but additionally, we could also see across to the  rock formation that forms the other side of the ravine - a place called Rosstrappe,  where they regularly have downhill mountain bike events.


Once fed and watered we started our decent, and despite the health and safety warnings we decided to continue!  However, by the time we were half way down I'd got very little concern regarding head injury from falling debris - I was much more worried about the constant risk of going a..e over t.t due to the boulder strewn very steep path that had numerous hair-pin bends back and forth all the way to the valley floor!




Anyway, we made it safely down, and decided we did have a little bit more energy to spare, so we headed deeper into the gorge.  After about a mile we passed over the Teufeisbruecke (Devil's Bridge), but then the path started to rise steeply again, so when we found a convenient bench we decided to have a rest with our coffee and cake and then call it a day.



Our return journey still required us to walk about another 4 miles, and for the first 2 the going was still quite rough, so by the time we made it back to civilisation all we wanted to do was get home and put our feet up, but we did have to stop off at the supermarket for a little beverage to help us recover.


Day 86
Saturday 24th September 2016 - More sunshine

We left Thale this morning headed for a Stellplatze in the town of Blankenburg where we planned to do a little tame walk along a rocky ridge - we thought we were going to take it easy after our excursions  of yesterday!  We parked up, and quickly packed a picnic to take with us along 'The Devil's Wall',  and then it was only a hop skip and a jump and we were out on the trail.  However, John couldn't quite remember why it was so important that we came here - but we hadn't gone far when all was reviled.  After a short sharp climb we noticed  Grossvater-felsen - a tall pinnacle of rock with a view point on top - but to get up there you had to scramble up a sort of rough stairway that was cut into the stone, using hand rails to assist you up the narrow vertical channels.



And this more or less set the scene for the rest of our walk.  It was on a sharp ridge - think Striding Edge in the Lake District - in places the 'path' was about a foot wide - with sheer drops on both sides, and to get along it's length you were required to nip up and down little 'genels' that either steeply climbed up or down. Sometimes there were guard rails and sometimes there were chunks of rock to protect us from the precipice, but at other times there was nothing at all!

Oh, and did I say it was a fantastic walk - we probably did about 3 miles before turning back, and it was on this part of the journey that we scrambled up onto a huge boulder and sat perched like pixies while we ate our lunch - anybody looking at us from the road below would have wandered how on earth we got there!







Then, once we had scoffed all our food we retraced our steps back to the town of Blankenburg (Harz), and found ourselves in the Little Castle Baroque Gardens.  It is the third that we have visited that belong to the Historical Gardens and Parks of Saxony Anhalt and, with it's statues, fountains and flowers, it made a lovely place to pause and rest after our 2nd strenuous walk in 2 days.

Following this a visit to the local Tourist Info office elicited loads more in this area for us to see and do so I don't think we will be leaving the Harz Mountain Area any time soon.

Anyway, that's all for now but I'm sure I'll have loads more to tell about this area in my next episode.

Take care xx

T4rdis2 Tour 2 - Day 78 - 81 Germany

Day 78
Friday 16th September 2016 - Another bright sunny day

The campsite that we're staying on for the next few days is on the outskirts of Dresden in an area called Mockritz, so it has provided an excellent base from where we can catch the tram into the city to see the sights.  Dresden,  is said to be one of  Germany's most beautiful cities, and can boast of a long cultural history related to it's galleries, museums  theatres, and  magnificent buildings, however, almost all of these were completely destroyed during the night of 13th/14th February 1945 when British and American air forces mounted a vast carpet bombing raid on the city.  Now, many have been restored to their initial splendour, but as we explored we found quite a lot of building/restoration work in progress - possibly as a result of extensive flood damage in 2002.

Happily, most of the sights that we wanted to see were clustered together in the old town on the bank of the River Elbe, so it was relatively easy to get around them all in one day.  We started at the Zwinger,  apparently one of the most famous buildings in Dresden.

                                   The Zwinger

This Baroque structure was originally built in 1709, and has a beautiful inner courtyard that is filled with fountains and is surrounded by ornate pavilions and magnificent gateways, all of which are decorated with intricate statues and sculptures such as Hercules who sits proudly on top of the main Wallpavilion.   The Zwinger itself is free to enter but the pavilions charge entry fees to visit their collections which include intricate porcelain at the Porzellansammiung, scientific instruments at the Mathematisch Salon and fine art at the Galerie Alte Meister.


All of the above took quite a while to explore but we still had a little time before  lunch so we joined the huge numbers of other tourists in admiring the River Elbe where we walked along the Bruhlsche Terrasse - a promenade that was once part of the town's fortifications.

The Semperoper

Our wanderings also took us past The Semperoper - an imposing opera house which is topped with an impressive chariot drawn by 4 rearing horses, and past the hugely ornate Hofkirche - the Catholic Cathedral church.










And magnificent as all the buildings were, we eventually become a little distracted by our rumbling tums!  We'd decided to treat ourselves and eat out, but the choice was a little overwhelming with every sort of cuisine on offer in the hundreds of cafes that spilled into every street as well as the main square.  In the end we opted for an Italian looking place that overlooked the main precinct, where John sampled the Fettuccine and I had the Cannelloni - both of which were absolutely delicious.  And our meal was make all the more enjoyable by the buskers - a chap who sang ballads in English accompanied by his guitar, and a lady who sang opera accompanied by a grand piano on wheels.

Our next target for exploration was the Frquenkirche.  The original chapel was  built on the site in the 11th century, but in 1726 a new church was erected,  and later it was here that Richard Wagner conducted the first performance of 'The Feast of Pentecoast'  Sadly, the building did not survive Dresden's devastation in the war and two days after the bombing attack the gutted ruins collapsed.    Then the rubble remained mostly untouched until the early 1990's when reconstruction started, but this
wasn't completed until 2005 when the new church was consecrated.

The first part of our visit was to the inside of the church where we admired the lovely ornate alter and organ, and also  gazed up into the dome that is covered with beautiful fresco paintings, and it was then that  we decided our visit wouldn't be complete without making an ascent up into the tower from where we would have 360 degree views of the city.



However, as we went to pay our admission fee I wasn't sure whether to be pleased or insulted - the cashier laughingly asked if we qualified for a 'concession' - were we more than 65!  I denied it but I'm not sure if it was lost in translation, cos he only charged us the cheaper rate! Anyway, to get to the viewing platform we climbed over 200 steps, we passed along 162 metres of spiral ramp at a gradient of 14%, and finally, we climbed a steep ladder that led onto the balcony - and it was all well worth it for the enjoyment of our birds eye view over the city.

Eventually we tore ourselves away and were soon back down to ground level, but by then we were well into the afternoon and starting to feel a  bit weary.  Therefore, we only spent a little more time exploring the fair/market area before we headed back towards the tram that would take us home.  And it was once we were aboard that we realised we had inadvertently only purchased children's tickets from the machine when paying our fare - on well, maybe it was our day for 'concessions'!


Day 79
Saturday 17th September 2016 - A wet day - with heavy rain at times!

But we knew it was coming - so last night we'd decided we would just stay put and get the washing done! However, the rain only really lasted for the morning, and the forecast was for it to get better again after the weekend so we really don't have anything to complain about.

And the only other thing worth mentioning was John's 'funny' experience with the shower!  On this site you have to put tokens in a meter and then you are provided with about 4 mins of hot water.  John duly put his token in, soaped up - and after 45 seconds the water dried up!  Never mind he thought - I've got a spare token so he popped it in - and nothing, not even a dribble.  So there he stood - all soapy and not a drop of water to rinse with - it's such a shame it had stopped raining!


Day 80
Sunday 18th September 2016 - Drizzly rain to start, cloudy but dry after 11am.

This morning we packed up in the rain and left our campsite at Mockritz with a plan to visit Colditz Castle and then drive on to Leipzig where we thought we might  stay the night before exploring the city sights tomorrow.  However, as often happens, the second half of our day didn't go quite as planned!

Colditz Castle

But I'll tell you about Colditz first!  The castle can trace it's history back to the 11th century, but since then it's burned down twice, it's housed royal guests, it's been a 'poor' house and both a mental and general hospital.  However, what most people would remember it for was it's time as a high security prisoner of war camp in World War II.  We learnt that it mainly housed Officers who had made previous escape attempts form other prisons, and that although the German Officers considered it to be 'escape proof' it had one of the highest records of successful escape attempts.

The buildings themselves were quite drab and unwelcoming, and although a few rooms had been 'left' to demonstrate what conditions might have been like, the images weren't very impressive.  However, one room did have paintings and essays from inmates that described their daily activities, and also indicated how their own 'black market' thrived with prisoners using items from their Red Cross parcels to buy information and tools from cooperative guards!

Following our visit we headed back to the car park and met up with another English couple - the first we have seen since we left Sharon and Paul over 3 weeks ago!  So of course we paused for a natter before continuing on to our planned Stellplatze at Leipzig, but as soon as we pulled in we just looked at each other and agreed we wouldn't be staying there!  The area was quite scruffy and the surrounding walls were covered with graffiti, and added to that, it just didn't feel 'right'.  However, luckily John had programmed a second back up spot into the sat nav so we thought ' oh well, we'll just go there' - but that wasn't much better.  So plan C had to come into action.  By now it was about 4pm so we decided we'd just go for a quick look at the main sites of the city and then move to a Stellplatze on the outskirts of the town.

Leipzig University

So, we started our whistle stop tour by heading into the old town - but really, it seemed to be a case of old and new nestling side by side in complete harmony.  The first thing that caught our eye was the futuristic University Building, and then our wanderings also took us past the Gothic Neues Rathaus (the town hall), the gold clad Commercial Bank, the newer Grand Opera House and St Thomas's Church to name but a few.

Neues Rathaus

The Opera House

Commercial Bank

St Thomas Church

We also found 'The Music Trail' with it's signposted route around the city with the claim that 'nowhere else in the world can you find the historical sites where so many famous composers and musicians lived and worked in such close proximity'  It suggested visiting churches where Bach's works were first performed, the house were Felix Mendelssohn lived and died, the home of Schumann, The Music Museum that houses the world's oldest piano, and of course the Opera House.  Sadly, we didn't have time for any of the above - maybe next time.


Day 81
Monday 19th September 2016 - Overcast to start but cleared to give sunny periods in the afternoon.

Happily, the third Stellplatze that we visited yesterday came up trumps and we spent a quite and comfortable night in it's confines.  Then this morning we headed off for Worlitz Park in the the state of Saxony-Anhalt, a place that we'd almost come across by accident in our guide book, but one that proved to be a little gem. The park was described as 'a charming English style landscaped garden - the first of it's kind in Europe.' Apparently, it was started in 1764 and was contributed to by numerous gardeners and architects - and the end result is a garden that is dominated by 3 large lakes that are all interlinked by canals and floating bridges. Additionally, there are a large number of 'follies' hiding within it's grounds and many of these were unusual to say the least!

Me and my German Friend

And right at the beginning of our visit I think John thought I was deserting him!

A very friendly non-English speaking German gentleman took me by the hand, and while John was looking at the map, he led me off into the park.  In the end I don't think I'd pulled - he just wanted to make sure we knew there were lots of cycle tracks!




To name but a few we came across a swaying chain link bridge - Kettenbrucke - with old wooden slates - John nearly made me fall in when he made it wobble!


We found The Venus Temple where a naked lady stood on high and where we could enter the cavernous cave like structure underneath.








We found a castle like tower where we had to climb a very precarious stair way to get to the top





And we found a volcano - a replica of Mount Vesuvius.  The information said it rumbles and drones before clouds of smoke ripple our of it's crater with a load roar, fumes ascend and flames flare up into the sky - but not on Monday's - so we just had to use our imagination!

The park really is a wonderful place and one I would strongly recommend if your ever in the area - but be warned - wear comfy shoes cos it took us about 5 hours to walk around it's huge grounds.  It took us so long, because apart form the distance there were loads of other sights to see, and even more in the summer when they have classical concerts on the lakes and the audience attend in boats!  While we were visiting there was no music but we had the pleasure of lots of other things.



We watched several red squirrels nipping about collecting their stores for winter, along with herons and other water fowl and loads of fish leaping out of the water to catch their tea!  The trees were also changing the shade of their leaves - and that, along with the nip in the air in the evenings is a sure sign that Autumn will soon be here!





Eventually, we tore ourselves away form the park and had a stroll through the village - and there we found another beautiful site - St Peter's Church - a very unusual and intricate red brick building that unfortunately was 'closed on Monday'.  However, that didn't stop us admiring it's graceful lines as it soared heavenwards, and everywhere we looked we spotted fantastic works of art in it's construction.

Finally, foot sore and a bit weary we headed back to T4rdis2, but we don't need to travel on anywhere else because there is a very pleasant Stellplatze on the edge of the car park that will do very nicely for tonight.

Anyway, that's all from us for tonight - so till next time take care xx