Europe by van Day 3

We had an early night, during which we were disturbed by the noise of the boats on the Rhine and the trains on the other side of the river. The van was so hot we went to sleep with only a sheet but had to pull up the covers at some point in the night.

After a relaxed breakfast (tea in bed first!) we got water on board, disposed of waste, checked phones at the free wifi then left at 10. We stopped on the 9 just south of Bonn to get fuel, about the same price as home.

It was a pleasant drive south right beside the Rhine. North of Koblenz we joined the 48 heading towards Frankfurt, another very busy motorway.

I suggested we stop in Wurzburg as it’s a pretty place with a UNESCO palace. Mr C is hard to stop when he wants to get to his next planned stop which was a Park4Night at Rothenburg ob der Tauber as his app said we should be there by noon to get a place. However he did accept we needed to stretch our legs.

It was 36 degrees when we walked into the town which had lovely shaded parks with cyclists, runners and parents with children. The palace was superb - we walked around the gardens but didn’t go inside. An American couple asked us to take their photo and reciprocated. (Blip) When we exited the gates we realised there were several bus loads of people getting marshalled about and then on reaching the River Main we saw cruise boats moored up.

Our van was boiling even though we’d only been out 2 hours and walked 3.5 miles.

The scenery has been pretty with rolling hills covered in vineyards rising high above both Rhine and Main. Occasionally there were fields of solar panels.

We arrived around 5pm. There’s loads of motorhomes in a car park. We need an app to pay - our Santander credit card won’t work so a nice German is using his App and we are giving him €12 cash. It is boiling in the van already but hopefully after a cool drink Mr C will be up for a walk into town where there are many pretty old buildings.