2023, September – Into Europe – Our motorhome adventures

Having spent some time motorhoming around in August seeing family and friends, the time had finally arrived for our planned trip through the Channel Tunnel into France and heading to Belgium.

After an easy drive from the French tunnel terminal, we soon passed into Belgium, the scenery was much the same as England in early September and it didn’t seem to take long before we parked up by the River Sambre in Floreffe. We had stopped here for 2 nights so we could look around at the area and enjoy some walking. The town area has an Abbey high up on the hill with wonderful views down over the river and far below we could see Lisa, our motorhome. The multi storey brick building and adjacent courtyard buildings, were being used school. Further down the hill, and still part of the whole complex, was the Floreffe Brewery and store where we tasted the produce, of course!

Moving on to Luxemburg we had the good fortune to arrive at a camper park at Remich where the barrier had effectively ceased to function, and had a free night including electricity and water on our pitch. We walked along a promenade by the River Moselle admiring the artworks as we followed and completed an AdLab, part of the Geocaching App that leads us around new places of interest.

Following another AdLab, it lead us high above the town, along a long disused railway, now tarmaced, uphill into the vast acres of vineyards hanging with beautiful tasty grapes just prior to harvest. The views of the vines stretching for miles was so peaceful and we kept tasting a few grapes along our 5½ mile route back through woodland to the motorhome.

Moving into Germany for the first of our stops in this huge country, we parked up at Sinsheim and were amazed at the many art installations we found in a really beautiful town. The buildings were like something on a chocolate box lid, picturesque and brightly lit with a clear blue sky.

Next destination was Nabburg, east of Nuremberg. We had previously met Claudia and Alex in Spain in November 2019 with their motorhome, spent 2 weeks of unplanned touring together, and hadn’t met up during the intervening years. Now we were to have 3 evenings and 2 full days together, which we were all looking forward to.

They showed us around the old fortified town of Nabburg which was so interesting, still having the medieval town gates to it’s original fortress on top of the hill, a main street with picturesque buildings, a pretty church and views over the River Naab far below.

We had a full day being tourists together, starting with a boat ride up the River Danube, followed by a visit to Weltenburg Abbey and lunch nearby. Afterwards we visited the Liberation Hall completed in 1863 instigate by King Ludvig I, built to commorate the defeat of Nepoleon. The battle ended on 18^th October 1813, and 50 years later the building was completed with many features comprising the number 18. Around the outside there are 18 virgins, 18 pillars, and inside 18 marble circles radiating out from a central quotation surrounded by 18 stars. We climbed to the top of the tower for panoramic views over the River Danube and surrounding land.

Just to complete an already brilliant day, we visited Regensburg, a town with a well preserved medieval center and a 12^th century stone bridge with 16 arches. The twin towers of the gothic cathedral along with many other iconic buildings made a very interesting city centre, where we enjoyed dinner together in a courtyard below the cathedral to the sound of the chiming bells.

Time to move into Austria and Salzburg was the nearest place to our campsite for 2 nights. The campsite looked out towards the tree line on the mountain, and some traditional wooden houses probably used as ski lodges in winter and for hikers in summer. It was a nice place to relax before any sightseeing. Next day we took a bus into the city of Salzburg that started with a 15 minute walk passing some really beautiful houses with flower lined balconies and pretty gardens.

We used the AdLab app again following 3 different routes to show us around the maze of streets and places of interest. The castle was set high up overlooking the church and square below with a huge golden ball and two figures, one on top of the ball and one looking towards it. We found Motzart’s birthplace, fantastic narrow alleyways and marketplace, a lovely church with an arched ceiling in the nave and a street with many wrought iron signs of the premises below, including a brewery in the centre of the city.