We left Burgen Tuesday morning driving down the banks of the Rhine from Koblenz to Mainz. The river was even broader than the Moselle and we spotted plenty of castles perched high up on the sides of the valley or occasionally in the middle of the river itself!

Würzburg is a city in Germany’s Bavaria region. It’s known for lavish baroque and rococo architecture and is commonly regarded as being the start of the ‘Romantic Road’ the most popular tourist route in Germany. We plan to follow that route south so more on that later.

We stayed for 2 nights at the city’s Stellplatz – basically a car park offering some facilities for motorhomes but allowing overnight stays for up to 2 or 3 days. They are cheaper than ‘proper’ campsites and usually much closer to the centre of the town. You can see from the picture below that there was not a lot of space but the view from our front window shows that we were looking straight on to the River Main – we could sit on our chairs in front of the van watching the cargo boats and passenger cruisers sail by.

On our first night we walked down the the Alte Mainbrucke, a bridge dating back to the 15th century. We encountered a delightful local custom – a huge crowd of people standing all over the bridge enjoying their evening glass of wine, bought from a kiosk at one end of the crossing – it seemed rude not to join in! At the same time we could watch a Viking cruise boat, probably heading from Budapest to Amsterdam, squeeze through the lock under the bridge.

The most spectacular building in the city is the ‘Residenz’, a UNESCO World Cultural Hertitage Site. Built in the 18th century for the local duke it is a huge work of baroque architecture full of amazing stucco ornamentation and Europe’s biggest ceiling painting. The palace was bombed by the RAF in 1945 and only the central core of the original work survived. A huge reconstruction project has been going on since the 1950’s and now the building has been restored to it’s former glory. Unfortunately no photos can be taken inside – so we can only show you the outside – for a look inside have a look at their website.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the other impressive buildings we found – all in the city centre:

We left Ghent in the morning on a three hour drive heading east. The route skirted Antwerp and Cologne passing through the southern tip of The Netherlands – so I make that five countries in three days! We stopped for lunch using some of our favourite brand of sliced bread:

We have decided to have 2 nights relaxing at a campsite – Camping Burgen – right on the Moselle river near to Koblenz. The view is very scenic with the prerequisite castle – Bischofstein Castle, wildlife including swans and unusual egyptian ducks (they must have got lost!) and even the occasional huge cargo boat.

April 6th – back to the beautiful Lakeside Meadow CMC CL site again just south of Ashbourne in the Dales, this time with Sue & Mark for a 3 night short break.

It was an excellent relaxing couple of days including board games and pub meals but we also felt obliged to keep up our going rate on National Trust houses so we took the van over to the nearby Kedleston Hall.

Built in the 1750s for Nathaniel Curzon family but the famous architect Robert Adams this is a building designed not as warm family home but instead a showpiece to demonstrate wealth to vistors, for hosting huge balls and lavish dinners. The entrance hall, resembling a hugh Roman Temple, was clearly intended to dazzle anyone arriving for some big event.

On our drive home we managed to visit one more NT site – this time Canons Ashby, not far from the M1 south of Daventry. This was completely different to the previous location, a tudor manor house built using the remains of a medieval priory, the house having survived largely unaltered since 1710. It is surrounded by unusual terraced gardens overlooking impressive parkland.

Our first trip of 2022 took us to the Broadway CMC site in the Cotswolds on 11th March for 3 nights. Broadway is a very attractive village, understandably popular with tourists, full of interesting cottages, shops and cafes, many built from golden coloured Cotswold stone. We were joined by old friends, Jim and Kate and as well as visiting many of the shops and the local museum we also tried out one of the village pubs, The Swan, for an evening meal. For one of our party (i.e. me) a major attraction of the campsite was that it backed on to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway which now runs from Broadway to Cheltenham Race Course. Our visit coincided with their first operating weekend of 2022 which in the end did not go as smoothly as they had hoped. The coal they had chosen to use couldn’t quite keep the boilers on the locomotives hot enough which resulted in breakdowns and significant delays. Nevertheless, I managed a trip halfway down the line to Toddington Station where you can view the engine sheds.

We managed to fit in trip to one more National Trust property – Croome. A house developed in the 18th Century by the 6th Earl of Coventry and garden designed by ‘Capability’ Brown as part of his first ever commission. The house had some interesting art exhibits including art, furniture and especially ceramics but several floors were in the process of renovation so it would be worth revisiting in a few years time. One unusual feature is that part of the grounds during the Second World War became RAF Defford housing over 2000 service personnel and scientists developing Radar systems in top secret. A museum has been created in one of the surviving airbase buildings and was very interesting to see.

On the 11th October we headed off for a 6 night stay at the Fairlight Wood CMC site just to the east of Hastings on the south coast. Set just behind the village of Pett, the site is opposite an entrance to Guestling Wood which is owned by the Woodland Trust and and excellent location for an afternoon’s walk. One of the walks ended up at the village pub, The Two Sawyers, where we had a very good meal one evening.

We took the bus from the village into Hastings. It is an odd mix of a rather unattractive modern section and a much more attractive old town. Even the new half has the major attraction of being on the coast with a good old fashioned pier so it isn’t all that bad. The old town is full of interesting shops and timber beamed building although some of them were shut as it was out of season. We took one of the two (!) funicular railways to the clifftop which revealed spectacular views over the town and coastline. On the beach we found fishing boat and tall black hut used for drying nets. We also had an excellent lunch at Maggie’s Fish and Chips overlooking the shoreline.

The next day we drove the van to Bodiam Castle. We are both keen to visit as many National Trust sites as possible but I’m afraid I was distracted by another opportunity and left Sue to walk around the castle. Just a short walk down the road was the Kent and East Sussex Railway. The steam train goes from Bodiam to Tenterden and is a very pleasant ride indeed.

The following day we took a trip out to Rye, a beautiful small town surrounded by fortification and full of interesting houses and cobbled streets. We would certainly recommend a visit here. In addition the National Trust’s Lamb House, once owned by the author Henry James, is well worth a look.

As we headed home we took a slight diversion to visit yet another National Trust property, Batemans, a jacobean house once owned by another major literary figure – Rudyard Kipling. The 17th house has superb views of the surrounding countryside of the Sussex Weald. There are some formal gardens and a short path takes you down to an old flour mill and pond.