Musings...

The land around Bad Harzberg is very beautiful and well farmed, lots of meadows,  (which are noticeably absent in France) and of course behind the campsite the evergreen mostly coniferous forest starts. We are camped on quite a slope and unfortunately for me the walk into town is either up or down depending on which direction I am going! Still all good excercise. Lots of huffing n puffing on the return journey though.

Just over a mile away is the lovely Silberborn schwimbad - a favourite haunt so a favourite walk. An indoor 25m pool and 2 further 25m outdoor pools so plenty of choice for distance swimming. Lots of jacuzzi areas and the usual flumes for the youngsters, also an indoor and outdoor sauna area. Amazing facilities for a small town really. Best of all is the stack of loungers and umbarellas, so, after a swim - get the book out and have a good read, maybe even a snooze. Who says this isn't a holiday? This can be done indoors or outdoors ! Loads of space about so even if it's raining I can be lounging inside with a good book. Heavenly.

It amazes me how every small town in Germany and Austria has all these wonderful facilities whereas poor old France is still stuck in the fifties (at least in rural areas). Still France has more charm in reality - all that fascinating decrepitude is almost non-existent here. All very groomed and gemutlich. The French are much more maverick and seems to spend more of their life just enjoying themselves n not fretting about the garden, house, appearances etc.....vive la difference!

On one of my walks back from town I came accross a wildlife park - with red deer, sikka deer and moufflon sheep (an ancient and almost extinct breed). The sheep you were asked not to feed (colic) but the deer would happily eat out of your hand almost!! I watched a young girl and her father lob a carrierbag full of apples into the compund and the red deer all came trotting along - obviously well used to humans as a food source. There was a sign telling you what they should and should not be fed - very useful. Apples, carrots etc ...... nothing with eggs in at all !!

When in Salisbury we often watched people feed the ducks and swans and was horrified to see them chuck mouldy old cheap white sliced bread to these lovely birds ..... I wouldn't feed that stuff to anyone least of all a beautiful wild animal. What were they thinking ? Local shopkeepers were missing out on a trick here - selling suitable feeds would have been worthwhile I'm sure and less toxic for the birds.

While walking along the river meadows one day I got chatting to a chap who was caring for the swans and he said the main problem for the birds is toxicity from the mould in the bread. See....no-one should be eating that plastic stuff!! The swans are not designed to eat the stuff and neither are we !?

Campsite Supreme !

First mention here is of the amazing shower/toilet block - best we have ever seen, ever !! immaculate, very high tech, no-touch tap operation, plenty of hooks, music, automatic lights in all cubicles.....you get the idea. Only downside is that you have to pay per shower - 50c, about 40p and for this you get 3 minutes of hot water. It's plenty really, even if you wash your hair, but it did mean you had to be organised and have change ready and remember to take it with you !! After a couple of forgetful trips we sooned learned to remember !!

Another slight downside is that the electricity is metred - a first for us - will be interesting to see how much we've clocked up after a fortnight's use. Normally it is included in the price for the pitch.

Also here we have been incredulous at the amount of equipment they have at their disposal for the maintenance of the grounds etc - in terms of machines I mean. Normal sites have a couple of mowers but here there are various tractors, jcbs, really heavy duty rollers, various sized trailers - half the stuff I wouldn't know what they use for !! Have seen quite a few men eyeing up the gear with lust in their eyes - big boys toys!!! and lots of them !

One thing we have noticed is the bulk of the campers are either Danish or Russian and that there is a very high turnover of overnighters. Obviously this site is enroute to the south or west....from choice I don't think I would choose to come here for my annual holiday as the weather is incredibly changeable - even worse that in the UK believe it or not !

I gather it is something to do with the mountainous range just behind us and the flatlands before us - the 'precipitation' rate is very high all year round. We have had untold short sharp storms, lots of thunder and lightning and just masses of quick showers - tricky when walking. I carry an umbarella when walking if a dark cloud is even lurking nearby, pays to be prepared. I found one which has a carrying strap (adjustable) so I can sling over my shoulder to have hands free for my walking poles.

Another interesting item I've noticed here is a fridge with individual numbered and lockered compartments for use by tent campers. We have only had a fridge the last two years of our travels and before that were restricted to a coolbox and occasionally the use of the site freezer to chill down our icepacks. The campsite in Hungary even had one of these which was amazing, but thinking back wasn't sure if it was chilled or simply storage. Anyway, a jolly useful addition to any site, especially in the height of summer when camping.

A mouse saga,

First time ever we have a little unwanted guest/guests in the awning. I mean a mouse or mice !! They have been quite frisky and somewhat unafraid in fact, running around while we were sat at our meal in the awning. We saw the first one about 3 days ago and thought how sweet they looked ! 
Sadly, they took a great liking to the awning carpet and one day we had rolled it up halfway to give the grass underneath a little air/light and came back from a day out to find that they had started nesting inside the rolled-up part and had chewed great holes in the carpet as nesting material. Very cute but very destructive. So Philip confidently tried to block all the entrances/exits but almost impossible really.

Next day we had a wonderfully relaxing time at the Sole Therme Spa and came home to supper and bed. We did think that more chewing had been done to the carpet but could not be sure. In the morning, while having breakfast the mouse popped out of the awning skirt and we then noticed that in the end of one of the rolls of proper carpet was a pair of my panties. On further examination we discovered that it was a pair of very chewed up panty!!

The mouse had pulled it off the drying rack and tucked it neatly inside the carpet roll. Quite an effort as my panties are the cotton M n S big knicker types! poor thing having to lug that thing around.

Gently, we then unrolled the carpet and found a moss nest inside - Philip promptly took it outside and scattered the moss in the hedge and brought the carpet back inside and laid it flat!!

This could not continue, no matter how sweet the mouse looked, so I went to the office, explained the situation and they lent us a humane mouse trap which was kept under the counter. This was obviously a frequent occurence. We laid the bait - bread and honey - and carried on as normal. But, literally within minutes, the mouse was popping its head out and just could not resist the lure. He managed to scamper back n forth a few time before the trap sprung all the while being photographed by me!! quite heedless really.

Even when in the trap the mouse seemed unconcerned and carried on nibbling the bread and honey as if making the best of a bad situation. Positive thinking ?

Happy to say, Philip took him off down the road to a sports ground and let him loose - he scampered off nippily I'm told. The trap is still in place though with fresh bait - just in case...another little friend comes calling.

Country life.

Bad Harzburg

Bad Harzburg is a spa town on a thermal spring - saline water bubbles up from 840 m underground and is a constant warm temperature. Divine for just bathing in and doing you good too we were told. Odd though to be so far inland and swimming around in what tasted like sea water!! The town itself is very middle class, prosperous with lots of clinics, physios and various treatments available almost at every corner.

There was also a very long pedestrianised main street with loads of lovely coffee n cake shops, restaurants, ice cream parlours and the usual retail outlets to tempt the passerby. Philip has great difficulty passing the cake shops in particular... and didn't always manage to ! This is a picture of what seemed to be his favourite - warm apfel strudel with both whipped cream and ice cream - the works !!

In the main square was a very amusing and delightful fountain...first really funny one I've seen. Each figure seemed to have been sponsored by a local and was themed by/for them.

The mermaid (cute n sexy in a troll sort of way) was my favourite and then the cheery optimist. He just looked so happy and joyful !! brought a smile to my face indeed. The others were pretty good too. Everybody just loved the fountain square for its light-heartedness I think, we certainly did and spent many a happy hour watching the world go by.

Goslar

Goslar is a Unesco world heritage site and was a fascinating old town to ramble around. A marvellously decorative use of slate was the main feature of the buildings. Shame we didn't think of this in Wales what with the overabundance of slate on hand!! They seem to have a similar weather pattern over here ie lots of rain - so the slate was good protection from the inclemency of the elements as well as being simply beautifully cut and moulded to the houses.

Goslar also had a marvellous water system for cleaning up the town centre - all the ditches ran into a pond at the end of the town where the effluent was fed upon by fish - mainly carp we gather, very inventive for its time.

I sometimes felt we were in hobbit land - I am only 5'2" and I could only just have walked through this door without crouching down !! Perhaps in mediaeval days I would not have been considered such a midget.


Goslar also had a really interesting main square - and a wonderful clock which struck every few hours with marvellous chiming and a short sequence of figures depicting the history of the mining in the area. Watch the amateur video here

Germany - World Masters

Well, at last, I am getting down once again to jotting down a few remembrances of our trip to Germany for the Orienteering World Masters. We were in a campsite on the outskirts of Bad Harzburg in northern Germany. Two competitions have been held in Goslar and Bad Harzburg itself (for the sprints) and the distance events in various locations in the Harz mountains national park.

This has been our third World Masters event (the last one was in Pecs, in Hungary 2011 and the one before that in Switzerland 2010) and I am impressed that they choose interesting areas to hold the runs in. My main grouse with it all is the distance between events which means a car is almost an essential although Philip did manage to park nearnby a few times and then cycle the last few miles. He really begrudges the 40 euro parking fee !! middle name must be either Jones or Mac- something as both the Cardis and scots have a reputation for thrift.

Europeans, particularly east europeans, don't really have an idea how to queue so getting the coaches to and from an event is an absolute nightmare - almost a scramble. Last year, at one event in Hungary I just gave up trying to get on the coach and walked up the mountain - carrying Philip's backpack too. I had offered to take it for him as he had an early start and figured in the end it would be quicker for him to trot up the hill as a warm up rather than struggle to get on the coach leaving me to follow when I could.

The walk was lovely, through meadows and then steeply zigzagging up the hillside. The sun was scorching hot and every time a coachful passed I cursed!! Still, halfway up I found a bench, sat and had a cup of tea from the flask and enjoyed the most beautiful view ever. So well worth the sweat! We avoid the coaches if we can these days.

The next World Masters event is to be held in Liguria in 2013. We have heard though that they cannot agree on venues just yet so we await ........

On my ramblings!

While in Italy, well, Riva del Garda to be exact, earlier last year, I spent a lot of time just wandering round the back streets of the town and the peaceful outlying country lanes - well away from the tourist throngs. The rest of the family were doing much more adventurous stuff - mountain biking, wind surfing and grappling up the nearest gigantic rocky outcrops on the via ferrata. I did go up one of these mountains, but only to the cafe and up a very well-trodden path!
The views over Lake Garda were incredible and I was sorely tempted to carry on up the mountain but I met a couple of Irish ladies and we got into conversation and slowly ambled our way down the hillside deep in gay chatter!! How the Celts love to gas….. it was good hwyl or craic as the Irish say.

As a keen gardener I am always most interested in plants and plantings and I had great joy in discovering these hidden treasures (tiny though they were mostly) and was surprised at the amount of cacti I came across everywhere there. Somehow it wasn’t quite what I would have expected of everyday Italian gardens – something more operatic and vivid maybe – lavish lush colours, a glorious overabundance and not these crisp rather modern arrangements.

Some of the gardens were mostly cacti and elsewhere they were used as a feature. I imagine in their climate you can leave them out in pots all year round? I did manage to get the odd blossom to appear but my mother-in-law (Valerie) achieved a magnificient 7 blooms on one of her cacti this summer. Amazing. Must have been quite a sight – though one has to be quite observant as each blossom only last a few days, a thing of truly ephemeral beauty.

Now the really interesting bit!! An astonishing gadget that we found in the local upmarket supermarket was wine-dispensing pumps - at first glance they looked just like ordinary petrol pumps but surprise, surprise – you just took along your own containers, choose the wine you want to buy and fill up! The machines displayed the quantity you had dispensed, the price per litre and your total costs etc..... bloody marvelous! 

 

Wish we had these in good old GB, save a lot of trips to the local co-op, waitrose, sainsbury....unfortunately for us we had no spare containers to fill up with and so never got to taste the local beverages except in bottled form. That sufficed though !

Where else on earth but Italy would you find wines delivered in such a practical manner – a part of everyday life like petrol ? Their pragmatism has to be admired really. Cheers!