Wednesday September 9th - Reutlingen to Bar-le-Duc
Ah- we all felt fine when we woke at 09.00 until we were told by Gunter that we had crashed out at 04.00 – then the effects struck. Gunter suggested that he would drive us out to a local fairytale Schloss- and we readily agreed, wanting to delay the start of our driving for as long as possible!
Gunter drove us up to Schloss Lichtenstein, a few miles south of Reutlingen which had to be rebuilt after the Yanks used it for target practice in the mid 40’s ( Don’t mention the W**!)
Pleasant interlude, then off for a beer – Uugghh! - at a restaurant close by, I think in Pfullingen?
What ever? The waitress took a shine to us and took our pictures and was rewarded with L’aimeDuck stickers over her blouse, L’aimeDuck cards, and a large tip.
Now about midday, and time for us to leave, so back to Gunter’s to pack Can’ardly and say our goodbyes.
Then we hit the road for Schloss Hohenzollen, a real fairytale tale castle built by some ma
d German king (King Friedrich Wilhelm IV)
– were’nt they all mad? They were, after all, related to our lot – say no more!
The sign said a 15 min walk from the car park, up steps, so 45 minutes later we crawled up to the castle – how on earth unfit people could do this climb we couldn’t fathom. Splendid views and what looked like a triple wedding, but the old German Mercedes staff car, seemed to have broken down, so the brides had to take the bus down with other fat punters.
Then off on our travels through Freudenstadt & the Black Forest to Strasbourg and then on to Bar-le-Duc, where we intended to use the Camping Municipal.
Now, the bureaucrats in Brussels and Schwabia have decided that all towns and villages should have a 30kph speed limit and they seemed to have arranged for a line of speed limit conformists to be in front of us at all times, so the journey to Strasbourg took for ever. We realised that we were running 4-5hrs late, so Angela was summoned to book us an Etap hotel in Bar-le-Duc, which she did within a few minutes. No further camping – relief for Mickey!
So the ETA for Bar-le-Duc was about 19.45. No chance - as Strasbourg was totally gridlocked – presumably the rush hour, but the locals we talked to in the queues seemed to think it was unusual. No matter, it delayed us a further 60 –90 minutes.
Panic then set in as we realised we had no alcoholic beverages in the car at all and most stores were shut. Jerry blamed Mickey for this gross dereliction of duty Mickey blamed Jerry.
We pushed on into the sunset, and then our luck changed as we found that the Auchan Superstore in Bar-le-Duc was still open, and not only that but there was our Etap Hotel right across the road/canal/ river and railway, to the Auchan, with a Buffalo Grill next door. (although it took us 15 mins to find it through the warren of minor roads, canals, rivers, railways etc).
With essentials suitably restored and finding our way through the maze again we gladly hit the Buffalo Grill as we had not eaten since breakfast. After feasting on Buffalo steaks and burgers and what the French waiter described as monster beers ( “These are large m’sieur”) but in reality were less than a pint, we retired to our room with a bottle of wine. No corkscrew ( Chris- we needed your multi-tool!) , so a screwdriver did the job!
Sleep at 00.30 ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Ah- we all felt fine when we woke at 09.00 until we were told by Gunter that we had crashed out at 04.00 – then the effects struck. Gunter suggested that he would drive us out to a local fairytale Schloss- and we readily agreed, wanting to delay the start of our driving for as long as possible!
Gunter drove us up to Schloss Lichtenstein, a few miles south of Reutlingen which had to be rebuilt after the Yanks used it for target practice in the mid 40’s ( Don’t mention the W**!)
Pleasant interlude, then off for a beer – Uugghh! - at a restaurant close by, I think in Pfullingen?
What ever? The waitress took a shine to us and took our pictures and was rewarded with L’aimeDuck stickers over her blouse, L’aimeDuck cards, and a large tip.
d German king (King Friedrich Wilhelm IV)
– were’nt they all mad? They were, after all, related to our lot – say no more!
The sign said a 15 min walk from the car park, up steps, so 45 minutes later we crawled up to the castle – how on earth unfit people could do this climb we couldn’t fathom. Splendid views and what looked like a triple wedding, but the old German Mercedes staff car, seemed to have broken down, so the brides had to take the bus down with other fat punters.
Then off on our travels through Freudenstadt & the Black Forest to Strasbourg and then on to Bar-le-Duc, where we intended to use the Camping Municipal.
Now, the bureaucrats in Brussels and Schwabia have decided that all towns and villages should have a 30kph speed limit and they seemed to have arranged for a line of speed limit conformists to be in front of us at all times, so the journey to Strasbourg took for ever. We realised that we were running 4-5hrs late, so Angela was summoned to book us an Etap hotel in Bar-le-Duc, which she did within a few minutes. No further camping – relief for Mickey!
So the ETA for Bar-le-Duc was about 19.45. No chance - as Strasbourg was totally gridlocked – presumably the rush hour, but the locals we talked to in the queues seemed to think it was unusual. No matter, it delayed us a further 60 –90 minutes.
Panic then set in as we realised we had no alcoholic beverages in the car at all and most stores were shut. Jerry blamed Mickey for this gross dereliction of duty Mickey blamed Jerry.
We pushed on into the sunset, and then our luck changed as we found that the Auchan Superstore in Bar-le-Duc was still open, and not only that but there was our Etap Hotel right across the road/canal/ river and railway, to the Auchan, with a Buffalo Grill next door. (although it took us 15 mins to find it through the warren of minor roads, canals, rivers, railways etc).
With essentials suitably restored and finding our way through the maze again we gladly hit the Buffalo Grill as we had not eaten since breakfast. After feasting on Buffalo steaks and burgers and what the French waiter described as monster beers ( “These are large m’sieur”) but in reality were less than a pint, we retired to our room with a bottle of wine. No corkscrew ( Chris- we needed your multi-tool!) , so a screwdriver did the job!
Sleep at 00.30 ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
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