Monday 5th - Thursday 8th September 2011
We'd ordered some nice freshly baked bread delivered from the reception, after completing most of our packing up. This was a low stress start to the day and we were keen to get rolling on towards Germany. We rode along the Rijn passing fields and an interesting Mammoth statue in front of a pumping plant.
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| Happy cows |
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| Lawrie with the Mammoth |
Anticipation grew as we approached the German border, as we really wanted a big 'Welcome to Germany' style sign. Unfortunately the only indication that we were there was a language change on the signs. Lawrie loved the motorcycle sign at the border anyway.
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| Lawrie at the border. |
We rode into Emmerich am Rhine (the spelling of the river now changed) and went through to the tourist office to get a map. Unfortunately there was no camping close so we decided to grab lunch and work out a plan. It took a little while to find a reasonably priced restaurant so Lawrie had to walk back to grab the bikes from the outside the tourist info. On the way back (walking with two loaded bikes) a big wind gust hit and knocked Kitty's bike into a wheelie. In the ensuing chaos Lawrie's bike fell over off its stand and broke a front pannier mount! We found a bike store and bought Ortlieb front panniers, unfortunately only available in red.
We rode towards a campground on our newly acquired map and spent ages trying to find the entrance. The campsite was 20 euros as they only offered a full site which would fit 3 of our tents! The weather was poor by this point, very cold and rainy so we decided to keep moving the next day.
Tuesday morning we rode to the local theme park, located in a nuclear power station (which was never switched on). It was closed, much to our disappointment so we continued to Xantan.
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| The new panniers fit well. |
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| The theme park. |
On our way we stopped off at Moyland castle, which was closed. Luckily the gardens and art gallery were open and entrance was half price. We spent some time here, checking out some interesting 2D - 3D sculptures before riding off into the windy and soon wet afternoon.
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| Moyland castle and moat. |
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| Inside is full of artworks. |
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| Looking through the herb garden. |
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| Very cool fountain. |
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| Walking past an art installation. |
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| A great 2D-3D work. |
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| Big horse. |
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| This was a safe... |
The first campsite on our map was closed so it was lucky that our backup plan, 400m away, would accept us. We setup near a small ring of pine trees which proved to be a good idea, giving us a kitchen shelter from the wind and rain over the next two days. The location of our tent, however, copped the full wind all night, which was howling! We didn't sleep very well and had to adjust the guy ropes and pegs during the night, in the rain!
Wednesday we rode to the Xanten Archaeological Park, a former Roman city, which is like a version of 'Time Team' that you can experience in real life. They have rebuilt some of the features, which were pillaged for building stones in the past and preserved some of the dig sites. The museum on site had an excellent multimedia guide for some of its artifacts and we spent the whole day here and on the grounds.
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| Reconstructed Roman temple. |
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| The trees indicate the edges of the awnings over the footpaths. |
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| Cooler than a touch screen, you moved the magnifying glass to get more information! |
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| Full suit would have been more fun. |
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| Roman bath excavation |
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| Red sections are where the original arches were. |
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| Nice gardens for a stroll. |
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| Exposed section of aqueduct. |
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| Rebuilt colosseum |
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| Sections of original walls remain. |
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| Cool horse sculpture. |
The next morning we packed up and headed towards Duisberg.
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