Today we drove towards the german border again and looked for our last spot to sleep that night. We found a parking lot 30 mintues from Arnhem sourrounded by fields and water. We set up the chairs and table and sat around in the grass for a while and listened to Walter Moers „Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher“ again. But this time as an audiobook. We just hung around enjoying the nature and that we had nothing planned.After a while we cooked ourselves some dinner, good old pasta with ratatouille sauce. Apart from some cars coming and going and some bikes driving at the nearby street, a really calm place. After finishing dinner we used the golden hour to take some photos of us with our new clothes and I flew around with the drone a bit to get some aerial shots of the surroundings. After the sun set, we packed our stuff together and moved into the camper as mosquitos and other blood drinkers came out of their holes. Unfortunately it were a good 30 degrees outside which made sitting in the van very unconfortable so we McGyver’d us a mosquito shield in front of the camper door so at least some fresh air could get in. We listened to more of the audiobook and slowly fell asleep, accompanied by the pretty loud ribbiting of the frogs at the nearby pond. It was kind of annoying and beautiful at the same time. But after a while you just fall asleep, so all good. Eventhoug waking up a few times, I at least, feel relatively refreshed now. Today is the day where we will drive to Hannover where Lukas will hop on an ICE to Hamburg and Lazaro and I will drive to Hümme to sleep one night at Marius‘ place (like on the last roadtrip). Mainly because driving 8 hours home on one day is too much.
This was our second roadtrip through France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. It was a cool adventure again and the next one will come :).
While we visited Brugge we also looked for some vintage clothing stores. However we weren’t really successful. So we continued our search in Den Haag, our next stop. After an annoying paperchase for a parking spot, we finally found one where we could leave the camper at. We walked into the city and got us some lunch at a burger restaurant. After finishing we continued our search for cool stores and went to „Kilo Kilo“, a store where you pay 30 bucks for each kilogram of clothing you found. Pretty awesome actually. And they had some nice pieces! While Lazaro bought trousers and a sweater, I found 2 trousers, 2 sweaters and an awesome leather jacket with cool cotton sweater inserts! Probably means I have to give away one of my old jackets… Lukas didn’t find anything in that store and so we moved to the next one which was more expensive but had a really awesome selection of shirts, jackets, shoes and other stuff! I can really recommend to visit that one when visiting Den Haag! It’s called Vintage Island. Here we all found something. Lukas bought a nice shirt, Lazaro also a cool short-sleeved shirt and a super awesome jacket and I also found a shirt. And as I had bought enough already at Kilo Kilo, I had to hold myself back..All in all a successful shopping tour in Den Haag. After that, we drove a little bit out into the country side where we stayed over night. Nothing special so I won’t go into much detail here :). Oh and I actually did not take any pictures while being in Den Haag. However it isn’t the most beautiful city, at least where we walked around, so you didn’t miss anything.
Driving to Brugge luckily did not take that long from Dunkerque. We parked at a parking lot for campers that was pretty close to the city core and after that went for some groceries. After bringing those back to the camper, we walked into the city. Brugge is a really beautiful place with an incredible amount of old buildings. Some featuring a gothic design and then some looking like soneone just took them from some place in england and put them here. The big plaza in front of the Belfort of Brugge actually in parts reminded me of the Römerplatz in Frankfurt. After walking around the city and finding some nice fries and of course a belgian waffle to eat, we visited an exhibition by Dalí which was currently happening. Every time its so amazing to look at his pictures, from scribbles over etchings to sculptures, his style amazes me. After getting our dose of Dalí we searchee for a place to drink. We went to a pool/sports bar and got us some beer. Lazaro and I tried the „Red Delirium“ which was some weird cherry-flavoured 8% beer. A normal beer drinker would probably say, that that is not a proper beer, but it was delicious. After getting another one, we got us dinner (which sadly was way too expensive for being not really good) and then walked to another bar. A metalbar called Valhalla, very nice. The bartender there was super nice, looking like your typical metalhead: 2 meters tall a big beard and tattoos and piercings everywhere. And he gave us each different beers to try as we all aren’t very experienced beer drinkers. He gave us a little introduction into some belgian beers which was really cool! All while listening to some live shows of powermetal bands.After finishing our beers we decided to walk back to our camper and get ready to sleep. Brugge was really a cool experience!
Today we drove to Dunkerque where we had booked a spot at a campingsite, mainly because we wanted to shower.After doing so we walked along the coast towards the city and looked at the many very different houses next to each other on the boulevard. It were about 4km to the city core but we decided not to walk that far as we wanted to eat dinner , so we turned and walked back after about two-thirds. As we were pretty tired, we did not check out too much of the city.Back at the campingsite we set up our table, chair and stuff for cooking and made some simple pasta with tomato sauce. After eating up and washing dices, we moved inside the camper as it got pretty cold in the evening so close to the ocean. We did not really know what to do so Lazaro read to us out of his book „Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher“ by Walter Moers. That was very nice – maybe I have to buy that book. We then listened a bit to anothee audio book but relatively quickly decided to get ready for sleeping as we wanted to get up a little earlier the next morning to drive to Bruges and to get a spot at one of the parking lots relatively close to the city core. So it was around 24:00 as we said good night already (pretty early compared to the other days).
After getting up and eating some breakfast we packed our stuff to go to the beach. After a 10 minute walk we found a nice spot and after a bit of laying around we went for a little swim. The water was very refreshing, relatively cold but not too cold. Very nice to go swimming in the ocean again. After more laying around and almost falling asleep in the sand we decided to walk back to the camper again to leave our stuff there and walk back to the main road. We walked up the road, away from the beach, and towards a small bakery where we got some delicious pastries and bread. The baguette actually was so delicious that only one half of it survived the way back to the camperAfter our little snack we hung around in the shadow of the car to hide from the heat a bit and then started looking for a place to eat. Again finding something vegan or at least vegetarian was a real challenge, but luckily there was a burger place that actually had a vegan pattie option! The burgers were delicious and the amount of fries was huge. Later that evening we went for another walk into the nature reserve right behind the camping place. It was very calm and I took the drone for a little fly to take some videos and pictures. As we got back to the camper, we watched „In Bruges“, a tragic-comedy movie set in Bruges to get everyone ready for our visit there in two days.
Today we woke up to an incredibly humid heat in the morning in Verdun which led to the decision to drive to the coast where it’s cooler. We started driving at around 12 and had a long way ahead of us. During our trip we passed through many small french villages some of which looked like out of a cowboy movie. But also many empty and rundown. We arrived at the sea at around 20:30 after a day of driving and then started searching for a spot to stay over night. In the end we chose a camping spot 200 meters from the beach where we could stay. And with 10€ per day, it isn’t really expensive. After parking we made some Ravioli again for dinner. As it began to rain again, we couldn’t really do much. We wanted to explore the small town a bit though so we got our rain jackets and made a little walk in the rain which was fun!Shortly after we went to bed and got a good amount of sleep as the temperatures were much nicer here at the sea.
As our sleep wasn’t particularly good last night, we stayed in bed for a little longer the next morning. After finally getting up, we decided to get tickets to go for a little swim in the nearby lake which also had shower rooms. The humid weather made it impossible to not sweat so every possibility to shower was welcome. After showering we left our parking spot and started our trip to Verdun which was only around 1½ to 2 hours. When arrived in Verdun we had a quick look at Park4Night to find a place for the night. But before we drove there, we bought some groceries for the next days. After leaving the Aldi, we drove to a little meadow next to a little river where other campers and mobile homes already found their spot. We parked a little further up the road and, a little later, decided to walk into the city to find a place to eat. We arrived about 25 minutes later and found most of the restaurants closed. It seemed like monday was closing day for most of the restaurants, so we ended up at a kebab place – which also meant fries and salat for Lazaro as this was the only vegan „option“ on the menu. As only 2% of the population is vegan, most places probably save themselves the „trouble“ of offering vegan options.While we were eating it started to rain. And it did not stop. I looked at my weather app and found out that it would not stop anytime soon and would get even stronger so we decided to walk back to the camper as fast as possible. Accompanied by lighting and thunder we got back pretty much soaked but right in time before the rain got even stronger.The rest of the evening consisted of listening to music, playing cards and drinking some wine and whiskey which was fun. Especially towards the end.We went to bed at around 3 in the morning.
Today marked the start of our Roadtrip 2.0! Again with Lukas, Lazaro and myself, the usual suspects. The first stop was a parking lot in Luxembourg, directly after crossing the border. Here we stopped and took a little walk around a nature reserve located between Wintringen und Remerschen. Due to the considerable amount of mosquitos we always had to keep a steady pace to not get stung. That made us extra hungry so after getting back to the camper we cooked some nice Ravioli as dinner. Always accompanied by some nice music. After eating up and cleaning the dishes, we took another little walk around which was abruptly ended by rain and thunder which made us run back to the camper just in time to not get completely soaked. We then build our sleeping spots and then tried to sleep. However it was hot and very humid which made it pretty hard. But well, a hour here and there was possible.
In retrospect people tend to see things with rose-colored glasses. If someone had asked me during the hike if I was having fun, I probably could have punched them in the face at times. Now I would say that it was quite an adventure! So I will intentionally avoid the word „torture“.
Our planned hiking route with a total length of 66 km we wanted to walk within three days. The two red „X“ mark the camping sites where we stayed over night. Schömberg was the starting- / end-point of our journey.
A mixture of perhaps a little ill-considered planning and a bit more overconfidence had led to the fact that instead of a 50 km hike we had a 66,4 km hike ahead of us – of course also to the enthusiasm of certain other participants. I for myself thought: Well, that’s about 20 km a day, that should be doable! And the last 6 km will be fine as well. After all we’re still young and relatively sporty. (I’m still convinced of the latter, but I’m not so sure about the former after this – experience.) As always, one knows much better in retrospect. But to be honest, it’s also good that you often don’t know what you’re getting into. Who knows if we would have tackled this challenge at all otherwise.
The trip started on Thursday 26th of May and ended two days later on (god bless) a Saturday; the 28th to be precise. After bit of a restless night because of the exitement, Liz and I got up at 8:00 AM, made ourselves ready for leaving the house at 9:00 AM to pick up Lazaro and Calvin at the Darmstadt Central Station at 9:25 AM. After that worked out moderately good we started driving towards the Black Forest. To make it short: Our group started hiking 1 hour late at around 12:00AM. The first day of our hike should have a total of 25 km and we reserved a table for dinner at the camping site for 8:00 PM. Shortly after we started walking, we came across a first cool highlight: A Lost Place baby! What once was the pulmonary sanatorium „Lungenheilanstalt Charlottenhöhe“ turned into a creepy, decaying place that leaves an eerie feeling while passing through. And it apparently has a history of wannabe Ghostbusters visiting the place and annoying the adjacent residents. (Find a german article about that here).
After a while of more hiking and also the overcomeing of many meters of altitude, the first incident happend: One of Calvin’s shoulder straps on his backpack gave up and ripped under the wheight of the multiple cans of pasta with tomato sauce he carried with him. But after a bit of fiddling around with rope and knife, Sam and Calvin managed to repair it. (By the way, the construction lasted the entire hike!).
Our first break, and definetely not our lastThe Squad!Fixing Calvin’s backpackOur tents at Camping Rehmühle
We arrived at „Camping Rehmühle“ at 7:30 PM and after setting up our tents got ourselves some dinner in the restaurant. After eating we went to the showers to get a nice warm and relaxing shower before going to sleep. Well, I think I can speak for all the guys that it wasn’t particularly relaxing to shower in what felt like 100°C hot water. Shortly after turning on the shower, you were greeted by a steaming, hot beam of lava that turned showering into a hot fun. But at least you didn’t have to sleep in sweaty clothes! We then went to bed in our tents and at first everything felt relatively fine. Still warmed up by the fiery shower it felt like it would be a restful night. And apparently it was for some people.. but not for me and some others. You know these people who can sleep in crowded trains while driving to work? I never understood how they manage to do that. Maybe I am just too paranoid. At least I definetely was while lying in the tent trying to sleep. Our nice but relatively loud tent neighbours seemed to have made it their business to keep their campfire going all night. At least they were still sawing wood into pieces late at night. And it always felt a bit like they did not have their fire under control. In addition to that, a Dutch biker army was stationed next to us, whose members probably celebrated themselves on Father’s Day. Which led to the fact that these pilgrimaged drunk at night back in their group tent, cracked jokes and then fell asleep farting and snoring loudly. So it was really starting to feel like a sawmill… These unpleasant noises paired with a cold night that crept into the sleeping bags of some of us led to only a few hours of sleep that night.
Luckily the hike on the next day was not as long as the first one. But sleep deprivation made it not really easier. However we came across some beautiful landscapes again! That (almost) made up for that rather unrefreshing night. I say almost, because sadly you cannot really make up lost sleep. Anyway, the last few hundred meters have felt a bit like an eternity and by now becaome also kind of painful with blisters emerging in the depths of some of our hiking boots.
Short break at a nice bakery. Notice the „eye-rubbing“ to „not-tired looking“ ratio?In retrospective my backpack definetely was to heavy (17kg)! You do not need a book, nor an extra t-shirt and such. Next time I will try to keep it much lighter. Rookie mistake I suppose. (Picture by Lazaro)
But at least the second camping place was much nicer and I immediately felt much safer there, too. And after the first cold night, Alina and Juli booked themselves a „sleeping barrel“, basically a little hobbit-like hut inside of a big barrel. And by now not only me but also Liz and Sam felt like we could need a more restful night than the one before. So we decided to join the two in their barrel that luckily had a bit more space than for two persons only.
Now it was time to get a nice refreshing shower, now for real! So I walked to the showers together with Lazaro. After the sobering realization that there were only two showers in that sanitary facility, we waited, together with another weird, kinda grumpy man in a bathrobe, for Julius and Lukas to finish their shower. When I was my turn to shower I couldn’t wait for the pleasant warm steam of water to run down my body. The more it hurt when I had to find out that somehow THE WARM WATER STOPPED WORKING in my shower! Best it could do was not to emit ice cubes. But at this point I just surrendered and decided not to be upset about it – what would be the point anyway.
After finishing my cold shower we went back to the barrel and waited for the pizzas to arrive which we ordered earlier. They did and they were delicious!! At least for most of us. (Sorry Calvin, that you had to eat your pizza with a jackie-coke topping. Pour boy….. badumtssss). After finishing dinner, we went to bed relatively fast. Most of us were pretty tired so no nice, long evening talks under the stars.
I think adventures like that are also a very humbling experience and should be done every once in a while. After journeys like this I am always even more thankful for simple things like a warm bed at home. This humility already came over me before sleeping in that barrel which was good, because it meant I didn’t have a bad mood the next day from another not-so-recoverable night. But to be fair it was partly my fault to be so naive and think that this time I wouldn’t even need a proper sleeping bag in that barrel as it was heated anyway. In short, I was wrong, it got pretty chilly in there which made me wake up again and led to another round of sleep deprivation. However, still much much better than the first night as I almost slept six hours in a row! So I was pretty thankful for that.
The sleeping barrel! (Pic by Juli)Sam inside of the sleeping barrel (Pic by Juli)Eating a well deserved pizza (Pic by Lukas)
For the last day we decided to drive most of the way back by bus. Blisters, hurting limbs of all kinds and overall fatigue led us to this decision for which I am grateful for as this last hike of another 26 km would have definetely been hell! We decided to walk at least the 3 km (which somehow turned into a frew more again) to the bus stop from where we would start our journey back to our cars. After missing our first bus ( no, I am not angry @Juli & @Alina! Godammit believe me already! ;D ) we got ourselves some nice pieces of cake and waited in front of the bus stop for our ride. The „ride“ was a very small bus, more a shuttle, and speeding through the hills with the german „Schlagermusik“ playing inside of it, turned it into kind of a which’s cauldron with wheels… Whatever, we arrived it Calw after 40 minutes and there waited for our next ride. While some of us, myself included, just rested at the foot of a water fountain next to a cute square surrounded with old half-timbered houses (Fachwerkhäuser), others went on a short sightseeing tour through the town. Shortly after walking back to the bus stop we were greeted by an even smaller bus that was almost too small to carry all of us plus the 4 or 5 people also needing a ride.. Apparently public transport isn’t as well used as in other parts of the country. After the rolling tin can took us back to Schömberg, our starting location, there was only one kilometer left to walk back to our cars!
We finally arrived at the cars and proud of ourselves we had a little picknick in front of them. Everyone in the round then mentioned some things they were grateful for on the journey! A nice exercise which I am already doing almost everyday to train myself in gratefulness. I swear, doing that improves life! After a small recap on our adventure, we parted ways again and drove home.
Gals n guys, nothing „wellnessy“ about that hike but definitely an adventure that was worth it! It was hard, exhausting, fun and we should do something like this again!
Hey, it’s been a while! But I wanted to share a small but fun adventure with you.
Last weekend my friend Lars and I went hiking to the Feldberg (Taunus) about 40 minutes away from Langen. We went there one year ago and found a completely other world full of snow just 40 minutes away from home! So we wanted to visit that place again and hoped to find it covered it snow. And we did. It snowed the day before and everything was covered in a thick layer of snow like one would find in the bavarian mountains. We packed our stuff, including our drones (Lars got himself a Mavic Mini) and after being lucky finding a parking spot, we started to walk up the few hundred metres.
During the hike we shot some cool drone footage that we wanted to make a small video of. We walked further up the path and found the top of the small mountain surrounded from clouds, snow and piercing cold wind. Apart from the strong wind a completely different view from last time, where we could look over the sourrounding valleys for kilometres. Now, after 20 metres, people would dissolve in a grey mixture of snow and clouds. Pretty cool actually! But no condition to fly a small drone in.
After walking around the sci-fi looking telecommunications tower on top of the mountain and having a small lunch, we started our way down and back. This time we started a bit earlier with walking back down since last time, we had to descend in darkness with flashlights, which wasn’t particularly save. After a 30 minutes walk on a snowy country road we reached the car and I am still happy that we managed to get back on the slippery, snowy road with my old Opel Corsa.
We arrived safely at home and already knew we had some cool drone footage to show!
Some pictures I took with my phone (sorry DSLR Camera, I will use you next time..)
