Last night was spent in a lovely campsite in the fairytale
town of Hann Munden. Like the town itself, I had my own fairytale, in the form
of a dream. There were really only two characters in my fairytale….Halle Berry
and me. There weren’t an awful lot of props either, just a crystal clear
swimming pool, you know, with that beautiful aqua coloured water. She was wearing the tiniest of bikinis and
looking fantastic and so I figured that whilst Julia was having her own
fairytale adventure with Brad Pitt, I’d enjoy the moment. I was casually resting at one end of the
pool, both elbows on the side. She emerged from under the water, trickles
running down her gorgeous physique. She moved slowly toward me. I approached with a coy smile and wrapped one
arm around her waist as I moved in for a kiss…..when she said sternly….’If you
think you getting something when there’s dishes to wash, trash to go out, lawns
to be mowed then”……
I woke in a cold sweat and glanced to my right. There as
always was Julia, smiling sweetly as she slept. I raised myself onto one elbow
to check that Brad wasn’t on her other side and for a fleeting moment thought
about maybe getting a pool installed.
When reality set in and I opened my eyes in our little dome,
it was just before 7am. Once again we had escaped without rain during the night
and the day although producing some cloud cover, looked great for cycling. The distance we were covering today wasn’t
that far.
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| A last look at Hannover Munsen |
A 27km ride to Kassel and another twenty odd to the campground at
Ahnatal. We had a couple of things to see and wanted a fairly easy day after
the big one the other day. Finished a
nice breakfast and packed up, whilst a few other bike packers did the same.
Interesting to note the amount of cycle tourers on the lake and river rides,
the numbers disappear when you hit the hills. The ride in to Kassel was
alongside an easy flowing river with villages dotting the banks on the far
side. Part way along we encountered a detour for the cycle path, as they were
completely renovating it. “Here we go” we thought….”What are they going to do
with us, probably chuck us on a single lane mud track”. We should have known. We were in Germany. Not
only did we not get a mud track, but they’d closed a beautiful country tree
lined lane to cars, just for bikes to use whilst the renovating was going on,
sending the cars another way…..brilliant.
About 5 kms from town, we jumped off the road into a little
village to pick up some morning tea, which we hoped to enjoy at one of the many
spots along the river that we’d seen.
Now that we had the morning tea, the spots ran out and soon we were in
the outskirts of town. There we found a park where we aired the tent and fly (condensation
only) and had our food, but had to forgo our morning coffee as we’d run out of
camping gas. Then on into Kassel. Boy…. What a shock this was…..fairytale
village last night……nightmare on Elm Street today!
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| The Orangerie - Kassel |
We’d come here for a number reasons….the
Orangerie, a beautiful building housing the marble baths and a planetarium.
Herkules, a huge monument built on the hills overlooking the city with a
massive cascading waterfall, coming down the hillside in layers. , Schloss
Wilhelmshohe, and another fairytale castle, Lowenburg built by a Duke in the
1700’s, never intended for living in, just a whim and now a major attraction. After our camping gas ran out this morning, as
we thought was on the cards, Ju had googled Primus stockists in Kassel (there
was only one apparently), so we headed there first. Looked everywhere….no sign,
asked locals….no idea….so we wrote that off and went looking for Maccas again
to get wifi. It really does sound like we have a thing for Mc Donalds, but if
you saw the prices here compared with Czech and Hungary, you don’t even think
about it. The township is not a nice
place. Lots of beggars in your face and I’m afraid a lot of very unsavoury
characters. As we were in need of money,
I withdrew some at an automatic teller with a few of these unsavoury
characters/beggars sitting right by the ATM.
Went into my usual preventative measures so I wouldn’t be asked for
money by speaking the very little Maori I know to Ju. “Tu tana mai na iwi” I uttered to my beloved
as I approached the ATM. “Ka pai” she
replied, “Tena koto” she added to confuse them even more so nobody asked us for
any money as they had no idea what language to use with us. “Pokare kare ana” I slung back. “Tana Umanga, Tukapa, Whangamata” she added
with a bit of emphasis. Well that
certainly did the trick and we left these beggars (who have cellphones nowadays
I might add!) and then spied a sports shop. Took a chance, not thinking for a
minute that they would have gas, usually they only stock clothes and shoes, but
this place had a few floors, one of which housed a camping/climbing section….so
luck was with us and they actually stocked Primus gas so this will probably see
us through to England.
Strange and sad to think that in just over a month, we’ll be
winging our way home. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll be great to see family and
friends, but another adventure will be over. Into Starbucks for a coffee….won’t
do that again…what a rip off. But
managed to get a bit of a charge on the computer while we were there. Decided we’d seen enough and headed out to
see what we came for. Just down the
road, in a park was the Orangerie. Gorgeous building, but oh….what snobs…! At the beginning of the tour, we’d have been
oohing and aahing about this place…we looked at each other and both said…”Could
do with a bit of paint”…
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| Herkules up the back and Schloss Willhelmshoe in front |
Herkules was next….and it is with a k, in case you think
I’ve spelt it wrong. Up on top of a big hill, you can see it from town, but you
need a close-up view. So…up we climbed
and further we climbed, until we rested and ate lunch under a Chinese pagoda
housing a Buddha. Took some of the small
park tracks and came upon Lowenburg castle.
Unfortunately, both Lowenburg and Herkules are having major work and are
covered in scaffold and cranes, however we think we got away with some creative
angle shots. Another disappointment for
us was that the cascading water is turned on and off…and today was the off day
(Tuesday). They only turn it on during
the weekends and on Wednesdays. If
Kassel had been a more attractive city, we may have hung round for the extra
day to see the cascading water as it is supposed to be quite something,
especially at night, but we were both keen to get out of the place.
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| Lowenburg Castle |
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| Schloss Willhelmshohe and the city of Kassel - yes, it was a steep climb! |
Met a German guy showing his Irish and English friends around,
who gave us some great info on the castle, before we began our journey
North…..uphill, I might add, toward our camp.
Fortunately for us, the gradient was brilliant, the road surface,
spectacular and we made quick time to our camp in Ahnatal…Campingverein Buhl e.V.
Here we paid the owner….a lovely man, who only charged us 10 Euros and then
because it was raining said that we could sleep in the bar area, after we’d
bought a couple of beers. Whilst Ju had a shower, I sat down to write the blog
and he and his wife came across to show me where everything was that we’d need.
She…like her husband, was lovely and these are the memories of this trip that
will stay with us….the people we have met.
Because you touch their lives briefly, you only see the best of the good
ones and that’s a great way to remember them….always ready with a kind word, a
bit of help or advice and a smile…
Both had great showers and they keep the amenities spotless.
Warm and clean, I emerged from my shower to blue skies. I mentioned this fact
to Julia….who told me we were still staying inside as we wouldn’t take a chance
having to pack up a wet tent…..perfectly true. Cooked some tea and then settled
in for the night, knowing that tonight, whatever the conditions….we ain’t
getting cold or wet…!
Toto ngingila!
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