3 day catch up

Wednesday 8^th June

Well here we are on the European mainland once more. The crossing, by P&O from Hull to Rotterdam, was very pleasant and relaxing. A very calm sea, comfortable cabin and good food. That was the first time we had crossed that way and probably won't be the last.

The drive from Rotterdam was a bit of a slog. We were able to fill up with gas in Holland with no trouble, as most filling stations had it. Unfortunately the same is not true in Germany and by the time I began to think it was time to start looking again we had got into a barren area. This meant changing over to run on petrol which meant the usual carburettor problem which meant waiting for about 20minutes for the petrol to seep through and free the sticking float valve. Fortunately we did it at an autobahn service stop so it wasn't too traumatic.

We eventually only made it nearly as far as Kassel in Germany. We found a nice little site on a lake in a National Park, so nice that we may stay for a second night so that we can get out and explore tomorrow.

Thursday 9^th June

No usable wifi here so unable to post but we had a good day out today on our folding bikes. We are camped across the road from the National Park centre for the Edersee National Park. We called at the centre and got a route to follow through the park and down to a village where we got lunch at a restaurant before returning by another route to the campsite. 

Should sleep well after all the exercise.

Friday 10^th June

Packed up and left the site by 11 o'clock and spent the rest of the day travelling east. Made generally good progress apart from about an hour in the late afternoon when we were stuck in about a 5km tailback on the autobahn due to road works. Autogas was much more available the further east we got. Arrived at a campsite near Gera to the east of Erfurt in the area of the former GDR. There is clearly less money about here judging from the site and the campers but all very friendly in spite of almost no English being spoken. We will just stay the one night and head on to the Polish border tomorrow. I have found a free wifi connection so should be able to post the blog.