Mud, mud, glorious mud

Turns out all those machines were being used to tear down a concrete tower, so we were awakened (relatively) early by concrete cutters in action.

So after sorting breakfast we headed toward the Wattensee again. It's an interesting area geologically, and I still hadn't seen it with the tide out. Our planned stop was taken up by machinery so we moved on our second choice. That seemed to be somebody's house so we continued on to a little village of Ockholm and a nice stop. Despite the wind we went for a bike ride along the sea. It's a fascinating area and you should take a look on Google Earth. They fence off an area of mud flats, and that area gathers more soil until it is marsh, then they take the fences out to make drains and have some land. Repeat a few times, then enclose it in a dike and start again.

Fenced areas. Some of the sheep had so much wool they couldn't stand up. I had to roll two over that were cast! Bloody hero, me.

One tiny island in a big shallow sea.

Everywhere you looked there were wind generators. J looked at me a lot.

J has an electrically assisted bike, so this is my usual view now.

 When we got back I got the emailed bill from Vodafone that kicked off the events mentioned in  my separate blog. I won't go over them again, but  grrrgh.

Showerometer 18.

Nie bull, mon!

From Rantrum to Niebuell.

However, first we stopped in at a MH service centre as our LEDs weren't working and our reversing camera is playing up. For €101 they fitted a new €5 switch and told us our camera needed replacing. Bloody rip-off. If I'd brought my volt-meter with me as I had planned I could have worked the first out myself and saved at least €50. Grrh.

Our destination was another town carpark. It's not a good sign when there's heavy machinery parked up as well, but hey-ho.

We wandered around the town, but there wasn't a lot to see. I updated the public toilet app - it's funny what becomes important when you don't want to stink up your own MH unnecessarily. Anyone would think we were doing a toilet tour of Europe! But it is handy...  What we could also do with is an app that gave us diesel prices for all the stations close by. Why hasn't anyone done it yet?

Westward Ho!

We left Schleswig today, heading west via an old Viking settlement. Hedeby had controlled the trade routes across Denmark and became a capital. There are extensive earthwork walls running across this part of Denmark to slow north-south movement. The town was also protected by such walls and the harbour.

Protective walls. 

And examples of what they protected

Hedeby was in an inlet so quite secure secure sea-ward 

These house-martins (we think) were very cute, but mum and dad were kept very busy!

Hedeby fell out of favour and the inhabitants moved across the Schlei to Schleswig. Our stellplatz was behind those yachts. You can also see Denmark's module for the ICC in its launchpad.

From Hedeby we travelled to the west coast or thereabouts, as we are going to circle clockwise around the Jutland peninsular. We stopped at a cheap place attached to a swimming pool. The pool had a cafe attached so while we didn't swim (too windy and cold) we watched others while supping beer and eating chips.

Nice...

Just a carpark, but we  weren't alone... (again). It's a little surprising how many people are doing this motorhoming thing.

And who would expect a pipe-band in Germany? Sadly practice was Saturday so I didn't get to loosen up my fingers. 

Showerometer 15 (mixed  showers are an acquired taste).

Going loopy

There's not much to Schleswig so it's hard to see quite why the site is so popular. Yes it has all the facilities (including great internet) but so do many other sites.

Anyway, one of the attractions for us was the Hochbrucke so we took the train over it and back. It's quite cool. The station was too close to get trains up to the required height of the bridge so they built a big loop to do so. The other side had more room so was just a long sloping trestle and embankment. Interesting engineering.

On the way back we visited a Prince's palace, Schloss Gottorf. We just walked around the gardens rather than through the buildings. Slack, eh?

Some bum spoiling the view of Schloss Gottorf.

A virtual reality experience, quite amusing for onlookers.

We saw a similar statue in Montpelier (I think). You can see profiles if you get the right angle. Quite clever I reckon.

For a change this one's arse wasn't shiny from rubbing like most of the others.

Showerometer 20 (Yes, that's right: max marks.)

Is Vodafone the worst company for customer service in the world?

Maybe not, but they are trying very hard!

7 hours on their help chat trying to get an incorrect bill resolved. 5 advisors, 2 'managers' and one customer relations wonk. Security answers 5 times, cut off by idiot once and managers twice. And I think it still may not have been resolved.

If I had hair I'd be pulling it out. It's rather a bore.

My advice, while they're OK if you don't need help, this may be outweighed by how bad they are when something goes wrong - like they make a mistake as in this case.

What happened to the heat-wave?

We woke to heavy rain which was splashing through the open skylights. It's the first bad weather in a couple weeks so not a big deal. We packed up and headed to Schleswig, just 30 km up the road. By the time we got there it was sunny but still windy. We had been warned to get there early as it is a popular spot, and by about an hour after our arrival it was all full up! There were MHs arriving all day, and as late as 9pm, but they had zero chance of a place. It's on the seaside and about 5 mins from the town centre so you might understand the attraction. It's also pretty close to a GAF airbase and there were Tornados overhead much of the day.

Driving in, traffic was stopped by a procession:

All nicely dressed, we thought they might be Masons or some similar guild.

Then when we strolled through town we caught up with them. It turns out there is a shooting festival in town, and these were the scharfschuetzen. If my translation of Google is correct it is the 570th year of these festivals (they happen all over the country). Wow!

Each guild has its own flag which had ribbons for past triumphs, and we are guessing the gongs are individual awards.

We did a little shopping then came back to Reggie at which point the weather packed up again. 

Leaving one see to see another see but not seeing that see, you see?

With such a nice  environment, why rush away? We caught up on our blogs, despite the lousy internet, Skyped family, then went for a walk. We were aiming for the next lake over but ended up seeking a drink instead, as it was a tad hot.

We discovered a whisky museum and tasting venue, and while neither of us drink whisky we found a decent cake and tea and coffee.

Where's our bl@@dy drinks then?

Pretty as a picture

The walk was nice: through fields, forest and village.

Just like at home, each village has its memorial to the fallen,and family names recur.

There are plenty of horses in this area, and all of north Germany it seems.

Open woods let in lots of light for walkers

A horse walks into a bar, and the barman says "Why the long face?"

That evening the weather came up windy so we packed the furniture away.