The German Stellplatz a follow on

[Guest Don Madge]

Our autumn trip is now behind us (we're not home yet but visiting family in Worthing until Tuesday) it's been a wonderful experience, we never expected to see so many motorhomes about at this time of the year. We were in Trier on the 10th November and there are still many vans about. I hate to think what it will be like in July and August. The first three weeks of our trip coincided with Dutch, German and Italian school holidays. The fourth week was geriatrics only. Just some observations that some one might find useful. Mosel. We toured both banks of the river between Trier and Koblenz in glorious sunshine (well most of the time), there are many Stellplatz on either bank, almost every other village has one. We found the Sani stations were not so frequent. If you have a 8+ metre van you might find it difficult emptying waste tanks. In one or two places it was fairly tight with the Timberland. The popular places like Cochem and Bernkastel Kues we found were very crowded and the Stellplatz in both towns were small, sloping and close to the main road. We tended to use the ones in the smaller quieter villages. Rhine. We also toured both banks of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rudishiem. The road on the west bank (road 9) has more stopping places than road 42 on the east bank. There are a few small ferries that connect either bank, we paid €5 for the Timberland plus two passengers for a single crossing. One the west bank we only found two sani stations, at Bacharach and Bingen and we did not spot one one the east bank. We checked the camp site at Oberwesel and they were offering overnight parking only for €6, €2 for water and dumping and if you wished to use the site facilities there was an extra charge (€4 per person) I believe other sites in the area were offering similar services. Luxembourg If you plan an overnight stop in Luxembourg the Aire de Capellen is an ideal location, they are situated between junctions 1 & 2 either side of the A4/E25 motorway as you enter Luxembourg from Belgium. The area on the north side is laid out better for overnight parking than the south side. On both areas if you keep to the far right as you approach the fuel pumps you can refuel the vehicle and your LPG tank at almost the same spot. On the 11th November we paid 89 Euro cents for a litre of diesel this was down 4.5 cents from the previous month (14 Oct). Dunkirk We used Norfolk Line for the first time and stayed overnight both ways in the car park at the front of the terminal building. No problems at all, you're well away from the trucks and there was minimal noise from the ferries. If you are looking for an overnight stop away from the port area there is an ideal spot 40 miles from the port situated just off junction 10 on the A25 (direction Lille) motorway. It's a Leclerc Hypermarket with a large parking area. We paid 99 cents for a litre of diesel on the 11th Nov. We're home for 8 weeks then we're off to Turkey for the winter and the total eclipse in March. Don

[Guest berti]

hello don is the weather likely to be clement in turkey at the time of your trip? just read in the cyprus mail that turkey is dismantling a military checkpoint or somesuch at ledra st in nicosia and signs are favourable for more relaxed approach to crossings from the south. someone in the south has set up a m/home hire venture and states that you can visit the north and not have to return same day. do you have any info on this? it will be good if movement is unrestricted on the island and can access via turkish port as the last time i enquired ferries from greece were still suspended. kind regards berti