Deleted account rno
Guest
We just got back yesterday from our summer holidays to Germany. We were apparently blessed with two of the best weeks weather-wise that they've had this summer. It was sometimes hard to relate to temperatures in the mid to high 20's being in late September.
Leaving home on 6th September, we took the A967 Coldstream road south to Newcastle for the ferry. What a really good road this is. Better even than the A68/A696 which is the one we usually take. We stopped off in Coldstream for lunch. This was a hint of the weather to come.
We made the ferry in plenty of time. The one disapointment of the holiday being that we docked in Ijmuiden at 13.00 hrs. This was apparently due to technical problems. The engines being cut to save fuel on a half empty ship is my guess. We did the 350 miles south to Jockgrim, arriving about 19.30 hrs. Thanks to the GS and filtering, this probably saved a good hour or two. The Dutch roads were a bit of nightmare, roadworks wise.
Anyway, the holiday starts for real now. We were staying with my sister in Jockgrim, south west Rheinland Pfalz.
Still-ripe apples gave an indication of the lateness of summer this year.
It's only a small town but a great base for exploring. We'd decided to try and limit our travelling time to places we were going. Everywhere we went on holiday was within an easy 4 hour return trip from Jockgrim.
Our first day out took us into the university town of Heidelberg in Bad Württemberg.
This was our only fairly dull and overcast day. That said, the same couldn't be said about Heidelberg. It's a really nice town. We even found a pub selling bier in proper steins.
There must be something in the water in Heidelberg. Steffi Graf comes from here and Boris Becker comes from Leimen, which is about 8 kms away.
Back home to Jockgrim. My parents recently moved into a new flat which is built on the former site of the Ludowici brick and tile factory. This operated from the late 1800's until the 1960's and was a massive employer in the area. My Dad served his time as an engineer at Ludowici's. In the mid 50's he worked on the Kugelhaus project which were spherical shaped houses designed for third world/disaster zoned accomodation.
A Tile museum in honour of Carl Ludowici was recently built in Jockgrim. One of the Kugelhausls are on site. Here is Mrs Ronno outside it. Who knows, it might have been one my Dad worked on...
Another bit of family link here: My uncle, Hans Kimmel was the architect for the new museum. He was also a former employee at Ludowici. The ornate roof tiles used on the museum are originals from the factory.
We then spent a really enjoyable two days in Schwarzwald. We stayed overnight at Neubierhausl outside Titesee. We stopped off on our way south at Baden Baden, a town that just reeks of money. Even the old bangers look good...
From here, we rode the fabulous B500 south. The road surface was first class and great sweeping 80 mph bends were coupled with tight hairpins.
It's a great area for riding in. Titesee itself is very touristie, which is understandable considering the area it's set in.
Waking up at 07.00, you're waiting for the sun to burn the mist off the hills in the hope that the good weather will continue...
...Which, thankfully it does...
We were staying at the Neubierhausl Hotel which was brilliant value. I got the link on here and am grateful to the GSer who discovered this place.
My sister and Bro' In Law were with us and luckily for me, Christine decided to travel home with them in their car, leaving me to ride the B500 north without a pillion
We met up at the Vogtsbauernhof, a village/museum near Gutach, which has been kept to show what life was like here in Schwarzwald between 1600 and the 1990's when the last resident was still working the farm land here. The village has a kind of Amish feel to it.
A mill is still working here and almost everything in the village including the machinery is made of wood.
The Scwarzwald farmers made their own schnaps from fruit (and still do. Most are licenced for this) and the village has it's own typical still.
Our next "major" day out was riding the Deutscher Weinstraße. This is an 85 km stretch of road which begins at Schweigen Rechtenbach and meanders through scores of villages where half timbered wine dressers houses make a picturesque backdrop to the stunning scenery of the vinyards at the foot of the Pfälzerwald.
This is the Wein Tor at Schweigen at the start of the route.
27 degrees. I knew that it must be hot when Christine decided to remove her jacket liner. That has to be a first...
Villages like St Martin and Rhodt are full of places to stop and try some free wine tasting. There are also lots of "Zimmer Frei" signs in case you sample too much...
Slow bimbling through cobble stoned streets is the only way to do it.
A wine farmer with his harvest.
If the wine tastes half as good as these grapes, it'll be delicious.
The black grapes make Dornfelder, a dry red wine.
Wine making these days is all scientific but in bygone eras, the grape harvests were prayed for by the farmers in small churches dotted all over the vineyards in wine making areas. I dare say, prayers are still said for the harvest....
The Wienstraße finishes at Bockenheim.
The best way back to Jockgrim from here is to head south back along the route in the opposite direction.
Our next venture was to cross the French border into Alsace at Lauterburg. This is only 12 kms from where we were staying. My Grandfather was born in Alsace and moved to Jockgrim after WW1 when Alsace became part of France. He wanted to remain German. Had he not, I would have been chearing on the French in World Cups etc.
A 20 minute ride past Strasbourg and high into the Vosges mountains brings you to here...
Natzweiler Struthof Concentration Camp. Well worth a visit. Incredibly interesting and eerily quiet. The museum and camp are open to the public. I doubt if the inmates had mind of the spectacular countryside that the camp is built in.
Although there were lots of other visitors during our tour, hardly anyone appears in any of my photographs. I find that strangely quite unnerving.
The camp is only 80 kms from Jockgrim. In real terms to me, it was a million miles from any part of Germany or the German people that I know.
A very humbling experience...
The roads up to Natzweiler were excellent. Sweeping bends and tight hairpins in parts. The rain came on as we left the camp. I was glad. I had to take it easy on the way back down the mountain. Somehow, enjoying the ride back wasn't in my thoughts. Nor was taking photographs of some of the scenery and picturebook villages on the way.
We stopped off at Strasbourg and tried to clear our minds of the morning. Petit France is a lovely part of the city.
Then it was back to Jockgrim and a million miles from where we had visited.
Our next day out was to Trier which is reported to be Germany's oldest city. It's main attraction is the Porta Nigra, the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It was built between 180 and 200 AD and is a testiment to Roman architecture and building.
Free bike parking 40 metres from the Porta Nigra was very welcome too.
The gate dominates the city landscape. According to my missus, Trier has a really good shopping centre.
One shop that caught my eye was this one. Now I knew that He was a fisherman but didn't realise that Watchmaking was another of His many gifts...
We then headed along the banks of the Moselle to Bernkastel Kues. Again, fantastic hairpins and fast, sweeping bends take you through little villages like Piesport and Lorsch.
Bernkastel Kues must have the record for the narrowest house anywhere.
The town centre is like something out of a fairy story. Incredible architecture.
The ride home through the Hunsrück and the Pfälzerwald was really enjoyable too. GPS is brilliant
Our remaining days were spent kicking about the roads and villages of Alsace (Wissembourg area), Speyer and the Süd Weinstraße. I'm really lucky having family in such a great part of the world.
We also spent our evenings eating far too much and drinking as much as we expected too. We had a great holiday and were grateful that the weather was so good to us.
Too much bier, too many Bratwursts and too much Schwarzwald gateaux ultimately played havoc with my waistline. It'll take months to shift what two weeks enjoyment created.
All too soon, it was time to set sail for home.
Thanks for looking at my write up
Leaving home on 6th September, we took the A967 Coldstream road south to Newcastle for the ferry. What a really good road this is. Better even than the A68/A696 which is the one we usually take. We stopped off in Coldstream for lunch. This was a hint of the weather to come.
We made the ferry in plenty of time. The one disapointment of the holiday being that we docked in Ijmuiden at 13.00 hrs. This was apparently due to technical problems. The engines being cut to save fuel on a half empty ship is my guess. We did the 350 miles south to Jockgrim, arriving about 19.30 hrs. Thanks to the GS and filtering, this probably saved a good hour or two. The Dutch roads were a bit of nightmare, roadworks wise.
Anyway, the holiday starts for real now. We were staying with my sister in Jockgrim, south west Rheinland Pfalz.
Still-ripe apples gave an indication of the lateness of summer this year.
It's only a small town but a great base for exploring. We'd decided to try and limit our travelling time to places we were going. Everywhere we went on holiday was within an easy 4 hour return trip from Jockgrim.
Our first day out took us into the university town of Heidelberg in Bad Württemberg.
This was our only fairly dull and overcast day. That said, the same couldn't be said about Heidelberg. It's a really nice town. We even found a pub selling bier in proper steins.
There must be something in the water in Heidelberg. Steffi Graf comes from here and Boris Becker comes from Leimen, which is about 8 kms away.
Back home to Jockgrim. My parents recently moved into a new flat which is built on the former site of the Ludowici brick and tile factory. This operated from the late 1800's until the 1960's and was a massive employer in the area. My Dad served his time as an engineer at Ludowici's. In the mid 50's he worked on the Kugelhaus project which were spherical shaped houses designed for third world/disaster zoned accomodation.
A Tile museum in honour of Carl Ludowici was recently built in Jockgrim. One of the Kugelhausls are on site. Here is Mrs Ronno outside it. Who knows, it might have been one my Dad worked on...
Another bit of family link here: My uncle, Hans Kimmel was the architect for the new museum. He was also a former employee at Ludowici. The ornate roof tiles used on the museum are originals from the factory.
We then spent a really enjoyable two days in Schwarzwald. We stayed overnight at Neubierhausl outside Titesee. We stopped off on our way south at Baden Baden, a town that just reeks of money. Even the old bangers look good...
From here, we rode the fabulous B500 south. The road surface was first class and great sweeping 80 mph bends were coupled with tight hairpins.
It's a great area for riding in. Titesee itself is very touristie, which is understandable considering the area it's set in.
Waking up at 07.00, you're waiting for the sun to burn the mist off the hills in the hope that the good weather will continue...
...Which, thankfully it does...
We were staying at the Neubierhausl Hotel which was brilliant value. I got the link on here and am grateful to the GSer who discovered this place.
My sister and Bro' In Law were with us and luckily for me, Christine decided to travel home with them in their car, leaving me to ride the B500 north without a pillion
We met up at the Vogtsbauernhof, a village/museum near Gutach, which has been kept to show what life was like here in Schwarzwald between 1600 and the 1990's when the last resident was still working the farm land here. The village has a kind of Amish feel to it.
A mill is still working here and almost everything in the village including the machinery is made of wood.
The Scwarzwald farmers made their own schnaps from fruit (and still do. Most are licenced for this) and the village has it's own typical still.
Our next "major" day out was riding the Deutscher Weinstraße. This is an 85 km stretch of road which begins at Schweigen Rechtenbach and meanders through scores of villages where half timbered wine dressers houses make a picturesque backdrop to the stunning scenery of the vinyards at the foot of the Pfälzerwald.
This is the Wein Tor at Schweigen at the start of the route.
27 degrees. I knew that it must be hot when Christine decided to remove her jacket liner. That has to be a first...
Villages like St Martin and Rhodt are full of places to stop and try some free wine tasting. There are also lots of "Zimmer Frei" signs in case you sample too much...
Slow bimbling through cobble stoned streets is the only way to do it.
A wine farmer with his harvest.
If the wine tastes half as good as these grapes, it'll be delicious.
The black grapes make Dornfelder, a dry red wine.
Wine making these days is all scientific but in bygone eras, the grape harvests were prayed for by the farmers in small churches dotted all over the vineyards in wine making areas. I dare say, prayers are still said for the harvest....
The Wienstraße finishes at Bockenheim.
The best way back to Jockgrim from here is to head south back along the route in the opposite direction.
Our next venture was to cross the French border into Alsace at Lauterburg. This is only 12 kms from where we were staying. My Grandfather was born in Alsace and moved to Jockgrim after WW1 when Alsace became part of France. He wanted to remain German. Had he not, I would have been chearing on the French in World Cups etc.
A 20 minute ride past Strasbourg and high into the Vosges mountains brings you to here...
Natzweiler Struthof Concentration Camp. Well worth a visit. Incredibly interesting and eerily quiet. The museum and camp are open to the public. I doubt if the inmates had mind of the spectacular countryside that the camp is built in.
Although there were lots of other visitors during our tour, hardly anyone appears in any of my photographs. I find that strangely quite unnerving.
The camp is only 80 kms from Jockgrim. In real terms to me, it was a million miles from any part of Germany or the German people that I know.
A very humbling experience...
The roads up to Natzweiler were excellent. Sweeping bends and tight hairpins in parts. The rain came on as we left the camp. I was glad. I had to take it easy on the way back down the mountain. Somehow, enjoying the ride back wasn't in my thoughts. Nor was taking photographs of some of the scenery and picturebook villages on the way.
We stopped off at Strasbourg and tried to clear our minds of the morning. Petit France is a lovely part of the city.
Then it was back to Jockgrim and a million miles from where we had visited.
Our next day out was to Trier which is reported to be Germany's oldest city. It's main attraction is the Porta Nigra, the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It was built between 180 and 200 AD and is a testiment to Roman architecture and building.
Free bike parking 40 metres from the Porta Nigra was very welcome too.
The gate dominates the city landscape. According to my missus, Trier has a really good shopping centre.
One shop that caught my eye was this one. Now I knew that He was a fisherman but didn't realise that Watchmaking was another of His many gifts...
We then headed along the banks of the Moselle to Bernkastel Kues. Again, fantastic hairpins and fast, sweeping bends take you through little villages like Piesport and Lorsch.
Bernkastel Kues must have the record for the narrowest house anywhere.
The town centre is like something out of a fairy story. Incredible architecture.
The ride home through the Hunsrück and the Pfälzerwald was really enjoyable too. GPS is brilliant
Our remaining days were spent kicking about the roads and villages of Alsace (Wissembourg area), Speyer and the Süd Weinstraße. I'm really lucky having family in such a great part of the world.
We also spent our evenings eating far too much and drinking as much as we expected too. We had a great holiday and were grateful that the weather was so good to us.
Too much bier, too many Bratwursts and too much Schwarzwald gateaux ultimately played havoc with my waistline. It'll take months to shift what two weeks enjoyment created.
All too soon, it was time to set sail for home.
Thanks for looking at my write up
but really looking forward to it.
