Day 2. Wildwood Camping on the outskirts of Dillenburg. Germany

It’s 4.45am on Tuesday 23rd. We retreated to bed by 9pm and sleep for me, is done for the night. Dawn is just breaking through the vents above our heads. Jen is fast asleep still, well she was..:) It’s been another muggy night.

The journey so far has been boring. We are on motorways, preferring to get as far east as we can quickly, to allow us time to explore the Caucasus.

Minor disaster

Yesterday morning our sat-nav gave up the ghost. A blank, black screen! So, while we have plenty of maps, it’s hugely time consuming either writing a detailed itinarary or constantly consulting the map, and we have become reliant on the sat-nav to guide us, even if we slightly misspelled the destination and ended up driving nearly 100k’s in the wrong direction, the first day..:). So, we used google maps on Jen’s phone yesterday.  Not the best option for marital harmony!..:)

The majority of minor roading seems to be north-south, with motorways being the only option for fast east-westerly progress. Anyway, last night at our present camp, I decided to tell google, (on Jen’s phone, because in my anxiety to get going from home, I left my phone there) that our TomTom sat-nav had quit. What a mine, (or is it mind) of information it is, because following its advice to hold down the start button for 15-20 seconds, it burst back into life. Joy!!!  

Camp N0. 2. Dillenburg.

We are close to a small town called Dillenburg. It’s a beautiful historic town with a castle and immaculately kept externally wooden framed houses. Our camp though is the very opposite, a jungle of unkempt fields, though the ablution facilities are pristine.

I made the mistake of refuelling at a motorway service area yesterday. 2.30 euro’s a litre for diesel! Poki is doing 28.8mpg, which I’m reasonably happy with given motorway speeds of 100kph to keep out of the truck lane. One has to be very careful though, as there seems to be no speed limit, and timing of passing manoeuvres critical, not to get in the path of someone doing 220kph+ in the outside lane!

There are some big cities we are trying to avoid, Cologne, Aachen, Koblenz, Frankfurt and others. 

The Dutch.

The Dutch are on the move. Their caravans, cars and campers are numerous. They are great explorers/travellers. We have met them in the most far flung places. No doubt replicating the feats of their illustrious forefathers.  

All this preoccupation with driving means there is little time take photos.

First nights camp.

Misc. info.

On the political front. The British prime minister has resigned. Let’s hope the new one will continue to support Ukraine.

Oh! and are the Straits of Hormuz, open, or closed? What an absolute circus!! What has been achieved for the cost?!

The weather is glorious, though with cumulus clouds growing,  we could have a thunderstorm tonight. Common here after a spell of good weather. 

Sport. NZ’s foray into the World Cup soccer competition has ended.

The cricket test series in England has been kept alive with a rebound in the 2nd test.

Rugby. The All Blacks captain for the coming months has been selected, though I think the team has still to be named?

Jen is telling me there are some tennis games in progress…:)  

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