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Singen in the rain to Meersburg

It was wet all the way from Colmar as we headed towards the spacious motorhome parking at the leisure centre in Singen, a small town close to the German border with Switzerland. It cost us €10 for a night’s parking and fresh water was free. We almost stayed 2 nights because of the non-stop rain, but at lunchtime on the Monday, the cloud cleared and the sun came out so we packed up, dumped our waste, filled with fresh water and headed towards Lake Constance while making sure not to head into Switzerland.

We arrived in Meersburg in the late afternoon and headed for the 3 motorhome parking areas located on the outskirts of town. The first one we approached was fairly full, with just a few spaces remaining, but it was on quite a slope. The next stellplatz was only 100metres or so up the road and was completely empty except for 3 vans, so we parked in there.

It was no more than a 15 minute walk into the town so off we headed to see what it was like.

Meersburg is ‘germanic’; it’s clean; it’s tidy; it looks prosperous. Unlike in France, it’s rooflines are horizontal and walls are vertical. Very ordered.

Meersburg is a very tidy little town that overlooks Lake Constance, or Bodensee as the Germans call it. Across the lake you can see Switzerland

Here are a few of the photographs we took while wandering around the town/village centre.

There were so many vines growing in the fields and on the slopes around Meersburg and all along Lake Constance, I didn’t know this is a wine producing area. Don’t you just live and learn?

The area, pretty much all the way from Singen to Lindau, is an apple growers paradise. There were orchards plush with fruit as far as the eye could see. Not traditional English style orchards with old sprawling apple trees. These were fruit cages or nets with thousands of closely planted apple trees grown as cordons though vertical. The fruits were mostly red, but I didn’t get to see what the variety was. I presumed the apples were grown for juice or maybe cider.

To Germany via Colmar

Colmar is a short drive from Ribbeauville and on Sunday morning, 15th September, the traffic was light and the aire was less than half full. We had been on the road for a week and had accumulated some laundry. The aire at Colmar had its very own Revolution launderette consisting 2 washing machines and one tumble dryer.

Great, as we had arrived by lunchtime we decided to do our laundry and then head off into town. The washer finished in 33 minutes but the tumble dryer didn’t tumble. it heated, but did not turn so we left our laundry in there for 20 minutes and then hung it on a line in the van so it could dry while we explored the city.

Colmar is one of the best preserved medieval cities in eastern France and I wanted to have a good look around. It was a fair walk into the centre, probably 20 minutes or so, but it was definitely worth it.

Tourist Information was closed, well, it was Sunday, so we used our phones to guide us around. The city was crowded with people enjoying a sunny late summer Sunday afternoon. We meandered around the centre for the afternoon and enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner before heading back to the van but both making a mental note to revisit it again on the way home in a few weeks.

The rain started in the late evening and it was still raining the next morning as we departed Colmar and headed to Singen, Germany. We stopped in Singen purely to break the long drive to our next destination Meersburg, on the north shore of Lake Constance.

Estate Accounts October 2024

The ludicrous and oppressive litigation brought upon Mum’s estate by Bernadette Rogers and her daughter Joanna Rogers is causing us to burn through the funds in Mum’s estate at an alarming rate. By the time we get to court there is going to be precious little left for any settlement or further inheritances. It’ll soon be time for me to declare the estate bankrupt and close the books.

The latest accounts can be found in the main fraud page at Estate Accounts October 2024 and the summary sheet is shown below.

Both Dad and Mum would be spinning in their graves if they could only see what Bernadette is doing and how her behaviour is wasting Dad’s hard earned savings. As you can see we have burned through £28,400 on incurred legal fees with a further £30,130 budgeted for the next few weeks. There is going to be nothing left by the time this goes to trial.

On to Ribeauville

Etival Clairfontaine was a convenient stop for us to read Bill & Sam’s letter, anaylse the content and send a response making sure that our holiday wasn’t holding up confronting the legal shenanigans being pulled by the other side.

Etival was quiet; the Auberge and cafes were closed so after a good walk around we ate dinner in the van before enjoying a quiet night’s sleep.

The following morning was noticeably colder as I headed for the boulangerie seeking croissants for breakfast after which we headed into the Vosges mountains in the direction of Ribeauville. Driving through the spectacular Vosges towards Ribeauville was a real treat apart from the very tight turns and steep gradients. We were parked in the aire in the town centre just before midday and then off into town for a good look around (again). We had previously visited this region in 2023 and were really taken by it, hence our revisit this year.

The town is smack bang on the Alsace wine route where Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Gewurtztraminer and a few more varieties are produced all of which can be tasted and bought at the Cave de Ribeauville which was about 100metres from the motorhome aire. A 5% discount on purchases at the Cave is given if you can present a parking permit for the aire, which we had. 1 box of Riesling and 1 of pinot gris were purchased and stashed away for later consumption.

Ribeauville is a very touristic place. It is very scenic and pretty and attracts a lot of visitors, most of them come on coach tours and so the place is bristling during the day. The evenings are very much quieter, the coach parties have gone and the town empties out and the restaurants have space to eat.

We moved on after 2 nights and headed towards Colmar on our way to Lake Constance. We had intended to visit Colmar the previous year but the reviews of the motorhome aire put us right off. This time we bit the bullet and decided that if it was as bad as described then we would move on. So Sunday morning saw us pack up, dump our waste and head to Colmar.

We’re off on our Holiday

We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time; it’s been a stressful year with the impending court action against me taking up a lot of both of our time. On 3rd September Fiona booked a non-refundable ferry crossing for the evening of Sunday 8th September so there was no going back.

We set off in good time and in the rain and headed for Newhaven for the 5pm sailing to Dieppe. Despite the Goodwood Revival festival threatening to block all the roads around Chichester, and our sat nav taking us all along Brighton sea front, Newhaven was achieved in a little under 3 hours.

The ferry journey took just 4 hours; that’s a good 2 hours quicker than the Portsmouth to Caen ferry. We disembarked soon after 10pm in the dark, in the rain, and headed for the motorhome aire at Dieppe where we stayed the night. The aire was surprisingly quiet, given the number of Motorhomes parked up, and its proximity to the ferry port.

Burneuil sur Aine was the next overnight stop. The aire is perched on a hill on the village outskirts, and we were all alone for an hour or two. Mme. arrived to collect the €5 for the night. Three more Motorhomes arrived during the evening, but when we woke next morning, only one remained. We didn’t hear any of them leave, so our sleep must have been deep.

Our driving target for the next day was the city of Reims. It’s the unofficial capital of the Champagne region, but we really wanted to see the Cathedral. Inside, it was grand, and quite imposing, though not the most spectacular place of worship we’ve seen. Overall, Reims, didn’t quite “capture” us, so we left after a walk round the city. If you’re interested in our stopovers, this one was bad. Not only was the access through some narrow streets ( a tram driver gesticulated to us to “go back” at one point) but the parking was tight- round the back of a youth hostel- real “shake hands with your neighbour” tight. Not our kind of place. Onwards….

The aire at St. Imoges was the perfect place for the night. We’d swerved past Epernay, not really being keen to do an expensive “Champagne Tour” at any of the Champagne Houses. We’d rather spend it on a bottle of our choice. We did try to spend some money in St.Imoges, but there were no shops. A walk round the village proved that. It’s such a great idea to provide these aires- often free, like this one, but we don’t always have a chance to thank the community. Anyway, another very quiet night was enjoyed here, before the next drive.

As we travelled across France, some place names were familiar from our Alsace trip last Autumn, including Neufchatel where we’d had an awful experience on some narrow streets, with me (Fiona) offering guidance on foot, as Andrew manouevred the Moho between parked cars on both sides…eek! However, we also had great memories of a favourite Aire, in the tiny village of Goncourt. We rarely visit anywhere twice, but this was irresistible. It’s still gorgeous, a riverside parkup, with sightings of herons, swifts/ swallows and cattle in the nearby fields. Free to park, and use services, but the suggested 3 euros is never begrudged. In fact, I donated a lot of small change, adding up to over the suggested payment. The next day, we set off (not such a good night’s sleep, thanks to rain dripping from trees overhead) and encountered one of France’s specialities..”route barré” signs, with not much info on the diversions. I had to resort to that big map thing…and hope for the best. Fortunately, Satnav soon got the message and we found a different way to the cutely named Etival Clairefontaine, but it was well worth it. A modern aire, 2.5 euros for 2 hours, or 8 euros for the night. Just need the “code” from your ticket….except the ticket needed to be prised from inside the machine! Great timing as we parked up just as Andrew’s solicitor phone to check he’d received some important paperwork, which he was able to deal with immediately.

Estate accounts

It’s been a while since I updated the publicly available content on this site as I have been preoccupied on the ‘fraud’ section. Anyone who has the password will know what I mean.

My latest update on the fraud site is the addition of the interim accounts statement which can be viewed here. If you do not have access and would like to view the accounts, please email me for the password.

Bye bye MX-5

Sadly the time has come to part company with our trusted and much enjoyed Mazda MX-5 Montana. Fiona bought the MX 13 years ago instead of buying a VW Polo or similar and over the years of ownership the car cost us precious little to keep on the road and is great fun to drive.

Now that we are both retired, we no longer have the need for 2 cars; the Honda has done fewer than 12k miles in 2 and a half years, the MX has done 500 miles in the last year.

We knew the car needed some work to keep it on the road, but the MOT in October 2021 exposed just how much work. Due to its age, the car would probably fetch about £1000 if roadworthy, but the quotes for the MOT work were for a minimum of around £750. The car was far too good to write off as scrap and could provide reliable and enjoyable transport for years to come. After some umming and ahhing, we decided to sell it as an MOT failure suitable for a home mechanic to restore over the winter.

Having placed an advert on Gumtree, within 20 minutes, we were inundated by responses. The one we opted for was from a gentleman who restores MX-5s. After a brief phone call, in which he divulged he was based 260 miles away, he had agreed to pay the full asking price, placed a deposit on the car and promised to have the car collected with the balance, the next morning. Meanwhile, some chancers were messaging on Gumtree, offering a derisory £250! By 11:00 the following day our MX was on its way to Bradford to a restorer and the full sale price was safely in the bank.

All in all, the car was advertised, sold, paid for and collected within 24 hours. A good result.

Solar Power

I’ve long been a sceptic about the use of solar power on motorhomes; I couldn’t see the point in all that extra weight on the van roof just for a little bit of power. However, the use of a portable solar panel for emergency use might be a good idea. To this end, I bought a Renogy 100Watt folding solar panel and a Victron MPPT 75/15 solar charge controller, and plumbed the controller through the EBL as an ‘ancillary charger’.

The Renogy panel does not have a controller fitted as most do, which is why I chose it. The Victron charge controller that we bought has a Bluetooth interface so can be monitored at a distance, albeit short.

The first real opportunity to try the solar panel was June 10-12th, during our stay in the New Forest when it was nice and sunny.

On the morning of Thursday 10th, our battery capacity was showing as 90% so I deployed the panel.

I was staggered. The panel harvested up to 123Watts and provided a charge current of around 9Amps! As the battery charged, the current dropped off but remained around 7A for some time. Within a few hours the charger controller had dropped back to its ‘float’ mode and the batteries were fully charged. Although, when on ‘float’ charge the panel only harvested around 70W.

The way in which the controller is connected to the EBL means that I can only charge the habitation battery. A modification I will make is to fabricate a splitter cable that allows the charger to connect to either the habitation battery or the van starter battery.

I really must say that I am hugely impressed with the panel/charger combination but am still not going to have solar panels fitted on the van roof.

Homebrewing in the lockdown

The travelling restrictions, or lockdown, needed to reduce contagion of CV-19 is having a detrimental effect on my homebrewing as I need to travel over to Fratton to collect ingredients, travel which is hard to justify as “essential”. Thankfully, before the current lockdown I was able to get to GetBrewing.UK , in Fratton, and buy sufficient ingredients for 4 brews.

I remember the delicious taste of Gales HSB from the Horse and Jockey, Curbridge, where I remember spending many a lunchtime while working for Digital at the Solent Business Park, so I thought I’d give the recipe for Gale’s HSB a go and try to recreate that taste.

The fruits of my labour are now ready to drink, well, at least the first batch is.

Fullers bought Gales brewery a few years back and since then HSB never really tasted as good as I remember, but it’s still good. There are a number of recipes available on line, I used the one from Graham Wheelers book.

The fermentation was with Empire yeast at 19C for a full three weeks then kegged and left to condition. I left it 5 weeks to condition before sampling it. It was really tasty, but more than 2 glasses leave me with a bit of a dull head. After 3 glasses I have found that my tongue stops working properly.

Although a little cloudy at first it soon cleared up and is really tasty. I’ve made three 2 gallon batches and will definitely brew more once the current lockdown is relaxed and I can get over to GetBrewing.UK

I will be leaving the remaining two kegs longer to condition in order to help the initial clarity. I might experiment with the next brew by adding in just a little more hops to give it more of a fruity bite.

Update 9th Feb

Disaster. It’s all gone. Well, the first keg full is. I can’t find any sign of a leak; Fiona has not been helping herself to it. Damn! I guess I should be brewing 5 gallon batches.

Salisbury short break

I’ve been desperate to get away for some time; to get away from managing Mum’s estate; I’m sure if she’d known the insanity I’m faced with then she wouldn’t have died. Anyway, we decided on a short break to Salisbury. Salisbury although it’s out of county is not too far away; its campsite is walking distance from the city centre and it’s a nice place.

I don’t do ‘God’ and I generally don’t do churches, but Salisbury Cathedral has a wonderful ‘authentic’ feel to it and is well worth a visit. It feels as though it is unchanged since the 13th century when it was built.

Along its nave are a number of tombs; one tomb of a Knight who fought at Crecy (1346) and at Poitiers (1356), and a tomb of another Knight who fought at Agincourt (1415). Marvellous.

The Cathedral from the outside is a very imposing building; it’s size and detail really do impress, however the interior is remarkable. To think that this structure was built and decorated 800 years ago without the use of power tools or computers!

As we wandered around this magnificent old structure the choir was practicing. The music and singing made the £8 entrance fee all the more worth it.

One of the relics not to be missed is the Cathedral’s copy of Magna Carta, on display despite an attempt at stealing it in recent years and one of only 4 original copies available today.

Old Sarum was worth the walk around. It is the original site of the city which was moved in around 1200ad to its current site approximately 2 miles away. Nowadays all that’s left are some gigantic earthworks which used to form the original hill fort and motte and bailey castle.

Here is a selection of our photos from Salisbury