Mike & Jan's Great Escape: ON THE ROAD AGAIN

It is now just over a week since we left our home in Wiltshire and moved into "Max the Motorhome" First stop was not far but just to West London for an evening with our daughter Karen. We decided to get the BBQ on the campsite at Walton on Thames and just sit chatting. It was a great evening but sad there next morning saying goodbye once again.

Enjoying a beautiful sunset with Karen.

Next stop, still in UK was a pub just outside Dover. We decided to do this as we had a morning ferry the next day. It also meant we could watch England play and put aside the penalty problem. A good crowd made for a buzzing atmosphere.

The next morning it was up and out early into Dover and across the Channel heading for our first stop at Ypres. We have been many times before but it is always a pleasure to visit this beautiful "old" town that was destroyed in the 1914-18 war and rebuilt after. We had decided to take the first few days easy and enjoy the travel. The weather was hot and sunny but it was a pleasure to get out and run along the ramparts of the town in the cooler air of the morning.

Menin Gate

Cloth Hsll

Enjoying a Belgian Beer

Dinner in Ypres

Menin Gate

Last Post Ceremony at Menin Gate

Belgium are through so up go the Bras in Ypres

Ypres in the sunset

The drive from Ypres to La Roche en Ardenne, also in Belgium was good part from getting a puncture. Once we found a company to repair it we were back moving into the Ardennes region, an area neither of us had visited before.

River Ourthe in La Roche

The "Battle of the Bulge" took place here

Dinner being cooked

From "La Roche" we headed into Germany and a stop at Mannheim on the Friday evening just so we could fit in a Park Run the next morning. For those that do not know about "Park Run" they are 5Km runs held all over the world on Saturday mornings at 9am. We have enjoyed them as they have helped us get fit and healthy. The run at Mannheim is through the forest in a park that borders the River Rhine.

Our camp at Mannheim beside the River Rhine

Our first "International Park Run" completed

From Mannheim it was less than one hour to travel to Bensheim, a town that we know well and is Amersham's twin Town. Mike's parents started going in the early 1960s with a football club and the friendship has continued ever since. We parked up at a sports stadium ands spent the next 3 days visiting the area and seeing our friends Horst and Margarete from Auerbach plus Jeanny from Elmshousen, both areas just outside the town. It was also good to cycle through the beautiful hills around the area called the Odenwald.