Mr G and I went our different ways after our night in a car-park in Wurzburg. Fear not dear reader, five nights of van life haven’t sent us to the divorce courts (well not yet anyway!) I flew back to Wales to attend the funeral of a close family friend. I spent a sad but special day with family and friends celebrating a life well lived, then flew back to meet Mr G in Czechia.

While I was traversing from Frankfurt to Bristol to Swansea, then back to Bristol and Prague and on to Karlovy Vary, Mr G took the van to a campsite in Nuremberg. Or so he says. I could picture him checking into the Grand Hotel Nuremberg and spending the two nights drinking steins of beer and eating bratwurst in front of the footie!

Mr G reports from Nuremberg

After a heroic 7.8 mile march from the campsite to Nuremberg, I needed a protein bar and a large coffee to recover. At the heart of Nuremberg is a beautiful medieval old town, with an impressive castle looming over it. I felt enormous pressure as official stand-in blogger/photographer as Dr G has a somewhat direct management style when it comes to assessing performance!

For me, the most memorable and moving part of Nuremberg was visiting the site of the World War 2 war crime trials. Courtroom 600 is a functional working courtroom but you can feel the atmosphere of 76 years ago. It seems particularly relevant at the moment in the light of the current atrocities in Ukraine.

Quick campsite comment:

I stayed in Camping zur Muhle, Zirndorf.

Google describes it as a small low-key campsite with pitches, which is pretty much spot on.

The good bits: Clean, inexpensive (E 22.50 per night) and good, flat pitches. Each site had hook-up and a nearby water supply. Shower facilities were good with lots of hot- water.

The bad bits: No shop on the site or surrounding streets (that I could find!) As I mentioned, it was a long 7.8 mile walk into Nuremberg, which I only did because Dr G wasn’t there to chunter the whole way!

Romantic and beautiful it may be, but it was also very, very wet and windy in Rothenburg this morning. Hardened, outdoorsy types that we are, we had a lie in and a leisurely breakfast in the van. All the while reassuring ourselves that this is meant to be a holiday!

We caught up with laundry, made full and extensive use of the wonderful shower rooms, and tidied the cupboards. After previously using a suction pump to squish the duvet and pillows down to the size of a matchbox, we’ve realised that #vanlife is too short for that. Even with the promise of finely honed arms like Michelle Obama or Jennifer Aniston, I’d always rather have another twenty minutes in bed. So, now I shove the bedding into a cupboard and quickly shut the tambour door before everything tumbles out!

We headed up the Romantische Strasse to Wurzburg, gorgeous scenery but we had our first campsite fail. The site was more of a trailer park where people stay for the season, there was stuff EVERYWHERE. When we drove up it felt like that scene in American Werewolf where the forriners rock up, everyone went quiet and stared at the weird Brits. We skulked away and are now parked up on the river in Wurzburg with a glass of Riesling. And breathe…

In the end we stayed in a car park, with an area for Wohnmobiles, called Friedensbrucke Park.

The good bits: It’s not as bad as it sounds! The location is fantastic with great views, just a ten minute walk across the historic bridge into the town. It’s cheap, 12 Euros for 24 hours plus a Euro or two for electric hook up.

The bad bits: It’s a car park- what more can I say? There are loos but they are municipal car park loos- say no more! I plan on doing the old ablutions in the van and crossing my legs!!!