BLOG 2: From Andritz to Vliegenbos

On the afternoon of May 4th, we are finally starting. On our way to Amsterdam to the 'Vliegenbos' campsite, we take our time. The first stage takes us to the Bavarian Forest near Deggendorf, where we can spend the night alone in nature at the very rustic 'Düllhof' country inn and not only enjoy a hearty Bavarian dinner, but also get a hearty breakfast served. Strengthened like this, we move on to the next stage in the Rheingau, where we visit some relatives and not only enjoy the beautiful campsite right on the river Rhine, but also the culinary and wine delights at Cousin Gerti's in her Straußwirtschaft (a kind of wine tavern for Styrians).

Then we take the ferry across the Rhine to Bingen and continue on the highway heading north. In the Cologne area, we not only pass stationary wind turbines, but also smoking lignite power plants (according to the current policy of the German Green Party, the so CO2-friendly power generation). The entire ugliness of the Garzweiler lignite opencast mine brings back memories for Gerhard of his time as a student - in the summer of 1975, he worked for two months on such a lignite excavator in the former opencast mine Dürwiß near Aachen...

The Netherlands welcomes us with three or four thunderstorms, but luckily it stopped raining when we arrived at Vliegenbos.

Tomorrow, on Monday, May 8th, we will explore Amsterdam on a city tour by bicycle.