Wo sind Cerina und Marius?
Wo sind Cerina und Marius?
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Germany: Bullitour in the Harz Mountains

प्रकाशित: 03.05.2020

After our return from Nepal, we stayed with Marius' parents for a few weeks. The Corona crisis was unfolding and our planned Bulli tour around the Baltic Sea became increasingly unlikely. Nevertheless, Marius prepared the Bulli for the trip. There were a few repairs to be done, the TÜV (MOT) had to be renewed, and a few things we had learned from Jimbo in New Zealand were now also installed in our VW bus. In mid-April, we were finally able to hit the road again, at least in Schleswig-Holstein we thought. Since we are almost self-sufficient with the Bulli, this was also compatible with the contact restrictions. The first night was spent near Aukrug in a hiking car park, finally sleeping outside again! The next day we headed towards Gelting Bay. But we would not reach the beautiful spot with a fireplace... Halfway there, the Bulli started acting up. It didn't take any gas, sometimes stalled, and then drove again. It felt like something was obstructing. Checked the brakes, checked the drive shafts, nothing. Everything looked fine. Then we saw a lot of air bubbles in the diesel line. They don't belong there. Diesel filter removed, shaken out, and lots of gunk came out. Oh dear, what was that? We continued driving for a while, by now we had changed direction: back home... Then nothing worked anymore. Marius called the ADAC (German automobile club), who then installed a smaller pre-filter instead of the large diesel filter. Dirt collected in it during the test run. A friend told us on the phone that diesel fuel can deteriorate if it is stored for too long. Diesel has a relatively high bio content, which causes the fuel to flocculate, algae or something to form and thus clog the filters. The diesel had been in the tank since July 2019, when we stored it before our departure to Canada. Fully tanked, we're so clever. Where there's no air, there's no rust either. The gentleman from the ADAC confirmed the theory of diesel pest and recommended using the expensive V-Power fuel, as it has a significantly lower bio content. We will do that for the next storage!

With the pre-filter, and cleaning it from time to time, we made it back home. In the evening, we removed the tank and were amazed: it was all green inside! As the rust had already attacked the tank, Marius ordered a new one and painted it in a beautiful flashy red! Then new pipes, new filters, new gaskets, and everything was installed again. The Bulli purred again after a week, and Cerina finished the first travel photo book.

We packed our seven things and enough provisions and headed towards the Harz Mountains. Since 2014, we have been collecting stamps for the Harzer Wandernadel (Harz Hiking Needle), which also leads to exploring different areas in the Harz. This time our destination was Bad Sachsa. We chose a few nice hiking trails and started walking. The first tour on the first day was a whopping 17 km long. And since that wasn't enough, we did another 3 km in the evening. So we got 4 new stamps in our collection booklet on the first day. The weather was typical April weather: sun, clouds, rain showers, drizzle, all in your face. During the shower, we were fortunately either in a shelter or sought refuge under a tree. In the end, the sun dried us off again. Perfect!

Notice the souvenir from Nepal

The tours the next day were a bit shorter, 11 km and 3 km together, but our legs were still complaining a bit afterwards. After a short shopping tour through Bad Lauterberg (there are new whims that we want to try out ;-)), we found a quiet spot, took out the stove, and replenished the calories we had burned off. The Walpurgis Night in the Harz Mountains passed without any witch pranks, no witch had a starting permission.
Although we could have stayed longer in the Harz Mountains and wanted to, we drove back north. Some stamp locations that we still miss are in the Saxony-Anhalt part of the Harz Mountains, and Saxony-Anhalt is still closed for tourism, which we respect. Therefore, it didn't make much sense to stay there longer. There's hardly anything open anyway. On the way north, we made a detour to Bad Grund. Quickly grabbing two stamps before leaving the Harz Mountains. For the first one, we hiked through a forest filled with wild garlic. When we arrived at the hut, we could also buy wild garlic liqueur. We didn't dare (it was only 10 am:P). Instead, we had potato pancakes and "Strammer Max" (a German dish with bread, ham, and fried egg) and enjoyed the magnificent view from the Albertturm. The second stamp location was in the "Weltwald" (World Forest), a forest where trees from all over the world (as the name suggests) are planted. In front of its gates, there is a rock on which we saw loops for climbing ropes everywhere. Unfortunately, we didn't have our equipment with us, so we'll have to go back there.
Wild garlic!

Although the Bulli was driving great again, the next problem occurred already on the way there, of course unrelated to the previous issues: the clutch slips. It's not a problem on straight or downhill stretches. But it gets annoying when driving uphill... The Harz Mountains have a few switchbacks... So something needs to be repaired again soon, well, it is already 32 years old.

With our cozy 57 horsepower, we headed north, spent one last night on Lower Saxony soil, took a little city tour in the center of Lüneburg, and drove up to Kiel. Because for our next adventure, we need bicycles, and they are still in the garage there. Until then!

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