i am becoming quite the caravan site connaissuer. i am obsessed! straight away i am adding and deducting points for various features for my imaginary guide. the last few sites have been above par so we are getting better at judging them. when we finish this trip i will be fully qualified to open the best caravan site in the world!

big point scorers are:

-clean, functional showers (as some of you may know (not something i really like to advertise) i dont really like showering at the best of times, and caravan park showering is not the best of times (showers that you need a PhD (in german) to a) turn on and b) make warm, showers where the shower curtain just wants to wrap itself around you (and every other person before you), where the water comes out like sharp hot pins into your body, no barrier to keep your clothes dry, etc, etc, etc) however the other day rohan said 'Ainslie, there is a strange smell around and i think it is coming from you' so i am going to make more of an effort.

-clean, functional toilets - with soap (to be fair, we havent had a problem with this)

-outstanding natural beauty - preferable some kind of water that you can swim in (not a stagnant pond)

-a noise curfew (am i getting old or what?! this is from a Bad Experience)

- a shop with things you dont know you need until you dont have them and a fridge stocked with beer/wine and fresh bread in the morning

and the list goes on.

so, the life of rohan and ainslie in the last few weeks in pictures....

Ieper skyline (Belgium) - our first stop and a good place to ease into the trip. a bit touristy but pretty sleepy, good beer, mussels, etc.

me on the streets of Ieper - Menin Gate in background
Menin Gate - first world war memorial to soldiers with no known grave

VC Corner - near where rohans great uncle recieved a distinguished conduct medalmemorial to aussies with no known grave (i think we have paid our dues now!)

me in Luxembourg

Luxembourg - we had a good time here despite finding a vegetarian restaurant and then finding it wasnt open.

pretty village in country luxembourg

the camera man

beautiful old, old church in Trier, Germany

The gorgeous Moselle Valley

cycling the Moselle Valley

our bikes and castle

just in case it wasnt nerdy enough

a bit of cultcha in Weimar

Yay - something other than meat and cheese (rohan isnt really happy about this but i am) - Erfurt, Germany

We were in town for the Dresden Town Festival which was quite cool despite the appaling Classical Rock concert (we sat down with some beers in the sun to hear some Wagner or some such but had drink up and leave!)

oh thats a bit close up isnt it...me enjoying the sun and beer at the dresden town festival

Bikers (or trikers) that drove me to insanity! when they arrived rohan was muttering and making dissaproving sounds and i was like 'dont worry!, they'll all be middle aged doctor types' (sorry doug m.). As it turned out they set themselves up like this - facing our tent and played music i cant even describe - it was like banal electro german folk music - til at least 1am (hence the noise curfew earlier). i think it would have been better if they were playing thrash metal.

climbers in saxon switzerland - they deserved the view alot more than us (who drove up)

Bastei - Saxon Switzerland

Beautiful Prague

we are now in munich after having a lovely, too short time in czech. we have had quite alot of good weather so rohan is looking quite brown. i am still standing out like a frecky, sore thumb on the tanned hand of europe.

hope alls well.

a&r

not in east grinstead anymore

so we find ourselves camping next to a lake on the outskirts of dresden.

there is something about caravans in wooded areas next to water that starts the duelling banjo tune in your head...and probably for good reason.

rohan and i bought ourselves a german camping guide (in german) as we felt our english one was holding us back. we were heading to a campsite that the (very helpful) symbols suggested was in an area of outstanding natural beauty and quiet (good, because we had been camping next to a motorway the previous two nights). still, things werent looking good as we only had the town name and the only campsite there was gated and surrounded by barbed wire...and had a different name to the one in the book (FKK something). i thought maybe it had changed names but rohan said í dont like the look of this ainslie´so we headed to my second choice.

which was lucky as when we further consulted the camping guide book it said that sites which were branded with ´FKK´ were naturalist sites. phew...although i dont know who would be worse off - us or them, as it has to be said that the german food has done neither of us any favours - yes, even rohan is showing that he is human and a schnitzel and 1/2 litre of beer per night does affect his waistline (slightly).

anyway, this trip feels like an epic already, even though apparently we are only a 1/10th of the way through. there have been highs (cycling along the moselle valley, finding quirky towns in the old east germany) and there have been a few lows (flattening the car battery, etc)...but we are getting into the swing of being on the road again.

the camp sites have been a bit of a mixed bag. all have had good and bad points - i guess it is a good thing that none have been all bad. mostly it seems that friendliness and amenities are inversly proportionate. i have been fascinated by the level of effort that the permanent caravaners go to with their front yards. i think there should be an award for the most eccentric/bizarre display in a campground (if there isnt one already). my favourite so far has been a small front yard with lifesize sheep statues and even one of a sheepdog. classy.

anyway - our trip so far has been through belgium, to the grand duchy of luxembourg, the moselle valley in germany, around erfurt in east germany and now dresden.

next on the trajectory is the czech republic.

if anyone has any tips or advice please let us know!

internet has been a bit hard to come by so these posts will probably be a bit sporadic. hopefully we will be organised enough to upload photos sometime...

our german has progressed so far as to ´ich sprecken kein deutsch´ (sp?) which we say whenever given 1/2 a chance.

love
ainslie and rohan

the first week of the rest of our lives

and i'm knackered...and procrastinating...but dont tell rohan.

before i start with the new i had better finish off the old.

for the last two weeks my mum and brother have been over which has been great.

when simon arrived, pip came up to henley with me to meet my grandparents, which was really nice.

i took a couple of days off and we went to the petersham nursery which was fantastic - it is actually a nursery with a cafe but these days, since a chef from Australia started working there, it is more a cafe with a nursery, but it is absolutely beautiful (although my brother thought it was a bit of a place for ladies who lunch) but everywhere you look is like a painting. it didnt rain and it was warmish aswell which was a bonus. i could put up every photo it was so beautiful but i wont & they dont really do it justice so just go & see for yourselves.

on the friday our plans for a day out in london were ruined by the heavy rain and floods, but it could have been worse. our cancelled train sent southern rail into a tailspin though so not sure what they would do if anything really serious ever happened.

next on the list of social events was my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.

grandma had booked a private dining room for the family at the red lion in henley-on-thames and i think we all felt a bit like royalty as we dined on a delicious lunch. My cousin Louise had booked a suprise cruise on the Thames but unfortunately with all the rain the river was too high and fast so it was cancelled. it was a good day anyway.

The Parrs and their progeny (well, some of them)

As usual we finished off the day with boardgames (cranium) and too much wine (me).

The next day we headed off for an official ramble around the oxfordshire countryside, led by my aunt jane, which was lovely (great for the hangover) and ended with lunch outdoors at a country pub which we just squeezed in before it started to rain : (

anxious faces before the rain

also, in between all the partying we have been finishing up at work and i baked lamingtons! (i know, i know - i am a superwoman (ok yes, rohan did help a bit - with the coconut)).

Delicious lamingtons - and so they should be - such hard work!

we went out for one last night out on east grinstead town with people from work and followed that up with a farewell picnic in hyde park last weekend.

so thats all for the last post from EG - thanks to everyone who has joined us going out in the last few weeks - we've had a ball- now all thats left is to pack up this place (no mean feat) and head out onto the open road!

a

xxx