We already told you that we have started our journey on the 18th of March.
The whole day we packed the last things, which should be stored in Pfreimd, as well then the last things going into the bus – which was ready to go quiet a while.
9 pm: We managed it all!
The very last time our bus is going down the street through the town of Pfreimd (where Raimunds parents live). This time everything is different. A last look back, then into the future. We both look to each other, we laugh, cry, Raimund is turning on the music (our song from Haindling: Umlaufbahn – orbit), I open the window and do shout out loud. What a feeling – indescribable! A feeling of liberty. What will we be expecting, how will it be, will it be like we dreamed about. Thousands of questions, thousands of feelings are going through my mind. I ask Raimund: “How are you, what kind of feeling have do you have? “I feel like an empty bottle” Somehow Raimund is right. A mental vaccum and nevertheless satisfaction. All the month of preparations, the small and bigger problems. That´s now history.
We are ready to go!
We start to drive direction North-West. Over Frankfurt – Trier – Luxembourg – Belgium (short break in Bruges – well it´s true that I know Bruges more or less already by heart – but I wanted to show it to Raimund) – France. Here we had the first compulsory stop. It is 11 am. On the industrial port and the docks of Calais/France the Dockers are on strike. Information we got: Most likely just today. So we have to wait. Then we see a car, which is not driving back direction exit. Another one and another one. We straight back to the information. “Yes there will be a ferry going over to Dover at 6.30 pm” Meantime it is already 6 pm. Back again to the ticket office. 6.10 pm. In front of us two people. 6.15 pm. We made it, with the ticket in our pocket we run back to the bus, jump in and up we go direction check in counter. It seems that the check in is miles and miles away. Passport control of France, second passport control of the British. 6.20 pm. A costumes officer ask us to open the bus. O no, not know! With a flashlight he looks over here and over there. Then a friendly “Have a good trip”. Up we go, time 6.25 pm. Finely we are the last car to go on the ferry. The docks around the ferry are closed by the hundred of police officers for security for the strike-breakers. 6.35 pm. We are on! The ferry itself is nearly empty. Once on board we get the information, that this is the first and only ferry going over to Dover today. How lucky we are!
1 ½ hours later we are in Dover. Meantime it is already dark and we spot out for a place to sleep. At the beachside on a parking lot we do find the right place. The next day we drive along the coastline direction Cornwall.
on the road in Cornwall
Over eastern we drive criss cross through Cornwall which is blooming beautifully: Camellias, Rhododendron, daffodils, primroses as well then broom. The weather is sunny and well mixed English. Sometimes a bit of rain. We do enjoy our new life. We go for a walk when we feel like it, read, write or simply do nothing and look out to the sea. We try to chill down and leave our old life behind.
chill down
Moreover we get used to our new life or better to say with the things, which our new life brings with it. For example cooking: To cook in a small bus like we have, you first have to arrange nearly all of your cooking equipment around yourself. Every step should be carefully thought out, before starting. Once you have placed the pan on the oven and you figure that you would need that spice, pan or any other cooking equipment which is placed just underneath, it could get a bit of a chaos. But with the days and weeks I guess we well be experts in it.
Certainly with the technical equipment in the bus you have to get used to. The fridge works in three ways. With the battery during driving, with electricity on a campground and with gas when you park somewhere out in the nature. Gas is something you really have to get used to it. Even if there is installed a ventilation – gas smells.
one of the thousend Cornish gardens
By the way for all of you send us an email and did not get an answer jet, we have problems to collect our emails. The problem, how we get to our mails (info@windrose-unterwegs.com) should be solved very soon. Please do NOT send to our previous address Mark-Meissner@t-online.de, which we can not get at all anymore!!!!
Going further with our experiences: Whoever would like to visit one time Cornwall, should not miss out on a typical Cornish cream tea. What is that all about? Instead of the well known English 5 o´clock tea, where one get served tea, biscuits and sandwiches, you will get tea with scones and strawberry jam and clotted cream. For my opinion it tastes delicious at least for one time, but to Raimunds taste, it is to fat. You find cream teas all over Cornwall, but the best ones are to be found on the countryside, when you see a sign: Farm – cream tea.
Fisher in Marazion
Another highlight was waiting for us in the evening, as we searched for a good place to sleep. Unfortunately here in Cornwall there are not many of them. Not because there are not enough beautiful places, but due to the fact, that here is a lot of tourism and the density of the population is quiet high, other then campgrounds, there are nearly no places to be found. And if so, then there are signs” No overnight parking” to make sure you go on to the next campground; which are quiet expensive with the time for people like us (about 15 Euro per night).
Back to our highlight: Above the cliffs near Mullion (that’s´ on the Peninsula of Lizard) we found a beautiful spot to park overnight and even longer. Apart from the breakers against the cliffs, there was no other noise to be heard. Just we two and the power of nature. Two days we stood there and enjoyed every single moment of it. After that we travelled on to Helston, where we unfortunately had a breakdown with our bus. The alternator broke down. But we were still lucky in our misfortune. Just a two minutes walk from where it happened, there was a garage. They worked it out for us, but it could not be done the same day, so we had a two day break in Helston. The night we could stay right across the garage for which we were grateful even if it was not as nice as on the cliffs. This time our neighbours were car wrecks. The time we had to wait we used for preparing this journal and to collect our emails which was not working as you know by now.
But however, we have all the time in the world and problems are there to solve them.
So that was it from us for now.
We wish all of you
“Calmness, which you need to face a problem
and the necessarily bit of luck to solve it.”