Tuesday 8 February 2011

Germany

Finally we arrive in Germany. Instantly across the border there is a different feel to the place. It's not entirely inhospitable but perhaps slightly less liberal than the Netherlands.
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The terrain is fairly similar to the Netherlands, as much of the route continues along the coast, and again is on the whole flat.  Much of the camping in Germany is in larger caravan park style sites.  I wasn't so keen on this set up and the locals didn't seem to understand the concept of sleeping in a tent anywhere other than one of these caravan parks.  The Germans seemed to go in for their caravans/motorhomes in a big way and had all the gear to go with them too.  I was pretty impressed by a German guy in budgie smugglers lighting a barbecue which can only be described as medieval style with a bottle gas flame thrower!  On one of the occasions that we managed to avoid the caravan parks, we managed to find an overgrown piece of wasteland to hide in.  During the night I woke up as something rattling the pots we had left outside followed by something substantial caving the side of my tent in.  The snapped tent pole and couple of tears in the tent fabric lead me to believe it was a deer.  Pretty sure those tears in the tent were a close shave from being skewered by a set of antlers.  What do you do when you have a snapped tent pole?  I managed a repair with a detachable handle from my chain tool, luckily it fitted perfectly.
Much of the coastline in Germany is similar to the Netherlands as it's very flat.  The Germans seem to flock to places on this coast for their holidays on the beach but the beach itself is strangely inhospitable.  It's great territory for birdwatchers as it's largely grey mudflats.  The German kids seem happy enough to play in it with their buckets and spades though.