When we arrived yesterday we were so happy with the view that we didn’t bother levelling up and by the time Lucy remembered it was too late to do anything about it. Lucy is normally a stickler for being level, it really has to be spot on but this time she’d been busy with the alcho pops and let it go. Contrary to common belief your head will not explode once it has filled up with blood, your eyes will not pop out and your toes do not drop off due to a lack of blood reaching them.

Our plan was to head downstream four or five miles but I found the German guide book which showed the city of Treves (Trevis) was fairly close and it had two stellplatzes. Treves was founded 3000 years ago and was developed by the Romans a couple of times, the locals took a dislike to the Romans and smashed the place up a bit.
Constantine built the first German cathedral in Treves on the site of a temple to his mother. It is still standing and the postcards showed some amazing decorations inside. We also saw the Ponte Negro, one of the grandest Roman buildings still standing, the amphitheatre and the third largest Roman baths in the world. There is a lot to see and do in the city of you are so inclined, but we’re not so we didn’t.
I managed to get up and dressed just as the baker arrived and I had been practising my best German so we could get a white soft loaf, not the hard heavy stuff they usually go in for. The chap in front of me asked for zwei baguettes and they looked like they would do the job. Big fat rolls which didn’t need two men to carry. We took our time getting packed away and gradually made our way up the valley arriving in Treves around noon. The first site was €10 euros a night with electric but there was no water, no waste facilities and miles out of town so we went for the other stellplatz which looks rather more like a campsite than an aire.
You are issued with a card at the gate and have to put credits on to it. You then use the card to pay for water, electric, showers and toilets and then make sure you have enough credit on it when you go to leave. Fairly straight forward, we have water and we have electric! Seen our first English van for five days which considering there are at least 70 units here isn’t bad.
Lucy prepared a packed lunch while I took the bikes off the back and got them ready for a ride into town. Cycle paths all the way and special bike crossing traffic lights.
We had a lovely walk around the shops, it was much more like an English city with parades of shops, some of which we recognised, C & A, Espirit, McDonalds and Claires.
I managed to order a couple of beers and we sat out in the sun until the thunder and lightning started and then the heavens opened.
Eventually it cleared and we walked around a bit more and then returned to the site by which time the sun was out again. Chairs out and as we got settled more thunder and rain!!
Word of the Day – Klinger. It’s a bell for my bike, I managed to break my old one and needed a new one.
Mistake of the Day – Not buying more wine in the Intermarche three days ago. The range of wines in France is staggering and all the description are all in funny foreign so I had a brainwave. There was an old guy looking at the wines so I thought that whichever one he went for would be the one for me. I was very surprised when he picked the cheapest Beaujolais in the shop, maybe in France and I was a bit iffy about opening it, sometimes you regret your rash decisions but this stuff is going down a treat, very fruity and all the other stuff a wine should be.
PS – the rolls were excellent.