We slept well and had breakfast al fresco before leaving Lauenberg marina. John had found an 18th century hunting lodge that was on our route and looked worth visiting. The roads were very busy with lorries, especially around Bremen, but we got to Sögel in about 3 hours and found the parking for Schloss Clemenswerth easily.
There didn’t seem to be an official entrance to the site, so we just wandered into the parkland. Schloss Clemenswerth is a symmetrical star-shaped complex. There’s a central pavilion surrounded by eight radiating tree-lined avenues and a circle of eight secondary pavilions.
The hunting lodge complex was built between 1737 and 1747 for Prince-Bishop Clemens August. The secondary pavilions were originally a kitchen, library, wash house, chapel and guest houses. The buildings and avenues were lovely and we enjoyed our walk in the parkland, taking in the views of the forest and lake in the sunshine.
For that night’s stopover, I chose an aire at Geeste because it was near a reservoir with a swimming beach. We eventually found our way to the little town tucked in the forest, having had to reroute when we were faced with a 2 tonne, 2 metre wide road restriction. Finally, once we’d worked out how to pay and access the aire, we passed the barrier and settled onto our huge pitch.
We left Molly and walked up to the reservoir through the woods. The car park was quite busy and there were lots of people about. The reservoir wasn’t built into the valley with a dam wall at the end, like many in the UK. Instead there was a huge curved embankment surrounding the water. So we had to walk up to reach the restaurant bar, cafe and beach. It was like being at the seaside, with people swimming and windsurfing. We sat and relaxed with a couple of drinks watching the activity.
It began to rain a little so we returned to Molly. Thankfully, we arrived back just in time before it chucked it down because we’d left the roof lights open! Tea was warmed up chilli which meant we had little to do before bedtime.
The next morning, the sun was shining again so we walked up to the reservoir for a swim. We had the place to ourselves apart from a couple of divers, and the water felt wonderful.
After breakfast, we set off to Hilversum in the Netherlands, chosen because of its Parkrun. We’re doing the Parkrun alphabet and there are no Zs in the UK. The one in Hilversum is called Zonnestraal and is close to a campsite. Perfect!
After about two and a half hours, we arrived at Camping Zonnehoek and settled in on our peaceful pitch under the dappled shade of the trees. We’d seen there was a small airport nearby and I had read that it was nice to have a drink at the bar there and watch the light aircraft and gliders.
It was very relaxing watching the gliders being towed steeply into the blue sky then floating on the thermals. Later we’re returning to the same place to have dinner… a final meal out before getting the ferry back to the UK tomorrow… after Parkrun!
Ramblings 
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