Yeti Trip report- Germany and Czech

[angrybeard]

So having been back a week and spent hours trawling back through the multiple pages of thread on the Yeti forum I thought I would write a bit of a trip report for those interested.

 

Just over 3 weeks, 1950miles, Calais to Dunkirk, straight through Belgium and Holland into Germany, where I headed for the Harz mountains, An area where I thought a few days R & R for travels ahead would be good.

 

Not great locations for campsites near Bad Harzburg, and limited mountain bike trails on that side of the national park, so after a couple of spa visits I moved on to Leipzig.

 

Quite affected by the floods meaning a pain to cycle in from the campsite, but a young lively city, where I enjoyed the musical connections-lovely Bach Motette at the church, took in the history from the Napoleonic connections and more recent darker  history.

 

Then on to Dresden, worse affected by flooding(putting nearly all the campsites near the river turns out to be not so good) A beautiful city, although some what quietened by the flooding affects, loads of residents helping out and massive loads of troops about. Picks of the attractions were the Dresden military History museum; A place that concentrates on the negativity of war, started with a view over a city whose destruction still raises questions, and also the 'Glaesernemanufaktur', for those that haven't heard of it, a VW factory in the heart of the city made of glass where the Phaeton is hand built on a moving production line, 5euros for an excellent tour and a chance to mess around with a very expensive car at the end. If you want to buy one, you can watch it built over a few days and have it presented in an unveiling ceromony on site( lots of cool features, but not an interesting car for the money I think)

 

Then to take Kasper back to his homeland by heading onto Prague, what an amazing city, spent 7 days here, wandering around in temperatures in the mid 30's, really liked the national memorial on the Hill, and wandering round the castle and parks(although again flooding was an issue) My highlight was wondering around the streets at 5 in the morning, bringing an unharassed view to amazing buildings as the sun came up. I'm also not going to complain that in some places I could buy some delicious Czech lager for under a pound a pint, compared to over 3 for a small water... I then stayed a few days in Czech with an old friend before heading on to Nuremburg.

 

A city I have always wanted to visit, the mad historic differences between the national hysteria that led to the dark days of the 30's and 40's, to the court where those that instigated it were put on trial.

 

I was going to go to Frankfurt on the way back, but a nasty cold meant a couple of days camping near Rudesheim as a chill out, which meant some nice cycle rides and just generally watching the massive barges and cruise boats head up and now the river. Before heading back to Calais I visited the Nurburgring, I didn't take Kasper on the track, I decided a 110 2wd Yeti full of camping gear might ruin the day of some of the insaniacs tearing round. Loads of BMW's, Audi's and Merc's with disruptive pattern camo and tape tearing round I assume testing. Highlight of the day was an ungodly screaming noise coming from over the hill for several minutes until finally a Kia sportage came tearing round the corner, tyres in agony, fair play to the nut bar driving it!

 

How did Kasper fare, well no problems, maxidot showing 57mpg despite having a bike and roofbars on from the first stop till the last, the newly purchased wind deflectors were awesome, I found myself opening the windows when washing the windows, just to gloat at not getting soaked! Once again the rear seat were removed to shove gear  in the back, so loads of load space. I had to spend several hours cleaning out the inside when I got back, unfortunately I have noticed a couple of scratches on the interior, so will be looking at ways to hide them. It will take me quite a lot of claying to get my collection of flies from across Europe off the front. 

 

Plenty of Yeti's on the road, although not so many as I would expect in Czech, where I did see about as many Skoda 130's, killing time before for an evening ferry I was able to take a close up look at the crazy rally stall for Skoda in Ypres, for some kind of rally event going on there, so many shiny bits. Can't say I saw any models of car on the road this year that took my fancy either.

 

A nice trip, perhaps not enough relaxation as I hoped, but some amazing places visited, possibly my last European driving adventure for a while at least, with work taking me a long way from cross channel routes!

[Llanigraham]

Thank you.

Very interesting.

[freedie]

+1

[Hairball]

Thanks for the report. I have been to Nuernberg (German spelling) a few times with work, a lovely place and very friendly people. A project I'm working on is being worked in Nuernberg and Stuttgart so hopefully I will get the chance to go over and visit again. Maybe take Jana and given the chance pop over to her birthplace. Also been to Bad Hartzberg area on a motorcycle although my best memory is riding down to Heidelberg area near the Hockenheimring back in the 90s'

[andyml]

Took my 1.4 TSi to Münster last month and really enjoyed the trip. Sat nav was great and seat very comfortable. Whipped the seats out with loads of space for two bikes - a Moulton and a Brommie

[Kingsley]

Nice tour report. I'm looking forward to a long happy relationship with our new 2 litre diesel in August. However, I envy you your visit to the Glass Factory in Dresden, as I am the extremely happy owner of a nearly 5 year old V8 VW Phaeton, and can only disagree with the notion that it is not enough car for the money. Sadly, VW did nowhere near enough to promote this amazing car after its launch, and it has suffered from crushingly ignorant brand snobbery, much as our marque still labours under with some berks, even today. People seem to prefer fashion slave Mercedes and bossy Bimmers, rather ugly in my opinion. I love the classic lines of VAG's best cars, amongst which I number Skodas of course, perhaps the best built of all of them. Everyone who drives or rides in a Phaeton raves over them, with very rare and to me inexplicable exceptions. And the Yeti seems to be one of Britain's favourite cars. Can't wait for our two babes to meet!

[Yorkshire]

Not a Yeti trip angrybeard but..............  anyway.........

A couple of good camping sites here and some good cycling ideas for Czech Republic and Germany.

 

http://chriscaravanadventures.wordpress.com/plans-for-september-2012-the-czech-republic/

 

Good camping site in the Harz mountains with some good cycling trails, second site on the link (before I got my Skoda)

 

http://chriscaravanadventures.wordpress.com/germany-september-2010/

 

Looks like I will have to visit Dresden.