Cham, Germany to Roding, Germany
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Cham, Germany to Roding, Germany
Motorhome Journey Cham to Roding
Up with the lark as they say (sunrise is 06.05) there is time for coffee. Dressed, breakfast and everything sorted inside for travel before 8.00 am.
Nothing stirs on the campsite except the male blackcaps who are still singing so melodiously and the fieldfare who are still squabbling over the worms… just like the blackbirds! We leave quietly, driving up the little incline past the clubhouse, feeling sorry to leave here, it has been an excellent place to stay, so quiet and relaxing with many birds and much wildlife living in and around the River Regen.
We drive the 1 km that we have walked so often this week, turning left away from the town past the onion-church spire, the Rathaus and St Jacob’s church where we have spent to many hours in the Marktplatz. Out of the town along A22 then A20 and onto the A3, a good road all the way to Neustraubling. It is a small rural town in the south east of Germany, plain concrete apartment blocks (no doubt from the communist era) with more modern (commuter) apartment blocks nearer to A3. We pass a large piece of rough ground where several motorhomes are parked, we make a mental note but go and find the dancing venue, which is not far and in the small church hall of Kath: Pfarrampt St Michael’s (church).
As expected, there is nowhere for us to park Hymer, after all Hymer is 6.5 metres long and 2.35 metres wide, so back to the rough ground where we park up on a reasonably level area. It is only a 5 or 6 minute walk to the venue. We arrive in plenty of time, sign in and find chairs. Despite it being 15 minutes before the start time, there must be 80 people here and they are already squaring up! We start another square (number 11) which means there are over 90 people in this small rural town, all here to square dance with our own Di Green from Sheffield.
We also recognise many dancers from Cham (possibly two or three squares). The dancing is good (Plus and A1), the people are friendly and although few speak English which does not seem to matter, the calling is in English and there is a lot of thinking and laughter! Chris and Trevor Day arrive and join us briefly, they need to leave and take a flight from Munich.
Lunch is a relaxed affair at long tables, pizza and salad and a lot of noisy talking. Two more hours of dancing in the afternoon. We have good conversations with several of the German dancers who were at Cham. I am wearing my ‘Manchester bee’ tee-shirt and a German lady (Sonia) admires it, asking about it. I explain the bees are a symbol of Manchester, she is very animated as her daughter has lived in England. She asks where she can buy one for her daughter, I don’t know so I offer her mine. At 3.00pm the dancing finishes, I take off my tee-shirt and put on my zipper fleece (a bit warm for a sunny day) and give it to Sonia. She is quite overcome by the generosity and offers me one of hers, but they are at her hotel. Back on the road, we drive to Regensburg, a large city in the south of Germany. Here we take A16 towards Roding, a lovely Bavarian town also on River Regen.
We enter the town of Roding over a bridge and follow Google maps’ directions, taking a sharp right down a short and steep cobbled road to a pedestrian way along the riverside. The river is in front, bordered by the shared cycle/pedestrian way and nowhere to turn! Only option is to reverse up the steep cobbled hill, goodness, it is a bit scary (and that is for the passenger. The driver does it, even managing a reverse turn up a small alley to avoid reversing onto the main road through the town (although it would bot have been the first time I have had to get out with my high-viz vest and stop the traffic!!
Back through the town (all on a steep hill of course to make it more exciting) I following the map manually and see the car park ahead with two parked motorhome, we head that way. Why Google maps didn’t route us this way along the main road I will never know. There are four motorhome spaces, along the edge of the car park which is next to the river, we park up on the end. There are toilets (which are locked!), an emptying station with water and a hook-up column for electric. It is about 4.45, the tall church spire with its clock, chimes every 15 minutes. It is good to stop.
The sun is shining so we get out and go for a much needed relaxing walk along the river and into the town. Roding is a typical Bavarian town, with coloured buildings, cobbled streets and a large (modern) central church. We enter by a large wooden door and find ourselves in a large, hexagonal open-plan space. It is cool, quiet and relaxing. We sit and offer a prayer of thanks for safe travels so far, for our families and travel mercies for a return journey home. Back at Hymer, we open wine and have stirfry for tea made with leftovers (whatever is in the fridge and edible!)
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Keywords Motorhome camper campervan Hymer drive trip trek tour France Germany Czechia