Tag Archives: train

Up the Burg

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I tackled the Burg Nideggen this morning by ascending the forest paths on the face of the mountain. Was sweating a bit by the time I got to the top, not helped by the sun being out! As I cooled down, the coat quickly went on as it was chilly 1,000 feet up.

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Check out the campsite from the mountain. The sooty van is to the right of the dark building in the middle and behind a blue flag.

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After the castle, I ventured to the town of Nideggen looking for car parts. Not really much in the way of shops here, but I did stop for a coffee.

After coming down to base level, using the road this time, I grabbed a train and took the 30 minute trip to Düren – population 92,000 so they must have a car parts place.

As luck would have it, there was a motor factors 2km north of the town. I asked for a distributor cap and rotor arm for a 1987 Suzuki Super Carry. The lady understood my poor German as she started shaking her head almost straight away; “nicht hier!” she said.

The good news is the bits will be in by 9AM tomorrow.

Day 18: Des Grangettes

It was always my desire to visit Montreux but there is no public transport from the campsite which complicates things a little. Google maps is my friend in this instance and tells me I can walk 3.5km to Villeneuve which is the nearest town. Villeneuve has a railway station and the line runs to Montreux.

When I got there the station was closed for lunch from 12:00 – 13:30 so I decided to check out the Istanbul Kebab House and relieve them of a Doner. By the time I’d eaten it, it was raining. I had no coat and couldn’t be arsed getting getting rained on waiting for the railway station to open so returned to base.

On the way back I got some shopping at the supermarket. 1.5kg bag of potatoes, 160g pack of boiled ham, and a Cornetto. Over 10 Swiss Francs, that’s nearly seven quid. This has to be the most expensive country in the world to live in!

I will forgive the Swiss though, because the country is clean and tidy, also the views are stunning. Sat in the van late afternoon, the sun came out again to light up the local landscape. From the window I can see Lake Geneva, Montreux and Lausanne.

Tomorrow I’ll make an early exit, around 8AM to head up to Troyes in Eastern France.