Week two in photos!

I left my twitchers spot for a beautiful village nestled in Lorraine. Perfectly set up for campers and there are over 300km of hiking paths in the woods. Bliss! But first, coffee!

Well signed trails in enchanting woodland. Needless to say we hiked and ran as much as we could!

Even finding an ancient cemetery atop a ridge line. So peaceful.

I couldn't tire of that view. The rectangular building like objects on the left are immaculate wood stacks! The farming here seems mostly to be done by hand or small machine. 

My lovely neighbours sharing their crêpes with me after I lent them my whisk to save the batter from a lumpy death

Next stop: Germany! Over the Rhine we went, and wow, it was heaving with water. This sluice gate was so overwhelmed and flooded that there was just a crazed whirlpool and the top of the gate visible. The diameter of the whirlpool would have easily taken my bike and I. It was huge:

And this is where my lovely friend Hans comes in! He saved me from a night of being bitten to shreds by the Rhine and showed me a hidden treasure of a palace to park in. Not only that, but he took me for a turn about the gardens and then out for supper! 

Quite literally a palace! I will not forget his kind generosity. 

After bidding Hans good night we slept well and headed off early the next morning to reach the hills south east of Stuttgart, and to meet up with my beautiful friend Charlotte whom I used to live with in NZ. Puck looks pretty happy about that:

Beautiful hilltop evening with Charlotte and her fab boy Patrick (who does a mean BBQ)

Can you see the moon rising behind the castle? This was our view from the truck :)

Two nights there meant we could drink daytime beer. Yay! Except for I had also taken an antihistamine for my bites...

But woke up in time for a beautiful sunset :)

And of course to bake some bread!

Onwards again and another beautiful view. This is a lake slightly north east of Stuttgart. Charlotte had the chance to spend another night with me so we chose somewhere a little easier for her to get to work in the morning (love you! Xx). We had a huge lake and lots of cycling tracks to choose from. It seems this is my only photo outside of the truck..

But I have a happy Charlotte inside the truck! Just waiting for her Spanish omelette to come together. Nom nom 

As always the morning comes and it's time to move on. Today was a huge driving day (we average at 50km/hr) as we were München-bound. We stopped off at a sweet hotel/barn/deer park. Not a bad park spot (again):

And this fella was waiting for us by the balcony when we got up!

This is why I was heading to München! My darling mum came out for a 2 night visit :) so lovely to welcome her in!

She managed to bring some stormy weather with her to Kocklsee but we squeezed in a 7km and a 12km hike anyway! If it wasn't for the intense horseflies in the woods I would consider living here! More pics to come, I don't seem to have taken many.. 

Sunset over the lake we are parked beside. So gorgeous. Icy cold, perfect for a quick dip after a long hike! 

Tomorrow I drop mum off and spend the night in München with an old climbing buddy (well, his girlfriend actually.. whom I've never met!) and then am heading on to Austria. Any suggestions for places to visit, please do tell! They need to be truck and dog friendly :)

See you all soon!