In our 8 years of travel we have been pretty lucky, today not so much. As I said yesterday we learned that it is a long weekend for Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium. We were lucky yesterday that our campground in Erfurt let us stay, but we had to move on this morning.
Our plan was to drive to Aachen and head to a large Stellplatz there. Stellplatz’s are first come first served. We were up bright and early and on the road at 8am. It was supposed to take 4 hours to Aachen, but traffic was heavy and about 25% of the route today was under construction. So we didn’t make great time.
We rolled up to the Stellplatz at about 1:15 and saw the dreaded sign out on the road-full. A quick look at our camping act showed a cluster of 5 campgrounds just over the border in the Netherlands so we thought we have 5 chances. The first one was full, the second one was also full but the nice lady there than called 4 other campgrounds for me to see if she could find us a place but failed.
The Germans, Dutch, and Belgians have begun cracking down on what the Europeans call wild camping, or just parking somewhere discreetly for the night. In the past the police would just move you on, but now they move you on after they fine you. So while we were tempted we decided to splurge on a hotel.
That proved harder to accomplish than we expected. Part of the issue is François doesn’t fit in underground garages so we have to look carefully at the parking situation before we book a place. We spent about an hour in a parking lot looking at hotel options in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium before finding the place we are at tonight in Germany. Tomorrow we are going to take another crack at Aachen, but have a valid backup plan if the Stellplatz falls thru.