Did I say gentle quacking?!

5 May 2018

More like ducks rioting at night!  I have never heard such persistent noise from our feathered companions!  It woke me at 03:00, and that was me pretty much awake for the rest of the night.  I’m normally pretty good at doing my yoga breathing and getting myself back to sleep, but I just felt wide awake.  Cornelia then woke up around 04:00 and wanted to come into the roof bed to sleep with me, and who could possibly refuse that?!  So, there we were all snuggled up together, for the last few hours of the night.

When she woke properly in the morning, she was super-chatty and 100% back to being herself.  Her temperature had come right back down to nearly normal, so although I gave her another dose of Calpol, I was no longer worried about her, as I had been yesterday.

After yesterday’s disappointment of no playpark, I had promised her that we would find one first thing, after breakfast.  She ate her Weetabix at top speed and we set off on the bikes searching for a “SpielPlatz”.  We found one easily enough, tucked down a beautiful little sidestreet, very typical as you might imagine a little German castle town would be.  Bugsy had a great time on the enormous slide, but we all became peculiarly fascinated with what were clearly mating ladybirds!  There were loads of them all over the playpark! Ian explained it must be the special “ladybird love cuddle” season, so if Cornelia ever says such a thing to you, now you know…!!!

Having left the ladybirds to it, we cycled through the main streets and squares, and chose a little bakery cafe in the sunshine for hot chocolate, cappuccinos and apple pastries.  Then it was back to the campsite for lunch (our life seems to revolve around the three main meals of the day!) and I went off for a little run.  I only meant to do two miles, and I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but I got lost on the way back.  I mean, I was only running along one path, with one bridge to cross!!!  I have no idea how it happened!  Anyway, I inevitably needed to go to the loo too, so it was a desperate sprint (at least, that’s what it felt like) to find my way back.  Thank goodness for Google Maps and Parked Car locations!

There is a castle in Ellwangen (did I mention it is a castle town?!) and although it is situated up a hill, as it is only a mile and half away, we decided to try our hill legs out on the bikes.  I’m glad we did, because although it was tough, it was rewarding to get to the top, and the journey back was gleeful.  Schloss ob Ellwangen itself  is a bit odd.  It looks majestic from the town, but when you arrive, there’s just nothing there.  It’s empty!  There are renovations going on, and we think it is either being turned into an hotel or apartments, but otherwise, it was completely deserted. We killed an hour or so there, wandering the gardens and playing hide & seek, but we were somewhat underwhelmed.  The weather has warmed up considerably, and poor old Cornelia had been complaining of tummy ache all day, so we didn’t want to push our luck with her, and went back to the campsite in time for a leisurely tea.  I pootled off to Lidl (yes, Liz Jacobs, I really did!) in search of supper, and returned with sausages, which I cooked on our brand new Cobb BBQ.  I also boiled potatoes in the moat around the BBQ and, although I say so myself, it was all absolutely delicious.  We piled on the broccoli and green beans too, as we’re both missing the fresh vegetables that just don’t seem to exist anywhere we’ve been so far!  Bugsy managed to eat loads of potatoes, so at least she’s filled up her little tummy again, and after the excitement of sharing the roof bed with me last night, asked to sleep up there again tonight, by herself.