A birthday and a need to put some extra kilometers in the clock had us back on the road. Not even out of the city we picked up some hitchhikers trying to get to Köln.

Sammy and Penny were dropped 20 minutes away from the Köln city, none the less they were happy enough to leave us a little drawing.

 

 

About 150 kilometers in the cooling water indicator light started blinking. Haven’t gotten around fixxing the indicator, sure enough I changed the sensors and checked the wiring but it still dint not work. More than enough reason to freak out when the light started blinking. As I Pulled over to the side of the highway this strange feeling fell over me, the van an me were getting trust issues.

Water still being pumped around, the level of the water being good, no leaks and enough oil, so we pulled back onto the highway.

In the eyes of the hitchhikers this must have looked like a routine, but it was pure desperation and adrenaline. The blinking light never started blinking again, but lost trust was not going to be build on the hills of Westfalia. Driving up and down the hills with 1 eye on the light, I was finally able to relax when we got to our destination.

At sunset we were of to find a good place to park overnight. With loads of lakes around, and some rivers the idea was to park next to the water. Turns out the Germans block every gravel road or passage to any water. Passinging by some uninviting looking hunters in the fields, and spotting signs with bullet holes forbidding me entrance,Germany turns out not to be all that camper van friendly. Not in the area where I was that is.

 

Getting to the point where we did not care if there were signs or not, we drove onto a gravel road on to of a hill. By this time it was pitch dark, driving into a forest with just the lights of the headlights was exciting. The gravel track turned in to less gravel and more green every couple meters. After driving in for about 500 meter there was no track and just tree’s. This is where we popped the top and fell asleep, in thick darkness and dead silence.

Since our curtains seem to almost enhance the sun, we were awoken by the first sun piercing the green ceiling of leaves. The sun beams falling through the canopy hit the mist rising from the floor of the woods. This made a almost fairytale scene to wake up to.

 

 

Backing up the gravel track on the other hand was not all that romantic or beautiful. Wiggling our way out back worth we finally had the lake view that we set out to wake up to, but only after waking up to something more beautiful.

 

 

On the way home we stopped for a full tank of diesel. After every tank refill i calculate how much the van drives on 1 liter. We were surprised to see the van drove 16.6 kilometers on 1 liter, this is the best since I am driving the van. Seems like I start driving the van as it should be. This is really good news, since we will be driving the van for 7000 kilometers in the 2 months to come.