21 July River Doud then Germany

 We began the day driving alongside the river on unmade road. Just a bit pot wholy and very pretty. A few kms along things came to an abrupt halt with a tree across the road. It had obviously blown down in the previous nights storm. The road was very narrow so Roland had to reverse for about 500 metres back to a turning area. Maria and I walked back ahead of the Jeep and as  we went we found dozens of tiny frogs hopping across the road.They were really cute and just like the ones I used to find in the garden at the farm.

We were travelling through rural land again and saw a deer foraging in a mowed paddock then some storks feeding on ploughed land. We stopped at an ancient town named Ferrette and I don't know if there is any connection to the four legged ones or what the name actually means. It was quite delightful with fountains all through. They were mostly long toughs designed to make collecting water easy in the days before piped water. There was a notice forbidding housewives to do their washing in the drinking troughs and go to the laundry specific one.

There is a typical stone bridge with a statue of the towns patron saint whose name was difficult to remember so of course I have forgotten it. I do remember that in the  13 Century he was thrown in the river by King Wensalus and drowned because he would not betray the secrets of the confessional. We have always been told that Wensalus was a good guy. He must have had a good PR team.

As we progressed we went in and out of France a few times and then on to Bad Belingen in Germany for an overnight stay. 3 countries in one day. Our hotel was one M & R  had stayed in before. Omce we had settled in Bob and I went for a walk. We found the park just down the hill from the hotel. Maria had told us it had a mini golf course. We weren't looking for it particularly but when we did we were most impressed. It was 18 holes and most of them presented a challenge. I was most gobsmacked by the one where you had to hit through a rotating waterwheel. Putting through consecutive wine barrels where the holes would have just about accommodated a mouse was another. All of them had sneaky slopes guaranteed to send your ball into the never never.

Dinner was very enjoyable. For the first time Bob and I chose the fish on offer. It was just what we hoped and we enjoyed it. There had been no way we would have chosen the steamed trout the previous evening once we saw it being served to other patrons.