Thursday 15th October – Eichstatt, Germany

Given last night’s excellent meal, we decided that we had to buy some meat from the butchers before we left. I am looking forward to cooking it in the coming days.
We continued our gentle drive up the Altmuhl Valley, stopping just outside Kipfenberg to walk up to a reconstructed wooden Roman tower. We are now on the Limes, which formed the Roman frontier with the Germanic tribes. Initially, this Limes consisted of a wooden palisade with wooden watchtowers and forts placed behind. Over time the wooden towers and palisades were replaced by stone ones but this reconstruction was made in wood and, although it was noted that it was not an authentic reconstruction, it was still very impressive. The Germanic Limes are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site - there are many sites open to the public along the route and we will be investigating a few of them.
We drove on to Eichstatt and the stellplatz on the edge of the town. I had found the stellplatz in the Bord Atlas that we bought from Vicarious Media but Jane checked it on Park4night and found out that we may have to pay with cash at the machine as it only accepts German debit cards. This wouldn’t normally be a problem but the €14 can only be paid with €2 coins. We had scraped together seven €2 coins and managed to get a ticket.
We were going to cook dinner in the van but I found that there was a Greek restaurant just three minutes walk away. We didn’t want a large meal but I noticed that they offered a takeaway pitta gyros for €6 and so we wandered there and bought two. Unwrapping them in the van we found that they were large – lots of sliced pork, chips, tzatziki and tomato wrapped in pitta. I must say that it is the best gyros that I have had outside of Greece.
Photos: The reconstructed Roman watchtower at Kipfenberg; The original position of the stone watchtower – it is just possible to make out the foundations of the stone walls going to and from the watchtower on this bend in the Limes; A view from the top of the tower – in the gap between the trees is a church, which marks the position of a Roman fort behind the Limes; Even the local school playground is based on the Limes.