We left our not-so-friendly and pay-for-everything campsite for a journey of two and a half hours, which turned into over 4 hours. We had to drive through Hamberg and a bridge/main route was closed; there were roadworks everywhere - not nice driving... although good practice for changing gears and starting/stopping a BUS!
Finally we drove into the beautiful small town of Schleswig: lots of oooh's and aaah's as we drove past castles, churches and the sea. We drove onto our stellplatz, drove round to see if any spaces were available looking out on the harbour only to realise there was only ONE space available. We quickly drove into that one, looked around for where to pay/get access to showers etc until a friendly English speaker explained that we paid in the morning and access to shower and toilet block was free! :-)
We walked along the harbour just by the site, and found somewhere to have a beer (surprise, surprise!) - after which I had a nap ;-). In the evening we went into the town - very pretty, flowers everywhere - to find a local, recommended restaurant Mullenbruk, where we had an absolutely delicious dinner. It was definitely a local and lots of people seemed to know each other. Also on was the last night of a 3 day local festival, so there were 2 stages with 'interesting' bands playing and beer stalls etc - a rather unexpected but fun experience.
We went back to the camper to find sleep rather hard because the rain was heavy again, and the nearby church bell rang not only every hour, but every quarter of an hour all through the night!
Day 2 Schleswig explored
Sunday started in the sunshine, and Maureen the vicar felt she should try going to church (and the bells were tolling so loudly it was hard to ignore!). So off I went to Cathedral of St Peter (Evangelical Lutheran) - an amazing building where the service began with 6 minutes of organ recital. All the speakers/readers except one were female, and they sat down for the hymns. As well as Bible readings they had a 'literary reading'.
It was interesting, but hard to follow in German - so I left before the sermon, and went back for coffee!
After that we walked along the harbour edge to Gottorf Castle, which was more of a stately home with some interesting sculptures. On the way back we found a little beach, and went back to last nights bar for lunch.
In the afternoon we revisited the church, where a youth choir were rehearsing songs that Sean had sung in the past. The church and cloisters were impressive, as were the gardens and town adorned with flowers.
That evening we settled down to watch THE match on the phone, and despite being IN Germany, surrounded by many nations (no other Brits), we rejoiced then despaired with our home nation.
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