Hello everyone!
I hope Santa was good to you all!
You will remember that we left our heroes (me and the co-pilot) arriving in Germany with the new Renault Zoe…
Saarbrucken
I love Saarbrucken. I have no idea why. It’s just a nice place. Unpretentious. Friendly people. Good shops. Good restaurants. Clean. Bustling. Nice.
Having checked into the hotel, we went into town to find somewhere to eat.
I’d completely forgotten about the fact that Germany had different Covid rules. We were given a table and a form.
I filled the form and they took our order.
I could, at this point, give you some food photos. Just assume that meat was involved. Lots and lots of meat. Germany. I love Germany.
Now, this would be a fantastic point to share some photos of Saarbrucken - but it seems I took very few. We were probably too busy having fun! So, instead, here is a photo I took the previous time I was there.
You should visit! It’s fab! Here’s a link with more information.
Inflation
Germany has a German version of Poundland called Euroshop.
Euroshop where everything is…
Germany - Where Electricity Is EXPENSIVE
Germany is very well geared up for electric cars. For instance…
…there’s a free charger in a lot of Aldis (and Lidls and others too). However, when it came to it, although we had a little free charge at Aldi, we needed a big charge before we took the next leg of our journey. And that meant…
PAYING!
I wasn’t happy but I had no choice.
I had to distract myself. So I tricked the co-pilot and took him to France and left him there…
…while I stayed in Germany.
Then I decided that was bad. So I went to France to find him.
But…
…it turns out he’d already returned to Germany.
Once we’d finished messing around, we went back to the hotel and I plugged the car in at the charge point which was just the other side of a wire fence in a frontier lorry park. And we paid… URGH!
34 minutes of charging - a miserly 11.07kWh - had cost me 3,70€. Over 30c/kWh! My first paid charge and it was seriously expensive…
494km in to the journey and we had forked out 3,70€ for fuel. It left a bitter, bitter taste.
A Free Movement Stop
In the circumstances…
Onwards to Luxembourg
The next morning, we headed to sunny Luxembourg. If you’ve never been, I’d recommend it. It’s a lovely (if slightly inexplicable) place.
The car parks in Luxembourg are replete with charging points. The one we used had dozens.
The parking was free - the charging wasn’t. But at 23c/kWh and after the German experience, they felt like they were!
We were in for a long drive to… I didn’t like to tell the co-pilot but I had no idea where we were heading. I’d not booked a hotel again! But we needed fuel - so we plugged in and went in search of lunch.
Luxembourg is… well, aside from the EV charging, it’s expensive. Compared to its neighbours, very expensive. It’s lovely. But it’s expensive. We also hadn’t timed it well because, other than some very expensive (did I mention it was expensive?) restaurants, it was pretty much shut.
Wait! I’m being unfair! The trams were free!
…and empty!
If you want to get around in Luxembourg, the trams are fantastic but you can also use the little electric buses. It is a city that has clearly thought a lot about how to improve air quality - and it showed.
The weather was lovely so a couple of overpriced salads in the fresh air later, we headed back to the car.
9,91€ of electricity was added to the… erm… tank?! We were full and so off we headed. But where?
The co-pilot had demanded chips, so there was only one thing for it.
We headed for Belgium…
Belgium needs some roadworks
I know what you’re thinking - nowhere NEEDS roadworks.
But, as we drove in Belgium, it was like being… no, I have no idea of what to compare it to. The roads were awful. I was seriously worried about the tyres.
The potholes were incredible. It felt like there were more potholes than actual road. It was strangely unwelcoming.
Put some cones up, guys! Fix the roads!!
I like Belgium but the border area to the south didn’t feel like the Belgium that I knew. Maybe I was getting tired.
We headed through to Mons and the promised land of chips.
…but, truth be told, while I had factored in an evening in Belgium in my mind, I just wanted to press on to somewhere else. Somewhere more welcoming. Maybe I was tired - we’d already covered about 350km and three countries that day.
Whatever the reason, we decided to go somewhere else. As we ate our own body weight and someone else’s body weight in chips, I got on the phone and started looking at maps.
It was time to head back into France - the fourth country of the day. But I wanted to top up the car - and I was determined not to pay. I tried to find somewhere along the route that had a likely free charge point but I couldn’t find one.
So we decided to risk it.
Because what’s life without taking a few risks?
Something would come up, right…?
Hurrah for Big Box Stores!
About four minutes after we set off, back on the motorway, we saw a sign…
…and, right on cue, an off-ramp!
Ikea Mons. Recommended for a free charge!
Less recommended was the McDo opposite - their coffee wasn’t great. Sadly, it was Sunday so there wasn’t exactly much choice!
But look! A video of me babbling! Thanks to Jumpy Spiders for the coffee!
By this stage, it was 7.30pm so a sensible decision needed to be taken. A sensible decision not to make any ridiculous long journeys but to settle down for the night.
A sensible decision to book somewhere and rest.
A sensible decision to…
…I feel you are being a bit judgey at this stage!
I opened an app, booked a hotel online and, all of a sudden, we had no choice.
Mons to Amiens
Even without the sign, you know you’re back in France. The roads are better, the places names and shops more familiar. We were on the way home.
The drive from Mons to Amiens is about two hours and takes you across the battlefields of the Somme. I didn’t realise where I was until I got out to take a picture of the car and I suddenly saw it.
There were agricultural vehicles out harvesting into the night but you could not have been anywhere else. Every town we passed, every field, every memorial. It was everywhere.
I was suddenly aware of how little noise the car made. It was a Sunday evening. You could hear very little. It made for a very contemplative drive.
Amiens at night
We arrived in Amiens a little after 10pm. Neither of us had been there before. It looked like a beautiful city and we had a little walk before turning in for the night.
We decided that, the next day, we’d find a charger, have a wander around town and set off on the final two days of the journey. We had done over 500km that day and we had another 600km to go.
But, first, we had to sanitise our tentacles and go to sleep…
And then?
899 km into the journey and we had spent 13€61 on charging. We had over 600 km to go.
But I’ll tell you what happened next in the final edition!
See you then!
James
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