Wesel

Some places you arrive at and you like within seconds, others the opposite. This site had very little to offer but I liked it (€10 plus metered electric and water). Back to the Rhine, we seem to have been moving to and from the Rhine for weeks now. The river had the big barges coming and going giving something to watch while a beer was being imbibed, under an umbrella as the rain is back now we are in autumn. Of course the river also had a bombed-out bridge destroyed by the German army in their retreat. Another common feature of this area. The town is another ordinary town although it had colourful horse status throughout it, it’s own post office tower, along with an impressive town gate.

We also cycled to Xanten where there is a Roman town excavation. This might have been good if we hadn’t done Pompeii and Herculaneum earlier in the trip. The difference was (apart from the lack of excavations) that they had rebuilt and furnished some buildings in the Roman style, and we spent a pleasant 5 hours looking at the place. We would have spent longer but they closed it. Xanten seemed a pleasant town, of course we arrived at the same time as the dust cart which was cleaning up after the day’s fete which seemed to involve all the services, armed, police, fire etc.