We did it, we survived our first nights in Tigín. Today finds us in the beautiful medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Located in the middle of Southern German on the picturesque Romantic Road. Rothenburg ob der Tauber which means “Red castles above the Tauber” is situated on the Tauber river and one of only three towns in Germany that has a fully intact city wall.  It is picture postcard and has featured in movies like Disney’s 1940’s classic Pinocchio, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Hubby and I visited here briefly in 2016, it was the starting point for our week long walk along the Jakobsweg pilgrim route, also known as the Camino de Santiago. 

We arrived at dusk on Saturday evening to the Wohnmobilstellplatz,  yes all one word! This designated camper parking area, is just on the edge of town, and provides all the services we might need. We were surprised to find the place almost full, after all it is early March and a brisk 0-1^oC, with overnight temperatures below freezing, we’ve even had some flurries of snow. Rocking up to your first camping spot was a bit daunting, but any worries we may have had were eased by some helpful neighbours who were veteran campers and happy to help out the newbies in their shiny new camper.

First we find a spot: Not quite as simple as just parking a car. You need a spot which is mostly level, and near enough to the power installations that your electric hook up cable will reach, in this instance we would have centimetres to spare. We had two options for sites and I got out the cable while Hubby and our friendly neighbour paced out the distances to see which one was nearer and if our cable would reach. An option was settled on, and we pull in the camper. We then levelled the camper using chocks, sleeping at a wonk is not to be recommended. Beginners luck and we were level on the first try. Time to plug in Tigín and feed the meter, pay our parking fee, and figure out where the services are located.  

Last but not least we needed to get some groceries, shops in Germany are closed on Sunday’s and we needed a few bits to get us through to Monday. We walked the 10 minutes to our choice of local supermarkets, it was bitterly cold by now and so when we returned to Tigín I made some warming soup while hubby closed all the blinds and made things nice and cosy inside. 

One of the first observations I have about van life is everything seems to take that much longer, perhaps this is due to our inexperience and our efficiency will improve with time but there are also a lot more steps than checking into a hotel or guesthouse where you take your bag from the car, check in to your room and head down to the restaurant or bar for dinner. But sitting in our warm and cosy cocoon I’m already convinced though, that this is going to be a great adventure and we will thrive when we get the hang of it. My plan for the coming days would be to explore the town while hubby worked from his mobile office.

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