Moving on from Donauworth we had planned to stop at Lauingen which looked like a pretty little town, however on arrival we found that the Stellplatz was closed as they were holding a steam tractor event. Although it looked interesting with nowhere to stay, we moved on and after a quick pit stop at the ‘tractor’ fuel station next door for our first sucessful attempt to fill up AdBlue – why, oh why do they put the fuel tank fillers in such weird places on a Phoenix? – we moved to the next town that we had marked as a ‘possible’…. Gunzburg.

Although we will never know what Lauingen was like, the lack of Stellplatz turned out to be fate as the Stellplatz (14 euros / 24 hours) in Gunzburg was fantastic. It was a secure gated enclosure with large pitches which despite being full and situated alongside an outdoor swimming pool complex was incredible peaceful.

Gunzburg itself is a pretty little town and the Stellplatz was situated on the edge of the Danube and forest which provided lots of walking trails – perfect for a few days relaxation and catching up on the washing. The sun had also come out and not wishing to blind anyone, we even risked exposure of the legs – the shorts have now broken free from the wardrobe and apparently have no plan of going back into it….. This is course without mentioning the most important aspect of warm weather…. outdoor eating and BBQs!

We even embraced the european ‘style’ breakfast by baking some fresh Chocolate, Orange and Walnut brioche for breakfast on the Saturday…. anyone would have thought we were on holiday eating them outside in the sunshine!

After three tranquil nights, we packed up and moved on to Ulm – a little further South West on the Romantic Road to another fanastic Stellplatz (12euro / 24 hrs) located next to the Thermal Spa, just 2km walk/cycle along the Danube to the town center.

The Stellplatz was pretty much full when we arrived late morning, and during the course of the evening it could have filled again three times over with the quantity of motorhomes that arrived. Quite impressive considering there must have been 70+ pitches split between two areas but it is a beautiful city with lots to see.

Although the skies were pretty grey when we arrived and there was a short downpour timed perfectly for when we were coming back from doing our shopping, it soon brightened up providing blue skies and warming things up again.

There are several Forts located in various positions around the city, originally joined by a wall but most of that has long disappeared. We walked up to Wilhelmsburg – which is a fortress built in 1840, later becoming a WWII refugee camp – to get incredible views over the city, then down into the center of Ulm to admire the ‘tallest’ steeple in the world which sits upon Ulm Minster and rises to just under 530ft.

Ulm had a lovely feel to it – not only did it have lots of bakeries, cafes, bars, water and green spaces, it also had lovely architecture. The Town Hall was probably one of the most impressive buildings that we have seen with the detail of the paintwork to the exterior, the fishermans quarter had lots of beautiful ‘higgledy-piggledy’ buildings interspersed by canals – including the ‘Metzgerturm’ which is known as the ‘leaning tower’, part of the original wall built in 1349.

A vibrant city and worth visiting if you aren’t too far away.

After a couple of nights in Ulm we moved on once again, heading slightly further South to Memmingham – a small walled town with a Stellplatz (7 euro / 24hrs) 1km outside the walls and on the edge of nature. The town was deceptive as it just kept giving, the further you explored. The local council have obviously spent alot of money on preserving the central area and making it ‘pretty’ to attract tourism, but also providing shops and museums for people to visit. We spent an afternoon exploring the town and then the following day headed into the forest to do a lovely long walk – a nice balanced stop off.

Wanting to try out some more local food and nothing was coming up on our searches, we took a punt and opted to try a restaurant called ‘Weber am Bach’ which looked traditional although it was located fairly close to the center of town which worried me that it may just be a little touristy. Despite my main course not coming quite up to the same standards as the last couple of places we have been to in Germany – probably my fault for not eating meat – Keith chose a local speciality called the ‘Swabian Triology’ which was effectively a really good macaroni cheese accompanied by two different types of dumplings (filled pasta) for his main course – which was delicious. The Asparagus soup and Salmon Pate and potato pancake appetisers were both also deliciously fresh and tasty, and you couldn’t really knock the apple dougnuts either!

The following morning we packed up again and headed to Fussen, the Southern most point on the ‘official’ Romantic Road map.

Concerned about it being bank holiday weekend Keith called ahead and could actually book the Stellplatz…. a bonus as I am not sure we would have found somewhere to stay otherwise judging on the quantity of motorhomes that were parked up in the carparks around us each night.

There were three Stellplatz within 500m of each other and Keith had chosen the middle one (Wohnmobilpark Füssen – 22 euros a night) which was immaculate and booked us in for 3 nights to get us through to WhitMonday.

There is no doubt about it – the whole area around Fussen is absolutely stunning, you can’t get away from a mountaineous backdrop taking your breath away. Fussen itself is a pretty town but it is over-run by souvenir shops and tourists as it is a natural overnight stay for most if they are doing a tour.

My morning runs alongside the lake were tranquil though and despite hard work at the altitude, truly invigorating looking up at the snow topped mountains and out over the lakes….. that is except the first day when some wild boar ran out of the forest which scared the hell out of me. Needless to say I went the other direction the following two mornings!

On Saturday, avoiding Fussen we walked over to Hopfen am See. Completely mesmorised by the views, we ending up walking all the way round Lake Hopfensee which wiggled in and out of the forest and then back onto the lake. Although the town was small and also busy, you could see that it was a lovely tranquil place to stay whether in the summer for walking, or winter for ski-ing… with views like that you would never tire of them.

Trading in the tranquility for a bit of culture, yesterday we decided to get our ‘Castle’ fix in and walked over and up to Neuschwanstein Castle…. proper fairy tale!

Being a long weekend, the sun was shining and the beauty of our surroundings attracting a large number of people, we weren’t really surprised by the fact that it was busy. We were however impressed by the quantity of people who did actually walk all the way up rather than take the cable car, bus or horse drawn cart… hats off to them as it was pretty warm too.

We had opted to walk up the ‘trail’ through the woods which was far quieter – probably due to the steep incline and slightly slippery rock/mud combination – but once we had admired the views from the top, headed back down the main route with the majority as it provided a quicker route to ”Gelato’ success.

With Fussen being our ‘Southern’ most point of the trip, we hit the road again this morning and have started the rough route home….well we still have 16 days!

We have stopped at a Stellplatz (13 euro / 24hrs backing onto a stream, just outside the walls of Isny im Allgau – the home to the Dethleffs motorhome factory – Irrelevant to most but some may find it useful, so far not a single Dethleff in the Stellplatz though despite being pretty full again!

The town is pretty, although quite small so after a little wander round both inside and outside the walls we headed into the countryside on one of the proposed walking routes which provided us with a spectacular performance of gliders being catapulted into the blue skies and slowly working their way back to ground…..

I am sure that it will be another very tranquil night.

And finally the map… we were just 1km away from the border with Austria in Fussen and are now that bit closer to the Liechtenstein border, although don’t currently plan to cross it – lets see what tomorrow brings!