Wednesday morning, we awoke to a much clearer day in Ramsthal and as we had until 1pm for the campground to open at the Adventure Overland show in Bad Kissingen, we decided to retry our previous day’s walk to try and see the views. this time we were rewarded with views of hills up to 35km away a beautiful crisp sunny morning and two deer running across the road just in front of us (much to Lola frustration that she could not chase). Though it was still cool and the mist lingered in the valley.
We filled our waters tanks, emptied grey water and made sure everything was charged ready for 4 days without services at the show, then we were off. After a couple of wrong turns, we got to Abenteuer Allrad Campground around 12.15, hoping to get in early, only to find a number of people had had the same idea and despite advertising an opening time of 1pm, people had obviously been arriving for a couple of hours. We showed our COVID passports and camping QR codes received our banded goodie bag. We managed to get the very last camping spot alongside the tarmac exit road. Phew, with previous rain overnight and more due, we were not confident in Clouline’s off-roading capability and we wanted to make sure we would be able to get off the grass pitches. As it turns out over the next few days that would turn out to be a very fortuitous timing. Firstly, after speaking to the guy at the gate, the camping arrangement was “anywhere you like”. Therefore, over the next few days people were parking everywhere and were very far from the min 2m separation normally required in the UK. Also, because we were in Camp 1, then lots of vehicles of all shapes and sizes, from land rovers to HGVs pulled on to look for a space before driving on again to the over 2 camp areas so before long after rain over night and through the day on Wednesday it was a complete quagmire getting onto the field!
Abenteuer Allrad is something of an institution in the world of overlanding / off-roading. Most of the world wide travellers blogs you read will chart the start of their overlanding journey to their attendance at this show. As we have firmly set our sights on a more adventurous travels to come, we just had to go to the show, and booked our tickets for some months ago. Part of the experience is being in the camping area, it has something of a festival atmosphere. Every possible type of overland vehicle was there, lots of ex-military vehicles, fire engines, lorry / truck bespoke builds, coachbuilt motorhomes like ours, 4×4 motorhomes such as the Mercedes Sprinter which was there in quantity. A number of our favourite Unimogs with different types of accommodation builds. We like everyone else spent the afternoon when we arrived walking road the fields and fields of camping area.
The beer tent opened later and then we got an early night ready of the show the next day. Overnight there were howling winds and heavy heavy rain, again we thanked our lucky starts we were near to our tarmac exit route! In the morning, the wind was still blowing hard and those sleeping put in roof tents on 4×4 landrovers etc, looked miserable, hiding under their tents breakfasting outside in the bitter cold. Next thing we hear an announcement on a tannoy in German, my basic Duolingo training is insufficient to workout what is going on. However, another 15mins later, another circuit is done in English announcing the cancellation of the show for the day due to high winds. The showground is on the top of a hill about 3 miles from the campground with shuttle buses planned to ferry people. It turned out we found later, one tree had fallen in another of the camp areas onto a thankfully empty car, crushing one end. At the show ground another had fallen across the entrance, plus the marquees were apparently lifting their stakes in the ground with the strong gusts. So after months of waiting to attend. We had another day to wait.
Thankfully Friday was a brighter day and we were out early, opting for a dog walk to the showground rather than the shuttle bus. A hours walk, predictably mostly uphill later. We arrived just in time for the gates opening. COVID passes checked, wrist band donned, we headed in. We aimed to see as much of the show as we could today, before the busier Saturday attendance the next day. We got to see all sorts of tech, accessories and trucks form all the main manufacturers in Europe. Sadly unlike mainstream motorhome shows, they were much more cagey about allowing tours of the overlanding vehicles without navigating a discussion with the sales team on your plans which we had not really wanted to get embroiled in that day. My only purchase was a very fetching army surplus puffa jacket, I believe from the Dutch army, as it was bitterly cold on the top of the hill in the wind. The seller turned out to be a Londoner who had arrived in Germany in the 80’s after watching Auf Wiedersein Pet to do some bricklaying, but a wife and two children later he was still there. We seemed happy to chat to a couple of brits, even if he has started to forget some English words now with his extended stay.
Friday’s beer tent and live music ended the day rather later than we planned as we were camped close by. Saturday after our walk, we set off with a more defined plan to visit stalls of interest before the crowds arrived. Also, we had plans to meet Michael and Tanja, German friends we made on our overlanding trip to Iceland. We had a great catch up with them, comparing notes on our show plans. Michael is a fellow Unimog fan and we all got a warm welcome and a great tour at the Unimog Mecca of the Hellgeth stand. A specialist engineering firms who are so recognised for their work on these machines that they actually produce one of the updated models on the Mercedes Unimog product list.
When we got back from the show, we decided we had had enough of the mud and would move on a little earlier to a nearby Stellplatz in Schweinfurt. Happily this was also where Michael and Tanja were staying so we finished the day with a nice meal and a few drinks with them.
In for a Penney 