We ended up at a great spot

A few days ago we had mentioned to each other that it's been really different for us the last month or so not being on a schedule of any kind. I guess to a certain extent it's been like that all winter, but at that time we were booking week long Airbnb stays at most locations and it's a different feeling when you're in a motorhome and it's easy to just pack up and move on when you want to without any limitations.

And most of the time, it's been really quite easy to find free overnight spots. We were a little worried that with RV sales and use at record highs due to Covid, it would be difficult in the middle of summer. 

And maybe it's just been easier due to our style of motorhome travel. Maybe most of the campgrounds really are full, but because we don't stay in a campground very often we're just not aware. Either way, it's been good for us.

We woke up yesterday morning in Haselünne, but we hadn't seen the town yet so we went for a walk around before leaving.

Looking across the river to the central area.

Again, lots of well marked cycling paths.

We walked around the small lake.

The Rosche Distillery has been operating here since 1792.

They make brandy, fruit schnapps, and liqueurs. 

Scenery along the way.

Many of the homes in the oldest part of down date to the 17th century.

The dark brown house had a date on it from 1690.

There has been a church at this location since the 8th century.

The current structure dates back to the 1500's.

We had a good walk around town, then set off on some back roads to the monastry at the hamlet of Börstel. I had read that it's an interesting location, and that it had a small overnight motorhome parking area.

Barn along a country road.

Arrived at the Börstel Monastery.

It's literally in the middle of nowhere. The hamlet itself exists because of the 16th century monastery, but it's such a tiny little village of maybe 10 homes. But it's a really pretty spot with a lot of forest trails.

An interesting story about the monastery...

In 1940, there was a fire in one of the barns and some cattle were killed. They were digging a hole to bury the carcasses when they came across two clay jars that were filled with over 3,000 silver coins. The story made the newspapers at the time, but it was quickly forgotten until 2006 when they were doing renovations on a municipal building in a nearby town and came across 200 of the coins. Those coins have since been analyzed and are said to have been produced between 1385 and 1395.

But what happened to the majority of the coins? Nobody seems to know.

Ruth, saying hello to a local resident.

The buildings are so old.

We went for a walk on one of the forest trails and came across this interesting cemetery...

Pretty, but a bit creepy. Pretty creepy??

The date on the one on the right was born 1794, died 1874.

A black land slug. Weird!

And yes, they did have a small motorhome parking area and it was empty. Maximum three vehicles and maximum three nights. But it was €5 per night. And that is totally reasonable, but we don't see the point of paying when we don't need any services and there are so many free spots available.

So we drove on to the town of Fürstenau where I had read of another interesting free overnight possibility surrounded by a moat!

When we arrived, I was unsure of where exactly to enter the moated area. So we parked and walked in first. We found the parking area which is actually at the parking lot for the Town Hall. Two spots were marked off as motorhome parking, and surprisingly they were both empty. Free, but with coin operated electricity available if you wanted it.

But the two spots were really tight... just regular parking spots made for cars. And yet there were four electrical outlets available.

Anyhow, the surroundings were beautiful so we parked in as close to the curb as we could, and hoped nobody else showed up to squeeze in beside us. One rig did pull in an hour later, but they parked three spots away from us in one of the regular parking spots. Then another rig came in and parked in between us taking up two spots. It was still a bit crowded, but not bad because we had nice greenery on the other side of us.

And, we even had a free open WiFi signal coming from the Town Hall next to us.

As darkness approached, the third rig pulled out of the middle spot and into the regular parking lot. 

We went for an evening stroll around where we are parked...

The castle.

Despite the fact that it doesn't look much like a castle, it is a moated defensive building.

It has an attached Catholic church.

Hmm. Wonder where this leads?

Part of the moat.

Me!

Main street pretty quiet around 9:00pm.

There's Max!

Fürstenau Castle.

Slept great. It's a pretty little area, and we're going to stay and relax today.

We are parked right here, surrounded by a moat!

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