"See you guys later then." Stevie pronounced.

"Later guys." Jonathon agreed.

Distractedly I watched as the pair of them headed into the Brauhaus, he looking like a slightly toned down Hells Angel and she, well the heels and short dress clashed somewhat with her Gothic makeup and jewellery. Clearly her choice of footwear was the reason for the earlier question, personally I think I would have struggled to stand up let alone walk in them! I did wonder what the locals would make of them.

"Nena, what do you reckon?" Den enquired.

I studied the menu a moment longer, "it looks okay, typical food and some regional dishes also."

"That sounds exciting." Barbara enthused.

"They have room?" Graham asked.

"Think so." Jonathon told us after peering through the window.

"Times a wastin'" Den noted.

With only seven bums to find seats for our chosen eatery had no problem accommodating us, in fact we ended up in the window around a large oval table. I managed to manoeuvre things so I was at the opposite end of the table to my wannabe Lothario.

"Beer everyone?" Jonathon suggested when the waitress arrived.

Much as I could have killed a large beer, I’m driving tonight, "Sprite for me bitte."

Everyone else took a large beer, well Den took a wheat beer rather than the pils but you get the idea.

"So what's 'Rindflesh mit brat cartoffan und spargel'?" Barbara asked, I think she'd mastered bier and kaffee but any more German she clearly hadn't a clue with.

"Erm."

"Third down, second page." Jonathon supplied.

"I think you would say gammon with fried potatoes and asparagoos?" I hammed the translation a little.

"Aspargoose?" Barbara queried. Den was having trouble keeping a straight face.

"The white wegetable with a pointed end?"

"Asparagus!" graham identified correctly.

it would of course be easy enough to have some fun at the non-german speakers expense but these guys don't deserve it and whilst one round of hunt the vegetable has some fun element taking it further is just mean. The other menu queries were quickly sorted out, the food ordered and the discussion turned from filling stomachs to other subjects.

the food was pretty good, my beef with boiled potatoes and 'seasonal vegetables', asparagus and carrots, certainly hit the spot and made a change to the more obvious fare of wurst, schnitzel and frikadel. There were no complaints from my fellow diners either - altogether a most enjoyable meal.

"Anyone fancy the brauhaus?" Jonathon enquired.

"I’m okay here." Barb advised.

"Works for me." Graham agreed.

"What about you Den?"

"Why not, I don't get much chance for a brew, might as well make the most of it. Nen?"

"I think I’ll take a rain check."

Jonathon was clearly disappointed by my position, "you sure Nena?"

"Ja, I cannot drink so I would be, how is it, a party pooper."

In the end our other two diners joined them for a visit to the brauhaus, Barb, Graham and I stayed put with a pot of coffee before taking a slow stroll back to Tiddler collecting the Chinese contingent en route.

"How’re we handling the change back to Chris?" I asked Den after we returned to our room.

"Hadn’t given it much thought."

"You’re some help."

"We’ll sort it in the morning." he mumbled.

'It is morning.' I complained to myself.

"Nite Nen." he sleepily added.

"Nite." I sighed.

Sunday arrived bright and cold, Tiddler had a coating of frost when I first took a peek outside. We’re starting the journey home today, not before looking at a final couple of sites of course. Somehow Chris has to reappear too at some point before we board our return ferry this evening.

"Shake a leg kid, tight schedule today." Den mentioned returning from the bathroom.

"What’re we doing about Chris?"

"In what way?"

"You know damned well Dennis."

"Keep your panties on; I was just winding you up."

"Not appreciated thank you."

"I reckon we've got two chances, lunch or the ferry. Lunch might be a bit iffy as we don't know where that’s gonna be."

"I’ve got some ideas." I pointed out.

"Yeah but it’s a bit up in the air and the swap might be less er believable."

"How so?"

"Think about it, we stop at some random restaurant middle of back of beyond, Nena says her goodbyes and disappears and Chris appears a few minutes later. You might manage to pull that on a regular tour but this lot, especially Stevie, would be sure to smell a rat."

"I suppose." I had to agree, it would look a bit suspect.

"if we do it at the ferry Nena says bye as they get off the bus to board, you slip back on, do a quick change while we load, next time we see our charges I’ve 'found' you in our cabin, Bob's you're mothers brother."

"Should work, why didn't you say anything last night?"

"I only thought of it while I was shaving just now."

Okay so it’s all a bit seat of your pants.

the only laggards for breakfast were Stevie and Rob, I’m pretty sure that their session in the brauhaus was largely to blame, I still don't know how she managed to walk in those stilts last night. Still, they were packed and ready so we were only a couple of minutes late leaving Am Bahnhof to start a long days travel.

"Turn the heat up a bit Den." I hissed to my colleague.

"If you'd put a bit more on you wouldn't be cold." he grumbled.

It was a valid point but it was all part of the plan for later and the forecast looks pretty good again anyhow so wearing a skirt isn't so daft.

It took us about three quarters of an hour to reach our first stop at Barskamp, a double site requiring a short walk.

"It’s not a long walk but we're on a bit of a mission this morning." Jonathon advised the troops as they de-bussed.

"I’ll wait on the bus then." Graham told us.

"Okay Gra, we'll be about forty minutes, everyone ready?"

We set off into the woods at a steady trot, well not literally but a reasonable lick of speed, there was very little conversation, maybe the early start or last night’s excesses helping to maintain the silence.

"You okay Nena?" Jonathon enquired.

"Fine thank you."

"Wish I could say the same, my head is a bit sore after last night."

"Ah the drinking, I was wise not to join you eh?" I kind of smirked.

"It’s the German beer, you don't realise how strong it is."

"Your English beer is quite thin I think." I observed.

"Thin? Oh I see what you mean; yes I guess you could say that about the big brewery stuff, looks like Stevie's found the first stop."

Barskamp One, as this particular pile of stones is known as turned out to be another variation of a 'hunenbett' or giants bed. Although in poor condition and very overgrown even I could see the shape and form, it’s difficult to square this jumble of stone with some poor sod kicking the bucket over 5000 years ago. there not being a deal to say or see we were soon moving on towards the second site through the mixed woodland that forms the nature reserve the sites inhabit.

"Enjoying yourself Barbara?" I enquired falling in beside her for the walk to the other site.

"Oh yes, it’s quite exciting really don't you think?"

Not sure I would have called it exciting.

"It’s my first time to visit such places, it is quite intriguing, you go often to these places in England?"

"Oh yes, all the time. Our little group do some digging, we go and visit other sites of course but this is the first time we've been abroad on one of these trips, we usually go to Wales or Scotland."

"There are places like this?"

"There are a few big sites like Stonehenge but a lot has been lost."

"I think this is also true in Germany." I’ve certainly not come across any in my travels. "It is always this before Christos you look for?"

"oh no, we cover all periods, one little sect are into World War Two stuff, Janice hates the Romans but I think we all like a good bit of medieval." she chortled.

"Ah mittel alter, Ritter und Burg." oops I forgot she doesn't do German. "Sorry, that time is famous for castles and how do you say, ker-nights in the steel?"

"Oh yes knights in armour."

"Come on ladies, nearly there." Jonathon encouraged from up ahead.

Barb waved back which seemed to satisfy him.

The conversation never really got going again as we were distracted by some sort of bird making a racket in the tree tops. I know less about birds than I do old stones so I was no help in identifying it, I can manage a cuckoo but that’s about it.

"Everyone here? Great, well I’m sure you recognize Barskamp two as another langebett with a large chamber inserted at the northern end. We saw something similar at Sebensteinhauser yesterday but this one now at least sits alone.

I'm sure most of you spotted the mound as we approached this, clearly man made but never excavated so I can't tell you much but it’s thought to pre date the long barrow burials."

"We could come and excavate for them." Stevie suggested, I don't think entirely in jest.

"Bit of a way back to the Millstone when we're done for the day." one of the others mentioned.

"Fifteen minutes then we need to be off." Jonathon told the group.

They were like locusts as they spread out to explore and record their visit. whilst I don't share quite their enthusiasm for these things I couldn't help but grin at some of their antics, the good natured banter and patience as they waited their turn for that 'just so' photograph.

"Has anyone else got a decent shot of the mound?" Rob enquired.

"Not been over yet," Jonathon observed, "why, I thought your camera was invincible!"

"Well it won't take a picture of that, anything else is fine but every time I try it turns out of focus." Rob explained.

I joined the newly formed assault party heading for the now pretty obvious five metre high mound.

"Well I’ll be blowed." Jonathon observed checking his camera out.

"Told you." Rob mentioned.

"Mine won't focus on it at all," Barbara complained, "you try Nena."

She passed the camera over and after working out how it worked I gave it my best David Bailey - and completely failed to get a picture!

"Well spooky!" Stevie stated.

"I had something similar at Nine Ladies last year." Jonathon observed.

"Sprites." Barb suggested.

"Could be." he agreed.

What? These guys believe in ghosties and ghouls?

"Sprites?"

"As good an explanation as any," Jonathon grinned, "who knows if they exist or not but I’m not gonna deny the possibility they do."

Is this guy for real? None of the others contradicted him and there’s me thinking they were quite a sane bunch. Still there was no denying that no one could get an in focus shot of the mound, me included.

Den had moved the bus closer to the second site so our walk out and back to our transport only took five minutes. We were all soon back on board; Den had Tiddler moving even as the more tardy walkers found their seats.

"Okay?"

"Interesting." I allowed, "You know where we're going next?"

"Think so, Haaßel right?"

"Sounds right."

"It’s only about ten K and I think I’ve found a lunch stop too."

"You have been a busy bee."

"I have my moments."

His guesstimate was pretty much spot on, the biggest problem was parking Tiddler without blocking the lane up too much. Although the stuff we were here to see was within a strip of woodland, the surrounding fields were busy with farm machinery ploughing and doing other planting type stuff. The sky was stupidly blue above us, the autumnal sun warming things to comfortable, certainly a good few degrees warmer than when we set out this morning.

"Last stop ladies and gents." Jonathon told the party. "The Königsgraber or Kings graves date from around 3000BC and are the last remains of a larger cemetery site. even as recently as the mid 1800's there were up to two hundred and fifty barrows in this area, today less than half that number can be identified. The rest have been ploughed out and otherwise destroyed by farming practice as the farmers try to optimise the land - even this enclave has to carefully monitored to prevent further plough erosion particularly towards the southern end.

I’m told that in a low light you can spot the last vestiges of several barrows in the surrounding fields, most however are now lost completely."

"Bloody vandals!" Graham almost spat.

"Aren’t they scheduled?" Stevie asked.

"there's not a German equivalent on a national scale," Jonathon explained, "each of the states is responsible for the heritage but most sites are in private hands and responsibility is often handed down to local government so both protection and presentation can vary hugely."

"No Ministry of Works then." Barbara put in.

Maybe I should bone up on some of this; Jonathon certainly seems to know his stuff.

"So anyway what we have here are three long barrows, a pair of circular mounds and the Schalenstein, a standing stone which may have some alignment with the southernmost barrow. Well rather than stand here lets go explore, we need to leave, what time Nena?"

I checked my watch, "eleven fifteen?" to be honest that was more optimistic than necessary, if we can gain a bit of time now it won't be such a dash to Rotterdam later.

"Okay so that’s what," Jonathon in turn checked his own timepiece, "thirty minutes folks."

Den joined me for a stroll through the woods; he'll have a long time in the saddle today without much chance for a break before we get the boat.

"This is nearly halfway pleasant, why can't our usual tours do stuff like this instead of endless tourist traps?" Den opined.

"Let me think, coffee shops, erm coffee shops and of course coffee shops."

"You’re probably right."

"I know I am, can you imagine our usual lot, 'it’s very nice but where's the tea shop and toilets'."

There really wasn't a lot to see but the archaeologists made the best of it, treating it to the full photographic treatment that all of the weekends stops have attracted from reconstructed stone boxes to the huge chambers on the Heide.

"You guys have a plan for lunch?" Jonathon enquired as everyone started congregating by the bus.

"Dennis I think has found a place, if it is open of course."

"It’s a restaurant cum bakery about thirty minutes away." Den supplied.

"Sounds ideal, what time do we need to be at the boat?"

"Absolute latest is seven thirty, with a following wind we'll be there for six when they start loading."

"Chris will meet you on the ship, you are stuck with me until then I’m afraid."

"You’ve spoken to Chris?"

"For sure, this morning, its easiest for him to get to the ferry himself otherwise we have a long detour. I have a hotel in the city tonight then I take the train tomorrow to my next work."

"Thanks for coming Nena, I know it was a bit of a bind."

"I’ve enjoyed it and working with Dennis again, it is fine."

"Well it’s much appreciated anyhow."

"We should shake a leg." Den suggested.

"Indeed, come on peeps, times a wastin' lunch is waiting!"

Maddy Bell © 250313