(9) The Journey Home - (part 1)

(21) Sweden 🇸🇪 Sunday 28th So today we are back in Sweden where there are more bridges than tunnels, and also more dual carriageways. (While we were in Norway we didn’t go on a road where you were allowed to go above 70km, which is about 50 miles an hour, and we only saw one dual carriageway!) However in Norway there were not very many easy to find "rest platz" with a view, whereas in Sweden we have stopped at two today with amazing views and walks by the lake/fjord.

Many of the Swedish number plates seem to make three letter words in English like odd or tug, eye or way. One presumes this is accidental, or some person in the Swedish ministry of transport has a good sense of humour! 

Although we have had quite a long journey today, it hasn’t felt at all hard, it’s just being a joyous part of the journey, part of the adventure. We have seen more Sweden (having driven quite a bit of the length of it), even though we’re only here for one day!

First stop was Dyne, where we stopped just after we crossed a bridge with a beautiful view of the fjord. We took a walk (which was well worth it) up to a wooden viewing point (Hogdal) over the fjord, which explains something about an ancient battle and lost ships in the water, but the view was nice!

We crossed Udevella bridge and stopped again at excellent services at Ljung where there was a walk to the lakeside. 

When we arrived at the Villshärad campsite, we had a cup of tea first of course, then we went to the beach: Haverdal Strand. The beach is quite Portstewart strand in that it has nice sand, lovely waves, sand dunes, and is very very windy! Sheltering in the dunes, we drank a beer - whilst getting covered in sand and appreciating the beautiful scene! Quite pleased to get back to a nice campsite where it was still nice enough to sit out and eat our tea. A lovely pork dinner that we bought in the supermarket earlier, and Sean cooked brilliantly as usual. I think he’s probably worth keeping, maybe another 35 years!

(22) Denmark 🇩🇰. Monday 29th July Our anniversary began with getting our washing done, as this site had a good washing machine and dryer! While that was doing, we had coffee and lovely cakes we bought yesterday, and I gave Sean a soppy travel themed anniversary present! 35 years!

Then we set off to Denmark! 🇩🇰 

The the land got flatter, with lots of crops growing and we were on main roads the whole time, mostly the E6 or E20. 

On the way up, Sean had driven the bridges, and the weather was pretty awful, so this time I drove, and the skies were blue. This was one of Sean's highlights, and he'd done lots of research and planning so we didn't have to pay quite so much in the tolls!

We crossed the Oresundsbron Bridge first which is the passage into Denmark. You go across a suspension bridge, and then into a tunnel. 

We found a lovely beach to have our picnic lunch on, Jersie Strand. There were piers with people swimming, and jellyfish in the sea. Then drove on to the Storebaelt or Great Belt Bridge, which is the long one with the suspension bridge and the very long lower bridge. From here we could see our old Nyborg campsite, and that was where we settled for the evening.

We discovered that the campsite sold beer (how had we missed this first time?!) so enjoyed a refreshing glass looking back over the beach and bridge we had come across.

After a paddle, Sean made another delicious meal and we opened the Crémant de Loire bottle of bubbly. We enjoyed both on a bench overlooking the strand, before finishing the bottle on the beach in the setting sun.

We enjoyed watching all the lights on the bridge, and Maureen even saw a hare! (not on the bridge!!)

(23) Germany 🇩🇪 Tuesday 30th

We were woken up by the sunshine this morning and it was a lovely bright time to have our breakfast outside. Then we had lovely showers, but we did have to pay for them but they were worth it!

We set off quite early because Sean had worked out some off the motorway routes - so that we could see more of Denmark, and it was lovely! We went over a slightly smaller (Little Belt) bridge having driven over the Danish middle island of Fyn. Then we went to the highest point in Jutland, the Skamlingsbanken, which had been a meeting place for various high profile things. It had a tower made of stone blocks, all sorts of interesting art and a children’s flag making kite making workshop going on. It was very beautiful with amazing views and most importantly, it had a nice coffee shop, where we had our last danish pastry in Denmark! 🇩🇰 

Then we drove on to a small town (Harderslev) with a harbour and a supermarket.

We had a nice walk, saw some lovely old houses, and did our shopping for tonight.

There was more delight ahead. Sean found us a car park with lots of space for a camper which was just across the road from Kelstrup strand beach. It was full of families and lots of people in the sea and having fun. We had our lunch at a free picnic table, and then had a walk and a paddle before setting off on the onward journey.

Next bit of the journey was on main roads mainly, even a three carriageway motorway. The ground got more flat and as we got a bit tired towards the end of the journey when we hit a load of traffic jams which made it less pleasant. We passed into Germany, and got to a lovely campsite beside Belauersea lake. Few hilly bits on site to negotiate in the site but very nice - and it had a restaurant, so Sean gets a rest from cooking! 

(24) Germany 🇩🇪 (again) - Wed 31st July

We have a contender for the best showers (I know you were wondering!) this campsite has caravans with awnings, funky cabins, swanky cabins, tents and yurts to rent from them as well as camper places. The toilets were mostly little bathrooms by themselves, mostly in individual cabins with a toilet, wash basin and a proper shower cubicle with a nice shower like in a bathroom -lovely! After a stop to the lakeside with our coffee, and a last look at the sunflower field, we set off on our travels. We had arrived at the bit of Germany that was quite same-y especially along the motorways, where there were mostly fields of maze and fields of solar panels!

Sean drove through Hamburg (after my experience of roadworks and queues the first time) on a much better and more interesting route. It took us through the streets of the outskirts and although there were still queues, it was not nearly as bad. We then swapped, and I enjoyed driving on the motorways, even with 3 lanes and a speed limit of 130km (which I didn’t drive in the camper!). All was going well until a random old lady in the outside lane overtaking managed to slightly lose control of her car and bash into the side of our camper. My immediate response was “Was that my fault? Did I do something wrong?“ to which Sean said no. Then it was 'What should we do?' and we pulled over onto the hard shoulder. Another car pulled in in front of us, and we wondered if the car that it hit us was going to join us but it did eventually. The first car was a witness who had seen the accident and stopped to help. This was really good because he was German and knew what he was doing and the lady who had hit us was elderly, in shock, and a bit chaotic. Sean had to keep stopping her from going to the roadside of her car where there were large lorries hurtling past at speed. The man who was the witness spoke to us and said we should call the police, and then offered to go to the next SOS phone and call them for us. He left us his details and had our phone number to phone us, which he did to tell us the police were on the way. We then saw the motorway being held up by a single police car with flashing lights who was keeping everyone - all 3 lanes - behind him, at least until he saw us on the hard shoulder and parked behind us. They asked us a few questions and looked at the cars then suggested we moved to the rest platz which was about 5K further down the motorway. When we were there, they asked us lots of questions, and the lady as well, then they went to their car and spent ages writing a report which they then gave copies of to us both (in German!). Both cars were drivable, and overall the damage was not too bad. We thank God because it could have been SO much worse.

We were both feeling a little bit wobbly, so decided the best course of action was to make a cup of tea - because that makes everything better. We had our lunch and a cup of tea at the rest platz, while Sean rang first of all the insurance people, then the people we had rented the van from. 

After this we drove on and found our campsite near Osnabruck, where we were directed to a nearby petrol station and shopping centre (we felt in need of some alcohol after this day! ...and some food for dinner). When we got back, having already registered and paid our money, the owner told us he had sold our place!!!! But thankfully the campsite is half empty so there were lots of other ones, and we found a nice grassy site with few people around us, facilities are OK and we are just here for one night! 

(actually, a contender for the worst facilities! No loo paper in any of the many ladies toilets, and the showers although free were just a spurt out of the wall with no showerhead, and no paper towels anywhere!)

It has been a long day!!! 😳🤯