Bylderup-Bov, Denmark - Friday, 22 July

Geoff
Another day of driving. This time, around Hamburg, with heavy traffic and regular delays caused by narrow lanes due to roadworks. The dock area around Hamburg was immense, viewed from the road. After a stop for lunch on the A7, we motored on till mid afternoon, crossing the border into Denmark. This was loosely controlled by a narrowing of the road into one lane only and police eyeing each vehicle travelling at a snail's pace. We then made our way on minor roads to our planned overnight stop. There are only two spots here for campervans. It is an isolated smallholding which also does B&B. We were made very welcome. The bathroom facilities are in the house. It is very quiet except we are parked next to a chicken run. There is a cockerel but it remains to be seen whether we are woken in the early hours by its crowing.

Since we arrived, there has been a thunder storm and rain lasting around an hour but it has now stopped. Tomorrow, we can have a shorter driving day as we start our planned meander up the west coast of Denmark.

Amanda

A relaxed departure, allowing time for a good chat with neighbouring Campervanners on their way home to Switzerland after 6 weeks touring around Denmark, Norway and Sweden. About our age. Sadly their bikes had been stolen in Copenhagen two weeks ago, so they were heading home a bit early, but had otherwise had a wonderful time.

After a sticky journey, including a mass of roadworks around Hamburg, we arrived at our present site about 4 pm. We are the only ones in what feels like the back garden of a B&B just into Denmark. We have chickens on one side, and horses peering through the fence on the other side, and have been presented with two home grown cucumbers. Apparently guests are usually given eggs, but with a full house the hens have only produced enough for breakfast tomorrow. This is Airbnb for campervans!

More thunderstorms and lots of rain this evening, so feels a bit cooler now.

Buchholz/Nordheide, Germany - Thursday 21 July

Geoff
After so little rain last night, today was bound to be another scorcher and so it proved to be. We left the site around 10am and returned to the A1 motorway in the direction of Osnabrueck. Not a lot to say about it really. We pootled along at around 60mph. Early afternoon, we consulted the Camperstop book and headed for a site by a lake that looked about right. Unfortunately, it was closed to campervanners for a few days due to some sort of celebration so we had to find somewhere else. We are now at a very good camping/caravan park with a swimming lake and good facilities. I took a walk into the nearby village and bought fresh strawberries and herring fillets in a cream sauce, both for immediate consumption. Early evening, a thunder storm came over very quickly with strong winds, driving rain and even hailstones. It lasted an hour or so and the result is a very still, cool evening.

The hailstorm, looking out over our awning

Amanda

A comfortable night was spent despite worries about the heat. I was glad that I had packed a spare duvet cover, which was all we needed to cover us. Thanks to my sister for the suggestion! We tootled off late morning to see how far into Germany we could comfortably get. G has earned himself trillions of Brownie Points with two fantastic purchases before we left. The first a book, Camperstop Europe, which has proved excellent so far. It lists loads of small sites which take a certain number of campervans and means we can avoid paying for all the facilities we don't want or need, and crowded sites into the bargain. The sites listed range in cost from Free - mainly simple small hard standing areas - up to 15 euros or so a night depending on facilities offered. A bit like Certificated sites in the UK, but for campervans. My eye was caught by one which involved parking in the Marktplatz of a small town, and had instructions to post payment through the Town Hall letterbox. The sites are not bookable in advance, and it is first come first served. An excellent departure from the rigours of booking ahead for big sites.

The second purchase was a European Sat Nav to enable us to find the sites. Entering the co-ordinates has worked so far to find very out of the way places, and we have enjoyed being able to get off the motorway and see a bit of countryside.

Tonight we are just southwest of Hamburg in a good sized, very pretty wooded site with a lake and all the facilities we could ask for - apart from wi-fi! After sitting out for a while, we have had thunder, lightning, pouring rain and hailstones which have hopefully brought the temperature down a bit.

We have also had our first marinated herrings - first of many I suspect as they are a favourite of both of us - and some most beautiful strawberries from a stall in the town 10 minutes walk away, which G went to buy after we had pitched.

I have gathered my first - again of many no doubt - batch of insect bites. I comfort myself with the knowledge that if I wasn't taking anti-histamines they would certainly be worse than they are. And I am expecting them to be much worse in Scandinavia, where the mosquitoes are positively legendary, it seems. G is quite happy. They leave him alone when I am around. I am obviously much tastier.

Netherlands - Wednesday 20 July

Geoff
We disembarked at 8am into what was going to be a scorcher of a day. The sat nav was set for somewhere on the west coast of Denmark where we expect to be in a couple of days time so as to get us the way we want to go across The Netherlands and Germany. We weren't planning a long day so I delved into our Camperstop directory and looked out a few stopovers along our way. The one we have stopped at is at Hertme, near Almelo, a site that can accommodate 25 campervans in an orchard. There is an adjacent cafe where we have had a beer and there are decent facilities. I may go for a walk in a while. It is very friendly. I went to connect the hookup cable only to find that I didn't have an extension with a Continental plug on the end. A motorhomer nearby saw what the problem was and has lent me an adapter so we have electricity.

Our good Samaritan's own motorhome is below. The smaller "camper" behind is a trailer which contains a little car. Very neat.

A thunderstorm was forecast. It came with thunder and wind but very little rain. Still, the temperature has dropped significantly which is nice.

Amanda

Our first full day, and it is scorching! The Dutch lady we chatted to at our Service Station stop told us it is never usually like this in Holland. As happened last year on the Danube, we go to Northern Europe and Scandinavia to keep cool and get heat waves .

Overnight Harwich to the Hook was good. Calm as calm, and a lovely roomy cabin with a double and a single bed. Could have done without being woken up an hour and a half before docking though. They obviously want you to spend money in the shops and restaurants.

We - or Geoff to be accurate - have done about three hours driving today. A gentle start to acknowledge the lack of sleep over the last two nights. We settled at lunchtime in to a lovely small rural and shaded site on the Dutch side of the German border and plan to relax here for 24 hours.

UK to Netherlands - Tuesday 19 July

Travelling to Harwich via Milton Keynes and Cambridge proved to have been the right decision as, apart from a rush hour snarl up in MK, which we made a detour around, the journey was very good, especially the A14 to Ipswich. The traffic reports of the M25 were dire.

The ferry crossing to Hook of Holland was perfect. A vast, new ship, very impressive cabin and the sea as calm as a mill pool.















The adventure begins.

Last minute panics

First, awaiting me on returning home from a few days backpacking (blog http://litehikersblog.blogspot.co.uk) was a letter from Direct Line saying that a payment I made a few days ago for European Breakdown Cover hadn't been processed and could I call them. I did and it seems that their system is at fault. They quoted online for ten weeks cover and I accepted online. Apparently, they don't offer more than thirty days and this confounded their system. After a lot of faffing around, we went with the RAC.


Another thing happened while I was away. The "rock 'n' roll" bed suddenly wouldn't go fully up or down. It has been a bit temperamental from new but two days from departure was a real pain. I decided initially to ring Autosleeper first thing this morning but then decided I would just go over to their service centre which is only half an hour's drive away and maybe stand a better chance of getting some help. They couldn't have been more helpful. Their man spent half an hour inspecting, diagnosing and advising a workaround to get the mechanism to work properly. There is a problem so I'll book the 'van in with them in the next few months to get it sorted.


Most of today was spent stowing food, clothing and other items in the 'van and also filling the water tank. We don't have to leave until tomorrow afternoon so no rush. Our sailing from Harwich is at 11 o'clock tomorrow night. 

Scandinavia is expensive

We'll take a lot of food with us as eating out won't be cheap and, as a matter of convenience, having food on board means that we won't have to worry too much about being able to prepare meals on the spur of the moment. However, it will take up quite a bit of space. Whilst we have a cupboard where food is usually stored, this won't be adequate for trip of this length. I've suggested a dummy run for packing the food away. I suspect that some will be in boxes "loose" within the vehicle, to be moved around depending on whether we are on the move or stopped for the night. I'm told that we have about forty evening meals plus breakfast cereals, teabags, coffee bags and powdered milk. A couple of wine boxes will go in as well. To add to the evening meals, a quantity of mince will be cooked. I shall then dehydrate it and it will be available for such things as spaghetti bolognaise, chilli, etc.

Introducing the camper

Some camper owners give their vehicles a name. We don't. It's just "the camper". And it's not a motor home. This photo was taken in the far north of Scotland in 2009.

Yesterday, I thought I'd check that the spare wheel was OK. Despite having owned the camper for eight years (and never had a flat), I realised that I'd never investigated what was involved in accessing the spare for use. I thought I had but was getting it confused with our previous camper. I'm glad I did. It is underneath the rear of the vehicle, supported by a metal bracket. Going straight to it with the wheel nut wrench, I realised that it could drop suddenly when released so had a look in the handbook. This described the set up and the correct procedure for undoing the two bolts, then using one end of the wheel nut wrench for lowering the bracket carefully to the ground. The tyre pressure was fine. The greatest problem then was getting the wheel back on to the bracket. It was OK getting the wheel off the bracket but, try as I might, I couldn't get it back on. There just wasn't the clearance beneath the vehicle. What they don't tell you in the handbook is that the job is made so much easier by jacking the vehicle up by a couple of inches, which is what I did. So, in the event of a flat tyre, I'll be able to deal with it.

The camper has recently been serviced and MoT'd.