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5 countries September 2017 part 1

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:29 pm
by AlexB
5 countries trip, September 2017.
It all started, this time, after seeing a fantastic band called Blowzabella, who play French type music (bagpipes, saxophones, hurdy gurdy, melodeon) who visited Holmfirth last year, did some and announced that they had a gig coming up in Copenhagen.
Esther and I thought that, as I would have finished work by then, we should go, by Dormobile. We did a bit of planning (having visited Scandinavia a few years ago in the Green Dormobile) and concluded that Hull to Rotterdam, then to Germany and the Puttgarden to Rodby ferry (to Denmark), across to Sweden via the Oresond Bridge, Karlskrona to Gdynia (Poland) and back through (what was) eastern Germany, might make a good trip, taking just under 3 weeks and approximately 2000 miles.
Our planning consisted of not far off the above. We booked the Hull Rotterdam ferry a good deal in advance, but only booked the Sweden Poland leg,a couple of weeks before we set off. As we had a gig to go to in Copenhagen, that campsite was booked as well. This was to give us maximum flexibility to allow us to spend more (or less) time in any given place, dependant on how nice it turned out to be.
I gradually worked my way through the list of jobs that were needed to be done on the Dormobile. It was MOT’d a week before we set off and had clocked 4000 miles since rebuild (not including the big yellow taxi repatriation from France last year!). We loaded up and set off.
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Arrived at Hull in one piece
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Next thing the German border had flown by !
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Our first night was near Osnabruck (230 miles) to Bullersby am See, however, there were a few showers and each time the wipers were turned on, the fuse blew. We spent a happy hour or so finding an automotive spare parts store and increasing my german vocabulary (if anyone is interested, the german for fuse is “sicher” )
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After a decent night’s sleep, helped by using some books wrapped up in a Classic Land Rover magazine carrier bag to level us up, we set off to Lubeck. On the way it rained again and I stopped to investigate the issue with the wipers, which was that the plug into the motor was coming loose and allowing electricity to arc and this blow the fuse. Co-pilot holding the plug down with the left hand while operating the wiper switch with the right hand sorted this (albeit temporarily).

Lubeck (approx 190 miles) was very nice, basically streets within the bends of a river or two. Bonus points were the old boats, the old town, some good beer and a euro shop which sold cable ties with which to effect a repair for the wiper motor ! The campsite was on a public transport route so we could visit the town by bus in the afternoon and evening and set off for the ferry in the morning.
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Having used this ferry before, we knew that the modus operandi was to arrive and wait, as there were several. What we had forgotten was the price 105 euro! No matter, we arrived in Denmark at 13.00 hours and at the campsite a couple of hours and 200 miles later.
The white Dormobile has a 200 tdi, lt77 with 1.2 transfer box and 3.54 diffs. The enables us to cruise at 65 – 70 miles an hour. In fact, once up to 65, she will stay at that speed on motorways, no matter what hills there are. But, fuel and oil consumption suffers, so we tend to stick between 55 and 59, just keeping ahead (or slipstreaming) the wagons. This gave us mpg of around 29, which for a vehicle weighing just over 2 tonnes (I have had it on a weighbridge ) with a over the bonnet roof rack which was being used, I can’t complain.

Not long after we arrived in Copenhagen, it rained. Saturday morning to lunchtime was spent at a dance workshop, then Esther and I visited some tourist spots before finding the sanctuary of a bar to dry off before the evening event.
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Sunday’s clear skies heralded better weather as the Dormobile was packed up to embark on the next leg of our tour – Sweden. Naturally we drove over the Oresund Bridge (and tunnel) only wincing a little at the £45 charge at the end, arriving at our new campsite at 12.30 pm, knowing we weren’t going anywhere until the next day. I took the opportunity to remove the passenger side door top to reseal between top and door, as it had leaked in the heavy Danish rain.
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After a restful afternoon and night, Karlskrona was entered into the satnav, where we arrived at lunchtime in the sunshine. A visit to tourist information confirmed that the campsite on an island, within walking distance of the main town was open and had vacancies, so we trundled off, chose our pitch and set up camp, including the extremely rare Martin Walter mk7 Dormobile Tent !
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Saw one of these. We had a 1965 coupe and a 1973 estate many years ago.
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And one of these

Esther and I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Karlskrona, we visited the Naval Museum (free) the Regional Museum (free) but just missed the Car Museum as it was off season. The dock area (and other places) are World Heritage sites, as it has developed as a dock for several hundred years (similar to Chatham in a way). One aspect of the Naval Museum was a section on the Cold War times and how Sweden is constantly under the threat from Russia – they have just voted to re-instate national service. Another section was devoted to immigration and demonstrated how Sweden very much appreciates the free world and therefore helps others less fortunate who are escaping oppression and war, by allowing them to stay in Sweden.
Finally our time was up and we arrived at the ferry terminal, only to be told that, due to extreme gales being forecast, the boat to Poland, wasn’t going to leave Poland ! After some discussion, we convinced the ferry company to pay for a night in a hotel. Amazingly (to us), this hotel had a kitchen which we could use to prepare and eat our evening meal !
After a hearty breakfast provided by the hotel, we decided to travel northwards (Kosta) where, our very helpful concierge / receptionist had informed us, there were glass works to be visited. Never heard of the Swedish glass industry ? Us neither.
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She was right, and we spent an enjoyable few hours in a glass museum and workshop then landing at Kalmar to stroll round the old streets and admire the castle before arriving at the ferry port for a several hour long wait until we boarded. It was chaos, mostly trucks, who couldn’t fit into the lanes that were marked out for queuing vehicles and were being (it seemed) loaded randomly, rather than in an orderly fashion which we have grown accustomed to nowadays.

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Finally on board the ferry to Poland
End of part 1

Re: 5 countries September 2017 part 1

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 7:00 am
by RMS
Fantastic trip Alex, thanks for sharing.

An inspiration to anyone who's thinking of taking off for a European trip :cheers:

Looking forward to the next part.

Cheers,
Robin.

Re: 5 countries September 2017 part 1

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:59 pm
by romanyrose
G'day Alex, i to thank you for sharing Ester and your travels, to me those pictures well :wine: they were amazing and i really enjoyed your write up. Like i said i can't thank you enough. Brad :tiphat: .