Sweden onwards ...

Upward and onward, weather turned nasty for 98% of journey through the west coast of Sweden.  Nightfall was dark and so were tempers as we arrived at our destination to a closed reception.  Fortunately the Apelviken has English-speaking staff and the Lloyds have enough clues (?) to access to a windy pitch.  Just as we’d hitched the power and sorted water - the first of fifteen trains passed through the night.  Mrs L is a railways girl and slept like a baby.  

We liked the spot so much once the rain went away, we stayed another night.

Cycling around the Apelviken coast is a must do.  2kms of rolling surf and small unobtrusive beach baches (posh beach-huts to the English) dot the coastline.  

As with most of our European cycling, we haven’t found a challenging hill and the cycleways are superb.  Found centre-ville and chatted with locals.  Ate Thai at 8.8 SEK (£16) for two.  Bought pickled herring fillets for later, yum.  Evening time we spent a few SEK’s on beer in Johns place along the promenade chilled out and relaxed a definite place to visit again and next time eat some of there fantastic food as well.  Following day, Mrs L emptied the chemical toilet for first time during trip.

Mushrooms growing on lakeside ... we din't pick any ... better to know what you're eating

Our second Swedish experience was at Lidskoping next to a lake.  Inland Sweden reminds Mrs L of Central North Island but with more villages breaking up the barren terrain.  Found next campsite via ‘follow-the-arrow sign’ (FTAS) strategy.  Worked well.  The overnight temperatures are dropping so we tried the heater/blower in Cally.  Can get the blow to work - heating not so successful.  Will update on progress in a later blog.

Recharged and having emptied chemical toilet again, punched towards Stockholm armed with a new Swedish camping guide.  380kms later (broke up time moose spotting) we found the most gorgeous rural Flottsbro site 20kms out of City.  Reception closed.  Confident we could crack it, listened to the phone message.  No luck.  A carload of German lads parked behind us.  They tried.  Bugger. Getting desperate, the collective cajoled a mad Swede staying camp to help… 

Spent Saturday night sat in a site closer to town in Brendang (after using the FTAS strategy). Brendang proved to be a bonus as located 750m from subway into Stockholm.  The old town is beautiful, full of pomp and ceremony.  

Postbox in the old city - Stockholm

Watched changing of the guards and amazed how close to the royal residence spectators could get.  The pints are expensive (75SEK = £7.50) so we behaved. 

From Stockholm we headed back south on Monday to Vastervik.  We stopped en-route in Gamelby for a break and found the best handyman store plus best second-hand shop in Europe.  

Swedish campsites start winding down mid-September so we struggled to find a site that didn't charge €14.50 for a SwedeCampingCard and eventually we "wild camped" in a car park.  

Vastervik is how Lloydy imagined all Swedish villages would look i.e. with wooden buildings blah blah.  

NB: The SEK saved on accommodation was splurged on Swedish lager!

We thought we'd supplement our diet with some local rain deer, moose etc.  Found two steaks on offer in the local supermarket, only to find ... from Nya Zeelands.  Needless to say ... deer was not on the menu (think food miles)!

Our final leg in Sweden was southwards so we could catch the ferry from Trellegborg to Rostock, Germany.  We found a great site in the middle of the Soderason Forest close to Klippan on the fourth attempt.

Denmark and Sweden

Bad Sereburg, Germany

Autumnal roadworks along the 308+ km trip to Nyborg made Lloydy tense so regular stops chomping local worst with shrimp and pickle relish helped in Flensborg salve his nerves. 

Air temperature dropped crossing  ‘border’ to Denmark.  Time to crank out the winter-weight body-warmers.   

Proper wild camped in a rest-stop 400m from the A7 overlooking the Nyborg toll bridge (26km long + €44).  A long night as refrigeration trucks pulled into trucking bays then cranked up compressors.  Morning broke then we noticed fellow motor-homies parked in little recess well away from the trucks.  Lesson learned.

Powered our way to Copenhagen.  Sat Nav couldn’t find the campsite.  Tried Copenhagen, no luck.  Local spelling derivative and an unusual alphabet – the ‘o’ ain’t what it looks like.  100 km from target, cracked the code with the single letter ‘K’.  Applied same logic for campsite – voila!  Pulled up at supposed site and … it closed 31 August.  Lesson of day – read guide properly.  Undeterred we pulled on walking boots and struck out for the afternoon. 

Armed with SatNav and guides we headed into town.  First stop the Skt. Jergeson Canal on the outskirt of the metropolis.  Cycleways dominate the city and road crossing is an artform – dodge cyclist from right, cross road, dodge cyclist from left then get back on footpath.  We travelled the 5km of canal to our destination – the little mermaid (gifted to the city in 1904).  

She’s not NZ’s Pania but a beauty she is.  Reserves replenished by hot sugar coated almonds (22kr) then wandered through the historic Kastellet.  


Lloydy even had time to be shot out of a cannon.

The Cobenhaven harbourside is dotted with a mixture of modern and historic boats.  We wandered around savouring the different sights.  Denmark has a zero alcohol driving limit so the Lloydy’s stuck to sampling coffee around the city.

The harbourside is dotted with a mixture of modern and historic boats.  We wandered around savouring the different sights.  

Denmark has a zero alcohol driving limit so the Lloydy’s stuck to sampling coffee around the city.

4pmish turned the SatNav on to walk mode and tried to get back to Cally.  All was going well until we took what I thought (Mrs) was the right direction and had 1500m added to our destination.  Anyone want to buy a second-hand SN unit?

Battling with peak hour traffic, we headed north across the toll bridge to Malmo (€43) to Varberg in Sweden, 220kms north.

Amsteram to Germany

From Antwerp we motored north to Bloemendal an Zee, 7km out from Harlem and 20 km from Amsterdam.  On our bikes again we explored the Harlem township, great cycle-paths but managed to get lost again.  After a few hot words and some strategic map reading we managed to get back to our digs in the middle of the sand dunes.  Camp Klien is windy but has stunning sunsets.  

From the side this lassie is a fair representation of our pacific princesses but ... on the profile ... she's the image of one of the Lloydys friends daughters ... have fun guessing who!

Undeterred by our lack of orienteering skills we bussed and trained to Amsterdam (€28 return).  Shocked by the smokers –like stepping back in time and we don’t want to go back there.  Did the red light district, walked past the 200 people long queue outside Anne Frank Museum to visit some beautiful contemporary art galleries.  Of course stopped off at the obligatory pubs to test the local ales.  Sampled delicious herring, diced onion and pickles using a toothpick.  

Seconds was a variety of deep fried fish bits. Magic.  Thumbs up to Amsterdam tho it did dent the budget!  Amazed by the cycle parks everywhere.  Well done Nederalands.

Just to prove we were't tourists we travelled along the dutch coast and across the Dyke!  

Flushed with success we pushed Cally towards Germany.  We headed toward Den Helder and Den Oever along the Astradyke.  Incredible engineering.  Our first attempt at wild no-frills camping.  We ended up in Leer, Northern Germany, in a carpark!  That’s it.  CARPARK and we couldn’t put the greywater tank under Cally.  But what the hey, we’re troopers – the gas fridge was fantastic, leisure battery (lights and water/toilet pump) worked well.  We are champions.  Obviously we drank the local booze, visited sights (shocked at the luxury Yachts blah blah here) but couldn’t be arsed taking photos.

Next stop Bad Segeburg.  Sounds good.  Sounds nasty and we loved it!  BAD = Lake, bath blah blah.

We cycled … okay, the Lloyd buns will be rock had by the time they return to Bristol.  It was the first place in Europe where the internet worked!  Wot can we say!

Except we are punching north to ... Denmark!  

Cantering around the Germany

As you can tell from the Net silence.  WiFi around Europe ain't what it should to be.   With all the EU directives, we expected every country to be geared up for the web.  As we’re not willing to pay mega-bucks for smartphone plus extra for coverage – cheap and free Wi-fi is what the Lloydy clan is about.

Cally has powered her way to Bad Segeberg, Northern Germany, where we’re sat supping Belgium beer waiting for the local bier garten to open.  News update de garten es offen so supping Flensburger – local of course.

Speed-wise Cally started with a moderate 60 mile an hour in the UK and have topped the speedo at 75.  She’s been a champion. The only mechanical hitch was a slight rise in temperature on Sunday as we sat in 22 plus degree heat for hours in Hamburg traffic jams!

To get the tour started we packed:

*         passports, travel doc for the punters

*         travel docs including breakdown insurance, MOT, registration

*         emergency EU road requirements eg Hi-vis, triangles, chains, breathalyzer

*         mad bike carrying kit (towbar, rack, uber-locks, trailer lights, hazard sign)

*         mad money card (Lloydy ain’t brave enough to carry €k’s on his person)

*         navigation and language tools (maps, accommodation guides, Dutch, French, German, Polish, Portuguese & Italian handbooks and Sat Nav.)

DSFS Ferry Time

Adios England ... Velkom Europe

Enough of the technicalities, where have we been?

Lloydy can't resist a Chick!

Cally took us from Comberton (5 miles from Cambridge) where we’d stayed three nights, around London to Dover with no fuss.  

Exit ferry in Dunkerque, driving then became an issue, tempers flared as Google maps vs Sat Nav vs 2012 Motoring Atlas Europe.  First planned stay was in Den Haag, Belguim.  Made way using guess the direction after roadblock stymied navigation tools and found camp fully booked.  Consulted campervan traveller books (reasonably priced vs cheap and nasty sites) and found a spot in Jabeke, 10km from Brugge where we stayed two nights.  On our rest day we got lost on cycling tour in Brugge – which is a must see with buildings dating from the early 1400’s.

 

Power only Campervan site only ... plus rabbits

Brugge to Antwerp.  Stayed at the cheapest, low budget spot 10kms outside Antwerp next to the Expo centre €8 a night plus €1 electric.  Caught the tram into centre for €2.90.  Got off at wrong stop (Elizibeth) did not realise it was the Islamic centre of Antwerp.  Pretty scary for Mrs Lloydy but all ok as, we found a fantastic butcher on our way to the centre.  Beautiful home cooked meats and sausages say no more, lunch and dinner sorted.  Explored around the Gote Makt with all the old buildings around the boat museum.  Found a fantastic little pub by the dock the last one holding out from being redeveloped.  Dekonnik was served to us in ballekers. domed shaped glass (very nice).

This has been random but ... will try a better update next time ... sign off as the Lloydy clan ... 

auf Wiedersehen!

Introduction

We took possession of our Talbot Compass Calypso 1991 camper van in June 2012.  Her previous owners Rob and Julie had cared for her over six years but she wasn't built to accommodate the extra three dogs and three grandkids.  She is however, perfect for our requirements.  Small, tidy, separate shower room complete with chemical loo - Cally (pronounced Kelly) is full of character and a little roughed-up around the edges.   Alan fell in love with her in less than an hour despite our purchasing "keep it cool - don't make an instant decision" strategy.

We drove off scared but hopeful, weighed down with manuals Rob kindly provided.  Our goal this year is to tour around Europe over three months.

First test drive involved Yetheridge Farm in Devon.  Diesel consumption - good, radio coverage - poor.  Electrical hook-up tested, lights and gas worked well without problems.

We didn't use the water systems (kitchen sinks and shower, heating) or the toilet!  Yetheridge has lovely modern facilities so no need.

Lesson learned *1: - must use water/waste-water facilities pre-Europe.

Second trip - Shaldon in Devon to Longmeadown Farm: Tested oven (two lemon stuffed chooks we'd won in a raffle in the Landsdowne pub) on the Dawlish Ale Trail.

Lessons learned *2: - Close the skylight if bad weather is predicted.  Pack T-shirts.  Sort water/waste-water.

Third trip - with friends to Barge Inn, Wiltshire.  Crop circle central.  No electrical hook-up so test-drove gas fridge.  Took 24 hours to sort as ran out of gas and some numpty turned off power to the leisure battery.  Struggled with no lights but this was due to cider consumed rather than Cally.

Weather was shite on Sunday morning and tenting friends spent hours shaking off and folding wet equipment.  We watched them then closed windows, stowed dishes and bedding, cranked up the rear stabilisers, stowed chocks.  Cranked up the engine and drove off.

Lessons learned *3:  - read Rob's manual again.  Sort out water/waste-water. Test awning.  Celebrate no tents.  Bikes?