Day Eighty Friday 7th October

A reasonably steady crossing, despite the Captain's warning of moderate to rough seas, and a comparatively civilised start to the day - we were woken at 5.30 and disembarked at 6.30 but our body clocks were still an hour ahead - and we were back on home ground.

Before actually heading for home we needed to make our way north to Norfolk to see Geoff's mum and collect the car which has been housed in her garage while we have been away. We had an easy journey there from Harwich, stopping off for a Little Chef breakfast at 7.30. (Which is a good time to get fast service, it would seem.) Haven't had one for years, and it was actually very good. Then the pleasure of listening to Desert Island Discs, and a stop at Salhouse for a walk down to the Broad and back. All in all an excellent start to the morning which reminded us that England and things British are pretty good to come back too!

Coffee and a catch up with Geoff's brother followed, and then a visit to Geoff's mum, who was pleased to see us and in good spirits.

We then drove the two vehicles home, and although we didn't drive in convoy managed to arrive home within two minutes of each other. Which was nice.

I plan to return to the blog when I have had a chance to absorb all that we have done over the weeks. But it is worth noting that my IPad survived , and, with careful use, the gas lasted!

Now a quiet weekend adjusting is required, I think, before a new life takes over.

Day Seventy Nine Thursday 6th October

Last posting from foreign lands - well, foreign seas to be exact because we are already aboard the ferry at Hook of Holland.

It has been a lovely last day. Woke to a beautiful, bright, chilly Autumn morning, and we could have been on the Norfolk Broads. (I have to make a correction to yesterday's posting; we are beside the River Ijssel, not a canal). It is a splendid site.

Gouda, halfway between Ijsselstein and the ferry port, was the obvious choice for a last day of exploring, and proved to be an excellent one. It is like a mini Amsterdam, really lovely. We found ourselves in the old centre very quickly, all one way roads beside canals, and decided to park in one of the canal side parking spaces. I vetoed the first one Geoff wanted to go for - very,very close to the edge of the canal with no barrier at all, and we found one with a little bit more room to manoeuvre, but not much! The parking fee was gulp-making, but it was very convenient, and our last day! The meter refused two of our cards, but happily accepted the third. No idea why.

It was a short walk along the canal and down a narrow, picturesque lane of interesting shops to the Markt, with the rather ornate Town Hall in its centre. It was market day too. We first checked out a place Geoff had discovered online, where we fancied having a late lunch, of which more later. Then St Johannes Kirke, which was like a Tardis, and is particularly famed for its stained glass windows. It apparently has over half the surviving 16th century stained glass in the Netherlands.

From there we returned to the other side of the Markt, to the Cheese Museum. Here we had our own "guides" on each of two floors in what was originally built as a warehouse in the 17th century, climbing up two long spiral staircases. We learnt how Gouda cheeses are made, and saw all sorts of cheese making paraphernalia . Of course they were selling cheese, and yes, of course, we bought supplies. This tastes nothing like the Gouda Cheese available in England. One is a Goat's cheese, and there are others at various stages of maturity.

The lady guide, being rather disloyal, had told us about the best other place to buy cheese. We found that one, of course, and it was amazing. We were getting a bit peckish by now, so tasting all the cheeses available was very pleasurable. We had to find a basket to collect the ones we wanted, and the choice was difficult. We got chatting to the lady in charge - manager or owner, not sure, but she referred to' my cheese'' - and it transpired that her parents-in-law live in the same very small village in West Sussex as James and Natalie! Small world!

Then it was time to eat properly! so we decided to leave the town museum, with its Erasmus exhibition, for another time. The little Indonesian place was a real find. It is a shop, selling all sorts of Indonesian ingredients, and also ready cooked Indonesian dishes. It also has a nicely laid out table which can seat up to six in the window so that you can eat there. There were lots of different meat and vegetable dishes to choose from, and we had the set price meal - two meat and two veg dishes with rice. It was all very tasty indeed.

Strolling back to the Campervan we agreed that this was a place we would be happy to revisit.
An hour's drive along the now familiar horrendously busy A20 and we were at the Hook of Holland by 5.30, very early for check-in which wasn't scheduled to open until 7.30, but happy to be in position and make ourselves comfortable in the Camper with a cup of tea. We were then taken by surprise when they opened the check-in at 6.30, and by 7.30 we were all aboard and settled in our cabin. Which even has a double bed!

With so much unexpected time here, we grabbed the DVD player to bring on board with us in case we fancy an episode or two of Mad Men.

Day Seventy Eight Wednesday 5th October

First stop today Lidl to stock up on wine. It will be interesting to see what prices are like in Holland where we won't have to do calculations to compare different currencies. A lot of things are really inexpensive in Germany compared to home, which comes as a bit of a surprise. Beer and wine especially so.

The motorway from Bad Bentheim to Utrecht, two hours plus but felt like more, was pretty manic and packed with lorries again; the Utrecht Ring road in particular was like the M25. Geoff was very pleased to turn off it and immediately we were in quiet country roads and peaceful countryside, and only a few minutes drive from our night's Camperstop at Ijsselstein. This canal side area , with a marina just the other side of a pedestrian bridge spanning the canal, appears to be brand new and is splendidly laid out with facilities for just seven Campervans, and moorings for boats. There is also a smart modern restaurant, and foot/cycle paths aplenty across the flat open countryside. The weather has been beautiful, if a bit on the breezy side, and there was a lovely sunset complementing the almost new moon.

A very nice setting for our last night before the overnight ferry back to Harwich.tomorrow. But we still have a full day to enjoy, and only an hour's drive left to the Hook of Holland.

Day Seventy Seven Tuesday 4th October

There was no great hurry to get away this morning to do the next leg of the journey across Germany, aiming tonight for somewhere not far from the Dutch border. We chatted to a distinguished elderly German gentleman and his wife who were interested in the Camper. Not luxurious or spacious enough for them though. Cosy, he called it. Which it is, of course.

We made a couple of stops on the 25 mile stretch to get to the motorway. The first was at the Volkswagen dealer and service garage which we came across conveniently located just outside Nienburg. We had both become aware yesterday of what we at first thought was road noise, but it didn't go away. Nothing too alarming but a definite rhythmic grumbling. Geoff thought it might be a wheel bearing, and had been undecided as to whether we should get it checked out. So we did

The manager was very helpful, immediately got a mechanic, who took the camper out for a drive with Geoff, leaving me with my coffee and the paper comfortably settled in the showroom. He could hear the noise , jacked the camper up and investigated , and diagnosed it as uneven tyre wear. Definitely not wheel bearings. And not a problem. No charge, and we were on our way again.

The second stop was at a Lidl to pick up some German wines for sampling tonight before deciding which to buy in slightly larger quantities to take home.

Once we had got through a very slow diversion just after joining the motorway, the journey was not too bad, although the traffic was quite heavy and there were a huge number of very large lorries. We arrived at the Camperstop at Bad Bentheim around 5 o'clock. This is another municipal site, and has to be the most surprising. It consists of 25 spaces within the car park for the castle, and is well equipped. We are right next to the castle, which is built high on the sandstone rock for which the town is known,, and is really quite big and impressive, surrounded by lovely formal gardens, and right in the centre of town. This evening before supper we walked the circuit around the castle, through the town and back through the gardens. Very pleasant. As an added bonus there is town-wide free Wifi which we can access in the camper.. It is no wonder that these municipal Camperstops are so well used.

There is a Town Nightwatchman who does the rounds at night telling local stories, like the one in Ribe, in Denmark, right at the beginning of our travels way back in July. Sadly, not on a Tuesday night, though.

Day Seventy Six Monday 3rd October

A very civilised start to the day, with breakfast from 7.30 to 8.30 included in the overnight charge, then disembarkation at 9.( still on Finnish time) and the weather is lovely. Although we wouldn't want to do such a long journey again for a while, it has been a very good experience. Once again, the old fashioned feel suited us. Peace and quiet, very restful. Geoff did go a little stir-crazy yesterday, but a trip to the gym helped.

We drove straight to Lubeck, having put our watches back an hour. Even so, it seemed terribly quiet for 8.15 on a Monday morning. Was this rush hour? We parked by the river, and strolled back towards the Tourist Office, admiring the old redbrick buildings. No shops open yet, but that was not surprising, and we decided not to wait another ten minutes until the TIO opened at 9, as we were a bit uncertain about the lawfulness of our parking place.

The decision had already been made to avoid the motorways around Hamburg this time, so we headed south, putting Luneburg in the SatNav - a random choice. After two days on the ferry we had an empty fridge, so stopped at Lidl. No cars in the Car Park, and no sign of life. It was now getting on for 9.30. As Geoff went to investigate, it dawned on me that it must be a Bank Holiday of some sort. A kind lady meanwhile had approached him, and explained in German that he was able to understand that it was indeed a public holiday.

As we continued on our way I used a day's Data Roaming allowance ascertaining that today is German Unity Day, a celebration of Unification, and everything is well and truly shut. All Day! I also did some research into Luneburg, and learned that it had much of historical interest, old and relatively new, to offer, both as a Hanseatic town which had not suffered in the war, and of significance in relation to WW2, Montgomery took the German surrender here, the town hosted the Belson trial, and Himmler committed suicide here.

We were fortunate to find a garage with a shop, and there we purchased one of two remaining cartons of UHT milk and half a dozen rolls, the best on offer, and enough to see us through. We do have a few tins of stuff remaining in our dwindling store cupboard.

Finding somewhere to park in Luneburg proved a bit of a nightmare - all roads led to car parks with height barriers - but then, in escaping from one of said dead ends, we found a two hour roadside parking space next to St Nicolas Church, and right in the middle of the old town.

Luneburg is a particularly attractive town, and we were already enjoying it when we came into the Town Hall Square to the sound of singing. A school band/choir, called The Lazy Beat Bones. They were very good and I will see if I can find out more about them when I can get internet access. We strolled on down the next street, where there were a few street food stalls. And then we emerged into the main town square to a full scale street fair going on. Think German Christmas Market without the Christmassy tat, just loads of great food stalls and some really nice craft stalls. It was the last day of a four day annual Town Festival. We made some purchases, some edible , some not, and got back to the camper with just enough of the two hours left to look around St Nicolas Church, which was really well worth the visit.

The Sat Nav led us through what seemed like a rather circuitous route, which may have been to avoid a closed road, and was also in obedience to instructions to avoid motorways, to the Camperstop we had picked out at Nienburg. One very strange thing we noticed as we drove is that Autumn hasn't arrived here yet, and all the leaves are still on the trees. So different from Finland, where they are settling in for the winter. It was an enjoyable meander through quiet roads and small German towns, but it is possible that the motorway may beckon tomorrow!

Nienburg itself is an unremarkable place, but the municipal Camperstop, on the banks of the river Weser and a short walk from the town, is very pleasant. And it has electric hookups, an essential requirement tonight to chill the fridge!

Day Seventy Five Sunday 2nd October

Relaxing at sea.

All day.

And evening.

Arrived Travemunde, Germany 10.30pm Finnish time, 9.30pm German time.

Night on board in dock.

Day Seventy Four Saturday 1st October

Very little to report today - and tomorrow will be even quieter! We left the campsite at 12.30 for Hansa Terminal, the city's eastern ferry terminal,just 10 minutes away, but allowed time for a stop at Lidl on the way to stock up with supplies for the voyage. We had decided not to go for the meal package, preferring to play it by ear. Check-in was easy, but with a lot of sitting in vehicles. It opened at 1.30 and closed at 3, two hours before departure. The Finnmaid is a vehicle and cargo ship, and loading up is probably quite complicated. As is the journey through the docks - vehicles are led through in small convoys.

I hadn't known what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised by the cabin. Once again we have beds rather than bunks, one of which converts into a settee for daytime use, all pretty basic but it is perfectly adequate. The ship is a complete change from yesterday's ultra modern catering for the masses. Relatively small, with just one small bar/cafe and one restaurant which has one sitting for dinner, all utilising one open space, it has an old fashioned air about it. The sun deck is just one large open space with a helicopter landing pad, and overlooks the cargo deck, full of containers. It also afforded magnificent views over the archipelago as we left port just after 5 pm with sunshine and blue skies. One last look back at Scandinavian scenery!

We ate in our cabin - very tasty prawn and smoked salmon open sandwiches from the bar, supplemented by Lidl purchases - and are now intending to settle down for a couple of episodes of Mad Men. What a brainwave to bring the Camper's DVD player to the cabiin! It will help to pass the time until we disembark in Germany on Monday morning.