62 We’re off at last....Scandinavia ....here we come

Sunday 11^th Sept

We finally set off from Scotland today and with the impending tornado about to hit the UK we decided to spend a couple of days in a hotel instead of camping. After an arduous 370 mile drive we arrived at the Churchgate hotel that although looking a bit tired, it was OK. The good thing was that there were not too many staff about and smuggling Leon in and out was a piece of cake. 

On the Monday we paid Karen’s friend, Mac, a visit and ended up having a spot of dinner with her and her 2 grown up kids, Damien and Rebecca. Much merriment and slagging off of the inept organizational capabilities of the Metropolitan police.  No change there then.

Tuesday was spent on admin and child minding

We paid the cheque in for the sale of Lizzy the motorhome whilst carting around the latest addition to the Hall bloodline, Naomi’s 20 month old sproglet, Charlie. He was a little darling and a real boy. He was into everything and ran off at every opportunity. After a while the grandparents could not keep up so a trip to toys R us for a set of reins and a straight jacket (I can dream can’t I – only joking) order was restored along with sanity.

Whilst there we decided to purchase a cuddly toy in order to quietly claim back Karen’s favourite cuddly mascot, the Help for Heroes bear. We went through a few including one that Charlie kept squeezing the foot of only to hear it laugh and then fart, then laugh – fart ......you get the idea. Fortunately he fell in love with a purple monkey the same size as he was and the bear was reclaimed.

We then popped down to our favourite local, the Rye House, for a Shandy and a bit of dinner. Whilst there we bought a loaf of bread and decided to take Charlie to feed the ducks and swans. All was well and the swan nearest to Charlie will not need to eat for a month or two. The only slight problem was Charlie trying to climb into the river. He managed to get one leg over while my attention was in the bread bag. Fortunately the reins saved the day. 

That evening following a lot of driving backwards and forwards, we all sat down to a Chinese buffet in The Stow. It was great to all sit down together and watch Charlie decorate the floor with food. My hat goes off to Paige for preventing the whole floor from being covered.

Wednesday.

 Following the final skull dugerous  extraction of Leon from the Hotel we popped in to see Trula as promised and she ran some washing through for us while we took Damien and Rebecca to the cinema to see a film that we had wanted to see for some time, namely, Cowboys and Aliens. The film was really funny and a bit of escapism as you can probably imagine.

Then it was back to Harlow and back to Trula’s for the washing and a dinner – luverly, thanks Trula.

We set off for Harwich and the Ferry about 7pm and on arrival booked in, found our cabin and headed for the bar. However we were both knackered and soon went to bed. Poor Leon had to stay the night in the Land Rover on his own but in the morning he did not seem any the worse for it. 

Thursday morning we were in Holland and drove to Amsterdam. En-route, imagine our surprise to see this in the middle of the motorway.

Imagine what this looked like 30 seconds ago

Once in Amsterdam we went to visit the house of Anne Frank. She was a teenage Jewess who, along with several members of her family went into hiding in at the top of a house from the Germans during the Second World War. She wrote a detailed diary of her life in the hide and during the last year of the war someone informed the Germans and they were all arrested and the only person to survive the concentration camps was her father, Otto. Anne died within a month of the camps being liberated. Her father on his return, retrieved the diaries and the story she was writing and put the book into print. It is one of the famous books of WW2 and has been translated into 70 languages including German.  Another very moving experience.

The top rooms of this house were the hide

The secret doorway to the hide behind the bookcase

Margot and Anne Frank

Then it was back into Gromit and off to Germany. We drove to Osnabruck where Zoe spent her first years and set up camp It was the first time we had put the whole lot together and we did get a lot of funny looks from the other campers. Here’s why....

Next to the camp site was a large lake and it was used by water skiers. However there were no speed boats to pull them along. The lakes owners had rigged up a pulley system like in a snow ski resort but it goes round the lake instead of up and down the hill. Water skiers hook on to it and get towed round and round the lake. Weird. We sat and ate my favourite curried sausage and chips whilst watching it.    

Friday, 16^th Sept.

Our first night in the tent was not as bad as I was expecting. It was a little bit painful at times and it got very cold through the night, however tomorrow sleeping bags will be used. Leon seemed to enjoy his first night and didn’t nick as much of the duvet as Ray does. We had a lazy pack up and the weather was lovely during the day. We had decided to head for Hamburg but changed our minds and drove round it to the North-eastern tip of Germany, Fehman Island. We arrived at the campsite called Wulfener Hals at about 7pm, parked up, went for some dinner and then came back and put the tent up and were in bed by 9;30pm. Leon was trying to get up the ladder before us. The site was surrounded by the sea was a haven for water sports enthusiasts.

Saturday 17^th Sept.

I awoke at 6am, got up and then had to wake Ray (yes really) to see the sunrise. We had heard the wind through the night, but around the site were windsurfer boards, bits of awning and underwear flung all around.   Like ourselves though, people were getting up, repairing damage, (unlike ourselves), and then disappearing towards the surf.   

05:57 AM

05:59 am

06:01 am.....Honestly

We were in line for the ferry to take us from Puttgarden to Robyhavn in Denmark at 10 am, and entered Denmark at about 11.  

On your Denmarks.....get set......Go....

Ray resorted to Currywurst again on the boat, and then we drove to Copenhagen, I was singing songs from the Hans Christian Anderson film with Danny Kaye, and Ray just gave me those funny looks again.

He did however spot a family of white tailed eagles, I was sceptical but after checking out all the points we had to agree.

Island hopping and lots of these

In Copenhagen we had a drive around, found the old castle grounds and the old town.  We parked up in the centre and had a quick walk around, then realised we hadn’t seen the “Little Mermaid “ Statue, so ended up about 200 yards from where we had started, but we did find her.

The older side of town - could be a mining village in Wales

Seek out the cheeky imp in blue

Can anyone else do track suit bottoms and glasses like this!

Traditional/Obligatory Irish Pub

The Little Mermaid, we hunted high and low for her, never more than 200 yards away!

From there we set off again for Sweden, drove north for 50k’s and caught the ferry from Helsingor to Helsingborg, Sweden.  This is the first time we have had the cat passport checked, they didn’t check ours, but I’m not convinced he knew what he was looking for in Leon’s one anyway.  There was a distinct smell of BS in the air as he waved us through smiling. 

Trying to keep up with Ray, I then spotted a black Kite flying along.  I have been told that I am still second, albeit a close second.

We arrived at the only campsite, open and available for a hundred mile radius at a place called Almhult.  Again surroundings beautiful.  Interestingly, Almhult is the home of IKEA and the guy that invented it in 1943.

 On arrival at the campsite Karen drove us down to reception and we passed another white Land Rover with British plates on it. Needless to say I was excited by the thought of fellow British likeminded travellers such a long way from home. We checked in and spent 20 minutes deciding where to put the smallest vehicle on site. After parking up about 4 times we finally found a suitable spot and I noticed a Transit tipper truck and 2 tarmac compactors and some fluorescent clothing beside one of the caravans. We assumed they were building contractors away from home as we had seen on many other sites previously. See this picky.

Not much like a Swedish plate

Imagine our surprise when on closer inspection we note that the truck has British plates on it....as does the caravan......and another 4 caravans and another tipper. We were then approached by a dapper looking young man in a blazer, trousers and a tie. He opens up and tells us in a thick Irish accent that he is part of a tarmac crew working for the Swedish government on their small and large tarmac contracts......he was a bloody Pikey. There we were 1000 miles from home, having retired and trying to escape the dross of the UK and here they were, parked up beside us in the middle of absolutely nowhere.   What worried us more was the fact that he liked our Land Rover (spares for his mates one ?) and he had an uncle who lived on a site in Leighton Buzzard (where recently, in the news, 25 slaves were rescued from by police – you couldn’t make it up !).

We had a quick re-think of our location and surprisingly, we moved again to the furthest end of the camp.  It was a pleasant surprise that through the night we did not feel Gromit being jacked up for the customary wheel liberation. Surprisingly we had a very good night’s sleep.

Sunday 18^th Sept.

Another early rise (I am starting to scare myself now) and a quick tent drop and shower before the pikeys woke up (they were on the beer last night) and we were checking out as they started to move about. They were in their Land Rover and Sunday best clothes as we left but fortunately they did not follow us – whew. In fairness, they waved and are obviously working for their money for a change. Obviously there are no more drives that need tarmac in the UK.

Despite the pikeys, the view was pretty

And some more

We set off on a cross country route towards Gothenberg with Karen driving. She drove on our first public dirt road. 

Move over Carlos Sainz

The scenery was spectacular

We arrived at a campsite in the middle of Gothenberg at 2pm and Karen did some washing while I sat and cursed while trying unsuccessfully to get the Sky box to work. It seems that we will have no satellite signal for the next couple of weeks. Karen then set to work in the kitchen and rustled up some delightful sausages and beans. Gordon Ramsey; eat your heart out.

61 The long wait is over....

Saturday 21^st May

We arrived back in the UK and returned to Hertford.  We spent the next two weeks catching up with friends and family and buying our LandRrover which is to become our new method of travelling.  It is a Defender 110, with a tent on the roof rack and kitted out for an African trip. It has actually just come back from a trip to Durban, South Africa.  Africa here we come, and all other warm places, as I don’t fancy my chances in the cold with it.

Saturday 4^th June

Ray and I drove the Land Rover and Lizzie up to the farm in Scotland.  We had a good journey and arrived in the afternoon.

As bought Land Rover

Sunday 5^th June

For the next two weeks we spent the time emptying Lizzie and cleaning her inside and out.  I use the term we, but it was really Ray who polished and spruced her up for sale.  We have got storage up in Scotland and have packed away all the gear that apparently is going to be surplus to requirements whilst travelling in the Land Rover.  I have managed to purchase a few goods that have found their way into storage, (unbeknown to Ray), for when we finally settle down.  I don’t care that they may be out of fashion by that time, I like them.

We have had four family birthdays to celebrate so have had some nice meals out and I was particularly spoilt on mine.

We also took Mum to see the new Pirates of the Carribean.  Not only was it not very good, we all looked daft wearing 3D glasses.

Birdlife is plentyful in Scotland

Thursday 23^rd June

Ray set off on his trusty steed, Wallace, and went down to Derbyshire for the Horizons Unlimited weekend.  I’m only getting little bits out of him at the moment, but as I understand it, a great time was had by all and lots of Abbot was drunk.

Horizons Unlimited is an adventure bikers meet where bikers from all over the world get together and talk about travelling the world and the problems encountered. One of the most amazing things is the amount of women who tour solo to places most blokes won’t go. It is in the grounds of a big pub which was well used!

Wallace in front of my humble home

Mum and I went down to Annan on Saturday 25^th and visited a Scottish pipe band competition.  It was wet and wild and the weather wasn’t much better, but it was fun, and I have never seen so many men in skirts.   “Freedom.”   (That’s a quick quote from Braveheart).

One of the competing Scotish bands

Lizzie has been put up for sale now and it is quite sad, we have had some marvellous times in her.

We haven’t named the Landrover yet, but it has been sworn at quite a bit, and needs a few things doing to her.

Friday 1^st July

Ray is off again, on his way to London, he has taken the Landrover, towing Wallace, as he is going to drop the jeep back with the people we bought it from for a sort out.  From there he is off to Spain and Andorra on a week long motorcycle orienteering competition.  No doubt he will fill in the gaps for that one.

Ready to set off for Harlow and Spain

I had volunteered to help out at are local Tesco’s collecting for the Help for Heroe’s charity and was asked to cover between 12 and 2pm.  However, no sooner had Ray left that morning than he had been phoned by a chap who wanted to view Lizzie.

Our mobiles don’t really work at the farm and unfortunately on that morning also, the home phone packed up.  Anyway, there I was accosting customers outside Tesco’s when a bloke asked if my name was Karen.  I think it’s obviously a throwback to the Police, but I immediately wanted to say no and on deciding I couldn’t remember him, didn’t know whether or not I liked him, owned up.  Turned out, he had contacted Ray who had told him where I was and then he was following me out to the farm to have a look at Lizzie.  Keeping fingers crossed.

Sunday 3^rd July

Being a girl, I’m not very good at the technical stuff on Lizzie, I kind of think I’ve left everyone a bit short with details, but luckily she spoke for her self in other ways.  I was contacted by one of our old colleagues from London who was in Dumfries and wanted to see the motorhome as well.  We had a good old chinwag and catch up, both deciding that retirement was the way forward.

Left at home to my own devices, my Mum and I have been gallivanting around Dumfries and Galloway, spending Ray’s pension and doing all the things we haven’t been able to do with us abroad and away so much.

Monday 4th July

For a change, the weather has been lovely, so Mum and I went to Caelaverick to the wetland centre.  When Ray and I had last gone there, it was very dry and should have been so named, today it had water but very little else, although we could watch an osprey nest, complete with chicks and barn owls via a camera live feed.  The walk was lovely and I would recommend it.

Tuesday 5^th July

Ladies day out again, family get together, very enjoyable.

Rays “Mountain Madness”....

Having set off from Scotland in the Land Rover towing Wallace, I dropped the Landrover off on Harlow and got on Wallace and set off for Spain, on the way collecting a colleague from the south of England. There should have been 3 of us but one, Jason, crashed his bike a week earlier and died at the scene.

I was just realising what a dork Richard was...

Anyway after a trip to Plymouth, a 2 day ferry crossing, where we met another guy on the boat and another long, 2day trip across Spain we finally arrived at a place called Llavorsi, on the border with Andorra. We had overnighted at a small B & B which was brilliant. We sat down to eat with all the hosts family and despite not speaking French and having to change 2 tyres, we had a great evening.

The B & B evening meal - very sociable and lovely people

We booked in for our 3 day cross country orienteering event on bikes which was actually called “Mountain Madness” and were issued with our maps and checkpoints.  

We set off that afternoon and we thoroughly put the bikes through their paces. Richard kept falling off and I had to rescue him several times. This was despite me being on a much heavier bike. Throughout the whole 3 days I did not fall off at all which is testament to how good Wallace actually is.

Maps....my favourite subject

Richard about to be rescued

This was very steep - but fun

Fantastic scenery too

Found it, a small plate at the base of the post.

A short break on the way to Spain

This is scary fun

Mincing in the scenery

We did not win by a long way but we came 6^th out of 12 in our class (big bikes). This was mainly due to the fact that Richard could not keep up – sad but true.

The way home was interesting. Before leaving I let Grant Johnson have a go of my bike. He is the event organiser and is considering changing his BMW for a Yamaha. Anyway, when he arrived back I noticed that the rear tyre was flat so we decided to plug it.

Ray and Grant fixing a puncture

Unfortunately, about 40 miles from the ferry, the plug came out and I had an instant flat. Not funny at 60mph on a motorway. I re plugged it and rode slowly to the ferry via a short overnighter in San Sebastien, I pretty town on the North coast of Spain.

Beautiful San Sebastien

After the ferry, Richard and I parted company and I headed for the M25. Halfway around and in the pouring rain the rear tyre blew again. This time in a "contra flow". Bliss....

I managed to dive between the cones and again repaired the tyre at the road side and eventually got home to Trula’s house without further problem.

The next day I collected the Landrover, put Wallace back on the trailer and headed back to Scotland.

Wednesday 6^th

Today Mum and I went off to Moffat.  It is a beautiful little town and visited by lots of coach trips.  The weather was pretty rubbish and on arriving in Moffat, we went into the woollen mill, we had only just got in there when the heavens opened, we struggled on with some more shopping, but the weather was just too awful to go for a walk about.  We did go out in the car and took a trip down memory lane and visited the little village where we used to live, saw our old house and laughed about some of the dafter things we’d got up to.  Aaaaah.

A week later, Ray returned from Spain and bought the Landrover back.  A lot of work had been done on it and it was running much better. Now begins the difficult part, trying to turn a really small rear cab into a spacious motor home.

Whilst Ray had been away, I had made a few phone calls and arranged for a couple of weekends away, the first being the 16^th of July where I had booked us into the Ramada in Crewe so that we could go to the BSB’s at Oulton Park. We travelled down on Wallace and got there late Saturday afternoon.  The place was heaving with American tourists, so we stayed out of the way and got ready for Sunday.

Sunday 17^th July.

After breakfast, we set off in the rain to get to Oulton Park and got us there quite early.  We wandered around the circuit and got progressively wetter.  We bought a water proof shelter and a couple of little stools and we tried to stay a little bit dry.  The racing was good but by mid afternoon the rain was so bad that the rest of the days racing was cancelled.  We headed back to our hotel and had tea in the restaurant and watched what racing there had been, on the telly.

An early warning

Lots of brollies in use

Crap racing conditions prior to cancellation

Our second foray into the wilderness was on Friday 22^nd of July.  After a week of working on the Landrover, we took her up to Oban to catch a ferry over to the Isle of Mull.  We had fantastic weather and our hotel was in Tobermoray, with a great sea view.  I had arranged for us to go out on a boat trip on Sunday 24^th, but Saturday was ours to do some sight seeing and exploring the Island.  It is a beautiful place and the sun made it far more picturesque.

Karen looking for eagles

A small part of a very large waterfall

Sunday 24^th

Ray’s birthday today and after opening all his cards and having breakfast, we were at the harbour for 9 o’clock to board the boat.  It was supposed to be a whale and dolphin expedition with the wildlife photographer Gordon Bucchanan.  He was on spring watch and has done various other t.v. programmes.  Although the sun was shinning, it was quite cool and the wind was quite strong making for lots of seahorses.   We saw loads of different sea birds, but there was a distinct lack of whales and dolphins.

Tobermory dockside

Our mini cruise ship

Like a scene from "Pirates of the |Carribean"

Seals everywhere

Our boat trip party. Gordon Bucannan, the wildlife TV star is beside Karen.

There were plenty of grey and common seals though.  We dropped anchor near some tiny little Islands and were ferried over to them.  Apart from the temperature, you could almost believe that you were on a tropical Island, it was beautiful.  Gordon actually got into the water and was swimming with the seals, infact his were the only set of fins we saw until we got almost back to the harbour, where we glimpsed a fin off of a harbour porpoise.  Although a disappointment in the sightings it was a good day, we then had a fabulous meal in the hotel and were to be up early again the next day, as we will be going out with a husband and wife team on a tour called discover Mull.

Monday 25^th

We had a bit of a trek over the Island to reach our pick up for today’s tour and it is all single track road.  We were driving in the rush hour and passed about 3 cars.  On arriving at our destination we were met by a small mini bus and 6 other passengers and Pam and Arthur Brown who run the show.  Pam makes all the sandwiches and cakes and soup for the day’s journey and Arthur was our driver/wildlife expert/comedian.  It was a brilliant day and we saw two Golden eagles and two sea eagles, plus countless other species, unfortunately, today it was the turn of the otter to be very elusive.  If you are ever in Tobermoray, I would highly recommend them, and Pam’s lemon cake is to die for. 

The boss and her husband birdwatching

...and deer watching

...and more deer watching

Awhite tailed eagle through a telescope

Some of the cloud formations were strange

Can cows be cuddly ?

Tuesday 26^th

It's a ferry....what did you expect...canoes ?

We headed back to Dumfries and for the next two weeks worked on the landrover.  We are considering calling it Gromit, as we have Wallace, who sadly for Ray is now in storage with the rest of our possessions.

Our days were broken up slightly by my father.  He bought himself a topper, which is a rather large attachment for his tractor, and cuts the grass in his fields.  Off he went into the wild blue yonder and the fields were cut in a flash.  However, Ray and I were outside working on Gromit and I thought it had been a while since I’d heard the tractor.  We walked to the front of the house to the field where he had been cutting the grass, and saw him walking up the field minus tractor.  Apparently he had hit a bit of boggy ground and had got the tractor stuck.  We lept into action, grabbing Gromit and the quad bike, we went on mass to see if we could pull it out using the winch on the front of Gromit.  The tractor was in deep, and was sinking slowly as we watched.  We were unable to winch it out, infact Gromit was nearly there keeping the tractor company.  In the end we had to phone a neighbour who had a huge tractor, and he pulled it free no problem at all.  It made for a very amusing afternoon.

On Saturday 6^th August, after several major panics and wondering how little we could really carry in our new home, we set off to mid Wales to stay with Ray’s brother Bruce and his wife Lyn.  Every year they hold what is lovingly called “Chill on the Hill” which is a BBQ arranged for their friends and fellow husky dog lovers.  They set up a large white marquee and people travel from all over Britain to get there and camp overnight in the field.   It was our first night for the roof tent and come the time for bed, it was blowing a gale and I bottled out and slept inside Gromit with the cat.  Unfortunately when I needed to get out during the night, I couldn’t, and all the hammering on the roof of Gromit never woke a sole, not even Ray, suffice to say I have now taken up gymnastics and having climbed over the front seats, cupboards and bars to get out of the passenger door, I am ready for round two.  Some days I feel very old and miss Lizzie.

We ended up staying for three weeks. Again the boys worked on Gromit in between other jobs around the house.  We took a drive, all four of us along the coast and ended up on another boat trip promising dolphins, and the rest.  Not a one, de nada, zilch, but again it was good being out on a boat.

Bruce and Lyn have 4 house dogs plus thirty something huskies, a couple of Leonbergers, two collies and a Rotweiler who reside in the kennels, oh and a horrible little hairy Jack Russell that they found abandoned.  We slept in the caravan from the first night onwards, and this thing howled the night away.

When the rain stopped it was very picturesque

Karen fed the birds so much that they had trouble flying. It also makes them easy the photograph.

A wood pecker

They also very kindly left the marquee up so that we could work under it in all the bad weather.  I was in the house busy with something, when I looked out of the window and kind of absent mindedly thought, I wonder what he’s done to the tent”, next I heard HELP from Ray and when I went out, the marquee was actually on the roof of the house, nowhere near the Landrover and Ray was holding onto it for all he was worth.  Somehow we managed to rescue it and when Ray recounted the story to Bruce, he stated that they quite often get small swirls of wind that act just like mini tornadoes.  A warning would have been good.

A tiny vole -  about 2" long.

Over a weekend we attended the Welsh National Dog show at Builth. Bruce and Lyn enterted Charlie, a white Siberian Husky. He came second in his class.

Charlie

Charlie telling me how he was robbed of first place.

Ray and Bruce really are like 2 peas in a pod

We were with them on Friday 26^th when they went to collect their new husky puppy.  He is absolutely gorgeous and I’m sure will become a champion show dog.

We finally left these good people to their own lives again, and decided that my Mum and Dad must be missing us by now, so here we are again, in bonny Scotland.  We are hoping that Lizzie will meet her new owner very soon and then with a bit of luck, we are off to Scandinavia.