taraabit

Wed 19th April 2023

We started the day with a visit to Esbjerg approx 20 miles north of Ribe. Esbjerg is a sea port town on the west coast and is the 5th largest city in Denmark. It has the country’s largest port, is the base of its oil industry and is associated with off shore rigs and wind farms.

As you drive out of Esbjerg heading north you come across the Men by the Sea Sculptures which are 9 m tall and made of white concrete.

After driving further north with the sea not far away on our left we stopped for lunch in a huge area of sand dunes, it would have been good to have taken the time to to walk over them and down to the sea but time was short.

We then headed to Ringkobing , our stopover for tonight, it is free and looks like you are staying on someone’s front lawn.

We walked into Ringkobing and found a pleasant town which was a mix of well preserved buildings and plenty of modern ones giving a light airy feel to the town. The town has been in existence since at least the 13c and is situated at the head of Ringkobing Fjord a huge body of inland water linked to the sea at Hvide Sande.

Tuesday April 18th 2023.

Another day started with domestic duties as we filled up the LPG tank and the Ad Blu tank, we are having a few nights without electric hookup so it’s important to keep the LPG filled as we use it for the central heating, showers as well as for cooking. Once done we headed north to Ribe in Denmark.

Ribe has been an active trading centre since at least the 8th century and was home to the Danish vikings. It is the oldest town in Denmark and many of its buildings are old, well preserved and 110 of them are covered by Heritage Protection.

The centre of Ribe is dominated by its cathedral, it can be see from miles around, construction on it began in 1150 on the site of a former church.

I persuaded Michelle she would enjoy visiting it and climbing the tower to see the magnificent view( I forgot to mention to her that it was 248 steps to the top) dogs weren’t allowed so I had to sit and have a beer.

Michelle joined me later complaining about sore knees but she did provide me with one photo from the top looking out to the nearby sea.

The river that runs through the town flows out into the nearby sea.

Monday 17th April 2023

We commenced the day by driving to the local Aldi to stock up with a few items we needed/ had already used up, although the lay out was pretty much identical to the UK it didn’t seem to stock such a full range of items.

From there we drove toWischhaven to catch the roll on roll off ferry across the River Elbe to Gluckstadt which cut down on the distance we had to travel, we waited 45 minutes for our turn to board and it was a 30 minute crossing. The cost was 28.50 euros, they even charged 1 euro for Layla and non of us got out of Homer!!

On our travels through Germany we have struggled to get a wifi signal or strong phone signal which are needed to write the blog, transfer photos etc. It takes a long time some evenings.

Sunday 16th April 2023

The Hanseatic City of Stade was part of the powerful Hanseatic League of traders and is in Lower Saxony in North Germany a important seaport on the river Elbe. It is first mentioned in historical records in 934 AD and has during its time been ruled by Sweden, who rebuilt much of it, fortified it and built a surrounding moat, later by Denmark and then Germany.

Well as tradition demands we commenced today visiting a flea market, car boot in England, vide grenier in France, it was 1.5 miles to the stadium hosting it but easy walking on relatively flat terrain. We didn’t buy anything, it would have to be something special as we would have to jettison something to fit anything else into Homer. We were stopped and asked about Layla, what breed etc and the Michelle was stopped and asked what the poo bag container on the lead was for.

The old town of Stade is very interesting with much of its original architecture, there are cobbled streets, narrow streets and the original old harbour comes directly into town.

You will notice an absence of people in the photos, it’s Sunday in Germany, no shops were open, supermarkets aren’t open and there weren’t even any cafes open! Although I’m sure cafes and restaurants would be open in the more touristy season.

Sat 15th April 2023

Today we left Sneek and did what we hope will be the last long haul journey for a while, it was very windy and steering a straight line was difficult at times. As we entered Germany it began to rain but thankfully stopped before we got to tonight’s stopover. We covered a distance of 204 miles and stopped once for fuel ( diesel is much cheaper than petrol) and once for a coffee break.

This stopover has a system we once came across in Holland, to make everything work you have to load money onto a “ credit card” which then allows you access to electricity, water, showers, washing machine etc, you can top it up as you go along and any credit left is refunded to you when you leave.

We have booked for a two night stay so it will be interesting to see how much the overall cost comes to.

Friday 14th April 2023

We left Alkmaar and drove to tonight’s destination via the Afsluitdijk which is a major dam and causeway it was constructed between 1927 and 1932. It is 32 km long and has a width of 90 metres.

We are stopping at a Yachthaven which also has a campsite, it’s marina provides for permanent moorings, some under cover, passing boats, facilities to fill with diesel/ water etc it seems quite popular.

We walked into Sneek and had a walk around its streets, it was interesting to see how many of its shops we also have on our high streets, including Specsavers and Halfords.

Sneek hosts the annual Sneekweek the largest sailing event on inland European waterways. I expect it is spectacular but probably impossible to get accommodation locally.

We felt somewhat shattered when we got back to Homer having walked another 3 miles a total of 7.5 miles for the day.

Friday 14th April 2023

Alkmaar is a popular tourist city and has been in existence since the 10th century, however we walked there this morning principally to see its famous cheese market which is held every Friday morning from April until September.

The cheese trade started as far back as 1365 and has remained a highly traded and produced food in the region. During the cheese market the Kaaszetters carry the circular cheeses into the market square and they are only cheeses made in the area and not Edam or Gouda etc. The market is only a demonstration of how it operated in times past, you can’t actually buy any of the cheeses on display. However you can buy of stalls in the surrounding streets.

There are of course other stalls selling touristy items, Michelle bought a miniature cheese board ( for her Dairy Lea triangles) and a fridge magnet whereas I bought two large blocks of cheese for 10 euros.

We had a good wander around town but didn’t see all of it and I’m sure it will be on our list of places to revisit in the future.

We walked back to Homer for lunch trying out the new cheese, one was better than the other before packing up to leave, we had walked 4.5 miles in total.

Thursday 13th April 2023

Kuekenhof, also known as the Garden of Europe is one of the worlds largest flower gardens. According to its official website Kuekenhof Park covers an area of 32 hectares and approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted in the gardens annually. There are a variety of 800 different tulips plus all the other type of spring flowers, it is only open from mid March until mid May.

It was a cold blustery day today and we had to wrap up warm, have to keep reminding myself it’s still only April. We had pre booked the entrance and parking so we were very impressed by the organisation and friendliness of staff guiding us to parking and swiftly into the park.

It is difficult without spending hours avoiding happy snappers to take photographs that do justice to what you see, it was however a delight to stand and stare at the displays. The wind dispersed some of the stronger scent such as hyacinths which normally set my hay fever off however it didn’t totally disperse the whiff of cannabis. Not only were there the outdoor gardens but also pavilions with extra displays, one with orchids, one with daffodils and a large one with a huge range of tulips.

Layla was allowed to accompany us everywhere except into two pavilions and she as always drew admiring glance and comments with people stopping to stroke her, she wasn’t too impressed.

As you can imagine we took many photos between us too many to add here.

From Keukenhof we drove north to tonight’s stopover in the grounds of a sports park in Alkmaar.

April 12th 2023.

We started the day with a quick trip to Super U a local large supermarket to buy a few things to squeeze into the already bursting at the seams cupboards. Michelle concentrated on getting her wine and Cassis, essential for making Kirs, whilst I busied myself with the more matter of fact items like meat and a range of salad goods.

There was a fuel station there and I tried to fill up but the pump wouldn’t take any of my cards, there was a employee sitting in a booth near the exit and he agreed to let me pay at the booth and not the pump. This isn’t anything new we have experienced similar problems in the past and it’s one reason I don’t like running the fuel low.

As you can see we drove a long way today, non stop!! we hadn’t intended to but it wasn’t until we were in the last 20 miles of our journey we passed a parking place or services, we struggled like this last year driving through Belgium where again the road surfaces were dire.

The long name in the title is where we are staying tonight, the last word is the name of the town, it is a motorhome stopover at a garden centre, by early evening it was rammed with motorhomes also parked in the car park. There are motorhomes here from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, France, Holland and of course us😊

Tuesday 11th April 2023

Today is the start of our next adventure/trip. We left home at 6.30am to avoid local rush hour traffic and made good time until we hit the M42 where the inevitable 50 mph road works began and slowed us down.

The M40 was reasonably clear and we trundled along at 55 mph when suddenly the traffic slowed and stopped, after edging forward for a few minutes we came across a horrific scene of devastation with what I believe was a 7 vehicle pile up with vehicles crashed on both sides of the motorway, two men were carrying out CPR on someone alongside a car ( they were off duty policemen) I read later that the person died. The emergency services hadn’t arrived when we cleared the area as the accident was some distance from a motorway entrance/exit. Not long after we passed the scene the motorway traffic was halted and didn’t move for an hour or more.

We made one stop at Beaconsfield services for a coffee and a pain au chocolate and to let Layla stretch her legs and then made the decision not to stop again until Dover. We whizzed through the French passport control, was given a dismissive wave at customs and Layla wasn’t even micro chip checked at the ticket booth. We drove to the waiting lane and then found ourselves waved onto an earlier ferry and 10 minutes later we were sailing to France. I had booked a new service provided by P&O a dog lounge ( humans were allowed in too) it was a lovely lounge with free coffee and coke provided, plus water bowls for dogs.

From Calais it was a short drive to Gravelines where there is a motor home stopover we have used several times before at a cost of 7.50 euros per night.