Friday 10/06/2011 Lubeck to Copenhagen (Greve Strand) 165727-165897 = 170 miles

Morning session

2 hours drive from Lubeck to Puttgarden. 84 Euros for ferry!!! I won't come this way again. If I'd driven straight up into Denmark it would have cost me a 220DKK toll (about £30 quid) plus about 90 miles extra driving (2 hours and £10) But now I'm here it is 308 miles to drive round, so I just bite the bullet and cough up.

I fill up with diesel, before the ferry, as fuel is more expensive in Denmark/Sweden.

So I'm sitting in the queue for the ferry and I suddenly realise that I don't know when the next ferry is due or how long it takes once we set off. Still, unless I break down now, I'm going to be in Denmark today. This seems to be significant to me. Although I've never driven in France, Belgium, Holland or Germany before, getting to Denmark will feel like a real achievement. I suppose it's because it's Scandinavia.

Anyway it turns out that this ferry is a shuttle type ferry and I only have to wait 10 minutes and the crossing time is only 45 minutes. There's a change machine on the boat so I get DKK120 for a EUR20 note. I have fish and chips for EUR10 on the ferry to celebrate my arrival in Scandinavia and by 11:00 I'm in Rodbyhavn Denmark. Driving off the ferry I remember that in Denmark you have to have your headlights on. No problem but it does seem strange on such a bright sunny day. I spend a little while on the drive thinking about the "green" implications and how much extra fuel is used to run a car's headlights. I have heard a figure of 3% but I guess that was a while ago and it's probably much less than that nowadays. Still, in this day and age even 1% extra carbon emission is significant. Do we save a few lives by using headlights or do we save the planet?

Only 100 miles to Greve Strand and my first stop off point. So when I arrive I pull up in a car park and go for a walk to the beach. I'm not impressed. I think I was expecting a "sea-side" town with the usual souvenir shops and takeaways. Still, I have a walk round and a quick paddle in the Baltic Sea. (It's cold; no surprise really).

I find a nice campsite on the main road (Hundige Strand Family Campsite) and persuade the receptionist that I'm not just dossing in the car and that it is, in fact, like a small camper van. He tells me I have to have a "Camping Card" and that I'll need it in Sweden and Finland as well. I read about this on the RAC website when I was planning but thought it was a con, obviously not so.

So I book in for 2 nights at a cost of DKK319.55. This is my first encounter with the Danish currency. It sounds a lot but you have to divide by 7 to convert Danish into Sterling, so it's only about £45. I find a quiet corner of the field and park up. The camping table goes next to the car, the curtains go up and I have a shower and a shave (really good facilities). So I'm all set for the next 2 days and I'm really looking forward to a few pints later on (it's Friday). I need more cash so I walk to the local shopping mall. There's only 1 ATM in the whole place! So I get DKK400 and sit down in the local café/bar and order a large beer. I don't think DKK400 is going to be enough as the beer costs DKK48. So I spend half an hour watching the people go by, then back to the campsite, cook chicken vindaloo and rice and grab a bit of kip ready for a night out.

I reckon that all the "fun" Danes must live in Spain. It's now 23:00 and I've just walked around for 90 minutes and couldn't find a bar to have a drink. It's not that I'm in the middle of nowhere. This is a residential/holiday area, near the beach and only 10 km from Copenhagen! There's a local railway just up the road and the trains stopped running at 21:30. (The next day I find out that this isn't true; I guess I'm just bitter tonight)