Scandi Summer 2018

Day 1 and half

So on Sunday 27th we left Aylesford having spent the weekend looking after William. He was delightful and great fun!

The drive to Harwich was uneventful and without any of the delays one might have expected. After a shortish wait we were allowed on the boat at about 9 pm, parking on a vast cavern of a deck. Unfortunately we then had to climb ( I say unfortunate but I was happy with the effort: Meryl struggled) from Floor 3 to Floor 11 - just to find a bunk!

Mercifully it was a good one, overlooking the prow and with a large porthole. And a good-sized bed!

So, today we departed the boat at about 8.30 am after a decent Dutch style breakfast. For such an early hour the noise level, that is the sound of people talking, was a little wearing. All I wanted was one of those slightly sullen, why have you woken me so early, types of start to the day. Instead you find people heading for food like homing pigeons after the tastiest morsels on offer. A sort of let's fill up for the day so we don't have to buy anything whilst on the move. and began what was a longish trek around the heartland of Holland, with all of its early morning traffic. Slow but moving! From the Hook to beyond Amsterdam we pottered along but then escaped, so to speak, onto some less heavily congested motorways.

Part of the drive was along the banks of the Zuider Zee (see photograph). The route may have been longer but it would seem to be, maybe, less congested than through the centre of Holland.

By 3 pm we decided to stop and ended up at Wiesmoor, a campsite we stayed at in 2013 for several happy days. Pretty and probably wealthy, it is laid out a bit like a model village where everything is neat and tidy.

One of the notable differences between Holland and Denmark, at least as far as the roads were concerned, was the speed of cars that passes us. We drove at about 50-55 mph but the cars were thundering passed us. As were the trucks.

So, in the continuing saga of, 'That sort of Day' let me regal you with a few, offbeat notes.

1. A police motorcyclist going the wrong way along a major route: what was he thinking?

2. Camels sitting in a field

3. Seeing a time trial taking place along the cycle way, on top of the Zuider Zee banking: boys winding up girls saying they are pinching an inch!

4. Few, we counted 2, English cars.

Tomorrow we hope to slip past Bremen and Hamburg and make it north into Denmark. We hope to each near Ribe on the Atlantic coast where, if it is any good, we will stay for a few days…or longer. Cycling, fish, birds and…well we will see when we arrive.