Susie’s Report No 48
Hello to All,
I thought I should start writing again so here we go, if you want to come along for the ride, join us………
Now continuing along in France again where it’s lush and green, lots of fertile land with wheat, barley, and bright yellow fields of rape seed for oil. There is also lovely bright yellow wattle trees and lots of wild flowers lining the roads.
Back in the land of Aires, this is the most economical way of camping for us. One such was at Chateau Montreaux along the canal of the Rhine and Rhone, 5 euros a night including power (a bonus).That afternoon was spent peddling along the canal for 25 kms with a few deviations, next day we turned right and rode 35 kms…..sore bums again, I need a new gell seat, as the last one perished.
We stopped for water and a mandarine, and listened to a very loud arrangement of frogs singing or maybe mating calls, anyway they were very busy doing what frogs do, the noise was extraordinary, obviously a very healthy canal.
At Seveux, we stayed 3 nights at the Marina as there was a Nationwide Fuel strike in France, it was a good place to hole up, so on our bikes again and we rode into a town called Dampierre, mixed it with the trucks on the road, then back through fields with the cows then back along the canal watching the boats potter on by us.
I’ll must also tell you THAT….. we will never, ever, ever be going anywhere via DIJON again. It all turned to worms after one shop we were looking for was, of course closed for lunch. We reconfigured Nigel (tom tom) but he lost the plot, then we lost the plot, and we saw Dijon and its surrounding areas 10 million times ( I do exaggerate!!!!!) but we ended up using fuel we didn’t need to, we were refuelling wherever we could and getting as much as we could. So finally after much swearing on my behalf we continued onto a town called Lamarche Sur Saone, now we can see green pastures instead of the same buildings going past over and over………
We arrived in the above town and I decided to do my forward scout bit, but, alas the only exciting thing I found was watching a lady use the takeaway Pizza machine..10 euros or a credit card.
There are only 4 selections, you press the hot ( chaude) or cold (froid) button and “Voila” wait 5 minutes, the chute opens, a box appears and away you go. She nearly dropped the box as it was so hot….it had a metal insert to keep the temp going. - told you it was exciting……and I wandered off again back to H.H.It was called called “Diabolic Pizza”.
Well, it was a sad day for us, when I went to pull out our Halogen Oven to roast a chicken for dinner and all we could hear was tinkling glass. With triple lots of swearing ( I seem to be doing a lot of that!!!) I was pulling out large chunks of Pyrex glass, it all glistened along with my tears - no, not really, I was just very shitty……I had to come up with a new cunning stunt on how to cook my chook, and also live without it. I enjoyed using it, never mind……
Another lovely village is Vandanesse en Auxois. We had 2 days of cycling and seeing some gorgeous charter boats called “Peniche’s,” meandering along the canals.
There is also so many Eclusiere’s houses, (lock masters cottages), that have been abandoned or not in use anymore, mind you they need a lot of T.L.C. - maybe we could try squatters rights on one of those - a renovators delight. Some are in fantastic locations, and in Vandanesse there seems to be a competition between the owners for the best looking house.
We stopped to have a look at one and next minute Terry’s bike peddle splits in two, at least he was able to get back to H.H. as we were a long way away. Its never a dull moment with these “bloody bikes” but we couldn’t do without them.
You will have noticed that there are two things we love the most The Coasts and The Canals, sadly both have gone for a time as we make our way to “Cherbourg” for the ferry to the U.K. We are on inland routes and having to make a direct (sort of) line and paying tolls as the fuel strike is still on and word is that the TRUCKS are blocking the motorways - we have been lucky so far in getting fuel ( its expensive in the U.K. ) so were were trying to stay topped up…….
I was going to do a blog on Canals and Locks, as most I mentioned, are really stunning. The sounds of the bird life, watching the herons fishing, the frogs croaking, the lock houses with climbing roses, some with manicured lawns, fruit and vegetable gardens, some with ancient farming equipment on display and an abundance of flowers everywhere.
From what I can gather a lock master would look after quite a few locks, as some are really close together. Therefore, some of the cottages have been sold off or left to die. The locks at Vandanesse were fully manual, I stood on the overhead bridge to watch a rather large Peniche called “Wine & Water” go through. A young woman on a motor scooter arrived to release the gates, you need good strength to move the 4 arms and cogs in and out of position. It’s not easy, she struggled a bit and pushed on. These huge boats sometimes scrape the sides of the canal there is only 2.5 mts to spare. The Captain had to pull his side mirrors in going through. Turning them around in the canals is a feat in itself.
We travelled on through days of rain, lots of fog, high winds, finding fuel and now were back on the Normandy coast at Gouville Sur Mere heading to Cherbourg.
Our Farm stay, prior to departure, was spent drying out mouldy chairs (these live in the lockers below) swatting flies, fixing, cleaning and oiling bikes, and talking to free range chooks (they were really attentive) kept Terry amused for a while…….one in particular like to be hand fed and sat down beside Terry’s chair to keep him company…….
We arrived in Cherbourg and I know our good friend Julian will be thrilled to know that I was able to do a large clothes wash at the Marina before we left (it’s our standard joke), If there is ever an opportunity I will take it - I like everything nice and clean.
We boarded the Ferry at Cherbourg and after a peaceful crossing, arrived 4 and half hours later.
Well I tell you after the channel crossing and arriving in Poole we had just about asphyxiated ourselves with Fly Spray. I ended up having to apologise to the staff doing our M.O.T. as they were still flying around inside H.H. And I was still swatting flies for days - they were very tough farm flies, but some are now living in England. Ha…..ha…the escapees….
Moving right along - and H.H.’s M.O.T. ended up to be a pain in the WHAT’S IT !!!!!! The timing cam belt change went well….his other necessaries - no problem, but they decided we needed a compressor belt change on the air conditioner, and an alternator belt, fluids and oils changed and we had to replace two spring handles on our roof hatch cover. The Inspector decided he was going to fail us, as our steering wheel lock didn’t lock…
OH PLEASE !!!!!! We didn’t even know we had one !!! Anyway, with that problem solved (eventually) off we trundle. All up nearly a thousand pounds later $#!+ … We arrive back at the campsite and realised that they had changed the wrong hatch cover springs, there was nothing we could do…too late…so next day after driving 4 hrs to Canterbury the air conditioning was not working.. (we had the compressor re gassed of course and a belt change) I was starting to seethe or scream, we weren’t going back to Poole, after many conversations and 5 hrs later we had a diagnosis in Canterbury that the new belt had shredded itself ( wrong belt size). This also could have caused other problems - the agreement between the two parties was the “bill” to be sent to Poole. What’s the old saying “Near enough is not good enough” ho hum……
Two days later and we’re on the 6.45am Ferry back to Dunkerque, France, it’s a 1 1/2 hr trip, we find some good seats in the lounge and settle down. The bar is open at 6.30am and there are hoards of people lining up to buy drinks!!!!!! .Loads in Welsh football colours, flags draped over themselves, crazy hats and T. shirts, some even dressed as French onion sellers.
The noise gets louder, even the barman is furiously waving his hands around trying to keep them quiet (no chance) and the singing starts, then the pushing and shoving, and food gets thrown around, the decibels rising louder and louder as they are all competing with one another. You could not hear a single word over the loud speaker, they could of been telling us to man the lifeboats the ship was sinking. It was like a 5yr olds birthday party with booze.
Finally we are coming into dock, you still could not hear the ships instructions for landing. The hoards are now moving to the stairwells and lifts, the BAR, is now closed. It’s a bit of a worry trying to get to our exit area as we gently work our way through the singing (noise), which is deafening. But nice in a funny sort of way! It was the European soccer championships in France and this lot were the spectators (we think) anyway they were all very messy looking. I was glad to escape back to H.H.
On disembarking there is still no stamping of passports, so we motor off leaving all the razor wire and high fences and the refugees behind and onto our favourite stopover, “Gravelines”. Saturday markets and I purchase for 1 euro a large heavy ball of Celeriac - its yummy and great for mash, curries and salads grated….
We move on the next day into Belgium, flowing into Holland, back into Belgium, and back again into Holland the road criss crosses the two countries. We arrive in “Hattem” a gorgeous canal town and indulge in the local snack of Kiblings i.e. floured Fish pieces with tartar sauce.
And of course T.Lee has to top the huge calorie intake with a soft serve ice-cream, so I make him do a tour around the block ( fat lot a good that will do ) anyway I tried…….
We are on a mission now to keep going north. We are in Germany for a couple of days then catch the car Ferry to Denmark, ( this is 100 euro’s for a 45 minute trip !!!! ),where we spend the night in “Praesto” for our 31st anniversary dinner of Salmon fillets with a sweet potato mash and chilli and lime chutney. Yum…
I told you we were on a mission… next couple of days we are driving across a bridge into SWEDEN and paying another huge tariffs to enter the country.
This one really hurt as it was 108 euros for a 15 minute journey. They pegged us 6-9 metres long (we are only 6 meters) at a pinch with the bikes on the back. Anyway, we could not dispute this as we were very lucky not to be searched by Customs as the van ahead of us was. This would of really, really hurt, we had bottles, casks, and more bottles (alcohol) stashed/hidden all over H.H. i.e. bathroom, gas locker, under the seats, under the lounge etc, it would of been a huge disaster, with confiscation and fines. Luckily Terry gave the lovely young Customs Agent a Koala Bear with a tiny flag souvenir (thanks Matt).
After looking at our passports she waved us on. It’s a wonder she didn’t hear my humungous sigh of relief as we drove off
We were trying to work out what Sweden is renowned for, we came up with ABBA of course, Volvo cars, IKEA Furniture, Swedish massage and Swedish meatballs and Blond Swedes.
“Raa” was another interesting town, we went for a ride and down to the Helsingborg Terminal stopped for water, and down below the sand dunes was a nudist beach O.M.G.
Who really wants to look at fat people walking/parading around trying to get an all over suntan. Yuk…..I say…….even Terry was disturbed by the sight………The blokes didn’t go into the water, as it was to cold…ha..
What we are really trying to get used to is……it not getting dark, maybe for 4hrs then it’s light again, my good old Qantas eye shades are helping me sleep through. I know it’s a stunning look but hey…….. beauty sleep is important for an old girl……
Funny incident at the supermarket. I decided to use my “Lidl” disc for the shopping trolley, but alas it was to small for the slot. I tried a ‘kroner’ in another one - still to small, but this one got stuck, we were effectively holding up 2 trolley bays. The thought was if I run back to H.H. grab my tweezers we might be able to pinch the coin/disc back out. I left Terry bashing the trolleys trying to shake them loose. We retrieved one and lost the other.
The ubiquitous ”Lidl” beggar who was sitting on the ground talking on her mobile phone and watching this debacle, offered to lend us the 5 ‘kroner’ coin to release the trollies, and of course give it back to her. She probably had more money than we did. It was a Sunday so thankfully we didn’t hold to many people up.
“Motola” a town on the River. We were apprehended by a Mrs. Duck and her 7 fluff balls ducklings as we rode down by the waterway. I had my sneakers on that had bright pink laces so they decided they looked good enough to eat so they surrounded my feet. Unfortunately we didn’t have any bread with us, so we ooh’d and aah’d to them, told them how gorgeous they were and we parted ways. They waddled off to find there next lucky customers and off we rode.
There is also a day cruise you can take and you pass through12 locks, Borenshult has the steepest and has 5 interconnected locks with a total height difference of more than 15 meters, it would be spectacular.
Sweden… the land of so many trees, so many lakes, more trees, more lakes. We are travelling North and you don’t realise how long this country is. We have got hundreds of Kms to get to the Arctic circle. There are “beware moose” signs everywhere along the motorways and roads, some are fenced I would hate to have one of these plod out onto the middle of the road. Yikes…..there are also wolf packs around…
I was talking to some young people (20-30ish) at the Marina we stayed at and chatting about Australia and they said, “you have things that bite people”, and we said “YES” we have the Sun that bites and burns, sharks bite, crocodiles bite, jellyfish bite, insects bite, snakes bite, spiders, birds and numerous other critters, and some even kill people. They were very impressed, can ’t wait to get there…….??
I did have another incident in the shower block, locks again, but I’ll spare you the details, I shouldn’t be left alone in one..I think I’m getting a ‘shower’ in old buildings phobia…..
Another interesting thing is ….you cannot buy what they call…. Hard Liquor ..in the supermarkets, you can only buy beer @ 3.5% the demon drink (spirits) is only from the government run stores, plus it’s very expensive.
We have been lucky enough to Free Camp for the last 2 nights. first by a lake second, by a rapidly flowing river near a bridge.
Unfortunately its still raining and so one can’t wander around outside for to long otherwise soaked and wind blown. Welcome to Summer in Sweden.
We had to stop and put our hazard lights as there were 2 Reindeer strolling down the middle of the road, a logging truck came down the road and just blasted straight past them. Rudolph and his mate didn’t bat an eyelid….just strolled onward and finally with us behind them, veered onto the grass.
Finally we are leaving Sweden for Norway, still lots of trees, lakes and more trees. We came in by the coastal road with snow capped mountains. It’s summer and 6 degrees last nite. Before leaving Sweden I bought a giant Swede (vegetable) not a man, I digress, as I’m still making soups, we do not have them this big at home. no picture sorry….but it’s also good in mash…
WOW !!!! Is all I can say, what a difference. Sweden is basically flat and Norway of course mountains and different vegetation. They grow lots and lots of potatoes.
What also is a nice change is the centre marking line on the road is bright yellow, which makes a lot of sense and so far, long meandering rivers not lakes.
It’s the 8th July and the Sun DOES NOT set below the horizon. It’s 24 hrs of daylight and my Qantas eye shades are invaluable. It’s the weirdest thing getting up at 3am to use the bathroom and its bright daylight. We have to go into shutdown mode in H.H. and close all our shutters and covers. Of course in the winter solstice, the sun DOES NOT rise.
The coastal road is Fjords, Tunnels, Fjords and more tunnels, and speaking of some of the tunnels they were like caves, some were left in the natural state of raw exposed rock. Some of the older ones are very dark and foreboding.
We are on our way to “Narvik” and we are lined up in the queue for the car ferry. This lovely young lady with her money bag and ticket machine approaches H.H. “Hello, what is the length of your vehicle”, US: 6 metres, HER: even with the bikes, US: yes, TERRY: would you like a Koala Bear, HER: yes please. Terry’s nephew Matt, sent over packets of these souvenirs, so they come in very handy for little sort of bribes (everbody just loves them), except miss checkpoint charlie in Hungary. who turned her nose up and clomped away in disgust.
Anyway, I digress again, we were the last one on for this journey, it took 20 minutes at 3 knots and cost 283.00 Norwegian kroner ( you divide by 10 to get Euros) nice slow trip - you had to get your money’s worth with the scenery.
We saw the best day of summer so far at 22 degrees, we were free camping down by a river, the fjords are simply stunning on a good day. There are lots of roadworks, and building of tunnels and new bridges happening, which will cut hundreds of Klms off winding roads out, best to come back in a couple of years time when completed.
We have now turned West, the South no more…..we are now up into the Arctic Circle, the tundra is flat, lots of small rocks and scrawny trees, it’s quite rugged.
We had to bypass the Nordkapp, it’s the northern most point in Europe that you can get to. Actually we went as far North as 70.5 degrees. Hobart is 39 degrees South of the Equator. Unfortunately the area was fogged in and you could hardly see the oncoming lights let alone stray Reindeer and sheep on the road. Welcome to SUMMER what a difference a day makes………
On leaving our campsite and merrily driving along for a while, the mobile phone started its ding, dong, ding, dong which usually means we’ve changed countries, next we see the border gates of Finland. I asked Terry did we mean to be in Finland, answer: NO, he thought it was back into Sweden. Oh. well!!!!! We’ll just see how the day progresses and what country we end up in. It ended up being Finland in the Lapland region.
We passed a Restaurant sign with Reindeer soup on the menu - we decided to keep going! Santa would not be pleased. The roads here were very undulating and just a lot of trees, trees and trees, and Norway and Finland have large communities of Indigenous people so therefore, there are lots of Nature parks and Souvenir shops.
I was on Reindeer spotting patrol today, they just amble down the road, some have collars on maybe tracking devices to see how far they roam, they really are a motley crew, with bits of fur dangling and moulting and some with really large antlers.
Yesterday it was sheep with lambs lying on the side of the roads. Thankfully we have not, seen a real live Moose on the road yet……but loads of warning signs……
Still driving S.W. in Lapland we saw Santa Clause’s Village (theme park) but, by the look of the carpark (extremely busy) we agreed to move along and instead cross over into Sweden again and go and have a look at the largest IKEA store in the World and also try some Swedish meatballs, what a choice to make ……
Arriving back into Sweden again, and off for our walk, We crossed over the bridge to discover we had one foot in Sweden and the other foot in Finland, and the time difference of 1 hr for the shops, with the River being the Border.
My three way little purse came in handy again, Finland is Euros, Sweden Kroner and Norge is Krone, it sometimes is a pain in the “‘what’s it” with all this loose coin.
Anyway, Terry and I strolled around the largest IKEA store in the world! Unbelievable, it’s very busy and very annoying when you make a wrong turn and get lost in the Kitchen dept, only to get lost again in the gardening section and so on, trying to find the exit signs. It’s organised chaos…… They even have a parking lot for over two hundred motorhomes and caravans!
The Swedes are a big collector of Classic Cars, basically all types of American oldies, huge “yank tanks, and because it does not get DARK, a lot were hooning all day and night around the town. We found out later that there was a classic car meet there! Just our luck.
I must also tell you about another great event in Lapland - the “Pyha- Luosto Poro Cup” its the championship race of Reindeer herders and Scandinavia’s fastest reindeer. They gather all the way from Norway, Sweden and Russia to compete. Well, I tell you the ones we met walking on the road were not at all interested in running anywhere, they were a scruffy looking lot, but content in just pottering along to somewhere.
And here’s another event not to be missed..the Ice Fishing events, great family FUN !!!!!! In the Spring Sunshine…. Also “Husky Safari’s”. The Aurora Borealis, we did not see, they say it happens all year round, but I think you just have to be lucky especially when the sun does not set…There is also no such thing as doing something under the cover of darkness - it just doesn’t happen for a couple of months. The crime rate must drop dramatically……
Leaving Sweden and back in to Finland we are making our way to “Helsinki” to catch the Ferry to “Estonia”. We caught the train into this pretty city and spent 5 hrs roaming around. It has all the usual “high end” endless shops, Statues, Church’s and of course a waterfront, which we always gravitate to. The docks was a hive of activity with markets, street food stalls and restaurants. Our lunch was delicious.
We tried the three fish platter and decided to give the smoked reindeer meat balls a miss this time!
Scandinavia is coming to an end. We really enjoyed the uniqueness of each country. The Fjords are stunning. The cost of living is very expensive, fuel (diesel), campsites and alcohol, just as well we brought the latter from France. There is also extremely limited L.P.G. so we had to be very careful. Next the ferry from Helsinki to Estonia.
Our next whistle stop is The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria and the onto Greece for a couple of months… so stay tuned, only if you want to - don’t forget there is always the “Delete” button handy..
Talk to you all soon.
Love from Susie,Terry and our faithful and ever forgiving H.H. X X X
