Sunday 4th September, FDM Holbaek Fjord Camping and Wellness

What a cracking day we've had! We spent the day at the Viking museum at Roskilde learning all about the building and sailing of Viking ships. The museum is brilliantly laid out with real hands-on activities, centred around the archaeological discovery, preservation and display of five Viking ships, from small fishing vessels through larger merchant ships to a full 80-man Viking warship. The high point of the day was a sailing experience aboard a twenty-man boat, complete with woollen square sail, horse hair and seal ropes, and long oars for getting us into and out of the harbour. We were all involved in rowing and sailing the boat which sailed beautifully in the stiff breeze. As we're discovering, the skipper and the museum guide spoke typically beautiful fluent English and really engaged us all.

We arrived here yesterday after the three hour drive from our first campsite near Give (more below). We'd had a lovely relaxing time there, mucking around on all the activities (trampolines, pedal go-karts, water slides....terrifying water slides!) and then visiting Give for a stroll around. It's an unremarkable but very Danish town – clean, quiet, orderly, modern and functional - but perhaps a bit austere. we stocked up with supplies at the local supermarket where the checkout lady responded to Frances' enquiry as to whether she spoke English with an affronted “of course!”, and then we popped in to a sports store to get me some running shoes, where we were served by the extremely nice and helpful young guy who spoke better English than any sports store assistant I've come across in either England or Australia! 

The campsites are incredible – so well equipped and laid out that even when they're busy, as they appear to get over the weekends, there is still plenty of space and easy access to the facilities. The caravan and awning set-ups of the locals are simple awesome – huge twin axle caravans, full length and super wide awnings containing full size fridge freezers, wide-screen TVs, tables, chairs, lamps – we've even seen a couple with sofas and arm chairs. They really are a home from home. As Frances points out, most of them would live in relatively high density rented apartments – they use their caravans as their weekend and holiday retreats throughout the summer where they stay on permanent pitches. It means that we're going to have some company at weekends, at least for a while - but during the week I suspect we'll be pretty much alone wherever we go.

Meanwhile, our set up is pretty good. The kids are comfortable in their awning inner tents, sleeping on airbeds with sheets and duvets, and leaving us in relative luxury in the caravan. The couple of cold nights we've had haven't troubled us – a blow heater in the awning makes a huge difference. Frances has been cooking beautiful dinners, (venison meatballs and pasta this evening) and making picnic lunches (egg mayonnaise today) in rolls bought fresh daily by the kids. Our setting and breaking camp routines are also getting reasonably slick – the awning is a reasonable on-man job, the kids fetch water and investigate facilities, Frances sorts the inside of the caravan and awning, setting up the inner tents and making up beds. All done in less than two hours each way – hopefully we'll speed up even more, but that's not a bad start.

The drive here from Give was interesting – over the spectacular 22km Great Belt Bridge from Funan to Zealand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Belt_Bridge). The longest first section is over a relatively flat and low box-bridge connecting to an island mid channel, where the road begins a rapid climb as it connects to the vast suspension bridge. Fortunately the drive up to the bridge had been relatively easy – a lovely sunny day, not much traffic, no wind to speak of – so our nerves were in a reasonable state as we began the crossing. They weren't, however, by the time we got back to terra firmer on the other side! As we began to cross the bridge, the wind began to increase in intensity and the now-horizontal windsock showed it was now a direct broadside. My grip on the wheel tightened, George and Charlie became quiet, Frances looked intently ahead....and then we began the climb! The suspension bridge section is incredibly high – and with height the wind became even stronger. This was almost ok as it was relatively constant – until we passed the major upright sections which created a huge hole in the wind, causing the caravan to lurch horribly towards the barrier – the first time I gasped, but by the last I practically screamed!

We've decided to stay here for one more night – tomorrow will be a planning day as we work out our route and organise campsites for Sweden and Norway. We'll probably pack the awning tomorrow night so that we can get away first thing on Tuesday morning, giving us plenty of time to prepare for the even longer bridge to Sweden – oh, the joys of travelling with a caravan!

So far all the blog entries have been written by me, Geoff. Hopefully as we settle into a routine, there will be more time for the rest of the family to write entries – George will hopefully do so tomorrow.

 

Friday 2nd September, Top Camping Riis, Give, Denmark

We’ve made it – not to our destination, but to our stepping off point.

The last week has or so was pretty tumultuous. The packers had given every indication that they would fail to make the deadline, but with a last minute push they completed at 6pm on Friday 26^th August – they must have done twice as much as on any previous day, which I suspect speaks more for the frequency of coffee and tea breaks on those days than the frenetic pace of their last day. And we spent the days while they were there trying to work out what to do with all our stuff – shipping, airfreight, take it on the plane with us, or take it in the caravan? The piles for each grew, shrank, and moved daily. Finally, with the packers out of the way,  our options were narrowed and decisions became final.

On Saturday we packed lightly and set off to the Cotswolds for a weekend camping with friends met through the kids’ school, Princes Mead. Angus and Leigh McQueen organise the camping weekend each August bank holiday – this was our third. We camped at the farm co-owned by Angus and his brother near Chipping Camden, a beautiful and historic Cotswold stone village. The caravans and tents were arranged in a circle resembling the pioneers in defence against the native American Indians – ours was more in defence against marauding children. We had a lovely relaxed weekend, gathered around the enormous fire made in a disused domestic oil tank with holes strategically cut for draught, playing games including the melon ball eating competition (most melon balls in a minute – George 23, France 34, Geoff 38, and the winner, Angus 46!), and the raw egg catching competition (pairs of players throwing and catching a raw egg, longest distance wins – George and Geoff came second!), barbecuing vast quantities, eating, and of course drinking the occasional beverage! The kids ran feral and had a wonderful time with their mates. We even managed a walk into the village along the beautiful Cotswold way, to admire the ancient buildings….or more accurately, to sit in a pub to watch the Grand Prix! A great weekend, and a lovely way to say farewell to our friends.

We left in good time on Monday, the bank holiday, in order to make the short drive to Sutton Courtenay near Abingdon where we stopped for lunch with the Rowes. Frances, who went to school with Jackie Rowe, and I had spent many lovely weekends and holidays in our teens with Chris and Lorna Rowe and Jackie and Andrew at 78a High St (they’ve since moved, directly over the road) and in Turkey in 1981 when Frances and I met! Andrew and his sons Alex and Marcus were there for lunch, entertaining us with their piano playing and impressing us with Marcus’ incredible GCSE results (7 A stars, 4 As and a B!). Chris and Lorna were on great form and clearly very active, with Lorna just getting her piano Grade 8 and Chris winning the local veteran’s golf championship.

We departed after lunch and drove back to the Maples for a quick unpack and scrub up in time for a birthday dinner for Mummy Sue and Gom at a Chinese restaurant in Winchester. George and Charlie stayed the night with Susie and John while Frances and I stayed in the caravan at the Maples, ready for an early start to do the final clean and clearing of the house. I made the final umpteenth visit to the tip with another trailer load (amazing how much junk can be acquired and then discarded after four years) while Frances sorted all the stuff to be left at Susie and Johns ready for air-freighting or taking with us in November.  Finally, I packed the car ready for the off on Wednesday morning, and we bedded down in the caravan again.

We started early on Wednesday, handing over the house to Helen, the owner’s PA. It seemed quite odd really, talking about how the garden needed constant maintenance to keep on top of the ground elder and nettles, how the apples would need pruning, the grapes were nearly ready for picking, the lawn needed an autumn weed and feed – I shall really miss the garden. And the house, which Frances had left in a much better state than we’d walked into four years ago but is in such need of remedial maintenance. It’s been a brilliant house to live in – lovely, big and comfortable, close to France’s parents, the kids school and the station – we really made it our home, we’ll miss living there.

After a final couple of admin jobs (banking, post office, visiting the removalists to check on their reconditioning of our garden furniture) we were finally ready to set off at about 11.30 to drive to Harwich. After a quick fuel stop and to check tyre pressures we headed up the M3 – and for the first time the outfit felt stable and not underpowered. The extra 3 PSI I’d put in the caravan tyres (to the recommended 45 PSI) seem really to have helped. With more careful packing I’d managed to get the whole awning and all the other heavy items in the car – and without the bikes on the roof, the whole rig was lighter, more aerodynamic and more stable. I’d fuelled with premium unleaded – this also makes a huge difference to the performance and fuel economy over the regular grade petrol. So at a steady 55-odd miles per hour we headed to Harwich, arriving in plenty of time for our 4.30pm check-in and 5.30pm sailing.

As we checked in we were handed a very threatening warning about the consequences of having more than the strict limit of two gas bottles on board. Despite their very small size, our three camping gaz bottles were in clear breach – we confessed, and were told we’d have to get rid of one. After abortive attempts to do so at a nearby supermarket and petrol station, Frances found a very receptive family of Irish travellers to donate it to – four very smartly dressed kid and the biggest and fanciest caravan we’ve seen to-date!

We boarded the enormous and two-thirds empty ferry, parked up the caravan and prepared to make our way to our cabin – at which point, George discovered his car door wouldn’t shut – the locking mechanism wouldn’t release! After some frantic fiddling with a pair of pliers I managed to fix it and shut the door, so we were able to head off to our cabin. The boat seemed pretty big to me – we were on level seven of ten, in an outside cabin. We had a very pleasant and vast buffet dinner, the kids went off to the on-board entertainer’s balloon making show, and then we hit the hay.  It was a very smooth crossing considering we were sailing across the North Sea. But despite this, I managed to dream all night of the caravan rolling un-tethered around the empty car deck below us.

In the morning, the multi-skilled entertainer, in his new guise of the Pirate Captain took us on a tour of the bridge – fantastic to see how the ship is operated. It all looked very calm and un-complicated – just one officer on deck, a few monitors for radar, speed, depth (only 25m in the mid north sea!), a very small wheel, a couple of throttles for the engines and a couple more for the thrusters, and an assortment of lights and buttons – I’ve seen more complicated looking cars! A little later, this time as a magician, the entertainer (who in the off-season is a Manuel [Fawlty Towers] impersonator) occupied another hour with his magic show. And before we knew it, it was time to disembark.

We drove off the ferry, were waved straight through without stopping to show documents, and were in Esbjerg!

And after an hour’s drive on Denmark’s beautiful clear smooth and straight roads (albeit with a pretty strong side wind whistling across the vast fen-like landscape to keep me on my toes) we arrived at the campsite. Campsite? This is a luxury holiday resort – vast, clean, neat, picturesque and almost deserted! The Danish schools went back a couple of weeks ago, so all that’s left in the site are a number of enormous caravans and awnings left here all season by their owners, along with a very sparse sprinkling of tourists. There is every facility imaginable – an ‘aqua-park’ with pools, waterslides and Jacuzzi, trampolines, pedal-kart racing track, communal barbecue and cooking area (complete with microwaves, ovens, dishwasher(!), barbecue pits, washing up facilities – all immaculate and really well thought out. I imagine it will be busy again over the weekend until the end of the month, as the weather is still really pleasant.

We’re well set up now – the whole camp is complete in under two hours (awning and inner tents up, water, electricity and gas sorted, tables and chairs erected, beds made. As long as we don’t move too often (every three to four days probably) it’s really manageable. We’ll stay here just two nights, and then head to a site closer to Copenhagen before heading into Sweden. We’ve decided to have a very quiet day today – Frances and I went for a walk this morning (having discovered that a run was out as my running shoes seem to have made it into one of the other consignments – shipping, airfreight or packing for the flight!). And now she’s home schooling the kids (maths, English, spelling etc) while I write this. This afternoon we’ll muck around in the pool for a while, then head into Give this afternoon for a mooch about. And then an early night. We’ll aim to leave here by 10.00 tomorrow so that we can be set up at the next stop in good time.

And so the journey begins!