Our trip in short

Our summer in short. We tried to flag all the places we visited, but Google Maps kept deleting them so we finally gave up. We travelled 5310 kilometres in total. Average diesel consumption 0.97 (litre per 10 kilometers, which is how we measure, equals 24.2 miles per gallon). We are quite happy with this number!

The following is a list of all the camping we visited, with a short review. Sorry in Swedish...

Partille ställplats utanför Göteborg. Bra men dyrt, 290 SEK. En natt.
Färja GOT - Frederikshavn
Aalbæk ställplats i båthamnen. Enkel standard men vackert. En natt.
Hirtshals camping. Bra camping, trevlig stad. En natt.
Galleri Munken Løkken. Mkt enkel ställplats men charmigt läge. En natt.
Krik Vig ställplats . Jättetrist. En natt.
Oasen ställplats på Rømø. 2 nätter. Mkt bra, tom hunddusch
Husum Regenbogen camping. Trist camping men vackert läge. En natt.
Husum Loofs ställplats. Perfekt läge inne i H. Mkt enkel men som sagt, läget! En natt.
Cuxhafen i hamnen. Nödlösning. En natt.
Schleuseninsel Wilhelmshaven 2 nätter. Enkel men charmig, bra läge.
Womopark Norddeich 3 nätter. Vi behövde tvätta...
Dreiländersee ställplats i Gronau. Enkel men ok som enbart övernattning. En natt.
Knaus i Koblenz. Camping och ställplats. Fantastisk anläggning. Bokning nästan ett måste. Platserna vid vattnet bäst. Värt betala för campingplats. En natt. 39 Euro.
Ernst Steffens ställplats i Zell/Mosel gm Winzeratlas. Enkelt, ingen service men vid floden.
Sun Park ställplats i Graach. (Bernkastel) 5 min körväg. Finns buss. Nära Bernkastel så kan inte vara dyrt m taxi hem. Sista bussen går före 19. En natt.
Yachthafen i Neumagen trevlig liten ort o trevlig ställplats direkt vid floden. Tvättmaskin o tumlare finns. En natt.
Knaus i Koblenz igen. En natt. 38 Euro.
Camping Rumkerhof i Bad Sassendorf. Välordnat tror tvättmaskin finns men trist läge. Dock välplacerat på vägen hem. En natt.
Campingplatz Lübeck-Schönböcken 2 nätter. Välordnat, 4km från centrum, buss direkt utanför 2 ggr i timmen tar 20 min till Holstentor.
Middelfart i Danmark. Grusad p-plats direkt vid marinan inne i stan. Toa, dusch, el, vatten. Vi stod utan el o vatten. Trevlig stad. 150 DKK. Vet inte om el o vatten ingick. En natt.
Persköp ställplats i Skåne. Jättefint men massor av flugor. En natt.
Vägen hem via Göteborg och släkten.

One last drive

Have spent two hot days with relatives in Gothenburg and now we're off home. Will post a couple of more posts with thoughts from this summer, but then I will let the key board rest until next trip. Am seriously besinning to think that retirement may not be such a bad idea...

Almost home

After a 'longish' day on the road we are now at camping Persköp in the south of Sweden. It was voted the best 'Stellplatz ' in Sweden at last year's trade fair.  We couldn't agree more!

We wanted to visit two dealers on our way here. The first one - and I won't mention their name - made us totally disappointed. They are the Swedish agents for a brand of van we are really interested in. A high end brand, so we were apalled to see they had no building for their vans, only a tiny office building. All their vans were parked outdoors, and the so called customer parking was a dump with old tires laying around. And hardly no space to park. At first we thought the GPS was going crazy again, especially since we couldn't see a sign anywhere. We just turned around and left.

The second dealer, 'Bengt i Örkelljunga' was a 70 minute drive away, but we made it in time to get a good look around. Now we know a bit more what kind of RV we're buying next time.

And now we're here, having happily munched on delivery pizza. No grilling outdoors in Sweden because of the heat, and our outdoor gas kitchen counts as a grill. So instead of cooking in our van, making it even hotter inside, we ordered pizza. We think he overcharged us though, so will call back and check.

Lübecker Marzipan - and more!

Very convenient bus service from our camping to the city Centre. We went straight to Cafė Niederegger where we had coffee and 'second breakfast'/elevenses. Quite expensive, but hey, what can you expect from Niederegger?

The rest of the day we more or less followed the suggested route on our tourist map. We would have loved to visit the Hanseatic Museum, but Ivan wasn't allowed in. Too bad. Another place we have to see again - without a dog.

In the afternoon we went on a boat tour around the Historic Lübeck. Took an hour and was well worth the time and money. Plus I could rest my feet for a while!

J had looked up a good wine store on the Internet so off we went. We left him with some interesting bottles in our bags. There's always room for more wine!

We wanted to have dinner in Lübeck, but it was still a bit early, so we tried to find a bar we'd seen from the boat. It was just too darn hot though, so we simply plopped down at basically the first place we found.

We had an early dinner at a cosy 'Lady and the Tramp' style restaurant but I was so tired that I forgot taking a photo. My food was excellent, the J's vegerarian alternative was ok.

We had a bit of time before the bus left, so I bought a few things at Niederegger. And now we're back 'home', relaxing outside our van.

Tomorrow we plan a visit at the local Fritz Berger camping store before heading to Denmark and then on to Sweden.

Couldn't finish this post yesterday since the wifi at the camping was so slow. We are now in Denmark, in the town of Middelfart. I'm serious, that really is the name. Funny name, another nice little town. The trip here took forever - bumper to bumper, as usual in Germany it seems.

It's still crazy hot in northern Europe. Temperatures above 30 C for months now. In Sweden forest fires have been raging for the past month. Firefighters from all over the EU are helping out. We have never seen anything like it.

 Holstentor, the iconic gate to the inner city of Lübeck

 The 'Salz Speicher'/salt warehouse

 The Niederegger shop and cafė is like a wet dream for marzipan lovers

 The Dom/cathedral

 Yumm

 This is about Swedish King Gustav Wasa who apparently took refuge from the horrible Danes in Lübeck.

 Middelfart

After two days on the road...

... we're ready for some old-fashioned sight-seeing again. How convenient that we have just arrived in Lübeck on the German Baltic coast.

Today's trip should have taken about four hours, but with bumper to bumper ('Stau' in German, a word every tourist learns quickly) traffic between Hannover and Hamburg it was more like six. Luckily we had booked the camping in advance, so here we are, relaxing with a can of beer in front of our van, just outside of Lübeck.

J has never been to Lübeck, and I was here some 35 years ago, when I studied German at the U. of Uppsala, so we have a lot of exploring ahead of us tomorrow.

1. 
   

Buddha in the Moselle Valley

We needed a perfect day to make up for yesterday -- and Traben-Trabach delivered. The Buddha Museum turned out to be a one of a kind experience. It had got excellent reviews on Google Maps, but we were still a bit sceptic. It was pure Magic. I know I will go back whenever I'm in the area again.

Lunch at a little cafė in Trabach and then a short stroll through this delightful little town. We'll be back!

And now we're at Knaus Campsite in Koblenz again. This place is amazing, even though our spot is smaller than last time. And Ivan is in for a 'treat' tomorrow morning since they even have a dog shower.
And now it's time to plan our trip home.

The long and winding road...

J wanted to visit the Karthäuserhofberg winery close to Trier, so off we went yesterday morning. Only he and the GPS had different opinions about the best route. He wanted us to go along the Moselle. It wanted us to take the shortcut over the mountains.

Finally, after overriding it several times, he gave up and listened to the gps. At first the road winded delightfully through a vineyard. It soon got more narrow though. And steeper. And steeper. Did I mention I'm afraid of heights? I held on för dear life, praying we wouldn't meet the farmer on his tractor...

Finally the road left the vineyards and the terrifyingly steep slopes and pushed into the woods. Enter bumpy gravel roads, low hanging branches and a sign saying maximum 3.5 tons. (We probably weigh 3.45) The road was VERY bumpy. I was beginning to wonder if we'd be stuck up there forever, realizing that no tow-truck could ever come get us, when we started seeing signs of human activity and then finally found a proper road again.

And then, after this ordeal, we couldn't find the Karthäuserhofberg. We had the right address punched in, even tried two different gps-apps, but it simply was nowhere to be found.

So we headed back towards the town of Neumagen where we knew there would be good camping, had dinner and went to bed.

What an anti-climax!

Lovely view. Before it got terrifying.

This doesn't look so bad!

How mistaken we were!

'This could be heaven or this could be hell...'

Bump. Bump. Ouch.

Safe and sound at one of the best campings so far.