Our Scandinavian Tour - Day 131 - 135

Wednesday 12th September 2018 🌧️🌧️☁☁☁☁☁☁
Mileage 216 from Cuxhaven to a Camper stop near Workum
Parking Co-ordinates 52.98452, 5.47044

Today wasn't really of any interest at all because we spent it mostly on motorways just  gobbling up some of the miles that will bring us closer to home.  However, after about 5 hours of travelling we'd both had enough so we broke our journey near the town of Workum and stayed on a free but muddy camper stop where we were greeted with great enthusiasm by the owner. Our initial plan had been to stay there for two nights so that we could cycle over the Afsluitdijk (barrage) but we quickly realised that would be a round trip of about 50 miles which was a bit to far, so instead we moved on and drove across it on Thursday !

The Afsluitdijk which is 25 km or 15.5 miles long with 2 car lanes and a cycle track + several viewing points.

Thursday 13th September 2018  🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞
Mileage 62 from a Camper stop near Workum to Camping Boekel near Alkmaar
Parking Co-ordinates 52.58632, 4.75253

Happy Birthday Ben - Hope you had a fantastic day 🎁🎂🍻🎂🎁

Well the highlight of today's trip was the magnificent Afsluitdijk which encloses the Ijsselmeer (lagoon) on one side - thus protecting the Dutch lowlands, and which is washed by the Wadden Sea on the other.  On the dyke itself we stopped in an area called Breezand, and as well as appreciating the fantastic views, we also learnt about the history and construction of the dam which was the brain child of the engineer Cornelis Lely back to the late 1800's.  However, initially things never really got off the ground and it took a massive flood disaster in 1916 to spur the project along.  In 1918 Lely's  plans started to be implemented, but even then it took until 1927 for the work to begin on the closure between Den Oever on one side and the village of Zurich on the other.

The Afsluitdijk was officially opened on 25th September 1933 by Queen Wilhelmina but by then Cornelis Lely had died (in 1929) so he never saw the completion of his project, but a statue of him was erected in 1954 so for time immemorial he well watch over it.   And it is thanks to the dam the sea has been kept away from the low lying lands in this part of the Netherlands for over 85 years, but now it's been decided that the Afsluitdijk doesn't meet current safety standards because the cladding is't strong enough and it also isn't high enough if a severe storm was to occur.

Therefore, in the near future reinforcement work to the cladding is planned, and also strengthening of the locks and discharge sluices, along with the instillation of powerful pumps that can move water from the Ijsselmeer to the Wadden Sea at a rate of 400 - 600 cubic metres per second - which is a similar capacity as 12 Olympic size swimming pools!

One of the 3 sets of sluice gates

From there we continued a short distance to a small campsite near the Boekel Canal and from here we'll visit the town of Alkmaar tomorrow.

The Boekel Canal

Friday 14th September 2018 ☁☁☁☁☁☁
15 🚴🚴 miles

Today we left T4rdis2 and toddled off on our bikes to visit the famous Alkmaar Cheese Market which can trace it's history back to 1365 and which happens every Friday from March to September.   It takes place on the Waagplein (the main square in front of the Cheese Museum) and it opens to the public at 10am, but before that the 'Kaaszetters' start putting the cheeses out so that everything is on display by 9.30.   The Cheese Father then gives a talk to the cheese carriers and at 10am a bell rings to indicate the start of trading.

Then the samplers and traders go to work inspecting the exterior of the cheeses, knocking them and also tasting them with the use of a special cheese scoop which obtains a small chunk that is crumbled, sniffed and tasted to assess the percentage of fat and moisture.  The cheese is also cut to inspect it for holes which are also known as eyes - a perfect cheese has eyes that are evenly spread throughout - apparently if a cheese doesn't have eyes it's know as a 'blind cheese' and is considered to be of inferior quality.

The Waaggebouw

Next comes price bargaining and this is still done by clapping one another's hands and shouting prices - the last clap clinches the sale of a batch!  Then once the deal is closed the cheese carriers use a 'barrow' to take the sold cheese to the 'Waag' where it's weighed in the Waaggebouw!

Once the batch is sold the cheese carriers carry the cheese across the market to the buyers lorries, and this is done via a barrow that they hang from their shoulders thus allowing  them to carry 8 cheeses at a time.   However each cheese weighs 13.5 kilos and the barrow weighs about 25, so altogether they carry 130 kilos - and they don't walk - they dribble!  A sort of trotting pace where they step out of time with each other to ensure the barrow hangs as still as possible.

2 dribbling cheese carriers!

Think this might be an easier way to carry the cheese!

Finally the official part of the market ends very promptly because the entire square must be emptied of cheese before 1am so that the cafes can set up their tables and chairs - however the stalls all around the sides continue their trade for a while longer.

But by 1pm we'd had enough of the huge crowd where it was only possible to move at a shuffle - when we'd arrived several hours earlier we'd even had difficulty finding somewhere to park our bikes because every spare inch of pavement that wasn't covered by a market stall, a person or an already parked bike, was already taken - we even looked for a 'builder or two' but there was non to be found!

As we left the market we pottered through some of the main streets of the town that were filled with buskers that included a loudly playing street organ.

But as usual, we didn't stay much longer and we were quite happy to go and find a quite spot by one of the out of town canals for our late picnic lunch.


Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th September 2018  ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅ for both days.
Mileage 40 from Camping Boekel near Alkmaar to Groene Hart Camper Plaatz
13 miles 🚴🚴 on Saturday and 32 on Sunday
Parking Co-ordinates 52.226, 4.61922

On Saturday we moved back to Groene Hart Camper Plaatz where we've stayed before (and here), and this has put us in a good position for catching our ferry back to England on Monday.  We know this lovely area quite well now so we've spent our time just pottering about the canals and lakes on our bikes or sitting outside in the sunshine chatting with our neighbours.  We're amazed really because after spending nearly 5 months on tour this is the first site where we've found fellow Brits!

At least we weren't competing with the peleton!

Our ferry tomorrow isn't till 2.30pm  so we'll be in no rush to leave, and that's probably a good job because as it will be a long day I've promised John a cooked breakfast - and after that it will be a slow drive to the Hook of Holland for our departure!

So after 135 days away and our 7.5 hr ferry crossing we'll be popping up somewhere in England, and a few days after that we'll be back on our favourite site at Swanwick were we'll be resuming our role as Duck Wardens - but as we're very partial to duck eggs that will be a welcome task!

Bye for now 😙😙

Our Scandinavian Tour - Day 5 - 8

Sunday 13th May 2018  🌞🌞🌞, 🌧, 🌞🌞
Mileage - 170 miles from Lauwersoog (Netherlands) to Cuxhaven (Germany).
Parking Coordinates 53.87599, 8.70356

Before I tell you about today I just want to make comment about how many cycle tracks there are here, but not only in this area (Lauwersoog) of the Netherlands, but all over - and just to demonstrate all the red and blue in the screen shot are mostly off road cycle ways!

Anyway, back to today and I haven't really got much to say!  We left our cosy Marina pitch knowing our journey would be a long one - about 174 miles that would mostly be on toll free motorways.  The first 62 of them were in the Netherlands with far reaching views over flat agricultural land with just an occasional windmill to break up the vistas.  Then the rest was  over the border into Germany, and it was there that we spied our first major traffic issues - luckily on the opposite carriage way! ⛟🚌🚐🚑🚕🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚙🚙🚚🚛🚛🚛🚛🚜 - the queue went on for several miles😧😧!

I suppose also, to pad this out a bit, I could mention the incident with the dead bodies - they were splattered all over T4rdis2's windscreen!  Thunderstorms had been predicted for the afternoon but all we experienced was about 30 seconds of torrential rain but that  was good because it helped to rid us of the millions of bugs that were firmly adhered😂😂.

Then after that it didn't take us much longer to reach our destination which was the huge Stellplatz at Cuxhaven Port.  Once again we've been here before back in November 2016 so everything was familiar and we were very quickly settled in with a brew made and sitting out in the sunshine to enjoy it.  And while I was whiling away my time I checked how far we are from  our ultimate destination - and it turned out to be just a little 1,740 miles - it's a good job we've got plenty of time to do it in!

The Stellplatz was massive and could hold several hundred vans!

Monday 14th May 2018  🌞🌞🌞 and very hot!
8 walking miles today.

Well, what a night!  As I said earlier our present Stellplatz is right on Cuxhaven port side and when we arrived there was a huge ship birthed only about a 100 yards from our pitch - with it's generator's running!  Now, that noise was bad enough through the evening - but it also continued all night thus resulting in my being a bit bleary eyed this morning - and when I complained John's reply was 'what noise'!


Therefore, an easy day enjoying the lovely sunshine was quickly decided upon and this turned out to be a leisurely stroll along Cuxhaven's sea front promenade which stretches for about 4 miles and where the Wadden Sea washes up onto the shoreline.  Nearly all the way we were greeted by fine pale yellow sand along with numerous sitting places and alfresco cafes dotted about for everyone's comfort.  Additionally, there are also hundreds of Germany's answer to beach huts - in the form of two seater wicker 'chairs' that can be hired for 10 euros a day and can be locked to store possessions, or when occupied, can be tipped back to make shady sun beds! 

The Prom which tripled as a walkway, a bike path and a rail link!

Our day was quite idyllic really, we meandered along watching the antics of people taking a dip in the cooling water, we picnicked with fantastic views, and when we got back to T4rdis2 in the early afternoon we lazed in the sunshine and watched the world go by!  However, it was a bit difficult to chat with our neighbours because I think until evening we were the only 'foreign' van on site, then we were joined by a Swiss couple who tried to explain how wonderful our Scandinavian trip is likely to be!
Oh, and the ship - that's gone so hopefully tonight will be much more peaceful.


Tuesday 15th May 2018 - another day of wall to wall🌞🌞🌞
Mileage 124 from Cuxhaven to a Camper Stop near Nordstand
Parking Coordinates 54.51802, 8.93207

This morning presented with 'a must do' task and a choice concerning our on going journey!  The essential job was the restocking of our food cupboards so that we wouldn't starve to death 😂😂, and the replenishing of our wine cellar because were too mean to pay Scandinavian prices.  So after leaving the Cuxhaven Stellplatz Mrs Snoopy was programmed for the nearest Lidl and that mission was soon accomplished - equivalent of 50p for beer and £2.50 for a bottle of wine! 

Then, to get to our next destination we needed to cross the massive River Elbe, so to do that our choice was either to drive 43 miles to Hamburg, cross under the toll tunnel and then drive 43 miles back, or to take the shorter route to Wischhafen from where we could take a ferry across the water to Gluckstadt.

We choose the later but as our penance we were required to sit in a mile long queue of traffic, and it took an hour and three quarters before we could board the little shuttle ferry that toos and fros across the huge expanse of water that is the Elbe.  However, even if we'd known about the delay beforehand I don't think we'd have altered our plan because the detour to Hamburg would have taken equally as long and would have probably been the more expensive choice of the two.  And while we were waiting we did take advantage of that gift of time by scoffing our lunch and admiring the lovely scenery that surrounded us.

Our Transport Across the River Elbe

Some of the thousands of geese that darkened the sky when they flew en mass!

However, the delay had set us back, so what should have been a 3 hour journey turned into a marathon 5 hours and by the time we arrived at the WoMoLand Camper stop we were more than ready to put our feet up and chill in the late afternoon sunshine with a nice cold beer!  I'm not really quite sure what we were expecting of this place but we very quickly decided that on our own personnel scoring system for camping places this one would get 9.5 our of 10!  It's very lovely with spacious divided pitches, excellent clean facilities, friendly (all German) neighbours, lovely views and lots of peace and tranquillity all around - eventually !!!  The only thing it lost half a point for was the obligatory mowing and strimming noise that blighted our first half hour!


Wednesday 16th May 2018  🌧  (but only a couple of dozen drops!  Then 🌞🌞🌞 and Oh what a lovely evening !!
Mileage 67 from Nordstand in Germany to Broager in Denmark
Parking Co-ordinates 54.86769, 9.74412

Today is another Happy Anniversary to Us - It marks 2 full years of living happily as full time travellers in T4rdis2!
But that doesn't include the 9 months we spent in our first T4rdis!  In total we've now been on the road for 2 years and 9 months!

This morning we left we left the campsite at Nordstand but it was really was quite a shame to be going because it was situated on a little peninsula that seemed to have quite a lot on offer that we hadn't had time to explore!  Therefore, another promise has been made - and that's to stay there again on our return journey and try and do what we missed on this occasion.

Anyway, we were soon on the road and this time we sailed along without a hitch, and this resulted in us crossing the Danish border after only travelling 31 miles, and although it was manned by armed soldiers we nipped straight through without any problem. Then it was forwards and onwards over an immaculate motorway, and once we departed from that we only had a short distance to travel before we reached our new campsite - Broager Strand which is right on the sea front.

Once there we were greeted by the very friendly owner and we were quickly booked in for the next two nights, but what we hadn't realised was that this would lead us up to the Whitsun Bank Holiday, and the owner explained that we should definitely make a forward booking for that period because it was quite likely that most places in this region of Denmark would become fully occupied.  Added to this we also needed to consider the fact that wild camping is not possible in this country, so although we hadn't really got a plan for the next few days one needed to be formulated quite quickly!!

The site is situated on another peninsula and while we were booking in the owner gave us lots of info about the area and told us about several walks and rides that we could do while we were here - it was all a bit mind boggling really because we hadn't anticipated that there would be quite so much choice in this lovely area.

The Way Markers 

So once lunch had been consumed we set of in glorious sunshine to explore part of a long distance walking path called the Gendarmstien - so called because in the mid nineteenth century the Gendarmes used to patrol the area to watch for dangerous smugglers who illegally moved goods in and out of the country to avoid paying customs duty.  The path runs for 84 kilometres in total but we only walked a short part of it that took us up to a view point from where we had 360 degree views of the coastline and the crystal clear waters that surround the peninsula.

And it was while we were walking that we decided to stay here a while longer as long as the campsite could fit us in!  However, it turned out that our pitch was already booked but if we didn't mind moving on Friday we were told we were very welcome to stay - so now this is home for the next 5 nights!

Therefore, I'll tell you more about it in my next instalment - but for now it's getting late so I'm going to sign off 😘😘


Click here to see our German Camping Spots

Our Scandinavian Tour - Day 1 - 4

Wednesday 9th May 2018  🌞🌞🌞
Mileage 15 to Harwich Port and then 25 from Hook of Holland to Groene Hart Camper Stop
Parking Co-ordinates 52.226, 4.61922

This tour has been a very long time in coming (we've been planning it for over 2 years), but now our departure has finally arrived we're very excited about it - our rough plan is to travel up to the top of Norway - Nordkapp - and then meander home via the coastal route, taking about 4 and a half months to complete our journey!  We've already done quite a bit of planning concerning what we want to see and where we want to go but we're very aware that hundreds of travellers have gone before us so if anyone reading this has any hot tips we'd love to hear them.

This morning we left Grange Farm Campsite (which for £15 quid had proved a very picturesque and convenient place to stay) just after 7am and headed to Harwich Port to catch our 9am Stena Line Ferry for a voyage that took seven and a half hours and that  tipped us out at the Hook of Holland opposite Rotterdam.  We arrived at the Port side and had checked through the departure process by 7.30 and we thought we'd be in for a long wait before boarding so we were quite surprised when we found ourselves on board and in our very comfortable cabin by 8.15.

Then unfortunately our departure was delayed by an hour because of cargo loading - it turned out that we were waiting for a couple of lorry loads of race horses!  However, it didn't turn out to be a problem because the ship made very good time on the mill pond like sea and we were only about 10 minuets late by the time we got to our destination.


Also having a cabin made our crossing much more comfortable. We were able to indulge in a bit of telly watching (Flog It 😂😂), a little snooze, a couple of episodes of Eastenders (only me), a bit of reading and a picnic lunch which was accompanied by some of the complimentary goodies that had been provided for us. However, even though these included a couple of cans of Heineken and 2 small bottles of red and white wine we were obliged not to indulge at that time  because John  had to drive -  but later, although we saved the beer, the wine went down very nicely with our evening meal🍷🍷!!

Once we'd disembarked we were soon bombing along with John very comfortably converting once again to driving on right.  We only had about 45 kilometres to go to get to our destination  - the  Het Groene Hart Camper Plaatz in the Haarlemmermeer Polder, and once there we were soon settled in and feasting on previously prepared spag bol for tea!


Thursday 10th May  2018 🌧️ overnight  ⛅ morning 🌞 lovely afternoon ⛅ cloud early evening 🌞lovely finish!
0 Miles today

First off - Happy 43rd Anniversary to Us 🍾🍷 🍷🍾

Today we decided to bite the bullet and get our bikes out to do a bit of exploring - I say bite the bullet because we haven't indulged in any cycling activity for quite a while because John has been suffering quite badly with a trapped nerve in his neck which has resulted in excruciating pain in his right arm - and cycling seems to make it worse.  While we were on home territory we attempted to get it sorted by visiting an Osteopath several times, and at first that seemed to help a great deal.  Additionally, from my point of view, it really was quite entertaining seeing the expression on John's face when  the Osteopath 'cracked' his neck or stuck the acupuncture needles in😨!  However, now the benefits seem to be wearing off, and although he's not quite back to square one he's not much above square 3 or 4!

Our Pitch on Groene Hart Camper Plaatz 

Therefore, today's ride was planned to be very gentle and not too long, so with that in mind we copied a route we had ridden before when we visited this area back in 2016.






We left the campsite and peddled the mile or so up to the Ringvaart Van de Haarlemmermeerpolder (canal) and then proceeded along beside the waterway until we reached Westeinderplassen (lake) and along the way we had the pleasure of watching numerous boats both cruising and 'parked', seeing quite a few family groups of water birds and also being buzzed by very nippy cyclists as they zoomed along the road - either individually or in large groups.  There were also windmills to spot, and lots of grazing animals - but alas, no tulips this time!

The Water Tower on the Edge of the Lake

As we hadn't planned to be out for too long on this ride, we'd left our departure until around midday because that was when the weather prediction was for sunny skies (and for once they were more or less right)!  So our timing was just about perfect for a late lunch while we watched quite a few wind surfers messing about on the huge lake that is part of a complex of navigable lakes that cover about 10 square kilometres in this area.

After our windswept but sunny lunch was complete we continued our circumnavigation of the lake by riding through the very pretty and well kept town of Aalsmeer.  Apparently this small town is famed for it's flower traders and boat builders, and the flowers flowing from the many beautiful gardens would certainly support the former, and furthermore, Wiki informed me that the town hosts the largest flower auctions in the world and has numerous nurseries surrounding it.

Once our lake tour was complete we were soon back on the canal cycle way that would take us home, but by now the day was so lovely that we felt compelled to sit beside the water to watch the world go by - and while we were watching we also tittered at a robotic lawn mower on the other side of the water!   It seemed dead set on mowing the same bit of grass over and over again - if the owners don't sort it out they're going to have a bald patch soon!

Then soon after that we were home and toasting our Anniversary with the cool beers that we'd obtained the day before!  And later we toasted again with a very nice bottle of Spanish Red (yes we've still got some left) that accompanied our steak supper!

Oh and did John manage OK?  Well in the end we did just over 20 miles - he never moaned but at times I'm sure he paid for it!!



Friday 11th May 2018  🌞🌞🌞 all day!
Mileage 130 miles from Groene Hart Camper Plaatz to Lauwersoog
Parking Place Coordinates 53.40452, 6.20261

This morning we left the Camper Plaatz and headed for the northern part of the Netherlands - specifically towards the seaside town of Lauwersoog where John had spied a couple more camping places that looked very inviting.  On the way we knew we would probably have to refuel but when we saw the eye watering price of fuel on the motorway we decided that T4rdis2 would have to make do with fumes until we could find a cheaper alternative- Petrol was 1.76 euros (£1.54) and diesel 1.46 (£1.28)! And in the end it paid to wait because eventually we got it for 1.26 (£1.10)!

A stolen picture😮

Our route took us past Schiphol Airport with it's gaudily painted blue and orange planes, around the Amsterdam ring road - thus allowing us to miss the 'tight squeezes' of the city, and then eventually onto the Afsluitdijk.  The Afsluitdijk is a causeway that was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and it's 20 mile length connects Den Oever in Northern Holland to the village of Zurich in Friesland.  As you can see from the pic the main part of it is a duel carriageway but there is also a 2 lane cycle way and lots of parking - so of course we had to take advantage of that and stop for coffee (that could have been us in the distance in the upper right quarter).


Thus refreshed we continued our journey on towards Lauwersoog with a quick Lidl stop on the way, and soon after that we entered the first of the 2 camping places that John had identified - 😞😞 but sadly there was no room at the Inn.  However, all was not lost, we had a back up plan that came up trumps 😀😀, and that was at the Noordergat Marina a little further down the road.  We soon got comfy in the very small but wonderfully situated motorhome parking area which is right on the waters edge, and as it was nearly 2.30 by then the fish finger sarnies that I quickly prepared went down a treat!

After that it was walkies time and initially this required us to pass through some pretty board walked meadows.  Then our big question was should we go left or should we go right out along the dyke that separates the land from the Wadden Sea!  In the end we choose right and that route took us into the fishing harbour, where along with lots of fishing boats, we found several Fish and Chip shops - shame we'd just been fed!!

Fishing boats in the Harbour

I told him 'That's the wrong T4rdis!

Not 2 big ones but 3!!
That's tea sorted!

After we'd finished clowning about our walk brought us back towards home and we went and saw the harbour master to pay our parking dues, and after that we settled in for our evening meal.  But then as dusk set in I mentioned to John that I thought it was raining - it turned out to be millions and zillions of insects tap dancing on almost every square inch of T4rdis2's exterior!  It was a good job all our windows and doors were netted because if even a quarter of them had invited themselves in I'm not sure there would have been any room left for us - I can honestly say I have never seen insects so densely accumulated - not even in Scotland!


Saturday 12th May 2018  🌞🌞🌞 all day.
0 miles today

We had another big decision today - 😂😂 - should we walk or should we cycle!!  The later won so with picnic packed we set of for another gentle ride around a forested area called Ballastplaabos and then out onto the dyke that separates the Lauwersmeer Lake and National Park from the Wadden Sea!

We left our parking area in the marina and with the aid of the Maps.me app we soon found our way onto the lovely cycle track that runs for about 9 miles through the National Park area.

Along our way we were treated to lovely spring vistas of budding and blossoming trees, lots of water ways and lakes and also several bird calls which included cookoos and woodpeckers.  However, additionally there was another call that we frequently heard but initially couldn't identify, and it was only when we paused for a short break that we realised it was probably frogs having a chat - we spotted at least 4 and it sounded like there were dozens more!

And then we hadn't gone much further when we spied a sight that we hadn't expected - military tanks on manoeuvre - apparently The Royal Netherlands Army has a military base here called Marnewaard.





Eventually the trail we were following came to an end but here in the Netherlands nearly all cycle trails link up with another that will take you somewhere else!  And this one was no different - it chucked us out nicely so that we were well positioned to access the Wadden Sea side of the dyke wall so then we had the pleasure of cycling along there for several more miles.

The Wadden Sea is a UNESCO World Heritage site that lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of the Frisian Islands.  It's waters are quite shallow but still tidal so for much of the time vast areas of muddy sand are exposed thus providing a massive dining area for lots of different wading and sea birds.  Therefore, there was plenty of activity to catch our attention as we peddled and also the high bank of the dyke provided us with a lovely picnic spot from where we could see both the mud flats and also, if we turned in the opposite direction we had far reaching views over the vast Lauwersmeer Lake.  Interestingly, we later learnt that the Wadden Sea stretches from the northwest of the Netherlands, past the great river estuaries of Germany and on to it's northern boundary in Denmark giving it a total coastline of 310 miles, so with the route of our journey in mind we're quite likely to be seeing more of it in the near future.

Following our picnic feast, even though it was still quite early, we decided to wend our way home because at the mo we're parked up in a lovely spot and as we'll be moving on tomorrow we needed to save some time to enjoy it a bit more.   Tomorrow will see us leaving the Netherlands and continuing our journey into Germany, and our rough plan is to spend a few days there before we venture into new territories for us - it will be then that our Scandinavian adventure starts properly!

Anyway, that's all for this episode
Take care 😗😗

Click here to see our camping spots in the Netherlands