Getting Going!

Well, it’s pretty well all done! and what’s not done is going to remain undone, still the house is finished and the first person to view has laid down a deposit and hopes to move in late this or early next month.

The house refurbishment has taken so long that unfortunately there is a number of people we had intended to visit before we left but have been unable to. Its quite a long list, so if you were expecting a visit - Sorry.

We spent Saturday cleaning the car and repacking both the van and the car. We seem to be carrying less than ever, but that may be because a number of unfortunate relatives have found themselves looking after piles of our unwanted kit - thank you Carol and Paul, thank you Brenda and Dave, thank you Pam.

On Sunday we hoped to relax during the morning before leaving the site at around one o’clock for the short run to Harwich to catch the 4.45pm ferry. Unfortunately Sue slept badly Saturday night and woke with a bit of a dicky tummy so everything took longer than usual and things started breaking so I had to make a second visit of the day to Homestead Caravans for spares. Lets hope thats it in the breakage stakes.

IMG 1815

We arrived at the grandly named Harwich International Ferry Port quite early and was directed to a particular queue by an efficient young lady with a reflective jacket and a radio. Then with around two and a half hours before departure time were checked in through customs and told to wait in lane eight for loading. At the departure time we were still in lane eight waiting to load, all the trucks were on, all the cars were on, all the motor cycles and pedal cycles were on but the caravans and motor homes still sat there. We did eventually board and not much more than thirty minutes behind schedule we were nosing our way down the River Stour and into the River Orwell. We were on our way.

It’s a pleasant boat but, sad to say the service is ceasing in September and all the land crew have been served with redundancy notices. It seems the Danish government want cleaner engines and fuel than DFDS insist is economic and neither will give way so unless another operator steps in the only way to Esbjerg, Denmark will be a 650 mile drive overland.

We dropped into “tightwad” mode for our night on board looking at the menus outside the various restaurants we a) saw nothing we particularly fancied and b) £40 a head for what appeared to be uninspired food was about £30 too much so we sat in our cabin eating cheese and biscuits washed down with a bottle of ruby port and watched an old movie on the computer.

We elected to eat a boat breakfast which was much more to our liking; a buffet style eat all you want affair for just DKK 118 (£13.13) per head. Most Enjoyable.

Denmark Arrival

We have spoken to Danes who have been visiting UK and who say that the prices in both countries seem, to them, to be about equal so we had a rummage in the on board shop and found that wine started at DKK 55 (£5.90) and a full litre of 47% Bombay Saphire gin is DKK 175 (£18.80) thats less than you would pay for a 75cl bottle of 40% in UK - at least thats what I told myself as I bought a bottle.

Despite leaving a little late the ferry arrived on time and with just a short delay we were away into Denmark not for the first ever visit but the first ever visit with our own car and caravan.

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Our new adventure had begun.


Last updated Sunday 14th September 2014                                                                                              © S W Ghost 2014