'It's coming home' and so are we.

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Saturday.



Clare and the family offered to take care of Logan whilst we took the tram into the city. After a lovely breakfast of Danish pastries, Clare walked with us to the metro station, she had given us an itinerary and instructions on using the public transport. The trains run every two minutes, in another 12 minutes we were at Torvehallen food halls, we enjoyed the sights and smells of fish, meat, vegetables, fruit and spices all beautifully displayed, there were a few free samples on offer too. On the other side of the street was a flea market, selling a good assortment of vintage and antique items, luckily everything we liked was too big to fit into our limited storage space. We continued into the centre where we had lunch in a square close to the canals, washed down with a cold drink and listening to a jazz band playing. The city is beautiful, the buildings escaped damage during the war and are set amongst pretty squares and canals. Next on our itinerary was a canal boat tour, it made It's way around the canals and there was a commentary pointing out places of importance. We passed millions of pounds worth of private boats moored along the sides of the canals, in contrast in the area called Christiania, an old industrial area! Invaded by squatters in the 1970's there were an amazing assortment of homes in boats, shacks and even a caravan floating on the water? On the banks of the canals and in the harbour, there were endless people sunbathing. And swimming, the water is supposed to be very clean, it's very hot today. After the tour we made our way back to the metro and found our way back to Clare's. The family were watching the World Cup match, England playing ? Les and I sat in the garden and drank cold beer. The children had loved playing with Logan whilst we're were in the city. Again we sat out into the evening chatting about travel and family memories.



Sunday.



Isabel doesn't want Logan to go, they're best friends! But after breakfast and lots of photo taking, we set off for a 40 min drive to Frederiksborg Slot, leaving the family to pack for their flight to Spain this afternoon. Frederiksborg Slot is a glorious palace built on a nest of small islands in the middle of an attractive lake. It has tall bronze turrets decorated with gilt balls and baroque gardens set in parkland. The interior was splendid, with exquisitely decorated ceilings, embossed and painted leather walls and more portraits of royals than you can imagine. The chapel with a 17th century organ, which is still played was incredibly ornate, as was the Great Hall, the walls were completely covered with old tapestries that were made to fit around corners and into alcoves. The hall held an interesting exhibition about the current royal family.

After lunch we walked in the park which is set out around several small lakes with oak and lime trees. Closest to to the castle there are beautiful formal gardens with fountains and a water cascade. Back at the car park, I blogged, whilst my travel companions slept. Later in the afternoon we moved Dream Catcher to an overnight parking place at the end of the castles grounds, a first for us camping at a Royal Palace!



Monday



We were disappointed that neither the maid or butler brought us breakfast this morning, luckily we had food in the stores. After doing some washing we set off for Germany. Motorway all the way today. The summer, which has been hot and dry here in Denmark, has left the grass burnt and brown, the majority of the crops have been cut too, in most areas just the corn is left. We're heading west across Denmark and then south through Germany. It's not long before we are at the bridge and causeway that takes us to from Zealand to Denmarks next island Funen, another 50 kilometres brought us to Middlefart ! Where we crossed another bridge to South Jutland, where we started to head south. It's very windy today and we are being buffeted about a lot, but Les is managing to keep us on the straight and narrow! Around 4 O'clock we stopped to find a parking place, Doris found a couple of lakes with a picnic spot not too far from the motorway, we went to explore and it was perfect. There was a volleyball field, picnic benches and a pretty lake with a sandy beach at one end. Les walked Logan whilst I cooked tea. In the evening we watched Allo Allo, after all we are in Germany!



Tuesday



This morning we are using A roads to avoid Hamburg where the road works we were held up in on our journey north are still going on. It's amazing after all the mountains that we have seen and driven up and down over the last few weeks that both Denmark, yesterday and Germany today are as flat as a pancake. It's more interesting passing through the the towns and villages than blasting down the motorways, there are a lot of thatched properties, built of brick and with tall steep roofs, some are very large, belonging to the large farms growing crops and grazing cows. We arrived at a short ferry crossing across the very wide river Elbe, there was a long queue, we didn't get on the first one and had to wait a short time for a second one to arrive. Whilst we were waiting I watched the birds wading at the rivers edge, there were geese, lapwings ducks and ruffs, my first spotting of ruff, the males had still got their rust coloured fluffy feathered necks, which is where they get their names from. At our lunch stop there was a sign asking folks to take their rubbish home with them due to African swine fever, spread by the food that wild boar eat and consequently there aren't any bins to put our rubbish bag in! Over the road there is a sign with a green edging and a picture of an owl on it, we've not seen a sign like this before, any one know what it means? By mid afternoon we were back on the motorway, then off at Bremmen where we should have joined the E1, but there was a diversion to follow, eventually we were blasting through the miles. As we pulled up at our camper stop, at a rural restaurant carpark, €5 for the night, it started to rain heavily, it soon passed, but it's noticeable that there must have been some heavy showers or storms here over the last few days.



Wednesday



Continuing south today and were soon at the border into Holland, there isn't a noticeable difference in architecture the houses are still very similar. We alternate through rural areas, industrial areas and cities. There are less campers out on the road, maybe because the schools haven't broken up here yet. At lunch time we have covered sufficient miles to know where we will be by evening. So we booked a vets appointment for tomorrow morning, for Logan to get his passport stamped for returning to the U.K. By mid afternoon we left Holland and we were in Belgium, heading for Ypres. We have been here before some years ago to visit my great uncles war grave. At the Menin Gate in Ypres every evening, at 8 O'clock the last post is played. There is a designated camper park on the outskirts where we parked up, taking the last space, next to it there is a lake with a path around it. Two pairs of Great Crested Grebes were fishing in it. We sat out in the sunshine and enjoyed a cold beer, it's been a long drive today, 288miles, taking the total to over 6000.



Thursday.



Up early this morning, we had to be at the vets for 9.00 am, we found the place easily and we were soon seen, Logan's worm tablet administered and his passport signed.

We then drove a few miles to Palingbeek park an area where the WW1 opposing trenches were only about 100 ft apart, the whole area is now a nature park with footpaths and cycle ways through. There are some areas where the bomb craters are now small ponds, throughout the park there are small exhibitions and information boards about life in the trenches, battles and the area before and after the war. To mark the centenary of the end of the war there is an art installation called Coming World Remember Me. 600,000 clay sculptures, one for every victim who lost their lives due to fighting in WW1 in Belgium. The sculptured figures represent a person crouching and bent forward and were made by visitors to workshops in the area and across the world, from 2014 up to this year. They were then placed in 'no mans land' around a central hatching egg. We spent a couple of hours in the park and enjoyed walking through the different areas.

We had lunch before driving back to the camping place at Ypres. We sat out in the sunshine for an hour before walking into town, about 30 minutes walk. We wandered around the town which was completely flattened in the war and then beautifully rebuilt, it's a lovely place with tall houses, each one designed slightly differently. In the main square the cathedral and market halls are very impressive, we hung around in the park until about 7.00 pm, then went to the Menin Gate, built to commemorate fallen British and Commonwealth soldiers who have no known grave. There are more than 54,000 names inscribed on the memorial. We watched the last post and laying of wreaths before walking back to Dream Catcher. We have walked a long way today, Logan is pleased to lie down and rest.



Friday.



Our last day today. We have a slow start, and a good clean in Dream Catcher before heading for the hyper market, when we tried to pay for the camper stop at the barrier it wouldn't accept my card, I tried several times to no avail. Les went to the entrance barrier and tried to register his card, so that we could use it at the exit, but that didn't work either, as he was trying, I tried once more, this time it worked and took the payment, the barrier lifted, I quickly jumped in to the drivers seat and moved out before it changed its mind. We chatted over the barrier to an English couple, the lady went to school in Buxton, they now live in Ripley. They were on their way back from Prague, having visited their daughter there. We left and drove to the hyper market to stock up on cheese and wine to take home, then on to Gravelines, a convenient stop to catch the ferry in the morning. We parked overlooking the marina and sat out for a while, a passing French lady complained to Les that Logan didn't have enough shade and he was too hot, Les tried to explain that we had only just arrived and if he's too hot he lies under the vehicle, I don't think she understood! We were treated to a lovely firework display in the evening, the start of the weekends Bastille Day celebrations, all was quiet though by midnight



Saturday



Up at 5.45 and straight on the road to the ferry terminal, we plan to have breakfast there. It only took about 20 minutes, usually we drive straight through the border checks, but today there is a long queue with people managing the lines, it appears that only one lane is operating, it was a slow job, by the time we had passed all the checks, including one guard looking inside Dream Catcher, presumably for stowaways, but probably just to see what it was like inside, it was time to board the ferry. We packed our continental breakfast into a bag and had it on board with a coffee. We chatted to a German family taking their 3 week holiday in the UK. We suggested some places to visit and roads to avoid. Talking about Dover Castle, I mentioned the war once, but I think I got away with it. We arrived in the UK at 8.30 and headed home, there was a road closure on the M25 which we detoured around, adding a bit of time to our drive. By mid afternoon we were back, parked in our very overgrown driveway.

We have driven 6390 Miles, through 8 countries, over 11 weeks.



'Maybe the journey isn't so much about becoming anything.

Maybe it's about unbecoming everything that isn't really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.'

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