Taz enjoys a taste of home

Monday 23rd August - Belfort

We surpassed ourselves tonight. Doped Taz with a heady mixture of gravy and chop bones (not really neccessary as he turns in for the night at 8pm) and set off on an evening bike ride without map, water, phone, and very little night vision between us, but hey apart from a minor detour when we mistook a large tree for the tower we were using as a guide, we got home in one piece. Home in time for a couple of lines of chocolate, cup of tea (Tetleys -not ideal, waiting for Caroline to come out with fresh stock of Yorkshire tea) and an episode of NCIS. We were driven to buying a dvd of it because our Sat dish has packed up.

Tomorrow we might end up in Zurich to get the dish fixed so in case the Swiss follow the German line and censor the blog I thought I'd post this photo which wasn't allowed before. Jolly little fellow isnt he? Bet all the kids want to play with him. Actually its where you empty and rinse out the chemical toilet!

Taz meets a man who loves to go a-wandering

Thursday 19th August - Belfort - via Erfstadt

Of all the towns in German we ended up in Erfstadt. Where? Well Erfstadt is twinned with Wokingham and I guess its name must have been lodged somewhere in my brain when I was choosing our next stop out of the very informative, but to me as a non-German speaker, very bewildering, “7400 Reisemobil Stellplatze” book. Can’t say we noticed many similarities between Wokingham and Erfstadt apart from an over abundance of cafes and restaurants. And you certainly wouldn’t have wares like that in photo above in a bakers in Wokingham – oh no,no,no.

Its been a bit of a culture shock coming straight back from Sweden – the land of Volvo drivers to the land of BMW; head in the sand land to rules on how to use toilet paper land. But we just began to get the hang of Germany, especially after a good recommendation for a supermarket from Denise – it did a great line in plastic goods, and we hit the border. We had a lovely stop in another entry from the book, a field at the start of walking trails opposite a Stube and only 5 euros a night. There was one other campervan and he left soon after we arrived – co-incidence? – of course. First he told us how he and his wife loved to go “vondering”. But not, judging by his tummy, along many difficult mountain trails. He also suggested some good places to visit in Germany, so we will try and remember those and give Germany a proper go another year.

Thursday

Wey hey – sunshine and internet!! Yesterday I spotted an entry in our Aires book that said “Wine town – you could drink yourself silly here – wine tasting”. Well it would have been rude not to go there wouldn’t it? Unfortunately that’s what 6 other campervans thought too and with only 5 places in the aire there was no way we could squeeze in. But God moves in mysterious ways and he obviously thought that we had been hitting the bottle too much already and we needed a taste of religion. When we arrived at the next aire we found it was in the car park for an Abbey. Actually it was lovely, only one other van and the Abbey was very arty with a lovely medieval garden. And we still managed to taste some wine – from a wine box we bought in Sweden rather than from a vineyard in Alsace.

Taz turns the whole camp against us

Sunday 15th August - Munster, Germany

There are a lot of rules in Germany and we seem to be breaking most of them! I just tried to check the blog but it's "nicht erlaubter inhalt/content not allowed". Didnt realise I lead such a racy life!

Friday 13th - it really is a day to avoid. We needed shopping, a haircut for me (was still struggling to find a hairdressers that was open) and wanted to have a quick look at Lubeck. So we found a campsite and had lunch, sorted Taz and set off. All good but then when we got back Taz was barking, something must have disturbed him and boy did he make sure we knew it. There was a note on our table accusing us of cruelty, a guy came round a read the riot act saying Taz should be with us at all times, we weren't fit to have a dog and we had upset the enitre camp and just as we stopped reeling long enough to sit down to a restorative cup of tea, the receptionist came round to say there had been a complaint about us letting Taz foul the campsite (as she was speaking he gave a demonstration). Wow! It was horrible, we did feel bad that he had been upset but he usually sleeps most of the day. We were really shaken by it all but Taz sailed serenely through, oblivious to all the bad vibes coming our way.

As for my haircut - German centimetres are like Swedish miles. They're not really centimetres more like inches. So when I bargained the hairdresser down to 2 centimetres off my hair rather than the 4 she suggested I saved myself from a buzzcut. Still, she thought it was a lot better when she finished.

Given up trying to load a photo - it was obviously deemed not appropriate. Must shake this nasty habit of taking pictures of little puppies and Christmas shops.

Taz develops late onset travel sickness.

Tuesday 10th August - Tingsryd

Well that washing has almost dried since the last post!

Had a trying day when we left Trosa. Started off badly as we set off in the rain and just as I left the campsite I noticed a tick on Taz's lip. Those of a delicate disposition might care to look away now and re-join at *

Following David's instructions, I yanked it off and threw it out the window but it seemed to trigger the vomit reaction in Taz. So David screeched to a stop (not too many things in the van were damaged) and we grabbed the only thing to hand which was an A4 campsite map and between us held it under Taz's mouth as he swayed backwards and forwards. Half way through David spotted a car behind us and as it was a very narrow road we had to set off again. Unfortunately by now David was driving with green bile all over his hands and his sunglasses were misted up (yes I know it was raining but he still worries about being recognised). But we found somewhere to stop and clean up and were off on our merry way.

*That night we found a quiet spot in a clearing in a forrest off a minor road and parked up. It seemed ideal, very quiet and Taz could run wild and feel the wind in his ears - not that he runs anywhere anymore, but he could have done if he'd wanted to. Unfortunately we didnt realise that the ants on the ground were flying ants preparing for evening raids. We had a very long steamy night - because we had to keep the windows shut and we had wet washing hanging everywhere! Oh and those stupid citrus candles are no good, they attract the Swedish mossies.

Still, we're here in a nice safe, dry campsite today after a trip round the "Kingdom of Crystal" area of Sweden - no false modesty there then. Tried to book in to hairdressers today but the 6 the tourist office told us about were either on hols, at lunch or there was one we didnt try (offered Thai massage, tarot readings etc as well as hair cuts). Went for a bike ride instead and broke our record by getting lost as soon as we left the camp gates. Didnt help that David kept the map upside down.

So on to lovely Malmo and hopefully I can get my hair cut there before we head back to Denmark. We've decided to save the rest of S Sweden for another trip (and for when we have some sort of GPS thing)

Taz likes to book a cabin on long fjord crossings

Friday 6th August - Trosa, Sweden

Happy Birthday Isabella Grace Smith (5th August)

Hei hei - back in Sweden. Norway is stunning but we were beginning to suffer from soul rot with all the rain so we've come back to Sweden where the scenery isn't so magnificent but we can afford to buy chocolate.

We've had a couple of days in Stockholm. Last time I was there it was December, freezing but beautiful. In the Cathedral there was a children's choir practising for the Festival of Light next to a fantastic candle-lit statue of St George and the Dragon - magical. Not so magical in the summer but still a lovely city to wander round.

Came out to a beach site yesterday and had my first swim in the Baltic, but true to our luck its raining again today. Never mind, the washing machine is cheap here so making use of being stuck in camp. reckon I could operate any machine in the world now (maybe not a skill to boast about but very useful!) The machine here has instructions in English which saved me from using programme 1 "carpetwash" and sign posted me to programme 4 "woll". Just have to find enough places to drape them in the van now. We've got used to watching TV through the Octopus of Wet Underwear.