18 May 2015
We have crossed into Germany, in the northern parts.
This part of the country is also very flat, and drainage channels have been cut through all of the paddocks. The architecture is much the same, but the weather is getting cooler as we go northwards. Still we can sit outside in the twilight after setting camp. It is very pleasant.
We found a very small privately owned camping area for motor homes at just the right time of night.
The place is called Melkhus "Drei Eichen" at GPS 53*18'54N, 8* 13'46 O
www.stellplatz-drei-eichen.de
When we drove in the hosts and guests were having afternoon tea in the little gazebo out the front. We were welcomed with a cup or two of coffee and some delicious homemade cakes. They were not vegan but how could we refuse! The charge was only €10, plus a donation for cleaning the showers.
There was one other motorhome there, and we met the occupant, Peter Schulz, who is a zoo keeper and photographer. His career (now retired) was centred around Dolphins captured in the Orinocho River in Venezuala and brought back to Duisberg in Germany. He was on the expedition to find them, and cared for them long term back in Germany. We spent a very interesting evening in his motor home watching his video and photographic record of the dolphins. Fortunately Joe can speak enough German for us to understand what he was telling us.
We decided to take part of the "German ferry road" on which we take a coastal road and cross the canals and rivers by ferry. The ferry cost €17.5, and we found a free mobile home parking area just on the other side of the crossing. This turned out be a little noisy with trucks parking as well, awaiting the ferry crossing in the morning.
We were sitting outside having a pre-dinner drink and enjoying the twilight when a young couple rode in on their push bikes. Gilles and Jeane are from southern France and they started their bicycle ride in Bremen. They are also heading for Norway but I doubt if we will cross paths again. They pitched their tent nearby and we decided to cook and eat together.
However we were interrupted by a bogged truck -a 40 Tonne truck! Carrying glucose. A number of truck drivers were standing around apparently not able to see a way out. We offered to use our winch and to everyone's relief we managed to pull him around and save the day for the luckless, inexperienced driver.
After the truck was free we all tried to talk to each other. There was a German who spoke English, the French couple, a Dutchman, the truck driver who couldn't speak any of the languages represented, and us. Joe ran through all the languages he knows and lastly mentioned Czech. Yes! He is from Slovakia and was very pleased to be able to communicate with Joe. He wanted to thank all of the people who had helped so Joe passed that on. The message from the German driver was that "we are all European and should help each other". He was referring to other truck drivers who had declined to help. Of course we were proud to mention that the Australian way is that if you are in distress on the road someone will always stop to help. I hope that is still true!
I'll let some photos illustrate our experience of northern Germany...
No clear power station.
In some places the profusion of wind generators was astounding -but far better looking than the occasional coal fired plant spewing out green clouds.
And just before we crossed into Denmark we came across the barrage of the Eider river. This is where the ocean was being held back by huge obstructions designed to control any storm surges threatening this area -which is at or below sea level. There are two levels of dams, and this one was open to the incoming tide.
Shortly after this we crossed the border into Denmark -but that's another story!
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