Sunday 20th July

Morning campers!

Today we planned a lighter day. We were definitely going to the beach! After another leisurely and a farewell to Jan and Christina, we headed off to the beach for a quick dip, just to say we’d been in. It was pretty warm and amazingly un-salty! There were already dozens of people on the beach sitting in their favourite places and we broke the etiquette by dumping our gear in the wrong place. But hey, we’re tourists!

What a motley crew!

So, after a quick dip and a shower back at James’s, it was 1.00 o’clock before we headed off fo lunch in a cafe near Skurup.

After an excellent bagel and a few ice creams off we set for the Johanna Museum http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.johannamuseet.se%2Fen was an amazingly eclectic array of things past, tools, sewing machines, cars, toys etc and was a fascinating foray back to days of yore. We spent an hour or so wandering round touching things (a novelty to be able to touch the exhibits!) before we had to rush off and find a supermarket to grab some BBQ stuff for the evening.

Just some of the many exhibits at the Johanna Museum:

This evening we had the pleasure of Dave’s BBQ cremating skills and we enjoyed another al fresco dinner before adjourning inside for a slideshow of all the pics from the week.

And now, the week is coming to an end and we have had an excellent time. James has been delightful as a host and his patience with us as we’ve taken over his house has been much appreciated. It has been an honour to spend time with you James and here is the prose written by Keith that we all echo:

I met a man

I came to Sweden to meet a man
(Jag kom till Sverige för att träffa en man)
I met a man of humour
(Jag mötte en man med humor)
I met a man of generosity
(Jag mötte en generös man)
I met a man with a big heart
(Jag mötte en man med ett varmt hjärta)
I met a man
(Jag mötte en man)
I look forward to meeting that man again
(Jag ser fram emot att träffa den mannen igen)

We will be very sad to leave James for many reasons. Thank you for everything you have done for us, thank you for being you.

Tack. Until we meet again.

Saturday 19th July

What a great day! We packed in loads 🙂

It all started with a map on the breakfast table.

We planned a 4 stop day today and it started with us heading for Ovedskloster where there is a “castle” http://www.spottinghistory.com/view/1343/ovedskloster-castle/#. Huge thanks to Jan and Christina Fagerberg who joined us from yesterday and who led for the day. We arrived at Ovedskloster in yet more sun and set off to explore the gardens.

John is taller than a tree!

We also met some not particularly friendly alpacas and said hello to them. Once we’d exhausted the gardens, off we set for stage 2, Kronval Castle.

On arrival, the first priority was lunch! The place is famous for its pizzas so we ordered a few and sat in the grounds to scoff them. There was a wedding reception planned there so we failed to persuade the owners to let us take photos of the cars outside the castle hence you only see the castle and not the cars in the second pic:

After a pleasant wander round the gardens, we set off again for Knabackshusen. Here, there is a popular beach and an interesting collection of homes that were physically moved to the area from elsewhere so the military could practice their shooting and live in the same area.
It took an age to get into the place as there were dozens of people trying to get out of a narow road as we were trying to get in but eventually we managed to all get parking spaces and we had a wander down to the beach for as paddle. Jan and Christina had swimming things with them so they jumped into the sea for a splash around while the rest of us sunbathed.

On we went to Ales Stenar where there is a mini Stonehenge in the shape of a ship:

What an interesting place. The origin of the stones and the reason for their existience remain a mystery which makes it all the more interesting. On leaving the area we watched some sheep dogs being trained to round up some sheep. It kept us amused for a while. We’re easily amused…

All too quickly we needed to leave as we were booked in to the local Byrakrogen (pub) for a meal at 8.00 so we headed back along the coast to James and arrived gone 7.00. Although wer had booked a table at 8.00, that evening there was a special music night and the landlord wanted everyone to be in the restaurant by 7.30 so the music could start on time. This gave us 10 minutes to shower and spruce up before we had to leave! We did it and got there just past 7.30 but it was a bit of a squeeze!

We tried a few of the beers between us and even got to have a dance, much to the delight of the Danish singers. We were regarded with some curiosity by the locals but one or two were quite friendly (like, they wanted dances from me and Margaret). In the end we were almost the last to leave and we had a pleasant little walk back to James’s for a night cap.

Tomorrow we plan an easier day with little driving and a trip to the beach….

Casualties today: None
Indicators left on: Jan joined the club and John won the prize for the longest time left on
There was a new category for rear fog light being left on by Dave: 2 days
Lights on: Sue keeps forgetting to put her lights on.

Friday 18th July

Morning campers! Today saw us having the honour of James leading us out for the first part of our day.

Lovely James

Off the morphine and (sort of) allowed to drive, James led us out towards Dalby wherre he left us to return home. Here we saw a historical viking headstone at the Bridge of the Lords, a popular passing place back in the day. It used to be a ford and was called Ford of the Lords originally.

We decided to take a lickle walk into the conservation area before we carried on. We wandered along for about 20 minutes, avoiding the slugs, then jumped back into our cars to head towards Rostanga and the Soderasens National Park with Bob leading us.

Off we set for Rostanga, and the National Park, where James had promied us a decent view of a fault (the landslide type). There we had lunch before heading off for the fault. After a bit of debate about which way to walk, we settled on what was probably the longst routre and eventually arrived at the top of the hill, somewhat hot and sweaty, to see what all the fuss was about.

After our descent, we bought an ice cream, served by the world’s lowest attendant, then off we headed for our return to James, this time using the satnav which resulted in a couploe of U turns and some slightly frazled drivers!

On our return we met up with two more fellow Marlin owners, Jan and Christina from Gottenburg who were in a Westfield but were soon to launch their new Sportster which was a month away from being on the road. Hello both.

Many thanks to Dave for being chief chef this evening and supervising a wonderful spagetti bolognaise. And thanks to Keith and Margaret for the lovely fruit salad dessert again!

Another good day out, more superb weather, we all managed to leave our indicators on at some point and we annoyed a van driver who couldnät get past us at one point. All in all the Swedish drivers are very tolerant of us, particularly when we stop on the side of the road to check where we are and they have to squeeze past.

Tomorrow we plan another coastal trip……..

PS. A big Hi to Pete who’s photo travels with us when we go out.I hope you’re enjoying your travels out with us Pete!

Thursday 17th July

Today saw us again in the garden for breakfast and the morning was already promising a glorious day ahead. We planned to go to Simrishamn for lunch then on to the Autoseum (car museum) and then have a leisurely circuitous drive back.

Breakfast in James’ garden

All started well with us heading for Simrishamn with Bob leading. We dropped into Ystad and turned into the car park for the Tourist centre, I wasn’t sure why at first and then realised thast Bob was running in to get some up to date “What’s On” brochures. But while we were waiting in a line in the car park, a man hurried over to us to ask “Are you English?”. Yes! We replied with a smile. Then he said “Can you please turn your engines off? You are polluting our cafe!” Oops! We since learned that there is a one minute limit for cars to keep their engines ticking over before they must be shut off and taxis and buses are allowed just 3 minutes. Well you live and learn. Tomorrow we will ensure we are more responsible.

On we drove through some lovely roads until we arrived at Simrishamn. It’s a small town with a large fishing port and had a hustle and bustle feel about it. After driving round the car park for 10 minutes and finally parking 5 cars, we walked through the main street to find James’s recommended lunch location; Borje Olsson’s famous buffet cafe http://www.borjeolssonsskafferi.se/ a wonderful place with superb food and a great atmosphere and coffee.

We spent an hour or so soaking up the ambience before heading off for the Autoseum http://www.autoseum.se/ where we spent a couple of enjoyable hours wandering around some wonderful old cars and playing silly bilies on the fire engine. It’s a place where petrol heads can spend many hours poring over all the old cars and bikes and remensice about the cars they used to own, talk cc and horsepower and transport back to the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Getting in was interesting. We confused the cashier and ourselves paying too much and making him think we wanted to go to the Music museum as well. Luckily, an ice cream eating colleague translated for us and we got 30 kroner back. Sorry, my fault, I got confused by the entrance fees!

Line up at the Autoseum.

A couple of big hooters…

Another couple of hooters….

Another couple of hooters….

Some actual cars….

After our transportation back in time, we set off for a scenic trip through some more lovely swedish roads and finally arrived back in Skivarp at 6.00 pm.

We all snigger at all the signs like this

The swedes are big on churches so we had a stop at one in Valleberga and had a wander round the graveyard and inside the church before heading back to James.

We had planned to go to the local car meet that was advertised for yesterday but actually was on today but time was ticking and we didn’t think we’d get much time there so we forfeited going in favour of all pitching in to help Keith and Margaret do Stir Fried pork and couscous. Very yummy it was too!

Keith sets to work on our dinner….

John and I made a fruit salad for dessert and afterwards we chatted to the small hours before adjourning for the night.

Casualties for the day? No more overheating engine for Keith but Dave’s engine is playing up a bit and he has to rev a lot in traffic. My exhaust is throwing out a bit of smoke on idle but I still have oil so not too worried. John thought his tyre pressure might be low but on inspection later they proved to be fine. So far Bob has no issues. There’s still time….

Weatherwise: 10/10! James’s sun dance worked a treat and we are having superb weather! Dave bought some swimming trunks in Simrishamn so we must make sure we get a trip to the beach before heading home. None of us expected the extra treat that is the sandy beach nearby!

Tomorrow we will go North and see what adventures we can find. …

Wednesday 16th July

I’m sitting at James’s dining table after a good day out. We arrived yesterday after disembarking from the ferry in the rain which got heavier and heavier and we were glad we scrambled to get the hoods up before we left the ferry. The road spray was pretty bad on the E20!

Motley crew on the Sirena Ferry

Approaching the toll!

Having negotiated our first bridge, the Stora Bältron, we paid the £23 toll and carried on to a middle bridge, the Lila Bältron then finally on to the Oresundsförbindelsen (the one that goes between Denmark and Sweden and was in the TV series) and paid our £42 (gulp) to go through to Sweden. After a couple of stops and a chat with some chaps who were transporting a broken wind turbine to south Dernmark, we finally arrived at 6 Tulpanvägen to be greeted by James and Marie 🙂

It was great so see James after 2 years of talking about the trip and an aborted 2013 trip and we soon settled in with stacks of gear and gifts for James. Marie made us a very tasty meal in the evening and we chatted till later before adjourning to bed after a long trip.

Wednesday morning saw us eating breakfast in the sunny garden and enjoying a bright, warm morning.

James and Marie were super hospitable and we enjoyed a healthy Swedish breakfast before setting off for a visit to Ystasd. We had an easy drive in thanks to Keith who led but there was fun and games at the Petrol station trying to work out how to use the pumps. Then we thought John’s car was leaking but decided that it must have been someone else parked there previously who had left some of their radiator water behind. Moving on to Ystad we headed for the Tourist centre and caused a bit of a stir trying to find somewhere to park. Once parked we caused another stir trying to get parking tickets with our Visa cards. There was quite a queue while we tried to work out how to work the ticket machine but we got there eventually. keith thought he might have a water leak but it all seemed OK, it was probably just the hot sun and a bit of traffic that caused the car to overheat. We arrived at the car park with Keith’s car steaming and he topped it up with water later and all was well.

Ystad is a pretty town. We had a wander through the main drag, had an ice cream then a beer then headed off for a drive rounnd the area following a cycle track that we though would be good for the Marlins.

Apart from a slight wait for John who overshot the junction we were turning at, we had a pleasant drive through some lovely roads and then we headed back to Skivarp, bought a load of provisions and trundled basck to James. An hour later ater preparing the spuds for later, we headed to Smygehuk, Sweden’s southernmost point. One Morgan joined us in the park up but we didn’t get to ask “Is it a Marlin?”.

Later we had Swedish meatballs back at James’s’ (yummy!) and Bob’s home grown potatoes and chilled out in the kitchen. Lovely.

Tomorrow we plan to go East. Or maybe West. We’ll decide in the morning. Night night.

On the ferry!

This posting should have been put up on Monday but we lost the signal and this is the first chance we have had to come back to the blog…..So below is what you would have got while we were travelling…..

Well we made it on the ferry this time AND we have set sail. We’ve had a lavish dinner and spent a fortune on ridiculously expensive beer and wine. Good job I bought a lot of my own
All five cars are tucked up in the car port and we will soon be in our cabins for the night. We’re an hour ahead and have passed Lowestoft so far. The on board interactive map is showing every nautical mile. We’re not exactly speeding along but by the time we wake up we`ll be in the middle of the north sea and Denmark here we come!

We have a jolly singer on board entertaining us with his guitar and we have a bottle of the world’s most expensive bottle of wine that we are sippping like a liqueur to make it last. All is well as we speed (not really speed actually, we are chugging) towards Ejsberg, Denmark. When we wake up we will be in Danish waters. Night night.

Countdown!

One night to go and I’ll be packing the car up in the morning.
A quick message received this evening from James’ friend Marie says that James is still in hospital after his latest operation and not likely to be allowed out before we arrive on Tuesday 15th 😦

Needless to say we are rooting for you James and hope we get see you.

Get well soon!

Nearly there!

Well, I’m nearly packed. Just a few last minute things to sort on Monday morning. I polished the jalopy this afternoon in the blazing sun. I sweated and polished until the car was gleaming and now it’s started to rain. Bah! I think I’ll travel with the polish as I just KNOW the others will have put effort into arriving in style for James.
It’s a crying shame that Pete has had to pull out on medical ground but I’m taking you with me Pete, as my passenger. Your photo will have pride of place on the passenger seat and will see the sights that I do 🙂

And James is getting ready to greet us I believe:

.

He’s already had the pleasure of Bob Cawte’s company who is returning with us for a second go. We’re all looking forward to seeing you James, you’ve been through the wars and we’ll be gentle with you!

Skål!

Ready to go!

Well guys, I’ve finally got the Marlin ready following a drop off at my favourite garage, Oakdene Autos. Joe Hodgetts owns this garage and his chance passing one evening when I was stranded on the A127 having filled up the Marlin tank, after 26 years of driving her, with a while tank of diesel started the beginning of a beautiful relationship! Joe was immensely kind and helped me bump the car off the busy dual carriageway and stayed with me till the smirking AA arrived to drag me home.
Since this meeting, Joe has had the pleasure of working on my Marlin on numerous occasions and this last one saw the car getting a new set of headlamps, a new hooter, (very grown up it is too), some dodgy wiring fixed and a couple of bearings adjusted. For good measure I have new oil and plugs and I’m ready to go!
The rocker box cover was leaking oil so a new gasket was ordered.This took an age to arrive and it was too late for me to ask for them to order 2 so I could have a spare for the next replacement time. Parts are beginning to become more of a challenge to source now but luckily Joe is old school so still has lots of contacts 🙂
I’m not posting a pic of my jalopy yet because she’s filthy! That’s the car, my friends, not the owner. But the owner’s a bit dirty too and luckily has a good sense of humour which will be vital when travelling with the Summer winers.
Lovely James has been astonishingly resilient throughout his incredible journey through chemo and surgery and his determination to be up and about for our arrival is really quite humbling. We are all very much looking forward to the trip and seeing James and seeing Sweden. It’s been a long time coming and we are nearly there. I happen to have a week in Casablanca a couple of weeks before we sail so I’ll be sorting out last minute stuff in the week prior to sailing. Here’s to nothing else going wrong now!
Sverige här kommer vi!

Born to be Wild : A Swedish Odyssey as we travel to the land of Abba, Flat Pack Furniture and the Moose

 

 

 

STEPPENWOLF; BORN TO BE WILD

GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNING
HEAD OUT ON THE HIGHWAY
LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE
AND WHAT EVER COMES OUR WAY

YEAH I GOT TO GO MAKE IT HAPPEN
TAKE THE WORLD IN A LOVE EMBRACE
FIRE ALL OF YOUR GUNS AT ONCE AND
EXPLODE INTO SPACE

 

I LIKE SMOKING LIGHTNING
HEAVY METAL THUNDER
RACING WITH THE WIND
AND THE FEELING THAT I’M UNDER

YEAH I GOT TO GO MAKE IT HAPPEN
TAKE THE WORLD IN A LOVE EMBRACE
FIRE ALL OF YOUR GUNS AT ONCE AND
EXPLODE INTO SPACE

LIKE A TRUE NATURES CHILD
WE WERE BORN BORN TO BE WILD
WE CAN CLIMB SO HIGH
I NEVER WANNA DIE

BORN TO BE WILD
BORN TO BE WILD