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. …