It was again a beautiful day and we were soon up on the deck with cold beverages in our hands, waiting to enter the Scandinavian buffet dinner at 1800.
FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES...WE HAD ARRIVED!
Monday, 2 August 2010
Ferry to Finland
We were delighted to find ourselves in Värtahamnen, the harbour for some of the many ferries to Finland, on time. Our vessel, the Silja Serenade is quite a big ship. A floating major hotel really. To be sure we'd find the car from the depths of the various car decks I took a photo of the door that we got out through.
It was again a beautiful day and we were soon up on the deck with cold beverages in our hands, waiting to enter the Scandinavian buffet dinner at 1800.
FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES...WE HAD ARRIVED!
It was again a beautiful day and we were soon up on the deck with cold beverages in our hands, waiting to enter the Scandinavian buffet dinner at 1800.
FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES...WE HAD ARRIVED!
Looking for tyres...this time for real!
Fresh after a cup of coffee we again hit the Swedish motorway. The roads are really very good in Sweden and although the speed limit is set at 120 kmh at the highest, the Swedish Police did not actively seek to enforce that, where we passed through anyway. Quite a few cars drove quite a bit faster than 120 kmh, which of course was no excuse to break the law for us. We of course drove at 120 watching in bewilderment as other cars passed us by.....not : )
Kilometres and kilometres of Swedish motorway with few people in sight...
What then happened must have been the inevitable consequence of our own premonition. We needed tyres, we had thought. Well, soon enough we indeed needed at least one: unbeknownst to us a sharp piece of gravel must have jumped off the road, perhaps when leaving the petrol station, as we had not got very far from there at all when there was a bang of sorts an soon we realised that a tyre was flat. You do realise that when driving at 160 kmh (not that we were) and one tyre goes completely flat very fast.
Took the car on the roadside and started changing the tyre. The 'space saver' temporary spare wheel for speeds of 50 mph was dislodged from its compartment under the bonnet. The jack was found to be in place there too, as was the spanner and the wheel bolt lock nut - all these were of course checked before the trip. The wheel nuts were loosened, the car was jacked up and after the space saver had been pumped up with the electric tyre inflator, it was put in place. Putting it there we noticed a sharp piece of gravel on a support structure of the wheel arch lining. There was also an indentation in the lining close to it. One of our theories was that the piece of gravel had lodged itself in the indentation and jammed against the tyre, tearing a gap on the inside wall of it - that's where the clearly visible holes lie. In fact we could think of no other thing that could have happened.
Soon it was time to carry on. The front passenger was only too happy to have the massive 17inch wheel with a flat 255/40 tyre on his lap, after a mat was placed in between. It was a summer Saturday and we had a fairly particular tyre to change, unless we wanted to drive for over 400 kms with the skimpy spare tyre at 50 mph. Time-wise we might just have been able to do that and make it to the ferry for 1700 hrs, but what if the spare burst? Or another one?
Needless to say, we weren't too exited about the prospect of driving at 50mph so we needed to find a tyre shop quickly! Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. Well, this was a day we ought to have filled a couple of lottery coupons: we had only driven a few minutes on the spare wheel as we realised that we were approaching a fairly major city of Jönköping. The first visible sign, rather that the city sign itself, was an industrial area on the right side of the road, where we saw another sign: EUROMASTER. And, Saturday or not, underneath a big pair of double doors seemed to be open! Over there and quickly...sorry, at 50 mph!
As it happened, the Euromaster was supposed to be closed, but someone belonging to the Swedish Automobile association had had a flat tyre like us and had had to call in a tow truck, who had alerted the Euromaster to open for the occasion. We actually arrived a few minutes before the tow truck and our Swedish-Bosnian tyre master thought we had called him in. We told we had not but he promised to deal with our problem too.
To make a long story of waiting for the others to be served and then finding a full set of fairly rare tyres shorter - yes, a full set was now required, as the front ones needed changed and the rear ones needed to be a matching pair - I'll simply conclude that we did find a set of very good tyres, not at the bargain prices we had been hunting for but at this point we were not in a position to start arguing. Altogether this took a little over two hours of our time and when I suggested to the tyre guy that we might actually now struggle to make it to the ferry on time, he smiled and, pointing at the car, said 'Not in this one'.
He was right of course and soon enough we were eating miles again on the road like never before.
'No, you will not be late from the ferry in this one', the Swedish-Bosnian tyre master said
Deflating the space saver to be able to fit it back into its space after use.
Another stretch of Swedish motorway...not unlike the earlier.
Kilometres and kilometres of Swedish motorway with few people in sight...
What then happened must have been the inevitable consequence of our own premonition. We needed tyres, we had thought. Well, soon enough we indeed needed at least one: unbeknownst to us a sharp piece of gravel must have jumped off the road, perhaps when leaving the petrol station, as we had not got very far from there at all when there was a bang of sorts an soon we realised that a tyre was flat. You do realise that when driving at 160 kmh (not that we were) and one tyre goes completely flat very fast.
Took the car on the roadside and started changing the tyre. The 'space saver' temporary spare wheel for speeds of 50 mph was dislodged from its compartment under the bonnet. The jack was found to be in place there too, as was the spanner and the wheel bolt lock nut - all these were of course checked before the trip. The wheel nuts were loosened, the car was jacked up and after the space saver had been pumped up with the electric tyre inflator, it was put in place. Putting it there we noticed a sharp piece of gravel on a support structure of the wheel arch lining. There was also an indentation in the lining close to it. One of our theories was that the piece of gravel had lodged itself in the indentation and jammed against the tyre, tearing a gap on the inside wall of it - that's where the clearly visible holes lie. In fact we could think of no other thing that could have happened.
Soon it was time to carry on. The front passenger was only too happy to have the massive 17inch wheel with a flat 255/40 tyre on his lap, after a mat was placed in between. It was a summer Saturday and we had a fairly particular tyre to change, unless we wanted to drive for over 400 kms with the skimpy spare tyre at 50 mph. Time-wise we might just have been able to do that and make it to the ferry for 1700 hrs, but what if the spare burst? Or another one?
Needless to say, we weren't too exited about the prospect of driving at 50mph so we needed to find a tyre shop quickly! Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. Well, this was a day we ought to have filled a couple of lottery coupons: we had only driven a few minutes on the spare wheel as we realised that we were approaching a fairly major city of Jönköping. The first visible sign, rather that the city sign itself, was an industrial area on the right side of the road, where we saw another sign: EUROMASTER. And, Saturday or not, underneath a big pair of double doors seemed to be open! Over there and quickly...sorry, at 50 mph!
As it happened, the Euromaster was supposed to be closed, but someone belonging to the Swedish Automobile association had had a flat tyre like us and had had to call in a tow truck, who had alerted the Euromaster to open for the occasion. We actually arrived a few minutes before the tow truck and our Swedish-Bosnian tyre master thought we had called him in. We told we had not but he promised to deal with our problem too.
To make a long story of waiting for the others to be served and then finding a full set of fairly rare tyres shorter - yes, a full set was now required, as the front ones needed changed and the rear ones needed to be a matching pair - I'll simply conclude that we did find a set of very good tyres, not at the bargain prices we had been hunting for but at this point we were not in a position to start arguing. Altogether this took a little over two hours of our time and when I suggested to the tyre guy that we might actually now struggle to make it to the ferry on time, he smiled and, pointing at the car, said 'Not in this one'.
He was right of course and soon enough we were eating miles again on the road like never before.
'No, you will not be late from the ferry in this one', the Swedish-Bosnian tyre master said
Deflating the space saver to be able to fit it back into its space after use.
Another stretch of Swedish motorway...not unlike the earlier.
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Auf wiedersehen Germany...through Denmark and to Sweden
Approaching Hamburg we experienced another big delay – according to local radio the queue was 9 kilometres, that is over 5 miles long. But we finally got through that one too, as one would, and pushed towards Puttgarden in Northern Germany where a ferry costing 80 Euros takes your car in 45 minutes across to Roedby on Sjaelland in Denmark. This was a good opportunity, at 20.00, to have the second meal of the day.
On the Danish soil we refuelled, noting that the price was the same as in Germany although the Euro had changed into Danish Crowns. Without dwelling too much upon the Danish sights we drove on the very good motorways (top national speed a fairly generous 130 kmh, which we may have exceeded a little) towards Europe’s longest bridge from Denmark to Malmö in Sweden.
We crossed this magnificent structure during the hours of darkness but still appreciated the view from this night-lit monster. The Scandinavians…they can!
In Sweden we decided to drive for a couple of hours into the night, giving us an easier drive on Saturday to Stockholm, in case of unexpected delays. We would not want to miss the Stockholm – Helsinki ferry. One of these big roadside petrol stations sold keys to an octagonal cabin they had a few miles into the wilderness. Turned out to be a very tidy twin room with a shower and a telly (to tell us Mikko Hirvonen had crashed out of WRC Rally Finland) for about 45 Euros a night, including a roll and a coffee in the morning, back at the petrol station. Thanks 8kanten, just what the doctor ordered.
…and speaking of unexpected delays…little did we know…
On the Danish soil we refuelled, noting that the price was the same as in Germany although the Euro had changed into Danish Crowns. Without dwelling too much upon the Danish sights we drove on the very good motorways (top national speed a fairly generous 130 kmh, which we may have exceeded a little) towards Europe’s longest bridge from Denmark to Malmö in Sweden.
We crossed this magnificent structure during the hours of darkness but still appreciated the view from this night-lit monster. The Scandinavians…they can!
In Sweden we decided to drive for a couple of hours into the night, giving us an easier drive on Saturday to Stockholm, in case of unexpected delays. We would not want to miss the Stockholm – Helsinki ferry. One of these big roadside petrol stations sold keys to an octagonal cabin they had a few miles into the wilderness. Turned out to be a very tidy twin room with a shower and a telly (to tell us Mikko Hirvonen had crashed out of WRC Rally Finland) for about 45 Euros a night, including a roll and a coffee in the morning, back at the petrol station. Thanks 8kanten, just what the doctor ordered.
…and speaking of unexpected delays…little did we know…
No tyres...alles in Ordnung, say the Hogs of the Road
Well, we thought, as we had the time, let’s go and see the new cars at least. Oldenburg Porsche spare parts guy was busy so we looked at the new Panamera in the dealership display area, deciding the car wouldn’t be on the shopping list even if we had the money. We also saw a pile of four alloys with Finnish Nokian winter tyres on them for a bargain price of 4500 Euros, which certainly set the alarm bells ringing – this would not be our tyre shop (which we actually had known anyway). The spare parts person soon appeared to confirm our suspicions and sent us off like a couple of accidental tourists who had come into a five star hotel by mistake: “zees sings need to be planned ahead. Zees tyres need to be ordered in Ordnung!”
An experience richer we got back onto the motorway which was in quite a poor condition in areas. The Germans were of course trying to fix their roads too, which along with the onset of the rush hour caused some delays. There were a few unhelpful bottleneck places too. Actually, it was a bit like near London at times. But only at times. We soon saw signs that we interpreted to mean that the speed limits were over for now and duly pushed the needle to around 130 mph, to go like true hogs of the road!
There were a few others on the road too that were thinking like us and actually spurred us on. Great to be speeding legally! The 911s are built for speed and one can only truly appreciate the car having experienced over 120 mph speeds in one.
An experience richer we got back onto the motorway which was in quite a poor condition in areas. The Germans were of course trying to fix their roads too, which along with the onset of the rush hour caused some delays. There were a few unhelpful bottleneck places too. Actually, it was a bit like near London at times. But only at times. We soon saw signs that we interpreted to mean that the speed limits were over for now and duly pushed the needle to around 130 mph, to go like true hogs of the road!
There were a few others on the road too that were thinking like us and actually spurred us on. Great to be speeding legally! The 911s are built for speed and one can only truly appreciate the car having experienced over 120 mph speeds in one.
Through the Netherlands in a Jiffy...and looking for tyres in Germany
Well, Paddy the stick insect was fine. Into his glass jar he got the required two squirts a day of water to provide the humidity of the habitat in his native India. Plenty of bramble leaves still to eat Paddy was looking forward to this leg on the continent.
We Drove off the ship on this beautiful Friday morning and headed the route the GPS suggested through Utrecht and Groningen towards Germany and Oldenburg, Bremen, Hamburg. The traffic flowed quite nicely in the flatlands of Holland. About 150 miles into this leg we stopped to refuel and to buy some water to drink as the weather was quite warm. As we drove, at lower speeds, we kept the sunroof open and some times the door windows too, which was nice. Overall we had a very uneventful passage through the Netherlands. Roads were in reasonable condition and the traffic was not too heavy even if it was Friday.
As we had looked at changing tyres in England and not had the time, we decided to have a look at the prices of the same tyres on the continent and possibly change here if the price was right. We now had a couple of hours to play with as we needed to spend the night in Sweden anyway, before heading to the ferry terminal in Stockholm.
The World Wide Web on the Iphone could tell us that Falken were sold in various places in Germany. Time-wise the best option en route for us was clearly Oldenburg – arriving at around 1400 businesses were still open and there would be time to wait to get the job done. The GPS took us directly to one of the three listed retailers/tyre shops, where my rusty school German was put to a test: Ich möchte ein Paar Falken Reifen, vor, kaufen, bitte. The friendly tyre Teuton thought my German was fine and happily explained in his own lingo that the type of 225-45-17 that was required would need to be ordered in, which we did not have time for. As the next dealer was close we tried them too with similar results. They tried to be helpful too but must have thought we were millionaires and sent us to the local Porsche dealership.
We Drove off the ship on this beautiful Friday morning and headed the route the GPS suggested through Utrecht and Groningen towards Germany and Oldenburg, Bremen, Hamburg. The traffic flowed quite nicely in the flatlands of Holland. About 150 miles into this leg we stopped to refuel and to buy some water to drink as the weather was quite warm. As we drove, at lower speeds, we kept the sunroof open and some times the door windows too, which was nice. Overall we had a very uneventful passage through the Netherlands. Roads were in reasonable condition and the traffic was not too heavy even if it was Friday.
As we had looked at changing tyres in England and not had the time, we decided to have a look at the prices of the same tyres on the continent and possibly change here if the price was right. We now had a couple of hours to play with as we needed to spend the night in Sweden anyway, before heading to the ferry terminal in Stockholm.
The World Wide Web on the Iphone could tell us that Falken were sold in various places in Germany. Time-wise the best option en route for us was clearly Oldenburg – arriving at around 1400 businesses were still open and there would be time to wait to get the job done. The GPS took us directly to one of the three listed retailers/tyre shops, where my rusty school German was put to a test: Ich möchte ein Paar Falken Reifen, vor, kaufen, bitte. The friendly tyre Teuton thought my German was fine and happily explained in his own lingo that the type of 225-45-17 that was required would need to be ordered in, which we did not have time for. As the next dealer was close we tried them too with similar results. They tried to be helpful too but must have thought we were millionaires and sent us to the local Porsche dealership.
Early retirement...and fresh as daisies
Decided to retire early, at around 20.00 CET and slept like babies until 0730 in the morning. The shower of our Spartan cabin was good – enough power and a steady flow of warm for a good splash! The Seven Seas had a half decent breakfast for 13 Euros although the cooked side of it was a disappointment: watery, grey scrambled eggs and shreds of too crispy, greasy but half burned tasteless bacon. Plenty of vegetables and fruit though, so we managed a healthy start and hopefully won’t need to refuel before the trusty 964 is due.
On deck we were greeted with most beautiful weather. The GPS showed that the King of Scandinavia was approaching Amsterdam at a speed of about 17 knots. We admired the sailing boats going in all directions beyond the mouth of the main breakwater, and sliding in through the mouth I took some pictures to show the folks back home which way to sail into Amsterdam.
It was time to see how Paddy the stick insect had slept in the car and how the disembarkation would go.
On deck we were greeted with most beautiful weather. The GPS showed that the King of Scandinavia was approaching Amsterdam at a speed of about 17 knots. We admired the sailing boats going in all directions beyond the mouth of the main breakwater, and sliding in through the mouth I took some pictures to show the folks back home which way to sail into Amsterdam.
It was time to see how Paddy the stick insect had slept in the car and how the disembarkation would go.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Amsterdam 'ere we come!
The GPS told us in Stranraer that we would do the 156 miles from to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne via Dumfries and Carlisle in about three and a half hours. Previous experience from that leg reminded us that it is pointless to hurry – there will always be numerous Dung Tractors, trucks, lorries, campervans and what have you, in addition to ongoing road works and a couple of accidents. Well, I guess we still stepped on the pedal a couple of times when bold Vauxhalls or boisterous Beamers tried to show off…but that’s what a road trip is all about, innit?
The leg went smoothly and we had time to have a bite and stretch our legs and nearly buy a new set of 225/17 Falken FK 472s at about 77 pounds a piece! Pity there wasn’t enough time for that.
The King of Scandinavia has just cast off at 1730 about 30 minutes late and is heading towards Amsterdam in a cloudy and miserable summer weather. We do not mind, however. Our stick insect is safe inside the Flatsix, on car deck number 6 and our stuff is hopefully safe in Cabin 9xx (did not quite hit the target, 911). We’re admiring the view on deck.
The following about 16 hrs we'll be travelling at a considerable slower pace but hey, this is no flat six!
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