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…

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.

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.

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.

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!

Gentlemen...Start your engines!

The 1st day of travel had to start early. Stena want you at the ferry check-in minimum 1 hour before departure at 0730. But before we got to this point there were a few disappointments….

The ABS ECU arrived on Tue 27 July as promised by Autotekelectronics in Dorset. However, it did not take long for Glen at Campbell Autos to determine that the part had returned faulty! The similar part off a similar car that he had at his workshop worked beautifully, whereas our own ECU was giving similar warning lights as before and during a road test allowed the brakes to lock pretty instantly under proper pressure on the pedal.

The solution, for safe travel, was to borrow the good ECU and send the faulty one back to Autotekelectronics who, to their credit, said there’s a three-month warranty on the job and promised to look at it as soon as they got it back – that is the least they should do, if you ask me, having caused quite a bit of anxiety just on the eve of the trip. So, Autotekelectronics….the jury is still out. Anybody can make a mistake once, but the job was not a cheap one, so we expect serious improvement in the situation, promptly.

We drove into the Stena ferry which turned out to be the conventional one that takes 3 hrs, rather than the 2 hr HSS, but after we checked into the Plus Lounge and got our complimentary cappuccinos and plugged into the complimentary internet, leaving behind the stampede of screaming schoolkids, things started to look positively rosy. Plus Lounge warmly recommended and value for money.

Nearing Scotland now, soon down the green staircase to car deck 5 and off we go!

Auftragsnummer 964!

...being the adventures of two men and an Indian stick insect across Europe in an old 964/911

This is what Paddy looks like....and no, they don't make snooker cues of them when they grow up. This is as big as they will get.




...and this is what an old 964, or more commonly known as 911 looks like



How to get from Northern Ireland to Finland?



That is the question! Or is it 'Why to go from N.Ireland to Finland?' In short a car - not just any car of course but a flat six 1990 Carrera 4 - needs to go from one place to another and that limits the options for travel. The ones who know about these cars would suggest they're flying machines but I appreciate the motor too much to try to fly across the Irish Sea.

So, not counting the distance from starting point to harbour, taking a road trip from an Island will start on a ferry. On this occasion it will be Stena Line's fast ferry, the HSS, which will take about 2 hours to push from Belfast harbour to Stranraer in Scotland. There is an option of a conventional ferry that runs alongside the HSS but that takes nearly twice as long and for a short voyage in relatively calm seas the HSS is the way to go.

Apparently the destination in Scotland will change to Cairnryan in not too distant future, with Stena line building a new harbour there. The crossing should then be even quicker. But meanwhile we will travel to Stranraer, starting early in the morning of the 29 July 2010. By that time the car that has not been driven in three months will have got a refurbished ABS ECU by Autotek electronics in England, and a new track rod end both fitted by Campbell Autos in Doagh. Since this Left Hand Drive Satin Black Metallic air-cooled 3.6 was purchased in England a few year ago it has been regularly expertly serviced by AMG Cars, a Porsche specialist in Ballyclare, N.Ireland. The very slight modifications to the factory original on this car are the usual cosmetic and performance improvements of tear drop mirrors replacing the elephant ears, a smaller proper racing steering wheel and a lowering kit with on 17" Cup alloy wheels.

That is very little changes to the original and is generally, and certainly by me, accepted by hobbyists as rather finishing touches than tampering with the car's originality.

But it is time to pack the toothbrush and the credit card. And thanks for Captain Ahab for lending his blog for this story.

Holywood 27 July 2010

Oscar Rerafour