Today should have been an easy three hour drive into Germany to overnight at Ammersbeck again but it had a few challenges! It began well. Derek went off for an early bike ride while I chatted to friendly Danes at the motel – they are very proud of the fact that Skandersborg is the highest point of Denmark at 171m! They also explained that the lack of high ground is responsible for the storm clouds which form when hot air from the south meets cold air from the north plus easterly and westerly winds.

We were to meet these rain clouds as we drove south – the rain in places was horrendous and made driving difficult. About an hour from Ammersbeck a warning message appeared on the Volvo screen, ‘SOOT FILTER FULL CHECK MANUAL’ and the car lost power, going into what we now know is called ‘limp mode’. We contacted Volvo Assist who told us to keep going steadily at 50mph and it should clear – it didn’t. We made it to Ammersbeck and the kind German family who own the apartment called the nearby Volvo dealership for us to arrange an appointment in the morning. Fingers crossed! Germany have just beaten USA to go through to the next stage so at least they’ll all be in a good mood.

We are driving through Denmark from top to toe. Today we are staying in The Danish Lakelands near Skanderborg – it’s quiet and rural – Derek has done a recce on the bike and we’ll probably do some more cycling tomorrow.

We saw some interesting weather on the drive – it was basically warm and sunny but a lot of really wicked low hanging clouds were around and we could see them dumping rain and lightning in the distance. We stopped for tea and were overheating in the sun at 27 degrees but when we edged by a bit of black sky later in the car, the temperature went down to 12!! We seemed to be driving down a magic corridor of blue sky and sunshine with storms all around us. It’s a lovely evening here and we are still sitting outside – the long evenings are amazing.

Derek took some photos close to midnight last night from the hotel room – it was still a bit light.

We have realised that two weeks tomorrow, we’ll be in London!! Danny has just sent us a photo live from the outside courts at Wimbledon – he and Britt have got in for the evening and are watching a doubles game. They had their flask of tea confiscated!!

Before we left Gothenburg, we paid visits to two Swedish giants – Volvo and IKEA.  This meant negotiating Gothenburg’s ring road with which even our usually reliable TomTom struggled.  We made it though and dodged some rain showers as well.  A bike ride was considered but, looking at the black clouds, we decided to have a quiet afternoon at the hotel, watching a bit of Wimbledon and England v Costa Rica.

First though we had to re-park the Volvo in the Mektagonen’s secure car park.  It has a 2.1m height restriction which is cutting it fine with the roof box on – we could only get in by dodging light fittings. When we arrived on Sunday, the car park was pretty empty so we managed ok but today, spaces were rare so it took a while!

The three and a half hour ferry crossing on Wednesday took us from Gothenburg across to Frederikshaven in northern Denmark.  It was a calm, sunny day so our sixth (and last) ferry journey passed uneventfully without use of any sick bags.

Fortified by the hotel’s buffet breakfast (at which I made my own waffle!), we set off on the tram for the 5 minute ride into Gothenburg. Sweden’s second largest city and still a big seaport, it has big, wide boulevard type avenues, lots of pedestrianised shopping areas and a very modern, stylish feel to it.  We had a lovely day wandering about in the sunshine and Derek’s excellent route planning included a walk down Avenyn, the Poseidon statue (nude man, very controversial), coffee at Lilla Bommen harbour, the market at Saluhallen, lots of trendy shops, lunch at Espresso House, the cathedral and ice creams in the Tradgardsforeningen park with its rose garden and palm house.  

We were blessed with lovely weather for all this sightseeing and returned to the hotel at about 4.30 very happy tourists.  More pasta for supper, chats to Mum and Danny and a bit of Wimbledon on the telly.

Danny suggested we change the strap line of our blog to “Man wears Leicester Tigers shirt around Europe” He might have a point!!

[Show slideshow]

We’ve just arrived in Gothenburg – our most northerly point of travel.

A few months ago we were in Guia, Portugal – our most southerly point.

The distance by road between the two is 2139 miles!!

A few facts from ‘The Rough Guide to Sweden’ : 

Sweden is twice the size of the UK with fewer inhabitants than London.  We are only visiting a tiny corner of the country on this trip – the area around Malmo, Lund and Gothenburg.

One of the most common words in the language is ‘lagom’ which means ‘just the right amount’.

The people of Gothenburg are reputed to be the friendliest in Sweden.

Sweden is covered with snow from November to March or April – hence the huge celebrations for the midsummer solstice.

A nice slow start to the day – this short visit to Lund has allowed us to slow down a bit after trekking around Amsterdam and Copenhagen.   It’s mid-summer day but quite chilly – we keep forgetting that we’re quite far north!

A short walk to the train station and tickets to Malmo – 96 Swedish kroner or about 10 quid  – that’s one way for the both of us. We are on the 11.01 and it takes about 10 minutes.

The train finally departs at 11.41 – there are aliens on the track ahead and so departure is delayed. However – a quick 10 minute train journey and we emerge from Malmo’s new modern train station. Amazingly there is not much building work going on!!

We stroll up to the main square  – remembering it’s a public holiday. There is an Italian market with lots of mediterranean produce at exorbitant prices. We don’t linger and head for the nearest coffee shop – Expresso House – Sweden’s answer to Cafe Nero. Fortified with cappuccino and muffin, we wander around the streets of Malmo and on to the parks – Malmo is very proud of its parks – and rightly so.  They are delightful wide open spaces with canals and gardens all beautifully laid out. We have a simple picnic, chase off the ducks and wander some more.  We catch a glimpse of Scandinavia’s tallest building, Malmo’s Turning Torso.  Our guide book says it’s ‘breathtaking’.  Hmmm.

[Show slideshow]

Eventually, back in the main square we try to have tea but fail – only fruit teas – Barb risks a black tea with mango, citrus and other stuff  – I stick with cappuccino.

The train home is uneventful and we pick up provisions at the local Morrisons for a night in watching the Germans!! Back at the B&B we heat up some pulled pork which we plan to have with bread and salad.

A very laid back day but just right – we have a 160 mile drive tomorrow to Gothenborg – our trusty Volvo XC90 workhorse is going home!!

We had breakfast provided this morning, Swedish style.  There was ham, salami, cheese, liver pate and a special herring and potato dish – but we ignored all that and had toast.  We’ve been breakfasting on just muesli for weeks now so toast seemed like a real luxury with jam and marmalade and hard boiled eggs. Yoghurt comes in cartons here like milk so I drank some of that in a glass too.  We are being looked after by a 16 year old lad, son of the owners, who sets out the breakfast stuff and cleans the rooms.  It was a treat not to have to wash up!

A few minutes’ walk from the b&b is Kulturen, Lund’s museum.  We’ve done a lot of museums lately so Derek especially was a bit dubious but it was a really nice surprise and a good day out.  It’s mostly open air, a virtual town of about 30 preserved cottages and houses, gardens etc from different Swedish regions over the centuries.  It also had really good indoor exhibitions on all sorts of topics – ancient history and archaeology, Polish persecution during the war, China and textiles – all linked in some way to the university here we think.  The textiles section had a Gudrun Sjoden exhibition and, by coincidence, I had a Gudrun top on – hence the photo!

[Show slideshow]

We had lunch in the restaurant outside which was a rather splendid (and pricey) buffet – one of those multi course lunches that means no supper is required.  We’ve talked to Danny a lot today about the accident trying to support him in sorting out his mangled bike – all a bit uncertain and stressful at the moment.  Counting our blessings though, he’s fine.

Kulturen was full of families today celebrating mid summer’s eve – they decorated a maypole with flowers and did lots of silly dances around it wearing floral headdresses.  There were loads of family picnics and the sun shone!  We were warned it was a bit wild – maybe the boozing starts this evening!

We spent our last few Danish kroner on coffee and cake in Dragor this morning having cycled down to the village for a last look around
at the huge flock of geese and the outdoor sea bathing area. We took our time packing up this morning as we had less than hour’s travelling to do even though we were changing countries. We enjoyed our stay at Cottage Farm b&b and had fantastic weather – time to set off with cloudy skies for The Check Inn in Lund, just north of Malmo.

Lund is an attractive little city – we wandered around the cobbled streets, went into the
cathedral called The Domkyran to see its astronomical clock dating from 1440 and a university – which gives the place a nice student buzz. I had a look in a nice kitchen shop with eye watering prices and we began to wonder if we could afford supper in Sweden. We found a supermarket near the station though and bought a cooked chicken, some little spicy potatoes, nectarines, grapes and yogurts at similar to UK prices. A friendly lady in Tourist Info told us all about the upcoming weekend – tomorrow is Mid-Summer’s Eve here and it’s a big deal!! Shops and services close at lunchtime tomorrow and the whole afternoon and evening are given over to dancing around maypoles and boozing. Everything is completely closed on Saturday for people to recover.

Our b&b seems excellent – we have a nice room as well as access to a fully equipped kitchen including washing machine and dryer. We’ve got parking outside the room and we may well leave the bikes loaded on to it for the three days we’re here – we can stroll into Lund in a couple of minutes and the train station is nearby for getting to Malmo.

Our task for tonight is to watch England v Uruguay on telly with Swedish commentary. Derek is flicking through the channels and has just found ‘The Great Swedish Bake Off’!
Sent from my iPad

It gets light really early here – about 4.30. Today we planned a second trip into Kobenhavn to finish off the sights. Nothing too heavy, just a canal boat ride, a visit to the Danish Design Museum and a wander around the the famous food market.

The usual routine of cycle and bus got us into the city before 10.00 (we’ve got the hang of the bus now) and we re-visited Illum for coffee and muffin. It was then off to the canal to pick up the tourist boat – one of the first of the day – and an open air tour of sights. It was a very well spent hour, not expensive and full of info in Dutch, English and Spanish. We took a few pictures – well you have to really – and soaked up the sun which by 11.00 was getting quite fierce. This was another perfect weather day – clear blue sky, very warm sun and just a bit of a breeze to keep it cool.

After the boat ride we headed to the National Theatre which we’d seen from the water. This was not easy as it was surrounded by a building site. We were to discover several more building sites as the day went on. It appeared to be closed so we walked to the Design Musuem via the Royal Palaces and tried to find the entrance which was hidden by scaffolding and boardings. Having walked 3 sides of the square the entrance was unmasked behind yet more building work.

Lunch – I sampled the pickled herring – interesting and Barb had the onion tart – nice. Then followed a bit of a meander through countless Danish chairs – hundreds of them – it seems that chairs are a very important part of Danish design. Not that exciting however and I gave up the will to live as we approached the curvy ones made of plywood!

We headed to the food market through the park, battled yet another building site where they are constructing a new metro station and discovered Copenhagen’s answer to Borough Market. Lots of food stalls, eateries, meat, fish, cheese – a real mix of lovely looking food and drink. We bought smorresbrod for supper. Four very different ones and then decided we’d had enough of city life. We wandered back along the pedestrianised shopping street and caught the bus back to Dragor.

Oh, I forgot to mention the large open air Israel Plein next to the food market was boarded up and is now a huge building site!

Back at the farm we have several cups of tea and catch up with the news of the day and a bit of website work. Later we have a light supper and sit outside until dark. It’s still warm and we encounter a few other guests, mostly North American, and exchange travel stories.

Danny calls to tell us he’s been knocked off his bike on the way home from work. He’s fine but his bike is wrecked. Fortunately he was with a workmate and his boss was not too far away in the car. He kindly detoured to pick him and his broken bike up and get him home.

The big news on the sporting front is that Spain are on their way home from the World Cup and Spurs’ first game of the season is away to West Ham (July16th).

Tomorrow we are off to Malmo, Sweden across The Bridge. Will Saga be waiting for us?

We are staying at The Check Inn bed and breakfast in Lund. They’ve already emailed and texted to say they operate a self checkin system and given us our secret code.

Derek started the day with a bike ride so I caught up with a growing pile of laundry as well as a phone call to Mum and some reading about Sweden.

Another lovely sunny day so we set off in the car to drive up to Humlebaek to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. It is Denmark’s most visited art gallery with a fabulous setting overlooking the Oresund strait. The original owner of the villa had three wives, all named Louise – hence the name! Interconnecting glass pavilions were added to the villa and the galleries are now landscaped within an outdoor sculpture park – with fabulous views over the sea looking towards Sweden.

We had lunch first – a set price buffet which you could wander back and forth to and which included cold dishes like melon soup with mint oil, beef carpaccio, prawns and salads and then hot roast chicken with potatoes and onions. We sat outside overlooking the water – a real treat!!

The modern art inside was as usual a bit wild, wacky and often ugly but the gallery itself was beautiful with cleverly framed views of the outside wherever you turned. A really good day out!

Tonight, we’ll just be having some cheese and crackers on the patio watching the swallows diving in and out of the thatched courtyard and listening to the gentle rumble of planes coming in and out of Copenhagen airport which is close by.

We plan to take the bus into Copenhagen again tomorrow.