9 – 10 August 2021
And so I did. It was drizzling when I packed up, filled up the tank, checked the pressure in the tyres as I always try to do before a long journey, and off I went. Sometimes the sun broke through the thick rain clouds for a moment and let me hesitate, doubt whether I was doing the right thing but the next moment it started to heavily rain again and I drove on. My friend Ruth had told me this morning: „Mut zur Lücke!“ So, I did not turn to Lynvig Lighthouse nor to Römö Beach but got closer and closer to the German border. End of „no mask“ was getting closer, too. I wondered how the Germans would welcome me. Would there be a tent set up like when entering Danmark? How strict would the Covid check be? Germany had announced at the beginnng of the week that noone not vaccinated, tested or recovered would be allowed to enter Germany, not even Germans!
There was the panel with the sign of the European Community, the blue one with the stars, at the side of the road. And another in Danish: Forbundesrepublikken Tyskland. And a few hundred meters later there was a sign: „Reiserückkehrer, bitte testen lassen.“ That was it. I was in Germany.
Yes, I was! First stop, don’t forget the mask. Aha, I have to pay for the toilet. The toilet is clean, but I have to pay. Neither in Danmark nor Sweden did I ever have to pay to go to a public toilet – and they were always well maintained and there was always ample paper, nonetheless.
There was this huge Viking-looking Norwegian on his even „huger“ (comparative of „huge“ does not exist!) Harley. All black. Even the mask. Hardly did the mask cover his mouth, so huge …
Right, back on the road, heading towards Hamburg. This time not early in the morning, but just before midday. Hold up! Three lanes before Elbtunnel, huuuuuge building site. Stop and go.
After Hamburg it was a bit better, off to Bremen. Between Bremen and Osnabrück – around 120 km, 80% of it building site, 20% normal motorway. You were supposed to be allowed to drive 80km/h on the speed reduced lanes alongside the building sites, but it was actually only possible to do 40, 50kmh at the utmost. Pain in the ass – took me aaaages! OMG! Central Europe is so crowded, it is far too crowded, there are far too many cars, there are far too many people, Deutscher Wirtschaftsmotor, tok tok tok … and have a look at a map – there are sooooo many roads in Germany compared to Danmark let alone Sweden, so many, so crowded – I W A N T TO GO B A C K !
Finally, past Osnabrück, now Ruhrgebiet. OMG, there are sooooo many motorways, GPS leads me somewhere, I don’t know where, just follow. It’s getting dark. I have to decide, do I stop NOW and look fo a campsite or do I drive on? Then I have to get through that melting pot. It starts pouring, dark, very dark, thunderstorm – ok, not appropriate to find a campsite. I drive on.
Suddenly it comes to my mind that I have no „Umwelt-Plaquette“. Even though my new car’s fumes are ok for the green „Umwelt-Plaquette“ and even though I have a foreign plate I need to have one, I know. Where do I get one at this time? I stop at a big petrol station. At a „master-garage“ whatever that is, is the answer. All closed now, it’s 18h10. Ok, storm, rain, darkness, evening – best conditions to get unnoticed through the Ruhrpot. I drive on.
Ratingen – that name recalls memories. My aunt now living in Italy used to have a (nice) house there. Wuppertal – my grandmother (father’s mother) used to live there and when we visited „Omi and Opi“ in Kettiwg (Essen – another one!), we used to visit her as well in Wuppertal-Ronsdorf. So it was „Omi Kettwig“ (Mum’s) and „Omi Ronsdorf“ (Dad’s).
It’s getting darker. I have to slow down. The road is not only wet but partly flooded. It’s anything but inviting, here. Marl – a friend of my father used to live there. Probably dead, all these old folks now. For a second I wonder whether I should actually get off the motorway and drive to Kettwig and have one more, probably for the last time in my life, look at my grandparent’s grave. I had ADORED my grandfather. He was the best grandfather I can imagine and died far too young. I know, the gravesite’s still there but it won’t be for long. My granddad died in 1978, my grandmother in 1984 (!!) and she had paid for 30 year’s maintenance for the gravesite, plus there was kind of an interest concept. So, there might be a few more years. Well, there were already some more years when my cousin Nils, me and my other aunt went there in April 2019.
And so I started thinking about my other aunt’s house in Langenfeld and how the neighbours from Croatia had actually made her sign over the house and everything to them – and Nils and me lost not only Euro 150’000 each but also part of our family history that had been IN the house. – The rain got even heavier now, as if it had read my thoughts. No, no, no. Next. Düsseldorf – where my mum was born. A silver lining seemed to get visible on the horizon towards the west. Let’s go for it.
Some time ago my phone had peeped and at a red light just turning out of Düsseldorf I read Ruth’s message: „Schon in Ratingen! Ist es nicht langsam Zeit einen Rastplatz zu suchen?“ Right you are. But first I have to get out of this.
It wasn’t for long anymore and I spotted a farm on the park4night app. Ekrelenz was the name of the place. Never heard before. I arrived just before 20h, exhausted, 750 kms done, had done the 4444.4 km of my trip today and the farmer was talking to me on end, who and how and when there had been people staying overnight, and that I could use the „Reiterstube“ but he unfortunately had to lock it (in the middle of nowhere? and he suggested that I was safe here?) and that I could use the farm’s toilet but he had to lock that too, because of the (barking!!!!) dog and anyhow, because of safety (sic)! I gave him the 8 Euros demanded and went to sleep. When I got out of my car at dawn dazzling floodlights turned on and illumated the whole court. I did not think twice and left.
Mist was lingering once again on the still moist fields and gave the landscape a look of late summer – or early autumn? The villages, all in red brick, seemed deserted. There were a lot of cars, almost one parked in front of each house. So, there had to be people that owned those cars, that actually lived in these houses. But the atmosphere was the same as the evening before – depressive. Noone around, no shops or restaurants, no people, no life.
I somehow was glad to be on the noisy motorway again. And there it was, another European Community panel welcoming me just after a 10 minutes drive to The Nederlands! I stopped at the next petrol station and had a quick morning toilet and a huge Latte Macchiato, plus an apple pie! NO MASKS! Toilet not for free, but clean and paper. Unfortunately I only had to drive for about 30 more minutes and then I left Maastrich and Holland and unmistakenly entered – Belgium.
There are two things that make you recognise Belgium at once: One – all motorways are illuminated, so there are lampost between the two and two of the four lanes every 20 meters or so. Two – in order to spend all the money on lampposts and electricity to illuminate motorways the Belges probably have to save money on tarmarc, as I have not seen similarly bad motorways in Europe (well, maybe the Strada del Stato Aurelia from Livorno to Grosseto). These motorways consist of potholes. And it took me about 2 hours and a minimum of 2 more coffees to get through Belgium before I entered France and „Le Grand Est“. Still bad roads. Then the motorway – now it was going to cost me for the first time on my trip.
Resumée of motorways:
Switzerland: annual vignette Fr. 40, fair enough for all the tunnels and bridges, rather good tarmarc, but lots of building sites that slow you continously down.
Germany: Fine in some place, horrible and long building sites in others, frequent, very frequent hold ups – there is just too much traffic. At least for free.
Danmark: Free as well, not as well tarmarced as in Germany, but generally very good. There are a lot of motorways where speed limit is at 110km/h which I find very pleasing and traffic-easing. And – on most Danish motorways lorries are inhibited to overtake! Graceful Danes! How ingenious is this!!!!!! It makes driving so much safer and so much more pleasant. There is the lorry corridor on the far right, and there are one or two lanes for other cars. It works perfectly well. Why, for heaven’s sake, Swiss, Italian, French, let alone German authorities do not copy this system. Well, do not deplore any dead people on the road, my dear authorities, unless you stop this complete nonsense of a lorry driving at 91kmh (where 80kmh are allowed) being allowed to overtake one that is driving at 87kmh – and after having slowed down the rest of the traffic for about 5km they both pull up at the next petrol station to have a chat and a coffee!!!!! – And in Germany, on top, there is no speed limit in many places so that cars coming up behind you have to slow down from maybe 160 km/h to these lorry-like 91km/h when that bloody lorry pulls out. This is sooo dangerous and makes traffic nervous, streneous, an ordeal and nightmare, as people who drive at „normal“ speed between 110 to 130 km/h constantly have to change lanes to avoid stupid overtaking lorry drivers and speeding maniacs.
Sweden: Almost all motorways (apart from the ones around Stockholm) have only one lane, partially two lanes, so that at regular intervals you can overtake slow vehicles. The general speed limit is 110km/h. There is a fence all along the road between the two lanes, so you cannot be tempted to overtake when there is only one lane in each direction. And there are also a lot of speed-controls. Swedes do it properly and sensibly! As Danes too.
France: Good motorways when you have to pay, often three lanes each way. Immaculate tarmarc. Yet, it is enervating when you have to stop every few kms to get a ticket or pay the toll – especially when you’ve got one of those nitwits in front of you who either does not have enough coins or does not know how to handle the credit card or stops in a way so that he does not reach the slot where the credit card is supposed to slips in (and out in seconds when you do it correctly). Then you wait in the row and after a seeming eternity you put in the reverse gear and try another lane. I have made it a habit to get behind lorries at those péage stations – do you know why? Because a lorry takes up the space of about three cars but only pays once – and lorry drivers probably know how to handle these machines, so – no hold up. Think smart.
You do not have to pay for motorways in Brittany – anything past Nantes in the south or le Pont de Normandie that goes over the Seine river in the north is free. Britons are a free people, have always been since Asterix and Obelix! No pay. Still pretty good roads.
Change of plan – I drive to Rennes first. When I arrive at the nice campsite I am exhausted: 1550 kms and five countries in two days. France is crowded too, yet, it feels familiar here. Have done my 5555.5 kms today.
Ever since I had left in the morning it had almost not rained anymore and the sun had ever so often peeped through the clouds. There was one showery episode in Normandie, but once I got to the Pont de Normandie also that had vanished. Brittany has welcomed me with splendid weather up to now!
La Bretagne m’avait salué avec de très beau temps! Elle est belle, la Bretagne, très belle! A suivre!