Wednesday evening, we enjoyed a quiet night at a campervan aire in Nordenham. John cooked pizza for our tea then we washed up and had an early night. I slept better, if not very soundly, and feel more lively today.
Today, Thursday, the journey has felt very long again. We’ve mainly driven through flat agricultural land with occasional woodland. The patchwork of fields in various shades of green has been interspersed with statuesque trees, hedges, watery ditches, canals and rivers. Very pretty but I have to admit it got rather boring, apart from occasional sightings of storks, herons, deer and hares, as well as lambs, horses and foals and cows and calves. The villages en route have been very pretty, sometimes with thatched cottages or pointy roofs, and we’ve seen the occasional windmill.
After about an hour and a half, we took a car ferry across the River Elbe, which was fun, although we did have to queue for a while. It broke up the journey and it was good to feel the wind in my hair. My cold is definitely feeling better today, although I’m still not 100%.
After crossing the river, we continued north through Germany to Denmark. After an hour or so the dual carriageway ran out and we were in a queue of traffic on single carriageway, only occasionally able to overtake in Molly. I was getting fed up by now… missing mountain views! I hope we don’t have too many more of 6.5 hour plus driving days.
Eventually, we crossed the border and arrived in the Danish town of Ribe where we’ve parked at a free camping aire. Ribe is reportedly Scandinavia’s oldest town and famous for its Vikings.
It’s certainly very beautiful. Despite the heavy showers, we enjoyed wandering though the narrow cobbled streets past crooked half-timbered and red brick buildings. The cathedral has several towers, all constructed in different materials, and is very striking. There’s also a waterfront, although we didn’t see it at its best from under our umbrellas!
John had done his research and discovered that the second oldest pub in Denmark is in Ribe. It was just like a traditional British pub, so of course, we had to sample some Danish beers!
We then wandered back through the pretty street to Molly Moho. John found a geocache, while I took yet more photos.
Back at the van, he’s cooked our dinner, while I edit my photos and write the blog. Already we’re falling into our usual road trip routine!
The next couple of days? We’ve amended our itinerary to have some shorter driving days. This means we’ll have two more nights in Denmark. We plan to visit Nyborg on Funen, the next Danish island to the East, then Hillørod and Helsingør on Zealand, the final island before we cross the sea to Sweden. We’re even thinking about a Danish Parkrun!
Ramblings 
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