Tonight is my last night in Germany for a week. Starting tomorrow, I’m taking my car further from home than it has ever been before: To Norway, via Denmark.
I checked out of the hotel after breakfast this morning. I had that holiday feeling today – perhaps because as I left, the Wacken festival-goers were also checking out. All day the traffic reports on the radio have been advising to plan extra time when driving in and around Itzehoe and Wacken, because heute ist der Haupt-Anreisetag (today is the main arrival day).
I was going in the other direction, so traffic wasn’t an issue. Instead, I drove for about an hour and a half to Eutin, a town which I think is slightly smaller than Cirencester, and it has an interesting castle (and castle gardens) near the town centre. After a walk around the castle and gardens it was off for some lunch before I drove towards the coast.
From Eutin I drove to an island – Fehmarn, Germany’s 3rd largest island, is connected to the German mainland by a bridge, which makes it quite easy to get to. It is also from Fehmarn, in the port of Puttgarden, that you can get a ferry to Denmark providing a quicker route to Copenhagen and Southern Sweden.
My destination on Fehmarn was the island’s largest town, Burg. I paid for several hours of parking and went for a walk around the harbour and then to the U-Boat Museum. With time left on the parking after that I took a walk to the Südstrand beach, to go for a swim in the Baltic.
The last time I was on the Baltic coast was at Warnemünde near Rostock in December a few years ago – back then I dipped a hand in the water just to see how cold the sea is in December. This time though, it was warm enought to swim.
It was a long walk to the beach (about 2,5km) – I could have driven, but felt it easier to leave the car where it was. On Fehmarn, you do have to have either an Ostseekarte or a Tagesstrandkarte in order to go to the beach – it’s to do with the local tourist tax.
Before leaving Fehmarn and once back in Burg itself, I went to an Eiscafé overlooking the harbour – I was in need of a cold drink and an ice cream. I could easily spend a whole holiday here, not just a day trip!
Next it was on to my hotel for the night, in the middle of Kiel – the Landeshauptstadt (state capital) of Schleswig-Holstein. It was after 7 by the time I arrived at the end of a long day: but the roads were good today – mostly the ‘B’ roads (the Bundesstraßen are a bit like our ‘A’ roads) with a short burst of Autobahn. Only in Germany can you drive at 150km/h with a marked police car behind! The officer stuck his thumb up as he overtook me through a small section with an 80 limit – then a few km down the road as he was turning off the motorway, I overtook him at 140km/h.
Because of my late arrival in to Kiel, apart from walking to a restaurant in the Altstadt I’ve not really seen much of the city – so I will have to come back and do it properly. Won’t really have time tomorrow, aiming to be on the road by 8.
On that note, I’m off to bed. I’ve got a long drive to the Northern tip of Denmark tomorrow, followed by the fast ferry to Norway which leaves from Hirtshals at 17:00 and gets in to Kristiansand in Norway at 19:15… But before I get on the Autobahn, I’m going to the supermarket to buy bread, milk, and any other food supplies we’ll need in Norway. Norway is so expensive that I’m buying it all in Germany. It should all survive a day in the cool bag in the boot of the car…
Gute Nacht.
FH.
Today’s Mileage: 156.5
Accumulative Mileage: 936.3