Harwich

Here it is Europe Caravanning: Harwich – Denmark 2019

After plenty of planning and preparation the day had arrived, Tuesday 16th July 2019, the day we were to sail from Harwich to Holland.

We awoke around 5.30am at our caravan site, Dovercourt, and we were brimming with excitement. We quickly put away the last few items, wound up the legs, hitched up the Adria and that was it, we were off. Harwich port was only about five minutes away and we arrived there not long after 6am. The port was well sign posted and we joined one of the lanes to wait for check in. At 7am the check in opened and we made our way through for our passports to be checked. We were then waved through the security checks and went on to wait in the lanes for the Stena Line ferry (with our CAMC members discount).

At around 8.15am we started to board, being a caravan we had our own route and drove in to the huge rear end of the ferry. Inside the ferry the lanes were plenty wide enough for our 8ft caravan and we were soon parked up and ready to head to the main deck. A quick goodbye to Fudge and we made our way upstairs to hopefully find some breakfast. Once on the deck we were surprised at how quiet it was, where were all the other passengers. The ferry soon set sail, a calm crossing was promised, and we made our way to the dining area for a cooked breakfast. We were quite impressed at how reasonable the food was and enjoyed our food. We whiled away the time making plans for the trip and editing vlogs. The crossing was very good and time passed quickly.

Several hours later we were given the instruction to return to our vehicles to disembark and we headed back down to the car deck. Fudge was pleased to see us as always and appeared to have been asleep for most of the crossing. The ramp dropped at the front of the ferry and we drove straight off and on to Dutch soil. There was a slight delay to get through passport control but then we were off. We remembered to drive on the right and Jules navigated with his phone as well as the Ssangyong Rexton’s satnav. Our destination was a small caravan site called Hoeve Bouwlust in Maasland. The route to it was fairly simple although the roads were narrow and raised over the waterways. With an 8ft caravan its fair to say this was rather challenging but doable none the less. It took about twenty minutes to reach the site, at about 7pm, and we received a friendly welcome. The site was also a dairy farm so I made a quick purchase of milk and strawberry yoghurt and we headed on to our pitch. We were only staying a night so it was legs down and electric on. We were tired after our early start so we took Fudge for a quick leg stretch then headed go bed.

After a very good sleep we were awoken by mooing cows and cockerels. We got up, enjoyed a bowl of cereal with the fresh dutch milk, fed Fudge and then hitched up and headed off. Ahead of us was a long tow, just over four hours across Holland and in to Northern Germany. We soon hit the large motorways, not too busy, and with huge wide lanes. It’s fair to say this was a much better towing experience than at home. The miles soon disappeared on the motorways and around 2pm we arrived at Familie Campingplatz Stellar See. This German site was situated around a swimming lake and had hundreds of seasonal pitches and room for about fifty tourers, or about twenty five had the site been in the UK, fire breaks seem over-rated in Europe. We pitched up, again just for a night and at just over €20. We walked Fudge and had some tea before heading bed-ward. Already we had discovered European camping was very different to our own. We were excited at to what lay ahead the next day as we would travel on to Denmark.

Thursday morning arrived and we were up early again, excited to be heading further North and in to Denmark. The legs were up, the towing jacket on and the Adria was soon hitched up to the Rexton. Goodbye Germany, hello Denmark. Another four hours on the road saw us pass through the border and on to Lakolk. We arrived at Lakolk mid afternoon and our site for three nights was First Camp Lakolk. We received a friendly and efficient welcome along with a map of the site and our pitch. We drove on, amazed by the sea of seasonal pitches, hundreds of them in rows and rows. Our pitch was 308, a nice pitch backing on to sand dunes. The pitch was small by our standards and it wasn’t long before we were joined by a large Hobby motorhome. Its fair to say there was about three metres between our Adria and their motorhome and in that space was sandwiched our car. It took claustrophobia to a whole new level. The site was clean and tidy and the facilities were very good. The site was right next to a huge beach, it went on for miles and cars and motorhomes could be driven on to the beach too. Our three days at Lakolk were relaxing and the weather was good. Our first experience of Denmark was good but Sweden was yet to come.