We both have quite blue personalities which perhaps became even more obvious when we started this blog. Sometimes we plan trips years in advance and up to the actual departure there is a lot of research and notes, both to know the background but also not to miss anything essential once you are there. When you get home, you relive everything again when you try to remember everything you have found. You can think what you want about ways of travelling this but for us it has meant that we have extended the trip, so that a week's trip becomes a two-month experience, both before and after the trip itself.
In the midst of all this, we decided to get a motorhome and since then we try to travel a little more spontaneously. One of the biggest advantages of motorhomes is that you don't have to make such detailed plans as you can actually go wherever you feel like at the moment, or for that matter wherever the weather is best. We haven't quite managed to fully embrace this yet, but with every trip we take we get a little closer to this new way of thinking and travelling.
However, this particular trip was a little extra difficult not to plan in detail as we had it on the to-do list long before we got a motorhome, well really as long as we have been together. There was cake baking, new nice signs, washing and sweeping but also installing some smart solutions to make the trip more comfortable. More about the latter in a later post.
However, in the midst of the preparations, we had a tragic reminder that you can't plan for everything and you can't take anything for granted in life, not even how much time you have. A close friend of ours passed away and it really makes you think about what is important in life. It's always sad when someone you know is suddenly gone, but it's especially hard when it happens to someone who hasn't even got halfway through their life. We considered cancelling the trip as neither of us was particularly keen on travelling, but in the end we decided to go a week later rather than cancel completely.
By the time we got going, it was Midsummer's Eve, which resulted in a herring lunch at a rest area and when we stopped for the night, it was a slightly more serious dinner. It certainly doesn't have to be Hot Cups and instant macaroni just because you're on a trip.
We usually talk a lot about slowcation and not sitting in the car more than two to three hours a day, but if you are going all the way down to Alsace, it is probably difficult to keep that pace as the holiday will end before you have had time to go back and forth. It was finally a compromise with about six hours of driving per day down to France and then a slightly slower pace. There are probably many who think that it is short passes but for us it is long as it means that we have to ignore hundreds of exciting signs along the way.
The first stop was the cosy Villa Maria Garden in Helsingborg. We found it by chance and you could probably call it a hermit place, but without the unjustifiably high price that these places are usually concerned with. Moreover, it is a quiet and beautiful place with an incredibly green garden. As you can see from the pictures, it's almost like living in some kind of Swedish rainforest.
You can read more about the campsite itself on our other site, knapptstyrfart.se.
Once we had settled in and explored the local area, it was time for midsummer celebrations. In honour of the day, we had bought some mustard and honey marinated pluma from Holy Smoke, which by the way is only a few miles from where we stayed. You can read more about them in our previous post which you can find here. Grilling on the tour is something we both appreciate as it is both simple and delicious. However, with small means you can make the experience so much better. Skip the camping grill, bring a thermometer, buy locally produced meat or artisan sausages and you have a fantastic meal wherever you are.
Another midsummer tradition is Pavlova, which is meringue, cream, some kind of delicious sauce and fresh berries. My personal favourite is the version we made this year with homemade lemon curd and Swedish strawberries. Yum!!! However, I think Eva prefers it with chocolate but it is well as they say; When life gives you lemons... 😉
The night before we had ignored a problem that now turned out to be a little bigger than we thought. Our Truma wouldn't start but just gave an annoying error message, E653H. So no heat and no hot water. 😛 However, we realised that there must be service workshops in France too, so we moved on.
The mishaps continued when we arrived in Malmö. We were just going in quickly to buy the torx spanner needed to access Truman and on the way out I said something like; Going to a real toilet before a long trip is worth ten times more than what the tool cost. I think higher powers heard us because when we got out to the car there was a parking ticket that was worth ten times the purchase. It turned out that they were (probably) the only shopping centre in Sweden that had a parking fee on their parking. Of course, it was our own fault for not checking, but at the same time somewhat unexpected as one of the main arguments when the shops moved out of the cities was that there was plenty of space for free parking.
We chose to take the land route this time, perhaps mainly because the ferries are so crazy expensive with a motorhome. There is a lot of talk about the bridge being expensive but if you have an agreement with Øresundspay, it costs a fraction of the boat and in addition you avoid all the hassle on and off the ferry. In terms of time, there is also no major difference as you swish through Denmark in no time.
When we had passed Hamburg, it was time for the next overnight stay. We found Campingplatz Imbrock which normally should not be something for us as it is a fairly large campsite. What made it a really nice place was that the guest pitches, ie for those who do not have season tickets, were in their own small glades and it therefore felt like you were staying at a small nature campsite rather than anything else. Below is also the first of many breakfast pictures.
You can read more about the campsite itself here.
The next day we learnt a new German word, stau, the word for traffic jam. Many people talk about the excellence of the autobahn, but I have to say that during the holidays I find it very difficult to see any major advantages. Roadworks, accidents and not least the incredibly jerky pace that comes from everyone driving at different speeds, which creates stops all the time of anything between a few minutes to several hours. We had a six-hour drive from Imbrock to Strasbourg but, despite setting off reasonably early, we hadn't got more than halfway when we realised it would be night before we arrived.
We quickly googled something nearby and found the completely unknown to us Sankt Martin in Pfalz. Here was a vineyard with pitches which felt like something for us. We were looking forward to once again being able to use our dad joke, What's wrong? Are we in the Palatinate? We almost wore this out on our bike ride through the Mosel Valley, which you can read more about here.
As we approached St Martin's, the landscape began to change and the cornfields gave way to the vines. Maybe it was partly due to the fact that we had left the autobahn behind us, but the beauty of the place made all the stress and worries fade away.
The car park we were heading to is run by Winegut Schreieck, a wine producer with a wide range of typical German wines such as Spätbergunder (pinot noir for the rest of the world), Gewürztraminer, Riesling and sekt but also many other varieties.
Once we parked the car, we realised what an incredible place this was. The car park is at the back of their site and is super cosy. They have planted lots of vines, flowers and shrubs and there is a view of the small village. Add to that new, fresh facilities and a wine fridge. Yes, you read that right, the caravan park has a wine fridge where you can help yourself. This really was a great caravan site. You can read more about it here.
They also have a nice shop adjacent to the production and on the other side of the block there is a showroom where you can try their wines in various forms of tastings. We didn't get the chance to look at the rooms but from what we understand on the website, they also have a wine hotel where you can book a relaxing and educational wine weekend.
We felt we had to buy a bottle as a souvenir and it was one of their slightly better Rieslings. We were a bit sceptical about the quality as it only cost €10 but it turned out to be a real bargain as it was very good.
We were starving after a long day and went straight into town. What an incredibly nice little village! It was mostly German restaurants, but we also found a small Italian restaurant that was more what we were feeling at the time. They served two excellent dishes and really good local wines.
As we sat there enjoying the whole experience, it felt like at least a hundred kilos were lifted from our shoulders. We finally relaxed fully, were able to let go of our mishaps and realised that we now have four weeks of holiday experiences to look forward to.
After dinner, we took a walk through the village and once again realised what a cosy and peaceful place it is. It seems almost unreal that it can be so close to the autobahn, which with its concrete and stress is as far as you can get from this harmonious little community. We can really recommend a visit to anyone who passes by. We too will definitely be back as it is a real gem.
After a good night's sleep, we had a beautiful morning with breakfast in the green. The previous days had been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster but after the amazing St Martin's Day, the holiday can now begin in earnest.
