
Week 8. 18th to 24th July. Tønder, Denmark to Home – 817 miles

Saturday, 19th July 2025. Tønder, Denmark to Rotenburg, Germany – 170 miles
Our ferry home is on Thursday, so we don’t have much time left, but a lot of miles to cover. Today we are leaving Denmark and heading home on our last week. We will go through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, but quite quickly.
A very nice breakfast this morning, outside in the sun. Very nice. We get packed up, do a service and off we go. We don’t know where we will be later, but we would like to get as far south as Bremen in Germany. Jess is filthy, but really bad, so we have another go at finding a jet wash, but fall short. There is nothing to be had. It is going to be a potentially long day today. To get to Bremen, we have to skim past Hamburg, which has the worst road works, according to reports.
Del is set to do most of the driving today. He loves it, says he can just drive for miles… Hayley is happy for him to do it as she researches the route, where to stop and what and where to eat. The border between Denmark and Germany is just a few kilometres away. Hayley does the first bit of driving. We stop at a filling station. Once we cross the border, the roads are very different. Gone are the smooth, bright roads of Denmark; now we have the patchy, bumpy roads of Northern Germany. Who’d have thought? We are sure they will get better.
It’s a lovely day, hot, almost 25 degrees. We are soon on the motorway and heading towards Hamburg. Sure enough, after about 45 minutes, the northbound A7, is at a standstill for a good few miles because of roadworks and the discovery of a bridge with bad workmanship that needs urgent attention. Going south, we have a good, clear road. Today Jess clocks up 35000 miles after seven and a half years…!
Hayley has found a place that will allow up to 10 campervans to park. It’s a hotel/restaurant and we fancy a schnitzel… We like them a lot. The hotel is the hotel restaurant Heidejäger in the town of Rotenberg, just east of Bremen. We have made good progress today, 170 miles. Once we arrive and get settled in, we sit outside and have a nice cold German beer, which is a third of the price of a Norwegian one! It’s hot, 28 degrees… nice though. We just relax. Del does some homework for his next work outing while Hayley plots up the last few days of the trip. Just by chance (yeah right!), she has found a spare day so we are going to the Walibi Holland amusement park for her to do some roller coastering and for Del to hold the bag. He’s not done that in a while, can’t wait…
Dinner tonight is at the hotel where we are parked for the night. We are looked after by the staff who are very nice and serve us an excellent dinner.
They have a robotic cat that moves around the dining room and delivers your order to your table. An unusual thing to have in a traditional German restaurant.



All fed with schnitzel and salad, we go back to Jess and have a cold Jagermeister followed by a couple of games of chess…


Lately, Del has been beating Hayley, but tonight it was one all. Before turning in for the night, we stick our 4 new country flags on the back of Jess to join the others.
Just as we are putting them on, the local storks turn up. They are quite popular here, by all accounts. The hotel has built them a nesting stand; no idea where they go all day, but both of them flew back, clattered their beaks and preened themselves before settling down. Just as we did the same… All in all, a good day.


Sunday, 20th July 2025. Rotenburg, Germany to Elburg, The Netherlands -181 miles
Another warm, balmy night last night, cloudy but still warm this morning. Today we are going to be in the Netherlands. We need to get a bit of a move on, so it’s a quick breakfast and off we go. We have checked on the nesting storks from last night, but they have gone. They will return tonight, as they do. It has been a lovely stay here at the Heidejäger hotel/restaurant. It’s warmed up some more for us, and the sun is out. There are a couple of things we need to do today. Jess has not had a wash in weeks. The last time was at the start of Norway, where we paid £10.00 for 2 minutes!! She is looking a bit sorry for herself. We also need some diesel.
Hayley has been on the Google machine and found both. First, the car wash.
What a place. Several large booths to drive into, where you can pamper your vehicle to within an inch of its life. On the other side of the large forecourt, there are rows of vacuum cleaners and a vending machine selling all kinds of potions for your car and bags of Haribo. 30 minutes later and 15 euros lighter (£12.00), Jess is back to looking like she was fresh out of the showroom. Finally.
Next, we fill up with diesel, and we are done. Hayley has done a good hour driving, but she gets bored very quickly, so Del is soon in the hot seat, loving it and driving us to a campsite in Elburg, Holland. The German roads, for the most part, are shocking, which surprises us; they used to be ok. You get patches of motorway goodness, but by and large, they are a bit of a disappointment. As soon as we cross the border into the Netherlands, it is bliss. Lovely, clean, wide, smooth roads.
We get checked into the campsite in Elburg, Veluwe Strandbad Camping. We are given a fabulous pitch near to all the facilities. Del spends half an hour spot cleaning Jess, who just looks fabulous. (The van. Not Del!)
Now that Hayley is feeling better, and we’ve not done it in a while, we finally, at last, get the bikes off the back and set off for a bike ride into the town of Elburg itself.
We are pleasantly surprised. This is a beautiful town with cobbled streets, lovely houses, shops and restaurants. We take our time cycling through it and soaking it all up. There is a small canal running through it with a crossroads on a bridge full of little cosy restaurants. We are tempted to have a drink or an early dinner, but we do need to get some exercise done, as we have let it slide badly over the past few weeks.













Sadly, there is heavy and prolonged rain forecast. We get another couple of kilometres under our belt and head back to the campsite. Just as we are putting the cover back on the bikes, it rains, and Jess has just been cleaned! No matter she needed a clean all the same.
We get settled in for the night. Time has flown by. A nice, simple dinner with some music and red wine. Smashing. Tomorrow, Hayley is off to Walibi Holland. Great….!
Monday, 21st July 2025. Elburg, Holland to Heibaart, Belgium -104 miles
We are up early, have breakfast, clean up and get away, fast… This morning we are going to Walibi Holland so Del can carry and hold a bag for half a day while Hayley does coasters! She has never moved so fast to get out of a campsite…!
It was a very nice stay last night, but today we are moving on. The plan is that after visiting Walibi Holland, we will then drive south towards the border with Belgium. The drive to the park is 10 minutes. We arrive just as the park is opening, so Hayley is in pole position.
It’s a good day. The park is fabulous, not full even though it’s summer. There are lots of rides and things to see, and Hayley has a great day ticking off her bucket list of rides.













By 2:30, we have had enough and get back to Jess to set off south. There is heavy rain threatening. It is motorway for most of the drive, lots of it, and most of it has terrible traffic jams, not because of accidents, but because there is a huge concentration of motorways all interconnecting with each other and all in a small land mass. It’s chaotic in parts. We have had another incident with Jess; this time, we have lost the bike cover.
There was a small tear in it a few days ago, which has grown on the drive today, which now has to be shredded to get it off. There’s another expense to add to the list for when we get back.
Hayley has found us a place not far from the border. It has space for 10 to 15 vans or tents, but when we arrive, there is no one to help to get a space. Del has a walk around. There are hens all over the place, and in the back space where you camp, it already looks full, with people in large tents outside doing barbeques. As soon as they see Del, it is a bit like one of those cowboy films where everyone goes quiet and looks at you… Stranger…! Needless to say, we didn’t hang about too long, reversed and left. Very soon, Hayley has found another place.
With knowing or noticing, we had crossed the border into Belgium. We are going to a cow farm called Het boerenijsje, or in English, “The farmers’ Ice-cream”. For a staggering 4 euros you can stay the night, for another 4 you can have electricity, so for 8 euros you get to stay on a working dairy farm which has a fantastic little restaurant attached to it specialising in ice cream, pancakes and waffles.
Just as we arrive, the skies open up to what we think is the worst rain we have ever seen.


Unbelievable rain and hail that lasts for about 10 minutes, which later reveals a lovely summer evening. We have dinner on board, then go off to watch the cows for their 8 pm milking. It is fascinating watching the cows being herded into a large shed, and as if they knew where to go, they line themselves up for milking for 10 minutes before a barrier rises and they all leave to go back to their pens.






The owners allow you to go anywhere on the site, so you get to see the days-old calves, the teenagers and then fully grown dairy cows. A fascinating place, and we enjoyed looking around.
Back at Jess, the rain is back on, not so fierce this time. We are a day ahead of our planned schedule, and we didn’t expect to be in Belgium tonight. Tomorrow, the plan is to stay in one of our regular stops in the lovely Belgian area of Westvleteren.
Tuesday, 22nd July 2025. Heibaart to Poperinge -114 miles
We are now nearing the end of our 7 and half week Scandinavian trip. We have two nights left, the second of which will be in Calais. Our night on the cow farm has been a pleasant one. We have a good hearty breakfast, courtesy of Del. After we get cleaned up and ready to go, we have a look around the cow farm again. The whole thing is quite fascinating. There is a lot of work that goes into getting a pint of milk on the table, and this place is at the cutting edge of technology to do that as cheaply and as efficiently as possible. It’s all open to public scrutiny as they let you wander freely around the place.
Time to move on. It will be a long drive again today. We are heading for a place that has been a regular start and end point for our trips into Europe on Jess. It’s a small farm that welcomes campers. Situated in West Flanders. They always find a space for us, so we should be ok tonight. The drive is long. The motorways are just stuffed with traffic, most of which is made up of trucks, lots of them. They stretch for miles, and there are so many exits and interconnections in this part of Europe connecting Holland to Germany and France.
We are finally on the home stretch. The traffic has thinned out, and we are soon on local roads again and trundling through the Belgian countryside. That’s better… We have arrived in the town of Poperinge in Belgium and in a supermarket stocking up with some fine Belgian beers to take home. Our next stop is the farm campsite, Stal ‘t Bardehof. This was the first stop we made in Europe when we bought Jess… We like it, it’s a bit rustic but nice.
Today we are going to have dinner at the Sixtus Abbey. The abbey is famous for producing what is considered to be the world’s best beer. They also have a nice restaurant called In de Vrede, which we fancy trying for dinner. It’s now 5 pm, and once we get settled in we are on our bikes making our way to the abbey for an early dinner.
We have a Westvleteren 12 beer, which is just superb, and we order dinner. The beer is going down well while we wait for dinner, which is excellent and reasonably priced.


It’s filling up just as we finish, so it’s back on the bikes to the campsite. We secure them back on Jess and have a cold beer at the campsite, again another excellent Belgian beer, a Rochefort and a Karmeliet. We have them outside next to the goats that have been here a while. They are very tame and like to be fussed over, which suits us.



Back at Jess, we settle in for the night after a shower and a couple of games of chess. Tonight Hayley wins… Twice…
Wednesday 23rd July 2025. Poperinge, Belgium to Calais, France -50 miles
Our last full day in Europe today, and it will be a busy one. We are up and about for breakfast at our normal time, which is always late! A full Jess service, so fresh water in, grey out, and a toilet change.
Today we are going to the St Bernadus Brewery in the town of Watou. St Bernardus beer is one of our favourite Belgian beers, so it will be worth the 10-minute drive.


There, they do a guided tour, you can see the beer being made, there is a restaurant and of course a shop. Unfortunately, they don’t have a car park suitable for us, but we do find one that requires us to cycle a 5-mile round trip. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain.
To get to the carpark requires Hayley to drive some very narrow roads. The area around here in Westvleteren is very agricultural and the local road network is just wide enough for a tractor, that’s it…
The car park is empty, so we secure our van and get the bikes off the back, helmets on and off we go… The 2.5-mile cycle is a bit up and down hill, but nothing too taxing. We are able to lock our bikes up at the brewery. We are given a gizmo for the guided tour, which we find very interesting. There’s a lot to see and discover, and we really enjoy the story, seeing the beer being made and the high-tech bottling process. Fascinating stuff.



They have a beautiful restaurant here with a fantastic high view of the fields stretching out across the region, with their own field of hops below us.


We have a platter to share. Included in the entry fee of 17 euros, you get two tokens each to sample any of the beers they offer, as well as a 5 euro discount on anything in the shop. The platter and the samples were excellent.
While we were loving the whole thing and tucking into a cheese and meat platter, it had started to rain. We have to cycle back to Jess for 2 miles… In the rain… It has to be done. Fortunately, it’s not too heavy, and the cycle back isn’t too bad. Bikes secured, we are back on the road via the brewery to pick up some goodies from the shop. We buy a six-pack variety box, some pate, and Del gets himself a 4 pack of Watou Triple, one of his many favourites…
All loaded up, we are now heading for Calais to a stop where we are in place for the ferry tomorrow at 7 am. Without knowing, we have crossed the border into France on the narrow of narrowest roads. Soon we are back on the motorway and Calais is about 40 minutes away. We do a quick pit stop at a wine warehouse for a couple of cases of wine. We are sounding more like a milk float than a camper van with all the beer and wine jingling about…
Tonight we are eating out. Despite all the bad news, Calais is actually a nice town. There are some lovely eateries, and the promenade has recently been redeveloped and is lovely to walk along. For our last night, we are eating at a Michelin-rated restaurant that we have dined at before on a past visit.
We get showered in the van and put our finest clothes on (well, a pair of long trousers on and a clean shirt), then take the pleasant walk along the prom to the town.


Summer is in full swing here. It’s a lovely evening and everyone is out. Our dinner is at the Histoire Ancienne, Bib Gourmand with an excellent menu.


We have an aperitif, starter, main, dessert and a half bottle of red all for about 70 quid…! Try getting that at a Harvester!

We have eaten out in a lot in a lot of countries, some countries do excellent food, some… well, not so good, but you can always trust the French to do a good dinner and a glass of wine, if you know where to go. A fabulous night out as we walk back through the local summer fairground and back to a rather hot Jess.
Tomorrow we are up at 6 am for the ferry home.
Thursday 24th July 2025. Calais, France to Home! -182 miles
We are up at 5:45 am today, and the alarm really hurts this early. We do a quick service before leaving. The Ferry port is just a 10-minute drive away, giving us an hour and a bit before departure. We get through the French passport check quickly enough, but at the UK border (which is on the French side), we are delayed. A few cars up, there is a German-registered car that seems to be getting the third degree, but instead of pulling him to one side and getting everybody else on the ferry, we wait and wait. The time that we did have spare has all gone, and there is no doubt that in the long line of cars behind us, some if not all, will have missed that ferry.
We drive straight on and cast off almost immediately. The crossing goes quickly, as the grey cliffs of Dover are almost upon us. It’s the usual routine for disembarkation. Traffic going the other way to leave the UK is packed; in fact, the trucks have been lined up on the outside lane, and it stretches for miles. We are not exaggerating; there are hundreds of trucks for miles, all waiting to get into Dover. If it’s bad now, wait until the ETIAS arrives, which is soon, you’ll need to get to Dover three days before… It doesn’t bear thinking about how chaotic that will be. We will all need one if we want to go to Europe. Can’t wait.
The drive from Dover to Portsmouth is thankfully uneventful, with Del doing the whole run. Once in Portsmouth, we find a jet wash for a final van clean. We are early, and fortunately, we are able to get on an earlier ferry for home.
30 minutes later, we are on our 15-minute drive home, where we unpack, clean down Jess on the inside, take her to her lock-up and get the cover on her. It will probably be a while before she gets out again; we shall see. Sometimes we get the odd occasion to do a few campsites on the Isle of Wight, some of which are excellent.
Thoughts…
Our trip, which we called the ‘Scandi Loop‘, has been a good one, if maybe a little rushed. We took a different route from the usual. Most people get to Denmark and go straight to Norway and return via the bridges, but we thought we’d go east and do some of Poland, which was not bad. We probably need to see more of Poland. We found the campsites a little on the expensive side, supermarkets in short supply, and the weather awful at times!
Sweden, we loved. Very calm and laid back, very relaxed about camping, where you can park for the night wherever you like as long as there are no signs clearly saying that camping is not allowed and you are 150m away from private property, and of course, you don’t leave all your rubbish behind. The scenery was very nice, and we stayed at some very nice places. Food and fuel were a little more expensive than in the UK, not as scary as we were led to believe, but alcohol is strictly controlled. You can only buy wine and spirits from state-owned off-licences, beer is sold in supermarkets, which are brilliant by the way, but no more than 3.2% alcohol, and it’s expensive.
Norway was the best. The scenery was just stunning, and the driving was interesting. You needed a mortgage for alcohol, which, again, is only available through state-run off-licences, and food and fuel were expensive. Car/van washes, forget it, extortion comes to mind. The most you can get out of a chemist is paracetemol, anything else has to be prescribed by a doctor, and even then it’s herbal and stuff you can get from a corner shop in the UK, as we found out when poor Hayley became ill… In Norway, of all places. Saying that we really liked it, although Hayley may have a slight, but only slight reservation…
Denmark, again, is a lovely, laid-back place, but deserved more time from us. We were in and out in the blink of an eye, but what we did see, we really liked and will go back. Prices were roughly the same as in Sweden, slightly cheaper than in Norway.
There is no doubt, having been to Scandinavia for the short time that we were there, that they do a lot of stuff right; they also do a few questionable things, but when you think about the oddities, they do make sense (but you may need some time to be convinced). The countries are clean and well-maintained. The people are laid back, polite and helpful, although we did note that Norwegian drivers, particularly truck drivers, can be impatient and on two occasions, we were ‘bullied’ to get out of the way.
Miles covered: 3724
Diesel cost: £730 (so 19p per mile)
Total nights away: 53 nights
Here is a small collection of Dels’ photos taken during some of our stops in Scandinavia. Again, thanks to our family and friends for following us on our journey. We wish you all good health and happiness. Until the next one…
Del, ‘H’ & Jess
Yes... deep pockets indeed, all very expensive but we really liked it. We shall save up and go again...