Ferry to Denmark

9 July 2018

Cornelia scuttled into our tent this morning declaring that she thought her pyjamas were a bit wet, but she wasn’t sure if it was wee or not. As it happened, it was a bit of a bedwetting incident – her first one ever – and thankfully it wasn’t too bad. We have been putting disposable pads underneath her sheet, just in case, and it worked a treat, although we will now need to find a washing machine quickly! She wasn’t in the slightest bit upset, which I was happy about!

She finished her wee on the travel potty and then snuggled in with us for half an hour or so, but none of us still needed to sleep, so we bounced up for breakfast, waiting for the warm sunshine to make it around the trees and onto us. It was granola all around this morning, which makes washing up quicker and easier, I must say.

Ian cracked on with taking down the tent while I made lunch, washed up, packed up and tidied up generally, and we were on the road shortly after 10:00, which must be a record for us!

Once again, we were treated to astonishing landscapes of vertiginous mountains, expanses of shining water and large patches of snow. It was all too much for me, and I ended up pulling over, and dragging Ian and Cornelia up the side of a small but steep mountain so we could throw snowballs at each other!

I drove us just over halfway, before we stopped to retrieve the sandwiches and then Ian took over and continued on to the ferry port at Kristiansand, where we waited patiently in the van, listening to the thunder booming in the skies above us!

The ferry was not our favourite part of the trip so far. It all seemed quite chaotic with people running from the car deck onto the two main decks to secure their seats which, as it turned out, was clearly the right thing to do, as we naïvely ambled on board, shuffling along slowly, perplexed and amused in equal measures at the frantic behaviour around us. But of course, we ended up without seats, for a while at least. Cornelia had a quick play in the kids’ area, but it was overrun with boisterous abandoned children and she didn’t enjoy herself too much, so asked to leave pretty quickly.

We eventually managed to find a table for two and a spare chair, and we settled there for the three hour journey. It was windy and the ship was rolling a bit, but luckily none of us suffer with seasickness, and the deck had huge glass windows from which we could see the squalling showers that we left behind in Norway.

I wanted to get Bugsy some supper, and Ian and I really needed a drink too (of tea!), but all they were selling were burgers and chips. I managed to grab the last portion of chips and a strawberry yoghurt for Cornelia, who was pretty happy with just chips!! 🙄 She munched her way through them while Ian and I drank tea with cream, as the milk machines were empty. We weren’t terribly impressed! But no matter, Cornelia was happy enough and once she’d finished them off asked what game we could play.

I gave it some thought and then asked her if she’d like to do a crossword as she’d helped Daddy with his the other day. She liked this idea and promised not to peek as I drew up a little puzzle for her to complete. Ah, she is SO sweet!!! She managed it all, with just a tiny bit of help with spelling a couple of the words. Her first crossword! So proud!!!

Ian wandered off to have an explore of the ferry and returned half an hour later with a crate of beer, so I must send him off by himself more often!

Soon enough, we were approaching Denmark – country #25 – and returned to Bluebell, leaving the ferry on time and with only a short onward journey to our campsite.

It was late by the time we finally arrived and were unpacked into our little cabin (about 21:00), and we decided that Cornelia should probably have an extra meal, or she’d be quite hungry in the middle of the night. I managed to retrieve the gas stove and boil up some pasta for her, while Ian took her to the trampoline for a bounce around. He also tried to get a pizza menu from the reception, so we could have some supper too, but reception was closed and instead I boiled the rest of the fresh pasta for us which we polished off with some bread and butter and a beer!

Bugsy was insistent on sleeping on the top bunk and after her stories, settled down very quickly, leaving me and Ian on the bottom bunk trying to work out where to go next!