Things that keep me busy so far… getting my spare tire fixed again now in a little town called Gluckstadt. Crossing the Elbe on the ferry isn’t cheap, a total of €12 for a 15 minute crossing surely pays for itself. The view was nice though with sun shimmering over the water as we crossed over.
I was a little concerned about the service battery. It wasn’t getting any charge and so I couldn’t turn the cooler on. I peeked under the hood when we crossed the Elbe and found a loose wire. It was quickly fixed by replacing the connector and reattaching the wire. Started the engine and waited 20 seconds. Yes…full charge again. Turned up the cooler and ready am feeling it getting colder.
The boys got their last vet check and the last groceries were stuffed in the coolbox. A last round to check the house and switching off the unneeded electrics. At around 13:30 the trip has started with a glorious warm weather ahead the coming days. For now its slowboating towards Groningen to catch some diesel and make progress to Bremen Germany. Mascot Scotti stuffed with cuddles from my little girl leads the way. So far so good with very light traffic.
As we moved on some 50 kilometers further, the first bump hit us. We got a flat tire on the right rear. Thankfully it’s a rear tire and I stopped immediately so no damages done other then the tire. Breaking out the wrench, removing the spare tire. Lifting the car and putting things back in place in all only took 30 minutes. The cause was a shift in the pas if the inner tube to the outer tube causing tension on the inflation valve. It was allready an issue coming up so it was not a big surprise. Tomorrow morning im gonna have the replacement inner tube I brought installed to have a ready spare again and check the pressure of the replaced spare now on the wheel.
A nice surprise was the actual fuel consumption on the engine. I was under the impression that it would be using 1 liter of Diesel for 5,5 kilometers. I noticed my count on the speedometer wasn’t actually noting the right numbers and i was doing kore kilometers to the liter. It surprised me with an average of 1 liter to 9 kilometers which is a major benefit looking at the long fuel estimates. It will safe me 1/3 of the estimate fuel price which is a near €1000 on the budget. Very happy with that.
The overnight for the day is in a little coastal town called Nordenham just before Bremenhaven Germany. We arrived at a little harbor point where another car was gonna spend the night. Its not the coolest spot yet but after some food, some coffee and a little walk we crawled into the car and slept by eleven.