Crasher goes North: All at sea

Map of Day 2


Thursday 16th July 2015

After a somewhat restless night, I get up just before 5am. I have to be at Immingham Docks by 7 at the latest, as my ship sails at 8.

By the time I have showered and climbed into my biking gear it is just before 6. I check all my luggage is still attached to the bike and wheel it out of my parents garage. Mum and Dad wave me off, stood on the front door step, wrapped up in their dressing gowns. I head out of the village, and head North. Immingham is about 40 minutes ride up the very straight A15.

 I soon passed the gates of RAF Scampton, famous for the Dambuster raids in WW2, and currently for being the home of the Red Arrows display team.

I made it to Immingham with loads of time to spare, so I decided to fill up with fuel. This way I would be able to ride all the way to my first stop in one go, once I get to Gothenburg.

I arrive at the docks and follow the DFDS signs for Gothenburg. There is nobody around to ask if I am going the right way, so I just follow the road. Eventually I am led to a set of barriers, with a few trucks waiting inline. I can see a couple of ships on the other side of the barriers, so I assume one is the one I will catch. Soon it is my turn at the front of the queue. The intercom and touchscreens are set at the height of a HGV cab, so what do I do now!

A man in high-viz taps on the window of a Portacabin next to the barriers, and becons me inside. He asks to see my passport and ticket. He prints me off a boarding pass and tells me to wait just the other side of the barriers next to a couple of cars. As soon as park up and turn off the ignition, a dock worker with a massive smile, pulls up in a black cab escort vehicle, and leans out of the drivers window. " Morning, follow me. We'll get you straight on, chap! "

I follow the cab, and the other couple of cars join the convoy on to one of the ships. We are stopped in our tracks by one of the cargo tugs maneuvering a truck trailer into an impossible gap between two other trailers. He must of done it before as he had about an inch of room either side. They certainly like to pack them in tight. I am led round to a spot where I am given some straps to tie down my bike. The cars following park up, and my fellow passengers and I are shown up to our individual cabins.

This had been the subject of many jokes by my work mates in the weeks leading up to my trip. How would I cope sharing a small cabin with Boris the burly Russian trucker, all alone out on the ocean where no-one can hear you scream!

I wasn't expecting many creature comforts, with the ferry being used solely for freight. But, truck drivers obviously need some where nice to relax. The cabins were good. Ensuite bathroom,a little settee and desk, and a comfy bed. That will do nicely.

My room was quickly descended into chaos as I unloaded my overnight things.

This would become a theme for the whole trip. Usually within five minutes of arriving, clothes and other belongings would be scattered over every surface available.

There was a really nice passenger lounge and
 canteen. This was where I would spend the next 29 hours! There was also a little deck outside, so at least I could get some air.

Once I had had a quick look around the passenger facilities, I went out on deck to see the ship cast off.

Moored up next to the sister ship, ready to depart

Exactly at 8am, the moorings were released, and we were off. No going back now!

Goodbye England. See you in a month. Next stop Sweden

I got chatting to Hugh, one of the other passengers. He is married to a Swedish lady, and regularly takes the ferry over to his holiday home in Sweden. He tells me that they always depart and arrive on time. Almost to the minute.

Hugh and I head inside, where we can help ourselves to some breakfast from the canteen. That is one of the advantages of taking this ferry. All meals, tea, coffee, and cold drinks are provided in the cost of your ticket. There is not any choice, being a menu set by the chef. But I had no complaints.

I settled for some cereal, a slice of toast, a yoghurt, and some fruit juice and coffee. Not being a seasoned seafarer, I didn't want to overload for fear of seeing it again later. As, I didn't speak Swedish, Hugh explained all the different kinds of milk in the fridge. There were several cartons which all looked similar, but were decidedly different. Apparently pouring the "cottage cheese" type of sour milk in your tea or coffee is quite a spectator sport on this ferry!

I sat out on the deck reading for most of the morning, checking out what I was to expect from my ride through Sweden in a few guide books. I met a few of the other passengers throughout the morning too. Steve and Mike were taking Mike's Porsche 997 Cabriolet to his second home in the south of Sweden. David was driving a snotty MOT failure Volvo 960 estate full of booze and fags over to his mates house near Kristiansund, where they are assembling a collection of cars to race around the frozen lakes in winter. And, there were also a couple of truck drivers who passed the time of day. One had an Aston Martin DB9 to take to a car show in the back of his car transporter, and the other was taking some engineering tooling to Tromso. We all got on well, and wanted to know about each others stories.

Lunch soon arrived. This was a mixed stew, in a creamy sauce, served with chunky chips, and salad. I would eat a similar stew a few times during my trip. It seemed to be a  Scandinavian staple dish.

I spent the rest of the day checking my route for the first few days, and listening to some music. There was a TV in the lounge, but it has a limited choice of American dramas and soaps subtitled into Swedish. One of the truck drivers had a few DVD's too, which increased the selection.

The evening meal was honey roast gammon, new potato's, and salad, followed by a freshly baked chocolate cake and strong coffee. The chef also offered to open his store cupboard "shop" for half an hour, so that we could purchase some drink etc if we wanted.

We all sat around talking and watched the sun set. With a calm sea and nothing on the horizon to spoil the view, it was a stunning view.

I dropped off to sleep listening to the gentle throbbing of the ships engine, knowing that tomorrow would be the proper start of the adventure as I disembark on to Scandinavian soil.

Here is the second part of the vlog: