Dave Scotland's Scotoshite Pilgrimage. Full report now available. ***PICTURE HEAVY***

[davidfowler2000]

So some of you may already know about my holidays for this year. It involves a trip to Gothenburg from my home in East Kilbride in my Volvo 740 with 2.3 engine and ZF autobox.

Anyways I'm writing this from the hotel room in Gothenburg so the ol' red block power house has at least made it to Sweden. Not many photos for now as they're all on the camera but here's a wee tasters from the phone collection....

H211 at Hull Docks


Volvo 940 taxi in Hamburg


Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (Central Station)


MUCH more to follow when I get the camera home including a mini 2 car convoy with myself and a Volvo 740GL estate across the Oresund Bridge crossing from Copenhagen to Malmo.

---ENDS---

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[hairnet]

middelfart?

[Barry Cade]

Is that a Crayford Mk1 waiting on the ferry?

[dollywobbler]

Wales just wasn't far enough eh? Lovely pics so far. The Malmo bridge is just all kinds of awesome.

[davidfowler2000]

Yes it was a Mk1 Cortina next to me but I wasn't too noticing of the variant. There was a Sherpa Coupe about 5 cars behind the Cortina too. Interest was low from me.

 

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[Inspector Morose]

Wales just wasn't far enough eh? Lovely pics so far. The Malmo bridge is just all kinds of awesome.

Not in a bloody coach it's not!

[320touring]

Good work,did a similar run for a mates stag do..but went via dover. Some great scenery

 

Enjoy!

[dollywobbler]

To be honest, the bridge was not without its stresses in a Citroen H van either, and it was raining. Quite astonishing driving into a tunnel, which emerges in the sea though!

[Inspector Morose]

Aye, I'd think it would be but you're right, that bridge is a truly breathtaking piece of civil engineering (it's me not liking heights). Deeply jealous of you David as it is a truly wonderful part of the world and I wish I could get over there again soon.

[hairnet]

 

 

[davidfowler2000]

!!!---STATUS UPDATE---!!!

I'm home and not a single bit of breakdown assistance was required. Thoroughly chuffed to bits the big blue tank made it there and back without so much as a grumble. Anyways, a full report will be in the offing at some point but here's a few tasters for now...

 

Oresund Bridge

 

Guess where I'm going

 

Finally arrived. What's that hiding at the bottom of the picture?

 

!!!---ENDS---!!!

[davidfowler2000]

So. I went on holiday. Big deal. But this turned out to be a pilgrimage of cosmically shite proportions.

 

The original plan was discussed by myself and cms206 of this parish to drive our 740s to Gent, where they were built, and then straight back on the same ferry. This then very quickly evolved into a plan to visit the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg encompassing visits to the factories at Gent, Torslanda and Kalmar and of course a visit to the museum. Tragically, my holidays at work ended up being a month earlier than planned (yes holidays in the bus industry are rota'd <--Could a grammar Nazi check that one?) so cms206 could no longer do the trip. I ended up going with a mate from work who had also had his holiday plans scuppered in a similar vein - his uncle works for a different bus company and their 2 holiday rotas didn't line up.

 

It didn't take much planning as there were 2 main goals - visit Gent and the museum. I wasn't THAT bothered about seeing Torslanda or Kalmar unless I was in the company of a fellow Volvo nutter. So it was just a case of logically looking at a map and working out a route with over night stops which turned out to be:

Glasgow - Hull - Zeebrugge - Gent - Hamburg - Puttgarden - Rodby - Copenhagen - Malmo - Gothenburg - Trelleborg - Rostock - IJmuiden (Port of Amsterdam) - Newcastle - Glasgow.

So now begins the photo documentary of the action. I've skipped a LOT of Volvo and other car spottings. You can see them in the Flickr album. Link at the bottom.

Glasgow - Hull was boring. Dull actually with no photos taken apart from a few at the docks on ground and out at sea from the boat:
 

H211 GPC waiting to board the ferry.

 

ABP Port of Hull

 

In the lock

 

The boat was an overnight shot with much relaxation and some good entertainment from the resident band. Not great but not bad either.
Next morning was grim. Fog, rain, cold. Bah. Anyways next stop Volvo Gent and some fuel for my first time driving on the wrong side of the road and then onwards to Hamburg.

H211 GPC back home at Volvo Gent. 24 Years later.

 

Freshly fuelled at Shell Wetteren

 

The drive through Wetteren turned out to be quite interesting. Road works forced a diversion through an industrial estate where we found what seemed to be a transport museum but some quick research seems to indicate it all has something to do with a politician. Anyone know for sure what the setup is about?

Belgian Leyland battle bus

Unknown building with a plane outside with the rear half on the building and the front half on a up-ended container


We also came across something extremely shite -

Wetteren's temple to Autoshite

 

The drive from here to Hamburg was pretty grim. much rain. so wet. how damp. wow. Didn't stop the Gerries driving at 80+ mph though.

 

There's a Fiat 126 in there somewhere

 

Trucks are not allowed out the first lane on most of the Autobahn

 

Thankfully the weather dried out about an hour before Hamburg

 

So we could get out and about to find dinner and see the place

    

 

One unbelievably warm night in the hotel later (the window was stuck shut and the air con was stuck in heating mode) and it was the next leg of the trip. An obligatory visit to Minatur Wunderland before heading to Sweden.

 

                 

 

H211 GPC at the Puttgarden - Rodby ferry

 

Mazda 323 Sport Comfort in Denmark

 

Ahead SWEDEN!

 

Oresund Crossing - Tunnel section

 

Oresund Bridge

 

Look what we found to convoy with across the bridge!!!!!!1!!!ONE!!!
  

 

Small tip - pay the Oresund toll in Swedish Kronor. You can pay by Danish, Swedish or Euro. It's €46 Euro which is...what?...£44? We paid SEK 390 which at the exchange rates we got worked out about 38 quid. BARGAIN*!!!

 

Getting there

 

On the road up we went through many, many, many radio stations and we both immediately agreed that this was by far the best

http://tunein.com/radio/Retro-FM-918-s191630/

 

Gothenburg in sight with the Liseburg Amusement Park in sillhouette
        

 

Finally the hotel

     

 

A day in Gothenburg

              

 

Now you'll probably have noticed that there was no visit to the Volvo Museum. That's because it was a public holiday that day and the museum section of the main Volvo website indicating that it was shut. The museum's own page though put up special opening hours. Bumhats. Anyways we had always planned to do the museum on Friday morning before heading home again.

 

Continues in the next post to avoid picture posting quotas....

[davidfowler2000]

...Continued from above

In the museum I took almost 400 photos so I'll very quickly summarise it. Again, refer to Flickr (link at the bottom). We also had to be out for 1130 (opened at 1000) to be in time for the next ferry and the battery in the camera was worrying low so photos toward the end tended to be less specific and take more of a broad look at the exhibits.

                                            

Right. Time was pressing so time to get the toe down and head for Trelleborg tout suit for the ferry to Rostock.

  

Oh and of course - http://tunein.com/radio/Retro-FM-918-s191630/

H211 GPC aboard MV Huckleberry Finn of TT Lines



TT Lines. Bonny looking aul' tubs at Trelleborg. TT are mainly a freight company but they will take cars and foot passengers. Although the on board accomodation is basic (a restaurant area and a shop - both of which close the sales desk for most of the trip) it was extremely comfortable and very well turned out.



At this point I had to revert to my phone since the big camera went completely flat.

Port of Rostock

  

Quick night stay in the ibis Budget in a local industrial estate and then it was time to hit Amsterdam. We had planned at least a couple of hours there but a slight oversight in the distance from Rostock to the port at IJmuiden (423 miles) slightly scurppered that.

Quick pee stop. Somewhere in germany



Food time. We found a services with a Burger King. The cashier spoke NO English and we only had a few choice German words. Nonetheless we managed to get exactly what we wanted.


Don't you just love unrestricted Autobahns. My mate took this while I was trying to stay in a straight line. Oh and we still were not the fastest car on the road. Not by a long way.



Arrived at IJmuiden.


Cheerio Amsterdam

[

Hello Newcastle



Quick pee stop at Todhills



And that, as some folk say, is that. Almost 2000 miles driven and about 500 on ferries. It's Tuesday now and I was back on Sunday afternoon and I'm still shattered. Will most certainly do it again though and I would urge any other Volvoists out there to at least fly to Gothenburg to see the museum. I rate the whole trip at 152% / 10.

Important Links:
Flickr Album (831 Photos) - https://www.flickr.com/photos/55708022@N03/sets/72157644968265802/
Malmo Retro FM - http://tunein.com/radio/Retro-FM-918-s191630/

[brickwall]

Great stuff! looks like a lot of fun.

[dugong]

Super yes brilliant. 

I'm hoping to take my Amazon to VROM in August, and possibly fart down to Partille to interview a certain Volvo tuner of some renown.

[rml2345]

Excellent write up of what looked like an excellent trip! Glad to see that blue Volvo made it without issue as well. 

[Bucketeer]

RETRO FM IS BRILL.

And all the pictures and writing stuff too, of course.

Much appreciated.

[Spiny Norman]

Great write up and some excellent shots too. Better than a week lying on some scabby beach in Torremolinos that's for sure.

[Luckythirteen]

That is nothing short of inspirational! You need to do a slide show and talk at the Scotoshite meet up. Make sure some slides are in the wrong way up, and tell someone to sit down at least once.

Like WI lectures in the village hall, but betterer.

 

 

*Makes plans for next summer...*

[hairnet]

even on a bike the toll for oresund was 17 quid in 2006 !!!!!

[hairnet]

kewl pics

[hairnet]

i was gonna go and use the newcastle ferry until i realised they MAKE you have a cabin - that cost 185 quid ONE WAY

 

473 quid return ffs

 

20 quid on the bike to stansted and 70 quid return flight

 

no wonder they stopped it for a while

[hairnet]

pre 50s volvo HORN!!!!!!

 

shame the red 30s volvo was on modern plate [pedant]

 

pv 544 estate OMFGWTFBBQDIYSOSABBA!!!!!!!!!!!!

[320touring]

Great trip!

 

Would love to do similar with my Touring- likely one of the few places I've not had it in Germany..

 

nice work

[Skizzer]

Just been enjoying the full Flickr experience - great pics, fantastic trip, top effort!

[davidfowler2000]

Cheers for the praise guys. It truly was a heroic effort getting the 740 to Gothenburg and back in such a short space of time. I dare say if I'd have taken the modern and driven MUCH faster through Germany I could have missed a night's stop somewhere or got another day in Gothenburg but where would the fun in that be?

 

I'll also get round to captioning the Flickr set at some point during the week.

[320touring]

Cheers for the praise guys. It truly was a heroic effort getting the 740 to Gothenburg and back in such a short space of time. I dare say if I'd have taken the modern and driven MUCH faster through Germany I could have missed a night's stop somewhere or got another day in Gothenburg but where would the fun in that be?

 

I'll also get round to captioning the Flickr set at some point during the week.

Personal best in that neck of the woods was 2 days from Glasgow to Stockholm via Dover. 3 up, taking shifts.

 

Day 3 was stockholm to Tallinn (via boat) then Tallinn to Riga

 

3 days stagdo then 2 days home via Poland.

 

I love euro road trips!

[davidfowler2000]

That sounds epic. The Gothenburg trip could have been done quicker doing shifts but to keep costs down we kept it single driver - me. Plus I didn't want the old beast going too long without a break. I know it's a machine but a lifetime working with cars and computers has taught me even machines need some time off too.

 

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[dugong]

Y U GO 2 SCANDINAVIA?

[davidfowler2000]

BECAUSE VOLVO!!!

 

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