Numbers, Thoughts and Must Haves.....

I'll start with numbers:-

We have travelled 4229 miles, Chris has driven for approximately 80 hours, we have used 11 full tanks of LPG and 3 tanks of petrol. We have driven through 8 countries (2 of them twice) and visited places in 7 of those countries. We have changed our clocks 4 times and our currency 7 times. We have crossed country borders 11 times. We have slept 4 nights in cabins (2 nice, 1 average and 1 really crap), 2 nights on board ferries, 3 nights in hotels and 15 nights in the tent (13 wet and 2 dry!). The kids took 24 DVDs with them for the journeys and they have watched quite a few of them twice!

It has been a really enjoyable trip overall and if we had had a decent tent even the weather wouldn't have worried us.

My thoughts on the countries we visited:-

Denmark - It was lovely scenery and lovely friendly people. It wasn't as expensive as we had thought it would be. the campsites were clean and tidy and the roads where good. Copenhagen was lovely and I'd definitely go again.

Sweden - The scenery was very similar to the UK (at least in the area we drove through). We all really loved the camp at Tivenden despite it being bad weather. Gothenburg and Stockholm were both nice cities but it was just so wet we didn't really appreciate them to the full. The people in Sweden have to be the most friendly and helpful we have met throughout the trip. They went out of their way to help us, even making phone calls for us to arrange Internet access etc. It was expensive there for pretty much everything.

Estonia - No comments really. We had a really bad day that day, the weather was appalling and we didn't stop to visit anywhere in Estonia. Very, very bad roads!

Latvia - Lovely rural/rustic countryside with huge concrete factories and workers blocks every few miles showing the counties soviet ruled past. All the places we visited were lovely and the people where polite, friendly and helpful (many don't speak any English but would find someone who did to help us). Very, very bad roads!

Lithuania - We felt that Lithuania looked much more Western European. There were lots of modern buildings going up - many of the new housing estate we saw had huge detached houses. Nearly everyone we spoke to was able to speak English and were friendly towards tourists. The Lithuanians don't smile very much - apparently this isn't because they are unhappy but just the way they are. Very, very bad roads!

Poland - Northern Poland was GRIM. They have EXTREMELY bad roads, loads of advertising hoardings everywhere, concrete and graffiti being the most common sights. To be fair we had a bad introduction what with the weather, tiredness and food poisoning. Southern Poland will be having another visit from the Ford Family though. It was beautiful (still crap roads) with lovely villages, lots of nice scenic places and very friendly people.

Germany - I've always liked visiting Germany and this time was no exception. Berlin was fabulous and I'd love to go back. Goslar was a real find - not in our original plan at all. Well done to Chris for suggesting we go there as it was beautiful and another place we will plan to visit again. They need to put some cash machines at service stations though - it is a real pain when you arrive in a country and can't find a cash machine.

Holland - this wasn't on our original itinerary but I'm glad we went. I think we may spend some more time in Holland travelling round all the little towns as they are very picturesque.

Must Haves......

• A decent tent!
• Waterproof clothing that actually keeps the water out
• Sat Nav - we love you! Alex asked us about 2 weeks in, where we would be if we didn't have the sat nav, in the same breath we both said "home"!
• Portable DVD - cuts down the family arguments no end.
• Our electric cool box - well worth the money and I'd never camp without it again.
• A good sense of humour - essential to counteract the bad weather.
• .....and one that I'd forgotten - microfibre towels. Whoever invented them should get a medal!