This trip WILL be too short!!
We were up quite early today and Joyce was out for her jog while I got the boys up and sorted forbreakfast. The van takes a fair bit of tidying to be ready for the road but we were good to go by 10am. I'd done a wee bit googling last night and discovered a few interesting things in or around Kiel. This is a large town in the north of Germany and has a long maritime history. There is also a canal that runs from Kiel on the Baltic coast to Brunsbuttel on the North sea coast. Another days cycling would have been good on the canal, a visit to the town centre would have been interesting but I was intrigued to find a German U-boat that is now a museum, there is also a large Maritime memorial so we decided we would visit there today.
It wasn't too far from our campsite but the simple looking roads on the map proved to be far from straightforward so Google maps were deployed and we were soon back on the right roads again. The closer we got the the coast the fogier it got but it wasn't cold. After stopping at a wee strawberry selling cart by the side of the road we arrived at Laboe and the U955 submarine museum.
We found a place to park the van, it was actually a place where we could (and maybe should) have parked last night bit we didn't know about it.
There were pay and display parking meters but someone had had the bright idea to use all our change at the strawberry shack (Me😳) so there wasn't enough for the meter. I decided to risk it and we headed down to the sea front. There's a long sandy beach here and I'm sure it is lovely but we couldn't see a thing so headed for the sub and the memorial. 20euros later and we had our tokens and went to the sub first. The entrance is at the stern and in we went. I was immediately taken back 20 years as I used to work on submarines in Rosyth where I served my time as a fitter turner, and this was part of the attraction for me to see inside an old wartime submarine. The cramped compartments with a multitude of pipes, valves, levers, cylinders, engines, hatches, periscopes and torpedos brought it all quickly back, however this was on a smaller and even more cramped scale than I remember and when you think about the era in which this submarine had been built and the action it saw, and think of the poor terrified sailors on board it was quite a sobering experience. U955 was one of the very common class VII of German U-boat, of 1200 submarines commissioned during WWII more than 700 were of this type, they had an inner pressure hull and an outer that more resembled a ship, they were actually more diving boats than proper submarines. This ship-like form meant they were optimised for surface speed navigation. They could only stay submerged for very limited periods of time as they had to resurface to charge their battery's and this made them extremely vulnerable to surface attacks particularly from aircraft, This along with the allied forces managing do decrypt the German ENIGMA code used by the subs probably played a big part in changing the course of the war. 60 percent of the German submarine fleet were lost in action, the rest were surrendered or scuttled. 28,000 of the 40,00 German U-boat crew were killed....their average age was 21 years old.
It's a great "real" museum and this boats history is interesting, she was built in around 8 months in 1943 months in Hamburg, commissioned and was based at Kiel while her crew were trained, then in 1944 was transferred to the 13th submarine flotilla based in Trondheim, Norway. Then in 1945 was transferred to Narvik and the 14th submarine flotilla. During her service she sank 2 merchant ships, a Soviet patrol craft, a Soviet minesweeper and a Soviet motorboat. She was handed over to the British when Germany surrendered whilst moored in Trondheim where she was due to have a snorkel fitted to allow battery charging below the surface. Soon after she was handed over to the Norwegian navy who renamed her Kaura and used her till decommission in 1962, however, rather than being broken up the Norwegian government decided to gift her back to West Germany as a token of regained friendship. U955 returned to Kiel and was converted back to its wartime appearance and became a museum ship at Laboe in 1972, and interesting history.
We followed this up with a visit to the German Maritime Memorial. This was originally set up as a memorial to German sailors lost in WWI, subsequently WWII losses were added. However in 1954 it was rededicated as a memorial for the sailors of all nationalities who were lost at sea and at the same time a memorial for peaceful sailing in open seas. Boats lower their flags to half mast when passing the memorial to this day. Along side the large tower which has various interesting rooms inside there is a square (well its actually round), a large exhibition room with fantastic models of various different and famous German naval ships throughout the years and the large circular underground memorial room with multinational flags adorning the centre.
This place is well worth a visit and I would like a bit more time here, the boys get a wee bit bored with stuff like this but they are getting better if there's something that is of interest to them. They have crushed another couple of coins today to add to their souvenir collection, Callum was asking interesting questions about the U-boat and action man Logan was good once we managed to stop him jumping off of any raised platform.....
We relaxed in the sun beside the van after the visit and had lunch then we got on the road and travelled north for around 2 and a half hours crossing into new country for us all, there was a semi sort of border crossing but we were just waved through. We had to find a bank to get some Danish Kroner and then found our camper van park for the night in another lovely looking place called Kolding. We are parked in the marina surrounded by yachts and a few other camper vans. After tea we took the boys for a walk to run off some steam and ensure a good nights sleep. This seems to have worked a treat.
Its now clear that 11 weeks will not be long enough to see all we would like to see on this trip. This is not a surprise to me as it has taken me 40 odd years of exploring Scotland and still we find new and interesting places. However, we have to miss a lot given the fact we are aiming for Norway. Its a real shame that there is no direct link from the UK to Denmark or Norway. We have already covered 920 miles and we still have a fair bit to do getting to Hirshtals. I do however know that we will be back in Holland, Northern Germany and Denmark, there is just so much to see and do, but its doable in a shorter timescale. We will continue north this holiday as per the original plan, it's our only chance.
It wasn't too far from our campsite but the simple looking roads on the map proved to be far from straightforward so Google maps were deployed and we were soon back on the right roads again. The closer we got the the coast the fogier it got but it wasn't cold. After stopping at a wee strawberry selling cart by the side of the road we arrived at Laboe and the U955 submarine museum.We found a place to park the van, it was actually a place where we could (and maybe should) have parked last night bit we didn't know about it.
There were pay and display parking meters but someone had had the bright idea to use all our change at the strawberry shack (Me😳) so there wasn't enough for the meter. I decided to risk it and we headed down to the sea front. There's a long sandy beach here and I'm sure it is lovely but we couldn't see a thing so headed for the sub and the memorial. 20euros later and we had our tokens and went to the sub first. The entrance is at the stern and in we went. I was immediately taken back 20 years as I used to work on submarines in Rosyth where I served my time as a fitter turner, and this was part of the attraction for me to see inside an old wartime submarine. The cramped compartments with a multitude of pipes, valves, levers, cylinders, engines, hatches, periscopes and torpedos brought it all quickly back, however this was on a smaller and even more cramped scale than I remember and when you think about the era in which this submarine had been built and the action it saw, and think of the poor terrified sailors on board it was quite a sobering experience. U955 was one of the very common class VII of German U-boat, of 1200 submarines commissioned during WWII more than 700 were of this type, they had an inner pressure hull and an outer that more resembled a ship, they were actually more diving boats than proper submarines. This ship-like form meant they were optimised for surface speed navigation. They could only stay submerged for very limited periods of time as they had to resurface to charge their battery's and this made them extremely vulnerable to surface attacks particularly from aircraft, This along with the allied forces managing do decrypt the German ENIGMA code used by the subs probably played a big part in changing the course of the war. 60 percent of the German submarine fleet were lost in action, the rest were surrendered or scuttled. 28,000 of the 40,00 German U-boat crew were killed....their average age was 21 years old.
We followed this up with a visit to the German Maritime Memorial. This was originally set up as a memorial to German sailors lost in WWI, subsequently WWII losses were added. However in 1954 it was rededicated as a memorial for the sailors of all nationalities who were lost at sea and at the same time a memorial for peaceful sailing in open seas. Boats lower their flags to half mast when passing the memorial to this day. Along side the large tower which has various interesting rooms inside there is a square (well its actually round), a large exhibition room with fantastic models of various different and famous German naval ships throughout the years and the large circular underground memorial room with multinational flags adorning the centre.
This place is well worth a visit and I would like a bit more time here, the boys get a wee bit bored with stuff like this but they are getting better if there's something that is of interest to them. They have crushed another couple of coins today to add to their souvenir collection, Callum was asking interesting questions about the U-boat and action man Logan was good once we managed to stop him jumping off of any raised platform.....
We relaxed in the sun beside the van after the visit and had lunch then we got on the road and travelled north for around 2 and a half hours crossing into new country for us all, there was a semi sort of border crossing but we were just waved through. We had to find a bank to get some Danish Kroner and then found our camper van park for the night in another lovely looking place called Kolding. We are parked in the marina surrounded by yachts and a few other camper vans. After tea we took the boys for a walk to run off some steam and ensure a good nights sleep. This seems to have worked a treat. 
Its now clear that 11 weeks will not be long enough to see all we would like to see on this trip. This is not a surprise to me as it has taken me 40 odd years of exploring Scotland and still we find new and interesting places. However, we have to miss a lot given the fact we are aiming for Norway. Its a real shame that there is no direct link from the UK to Denmark or Norway. We have already covered 920 miles and we still have a fair bit to do getting to Hirshtals. I do however know that we will be back in Holland, Northern Germany and Denmark, there is just so much to see and do, but its doable in a shorter timescale. We will continue north this holiday as per the original plan, it's our only chance.
very good write up it, travelling is like that buddy each day you don't only choose what to visit but also what to miss out, its just not possible to do it all
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