Grounded

I assume it was just a matter of time that this had to happen…..

Chasing my trusted Bavarian carriage through the length and breadth of Central Europe, there was finally an error message I just couldn’t ignore:

the left rear tire was losing pressure and a visit at a garage in Wilhelmshaven on the German North Sea coast, where I had caught up with the family, was unavoidable. This was a day before Christmas and what I had expected to be a simple puncture, turned out to be a crack in the alloy wheel, which not only necessitated a complete set of new alloys, it also meant that I would be unable to continue my journey until well into the New Year, as all the suppliers were closed over the Christmas holidays.

Modern cars are getting so complicated and it is virtually impossible to fix anything yourself these days….

Resigning myself to my fate and to dampen my frustration I took by roller skies (in the now normal absence of any snow in this part of the world) and paid Dangast, an artist colony on the other side of the bay a visit, making full use of the well tarmaced maintenance track behind the sea wall that is protecting the coast line.

It turned out to be a beautiful trip (just slightly slower than on snow) and I was rewarded upon my arrival with a slice of the signature rhubarb cake at the beach side cafe.

Another thing Dangast is renowned for is their very own interpretation on how the land is connected with the sea…..

When I returned from my trip, it turned out that my problem was resolved as well – my ever resourceful brother-in-law happened to know a car dealer who had 1 (!) set of wheels with winter tires in storage and it turned out that this set was a perfect match! The chances for this to happen were in the region of a big lottery win !

With the trusted mechanic working a whole morning matching tires, wheels, valves, sensors and wheel nuts to the rest of my car, I was ready to continue before the end of the year to the next destination of my travels:

Sweden !